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istanbul (cnn) turkey's former military chief was behind bars friday pending trial for his alleged role in a plot to overthrow the government gen ilker basbug is the highest ranking officer to be accused in a long running tussle between the islamic backed government and turkey's secular establishment, defended by the military basbug was arrested and taken to silivri prison after testifying for seven hours thursday in an istanbul court, basbug's lawyer ilkay sezer told reporters he stands accused of involvement with the so called ergenekon network, a nationalist group that prosecutors say created dozens of websites disseminating propaganda aimed at bringing down the government of prime minister recep tayyip erdogan 'the 26th chief of general staff of the turkish republic is unfortunately arrested based on charges related to eliminating the government of turkish republic and establishing and leading a terrorist organization,' sezer said basbug retired as commander of the turkish armed forces in 2010 he is the latest in a long line of military staff who stands accused of plotting against the government a probe was launched in 2007, after the discovery of a stash of grenades and bomb making materials in istanbul it led to waves of arrests and several court cases involving both civilians and former and active duty officers more than 300 people have been arrested in connection with ergenekon among them are 97 journalists, according to the turkish press union the government's crackdown has polarized turkish society, which has seen the military overthrow four governments in the past 50 years some view the government's actions in curbing military power as important steps to democratization in turkey, a candidate for european union membership but critics say the investigation is a political witch hunt they accuse erdogan, an observant muslim, of silencing his opponents and emasculating the secular establishment, including the military last july, turkey's top four military officers resigned after a squabble with the government over the fate of officers jailed in the alleged plot against the justice and development party friday, turkish president abdullah gul told journalists that basbug's arrest did not prove guilt 'no one can be declared guilty before a decision of the court,' gul said 'everyone is equal in the court of law this is a legal process' cnn's yesim comert and talia kayali contributed to this report | ilker basbug islamic | gen ilker basbug is the highest ranking officer to be accused . the islamic backed government alleges a military plot . critics say the government wants to emasculate the military |
(cnn) twelve time grand slam champion rafael nadal dropped just two games as he eased through his first singles match since losing in the opening round at wimbledon the former world no 1 beat 132nd ranked canadian jesse levine 6 2 6 0 in just one hour and 12 minutes in the first round of the rogers cup in montreal the spaniard suffered a major upset when he lost in straight sets to unseeded steven darcis at the all england club in june but he was pleased to get back on track in his first singles match in six weeks 'i didn't play a perfect match, i played well,' the 27 year old, who made a winning comeback in the doubles tuesday, told the atp tour's official website 'the conditions out there today were very difficult i will say i did the right things to be in the next round' next up for nadal, a two time rogers cup champion, is wimbledon semi finalist jerzy janowicz after the pole overcame canadian wildcard frank dancevic in a match which lasted nearly two and a half hours british world no 2 andy murray, who beat janowicz on his way to his first wimbledon title, was also in action for the first time since his success at the all england club the two time grand slam champion took his winning streak at the tournament to 13 with a 6 4 7 6 (7 2) win over spain's marcel granollers murray, a winner in montreal in 2009 and 2010, will face latvia's ernests gulbis in round two 'i was pretty nervous beforehand,' said the 26 year old 'that was a good sign i'm pretty ready to move forward and not think too much about wimbledon and concentrate on the us open' world no 7 juan martin del potro emerged victorious from a grueling encounter with croatia's ivan dodig argentina's del potro, fresh from winning a title in washington last weekend, took the first set before the 35th ranked dodig fought back to clinch the second del potro fell a double break down in the third and deciding set before clawing his way back to secure a 6 4 4 6 7 5 triumph in the women's event in toronto, serena williams recovered from losing a service game in the opening set to beat italy's 2010 french open champion francesca schiavone 6 3 6 2 'i felt good i felt solid,' the 16 time grand slam winner told the wta tour's official website 'obviously i made a few errors, but it's just my first match on hard in a really long time 'i also played a really good player, so it was a good match it took me a few games to adjust to her game, but it's good that she played like that because of my next opponent 'now i feel like i'm completely adjusted, and i feel good going into the next round' next up for williams is a first encounter with dutch ace kirsten flipkens, who beat her sister venus williams in the first round wimbledon winner marion bartoli eased past american qualifier lauren davis 6 0 6 3, while 2011 french open champion li na defeated russia's anastasia pavlyuchenkova 6 1 6 4 former world no 1 caroline wozniacki won the first set of a thrilling match with romania's sorana cirstea, before slipping to a 5 7 7 6 (7 0) 6 4 defeat | spaniard rafael nadal wimbledon jesse levine rogers cup canada andy murray spain marcel granollers serena williams li na marion bartoli | spaniard rafael nadal wins his first singles match shock wimbledon exit . the 12 time grand slam winner beat jesse levine 6 2 6 0 at rogers cup in canada . wimbledon champion andy murray defeats spain's marcel granollers 6 4 7 6 (7 2). in the women's event, there are wins for serena williams, li na and marion bartoli |
(cnn) children were among the victims monday when a car bomb blew up near a hospital in the libyan city of benghazi, a security official told state tv 'children with shredded bodies and wounds to the head,' benghazi security directorate spokesman tareq khraz told state tv libya al ahrar 'i cannot even describe the scene to you, but believe me, it was horrific' the car bomb detonated near al jalaa hospital but not immediately in front of the building officials don't know at this point who or what was targeted the blast destroyed eight cars and caused damage to nearby buildings, khraz said khraz said that at least 13 people were killed and more than 40 wounded the hospital director, speaking on ahrar tv, had a lower toll: three dead and 15 wounded later monday, state news agency lana quoted abdullah al fitouri, a health ministry official in eastern libya, as saying that four people were killed, but three have not been identified because of the 'gruesomeness of the incident' the fourth body was identified, lana reported, as a 13 year old boy libya's parliament condemned the bombings and suspended its tuesday session to allow members to head to benghazi to take part in the funerals prime minister ali zeidan, standing alongside general national congress president mohammed al magariaf and other members, said that monday's explosion comes after a string of similar acts but that security forces have not been able to take strict measures against such attacks according to a cnn journalist there, the bombing seems to have shaken libyans fiercely because of its civilian victims over the past 18 months, benghazi, the birthplace of libya's revolution that toppled longtime leader moammar gadhafi, has been the scene of attacks that mainly targeted security forces, western diplomats and international organizations gunmen attacked the us diplomatic mission in the city on september 11, killing the us ambassador to libya and three other americans the obama administration's handling of that incident has come under much criticism and scrutiny doomed libya ambassador: 'we're under attack' most of the attacks in benghazi have been blamed on extremist islamist groups that have established a foothold in eastern libya, according to western intelligence officials who have spoken to cnn more than two years after the start of the revolution, the country is awash in weapons and hundreds of militias libyans frustrated with the security situation have called on the government to bolster security forces the government, in power since november, has been taking steps to curb militia groups and build a police and army force libyan officials, particularly zeidan, have said that securing and stabilizing the country remains a top challenge and a priority but the process of doing that will take time and began only a few months ago, zeidan said during the past two weeks, bombs have targeted a number of police stations in benghazi there were no casualties in these primarily overnight attacks those attacks followed a few weeks of relative calm in a city that has been plagued by a fragile peace since the fall of gadhafi, according to residents benghazi residents said they felt that security had been improving before the most recent uptick in violence in light of the car bombing monday, the libyan military ordered army and pro military militias to help interior ministry forces preserve security, the military command told state news and the un assistance mission in libya condemned the violence it issued this statement: 'the mission also underscores the need to support the legitimate authority of the state and enable it to shoulder its responsibilities in ensuring the safety and security of all citizens across libya' | libyans 13 year old libya | new: apparent targeting of civilians shakes libyans . new: state news quotes official as saying 13 year old boy killed . the blast took place near a hospital in eastern libya . officials don't know who or what was targeted |
new york (cnn) the man who confessed to the 1979 murder of 6 year old etan patz was indicted wednesday by a manhattan grand jury, authorities said his attorney, harvey fishbein, said pedro hernandez who was arrested on second degree murder and kidnapping charges is scheduled to appear in court thursday 'nothing that occurs in the course of this trial will answer what actually happened to etan patz,' said fishbein, who said his client has been 'repeatedly diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia' 'partly as a result of that disorder, my client has an iq in the borderline to mild mental retardation range,' he said fishbein had previously told a judge that hernandez has a history of mental disorders, suffers from hallucinations and is bipolar case 'awakened' america but district attorney spokeswoman erin duggan said wednesday's indictment was 'the outcome of a lengthy and deliberative process, involving months of factual investigation and legal analysis' 'we believe the evidence that mr hernandez killed etan patz to be credible and persuasive, and that his statements are not the product of any mental illness,' she said this summer, he admitted that he choked the boy after luring him into the basement of a small manhattan grocery store, police said hernandez allegedly told authorities that he threw away the boy's body in a garbage bag the remains have not been found investigation a 33 year long roller coaster ride after attending high school in the camden, new jersey, area, hernandez moved to manhattan at the age of 18, sharing an apartment in the city's soho neighborhood with his older sister he then took a job as a stock clerk at a corner convenience store in lower manhattan for about a month before returning to his mother's south jersey home in the summer of 1979, according to family members and police etan disappeared roughly a month earlier, on may 25 describing hernandez as having been a quiet young man, relatives say his demeanor changed upon his return to new jersey he grew further withdrawn while also frequently becoming ill, they said though his whereabouts after 1979 remain murky, family members say he at one point returned to new york it's unclear for how long patz disappeared on his way to a new york school bus stop more than 33 years ago the boy's plight catapulted concern for missing children to the national forefront after authorities put his image on thousands of milk cartons opinion: missing children, perception vs reality | enflowering untractible simcon | no related information |
haryana, india (cnn) she's just 16 years old and one month ago was about to sit her final year exams when she says she was shoved into a car and gang raped by eight men in a small village in the indian state of haryana 'i remember being driven by the canal, all the guys were standing there then four more boys came on a motorbike,' said the teenager, who had been hoping to be the first female high school graduate in her family 'there were approximately 12 men eight men raped me, they then fed me a pill, they filmed the whole thing and left' the teenager kept her ordeal secret for 10 days before her mother noticed something was wrong 'she would just lie in bed all day, she wouldn't talk, she wouldn't eat, i thought she was ill those rapists had threatened to kill our family and show the video to the entire village if she opened her mouth,' she said the 16 year old's mother also remained silent 'people told me to forget about what had happened they said this is a matter of your daughter's reputation who will marry her if people find out she was raped? let it be, don't make a big deal,' she said bollywood star: the truth alone prevails when her father heard about the rape video, he couldn't live with the thought of his daughter's pain and how she would be judged by society, her mother said he committed suicide by swallowing pesticides devastated by his death, the teenager vowed to seek justice, not only for herself but other rape victims in haryana, many of whom are too scared to report the crime 'it happens a lot with dalit [lower caste] girls but they keep quiet because they fear for their reputation i probably would not have spoken up either but i didn't want my father's sacrifice to go to waste,' she said police say all eight of the accused rapists have been arrested and are awaiting trial in the past month, at least 17 other young women have reported rapes in haryana, a relatively sparsely populated state in the country's northwest in 2011, 733 rapes were reported throughout the state, a fraction of the 24,206 cases alleged throughout the country over the full year while more than 24,000 rapes were reported, convictions were only recorded for just over one quarter of cases, according to the national crime records bureau (ncrb) local police say the incidence of rape has fallen in haryana over recent months, and that recent cases have attracted 'hype' 'the nature of the crime created hype in the number of rape cases registered in haryana,' said satish balan, police superintendent of the hisar district 'in two cases there were suicides which led to media coverage of rapes in haryana otherwise the number of rapes registered has come down by 15% this is the truth' some local politicians blame progress and the proliferation of modern technology like mobile phones, internet, television and films for encouraging sex attacks however, women's rights groups say the increasing gap between the number of men and women in haryana is one of the main contributors the 2011 national census revealed there were 877 females for every 1,000 males in the state, compared with the national ratio of 940 females to 1,000 males high incidences of female feticide in haryana are largely to blame for the imbalance, say rights groups, who say families traditionally value boys over girls government of india census results provisional population results the khap panchayats, or the self appointed village caste councils, which have no legal authority, have suggested that lowering the legal age for marriage could cut the incidences of rape 'the marriageable age for girls, which is 18 right now should be changed to 16 or 15 so then these cases will decrease, these will be stopped,' council member jitendra chhattar told cnn the united nations says lowering the marriageable age is not a solution in an open letter to the country's minister for women and child development, krishna tirath, four un agencies urged the indian government to give the issue urgent attention 'child marriage is not a solution to protecting girls from sexual crimes including rape in fact, child marriage denies a girl of her childhood, disrupts her education, limits her opportunities, increases her risk to be a victim of violence, jeopardizes her health and therefore constitutes an obstacle to the achievement of nearly every millennium development goal and the development of healthy communities,' the letter said tirath told cnn in an interview thursday that she strongly condemned the cases of rape being reported in haryana 'i will be taking the issue up with the chief minister of haryana to take strict and stringent action to ensure that safety and security of women is not compromised in anyway we are already working on the issues on the child sex ratio and giving it the highest priority,' she said opinion: make schools safe for girls everywhere | 10 days haryana recent months | the teenager kept her rape ordeal secret for 10 days . when her father heard about his daughter's suffering he killed himself by swallowing pesticide . local police say rape incidents have fallen in haryana over recent months, and that recent cases have attracted 'hype'. women's rights groups say there is an increasing gap between the number of men and women in haryana |
(cnn) chelsea captain john terry is set to return to action quicker than originally suspected after a scan on his injured knee revealed 'no significant damaage,' the english premier league giants said monday terry was stretchered off in agony in his side's 1 1 home draw with liverpool after a collision with uruguay star luis suarez a lengthy spell on the sidelines looked inevitable but after a scan chelsea said his right knee injury would heal in a matter of weeks rather than months the former england international had returned from a four game domestic ban for racially abusing an opponent, and made an immediate impact as he put the london club in front in the first half at stamford bridge sunday but then came his accidental collision with suarez, who later scored the equalizer for the visitors to put a dampener on chelsea's title challenge he took to twitter after the game to send terry his best wishes 'hugs to terry, i hope it's nothing serious,' he wrote chelsea's first profit of abramovich era european champion chelsea had set the early season pace, but now trail leaders manchester united by three points after dropping into third place epl titleholders manchester city claimed second on sunday with a 2 1 win at home to tottenham, coming from behind before substitute edin dzeko snatched a late winner chelsea's momentum was derailed following claims of racism laid against referee mark clattenburg after the controversial home defeat by united on october 28, which was followed by the arrest of a chelsea fan who made an alleged monkey gesture at a united player in a cup game just days later terry wasn't selected for wednesday's champions league win over shakhtar donetsk, where david luiz and gary cahill looked shaky in defense, but the former england skipper made his mark at stamford bridge the 31 year old scored his 50th career goal for chelsea in the 20th minute as he lost his marker daniel agger at a corner and powerfully headed home at the near post from juan mata's delivery but he had to be replaced by cahill after suarez fell on his knee during a tackle, following a mistake by terry that gave the ball to steven gerrard suarez, a hate figure with opposing fans after last season's patrice evra racism controversy, matched robin van persie's epl leading eight goals this season when he headed home from jamie carragher's flick on in the 73rd minute the uruguay striker could have later ended liverpool's run of five games without a win but was denied by keeper petr cech the draw, liverpool's sixth in 11 league matches, left brendan rogers' team in 13th place 15 points behind bitter rivals united manchester city moved to within two points of alex ferguson's united team, who came from two goals down to beat aston villa 3 2 on saturday the pressure on manager roberto mancini appeared to be increasing when england goalkeeper joe hart failed to keep out a header from tottenham defender steven caulker in the 21st minute but last season's top scorer sergio aguero capitalized on poor defending to level in the 66th minute and dzeko once again proved his worth off the bench with an 88th minute winner it was the bosnia striker's sixth league goal this season, and five have come as a sub 'the goals are my message that's the only thing,' dzeko said after the match 'again from a free kick we conceded a goal as stupid as against arsenal we have to improve there but after goal we were the better team for the 90 minutes and in the end we deserved it even when we are losing we come back' city also came from behind in midweek to draw 2 2 with ajax in a result that all but ended hopes of qualifying for the last 16 of the champions league newcastle salvaged a 2 2 draw against bruges in the second tier europa league on thursday, but could not repeat the trick against west ham kevin nolan scored the only goal against his former team, giving visiting manager sam allardyce victory against the club that sacked him in 2008 the result lifted west ham up to sixth above tottenham, while newcastle stayed 10th | chelsea terry epl manchester city second tottenham west ham sixth spurs newcastle | new: scan on chelsea captain terry reveals 'no significant damage'. key defender stretchered off as chelsea drop three points behind in epl title race . manchester city claim second place after coming from behind to beat tottenham . west ham move up to sixth place above spurs with 1 0 victory at newcastle |
jerusalem (cnn) a 13 year old palestinian boy in gaza was fatally shot thursday, the gaza health ministry said a spokesman for the ministry accused the israel defense forces of killing the boy 'hameed abu daqqa was killed by an israeli military helicopter after being shot in the head while playing football with his friends east of khan younis,' ministry spokesman ashraf al qidra told cnn read more: gaza truce gets off to a shaky start israeli military lt col avital leibovich told cnn that the idf could not confirm they were responsible for the shooting 'there is no information that the idf targeted a person,' he said the shooting happened around noon and the palestinian teenager died in the hospital, the gaza ministry spokesman said the incident occurred on a day marked by israeli military activity inside gaza and on its border with israel leibovich said that 300 meters inside gaza, israeli border soldiers had discovered a cache of explosives in a tunnel adjacent to a security fence read more: israel airstrikes target gaza, killing at least 16 after the soldiers returned to their post on the border and set about repairing the fence, an explosion erupted, the military said a soldier sustained minor injuries and an unoccupied army vehicle was blown up palestinian sources said that, before the boy was shot, a number of israeli military vehicles and tanks had entered gaza some 500 meters east of khan younis, where they came under fire from militants the tanks responded by firing two rounds towards farmland; no one was injured in that incursion, they said an israeli military statement about the border activity made no mention of the boy or the accusation that the military killed him his burial is scheduled to take place friday cnn's kareem khadder, michael schwartz and talal abu rahman contributed to this report | the gaza health ministry idf israeli | the boy was shot in the head while playing football, the gaza health ministry says . he was taken to a hospital, where he died, the ministry says . 'there is no information that the idf targeted a person,' the israeli military says |
(cnn) for months, republicans derisively doubted if us president barack obama was a true friend of israel and prime minister benjamin netanyahu, questioning if americans should re elect someone who might not be on the same page with the long time us ally now, it's netanyahu facing political heat in his own country for his relationship with obama despite sometimes blistering attacks over where his administration stands on israel and against iran's nuclear program, obama this week emerged victorious in the us presidential election but netanyahu has months to go in his own campaign, including time to answer questions about his relationship with the american leader leading the charge against the prime minister is the kadima party, which holds more seats at 28 than any other in israel's knesset and which quit netanyahu's coalition government in july the centrist party is among those aiming to gain more power and unseat netanyahu when israelis go to the polls on january 22, 2013 kadima wasted little time after obama's election win in going after netanyahu in a post wednesday on its facebook page, the party claimed the prime minister had sided with us republican presidential nominee mitt romney and could not be trusted by obama and, moreover, by israelis to be a robust, effective partner with washington in that post and in an open letter on its website, kadima highlighted the importance of us israeli relations jewish media is abuzz, too, about a wednesday speech by former prime minister ehud olmert in which he claimed that netanyahu had interjected himself into the us election by trying to undermine the incumbent president multiple jewish media outlets reported olmert said netanyahu got involved in part to satisfy sheldon adelson, who donated close to $100 million this year toward defeating obama and electing republicans to congress, according to insiders involved in the process the jerusalem post reported olmert said that 'netanyahu's behavior in recent months brings up the question if netanyahu has a friend in the white house, and i'm not sure' 'this represents a significant breach of the basic rules governing ties between nations, made worse by the fact that these are allies like israel and the united states,' olmert said in the same speech to jewish leaders in new york, according to another leading jewish newspaper, haaretz netanyahu and officials in his government have beaten down such accusations of meddling, while playing up what they describe as strong ties between israel and the united states in a statement congratulating obama, netanyahu said, 'the security relationship between the united states and israel is rock solid, and i look forward to working with president obama to further strengthen this relationship' in an interview thursday with cnn's christiane amanpour, deputy foreign minister danny ayalon acknowledged that romney and netanyahu have a special connection from having once worked together at the same us based consulting firm, but 'to say there was a preference, it's a little bit of a stretch' 'we have no better friend than president obama,' ayalon said, repeating an assertion he'd made previously the deputy foreign minister credited obama with spearheading international sanctions and other punitive measures that he said has made iran 'very vulnerable socially, politically, economically' whatever past differences there might have been about timelines and goals, ayalon said israel will follow the us president's cue when it comes to iran 'i think today we can safely say that we are very much of the same page, and we'll continue to follow the lead of the united states,' he said such a line of questioning, and political attacks, about us israeli relations is nothing new as evidenced in the recent us election for months, republicans hammered obama, claiming he hadn't been a loyal enough friend to netanyahu or tough enough on iran one public dust up came earlier this fall, when israeli sources told cnn the white house had turned down a request for a meeting between netanyahu and obama while both were in new york for a un meeting, prompting romney to say he 'can't imagine ever saying no' to a meeting request from netanyahu the white house later said no request had been made, and within hours of the story breaking, obama called the prime minister and said the two countries maintain 'close cooperation on iran and other security issues' the obama administration has stressed repeatedly that it is committed to maintaining a strong relationship with israel in may 2011, the president said, 'the bonds between the united states and israel are unbreakable, and the commitment of the united states to the security of israel is ironclad' now, the same issue how well can netanyahu and obama work with and trust each other is being debated nearly 6,000 miles from washington in another heated election this is a testament to the unique, historically tight relations between these two nations, as well as the vibrant brand of democracy that define their political systems despite obvious differences, netanyahu and kadima leader shaul mofaz did unite this week on one matter lauding the us political system and expressing their desire for israel to follow its lead mofaz described 'american democracy (as) a beacon for israel and her people' netanyahu, meanwhile, characterized the united states as 'the greatest democracy on earth' | republicans obama israel israeli netanyahu us israeli january 2013 | republicans had criticized obama over whether he was close enough to israel . now israeli opposition leaders are saying netanyahu can't be trusted by obama . us israeli relations may be a factor in israel's election, set for january 2013 |
(cnn) a wave of anger over austerity is sweeping across europe as workers fed up with government spending cuts and tax increases took to the streets in a coordinated day of action wednesday some of the largest and occasionally violent protests took place in spain, where a general strike is under way public transport has been shut down, or disrupted, while many schools, shops, factories and airports are closed there were also significant walkouts and outbreaks of violence in portugal, greece and italy limited protests are taking place in other countries, including france and belgium and even in germany where the traditionally strong economy has taken a hit transport across the continent is being disrupted by the strikes hundreds of flights have been grounded, and there are severe reductions in intercity rail services and local transit systems protesters say the cuts will compromise livelihoods and increase unemployment clashes are reported to have taken place between police and activists in various cities the strikes have been called by the european trade union confederation, which represents 85 separate organizations across the continent 'austerity is a total dead end, and must be abandoned social protection and wages can no longer be sacrificed,' the confederation said on its website 'this is a social emergency, and it is time to listen to what the citizens and workers have to say, and to change course' in spain, this is the second general strike in a year the country's two largest unions have plenty to protest about with unemployment standing at more than 25% and cuts from health to education protests led to 118 people being arrested and 74 people being injured, including 43 members of security forces, the interior ministry said nuria manzano, from the ugt union explained why it was important for workers to support the action 'the cuts aren't limited to spain they are happening in the whole european union 'that's why it is important that all europe protest against these cuts and against this way to do politics' but despite the recent violent social unrest and the rise of suicides blamed on increasing financial hardship the government is sticking to its fiscal plan spanish pm mariano rajoy said: 'i said i would lower taxes, but i am raising them, i haven't changed my criteria nor will i decline to put them down when possible, but circumstances have changed and i must adapt to them' it's a similar picture in neighboring portugal where protesters are taking part in what they're calling a 'coordinated day of action' portugal's main trade unions say the protests are meant to show mass discontent and send european leaders a warning months of quiet resignation in the country have turned to anger and discontent a combination of severe tax increases and rising unemployment have made social unrest the norm unemployed pedro barroso explained the reason for the unrest 'you see people participating in demonstrations more and more the social awareness is noticeable this year we had more demonstrations than in the last 20 years!' on monday several hundred people took to the streets as german chancellor angela merkel visited the portuguese capital to rally morale many held banners saying: 'merkel, you're not welcome' in italy, clashes broke out in rome, milan and turin with several police officers reported injured the unions say the strike is designed not to damage the economy, but to show the scale of the opposition to austerity cuts 'this is a government that is destroying all the rights to social services with the excuse of the european union,' said one demonstrator, felice nardi 'we believe that the voice of the workers should finally be heard because they are the ones suffering there have been a series of measures that are really bringing the people to ruin' on monday, with youth unemployment approaching 35%, 3,000 students vented their anger 'we are students and our future is at stake and we need to do something,' said one student called chiara 'if we don't do something, who will?' cnn's ben wedeman said the government must strike a fine balance between sometime violent domestic oppostion and its international debt obligations 'in elections next year we'll see how successful the government was in achieving this balance' in greece, police said 5,000 people took to the streets to protest peacefully over the economic pain they are suffering in the last two years alone public sector workers have seen their wages shrink by up to 40% unemployed civil servant evangelia katsaropoulou explained why she planned to join the protests 'i have two children, they're twins, and the situation is tragic,' she told cnn 'what i want to say to everyone is that they have to come onto the streets and shout so that these measures do not take place' the international monetary fund and the european union are debating whether and when greece can receive its next bailout payment protesters, such as pensioner thimios marvitsas, hope to remind them that they are the ones bearing the burden of austerity 'all these measures they are pushing us back 50, 60 years,' he said 'they are cutting our pensions in half, there is a million unemployed, more taxes in other words our lives are just getting worse and worse' even in germany there were protests, including 200 demonstrators in berlin cnn's fred pleitgen said that unions organized the protests more out of solidarity than real anger however he added that the economy was slowing down and the eurozone crisis was taking its toll on the labor market unemployment is lower than in other countries but trades unions warn that austerity measures could damage the economy 'angela merkel has become a lightning rod for protesters across europe due to anger over her insistence that debt ridden countries adopt austerity,' he said 'now the same is happening in germany itself' in belgium, about 200 people protested, but no violence was reported, police said cnn's michael martinez, sofia fernandes and alla eshchenko and claudia rebaza contributed to this report | spain portugal greece italy | new: 74 people, including 43 security forces, injured in spain; 118 people arrested . workers angry over spending cuts and tax rises protest in coordinated day of action . general strikes in spain and portugal, significant walkouts in greece and italy . clashes turn violent; transport disrupted: flights grounded; reductions in rail services |
