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BELGRADE, Serbia (CNN) -- The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade is evacuating all nonessential personnel following Thursday's attack on the building by a crowd of protesters, a spokesman for the embassy told CNN Friday. Serbian riot police stand in front of the damaged U.S. Embassy in Belgrade on Friday. The U.S. ambassador, Cameron Munter, is staying, officials said. The embassy was closed Friday, and a handful of riot police holding shields stood outside the building, its outer walls blackened from fires set the night before and some of its windows smashed. It will remain closed until Monday or Tuesday so officials can assess the damage, said Bill Wanlund, the embassy's spokesman. He said embassy staff were still in a heightened state of alert but there were no specific threats against any staff members. The United States has warned the Serbian government that it has a responsibility to protect its assets. A top U.S. diplomat was asked during an interview on CNN if the Serbian government "gets" the warning. "They'd better get it, because they have a fundamental responsibility to protect our diplomats and our embassy and to protect American citizens," said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns. "What happened yesterday in Belgrade was absolutely reprehensible." Watch Burns' angry comments on Belgrade attack » . Thursday's violence erupted after demonstrations by thousands of Serbs against Kosovo's declaration of independence. The anger directed against the United States and other countries for recognizing the breakaway province as a nation sparked attacks on Western embassies and shops by hundreds of people. Burns said there was an "insufficient" number of security people guarding the U.S. Embassy at a demonstration everyone knew would take place. He said security "melted away" as "the mob attacked our embassy." "This kind of thing should not happen in a civilized country. It doesn't happen in the United States of America. It doesn't happen in most world capitals. So the Serb government needs to reflect seriously about the responsibility it has under the Vienna Convention," he said. Burns, the third highest ranking diplomat in the State Department, said he told the Serbian prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, and his government that the U.S. "would hold them personally responsible for the safety of our people." "They assured me that they would have adequate security on the ground today and for every day to come. We will hold them to that commitment," Burns said. Demonstrators only managed to break into one U.S. embassy building, which Wanlund said was rarely used by staff. He said the protesters didn't manage to get any documents or embassy materials. Only Marines and security guards were present at the embassy when the angry mob of about 100 approached the walls. In addition to the U.S. Embassy, the protesters attacked other Western interests including the embassies of Britain and Germany, as well as a McDonald's restaurant and a Nike shop. "One might understand the emotion, but not the violence, and that's what the Serb government needs to remember," Burns said. Burns, who is stepping down in March, has long been involved in trying to resolve tensions in the former Yugoslavia. The situation was complicated by Sunday's unilateral declaration of independence by Serbia's predominantly Albanian region of Kosovo. Kosovo is revered historically by Orthodox Christian Serbs but also is claimed as separate and distinct by its ethnic Muslim Albanians. The wisdom of recognizing Kosovo independence has been questioned by many observers, who say the United States won't recognize other unilateral declarations of independence. Some opponents of Kosovo's independence say recognition is a bad precedent if it's unilateral and not done in a bilateral, diplomatic setting. They say it will give others the incentive to stage their own breakaway nations. Burns said every situation has its unique set of circumstances, as does Kosovo, which was the victim of ethnic cleansing policies by the Slobodan Milosevic regime in 1999. NATO troops fought Serbia in an air war then and pushed Serbian forces out of the region. Since then Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and with security supplied by NATO forces. E-mail to a friend . | U.S.: An event like embassy attack "should not happen in a civilized country"
U.S. warns Serbia of responsibility to protect U.S. diplomats, building .
Embassy evacuating nonessential personnel; ambassador will stay in Belgrade .
No embassy documents taken during Thursday attack and fire, spokesman says . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "905891c3a21e76ad63d63dfe55e569a4cab25583"} | 967 | 79 | 0.624223 | 1.8383 | 0.798645 | 1.727273 | 14.418182 | 0.781818 |
(CNN) -- China's giant pandas are believed to be safe after Monday's earthquake, but concern is growing over how they will get their next meals. The giant pandas' primary food source is bamboo. Authorities confirmed Tuesday that captive animals in two of China's major panda reserves were alive, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency. The Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Center in southwest Sichuan province is home to about 86 giant pandas, who were reported safe Tuesday. Staff and critters at neighboring Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center were also reported safe, according to a spokesperson for the Atlanta Zoo, which has two pandas on loan from the wildlife reserve. Concern arose in the international wildlife community over damage to the animals' habitat, as authorities continued assessing the scope of damage in the Sichuan province. The mountainous, densely wooded region is the natural habitat for most of the 1,200 giant pandas living in the wild, making it an obvious location for research bases like Wolong and Chengdu. Giant pandas roam the forest in "open cages" that are meant to provide them with a safe, natural environment that will prepare them for release. With the safety of the pandas confirmed, the animals' caregivers are left to determine how resources like food and medical supplies will reach the bases, which contain breeding facilities and triage centers. Bamboo, the pandas' primary source of food, is a major agricultural product in the region, but whether it can be supplied to the pandas despite infrastructure damage is open to question. "Wolong is hard to access under normal conditions, so the heavy road damage makes it even harder," said Kerry Zobor, spokesperson for the World Wildlife Fund. Zobor said WWF had confirmed the safety of staff based in Beijing, but had not received word on the conditions in Wolong. She said the WWF was also concerned about members who had been touring the country when the earthquake struck. So far, the group has not been located. Scientists in the United States are hopeful that Chinese researchers will adapt to the situation facing them. David Wildt with the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park in Washington says that scientists in Wolong have overcome threats to the giant panda population before. In the late 1990s, the captive giant panda population was in decline, with more animals dying than were born, Wildt said. Thanks to a collaborative effort with American scientists, the Wolong staff was able to reverse the trend. "Our Chinese colleagues are very perceptive when it comes to addressing problems," said Wildt, who has visited Wolong many times as part of the Smithsonian's affiliation with the research base. "Because of their efforts, the population is on the rise today." Wildt said that Chinese scientists have also addressed the issue of alternative food sources before. "Artificial diets in the form of protein biscuits have been created for giant pandas. They're not a complete substitute, but they meet the needs of a basic high-fiber diet," said Wildt, who has worked with two pandas that the Smithsonian has on loan from Wolong. "Right now, we're mostly concerned about the staff. If the staff is fine, then the animals will be fine," Wildt said. | Report: Chinese authorities confirm that captive giant pandas are safe .
Concerns grow over road accessibility to the reserves .
Scientist: Alternative foods exist in the event of depleted bamboo stocks . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "626460b8ec58252c82ff5513aa754190332780aa"} | 720 | 42 | 0.450033 | 1.265541 | 1.008773 | 0.916667 | 17.138889 | 0.583333 |
(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton received the most votes in two pivotal Democratic primary contests Tuesday, scoring wins in Texas and Ohio that were considered critical to keeping alive her White House hopes. Sen. Hillary Clinton is the winner in Ohio and Texas primaries, but trails in the Texas caucuses. With 99 percent of precincts reporting in Ohio, Clinton had 54 percent of the vote compared to 44 percent for Sen. Barack Obama. The race was closer in Texas where, with 99 percent of precincts in, Clinton had 51 percent to Obama's 48 percent. A complicated formula in Texas that weighs delegates more heavily in highly populated areas and includes a caucus that was still being tallied Wednesday afternoon meant the delegate count there remained unclear. Obama was leading Clinton in the caucus vote 56 percent to 44 percent with 38 percent of the state counted, party officials said. The party will split 67 delegates between the candidates in proportion to the final caucus results. Watch an I-Report video from a Democratic caucus » . A final tally was not expected until Thursday afternoon, officials said. Regardless, the two wins were crucial for Clinton, who would have found it difficult to continue the race if Obama won big Tuesday. "For everyone across America who has been counted out but refused to be knocked out, for everyone who has stumbled but stood right back up and for everyone who works hard and never gives up, this one is for you," Clinton said to a cheering crowd in Columbus, Ohio. Watch Clinton thank backers » . After a month of losses to Obama, Clinton had been expected to do well in Ohio -- where the blue-collar workers who have consistently supported her throughout the campaign make up a large chunk of the Democratic base. But with polls showing the Ohio contest neck-and-neck in the days leading up to the primary, Clinton got a boost from female voters and those who only recently made up their minds. According to CNN exit polling, 59 percent of the voters in the state's Democratic primary were women. Those female voters favored Clinton over Obama, 58 percent to 40 percent. In the past week, Clinton sharpened her attacks on Obama -- questioning whether he has enough experience to lead the nation and attempting to cast doubt on his opposition to international trade agreements that many in Ohio feel have led to job losses. Poll results suggest it may have worked. Among those polled, 64 percent of those who decided their vote in the last three days chose Clinton. Clinton was believed to need strong performances in Tuesday's contests in Ohio and Texas to halt Obama's momentum in the race and stay alive in the hunt for the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination. As early returns were counted Tuesday, Obama ran a string of consecutive victories to 12 with a lopsided win in Vermont. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, he led Clinton 59 percent to 39 percent. But Clinton snapped that streak in Rhode Island. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton had taken 58 percent of the vote to Obama's 40 percent. Speaking in San Antonio, Texas, Obama told supporters he expected to hold a similar delegate lead over Clinton after Tuesday's races to the one he held before. "We know this -- no matter what happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead we had this morning and we are on the way to winning this nomination," he said to cheers and chants of his trademark phrase, "Yes we can." Watch an excerpt of Obama's speech to supporters » . With Texas' delegates still to be awarded, Clinton had picked up 22 delegates after results in Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont were tallied. Obama entered the day holding a lead of just over 100 delegates, with 1,369 pledged delegates and superdelegates to Clinton's 1,267, according to CNN estimates. In Ohio, harsh weather and balloting problems stretched the polling well into the evening. With polls slated to close at 7:30 p.m., state elections officials decided to extend voting until 9 p.m. in northern Ohio's Sandusky County. The area was hit by freezing rain for much of the day, and ballot shortages were reported in the Cleveland and Columbus areas -- also causing the polls to be open until 9 p.m. Texas, with its 193 Democratic delegates, and Ohio, with 141, were the biggest prizes in Tuesday's contests. There were 15 Democratic delegates at stake in Vermont and 21 in Rhode Island. 'Texas two-step' Texas' results may not be as easy to measure as counting votes. In what pundits have been calling the "Texas two-step," the state's Democratic Party held a primary election, in which 126 delegates were awarded, and a post-election caucus in which another 67 are at stake. It's possible for the loser of the primary to win more delegates with a strong showing in the caucuses. Texas' method of awarding delegates in the primary -- with more delegates coming from large population centers like Houston, Dallas and Austin -- further complicates the matter. As polling places closed Tuesday, Texans reportedly lined up in bigger-than-expected numbers for the caucuses -- in some places lining up in parking lots and overflowing buildings where caucuses were held. Party officials Wednesday said 1.1 million voters participated in the caucuses. A CNN I-Reporter in Houston said there were hundreds of people at his polling place -- he said he waited more than an hour just to sign in. At an Austin caucus, about 800 people showed up -- far outstripping expectations and causing organizers to stand on tables and yell to organize caucus-goers, one voter said. Clinton supporters had said a strong performance would keep her campaign alive. Weeks ago, former President Clinton predicted his wife would need wins in Texas and Ohio to stay in the race. "If Hillary Clinton gets out a small win in Ohio and Texas, it will be like Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow," said political adviser and Clinton supporter Paul Begala, referring to the six more weeks of winter the groundhog is said to predict. The Obama campaign, however, said the arithmetic of the delegate count will make it difficult for Clinton to overcome Obama's lead. "They've had a really bad run and they have to rationalize continuing," said Obama spokesman David Axelrod. "We've won more popular votes and more delegates, and they have to give some rationale for staying in this race." E-mail to a friend . | NEW: Obama leads Clinton 56 percent to 44 percent in tally of Texas caucuses .
Clinton wins Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island primaries .
Obama wins Vermont, leads race in total delegate count . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "31d0ed7b1b8f65c6479fb35683d72de21d70796a"} | 1,506 | 48 | 0.52732 | 1.285622 | 0.621579 | 1.692308 | 32.025641 | 0.820513 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. border officers found a wire between two fences along the U.S.-Mexican border that, when stretched taut, could have seriously harmed or even decapitated Border Patrol agents, Congress was told Wednesday. The wire was about 4 feet high when pulled tight, or about neck level for an agent on an ATV, officials say. "It was configured in a way so that, if it was pulled, it would take off the head of a Border Patrol agent riding in an open car," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a House budget hearing. The wire was discovered Saturday when authorities monitoring a surveillance camera saw two people on the north side of the border east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, in the San Diego sector. Border Patrol agents sent to the area found a thick metal wire tied to a secondary fence. The wire stretched across the border road and led into Mexico through a hole in the primary fence, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. When pulled tight, the wire would be about 4 feet high -- about neck level for an agent riding on an all-terrain vehicle, CBP said. Officials said they suspected that drug or illegal immigrant smugglers were involved. No arrests were made on either side of the border. The wire was removed, and no injuries or damage took place, CBP said. E-mail to a friend . | The thick metal wire stretched across the border road and led into Mexico .
Agents discovered it Saturday after a surveillance camera spotted suspicious activity .
Officials say they suspect that drug or illegal immigrant smugglers are involved .
No arrests have been made on either side of the border . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "b03ee4df6492038d0a1d99a1717d8ad8ccc06db3"} | 326 | 67 | 0.637407 | 1.504168 | 1.777761 | 4.074074 | 4.962963 | 0.814815 |
(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama claimed a significant victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, telling supporters "we are hungry for change." Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, celebrate his South Carolina win. The Illinois senator earned more than twice the vote that rival Sen. Hillary Clinton did, 55 percent to 27 percent, unofficial returns showed. Former Sen. John Edwards was third with 18 percent. "Tonight, the cynics who believed that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina," Obama said to supporters Saturday. Watch a recap of Obama's big win » . A win in South Carolina was considered crucial for Obama, who won Iowa but finished second to Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada. See what the results mean » . "I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina. I saw South Carolina," he said. "The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders," Obama said. "It's not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. "It's about the past versus the future." Watch Obama speech . With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 55 percent of the vote. Clinton was second with 27 percent, followed by Edwards, with 18 percent. Obama's victory capped a heated contest in South Carolina, the first Democratic primary in the South and the first with a largely African-American electorate. Obama, who is hoping to become the the nation's first African-American president, did well with black voters, who made up about half of Saturday's electorate, according to exit polls. Black voters supported the Illinois senator by a margin of more than 4-to-1 over his nearest rival, exit polls indicate. Among white voters, Obama took about a quarter of the vote, with Clinton and Edwards roughly splitting the remainder, according to exit polls. Clinton congratulated Obama and said she was excited to move forward to the Super Tuesday contests on February 5. "Millions and millions of Americans are going to have the chance to have their voices heard and their votes counted," she told supporters at Tennessee State University. Watch Clinton speak to supporters » . Edwards also looked ahead to the next contests. "Now the three of us move on to February 5, where millions of Americans will cast their vote and help shape the future of this party and help shape the future of America," he said. Watch Edwards rally supporters » . "Our campaign from the very beginning has been about one central thing, and that is to give voice to the millions of Americans who have absolutely no voice in this democracy." Clinton beat Obama only among elderly voters, according to exit polls. Among voters 65 and older, Clinton beat Obama 40 to 32 percent. But Obama handily defeated Clinton in every other bracket, and overall garnered 58 percent of the vote among 18 to 64-year-olds while 23 percent of those voters picked Clinton. And half of those polled said both candidates shared blame for the rancor between the two camps. Of those who said one of the contenders was more to blame than the other, 21 percent blamed Clinton, and 6 percent said Obama. "It's fairly obvious it's not going to be over February 5," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Edwards was born in South Carolina and won the state's primary four years ago, when he was making his first bid for the White House. See voters head to the polls in South Carolina » . Edwards had touted his native status, and as the Clinton and Obama camps have squabbled, Edwards continued to talk about the issues and suggests he's the only adult in the field. Watch Edwards reach out to voters » . "I'm keeping moving no matter what, but I feel good about how things are moving right now here today," Edwards told reporters Saturday morning. "I feel there's a lot of energy behind my campaign." On January 15, Edwards pledged, "I'm in this for the long haul. We're continuing to accumulate delegates. There's actually a very narrow margin between Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and myself on delegates." The state Democratic party estimated that more than 530,000 Democrats turned out for Saturday's primary, as compared with 445,000 voters who showed up to vote last weekend in the state's Republican primary. The Democratic numbers topped the GOP turnout for the first time since 1992, when 445,000 Republicans turned out to renominate President George H.W. Bush. Obama attracted more than 290,000 votes -- nearly matching the total turnout of the 2004 Democratic primary. "This is an enormous turnout," CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "Democrats are wildly motivated in this election." As South Carolina's Democratic primary voters went to the polls Saturday, almost half of them had made up their minds more than a month ago, according to exit polls. In the 2004 primary, nearly a quarter decided either the day of the primary or in the three days prior who they would support, but this year, only 10 percent of this year's voters waited until Saturday to choose. Another 10 percent decided only in the last three days, and 32 percent decided in the last month. Forty-seven percent made up their minds at least a month ago, more than double the percentage of 2004. The early exit polls were taken from a sampling of 1,269 voters statewide. Following a rough campaign between Clinton and Obama, the two camps toned down the rhetoric in the past two days, returning to the issues and concentrating their firepower on the Republicans rather than on each other. "I think they [the Republicans] should be gracious and just say, "We have messed this thing up so much we are just going to quit and ... we shouldn't be re-elected,' but I don't think that is what they are going to do," Clinton said. South Carolina is the last big test for the Democrats before Super Tuesday, February 5, when nearly two dozen states will hold either primaries or caucuses -- including such delegate-rich states as California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Florida holds its primary on Tuesday but no Democratic delegates are being awarded there because the national party is penalizing the state for moving its primary up earlier in the year. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Paul Steinhauser, Bill Schneider, Peter Hamby, Alexander Mooney, Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report. | NEW: Blowout win for Obama in South Carolina .
Clinton finishes ahead of Edwards, CNN projects .
47 percent decided on vote at least a month ago, exit polls indicate .
Edwards: "I feel good about how things are moving right now" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "ad9abc78fb2de88267b854f2aed110e2a5b8c3f1"} | 1,457 | 58 | 0.541249 | 1.402926 | 0.697421 | 3.098039 | 25.392157 | 0.823529 |
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Jamiel Shaw was just three doors from his house on March 2. His father told the 17-year-old high school football star to be home before dark. That is exactly what he was trying to do when, just before dusk, gunshots rang out. Gang members pulled up in a car and asked Shaw if he was in a gang. Shaw didn't have time to tell them "no." He was mowed down before he could answer, police say. His dad heard the shots from inside his house and immediately called his son's cell phone to warn him to stay away. But within seconds, the father realized what had happened. "I just ran down there," Jamiel Shaw Sr. told CNN. Watch dad describe hearing "pow, pow" » . His son was wearing the same shirt his dad had pressed for him that morning. "He was laying on the ground and his face was so peaceful. I knew he was dead." "For three hours, I was just completely blacked out walking." More than 7,500 miles away, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw was serving her second tour in Iraq. Her commanding officer called her into his office and told her to sit down next to the chaplain. He then informed her that her son had been killed on the streets of Los Angeles. "I freaked out," she said. "I wanted to run out of the room. I was screaming and kicking. I was shouting, 'No.'" Anita Shaw is now back in Los Angeles to bury her son. Police announced Tuesday that an arrest had been made in the shooting. Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year-old member of the Hispanic 18th Street Gang, was charged in the killing and could face the death penalty if convicted, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. Espinoza is scheduled to be arraigned March 25. Espinoza was released from jail -- where he was held on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon -- one day before the incident. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton Tuesday called on the community to help police locate a second suspect who was with Espinoza at the time of the shooting. Hundreds of family members and friends gathered Tuesday at West Los Angeles Cathedral to remember Shaw, a standout running back and sprinter at Los Angeles High School who had good grades and stayed out of trouble despite his rough neighborhood. Among the schools recruiting him was Stanford University. Watch as family, friends remember Shaw » . Blue-and-white flowers -- his school colors -- adorned his casket, and photos of Shaw over the years were displayed at the service. Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" played as mourners entered the church. "He was a Christian and I thank God for that because I know he's in a better place," his mom said, trembling as she sobbed. "He'd just try all the time to do the right thing. He was so good." Shaw is one of several innocent victims in a horrifying three-week spate of gang-related shootings around Los Angeles. A man was gunned down as he held a 2-year-old baby in his arms. A 13-year-old boy was shot to death last week as he went to pick lemons from a tree. In another incident, a 6-year-old boy was critically wounded when he was shot in the head while riding in the car with his family; two gang members have been arrested in connection with that shooting, according to police. "I think what is particularly unnerving for all of us is just the random nature of these shootings," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said last week. Bratton and Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner met with community members from the South Side of Los Angeles over the weekend to try to calm tensions between black and Hispanic communities. Among those in attendance were Shaw's parents and his younger brother. Bratton acknowledged some neighborhoods are rife with underlying racial tensions that have "taken too many young lives." He said he is in the process of hiring 1,000 new police officers to help combat inner city gang violence. Watch Bratton describe an "always underlying tension" » . "There's no denying that some of the crime in this city is a direct result of hatred, animosity, racial animosity, ethnic differences," Bratton said. "We must all work to the best of our ability to try to prevent that." "None of it is right," said Garner. "We can't get so incensed that we lose focus that it's going on on both sides." He added, "Wrong is wrong." The killing of Shaw has rallied his neighborhood. Dozens of people gathered outside his home for a vigil last week and placed candles, flowers and blue-and-white balloons at a makeshift memorial. One sign read, "We love you! Jamiel Shaw." On the online social networking site Facebook, more than 100 people have joined a page called "Good people live in our hearts forever RIP Jamiel Shaw." "Loved you lots babyboi! Still do! I know many, many, many people who are missing you right NOW!!!" wrote Christina Stewart on the Facebook wall. Another person, Harley Lally, wrote, "Football will never be the same without you. I miss you every Sunday, and every time I step on that field." Shaw, a junior, carried the ball 74 times for 1,052 yards this season, with an average of 14.2 yards per carry, according to MaxPreps Web site. The longest of his 10 touchdowns went for 75 yards. He passed the ball one time all year in the last game of the season -- the last game of his career. It was a 60-yard touchdown strike. Watch mom's Thanksgiving message to son from Iraq » . But he will be missed for more than his football. The beloved player with the big smile meant so much more. The father and son years ago had made a pact: Keep focused, stay away from drugs and gangs, and get into college on an athletic scholarship. In return, the dad promised to do everything for his son, nicknamed "Jas," to make that happen. Breaking down in tears, the father said, "I guaranteed 'Jas.' That's why it hurts so much -- because I told him, 'I promise you, if you sacrifice these years, I'll sacrifice with you.'" Watch Jamiel Shaw Sr. ask mourners to make a difference » . The dad said more must be done to combat gang violence. "It's a gang problem and they have nothing in their heart for people." Shaw's mother, the Army sergeant, compares the gang members who killed her son to those she's fighting against in Iraq. "To me, they're terrorists." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kara Finnstrom, Paul Vercammen and Wayne Drash contributed to this report. | NEW: Arrest made in killing of Jamiel Shaw, athlete killed outside his L.A. home .
Police: Gang members had asked him if we was in a gang .
Shaw didn't have time to tell them "no," according to police .
His mother was on duty in Iraq when she got the news . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "75cc16a7ba1970ba791da4ba43e6220f37f47697"} | 1,601 | 74 | 0.506798 | 1.502785 | 0.227607 | 3.031746 | 21.857143 | 0.873016 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Handsome, articulate and lightning fast -- McLaren's Lewis Hamilton can now add two more words to his list of qualities: very rich. Lewis Hamilton will be able to afford a lot more champagne in the future. The Briton is set to become one of the most marketable sport stars in the world -- perhaps second only to Tiger Woods -- and earn more than a billion dollars if he can maintain the buzz created by his first season in Formula One, experts say. On Sunday he started his second season in perfect fashion, easily winning the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The 23-year-old signed a five-year contract with McLaren worth an estimated $140m in January. It leaves him lagging along way behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who is paid an estimated $50m a year for driving, but it is through endorsements that he stands to reap a greater windfall. Stephen Cheliotis, chief executive of the Centre for Brand Analysis and UK Superbrands and CoolBrands Councils' chairman, said Hamilton was the most marketable driver because he was a breath of fresh air. He had helped drive up race attendance and television fewer figures dramatically in his first season. "He is young, mixing with the right people everyday -- rappers, film stars -- and a lot more articulate than Kimi Raikkonen," Cheliotis said. "He is also the first black driver and it does have a bearing, much like Tiger Woods in golf. He is also the most marketable because he is going to be the best, much like Michael Schumacher." Pippa Collett, Sponsorship Consulting's managing director, said Hamilton was certainly the most marketable driver in the short term. His performance meant he was the dominant member of a group of "young turks" -- Nelson Piquet Jr, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen -- who had great potential. Collett said in terms of the media Hamilton's performance, friendliness, English speaking background and professionalism were key assets. If he could maintain these he would earn more than Schumacher -- the sport's first billionaire driver. Indeed, Schumacher set an example which Hamilton would be wise to follow. He was the first driver to win personal sponsors after Ferrari allowed him to sign a $10m annual deal with a German bank to place its logo on his cap. The German also actively pursued the development of his own retail range, which included caps -- he sold hundreds of thousands at $30 a pop -- and even a branded vacuum cleaner. Collett said Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, was very good. "Schumacher was a nice guy but not very charming. However, he was very professional and you knew he would turn up," Collett said. Cheliotis agreed Hamilton would earn considerably more than Schumacher, and that there would be a big gap between his earnings and that of the other drivers. However, there were pitfalls. Lewis had already made the mistake of saying he was moving to Switzerland to avoid the limelight when it was all about avoiding tax, Cheliotis said. "He said that and then turned up at every awards night for a month." Cheliotis said appearing arrogant, being caught out by the tabloid press, endorsing a brand and then using another and over selling himself could also damage his value. "The big danger with someone like Hamilton is that he is so in demand and that he has so many sponsors it leads to brand confusion. There is a danger of being one of 50 sponsors and not getting any value." Collett said Hamilton needed to develop his "life-time brand". While Raikkonen may not be a media darling he had developed an "Iceman" image, which was just as important in the long term. English footballer David Beckham, whose performance had dropped off, had successfully developed a life-time brand that would out last his playing career. Collett said Hamilton's one weakness may be his father, Anthony. "His dad is his manager. Your brand positioning is as an individual... having your dad around too much could affect your brand." Collett said Hamilton would have to be wary of bad press, but a little bit of young turk behaviour could enhance his image as long as he continued to excel. "I think that is part of the glamour... some of that and continued brilliant performances will make his life very easy." E-mail to a friend . | Experts say Lewis Hamilton is set to earn more than Michael Schumacher .
David Beckham's "life-time brand" provides valuable lessons .
A little bit of scandal is good for the bank balance .
Raikkonen's "Iceman" persona allows sponsors to find perfect match . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "fe9d63d0ed719a42735cadaf10e76416545f680c"} | 1,010 | 67 | 0.447548 | 1.276893 | 0.503819 | 2.111111 | 15.740741 | 0.777778 |
(CNN) -- China's giant pandas are believed to be safe after Monday's earthquake, but concern is growing over how they will get their next meals. Questions remain about whether infrastructure damage will harm the giant pandas' supply of bamboo. Authorities confirmed Tuesday that captive animals in two of China's major panda reserves were alive, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency. The Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Center in southwest Sichuan province is home to about 86 giant pandas, who were reported safe Tuesday. Staff and critters at neighboring Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center were also reported safe, according to a spokesperson for the Atlanta Zoo, which has two pandas on loan from the wildlife reserve. Concern arose in the international wildlife community over damage to the animals' habitat, as authorities continued assessing the scope of damage in the Sichuan province. The mountainous, densely wooded region is the natural habitat for most of the 1,200 giant pandas living in the wild, making it an obvious location for research bases like Wolong and Chengdu. Giant pandas roam the forest in "open cages" that are meant to provide them with a safe, natural environment that will prepare them for release. With the safety of the pandas confirmed, the animals' caregivers are left to determine how resources like food and medical supplies will reach the bases, which contain breeding facilities and triage centers. Bamboo, the pandas' primary source of food, is a major agricultural product in the region, but whether it can be supplied to the pandas despite infrastructure damage is open to question. "Wolong is hard to access under normal conditions, so the heavy road damage makes it even harder," said Kerry Zobor, spokeswoman for the World Wildlife Fund. Zobor said the WWF had confirmed the safety of staff members based in Beijing but had not received word on the conditions in Wolong. She said the WWF was also concerned about members who had been touring the country when the earthquake struck. The group has not been located. Scientists in the United States are hopeful that Chinese researchers will adapt to the situation facing them. David Wildt with the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park in Washington says scientists in Wolong have overcome threats to the giant panda population before. In the late 1990s, the captive giant panda population was in decline, with more animals dying than were born, Wildt said. Thanks to a collaborative effort with American scientists, the Wolong staff was able to reverse the trend. "Our Chinese colleagues are very perceptive when it comes to addressing problems," said Wildt, who has visited Wolong many times as part of the Smithsonian's affiliation with the research base. "Because of their efforts, the population is on the rise today." Wildt said that Chinese scientists have also addressed the issue of alternative food sources. "Artificial diets in the form of protein biscuits have been created for giant pandas. They're not a complete substitute, but they meet the needs of a basic high-fiber diet," said Wildt, who has worked with two pandas that the Smithsonian has on loan from Wolong. "Right now, we're mostly concerned about the staff. If the staff is fine, then the animals will be fine," Wildt said. | Report: Chinese authorities confirm that captive giant pandas are safe .
Concerns grow over road accessibility to the reserves .
Scientist: Alternative foods exist in the event of depleted bamboo stocks . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "1744093a3fea8b8de0777b1a228c3ba3e515d48e"} | 724 | 42 | 0.451142 | 1.27683 | 0.995947 | 0.916667 | 17.194444 | 0.583333 |
(CNN) -- Red Cross President and CEO Mark W. Everson has stepped down after revelations he was "engaged in a personal relationship with a subordinate employee," the organization announced Tuesday. Mark W. Everson says he is leaving his post, effective immediately, for "personal and family reasons." The Red Cross Board of Governors asked for and received Everson's resignation after it "concluded that the situation reflected poor judgment on Mr. Everson's part and diminished his ability to lead the organization in the future," the Red Cross said in a statement on its Web site. Everson, 53, said in a written statement that he was leaving the $500,000-per-year job "for personal and family reasons, and deeply regret it is impossible for me to continue in a job so recently undertaken." Everson -- who is married and has two children -- joined the Red Cross as president and CEO last May. The organization became aware of Everson's relationship with a female Red Cross employee 10 days ago, Chief Public Affairs Officer Suzy C. DeFrancis told CNN in a telephone interview. "I think the board acted very quickly," she said, adding that the woman remains in her job. About Everson, DeFrancis said, "We're grateful for his service." The board of governors on Tuesday appointed Mary S. Elcano, general counsel and five-year Red Cross employee, as interim president and CEO. Everson had worked in the Bush administration from August 2001 -- including serving as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service -- until he was hired by the Red Cross. "This is flabbergasting, that's all I can say. It's completely contrary to his public persona that he evidenced while he was at the IRS," said Suzanne Ross McDowell, a Washington-based attorney who served on an advisory committee to the IRS division that deals with tax-exempt organizations. "From the standpoint of exempt organizations on the non-profit sector, it's just another news story that we would rather not see," she said. "It's got nothing to do with the Red Cross," said Ira Milstein, a New York lawyer specializing in corporate governance who has worked with the organization and was impressed with Everson. "He was a team player and a good leader. To have him fall off a cliff like this is just sad." A search committee has been formed to begin the process of finding Everson's permanent replacement, the organization said. The job has been a challenging one. Marsha J. Evans resigned as president in 2005, after the Red Cross response to Hurricane Katrina came under fire. Four years earlier, Bernadine Healy quit the post after the organization was criticized for mishandling donations intended for victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and collecting vast quantities of blood that was not needed and ultimately thrown out. Healy told reporters she "had no choice" about her resignation. Meanwhile, DeFrancis acknowledged Tuesday that, 14 years after a court ordered the agency to improve its collection of blood, it has yet to meet federal safety and quality-control requirements. E-mail to a friend . | Red Cross says it became aware of the relationship 10 days ago .
Relationship allegedly involves a subordinate female Red Cross employee .
Board "concluded that the situation reflected poor judgment on Mr. Everson's part"
Everson: I "deeply regret it is impossible for me to continue" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4929479f70e89deb22539e7d2caa6c33bbb0a14f"} | 700 | 67 | 0.606359 | 1.901303 | 1.139178 | 5.545455 | 10.963636 | 0.890909 |
(CNN) -- Canada's House of Commons voted Thursday to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan until 2011, with the stipulation that NATO send reinforcements to the volatile Kandahar province. Canadian soldiers walk along a track at the Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan last month. Most of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are in Kandahar as part of the NATO-led mission to stabilize the war-torn country. Their presence has sparked controversy in Canada, with the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party calling for an immediate troop withdrawal. Supporters of the mission argued that Canadians have made progress in providing schools, health care and clean water for thousands of Afghans. They said the improving conditions would be impossible without troops ensuring a secure environment for aid workers and local residents. "The military needs to be there," said Harold Albrecht, a conservative member of Parliament. "The military provides the civil order we would expect from police here." The Canadian mission in Afghanistan was to end next February. It has claimed the lives of 80 soldiers and a diplomat, according to The Associated Press. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has endorsed a panel's recommendation to keep troops in place only if another NATO nation dispatches additional troops to Kandahar. Canada wants a minimum of 1,000 reinforcements, The Globe and Mail reported. Thursday's motion, passed with a 198-77 vote, brought Harper's Conservative party and the opposition Liberals together on the issue. Other parties, however, noted that the cost of maintaining a troop presence in Afghanistan has not been disclosed to Parliament or the public. "We must provide clarity to the Canadian people," said Nathan Cullen of the New Democratic Party. "We believe it to be wrong for our country." E-mail to a friend . | Troops to stay until 2011, with the stipulation that NATO contribute more forces .
Most of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are in Kandahar province .
The Canadian mission in Afghanistan was to end next February .
Critics say the cost has not been disclosed to Parliament or the public . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4dd3bb1fe7a5b0d42f0df8d9e62b81c673475420"} | 398 | 67 | 0.639791 | 1.611526 | 1.332718 | 7.482143 | 6.142857 | 0.839286 |
(CNN) -- They're big, strong, and fierce -- and they wear little blue booties. The police dogs in Duesseldorf, Germany are now patrolling the pavement in protective shoes that their police-officer handlers strap onto their paws. The reason? Too many glass shards left by beer drinkers in the city center, said Andre Hartwich, a spokesman for police in Duesseldorf. "We wondered how can we protect our dogs' feet against glass," said Hartwich. "We looked on the Internet and found these shoes." Beer drinkers along the Rhine River and in the city's Altstadt, or Old Town, often discard beer bottles on pebbled walkways. Broken glass poses a problem for the police force's 20 German Shepherds and Belgian Shepherds, Hartwich said. In addition, hooligans and vandals leave behind glass shards around New Year's Eve and during the city's famous Carnival celebrations. So what's a dog to do? Their handlers shelled out 60 euros -- $89 -- for shoes that are also worn by dogs who walk on ice in Alaska. Dogs need a month of training to get used to wearing the shoes, Hartwich said. "We have to condition the dogs to the shoes," he said. E-mail to a friend . | Police dogs in Duesseldorf, Germany are now wearing protective shoes .
Glass shards left by beer drinkers in the city center are the reason .
Duesseldorf police force has 20 German and Belgian Shepherds .
Dogs shoes cost €60 ($89) and are also worn by dogs who walk on ice in Alaska . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "32f0c7b0845e88c7ff34bb9d358a86e029dc2261"} | 306 | 74 | 0.715194 | 1.952334 | 1.208456 | 5.721311 | 4 | 0.901639 |
BARCELONA, Spain -- Barcelona are ready for twice world player of the year Ronaldinho to move on, said club president Joan Laporta. Ronaldinho is expected to leave Barcelona this summer after struggling for form last season. Laporta told the Catalan TV3 station that the Brazilian midfielder, who struggled with injuries and poor form last season, needed new challenges in his career. "When the wheel turns, it's normal that the key figures leave," Laporta said. "I would like Ronaldinho to be given a great send-off so that he is remembered for all he has given us and that if he didn't do any more it was because the circumstances wouldn't allow it. "Last year, we thought that it might be the year to sell him, but given his enthusiasm and the appreciation that a club like Barcelona needs to have, we decided to let him stay on. Things haven't turned out the way he wanted them to." Laporta recognized that it might not be easy to sell Ronaldinho, who suffered a series of injury and fitness problems this season and made the starting line-up in only 13 of 38 league matches. Ronaldinho last played for Barcelona in the 2-1 loss at home to Villarreal on March 9, has suffered muscle pain in his right leg been out of action ever since. AC Milan showed an interest in signing him and his brother Robert De Assis said personal terms had been agreed. But the clubs failed to reach agreement over a transfer fee. After a second successive season without a trophy Barcelona announced on May 7 that Rijkaard would leave at the end of the season and be replaced by former player Josep Guardiola. "We decided that if Frank did not continue then we would choose Guardiola because Pep possessed the necessary humility," said Laporta. "We didn't think about coaches like Mourinho or (Rafa) Benitez, who are both great coaches, but aren't right for Barcelona. So we told Rijkaard that when he left Guardiola would take his place." Barca's arch-rivals Real Madrid, who lifted another Spanish title this season, have signed their first newcomer for the next campaign by paying a reported 10 million euros ($15.5 million) for Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay from Racing Santander. Marca newspaper said the 21-year-old Argentine had signed a six-year contract. Meanwhile, reports that Real could be making a move for Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo were dismissed by coach Bernd Schuster. "I prefer to spend my time talking about things that have some bearing to reality," he told a press conference. Marca had reported that Real were still interested in buying Ronaldo who has put off all talk of his future until after the Champions League final. | Barcelona are ready to let Brazilian international Ronaldinho leave the club .
Club president Joan Laporta says that Ronaldinho needs new challenges .