washington (cnn) the us supreme court will decide whether police can take dna samples from criminal suspects following their arrest, a case based on maryland law with potentially national implications for the use of a popular investigative tool justices will weigh a challenge to the state's law by alonzo king, who was convicted of a 2003 rape on maryland's eastern shore with the assistance of genetic material obtained following his arrest three years ago on an unrelated assault charge king moved to suppress the use of the dna on fourth amendment grounds, but was ultimately convicted of the rape offense federal law in 1994 created a national database in which local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies could compare and share information on dna matches from convicted felons but courts have been at odds on just when such samples can be collected and the information distributed a divided maryland court of appeals agreed with king, saying suspects under arrest enjoy a higher level of privacy than a convicted felon this, the court said, outweighed the state's law enforcement interests the appeals court also said that obtaining king's dna immediately after arrest was not necessary in identifying him and that the process was more personally invasive than standard fingerprinting state officials asked the supreme court to intervene, saying the state court ruling 'resulted in the loss of a valuable crime fighting tool' they said that from a law enforcement and forensic perspective, there is no difference between fingerprinting and collecting 'biometric information' the supreme court allowed the maryland law to remain in effect in july while appeals from the state were filed, and chief justice john roberts signaled at the time his tentative support for the measure 'collecting dna from individuals arrested for violent felonies provides a valuable tool for investigating unsolved crimes and thereby helping to remove violent offenders from the general population,' roberts wrote 'crimes for which dna evidence is implicated tend to be serious, and serious crimes cause serious injuries that maryland may not employ a duly enacted statute to help prevent these injuries constitutes irreparable harm' roberts said at the time there was a 'fair prospect' the supreme court would ultimately find in favor of the state on the search and seizure questions roberts said the state appeals decision would resonate beyond maryland because dna samples taken on the state level 'may otherwise be eligible' for the fbi's database 'the decision,' roberts said 'renders the database less effective for other states and the federal government' the maryland law is set to expire at the end of 2013 a supreme court ruling is expected by june the case is maryland v king (12 207) | maryland supreme court | court to examine whether police can take dna samples after arrest . case involves challenge to maryland man by man convicted of rape . courts have been at odds over when samples can be collected . supreme court decision could have implications nationally |
(cnn) demonstrators in amman, jordan, battled riot police wednesday in a fury over gas prices and those who stayed after the tear gas and water cannons were fired did something rare in that nation: they chanted slogans against king abdullah the fighting was in the jabal al hussein area, along soukaina one of the main roads running through the capital hundreds of demonstrators called on the government to reverse its decision to raise fuel and gas prices riot police worked to break up the crowd, and most people fled but a handful stayed and engaged in a standoff with the police, who fired tear gas canisters to try to force the demonstrators back cnn saw police beat one man and take him away, and also saw plainclothes intelligence officials takk away two young men as demonstrators threw rocks at the police the protesters who remained chanted for the downfall of the monarchy previous protests have left 14 people injured 10 of them by police gunfire, jordan's public security department said there was also property damage jordanians have told cnn that while they are incensed about rising prices and government corruption, they're just as worried about the current situation many say they've never been so fearful about the future of their country many believe that if the government does not reverse its decision, the kingdom will plunge into chaos a wave of protests that began in jordan in december 2010 has recurred sporadically since previously on cnncom: thousands rally for political change in jordan while the demonstrators have often lambasted members of parliament, cursed the prime minister and called for the government to go, they've rarely spoken out against king abdullah ii while those voices remain a minority, their call is growing as jordanians throng to public squares to lash out against the government for cutting fuel subsidies, which resulted in higher gas prices 'hey abdullah, don't be fooled, look around and see what happened to your peers,' one crowd chanted with reference to toppled arab autocrats the government, which the king reshuffled under public pressure in early october, announced the price boost for gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene and cooking gas tuesday unleaded gas jumped from about $380 to just over $425 per gallon diesel fuel spiked from about $280 to around $370 a gallon cooking gas prices spiked from just over $9 per canister to more than $14 the government announced a payout to families of just under $600 to soften the blow of the higher prices for the nation's poorest pain at the pump is a drag on government approval ratings anywhere but in jordan, where the arab spring has kept up the pressure on a monarch who is friendly to the west and a stabilizer in the middle east, a protest could have explosive potential with effects beyond jordan's borders the hashemite kingdom, which has good relations with israel, is wedged among the jewish state, syria, iraq and saudi arabia, and serves as a buffer in the region as in egypt, islamists hold powerful political influence in jordan but the protesters are people of all backgrounds, including women without veils and men without beards state news agency petra reported that there were protests in at least seven municipalities 'oh, abdullah ibn hussein, where is the people's money? where?' people roared at one demonstration 'raising the prices will set the country on fire!' the higher gas prices come on top of high unemployment and inflation jordan's teacher's union announced an open ended strike wednesday, saying it would last until the government reverses the price hikes jordanian demonstrators commonly voice anger about corruption and poverty, accusing those in power of misappropriating government money for personal gain but as the streets filled, the rhetoric took a caustic turn, dropping the monarch's title and referring to him crudely by first name only, a rare indiscretion in jordan 'hey abdullah, listen, listen very well, we will kneel to no one but god!' was one chant, along with, 'god is mightier than all tyrants' insulting the king is illegal in jordan and can result in a prison sentence king abdullah does not have a reputation for bloody oppression like syria's bashar al assad or former libyan dictator moammar gadhafi, and is viewed by many as a benevolent king he had 20 opposition activists arrested in early october but quickly released them after an international human rights group criticized the move his recent announcements of concessions to protesters' demands to democratize have not quelled discontent prime minister abdullah ensour, in office for just over a month, took to the airwaves tuesday night to address the protests he accused islamists of lying in wait for any opportunity to incite the collapse of a stable government speaking of the islamic action front, he said: 'they have been trying to mobilize their people in the streets and prepare themselves for such an eventful day' he reminded them that they had shown no opposition when egypt's islamist president, mohamed morsy of the muslim brotherhood, had to raise gas prices there he then appealed to jordanians not to 'be influenced by these petty attempts' ensour has blamed the gas subsidy cuts on budget slashing made necessary by the uprisings in neighboring countries, which have reduced the gasoline supply to jordan 'in the past 18 months of the arab spring, jordan has lost between $4 and $5 billion at least as a result of oil stoppage, especially the egyptian gas supplies,' petra quoted ensour as saying it has put the country's budget deficit through the roof, he said in the past two years, king abdullah has fired four prime ministers in february 2011, shortly before egyptian president hosni mubarak was forced out of office following weeks of intense protest, the king dismissed his government and ordered 'genuine political reform,' the country's royal court reported political reforms would mean taking power away from his base the bedouin tribes, a group known as the east bankers on top of that concern, the king is also dealing with more than 200,000 syrian refugees who have entered jordan recently, fleeing despotism in the neighboring country cnn's josh levs, ahmed al assad, raja razek and hamdi alkhshali and jomana karadsheh contributed to this report | jordan israel west | some of the protesters battle riot police . chanting against the king is very rare in jordan . tuesday night, 14 people were injured, some by gunfire, authorities say . king abdullah ii is friendly with israel and the west and brings stability to the region |
(ewcom) 'nashville,' the best reviewed new drama of the fall, premiered to solid ratings wednesday night, while the cw's new action drama 'arrow' set a record for the network abc's country music drama delivered 9 million viewers and a 28 rating among adults 18 49 that's enough to win the hour in the adult demo, topping cbs' 'csi' (106 million, 26) and the premiere of nbc's new series 'chicago fire' (64 million, 19) but 'nashville' was down 15 percent from the launch of 'revenge' in this slot last year nbc's fire fighting drama was largely panned by critics and had a disappointing launch, down 21 percent from the debut of 'law & order: svu' in this slot last fall ('nashville' averaged a score of 84 on metacritic while 'chicago fire' had a 49) yet here's something interesting: of the three dramas in the hour, the connie britton series had the weakest audience retention from its first half to its second 'chicago fire' didn't shed any of its demo rating between its half hours — which is pretty rare for a show premiering this late at night nashville may have a bigger rating, but 'chicago fire' did a better job of keeping viewers in their seat another key debut last night: the cw's 'arrow' (4 million, 13 rating) got off to a fine start this may not be a huge demo rating for the network, but 'arrow' marks the cw's most watched series debut in total viewers since 'the vampire diaries' in 2009 the cw's mission this season is to attract a broader audience than just the 'gossip girl'/'90210' female 18 34 crowd, and hitting 4 million viewers certainly helps the performance is also impressive considering the network's numbers have been soft the past couple weeks it's always tougher to jump start a cold engine 'arrow' also gave 'supernatural' (26 million, 10) a boost at 9 pm, spiking the veteran drama to its biggest audience in two years 'arrow' debut: its aim is true fox topped the night in the adult demo thanks to a steady 'the x factor' (94 million, 34) cbs was second with 'survivor' (96 million, 26) and 'criminal minds' (114 million, 30) abc had 'the middle' (78 million, 24), up 9 percent, and 'the neighbors' (63 million, 19), steady they were followed by a double tap of modern family (12 million, 47 and 122 million, 49), down between 11 and 15 percent 'parks and rec': christie brinkley in as the neighbors has clearly emerged as the weak link in the network's wednesday comedy chain, but last night also suggested the show might be stabilizing since it did not drop this week this puts abc in a tough position the aliens next door sitcom doesn't have a terrible number by this fall's standards, but you don't want to have anything potentially dragging down your top rated comedy, 'modern family' nbc also had 'animal practice' (39 million, 11), guys with kids (42 million, 14) and 'svu' (62 million, 18) see the original article at ewcom click here to try 2 risk free issues of entertainment weekly © 2011 entertainment weekly and time inc all rights reserved | nashville wednesday night abc cw arrow | 'nashville' premiered to solid ratings on wednesday night . abc's country music drama delivered 9 million viewers . the cw's new action drama 'arrow' set a record for the network |
tampa, florida (cnn) some christian congregations, particularly in lower income, urban areas, are turning to an unlikely source for help the church of scientology rev, charles kennedy uses scientology founder l ron hubbard's book during a friday night sermon scientologists do not worship god, much less jesus christ the church has seen plenty of controversy and critics consider it a cult so why are observant christians embracing some of its teachings? two pastors who spoke recently with cnn explained that when it comes to religion, they still preach the core beliefs of christianity but when it comes to practicing what they preach in a modern world, borrowing from scientology helps the rev charles kennedy, of the glorious church of god in christ, a pentecostal church in tampa, florida, and the rev james mclaughlin, of the wayman chapel african methodist episcopal church in houston, texas, are among the theological hybrids watch rev kennedy preach » they say they are not scared off by programs with ties to a church that critics say has aggressive recruiting, secretive ways and rigid theology as men of god rooted in christian values, they do not see scientology as a threat to their faith, but rather as a tool to augment it scientology was founded in the 1950s by l ron hubbard, a science fiction writer followers are taught that they are immortal spiritual beings called thetans although the church says there is a supreme being, its practices do not include worshipping god 'i'm looking for solutions, and the people that i help, they don't ask me who l ron hubbard is,' said mclaughlin, who works with addicts 'you know what they say? 'thank god' ' critic rick ross, a court certified scientology expert, sees something more sinister at work he warned that mainstream acceptance makes it easier for the scientologists to achieve their ultimate goal new recruits 'their hope is that through these programs, people will become more interested in l ron hubbard, what else mr hubbard had to offer, and this will lead them eventually to scientology,' ross said the church has long been in the headlines for practices critics say are little more than cult like mind control it is also known for its stable of devout celebrity followers and according to published reports, scientology has been recently diversifying its outreach to include other religions and ethnic groups kennedy, mclaughlin and a handful of other christian church leaders no one can say how many are finding answers to their communities' needs in scientology's social programs for kennedy, it began two years ago when he attended a meeting at the church of scientology's spiritual headquarters in clearwater, florida he was introduced to a book called 'the way to happiness' hubbard's 64 page, self described 'common sense guide to better living' in the book, which lays out ways to maintain a temperate lifestyle, kennedy found a message he believed could help lift his predominantly lower income african american congregation he said the book's 21 principles help them with their struggle in an urban environment where there is too much crime and addiction and too little opportunity kennedy knew that before he could introduce any scientology related text to his congregation, he would have to prove that it did not contradict his christian beliefs and so, he found scripture to match each of the 21 principles now kennedy uses 'the way to happiness' as a how to supplement to his sermons he believes it is easier to understand and clearer to follow than ancient scriptures taken from the bible when asked whether scientology's values contradict the religion of jesus christ, kennedy replies, 'sometimes yes sometimes no' but he says his congregation can relate to 'the way to happiness' kennedy admits other pastors have criticized him, but the disapproval is not enough to discourage him he insists that he has witnessed the changes 'the way to happiness' has inspired in people he also maintains that the scientologists, many of whom he calls friends, are successful at outreach and getting desired results at kennedy's c l kennedy center, free tutoring based on hubbard's 'study tech' philosophies is provided to dozens of children and some adults kennedy's daughter, jimirra, is one of the instructors she said 'study tech' and the scientology orientation classes she attended helped her graduate from high school and become a poised woman though jimirra kennedy insists she does not ascribe to the religious side of scientology, she still considers herself, at least in part, scientologist 'we say this all the time and i know my father says this, but i am like a pentecostal scientologist, that's what we are' critics like ross are alarmed by such a blurring of the lines they consider it a marketing win for scientology in houston, mclaughlin says he is not one to argue with success driven by a need to address the rampant drug problem in his community, mclaughlin spent years searching for a solution before he discovered 'narconon,' scientology's nonprofit drug rehab center, in 2001 mclaughlin trained at narconon and brought the techniques back to his community to launch 'first step faith step,' a program that combines hubbard's methods with the teachings of christianity he claims a 70 to 80 percent rehabilitation success rate kennedy and mclaughlin said they have never lost a member of their congregations to scientology 'i think that they truly believe that this may help their communities, but in my opinion, they're naïve,' ross said scientologists, he added, 'have their own agenda' the church of scientology would not grant cnn an interview, nor would its representatives answer questions about the hubbard based programs e mail to a friend | algometer tovarisch goombay | no related information |
baghdad, iraq (cnn) laith repeats my question back to me, chuckling 'what is the iraqi media saying about the us elections?' he pauses, thinking how best to answer 'man, the situation is so bad now, we only pay attention to staying alive' he laughs again an iraqi journalist who works for several international news organizations, laith tells me that he only narrowly escaped being killed by a car bomb the previous day 'if i had been a few minutes late for work, you wouldn't be able to talk to me' laith chuckles again like so many people do in baghdad, a resilient, tough, warm laugh it's been nine years since the united states and its allies invaded iraq and toppled saddam hussein and although the war officially ended when american combat troops withdrew at the end of 2011, it's far from peace time here postcard: 'ignore us at your peril,' afghans say although violence in iraq is down significantly since 2006 and 2007, bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations are part of everyday life across the country the iraq body count database estimates that seven people have been killed every single day by suicide and car bomb attacks this year the bomb that missed laith killed at least seven people at 6:30 am the following morning, i'm met more with confusion than humor when i ask the same thing of a group of day laborers in the rundown neighborhood of bataween 'we only watch football,' says one man 'we don't care about elections' in fact, only one of the workers in the group of 40 or so standing around even knows that there's an election going on in the united states rayad salam, a 25 year old from nasiriya, catches my attention like everyone else on the corner, he is wearing a generic threadbare soccer tracksuit, the ubiquitous uniform of the terminally poor postcard: athenians fear what follows us election rayad came to baghdad after graduating from university with a degree in classical arabic he wanted to be a teacher, but couldn't find a job back home so came to the capital to work rayad makes 25,000 iqd day ($20) if he manages to find work, which he only does about three days a week he tells me he'll take any kind of work, including the most dangerous job in iraq: policeman when i ask him why, his answer is so universal it could have come from any one of the millions of americans still suffering from the financial crisis: 'all i want is a job so i can take care of my family' he leans forward to tell me something else, but a middle aged man pushes his way through the crowd and tells me i'd better leave the group standing around me is drawing attention to itself and we're now making a perfect target for a bomb attack traffic squeezes its way around baghdad's clogged streets, which are pinched every few miles by military checkpoints where bored soldiers lazily hold metal rods — nicknamed 'solomon's cane' — next to passing cars, in the hope they will 'sniff' out hidden bombs postcard: should us raise fist to cuba? the cars gridlocked in traffic make it clear that although baghdad is still dangerous, it certainly isn't poor among the old and beat up vehicles are plenty of brand new land cruisers, pajeros, bmw x series, and black hummer h3s these are not the armored versions that move in convoys from fortified location to fortified location they are the personal cars of the city's middle class in the evenings the city's wealthy roam the streets of karada, in the center of the city, where the lights shine almost as bright as times square here you can indulge in handmade ice cream, or splash out on the latest european fashions with oil exports in iraq at a 30 year high (august's revenues were $84 billion), a lot of well positioned people are getting extremely wealthy more: get latest news at cnn election hq here there is a vague understanding of the two different candidates for those that watch the international arab language channels such as al jazeera and al arabiya not surprisingly, bush's party is deeply unpopular toma zaki zahroon, a leader of the mandean ethnic minority, explains that the 'republicans make trouble for the us republicans will create tension with the arab world' someone else tells me, 'obama is a peaceful man, but if romney is elected he'll damage arabs i don't know his policy but when i see his face he looks like the devil' the most nuanced view, however, comes from sheikh jawad al khalisi, a highly respected shiite religious leader: 'there's not a big difference between democrats and republicans i don't trust either candidate because they are both influenced by lobbyists us policy is actually against the american people in 2003 americans protested against the war, but they weren't heard' postcard: why india longs for us election baghdadis don't trust us politicians, but neither do they trust their own 'the government is full of thieves,' 23 year old karar tells me in his home in hurriya, a dangerous neighborhood in northwest baghdad corruption, in fact, is what most baghdadis talk about when they talk politics iraq's parliament is in a constant state of dysfunction; warring coalitions block each other at every turn and assassinations and police brutality are used as political tools karar doesn't care for politics he's a college kid whose life is dominated by working, studying, and just surviving a year ago he was injured in a bomb attack in his neighborhood and then just a few weeks ago another bomb went off near his house, killing three of his friends karar tells me all of this in a very matter of fact way, and i ask him why he seems so unaffected by it 'i feel sad i'm so sorry about their families but what can i do? this is normal for us if you see your friend today, you don't see him tomorrow' as he pauses, the electricity cuts out and the ceiling fan stops turning even with the oil exports, new cars, and imported fashions, basic services in baghdad are still terrible on average baghdadis receive eight to 12 hours of national electricity a day, which makes life in the summer when temperatures easily reach 120 degrees almost unbearable even in september, once the ceiling fan has stopped rotating, the room immediately begins to heat up karar gestures at everyone sitting in the room sweating and he finally answers my question about what he thinks of the us election 'i don't think that a change of american presidents will have any effect on iraq,' he says and then a huge grin spreads across his face and he starts to laugh that unique, resilient baghdadi laugh | us baghdad republican george w bush democrats republicans | us troops withdrew last year, but the violence continues in baghdad . republican party still seen as the party of george w bush by many in baghdad . many who follow the election see little difference between democrats, republicans |
(cnn) a car bomb attack in algeria has killed three people and wounded 23, the algerian press service reported an algerian policeman stands in front of destroyed buildings in thenia the attack occurred tuesday near an office housing judicial police in the city of thenia, about 50 km (31 miles) east of the capital of algiers, the agency said the blast destroyed about 20 houses, and a commission has been appointed to look after the victims, the press agency said islamic extremists in algeria and other north african countries have struck several times in recent years an al qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility last year for the deadliest attack in algiers in 10 years, a bombing that destroyed the prime minister's headquarters and a police base, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 220 al qaeda also took responsibility for a january 2 bombing that killed four and wounded 20 at a building housing security forces in naciria, a city about 50 km (31 miles) east of algiers e mail to a friend | thenia al qaeda january 2 | attack occurred near an office housing judicial police in the city of thenia . the blast destroyed about 20 houses; 23 also injured . al qaeda also took responsibility for a january 2 bombing that killed four |
(cnn) formula one driver lewis hamilton has become the latest high profile british sports star to regret a hastily dashed off tweet after lashing out at mclaren teammate jenson button on twitter hamilton accused fellow briton button of 'unfollowing' him not subscribing to his tweets on the micro blogging site, before later discovering his colleague had never followed him the tweets were sent just hours after the conclusion of the japanese grand prix, where button finished one place above hamilton in fourth position the 2008 world champion hamilton will leave mclaren at the end of the 2012 season to join german team mercedes in a three year deal 'just noticed @jensonbutton unfollowed, thats a shame after 3 years as teammates, i thought we respected one another but clearly he doesn't,' tweeted hamilton from his personal account, which has over one million followers he went on to add: 'funny thing is, we are still teammates! all good tho, i plan on giving this team & fans all i got til i cross the finish line in brazil!!!' hamilton is currently fourth in the drivers' standings, 42 points behind ferrari's championship leader fernando alonso button is sixth, 31 points adrift of his colleague the 27 year old later retracted the outburst, saying: 'my bad, just found out jenson never followed me don't blame him! need to be on twitter more!' it is not the first time hamilton has fallen foul of an over eager tweet earlier this season he had to remove a twitter post that had divulged sensitive team information hamilton's latest twitter mishap comes days after england soccer player ashley cole used the website to aim an insult at the football association (fa) cole was reacting to an fa report which outlined the reasons why the organization hit chelsea captain john terry with a four match ban and a $356,000 fine for racially abusing queens park rangers defender anton ferdinand the evidence given by cole, a teammate of terry's, during the disciplinary process had been criticized in the report the defender, who has been charged with misconduct by the fa, tweeted: 'hahahahaa, well done #fa i lied did i, #bunchoftwats' he later apologized 'unreservedly' meanwhile alonso's ferrari teammate felipe massa hopes his first podium finish since the 2010 korean grand prix will help him to secure his place at the italian team for next season the brazilian has failed to recapture his best form since fracturing his skull in 2009 and his future has been the subject of much speculation in recent months 'being back on the podium after almost two years away is just great and i feel really uplifted,' massa told a post race press conference after finishing second behind red bull's sebastian vettel 'they have been two tough years for me and, sometimes, a million things go through your mind, some of them bad, but finally i can be happy! it's an important result psychologically and also in terms of my future, at least i think so!' | lewis hamilton jenson button hamilton mclaren german mercedes felipe massa japan ferrari | lewis hamilton accuses jenson button of 'unfollowing' him on twitter . hamilton and button are teammates at mclaren, although hamilton will leave in 2013 . the 2008 world champion will join german manufacturer mercedes . felipe massa hopes a podium finish in japan will ensure his future at ferrari |
sussex, virginia (cnn) suspended nfl quarterback michael vick must adhere to tightened restrictions after he tested positive for marijuana use, a federal judge said wednesday suspended atlanta falcons quarterback michael vick tested positive for marijuana in a september 13 drug test vick tested positive for the drug on september 13, a court document from the eastern district of virginia shows as a result, us district judge henry e hudson ordered vick to 'submit to any method of testing required by the pretrial services officer or the supervising officer for determining whether the defendant is using a prohibited substance' those methods could include random drug testing, a remote alcohol testing system 'and/or any form of prohibited substance screening or testing,' the order said vick, 27, must participate in substance abuse therapy and mental health counseling 'if deemed advisable by the pretrial services officer or supervising officer' at his own expense, the order said vick was also ordered to stay home between 10 pm and 6 am, 'or as directed by the pretrial services officer or supervising officer,' the order said he is to be electronically monitored during that time the conditions are to apply until vick's sentencing, which is set for december 10 read about the federal case against vick » 'this is a very difficult time for mr vick,' said billy martin, vick's lead defense counsel, in a written statement 'he will comply with the court's new conditions regarding release' vick faces a possible prison term of 12 to 18 months after his august guilty plea to federal conspiracy charges related to dogfighting on his property in surry county, virginia the original terms of the pretrial release, set in july by us magistrate dennis w dohnal, required that vick not use narcotic drugs or other controlled substances unless prescribed by a doctor vick's guilty plea in the federal case came after three associates purnell peace, 35, of virginia beach, virginia; quanis phillips, 28, of atlanta, georgia; and tony taylor, 34, of hampton, virginia admitted their roles in the operation and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors on tuesday, a virginia grand jury indicted vick and the three co defendants on state charges of running a dogfighting ring at the home see a timeline of the case against vick » the surry county grand jury brought two charges against vick: one count of unlawfully torturing and killing dogs and one of promoting dogfights each is a felony charge that could result in a five year prison term vick will be arraigned october 3 in state court in virginia vick's attorneys say they are fighting the state charges on the grounds that he can't be convicted twice of the same crime e mail to a friend cnn's eric fiegel contributed to this report | vick pretrial virginia | vick's september 13 drug test shows marijuana use . pretrial release conditions tightened; must stay home from 10 pm to 6 am. virginia grand jury indicts vick and the three co defendants on state charges . vick already faces up to 18 months in prison after federal plea deal |
las vegas, nevada (cnn) former beatles paul mccartney and ringo starr clowned around and marveled at their band's amazing impact in an interview tuesday on cnn's 'larry king live' larry king, left, poses with (l r) paul mccartney, yoko ono lennon, olivia harrison and ringo starr tuesday in las vegas 'we were just kids from liverpool,' mccartney said 'and, yes, it is quite amazing, because as time goes on, it kind of becomes more and more of a phenomenon' mccartney said the early beatles knew they were a good band and were pretty sure of themselves, but starr said, 'we thought we'd be really big in liverpool' 'i think the most exciting thing is that, you know, we expect people our age to know the music but actually, a lot of kids know the music,' starr said 'and if anything is left, we have left really good music, and that's the important part, not the moptops or whatever' the pair appeared relaxed in sneakers and almost matching black suits and joked frequently often at each other's expense 'they were nothing,' starr said of his former bandmates 'and then i joined and then they got this record deal and look what happened' 'no, we were good,' mccartney retorted 'you wanted to join us you begged to join us' 'i didn't beg,' starr said watch paul and ringo talk about the beatles' magic » mccartney and starr were in las vegas with yoko ono lennon and olivia harrison, the widows of john lennon and george harrison, to celebrate the anniversary of cirque du soleil's 'love,' which uses the beatles' music harrison said her husband was friends with cirque du soleil founder guy laliberte and came up with the idea before he died of cancer in 2001 'george was around just long enough to transmit that to all of us,' harrison said ono said she wasn't sure at first what her husband would have thought about the project john lennon was shot near the couple's new york apartment in 1980 'now i really know that john would be very happy with this,' she said neither woman has remarried and they both said it was still sometimes difficult to deal with their losses 'we feel so strongly about our husbands that sometimes it's hard for us, isn't it?' ono said 'it's hard, you know,' harrison said 'i mean their presence is very powerful and very strong but the incredible thing about them is that they everything they left the world and left us is uplifting and joyful' the beatles' music received a bit of a facelift for the show and has been remixed in 51 surround sound (an album, 'love,' came out last year) 'paul and i went to listen to the music in 51 and we go 'whoa, listen to that,' ' starr said 'you know you can hear everything now things that we buried a lot it's all very clear, so it's really great to hear it' 'most historic stuff goes down with age, you know?' mccartney added 'winston churchill's old papers go brown and crinkly, while our music gets brighter and shinier' 'next year, it will be 101,' starr joked mccartney's latest solo album, 'memory's almost full,' is no 3 on the album charts and starr is scheduled to release a greatest hits album in august e mail to a friend | paul mccartney ringo starr cnn larry king john lennon george harrison harrison ono | paul mccartney, ringo starr say their music sounds better . the former beatles talk to cnn's larry king . widows of john lennon and george harrison also appeared . harrison, ono say their husbands still have strong presence |
(cnn) senegal's africa cup of nations qualifier against ivory coast had to be abandoned after crowd trouble at the leopold senghor stadium in dakar ivory coast were leading 2 0 saturday night and 6 2 on aggregate when the players, including a host of english premier league stars, had to be escorted from the field by riot police didier drogba put the elephants ahead in the 51st minute from a free kick before a fan ran on to the pitch in an attempt to confront him he was wrestled away by security, but it proved the prelude to more sustained trouble after the former chelsea player increased ivory coast's lead from a disputed penalty in the 70th minute africa football seeks new era to sort out old problems fans started fires in the stands and objects were thrown as the players huddled in the center of the field after a delay of over half an hour, the match was eventually abandoned, confirmed by the official website of the senegalese football federation, who said 'the match ended in very sombre circumstances' ivory coast are likely to be awarded the match and with it qualification for the finals of the tournament in south africa next year 'the match was halted and the lions of senegal will not qualify for the 2013 africa cup of nations senegal will now incur a sanction from the confederation of african football (caf),' said the aps, senegal's official news agency, afp reported epl champions manchester city, who had brothers yaya and koule toure in the ivory coast line up, said both players were unhurt 'city's yaya and kolo toure are both safe after crowd trouble halted play as senegal hosted the ivory coast in dakar,' said a statement on the club's official website 'disturbances broke out as didier drogba put the elephants 2 0 up, after what was deemed a controversial penalty decision in the africa cup of nations qualifier 'fires were started in the stands at stade leopold senghor and missiles were launched on to the pitch before the players were escorted to safety' in other action, reigning champions zambia prevailed in a marathon penalty shoot out against uganda to seal their qualification for next year's tournament in south africa a total of 20 spot kicks were required at uganda's nelson mandela stadium in kampala before the 2012 winners ran out 9 8 winners after losing saturday's second leg 1 0 (which made the aggregate score 1 1) captain christopher katongo failed to score with zambia's first effort, before his teammates struck nine consecutive spot kicks to break ugandan fan's hearts their team haven't reached the finals since losing to ghana in the 1978 final the black stars also booked their place at the tournament thanks to a afriyie acquah goal which sealed a 1 0 win over malawi at the civo stadium, lilongwe and a 3 0 aggregate victory nigeria are through to the finals, which get underway on january 19, after a thumping 6 1 (8 3 on aggregate) win over liberia efe ambrose opened the scoring in the first minute with ahmed musa doubling the lead seven minutes before the break victor moses made it 3 0 three minutes into the second half with his chelsea teammate john obi mikel adding a fourth from the penalty spot moments later liberia's captain gebro duncan compounded the visitor's woes when he was sent off for diving in the 70th minute and two minutes later ike uche added nigeria's fifth substitute striker patrick wleh scored a consolation goal in the 81st minute before moses claimed his second and nigeria's sixth two minutes from the end mali also enjoyed a comfortable 4 1 (7 1 on aggregate) win over botswana despite being held to a 0 0 draw, tunisia are also through to the finals on the away goals rule their 2 2 draw in the first leg at the national stadium in freetown last month proving enough for the 2004 champions morocco completed a resounding 4 0 victory in the second leg of their qualifier against mozambique to win 4 2 on aggregate | senegal ivory coast didier drogba africa cup zambia ghana mali nigeria morocco tunisia south africa | fan violence forces abandonment of match between senegal and ivory coast . didier drogba scores twice for the elephants before rioting senegal fans force players off pitch . africa cup of nations holders zambia through after penalty shootout . ghana, mali nigeria, morocco and tunisia all qualify for finlas in south africa |
(cnn) three palestinians, including two sick children, have died recently while waiting for resettlement from iraq, the un refugee agency said on friday unhcr goodwill ambassador angelina jolie visits the al waleed refugee camp in august about 2,000 palestinian refugees are stranded in camps along the syrian border and face difficult living conditions, including limited medical care, the un high commissioner for refugees said the agency has appealed for the resettlement of 'vulnerable and sick' children in al waleed refugee camp at the iraqi syrian border one of those who died in the camp was a 3 year old palestinian boy who was suffering from rickets and pneumonia he died a few days ago in a ramadi hospital and then was buried in al waleed the other was a 14 year old suffering from hodgkin's disease who died in baghdad last week a 50 year old man who was waiting to be resettled died earlier this month in al waleed the agency says seven people, including three children, have died at the camp since refugees fleeing attackers began arriving at the border in march 2006 about 30 to 40 people arrive at the al waleed camp each week, the unhcr reports the agency has been pursuing medical resettlement 'unhcr has helped resettle one family of eight with several sick children from this camp to norway last august another 11 medical cases submitted for resettlement are awaiting approval,' the agency said, which is working to identify other medical cases and it is urging the resettlement of the entire group 'unhcr has sought solutions for the whole group since last year and has only received positive indications from sudan and chile,' the agency said thousands of palestinians have lived in iraq, with some going there when israel was formed and others born there the unhcr notes that some got 'preferential treatment' under the regime of former iraqi president saddam hussein but they have been the targets of violence since he was toppled e mail to a friend | un palestinians iraq syria each week unhcr | un agency appeals for medical resettlement of palestinians in iraq camps . about 2,000 palestinians in camps along iraq syria border . 30 to 40 refugees arrive at border camp each week, unhcr says |
washington (cnn) us coast guard planes and ships were searching friday for a japanese balloonist who disappeared off the alaska coast while flying from japan to the west coast united states missing japanese balloonist michio kanda (r) with naoki ishikawa friends of balloonist michio kanda, who was on a solo flight, last heard from him via satellite phone at 9 am alaska time (6 pm gmt) thursday, said uscg petty officer levi read when he missed three subsequent scheduled calls over the next six hours, they called the coast guard, read said read said two coast guard c130 hercules planes conducted searches thursday 435 miles south of adak, alaska, the balloonist's last known position the searches continued friday and are ongoing, read said two coast guard cutters are also headed for the area, but both are at least a day away, he said read said the balloonist, who was heading for portland, oregon, is equipped with provisions and a survival suit kanda holds the world record for the longest duration balloon flight, with a time of 50 hours and 38 minutes, according to the world air sports federation in that january 1997 flight, he and hirosuke takezawa flew from the canadian provionce of alberta to the us state of montana, according to the federation e mail to a friend | balloonist michio kanda japan us us coast guard kanda | balloonist michio kanda missing on flight from japan to us. us coast guard searching area around his last known position . kanda holds the world record for the longest duration balloon flight |
new delhi, india (cnn) australia warned its citizens monday that next month's commonwealth games in india carry a 'high risk of terrorism' australia issued the travel advisory a day after two taiwanese nationals were wounded in a shooting at a popular tourist site in india's old delhi 'australians in new delhi should be aware that the commonwealth games will be held in a security environment where there is a high risk of terrorism,' the advisory said commonwealth games building goes to wire it added that new delhi has seen at least 14 major terrorist attacks since 2000 in public places, such as markets and train stations police in new delhi insist sunday's shooting was not targeted at the games 'it was a local mischief,' police spokesman rajan bhagat said monday security has, however, been stepped up in the indian capital, he added 'we assure full security not only for the games but also for the city,' bhagat said the games will be held from october 3 to october 14 meanwhile, two of india's largest cities delhi and mumbai are on red alert after the shooting gunmen on a motorcycle fired multiple rounds at a tour bus, karnail singh of delhi police told cnn ibn police said the shooting happened near a mosque in one of the most populated parts of old delhi the two gunmen fled, prompting the red alert 'both the injured are taiwanese nationals,' singh said 'one of the bullets grazed the head of one tourist, and one has been hit in the stomach' a media outlet in india received a claim of responsibility for the attack, but police are treating the claim with caution police think the attack is more likely to be the work of a criminal gang than a terror attack, they said police are still searching for the attackers, authorities said cnn's harmeet shah singh contributed to this report | episcopate wayne pterotheca | no related information |
(cnn) the latest legal battle over same sex marriage is in the hands of a panel of california federal appeals court judges proposition 8, a 2008 measure approved by california voters that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was the focal point of monday's ninth us circuit court of appeals hearing opponents of the measure want the court to uphold a federal district judge's august decision, which ruled that the proposition violated the equal protection clause of the us constitution supporters note that the proposition was approved by 52 percent of voters, and argue that it protects the 'institution of marriage' 'i believe it's to preserve the institution of marriage for the purposes that it has always served,' attorney charles cooper said, arguing that the key reason marriage exists in society is 'that sexual relationships between men and women naturally produce children' attorney theodore olson, representing opponents of proposition 8, argued that the measure is unconstitutional and denies 'the fundamental right ofcitizens to marry' 'california has engraved discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation into its fundamental governing charter,' he said ultimately, the judges' decision could hinge as much on who's arguing the case as what their arguments are the first half of monday's hearing focused on the legal standing of the parties appealing the federal district judge's decision that's because proposition 8 is in a 'paradoxical situation,' cnn legal analyst jeff toobin said 'the usual defendants when you challenge a law of the state are the governor and attorney general of that state but the governor and attorney general of california, arnold schwarzenegger and jerry brown, both agree with the plaintiffs that proposition 8 is unconstitutional,' he said so in their place, other groups have stepped in to defend the measure the question, toobin explained, is 'do they have the legal right to be there?' along those lines, the three judge panel opened monday's hearing with tough questioning of parties seeking to appeal the decision, including protectmarriagecom and isabel vargas, deputy clerk and deputy commissioner of civil marriages for imperial county, california, where voters overwhelmingly approved proposition 8 'what's your best case to allow for your standing in federal court?' one judge asked attorney cooper, representing protectmarriagecom 'your honor, i don't have a case,' cooper responded, referring to relevant past court decisions cooper later urged the panel to consider the california supreme court's earlier ruling in favor of proposition 8 'if you don't agree with me that we have standing' later judge stephen reinhardt questioned attorney robert tyler, who represented vargas, about how a deputy clerk, instead of the clerk, could have legal standing in the appeal tyler told the court that the county clerks are local officers, but they perform state functions such as civil marriages monday's hearing was the latest in a long running battle over same sex marriage in california the state's high court had allowed same sex marriage, but then the 2008 proposition 8 voter referendum passed with 52 percent of the vote the california supreme court subsequently allowed that initiative to stand, saying it represented the will of the people two same sex couples filed a federal challenge, saying the law violated 14th amendment constitutional protections of due process and equal protection on august 4, us district judge vaughn walker agreed, ruling that the voter approved ban on same sex marriage violated the equal protection clause of the us constitution 'proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license,' walker, who was appointed to the federal bench by former president george hw bush, wrote in his 136 page opinion 'indeed, the evidence shows proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the california constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples' same sex marriage is currently legal in five states and in the district of columbia the five states are massachusetts, connecticut, vermont, iowa and new hampshire walker's landmark ruling led to a swift federal appeal that could ultimately reach the supreme court cnn's catherine e shoichet and michael martinez contributed to this report | proposition 8 constitution | a panel of judges hears arguments over whether the measure is constitutional . opponents of proposition 8 say it denies same sex couples' rights . supporters say it protects the institution of marriage . a federal judge's earlier ruling says the proposition violates the constitution |
(cnn) authorities in norway have launched an investigation into whether the united states conducted illegal surveillance in the nordic country, the ministry of justice told cnn thursday officials from norway's ministry of foreign affairs talked to the number two at the american embassy in oslo, james heg, about the allegations on wednesday, a spokeswoman said 'because here at the foreign ministry, we have not been informed about this' alleged surveillance, she said, asking that her name not be used 'we wanted to know what these activities included,' she said 'these questions were, however, not fully clarified in this meeting, which is why we now have to seek further clarification of the matter,' she said 'any violation of norwegian law is not accepted, regardless of who may be responsible,' she told cnn the investigation follows a report by norway's tv2 claiming that the us embassy in oslo has been conducting an 'illegal systematic surveillance of norwegian citizens' the channel claims the embassy has hired former police officers and defense staff to take pictures and register people who behave in a suspicious way in order to stop attacks on american targets in norway us state department spokesman philip j crowley acknowledged the surveillance program at a press briefing in washington on monday, but said norwegian authorities had been informed 'the surveillance detection program is something that we've put in place over the last decade we recognize that our posts around the world are prospective targets and tragically there's a lot of intelligence and actual attacks to back that up,' he said 'all of our activities in norway are fully consistent with and with the cooperation of the host nation government,' he added but some key norwegian authorities deny they had any knowledge of the operation justice minister knut storberget has asked the norwegian police and the norwegian security police to clarify if they had any knowledge of the us embassy's alleged surveillance program 'i wish to bring as many facts as possible to the table on norwegian soil, norwegian law must be followed,' storberget said in a statement martin bernsen, a spokesman for the norwegian police security service, told cnn that they knew of 'a certain surveillance activity taking place, but not at this scale 'what we can say is that it is only norwegian police that should conduct police work on norwegian territory,' he added the us embassy in oslo responded to the allegations by saying: 'norway is a friend and ally we are prepared to work intensively to address any questions the norwegian government might have on this or any other matter' tv2's report on wednesday came after a two year investigation, it said the station reported that for the last decade, around 15 to 20 individuals have been working in shifts, 24 hours a day at a secret location in oslo, located close to the embassy the surveillance detection unit (sdu) is said to have been collecting personal information such as vehicle registration numbers and personal information about individuals behaving suspiciously these reports were then collected in a database called simas, where information is shared between different us authorities and posts, tv2 reported a tv2 reporter asked crowley about simas at the state department briefing on monday crowley did not specifically acknowledge its existence, but said information was shared 'it is possible when you look at a networked entity like al qaeda that they might be casing a post in europe, in the middle east, in africa, and so we have a database that shares intelligence and assessment,' crowley said several hundred norwegian individuals may be in the simas database, according to tv2, which said those people may encounter problems if trying to enter the us | nordic the us embassy us the us state department | the nordic country asks the us embassy to explain the alleged surveillance . not satisfied with his answers, they launch an investigation . the probe follows a tv report claiming the us is spying illegally . the us state department says its embassies are targets |
beijing (cnn) a chinese court sentenced 55 people on terror charges before thousands of onlookers in a stadium in xinjiang province wednesday, as part of a hardline response to a string of deadly attacks across the country the trial was held in a stadium in ili kazakh autonomous prefecture in the restive western province of xinjiang, before about 7,000 spectators, according to reports the accused were found guilty by the higher people's court of xinjiang uyghur autonomous region of charges including intentional homicide, separatism, and organizing, leading and participating in terrorist activities three of the accused were sentenced to death, state media reported, for the murder 'with extreme cruelty' of a family of four in yining city, using blades and axes, on april 20 the court named one of those sentenced to death over the attack, whose victims included a three year old girl, as abulimiti abdullah, state media reported pictures from the sentencing showed the accused held on the back of pick up trucks, dressed in orange jumpsuits and surrounded by security forces a banner across the back of the stadium read: 'yili prefecture public judgment, public seizure, public arrest general assembly' li minghui, vice secretary of the prefectural communist party committee, vowed to strike hard against terrorists 'we have the confidence, resolution and capability to take a firm stance, form an iron hand and hit hard and fast like a thunder to vanquish the enemy's arrogant audacity,' he was reported as saying 'we will achieve the final victory of this war of the people to stop terrorism and maintain stability' report: extremist groups busted in northwest china 'deplorable' show trial human rights organization amnesty international called the proceedings a show trial, labeling it 'deplorable' and saying it was no way to address public security concerns in the wake of the violence that has spread from the province most of those sentenced were believed to be uyghurs, it said in a statement 'those responsible for the recent violent attacks have shown a callous disregard for human life and must be held to account but speedy show trials will not deliver justice for the victims,' said william nee, amnesty's china researcher 'hastily sentencing people after unfair trials will only exacerbate tensions' he said chinese authorities appeared 'more concerned with courting public opinion than justice' 'it is highly doubtful the accused received fair trials,' he said, adding that those sentenced were believed to be at risk of torture in detention read more: xinjiang and tensions in china's restive west spate of terror the trial follows a spate of terror attacks in public spaces across china linked to xinjiang's uyghur population, a mainly turkic speaking muslim minority the latest bout began when a jeep plowed into crowds in beijing's tiananmen square in october, killing five and injuring at least 40, and have intensified in recent months twenty nine people were killed and 130 injured when men armed with long knives stormed a train station in kunming in march the following month an attack on a train station in urumqi, xinjiang's capital, left three dead, including the attackers, while an attack on an urumqi market earlier this month killed at least 39 in response, police in xinjiang launched a crackdown on extremist groups in the province, arresting 200 suspects and seizing hundreds of explosive devices, chinese state media reported this week the state's anti terrorist force has been beefed up in xinjiang, and security tightened around the country some uyghurs have expressed resentment towards china's han majority in recent years over what they say is harsh treatment from chinese security forces and han people taking the lion's share of economic opportunities in xinjiang amnesty said uyghurs face widespread discrimination, including in employment, housing and educational opportunities, as well as curtailed religious freedom and political marginalization opinion: china faces its own 'war on terror' | gisants incogitancy dryope | no related information |
(cnn) it's almost entirely illegal to use drones for money making purposes in the united states but a little hollywood magic could change that the us government is considering a request from movie and tv producers to let them use unmanned aircraft to shoot aerial video currently, there's only one exemption to the federal aviation administration's nationwide ban on commercial drones, called unmanned aircraft systems or uas that's a spot off alaska's coast where drones are used by an oil company but a second exemption could make it easier and less expensive to create memorable movie moments like the opening sequences from stanley kubrick's 'the shining' and academy award winner 'american beauty' 'unmanned aircraft systems offer the motion picture and television industry an innovative and safer option for filming,' neil fried, senior vice president for the motion picture association of america, said in a written statement 'this new tool for storytellers will allow for creative and exciting aerial shots, and is the latest in a myriad of new technologies being used by our industry to further enhance the viewer experience 'we welcome the faa's leadership and support their guidance to safely authorize the use of uass for the motion picture and television industry' on monday, the faa officially confirmed it is considering the request, which came from seven photo and video production companies the administration's statement acknowledged that hollywood could see 'tangible economic benefits' from an exemption 'however, all the associated safety issues must be carefully considered to make sure any hazards are appropriately mitigated,' the statement continued companies would still have to apply individually for permission to use drones if the exemption is approved, the faa said how to shoot amazing video from drones snaproll media, a production company that specializes in aerial shots, is one of the companies that have asked for the exemption in their application, published by ars technica, a cnn content partner, snaproll said shots done with lightweight, remote controlled drones would be safer and less disruptive than current shoots that use helicopters snaproll said its drones weigh less than 55 pounds, including camera equipment, and almost always travel at speeds of less than 57 mph 'all flights will occur over private or controlled access property with the property owner's prior consent and knowledge,' the tennessee based company wrote 'filming will be of people who have also consented to being filmed or otherwise have agreed to be in the area where filming will take place' the suggestion of an exemption marks something of a change for the faa as companies from web retail behemoth amazon to pizza chain domino's have toyed with the idea of deploying drones, the administration has been slow to craft new rules and regulations for them the alaska exemption, for conocophillips oil company, came only after prodding from congress hobbyists in the united states are allowed to fly small drones below 400 feet for noncommercial purposes but one of the administration's key concerns is how to allow commercial drones without endangering airplanes and other existing, manned aircraft after a decade of pondering, the faa said it plans to release a proposal for new regulations in november even if it does, it could be months, if not years, before the proposals become legally binding in its statement, the faa said companies from three other industries have filed similar appeals for exemptions to the federal ban on commercial drones: agriculture, power line and pipeline inspection, and oil and gas line inspection | faa the motion picture association of america us | seven production companies have petitioned the faa to use drones for aerial video . the motion picture association of america filed on behalf of them . currently, there's only one exemption to us commercial drone ban . companies want to use drones to shoot footage for movies, tv |