Barcelona have already replaced coach Frank Rijkaard with Pep Guardiola . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "607ce3caeeac56d7c4250aaa161871535cd1251e"} | 621 | 47 | 0.50995 | 1.275222 | 0.905483 | 1.527778 | 14.611111 | 0.861111 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two bombings in separate Iraq provinces on Monday killed eight U.S. troops, the U.S. military said. A boy with a machine gun weeps Monday at the site of a suicide bombing in Kanan that killed a sheik. A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in Diyala province, which has been a major front in the war during the "surge" of U.S. troops fighting insurgents near the capital. Earlier in the day, at least five U.S. soldiers on foot patrol were killed and three others wounded in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. In addition, suicide bombers killed five Iraqis in two bombings in Diyala province Monday morning, including a sheik who helped battle Sunni extremists and his 5-year-old niece. Watch new suicide tactics in Iraq » . Four U.S. soldiers died at the scene Monday's Baghdad blast and one more died later of wounds, the military said. They were with Multi-National Division-Baghdad. An Iraqi interpreter also was wounded in the explosion, the officials said. Initial reports indicate the bomber was wearing an explosive vest. "Five soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the Iraqi and American people. I ask you remember these fallen heroes and their families as well as their wounded brethren in your thoughts and prayers," said Col. Allen Batschelet, chief of staff for Multi-National Division-Baghdad. "We remain resolute in our resolve to protect the people of Iraq and kill or capture those who would bring them harm." The explosion marks the deadliest attack against the U.S. military since five soldiers were killed January 28 in a roadside bombing in Mosul. Troops killed a Saudi insurgent whose network was responsible for that attack. Earlier, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said one person was killed and eight people were wounded in a suicide bomb attack targeting a U.S. military convoy in western Baghdad. It is not clear if the U.S. and Iraqi reports are about the same incident. Monday's attacks would bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq this month to 10. A total of 3,983 military personnel have died in the nearly 5-year-old war. The attack came after a bomber near Baquba targeted the leader of a security group assisting U.S. troops. The teen suicide bomber killed a sheik and a 5-year-old, a day after she went to the sheik's Kanan home claiming to need help finding her husband, police and family members said. The female suicide bomber, 18, blew herself up at the sheik's home Monday morning, police said. The tribal leader was the head of a local citizens group that has been working with U.S. forces to rout out insurgents. The largely Sunni security groups are known as Awakening Councils. Kanan is east of Baquba, situated in the volatile Diyala province, which has been a major front for the "surge" of U.S.-led troops targeting militants near Baghdad. According to one of the sheik's cousins, the teen bomber went to the sheik's house Sunday to ask him for help finding her husband -- thought to be kidnapped or detained. The 18-year-old was told to return Monday, the cousin said. She returned Monday and staged the attack, killing the sheik, his 5-year-old niece and one of his security guards, police said. The attack reflects both the growing use of females as suicide bombers in Iraq and the targeting of Awakening Councils, which are also known as Concerned Citizens Groups or Sons of Iraq. The grass-roots groups, which are sometimes led by former insurgents, have drawn more than 90,000 volunteers to their ranks, military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory said Sunday. Since November, there have been at least five attacks carried out by female suicide bombers, including a twin bombing at Baghdad pet markets last month that killed almost 100 people. Insurgent groups, particularly al Qaeda in Iraq, are increasingly using women as suicide bombers because they are less likely to be searched, the U.S. military has said. About an hour after the attack at the sheik's home, another suicide bomber approached Iraqi security forces in Muqdadiya and blew himself up as the forces began shooting at him. The blast killed two civilians and wounded 20 others, including two police officers, authorities said. Muqdadiya also is in Diyala province. In other developments: . • A suicide car bomb exploded Monday outside an upscale hotel in Sulaimaniya, killing two people and wounding at least 32 others, police said. The blast occurred at the Sulaimani Palace hotel, located in the center of the city. It is in northern Iraq's Kurdish region and is a common stop for visiting government officials, businessmen and contractors. • Two bombings in Baghdad on Monday killed an Iraqi and wounded nine others, an Interior Ministry official said. A parked car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Shaab, a Shiite neighborhood in northeastern Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding seven others. A roadside bomb exploded on a highway near a U.S. military patrol in eastern Baghdad, wounding two bystanders. • Coalition troops north of Baghdad killed five insurgents and detained 19 people in raids, the U.S. military said Monday. The Sunday raids were part of coalition forces' "untiring efforts to remove al Qaeda from Iraq," said Lt. Col. Maura Gillen, a Multi-National Forces-Iraq spokeswoman. • Several U.S. troops may have been sickened by dirty water intended for hygiene use and supplied to bases around Iraq between 2004 and 2006, according to a Pentagon report released Monday. However, the Department of Defense inspector general's report points out that because the water was not monitored, it is impossible to tell for sure if it was dirty and if it contributed to the troops getting sick. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Jamie McIntyre, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jonathan Wald contributed to this report. | NEW: Roadside bomb kills 3 U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in Diyala province .
Earlier, at least 5 U.S. soldiers on foot patrol die in Baghdad suicide bombing .
Baghdad blast marks deadliest attack on U.S. troops since January 28 .
Female suicide bomber kills sheik, 5-year-old niece and guard at Iraqi home . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "7fb19f75d5d3feefeababf62d2ac91bf684a8038"} | 1,462 | 92 | 0.635978 | 1.622889 | 0.892913 | 3.125 | 17.53125 | 0.875 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal government has released to CNN more than 100 photographs of a Halloween party that temporarily threatened to derail the nomination of a top Department of Homeland Security official. ICE chief Julie Myers poses with a costume contest winner at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement party. The images included several digital photos that the official had ordered erased because they were deemed to be inappropriate and offensive. At the party, Julie Myers, then-acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security, gave an award for "most original costume" to an employee wearing prison stripes, a wig with dreadlocks and face-darkening makeup. Immediately after posing for a photo with the winner, Myers later told Congress, she recognized that she made an error in judgment and ordered the photos deleted from the camera. Myers said she did not know the employee was wearing skin makeup, but ordered the photos destroyed because she did not think that "recognizing an escaped prisoner in any way was beneficial to the agency's goal of treating everyone in our custody with dignity and respect." This week, in response to the Freedom of Information Act request filed by CNN on November 6, ICE released 113 official photographs of the party, including all of the deleted photos, which technicians were able to electronically restore. An ICE spokeswoman denied the photos were suppressed until after Myers' job was secure, saying ICE responded in an "efficient time frame" to the FOIA request. News of the photos' existence infuriated some members of Congress, who said they should have been made aware of them earlier. "It is too bad that these photos surfaced too late to have dealt with her nomination, perhaps, in a different way," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, who last November put a "hold" on Myers' confirmation because of the hubbub. Watch what congressmen think about party photos » . Myers was confirmed on December 20. As an assistant secretary of Homeland Security, she leads ICE, the agency charged with enforcing immigration law in the nation's interior. The agency has more than 15,000 employees, including 6,000 investigators. McCaskill said she believed the photos would have affected the confirmation. "This is such brutally bad judgment that, to me, it indicates that the leadership of this division is flawed," she said. Rep. Bennie Thompson, whose committee oversees ICE, said Wednesday he is upset both by the photos and by ICE's failure to give the photos to Congress in November. "I was satisfied [with Myers' explanations and apology] until I found out that these pictures existed," Thompson said. An ICE spokeswoman denied that there was any intentional effort to mislead Congress. "We had asked that they be destroyed, and as far as we knew, that was the case," spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said. Myers was "frank and honest about every aspect of that situation from the very beginning," she said. An estimated 50 to 75 employees attended the October 31 costume party at ICE headquarters in the District of Columbia. A poster advertising the contest said costumes should be tasteful and "office appropriate." Myers declined to talk to CNN Wednesday, but in written comments to Congress last November, she offered the following account of the incident: . She and two other ICE officials served as judges of the costume contest, and she had "very limited interaction" with the employee in the prisoner costume, who "was present at the [judging] table for less than half a minute before he moved on. "I was not aware at the time of the contest that the employee disguised his skin color," she wrote. Nonetheless, after posing for a photo with the employee, she realized it was inappropriate. "Although I did not know that this individual had disguised his race, I determined that I had made an error in judgment in recognizing an escaped prisoner at this party," she wrote, and she instructed her chief of staff to direct the official photographer to delete the photos. In an internal e-mail that was sent at 3:05 p.m., shortly after the party was to end, the ICE public affairs director, Wendy Burrell, said, "Please make sure that the photos of the most creative (single male entry) are destroyed. They may not be used in any publication, Web site, compilation disk, you name it. Not just not used. Please erase all." Myers said she was "shocked and horrified" to learn the next day that the employee had used skin-darkening makeup. The employee was counseled, and Myers sent out a note to all agency employees expressing regret over the event, agency spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said in November. "It is now clear that, however unintended, a few of the costumes were inappropriate and offensive," Myers wrote. She reminded employees of their responsibility to complete diversity training and said managers should distribute and discuss ICE's diversity policy statement during staff meetings. The employee who donned the inmate costume was placed on two weeks of administrative leave, counseled by a supervisor and returned to full duty. E-mail to a friend . | Partygoer used make-up to darken skin, went as escaped prisoner .
Acting Immigration chief judged costume contest .
Congress told photos destroyed before Julie Myers' confirmation hearings .
CNN got photos through Freedom of Information Act request . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4a70f83728ee66801be719df00060cda4c25817f"} | 1,148 | 56 | 0.54759 | 1.690956 | 0.91646 | 1.422222 | 22.266667 | 0.755556 |
(CNN) -- Hazardous materials teams are still cleaning up a toxic chemical spill from a train derailment in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Saturday that forced 3,000 people from their homes. Lafayette Police Sgt. Billy Soileau carries Ke'Iveion Solomon 2, as he helps evacuate children Saturday. "Hazmat says that clean up is moving quickly and on track," Lafayette police said Sunday in a statement. Two train cars leaked highly corrosive hydrochloric acid after the six-car train jumped the tracks Saturday about 2:30 a.m. CT (3:30 a.m. ET), according to police. The chemical spill caused a toxic cloud to form above the site. Lafayette authorities evacuated about 3,500 homes and businesses -- including a nursing home -- within a mile of the derailment location. Watch traffic detoured from cloud » . The Red Cross opened a shelter at Carencro High School for residents to stay Saturday night, while another 40 to 50 families were put up at hotel rooms, police said. Residents will be allowed to return home once the spill is contained and no longer dangerous, said Joe Faust, a spokesman for BNSF Railway, which operates the train cars. Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless solution of hydrogen chloride in water often used in metal cleaning and electroplating. Exposure to it can irritate the skin, said Lt. Craig Stansbury of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office. People exposed to the substance are urged to seek medical attention. Residents outside the evacuation area were advised to close windows and doors and turn off air conditioning to avoid any contamination. Lafayette is about three hours west of New Orleans. | Train cars leaked corrosive hydrochloric acid after a Saturday derailment .
Chemical spill caused a toxic cloud to form above Lafayette site .
Exposure to the chemical can irritate skin .
Lafayette authorities evacuated about 3,500 homes and businesses . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "dcfc0e6ff732124026991e89d50727876f50351f"} | 372 | 61 | 0.653433 | 1.735194 | 1.254102 | 4.511628 | 7.023256 | 0.930233 |
If you're like us, you eat out more than ever -- and, as nice as it is to not have to cook, those meals out can actually feel like work. How do you navigate the minefields of huge portions, hidden fats, and sky-high sodium levels? Olive Garden's Venetian Apricot Chicken has 448 calories and 11 grams of fat. You shouldn't have to resign yourself to paying for restaurant meals with a future cardiac risk. You just need to know where to go to find healthy, fresh food. To that end, we went out into the world of sit-down restaurants, looking to separate the (whole) wheat from the chaff. Backed by an advisory panel of experts in healthy dining, we sifted through 43 chains with more than 75 locations across the country and, frankly, were astonished by how many restaurants made no nutritional information available. Health.com: Meet Health's experts . But judge we did those brave (and progressive) enough to share their numbers. What you hold in your hands are the 10 that stood at the top of the heap. Uno's Chicago Grill . If you haven't been to your local Uno's recently, you're in for a great surprise. Sure, its famous deep-dish (read high-fat) pizzas still hold court, but nutrition has become the word of the day with a completely transfat-free menu and plenty of grilled entrees (including antibiotic-free chicken). Adding to the healthy variety: whole-grain pasta and brown rice, organic coffee and tea, and flatbread pizzas that have half the calories of deep-dish ones. Plus, you can add a salad to your pizza for half-price because, according to the menu, "We want you to get some greens in your diet." Now that's a blue-ribbon commitment to health. Another reason Uno's is at the top of our list: You know what you're eating. In the lobbies of most of the restaurant's locations, there are Nutrition Information Centers that detail ingredients, fat and sodium contents, and calories and fiber of every item, in addition to gluten-free options. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at Health magazine's restaurant choices » . • Danger zone: Deep-dish pizzas can pile on the fat. • We love: The Penne Bolognese -- just 16 grams of fat (well within the daily recommended max of 65 grams of fat for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet). Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes . Can a buffet-style restaurant -- that symbol of American overindulgence --possibly be one of the healthiest restaurants in the country? It can in this case, because this salad-soup-and-bakery eatery (Southern California locations are named Souplantation, everywhere else they're called Sweet Tomatoes) uses produce so fresh that it's guaranteed to have been "in the ground" 24 hours before it's in a refrigerated truck on its way to the restaurant. At the salad bar you'll find seasonal vegetables like squash and bell peppers, freshly tossed and prepared salads, and a great range of nonfat dressings. San Marino Spinach With Pumpkin Seeds and Cranberries, anyone? This is paradise for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone who's looking for a low-sodium, low-fat, high-nutrient meal outside the home. • Danger zone: Plate overload -- after all, it's all-you-can-eat. • We love: The Tomato Spinach Whole Wheat pasta, a delicious combo of whole grains and veggies. Mimi's Cafe . This cozy café-style restaurant transforms normally less-than-healthy foods into better -- and still tasty -- options: a half-pound cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce (that's right, no bun); the cutely named Naked French Market Onion Soup, served without cheese. Another thing to love is the way that Mimi's clearly steers you toward its healthy options. Its "Lifestyle Menu" points you to low-carb picks like the fish of the day served with fresh steamed veggies. Also, Mimi's keeps portions small, so you can get away with occasionally having one of their more indulgent entrees like the Sweet & Sour Coconut Shrimp (608 calories). Health.com: Healthiest fast-food restaurants . • Danger zone: The "Comfort Classics" page of the menu, with throwbacks like rich (super-high-fat) Chicken Cordon Bleu. • We love: Chicken & Fruit -- grilled chicken and a garden salad, plus wedges of fresh orange, honeydew, watermelon, and cantaloupe. P.F. Chang's China Bistro . Take the best aspects of Asian cuisine -- a combination of fresh vegetables and protein -- surround them with healthy influences such as whole-grain brown rice, wild-caught, sustainable Alaskan salmon, and all-natural chicken, and you have a recipe for delicious, healthy dining. Wok-based cooking (which requires less oil) using soybean oil keeps fat contents low, and less sodium in the sauces rounds out P.F. Chang's healthy take on Chinese food. Special credit goes to their nutritional information being based on the whole entrée, not a single serving like at most places. Health.com: Eat out, without gaining a pound . • Danger zone: Traditional, fat-dense items such as Lo Mein Beef. • We love: Carb-free vegetarian lettuce wraps -- wok-seared tofu, red onions, and water chestnuts with mint and lime, set in lettuce cups. Bob Evans Restaurants . You wouldn't think a restaurant that prides itself on sausage could muscle its way into the top five healthiest restaurants in the country. But Bob Evans scores high on its dinner menu, which has plenty of low-carb, low-fat entrees and alternatives for children and adults (chicken tenders that are grilled instead of fried, potato-crusted flounder, and salmon stir-fry). Look for sides like steamed broccoli florets and fresh fruit, and enjoy old-fashioned family meals in a modern, nutrition-forward way. • Danger zone: Breakfast, where bacon and sausage are kings. • We love: Healthy options on the kid's menu, like slow-roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and glazed baby carrots, and fruit and yogurt dippers for dessert. Ruby Tuesday . If we'd done this survey in 2004, Ruby Tuesday might have won the blue ribbon for printing all its nutritional content right on the menu. It was revolutionary, and, frankly, it didn't last. But the healthy ethos survived in the chain's ingredients: organic greens, hormone-free chicken, transfat-free frying oil, and better-for-you beverages including Jones organic teas and made-to-order drinks like all natural lemonades (think real fruit and juice). It's easy to find the good stuff -- it's highlighted -- and the offerings range from a chicken wrap in a whole-wheat tortilla to broiled tilapia. Health.com: The best independent restaurants . • Danger zone: Comfort-food entrees like Gourmet Chicken Potpie, which piles more than half your daily calories on the plate. • We love: That they've even healthied-up the burgers, offering veggie-and turkey-versions. Romano's Macaroni Grill . This Italian eatery puts its entire menu's nutritional content online, so you know before you go what to steer clear of -- mainly, the massive baked pastas. But what pushed Macaroni Grill onto our best list is its "Sensible Fare" menu, with entrees like Simple Salmon, a grilled fillet sided by grilled asparagus and broccoli. Grazie for whole-wheat penne available as a substitute in any dish. And bravo for including a grilled skinless chicken breast with steamed broccoli and pasta on the kid's menu. • Danger zone: Heavy entrees like spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce. • We love: The delicious Italian sorbetto and biscotti: just 330 calories and 4 grams of fat. Chevy's Fresh Mex . Chevy's makes a big deal out of the "fresh" in its name, and with good reason -- no cans in the restaurant, fresh salsa blended every hour, fresh avocados smashed every day for guacamole, and watch-them-made tortillas. All oils are trans fat-free, and the Mexican-style fare has lots of healthy options including Grilled Fish Tacos. Health.com: America's not-so-healthiest restaurants . • Danger zone: Sodium counts. To get below 1,000 milligrams, you'll need to get those Chicken Fajitas with no tortillas, tomalito, rice, sour cream, or guacamole. • We love: Fresh fish of the day, grilled and served on a skillet with homemade salsa. Olive Garden . Like Macaroni Grill, this Italian eatery has great-for-you options, as long as you keep your wits about you (again, avoid the baked pastas!). Use the olive-branch icon on the menu to find low-fat "Garden Fare" items such as Venetian Apricot Chicken. Even the fries aren't a disaster, because they're done in trans fat-free oil. You can grab some whole-grain goodness, too, by choosing the whole-wheat linguine at dinner as a substitute for any pasta. • Danger zone: The non-olive-branch entrees. Olive Garden provides no nutritional information on anything else on the menu. • We love: The low-fat Capellini Pomodoro (644 calories and 14 grams fat). Denny's . Yes, the home of the Lumberjack Slam and Moons Over My Hammy offers lots of skinny options to counter its fatty mainstays. "Fit-Fare" dishes such as the grilled-chicken-breast salad, and tilapia with rice and veggies, each have less than 15 grams of fat. Denny's also posts full nutritional information on its Web site. Its use of trans fats to cook its French fries kept it from landing higher on our list, but the rest of the fried food is trans fat-free. • Danger zone: Breakfast specials, especially the Meat Lover's Scramble, which is as bad for you as it sounds. • We love: The online nutritional chart has Weight Watchers Food Exchange Values. E-mail to a friend . Enter to win a monthly Room Makeover Giveaway from MyHomeIdeas.com . Copyright Health Magazine 2007 . Additional reporting by Brittani Tingle. | Health magazine names Top 10 chain restaurants for fresh, healthy food .
Writers looked at 43 chains with more than 75 locations across the country .
Experts' favorite: Uno's Chicago Grill, with trans fat-free menu, many grilled entrees . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "ace7f6d9e984397bda16bf441019f1584f036b2a"} | 2,484 | 59 | 0.522184 | 1.426296 | 0.807528 | 3.38 | 40.12 | 0.86 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The office of Muqtada al-Sadr accused Iraqi and U.S. forces of attacking Sadr City on Friday, just hours after the Shiite cleric called for calm in the wake of the assassination of one of his top aides in the southern city of Najaf. Iraqi Sadrists march Friday in the Najaf funeral procession of Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri, top aide to Muqtada al-Sadr. Witnesses and media in the heavily Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, home to the cleric's power base in the capital, reported heavy fighting between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. The witnesses said U.S. aircraft had been bombarding the area for hours, and media reported rockets slamming into houses and many casualties. Witnesses and al-Sadr's office said mosques were making loudspeaker announcements about Mehdi Army attacks on U.S. military armored vehicles. U.S. troops working in support of Iraqi soldiers killed two snipers, two other men firing rocket-propelled grenades and "multiple others from a nearby building where soldiers were taking RPG and machine gun fire," the U.S. military said in a statement. At the same time -- about 9 p.m. -- at least six roadside bombs damaged vehicles in a U.S. Army convoy that was transporting barriers for a group of Iraqi Army soldiers establishing a checkpoint, the military said. Afterward, the military said, the Iraqi and U.S. soldiers were attacked by small-arms, machine-gun and RPG fire from buildings overlooking the road. The soldiers fired back at their attackers, killing at least four of them. More explosions from the buildings indicated possible arms and munitions stored there, the military said. But the small-arms attack continued until the U.S. forces fired two rounds from an M1A2 Abrams tank, killing two more attackers. Not long afterward, the U.S. Air Force, operating an unmanned aerial vehicle, fired a Hellfire missile at three men spotted setting roadside bombs, killing all three. Maj. John Gossart, executive officer of the American unit involved, said that no U.S. or Iraqi troops were seriously hurt. Earlier, al-Sadr issued remarks about the killing of Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri, who was shot outside his house in Najaf's Adala neighborhood after returning from Friday prayers. "The hands of the occupiers and their collaborators have treacherously reached our beloved martyr Sayyed Riyadh al-Nuri," al-Sadr wrote in a statement on the Web. Al-Nuri is one of 17 people killed over 24 hours in airstrikes, fighting and attacks in areas wracked in recent weeks by fighting among Shiites. The assassination prompted an immediate vehicle ban in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, anger among mourners and an intensification of fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued a statement deploring the killing and ordering an investigation. Al-Sadr issued remarks about the killing in a statement on a Web site. Spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi emphasized that the cleric is not accusing anyone in particular of the killing but believes that the killers "are the ones who are following the occupiers' steps and don't want stability for the country." But al-Obeidi called the killing an "act of provocation" after the "siege of Sadr City." He was referring to the battles since Sunday involving members of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and Iraqi security forces dominated by a rival Shiite political movement, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. That fighting started with an offensive in Basra and spread to other Shiite regions, including Sadr City and the Babil provincial capital of Hilla. The al-Nuri assassination prompted officials to expand the daily curfew in Hilla. Police said a ban on all outside movement that usually begins at 11 p.m. and ends at 8 a.m. will instead start at 8:30 p.m. Violence continued Friday in several places in Iraq. Suicide bombings killed at least four people -- three of them police -- and wounded 15, officials said. The first bombing was in Ramadi, the provincial capital of the predominantly Sunni Anbar province west of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. At least three national police officers were killed and five wounded, the official said. The second attack took place at a checkpoint about 20 km (12 miles) north of Baiji, according to police, who said the bomber and one other person were killed and 10 were wounded. The casualties were members of a local Awakening Council who were manning the checkpoint, police said. The suicide bomber was driving a pickup carrying sheep. Awakening Councils, or Sons of Iraq, are made up of Sunnis who have turned on al Qaeda in Iraq. Also, at least three people were killed and five wounded in a mortar attack on Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, an Interior Ministry official said. The Palestine Hotel -- across the Tigris River from the International Zone, the heavily guarded seat of U.S. power in Baghdad -- is in the path of many of the rockets and mortars aimed at the zone. The U.S. military has blamed Iranian-backed Shiite militants for recent mortar and rocket attacks in Baghdad and International Zone, also known as the Green Zone. Unmanned aerial vehicles targeted and killed six suspected insurgents in Basra on Friday and six "heavily armed criminals" in northeastern Baghdad on Thursday night, the U.S. military said. Watch the Baghdad drone attack » . The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have consistently said they have not been targeting specific groups in their recent battles in Shiite areas. Iraqi and U.S. government officials say they differentiate between Mehdi Army members obeying al-Sadr's seven-month cease-fire pledge and "gangs," "criminals" or "outlaws" who aren't obeying al-Sadr's orders. The intra-Shiite fighting in Iraq that has killed hundreds of people in the past two weeks has involved two main movements: members of the Mehdi Army militia loyal to al-Sadr, and Iraqi security forces dominated by the chief political rival of the Sadrists, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. Many of those security forces had been integrated into police and army units from the council's Badr Brigade militia. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Yousif Bassil and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report. | NEW: U.S. troops kill two snipers, two other men firing rocket-propelled grenades .
Army says U.S., Iraqi patrol came under fire setting up checkpoint .
Muqtada al-Sadr blames U.S., calls for calm after top aide killed in Najaf .
Mortar attack kills three at Palestine Hotel across from International Zone . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "6f12c9d47e70bfa86d72685d018ddd1161157e8e"} | 1,622 | 95 | 0.527718 | 1.445975 | 0.733491 | 3 | 19.112903 | 0.806452 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Taliban in Afghanistan -- whose government was toppled by U.S.-led forces after the September 11 attacks in 2001 -- has strengthened its military and technical capabilities even while suffering heavy combat losses, says a State Department report released Wednesday. Afghan policemen stand Wednesday outside the ruins of a house destroyed during clashes with Taliban insurgents. "The Taliban-led insurgency remained a capable, determined, and resilient threat to stability and to the expansion of government authority, particularly in the Pashtun south and east," according to the "Country Reports on Terrorism 2007." The Taliban's information operations have become "increasingly aggressive and sophisticated," and their ability to obtain al Qaeda support and recruit soldiers from the Taliban base of rural Pashtuns is "undiminished," the report says. But new civilian-military counterinsurgency approaches in the east, particularly Nangarhar, have begun to yield successes, the report says. The Taliban is funding its terror activities with money from supporters in neighboring Pakistan and from narcotics trafficking and kidnappings. Kidnappings of foreigners have increased, the report says. The group also has increased its use of improvised explosive devices, and suicide bombings have become more frequent and more deadly, it says. Quoting U.N.-compiled figures, the State Department said terrorists launched about 140 suicide-bomb attacks in 2007. The number of terror attacks in Afghanistan increased from 969 in 2006 to 1,127 last year, and the number of people killed, injured or kidnapped as the result of terrorism rose from 3,557 in 2006 to 4,673 in 2007, the report says. In the face of attacks by the Taliban and related groups on coalition forces and others, Afghanistan has struggled to build a stable, democratic government. However, it has taken steps to build strong relationships with neighboring Pakistan and address problems such as poverty that help fuel terrorism, the report says. The Program for Strengthening Peace and Reconciliation has persuaded more than 5,000 Taliban members and other insurgents to stop their lives of violence, it says. The shifting situation in Afghanistan prompted the top U.S. military officer to say in early April that he is "deeply concerned" about the situation there, and that maintaining troops in Iraq is harming overall U.S. military capabilities. "The Taliban is growing bolder, suicide attacks are on the rise, and so is the trade in illegal narcotics," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States needs more troops to hold areas of southern Afghanistan -- the region of highest concern -- and to train local army and police personnel. The two men testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The United States recently sent an additional 3,500 troops to Afghanistan, but commanders in the region would like 10,000 to 12,000 more, Gates said. He said he doubted NATO would make up the difference. Although 25 NATO allies and 13 other countries have contributed forces, the bulk of the recent fighting in Afghanistan has been done by U.S., Canadian, British and Dutch troops. Canadian troops are based in the southern province of Kandahar, once a Taliban stronghold. E-mail to a friend . | State Department report: Taliban military, technical capabilities stronger .
Taliban called a determined threat to Afghan stability .
Funding comes from Pakistan supporters, narcotics trafficking, abductions .
Number of terror attacks increased from 969 in 2006 to 1,127 last year . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "b32b72e5cf9e133e5be33eccbb2dc9ab5578ae84"} | 743 | 61 | 0.606195 | 1.674495 | 0.848766 | 2.833333 | 12.416667 | 0.833333 |
(CNN) -- He's been described as the Richard Branson of Asian airlines. And he certainly knows a thing or two about building a brand. Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia, spoke to CNN's Andrew Stevens in The Boardroom. In just five years, Tony Fernandes has built Air Asia from a bankrupt local carrier to the region's biggest budget airline -- 18 million passengers will fly the airline this year. CNN's Andrew Stevens talked to Fernandes in Macau to find out why, at the age of 37, he would leave a comfortable job in the music industry to start a new business in the cut-throat, not to mention high risk, aviation industry. Fernandes: Well there's a fine line between brilliance and stupidity, so the second point in a statement that Richard Branson's made is how to become a millionaire, start with a billion and start an airline. Now I was the other way around, I didn't have a billion. So I think that was one of the things, that I didn't have a lot to lose. And I thought I was young enough. I got tired of the corporate life, I got tired of corporate politics. And I saw a business opportunity. Everyone likes to fly. And I think the key number that got me going was only six percent of Malaysians flew. I started looking at the prices of tickets, and to travel from one part of Malaysia to another it was almost someone's one month salary. So that drove me. But I didn't want to be there, you know, at 55, and say I should've done it. Life is about risks, life is about not being afraid to fail. Stevens: But at the time, airlines were going into bankruptcy, oil prices were going through the roof, people were too scared to fly globally, didn't you think, "oh my god I've made the worse decision of my life?" Fernandes: No, I knew Malaysians very well. You put a price low enough, they'd risk their lives. I think also when you start a business the most important thing is does the market want it. And I knew the market wanted it. If that's there, everything is surmountable because people power is strong. Stevens: You like to pluck people from all different walks of life, from all different professions. How do you meld them all together? What's the philosophy underlying this? Fernandes: Well I think, first is that everyone plays a part. There is no hierarchy. Everyone is valuable. I make all my senior management carry bags and things so they appreciate that. Stevens: Do they? Fernandes: Oh yes, they do. Some try to shirk their duties, but it's very hard when they see the CEO doing it -- they have to do it. The second is that everyone's got ability, it's how you bring the best out of them. And that's a very motivating thing. If you see someone who's carrying a bag suddenly flying a plane. That's a very powerful motivator. You can do all the theory and books and promise people the world but when they see it in reality, boy that's a powerful thing to see. Stevens: When Air Asia started, you were known to go down, roll up your sleeves, and really get in with your staff at all levels, do you still have time to do that? Fernandes: I have less time, but I still do it. I think it's fundamental to running my company, because, unless you get down to the floor and see what's happening, you won't make effective decisions. I do it for two reasons. One is, to see what's going on, and to make sure if I'm making the right decisions. And the second thing is, I still want to discover these raw diamonds. Stevens: What's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given? Fernandes: Focus and discipline. Stay focused and disciplined. Stick to a plan, stick to a vision. You change but the vision's still the same. And that came from Conor McCarthy of RyanAir. He has taught me about discipline and focus and I think that's been a really good lesson for me. E-mail to a friend . | Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia, talks to CNN's Andrew Stevens .
He turned Air Asia into the region's biggest budget airline .
Fernandes is known for joining in with staff at all levels . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "0ae5e35dc2844afc251d082d8d5ef4be8edce58c"} | 971 | 52 | 0.489249 | 1.439755 | 0.689418 | 3.853659 | 20.609756 | 0.878049 |
(CNN) -- Aruban authorities questioned Joran van der Sloot in the Netherlands about the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, the Aruban prosecutor's office said Friday. Joran van der Sloot awaits transfer from the Netherlands to Aruba in November. He later was released. It happened less than a week after a Dutch television program aired video footage showing the young man saying he was with the missing Alabama teenager when she died. During the two-hour interview with Aruban investigators, van der Sloot again denied any role in Holloway's vanishing, the prosecutor's office said in a written statement. Van der Sloot said that he was under the influence of marijuana when he was secretly videotaped saying that he was with Holloway when she died, and that he arranged for a friend to dump her body in the ocean, the statement said. On the video, which aired Sunday, van der Sloot also says that he wasn't sure Holloway was dead before a friend disposed of her body. Patrick van der Eem, a man who feigned friendliness toward van der Sloot, recorded the conversations on hidden cameras installed in the Range Rover he was driving, according to the report that aired Sunday. Watch how the video has renewed interest in the case » . Shortly after the video was made public, an investigative judge said that enough evidence exists to reopen the inquiry against the Dutch college student, but denied a prosecution's request that van der Sloot be detained. Hans Mos, the Aruban prosecutor, is appealing that decision, and a three-judge panel will rule on it "after this weekend," Mos said. Watch Holloway's father say van der Sloot should 'come clean' » . Earlier this week, Dutch authorities executed several search warrants at van der Sloot's current and former residences, a source close to the investigation said. They took a hard drive and a laptop computer, the source said. Van der Sloot's attorney, Joe Tacopina, told CNN that the video did not show a "confession" and said that van der Sloot is innocent. The college student is willing to answer "any questions" investigators ask, Tacopina said. Earlier this week, he told ABC that much of what was on the video is "easily disprovable based on corroborative evidence. ... The fact of the matter is he still is not responsible. The evidence -- not Joran, the evidence -- says he's not responsible for Natalee's death." Holloway, 18, was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving an Oranjestad, Aruba, nightclub with van der Sloot, Deepak Kalpoe and his brother, Satish. Mos dropped charges against the three men in December, saying he couldn't be sure of a conviction. See a timeline of the case » . Holloway was visiting Aruba with about 100 classmates celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama. Holloway failed to show up for her flight home the following day, and her packed bags were found in her hotel room. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Tracy Sabo contributed to this report. | The two-hour interview takes place in the Netherlands .
Joran van der Sloot again denies any role in Natalee Holloway's disappearance .
Says he was under the influence of marijuana when he was secretly videotaped .
Footage shows van der Sloot saying he was with Holloway when she died . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "ffb817ce85d7c19720ebbf0b43b01d0da61e9c06"} | 763 | 81 | 0.589111 | 1.787425 | 0.43793 | 4.232143 | 10.642857 | 0.875 |
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine pleaded guilty Friday to abusive sexual contact with a child under 16, bringing to a close a criminal case that stoked outrage in Japan, a Marine spokesman said. Protesters turned out in March after the rape allegations surfaced. The Marine pleaded guilty to charges Friday. Staff. Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott was sentenced to four years of confinement, said First Lt. Judd Wilson, a Marine spokesman in Okinawa, Japan. The Marine Corps withdrew several other charges, including rape of a child, kidnapping and making a false official statement, Wilson said. Japanese police arrested Hadnott in February on charges alleging that he raped a 14-year-old junior-high school student. He saw her while riding his motorcycle, offered to give her a ride and later assaulted her at a park, the police said then. The case stirred outrage at the highest levels of the Japanese government. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda deplored the incident as "unforgivable." The Japanese Foreign Ministry lodged an official protest with the U.S. government. And Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said the offense "violates the rights of women" and that "this is a crime that we should not accept." The Japanese authorities released Hadnott after the girl withdrew her allegations, but the Marine Corps conducted its own investigation. The Marines charged Hadnott with rape of a child, abusive sexual contact, making a false official statement, adultery and kidnapping. More than 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, most of them on Okinawa. The U.S. military presence has at times bred resentment among locals, who have long complained about crime, noise and accidents. Anti-American sentiments boiled over in 1995, after three American servicemen kidnapped and gang-raped a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl. Two years ago, a U.S. civilian military employee was jailed for nine years for raping two women. The Marine Corps said in a statement on Friday that it does not tolerate sexual assault. "We remain committed to maintaining an environment that rejects sexual assault and attitudes that promote such behaviors," the statement said. | U.S. Marine pleads guilty to abusive sexual contact with a child under 16 .
Staff. Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott is sentenced to four years confinement .
The Marine Corps withdrew several other charges, including rape of a child . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "9bfd6a5beb4e8dec59ba6d805dc9349a401da51d"} | 554 | 66 | 0.562933 | 1.534506 | 0.563336 | 7.068182 | 9.181818 | 0.931818 |
(CNN) -- Cristiano Ronaldo missed an early penalty as Manchester United earned a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium on Wednesday night. Cristiano Ronaldo sent his penalty attempt wide as United failed to take an early lead at the Nou Camp. The Portugal winger, the top scorer in this season's competition, spurned the chance to net for the 39th time overall this campaign and give United a vital away goal. The 23-year-old hit the stanchion high outside goalkeeper Victor Valdes' left-hand post in the third minute after Gabriel Milito handled his header from a Paul Scholes corner. It was United's best chance in a game dominated by the home side, who had the best of possession with some silky moves but failed to find the killer pass in the final third of the pitch. United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar made a string of saves, especially in the second half, but was not often seriously tested. Barcelona were boosted by the return of Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who started alongside Samuel Eto'o up front, with Thierry Henry on the bench after also being cleared following an illness. Messi picked out Samuel Eto'o in the 13th minute only for midfielder Scholes -- making his 100th Champions League appearance -- to make a vital interception. Barcelona pressed forward again in the 21st minute and Rafael Marquez got clear of his marker but his header failed to trouble Van der Sar, who was back in the side following a groin injury. Then Yaya Toure showed good skill for the home side and sent a good cross into the area that was turned away by Van der Sar. Ronaldo felt he should have had another penalty in the 30th minute when he was bundled over by Marquez after Xavi had carelessly lost possession, but Swiss referee Massimo Busacca allowed play to continue. Eto'o rattled in a shot after 34 minutes but Wes Brown -- who passed a late fitness test to replace the ill Nemanja Vidic in central defense -- made a vital block. Brown partnered Rio Ferdinand, with England midfielder Owen Hargreaves operating as a makeshift right-back. Deco, starting his first game for Barcelona after two months out with injuries, then failed to test Van der Sar with a free-kick in the 38th minute. Marquez was booked in the 44th minute after tripping Ronaldo as he attempted to surge forward, meaning the Mexican is suspended for next Tuesday's second leg at Old Trafford. Ronaldo sent his effort from an acute angle wide of the post. After the break, Messi saw his effort blocked in the 47th minute and then Van der Sar tipped over defender Gianluca Zambrotta's long-range effort. Messi beat three United players but Ferdinand cut out his low cross from the right, then he played in a superb ball for Eto'o -- who lashed his shot against the side-netting. Deco tested Van der Sar with a low drive, then the Dutchman easily dealt with a 20-yard effort from Xavi. Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard took off Messi in the 62nd minute, replacing him with teenager Bojan Krkic, who scored the winner in the first leg of the quarterfinal against Schalke. A foul on the Serbian-born Spaniard drew a yellow card for Hargreaves in the 73rd minute, then United boss Alex Ferguson bolstered his midfield by bringing on Nani for England forward Wayne Rooney -- who had started up front with Carlos Tevez. Rijkaard responded by replacing Deco with Henry in the 77th minute, and the French forward forced a scrambled save by Van der Sar with a long-range shot on 83. Ferguson brought on veteran winger Ryan Giggs for Tevez soon after, then Van der Sar denied Andres Iniesta and also dived to comfortably save Henry's free-kick from 35 yards. Barcelona continued to press until the final whistle, but still could not create a clear-cut opportunity. E-mail to a friend . | Manchester United earn 0-0 draw away to Barcelona in first leg of semifinal .