san diego (cnn) former wyoming sen al simpson knows a thing or two about passing landmark immigration reform my friend and former graduate school professor did it in 1986 with the immigration reform and control act, which he co authored with former rep romano mazzoli simpson knows that the endeavor is not for the faint of heart, or the thin skinned or the easily disillusioned it means navigating one of the wackiest and wickedest debates in our public discourse the immigration debate, he likes to say, is filled with 'emotion, fear, guilt and racism' it is no wonder that most lawmakers won't go anywhere near the immigration issue for those who grab the bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground, things can get frustrating so began the education of marco rubio the florida senator is the de facto leader of the gang of eight, the bipartisan group of senators pushing for immigration reform rubio has become the face of immigration reform he is the most articulate advocate and the game's most valuable player in large part because he is charged with rounding up republican votes meanwhile, if rubio were to withdraw support for the bill, it wouldn't just be a game changer it would be game over he recently worried allies by characterizing the bill as not strong enough and said that more border security measures have to be added while rubio courts republicans, the democratic members of the gang (charles schumer of new york, dick durbin of illinois or bob menendez of new jersey) need to arm twist democrats to make sure they're on board many of the senate's democrats don't seem enthusiastic about a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants on my scorecard, i count at least 10 democrats, from both red states and union friendly rust belt states, who either outright oppose the legislation or whose support is shaky schumer predicted sunday on nbc's 'meet the press' that a bill could pass by the fourth of july and that he is shooting for 70 votes, which he thought he could get, including a majority of republicans don't believe it i've followed schumer's approach to the immigration issue for many years, and most of what he says on the subject is a falsehood, a fraud or a fairy tale a couple of weeks ago, menendez went on univision's sunday show, 'al punto,' and candidly told host jorge ramos that the gang of eight didn't have 60 votes and now suddenly they have 70? this is schumer's game: set expectations high and put the burden of meeting them squarely on republicans leave democrats off the hook talk about how most republicans will support the bill so when the vote comes and it turns out surprise! a majority of republicans vote against the thing, the gop will catch all the blame it's all part of mr rubio's wild ride here you have a rising star in the gop tasked with the thankless job of ginning up support among republicans for a bill that many of them think would create millions of new democratic voters, albeit, 13 years down the road, which is the amount of time that the legislation requires illegal immigrants to wait before becoming citizens and getting the right to vote i can't decide which is more pathetic that republicans have such a guilty conscience for the hamhanded way in which they've handled immigration, and the acrimony they've stirred up against latinos that they think legalized immigrants are going to hold a grudge for 13 years before finally getting even or that republicans have so little confidence in their own party, message and ability to win over these voters in those same 13 years by coming up with policies that appeal to them from the sounds of the debate, rubio isn't making as many converts as he is making enemies in his own party there are even some conservatives, in the conspiracy corner of the gop, who suggest that this was the secret plan of democrats all along: rope rubio into supporting immigration reform put him front and center ruin his reputation with conservatives and effectively remove him from the top tier of 2016 gop presidential hopefuls that is a little far fetched besides, rubio could emerge from all this with enough new supporters on the left to make up for whatever support he could be losing on the right either way, he seems intent on fighting one battle at a time and, assuming he has white house ambitions, letting the next presidential race take care of itself as for the senator wavering on the immigration bill, i don't see it rubio supports the main principles, and he's simply thinking about the best way to pass it he said during a television interview on tuesday that he doesn't think the bill has the 60 votes needed to break a possible filibuster and that 'even the democrats would concede that' and he is worried that 'horse trading' could water down the border security provisions but he still backs the final product credit mom in an interview with time a few months ago, rubio, whose middle name is antonio, said that his mother, oriales garcia rubio, left him a voice mail in december she urged him to do right by illegal immigrants, whom she called 'los pobrecitos' (the poor ones) the message went: 'tony, some loving advice from the person who cares for you most in the world don't mess with the immigrants, my son please, don't mess with them they're human beings just like us, and they came for the same reasons we came to work to improve their lives so please, don't mess with them' rubio has said that his mother's plea reminded him that immigration has a 'human element' now everything i see and hear, including the senator appearing on a gauntlet of conservative radio shows to defend the bill, tells me that rubio will keep the faith that's not easy to do when, i have it on good authority, your senate office is getting hate mail comically telling the cuban american lawmaker to 'go back to mexico!' normally, that sort of thing might seem strange but in the immigration debate, it's madness as usual the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of ruben navarrette | satisfied charoseth locustelle | no related information |
(cnn) a mexican man pleaded guilty on tuesday to first degree murder in the death of border patrol agent brian terry, the first conviction in a case with an indirect link to the politically charged 'fast and furious' gun running operation manuel osorio arellanes, 36, admitted that on the night of december 14, 2010, he and four others were looking for drug traffickers to rob them of marijuana the group encountered terry and other border patrol agents along arizona's border with mexico and a gun battle broke out seeking justice for brian terry in his plea agreement, osorio arellanes agreed the shot that killed terry was fired by a member of his group although he did not claim to have personally fired the shot or blame someone else specifically for the crime the terry case has been controversial because two rifles from the 'fast and furious' operation were found at the scene of his killing but us officials have not produced evidence proving that terry was killed with either of those guns osorio arellanes was wounded and arrested at the scene he appeared in court in tucson on tuesday to plead guilty to one count of first degree murder as part of the deal prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty and dropped other charges against him he faces up to life in prison when sentenced in january four others were charged with roles in the gun battle and terry's death, including one who was captured in mexico in september and is awaiting extradition the other three remain at large 'agent terry was killed in the line of duty courageously safeguarding our border,' said laura duffy, us attorney for the southern district of california 'our country owes him and his family a great debt of gratitude for his ultimate sacrifice in service to our country tuesday's plea is an important step in seeking justice on behalf of agent terry' what was 'fast and furious,' and what went wrong? the bureau of alcohol tobacco firearms and explosives began 'fast and furious' in 2009 with the purpose of tracking around 2,000 weapons intended for drug cartels but things went awry when agents lost track of more than half of those weapons a september report by the justice department's inspector general said the anti gun trafficking operation was marked by 'a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures' that allowed hundreds of weapons to reach mexican drug cartels 'fast and furious' report slaps 14 at justice, atf | idemfactor oilcloth extensibleness | no related information |
los angeles, california (cnn) sens hillary clinton and barack obama will duel for super tuesday votes thursday night as the democratic presidential hopefuls face off for the first time together minus former sen john edwards thursday's debate is taking place at the kodak theatre in los angeles, california the debate sponsored by cnn, the los angeles times and politico starts at 8 pm et thursday on cnn and cnncom cnn's wolf blitzer is the moderator the event is the first democratic debate since obama's convincing victory saturday in south carolina on tuesday, clinton won the florida primary, a contest her campaign said helped the senator regain momentum even though it awarded no delegates the forum at the kodak theatre in hollywood comes hours after the obama campaign revealed it had raised $32 million in january from roughly 170,000 new donors that amount will allow obama to expand his television ad buys greatly in the 20 plus states holding primaries or caucuses tuesday watch a time lapse construction of the debate set » the clinton campaign would not indicate how much money it had raised in the same time period mike gravel, the other democratic presidential candidate still in the race, was not invited to participate in the debate because he did not meet certain criteria, including support in national polls in a cnn/opinion research corporation poll conducted january 14 17, gravel received less than 1 percent edwards suspended his presidential run wednesday in new orleans, louisiana, but he didn't endorse any candidate despite what aides described as furious lobbying campaigns by obama and clinton thursday's debate may be slightly more restrained than last week's brutal showdown following her south carolina loss, clinton has largely steered clear of opportunities to take aim at obama former president bill clinton also has avoided criticizing his wife's rival after dominating headlines with his attacks in the days before the south carolina vote the economy is likely to dominate thursday's debate, as both candidates look to appeal to supporters of edwards and his brand of economic populism clinton and obama have split victories in their parties' early voting states: obama has won in iowa and south carolina, and clinton has won in new hampshire, nevada, michigan and florida but the michigan and florida contests awarded no delegates, and all major democratic presidential candidates pledged to avoid campaigning in those states following national party penalties against them for moving up their contests so early clinton was the only major candidate to appear on the michigan ballot obama is leading clinton in the number of pledged delegates those awarded based on primary or caucus votes clinton has the edge when superdelegates are factored in (superdelegates are party leaders and elected officials who are not obligated to support a particular candidate they can change their decisions at any time leading up to the democratic national convention in august) to date, obama has won an estimated 63 national convention delegates as a result of primary or caucus votes, while clinton has earned an estimated 48 delegates clinton, however, has the overall lead in delegates 232 to 158 when superdelegates are included with solid fundraising numbers and a nod from sen edward kennedy of massachusetts this week, obama will be making the claim he holds the front runner title but clinton who has led in national surveys for much of the race will be making her case as well e mail to a friend cnn's rebecca sinderbrand contributed to this report | nippingly suckfish acanthophorous | no related information |
(cnn) yume hotaru's first novel was a best seller in japanese bookstores, and he wrote it entirely with his thumbs publishers in japan were quick to see the potential of putting cellphone novels into print the 22 year old who would rather be identified by his pen name than his real one (yume hotaru means 'dreaming firefly' in japanese) started composing the novel on his cell phone in 2007 between classes, on the bus or before going to bed at night, he would type single sentences into his phone's tiny keypad, uploading each one straight to the mobile social networking site mobage town the more yume hotaru posted, the more popular his story became it won a prize and soon publishers approached him, asking if he wanted to turn his digital book into a paper one by early 2008, his novel 'first experience,' a story about love and sex in high school, was a top title in one of tokyo's biggest bookstores since it emerged in japan nearly a decade ago, the cell phone novel, or keitai shosetsu, has moved from a little known subgenre to a mainstream literary phenomenon keitai shosetsu sites boast billions of monthly users while publishers sell millions of copies of cellular stories taken from phones and turned into paperback it is even spreading to other countries as other cultures start to take part in a type of composition long considered purely japanese as the name suggests, cell phone novels are written entirely on handsets and posted on sites like maho no i rando (magic island), the first and largest mobile novel portal in japan the site has a million titles, 35 billion monthly visitors and six million registered users, according to the company mobile readers instantly see new chapters as they are added, often adding comments about the direction they think a novel should take the diary like stories are written and read mostly by young women in their teens and 20's many authors use pen names and claim their stories are at least partially autobiographical the novels often center on themes that are rarely discussed aloud in japanese society drugs, sex, pregnancy, abortion, rape and disease 'when they write those novels, they share their secret, personal problems, and when they read by mobile phones, they can hide what they are reading,' explained toshie takahashi, an associate professor of media studies at rikkyo university in tokyo 'they are also involved and engaged with their mobile phones very strongly,' added takahashi, noting that 96 percent of high school students own a cell phone in japan 'the mobile phone itself is embedded in young people's everyday lives very deeply and also emotionally and physically' despite its popularity among young women, a male writer known as yoshi, widely considered the first cellular novelist, brought the burgeoning genre to light when he self published 'deep love' in 2002 the story about a prostitute in tokyo sold nearly 3 million copies and was adapted for film, television and manga, or japanese comics publishing phenomenon a struggling japanese publishing industry was quick to take notice of the growing popularity of keitai shosetsu, especially early works like yoshi's 'deep love' many of the popular cell phone novels have since been turned into paperbacks, and bookstores across japan now have entire sections devoted to the digital age literary genre by 2007, half of the country's 10 best selling novels were written on cell phones, according to book distributor tohan while last year mobile novels and comics were a $240 million market in japan, which is over 5 percent of the country's $45 billion total mobile content market, according to japan's mobile content forum in january 2009, three japanese mobile phone novel publishers reported collective sales of 17 million copies publishers, like goma books, one of the first to print cell phone novels, have also launched their own keitai shosetsu sites, which they use to sift through for talent whose work will be marketable on bookshelves goma's mobile story site orion carries 20,000 novels and has approximately two million monthly users, according to the company goma has also published several top selling keitai shosetsu, including 'the red thread,' by mei (also a pen name) since it was released in 2007, the story, which revolves around the romance of two middle school students, has sold nearly 2 million copies and was adapted for a tv series and movie last december the publishing house now prints a new mobile novel every month some literary purist don't think the cell phone novels constitute real literature, but their popularity is undeniable 'the sentences may be a bit immature it doesn't have a major plot line sometimes it is just love stories of ordinary high school girls, said aya tanaka, a spokesperson for goma 'but it is kind of like popular comics, it is what the teenagers want to read, and for the publishers, it is quite a big market and it does sell' michael keferl, a trend consultant with cscout japan in tokyo, believes that '[readers] are participating in the creation of the novel, which is one of the reasons why they buy it afterwards they are helping to write it and are also witnessing it being written' crossing cultures however some believe the future of keitai shosetsu as one that is quickly following in the footsteps of most teenage fads: a sudden and rapid rise to mass popularity followed by a slow but steady decline to the fringes of the not so cool last year few mobile novels appeared on best seller lists while new stories published online have lost their characteristic edginess, said chiaki ishihara, a japanese literature expert at waseda university in tokyo who has studied cell phone novels 'keitai shosetsu is rapidly declining at this point,' ishihara told cnn 'in a few years, it may not even be considered a subculture' others see the cell phone novel moving from an initial boom that peaked around 2007 to a period of market stabilization 'you are not going to have as many of the big hits as you had before because there are so many titles out,' said keferl 'things are leveling out now' while the cell phone novel market may be cooling in japan, it is just starting to emerge in other countries, like the united states, where faster networks and cheaper data plans are leading more consumers to use handsets in ways similar to people in japan many companies are starting to launch mobile web sites in the us, including dena, the japanese firm that owns mobage town, the site where yume hotaru writes his keitai shosetsu 'what has surprised us is users in america are behaving in a similar way to the japanese,' said dai watanabe, president of dena global, inc 'they are writing about things that are very close to their actual lives i was surprised to see it is very similar with what is happening in japan' julian knighten, a 22 year old who works three jobs, writes his cell phone stories while lying in bed at night in his home outside of dallas, texas he said he had never heard of keitai shosetsu before but likes writing cell phone novels because of the relationship he has with readers and the feedback they give him about his stories 'it encourages me to write,' said knighten 'and it gives me the chance to escape reality' | japan us | hugely popular cell phone novels have created new market for publishers in japan . written on cell phone, often by 20 somethings with themes taboo in society . publishing boom has led to sector maturing, but sales still in millions of copies . cell phone novels finding popularity in us with advancing mobile technology |
beirut, lebanon (cnn) a car bomb struck a us embassy vehicle tuesday as it traveled along a coastal highway north of beirut, killing at least three lebanese civilian bystanders, according to american and lebanese officials lebanese soldiers and red cross workers stand near charred cars at the site of the explosion in beirut the driver of the embassy vehicle suffered minor injuries, and the sole passenger walked away unscathed, us state department spokesman sean mccormack said both were lebanese nationals, he said an american citizen who happened to be in the area suffered non life threatening injuries, the spokesman said lebanese internal security forces said three lebanese civilian bystanders were killed in the explosion in beirut's dora area, contradicting earlier reports of four twenty one others including the american bystander were wounded in the explosion, which was caused by a 15 kilogram (33 pound) bomb placed in a car before the explosion, the security forces said the united states is outraged by the terrorist attack, said secretary of state condoleezza rice, who is traveling with president bush in saudi arabia 'i want on behalf of our country to say to those who were wounded, and certainly to the families of those who were killed, that our condolences are with them,' she added it was not clear whether the blast was caused by a suicide attack or by a remotely detonated car bomb a communique issued by the us embassy in beirut said the embassy vehicle was apparently the intended target of the attack, and identified the driver and passenger as lebanese security personnel for the embassy but mccormack cautioned against jumping to any conclusions on the intended target 'we don't yet have a full picture of exactly what happened, who is responsible, who is exactly being targeted,' he told reporters during the state department's daily briefing 'we will see over the next day or two where the facts lead us' citing security concerns, mccormack would also not address unconfirmed reports that the vehicle was part of a convoy for departing us ambassador to lebanon jeffrey feltman a us embassy statement said feltman canceled a farewell ceremony that he was to host tuesday night 'out of respect to the victims of today's terrorist explosion' in addition to the american, an iraqi and at least three lebanese were among those wounded in the blast, according to a western diplomatic source video of the scene showed several damaged cars, including at least one that was left a pile of twisted metal a nearby high rise building also sustained damage mohammed chatah, senior adviser to lebanese prime minister fouad siniora, pointed out that the attack happened during 'a major political crisis' in lebanon, which has been without a president for nearly eight weeks amid a bitter political feud 'this explosion just exacerbates a difficult situation,' chatah told cnn tuesday's blast appears to be the latest in a series of attacks against pro western, anti syrian targets in the lebanese capital most recently, an explosion in beirut's christian suburb of baabda killed brig gen francois al hajj, the head of operations for the lebanese army, and his bodyguard on december 12 al hajj was believed to be a top candidate to take over as army commander in the event current commander gen michel suleiman was elected to replace emile lahoud as president lebanon has been in the midst of a political crisis as pro and anti syrian lawmakers in parliament are locked in a battle to elect a new president the nation has been without a president since november 23, when the pro syrian lahoud stepped down at the end of his term in february 2005, the assassination of former lebanese prime minister rafik hariri in beirut sparked widespread protests that led to the ouster of syrian forces from lebanon e mail to a friend cnn's anthony mills in beirut and elise labott in washington contributed to this report | the united states state rice us embassy beirut lebanese american | new: the united states is outraged by the attack, secretary of state rice says . car bomb strikes us embassy vehicle north of beirut . three lebanese civilians dead, american and lebanese officials confirm . driver of the vehicle was slightly injured, and the only passenger was not hurt |
(mental floss) 1 bobby murcer's biggest fan former new york yankee bobby murcer warms up during old timers day yankee stadium on july 7 our first story has a fairy tale middle and a horrible ending in august of '77, bobby murcer of the cubs promised to hit a home run for terminally ill fan scott crull that night, murcer hit two of them pretty amazing, especially when you consider murcer only hit nine homers the whole next season but that's not why crull a 12 year old from calumet city, illinois makes this list broadcasting the game nationally on abc, keith jackson told the country how murcer had fulfilled the dying boy's last wish eyes watered, spines tingled there was only one problem nobody had ever told the boy he was dying his parents were horrified weeks later, crull passed away 2 the good luck charmers every sport has its own strange traditions i'd argue hockey's 'throwing an octopus on the ice for good luck' is the weirdest tossing the eight tentacled cephalopod was the brainchild of detroit storeowners pete & jerry cusimano the date: april 15, 1952 the logic: one tentacle for each of the eight victories it took to win the stanley cup later that spring, most likely fueled by the good luck octopus, the red wings won the title peta has objected to this practice, which continues to this day the red wings mascot is not a red wing, but al the octopus 3 the john 3:16 guy also known as 'rainbow man,' the born again rollen stewart and his john 3:16 signs were fixtures at major events in the 1970s and 80s he brought his message to the world series, super bowl, olympics, and world cup he was outside buckingham palace when di and charles wed; he went to see the pope in alaska but he was more religious fanatic than sports fan according to the los angeles times, stewart planned to assassinate president bush and candidate clinton in 1992 and he's now serving three life sentences for holding a maid hostage at a los angeles hyatt, also in 1992 by the way, chapter three, verse sixteen of the gospel of john says, 'for god so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' this is also printed on cups at the in n out burger 4 the all star heckler for 12 years, maryland lawyer and washington bullets fan robin ficker was the nba's most prominent heckler with season tickets behind the visiting team's bench, his antics were legendary when he reminded frank layden of the jazz that 'usa today' had rated him worst dressed coach, layden had to be restrained by security with the bulls in town, ficker loudly read excerpts of maverick, coach phil jackson's sex laden 1975 autobiography during the 1993 suns bulls nba finals, charles barkley (of the suns) flew ficker to phoenix and bought him a ticket behind the chicago bench ficker was ejected in the first quarter the bullets became the wizards in 1997 and moved into the mci center the following season ficker's new seats were not in shouting distance of the visiting team, forcing him into heckling retirement last year he received 95% of the vote in a losing bid for montgomery county executive 5 kim jong il that's right, the world's most feared dictator is a hoops junkie during a 2000 visit, then secretary of state madeleine albright presented him a basketball signed by michael jordan the chicago bulls are the favorite team of kim jong il, who reportedly has a video library with every game jordan ever played at 5'3', the supreme commander of the korean people's army is roughly the same height as muggsy bogues 6 david letterman's stalker david letterman's biggest fan was also his biggest headache when she was arrested for stealing dave's porsche in 1988, margaret ray told police she was mrs letterman she was a frequent trespasser on dave's estate, once camping out on his tennis court ray's antics made her a regular monologue target but the jokes stopped in 1998, when ray jumped in front of a moving train the collective guilt spread when we learned she was schizophrenic, as were her two brothers, who also committed suicide 7 joe from saddle river a die hard jets, mets and rangers fan, joe benigno was a frequent caller to wfan, new york's all sports radio station benigno won the station's fan appreciation day contest in 1994, earning a chance to guest host his own show by 1995, joe was wfan's overnight guy, a title he held for almost a decade in 2004, he was deemed ready for daytime and given the 10 am 1pm timeslot for all the lonely and passionate talk radio callers out there, joe gives hope 8 steffi graf's biggest fanatic deranged and obsessed with seeing steffi graf return to the top of the rankings, gunter parche stabbed monica seles during a 1993 match in one of the most disturbing incidents in sports history almost as disturbing was his punishment parche received a two year suspended sentence and was ordered to attend mandatory counseling even more shocking, i can't find footage of any of this on youtube also receiving votes: john hinckley; the fan who started the pistons pacers brawl in 2004; jeffrey maier; the kissing bandit; 'butch' from middlebury; metallica superfan turned bass player jason newstead; and steve bartman e mail to a friend for more mental floss articles, visit mentalflosscom entire contents of this article copyright, mental floss llc all rights reserved | rainbow man john communist | 'rainbow man,' or the john 3:16 guy, is in prison . communist dictator is a hoops fan . from fan to talk radio host . how an all star heckler lost his seat |
(cnn) what the heck has happened to john mccain? first he flip flopped on immigration reform in 2006, sen john mccain was a primary co sponsor of and worked closely with sen ted kennedy to craft immigration reform legislation that included a path to citizenship for america's undocumented immigrants but faced with a primary challenge from a tea party republican in 2010, mccain denied that he had ever supported a path to citizenship mccain subsequently threw his support behind arizona state legislation that ostensibly allows for racial profiling of latinos and is considered one of the harshest anti immigration laws in the nation then he flip flopped on legislation meant to address the dangers of climate change in 2003, mccain was a key supporter of so called 'cap and trade' legislation that would create a market based solution to limit pollution during his 2008 presidential run, mccain boasted of his support for cap and trade measures 'we stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great,' said mccain 'the most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge' mccain, it appears, was not by 2009, mccain was calling such measures 'cap and tax' by 2014, mccain was blasting secretary of state john kerry for even talking about climate change and now we have bowe bergdahl recently, the fact checker column of the washington post found that senator mccain had flip flopped on his support for a prisoner swap in exchange for the release of sergeant bergdahl the post awarding mccain a rare upside down pinocchio for his switch in positions in february 2014, mccain told cnn's anderson cooper, 'now this idea is for an exchange of prisoners for our american fighting man i would be inclined to support such a thing depending on a lot of the details' that was before obama actually made the exchange then mccain said he was against it mccain claims his objection was based on the details of the five taliban prisoners swapped for bergdahl but as the washington post fact checker pointed out, the details around those five specific prisoners were widely known in february when mccain originally commented in fact, the washington post ran a front page story with details about the prisoners mccain's flip flop, like all his others, was nothing more than political opportunism, plain and simple moreover, these are not the only times mccain has wildly switched positions on fundamental issues suzy khimm, then of mother jones magazine, produced a thorough list including other flip flops as of august 2010 but it's somehow especially stunning to hear john mccain flip flop on the issue of bergdahl in particular after all, mccain is without question a true american hero and he has been, from his earliest days, a man of principle in 1968, a year into his imprisonment and torture as a prisoner of war during the vietnam war, mccain was offered early release — the north vietnamese seeking to gain publicity points after mccain's admiral father was put in command of all us forces in the region the young john mccain refused he would only agree to be released if every american taken prisoner before him was released as well it was only then that mccain was subject to heinous and severe torture, including beatings every two hours five and a half years later, the principled pow and his fellow soldiers were released and came home they received a heroes' welcome the new york times put a picture of mccain's homecoming on its front page it's important to remember that mccain was ultimately released by the north vietnamese as part of winding down of the war that's what happens when you end a war; you exchange prisoners — even the dangerous ones in the case of the five taliban prisoners swapped for bergdahl, even a legal adviser from the george w bush administration has argued there would be no grounds to continue holding them after the war in afghanistan officially ended later this year and by then, they wouldn't even be useful as leverage for bergdahl's return certainly john mccain knows the immense suffering and brutality of being a prisoner of war he also knows what happens when wars end in fact, i like to imagine that john mccain knows a lot of things including how ridiculous his repeated backtracking seems in light of his own self proclaimed principled 'maverick' identity but these radical shifts in position say less about mccain as a person and more about the political party to which he belongs, a party that was for immigration reform and for cap and trade regulations and for doing whatever it took to bring bowe berdahl home up until the moment that president obama took the same side the modern republican party is desperately opportunistic and reactionary, trading whatever thin principles it may have once held to simply stand against whatever the other side is for and john mccain, whether willingly or unwittingly, is at best an illustrative canary in the coal mine or at worst, yet again held hostage this time by an increasingly reckless and irrational gop update: an earlier version incorrectly listed mccain as being awarded the medal of honor | homed scuppit sunshade | no related information |