United's top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo misses penalty in the third minute .
Barca dominated Champions League tie but could not breach United's defense .
Goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar made several saves but not seriously tested . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "dc7f4527bf654918c7a4bb19179949ecd5982c0f"} | 944 | 71 | 0.498492 | 1.290685 | 0.905191 | 2.155172 | 12.793103 | 0.844828 |
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- The commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's Force 47 told reporters in Bogota Monday -- a day after surrendering -- that "the solution is not through war. There must be dialogue." Nelly Avila Moreno, center, alias Karina, is escorted by soldiers after surrendering. Nelly Avila Moreno, 45, whose nom de guerre was Karina, said she and her longtime male companion made the decision jointly to abandon the FARC group, based in the jungle, at 5 a.m. Sunday. She said pressure from Colombian soldiers had been key to their decision, and she called on her fellow rebels to follow her example. "I invite them to change the sensibility that is among the guerrillas," she said, seated by her companion, who said nothing during the news conference. She also had a message for the Colombian people: "It is important to do something for peace in Colombia, and that need to do something is precisely one of my motivations." After 24 years with the FARC, Karina said she wants to reintegrate with society. "At this moment, what I am thinking about is reuniting with my family and with all of society," she said. Karina said she had had no contact with the group's leaders for the past two years. During that time, she said, "I was trying to stay alive." She said she knows nothing about the group's leaders, because "everything in the FARC is very compartmentalized." Still, she did hear through the news media about the killing by another member of FARC of Ivan Rios, a member of the group's central high command. "We suffered a very strong blow," she said. She acknowledged that news led her to worry about the possibility that one of her fellow guerrillas might consider doing the same thing to her. "A person has a lot of combatants alongside, but you don't know what each one is thinking," she said. Asked about news reports of guerrilla operations she may have participated in, Karina admitted to nothing. "They accuse me of a lot of things I wasn't part of," she said. But Miguel Antonio Paez told CNN en Espanol that he remembers well the woman who, with a band of guerrillas, stopped the bus he was on in 2004 in northwest Colombia, ordered him and the other passengers off and the bus be burned. "The commander of that guerrilla group -- a dark-haired woman, tall, with one eye missing -- called herself Karina," he said. "She ordered me tied up. Here, I have the marks from the wires, and there, while I was tied up, she lopped off my penis and testicles and I remained castrated for all my life." Asked specifically about the killing of the father of President Alvaro Uribe in 1983, she said she did not know who carried out the act, and added, "I don't have my hands stained in that deed." She said that with her surrender have come new fears about possible retribution from FARC loyalists, who consider her a traitor. Wearing a red sweatshirt and what appeared to be a diamond earring in her left ear, she said she once believed the FARC would rule Colombia. "I once dreamed of that," she said. Gen. Mario Montoya, chief of the army, said two Colombian air force helicopters were sent Sunday to pick up Karina and her companion, who had given authorities their general location. "With this, we have given a confounding strike to the FARC structure," particularly to Front 47, which at this point is practically dismantled," he said. Since the killing of Rios, 45 members of the group have laid down their arms and accepted a government plan for reinstallation into society, he said. "We want to send a message to all members of FARC who persist in the mountains," he said. "To tell them, what Karina has done is the road all the members of FARC should go down. If they don't, we are going to continue combating them. Today, more than ever, I invite them to lay down their arms, take the plan. We don't want them dead. We want them alive." | Rebel "Karina" and her male companion surrender .
Karina was a commander of Colombian rebels .
She says, "The solution is not through war. There must be dialogue"
She says she fears possible retribution from FARC loyalists . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "c60e77736087bc85b372a28b4724aae6dcf0b052"} | 985 | 62 | 0.502888 | 1.462056 | 1.009973 | 3.729167 | 17.270833 | 0.854167 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Al Qaeda is still operating within Pakistan's mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and the United States lacks a "comprehensive" plan for meeting its national security goals there, said a U.S. government study released Thursday. A Pakistani policeman watches over a border area in February 2008. Despite the United States providing $10.5 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, the Government Accountability Office said it "found broad agreement ... that al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven" in Pakistan's Federally Administrated Tribal Areas. Of the $10.5 billion in U.S. aid, more than half -- $5.8 billion -- was specifically provided for the tribal region, the GAO said. Furthermore, the report said, "No comprehensive plan for meeting U.S. national security goals in FATA has been developed, as stipulated by the National Security Strategy for Combating Terrorism [in 2003], called for by an independent commission [in 2004] and mandated by congressional legislation [in 2007]." "Our report does not state that the U.S. lacks agency-specific plans; rather, we found that there was no comprehensive plan that integrated the combined capabilities of Defense, State, USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development], the intelligence community," GAO said. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, U.S. officials said intelligence indicated that Osama bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda leaders, who had been based in Afghanistan before the attacks on New York and Washington, were operating in the tribal region. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has denied that claim and has said that U.S. military missions there would violate Pakistan's sovereignty. So, since 2002, the United States has "relied principally on the Pakistan military to address U.S. national security goals" in that region, the GAO report said. Of the $5.8 billion the United States provided for aid in the tribal region, 96 percent of it reimbursed Pakistan for military operations there, the agency said. Two of the eight lawmakers who commissioned the GAO report, Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, said it indicated a failing on the part of the Bush administration. "The Bush administration has had six years to come up with a plan to get Osama bin Laden and his group, but it is still flying by the seat of its pants," Menendez said in a statement. "We've dumped 10 billion American taxpayer dollars into Pakistan with the expectation that the terrorists will be hunted down and smoked out, but al Qaeda has been allowed to rejuvenate in the area that is supposed to be locked down," he said. Harkin called the report's findings "appalling." "The White House must propose a strategic policy in this area and follow it, especially when we have this new opportunity to forge a fresh strategic relationship with the new civilian government in Pakistan," he said in a statement. The Defense Department said it agreed with the report's findings, according to letters attached at the end of the GAO report, but the State Department disagreed with them, saying there was a comprehensive plan in place. A letter from Kathleen Turner, a spokeswoman for the office of the Director of National Intelligence, said that office and the National Counterterrorism Center concurred with the report's assessment that the United States has not met its national security goals in the tribal region but maintained that there was a plan in place. USAID said that it generally agreed with the report's recommendation for a comprehensive plan but that work in the tribal areas should be guided by the Pakistani government's own FATA Sustainable Development Plan from 2006. E-mail to a friend . | Al Qaeda has "succeeded in establishing a safe haven," GAO says .
Report says there is no comprehensive U.S. plan for reaching security goals .
Democratic critic says report is "appalling," blames administration . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "e0953e2de7cf286ac1d87a41c62e37f21b7c7564"} | 846 | 57 | 0.529444 | 1.510606 | 0.668967 | 2.095238 | 16.952381 | 0.809524 |
(GameTap.com) -- Everyone wants to be more physically fit, but the toughest thing is finding motivation -- the motivation to get started, the motivation to keep going, the motivation to push yourself to the next level. A man tries out the Wii Fit at a Nintendo launch party in Central Park, New York City. Wii Fit doesn't try to motivate you with before and after photos. It doesn't try to motivate you with testimonials from fitness gurus. It doesn't even offer you three easy payments. But it does entice you to get into shape by making working out look like fun. And that it does very well. In fact, Wii Fit might be some of the most fun you can have by just more or less standing still, which must make it about as mass market friendly as any video game product ever was. Wii Fit requires a Wii, of course, and it comes bundled with a balance board. But the entire setup doesn't take up much space, and the board is no eyesore, either. Unlike a bathroom scale that's usually squirreled away in a closet or shoved into the corner of a bathroom, looking at it doesn't make you feel guilty. Designed to fit in with Japanese living rooms, where space is usually at a premium, the balance board is sleek and elegantly designed. iReport.com: Send us your Wii Fit review . It conveys cool Asian style with a streamlined appearance. It's something you wouldn't mind having in your living room at all. One thing about Nintendo: They know how to make hardware that's rugged but easy on the eyes. Getting started with Wii Fit is a snap, but you might have to get some bad news out of the way first. The balance board connects to the Wii through a Wi-Fi connection. You stand on it and use the Wii remote to record your height and age. The balance board then registers your weight. From those figures, Wii Fit calculates your body mass index (BMI), a standard metric many doctors use to determine a person's overall fitness, which you can track over time. Oddly, however, there's no easy way to just use the scale to see your weight without recalculating your BMI each time. The Wii Fit-ness program is organized into 48 activities divided among four general areas: yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance games. You can choose to work through all four in one session or just concentrate on one. If you've never tried yoga before, working through the 15 positions here are as good an introduction as any. All of them are done with at least one foot on the balance board, so Wii Fit can measure how centered you keep your body. Yoga is a great way to stretch muscles and joints out and to work on overall flexibility. As meditative as this physical activity would seem, you'll feel the burn even before you reach any of the advanced forms. Once you're loosened up a little with yoga, you might move on to aerobics. The majority of these nine activities are basically variations of hula hooping, jogging in place, and simple step aerobics. The one exception is rhythm boxing, which you unlock later on. By turning these aerobic challenges all into minigames, Wii Fit entices you to keep working on them to earn better scores and ratings. With the hula hoop, for example, you have to stand on the board and grind your hips to keep a virtual hoop twirling. Later, you have to "catch" tossed hoops, and then keep them all twirling, too. Wii Fit sets a mellow, steady pace for all its aerobic challenges, but it still manages to make your heart pump. If just the words "push" and "ups" makes you break out in a sweat, then you've probably already surmised that strength training contains some of the most physically demanding Wii Fit workouts. The torso twist and rowing squat are easy, but push-ups, planks, and even the lunges will show you what you're made of. The push-ups in particular make you work extra hard. You do push-ups with your two hands on the board, but because it's 17 ½ inches wide, people over six feet tall or with broad shoulders might find themselves with their hands positioned inside their shoulder width. While it's certainly a worthwhile goal to build up to, it's difficult to snap off a set of push-ups from that position. The balance games require you to just apply pressure to the board through your feet. Skiing slaloms and ski jumping are fairly straightforward, but you can also walk a tightrope or try to float down a river inside a giant bubble. All of these are simple and fun, and they really do make you aware of how well you maintain good posture and keep your balance. However, they are also short and very limited in the variety of levels and layouts. Could you do all these exercises and balance activities right now without Wii Fit? Sure you could. But would you? That's where the Wii Fit balance board comes in. Just like the Wii itself, it just looks like something you'd like to try out. But once you take that first step onto it, you might find yourself on the way to becoming more fit. READ about video games. WATCH video game news. PLAY complete, original console, arcade and PC games - FREE! Visit GameTap.com. Copyright: TM & © 2007 Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. A Time Warner Company, or its licensors. Patent pending. All Rights Reserved. GameTap is part of the TURNER YOUNG ADULT NETWORK. | Entire 'Wii Fit' setup doesn't take up much space, and the board is no eyesore .
Wii Fit calculates your body mass index (BMI), a metric many doctors use .
Program organized into 48 activities divided among four general areas .
People over 6 feet tall or with broad shoulders may find some activities difficult . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "8b6f228661fd5f3170dc2c2e6b353e1d6c3859ec"} | 1,304 | 79 | 0.507723 | 1.67619 | 1.00024 | 7.439394 | 16.575758 | 0.893939 |
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Police imposed a curfew in Jaipur on Wednesday, a day after near-simultaneous bomb attacks in the ancient Indian city killed at least 63 people and wounded more than 200. Indian women mourn the death of their relatives in the May 13 serial blasts in Jaipur. Vasundhara Raje, chief minister of Rajasthan -- the state of which Jaipur is the capital -- blamed an "unnamed international terror group" for the attack, but said it was too early in the investigation to specify which one. H.G. Ragavendhra, Jaipur's superintendent of police, told CNN that police found nine newly-purchased bicycles at the scene, and think they were used to carry the explosives. The owner of the bike shop is helping police draw a sketch of the person who purchased them. Police have also picked up six suspects and were questioning them. Jaipur, known as the "pink city" for its rose-colored forts and palaces, is a popular tourist attraction. The majority Hindu city of 2.7 million people has a sizable Muslim population. The day-long curfew, authorities said, was meant to prevent "communal violence." It was intended to prevent large crowds from gathering at the blast site and hampering the investigation, said Jaipur police director Kanhaiya Lal. Also, tempers could flare as mourners spend the day carrying bodies to their home villages and to crematoriums, he said. Home ministry officials suspect the Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) of being behind the attacks, according to CNN's sister network CNN-IBN and the Press Trust of India. No one has claimed responsibility. In the past, officials have blamed attacks within its borders on "foreign" Islamic extremist groups fighting against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. It is a term that is commonly understood to refer to Pakistan. Kashmir has been the source of bitter dispute and two wars between India and Pakistan. Both control parts of the region, which is predominantly Muslim. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attacks. See the aftermath of the explosions. » . Raje told reporters Wednesday that the military had been placed on alert and security tightened around the borders of the state, the western edge of which lies next to Pakistan. She also took to task the central government, saying it had provided no advance warning about the possibility of such an attack. Furthermore, Raje said, the central government left a state-proposed organized crime bill unapproved for two years. The bill would have allowed local police more leeway to interrogate suspects plotting attacks, she said. On Tuesday evening, eight bombs tore through crowded markets and a packed Hindu temple in Jaipur's walled city. The blasts went off within a 12-minute span and within 500 meters (0.3 miles) of each other. Police defused a ninth bomb. The Jaipur blasts bear an eerie resemblance in its pattern to a deadly attack two years ago in India's financial capital, Mumbai. In July 2006, more than 200 people were killed when seven explosions targeted commuter trains in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. In that incident, the explosions went off within a span of 11 minutes. Both attacks used RDX, one of the most powerful kinds of military explosives, and ammonium nitrate, an oxidizing agent in explosives. And both attacks took place during the evening hours and on Tuesdays. The Jaipur blasts occurred near the temple on a day when devotees pray to Hanuman, the Hindu monkey king. Nearby markets and bazaars that were also targeted were filled with tourists and locals. In the Mumbai attack, the blasts were timed to go off during the height of rush hour. And authorities said the bombs all appeared to have been planted on trains that left the Churchgate station -- used daily by thousands of commuters in the metropolis of more than 11 million people. Indian officials blamed Pakistan's intelligence services and a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, for the attack. Pakistan, which banned Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in 2002, denied any involvement. The Jaipur blast has one more element in common with yet another deadly attack: the use of bicycles. Just as on Tuesday, assailants used bombs strapped to bicycles in an attack at a mosque in the western Indian city of Malegaon in September 2006. At least 33 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in that explosion, which took place on a Friday -- when the mosque is filled with Muslim worshippers. That attack was also blamed Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. Authorities have not connected the Jaipur blast to any previous attacks. HuJi -- or the Movement of Islamic Holy War -- is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. It is banned in neighboring Bangladesh, where it is accused of carrying out several attacks, including a foiled plot to kill the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2000. And it has been blamed for several attacks inside India, including one at the American Center in Calcutta that killed five policemen in 2002. India ranks among the countries where terrorism is most common, the U.S. State Department said. "The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, attacks by extreme leftist Naxalites and Maoists in eastern and central India, assaults by ethno-linguistic nationalists in the northeastern states, and terrorist strikes nationwide by Islamic extremists took more than 2,300 lives this year," the agency said. CNN's Tess Eastment and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report. | Police impose a curfew in Jaipur day after bomb attacks kill at least 63 people .
Local Indian official blames "unnamed international terror group" for blasts .
Bombs explode within 12 minutes of each other, 200 people also wounded .
Police suspect bicycles may have been used to carry the bombs . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "2f482e021caf07e2f07baf111c36d1587758f188"} | 1,298 | 75 | 0.521966 | 1.417556 | 0.762655 | 2.465517 | 18.017241 | 0.87931 |
DELHI, India (CNN) -- India is on high alert after a series of near-simultaneous explosions killed at least 60 people and wounded 150 others in a top tourist spot, government and local officials told CNN-IBN. An injured man rests at Swai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur. Bicycles and rickshaws were strewn about the streets, with pools of blood nearby, in the northwestern city of Jaipur. Motorcycles, pieces of which were found at nearly every bomb site, appear to have been used in the attacks, said Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Indian government officials -- including Minister of State for Home Affairs Shriprakash Jaiswal -- were quick to label it a terrorist attack. The eight explosions started at about 7:30 p.m. (1400 GMT) and detonated within 12 minutes of each other, police said. The bombs exploded within about 500 meters (0.3 mile) of each other in Jaipur's old city, which is frequented by tourists. See the aftermath of the explosions. » . An ninth bomb was defused, according to H.G. Raghavendra, a Jaipur city official. He described all the bombs as "medium intensity." "There is no reason to panic," he told CNN-IBN. "Everything is under control." One blast struck near Hanuman Temple, which was crowded with Hindus worshipping Hanuman, the religion's monkey god. Another struck near a market area inside Jaipur's walled city where tourists and locals frequent restaurants and shops. Jaipur, known as the "pink city," is about 260 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of India's capital, New Delhi. Many of the casualties were taken to SMS Hospital, the largest government hospital in Jaipur. People gathered outside the hospital to hear news about friends and relatives; the hospital issued an urgent appeal for blood donations. The state of Rajasthan, where Jaipur is located, was placed on alert, local officials said. Delhi police officials said they too were on high alert after the blasts and were receiving regular updates from Jaipur on developments in the investigation. The Deputy Chief Minister for the state of Maharashtra, R.R. Patil, said the entire state was also on high alert. Mumbai is in the state of Maharashtra. The attack was immediately condemned by the United States. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the attacks were "quite clearly an act intended to take innocent lives." He told reporters at his daily briefing that Washington was still collecting information, and could not "offer insight into who may be responsible." According to the U.S. State Department, India ranks among the countries where terrorism is most common. "The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, attacks by extreme leftist Naxalites and Maoists in eastern and central India, assaults by ethno-linguistic nationalists in the northeastern states, and terrorist strikes nationwide by Islamic extremists took more than 2,300 lives this year," the agency said. It said India's counterterrorism efforts "are hampered by outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems," and described the country's court system as "slow, laborious, and prone to corruption." | Eight quickfire explosions kill at least 60 people in northwest Indian city .
Bombs explode within 12 minutes of each other, 150 people also wounded .
Explosions within a small radius in Jaipur's old city, popular with tourists .
Motorcycles appear to have been used in the attacks, state minister says . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "dc8ce4207b91a323bf6e2fbab889efeed22aa428"} | 744 | 71 | 0.56083 | 1.43853 | 0.921314 | 3.491525 | 10.20339 | 0.813559 |
(CNN) -- South Korea's new president has pledged to donate his salary to the underprivileged. South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak says he would donate his salary to help the underprivileged. Lee Myung-Bak made the pledge during an unscheduled meeting with reporters Sunday in the press room of his presidential office, the state news agency reported. The president said he would donate his salary during his entire five-year term. Lee is a former CEO of an engineering and construction company with a vast personal fortune. As mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2004, Lee donated his salary to the children of street cleaners and firefighters. "I promised to spend my whole salary earned as a public official on public welfare," Lee told reporters. "My plan to donate the presidential salary to the underprivileged is an extension of that promise." The news agency did not say how much the president earns in a year. During the election campaign, Lee, 66, vowed to donate his entire personal fortune of more than 30 billion won ($30.2 million) to the poor. He said at the time he would keep only a retirement house in Seoul. E-mail to a friend . | South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak says he will donate his salary to help the poor .
While mayor of Seoul, he donated salary to children of street cleaners and firefighters .
Lee is a former CEO of an engineering and construction company . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "22a9005fe99c5dd536a4f41de4eb59d4f633ef9e"} | 257 | 56 | 0.688801 | 1.6991 | 0.489367 | 6.416667 | 4.791667 | 0.916667 |
(CNN) -- Forbes' list of the world's wealthy has named Warren Buffett the richest person on the planet, surpassing his friend and philanthropic partner Bill Gates who had held the title for 13 consecutive years. American investor Warren Buffett has been named world's richest person. The American investor and philanthropist is worth an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago thanks to surging prices of Berkshire Hathaway stock, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's billionaires. Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is now ranked as the world's third richest person. At $58 billion, his net worth is up $2 billion from a year ago. Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu was named the world's second richest man, with a net worth of around $60 billion, up $11 billion since last March. For the first time, Forbes' rich list named more than 1,000 billionaires from around the world, with 226 newcomers. The total net worth of the group is $4.4 trillion, up $900 billion from 2007. Watch who's up and who's down » . This year's survey finds an increasing number of the world's richest coming from emerging markets, including China, India and Russia. Two years ago, 10 of the top 20 billionaires were from the United States. This year, there are only four. India is now home to four of the 10 richest people in the world, the highest number for a single country. But the United States still holds the top spot as the country with the most billionaires -- Americans account for 42 percent of the world's billionaires and 37 percent of the total wealth, according to Forbes. With 87 billionaires, Russia is now in second place, overtaking Germany, with 59 billionaires, which had held that position for six years. It is also a record-breaking year for young billionaires, with Forbes listing 50 billionaires under the age of 40. Check out the youngest billionaires » . Over half of them are self-starters, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and India's Sameer Gehlaut, who started online brokerage Indiabulls. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, age 23, was called "quite possibly the world's youngest self-made billionaire ever." E-mail to a friend . | Forbes crowns American investor Warren Buffett as world's richest person .
After 13 years on top, Microsoft's Bill Gates drops to number three position .
Russia replaces Germany as No. 2 country with 87 billionaires .
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg may be youngest self-made billionaire in history . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "1b00b2d2edef396855ad392f08a6e74550af569b"} | 527 | 70 | 0.617644 | 1.476919 | 1.281318 | 2.017544 | 7.947368 | 0.789474 |
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It's midnight on the streets of Atlanta, and bar owner Rufus Terrill patrols his neighborhood with a rolling crime fighter of his own creation. Meet "Bum-bot," as Terrill describes it; others in his neighborhood call it simply, "Robocop." This former BBQ smoker is armed with a water gun to chase off bums and drug dealers in downtown Atlanta. It's a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet. Operated by remote control, the robot spotlights trespassers on property down the street from his bar, O'Terrill's. Using a walkie-talkie, Terrill belts out through the robot's loudspeaker, "That's private property. You guys need to get out of here." Terrill is chasing out unsavory-looking characters from a street corner that resembles a drug dealer's dream at night. More than 20 suspicious people were seen huddling in the dark in the front driveway and side parking lot on this night. Some were seen openly making drug deals. Watch "Bum-bot" in action » . But during the day, it's where young children frolic on a nearby playground at a the Beacon of Light Daycare Center in downtown Atlanta. It has become a nightmare for day care operator Lydia Meredith. "This whole square is enveloped with homeless people and drug dealers, defecating, urinating, prostituting -- the whole nine yards. And the overflow of that behavior, we get to cleanup every morning," she says. Meredith says people often toss used syringes and condoms onto the playground. Terrill, an engineer by trade, is also a board member at the day care center. Tired of cleaning up after the shady characters, he decided to take action. That's when he built his downtown Darth Vader of sorts. "He's a neighborhood vigilante," says Meredith, "and when he came up with this -- you know, I call it Robocop -- I said, 'Praise God.' " The daycare center is a block from a homeless shelter. Meredith has a security guard at the center who leaves in the early evening. "They know when the guard leaves," she says. "They know when the cleaning crew leaves and then here comes the drug dealers to prey on the homeless people." Anita Beatty, the director of the shelter, is suspicious of the barbecue-smoker robot. "I just think the whole 'Robocop' spraying people is a little freaky. We really need some police protection in this neighborhood. I think it's confusing the issue. I think the issue is homeless people. They are being confused with the folks who prey on them and sell them drugs," she says. Atlanta police patrol the area, but say it's difficult to stay on top of the large number of people who roam the streets in the area late at night. Police Major Lane Hagin says the robot is definitely a different crime-fighting idea. "There's no problem with the robot going up and down the street or being visible or any of the other things it does -- with the exception of spraying water on people." Hagin adds, "Then, it becomes an assault no matter where it happens." So far no one has filed charges against Terrill or the robot. But one homeless man who declined to give his name followed Terrill and his robot down the street and laughingly told him, "I know about you. I can sue you for assault." Terrill says he's not hurting anyone and often sprays the water to the side of loiterers as a ploy to get them to move on. He's also not about to back down. "If you're throwing condoms out on the side of the playground, if you're throwing needles, you're throwing crack pipes out there, I'm not going to let those kids be out there like that. I'm going to stop you." Terrill bought his bar four years ago knowing nothing about the restaurant business. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Georgia in 2006. He's had ongoing problems with people breaking into his bar and stealing things, but it was the day care center problems that spurred him on to create the robot. Some of Terrill's bar patrons say they've seen a difference in the neighborhood. Susanne Coe lives nearby. "I've seen a marked change simply with this robot that doesn't have any power of arrest. It does scare people and to be honest with you I'm grateful for it," she says. On this night, as Terrill and his robot make their way to the street corner, he shines the robot's spotlight on the parking lot of the daycare center. One by one, the shadowy figures stand up, walk away and saunter down the street. "Ninety-nine percent of the time, when I go up there and once I turn the spotlight on and I talk to them through the speaker, they leave," he says. E-mail to a friend . | Atlanta bar owner converts BBQ smoker into robot to chase off drug dealers, others .
"Bum-bot" is armed with a water gun and loudspeaker .
Cops frown upon spraying water at bystanders, say it could be assault . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "9b43472077873c45e7f278418885ad028eb993e3"} | 1,200 | 60 | 0.524553 | 1.673035 | 0.762726 | 2.391304 | 21.717391 | 0.826087 |
(CNN) -- A video showing the last moments of a Polish immigrant, who died after Canadian police shot him with a stun gun at Vancouver International Airport, has been made public. This image from video shows an agitated Robert Dziekanski, left, before police used a stun gun on him. Robert Dziekanski, 40, was traveling to join his mother, who lives in British Columbia, when he ended up spending about 10 hours in the airport's arrivals area, The Canadian Press said. The video shows Dziekanski, who had never flown before, becoming agitated. It then shows Mounties purportedly shocking Robert Dziekanski with a Taser device after confronting him. Dziekanski did not speak English. The recording was captured by bystander Paul Pritchard on October 14 and was in police hands until he threatened legal action and it was returned to him last week, The Canadian Press reported. Watch as police stun man with Taser » . "Probably the most disturbing part is one of the officers uses his leg and his knee to pin his neck and his head to the ground," Pritchard told CBC News. The dead man's mother, Zofia Cisowski, told CBC News that Tasers should not be used by police. "They should do something because that is a killer, a people killer." The incident is being investigated by police, Canada's national police complaints commission and by the coroner, CBC News reported. E-mail to a friend . | Man died after Canadian police shot him at Vancouver Airport on October 14 .
Polish immigrant became agitated after being left waiting at airport for 10 hours .
Flight was first time he had been on a plane; he spoke no English .
Incident, captured on video by a bystander, is being investigated by authorities . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "281347d0e99bc099d6991a6a60e30dc13d558216"} | 342 | 75 | 0.592127 | 1.562925 | 0.771632 | 1.677419 | 4.467742 | 0.774194 |
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Before Monday, Eliot Spitzer was a rising star in the Democratic Party -- his squeaky-clean image as a corruption buster led to his being mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate and possibly even a future White House contender. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer arrives with his wife Monday for a press conference. Now, after federal investigators have linked the New York governor to a top-dollar prostitution ring, political advisers are split over whether Spitzer has any political future at all. "There's no way he can survive it," said Ed Rollins, a Republican political consultant and adviser to former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. "All the facts aren't out there, but as they're being reported, there's no way you can survive. "Not only is he a hypocrite, he may also end up being a charged felon." On Monday, Spitzer publicly apologized for an undisclosed personal matter. He did not specifically mention the prostitution sting, nor did he resign. Watch Spitzer's apology » . The apology came four days after federal prosecutors announced the arrests of four people in an international prostitution ring that charged clients up to $5,500 an hour. A source with knowledge of the probe said that wiretaps in the case identify Spitzer as an unnamed client who met a prostitute on February 13 at a Washington hotel. Many political professionals said they were stunned by Monday's developments regarding Spitzer, a man who once made a name for himself going after organized crime and Wall Street corruption as New York's attorney general. "Obviously, the facts are going to come out in the next several days and the story will be told," said Robert Zimmerman, a political adviser and Democratic National Committee member. "But if the facts are as we suspect, it's very hard to imagine him staying in office." But James Carville, a CNN political analyst and onetime adviser to former President Bill Clinton, said Spitzer could hold on to his position if the scandal remains strictly about sex -- or if it's revealed that his political enemies were responsible for leaking the story. Carville mentioned other high-profile politicians who have weathered sex scandals, including Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after his arrest in a men's room sex sting, and his own former client, President Clinton. "All of us remember the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the immediate rush to judgment," he said. "A lot of people said, 'How could Bill Clinton survive a scandal like that?' Yet, he managed to survive. "If it's not a financial or monetary thing involved, I don't know." Watch a discussion of Spitzer's political future » . On a more personal level, Dina Matos, the estranged wife of former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey -- who resigned after an alleged affair with a male political aide -- said Spitzer should step down whether he thinks he can salvage his political career or not. McGreevey, who announced he is gay and is now attending an Episcopalian seminary, and Matos are in the midst of divorce proceedings. Matos said "was very difficult for the family" when her husband tried to hang on to the governor's office for several months after stories about the relationship with the aide surfaced. "I thought Gov. Spitzer was going to announce his resignation today," Matos told CNN's "Larry King Live." "By not doing so, he's only prolonging the pain and and anguish and humiliation for his wife and family." Watch responses to the question: Will Spitzer have to resign? » . If Spitzer resigns, Lt. Gov. David Paterson would complete his term in accordance with the New York state constitution. Paterson, 53, is the highest-ranking African-American elected official in New York state. Paterson, who is legally blind, is a leading advocate for the visually and physically impaired. E-mail to a friend . | N.Y. governor, a hard-charging ex-prosecutor, falls far amid link to prostitution .
"There's no way he can survive" scandal, GOP consultant and adviser says .
Ex-Bill Clinton adviser: He has a chance if scandal's enemy-driven or only about sex .
Estranged wife of ex-N.J. governor says Spitzer should resign to spare family grief . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "703d248cce913a6036347aabd2ba011a7f660bf4"} | 956 | 103 | 0.58867 | 1.850304 | 0.828423 | 1.72 | 10.226667 | 0.706667 |
(CNN) -- Mormon leader Gordon B. Hinckley died Sunday night at age 97, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced. Gordon B. Hinckley, 97, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Sunday. Hinckley had "been in failing health for some time and his passing is due to age," said church spokesman Bruce Olsen. "He was speaking in public as late as two to three weeks ago and had a full schedule in his office as late as last week." Hinckley became president of the Salt Lake City-based church in 1995, at age 84, and had been a member of its top leadership since the 1960s. Mormon church presidents serve for life. The church has about 13 million members worldwide and has experienced 5 percent annual growth in recent years. He died about 7 p.m. Sunday with his family by his side, church officials said. "His life was a true testament of service, and he had an abiding love for others," said U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and fellow Mormon. "His wit, wisdom, and exemplary leadership will be missed by not only members of our faith, but by people of all faiths throughout the world." Hinckley married Marjorie Pay at the Salt Lake City temple in 1937. They had five children, 25 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren. Marjorie Hinckley died in 2004. "I've been blessed so abundantly that I can never get over it," Hinckley told CNN's Larry King in 2004. "I just feel so richly blessed. I want to extend that to others, whenever I can." Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Mormon church. President Bush awarded him a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. Watch Hinckley receive medal, share his views » . According to a church statement, Hinckley was the most-traveled president in the church's history, visiting more than 60 countries. He also oversaw a massive temple-building program, doubling the number of temples worldwide to more than 100. Hinckley spent 70 years working in the church and is considered the architect of its vast public relations network. He worked to defuse controversies over polygamy and to promote full inclusion of nonwhites. Mormons believe the president of the church is a living prophet and apostle. They considered his words divinely inspired, including his views on homosexuality and the role of men and women in the home. "We are not anti-gay. We are pro-family, let me put it that way," Hinckley told King in 2004. "We love these people and try to work with them and help them. We know they have a problem. We want to help them solve that problem." In an earlier interview with King, Hinckley laid out his views on family structure. "Put father at the head of the house again," he said. "A good father, who loves his wife and whose wife loves him, and whose children love him ... and let them grow together as good citizens of the land." A church body known as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles becomes its governing body upon the death of a president. It will choose a successor after Hinckley's funeral. No arrangements have been announced, Olsen said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Matt Smith, Ed Payne and Ninette Sosa contributed to this story. | Hinckley was president of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1995 .
The Church will choose a successor after Hinckley's funeral .
Hinckley died at about 7 p.m. with his family by his side . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "517b86691dda04f41123354c1b7a7bfe1290eadc"} | 781 | 58 | 0.622053 | 1.542744 | 0.212872 | 5.428571 | 15.833333 | 0.952381 |
DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose White House aspirations went into a nose dive last summer, clinched the Republican Party's presidential nomination Tuesday night with a sweep of GOP contests in four states. "I am very, very grateful and pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a great sense of responsibility, that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States," McCain told supporters in Texas. CNN estimates that McCain has amassed 1,195 delegates to the GOP's September convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, four more than the 1,191 needed to claim the party's nomination. "Now, we begin the most important part of our campaign: to make a respectful, determined and convincing case to the American people that our campaign and my election as president, given the alternative presented by our friends in the other party, is in the best interest in the country that we love," McCain said. "The big battle's to come," he said. "I do not underestimate the significance nor the size of the challenge." Watch McCain address supporters after sweeping Tuesday's contests » . McCain's last leading rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, bowed out of the race after his projected losses in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont and urged his supporters to back the Arizona senator in November. "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been but now what must be, and that is a united party," Huckabee said. Watch as Huckabee ends his presidential bid » . Claiming the title of presumptive nominee will give McCain a head start on the general election campaign while Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still locked in a battle for their party's title, said Alex Castellanos, a GOP strategist and CNN contributor. Allocate delegates yourself and see how the numbers add up » . "Tomorrow, he can get started," Castellanos said. "He'll have the [Republican National Committee] behind him. He'll have a broad base of financial support. It's a big step. Meanwhile, it looks like the Democrats are engaged in the land war across Russia, so he's got a big advantage now." Both Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, and Obama, the first-term senator from Illinois, called McCain on Tuesday night, campaign officials said. Obama told McCain he looks forward to running against him in the fall, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. McCain is slated to go to the White House on Wednesday to receive the endorsement of President Bush, according to two Republican sources. The Arizona senator's campaign -- his second run for the White House -- was largely written off last summer amid outspoken opposition from the party's conservative base, a major staff shakeup and disappointing fundraising. But the former Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war rebounded with wins in January's primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, the state where his first presidential bid foundered. "There were times, obviously, when my political campaign was not viewed as the most viable in America, as you probably know," he told reporters in San Antonio earlier Tuesday. "In fact, I was reminded of the words of Chairman Mao, who said it's always darkest before it's totally black." McCain's fortunes also rebounded as U.S. commanders in Iraq credited the 2007 launch of a campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces with a sharp decline in American and Iraqi casualties. The senator had been one of the most outspoken advocates of the shift and has blasted his potential Democratic rivals for calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the widely unpopular war. "This is a man with a lot of trials in his life," said former Education Secretary William Bennett, a CNN contributor. "He's had a lot of downs; he's been up, and this is a big up." McCain has been turning his fire on the Democrats, for whom Tuesday's races in Ohio and Texas are seen as pivotal. See scenes from Tuesday's voting » . But Democrats have been pounding McCain over his January comment that he would be satisfied if U.S. troops remained in Iraq for 100 years, as long as the insurgency there died down. And Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has attacked his reputation as a reformer over the past week, accusing McCain of trying to evade federal spending limits by opting out of public financing after using the promise of federal funds to obtain a bank loan and automatic ballot access for his primary campaign. Dean told CNN on Tuesday that McCain "really is the focus of what we're doing now, in terms of his ethics problems and his problems with the war and his problems with the huge deficits that they've run up on the Republican side." In 2000, McCain upset then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the New Hampshire primary by touting "straight talk" and his record as a Republican maverick. Bush came back in South Carolina amid a divisive and bitter campaign that left McCain denouncing leaders of the party's religious conservative wing as "agents of intolerance," and Bush went on to win the presidency. Since then, McCain has enraged conservative leaders by opposing Bush's signature tax cuts, co-sponsoring the campaign finance reform law that now bears his name and supporting a controversial White House-backed plan to offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. But their support was spread among a fractured GOP field, and their main standard-bearer, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, quit the race after a disappointing showing in February's Super Tuesday primaries. Exit polls in Texas and Ohio found that about three-quarters of Republicans would be satisfied with McCain as their nominee, however. Those surveys found that the economy was the top issue for GOP voters in both states -- and by a wide margin in Ohio, which has seen a sharp decline in manufacturing jobs in the past decade. Although national security issues are a strong suit for McCain, Castellanos said he might need some help if a weakening economy is the central issue in November. "It's never been Sen. McCain's strength," Castellanos said. He said McCain would need to make the case that "I'm going to grow this economy; Barack or Hillary, they're going to grow government." McCain had amassed 1,047 delegates before Tuesday, according to CNN estimates. At stake in Tuesday's contests were 256 delegates, allocated on a winner-take-all basis by statewide or congressional district results. E-mail to a friend . CNN correspondent Dana Bash and political editor Mark Preston contributed to this report. | CNN projects McCain wins Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont .
Huckabee withdraws from race for GOP nomination .
CNN: McCain had amassed 1,047 delegates before Tuesday .