(cnn) divers have found what they believe are human remains on the wrecked costa concordia cruise ship, the italian civil protection agency announced tuesday the bodies of two people from the 2012 wreck have never been found: russel rebello of india and maria grazia trecarichi of sicily have been missing but presumed dead their bodies have long been believed to be either trapped beneath or inside the ship italian authorities also said two weeks ago that divers found what they thought were human remains on the ship's deck 4 but they later determined that the remains were animal the cruise liner capsized after it struck rocks off italy's giglio island in the tyrrhenian sea in january 2012, killing 32 of 4,200 people on board the toll includes rebello and trecarichi rebello, 33, was a cruise waiter who was last seen helping passengers off the ship trecarichi was on the cruise to celebrate her 50th birthday with her 17 year old daughter, who survived the new discovery of remains comes about three weeks after engineers managed to rotate the ship back to vertical before that, the ship rested 20 months on its side, hindering a full examination costa concordia righted authorities say the ship struck the rocks off giglio island after the captain, francesco schettino, ordered the liner to veer more than four miles off course to salute a former sea captain who had retired on giglio schettino faces charges of manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster and abandoning ship with passengers still on board his trial, which began with preliminary hearings in march, resumed last month the trial is expected to last through the fall with a string of witnesses, including passengers, crew members and islanders, who say they saw the captain on shore looking for dry socks before all the passengers had been safely evacuated schettino argues that he is a hero who saved the lives of more than 4,000 people, not a villain whose negligence led to the deaths of 32 his defense is trying to prove, among other things, that the ship's watertight doors did not function properly, and that is the reason the ship sank, leading to all 32 deaths during evacuation schettino also has told the court that the ship would not have crashed had his helmsman turned it in the direction that schettino told him to 13 seconds before impact the helmsman, jacob rusli bin, and four others were convicted in a plea deal in july for their role in the disaster a florence court is considering the validity of those plea bargain agreements cnn's hada messia, jason hanna and barbie latza nadeau contributed to this report | enharmonically mezquites uninclosed | no related information |
philadelphia, pennsylvania (cnn) three and a half years ago, i ran a mile with nine men who were living at the sunday breakfast rescue mission in philadelphia, wanting to start a running club at this homeless shelter came from passing this facility on my morning run and seeing a group of men congregating outside on the corner i was quickly drawn to them as they reminded me a lot of my dad, who i love dearly but unfortunately has suffered from addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling for much of his life my dad and i have always had a very special, sarcastic rapport and one of the hardest things i have gone through was being a teenager and not being able to figure out a way to save my dad from his gambling addiction, which ended up tearing apart our family chilean miners to attend cnn heroes tribute to save myself from the despair, i ran a lot, and 10 years later is when i finally found the road that made my life make sense and it started with these nine guys i thought in some spiritual cosmic way that i could vicariously help my dad by helping these men running doesn't discriminate it doesn't matter whether you're white, black, rich, poor, homeless or not i wanted to share this sport with these guys in hopes they would reap the same benefits i did better self esteem, confidence and discipline but, it didn't take long to see that it was turning into so much more an environment had been created where people, regardless of race, religion or socio economic status, were treated with respect, appreciation and genuine care and concern for each other it was an environment that had been missing from their lives, and it was amazing to watch the changes in attitude and behavior that were occurring a vision quickly formed about building a program it would start with running, and through dedication, hard work and commitment, we would connect our members to job training and educational programs, employment partners and housing opportunities, but only when our members were ready for those steps each person would also have the opportunity to earn approved grant money to move his or her life forward today, back on my feet has operations in five cities (philadelphia; baltimore, maryland; washington; chicago, illinois; and boston, massachusetts) and works with 29 homeless shelters the organization has more than 400 active members and has helped close to 450 individuals find a better road in life we are expanding to five more cities in 2011, of which four have been chosen indianapolis, indiana; dallas, texas; minneapolis, minnesota; and atlanta, georgia it's amazing how we forget that as people, we have similar traits, whether we're homeless or not maslow's hierarchy of needs explains this best when we are hungry, our no 1 priority becomes looking for food when it's cold outside, we seek shelter right above those needs is an innate desire to be recognized, valued, appreciated, loved and cared for these desires, just like those of food and shelter, do not become less important as we grow older think about the reasons why you may have quit a job or a relationship chances are feeling unappreciated or undervalued is one of them the only way for real change to happen in someone's life is for that person to voluntarily participate in making those changes many programs try and force people to do things, but when does forcing anyone to do anything ever have long lasting sustainable results? take this simple example let's say you have a 6 year old who hates vegetables and won't eat them so, you tell him if he doesn't eat his vegetables that he won't be able to play with his favorite toy as long as you are there to enforce that rule, your 6 year old may very well eat his vegetables but what happens when he is at a friend's house and that rule doesn't apply? this method does not solve the problem you have to figure out a way to get your kid to want to eat his vegetables and that is done by giving the vegetables value in a way that your child can relate to what if instead you told your child that it is vegetables, not candy or soda, that will make him big and strong like his dad or older brother? back on my feet takes this approach to the homeless community we do not offer food or shelter, which in turn means we don't use threat tactics around those basic human needs the choice to get up at 5:30 am and come out to run is one that is voluntary everyone those who are homeless and those who are not are there because they want to be they are there because they have found an environment that offers them respect, value, appreciation and friendship when you offer that to someone, it is extraordinary what can happen while back on my feet's first priority is to help people discover their potential and capabilities to get them on a road filled with hope, happiness and prosperity, its mission is to also remind us that while there are many differences between us, there are more similarities by focusing on those similarities, we are reminded that we are all on the same team i am humbled every day by the people invested in back on my feet's mission, and together we have the ability to make real, positive, sustainable change in the world one mile at a time the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of anne m mahlum | obdiplostemony proguardian transradiable | no related information |
(cnn) linkedin employees seem to love their boss jeff weiner has claimed the number one spot in glassdoor's latest survey of highest rated ceos at large companies, getting a perfect 100% approval score from his staff the linkedin boss was followed by ford motor's alan mulally and edelman's richard edelman, both with 97% approval each year jobs and career website glassdoor collects feedback from us based employees, in which they anonymously say what they think of the way their boss is leading their company to be considered for the survey, chief executives at us headquartered large companies had to receive at least 100 approved reviews, according to glassdoor click through the gallery above to see 2014's top 10 ceos read this: the wit and wisdom of bill gates interactive: career tips from business leaders this story was amended to reflect a data error in glassdoor's initial list which did not include john e schlifske you can read more about glassdoor's reason for this error here | upwaft unfazedness besuit | no related information |
(cnn) a photo posted online monday shows george zimmerman with blood on his nose and lips his attorneys say it was taken the night unarmed teen trayvon martin was killed in sanford, florida zimmerman says he shot martin in self defense martin's attorneys say he was shot and killed 'in cold blood' prosecutors have charged zimmerman with second degree murder for the february 26 killing the picture, posted monday on zimmerman's defense website, was taken by a police officer, zimmerman's attorneys wrote the state had previously provided a black and white copy of the image, the attorneys wrote on the website 'this high resolution digital file was finally provided to the defense on october 29' a police report from the night of the incident said zimmerman was 'bleeding from the nose and back of his head' the 28 year old volunteer neighborhood watchman was driving through his gated community when the incident occurred martin was walking through the neighborhood to his father's girlfriend's house zimmerman has claimed that after the two exchanged words, martin charged at him, knocked him to the ground and banged his head repeatedly against a concrete sidewalk martin's family says zimmerman attacked the teen, who had done nothing wrong martin's death sparked nationwide protests and inflamed public passions over race relations and gun control, as well as florida's controversial 'stand your ground' law, which allows the use of deadly force when a person perceives a threat to safety in august, a new judge was named to oversee the case, after an appeals court agreed to a request from zimmerman's defense team the attorneys had argued the previous judge had made remarks putting zimmerman in reasonable fear of an unfair trial judge rules george zimmerman's team can review slain teen's records | coequalize motorways beechnuts | no related information |
(cnn) the spacex dragon was successfully berthed at the international space station on wednesday as the station's crew caught and secured the unmanned cargo capsule high above earth, nasa announced japanese astronaut akihiko hoshide latched onto dragon with a robotic arm at 6:56 am et by 9:03, the craft was attached to the station's docking module, the space agency said 'looks like we've tamed the dragon,' nasa's sunita williams, commander of the current iss mission, said in a statement released by spacex the dragon mission lifted off sunday carrying about a half ton of supplies for the station's crew it caught up with the iss wednesday morning, 273 miles over the south atlantic ocean, nasa said 'this is a big moment in the course of this mission and for commercial spaceflight,' spacex founder elon musk said in a statement released by the company 'we are pleased that dragon is now ready to deliver its cargo to the international space station' it's one of a dozen missions ordered by nasa under a contract with the company a dragon capsule successfully delivered 1,000 pounds of cargo to the station in may nasa says the iss crew will start unloading the craft on thursday dragon will be attached to the station for two and a half weeks after the supplies are pulled off, astronauts will reload the craft with scientific experiments and failed equipment that can be repaired and sent back it's scheduled to return to earth on october 28 the dragon remained on course despite engine trouble on its booster after liftoff sunday night a minute and 19 seconds after the falcon 9 rocket lifted off from cape canaveral, florida, one of its nine merlin engines 'lost pressure suddenly,' the company disclosed monday the rocket 'did exactly what it was designed to do,' as its flight computer made adjustments to keep the dragon headed into the proper orbit, the company said however, a communications satellite the falcon 9 carried as a secondary payload did not end up in its designated orbit in a statement issued wednesday afternoon, spacex said it had to use more fuel and liquid oxygen to put the dragon into orbit because of the failed engine 'for the protection of the space station mission, nasa had required that a restart of the upper stage only occur if there was a very high probability (over 99%) of fully completing the second burn,' spacex said 'while there was sufficient fuel on board to do so, the liquid oxygen on board was only enough to achieve a roughly 95% likelihood of completing the second burn, so falcon 9 did not attempt a restart' the satellite, built by new jersey based satellite firm orbcomm, was supposed to have been carried into a higher orbit by the falcon 9's second stage orbcomm said monday that its satellite was circling in a lower than intended orbit, and it was trying to determine whether the satellite's own propulsion systems could carry it the rest of the way up spacex said it was studying flight data with nasa to figure out what happened, 'and we will apply those lessons to future flights' initial readings indicated that an engine fairing broke apart under stress, it said monday despite that problem, nasa administrator charles bolden called sunday's launch and the mission 'a critical event in space flight' and spacex, which musk founded in 2002, is looking beyond cargo flights to develop a version of the dragon that would carry astronauts to the iss it's one of three companies, along with sierra nevada and aerospace giant boeing, that nasa has chosen to work on the project within the next few months, orbital sciences is expected to fly its own demonstration flight to the space station instead of using cape canaveral as its launch site, the company's rocket will take off from wallops island, off the coast of virginia orbital has a nearly $2 billion contract with nasa for station resupply missions in 2008, nasa chose spacex's falcon 9 launch vehicle and the dragon spacecraft to resupply the space station after the space shuttle program was retired the space agency plans to turn much of its focus toward exploring deep into the solar system 'the $16 billion contract represents a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to $31 billion,' spacex says on its website | noncorporeal recontracts kalpaks | no related information |
(cnn) in his weekly address, president obama said that the christmas day airline bomber acted under orders from an al qaeda branch in yemen, which 'trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for america' vowing to hold accountable all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on christmas, obama sent a letter to his yemeni counterpart, ali abdullah saleh, delivered by gen david petraeus, head of the us central command, in which he pledged to double the $70 million in counterterrorism aid to the poverty stricken country in 2009, a figure that does not include covert programs run by us special forces and the cia with the increase in security assistance, yemen now tops pakistan, which receives about $112 million, a clear indication of the growing threat of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula (known as aqap yemen based) in us eyes american strategy is driven by assumptions that do not fully recognize the complexity and gravity of the situation in yemen the first premise is that with increased us security assistance, the yemen government will take the fight to al qaeda and uproot it secondly, us officials assume that confronting al qaeda requires mainly counterterrorism measures what is alarming about the resurgence of this al qaeda branch is its linkage to yemen's deepening social and political crises and failing state institutions in the last three years, against all odds, the al qaeda branch has revived the central organization's declining fortune in the arabian peninsula and emerged as a potentially potent force aqap numbers between 100 and 300 core operatives as many as those in pakistan, though they are younger and lack the operational skills and sophistication of their pakistani cohorts most are rookies with little combat experience, unlike the previous afghanistan generation the structure and composition of the yemen branch appears to have changed because of the merger with militant elements from saudi arabia last january, forming aqap and revitalizing the jihadist network there some fighters had returned from war zones in iraq, afghanistan and pakistan and have supplied military training and ideological motivation and leadership in 2007 i interviewed several hardened yemeni and saudi returnees from iraq who made it clear that they would target america and britain if us and uk troops do not withdraw from muslim lands these hard liners were neither bluffing nor making empty threats there are also some signs of cross fertilization between aqap and somalia's al shabab, an al qaeda like minded group fighting for control of the war torn country facilitated by the flow of thousands of somali refugees to yemen that is not the whole story, however the recent revival of al qaeda in yemen is a product of a structural socioeconomic crisis and political divisions and fault lines that have pushed the country to the brink of all out war al qaeda is a parasite feeding on lawlessness, social and political instability, and abject poverty and despair today yemen is a fragile state with failing institutions and a collapsed economy forty percent of the country's 23 million people are unemployed more than a third of the population is undernourished and almost 50 percent live in absolute poverty yemen, the poorest arab country, has one of the highest fertility rates a huge youth explosion (60 percent of the population is under the age of 20) faces a grim future and radicalization with every visit to this stunningly beautiful country, i observe a deteriorating security situation and declining social conditions it is now common to see many women of all ages clad in black from head to toe begging on the streets of major cities, an alarming sign of social breakdown in an ultraconservative muslim society where women do not appear in public the sound of soviet made fighter jets often shatters the peace of the early hours of the morning the jets are on their way to bomb houthi (shia) rebels in the sada'adah province and the harf sufian district of amran province, a mini civil war in the north that has raged on and off for four years and has claimed more than a thousand lives, most of whom are civilians a secessionist movement in the south has gained momentum, with a sizable segment of southern public opinion demanding a divorce from the forced union imposed by the north in the early 1990s what the al qaeda branch has tried to do is to submerge and embed itself in these raging local conflicts and to position itself as the spearhead of opposition and resistance to the saleh regime for example, al qaeda has allied itself with tribes in the separatist south in the fight against the central government, a radical move because many separatists are socialist and not religiously inclined ironically, in 1994 president saleh relied greatly on jihadists and islamists to subdue the socialist south and unify yemen from his base in sudan, osama bin laden, whose father was born in yemen, exhorted his men to fight the 'godless marxists' in the south, who they massacred the al qaeda yemen connection goes back to the foundation of the jihadist organization yemen has always had powerful islamist and jihadist movements in the 1980s, thousands of yemenis joined the afghan jihad against occupying soviet forces and most returned home emboldened and militarized unlike their middle eastern counterparts, yemeni returnees were welcomed by the saleh regime in the early 1990s when bin laden set up al qaeda in sudan and then in afghanistan, he heavily and personally recruited yemenis whom he trusted bin laden, a saudi, has often said he has a soft spot in his heart for yemen because of its people's religiosity and tribal code of honor and hospitality and harsh, mountainous landscape the saudi yemeni contingent was the largest within the bin laden organization, as well as in the detention facility at guantanamo bay many of his bodyguards, personal secretaries, drivers and cooks were yemenis aqap chief nasir al wuhayshi (reportedly killed by a us directed airstrike on december 24), once served as bin laden's personal secretary bin laden entrusted the protection and transportation of his wives and children to his yemeni men, a fact that speaks volumes about his mindset us officials appear to overestimate the capacity of the yemen government to meet the multiple challenges and threats to its authority and integrity its security forces are spread thin four years after the outbreak of the houthi rebellion, the state has failed to resolve it more importantly, the government can no longer deliver the social goods and patronage, historically solid underpinnings of the saleh rule the country has been badly affected by falling oil revenues (yemen is the smallest oil producer in the middle east), pervasive corruption, and the international financial downturn after more than three decades in power, president saleh's ability to co opt adversaries and maintain friends has shrunk considerably, plunging yemen into an uncertain future on its own, counterterrorism will most likely fail in expelling al qaeda from yemen's tribal areas and might trigger a backlash against the saleh regime and its western patrons of all middle easterners, yemenis voice strong anti american foreign policy sentiments and take pride in sacrificing blood and treasure in defense of arab and muslim causes any us policy course that neglects the local context will help al qaeda sell its narrative to a receptive audience what yemen desperately needs is a political and economic vision that tackles deteriorating security and social conditions and empowers state and society, not just the saleh regime this vision cannot be made in the usa yemen's neighbors, particularly saudi arabia and kuwait, along with the league of arab states, should take the lead in finding solutions to yemen's political and tribal divisions and providing the means to prevent yemen from becoming a failed state more than any other country, saudi arabia has more to lose by the breakdown of its next door neighbor the united states and great britain should provide leadership and assistance in shepherding the reconstruction process through and ensuring that inclusive governance, transparency, and accountability are adhered to a good start is british prime minister gordon brown's call for a high level international meeting this month to discuss ways of combating al qaeda influence in yemen but the most effective means to combat al qaeda is to to tackle yemen's structural social and political crisis and to fully involve yemen's arab neighbors in the talks the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of fawaz gerges | al qaeda yemen fawaz gerges arab us britain | al qaeda is benefiting from civil unrest and economic woes in yemen, says fawaz gerges . he says sending more aid, focusing on counterterrorism won't be a successful policy . he says arab nations should take the lead, with us, britain helping in the background . gerges: it's crucial to tackle yemen's social and political crisis |
(cnn) a drunken english soccer supporter who attacked a former international goalkeeper during a match last friday has been jailed for 16 weeks and given a six year banning order aaron cawley, a fan of english second division team leeds, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and entering the field of play before being sentenced on monday the 21 year old was arrested after invading the pitch during leeds' match at yorkshire rivals sheffield wednesday and shoving kirkland in the face, knocking the one cap england international to the ground cawley escaped back into the crowd after the incident, which came in the 76th minute of the game, but was arrested on sunday 'we are pleased to see the matter dealt with by the courts so quickly,' said a spokesman for leeds, which plans to ban cawley for life once his court order expires 'our one disappointment is that we feel the sentence could, and should, have been considerably longer' in march 2007, timothy smith was fined â£300 and given a three year banning order after running onto the field and attempting to punch frank lampard during chelsea's fa cup replay at tottenham two years earlier, a stoke fan was jailed for three months after attacking queens park rangers goalkeeper simon royce british media reported that the court in sheffield was told cawley had been drinking heavily before the match, and that he had previously breached other banning orders his solicitor said her client 'was absolutely disgusted by his own behavior' and that he could not recall the incident due to his state of inebriation kirkland, who has played for premier league clubs liverpool and wigan and represented his country in 2006, was left shaken by the attack 'i caught a glimpse of someone coming towards me on the pitch,' he told wednesday's website after the match 'i thought he was going to give me some abuse but then suddenly he came at me with both hands and i was stunned i felt the full force and i was just shocked because you never know what could have been in his hands 'i thought of my family watching something like that and it was not a nice feeling to think my daughter saw me assaulted like that' sheffield wednesday manager dave jones said leeds fans should be 'banned from every league ground' 'they are vile animals,' jones said after the match 'the authorities have to look at it and sort it' jones, who was found not guilty of charges of child abuse in 2000, said he was taunted throughout the game by leeds supporters 'the abuse aimed at me on friday was personal it was also wrong, it was offensive and not the first time i have endured such abuse from leeds united supporters,' he said in a statement on wednesday's website on monday 'why make it personal? why were the chants aimed at me? i cannot emphasize strongly enough that i condemn any abuse of any kind from any supporter and i would stress that the vast majority of fans at every club in the country are decent and law abiding' the kirkland incident came on the same day that russian fans attacked dynamo moscow players using paintball guns at the club's training ground having arrived in camouflage at the club's training base in novogorsk, just north of moscow, they unleashed a flurry of paintballs at the players | sheffield wednesday chris kirkland aaron cawley 21 six years leeds kirkland | football fan jailed for attacking sheffield wednesday goalkeeper chris kirkland . aaron cawley, 21, also banned from matches for six years following assault . leeds supporter invaded the pitch during match and knocked kirkland down . leeds spokesman says the sentence was too lenient and club will ban him for life |
london, england a mother is seeking to have the womb of her severely disabled daughter removed to prevent the 15 year old from feeling the pain and discomfort of menstruation doctors in britain are now taking legal advice to see if they are permitted to carry out the hysterectomy on katie thorpe, who suffers from cerebral palsy but a charity campaigning for the disabled said on monday the move could infringe human rights and would set a 'disturbing precedent' andy rickell, executive director of disability charity scope, told the press association: 'it is very difficult to see how this kind of invasive surgery, which is not medically necessary and which will be very painful and traumatic, can be in katie's best interests 'this case raises fundamental ethical issues about the way our society treats disabled people and the respect we have for disabled people's human and reproductive rights watch why the surgery is so controversial » 'if this enforced sterilization is approved, it will have disturbing implications for young disabled girls across britain' katie's mother alison thorpe, who lives in billericay, southern england, said the operation was in her daughter's best interests 'first of all, this is not about me if it was about me, i would have given up caring for katie a long, long while ago,' she told gmtv 'it is about quality of life and for katie to not have the associated problems of menstruation adds to her quality of life it means she can continue with the quality of life we can give her now 'katie wouldn't understand menstruation at all she has no comprehension about what will be happening to her body all she would feel is the discomfort, the stomach cramps and the headaches, the mood swings, the tears, and wonder what is going on' thorpe said an operation would be best for katie, despite the initial pain it would cause she added: 'the short term pain and discomfort we can manage with painkillers we will be able to manage that pain much better than menstruation once a month, when katie cannot tell us 'i'm in pain'' e mail to a friend | unobnoxious derogatoriness beatifying | no related information |