McCain campaign was largely written off last summer . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "7b361feeebfb078b80831d40d2ad8640c361e049"} | 1,547 | 56 | 0.463865 | 1.286988 | 0.503006 | 2.837209 | 30.511628 | 0.883721 |
(CNN) -- Austrian investigators Monday released more details about the elaborate underground cellar where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned for 24 years, along with three of their children. Josef Fritzl admitted to authorities he raped his daughter and fathered her children. Investigators believe Fritzl planned to build the cellar as early as 1978, shortly after, according to his daughter, he began raping her at age 11 or 12, said police spokesman Franz Polzer. The 73-year-old Austrian began building the dungeon as part of an addition to his home that year, and simply added the hidden space -- which was not recorded in any building plans -- Polzer said. It took Fritzl until 1983 to finish the addition, Polzer said. Investigators recently discovered another door to the dungeon prison, which was blocked by a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) steel and concrete door that Fritzl probably stopped using when he later constructed an electronic door for a second entrance, Polzer said. Fritzl, who police believe was the only one with access to the cellar, had to travel through an elaborate maze to get to the prison. "You would have to open up a total of eight doors, and ... (for the) last door which would go into this space (where the family was imprisoned), you would also have to use electronic opening apparatus," Polzer said. "We will have to find out perhaps later from now if perhaps there are other spaces we haven't discovered yet, and perhaps maybe there is something else interesting." Fritzl was recently arrested and confessed to holding his daughter, Elisabeth, captive in the dungeon under the Fritzl home for decades, repeatedly raping her and fathering seven children -- six of whom survived. Three of the children were adopted by Josef Fritzl and his wife after he concocted the ruse that Elisabeth had left the babies on their doorstep. The story of the family's imprisonment began to unravel more than two weeks ago, when one of the children still in the dungeon, 19-year-old Kerstin Fritzl, fell seriously ill with convulsions. The father agreed to take her to a hospital, the first time she was allowed out of the prison where she had spent her entire life with her mother and two brothers. Dr. Albert Reiter, who is treating Kerstin, said Monday that while her condition is still "grave," it "has improved somewhat." "She has become more stable, but despite that we have to continue to keep her under sedation and give her respiratory help," Reiter said, noting it is not clear how long she will be kept under sedation. Elisabeth and her two sons were reunited with her mother, Rosemarie, who police say knew nothing about the basement prison. They were also reunited with the three children that Josef had taken from Elisabeth. The reunited family is living in secluded quarters at a psychiatric clinic, where they are finding a daily routine and adjusting to sunlight -- something the two boys had never seen -- according to the clinic's chief doctor. "The mother and the smallest child have, in just the last couple of days, increased their sensitivity to light," Dr. Berthold Kepplinger said. "So we have been able to equip them with protective sunglasses." Five-year-old Felix is "getting more and more lively," Kepplinger said. "He's fascinated by everything that he sees around him -- the fresh air, the light, and the food -- all of these things are helping them," he said. "Slowly the color of their skin is changing back to a more normal (shade)." He also said the family members are still getting to know each other and live together as a family. Kepplinger praised Elisabeth for having provided a daily living routine for her children during their captivity. He said the family is getting into a new routine in which the mother and the grandmother make breakfast for the family, and the children make their beds. However, he said there is a noticeable difference between the pace of life of the children held in captivity and that of those who grew up in Fritzl's home. He said the mother, Elisabeth, takes breaks and naps several times a day. The health of the family members is satisfactory and hospital staff have been able to let more and more light into the rooms where the family is staying, Kepplinger said. Kepplinger said the children, after being confined to a small space their entire lives, are finding it increasingly easy to be in larger spaces. Initially the dungeon where Fritzl held his daughter was only 35 square meters. In 1993, around the time Elisabeth was pregnant with her fourth child, Fritzl decided to add to the dungeon, building another room that increased the entire living space of the family to about 55 square meters. On Wednesday or Thursday, prosecution authorities will attempt to question Fritzl -- who is no longer talking to police following his initial confession, state prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek said. A warden at the St. Poelten jail, where Fritzl is being held, told CNN that Fritzl appears to be doing well, but he is refusing to go on walks outside the building where he is detained. E-mail to a friend . | NEW: Hospitalized incest daughter's condition is grave but stable, police say .
Fritzl imprisoned and raped daughter, also fathered her children, police say .
Wife of Josef Fritzl was too scared to question him, her sister says .
Fritzl's wife focused on keeping family healthy, according to her sister . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "7d8e196095e4561ee4f01c650101f5591fce4a8d"} | 1,218 | 82 | 0.490402 | 1.483809 | 0.085486 | 1.229508 | 16.47541 | 0.770492 |
BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- The man, blindfolded and handcuffed, crouches in the corner of the detention center while an Iraqi soldier grills him about rampant crimes being carried out by gangs in the southern city of Basra. Iraqi authorities say this man has confessed to killing 15 girls, including a 9-year-old. "How many girls did you kill and rape?" the soldier asks. "I raped one, sir," the man responds. "What was her name?" "Ahlam," he says. Ahlam was a university student in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra. The detainee said the gang he was in kidnapped her as she was leaving the university, heading home. "They forced me, and I killed her with a machine gun, sir," he says. The suspect, who is unshaven and appears to be in his 20s or 30s, was arrested by Iraq security forces after they retook most of Basra in April. CNN was shown what authorities say was his first confession. On it are the names of 15 girls whom he admitted kidnapping, raping and killing. The youngest girl on the list was just 9 years old. Basra turned into a battleground between warring Shiite factions vying for control of the country's oil-rich south after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Basra's streets teemed with Shiite militias armed with weapons, mostly from Iran, according to the Iraqi forces and the U.S. military. Watch a mom describe her three sons killed » . For four years after the invasion, Basra was under the control of British forces, but they were unable to contain the violence and withdrew in September last year. Women bore the brunt of the militias' extremist ideologies. The militants spray-painted threats on walls across Basra, warning women to wear headscarves and not to wear makeup. Women were sometimes executed for the vague charge of doing something "un-Islamic." In the wasteland on the outskirts of Basra, dotted with rundown homes, the stench of death mixes with the sewage. Local residents told the Iraqi army that executions often take place in the area, particularly for women, sometimes killed for something as seemingly innocuous as wearing jeans. Militias implemented their own laws with abandon, threatening stores for displaying mannequins with bare shoulders or for selling Western music. Many store owners are still too frightened to speak publicly. But the horrors of militia rule are now surfacing as some residents begin to feel more comfortable speaking out. Inside her rundown home, Sabriya's watery eyes peer out from under her robe. She points to the first photo of one of her sons on the wall. "This one was killed because he was drinking," she says. She draws her finger across her neck and gestures at the next photo. "This one was slaughtered for his car." "This one the same," she adds, looking at the third. Her three sons, her daughter and her sister were all killed by the hard-line militia. Her sister was slaughtered because she was a single woman living alone, Sabriya says. "They came in at night and put a pillow on her face and shot her in the head," she says. Sabriya lives on what was once dubbed "murder street" for the daily killings that happened there last year. On the day CNN visited, dozens of young men sat where there used to be piles of bodies. Sheik Maktouf al-Maraiyani shudders at the memory. "Every day, we would find 10 or 15 of our men killed," he says, adding sorrowfully "one of them was my son." His son was 25 years old. Now, "murder street" is part of a citywide effort to get Basra back on its feet. In a project funded by U.S. forces, Sheikh Maktouf and others are being paid $20 a day and upwards to clean up trash. Watch the transformation of 'murder street' » . Basra may be part of the country's oil-rich south, but it wallows in its own sewage and trash. The stench of filth is impossible to escape. The effort also helps with the massive unemployment plaguing the city. British forces officially handed over responsibility of Basra to Iraqi forces in December. "The situation was so bad because the security forces were controlled by the militias," says Brig. Gen. Aziz al-Swady, who commands the 14th Iraq Army Divison. To help curb the violence, British troops have returned to the city, adopting the U.S. approach of embedding with Iraqi units as advisers. The Iraqi prime minister also has flooded the city with additional troops, bringing in soldiers from western Iraq along with their American advisers. "Now the citizens have started to trust the Iraqi security forces," said al-Swady. The biggest difference is that residents are starting to leave their homes, something unthinkable just a few months ago. At one of the parks in the city this past weekend, a father named Al'aa was out with his three young children and his wife. "It's the first time that we have dared to come here in two years," he said. The park was once often used for executions. Everyone, residents and soldiers alike, knows the battle for Basra is not over. Militias still lurk in the shadows, and the security gains may not last without economic gains. "The most important thing, our government must focus on finding jobs, different jobs for these people," says Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Azawi. | Residents of Basra have begun telling stories of militia massacres .
Mom says one son was killed for drinking alcohol, two others slain for their car .
Authorities: Man admits to killed 15 girls, including one 9 year old .
Dad in park says, "It's the first time that we have dared to come here in two years" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "ae03390949407f55c8d8f794896af3020d180b12"} | 1,328 | 79 | 0.461641 | 1.529359 | 0.230842 | 4.735294 | 15.764706 | 0.823529 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama raised more than $40 million from more than 442,000 donors in March, his presidential campaign announced Thursday. Sen. Barack Obama greets campaign volunteers during a stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wednesday. More than 218,000 of the donors were giving for the first time, the campaign said. The figures are estimates, a campaign spokesman said. "We're still calculating." Sources in Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign said the New York senator raised $20 million in March. Impressive as the $40 million figure is, it is well below the $55 million Obama raised in February. Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, raised about $35 million in February. Political analysts say this kind of fundraising power catches the attention of voters. "They add to the so-called 'bandwagon effect' -- the sense that Obama is building, that he's going to be the nominee," said Stu Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report. With its March totals, the Obama campaign has raised approximately $234 million, which surpasses the Democratic record of $215 million that 2004 nominee Sen. John Kerry raised in that presidential primary season. Obama is $25 million shy of President Bush's presidential primary fundraising record of $259 million, set in his uncontested campaign in 2004. Obama raised $194 million through the end of February. Official fundraising tallies for March are due to the Federal Election Commission by April 20. Clinton raised $156 million through the end of February. The Clinton campaign said Thursday morning it would not release March figures until required to file its FEC report, two days before the critical Pennsylvania primary April 22. But later, campaign sources provided the figures, which show March to be Clinton's second-highest fund-raising month for the campaign. A Clinton spokesman downplayed the importance of Obama's fundraising total. "We knew that he was going to out-raise us. He has out-raised us for the last several months," Howard Wolfson said after Obama's figures were released. "We will have the resources that we need to compete and be successful in the upcoming primary states." Wolfson also said he expected Clinton's tax returns to be released soon. Clinton pledged March 25 she would release her returns within a week. Sen. John McCain, the expected Republican nominee, raised $11 million in February. He has not announced his March total. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand and Rob Yoon contributed to this report. | NEW: Sen. Clinton raised $20 million in March, campaign sources say .
Clinton camp says her tax returns will be released soon .
More than 442,000 donors contribute to Sen. Barack Obama's, campaign says .
Number is below record $55 million Obama raised in February . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4160464d3fcba547cb1664e54ce51ad06f78b773"} | 544 | 60 | 0.66658 | 1.6171 | 0.673828 | 2.909091 | 8.890909 | 0.836364 |
(Mental Floss) -- We all want to live forever. But, chances are, you'd rather forego a legacy altogether than have your name be synonymous with a goofy flub like a spoonerism or a dim-witted word like "dunce." You can find a saint under tawdry in the dictionary. For the following eponyms, we ask: Did these word-inspiring folks really deserve their drag through the linguistic mud? 1. Dunce . Dictionaries don't play fair, and John Duns Scotus is proof. The 13th/14th-century thinker, whose writings synthesized Christian theology and Aristotle's philosophy, was considerably less dumb than a brick. Unfortunately for Scotus, subsequent theologians took a dim view of all those who championed his viewpoint. These "Scotists," "Dunsmen," or "Dunses" were considered hairsplitting meatheads and, eventually, just "dunces." 2.(slipping a) Mickey . When you have to drug somebody against their will (hey, you gotta do what you gotta do), it just wouldn't sound right to slip 'em a Ricardo, a Bjorn, or an Evelyn. It's gotta be a Mickey. At the turn of the 20th century, Mickey Finn was a Chicago saloon owner in one of the seediest parts of town -- and he fit right in. Finn was known for serving "Mickey Finn Specials," which probably included chloral hydrate, a heavy sedative. After targeted customers passed out, Finn would haul them into his "operating room" and liberate them of all valuables (including shoes). Never a Host of the Year candidate, this Mickey seems to have thoroughly earned his legacy, so don't hesitate to use it the next time you drug and rob your own customers. 3. Spoonerism . Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844--1930) was famous for his muddled one-liners. And though it's hard to know which ones he actually said, lines such as "I have a half-warmed fish" and "Yes indeed, the Lord is a shoving leopard" still prove that the sound-switching flub is pretty charming as far as mistakes go. The spoonerism has even been used as a literary technique by poets and fiction writers, giving Spooner little reason to roll over -- or otherwise inarticulately protest -- in his grave. 4. Lynch . Although several Lynches (not including David) have been investigated by inquisitive etymologists, Virginia native Charles Lynch (1736--1796) is most likely the man behind the murderous word. Lynch was a patriot, a planter, and a judge. But when he headed a vigilante court to punish Tories (British loyalists) during the American Revolution, he decided to play the roles of jury and executioner, too. Lynch has more than earned his besmirched name. In fact, he did half the besmirching himself by egotistically referring to his actions as "lynch law" and "lynching." 5. Shrapnel . While battling Napoleon's army, English General Henry Shrapnel (1761--1842) noticed that original-flavor cannonballs just weren't massacring enough enemies for his liking. So, to get more shebang for his shilling, he filled the cannonballs with bullets and exploding charges. These "shrapnel shells," or "shrapnel-barrages," were pretty darn effective, and later designs proved even more successful in World War I. Shrapnel didn't get much credit for the "innovation" during his lifetime, but he ultimately contributed to enough death and misery that he pretty much deserves to be synonymous with a violent, metallic byproduct of combat. 6. Draconian . A Lexis-Nexis news search shows that folks are still talking about "draconian policies," "draconian penalties," and, most frighteningly, "draconian sex rules." Though Athenian lawgiver Draco is not entirely confirmed to have existed, if he were real, then around 621 B.C.E., he instituted two time-honored traditions: 1) writing laws down and 2) making laws that were batcrap-insane . They include ascribing the death penalty to such atrocities as being lazy, whizzing in an alley, and stealing an apple. Apparently, he justified his measures with a sort of non-logic along the lines of, "Jaywalkers deserve to die, and I can't do anything worse to mass murderers. So what're you gonna do?" 7. Boycott . In a nutshell? Boycott got boycotted. Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832--1897) was a retired English army captain who claimed his unwanted fame in 1880 when the Irish Land League decided to punish him for not lowering his rents. This then-new strategy, which was a mere paragraph in the Russian-novel-size saga of Irish land reform, was a kind of systematic shunning in which Boycott was cut off from servants, supplies, mail, and lifestyle free of death threats. He might have been an evil landlord, but if Boycott could see just how successful his name became, he'd probably be a very sad, regretful, evil landlord. 8. Tawdry . The story of St. Audrey (also known as St. Etheldreda) is a classic example of how bad names happen to good people. St. Audrey was the daughter of the king of East Anglia (then the Norfolk section of Anglo-Saxon England), who lived a monastery-founding, self-abdicating life. But, when she died of the plague in 679, she was sporting a pretty nasty-looking tumor on her neck, which gossipmongers blamed on her penchant for wearing audacious necklaces in her youth. After her death, silk scarves called "St. Audrey laces" were sold in her honor at Ely's annual St. Audrey's Fair. Then the British tendency for dropping letters and syllables took over, and Audrey became "tawdry." It was a short trip from there to the dictionary, and tawdry has been synonymous with gaudy ever since. 9. Chauvinism . Nicolas Chauvin was an early 19th--century French soldier who was so patriotic and nationalistic, he gave patriotism and nationalism a bad name -- or at least a new name. A slave to the cult of Napoleon, Chauvin shed his fair share of blood for the emperor. How did Napoleon show his appreciation? By giving Chauvin a ceremonial saber, a ribbon, and a pittance of a pension. Later, however, French dramatists began basing über-patriotic characters on Chauvin, which paved the way for the soldier's ultimate reward: a dubious spot in the English language. E-mail to a friend . For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved. | Some awful words named after real people .
Tawdry named for St. Audrey who wore audacious necklaces .
Draconian came from lawyer who wanted lazy put to death .
General Henry Shrapnel built more deadly cannonballs . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "72b396634cc46f29b5ef146a61073ee7e7fa3cdc"} | 1,718 | 60 | 0.229886 | 0.749664 | 0.080721 | 0.902439 | 31.219512 | 0.609756 |
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry on Thursday endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, saying the senator from Illinois is a "candidate to bring change to our country." "Barack Obama isn't just going to break the mold," said Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate four years ago. "Together, we are going to shatter it into a million pieces." The senator from Massachusetts made the announcement in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Charleston, South Carolina, 16 days ahead of the state's Democratic primary. Kerry said he was stirred by the way Obama "eloquently reminded us of the fact that our true genius is faith in simple dreams and insistence on small miracles." Watch Kerry explain why he's picking Obama » . The endorsement could be seen as a blow to former Sen. John Edwards, who was Kerry's running mate in the 2004 election. Edwards also is vying for the Democratic presidential nomination this year. The endorsement shouldn't come as a surprise to Edwards, who was publicly critical of Kerry's campaign after the earlier election. Following news of the endorsement, Edwards released a statement saying he respects Kerry's decision. "When we were running against each other and on the same ticket, John and I agreed on many issues," Edwards said. "I continue to believe that this election is about the future, not the past, and that the country needs a president who will fight aggressively to end the status quo and change the Washington system and to give voice to all of those whose voices are ignored in the corridors of power." Kerry made an oblique reference to the other candidates in the race "with whom I have worked and who I respect" in his speech Thursday. "They are terrific public servants, and each of them could be president tomorrow, and each would fight to take this country in the right direction, but I believe that more than anyone else, Barack Obama can help our country turn the page and get America moving by uniting and ending the division that we have faced," he said. A source suggested senator's support for Obama will be a big boost because Kerry "remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party and [has] an e-mail list with millions of addresses." In an e-mail sent to the JohnKerry.com community Thursday, the former presidential candidate said the next president of the United States "can be, should be, and will be Barack Obama." A Kerry spokesman said Obama will be sending out a note to Kerry's e-mail list, which was created during the 2004 run and numbers 3 million. Obama on Wednesday picked up endorsements from two key unions in Nevada, which holds its caucuses January 19. Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Shirley Franklin recently announced her endorsement of Obama, and sources said Thursday that Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota also would back the senator from Illinois. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Candy Crowley and Mark Preston contributed to this report. | NEW: Sen. Barack Obama will bring the country together, Sen. John Kerry says .
Kerry was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 .
John Edwards, also running for the '08 Democratic bid, was Kerry's running mate .
Obama picked up key endorsements from unions in Nevada this week . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "b9b09b290cdf4d74cb64684a6cae8b6832645607"} | 665 | 68 | 0.479319 | 1.32781 | 0.806104 | 1.965517 | 10.172414 | 0.827586 |
(CNN) -- Those battling global warming by promoting biofuels may unintentionally be adding to skyrocketing world food prices, creating what one expert calls "a silent tsunami" in developing nations. The rising prices are "threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program, said on the agency's Web site Tuesday. Sheeran is one of the experts attending a Food summit hosted Tuesday by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, aimed at determining ways to boost food supplies and identify deterrents. Also attending the meeting are scientists and representatives from the European Union and Africa. On the Web site, Sheeran said the increase in food prices is "a silent tsunami that respects no borders." "The world's misery index is rising ... as soaring food and fuel prices roll through the lives of the most vulnerable," she said Friday. The crisis is forcing the organization to look for cuts in aid to some of its recipients, she said. Soaring food prices have triggered violence in some developing countries, and biofuels are bearing at least part of the blame. Producing fuel from plant crops is supposed to be greener than drilling for oil, and biofuels generally burn cleaner, too. But the global biofuels industry now stands accused of a list of side effects that are said to be damaging lives, especially of the world's poorest people. "The drive for more biofuels means more investment is going into those crops, meaning less land and less investment going in for food crops, causing a massive conflict and resulting in rising prices, which is having a huge negative impact, especially on developing countries," said Clare Oxborrow, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth. See why tortilla makers are blaming biofuel for increasing food prices » . Critics also say that in Africa, Asia and South America, people are being driven from their land and forests are being cleared to make room for the booming biofuel industry. The International Food Policy Research Institute says the use of cereals for industrial purposes like making biofuels has risen by a quarter since 2000. Brown said in an article posted on the 10 Downing Street Web site, "We now know that biofuels intended to promote energy independence and combat climate change are frequently energy-inefficient. "We need to look closely at the impact on food prices and the environment of different production methods and to ensure we are more selective in our support. If our UK review shows that we need to change our approach, we will also push for change in EU biofuels targets," he said. "We must also do more to explore the links between climate change and food, and particularly their impact on the livelihoods and vulnerability of the very poorest, who are likely to be most affected by climate change." The meeting he convened, Brown said, is a precursor to the G8 summit of industrial nations, to be held in July, and a special U.N. summit in September. He urged prompt action. "With one child dying every five seconds from hunger-related causes, the time to act is now," Brown stressed. The World Health Organization views hunger as the No. 1 threat to public health around the world, responsible for a third of child deaths and 10 percent of all disease. Douglas Alexander, Britain's International Development secretary, announced Tuesday that Britain has set aside a 455 million-pound [$900 million] aid package to address the food crisis. His agency manages Britain's aid to poor countries with the goal of eliminating extreme poverty. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Phil Black contributed to this report. | Prices mean 100 million people could go hungry, U.N. official says .
Soaring food prices have triggered violence in some developing countries .
Expert says focus on biofuels means less focus on food crop .
World Health Organization views hunger as main threat to public health . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "9e49d58fa5ab7f3e4356cb61337605ac007c49ca"} | 795 | 60 | 0.489643 | 1.290691 | 0.939715 | 3.54902 | 13.823529 | 0.764706 |
(CNN) -- Gasoline prices set a record for the 16th consecutive day Wednesday. A gallon of gas cost an average of $3.62, according to AAA, and much more in some markets. Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister says a boost in U.S. production would startle the world market. All three presidential candidates have weighed in on the issue, and President Bush on Tuesday addressed it during a news conference. John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., the U.S. division of Royal Dutch Shell, addressed rising gasoline prices during an interview Wednesday with John Roberts on CNN's "American Morning." ROBERTS: What do you say to people who are in this budget crunch of trying to fill up the family car? HOFMEISTER: I say we need more gas to be produced in this country. I've been saying that for three years, ever since I took this position [as president of Shell]. If the U.S. set a goal to produce 2 to 3 million barrels more a day in this country, we would send a shock around the world that would immediately say to the speculators, hey, U.S. is serious. President [Bush] said something yesterday about this. I didn't hear him, but I think that's good news. But we should set a specific target. The presidential candidates should be out there on the postings saying let's increase domestic production by 2 to 3 million barrels a day. That would be something that would put money back into this country, jobs back into this country, and it would bring more supply toward the Americans who need it. ROBERTS: The president is advocating more drilling on U.S. territory. Isn't it true that globally we're starting to reach a peak in production and that within maybe a decade or two oil production will begin to decrease? HOFMEISTER: Well, I think there is some argument [that] with convenient, easy oil we will peak sometime in the next decade. I think Shell sees that coming, but in terms of total oil supply to the world, we're a long way from reaching peak oil because it doesn't take into account unconventional oil. I think the president brings up a good point in that we could, we have the available domestic supplies off the coast of Alaska as well as [the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge]. Shell has won $2 billion worth of high bids for the Chukchi Sea -- that's a few years off before we could begin production. But let's remember there's more than 100 billion barrels of untouched oil and gas in this country that is subject to a 30-year moratorium. Now, there's only one body in this country that can set a 30-year moratorium, and that's the U.S. government. ROBERTS: Sen. Hillary Clinton wants to slap you with a 50 percent tax on what she calls windfall profit, profit above a certain level. Is that a good idea? HOFMEISTER: Look at our revenues and our income for the last quarter. If we had made $7.8 million on $114 million of revenue, nobody would call that excessive, because that's 7½ percent. We made $7.8 billion profit on $114 billion revenue -- same 7½ percent. So to me that is not an excessive number when banks and pharmaceuticals and IT companies earn a whole lot more. Watch Hofmeister defend Shell's profits » . ROBERTS: Would it hurt you if she put in place this tax on the windfall profits? HOFMEISTER: Sure it would. It would slow down investment. Taxing the oil companies was tried in the '80s. It drove us to do imports, which is exactly the problem we have today. ROBERTS: Where is the top of all this? How high can the price of a barrel of oil go? How high will the cost of a gallon of gasoline go? HOFMEISTER: I heard somebody say the other day it's as long as a piece of string. We don't know. ROBERTS: The president of OPEC said $200 a barrel. HOFMEISTER: Yeah, well, there are some countries out there subsidizing the cost of their energy to their consumers and industries to compete with America -- or against America -- because they think America won't solve the problem. ROBERTS: You're saying you have no idea where the top is. HOFMEISTER: We don't know. But we should produce more oil in this country. E-mail to a friend . | U.S. should produce 2 million to 3 million more barrels a day, says John Hofmeister .
Plenty of oil waiting to be drilled by unconventional means, he says .
Shell's $7.8 billion profit not excessive, company president says .
Executive says he can't predict how high price of oil will go . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "47fe0e2bba8206014fb53a7d5247efd1e316e087"} | 1,023 | 75 | 0.516786 | 1.383922 | 0.510106 | 1.442623 | 14.04918 | 0.786885 |
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It's a neighborhood of shotgun houses painted a rainbow of colors, a community of artists, workaday folks and students where everyone knows everyone's name. Destruction in Atlanta's historic Cabbagetown district, which many artists call home. Saturday morning, people were out walking their dogs, sipping coffee and taking a look at who was hit the worst in Atlanta's Cabbagetown district. It appeared Friday night's 130 mph tornado had delivered its wrath randomly -- some houses were perfectly intact while others were flooded and smashed. "It's a sad thing," said 56-year-old Bertha Wise, standing next to a splintered tree that had buried her car and blocked a side-door to her yellow and cobalt-blue house. A sign advertising her hand-crafted art, which she sells from her home, hung slightly askew. "I was cooking dinner and the lights started to flicker," she said. "There was no warning. My door flung open and papers went flying. By that time, there was nowhere to go." Without a basement, she hunkered down and hoped for the best. But Wise fared well compared with her neighbors in this historic neighborhood, which has gone from crime-ridden to cool in recent years. A few blocks down, a woman named Rebecca -- too distraught to speak with a reporter -- carried what belongings she had left out of her rental home, which had been split in half by a giant oak tree. Watch residents describe the storm's quick arrival » . She wasn't at home at the time, her landlord Mark Rogers told CNN, which was a good thing for her safety. But in the early morning hours, looters got there before she had and took almost everything. Looting was a problem throughout the neighborhood, many said. See photos of the damage » . A few doors down from her, Pastor Richard Davis stared up at the tire-size hole in the roof of his Eastside Christian Community Pentecostal Church. He has been preaching in its single room for 10 years. "Yes...well, that is something isn't it?" he said, then gestured to the church's bathroom -- a brick yellow outhouse. "That's still here though. We'll be OK." He plans to give a sermon on Palm Sunday and ask his parishioners to pray hard that lack of insurance won't force him to close his doors. Steven and Laura Powell, thinking they were in store for a short lightning storm, were startled by the storm's quick escalation. They were frightened when they spotted the storm beginning to circulate in the distance from their tiny home, and rushed to scoop up their sleeping 5-week-old Audrey. Bundled in a soft pink onesie, Audrey was still sleeping Saturday morning as her parents walked the neighborhood, amazed that their home had not been damaged -- and that their daughter had snoozed through the entire ordeal. "I just put myself on top of [Laura] and the baby and we got under the strongest beam in the house," said Steven Powell. "I thought that if a tree came crashing through, I'd take the brunt of it." Cabbagetown's houses were built for the workers at the local Fulton Cotton Mill. The mill closed and the neighborhood slid into decay. The renaissance of Cabbagetown began when the mill buildings were converted to the trendy Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts and the artists and urban pioneers moved in. In addition to hitting the houses, Friday night's tornado seriously damaged the top floor of the lofts. Remarkably, nobody was hurt. Cabbagetown residents remember when the under-construction lofts survived a five-alarm fire in 1999 -- and say they plan to rebuild and survive this disaster as well. E-mail to a friend . | Some homes damaged, others unscathed in Atlanta's Cabbagetown district .
The community of shotgun-style homes is home to artists and students .
Neighbors surveyed damage Saturday and offered help to each other .
Church is damaged, says pastor, but he plans to give Palm Sunday sermon . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "f54f84affaebd1d86011ad31adbf9fac4754a8f2"} | 886 | 71 | 0.54513 | 1.561762 | 1.159594 | 1.625 | 13.196429 | 0.767857 |
(CNN) -- A member of the group dubbed the "Jena 6" is facing misdemeanor assault charges after a fight at his Texas high school Wednesday, police said Thursday. Bryant Purvis was arrested after a fight Wednesday at his Texas high school, police said. Bryant Purvis, 19, was arrested after the incident at Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas. Carrollton police Sgt. John Singleton told CNN the altercation does not appear to be racially motivated. School officials contacted police about the fight Wednesday morning. An 18-year-old student told authorities two males approached him and asked if he had flattened the tires of "their homeboy's" car, according to an affidavit supporting the arrest warrant. The student said he didn't, but the two told him they didn't believe him and walked away. Purvis, he said, approached him from behind immediately afterward, then grabbed him with one hand and began to choke him. "Purvis continued to choke [the student] and told him, 'Don't you ever mess with my car again,'" the affidavit said. "Purvis then pushed his head into the seating area of the bench," causing the student to strike his left eye, then walked away. The affidavit said that in a written statement, Purvis wrote, "I walked over to him and grabbed him by his neck, then told him not to mess with my car anymore, then I left." Police reported the student had marks on his neck and bruising on his eye. A municipal judge set Purvis' bond at $1,000, and he was transferred to the Denton County Detention Facility, Singleton said. Purvis is one of six former students in Jena, Louisiana, accused of being involved in the beating of a white student. He initially was charged with second-degree attempted murder and conspiracy, but charges against him were reduced in November to second-degree aggravated battery. He is awaiting trial in that case. Civil rights leaders Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton led more than 15,000 marchers to Jena -- a town of about 3,000 -- in September to protest how authorities handled the cases against Purvis and the five others accused in the December 2006 beating of fellow student Justin Barker. After his arraignment in November, Purvis told reporters he had moved to another town to complete high school. E-mail to a friend . | Bryant Purvis, 19, is facing misdemeanor assault charges, police say .
Fight involving Jena 6 teen does not appear to be racially motivated, official says .
Purvis allegedly choked a teen who he thought flattened friend's car tires .
Teen, whose bond is $1,000, is still awaiting trial in the Jena 6 case . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "bc4992871e25e6584936af456ad4b819dcc52f27"} | 558 | 90 | 0.574794 | 1.632327 | 0.851414 | 2.323077 | 7.046154 | 0.753846 |
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- A group of Nigerian rebels who wrote a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, stating that they attacked two oil pipelines Monday, have asked for former President Jimmy Carter and actor George Clooney to help solve issues in the oil-rich Niger-delta. Military policemen patrol the creeks of the Omadino community in Warri South district of the Niger Delta. In a letter written by a group called Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, the group said they attacked two pipelines they believed are owned by Chevron Corp. and Shell oil. A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell said its pipeline was damaged last week. The attack will temporarily cut shipments by 169,000 barrels a day as workers try to repair the damage, the spokesman said. The pipeline is owned jointly by Shell and Nigerian, French and Italian oil companies, the spokesman said. Chevron spokesman Kurt Glaubitz told CNN that "No Chevron pipelines have been vandalized in Nigeria." There was no immediate comment from the Nigerian government. In the letter the group called themselves "commandos" and stated that their aim was "the crippling of the Nigerian oil export industry." Watch how Nigeria attacks help hike gas prices » . "Today's attack was prompted by the continuous injustice in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where the root issues have not been addressed by the illegal and insincere government," the letter stated. The letter stated that two other letters had been sent to Bush and also actor George Clooney, and the group also asked for President Jimmy Carter to help. Clooney is one of the United Nations' Messengers of Peace, and has campaigned for an end to the long-standing conflict in Darfur, as well as further humanitarian relief efforts in the region. Carter is currently in the Middle East, where he has met with the exiled militant Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal, on what he calls a "study mission" to support peace, democracy, and human rights in the region. "MEND is prepared for talks and will prefer Ex President Jimmy Carter to mediate. Mr. Carter is not in denial as the rest of you who brand freedom fighters as terrorists," the letter stated. "The ripple effect of this attack will touch your economy and people one way or the other and hope we now have your attention." The organization also said they attack was in response to one of the arrest of one of their members, Henry Okah, who was arrested last year and according to local reports, is charged with treason. Since late 2005, MEND militants have carried out numerous attacks on Nigeria's oil sector and abducted dozens of foreign workers, releasing nearly all of them unharmed. In the past the organization has said it had ratcheted up its attacks to redress what it says is the unequal distribution of the nation's oil wealth. E-mail to a friend . | Nigerian rebels write to U.S. President George W. Bush, say they attacked oil pipelines .
Appeal for former U.S. President Carter, actor George Clooney to help mediate .
Group say they attacked two pipelines believed owned by Chevron Corp., Shell oil.
Adds that their aim was "the crippling of the Nigerian oil export industry" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "271416bf0f15c52a4417339de78dcecf378b3950"} | 664 | 83 | 0.566214 | 1.715073 | 1.188061 | 5 | 8.825397 | 0.873016 |
(CNN) -- Sin Hwa Dee began operations in the 1970s as a cottage industry in the former soya sauce-producing enclave of Kim Chuan Road, in the Paya Lebar area of Singapore. Mr. and Mrs. Chng Kee started out producing soya and oyster sauces, bean paste and plum paste in the 1970s. It was founded by the late Mr. Chng Kee, a former soya salesman, who ran the business with his wife, a soya production operator. Together they sold mainly soya and oyster sauces, bean paste and plum paste in bulk under the Sin Hwa Dee label to the restaurant, hotel and catering industries. In 1990, the company began producing the preserved fruits and vegetables used to make the traditional Lunar New Year dish of Yu Sheng. One of Sin Hwa Dee's factories is dedicated exclusively to the production of Yu Sheng products, while another factory produces noodles for the restaurant and catering industries. Mr. Chng's daughter Jocelyn first decided to introduce the company's products to the foreign market when she attended the SIAL exhibition in Paris in 1992, noting that there was a clear interest in Asian food. Sin Hwa Dee's first premix, the Laksa Paste, was launched into the food services market under the CHNG Kee's label in 1994, followed by the Kung Bo Sauce, the Black Pepper Sauce and their famous chicken rice mix. In 1996, the company invested heavily in equipment and technology to produce sauces and premixes in bottles for the retail market under the CHNG Kee's label. In 2005, Sin Hwa Dee moved into their own building, CHNG Kee's Foodlink, located in Senoko South Road, north of Singapore, with a production team of over 75 employees producing more than 20 tons of sauces per day. Today, their clientele includes Singapore Airlines, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King, hotels such as the Ritz Carlton, Conrad International Centenniel, Raffles Hotel, Hilton Hotel, Marriott Hotel, and restaurants such as Lei Garden and Crystal Jade. | Sin Hwa Dee founded by former soya salesman and soya production operator .
One of Sin Hwa Dee's factories dedicated exclusively to Yu Sheng products .
In 2005, Sin Hwa Dee moved into their own building, CHNG Kee's Foodlink . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "0add6b43e18072837f0bef41031d6f92f740d625"} | 479 | 68 | 0.587136 | 1.807074 | 0.713847 | 7.913043 | 8.195652 | 0.956522 |
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Striking Hollywood writers will be back at their keyboards Wednesday after voting overwhelmingly to end a 100-day walkout that essentially shut down the entertainment industry. Writers Guild of America member Steven Binder shows his approval as he votes Tuesday in Beverly Hills, California. More than 92 percent of the Writers Guild of America members who cast ballots Tuesday in Los Angeles and New York voted to end their work stoppage over residuals for writing in the digital age, including new media and the Internet. The new deal is for three years. "The strike is over. Our membership has voted, and writers can go back to work," said Patric Verrone, president of the WGA's West chapter. Michael Winship, president of WGA's East guild, said, "The success of this strike is a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future." WGA members walked off the job November 5 after talks broke down over how writers are paid for the use of their material on the Internet and DVDs, among other issues. "It is not all that we hoped for, and it is not all we deserve," Verrone said when a tentative deal was announced Saturday. But he added, "This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years." Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp., told The Associated Press, "At the end of the day, everybody won. "It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry." The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents production companies and media conglomerates, has had no comment on the agreement. The vote meant that the Academy Awards ceremony on February 24 will be the usual scripted gala, the AP reported. "I am ecstatic that the 80th Academy Awards presentation can now proceed full steam ahead," without "hesitation or discomfort" for the nominees, Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which stages the Oscars, told the AP. As long as the strike continued, the traditional Oscars spectacular was in doubt since many Hollywood stars would not cross WGA picket lines. It's unclear how soon new episodes of scripted programs will start appearing, because production won't begin until scripts are completed, the AP reported. It will take at least four weeks for producers to get the first post-strike episodes of comedies back on the air; dramas will take six to eight weeks, the AP said. Verrone said the WGA achieved two of three goals through negotiations with the studios. Watch Verrone explain what he thinks the strike accomplished » . The first goal relates to writers' "jurisdiction" in new media, Verrone said, meaning that any content written by guild members specifically for new media, such as the Internet or cell phones, will be covered by their contract. The second goal relates to reuse of content in new media, Verrone said. The agreement bases payment for reuses on a distributor's gross formula for residuals, "so that when they get paid, we get paid," he said. It is the "first time in our history that a new delivery system pays on a residual formula superior to the prior existing system," Verrone said. The third goal, which Verrone said the guild did not achieve, was to shore up writers' shares of the revenue from animation and reality television. "Giving up animation and reality was a heartbreaking thing for me personally," he said. "But it was more important that we make a deal that benefited the membership, the town as a whole, that got people back to work and that solved the biggest problems in new media." E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | More than 92 percent of writers vote to end 100-day walkout and return to work .
Writers Guild of America strike began November 5 .
Issues in walkout included handling of writers' work for new media such as Internet .
Report: February 24 Oscar show will go on as usual . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "7060e3feb685bda7b5102e1cc8e9b35da37ca2a1"} | 896 | 66 | 0.524494 | 1.483166 | 0.936362 | 1.931034 | 13.327586 | 0.827586 |
Editor's Note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. CNN's Senior Vatican Analyst John L. Allen Jr. is following the pope during his U.S. trip. Pope Benedict XVI asked pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Sunday to pray for the success of his U.S. trip. NEW YORK (CNN) -- The official motto of Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 visit to the United States, the first of his papacy, is "Christ our Hope." Based on the frequency with which papal spokespersons have struck a different note, however, its unofficial motto might well be, "This is not a political event." Here's a typical example from early April: "The pope is not coming to get mixed up in the local political process," said Italian Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope's ambassador to America, in an interview with the National Catholic Reporter. "His presence is about something more universal and, at the same time, more personal." Fear that Benedict's visit might be read through the lens of party politics reflects a key fact of electoral life in America: The "Catholic vote" matters. To take the most obvious example, if a few heavily Catholic counties in Ohio had gone the other way in 2004, pundits would today be handicapping the re-election of President John Kerry. America's almost 70 million Catholics, representing a quarter of the country's population, are diverse and divided. They don't all agree with official church positions, and although Catholics were once reliable Democrats, today they're not clearly aligned with either party. That's a key reason why states with large Catholic populations, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida, are considered crucial battlegrounds. Already in the 2008 race, Catholics have made themselves felt. On the Democratic side, they're the biggest single reason Sen. Hillary Clinton is still afloat. So far, the more Catholic a state, the better Clinton has done. With her back to the wall not long ago in Ohio and Texas, Clinton decisively outpolled Sen. Barack Obama among Catholic Democrats. In Ohio, Clinton won the Catholic vote by a margin of 63 percent to 36, while in Texas it was 62 percent to 38. Clinton is now hoping that Catholics will come through for her again in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. The state's 3.87 million Catholics represent more than 30 percent of the population, and Clinton is clinging to a lead despite Pennsylvania Sen. Robert Casey's endorsement of Obama. Casey is a hero to pro-life Catholic Democrats, and his backing is apparently helping Obama narrow the gap. Clinton does better than Obama among Latinos, who are disproportionately Catholic. She's also winning Catholic "Reagan Democrats," meaning socially conservative blue-collar voters. Obama's recent gaffe, telling a crowd in San Francisco, California, that small-town Americans were "clinging to guns or religion" out of economic frustration, may help cement that advantage. Once the Democrats settle on a candidate, the Catholic vote seems wide open in November. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, appeals to many Catholics because he's pro-life and has a moderate stance on immigration. Yet his willingness to remain in Iraq for "100 years" is at odds with the church's opposition to the war. Either Clinton or Obama could make a strong appeal to Catholics on peace-and-justice issues, yet both are out of sync with Catholic teaching on issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and gay rights. Both sides are expected to court Catholics aggressively. The McCain campaign recently formed a "National Catholics for McCain Committee" led by former Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, along with a "who's who" of prominent Catholic conservatives. Obama has his own "National Catholic Advisory Council," led by Casey and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, both pro-life Democrats. Clinton likewise has top-drawer Catholic advisers. Pope Benedict's trip is unlikely to offer a decisive boost to either side. He'll probably strike pro-life notes that Republicans can exploit, but he'll also likely accent peace, concern for the poor and the environment, issues that generally skew to the Democrats. Watch as CNN's Rosemary Church speaks with Vatican analyst John Allen about the pope's visit » . Any political fallout may thus depend on what happens to the pope's message once it's swept up into the sausage grinder of American spin. Benedict XVI usually speaks not in sound bites but in carefully crafted paragraphs, which sometimes leaves the door ajar for competing explanations of what he really means. One can expect a "war for the microphone" among Republican and Democratic operatives, each looking to exploit pieces of the pope's message. In a tight race, movement of even a few percentage points among Catholics could be decisive. One sign the Democrats understand what's at stake is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has arranged an April 16 conference call with reporters to comment on Benedict's trip -- in effect, not wanting President Bush, and by extension the Republicans, to claim a monopoly on the pope. All this makes the political implications of the pope's presence difficult to anticipate. The best advice boils down to that classic broadcast cliché: "Stay tuned!" E-mail to a friend . John L. Allen Jr. is CNN's senior Vatican analyst and a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. | Papal representatives stress Benedict's U.S. trip is "not a political event"
But Catholic vote still matters in U.S. politics, as 2004's close Ohio vote showed .
Obama's "guns and religion" gaffe may help Clinton with blue-collar Catholics .
Once Democrats settle on a candidate, Catholic vote seems wide open in November . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "04fbd3088e8610dd4d5bea709e7cc5ee3e53710d"} | 1,260 | 84 | 0.555934 | 1.551658 | 0.9182 | 2.681818 | 16.121212 | 0.893939 |
(CNN) -- Canada's House of Commons voted Thursday to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan until 2011, with the stipulation that NATO send reinforcements to the volatile Kandahar province. Canadian soldiers walk along a track at the Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan last month. Most of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are in Kandahar as part of the NATO-led mission to stabilize the war-torn country. Their presence has sparked controversy in Canada, with the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party calling for an immediate troop withdrawal. Supporters of the mission argued that Canadians have made progress in providing schools, health care and clean water for thousands of Afghans. They said the improving conditions would be impossible without troops ensuring a secure environment for aid workers and local residents. "The military needs to be there," said Harold Albrecht, a conservative member of Parliament. "The military provides the civil order we would expect from police here." The Canadian mission in Afghanistan was to end next February. It has claimed the lives of 80 soldiers and a diplomat, according to The Associated Press. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has endorsed a panel's recommendation to keep troops in place only if another NATO nation dispatches additional troops to Kandahar. Canada wants a minimum of 1,000 reinforcements, The Globe and Mail reported. Thursday's motion, passed with a 198-77 vote, brought Harper's Conservative party and the opposition Liberals together on the issue. Other parties, however, noted that the cost of maintaining a troop presence in Afghanistan has not been disclosed to Parliament or the public. "We must provide clarity to the Canadian people," said Nathan Cullen of the New Democratic Party. "We believe it to be wrong for our country." E-mail to a friend . | Troops to stay until 2011, with the stipulation that NATO contribute more forces .
Most of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are in Kandahar province .
The Canadian mission in Afghanistan was to end next February .
Critics say the cost has not been disclosed to Parliament or the public . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "b198f0356c0f0cb09aba4d7d5541dd7c5ce91678"} | 398 | 67 | 0.639791 | 1.611526 | 1.332718 | 7.482143 | 6.142857 | 0.839286 |
(AOL Autos) -- Some drivers would say that the United States is a crazy quilt of speed limits, with an emphasis on the "crazy." A sign indicating the highest speed limit in the country stands by Interstate 10 outside of the West Texas town of El Paso. Since 1995, states have been free to set their own maximum speed limits, leading to long debates on safety standards. To some folks, the speed limits are just insane -- either too low or too high, depending on their views about what makes driving safe. Advocates of low speed limits won't find much to like about Texas. True to its frontier roots, it stands out as the land of the fast getaway. The top rural speed limit is normally 70 mph, but in 2006 it set a maximum daytime speed of 80 miles per hour, the highest speed limit on the country, on more than 500 miles of rural interstate in its southwest corner. This includes parts of Interstate 10 between Kerrville and El Paso and of I-20 between Monahans and the I-10 interchange. The speed limit for rural roads in Montana is 75 mph. As a result, it takes just three hours to travel the 228 miles from Billings to Butte at the posted speed. But that's much slower than a Montana driver could have made the trip in early 1999. At that time there was a six-month speeders' honeymoon when the state had almost no control over rural speeds, partly as a result of an unfavorable court ruling. St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands is at or near the other end of the spectrum. In the U.S. territory the speed limit is 20 mph in the city and 30 out in the country. When it comes to accident rates, though, you would be far better off on a Montana interstate than competing with the island's frenetic drivers on the way to Paradise Point. Nationwide, maximum speeds range from 60 miles per hour in Hawaii to 75 in most of the West. Meanwhile, much of the eastern Midwest and the Northeast has opted for maximum speeds of 65 mph, although Michigan and Indiana chose the 70 mph standard more common to the South and the Great Plains states. So if you are cruising west along I-90 out of Ohio, you can enjoy the increase in speed across 150 miles of Indiana before Illinois' lower speed limit -- or its state police -- reins you in. As you continue west, interstate speed limits bump up to 70 in Iowa, and then you can maintain a steady 75 from Nebraska through to the California line, where interstate speeds drop off to 70 again. Should you choose to detour into Oregon, you're back down to 65. From a highway safety standpoint, the patchwork of speed limits at least seems to make sense. Speeds are slower in more populous Eastern states and faster in the wide-open West, although the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety argues that some of the new, higher speed limits out West and elsewhere are costing lives. It estimates that deaths on interstates and freeways have increased 15 percent due to the higher speed limits. But some researchers are skeptical about the link between accidents and high speeds on rural highways, if not on city streets and rural two-lanes. They point to the lower fatality rates on European highways, even though the speeds are generally higher. The maximum legal speed is roughly 80 mph in Poland, Austria, France and a few other countries. There is no speed limit on much of Germany's autobahn, although some sections are restricted to about 80 mph or less. Ironically, the new regime of U.S. speed limits has helped researchers make sense of whether higher rural speed limits are dangerous. Political scientist Robert Yowell, a professor at Northeast Lakeview College in Texas, examined what happened after states began setting higher rural speed limits in 1995. With the federal 65 mph limit gone, it was possible to compare the accident rates before and after the new limits went into effect. The results were clear: "By and large, across the 50 states, there was no discernible effect from the higher limits," Yowell said. "Two or three states actually had a decrease in fatalities." Once speed limits are raised on interstates, drivers are more likely to get off the more dangerous two lanes and use the faster routes, Yowell said. Furthermore, the motorists traveling the fastest on the higher-speed interstates tend to be good at that kind of driving. The less competent drivers at high speeds tend to drive more slowly. While Yowell admits most states are well-intentioned, he's "not willing to accept that speed limits are solely a function of safety," he said. "They are a function of revenue generation as well. There have been cases of judges saying communities have to raise their speed limits because they were obviously being used to raise revenues and that's not a proper use of the law." In part, Yowell looks to differences in political cultures to explain the great continental divide in speed limits. "It may be that certain states have a different approach to questions involving personal liberty versus collective safety," he said. His research doesn't surprise Jim Baxter, president of the Waunakee, Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association. His organization had lobbied heavily for an end to the federal limits. Baxter's rule of thumb for computing the right speed limit is the traffic engineering standard known as the 85th percentile speed. That's the speed that 85 percent of motorists drive at or below. But it tends to be well above the speed limits that most jurisdictions set. With the speed limit set at that level, traffic tends to move smoothly, reducing the risk of accidents, Baxter said. If you put the limit below that speed, some vehicles are traveling far more slowly than the fastest drivers, creating the most dangerous conditions of all. Baxter argues that most drivers naturally tend to drive at speeds that suit the road conditions and their driving skills. St. Thomas is a case in point, albeit an extreme one. With its congestion and rugged terrain, the island is bereft of performance cars; many of the vehicles are older pickups, aging Japanese compacts and SUVs. The treacherous conditions restrict speeds far more effectively than any local law. As Joe Aubain, executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, puts it, "Even if you wanted to go a whole lot faster, you couldn't," he said. E-mail to a friend . | U.S. drivers face patchwork of speed limits across the nation .
Parts of Texas have speed limits of 80 miles per hour .
Some researchers skeptical of link between accidents, high speeds . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "0f60442453e038c6bbe3aa525bedf2a97f459e04"} | 1,426 | 43 | 0.480378 | 1.199064 | 0.576851 | 2.222222 | 34.75 | 0.888889 |
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- His name is "Average" and the story of his desperate flight from the wreckage of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe is an increasingly common one. Math teacher Mawise Gumba fled Zimbabwe and found his qualifications mean little as a refugee. The tall 34-year-old, slouching exhausted in a Johannesburg church that has become a de facto transit camp, is one man in a tide of migrants washing up in South Africa. "There is nothing for me there in our country any more. I had no job and I could not afford anything. Even when I was working life was tough," he said. "It's hard for everyone ... I thought it was better for me here," said the former store clerk, whose dusty jeans and boots tell of a long and difficult journey. The tale told by Average -- whose name is not unusual in Zimbabwe -- is depressingly familiar to a people who have watched their once prosperous land spiral into economic disaster. When Mugabe's government, facing inflation of close to 5,000 percent, ordered companies to halve prices of basic goods and services a month ago -- effectively demanding that they operate at a loss -- Average lost his job as the supermarket chain he worked for cut staff. Facing the prospect of homelessness and hunger in his own country, he joined the estimated 4,000 Zimbabweans who head south to South Africa, most of them illegally, every day. Mugabe, 83 and in power since the country's independence from Britain in 1980, has been accused of running Zimbabwe's economy into the ground while implementing a draconian crackdown aimed at keeping power. His decision to launch violent seizures of white-owned farms seven years ago is partly blamed for soaring unemployment and the highest inflation rate in the world. Average scraped together his last salary, some money he made from trading sugar bought at a discount from the supermarket where he worked, and funds borrowed from friends to secure a visitor's visa and bus ticket to Johannesburg. A friend who promised to meet him on arrival failed to show up, leaving him stranded without a place to sleep. On Wednesday evening he walked into the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg and joined a long queue of people waiting for shelter and food. The church's homeless shelter has become a virtual refugee camp for 800-900 Zimbabweans and a smaller number of migrants from other countries. "Over the past three years, and more so over the past couple of months, I have noted an exponential increase in the number of people we have from Zimbabwe," Bishop Paul Verryn said. Outside his office the line of people waiting for help grew. Many of the new arrivals were asleep in their seats. "We offer them a place off the streets, where they are protected and have warmth from the inclement streets of Johannesburg," Verryn said. At sunset the refugees crowd into the building and lay out reeking blankets. "People just sleep anywhere they can find a space to sleep. Some people sleep on the steps here, in the corridors and others in the foyer and in the meeting rooms," said 27-year-old Walter Rusike from Harare. The commerce graduate and his wife and two children share a meeting room with other families and have been at the shelter for four months. Average said he hoped to get accommodation for a few days until he finds his friend, work or both. "I have a diploma in stores management and store control, a certificate in security and a driver's licence. I think maybe I will be able to find some work with my qualifications. Anything will be better than the situation I was in," he says. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | His name is "Average," he fled wreckage of President Mugabe's Zimbabwe .
One of the 4,000 who flee hunger, homelessness into South Africa a day .
Once-prosperous nation now an economic disaster with 5,000 percent inflation . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "79b423b90af6b3381ebfa34a7382ca472bdb5b35"} | 853 | 60 | 0.581192 | 1.773176 | 0.943682 | 1.934783 | 16.086957 | 0.891304 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three U.S. soldiers were killed and 31 others wounded in two rocket attacks Sunday afternoon in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Mehdi Army militiamen celebrate after attacking an Iraqi Army vehicle in Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday. Earlier Sunday, fighting between U.S. troops and the Mehdi Army militia loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr left at least 20 dead and 52 wounded in Baghdad's Sadr City, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official. The U.S. military said it had no information about the Sadr City fighting. Sunday's violence came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded al-Sadr disband his Mehdi Army and threatened to bar al-Sadr's followers from the political process if the cleric refused. Watch a report from the front line in Sadr City » . "A decision was taken yesterday that they no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army," al-Maliki said. Sunday's American fatalities bring the death toll of U.S. troops in the Iraq war to 4,022; that toll includes eight civilian contractors working for the Pentagon. Nearly 30,000 others have been wounded in action. An attack involving a "couple of rounds" of fire on the International Zone, also known as the Green Zone, killed two soldiers and wounded 17 others about 3:30 p.m., a military official said, declining to give the specific location of the attack for security reasons. A separate attack about 30 minutes earlier killed one soldier and wounded 14 at a U.S. military outpost in Rustamiya in southeastern Baghdad, the military said. Responding to al-Maliki's comments, a spokesman for al-Sadr, Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, said that any effort to bar Sadrists from participation in politics would be unconstitutional -- and that any decision to disband the Mehdi Army is not the government's to make. "It is up to the side that established it," he said. Al-Maliki spoke in an exclusive interview with CNN after a weeklong military offensive against what Iraqi officials called gangs and militia members in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Hundreds were killed or wounded in the fighting across Iraq, which reportedly ended when Iranian and Iraqi Shiite officials held talks in Iran with al-Sadr. Asked about Iran's role in ending the Basra conflict, al-Maliki attributed the cease-fire to the work of his security forces. Haidar al-Abadi, an Iraqi lawmaker who belongs to al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said last week that Iranian officials participated in the discussions, and another source close to the talks said the Iranians pressured al-Sadr to craft an agreement. "I am not aware of such an attempt," al-Maliki said Sunday. "What happened on the ground and the breakdown in the structure of this militia is what made Muqtada al-Sadr issue his statement to withdraw his militants from the streets. What happened was something to save Muqtada, not to help us." Watch al-Maliki talk about issues that concern Iraq » . In northern Iraq, security forces detained a suspect Sunday and were searching for others in connection with the kidnapping of 42 college students, authorities said. Gunmen seized the male students in northern Iraq before releasing them several hours later, according to a military spokesman and police in Nineveh province. None was harmed, according to the U.S. military. Gunmen stopped two buses loaded with students who were on their way to college, but one bus managed to escape, police said. Four students on the bus that escaped were wounded by gunfire, police said. Students on the other bus were released Sunday afternoon after coalition military forces spotted the bus during an air patrol on the western outskirts of Mosul, according to a U.S. military news release. The kidnappers fled the vehicle after it was stopped, according to a military press release. Other developments . • A Christian priest was shot and killed in eastern Baghdad's Wihda neighborhood around noon Saturday, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official. The priest was identified as Father Yousif Adel. He belonged to St. Peter and Paul's Assyrian Orthodox Church. • At least two people were killed Saturday and 16 others wounded when a bomb exploded in a minibus in eastern Baghdad's Beirut Square, the official said. • President Bush is planning to address the nation Thursday morning about the Iraq war, sources said. Bush is expected to address the administration's decision to reduce combat tours of duty from 15 months to 12 months, Republican and Democratic sources said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Nic Robertson, Jomana Karadsheh and Ingrid Formanek contributed to this report. | Rocket attacks kill 3 U.S. troops, wound 31 .
Prime minister to ban Sadrists from politics if Mehdi Army not disbanded .
One arrested in kidnapping of a busload of college students, police say .
Interior Ministry official says militia fighting U.S. troops in Sadr City . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "3e5a3a2dddee7ebebe57c12d0ace97a24cbabd72"} | 1,167 | 76 | 0.619723 | 1.788407 | 0.334721 | 1.384615 | 17.307692 | 0.769231 |
(CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended himself and his wife Sunday against suggestions that they are insufficiently patriotic. Sen. Barack Obama defended himself and his wife against recent suggestions that they are not patriotic. After a town hall meeting in Lorain, Ohio, a reporter asked Obama about "an attempt by conservatives and Republicans to paint you as unpatriotic." The reporter cited the fact that Obama once failed to put his hand over his heart while singing the national anthem. Obama replied that his choice not to put his hand on his heart is a behavior that "would disqualify about three-quarters of the people who have ever gone to a football game or baseball game." The reporter also noted that the Illinois senator does not wear an American flag lapel pin, has met with former members of the radical anti-Vietnam War group, Weather Underground, and his wife was quoted recently as saying she never felt really proud of the United States until recently. Asked how he would fight the image of being unpatriotic, Obama said, "There's always some nonsense going on in general elections. Right? If it wasn't this, it would be something else. If you recall, first it was my name. Right? That was a problem. And then there was the Muslim e-mail thing and that hasn't worked out so well, and now it's the patriotism thing. "The way I will respond to it is with the truth: that I owe everything I am to this country," he said. The first-term senator from Illinois has been the subject of various debunked rumors since launching his presidential campaign -- allegations that he is a Muslim, that he took his oath of office on a copy of the Quran and that he attended a radical Islamic school while living in Indonesia as a boy. "You will recall that the reason I came to national attention was a speech in which I spoke of my love of this country," said Obama. He and his wife, Michelle, had already explained her comments. "She simply misspoke," he said. "What she was referring to was [that] this was the first time she has been proud of politics in America. Watch what Michelle Obama said » . "That's true of a lot of people who have been cynical and disenchanted. And she's spoken about how she has been cynical about American politics for a very long time, but she's proud of how people are participating and getting involved in ways that they haven't in a very long time." About not wearing an American flag lapel pin, Obama said Republicans have no lock on patriotism. "A party that presided over a war in which our troops did not get the body armor they needed, or were sending troops over who were untrained because of poor planning, or are not fulfilling the veterans' benefits that these troops need when they come home, or are undermining our Constitution with warrantless wiretaps that are unnecessary? "That is a debate I am very happy to have. We'll see what the American people think is the true definition of patriotism." Obama did not respond to the question about the Weather Underground, a group whose members bombed the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon during the 1970s. Last week, the New York Sun reported that as an Illinois state senator in 2001, Obama accepted a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founder of the group who was not convicted for the bombings and now works as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. But the paper said that, in a statement, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, William Burton, said, "Sen. Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence ... But he was an 8-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost 40 years ago is ridiculous." Former first lady Sen. Hillary Clinton has said repeatedly that she is a stronger candidate because she has already shown she can withstand conservative attacks. E-mail to a friend . | Obama responds to question about attempts to paint him as unpatriotic .
Obama cited for not wearing American flag lapel pin, among other things .
Obama: "There's always some nonsense going on in general elections"
Clinton has said she has shown she can withstand conservative attacks . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "c623e4914c04811d354fa137e3bf7a00980ef7d7"} | 928 | 65 | 0.451519 | 1.252918 | 0.865143 | 4.327273 | 14.509091 | 0.836364 |
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Six Italian men were shot dead in the German city of Duisburg on Wednesday in an execution-style killing linked to a mafia feud. Police remove a body from the scene. Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the shootings appeared to be linked to a feud between two mafia clans in the southern region of Calabria, home to the 'Ndrangheta organized crime group. Here are some key facts about the group: . ORIGINS: . -- The Calabrian "Honored Society", known as "'Ndrangheta", in the Calabria region of south Italy is the equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia. -- 'Ndrangheta began as a defense network for impoverished rural peasants against aristocratic landlords. Members emigrated to Canada and the United States, and were discovered running an intimidation scheme in Pennsylvania mining towns in 1906. HOW DOES IT WORK? -- They are known as "The Honored Society", Fibbia or Calabrian mafia. Instead of the pyramid structure of bosses used by other mafia, The 'Ndrangheta" uses families based on blood relationships, inter-marriages, or being a Godfather. Each group is named after their village, or after the family leader. TWENTIETH CENTURY EXPANSION: . -- When Calabria began the process of industrialization and urbanization in the late 20th century, the 'Ndrangheta became interested in drug trafficking, weapons sales and public works and construction. THE PRESENT: . -- In 2004, authorities uncovered an international drugs trafficking network involving gangs in South America, Australia, and Europe. Drugs from Colombia were destined for countries such as Greece and Bulgaria. -- Italian officials estimated at the time that 80 percent of Europe's cocaine had arrived from Colombia via Gioia Tauro's docks in Reggio Calabria. -- Italian anti-organized crime agencies have estimated that the 'NDrangheta earns about $30 billion annually, mostly from illegal drugs, but also from ostensibly legal businesses such as construction, restaurants and supermarkets. -- There are believed to be about 100 'Ndrangheta families in Calabria, who have become more successful than their Sicilian counterparts because their family ties are closer. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | Six young Italians found shot in the head in western German city of Duisburg .
Five were dead when authorities arrived, one died later .
The victims were between 16 and 39 years old, police say .
Police believe the killings may be linked to organized crime in Italy . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "d5ef1fb6f2df20e46fb032b9e318bc8555283e78"} | 598 | 61 | 0.420982 | 1.087442 | 0.64427 | 1.036364 | 7.763636 | 0.636364 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An elementary school at the center of a civil rights battle, a hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and a hangar that once housed U.S. Navy dirigibles are on this year's National Trust for Historic Preservation's endangered list. Sumner was the centerpiece of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. The 11 sites represent the country's architectural, cultural and natural heritage, and "reflect extraordinary periods of American history," National Trust Director Richard Moe said. The sites were chosen from about 70 nominees by the member-supported nonprofit group. Founded in 1949, it aims to protect significant buildings and locales, now protected under the 1966 Historic Preservation Act. Of the roughly 200 places listed by the organization in the past 20 years, the National Trust says only six have been lost. Moe said the list is designed to raise awareness. "The 11 represent the different kinds of historic places in different parts of the country. It's a representative list," said Moe, who leads the organization of nearly 300,000 members. Endangerment doesn't necessarily mean the building is in the potential path of a bulldozer, according to Moe. Lack of funding can be just as serious, as the case of the California state parks demonstrates. The sites are listed in alphabetical order: . Boyd Theater, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Art Deco movie palace known as the Sameric was closed in 2002 and is for sale. A local group, Friends of the Boyd, is trying to save the 1928 theater, the last of its kind in Philadelphia. Only a few elaborate theaters from that era have survived, and the Boyd was the only one built in the downtown area. Moe said a "sympathetic developer" could restore the theater. California's park system The largest state park system in the United States suffers from chronic underfunding, including $1.2 billion worth of deferred maintenance, the National Trust said. The problem is worsening because of California's budget crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted a budget proposal this year that would have closed 48 parks, but the National Trust said the revised budget restored $11.8 million of the $13.3 million in cuts he requested. Current funds cover only 40 percent of maintenance and operations, which means irreplaceable historic and cultural resources remain endangered, the National Trust said. The system includes 278 parks, 1.5 million acres and 295 miles of ocean front. Many parks house historic buildings such as the 1820s-era Franciscan La Purisima Mission complex near Lompoc. Charity Hospital and adjacent neighborhood, New Orleans, Louisiana Charity Hospital, once the main trauma center for southeastern Louisiana, was closed after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans in 2005. The building was declared unsalvageable, according to Donald R. Smithburg, chief executive of Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, which operates university hospitals. There are plans to demolish nearly 200 homes in the Mid-City neighborhood to accommodate construction of two new hospitals. Alternate locations for the new hospitals are available, and Charity Hospital could be rehabilitated, according to the National Trust. Great Falls Portage, Great Falls, Montana This National Historic Landmark is one of the best-preserved landscapes along the Lewis and Clark Trail, but a massive coal-fired power plant is planned in the area. "Development abutting the Great Falls Portage, an undeveloped rural area under panoramic blue Montana skies, will irreparably harm the cultural and visual landscape," the National Trust said . Hangar One, Moffett Field, Santa Clara County, California The hangar was built in 1932 to house U.S. Navy dirigibles. It is a cavernous, 200-foot-tall, dome-shaped structure sitting on more than 8 acres. A 2003 inspection revealed carcinogenic PCBs leaking from the hangar's metallic exterior, the National Trust said. PCBs were widely used in electrical transformers. The Navy transferred Hangar One to NASA in 1992. Although the Navy remains responsible for environmental remediation, it is not required to preserve the building. Lower East Side, New York The Lower East Side in southeast Manhattan was home for immigrants and the working class in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it is becoming gentrified. Development threatens historic churches, theaters, schools and tenements, "a unique architectural type which, by the sheer numbers who lived in such a building, had an impact on more Americans than any other form of urban housing," the National Trust said. Michigan Avenue Streetwall, Chicago, Illinois This 12-block stretch of historic buildings along Michigan Avenue between 11th and Randolph Streets dates back to the early 1880s. The streetwall is a collection of notable buildings by architects including Adler & Sullivan, Louis Sullivan, D. H. Burnham and Holabird & Roche, the National Trust said. Although the stretch was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002, the National Trust says its historic character is threatened by the inappropriate addition of large-scale towers that retain only small portions of the original buildings or their facades. Peace Bridge Neighborhood, Buffalo, New York The bridge and neighborhood, which has homes and buildings dating to the 1850s, includes two parks on the National Register of Historic Places that are part of Frederick Law Olmsted's park system. The Public Bridge Authority proposes to expand the bridge and build a 45-acre plaza that would destroy more than 100 homes and businesses, many of which are eligible for inclusion on the National Register, the National Trust said. According to the organization, the PBA has refused to "properly consider" other sites. The Statler Hilton Hotel, Dallas, Texas When the Statler Hilton opened in downtown Dallas in 1956, it was considered the most modern hotel in the country. Today, the vacant building sits on a desirable parcel of real estate. The Statler Hilton faces pressure from encroaching development that may lead to demolition. The National Trust says a sympathetic developer is needed to restore and reopen the hotel. Sumner Elementary School, Topeka, Kansas Sumner was the centerpiece of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. The court's decision that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" helped launch the civil rights movement by declaring school segregation unconstitutional. Vizcaya and the Bonnet House, Florida The development of out-of-scale buildings and corresponding zoning changes will ruin the vistas surrounding Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami and the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, the National Trust said. Such development could set a precedent for high-rise structures, it added. | National Trust for Historic Preservation releases list of 11 endangered sites .
List includes urban neighborhoods threatened by development, gentrification .
School at center of Brown v. Board of Education makes list .
The National Trust hopes the list will draw awareness to the endangered sites . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "e1a36c50adadc5db9ffe6fd2c5e275d522902193"} | 1,473 | 58 | 0.47543 | 1.403438 | 1.065916 | 2.039216 | 24.176471 | 0.823529 |
(CNN) -- Panama City Beach, Florida, police are looking for a hotel security guard accused of raping an Alabama student and throwing her off a sixth-floor hotel balcony, a police spokesman told CNN. Police released this photo of Shawn Wuertly, who worked as a hotel security guard in Panama City Beach, Florida. The 18-year-old woman from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, remains hospitalized, but her injuries are not life-threatening, Lt. Dave Humphreys said. The incident happened early Monday at the Sandpiper Beacon Beach Resort in Panama City Beach during spring break. Police have issued an arrest warrant for Shawn Wuertly, 29, who worked as a security guard at the resort, Humphreys said. He is wanted for attempted felony murder, sexual battery and false imprisonment. Wuertly had been questioned by police regarding the attack, but they lacked the evidence to hold him, the spokesman said. The police investigation has found that the suspect had seen the girl "several times" at the hotel and had "taken a liking to her at some point," Humphreys said. Around 1 a.m. on Monday, the suspect grabbed the woman and pulled her into an unoccupied room on the sixth floor, using his key to get in, Humphreys said. She said he sexually assaulted her and, after a brief altercation, threw her over the balcony, the police spokesman said. She hit two smaller roofs on her way down, which likely saved her from more serious injuries, before she came to rest in a second floor stairwell, Humphreys said. After his initial questioning, Wuertly told police he was leaving for Tennessee and would return on Wednesday. Wuertly has an outstanding arrest warrant, something that police did not discover until after he was released. "Obviously no one checked his warrants because he has an outstanding warrant in Indiana," Humphrey said, noting that police are "not happy and will address that." CNN's calls to the hotel's manager regarding Wuertly's outstanding warrant were not returned. E-mail to a friend . | Police in Panama City Beach, Florida, looking for hotel security guard Shawn Wuertly .
He's suspected of raping teen staying at hotel, tossing her from 6th-floor balcony .
Victim remains hospitalized; injuries not life-threatening, police say .
Wuertly was questioned by police earlier, released for lack of evidence . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "bad69c9a3c7d84a4717705a3063dd7367243772b"} | 496 | 83 | 0.608998 | 1.721852 | 1.024655 | 1.968254 | 6.253968 | 0.793651 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former ABC News chief national security correspondent John McWethy died from injuries in a Colorado skiing accident, a coroner said Thursday. John McWethy, right, shares a laugh in 2002 with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington. A witness said McWethy, 61, was skiing fast on an intermediate trail Wednesday at Keystone Ski Resort when he lost control and slammed into a tree, said Joanne L. Richardson, the Summit County, Colorado, coroner. McWethy died while being treated for blunt-force injuries at Summit Medical Center, Richardson said. "He just missed a turn and slid sideways is what we're surmising," she told CNN. McWethy was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, she said. With his wife, Laurie, McWethy recently had moved to Boulder after nearly 30 years as an ABC News correspondent, so he could enjoy Colorado's ski trails, according to a statement from ABC News President David Westin. "He was doing something that he truly loved," Weston said. "But he deserved many more years doing it than he was given." Friends and former colleagues described McWethy as an outstanding reporter who also cherished life outside work. "He always knew without exception what so many in the powerful business of TV news fail to learn until it's too late: In the end, all we have is our families and our friends and our self-respect as news reporters," said CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, who worked as a producer with McWethy for three years. Both Starr and former CNN producer Chris Plante admired McWethy's coolheaded reporting from the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, when a hijacked airliner punched a huge, fiery hole in the building's massive facade. "He was unflappable even in the most extreme situations because he was always centered by his love for his family and the knowledge that the television news business and all of this Washington hoo-ha was not 'real life,' " Plante said. "Unlike so many, he really did have a handle on what life was for. And the last moments of his life are proof of that." College classmate Bob Steele wrote about McWethy's "mighty" skepticism of authority in an article published online for the Poynter Institute. While they attended Depauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, Steele said McWethy "challenged the University President and his policies. He protested against the Vietnam War." Steele wrote that McWethy considered "why" to be "the most powerful word in the English language." Len Ackland of the University of Colorado's Center for Environmental Journalism told The Denver Post that his longtime friend "was a very humble guy." Ackland told the paper that McWethy "didn't talk about himself much. He was the kind of journalist who didn't want to be out front. It was always about the story, not about him. He was the kind of guy you enjoyed sitting down to have a beer with." McWethy left behind two sons, Adam, 28, and Ian, 24, according to the Post. His wife, who was with McWethy at the time of the accident, told the Post her husband was a good skier who enjoyed living in Colorado. "He loved it here," she told the paper. "I think he loved the beauty of its nature, the open spaces, the wildlife, everything." In his statement, Westin said, "He was one of those very rare reporters who knew his beat better than anyone, and had developed more sources than anyone, and yet, kept his objectivity." After working as a reporter for U.S. News & World Report, McWethy joined ABC News in 1979, going on to cover conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo and Liberia, according to the ABC News Web site. McWethy was the network's primary reporter assigned to Secretaries of State James Baker, George Shultz, Warren Christopher and Lawrence Eagleburger, ABC said, and he had traveled to more than 50 countries. McWethy was honored with at least five national Emmys during his time at ABC and also received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and an Overseas Press Club Award, according to ABC News' Web site. "For three years I watched one of the finest news reporters do what so many in television still cannot do to this day: be a reporter first, foremost and always," Starr said. Colleagues said he'll be missed. "Everyone that knew Jack is trading stories today," Plante said. "There is nothing but a sense of unambiguous loss on the part of all of his friends, colleagues, competitors and even the uniformed military officers that he covered as a reporter." E-mail to a friend . | Ex-ABC News reporter John McWethy, 61, dies in Colorado ski accident .
McWethy was wearing helmet at time of crash, coroner says .
Reporter died doing "something he truly loved," says ABC president .
"Unflappable" reporter "really did have handle on what life was for," ex-colleague says . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4b40ad1f0e59b139e9a1466859ee08a048ca8d2c"} | 1,105 | 85 | 0.55154 | 1.736785 | 1.15785 | 2.075758 | 13.848485 | 0.833333 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Record oil prices, the sub-prime mortgage mess and slumping stock markets are hardly music to the ears of investors. In tough economic times like these, investors seek out safe, stable investments such as guaranteed government bonds or CDs. Yet a growing number are being wooed by the sweet sounds, and profits, of something new -- investment funds specializing in high-end musical instruments. The Stradivarius violin -- only about 700 are believed to exist -- is the premier investment instrument. Talented musicians want them, but can't afford them -- one fetched $3.5 million at auction. Enter Nigel Brown, winner of The Queen's Award for Enterprise and Chairman of the NW Brown Group, a financial services company. He brings musician and investor together. "What happens is, a musician comes along to see me, having fallen in love with an instrument," Brown says. "Then, what I do is to pull a syndicate of people together to buy this instrument so that the musician can then have the use of it ..." Down the road, the musician can buy the instrument from the investors. They split the profits if its value appreciates. That's how violinist Matthew Trusler got his $2 million Stradivarius. Brown loved Trusler's playing and funded the instrument himself. "They are just the most fantastic violins that were ever made," Trusler says, clutching his. "This one was made in 1711 ... and it's been around for 300 years and it's a really wonderful violin." Not everyone is convinced a Stradivarius is such a great deal -- particularly modern instrument makers. "I think if you can get hold of one of the very best Strads, not just any Strad ... I think they probably give you, as a player, something special," says violin-maker Andreas Hudelmayer. "But if you can't have one of the very few best, you are just as well off with a new instrument." His reasoning? The cost of insuring a Stradivarius for just a couple of years would pay for a new, top-quality violin, Hudelmayer says. Even so, the reality is that old violins are attracting those looking for alternative investments. A new hedge fund called the Fine Violins Fund is dedicated to top-range instruments. The latest studies show exclusive violins are earning a steady 3.5 percent a year since 1850. That beats U.S. Treasury bonds over the same timeframe, with their 2.19 percent average yield. Of course, you have to be in the investment game for the long haul. "They've proved to be fantastic investments," says Simon Morris, director of Beare's -- a broker and appraiser of high-end violins, violas and cellos. "For many of the musicians that bought say in the 1960s, they've been the best pension plan they could've had. "Like anything, you have to purchase well and sell well. You can't just go and buy any old thing." But for these investors, the financial return is only part of the investment. "The fact they make a financial gain is of course gratifying at the end of the day, but it is mostly the support of the musician," says Brown. "They like being able to go along to a concert and hear their instrument performed by their artist." E-mail to a friend . | Investors are being wooed by funds specializing in high-end musical instruments .
The Stradivarius violin is the premier investment instrument .
A new hedge fund called the Fine Violins Fund is dedicated to top-range instruments . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "c17a30b4c0f8f58e3afa6279a39470f65a179f6b"} | 763 | 55 | 0.539114 | 1.446167 | 1.155938 | 10.285714 | 15.666667 | 0.952381 |
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Buses that carry women only are experiencing a smooth ride with passengers in Mexico's capital. A woman rides on a bus exclusively for female passengers last month in Mexico City. Fans of the new service call their daily commutes more pleasant now that bus rides steer clear of too-close-for-comfort contact with men. "We're not just talking about sexual harassment, about rapes or about incidents of violence," said Ariadna Montiel, director of the Network of Passengers' Transportation for the Government of the Federal District. "But also about touching, staring, which is what generally occurs on public transport." The single-sex service, which started in January, is available on four major lines in the city, and it's expected to expand to another 15. Other plans include replacing male drivers with women. One woman described the service as "excellent," saying it's "more comfortable too because it doesn't make as many stops." Another passenger said she feels more comfortable and safer. Last year, the government received seven complaints of sexual abuse aboard the city's buses, which provide 200 million rides each year, officials said. Authorities said that a single complaint is enough to justify taking such measures. Juan Flores, who has driven buses in Mexico City for 15 years and now steers one for women only, said he even notices a difference. "I feel more tranquil, I work more peacefully and the interior of the bus is cleaner," he said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mario Gonzalez contributed to this report. | Passengers on female-only buses describe their commutes as more pleasant .