shanghai (cnn) the only souvenir that xie jinghua has from her stay at a holiday inn express located in a vast tourism park alongside the east china sea is a room key the 52 year old said she was not able to buy any of the beach toys in the lobby, walk around a lake nearby, or enjoy the ocean just outside of her window xie was there, she said, because she was forced to be held in a hotel room for eight days after she and her 56 year old husband, ma haiming, traveled to beijing in march to protest the compensation they were given for the demolition of the family's farmhouse to make way for the expansion of shanghai's pudong international airport in 2005 when the couple arrived in beijing, xie said they were picked up by plain clothes police and forced to travel hundreds of miles back to shanghai, then held separately at the hotel 'i really felt quite sick inside,' said xie, who now lives in a tiny apartment near the airport where her son works as a janitor xie said she tried to escape from her third floor hotel room on march 10 via its balcony but was stopped by at least seven guards who, she said, 'put me on the bed and used the bedspread' to hold her down she said she stole the room key when a guard was not looking xie and her husband were not alone three other people have told cnn they were held against their will at the holiday inn express nanhuizui located in lingang new city on the outskirts of shanghai to keep them from airing grievances to the central government during the 10 day annual meeting of china's legislature in march the hotel management and owners deny their claims but people being detained without charge is nothing new in china, according to human rights watch, which says authorities use hotels, homeless shelters, mental health facilities, farmhouses and obscure government compounds as so called 'black jails' unofficial prisons where chinese officials hold citizens without charge however activists say this is the first time a facility run by a western company has been allegedly used for these unofficial detentions 'i have not come across an american branded hotel being used as a black jail,' said phelim kine, a senior asia researcher with the new york based human rights watch 'that is a first, and it is noteworthy' the intercontinental hotels group (ihg), the uk based firm that owns the holiday inn express brand, said there was no indication that guests at the hotel were being held against their will last march 'we have found no evidence which would confirm these accusations or any sign that the hotel owner knew or cooperated with (the) government on this hotel stay and the hotel is operated in accordance with prc [people's republic of china] local laws and regulations,' ihg said in a statement, noting that it had conducted a 'thorough investigation' of the allegations 'as you'll appreciate, we can't provide details of the booking or guests due to privacy laws' 'black jails' in china according to a 2009 human rights watch report on china's alleged 'black jails,' local courts often refuse to take cases from residents who have complaints against local officials, which means petitioning beijing is the only option those residents have but their trips to beijing present a major problem for local officials, who face demotions or other forms of retribution from higher levels of government based on the number of petitioners who come to beijing, according to human rights watch as a result, local governments intervene, abducting the petitioners either before they leave or once they arrive in beijing, kine said the forced detention of dissidents has become its own cottage industry as public security offices subcontract people to work for them who 'are paid per head for each person that they abduct and hold,' kine added 'this is a huge grey economy' as communist party officials meet this week to decide china's new leadership, outside will be people like wang yifeng and fan jianjiang who are petitioning government leaders directly for compensation after the demolition of their homes both wang and fan are among the five interviewed by cnn who said they attempted to make their case last march, but were intercepted by police who took them into custody and held them in the holiday inn express nanhuizui human rights groups say detentions without charge are common, particularly during times of central government meetings 'we always expect that around significant political events that there will be a tightening of surveillance and control over key individuals who the government considers to be troublemakers,' said catherine baber, director of asia pacific for amnesty international 'but certainly in the lead up to the transition, there is a growing list of people who are under house arrest' 'phenomenal resources are used for keeping tabs on [petitioners],' baber said 'detaining them and bringing them back, putting them under surveillance, sending them to reeducation through labor [camps]' a spokeswoman for ihg said that during the time in question a group of rooms were booked by a government official from the pudong district of shanghai that area is home to the five alleged detainees they say their movements are constantly monitored by security officials in their home district after years of appealing for better compensation for their properties according to the five, local officials have either intercepted them before they arrived in beijing to make their petitions or tracked them down in the capital and sent them on the 665 mile journey back to the shanghai area, where they were held an official at the petition bureau of zhuqiao town, home of the five petitioners, denied their claims 'i don't know what you are talking about, our channels of petitioning are open,' said the official, who declined to give his name when he was reached by phone 'there's no such thing' cnn contacted china's ministry of public security on november 5 for a response to these claims, but there has not yet been a reply however, in the past, beijing has denied the existence of so called 'black jails' in china the central government also last year issued new regulations outlawing violent forced eviction and offering new protections, including fair compensation 'violent forced evictions' but rights groups say problems remain 'violent forced evictions in china are on the rise as local authorities seek to offset huge debts by seizing and then selling off land in suspect deals with property developers,' according to an october report by amnesty international, called 'standing their ground' the 85 page report also said there is ineffective redress for chinese citizens like xie and her husband, who without cash to hire legal help petition the central government directly with local grievances that range from allegations of illegal land seizures and forced evictions to corruption and abuse from local authorities they often face weeks or sometimes years of forced detentions without charge, human rights groups say 'from our research and research from domestic chinese human rights [groups], they are held from a few days to several months and routinely subjected to physical abuse, sleep deprivation and very often they have to buy their way out of custody,' kine said 'the government has denied there are any such black jail facilities in china even though [chinese] state media run stories about black jails, there is an official disconnect' baber at amnesty international said it is hard to quantify the number of people who are detained illegally in china, but 'it is a large phenomenon,' she said 'just from the volume of people who put their energies into pursuing petitioning and continue to do so it will be a large problem still' petitioner: kept under guard xie said there were several guards posted outside of her holiday inn express room and two women who were living in the room with her whose job was to monitor her she said while held at the hotel, she was told she would be given 'classes about petitioner regulations' but there were no classes, she added xie took a reporter to the hotel to show where she was allegedly detained the rooms were neatly furnished, with a flat screen tv and abstract art hanging on the walls when the front desk worker was asked whether they were aware people had allegedly been held against their will in the hotel, the employee said there were a number of guests who were staying in their rooms and were not leaving, and there were people standing outside their room, but that they had no idea why ihg said they interviewed all employees at the hotel in june after being first contacted by cnn, none of whom confirmed this story a review of hotel security tapes was impossible, the hotel said, because recordings are erased after one month the hotel had the employees sign affidavits attesting to their version of events, a hotel spokeswoman said 'ihg is committed to operating our company with integrity and we have a human rights policy applicable across the business we have signed up to the un global compact, aligning our operations and strategies with the ten universal principles that include commitments to human rights and labor standards,' ihg said in its statement 'our staff is trained to handle different situations and were a situation to arise, our staff would report an incident to the relevant authorities and ihg' china has become a leading market for the intercontinental hotels group, which owns the holiday inn express, intercontinental and crowne plaza brands greater china led its first half, with a 97% increase in revenue per available rooms ihg, headquartered outside london, generates revenue from 181 hotels in greater china, with plans to open 160 more hotels, according to the company ihg's local partner in the hotel is shanghai harbor city hotel investment and management co a subsidiary of shanghai harbor city development group like most of ihg's properties in china, a local partner legally owns the hotel but ihg manages the property zhu gang, a manager with shanghai harbor city development, said the company 'knows nothing about' people being detained at the holiday inn express 'no violence happened in the hotel,' he said researcher jack zhang contributed to this story | cnn holiday inn express china chinese march ihg the holiday inn express | five people tell cnn they were held against their will at a holiday inn express in china . the five were attempting to air grievances at a conference of chinese leaders in march . local petition bureau and ihg, owner of the holiday inn express brand, deny these claims . human rights officials say unofficial detentions in 'black jails' are rising in china |
(cnn) the chinese government is bracing itself for a rush of people wishing to marry when the summer olympics kick off on august 8 because the number carries a special significance in chinese culture, the state news agency said sunday a traditional ming style wedding is held in nanjing, china, last december the number 'eight' (ba) is considered auspicious by many in china because it sounds like the word for 'wealth' and 'fortune,' the news agency xinhua said 'we've long been prepared for a stampede of newly wed couples this year,' guo xusheng, spokesman with the beijing municipal civil affairs bureau, told xinhua every year, many couples choose the 8th of august the eighth month of the year hoping 'eighth of the eighth' luck will rub off on them, the news agency said nearly 3,400 couples got hitched on the day last year, some waiting all night outside the marriage registration office in beijing this year, the civil affairs bureau is accepting online reservations for marriage registrations for the day the significance that numbers carry in chinese culture often dictate various aspects of the people's lives there and of all the numbers, eight is considered one of the luckiest beijing, itself, opted to kick off the olympic games at 8 pm on 8/8/08 e mail to a friend | china olympics opening day august 8, 2008 chinese | china braces for rush of weddings on opening day of olympics . opening day of beijing olympics is august 8, 2008 . the number '8' is considered by many chinese to carry good fortune |
(cnn) fighting spread through syria on saturday as rebels claimed to down a government jet and state media reported the killings of 'terrorists' activists said rebels shot down the plane in aleppo province a video distributed by activists shows men shouting 'god is great' as they rush to the scene amid celebratory gunfire the video showed mangled wreckage, small fires and plumes of smoke 'these are the aircrafts of the dog bashar al assad,' one voice in the video said, referring to syria's president col ahmed al faj, a free syrian army rebel commander, read a statement in a youtube video claiming responsibility for the downing he said the plane was an aero l 39 albatros in another video, rebel fighters in the damascus suburbs claimed they took over an airbase brigade building after clashes at least 141 people were killed across the country saturday, the opposition local coordination committees of syria said many of them were women, children and members of the rebel free syrian army, according to the group of the dead, 30 died in damascus and its suburbs and 17 were killed in idlib province the state run syrian arab news agency said al assad's forces killed 'scores of terrorists' in operations across the country, while capturing or destroying heavy weaponry and ammunition laden vehicles in aleppo and other areas an estimated 30,000 people have been killed in fighting in syria since march 2011 when government protesters took to the streets calling for political reform al assad's brutal crackdown on protesters spawned an armed conflict, which has bled over into turkish territory meanwhile, rebel forces pressed toward the government controlled baba amr district of homs, where shelling continued in the embattled city, an opposition activist said 'everyday there are firefights between the regime and the fsa (free syria army) in the sultaniya neighborhood,' said opposition spokesman abu bakr 'the fsa has a lot of battalions in homs there are many dead from both the regime and the fsa' he added that 'very few civilians remain in the neighborhoods around homs' 'three or four families live in sultaniya, on one small street,' he said, noting that the electricity remains out and potable water is largely unavailable 'the houses are all destroyed, there is nowhere else for people to live' historic umayyad mosque burning amid the clashes, aleppo's landmark umayyad mosque caught fire, according to activists who say security forces took over the mosque, 'set it on fire from inside, and ran away' mohammed saeed, an activist in aleppo, told cnn that he saw the syrian army enter the mosque and ignite the building there was no immediate government reaction to the opposition claims state news reported, however, that security forces did eliminate a large number of 'terrorists' in operations targeting their gatherings around the mosque aleppo is a unesco world heritage site, dominated by an ancient citadel the city also is a center for the art and was named islamic capital of culture six years ago unesco's director general expressed concern this week for possible damage to the mosque, the remains of which date to the 12th century 'i am deeply distressed by the daily news about the extreme human suffering and the escalation of damage to cultural heritage throughout the country we saw damage to the citadel in july and the souqs 10 days ago, and the umayyad mosque, heart of the religious life of the city, one of the most beautiful mosques in the muslim world, is being severely endangered the extent of which we do not know yet,' irina bokova said thursday turkey to syria: don't send arms through our air space envoy visis turkey amid escalating tensions the joint un arab league envoy to syria visited turkey on saturday for talks aimed at putting a lid on boiling diplomatic tensions between damascus and ankara lakhdar brahimi's visit comes amid growing concern that the civil war could spill over into syria's neighboring countries and destabilize the region brahimi met with foreign minister ahmet davutoglu, who warned that turkey 'will retaliate again if its border with syria is violated again and if we feel that turkey's national security is in danger' meanwhile, syria issued a ban saturday on turkish civilian airlines flying over syrian airspace 'based on the principle of reciprocity,' according to a foreign ministry statement the move comes one day after turkey itself announced it will divert its planes to avoid syrian airspace because it considers it unsafe syrian refugees in turkey get food aid the un world food programme started an electronic food card program for the thousands of syrian refugees who've fled to turkey each syrian family will receive an electronic card with 80 turkish liras, or $45, per family member per month 'it allows syrian families to shop and cook for themselves based on their own tastes and preferences,' says jean yves lequime, wfp emergency coordinator in turkey turkey is currently hosting more than 93,000 syrian refugees in camps turkish officials estimate an additional 40,000 to 50,000 unofficial refugees live in turkey outside refugee camps as un falters, syria's conflict threatens regional stability cnn's samira said, hamdi alkhshali, chelsea j carter, saad abedine and joe sterling contributed to this report | saturday mosque aleppo lakhdar brahimi turkey syria | at least 141 people were killed across the country saturday . a historic mosque is on fire in aleppo . lakhdar brahimi meets with turkey's foreign minister . the scheduled talks come amid rising tensions between turkey and syria |
baghdad, iraq (cnn) at least 63 people were killed and 285 others were wounded in a series of explosions across the capital tuesday, police said the blasts included 14 car bombs, two roadside bombs and mortar attacks in at least 17 neighborhoods of the capital, most of them in shiite neighborhoods, police said in an earlier report, police said there had been three roadside bombs and a sticky bomb: a device typically placed on a vehicle explosions struck the shiite neighborhoods of kadhimiya in the northwest; amil, bayaa and shulaa in the southwest; ur and zuhour in the northeast; sadr city, kamaliya and amin in the east; and abu dhsir in the southern part of the city other blasts struck mixed sunni shiite neighborhoods, including waziriya, yarmouk, jihad and eghraiat 'we are aware of multiple explosions in the baghdad area with resultant casualties,' the us military said in response to a query from cnn 'at this time, no request for [us forces iraq] support has been made but we are providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance coverage over some of the explosion sites' a us military spokesman, lt col eric bloom, said the strikes are typical of al qaeda in iraq attacks during the height of the iraq war, sectarian violence tore through baghdad on a daily basis in sunni and shiite neighborhoods also tuesday, the committee to protect journalists protested iraq's move carried out monday to close al baghdadiya tv's offices in baghdad and basra the decision came after the cairo, egypt based satellite channel broadcast demands of gunmen who attacked a church in baghdad on sunday the hours long standoff ended after iraqi security forces stormed the sayidat al nejat church in all, 58 people died, and 75 others were wounded; most of the casualties were women and children, the officials added the al baghdadiya bureau chief in cairo, abdelhamid al saih, told the journalists group that the shutdown was illegal since there was no judicial order and that he believed authorities were using the broadcast as a pretext to close the offices because the channel had previously given iraqis the opportunity to criticize the government 'we are concerned by the closure of al baghdadiya tv and demand that [the government's communications and media commission] explain under what authority it has stormed the station's offices and censored it,' said mohamed abdel dayem, middle east and north africa program coordinator for the committee to protect journalists 'we call on the authorities to allow the station to resume its operations immediately' according to the committee, the government commission said in a statement that the attackers had 'contacted the station and selected it to be the exclusive platform for their inhumane practices with the purpose of disrupting iraq's national unity and to inflame religious discord' it said, 'the station's broadcast of demands 'amounts to incitement to violence' and that al baghdadia's coverage was not objective, creating a threat to the military operation by providing attackers with information about ongoing operations to rescue the hostages' cnn's arwa damon contributed to this report | gauffer youthens amphoricity | no related information |
(cnn) update: felix baumgartner landed safely on earth after jumping from 128,000 feet i will always wonder what it was like to huddle around a shortwave radio and through the crackling static from space hear the faint beeps of the world's first satellite sputnik i also missed watching neil armstrong step foot on the moon and the first space shuttle take off for the stars those events were way before my time as a kid, i was fascinated with what goes on in the sky, and when nasa pulled the plug on the shuttle program i was heartbroken yet the privatized space race has renewed my childhood dreams to reach for the stars as a meteorologist, i've still seen many important weather and space events, but right now, if you were sitting next to me, you'd hear my foot tapping rapidly under my desk i'm anxious for the next one: a space capsule hanging from a crane in the new mexico desert it's like the set for a george lucas movie floating to the edge of space you and i will have the chance to watch a man take a leap into an unimaginable free fall from the edge of space live tuesday, i sat at work glued to the live stream of the red bull stratos mission i watched the balloons positioned at different altitudes in the sky to test the winds, knowing that if they would just line up in a vertical straight line 'we' would be go for launch i feel this mission was created for me because i am also a journalist and a photographer, but above all i live for taking a leap of faith the feeling of pushing the envelope into uncharted territory the guy who is going to do this, felix baumgartner, must have that same feeling, at a level i will never reach however, it did not stop me from feeling his pain when a gust of swirling wind kicked up and twisted the partially filled balloon that would take him to the upper end of our atmosphere as soon as the 40 acre balloon, with skin no thicker than a dry cleaning bag, scraped the ground i knew it was over how claustrophobia almost grounded supersonic skydiver with each twist, you could see the wrinkles of disappointment on the face of the current record holder and 'capcom' (capsule communications), col joe kittinger he hung his head low in mission control as he told baumgartner the disappointing news: mission aborted the supersonic descent could happen as early as sunday afternoon for the latest updates on timing, check red bull's status clock the weather plays an important role in this mission starting at the ground, conditions have to be very calm winds less than 2 mph, with no precipitation or humidity and limited cloud cover the balloon, with capsule attached, will move through the lower level of the atmosphere (the troposphere) where our day to day weather lives it will climb higher than the tip of mount everest (55 miles/885 kilometers), drifting even higher than the cruising altitude of commercial airliners (56 miles/917 kilometers) and into the stratosphere as he crosses the boundary layer (called the tropopause), he can expect a lot of turbulence the balloon will slowly drift to the edge of space at 120,000 feet (227 miles/3653 kilometers) here, 'fearless felix' will unclip he will roll back the door then, i would assume, he will slowly step out onto something resembling an olympic diving platform below, the earth becomes the concrete bottom of a swimming pool that he wants to land on, but not too hard still, he'll be traveling fast, so despite the distance, it will not be like diving into the deep end of a pool it will be like he is diving into the shallow end skydiver preps for the big jump when he jumps, he is expected to reach the speed of sound 690 mph (1,110 kph) in less than 40 seconds like hitting the top of the water, he will begin to slow as he approaches the more dense air closer to earth but this will not be enough to stop him completely if he goes too fast or spins out of control, he has a stabilization parachute that can be deployed to slow him down his team hopes it's not needed instead, he plans to deploy his 270 square foot (25 square meter) main chute at an altitude of around 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) in order to deploy this chute successfully, he will have to slow to 172 mph (277 kph) he will have a reserve parachute that will open automatically if he loses consciousness at mach speeds even if everything goes as planned, it won't baumgartner still will free fall at a speed that would cause you and me to pass out, and no parachute is guaranteed to work higher than 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) it might not be the moon, but kittinger free fell from 102,800 feet in 1960 at the dawn of an infamous space race that captured the hearts of many baumgartner will attempt to break that record, a feat that boggles the mind this is one of those monumental moments i will always remember, because there is no way i'd miss this | felix baumgartner 23 miles judson jones | felix baumgartner to attempt skydive from 23 miles up . weather will determine whether the jump will go on . meteorologist judson jones is anxiously awaiting the jump |
(cnn) an american express insurance company is suing a maryland man, who was accused in the aruba disappearance of his traveling companion, in an effort to void a $15 million insurance policy he took out on her amex assurance company claims that gary giordano does not have a right to collect on the big dollar life insurance policy he obtained on his companion robyn gardner because their relationship was 'casual and non exclusive,' according to the lawsuit giordano, of gaithersburg, maryland, was thrust into the spotlight last year when gardner went missing during the couple's trip in aruba gardner, 35, also of maryland was last seen august 2, 2011 giordano told authorities the two were snorkeling when she disappeared and he filed a missing person report aruba authorities detained giordano and held him until late november and said they were suspicious about the $15 million life insurance policy he took out on gardner days before they traveled to the caribbean island giordano, 51, was released because aruban authorities said they did not have enough evidence and giordano acknowledged in later interviews that he did inquire about the life insurance policy two days after gardner disappeared the lawsuit, filed last week in maryland federal court, also alleges that giordano did not tell the truth when he filled out the life insurance form indicating that gardner was a 'partner' the two were not married and did not fit any of the other strict definitions the company designates as partner, the lawsuit said in june, giordano sued amex assurance company for $35 million for the death claim but 'nowhere in that complaint is there an explanation for defendant giordano's assertion that he is entitled to recover $3,500,000,' amex assurance company lawsuit says the company said it is also seeking damages against giordano in an unrelated case, giordano was arrested in a maryland parking garage in may for indecent exposure along with a tennessee woman after police found them unclothed in the back of a cadillac escalade two passersby complained to a garage employee about the suv, and when the employee located the vehicle, he observed a woman and man cuddled together, with the man not wearing any clothes, according to an annapolis police department report police found the couple partially covered by a blanket and laying on a single mattress in the back of the suv, and one officer shined his light into the vehicle to gain the couple's attention, the report said 'while we recognize that mr giordano enjoys an infamous reputation, the annapolis arrest was simply a matter of effective police work in response to citizen complaints,' annapolis chief michael pristoop said at the time cnn's arielle hawkins contributed to this report | giordano $15 million | company says giordano does not have a right to collect on $15 million policy . giordano was detained in the disappearance of the woman on whom he had a life insurance policy . he was released after being detained for about four months |
(cnn) the outward signs of recovery were everywhere monday across the northeast nearly two weeks after superstorm sandy struck: power restored to tens of thousands, bridges and tunnels reopened, and limited train and ferry service up and running 'after two weeks of the recovery phase, we've achieved a new normal for life in post hurricane sandy new jersey,' gov chris christie said of his state nearly everyone in the state has power back, nearly all schools are reopening, and gasoline rationing can end in the state, he said ad hoc army of volunteers feeds those still powerless after sandy but, as officials in the stricken region emphasize, signs of struggle remain in new york state alone, sandy inflicted about a $30 billion 'economic loss,' gov andrew cuomo said for many, that loss and heartache is as fresh as it was when sandy came ashore people are still clearing debris from their homes, standing watch among ruins to ward off looters, and putting on layers of clothing to battle the cold some have been crying in each other's arms as they face the devastation gas rationing continues in new york city and long island's nassau and suffolk counties christie said it will take time to restore necessary services for those who live on new jersey's barrier islands, because so much infrastructure was destroyed 'our resilience has always been our biggest strength,' christie said he said he has seen a lot of pain and tears across the state but, he added, those suffering losses also say, 'we're rebuilding we're coming back' the death toll from sandy is at least 113 across several states, with 43 of those fatalities in new york city, according to new york's chief medical examiner authorities discovered the body of a 66 year old man who appeared to have drowned in his home on hard hit staten island, while a 77 year old man from the battered beachside community of far rockaway in queens died of injuries he suffered when he fell down a flight of stairs not long after the superstorm, more than 86 million people were without power, the us department of energy said as of sunday morning, that was down to about 160,000 customers map: see images of destruction, recovery across the east coast in baldwin harbor, on new york's long island, paul walters used a flashlight to survey the storm debris pulled from his home and those of his neighbors: damaged mattresses, boxes of books and papers, and destroyed floor lamps but it is the ongoing power outage that has proved most frustrating for walters, who told cnn affiliate wcbs in new york late sunday that he was 'frustrated, emotionally drained' by the experience bundled up in a heavy jacket and knit cap, walters joined hundreds over the weekend in baldwin harbor to protest a long island power authority requirement that every home undergo an inspection before power was returned the ruling drew the ire of residents, who are battling the cold while trying to clean up their homes some residents took to the streets in areas of the nassau county community with handmade signs others chanted: 'help the harbor turn on the power' under fire by residents and officials, the long island power authority rescinded its inspection order but it did little to curb anger among residents who believe they have been without power unnecessarily 'it's ridiculous,' marilyn cashdan told wcbs 'the governor should fire them all' cuomo, new york's governor, said for about 58,000 customers in the rockaways, long island and brooklyn, it's not just a matter of utilities doing their normal restoration work for them, repairs must be done in and around their homes for electricity to return 'if you don't have your power back, it probably means power can't be restored to your home at this time,' he said monday afternoon opinion: rebuilding after sandy is too big a risk lipa said monday it has restored service to more than 97% of customers whose homes and business can safely receive power over 10,000 linemen and tree trim crews remain at work, meanwhile, for those still in the dark another utility con edison announced its last new york city customers affected got their power back overnight, while all westchester county customers had electricity back by monday 'the 1 million restorations do not include approximately 16,300 customers in flood ravaged areas of brooklyn, queens and staten island,' con edison said 'those customers cannot get electrical service until their own internal equipment is repaired, tested and certified by an electrician as ready for service,' the company said on its website us homeland security secretary janet napolitano visited new york city on sunday though she praised the response to the storm, she recognized that much work remains to be done 'this is going to be here for the long term and we are here for the long term as well,' she said more than 369,000 people in new jersey, new york, and connecticut have registered for assistance from the federal emergency management agency, which will total more than $455 million, fema said in his weekly radio address sunday, new york city mayor michael bloomberg detailed the city's relief and rebuilding efforts, including the rapid repairs program, which sends teams of inspectors, electricians, carpenters and contractors building to building to identify repairs needed, help building owners make repairs and get them reimbursed by the federal government for repair work in that vein, the mayor signed an emergency order monday waiving all city application and permit fees for those doing sandy related repairs plus, those buildings with 'significant structural damage' that will need to be demolished, altered or rebuilt 'will have their repair work fees waived and all fees for electrical and plumbing repair work waived' bloomberg, along with the city council speaker and city comptroller, later monday announced a a $500 million 'emergency capital spending plan to make critical repairs to public schools and public hospitals' this comes after the city authorized $134 million for projects like fixing the battery park overpass, repairing ferry terminals, conducting electrical and water line inspections and removing debris cnn's james o'toole, susan candiotti and dominique dodley contributed to this report | new york city $500 million new york's sandy $30 billion superstorm sandy the united states | new: new york city ok's $500 million for repairs at city schools and hospitals . new york's governor estimates sandy's economic loss to his state at $30 billion . he says repairs must be made to thousands of residences for power to return . the death toll from superstorm sandy has risen to 113 in the united states, officials say |
baghdad (cnn) a series of attacks in iraq killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens wednesday, police said a car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in hafriya about 35 km southeast of baghdad on wednesday afternoon, according to police and health officials at last three people were killed and 15 others were wounded, officials said hafriya is a predominately shiite district located in wasit province a car bomb targeting a security convoy exploded near two hotels in central baghdad, killing a person near the scene of the blast and wounding seven others in kirkuk, at least nine people were killed including five iraqi soldiers and 31 people were wounded when three car bombs exploded in and around the ethnically mixed, oil rich city north of baghdad in the southern iraqi city hilla, a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market, killing five people and wounding 12 others hilla, which is predominately shiite, is in babel province in diyala province, two roadside bombs and a car bomb, all in different areas, wounded 11 people one targeted the convoy of diyala gov omer aziz al hamri, but he wasn't hurt in the incident last month, nearly 150 people were killed and 300 others were wounded in violence across the country, according to the interior ministry baghdad's shiite dominated government has blamed the recent attacks on sunni insurgents with ties to al qaeda violence has dropped dramatically in iraq since the peak of sunni shiite clashes in 2006 and 2007 and the withdrawal of us troops from the country in december 2011, but insurgent attacks against civilians and security forces persist many areas are still smoldering with sectarian tension and political infighting us vice president joe biden called iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki tuesday night to reaffirm us support of the iraqi government, al maliki's office said the two men also discussed the syrian crisis iraq executes 10 prisoners for terrorism iraq cancels new arms deal with russia police: bombings kill 5 in iraq, wound dozens more | october us joe biden iraqi nuri al maliki | new: bombings kill at least 18, wound dozens . one blast targeted a provincial governor, but he was unharmed . in october, nearly 150 people were killed in violence . us vice president joe biden called iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki |
(cnn) while sen barack obama has campaigned on a message of hope, his wife, michelle, has talked about the realities of american life the gaps between rich and poor, black and white sen barack obama has spoken out against criticism of his wife, michelle she's publicly criticized the united states as 'guided by fear' and 'just downright mean' the woman known as 'the rock' in the obama family will now appear before the democratic national convention in denver, colorado, on monday and before the world with a clear message: 'one nation' but will michelle obama who could be the nation's first african american first lady carry a theme of unity in light of controversial comments she's made on the campaign trail that resulted in speculation about her patriotism? aides in the obama campaign say she's already honing her message for the fall 'michelle wrote her own stump [speech] and you know, she's refining it now, i think, as we're going into the general election,' said valerie jarrett, a senior obama adviser 'we have an opportunity for her to kind of step back and think about the message she wants to deliver so she's really working on it as we speak' her new speeches will include more details about her family and humble upbringing on chicago's south side, aides say michelle lavaughn robinson, 44, was born in chicago, illinois she attended princeton university and then went on to harvard law school she later became a vice president at the university of chicago and landed a job as a health care executive making $275,000 a year barack, michelle and their two daughters malia, 10, and sasha, 7, live on the south side of chicago but along with her success has come criticism robin givhan, fashion editor with the washington post, told cnn that people see michelle obama in different ways 'some people will see confidence, and others might see cockiness i think some people will see strength others might see arrogance,' she said 'she comes across as someone who is extraordinarily independent and very much a force to be reckoned with' behind the scenes, she maintains that independence but with the election just months away, the potential first lady is trying to connect with voters on a more personal level in june, she made an appearance as a guest co host on abc's 'the view,' and later, she and her husband graced the cover of us weekly the magazine, headlined 'michelle obama: why barack loves her,' included details about her love for target, 'sex and the city' and her daughters' recitals asked on 'the view' if she's going through a makeover, she said she realizes that 'i wear my heart on my sleeve' and that 'it's a risk you have to take' she said she thinks people will change their perception of her as they see her family more carl sferrazza anthony, a first ladies historian, told cnn that it's important for michelle obama to define herself before others define her 'one comment made off hand might be easily misinterpreted by the opposition,' he said in june michelle obama saw that in february when a tennessee republican ad used a snippet from a campaign event in milwaukee, wisconsin there, while referring to record voter turnout in the democratic primaries, she said, 'for the first time in my adult lifetime, i am really proud of my country' the obama campaign called the ad 'shameful,' and it was condemned by the state's two republican us senators but the ad's message caught on in conservative blogs and later forced michelle obama to clarify her remarks 'what i was clearly talking about is that i am proud in how americans are engaging in the political process,' she responded 'i mean, everyone has said what i said, in that we haven't seen these record numbers of turnouts, people who are paying attention, going to rallies, watching debates' cindy mccain, the wife of sen john mccain, the presumptive republican presidential nominee, also took a shot at michelle obama at the time, saying, 'i am proud of my country i don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier i am very proud of my country' more recently, controversy erupted over a july 13 new yorker magazine cover showing barack obama in the oval office dressed in traditional muslim attire, and michelle obama with an afro hairstyle and a machine gun slung over her back an american flag can be seen burning in the fireplace, and a picture of osama bin laden hangs on the wall shortly after the magazine was published, obama campaign spokesman bill burton called the cover 'tasteless and offensive' john mccain later said it was 'totally inappropriate' but the overall issue of michelle obama as a potential liability has made headlines on both coasts with articles in both the new york times and the los angeles times in early june the newspapers pointed to relentless online rumor mills, criticism on conservative blogs and articles in conservative magazines, like the national review, critical of michelle obama new york times columnist maureen dowd wrote in june that the backlash against michelle obama was a 'good preview of how republicans will attack michelle, suggesting that she does not share american values, mining a subtext of race' conservatives view the presumptive democratic nominee's wife as a target of opportunity but one republican consultant has said attacks on candidates' wives often backfire 'considering there are so many issues legitimate issues that you can use on barack obama, to attack his wife to me is sheer utter stupidity of the highest level,' stephen marks, a republican strategist, told cnn in june 'mr obama is going to come to his wife's defense, and it's going to humanize both of them' republican strategists say the wife of the democratic presidential nominee is fair game 'there is less information about him to temper her comments against, so what she says represents something a lot more important than perhaps other candidates in the past who have had a longer track record,' rachel marsden, a republican strategist, also told cnn the potential first lady, however, appears to be bracing for what may lie ahead 'we're trusting that the american voters are ready to talk about the issues and not talking about things that have nothing to do with making people's lives better,' michelle obama told abc news during a joint interview in may but barack obama quickly added, 'i also think these folks should lay off my wife' cnn's randi kaye and jonathan mann contributed to this report | imageless ligroins melanagogal | no related information |
(cnn) nearly 1,000 people, mostly members of the islamist extremist group boko haram, have died this year while in nigerian custody, amnesty international said in a report nigerian officials strongly denied the accusations in the report, which was released tuesday according to amnesty, the human rights group has received credible information about deplorable conditions in detention centers, where prisoners are said to die daily the report focuses on three detention centers where suspected militants are sent overcrowding results in suffocation and starvation, amnesty said others have died after suffering beatings or being shot and left to bleed to death, according to former detainees interviewed by the group nigerian officials dismissed the report as a fabrication 'there is no way our government officials will take the lives of others,' interior minister abba moro told cnn the facilities in question are run by nigeria's joint task force 'these claims are false,' said eli lazarus, spokesman for the task force 'we will conduct a thorough investigation if necessary and release a statement' amnesty called on the government to conduct an investigation 'as a matter of urgency' the two facilities were a majority of the deaths are said to have happened are the giwa military barracks in borno state and two centers known as sector alpha and presidential lodge in yobe state boko haram has waged an insurgency in the nation for years the militant group has attacked various targets in the nation since 2009, murdering and kidnapping westerners, and bombing schools and churches | this year amnesty international islamist | nearly 1,000 people have died in detention this year, amnesty international says . the majority of those who died were islamist extremists . the government denies the accusations, calling them 'false' |
(cnn) he took on 'the dark side,' overcame a plane load of rogue reptiles and struck down his enemies with 'great vengeance and furious anger' however, hollywood star samuel l jackson is more at home on the genteel fairways of a golf course the actor, whose numerous film credits include pulp fiction, the star wars prequels and, yes, snakes on a plane, is so dedicated to perfecting his game that he has a clause written into his contracts that allows him time off to play golf 'they have to let me play at least twice a week,' jackson told cnn's living golf 'generally they either move me onto a golf course or i join a club so i can play there' the 64 year old plays off a six handicap and is a regular at celebrity pro am tournaments, having lined up at famed courses such as st andrews and pebble beach jackson has teed off alongside peers such as clint eastwood and don cheadle, as well as saxophonist kenny g the man he rates the best amateur golfer he has played against but his favorite round was with 14 time major winner tiger woods 'the first time i played st andrews (in scotland) i actually played with tiger,' jackson said 'that's kind of a big deal 'the first time i met him i played with him at the dunhill (championship) and i think his advice to me was 'follow me' and i actually did 'i didn't hit the ball as far as he did but i kind of hit the same balls' reluctant beginnings jackson was born in washington dc and studied in atlanta before moving to new york to pursue an acting career but it was in los angeles, the city he has now made his home, where he first discovered golf although it took some cunning and persuasion for friends to pique his interest 'i had never played and they kept trying to get me to go out, and i wouldn't,' jackson recalled 'they tricked me one day and told me they were going somewhere else and we ended up on a golf course 'i didn't like the fact that they could do something that i couldn't and i started playing now they don't play with me!' jackson told the pga tour website that when he's not working he plays golf every day, sometimes shooting 27 holes at a time but, despite playing the game around the globe, there is one course that jackson rates as pretty special 'the best course in the world i've played? that would be augusta national where they play the masters,' he explained 'when i was shooting freedomland (filmed in the state of new york) the producers gave me as my wrap gift three rounds of golf at augusta' golfing good deeds jackson's love of golf is now such an intrinsic part of his off screen character that the profile on his twitter page shows him channeling movie star in a sharp black suit while he holds a putter behind his back he also blends his celebrity status with his golf game to raise funds in his annual shooting stars charity fundraiser the 2013 event, held just outside london, raised funds for the alzheimer's association a charity that has a personal meaning for the actor 'my mum passed from alzheimer's last year my grandfather had it, her sister's got it, her brother had it, my paternal grandmother had it, so it seems like i'm kind of surrounded by it,' jackson explained 'i may need the help of that organization at some point so i better raise some money for them!' as henchman jules winnfield in 1994's breakthrough pulp fiction performance, jackson memorably quoted the bible as he sought 'the path of the righteous man' and he also has advice for those seeking the perfect golf stroke 'the first thing is keep your head down,' he says 'that's the hardest thing to do when you're a beginner because you always want to see where the ball is going, so you always tend to look up before you swing 'so keep your head down, swing easy not hard find a tempo that's comfortable for you, and have fun don't take it seriously' | radiosterilize mormons sonar | no related information |
(cnn) for some republicans, 2016 is 1992: hating hillary clinton is chic again only more so, since the former secretary of state is also the partner of and potential successor to the last two democratic presidents—bill clinton and barack obama some of us believe, with good reasons, that the republicans are 'mad dogging' hillary clinton with the benghazi hearing to damage not only her presidential prospects, but also to damage president obama's credibility polls show obama is trusted more than his washington opponents, especially on the economy so, to defeat his economic agenda and substitute their own, which has already lost on logic, they've decided to undermine obama's credibility and authority the benghazi hearing, which house speaker john boehner, r ohio, orchestrated and planned for months, is a classic 'killing two birds with one stone' scenario for republicans or maybe three: they see an opportunity to smear obama, sabotage clinton and fundraise like giddy televangelists benghazi hearing chairman darrell issa, r california, said clinton is not a target of his committee that doesn't seem to jibe with statements by gop sens kelly ayotte of new hampshire and lindsey graham of south carolina, among others and further contradicting issa's protestation, the national republican congressional committee was boasting that its clinton/benghazi fundraising page was the most successful in its history benghazi is a rather unseemly subject to turn into a political weapon it's one thing to try to drag the former secretary of state through the mud but the republicans are trying to drag her through blood blood that's tainted with partisan politics the republicans cut the funding for embassy security by $128 million in 2011 and $331 million in 2012 clinton warned that doing so would be 'detrimental to national security' republicans scoffed then, scream now obama called the benghazi hearing a circus he's right it's not a transparent, due process hearing democrats have complained they were excluded from much of the investigations, weren't allowed to call witnesses or to look at documents as rep elijah cummings, d maryland and ranking member of the house committee on oversight and government reform, said wednesday after the white house's release of approximately 100 pages of e mails relating to the attacks in benghazi: 'these documents undercut the reckless accusations by republicans that the white house scrubbed the benghazi talking points for political reasons and in fact show just the opposite—that the primary goal was to protect the fbi's ongoing criminal investigation and our nation's intelligence operations' chaffetz: obama has explaining to do on benghazi a transparent, due process hearing would call the witnesses who would testify that the us embassy in tripoli mistakenly believed katibat ansar al sharia in benghazi had claimed credit for the attack the group didn't make the claim and later denied any role but that was an on the ground, in the moment embassy mistake (while no friend of the united states, the benghazi al sharia organization has not, so far, been implicated in terrorist activity) it came from mistaken identity: there were two distinct and unrelated ansar al sharia militant groups in libya even fox news interviewed an expert, j peter pham of the atlantic council, who said these groups have no formal affiliation with each other they are grass roots up organizations, whereas al qaeda organizes from the top down it is suspected that the ansar al sharia in derna was involved in the attack in benghazi that killed four americans its leader is a former prisoner at guantanamo who was released under the bush administration and deported to libya for jail gadhafi later released him in a transparent hearing we would learn that the republicans' chief witness, deputy chief of mission gregory hicks, was likely, even today, in error about which ansar al sharia was involved it is the difference between a local militant militia group and professional terrorists hicks clearly was referring to the benghazi al sharia when he testified about his concern that ambassador chris stevens was taken to the hospital that the benghazi group then guarded but, this week the same hospital was bombed; the rival al shaira group in derna, with al qaeda links, is a reasonable suspect getting the facts right matters getting the truth matters posturing for propaganda points not only misleads us, it endangers us for whatever the benghazi hearings are about, they're not about learning the lessons from this tragedy and improving securities at american embassies and other facilities overseas they are, in fact, a partisan campaign fundraiser for the republican party, and not a fact finding inquiry to help the state department and military correct their mistakes karl rove's american crossroads super pac has already taken on hillary clinton, spending megabucks on a 2016 attack ad that savages her judgments some republicans, to their credit, can't stomach any more from their fellow republicans former secretary of defense robert gates, a republican, appeared on cbs' 'face the nation' and said he would have handled benghazi just as obama handled it he added a flat, 'no' that he did not think hillary clinton would be involved in any kind of a cover up bill kristol, conservative editor and commentator, told fox news sunday, 'i wish the republicans would just be quiet for a while and that the partisan republican groups that are fundraising off this would be quiet for a while and let's find out what really happened' amen the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of donna brazile | donna brazile benghazi clinton boehner gop dems brazile | donna brazile: benghazi hearings aimed at hurting clinton prospects for 2016 . she says hearings cooked up by boehner gop says not aimed at clinton, but statements belie this . she says dems excluded from much of probe, including calling witnesses who could shed light . brazile: facts, truth matter, but hearings aimed at fundraising for 2016 race against clinton |
(cnn) us president barack obama does not foresee a scenario of 'american boots on the ground in syria,' telling reporters friday that it would not be good for the united states or for that county 'as a general rule, i don't rule things out as commander in chief, because circumstances change,' obama said during a joint news conference with president laura chinchilla of costa rica, where the president stopped during a three day visit to the region 'having said that, i do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in syria, american boots on the ground in syria, would be good for america or be good for syria' obama said he has consulted with leaders in the region who want to see stability return to syria, and 'they agree with that assessment' even so, the president said that if the united states confirms the use of chemical weapons by the syrian government against its people, 'that's a game changer for us' he did not elaborate on what steps would be taken, repeating as he has said previously that the united states would wait until it has more details of evidence of chemical weapons use in syria before making any decision on whether to alter strategy 'we have evidence that chemical weapons have been used we don't know when, where or how they were used,' obama said obama's assessment was supported by michael oren, israel's ambassador to the united states 'this was a military assessment of intelligence; like all intelligence assessments, there's no absolute certitude,' he told cnn's jake tapper on friday 'our assessment was confirmed by british, french and american sources but it's true that the usage of chemical weapons by the syrian regime or anybody in syria is being closely monitored by our intelligence agency and continues to be discussed at the highest levels between the israeli and us governments' but in recent days, the pentagon has stepped up planning for potential military intervention in syria, which would most likely include the use of fighter jets and cruise missiles, two administration officials who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter told cnn for now, obama said, the united states is continuing its investigation, and working with its middle east and european allies the president's comments follow a number of claims in recent weeks that the syrian government has used chemical weapons against its people in a more than two year civil war the united nations estimates some 70,000 people have died in the fighting syria had denied the use of chemical weapons, accusing the united states of manipulating evidence to pressure president bashar al assad to step down obama has been under fire by some in the united states, including sen john mccain, r arizona, for not taking a tougher stance with syria the president said the united states is 'not waiting' 'we are not standing by,' he said, adding that the united states has been the largest contributor of humanitarian aid and nonlethal aid to the opposition 'we are actively engaged on a day to day basis to deal with this crisis to restore a syria that is respectful of the rights and aspirations of the syrian people' in addition to syria's possible use of chemical weapons against rebels, another concern is that parts of the government's stockpile of chemical weapons which analysts believe is one of the world's largest and includes sarin, mustard and vx gases could end up, if they haven't already, in others' hands cnn's barbara starr contributed to this report | obama syria | 'as a general rule, i don't rule things out as commander in chief,' president says . obama says he has discussed the issue with leaders in the region and they agree . he says there is evidence of chemical weapons use in syria . 'we don't know when, where or how they were used,' the president says |
london, england nihat kahveci sent turkey into the euro 2008 finals behind defending champions and group c winners greece with the only goal in a narrow 1 0 victory over battling bosnia herzegovina goalscorer nihat gets a kiss from team mate altintop after turkey sealed their place with a 1 0 win over bosnia the result ended norway's hopes of snatching qualification despite their 4 1 victory away to malta with steffen iversen scoring a first half hat trick nihat struck at the end of a first half that fatih terim's turkey dominated, yet the hosts were unable to build on that lead and had to endure some tense moments just a point had separated the third placed scandinavians from terim's men and turkey needed to win to progress nihat led the charge forcing early saves from goalkeeper adnan guso and finally making the breakthrough two minutes before half time hamit altintop found space down the left and crossed for the villarreal forward who finished from 12 meters iversen broke the deadlock in malta after 25 minutes and fired a second from the penalty spot three minutes later completing his treble on the stroke of half time michael mifsud hit back for malta after the re start, but andre schembri was red carded after 67 minutes before morten gamst pedersen's strike wrapped it up all to no avail portugal went through from group a after a goalless home draw against qualification rivals finland while group winners poland completed their program with a 2 2 draw away to serbia e mail to a friend | thetically sleepwaking heterostracan | no related information |
baghdad, iraq (cnn) coalition troops killed the al qaeda terrorist who masterminded the february 2006 attack on samarra's al askariya mosque and set off continuing violence and reprisal killings between sunnis and shiites, the us military said sunday the attack on samarra's al askariya mosque set off violence between sunnis and shiites haitham sabah al badri, the al qaeda emir of greater samarra, was killed by an airstrike thursday east of samarra, said rear adm mark fox during a news conference 'eliminating al badri is another step in breaking the cycle of violence instigated by the attack on the holy shrine in samarra,' fox said 'we will continue to hunt down the brutal terrorists who are intent on creating a taliban like state in iraq' coalition forces thursday raided four buildings outside samarra that were associated with al badri, according to a us military news release during the raid, at least four armed men were seen leaving the buildings and setting up tactical fighting positions in an effort to ambush coalition forces, the release said the coalition forces called in close air support, killing al badri and the three others, the release said one of those killed was identified as a foreigner; al badri was identified by his close associates and relatives, the military said el badri's death was first reported saturday by a high ranking iraqi interior ministry official no one was injured in the attack on the golden mosque, one of the holiest shiite sites, but thousands have been killed by the death squads and reprisal bombings that have ravaged iraq in the 17½ months since the attack in addition to the february attack that collapsed the mosque's dome, another bombing in june destroyed the shrine's two remaining minarets al badri is believed to have been involved in other attacks, including two last year, fox said the june 23 bombing of a kirkuk courthouse that left 20 iraqis dead and the august 28 attack at a samarra checkpoint that killed 29 iraqi soldiers samarra is in salaheddin province, north of baghdad mortar attacks kill 11 two mortar rounds struck a gas station in a mainly shiite neighborhood in eastern baghdad on sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 15 others, a spokesman with iraq's interior ministry said the attack in the afdhailiya neighborhood happened about 8 am (12 am et), the spokesman said suicide bombers attacked two gas stations wednesday, killing 70 people, reuters reported meanwhile, coalition forces said saturday they killed four suspected militants and detained 18 thought to have helped make or plant roadside bombs, the us military said the militants were suspected of coordinating logistical support from iran for elements of shiite cleric muqtada al sadr's mehdi army and other shiite militias operating in iraq, the military said iraqi family upset with us soldier's sentence a us soldier has been sentenced to 110 years in confinement for participating in the rape of a 14 year old girl and the killings of her and her family in iraq, an army spokeswoman said the girl's family told reuters on sunday they were dismayed by the punishment and would have preferred to see the death penalty handed down in the case pfc jesse spielman was convicted friday of rape, conspiracy to commit rape, housebreaking with the intent to commit rape and four counts of felony murder the girl, her parents and younger sister were shot dead in march 2006 in mahmoudiya, south of baghdad 'we were expecting the death penalty against those criminals and the place to carry out the sentence is where the incident happened,' the girl's cousin, abu ammar, told reuters her uncle, hadi abdullah, told the wire agency that family members wished there was a way to appeal the sentence so the death penalty could be imposed three soldiers have previously pleaded guilty in the case and were given sentences ranging from five to 100 years the accused ringleader, former pvt steven green, was discharged from the army and awaits trial in a civilian court other developments cnn's pierre bairin and mohammed tawfeeq contributed to this report | haitham sabah al badri samarra us al badri reuters baghdad interior ministry | haitham sabah al badri was the al qaeda emir of greater samarra . us military says al badri suspected in two other attacks that killed 49 . family of slain girl upset soldier wasn't sentenced to death, reuters says . at least 11 people killed in mortar attacks in baghdad, interior ministry says |
new delhi, india (cnn) president obama praised 'the father of your nation' mahatma gandhi and noted his influence on martin luther king and the non violent resistance that typified the american civil rights movement in his address to the indian parliament monday 'i am mindful that i might not be standing before you today, as president of the united states, had it not been for gandhi and the message he shared and inspired with america and the world,' the president said earlier at a joint news conference with indian prime minister manmohan singh in india's capital, new delhi, obama said the relationship between the united states and india is 'stronger, deeper and broader' than ever the opportunities for cooperation between the nations will only grow as india gains economic power, obama said 'india isn't emerging it has emerged,' the president said he described a 'growing trust' between the two largest democracies in the world, as they work to boost trade 'we make some of the best products in the world and we want to sell them to a growing indian market,' obama said at the same time, those economic exchanges offer indians the opportunity to build their businesses as well, he said, citing solar technology as an example for the potential to create jobs in the united states and india 'we shouldn't be resorting to protectionist measures we shouldn't be thinking of it as a one way street,' added obama, who said india is not an economic 'bogeyman' singh said likewise: 'india is not in the business of stealing jobs from the united states of america' he called economic ties between the countries a win win situation, as obama did on saturday, the president unveiled about $10 billion in contracts for us exports to india it is asia's third largest economy and one of the world's few growth markets promoting broader trade relations with india is a delicate balancing act for obama, given american frustration with the outsourcing of jobs to the country india's biggest challenge is infrastructure, said singh, who said his country will need $1 trillion in infrastructure investments over the next five years he expressed hope that united states will contribute toward that he also lauded american technology, saying that india needs us know how in the civilian as well as military fields obama praised india's military support, saying that it had contributed to the war in afghanistan and efforts to leave terrorists no haven the president and first lady michelle obama arrived new delhi on monday, with the prime minister greeting them on arrival the obamas had a full day of events scheduled, starting with a wreath laying at a memorial for indian leader mahatma gandhi and ending with a state dinner with indian president pratibha devisingh patil in between, obama is slated to address parliament the obamas are on the third and final day of their visit to india after india, obama will travel to indonesia, then to the g 20 meeting in south korea and apec (asia pacific economic cooperation) summit in japan the obamas are on a 10 day asian tour | unwishfulness chondrite nobis | no related information |
(cnn) richard roberts, the embattled president of oral roberts university and the son of its namesake evangelist founder, stepped down friday, according to the school's board of regents richard roberts and wife lindsay appear on cnn's 'larry king live' in october 'i love oru with all my heart i love the students, faculty, staff and administration, and i want to see god's best for them,' roberts wrote in his resignation letter roberts' decision was effective immediately and came as the school fought a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by three professors who accused him and his wife of misconduct john swails, tim brooker and paulita brooker said they lost their jobs after reporting information indicating that roberts and his family lavishly spent school money for personal expenses roberts and his wife, lindsay, have denied the allegations the suit also claimed oral roberts university gave a 'convicted sexual deviant unrestricted access to students' and evidence in the case had been shredded charges the university has denied in addition, the suit alleged lindsay roberts repeatedly spent time with an 'underage male' in various situations she denied any improper behavior, insisting in a statement that she had 'never, ever engaged in any sexual behavior with any man outside of my marriage' the board of regents, which voted to hire an auditor to look into the claims, will meet early next week to discuss a search process for a new president, according to friday's statement from chairman george pearsons roberts announced last month he would step aside temporarily as president, saying he and his family had suffered 'heavy damage' the controversy has drawn international attention to the private christian university in tulsa, oklahoma e mail to a friend | oru richard roberts roberts last month | 'i love oru with all my heart,' richard roberts writes in his resignation letter . three professors allege they were fired for revealing misspending . roberts and wife deny spending university funds improperly . roberts announced last month he was stepping aside temporarily as president |
(cnn) ethiopian distance running legend haile gebrselassie has shocked the world of athletics by announcing his retirement the 37 year old dropped out of sunday's new york city marathon with a knee injury then told reporters he had run his last race 'i never think about to retire but for the first time, this is the day,' he said 'let me stop and do other work after this' gebrselassie, a two time olympic 10,000 meters champion, is the world marathon record holder after setting a time of two hours three minutes 59 seconds in berlin in 2008 he was the star attraction in new york, but pulled out in obvious pain on the queensboro bridge while in the leading group at 16 miles 'i don't want to complain anymore after this, which means it's better to stop here,' he said gebrselassie, who has set a host of world bests over several distances in his storied career, had told his twitter blog that he was struggling with a knee problem, but gave no hint he would quit the sport his compatriot gebre gebremariam triumphed on his marathon debut to win in two hours eight minutes and 14 seconds the 2009 cross country world champion pulled clear of kenya's emmanuel mutai in the closing stages another kenyan, moses kigen kipkosgei, was third kenya's edna kiplagat claimed her first major marathon title as she took the women's race | haile gebrselassie new york gebrselassie the big apple compatriot gebre gebremariam | haile gebrselassie quits athletics after dropping out of new york marathon . marathon world record holder gebrselassie was the star attraction in the big apple . compatriot gebre gebremariam wins on his marathon debut |