Seven complaints of sexual abuse aboard Mexico City buses made last year .
Single-sex service is available on four major lines in Mexican capital . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "6f579aad2d1f601b17e01057cd4b5e4942627230"} | 350 | 48 | 0.675859 | 1.839913 | 0.963207 | 3.071429 | 7.5 | 0.880952 |
MILAN, Italy -- European Super Cup winners Milan were brought back down to earth at the San Siro on Monday, as Fiorentina held them to a 1-1 draw in Serie A. Kaka (right) wheels away in celebration after scoring his penalty against Fiorentina. Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu earned the visitors a point with a 56th-minute header after Milan playmaker Kaka had scored from the penalty spot in the 27th minute. Milan, who beat Genoa 3-0 in their opening league game, join Fiorentina as one of seven teams with four points in the league table. Mutu scored against the run of play from Mario Alberto Santana's cross. Earlier, Fiorentina defender Dario Dainelli had conceded a penalty when he tripped Massimo Ambrosini in the area. Filippo Inzaghi wasted a golden chance to win the match in the 71st minute when Kaka slid the ball across the front of Fiorentina's goal. However, the Italy forward somehow managed to miss the ball and an open net. Fiorentina could have won it late on but midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic hit the post. "I am always angry when we don't get the maximum points, but in this case we did everything we possibly could," said Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti. "We tried to win and ran quite a few risks, but so soon after our last game it was understandable we had some difficulties." E-mail to a friend . | Super Cup winners AC Milan are held to a 1-1 home draw by Fiorentina .
Brazilian Kaka gave Milan the lead with a penalty after a foul on Ambrosini .
Adrian Mutu equalised for Fiorentina with a header from Santana's cross . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "7551f8e13485bb1738c16eccad343a14a47b2903"} | 355 | 70 | 0.632231 | 1.531942 | 0.226978 | 1.723404 | 5.702128 | 0.744681 |
(CNN) -- Two hours before his scheduled execution Thursday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles commuted the death sentence of Samuel David Crowe, his lawyer said. Samuel David Crowe's death sentence was changed to life in prison by Georgia authorities, his attorney says. Crowe was convicted in 1988 of murdering Joseph V. Pala, the retail manager at Wicks Lumber Company in Douglas County. Crowe admitted to the crime. The board's ruling means Crowe's sentence will be changed to life without the possibility of parole. The board did not give a reason for its decision. When attorney Ann Fort called Crowe with the news, he was quiet. "He was really shocked and relieved but very somber about it. He takes very seriously the deep harm that he caused when he committed this crime," she said. Crowe had a cocaine habit that his attorney says he kicked in prison. He spent his time behind bars counseling other inmates, teaching some of them to read and writing to people outside of prison who had drug habits. "He didn't want them to go down the path he did," Fort said. As for the Pala family, they are devastated. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Pala's widow, Fran Pala, and his daughter, Lisa Pala-Hansen, were too upset to address the parole board. A representative spoke to the board on their behalf, the newspaper said. Crowe had been scheduled to be executed by injection at 7 p.m. ET Thursday at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, 45 minutes south of Atlanta. He would have been the 19th inmate in Georgia executed by injection. William Earl Lynd was executed by injection the first week in May. He was the first inmate to die in the state since September, when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the three-drug combination represented cruel and unusual punishment. Lynd was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend in 1988. The U.S. Supreme Court had effectively halted all executions in the country last September, when it agreed to consider whether the three-drug combination used by most states violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Death penalty opponents have argued that if inmates are not given enough anesthetic, they could be conscious enough to suffer excruciating pain without being able to express it because of the paralyzer. Their claims are supported by medical studies. Of the 24 death sentences the Georgia board has considered, Crowe's is the third it has commuted. Also this week, Mississippi executed murderer Earl Wesley Berry by lethal injection. Berry confessed to abducting Mary Bounds in 1987, beating her to death and then dumping her body in a rural road. The courts rejected Berry's attorneys' arguments that he should be spared because he was mentally retarded. CNN's Ashley Fantz contributed to this report. | NEW: Attorney says inmate was shocked, relieved, somber .
NEW: Victim's family too devastated to address parole board .
Samuel David Crowe's death sentence was changed to life in prison Thursday .
Crowe admitted killing a store clerk in 1988 in Georgia . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "257d8d38863175ec9401d0532963fb71a47f0734"} | 636 | 64 | 0.525252 | 1.532919 | 0.486717 | 3.634615 | 10.384615 | 0.788462 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Air crash investigators are trying to work out why a Boeing 777 landed short of the runway at London Heathrow airport, skidding on grass and ripping apart sections of the aircraft. I-Reporter Alex Quinonez took this image of a casualty being taken by medics from Heathrow Airport. An investigator who has been briefed on the incident told CNN the plane's captain "is claiming there wasn't power when he needed it." Passenger Paul Venter told the UK Press Association: "The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldn't tell you how far." London ambulance services said 17 people suffered minor injuries, and the number could increase as several others are still being assessed. Images showed the Boeing 777 -- BA flight 38 from Beijing, China -- grounded on tarmac after touching down several hundred meters short of the airport's south runway, close to a perimeter road, with its emergency chutes deployed and white fire-fighting foam covering the engines. The undercarriage, left wing and left engine of the aircraft were severely damaged, as if it had skidded across the ground. At least one of the plane's wheels had been torn off. The most visible damage was to the left wing, which was covered in mangled metal where it meets the fuselage. Tire tracks hundreds of meters long could be seen in the grass behind the plane, which was surrounded by fire engines and other emergency vehicles. Eyewitness Neil Jones said the plane had made a "very, very unusual approach" to the airport and sounded louder than usual, PA reported. "You could see the pilot was desperate, trying to get the plane down. The aircraft hit the grass and there was a lot of dirt. The pilot was struggling to keep the plane straight. I think he did a great job." Read passenger and eyewitness accounts of the crash landing . The BBC said an unidentified Heathrow worker told the broadcaster that he had spoken to the pilot. The pilot said, according to the worker, that the plane's electronics had failed and that he was forced to glide it to the ground. The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch will lead the inquiry into the crash landing. A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is also heading to London, accompanied by representatives from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Adminsitration. Jerome Ensinck, a passenger aboard the flight, said there had been no indication that the plane was making an emergency landing. "There was no indication that we were going to have a bad landing," he said. "When we hit the ground it was extremely rough, but I've had rough landings before and I thought 'This is the roughest I've had.' "Then the emergency exits were opened and we were all told we should go through as quickly as possible, and the moment I was away from the plane I started to realize that the undercarriage was away, and we had missed the runway. "I feel lucky at the moment, but I think now I realize I've had a close call. If we had hit the runway, it would have been worse." In a statement, British Airways said all 136 passengers and 16 crew members had been evacuated from the plane with six minor injuries taken to hospital. BA chief executive Willie Walsh praised the actions of the crew. "We are very proud of the way our crew safely evacuated all 136 passengers on board," Walsh said in a statement. "The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years," he added. Walsh also said that an investigation was being conducted by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and that it would be inappropriate to speculate about likely causes. Airport authorities said Heathrow's southern runway had been closed, but the northern runway remained open. But the incident immediately led to major delays for passengers. Some incoming flights were being diverted to other airports on a flight-by-flight basis, according to Heathrow's Web site. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said there was nothing to suggest the incident was terror-related. The Boeing 777 is the mainstay of many airlines' long-haul fleets and has never been involved in a fatal accident. However, the aircraft involved in Thursday's incident appeared to have had a fortunate escape, having approached Heathrow over heavily-populated west London suburbs before its crash landing. CNN's Richard Quest, who covers the airline industry, said it appeared the damage happened after the plane touched down. The incident occurred at 12:42 p.m. (7:42 a.m. ET) as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to leave Heathrow for a visit to China and India. His flight was delayed but his jet was not directly involved, PA said. • British Airways has set up helpline numbers for friends and relatives concerned for passengers involved in the incident: . From within UK: 0800 389 4193. From outside UK: +44 191 211 3690 E-mail to a friend . | Beijing to London jet lands short of runway at Heathrow Airport .
NEW: Investigator says pilot talked of not having power .
Passenger: We just dropped. I couldn't tell you how far .
136 passengers evacuated from plane; 17 minor injuries reported . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "aa596e10dfe78dd875a7e15bfd53138bc8bde471"} | 1,130 | 61 | 0.466691 | 1.302318 | 0.560244 | 3.823529 | 19.117647 | 0.843137 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day. A U.S. soldier patrols the streets of Baghdad in January. The dramatic increase is revealed in new U.S. Army figures, which show 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide in 2007. "Suicide attempts are rising and have risen over the last five years," said Col. Elspeth Cameron-Ritchie, an Army psychiatrist. Concern over the rate of suicide attempts prompted Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, to introduce legislation Thursday to improve the military's suicide-prevention programs. "Our troops and their families are under unprecedented levels of stress due to the pace and frequency of more than five years of deployments," Webb said in a written statement. Watch CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre on the reasons for the increase in suicides » . Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, took to the Senate floor Thursday, urging more help for military members, especially for those returning from war. "Our brave service members who face deployment after deployment without the rest, recovery and treatment they need are at the breaking point," Murray said. She said Congress has given "hundreds of millions of dollars" to the military to improve its ability to provide mental health treatment, but said it will take more than money to resolve the problem. "It takes leadership and it takes a change in the culture of war," she said. She said some soldiers had reported receiving nothing more than an 800 number to call for help. "Many soldiers need a real person to talk to," she said. "And they need psychiatrists and they need psychologists." According to Army statistics, the incidence of U.S. Army soldiers attempting suicide or inflicting injuries on themselves has skyrocketed in the nearly five years since the start of the Iraq war. Last year's 2,100 attempted suicides -- an average of more than 5 per day -- compares with about 350 suicide attempts in 2002, the year before the war in Iraq began, according to the Army. The figures also show the number of suicides by active-duty troops in 2007 may reach an all-time high when the statistics are finalized in March, Army officials said. The Army lists 89 soldier deaths in 2007 as suicides and is investigating 32 more as possible suicides. Suicide rates already were up in 2006 with 102 deaths, compared with 87 in 2005. Cameron-Ritchie, the Army psychiatrist, said suicide attempts are usually related to problems with intimate relationships, but they are also related to problems with work, finances and the law. "The really tough area here is stigma. We know that soldiers don't want to go seek care. They're tough, they're strong, they don't want to go see a behavioral health-care provider," Cameron-Ritchie said. Multiple deployments and long deployments appear to exact a toll on relationships, thereby boosting the number of suicide attempts, she said. Traditionally, the suicide rate among military members has been lower than age- and gender-matched civilians. But in recent years the rate has crept up from 12 per 100,000 among the military to 17.5 per 100,000 in 2006, she said. That's still less than the civilian figure of about 20 per 100,000, she said. The "typical" soldier who commits suicide is a member of an infantry unit who uses a firearm to carry out the act, according to the Army. Post-traumatic stress disorder also may be a factor in suicide attempts, Cameron-Ritchie said, because it can result in broken relationships and often leads to drug and alcohol abuse. "The real central issue is relationships. Relationships, relationships, relationships," said U.S. Army Chaplain Lt. Col. Ran Dolinger. "People look at PTSD, they look at length of deployments ... but it's that broken relationship that really makes the difference." To reduce suicides, the Army said it is targeting soldiers who are or have been in Iraq for long periods and teaching them to notice signs that can lead to suicide. That training came too late for Army Specialist Tim Bowman. The 23-year-old killed himself in 2005 after returning from Iraq. "As my family was preparing for a 2005 Thanksgiving meal, our son Timothy was lying on the floor, slowly bleeding to death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," said his father, Mike Bowman, in testimony to a House Veterans' Affairs committee hearing in December. "His war was now over." He said veterans return home to find an "understaffed, under-funded, under-equipped" Veterans Affairs mental health system. "Many just give up trying," he said. E-mail to a friend . | Average of 5 soldiers per day tried to commit suicide in 2007, Army figures show .
Sen. Jim Webb introduces legislation to improve care for soldiers .
Army psychiatrist says soldiers must overcome stigma of treatment .
Psychiatrist: "We know that soldiers don't want to go seek care" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "a0dff972172125f32b79977a47b0d250be8f71e4"} | 1,055 | 65 | 0.612925 | 1.753492 | 0.798003 | 3.642857 | 16.553571 | 0.857143 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A German woman held hostage in Iraq since February has been freed, but her son was still being held, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday. An image taken from a video issued in April shows Hannelore Marianne Krause and her son Sinan. The woman, Hannelore Marianne Krause, was taken to Germany's embassy in Baghdad after being taken captive with her adult son 155 days earlier. Steinmeier said he was "very relieved" Krause was released on Tuesday, yet there still remains "a great deal of uncertainty" about her son, who "remains in captivity." "Rest assured we will do everything in our power to reach her son, Sinan," the foreign minister said. In early March, Iraqi militants holding Krause and her son hostage demanded that Germany withdraw its troops from Afghanistan to ensure their safety. As part of NATO's Afghanistan force, Germany sent about 3,000 troops in the relatively peaceful northern part of the country. German troops also help train Iraqi soldiers and police, but not in Iraq. The Arrows of Righteousness group posted video clips on the Internet, threatening to kill the two in 10 days if Berlin did not comply. CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of the video. In it, the woman identified as Krause urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to heed the demands. A passport with Krause's name was shown in the video. While sitting next to her son, Krause tells Merkel, "These people want to kill my son in front of my eyes, and then they'll kill me, if the German troops did not withdraw out of Afghanistan." She and her son clutch each other and cry as they speak while three militants, two armed with large assault rifles, stand behind the pair. "They are not joking, and they'll kill us. I am very tired. Please help me. Take any decision or we will be killed." Reading a prepared statement, one of the militants says, "We have warned you. Otherwise you will not see their bodies." "Muslims are all one nation, and have one religion. It is not acceptable that Germany leads the coalition troops in Afghanistan, and attacks the secured villages and claim it is not fighting in Iraq." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report. | German foreign minister says woman was released after 155 days .
Germany will continue efforts to free her adult son, who remains in captivity .
In video, militants had demanded that German troops leave Afghanistan . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "faac3a6337907b1552b7068c8701cae665c4885c"} | 528 | 47 | 0.532437 | 1.416531 | 0.95319 | 1.725 | 11.425 | 0.825 |
SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) -- Nearly 100 former Chilean soldiers and secret police will be prosecuted on charges they tried to cover up the disappearance and deaths of 119 people during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a judge ordered Monday. Former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, pictured in 2000. The disappearances occurred between 1974 and 1975, during what was known as "Operation Colombo," which targeted Pinochet's opponents. Chile's military government published information outside the country to make it seem that the victims had died fighting guerrillas. Chilean magistrate Victor Montiglio based his order on an investigation that says 60 victims were illegally arrested by the Office of National Intelligence (DINA) and kept in detention centers before they disappeared. DINA's former director, retired Gen. Manuel Contreras, has already been sentenced to 250 years in prison in other cases involving human rights violations. He found out about Montiglio's ruling in his prison cell. Minister of Justice Carlos Maldonado said the former soldiers will be taken to military compounds after they appear before Montiglio on Tuesday. The civilian suspects will be jailed in the Santiago Uno and Punta Peuco penal facilities, which are outside Santiago, he said. A U.S. backed-coup toppled democratically elected President Salvador Allende in 1973, after which Pinochet took power. In March 2008, a court in Chile sentenced 24 former police officers for their roles in kidnappings, torture and murders that happened just after the coup, Chile's Judicial Authority said. Thousands of Chileans were victims of the national crime wave. Pinochet, whose reign lasted from 1973 to 1990, was widely blamed for encouraging subordinates to kidnap, torture and kill people with suspected leftist ties, such as journalists and union members. Years after he left power, courts indicted Pinochet in two human rights cases, but judges threw out the charges on the grounds that he was too ill to stand trial. Pinochet died in 2006. CNN's Alberto Pando contributed to this report. | Chilean judge orders prosecution of 98 former Pinochet soldiers, agents .
Order is related to investigation of 60 people who disappeared in 1970s .
Hundreds were killed or disappeared during Augusto Pinochet's rule .
Suspects are expected to appear in court in Chile on Tuesday . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "c741b211364d761605050776064a506d24378d10"} | 494 | 67 | 0.629698 | 1.500005 | 0.86091 | 0.960784 | 7.235294 | 0.686275 |
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama told Florida's Cuban-American community Friday that his Cuba policy would be based on "libertad" and freedom for the island nation's people. Sen. Barack Obama speaks at a Cuban Independence Day event in Miami, Florida, on Friday. "My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: 'libertad,' " he said, using the Spanish word for liberty at an event celebrating Cuban Independence Day in Miami, Florida. "The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the right of free speech, a free press, freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair," Obama said. "That is my commitment. "I won't stand for this injustice; you will not stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba. That will be my commitment as president of the United States of America," he said. Watch Obama call for freedom in Cuba » . Obama also said the policy for Cuba and the rest of Latin America would be guided by "the simple principle that what's good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States." "After eight years of the failed policies of the past, we need new leadership for the future," he said. "After decades of pressing for top-down reform, we need an agenda that advances democracy, security and opportunity from the bottom up." Obama called for looser restrictions on travel to Cuba so Cuban-Americans can visit family members relatives as well as allowing larger money transfers to the island, two positions that are popular within the Cuban-American community. Obama, however, may lose votes among Cuban-Americans if they think he is willing to talk with Raúl Castro, the president of Cuba who recently took over leadership of the island nation from his brother, Fidel Castro. Speaking in Miami on Tuesday, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, blasted Obama for changing his positions on normalization with Cuba and for wanting to "sit down unconditionally for a presidential meeting with Raúl Castro." "These steps would send the worst possible signal to Cuba's dictators: There is no need to undertake fundamental reforms; they can simply wait for a unilateral change in U.S. policy," McCain said. "I believe we should give hope to the Cuban people, not to the Castro regime. Watch McCain blast Obama's position on Cuba » . "My administration will press the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners unconditionally, to legalize all political parties, labor unions and free media, and to schedule internationally monitored elections. The embargo must stay in place until these basic elements of democratic society are met," McCain said. But Obama said McCain had misrepresented his position. "John McCain's been going around the country talking about how much I want to meet with Raúl Castro, as if I'm looking for a social gathering; I'm going to invite him over and have some tea. That's not what I said, [and] John McCain knows it," he said. Obama also faulted McCain for pursuing what he called the failed Cuba polices of President Bush. "Now, I know what the easy thing is to do for American politicians. Every four years, they come down to Miami, they talk tough, they go back to Washington, and nothing changes in Cuba. That's what John McCain did the other day," Obama said. "He joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade. "Instead of offering a strategy for change, he chose to distort my position and embrace George Bush's and continue a policy that's done nothing to advance freedom for the Cuban people. That's the political posture that John McCain has chosen, and all it shows is that you can't take his so-called straight talk seriously." Republicans have been able to count on the support of southern Florida's Cuban American community by maintaining a no-compromise stance against Cuba's Communist regime. And with a 70 percent turnout rate, Cuban-Americans have been a powerful force in Florida and thus, because of Florida's role as a swing state, national politics. Watch how Obama is wooing Cuban Americans » . Younger Cuban-Americans, however, are beginning to question their community's alliance with the GOP. "In reality, all they give to Cuban-Americans is lip service, and I think Cuban-Americans of my generation, Cuban-Americans of previous generations, are tired of the lip service," said Giancarlo Sopo, who is backing Obama. But despite Democratic efforts to reach out to Cuban Americans, "the reality is, there is no change," says Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican who has represented his South Florida district for eight terms. Obama, Diaz-Balart said, may even help Republicans unite Cuban-Americans behind the GOP banner once again. "This community is steadfast. It's solid. It understands the value of freedom," Diaz-Balart said. | NEW: Sen. Obama says Cuba policy will be based on liberty for Cuban people .
NEW: Democratic front-runner accuses Sen. McCain of distorting position .
Obama calls for looser restrictions on travel, fund transfers to Cuba .
McCain argues for continuation of hard line policy against communist regime . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "a062b8ba08369be2364a863020a28de63a3cbf86"} | 1,140 | 70 | 0.495382 | 1.348558 | 0.882873 | 1.54386 | 17.596491 | 0.77193 |
MUGELLO, Italy -- Italian Valentino Rossi's resurgence continued on Saturday, as the five-time MotoGP champion took pole position at his home race in Mugello. Rossi gives the thumbs up after taking his first pole position of the season at his home race in Mugello. The 29-year-old has struggled since winning his last title in 2005 but is back at the head of the field this season on his Fiat Yamaha and has won the last two races. A lap of one minute 48.130 seconds was enough to see him take his first pole position of the season ahead of Dani Pedrosa in second and fellow-Italian Loris Capirossi in third -- the 50th pole of his career and 40th in MotoGP. "For sure we will try to keep this winning streak going. I was quite worried after practice because we had some problems but the team modified the bike and it is faster now," said Rossi. "My last pole position was a long, long time ago -- I can't even remember when it was, so I am very happy. Loris is behind me and with two Italians on the front row the crowd will be very special here." Rossi is three points ahead of Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa and his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo going into Sunday's race with reigning champion Casey Stoner a further 28 points back on his Marlboro Ducati. Rossi's time bettered the previous record pole time by Spaniard Sete Gibernau by more than 0.8 seconds, and that marker was posted two years ago on a more powerful bike. In fact, the top seven finishers all beat Gibernau's lap, achieved on a 990cc bike as opposed to the 800cc versions of today. | Valentino Rossi claims pole position for Sunday's Italian MotoGP in Mugello .
A lap of one minute 48.130 seconds enough to give Rossi first pole of season .
Yamaha rider Rossi three points ahead of Honda's Dani Pedrosa in standings . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "f11102404d23702fe398b1d690d13418703e617a"} | 397 | 63 | 0.654875 | 1.569911 | 0.7689 | 2.577778 | 7.133333 | 0.888889 |
(CNN) -- Actress Sharon Stone said in a statement Saturday that she "could not be more regretful" of her comments this month regarding the earthquake in China, in which she suggested that the quake was an act of "karma." Sharon Stone made the controversial remarks before she hosted a charity auction at the Cannes Film Festival. "Yes, I misspoke," said the statement released by Stone's publicist and entitled "In my own words by Sharon Stone." "I could not be more regretful of that mistake. It was unintentional. I apologize. Those words were never meant to be hurtful to anyone," Stone said. "They were an accident of my distraction and a product of news sensationalism." Stone said Saturday that she was issuing the statement to set the record straight about the comments she made to a reporter at the Cannes Film Festival. The statement drew fire from citizens and government officials. "There have been numerous reports about what I said in Cannes. I would like to set the record straight about what I feel in my heart and end all of the understandings," she said. "They're not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a friend of mine," Stone said on camera at the time, discussing the Chinese. "And then all of this earthquake and all this happened and I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice, that bad things happen to you?" Qin Gang, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said Stone "should do more to promote understanding and friendship between nations." French fashion house Christian Dior said it would drop Stone from its advertisements in China after her May 22 remarks. "We absolutely disagree with her hasty comments, and we are also deeply sorry about them," Dior said in a statement from its Shanghai, China, headquarters. But Stone said she was "deeply saddened by the pain that this whole situation has caused the victims of the devastating earthquake in China." As of Friday, the death toll from the May 12 magnitude-7.9 quake stood at 68,858, with another 18,618 missing. | Sharon Stone had suggested that deadly earthquake might be karma .
Actress issues statement "to set the record straight" regarding remark .
Stone says comments were product of "news sensationalism" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "62481fda7e7b9714b994617909349550707fe8a7"} | 458 | 43 | 0.512005 | 1.535537 | 1.088891 | 1.611111 | 11.361111 | 0.777778 |
(CNN) -- Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal made light work of his heavy schedule and a recurring foot problem to reach the last 16 of the French Open on Friday. Rafael Nadal inspects his blistered foot during his third-round victory against Jarko Nieminen. The world No. 2 crushed Finnish 26th seed Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-3 6-1 in his fourth successive day of action on the Paris clay, following frustration this week with bad weather. He will play fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco after his 7-6 5-7 7-6 6-1 win over 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Third seed Novak Djokovic was also untroubled in a later third round match to see off Wayne Odesnik of the United States 7-5 6-4 6-2. Nadal will be hoping for some time to let his blistered foot recover, needing treatment during the match against Nieminen for a problem that saw him beaten in the second round of the Rome Masters earlier in the claycourt season. He is bidding to become the second man after the legendary Bjorn Borg to win four successive titles at Roland Garros, but has already vented his anger at the ATP Tour for scheduling four top-level clay events in as many weeks. Watch Nadal talk about his tournament hopes » . Nadal showed little signs of tiredness as he cruised past Nieminen in less than two hours to extend his winning record at the tournament to 24 matches. His opening victory against Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci took two days due to torrential rain, then on Thursday he saw off another qualifier in straight sets when he beat Frenchman Nicolas Devilder. In other third round action on Friday, Spain's Nicolas Almagro again showed his clay court pedigree with a 6-3 6-7 6-3 7-5 win over Britain's 10th seed Andy Murray. Almagro, who has won two titles on clay this season, was made to work hard by Murray, but recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the third set to win seven games in row and take command. He will now play 145th-ranked Frenchman Jeremy Chardy who ended the run of 30th seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in straight sets. Latvia's Ernests Gulbis continued his fine run as he defeated Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3 7-5 6-2 to set up a clash with home hope Michael Llodra who beat Italy's Simone Bolelli in straight sets. In second-round action, France's Florent Serra completed a hard-fought 6-4 6-3 6-7 7-6 win over Victor Hanescu of Romania and will next face American Bobby Ginepri. | Three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal into last 16 of the French Open .
Spanish world No. 2 crushes Finnish 26th seed Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-3 6-1 .
Second seed next faces Fernando Verdasco who beat Mikhail Youzhny .
Third seed Novak Djokovic later joins Nadal in the fourth round at Roland Garros .
Nicolas Almagro of Spain puts out 10th seed Andy Murray of Britain . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "13943ef2d9c3b737c9a900f0cdb32a9c39121e6f"} | 608 | 106 | 0.551928 | 1.440739 | 1.025263 | 4.734177 | 6.392405 | 0.860759 |
(CNN) -- Seven players involved in last week's Champions League final have been excused from England's trip to Trinidad and Tobago for their friendly international on Sunday. Only Jermaine Defoe (second right) of the England players congratulating John Terry will travel to Trinidad. Coach Fabio Capello confirmed that of the men involved in Moscow last week, only Manchester United central defender Rio Ferdinand, who has links with the Caribbean, and Chelsea full-back Wayne Bridge, who did not get onto the pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium, will be part of his 22-man squad for the final game of the season. Chelsea's John Terry, who opened the scoring in Wednesday's 2-0 win over the United States at Wembley, is one of those given a holiday along with Wayne Rooney, Wes Brown, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Owen Hargreaves. England squad: . Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Joe Lewis (Peterborough). Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Stephen Warnock (Blackburn), David Wheater (Middlesbrough), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham). Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), David Bentley (Blackburn), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham). Forwards: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Dean Ashton (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth). | Seven players have been cut from the England squad for friendly in Trinidad .
The seven players had all appeared in the Champions League final last week .
However, Manchester United central defender Rio Ferdinand will be playing . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "0c25e0cd62589fde1b378606febbcc5a2bafc770"} | 409 | 45 | 0.583435 | 1.277427 | 0.735431 | 2.047619 | 7.571429 | 0.809524 |
(CNN) -- A federal grand jury indicted a man arrested last week in connection with a mysterious case of exposure to the deadly biological agent ricin, prosecutors said. Authorities found ricin, weapons and an anarchist manual in Roger Von Bergendorff's Nevada hotel room. Roger Von Bergendorff, 57, was indicted on charges of possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number, said Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bergendorff was hospitalized for two months with suspected ricin poisoning, and was discharged before his arrest. His initial court appearance was last week, Collins said, and he did not enter a plea. An arraignment is scheduled for May 2. Bergendorff was hospitalized in February complaining of breathing difficulties. Two weeks later, Thomas Tholen, a cousin who went to Bergendorff's Las Vegas hotel room to recover his belongings, discovered what turned out to be ricin. Authorities also said a search of the room found four guns, the book "Anarchist's Cookbook," a collection of instructions on poisons and other dangerous recipes and castor beans, syringes and beakers. Ricin is extracted from ground-up castor beans. Tholen was charged earlier in April with failing to report the commission of a crime. A federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly concealing the knowledge that production and possession of a biological agent -- a felony -- was being committed. Bergendorff previously lived in Tholen's home in Riverton, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. After the ricin was discovered, the FBI searched that home as well as storage units Bergendorff used in Utah. Authorities said FBI agents searching the storage units found castor beans, chemicals used in the production of ricin, a respirator, filters, laboratory glassware, syringes and a notebook on ricin production. If convicted as charged, Bergendorff would face a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. E-mail to a friend . | Roger Von Bergendorff indicted on ricin possession charges .
Bergendorff had been hospitalized with suspected ricin poisoning .
Authorities found ricin, guns in Bergendorff's Nevada hotel room .
Thomas Tholen, Bergendorff's cousin, also faces charges . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "a86bc16fad35d84e988af4cc64bf14877337d47e"} | 492 | 67 | 0.614768 | 1.883276 | 0.63644 | 2.454545 | 8.568182 | 0.863636 |
(CNN) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has warned against outside influences in next month's run-off election, likening one American diplomat to a "prostitute" and threatening to oust another from his country. Robert Mugabe tries to stir voters with a blistering speech criticizing the U.S. and Britain. "Zimbabwe cannot be British, it cannot be American. Yes, it is African," said Mugabe, whose speech Sunday was quoted Monday in The Herald, the state-run newspaper. "You saw the joy that the British had, that the Americans had, and saw them here through their representatives celebrating and acting as if we Zimbabwe are either an extension of Britain or ... America. You saw that little American girl [U. S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer] trotting around the globe like a prostitute..." Mugabe went on to say that U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee would be expelled from the country if he "persisted in meddling in Zimbabwe's electoral process," the newspaper reported. The fallout from Zimbabwe's stalled election has brought international criticism, with Frazer taking the most emphatic stance. In April, Frazer accused Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for nearly three decades, of "trying to steal the election" and "intimidating the population and election officials as well." The first election was March 29. An announcement of the winner of the presidential election was delayed for weeks as opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed he had won. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, after a long delay, ruled that neither candidate had won the required majority of votes, and scheduled a runoff election for June 27. Since the March balloting, there have been numerous reports from Tsvangirai's party and church groups about kidnappings, torture and other violence, including the deaths of opposition party members. They say the violence targets opponents of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party. At about the same time Sunday that Mugabe was giving his campaign speech, Tsvangirai was speaking at a funeral. Tsvangirai spoke harshly as he stood near the casket of a man he claimed was killed by Mugabe's supporters. Watch Tsvangirai address mourners » . "This is a clear testimony of the callousness of this regime," said Tsvangirai to a funeral procession of hundreds gathered outside the capital city of Harare. "They can kill us. They can maim us. But we are going on the 27th of June, our hearts dripping with blood, to vote him out of office." Mugabe denies his supporters were responsible for election-related violence. | Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe likens U.S. diplomat to prostitute .
Mugabe warns U.S. and Britain to keep out of Zimbabwe .
Morgan Tsvangirai attends funeral and accuses Mugabe supporters of murder . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "0f937bcc8cd07bab2d5aa9a4492d3c2430063b67"} | 614 | 58 | 0.481908 | 1.310407 | 0.654511 | 1.470588 | 14.352941 | 0.764706 |
(CNN) -- Serie A champions Inter Milan have confirmed the dismissal of coach Roberto Mancini, opening the way for former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to replace him. Mancini guided Inter Milan to the Italian league title for three successive seasons. Ironically, the 43-year-old Mancini, who guided Inter to three successive Italian league titles, is now the favorite to take Mourinho's former job at Stamford Bridge. Inter -- who won the first of their three titles in 2006 because those above them were demoted or deducted points over the matchfixing scandal -- released a statement about the sacking. "Inter Milan have informed Roberto Mancini that he has been relieved of his role as coach, especially because of his comments that he was not going to stay after the end of the season following the Champions League tie against Liverpool on March 11," read their statement. Mancini, however, rescinded those comments the following day declaring that he had made them in the heat of the moment following Inter's elimination from the competition, losing 3-0 on aggregate. Inter's reasons for sacking Mancini appear less credible after club president Massimo Moratti announced that the coach had changed his mind about leaving at the end of the season. "I've had a talk with Mancini, who confirmed to me that he wanted to stay at Inter next year to see out his contract. He wants to win the Champions League for us next season," Moratti said on March 12. "Mancini's words surprised me, I didn't expect it and even less so I believe the people close to him." Mourinho, nicknamed 'The Special One' for guiding Porto to the Champions League in 2004 and then Chelsea to two Premier League titles, would not come cheap, but the exit of Mancini has cost Inter dear too as his contract, which runs till 2012, will leave him 24 million euros richer as compensation. However, Mancini was unable to make Inter into viable Champions League contenders despite the three Serie A titles. Mancini is the ninth coaching casualty under Moratti, following Ottavio Bianchi, Roy Hodgson, Luigi Simoni, Mircea Lucescu, Marcello Lippi, Marco Tardelli, Hector Cuper and Alberto Zaccheroni. | Serie A champions Inter Milan confirm dismissal of coach Roberto Mancini .
Mancini allegedly fired for comments made after defeat to Liverpool in March .
Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho favorite to take over at the San Siro . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "a6c0617d92807f05f02d767261c45b616382e499"} | 504 | 53 | 0.516708 | 1.288678 | 1.091646 | 2.463415 | 10.195122 | 0.804878 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- She's faced the glare of public life since she was a girl, but Chelsea Clinton must contend with renewed press scrutiny as she increasingly assumes a role in her mother's campaign for president. Chelsea Clinton accompanies her mother to the polls on Super Tuesday in Chappaqua, New York. The former first daughter always has been off-limits to the media, especially while she was growing up in the White House. But pressure to burst this protective bubble is likely to grow as the soon-to-be 28-year-old campaigns across the country for Sen. Hillary Clinton, even heading to Hawaii -- Sen. Barack Obama's home turf. Chelsea Clinton will spend three days there to strum up last-minute votes before the state's Tuesday caucuses, said a source from her mother's campaign. In the rough-and-tumble world of politics, her parents always have been protective of her -- including most recently after a TV correspondent's comment that the Clinton campaign found inappropriate. Watch how controversy goes with the last name » . "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" MSNBC correspondent David Shuster said this month about her reputed calls to superdelegates. Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson excoriated Shuster and called his remarks "beneath contempt" and disgusting. The senator from New York even sent a damning letter to NBC and demanded "appropriate action." "I am a mom first and a candidate second, and I found the remark incredibly offensive," she said. (Shuster was suspended indefinitely for the remark, made February 7 when he was a guest host for Tucker Carlson. MSNBC said Thursday that the suspension will end February 22.) Even a fourth-grader apparently can't get through to the press-shy Chelsea Clinton. Scholastic News "kid reporter" Sydney Rieckhoff was in pursuit of a story as she questioned presidential candidates last month on the campaign trail in Iowa, according to The Associated Press. Approaching Chelsea Clinton, she reportedly asked, "Do you think your dad would be a good 'first man' in the White House?" But Clinton wasn't talking. "I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute," she said, according to the AP. During a campaign stop at the Luckie Food Lounge in Atlanta, Georgia, in mid-January, one supporter asked Clinton to reveal something that nobody else knew about her. She responded she would love to -- if all the cameras weren't around. Clinton has proven to be an effective campaigner for her mother, according to a campaign source, saying there's a strong correlation between her visits and improved performance. At this point, the campaign has become a fight for delegates, and even narrowing a loss has a big impact, a source said. This election cycle, Clinton campaigned for her mother in California, the first state where the senator won the youth vote. A rural congressional district in Nebraska where she campaigned reportedly outperformed others in the state. Politicians protecting their children from the spotlight is hardly new. The Bushes complained when daughters Jenna and Barbara became fodder for late-night comics and media outlets. Vice President Dick Cheney also has been reticent when it comes to his daughter Mary, who had a child with her lesbian partner. During a debate with Cheney in 2004, Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards broached the topic, saying, "I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter." Cheney responded, "Let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much. ... That's it." But the vice president later slammed Sen. John Kerry for his remarks about Mary Cheney when asked about homosexuality during a debate with President Bush. The vice president said Kerry was "out of line;" wife Lynne Cheney called him "not a good man." These exchanges show that as Chelsea Clinton's public persona rises, so too will questions about why she doesn't make herself available to reporters. The Clinton campaign said Chelsea Clinton is trying to reach as many people as possible and has "appeared in dozens of venues in more than 20 states." But she's still not granting interviews. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Trisha Henry, Frank Sesno, Rebecca Sinderbrand and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | Chelsea Clinton steps up her role in her mother's campaign .
The Clintons have always shielded their daughter from the media spotlight .
Ex-first daughter, who soon turns 28, will campaign in Hawaii for Tuesday caucuses . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4f45a0576d353fa9b5b9d1c8e3cc0e6a1cd4897b"} | 1,110 | 52 | 0.534769 | 1.391206 | 1.067551 | 1.6 | 20.644444 | 0.844444 |
(CNN) -- A shadowy figure in the back seat of an SUV in surveillance photos is a second "person of interest" in the slaying of the University of North Carolina student body president, police said Monday. Investigators say a second male appears in the back seat in this ATM photo, which has been colorized. Police on Saturday released photos taken by an ATM camera that show a young man driving a sport utility vehicle possibly using one of student Eve Carson's ATM cards in the Chapel Hill area. A large, shadowy form appears in the back seat of the vehicle, which police say may have been Carson's. Carson, 22, was found shot to death early Wednesday in a suburban neighborhood near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Her Toyota Highlander was found the next day in another neighborhood to the west, close to where she lived with roommates. "We do believe there is a second unidentified male seated in the rear seat," the Chapel Hill Police Department said in a statement. "We have been exploring ways to enhance the quality of this photo in an effort to learn more about this person." Police have not identified the pictured driver, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a vintage Houston Astros baseball cap. Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said Saturday that Carson's killing "feels like a random crime." The medical examiner told police that there were no injuries to Carson's body besides gunshot wounds and no signs of sexual assault, Curran said. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people crowded the First United Methodist Church in Carson's hometown of Athens, Georgia, for her funeral, the Athens Banner-Herald reported. The University of North Carolina will hold a memorial service for Carson after students return from this week's spring break, Chancellor James Moeser said in a statement on the school's Web site. On Saturday, the school's top-ranked men's basketball team wore reminders of the popular student president on their jerseys as they took on Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Watch as students remember the slain campus leader » . The North Carolina players wore patches on the jerseys that simply read "Eve," and many of Duke's fans donned small light-blue ribbons as a show of support. A moment of silence for Carson also was held before tipoff. The UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees has pledged $25,000 to the Crime Stoppers program in the area for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible in Carson's slaying. Carson was a student member of the board. E-mail to a friend . | ATM photo shows driver, shadowy figure in back seat of SUV .
Driver appears to be using one of student Eve Carson's ATM cards .
Carson was found shot to death early Wednesday near campus .
Carson was student body president at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "f6d43a207c2b3c48e787087b345c23d2fb1dc92f"} | 581 | 59 | 0.618107 | 1.736365 | 0.58053 | 4.036364 | 9.109091 | 0.909091 |
(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton on Thursday sharpened her attacks on Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama as she faces what even her supporters admit are must-win situations in Texas and Ohio in the weeks ahead. At a campaign stop at a General Motors Corp. plant in Youngstown, Ohio, the senator from New York accused Obama of caving in to special interests. "My opponent says that he'll take on the special interests," she said. "Well, he told people he stood up to the nuclear industry and passed a bill against them. But he actually let the nuclear industry water down his bill -- the bill never actually passed." Clinton was referring to a 2006 bill that Obama drafted after an Illinois nuclear power plant was found to have released radiation into surrounding groundwater. Obama's original bill would have required power plants to notify the public and government officials when any radiation was released, but subsequent versions had less stringent reporting requirements, The New York Times reported. The bill was never voted on by the full Senate. Clinton also accused Obama of supporting "billions of dollars of breaks for the oil industry" by voting for an energy bill she opposed and said he did not support the workers of a Maytag Corp. plant that closed in his home state of Illinois. Watch Clinton attack Obama » . Reacting to Clinton's charges, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said his candidate "doesn't need any lectures on special interests from the candidate who's taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any Republican running for president." "Sen. Clinton may have said that attacks and distortions are the 'fun' and 'exciting' part of the campaign, but they're exactly what everyone else in America is tired of," Burton said. In recent days, Clinton has challenged Obama's ability to deliver on his rhetoric. "There's a big difference between us -- speeches versus solutions, talk versus action," she said. "Speeches don't put food on the table. Speeches don't fill up your tank or fill your prescription or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night." Her remarks in Ohio echo statements she made a day earlier in McAllen, Texas, when she said, "I am in the solutions business. My opponent is in the promises business." Clinton was set later Thursday to hold events in Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. Obama was to be in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, and had no public events scheduled. CNN contributor and Clinton supporter James Carville said the senator must do well in the March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries if she is to stop Obama's momentum. Carville said he thought Clinton could still win the nomination. "You know, this thing is close. Not all the Democrats have been heard from. ... If anybody can do this, I think she can," said Carville, a major force behind President Clinton's successful 1992 campaign. Clinton's aggressive stance may be in reaction to Obama's momentum after he won eight contests in a row -- including victories by wide margins in Tuesday's primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Watch how the so-called Potomac primaries put Obama on a roll » . In those contests, Obama also outpolled Clinton among demographic groups she had carried earlier -- women, lower-income voters and Latinos. Clinton is banking on those groups to carry her to victory in Texas and Ohio. The wins in the Potomac primaries gave Obama a lead over Clinton in the delegate count for the first time -- 1,253 to 1,211, according to CNN calculations. "In my neighborhood, you know, you had to win games if you wanted to brag," said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist and Obama supporter. "And I think right now, Barack Obama is ahead in delegates. He's ahead in states. He's ahead in the popular vote. He's winning. "Sen. Clinton has got to win some of these contests, you know, to get to the finals." Neither Clinton nor Obama is likely to pick up the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination outright before the primary season ends in June, mainly because Democrats divvy up each state's delegates in proportion to the candidates' share of the popular vote. Watch an outlook of the Democratic race » . The Democratic nomination likely will be decided by the roughly 800 superdelegates, which include party officers, elected officials and activists. Obama's camp argues the superdelegates should support the candidate with the most popular support, as indicated by a majority of pledged delegates going into the convention. Clinton's campaign, on the other hand, says the superdelegates should support the candidate they think will be the best nominee in the general election as well as the best president. Watch how the campaigns are fighting for superdelegates » . MoveOn.org, an influential liberal activist group, on Thursday said it would launch a petition drive calling on the superdelegates not to go against the popular vote. "The worst thing for the party and democracy is if all these new voters feel like the nomination was brokered in a backroom somewhere. The superdelegates have got to let the voters decide," MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser said in a statement. MoveOn.org has endorsed Obama. In a possible indication that Clinton is going to fight for every delegate, her camp on Thursday announced that daughter Chelsea Clinton would be dispatched to Hawaii to campaign before the state's primary Tuesday. Watch how each campaign is fighting for delegates » . However, Chelsea Clinton may face an uphill battle there since Hawaii is Obama's native state. Bill Clinton on Thursday was scheduled to campaign in Wisconsin, which also holds its primary Tuesday. Recent polls in that state have shown a tight race between the two Democrats. A Strategic Vision survey conducted February 8 through Sunday finds Obama ahead of Clinton 45 percent to 41 percent, a lead outside the poll's margin of error of 3 percentage points. Carville said Clinton could recover from a loss in Wisconsin. "It certainly would be preferable for her to win Wisconsin, but I don't put it in the same category as I would put Texas and Ohio on March 4," he said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Peter Hamby and Chris Welch contributed to this report. | NEW: Spokesman says Obama "doesn't need lectures on special interests"
Sen. Hillary Clinton accuses Sen. Barack Obama of caving to special interests .
Clinton has challenged Obama's ability to deliver on his rhetoric .
Clinton supporter James Carville says she must win in Texas, Ohio on March 4 . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "e0127487aee3a00fe164d72eb697221079518471"} | 1,384 | 73 | 0.465679 | 1.370694 | 1.047733 | 4.431034 | 20.913793 | 0.913793 |
GEROLSTEIN, Germany -- Mineral water company Gerolsteiner have decided to drop their sponsorship of the German ProTour cycling team, which expires at the end of the 2008 season. German rider Stefan Schumacher is a member of the Gerolsteiner team. Gerolsteiner, who have been team sponsors since 1998, said there was a change in marketing strategy. Gerolsteiner has invested around $12 million annually in the team, which includes riders Stefan Schumacher, Fabian Wegmann, Markus Fothen and Robert Foerster. Gerolsteiner said on Tuesday they were no longer reaching their targeted audience through cycling because it was changing from being solely a producer of mineral water to a supplier of nonalcoholic drinks. Gerolsteiner team chief Hans-Michael Holczer was deeply upset by the news. "There were tears in my eyes," said Holczer. The German Cycling Federation (BDR) said they would help the team to find a new sponsor. "It is not an entirely unexpected decision. After such a long collaboration, you notice changes in your partner," said Holczer, who will begin the hunt for a new sponsor. "We have one of the best teams on the market with a national and international reputation." The T-Mobile cycling team has fired rider Lorenzo Bernucci after his positive doping test at the Tour of Germany last month. Bernucci violated the team's code of conduct and was removed from T-Mobile's roster at the Spanish Vuelta, the team said on Tuesday. He tested positive for a non-amphetamine appetite suppressant. Bernucci is licensed by the Monaco cycling federation, which will be responsible for further investigation and possible additional sanctions, T-Mobile said. He tested positive on August 15 for the substance sibutramine, an appetite suppressant sold under various brand names, such as Reductil and Ectiva. The world governing body of cycling, UCI, informed T-Mobile of Bernucci's positive test. Bernucci told team management that he had been using Ectiva for four years and had purchased it over the counter at a pharmacy in Italy, not knowing it been added to the list of prohibited substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency, T-Mobile said. According to UCI rules, a first violation for sibutramine -- if it is determined that it was not intended as a performance enhancer -- can result in anything between a warning and a one-year suspension. "We do not know if this was an attempt at performance enhancement or just poor judgment," T-Mobile team chief Bob Stapleton said. "But we know it is unacceptable that riders take any medication without the approval of the team doctor. It's a clear violation of our code of conduct and we act now on that basis." E-mail to a friend . | The Gerolsteiner company is ending its sponsorship of the Pro Tour team .
They have been team sponsors since 1998 and their contract ends next year .
Stefan Schumacher and Davide Rebellin are leading team members .
T-Mobile have fired Lorenzo Bernucci after a positive dope test . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "2f3af8decce1c0a6cd22b21df96acd40b14bb62b"} | 632 | 68 | 0.561597 | 1.709865 | 0.654556 | 1.773585 | 9.792453 | 0.716981 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Negotiations between the United States and Libya that could result in compensation for past acts of state-sponsored terrorism by Libya are under way, a senior State Department official said Friday. The wreckage of Pan Am 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland; the bombing killed 270 people in 1989. U.S. and Libyan officials met Wednesday and Thursday, the official said. The nations hope to hammer out a deal in which Libya would "resolve all outstanding claims in good faith" and offer "fair compensation" to victims and their families, he said. "We are just at the beginning of this process. The goal is to get something that is fair and comprehensive," the official said. The official said that any agreement would cover about eight acts, including the 1989 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground; and the 1986 bombing of the La Belle disco in Berlin, Germany, that killed two people and injured at least 120, including 40 Americans. Outstanding terrorism claims have been a problem for Libya in its attempts to normalize relations with the United States and to begin development of its oil resources. Libya has expressed disappointment that it has failed to reap any political and economic benefits promised by the U.S. government and others after Libya renounced terrorism and stopped development of weapons of mass destruction. And some of the largest U.S. oil companies are eager to begin exploration and development of Libya oil fields, among the 10 largest in the world. The new negotiations and development of an agreement would ideally fulfill all outstanding lawsuits against Libya and allow investment to move forward. A joint U.S.-Libyan statement said, "Both parties affirm their desire to work together to resolve all outstanding claims in good faith and expeditiously in the establishment of a fair compensation mechanism." | Nations hoping for deal in which Libya would compensate terrorism victims .
Eights acts would be covered in possible agreement .
Libya has tried to normalize relations with U.S. by renouncing terrorism .
U.S. oil companies want to explore and develop Libya's oil fields . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "13a366f303e6ea2f07c353a9f5fb49a44840f808"} | 405 | 65 | 0.552951 | 1.507903 | 1.167723 | 1.55102 | 7.142857 | 0.693878 |
(CNN) -- Researchers have produced aerial photos of jungle dwellers who they say are among the few remaining peoples on Earth who have had no contact with the outside world. Indigenous Brazilians are photographed during an overflight in May, reacting to the sights over their camp. Taken from a small airplane, the photos show men outside thatched communal huts, necks craned upward, pointing bows toward the air in a remote corner of the Amazonian rainforest. The National Indian Foundation, a government agency in Brazil, published the photos Thursday on its Web site. It tracks "uncontacted tribes" -- indigenous groups that are thought to have had no contact with outsiders -- and seeks to protect them from encroachment. More than 100 uncontacted tribes remain worldwide, and about half live in the remote reaches of the Amazonian rainforest in Peru or Brazil, near the recently photographed tribe, according to Survival International, a nonprofit group that advocates for the rights of indigenous people. "All are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed or decimated by new diseases," the organization said Thursday. Illegal logging in Peru is threatening several uncontacted groups, pushing them over the border with Brazil and toward potential conflicts with about 500 uncontacted Indians living on the Brazilian side, Survival International said. Its director, Stephen Cory, said the new photographs highlight the need to protect uncontacted people from intrusion by the outside world. "These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," Cory said in a statement. "The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct." The photos released Thursday show men who look strong and healthy, the Brazilian government said. They and their relatives apparently live in six communal shelters known as malocas, according to the government, which has tracked at least four uncontacted groups in the region for the past 20 years. Watch a report on the tribe » . The photos were taken during 20 hours of flights conducted between April 28 and May 2. | The photos are published on the National Indian Foundation's Web site .
Government: Men appear strong and healthy, live in communal shelters .
"Uncontacted tribes" are thought to have had no contact with outsiders . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "ee36a8b5db09b9e9a6d462116539ffc095d5c017"} | 453 | 50 | 0.562534 | 1.660524 | 1.083365 | 3.642857 | 9.47619 | 0.880952 |
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the 2008 Atlantic season, formed Saturday near the coast of Belize, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Tropical Storm Arthur could make its way across the Yucatan and re-emerge in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm made its way over land and was expected to weaken, but the center said the storm could re-emerge in the Gulf of Mexico and regain intensity Sunday. At 11 p.m., the center of Arthur was over the southern Yucatan Peninsula, about 80 miles (125 km) west of Chetumal, Mexico, and about 120 miles (195 km) south-southeast of Campeche, Mexico. It was moving west at about 7 miles (11 km) per hour. The storm's maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph (65 km/hr), with higher gusts, mainly over water east of its center. Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 260 miles (415 km) from the center of the storm, forecasters said. The government of Belize issued a tropical storm warning for the nation's coast, and the government of Mexico issued a tropical storm warning from Cabo Catoche south to the border with Belize. A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area -- in this case, within the next six to 12 hours. The storm was forecast to dump up to 10 inches of rain over Belize, up to 15 inches in isolated areas, the hurricane center said. The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season begins Sunday. On Thursday, Tropical Storm Alma, the first one of the year in the eastern Pacific, formed near the west coast of Central America, according to the National Weather Service. The storm was downgraded to a tropical depression and dissipated over the high terrain of Central America. The federal government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted this month that the Atlantic season would be more active than normal, with up to 16 named storms and up to five major hurricanes of Category 3 or above. The noted Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team predicted this year that there would be 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes. The team calculated a 69 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coast. A survey released this week found that 50 percent of 1,100 adults surveyed in Atlantic and U.S. Gulf Coast states did not have disaster plans or survival kits. "Nearly one in three said they would not prepare their home until a storm is within 24 hours of landfall," Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Thursday. "Now is the time to buy all that stuff," he said upon the release of the survey by polling firm Mason-Dixon. | NEW: Storm could re-emerge into Gulf of Mexico and regain intensity .
Storm's maximum sustained winds near 40 mph .
Storm forecast to dump up to 10 to 15 inches of rain over Belize .
2008 hurricane season begins Sunday . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "d3b3bcf90226a694361cb27f1a4d481c79b7368a"} | 612 | 56 | 0.552989 | 1.371817 | 0.909316 | 3.875 | 11.083333 | 0.875 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Imams delivering their Friday sermons in Iraq are denouncing the shooting of a Quran, the holy book of Islam, by a U.S. soldier. Col. Ted Martin kisses a copy of the Quran before presenting it to tribal leaders Saturday. "If we were strongly united from the beginning, that silly-minded American soldier wouldn't have used the Quran as a target," said Sheikh Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour al-Samarie, delivering a sermon at Um al-Qura Sunni Mosque in Baghdad. The U.S. military and President Bush have apologized, but it did not stem the violent protests in Afghanistan and calls from both Sunni and Shiite Iraqis for the soldier to be severely punished. Muslims around the world were angered when it came to light last week that an American staff sergeant -- a sniper section leader -- had used a Quran for target practice in Iraq. Imams at mosques in the largely Sunni cities of Falluja and Mosul, and in Baghdad, condemned the act. The Baghdad mosque prayer was broadcast live on state TV. "This soldier put the head of his state in embarrassment that he had to apologize to the prime minister. We call upon this soldier to be punished. This act, we reject and we stand against it," al-Samarie said. He said if a similar incident happened again, "the world will turn upside down and things will not go back to how they were." Watch residents of Baghdad protest » . Sayyed Muhanned al-Mossawi, a Shiite imam at al-Hakma mosque, said: "We condemn and denounce the criminal act by the American soldier in Radhwaniya in tearing the Holy Quran and using it as a shooting target." Friday's prayer service is the most important Muslim event of the week. The U.S. commander in Baghdad issued a formal apology Saturday and read a letter of apology from the shooter. Watch the U.S. military formally apologize » . The sergeant has been relieved of duty as a section leader, officially reprimanded by his commanding general, dismissed from his regiment and reassigned to the United States, the U.S. military said. Iraq's most powerful Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, has demanded the "severest of punishments" for the American soldier. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Saad Abedine contributed to this report. | "We condemn and denounce the criminal act," Shiite imam says in Friday sermon .
Sunni imam calls soldier "silly-minded American" who embarrassed leader .
American staff sergeant had used a Quran for target practice in Iraq .
Friday prayers most significant event of the week for Muslims . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "e5e837f2cc75fc44ebf826822aa4c9dc59344b8b"} | 595 | 72 | 0.59739 | 1.735713 | 1.126191 | 3.965517 | 7.689655 | 0.862069 |
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- On the question of whether recent immigrants assimilate as quickly as previous waves, many Americans exhibit short fuses -- and even shorter memories. Ruben Navarrette Jr. notes that immigrants have been criticized throughout history for not assimilating. They have convinced themselves that, instead of adapting to the customs of this country, new arrivals -- most of whom come from Asia or Latin America -- expect the rest of us to accommodate them. They go ballistic over little things -- Mexican flags, taco trucks, libraries that offer bilingual story time, or having to "press one for English." Yet, even as they look down on new immigrants, many Americans look back fondly upon their immigrant ancestors. Legend has it that when grandpa arrived from Ireland, Germany, Italy or Poland, he jumped off the boat, immediately draped himself in the American flag, ripped out his native tongue, and abandoned his culture -- all while singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Germans did not move to Milwaukee and make beer and cheese. The Irish did not settle in Boston and join organizations like the Hibernian Society to preserve their heritage and culture. And even while Americans complain about how the current crop of immigrants aren't like their predecessors, they miss the irony: At the time, there were people who said the same thing about their ancestors; the Germans were thought to not be like the English, the Irish weren't like the Germans, the Italians weren't like the Irish etc. And the Chinese weren't like anyone who had come before them, and so they were labeled "unassimilable" by the Tom Tancredos of that era. Some things never change. When I was growing up in Central California, which is home to a large population of immigrants from Southeast Asia, thousands would gather to celebrate Hmong New Year. The local newspaper would do a feature. And, in the days that followed, someone would write an angry letter to the editor complaining that these people weren't melting into the pot. Yet, there is more melting going on than one might think, according to a new report from the Manhattan Institute. Billed as the first annual Index of Immigrant Assimilation, the study was written by Duke University Professor Jacob Vigdor. It measured three kinds of assimilation: economic (employment, education, homeownership, etc.); cultural (intermarriage, English proficiency, family size, etc.); and civic (citizenship, military service, political participation, etc.). Far from discovering that recent immigrants are ducking the assimilation process, the study found that "immigrants of the past quarter-century have assimilated more rapidly than their counterparts of a century ago, even though they are more distinct from the native population upon arrival." Of course, individual groups still fall behind in some categories. Chinese and Indian immigrants have low levels of cultural assimilation. Mexican immigrants have low levels of economic assimilation. And Canadian and Indian immigrants have low levels of civic assimilation, since few of them become citizens. But, overall, the news is good. After more than 200 years, America still does an excellent job of assimilating immigrants. Even if a particular group tried to resist the process, they wouldn't stand a chance. Assimilation happens, whether the immigrants are ready or not. Those are the facts. Of course, fear doesn't listen to facts. That is something else that hasn't changed. Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune and a nationally syndicated columnist. Read his column here. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. | Navarrette: Americans perceive new immigrants as not assimilating .
Americans think ancestors got off the boat waving the Stars and Stripes, he says .
That leads to resentment of current wave of immigrants, he says .
But a recent study says new immigrants are joining the mainstream . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "1317a869cc1d6d534a93eaad67fb6550aa155ae6"} | 836 | 75 | 0.367351 | 1.056285 | 0.89336 | 1.111111 | 12.962963 | 0.703704 |
(CNN) -- Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has announced he will quit international cricket at the end of the ongoing second Test against West Indies. MacGill will retire after 10 years of Test cricket, in which he has taken 207 wickets. The 37-year-old made his Test debut against South Africa 10 years ago and has since gone on to take 207 wickets at an average of 28.28 over 43 Test matches. "Unfortunately now my time is up," MacGill said. "I am incredibly lucky that as well as providing me with amazing opportunities off the field, my job allows me to test myself in one of Australia's most highly scrutinised sporting environments. "Bowling with some of crickets all time greats such as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee has made my job a lot easier. I want to be sure that exciting young bowlers like Mitchell Johnson enjoy the same privilege," he added. MacGill took the only wicket to fall on a rain-interrupted third day of the Test in Antigua. He had Ramnaresh Sarwan brilliantly caught at slip by Michael Clarke for a well-constructed 65, but otherwise drew blank on a frustrating day for the tourists. The ever dependable Shivnarine Chanderpaul (55 not out) and Dwayne Bravo (29 not out) took the West Indies to the close on 255 for four wickets. They were replying to Australia's 479 for seven declared and with only two days remaining a draw looks the likely outcome in MacGill's farewell appearance. Australia won the first Test in Jamaica by 95 runs. | Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has announced he will quit Test cricket .
The 37-year-old made his Test debut 10 years ago and has taken 207 wickets .
MacGill took only wicket to fall in rain-interrupted third day of second Test .
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo compile unbroken stand of 73 . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "f856ca4cd15992e0e88ae9113bf31b2a5ab55072"} | 381 | 92 | 0.626343 | 1.651323 | 1.014255 | 5.126984 | 4.777778 | 0.873016 |
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- An Indonesian businessman known for publicity stunts dropped 100 million rupiah, or about $10,700, from an aircraft Sunday to promote his new book. Bank notes are dropped from a small airplane Sunday to promote Tung Desem Waringin's new book. Tung Desem Waringin circled eight times over a soccer field in the city of Serang, about 40 miles west of Jakarta, emptying bag after black bag of cash. Below, men snatched bills from the hands of young ones. Giddy schoolchildren jumped up and down in excitement, holding up notes they picked up. One man held a blue cap that he had stuffed with money. Another sat in a corner of the field, massaging his feet after a madcap dash for cash. Watch Waringin make it rain » . The stunt was to promote Tung's book "Marketing Revolution," said Fajar Ramdani, the media coordinator for the event. Tung initially wanted to pull the stunt over the capital of Jakarta, but police, fearing large crowds and potential chaos, did not grant him permission, local media reported. Three years ago, the 42-year-old motivational speaker rode a horse along Jakarta's main streets dressed as one of the country's most celebrated war heroes to launch his first book. The book went on to become a best-seller. Millions of people in Indonesia live on fewer than $2 a day. The publicity stunt was expected to generate a tremendous response because the country is grappling with rising food and fuel prices. CNN's Kathy Quiano contributed to this report. | Indonesian businessman circles soccer field eight times, dumping bags of cash .
Men snatch bills from youngsters; one man stuffs blue cap with money .
Businessman wanted to pull stunt over Jakarta, but police feared chaos .
Author once rode on horseback through Jakarta, dressed as war hero . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "438e8eaa1c64cb59288f9954355d0100181d19a2"} | 371 | 70 | 0.578512 | 1.619259 | 0.75534 | 1.571429 | 5.375 | 0.714286 |
WICHITA, Kansas (CNN) -- She found her husband on their bed in a pool of his own vomit, dead from an accidental overdose of drugs he received from an online pharmacy. These pills were sent to CNN's Drew Griffin, even though he was never seen by a doctor. Every night before her husband went to bed, he would open a prescription bottle of the muscle relaxant Soma and swallow the eight or nine pills it took for him to fall asleep, said the woman. She spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because she wants to protect her husband's identity and not embarrass his family. The drugs arrived at their doorstep every week. She thought they were being prescribed by a treating physician. Her husband had been in a car accident and suffered back pain, and Soma was the one drug that could relieve the aches. She was wrong. The drugs were purchased online without a doctor's visit. She says that her husband had become an addict -- and that the Internet sites that sold him the drugs were his pushers. "Absolutely," she said. "That's exactly what they are." "These pharmacy people that are doing this and these doctors that are doing this, they don't give a dadgummit about people. It's just the almighty dollar; that's all it is." Rusty Payne, a spokesman with the Drug Enforcement Administration, agreed. The abuse of pharmaceuticals "is one of the biggest drug problems we are dealing with," he said. "The Internet is the biggest culprit," Payne said. About $39 million in cash, bank accounts, property and computers were seized in 2007 as a result of Internet drug investigations, he said. In 2004, the figure was $11.9 million. The DEA has formed an initiative with Google, Yahoo! and AOL to warn people about buying drugs online. Between 2005 and 2007, Payne said the official warning popped up nearly 80 million times. A CNN investigation shows just how easy it is to purchase prescription drugs online without a legitimate prescription, revealing a growing new battle in the war on drug abuse. Watch why 'I wanted to end it' » . To prove it, a CNN investigative reporter went to linepharmacy.com, which advertises a long list of prescription drugs for sale. The site sent back an e-mail saying "all orders made are still subjected to Doctor's evaluation." The reporter placed two orders for anti-depressants with the site: one for Prozac, the other for Elavil. A health survey on the site was already filled in. The reporter submitted a credit card and a shipping address. Within 24 hours, the Prozac had arrived at the reporter's front door. The Elavil arrived two days later. Both prescription bottles had a doctor's name and pharmacy on the label. Watch woman describe online drug 'Christmas' sales » . The reporter had neither seen a doctor nor talked to a doctor on the phone. In fact, he hadn't even heard of the doctor listed on the bottle. Carmen Catizone, the executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which works to implement and enforce uniform pharmaceutical standards, said prescription drugs are the new crack and heroin, and Internet sites that sell them are the new drug dealers. Except narcotics, Catizone said, "you can order virtually any drug in the world by simply clicking a mouse and going to various Web sites that exist out there." His group blames unscrupulous doctors for writing prescriptions without ever seeing the patients or even reviewing their medical records. It has created a list of nearly 80 sites selling online drugs that it recommends people not use. It is illegal in every state for doctors to prescribe medicines to patients whom they do not know across state lines. It is also illegal in most states for pharmacies to ship prescriptions to where they have no license to operate. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy has tried to lobby Congress, asking for some federal oversight or federal prosecution to stem the tide of illegal Internet pharmacies. But Catizone says legislators gave the board a chilly response: "'Show us the dead bodies,' and if that was me or my family, that's a pretty sad statement for our legislators to give." It is unknown just how many people have died from overdoses related to these online drug sales. It is also unknown how many people have tried to commit suicide with drugs bought online, as Nancy Fitzpatrick of Washington state tried to do earlier this year. She showed CNN her prescription for Soma. The drugs were delivered by a pharmacy in American Fork, Utah, and prescribed by a doctor in Long Island, New York. "I wanted to end it, I wanted to die," "Fitzpatrick said, describing how she swallowed about 130 pills after she fell into a deep depression. Fitzpatrick, the sister of CNN investigative producer David Fitzpatrick, says she had no contact with the doctor or the pharmacy. Read about a sister found, an abuse uncovered . The doctor, Kareem Tannous, lives in a $4-million estate on Long Island and runs three health clinics. When confronted about the prescriptions in front of his Valley Stream, New York, clinic, Tannous hustled to his car and drove off without answering any questions. Workers inside Roots Pharmacy in American Fork, Utah, also refused to answer questions about why Fitzpatrick's prescriptions from Tannous were filled. The office in the small foothill town has a bolted security door and closed-circuit security cameras. The workers inside refused to even open the door or provide the name of the owner. In the reception area on the first floor, dozens of boxes of Federal Express envelopes were waiting to be filled. While CNN cameras rolled, one of the workers emptied a large clear plastic trash bag filled with empty wholesale prescription drug bottles. Most of the containers were labeled Carisoprodol, the generic name of the muscle relaxant Soma. "They need to be stopped," Fitzpatrick said of the doctors and pharmacies involved. "It just boggles my mind that it's so simple." CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report. | CNN reporter gets drugs online without ever seeing a doctor as part of investigation .
Widow describes losing her husband to overdose of drugs bought online .
Expert says online pharmaceutical industry needs better regulation .
Woman tells CNN she tried to commit suicide after falling into deep depression . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "470618f9fd48a5d134a44b5de166b625f596a0b3"} | 1,380 | 59 | 0.404998 | 1.209121 | 1.028492 | 1.433962 | 22.415094 | 0.716981 |
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- At a debate in front of thousands of labor union activists Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama's Democratic presidential rivals blasted him for his remarks about Pakistan. Last Wednesday, the Illinois senator said that if it were necessary to root out terrorists, he would send U.S. forces into Pakistan without the country's approval. "You can think big, but remember, you shouldn't always say everything you think if you're running for president, because it has consequences around the world," Sen. Hillary Clinton said during a 90-minute Democratic presidential forum in Chicago sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Chicago is Obama's hometown, and Clinton's statement drew boos. The New York senator responded, "We don't need that right now." Despite the frosty reception, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd joined Clinton in criticizing Obama. He said Obama's stance could undermine Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the country's military ruler, who has been a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda. "While General Musharraf is no Thomas Jefferson, he may be the only thing that stands between us and having an Islamic fundamentalist state in that country," Dodd said. "So while I would like to see him change, the reality is, if we lose him, then what we face is an alternative that could be a lot worse for our country." Obama jumped into the fray. "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure that we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism," he said. "If we have actionable intelligence on al Qaeda operatives, including [Osama] bin Laden, and President Musharraf cannot act, then we should," Obama said. "That's just common sense." He also said Americans had the right to participate in the debate over such a key aspect of American foreign policy. But Clinton countered by saying that while U.S. forces might have to pursue action inside Pakistan "on the basis of actionable intelligence," it was "a very big mistake to telegraph that and to destabilize the Musharraf regime, which is fighting for its life against the Islamist extremists who are in bed with al Qaeda and the Taliban." "Remember, Pakistan has nuclear weapons. The last thing we want is to have al Qaeda-like followers in charge of Pakistan and having access to nuclear weapons." Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware responded later in the debate, noting that the strategy Obama outlined was already U.S. policy. "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts," Biden said. "It's already the policy of the United States -- has been for four years -- that there's actionable intelligence, we would go into Pakistan." E-mail to a friend . | Sen. Hillary Clinton booed when she criticizes Sen. Barack Obama at debate .
Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd slam Obama's stance on Pakistan .
Obama: U.S. should go into Pakistan if intelligence warrants it .
Debate sponsored by AFL-CIO drew thousands of labor activists . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "751e8f720d24c57e79cf63d9a3f72cd80c5d9619"} | 661 | 80 | 0.537159 | 1.695935 | 0.99047 | 1.653846 | 10.769231 | 0.807692 |
(CNN) -- The U.S. military is promising action to address conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a soldier's father posted images on YouTube showing a building that he said "should be condemned." A soldier battles overflowing sewage in the Fort Bragg barracks shortly after coming home from Afghanistan. "This is embarrassing. It's disgusting. It makes me mad as hell," Ed Frawley said of the building where his son, Sgt. Jeff Frawley, had to live upon his return this month from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan. Frawley said Monday that Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody called him to say he shares Frawley's anger and that "there's no excuse." Cody said he would not want his own sons or any troops to return to such conditions, Frawley said. Frawley's 10-minute video shows still photos from throughout the building, which appears to be falling apart and filled with mold and rust. Paint -- which Frawley said is lead-based -- is chipping. Ceiling tiles are missing. A broken drain pipe allows sewer gas into the building, while another one has tissues stuffed into it in an apparent effort to stop the gas from coming in. Photos from the communal bathroom show some of the most disgusting images. In one, a soldier stands in a sink to avoid what Frawley describes as 3 inches of sewage water that filled the floor when toilets overflowed. Watch the run-down conditions that soldiers have been living in » . At times, "sewage water backs up into the sinks in the lower floors of these barracks," Frawley said in his narration. "The soldiers have to tell one another who's taking a shower when they turn the sinks on, or the person taking the shower gets scalded with hot water." Frawley said the Army promised to have new barracks ready when his son's unit, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, returned. "The conditions depicted in Mr. Frawley's video are appalling and unacceptable, and we are addressing the concerns he expressed," said Maj. Tom Earnhardt, spokesman for the 82nd Airborne, in a written statement. "Our paratroopers are our most valuable resource, and our commitment is to their well-being. Our actions now must represent the best we can do for our soldiers." "Fundamentally, we acknowledge these conditions are not adequate by today's standards," he added. "The images in Mr. Frawley's video are alarming, and our soldiers deserve the best conditions we can provide as an institution." Watch an interview with Frawley » . Officials at the base invited the media into the barracks and acknowledged that there are serious problems. Earnhardt said the building had been mostly unused during the 15 months Frawley and his unit were away. Fort Bragg has a massive construction project under way to create housing, but it is behind schedule, Earnhardt said. The buildings used by the 82nd Airborne are about 50 years old, he said. Earnhardt said the incident with the overflowing toilet took place the first day after the unit's return and has been addressed. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is among government officials who have responded to the video. In a written statement, she called living conditions in the barracks "unacceptable" and said the situation "must be immediately corrected." Ed Frawley said he is "hoping no one gets fired. I just want to see it get fixed." "They have the slowest contractors in the world," he said, adding that people in jail live "in better conditions." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mike Phelan, Sarah Carden and Mary Lynn Ryan contributed to this report. | Video shows moldy, rusty building with paint chipping; broken drain pipe .
Picture: Soldier in a sink to prevent 3 inches of sewage water from overflowing .
"This is embarrassing. It's disgusting," soldier's father says .
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody: "There's no excuse" for conditions . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "6a985a1090f146976d33c8b33342320a65a50211"} | 857 | 81 | 0.545107 | 1.76816 | 0.977094 | 3.590909 | 10.818182 | 0.833333 |
(CNN) -- Ecological and conservation groups are praising a move by the Environmental Protection Agency to impose new restrictions on rat poisons to help reduce the threat of accidental exposure to children and wildlife. The rules say only farmers, livestock owners and certified rodent control employees can buy rat poison in bulk. "We are very happy that the EPA has done all it can to get these products off of the consumer market," said Michael Fry, director of conservation advocacy for the American Bird Conservancy. "By putting these restrictions in place, they are allowing a compromise to be made between themselves and organizations who have been working on this problem for a long time." The EPA's new measures, which were handed down Thursday, require that rat poisons be kept in bait stations above ground and in containers that meet agency standards. Loose bait, such as pellets, and the four most hazardous types of pesticides, known as "second-generation anticoagulants," will no longer be sold for personal use. Under the new restrictions, only farmers, livestock owners and certified rodent control employees will be allowed to purchase rat poison in bulk. Bags larger than 8 pounds will no longer be sold at hardware and home-improvement stores. Children who come into contact with highly toxic pellets can experience terrible symptoms from digesting them. They include internal bleeding, nosebleeds, hair loss and extensive bruising. Between 2001 and 2003, rat poison was responsible for nearly 60,000 poisonings, according to a study done by the American Association of Poison Control Centers. About 250 of these yearly exposures result in serious injuries or death. The EPA said it believes the restrictions will not only keep the products out of children's hands, but also reduce the ecological and wildlife risks associated with exposure to rat poison. Bait blocks that are typically placed on the ground use fish and other flavors that attract endangered species, including mountain lions. "In California, almost every animal tested by the National Wildlife Service had residues of rodenticides," said Fry. "The rat baits are also very lethal to scavengers, because the toxins remain in the rodent's body long after they initially die." Although the EPA is receiving considerable praise for the initiative, this isn't the first time the agency has worked to combat the threat of rat poison. In 1998, the EPA established two standards for rat poison. The agency required manufacturers to include an ingredient that made the poison taste bitter and use an indicator dye that would make the ingestion of pesticides more recognizable. But regulations were revoked in 2001 after the agency came to a mutual agreement with manufacturers to rescind the requirements. "We determined that the dye wasn't effective in keeping children from being accidentally exposed and the bittering agent actually resulted in a loss of efficiency in controlling rodents," said Steven Bradbury, director of the agency's Division of Special Review and Re-registration. "In our decision Thursday, we felt that we needed an approach that would stop children coming in contact with the pesticides in the first place. That ultimately led to the implementation of bait stations," Bradbury said. The decision to revoke the requirements led the West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. and the Natural Resource Defense Council to file a lawsuit three years later. Both organizations saw the retraction as a way to make it easy for consumers to purchase unsafe rodenticides over the counter. According to the West Harlem group, inner-city housing and park departments such as the New York City Housing Authority could continue laying rat baits in public areas that were easily accessible to children. "Studies show that the number of poisonings in minority children is much higher than others," said Aaron Colangelo, a staff attorney at the Natural Resource Defense Council. "Not only do we have an environmental health issue, but an environmental justice issue as well." New York State Health Department studies showed that 57 percent of children hospitalized for rat poisoning were black and 26 percent were Latino. The EPA said it is working to reduce those numbers in upcoming years with regulations like the ones it introduced this week. "We were frustrated that the EPA dragged their feet for three years before finally taking some productive steps," said Colangelo. "But, from our perspective, they are finally starting to do what needs to be done in order to protect children." After June 4, rat poison manufacturers will have 90 days to comply with the EPA's guidelines. They will then have the opportunity to design new bait stations and formulas for their poisons. All new products should be registered and certified by June 2011. | EPA says new regulations will reduce rat poison exposure to children, wildlife .
Environmental groups laud efforts to keep rat poison off consumer market .
New restrictions prohibit sale of loose pellets, bulk bags for personal use .
Bait blocks for rats that are used in the wild can attract endangered species . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "4640d2f968f31bcf384d8253e055611b10f4a38b"} | 1,012 | 66 | 0.600137 | 1.508729 | 1.154969 | 1.534483 | 15.155172 | 0.810345 |
(CNN) -- Suspected Islamic insurgents fired mortar rounds at a plane carrying Somalia's transitional president, but no one -- including Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed -- was harmed, a presidential spokesman said. Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, pictured late last month during a visit to France. The attack happened while the plane was about to take off from Mogadishu's airport Sunday around 11 a.m. local time, spokesman Hussien Mohammed Huubsireb said. "Al-Shaabab has actually tried to harm to president, but thank God nobody was hurt," Huubsireb said. Al-Shaabab is an Islamic militia that is trying to seize control of Somalia. It is a splinter group of the Islamic Courts Union, which ousted Somalia's transitional government in 2006. The ICU was deposed in December of that year following Ethiopia's military invasion. Bloody battles between Al-Shaabab and the Ethiopian-backed government forces in Mogadishu have forced residents to flee the capital. More than 40,000 displaced civilians have taken shelter in dozens of makeshift settlements west of Mogadishu, described by the United Nations as "precarious conditions." Sunday's mortar attack is the second assassination attempt on Ahmed. The president survived a car bombing in September 2006 outside Somalia's parliament in Baidoa that killed at least eight others. Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has been more frequently targeted by the Islamic insurgents seeking to destabilize the government. Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked brutal clan infighting. Somalia's current transitional government is trying to maintain control of the capital, with the help of the better-equipped Ethiopian forces. But the presence of the Ethiopians has united various Islamic militant groups in Somalia, including Al-Shaabab, who are trying to oust the Ethiopian forces and gain control of Mogadishu. The United States classified Al-Shaabab as a terrorist organization in March, partly because of what Washington says is the group's close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda militant group. | Suspected Islamic rebels fire at a plane carrying Somalia's transitional president .
Plane attacked as about to take off from Mogadishu, no injuries reported .
Attack is the second assassination attempt on Ahmed after car bomb in 2006 .
Somalia in chaos since 1991, when warlords deposed dictator Mohamed Siad Barre . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "22e0c9ba3465840583a5fd79714d2f7663c7e3a1"} | 535 | 84 | 0.591864 | 1.456522 | 1.092043 | 4.344828 | 6.517241 | 0.827586 |
PICHER, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Powerful storms killed 22 people in three states over the weekend, including an Oklahoma mother who died while huddling over her child, authorities said. Her son survived with facial injuries. Teresa Bland, left, comforts Betty Bayliss among the debris in Picher, Oklahoma, on Sunday. Emergency management agencies in two states reported deaths in four counties. There were six people killed in Ottawa County, Oklahoma; 13 in Newton County, Missouri; one in a small community just east of Carthage in Jasper County, Missouri; and one in Purdy in Barry County, Missouri. The severe weather moved into the Southeast, killing at least one person in Laurens County, Georgia. Watch how the storm hit one Georgia town hard » . The deadly Midwest tornado -- at times, a mile wide -- blew winds estimated at up to 175 miles per hour, tracking a total of 63 miles from Oklahoma to southwest Missouri, according to the National Weather Service. The storms spawned five twisters in Oklahoma and two in neighboring Arkansas. Possible tornadoes also were reported Sunday evening in the coastal Carolinas, according to the weather service. No injuries or fatalities were immediately reported. An official surveying the damage in the Midwest said it looked like a "war zone." "It's just horrific. It's devastating to all of us," said Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, who declared a state of emergency in Ottawa County. "It appears the search and rescue part of the mission is over and now we're in the cleanup phase." Sherri Mills was in the small Oklahoma town of Picher -- northeast of Tulsa -- trying to find family pictures inside the wreckage that had been a friend's home. Mills said her friend was not home when the tornado struck. See scenes from the devastation » . "Thank God she wasn't here," said Mills, standing in front of the piles of brick and wood. "[She] lost everything. This was a two-story big brick home." Another man in Picher said he was home with his family when the storm hit. He said he was blown around inside the home and was lucky to be alive. "We got down on the floor and huddled up together, and we weren't in there thirty seconds when it hit the house," the man said. "We ended up right there under that door. At least I was under the door. My wife, two granddaughters, and my daughter was all there, just bunched up against each other." Watch a longtime pilot say he's never seen such destruction » . President Bush pledged federal support. "Mother's Day is a sad day for those who lost their lives in Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia because of the tornadoes," Bush told reporters in Waco, Texas. "We send our prayers for those who lost their lives. The federal government will be moving hard to help." Aboard Air Force One, Bush contacted Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and spoke with Henry after arriving at the White House. Bush did not specify what support the federal government would provide. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison also were in touch with the governors and planned to tour the disaster areas Tuesday. "We will partner with our state counterparts to ensure that we bring the full complement of federal resources to their aid as needed," Paulison said. Lisa Janak, spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said one person was killed in Dublin, just south of Macon. And the nearby town of Kite, with about 200 residents, was "significantly damaged," she said. Earlier, Janak said there were reports that the town was "gone," but added later that those claims were exaggerated. Perdue declared a state of emergency Sunday in six counties in Georgia. Watch how a severe storm took Georgia by surprise » . Authorities fear there may be additional casualties in Missouri, said Susie Stonner, spokeswoman with the state Emergency Management Agency in Jefferson City, Missouri. A twister touched down in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday and killed six people in Ottawa County, according to emergency officials. Another 150 were injured and an unknown number of people were missing. No other information was available about the Oklahoma mother who died while huddling over her child. Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said the town enlisted firefighters from surrounding areas who went house-to-house in a 20-block area, sifting through rubble and searching for survivors. "It looks like a war zone," she said. "Some homes have fallen in, some homes have lost roofs and some are now just slabs." Freelance journalist Mike Priest went to a heavy-hit neighborhood in Picher on Sunday, surveying an area where almost all the houses were leveled. All the residents had evacuated leaving behind, cars, clothes and even their pets, Priest said. "As you can see some people's pets have been left behind and they are fighting over some food," he said, shooting footage of the scene. "Just total devastation. Houses wiped all the way down to the foundation. You can see what used to be a house in the driveway. The storm was incredibly, incredibly strong right through here." CNN's Lee Garen, Susan Candiotti and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report. | 15 dead in Missouri, 1 killed in Georgia, six in Oklahoma, officials say .
States of emergency declared in Oklahoma, Georgia counties .
Storm system struck Midwest, then continued into the South .
President Bush has pledged federal support, has talked to states' governors . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "10dafcc21761c60f8fc5bd832daf8f21cf0fc66d"} | 1,213 | 59 | 0.46082 | 1.209606 | 0.421754 | 1.381818 | 19.109091 | 0.763636 |
(CNN) -- Brendon Pelser said he saw pure terror in the faces of his fellow passengers after an engine fell from a wing as it took off from Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday. Men were sweating profusely, women were crying. "There was fear on their faces," Pelser said. "Everyone started panicking." But the pilot of Nationwide Airlines' Boeing 737 Flight CE723 was able to fly long enough to dump fuel and make an emergency landing at Cape Town International Airport. Including crew, 100 hundred people were on the plane that departed at 3:50 p.m. on an hourlong flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. No one was injured. The jet had only been in the air about 10 minutes before the engine fell. "We heard something crash and bang, the plane veering left and right. A person on the right side said the engine was missing -- had broken clean off," said Pelser. Watch Pelser describe how the flight crew told passengers to "prepare for the worst" » . "They flew us in very slowly. We were all prepared for the worst. We went into the fetal position, head between the legs," he said. "Then we hit the runway." "I did kind of pray. I didn't want to die. I'm not really ready to die," the 33-year-old said. An object had been sucked into the engine as the nose wheel lifted from the ground and officials are trying to identify it. The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release an engine "when extreme forces are applied," to prevent structural damage to the wing, Nationwide said on its Web site. The airline described the incident as a "catastrophic engine failure." As the nose wheel lifted from the ground, "the captain heard a loud noise immediately followed by a yaw of the aircraft (sideways slippage) to the right," the airline said in a news release. The flight instruments showed the No. 2 engine on the right side had failed, it said. Pelser said he spent the night in Cape Town, then flew back to Johannesburg where he lives, on the same airline. Nationwide said the engine had undergone a major overhaul in March 2005 at "an approved Federal Aviation Authority facility in the U.S.A." and had flown only 3,806 hours since then. "These engines typically achieve 10,000 hours between major overhauls," Nationwide Airlines' press release stated. E-mail to a friend . | Nationwide Airlines pilot dumped fuel until he landed plane Wednesday .
An object was sucked into the engine as the nose wheel lifted from the ground .
100, including crew, were on the plane; no one was injured .
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's largest publicly owned utility company may be vulnerable to cyber attacks, according to a new report. In 2007 President Bush visited the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies power to almost 9 million Americans, "has not fully implemented appropriate security practices to protect the control systems used to operate its critical infrastructures," leaving them "vulnerable to disruption," the Government Accountability Office found. Simply put, that means a skilled hacker could disrupt the system and cause a blackout. Rep. James Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat, fears the problem is much larger than just the TVA. "If they are not secure, I don't have a great deal of confidence that the rest of our critical infrastructure on the electric grid is secure," he said. The TVA operates 52 nuclear, hydroelectric and fossil-fuel facilities in the southeastern United States. Among the government watchdog agency findings: . • The TVA's firewalls have been bypassed or are inadequately configured . • Passwords are not effective . • Servers and work stations lack key patches and effective virus protection . • Intrusion-detection systems are not adequate . • Some locations lack enough physical security around control systems. The GAO recommends 73 steps to correct the problems in its report to Congress. In September, CNN first aired dramatic footage of a government experiment demonstrating that a cyber attack could destroy electrical equipment. The experiment, dubbed "Aurora," caused a generator to fall apart and grind to a halt after a computer attack on its control system. The test was conducted by scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory. In October, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. told Congress that 75 percent of utilities had taken steps to mitigate the Aurora vulnerability, but Langevin said it now appears that Congress was misled. A congressional audit of the electric reliability corporation's claim cast doubt on the assertion that most utilities were taking steps to fix the problem. "It appears that they just made those numbers up," Langevin said. "It is not acceptable. It is outrageous." He said the result is there is now no clear picture of how vulnerable utilities are to cyber attacks. The electric reliability corporation -- a nongovernmental group that oversees the power system and comprises members of the industry and some consumers -- told CNN it regrets the confusion. Experts told CNN that Cooper Industries is the only manufacturer of hardware that can close the Aurora vulnerability. The company estimated it would need to sell about 10,000 devices to fix the problem nationwide. It has sold just over 100, it told CNN. Langevin said the federal government may need new powers to require utilities to take corrective actions to close cyber security gaps, and he will press to give those powers to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The congressman is chairing an Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon. Representatives of the TVA, the GAO, the federal commission and the electric reliability corporation are to appear before the subcommittee. | A hacker could disrupt Tennessee Valley Authority system, causing blackouts .
TVA supplies power to almost 9 million Americans .
Congress was told 75 percent of utilities fixed problems to combat attacks .
Representative: no clear picture of how vulnerable utilities are to cyber attacks . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "9166b4c77e919f7a7cc457f9df981512dea3694f"} | 679 | 57 | 0.541849 | 1.557407 | 1.52263 | 4.803922 | 11.45098 | 0.843137 |
(CNN) -- Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs are used by the military to provide nutritious and compact meals for the troops. The meals spark memories good and bad, for those who ate them in the military and even for some civilians who used them during disasters, when food was not readily available. Harald Schweizer was 19 when this photo was taken in the summer of 1968 in Vietnam. He is holding a C ration. CNN.com readers shared their stories and memories of MREs and C rations. Some of the responses have been edited for clarity and length. Here is a selection: . Michael Reimers of Gresham, Oregon MREs are the fancy ones. We had C rations. Probably left over from WWII! For my 21st birthday in 1982 I was on border patrol at the Czech border and my friends snuck in two beers and made a cake for me out of what was available. They took a fruitcake that was in something like a tuna can tin and they mixed hot chocolate mix with grape jelly to make the frosting and added a candle and two German beers and we were in business out in the woods. It was very cool being with all my buddies and them doing that for me. Ronald Mervyn of Burton, Michigan I served in the army from April 1985 to February 1988. MREs were not all that bad. I liked the chicken ala king, the dehydrated potatoes patty and the chocolate chip cookies the best. They were all edible. I wish I could have brought some home to share with family and friends. Steven Carrigan of Salina, Kansas I served in the U.S. Marine corps. Did I eat MREs? You bet and a lot of them. They get the job done but always needed a bit of spicing up, Tabasco sauce that someone would bring to the field, usually. Cold weather affected them more than anything. Nothing worse than getting the beans and franks in cold weather. The beans would be semi-hard and the franks rock solid. The preservative that they are in gels up and looks like petroleum jelly. Had to carry them next to your body to get them warm. To me the worst one was the chicken ala king, disgusting. The desserts were always good. Some guys had recipes that you could mix together two or three MREs and have a pretty good meal if you had heat and the time to cook it. Even though I thought I left them behind when I left the military, I still have them in the car during the winter and when I do ice fishing. They are great in a pinch. Annette Sweet of Leavenworth, Kansas This is a different side of life all together; I believe the best memories were how to heat your MRE before they came out with the heating pouch. Spaghetti, wow that was a good one, the best way to serve it was to take your MRE cheese, a mini bottle of the Tabasco that came in the pack and mix it all together and place on the hood of your Humvee on a hot day or by the heater on a cold day. Umm good. Now, the worst ever that I believe they came out with was the loaf, I can't even say whether it was meat or vegetables but it really left a very heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach. You can never forget the ham slices; unfortunately they forgot to slice it, it was about ½ inch thick filled with gristle and very salty, very hard to digest. The different assortments of all the MREs were, as I call them, Charms candy, hard as a rock and stuck to your teeth; Tootsie roll, huge and didn't taste like chocolate; Chicklet gum, send you straight to the throne; the peanut butter and crackers, well, a bit oily but I considered a keeper. Oh, by the way, they did have real coffee. I believe it was Tasters Choice, not sure though. And fruit loaf, what can you say about a loaf? Once a loaf, always a loaf, and staying with tradition of blended items, you mixed a pack of the powered cream they gave you for the coffee in with just a smidgen of water and you had peaches ala mode. I never went hungry, but sometimes I never was full. I have retired now and have come to appreciate what is good food. It's being a civilian, sitting at a real table, with silverware, plate and glass, looking back on where I came from and knowing that I can't go back in body but in spirit. From a retired soldier, just keeping it real. To all my comrades that came before me, with me and after me, God Bless you and thank you for all that you do. Suzanne Yeltnuh of Ahwatukee, Arizona I was a victim of Hurricanes Jeanne, Frances and Wilma. We had no power for 21 days and the stores were out of food. I stood in lines for hours for ice and MREs and was very thankful. I actually think they are very good! Now that I moved to Arizona, at least I don't have to worry about hurricanes!Watch as civilians taste MREs . Clarence Ragland of Tucson, Arizona I not only had MREs, but I also had their predecessor, the C ration! C-rats, as they were called, came with a can opener called a P-38, and were OK. The MRE has come a long way since its inception, and the chicken ala king was one of the best. Still have some at home, although I retired from the Air Force in 2000. Megan Sterrett of APO, New York While I was in the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, I sent an MRE to my children so they could see what they were like. My daughter, who was in the second grade, took it in to school for show and tell. One of the girls in the class declared that she would rather eat sand, to which my daughter replied, "Well you can chose to eat this or choose to die." It's always interesting to get a child's perspective on things. You never know what they will come up with.Explore the history of U.S. combat rations . Gary Burton of Clarksville, Tennessee My father served in Vietnam and related this story to me about the old C rations they were served to eat. He said the canned sponge cake was an "acquired taste," so instead of eating it, they opened a petcock valve on the nearby helicopters and filled the cake and tin with aircraft fuel. When lit, the sponge cake would burn for hours and allow the men to heat the rest of their meal with it. David Hollingsworth of Baltimore, Maryland I was a member of the 18th Airborne Corps F.A. b 5/8th Artillery in August 1990; among the first troops from Fort Bragg to deploy in that area. MREs were considered pretty OK meals to eat until my unit was linked in a special mission with the French troops. Their rations were of something that came off of our dinner tables. (Real food!) We would trade them every night for food until they realized what the big fuss was all about. I know real sardines and things of that nature might not sound as appetizing as other foods. However, compared to the MREs we were eating, the French troops' food was a delicacy to most. Mark Grocki of Birmingham, Michigan I have not served in the military, but I have eaten MREs on backpacking trips through Michigan provided to me by a friend's cousin who serves in the Marines. I've always looked forward to them, and have found the entrees like Mexican rice, beef stew, and ham and cheese omelets rather tasty. The crackers and various snack items are good on the go, too, but don't drink the water from the heating element! When asked by other people, "What do they taste like?" I have only one word for them. "Freedom." E-mail to a friend . | CNN readers recall good and bad memories of MREs .
"They get the job done but always needed a bit of spicing up"
Meat-vegetable-loaf "left a very heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach"
Canned sponge cake an "acquired taste" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "81e50c6cdbea4e55af6307d653135ef395b6d7fe"} | 1,832 | 71 | 0.413823 | 1.470791 | 0.375986 | 6.388889 | 28.685185 | 0.907407 |
DERBY, England -- Substitute Emmanuel Adebayor struck his second hat-trick against Derby this season as Arsenal ran riot with a 6-2 Premier League victory at Pride Park. Arsenal players celebrate Robin Van Persie's goal in their comfortable 6-2 victory over Derby. The Gunners, 5-0 winners at The Emirates earlier in the season, made sure of third place in the table with a rousing second-half display against relegated Derby, who move closer to being the Premier League's worst-ever side. Arsene Wenger's side led 2-1 at the break after goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Robin van Persie either side of a Jay McEveley effort. Theo Walcott was on target too, but the second half belonged to Togo international striker Adebayor, who struck three times to take his season's tally to 30 in all competitions, with Rob Earnshaw grabbing a consolation for the hosts in this eight-goal thriller. Bottom side Derby, now 30 league games without a victory, began the more purposefully and Emanuel Villa only just failed to connect Tyrone Mears' inviting low cross . Then Mile Sterjovski's drive took a major deflection off Alex Song to wrong-foot goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, making his first league start for Arsenal, only for the ball to creep past the right-hand post. The Gunners struggled to find their rhythm early on and were fortunate not to go behind when Villa's bullet header flew just over. Derby were made to pay for those early misses when Darren Moore's 25th minute mistake presented the ball to Niklas Bendtner, who played a one-two with Robin Van Persie before coolly slotting the ball into the left corner. However, Derby soon scored the equalizer they deserved. Robbie Savage's inswinging free-kick landed on the six-yard line and Jay McEveley reacted first to hook the ball home. The home side's joy was short-lived though, when Derby's defensive frailties were exposed again as Van Persie as given all the time in the world to chest down Kolo Toure's floated pass and volley home in style. Adebayor replaced Van Persie for the second-half and Arsenal immediately looked intent on adding to their goals tally. Twice Kolo Toure, playing at right-back, fired over, the second opportunity created by Cesc Fabregas' brilliant backheel. There was nothing goalkeeper Roy Carroll could do to deny Adebayor Arsenal's third goal. Walcott took advantage of Alan Stubbs' slip to cut the ball back to Emmanuel Eboue, who gave Adebayor an easy finish. Walcott should have made it four when he was put through by Bendtner but the teenager fired wide with the goal at his mercy. By now it was looking all too easy for the Gunners as they toyed with home side, creating chances at will -- but against the run of play Derby reduced the deficit to just a single goal when substitute Robert Earnshaw stroked the ball home. Yet within a minute the two-goal cushion was restored, Gael Clichy pinging a pinpoint pass to Walcott wide on the left before the youngster cut inside and curled into the top-right corner. Adebayor grabbed another poacher's goal, sliding to convert another Clichy assist with 10 minutes remaining before he wrapped up his hat-trick from an acute angle in added time. With two games remaining, Arsenal are four points behind Manchester United and Chelsea, still with an outside chance of lifting the Premier League title. E-mail to a friend . | Emmanuel Adebayor hits hat-trick as Arsenal thrash Derby 6-2 at Pride Park .
The result follows Arsenal's 5-0 win against bottom side earlier this season .
Arsenal are four points behind Man United and Chelsea with two matches left . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "59fa6c3439d216272cc845d35627f8eb11b08a6d"} | 848 | 58 | 0.425081 | 1.007014 | 0.702515 | 2.204082 | 13.44898 | 0.816327 |
(CNN) -- Some 220 square miles of ice has collapsed in Antarctica and an ice shelf about seven times the size of Manhattan is "hanging by a thread," the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday, blaming global warming. Scientists say the size of the threatened shelf is about 5,282 square miles. "We are in for a lot more events like this," said professor Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Scambos alerted the British Antarctic Survey after he noticed part of the Wilkins ice shelf disintegrating on February 28, when he was looking at NASA satellite images. Late February marks the end of summer at the South Pole and is the time when such events are most likely, he said. Watch aerial footage of the area » . "The amazing thing was, we saw it within hours of it beginning, in between the morning and the afternoon pictures of that day," Scambos said of the large chunk that broke away on February 28. The Wilkins ice shelf lost about 6 percent of its surface a decade ago, the British Antarctic Survey said in a statement on its Web site . Another 220 square miles -- including the chunk that Scambos spotted -- had splintered from the ice shelf as of March 8, the group said. "As of mid-March, only a narrow strip of shelf ice was protecting several thousand kilometers of potential further breakup," the group said. Scambos' center put the size of the threatened shelf at about 5,282 square miles, comparable to the state of Connecticut, or about half the area of Scotland. See a map and photos as the collapse progressed » . Once Scambos called the British Antarctic Survey, the group sent an aircraft on a reconnaissance mission to examine the extent of the breakout. "We flew along the main crack and observed the sheer scale of movement from the breakage," said Jim Elliott, according to the group's Web site. "Big hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses, look as though they've been thrown around like rubble -- it's like an explosion," he said. "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened," David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey said, according to the Web site. "I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread -- we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be." But with Antarctica's summer ending, Scambos said the "unusual show is over for this season." Ice shelves are floating ice sheets attached to the coast. Because they are already floating, their collapse does not have any effect on sea levels, according to the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey. Scambos said the ice shelf is not currently on the path of the increasingly popular tourist ships that travel from South America to Antarctica. But some plants and animals may have to adapt to the collapse. "Wildlife will be impacted, but they are pretty adept at dealing with a topsy-turvy world," he said. "The ecosystem is pretty resilient." Several ice shelves -- Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and Jones -- have collapsed in the past three decades, the British Antarctic Survey said. Larsen B, a 1,254-square-mile ice shelf, comparable in size to the U.S. state of Rhode Island, collapsed in 2002, the group said. Scientists say the western Antarctic peninsula -- the piece of the continent that stretches toward South America -- has warmed more than any other place on Earth over the past 50 years, rising by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit each decade. Scambos said the poles will be the leading edge of what's happening in the rest of the world as global warming continues. "Even though they seem far away, changes in the polar regions could have an impact on both hemispheres, with sea level rise and changes in climate patterns," he said. News of the Wilkins ice shelf's impending breakup came less than two weeks after the United Nations Environment Program reported that the world's glaciers are melting away and that they show "record" losses. "Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled," the UNEP said March 16. The most severe glacial shrinking occurred in Europe, with Norway's Breidalblikkbrea glacier, UNEP said. That glacier thinned by about 10 feet in 2006, compared with less than a foot the year before, it said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Marsha Walton contributed to this report. | A large chunk of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica broke away last month .
Only a narrow strip of ice is protecting the shelf from further breakup .
"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly," scientist says .
Ice shelves are floating ice sheets attached to the coast . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "2eff3ba44cfaefbff89ebc764828ae9e4d477c9b"} | 1,084 | 68 | 0.535195 | 1.403769 | 0.640924 | 5.457627 | 15.559322 | 0.881356 |
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A woman who died after she was hit by a spotted eagle ray leaping from the water off the Florida Keys suffered "multiple skull fractures and direct brain injury," a medical examiner said Friday. The dead spotted eagle ray lies on the deck of a boat in Florida. Judy Kay Zagorski, 55, of Pigeon, Michigan, died Thursday of "blunt force craniocerebral trauma" after the ray hit her when she was in a boat, Monroe County medical examiner Michael Hunter determined. He gave no indication in the preliminary report whether the blow from the ray itself or her head hitting the deck, or both, killed her. "It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened." Zagorski was on the boat with her father and other family members and friends. She was seated or standing in the front of the vessel as it was traveling about 25 mph out of a channel, Pino said. "The ray just actually popped up in front of the vessel," he said. "The father had not even a second to react. It was too late. It happened instantly and the woman fell backwards and, unfortunately, died as a result of the collision." The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key, about 2½ hours' drive south of Miami. Zagorski was taken to the Fishermen's Hospital in Marathon, where she was pronounced dead. Watch marine officers work around dead ray on boat » . Pino said he had seen rays leap into the air, but added, "it's very rare for them to collide with objects." Watch experts explain why eagle rays leap » . The spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 to 80 pounds and had a 6-foot wingspan, Pino said. Watch officials investigate eagle ray collision » . Florida Fish and Wildlife said eagle rays "are not an aggressive species, but they do tend to leap from the water." Spotted eagle rays can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet and can weigh 500 pounds, it said. Learn more about eagle rays » . Television personality Steve Irwin was killed when a ray's barb pierced his heart in September 2006. A month later, an 81-year-old Florida man, James Bertakis, survived after a ray leaped from the water and stung him in the heart, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He spent five weeks on a ventilator and his recovery took several months, his sons told the Detroit Free Press in his former home state of Michigan. E-mail to a friend . | NEW: Woman suffered brain injury, multiple skull fractures, medical examiner rules .
Spotted eagle ray leaps from water, strikes woman on boat, officials say .
Victim was 55-year-old woman from Michigan .
Spotted eagle ray weighed 75 to 80 pounds, official says . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "74698ee383888faf5a49b32ecb8211b888270b76"} | 658 | 75 | 0.547116 | 1.674308 | 0.956341 | 1.75 | 9.553571 | 0.785714 |
PARIS, France -- Top-seeded Maria Sharapova was a shock casualty at the French Open on Monday when she crashed 6-7 7-6 6-2 against fellow Russian Dinara Safina in Paris. Ecstasy: Safina releases her emotions after her comeback win over Maria Sharapova in the French Open last 16. Bidding for the only Grand Slam title she has yet to win, new world No. 1 Sharapova twice blew big leads in the second set. Sharapova's customary screeches reached maximum volume as the match slipped away, and the noise seemed to annoy fans. They whistled and booed Sharapova as she left Court Suzanne Lenglen after the match, and she didn't acknowledge the crowd. "I can't please everyone. It's not in my job description," she said. "I'm an athlete, and I go out there and fight my heart out. They paid the ticket to watch me, so they must appreciate me on some level, right?" Sharapova won five consecutive games in the second set to go ahead 5-2, and held a match point serving in the next game. She also led 5-2 in the second tiebreaker before losing five consecutive points, then unraveled down the stretch, losing the final four games and 10 of the last 12 points. It was the latest setback for Sharapova on clay, her least-favorite surface. "On this stuff, things happen in a hurry," she said. "It was all in her hands," Safina said. "Then suddenly it changed." Safina, the younger sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, duplicated her upset of Sharapova in the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2006. She received a congratulatory text from her brother and said she hopes to join him as the winner of a major title. "A dream of all our family," she said. "Once we do this, we can put the racket on the wall and say we did everything we could. But to get to his level, I still have to work a little bit harder." The No. 13-seeded Safina's next opponent will be No. 7 Elena Dementieva, who won another all-Russian matchup against No. 11 Vera Zvonareva, 6-4 1-6 6-2. Trailing Sharapova 5-3 in the second set, Safina saved match point with a backhand winner, then broke two points later when Sharapova pushed a forehand wide. In the second tiebreaker, Sharapova double-faulted for 5-4 and then hit three errant backhands. That evened the match, but the momentum favored Safina. Sharapova's customary squeals during rallies became more intense during the sixth game of the final set, and she screamed at herself after points. "Just trying to pump myself up," she said. "I was trying to get angry about something. I just started playing tentatively." She erased three break points before conceding the game with a forehand into the net. That gave Safina a 4-2 lead, and she closed out the victory, falling to her knees with glee when Sharapova socked a wild forehand on match point. It was latest in a series of memorable victories over the past month for Safina. She was the last player to beat recently retired Justine Henin, a four-time French Open champion. That upset came on clay in early May at Berlin, where Safina went on to win the biggest title of her career. "She's a really tough opponent on this surface," Sharapova said. "I came very close, but it didn't go my way for some reason." In other fourth round ties, Russian fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was leading Belarussian 16th seed Victoria Azarenka 6-2 2-2 while Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Estonia's Kaia Kanepi were 3-6 6-3 when play was halted. | Top-seeded Maria Sharapova was a shock casualty at the French Open .
World No. 1 crashed 6-7 7-6 6-2 against fellow Russian Dinara Safina .
Safina, the 13th seed, faces another Russian Elena Dementieva in last 8 . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "79a6d24f452d8c1cef47ab224fd2083b0d08324c"} | 928 | 68 | 0.487973 | 1.286905 | 1.041182 | 8.470588 | 14.745098 | 0.901961 |
GUDDA, India (CNN) -- In Gudda, a village with very little, residents are literally beaming. Just two years ago, villagers had never seen light after dark, unless it came from the moon. Then, solar light arrived and changed everything. Children in Gudda stand on rooftops near a solar panel. Solar power first arrived two years ago. "When the lanterns first arrived, the villagers asked, 'What is this?' " says Hanuman Ram, the local solar engineer. "I explained to them how it worked. Then slowly, as people saw it, they said, 'Wow, what a thing this is!' " There are no real roads that lead to the tiny village in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, home to about 100 families. There are only thin strips of tar dotted with massive potholes that force vehicles into thick brush. Other times, cars have to maneuver over just dirt. There is no electricity -- power lines don't extend out here. Water is scarce, too. At the village well, women balance jugs of water on their heads, deftly evading the livestock that saunters along. Visit the sites of Gudda with CNN's Arwa Damon » . It's a simple lifestyle of farming, tending to goats, caring for children and carrying out household chores -- a daily routine that hasn't changed much over the centuries. That's why light transformed Gudda. Villagers could play music at night. Children could study well past sundown. Watch villagers smile as they light their solar lamps » . As Yamouna Groomis kneads dough for her family's evening meal, she blows through a pipe every once in a while to keep a flame burning in an outdoor clay pit. Her days used to end when the sun went down. She smiles as she proudly flicks on a solar lamp. "When I saw this light coming on for the first time, I was very happy," she says. The light is powered by a solar panel on her roof that charges a battery. Panels can be seen on almost every rooftop in Gudda. See where Gudda is located » . Ram, the man credited with the transformation, doesn't have a high school degree. But he did attend an institution about an hour away called Barefoot College, established 35 years ago with an emphasis on helping India's rural population find solutions for their problems among themselves. The college, in part funded by the Indian government, trains villagers all over India who have little or no education, giving them a range of skills to change their lives. The entire campus, which has amenities such as a library, meeting halls, open-air theater and labs, uses solar power. On a recent visit to the main college campus, a group of village women were hard at work making solar cookers, which can boil a liter of water in eight minutes. They are part of the "Women Barefoot Solar Cooker Engineers Society" -- six women who came together and started their own business. Barefoot College serves an outlying community of 125,000 people. In a nearby village, women flock to a water desalinization and purification plant set up by the college and maintained by Barefoot graduates. The station, powered by solar panels, provides the area with a rare commodity: clean drinking water. At the local store in Gudda, owner Ram Swarup puts his solar panels to maximum use. He says the solar lights have allowed him to increase his business by a third. The panels also have powered up the only DVD player and television in the village. Partly paralyzed by polio, Swarup never dreamed that he would have so much in life. He says it took courage -- and light. The villagers say that they now feel empowered -- less reliant on a far-off government. Even the village's engineer is amazed. At Ram's house, the solar lamps flicker to life. He smiles as he says that before, he didn't even know what artificial light was, and now, he's a solar power expert. "I never saw light before," he says. "How could I think that I could bring light here?" Like most of the Barefoot graduates, he was selected to attend the college by his village elders. Now, every night when the lights flicker on, he says, he feels great. With the extra earnings he's made as a solar engineer, he's made another of his childhood dreams come true. He purchased his favorite instrument, a harmonium, and now the family can gather around every night and listen to his music. He says he hopes his daughter, now 14 years old, will follow in his footsteps and become a solar engineer. Ram's 80-year-old mother, meanwhile, beams with pride about her son's accomplishments: "I just wanted him to do something good for the village." E-mail to a friend . | Residents had never had light after dark until two years ago .
When villagers saw solar lights in action, their reaction was "Wow"
Nearby college helps India's poorest of the poor solve problems .
Villager describes seeing light for first time: "I was very happy" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "50f2041a2bed7f316d3254192c4158095eeec2e9"} | 1,140 | 61 | 0.528473 | 1.738442 | 0.774743 | 1.490909 | 17.327273 | 0.763636 |
(CNN) -- Tom Cruise expounds on his beliefs in Scientology in a 2004 video that made its way onto the Internet this week. Tom Cruise appears with his wife, Katie Holmes, at a movie premiere earlier this month. "I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist, and it's something you have to earn," Cruise says at the beginning of the video. Cruise says he's "driven ... by the opportunity to really help, for the first time, change people's lives. I'm absolutely, uncompromisingly dedicated to that." The video was shown at a 2004 Scientology ceremony honoring Cruise for his humanitarian work. Church of Scientology officials said it can be viewed at any of its churches, but it created a stir this week when what the church calls a pirated and edited version appeared on YouTube. The video has since been taken off YouTube, but an interview portion remained available on the celebrity Web site gawker.com on Thursday. Watch snippets of Cruise video » . "The Cruise Indoctrination Video Scientology Tried To Suppress" is the title of gawker.com's presentation. "You have to watch this video," the site says. "It shows Tom Cruise, with all the wide-eyed fervor that he brings to the promotion of a movie, making the argument for Scientology," which it calls "the bizarre 20th-century religion. Watch "Showbiz Tonight" discussion of Cruise video » . Cruise talks over a repetitive guitar-riff soundtrack, and appears to be answering questions, though an interviewer is not seen or heard. A second part of the video, made available to CNN by the publisher of a new unauthorized biography of Cruise, shows Cruise accepting Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor award and exchanging military-like salutes with Scientology chairman David Miscavige to audience applause. The publisher denies leaking other parts of the video to the Web. In the video by the publisher, Cruise also salutes a portrait of L. Ron Hubbard, cited on the church's Web site as the founder of "the only major religion founded in the 20th century." Hubbard's biography cites his accomplishments as everything from mariner and horticulturalist to author and humanitarian. In the video, Cruise puts emphasis on the latter role. A Scientologist "has the ability to create new realities and improve conditions," Cruise says. On its Web site, the Church of Scientology highlights its humanitarian work, from anti-drug campaigns in places from Minnesota to Taiwan to teacher training in India. The Web site defines Scientology as "the study of truth." Cruise embraces that in the video. "If you're a Scientologist, ... you see things the way they are," Cruise says. He also says he finds peace in the religion. "The more you know as a Scientologist, you don't become overwhelmed by it," according to Cruise. The unauthorized biography of Cruise is by author Andrew Morton. A Cruise spokesperson and the Church of Scientology have disputed the book, saying Morton did not seek their comment. "Accuracy and truth were not on Morton's agenda," according to a church statement. Morton denies that and says Cruise, who he calls "a towering figure on the international scene," and his faith are worthy of scrutiny. "Tom Cruise has done remarkable work for his faith over the past few years," Morton said. "If it wasn't for him the Church of Scientology would be a shadow of what it is today." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Brad Lendon, David Mattingly and Don Lemon contributed to this report. | Scientology membership a privilege that's earned, Cruise says .
2004 video part of ceremony honoring Cruise for humanitarian work .
Scientology defined as "study of the truth" | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "de6ed8db6d639706f2c5015c699fc578e4aa43ec"} | 833 | 42 | 0.576416 | 1.636163 | 0.848393 | 1.818182 | 21.090909 | 0.848485 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In what he called a "defining moment for our nation," Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party. Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday told supporters he will be the Democratic nominee. Obama's steady stream of superdelegate endorsements, combined with the delegates he received from Tuesday's primaries, put him past the 2,118 threshold, CNN projects. "Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another -- a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," he said. "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States." Watch Obama say he'll be the nominee » . Obama's rally was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota -- the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September. Speaking in New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, congratulated Obama for his campaign, but she did not concede the race nor discuss the possibility of running as vice president. "This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," she said. Watch Clinton congratulate Obama » . There were reports earlier in the day that she would concede, but her campaign said she was "absolutely not" prepared to do so. Two New York lawmakers also told CNN on Tuesday that during a conference call Clinton expressed willingness to serve as Obama's running mate in November. Watch the latest on a possible joint ticket »' One source told CNN that Clinton told those on the call that if asked by Obama, she would be interested in serving as his running mate. One of the lawmakers said Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been pushing the idea privately for several weeks. The Clinton campaign maintains the New York senator merely said she would do whatever is in the party's best interest, and that her comments Tuesday are no different than what she has been saying for weeks. Clinton said she would meet with supporters and party leaders in the coming days to determine her next steps. She also asked people to go to her Web site to "share your thoughts with me and help in any way that you can." Watch what could be in store in Clinton's future » . CNN has projected that Clinton will win the primary in South Dakota and Obama will take Montana. Those states marked the final contests in the primary season. Obama praised Clinton's campaign. He has been speaking favorably of the New York senator as his focus has turned toward the general election and his battle against John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. "Sen. Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight," he said. Diving into general election mode, Obama turned his attacks to McCain, saying it's "time to turn the page on the policies of the past." "While John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign," he said. "It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year." Earlier Tuesday night, McCain portrayed himself as the candidate of "right change." "No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward," he said in Kenner, Louisiana. CNN's Candy Crowley, Jim Acosta, Suzanne Malveaux, Paul Steinhauser and Robert Yoon contributed to this report. | NEW: Clinton says she's not making any decisions tonight .
NEW: CNN projects Clinton wins South Dakota; Obama takes Montana .
Obama passes delegate threshold .
Clinton tells New York lawmakers she would be Obama's No. 2 . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "8abb66a9697a8c59348fcc79de126691e394bded"} | 837 | 53 | 0.499864 | 1.310907 | 0.301047 | 1.255319 | 16.191489 | 0.744681 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that it is investigating an incident in which a panel separated from the wing of a Boeing 757 while it was in flight last week. iReporter and Flight 1250 passenger Paul Shepherd took this photo of the damage through the aircraft's window. The incident occurred Saturday on US Airways Flight 1250 from Orlando, Florida, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the NTSB said in a statement. The separation occurred over Maryland. The aircraft landed in Philadelphia about 30 minutes later, and none of the 174 passengers or six crew members aboard was injured. The panel, on the trailing edge of the upper side of the left wing, broke loose and struck several windows toward the rear of the aircraft, causing the outer pane of one window to crack, the agency said. Pressurization of the cabin was not compromised. The wing panel has not been located. NTSB investigators are using a computer program to pinpoint the area where it might be and will notify local authorities that an aircraft part may be there, the statement said. The plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have arrived at the NTSB laboratory in Washington, the agency said, and are being evaluated. E-mail to a friend . | The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating US Airways flight .
Plane was en route from Orlando, Florida, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .
Wing panel struck several windows, cracking the outer pane of one .
Plane landed in Philadelphia about 30 minutes after the incident with no injuries . | {"src": "cnn_dailymail-3.0.0_train", "id": "11ec3be451b57e4312b44eeabb3ae441435c662e"} | 278 | 63 | 0.649007 | 1.353276 | 0.752648 | 3.727273 | 4.345455 | 0.818182 |
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