(cnn) authorities in germany are investigating whether they can prosecute a former nazi camp guard who has been living in the united states for 60 years, they said monday prosecutors are probing the case of johann breyer, who admits to having been a guard at the notorious auschwitz camp, where more than 1 million people, most of them jews, were killed during world war ii breyer, 87, says he was only a perimeter guard and did not persecute anyone, according to legal papers related to his battle to keep his us citizenship 'he was a trained, paid, uniformed armed nazi guard who patrolled the perimeters of two such camps with orders to shoot those who tried to escape,' a court ruled in 1994 breyer won his fight to remain in the united states in 2003, when a court ruled that he was not responsible for having joined a nazi unit because he was only 17 years old at the time but german authorities are investigating evidence against him, and expect to have preliminary results in october, said gert schaefer, a spokesman for the chief public prosecutor in the bavarian town of weiden breyer emigrated to the united states in 1952 and claimed citizenship as a displaced person in the 1990s, the government fought to strip him of his citizenship, arguing that nazis were not eligible breyer did not dispute having been an ss totenkopf (death's head) guard, responsible for guarding nazi concentration camps, according to the us court of appeals of the third circuit, which heard one stage of his legal battle in 1994 therefore, 'breyer assisted in persecution,' the court ruled 'the department of justice proved in federal court that john (johann) breyer participated in nazi sponsored acts of persecution while serving as an ss guard at the buchenwald concentration camp and the auschwitz death camp during world war ii,' doj spokeswoman rebekah carmichael said monday in a statement but, she added, findings about his mother's birth and the date of his ss enlistment made it legally impossible to deport him his case is similar to that of john demjanjuk, the ukrainian born ohio man who spent more than two decades fighting charges that he was a nazi war criminal before he died this year cnn's fred pleitgen and janina bembenek contributed to this report | aconite walspere asphalted | no related information |
(cnn) police in nigeria's capital have banned all protests planned in support of the more than 200 girls kidnapped in april commissioner joseph mbu said the proliferation of such protests 'is now posing a serious security threat' to those living around, and driving through, demonstration sites in the capital city of abuja 'i cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness,' he said in a statement monday 'information reaching us is that too soon dangerous elements will join the groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosive(s) aimed at embarrassing the government accordingly protests on the chibok girls is hereby banned with immediate effect,' the commissioner continued more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in northern nigeria in april by boko haram, in an act that drew international condemnation the terror group abducted an estimated 276 girls on april 14 from a boarding school in chibok dozens escaped, but more than 200 girls are still missing nigerians and others have accused their government of not acting swiftly or efficiently enough to protect the girls seized in the dead of night boko haram translates as 'western education is a sin' in the hausa language the militant group says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of sharia law across nigeria, africa's most populous nation, which is split between a majority muslim north and a mostly christian south cnn's dana ford contributed to this report | demilitarise excluded betocsin | no related information |
los angeles (cnn) the phrase most spoken by aeg live's co ceo during his testimony in the michael jackson wrongful death trial was: 'i don't recall' katherine jackson and her oldest daughter, rebbie jackson, watched as paul gongaware, who was in charge of producing and promoting jackson's ill fated comeback concerts, testified this week that he couldn't remember sending key e mails or approving budgets that included $150,000 a month for dr conrad murray cnn exclusively obtained video of gongaware's deposition in the case, which was played to jurors wednesday he is back on the stand for more testimony thursday and friday gongaware also denied thinking that jackson's health was frail in the last days of his life, despite e mails from others in the production suggesting the singer needed help jackson's mother and three children are suing aeg live, contending the concert promoter is liable in the pop icon's death because it negligently hired, retained or supervised murray aeg's lawyers argue it was jackson who chose, hired and supervised murray and their company only dealt with murray because jackson demanded they pay for him to be his 'this is it' tour doctor murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in jackson's drug overdose death and he is serving a prison sentence gongaware seemed to dance around some questions like jackson doing a 'moonwalk,' including when he explained an e mail to his boss' assistant in which he said he was having nightmares and cold sweats about the concerts it was not an admission that he was concerned about jackson's ability to do the show, he said 'it was just playing around, joking,' with aeg president tim leiweke's assistant, carla garcia, he testified 'carla is an absolute babe and i was just chatting her up,' he said while that testimony drew laughter in the court, it was unclear how jurors and the female judge viewed it, because gongaware also acknowledged his girlfriend worked at aeg gongaware's repetition of 'i don't recall' several dozen times under questioning by jackson lawyer brian panish eventually drew laughs from jurors, including when panish began answering for him with that phrase after the jury left the courtroom wednesday, los angeles county superior court judge yvette palazuelos commented on the number of 'i don't recall' responses 'we've had a lot of that,' she said 'how much more of that?' aeg exec called jackson 'freak' before signing concert contract the 'smoking gun' panish questioned gongaware about an e mail jackson's lawyers call the 'smoking gun,' which they argue shows aeg live executives used murray's fear of losing his lucrative job as jackson's personal physician to pressure him to have jackson ready for rehearsals despite his fragile health show director kenny ortega e mailed gongaware 11 days before jackson's death expressing concerns that murray had kept jackson from a rehearsal the day before ortega also raised his own concerns about jackson's health gongaware testified on wednesday that he thought ortega was 'overreacting' his e mail reply to ortega read: 'we want to remind (murray) that it is aeg, not mj, who is paying his salary we want to remind him what is expected of him' gongaware, in a video deposition played in court on the first day of the trial, said he could not remember writing the e mail trust your memory? maybe you shouldn't panish on wednesday played for jurors a section of gongaware's deposition, recorded in december, in which jackson lawyer kevin boyle questioned him about what he meant when he wrote to ortega, 'we want to remind him that it is aeg, not mj, who is paying his salary' boyle: 'based on the assumptions that aeg is your company and mj is michael jackson, do you have an understanding of what that means?' gongaware: 'no, i don't understand it, because we weren't paying his salary' boyle: 'so why would you write that?' gongaware: 'i have no idea' boyle: 'now, let's go on to the next sentence when you say 'his salary,' who are you talking about?' gongaware: 'i don't know' boyle: 'oh, but how do you know you weren't paying his salary if you don't know who we're talking about?' gongaware: 'i don't remember this e mail' boyle: 'didn't you just testify that 'we weren't paying his salary'?' gongaware: 'aeg?' boyle: 'yes no you just testified 'we weren't paying his salary' you just testified to that a few seconds ago, right?' gongaware: 'i guess' boyle: 'well, whose salary were you referring to? dr murray?' gongaware: 'yes' watch more of gongaware's testimony here after gongaware began recalling in court wednesday what he meant in the e mail, panish suggested it may be a case of 'repressed memories' where 'someone doesn't remember something for three or four years' 'you didn't have any psychotherapy to remember what you wrote here?' panish asked 'you didn't like get put to sleep ' (judge palazuelos injected: 'hypnotized?') ' to see if you remembered this? 'no,' gongaware answered sweet controversy at jackson death trial the elvis connection gongaware's career as a concert promoter started with elvis presley's last tour he testified that he met jackson when he was with presley manager col tom parker in las vegas elvis' name came up in the trial on tuesday as panish questioned gongaware about his knowledge of drug use during concert tours he should have been able to recognize red flags signaling jackson's drug use because of his experience with presley and his time as jackson's tour manager in the 1990s, the jacksons contend an e mail to a friend two weeks after jackson's death supports their argument, the jackson lawyers contend 'i was working on the elvis tour when he died so i kind of knew what to expect,' gongaware wrote 'still quite a shock' aeg lawyer marvin putnam later told reporters that gongaware was referring to the public reaction to jackson's death, not saying he expected jackson would meet the same fate as presley presley collapsed in the bathroom of his memphis, tennessee, mansion graceland on august 16, 1977, at age 42 while his death was ruled the result of an irregular heartbeat, the autopsy report was sealed amid accusations that the abuse of prescription drugs caused the problem jackson died on june 25, 2009, at age 50 the coroner ruled his death was caused by a fatal combination of sedatives and the surgical anesthetic propofol murray told investigators he gave jackson nightly infusions of propofol to treat his insomnia he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to four years in prison and stripped of his medical license gongaware who has worked as a tour promoter for 37 years for bands including led zeppelin, the grateful dead and many others testified that the only artist he ever knew who was using drugs on tour was rick james gongaware is currently the tour manager for the rolling stones north american tour promoter: 'i kind of knew what was going to happen' to jackson | aeg live paul gongaware aeg conrad murray jackson gongaware | aeg live exec struggles to explain 'smoking gun' e mail . paul gongaware: 'i have no idea' why he wrote aeg was paying dr conrad murray . jackson lawyers argue e mail shows the concert promoter hired the doctor . gongaware's repeated 'i don't recall' answers draw laughs in court |
madrid (cnn) an iranian and three spaniards who secretly tried to export to iran industrial equipment that could be used to make missile parts or enrich uranium have been arrested in spain, the civil guard said monday in a statement the european union and the united states ban the export to iran of certain dual use machinery and technology that could be used to aid iran's military program the four suspects were arrested april 1 the iranian man, 47, was detained in palma de mallorca on spain's balearic islands, and a judge remanded him to prison april 3 on suspicion of contraband in dual use material, belonging to a criminal organization and money laundering, said a civil guard captain with the intelligence division, who spoke on condition of not being identified the three spaniards are from the same family the father, in his 70s, and a son, in his 40s, were arrested in tarragona, in eastern spain a daughter, in her 40s, was arrested in nearby barcelona they face the same preliminary charges, but the judge released them on the condition that they do not leave spain and report regularly to authorities, the captain said the charges carry potential prison terms of about 10 years, he said the investigation began last year when the civil guard detected that two metal forming 'dual use' industrial machines had been illegally imported into spain the three spanish suspects were administrators of the import firm, the captain said authorities later determined that the machines had been acquired from a company that works in the defense sector in the united kingdom and had been brought to spain with the aim of waiting for an opportune time to secretly send them to iran, violating international sanctions against iran for the development of its nuclear and missile programs authorities seized two metal forming industrial machines, which could be used to make missile casings or equipment to aid in the enrichment of uranium, the captain said the civil guard also seized abundant documentation about exports and the sale of defense and double use equipment, as well as a large amount of computer data that is being studied, the statement said in january 2013, national police arrested two people in northern spain and seized a trailer truck carrying 44 valves made of nickel and chromium alloy that were intended for export to be used for iran's nuclear program, the interior ministry said at the time spain suspends sale of riot gear to venezuela | iran iranian spaniards | officials say technology could be used to make missile parts or enrich uranium . sanctions prohibit export of certain machinery to iran . iranian, three spaniards face charges and possible prison sentences |
(ewcom ) on saturday, the internet lit up with the breathless all caps news that charlie hunnam would no longer be playing the dashing if psychologically damaged billionaire christian grey in the big screen adaptation of 'fifty shades of grey' some of best selling author e l james' readers were ecstatic, as it meant their dream casting for fan favorites like matt bomer or ian somerhalder might have life yet but it was a gut punch to universal/focus, which is scrambling to recast a beloved role and still keep to their mid november production start in the official studio statement, blame was placed on hunnam's 'immersive tv schedule, which is not allowing him time to adequately prepare' this sounds dubious though, as his fx drama 'sons of anarchy' was always scheduled to wrap production on its sixth season on oct 22 one source close to the actor says hunnam had serious reservations about the script, a possibility made more interesting by the recent news that the studio had brought on notes on a scandal writer (and friend to director sam taylor johnson) patrick marbe to give the 'fifty shades' script a polish we're also hearing that hunnam just second guessed his willingness to bear the weight of such a popular franchise and accept the tidal wave of fame it would surely bring (his reps didn't return requests for comment) for now, the november production date stands, so an announcement must be imminent until then, the wait for fans is sweet torture see the original story at ewcom click here to try 2 risk free issues of entertainment weekly © 2011 entertainment weekly and time inc all rights reserved | curtein fibreboard tenderfoot | no related information |
(cnn) somali pirates have released two vessels they've held for several months, apparently after ransoms were paid, officials and news agencies reported saturday on june 28, pirates hijacked the mv golden blessing, with 19 chinese sailors onboard they took control of the vessel, which flew under the singapore flag, about 60 nautical miles off the northern coast of somalia the 14,445 ton tanker, carrying a load of glycol ethylene, was released saturday, according to the european union naval force somalia (eunavfor) the vessel had been en route from saudi arabia to india eunavfor provided no other details there were conflicting numbers on the paid ransom, but andrew mwangura, programs coordinator of the kenya based seafarers assistance programme, said it was less than $7 million china's transport agency, however, said on its website that the golden blessing had been 'rescued' meanwhile, a south korean oil tanker and its 24 crew members seized april 4 also were released saturday, according to yonhap, the south korean state news agency the pirates said they had been paid $95 million, mwangura said somali pirates captured the samho dream about 600 nautical miles (690 miles, 1,111 km) north of the somali coast 300 nautical miles (345 miles, 556 km) outside the area in which eunavfor operates the combined maritime forces a cooperative effort by several countries to patrol international waters has warned that pirates in the somali basin and gulf of aden are venturing further from their home waters, 'revealing their desperation to find easier commercial targets' the 300,000 ton samho dream was seized in the indian ocean while en route to the united states from iraq the ship was carrying five south korean and 19 philippine crew members along with about $170 million worth of oil the freed vessel is now en route to louisiana, mwangura said | pluripara tempest overweather | no related information |
(cnn) two students from the university of texas at el paso were shot and killed tuesday night in ciudad juarez, mexico, chihuahua state investigators said late wednesday the students, identified as manuel acosta villalobos, 25, and eder diaz sotero, 23, were gunned down in a hail of more than 30 bullets while driving a nissan sentra with texas plates, chihuahua state police spokesman arturo sandoval said 'i have confirmed that eder was from the united states and was a us citizen the other boy was a juarez native,' sandoval said the university president, diana natalicio, issued a statement about the slayings that was published by the prospector, the school's student run newspaper, on its website 'our hearts are heavy today with the news of the deaths of utep students manuel acosta and eder diaz we offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of these two men as they deal with the tragic loss of their loved ones,' natalicio said the prospector identified acosta as a senior computer information systems major and diaz as a sophomore sophomore pre business major the prospector also said that two other university students were killed in violence in juarez on may 25 | us juarez earlier this year | one was us citizen, the other a native of juarez, police say . two other university students killed in similar violence earlier this year |
beirut, lebanon (cnn) amid high emotions and tight security, thousands lined the streets of beirut friday to honor antoine ghanem, the anti syrian lebanese mp killed in a powerful bomb blast along with four others amin gemayel (r), phalange party head, carries the coffin of assassinated deputy antoine ghamen against an atmosphere of intense political and patriotic fervor, the flag draped coffins of the politician and two bodyguards also killed in wednesday's rush hour blast made its way through the city's christian district to the sacred heart church on what the government had declared as a day of national mourning the procession was accompanied by thousands waving flags, as well as a brass band playing the anthem of ghanem's phalange party, the associated press reported tv pictures showed distraught mourners crowding and reaching out to the coffins as they were carried aloft several people were seen to collapse and had to be carried away mourners also carried photographs, threw rose petals and unfurled banners, some of which read 'we won't kneel,' ap said the coffins were greeted at the christian maronite church with applause from the gathered mourners, the agency said, including majority leaders and the lebanese cabinet as well as ghanem's family and friends ghanem was later buried in the city's christian district ghanem's death is the latest in a series of attacks targeting prominent anti syrian figures, with the most notorious being the february 2005 assassination in beirut of former lebanese prime minister rafik hariri, which sparked widespread protests that led to the ouster of syrian forces from lebanon hariri also died in a massive explosion the incident threatens to cast the country into political uncertainty ahead of a key presidential vote in a tightly divided parliament, almost evenly split between anti and pro syrian camps watch how ghanem's death disrupts lebanese politics » cnn's beirut bureau chief brent sadler said that many lebanese now feared for the future, especially given other events in the region including the conflict between palestinians and israelis, recent political differences in iraq and iran's bid to become a super power 'there continues to be among a great deal of people here a sense of foreboding that perhaps the worst is yet to come,' he said us president george w bush, in a written statement, joined other world leaders in condemning the 'horrific assassination' 'since october 2004, there has been a tragic pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to silence those lebanese who courageously defend their vision of an independent and democratic lebanon,' bush said wednesday also in a written statement, a spokesperson for ban ki moon said the un secretary general 'condemns in the strongest terms this terrorist attack' 'the secretary general urges all lebanese to exercise utmost calm and restraint at this very critical time and to allow judicial procedures to take their course,' the spokesperson said bush's statement added: 'the united states opposes any attempts to intimidate the lebanese people as they seek to exercise their democratic right to select a president without foreign interference we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the lebanese people as they resist attempts by the syrian and iranian regimes and their allies to destabilize lebanon and undermine its sovereignty' the us embassy in beirut issued a statement saying: 'it is not a coincidence that these attacks target those figures who have been working to secure lebanon's independence from renewed syrian hegemony we note with concern that many lebanese politicians allied with syria have in fact warned that murder and violence would be the results of any effort to exercise genuine parliamentary democracy' and us secretary of state condoleezza rice, in a written statement, said: 'the bombing that claimed these lives was another act in a campaign of terror by those who want to turn back the clock on lebanon's hard won democratic gains' 'the world should speak with one voice in calling for an end to violence in lebanon intended to subvert democratic processes in that country,' rice said 'lebanese elections, scheduled to begin in just days, must proceed, in accordance with the constitution, without threats of foreign interference and the violence that accompanies such obstruction' e mail to a friend | si cornify cheefullest | no related information |
washington (cnn) senate democrats conceded thursday they don't have the votes to pass the dream act, a bill that would have offered a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants who entered the united states as children democrats voted to pull the measure from consideration, a move that jeopardizes the chances for passing the hotly contested bill during the current lame duck session of congress that ends in early january while supporters say the measure that passed the house on wednesday could still come up, each passing day reduces the likelihood for introducing and debating the act as legislative leaders battle over priorities in the waning days of the session senate republicans opposed the bill, standing by their pledge to block any legislation during the lame duck session until the chamber approves bills to extend the bush tax cuts and fund the government the so called development, relief and education for alien minors act would have affected immigrants who entered the united states illegally as children under the age of 16 and have lived in the country for at least five years other requirements include graduating from high school or obtaining a general education development diploma and demonstrating 'good moral character' even then, only a six year conditional status would be awarded before moving to the next phase, the students would need to meet additional requirements attending college or serving in the military for at least two years, and passing criminal background checks proponents, including president barack obama and democratic leaders, say the bill offers legal standing to young people brought to the united states who have bettered themselves and served their new country, while opponents claim it is a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants a white house statement thursday praised senate democratic leaders for pulling the bill so that the chamber can take up the version passed by the house noting that eight house republicans voted with democrats to pass the measure, the statement by press secretary robert gibbs said the proposal 'should get bipartisan support in the senate as well, and in light of the vote in the house, this is the right way to move forward to get that' rep luis gutierrez, d illinois, a major supporter of the dream act, said thursday that 'we now have the weekend and into next week to launch a national mobilization to get the votes to enact this important bill' cnn's craig broffmann and ted barrett contributed to this report | white house us senate republicans | new: white house says putting off the vote was the right move . the bill would offer a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants . it mainly would affect illegal immigrants who entered the us as children . senate republicans opposed the measure |
rome, italy (cnn) police made a string of arrests across europe tuesday, detaining 20 people suspected of involvement in the recruitment of suicide bombers, italian police said eleven of the arrests were in italy, in the northern cities of milan, reggio emilia, bergamo, and san remo, said lt col sandro sandulli, the head of the carabinieri special forces one was already in custody, so authorities served him with a new arrest warrant which included new charges against him, sandulli said three arrests were in britain, one in france, and one in portugal, sandulli said the remaining arrests happened in european countries but sandulli did not specify which ones those arrested are suspected of forming salafi jihad terrorist cells which were recruiting suicide bombers and sending them to iraq and afghanistan, said col mario parente, deputy commander of the carabinieri special forces unit parente said that during the arrests, police found al qaeda manuals for the production of explosives, detonation devices, and various poisons he said the manuals also included details of guerrilla style war operations salafi is an extreme school of islamic thought which developed in egypt and began to have prominence with militant groups there in the late 1960s and has since been adopted by terrorist groups in north africa, the middle east, and europe, said sajjan gohel, director of international security at the asia pacific foundation in london 'it's become the ideology of choice for transnational terrorism, including al qaeda,' gohel said 'it's emerging as a very dangerous ideology' the madrid train bombers and various terrorist cells in italy were part of the salafi school of thought, he added italian police said tuesday's arrests were the result of an investigation, started in 2003, into some salafi cells which were organized by tunisians and algerians the main suspect in the operation is a tunisian who was arrested in 2002 during a separate antiterrorism operation, police said the main terrorist cell was based in the northern italian region of lombardy and involved what investigators called a 'long term' jihadist program which provided military and ideological training another cell, based in reggio emilia, had the goal of creating a grand islamic 'empire' stretching from morocco to china, police said parente said those arrested are also accused of producing false documents, facilitating illegal immigration, and covering up other individuals wanted for terrorism related crimes e mail to a friend cnn's flavia taggiasco in rome contributed to this report | italy european iraq afghanistan europe | police say 20 suspected of involvement in the recruiting suicide bombers held . arrests were in italy and across other european countries, police say . those held are accused of recruiting bombers to go to iraq and afghanistan . 11 people were held in italy and nine others across europe |
london (cnn) protesters enraged by a parliament vote to triple university tuition rate caps, attacked a car carrying prince charles and camilla, duchess of cornwall, thursday night the demonstrators broke a window and tossed paint on the car, however neither royal family member was injured in the attack 'we can confirm that their royal highnesses' car was attacked by protesters on the way to their engagement at the london palladium this evening,' a spokesman for the prince said 'their royal highnesses are unharmed' a wire photo of the royal couple, dressed in evening wear, shows startled expressions on their faces as they sit in their rolls royce before exiting for a royal variety performance the high profile incident came late in day of violent protests that left at least 12 officers and 43 demonstrators hurt the attack followed a vote in the house of commons to approve a plan to raise the existing cap on tuition rates charged by universities from £3,000 to £9,000 in us dollars, that's a nearly $10,000 increase from roughly $4,700 to $14,000 lawmakers approved the plan in a 323 302 vote the measure awaits approval by the house of lords and a signature by the queen before it can become law the vote ended hours of debate inside parliament and an all day protest by thousands of demonstrators outside who said the plan will price many students out of a university education supporters say the tuition cap hike is needed to cut the government's massive deficit parliament square was relatively quiet late thursday as mounted police pushed back the last knot of protesters 'extreme violence currently being directed towards officers is hindering attempts to allow nonviolent protesters to leave the containment area,' police said prime minister david cameron said the level of violence was unacceptable in recent weeks, the proposal has spawned multiple public protests, set off tremors within the nation's coalition government and prompted a back seat revolt among some liberal democrats in parliament liberal democrats are lesser partners in a coalition government ruled by conservatives the london protest started out peacefully thursday, but grew more tense with the winding down of debate in the house of commons by late afternoon, police on horseback attempted to push back throngs of protesters moving on parliament students reacted by throwing sticks and setting off fireworks after the vote, riot police were called out to quell disturbances in trafalgar square, including the setting afire of a christmas tree before the fire was set, a demonstrator was seen climbing the tree one officer was hospitalized after falling from his horse and another suffered a serious neck injury after being knocked unconscious, the metropolitan police said four other officers required unspecified hospital treatment the police service announced the arrest of 26 protesters on charges ranging from arson and assaulting a police officer to drunk and disorderly conduct london's metropolitan police condemned many of the protesters 'this has nothing to do with peaceful protest students are involved in wanton vandalism, including smashing windows in oxford and regent streets,' the department said late thursday on its website 'innocent christmas shoppers are being caught up in the violence and disruption protest organizers had urged demonstrators to show restraint earlier this month, police arrested a total of 153 people following another protest at trafalgar square during which students damaged a police van, set small fires and spray painted and smashed government building windows one final year student, standing in front of police lines outside parliamen on thursday, told cnn he was there out of solidarity with students who may be priced out of a place at university 'we're all here because we're passionate about this we feel betrayed,' he said prior to vote, another protester screamed, 'nick clegg you're a sellout! you have betrayed us!' the protester was referring to the british deputy prime minister and liberal democratic party architect of the coalition government the government is headed by prime minister david cameron, a conservative clegg supports the tuition increase plan at least a dozen other party members, including deputy party leader simon hughes, said they oppose it supporters say the tuition cap hike is needed to help pay down the government's massive debt they argue the increase is not mandatory, that universities would not be bound to charge university students the full £9,000 under the new plan, students wouldn't have to start paying off their school loans until they begin earning at least £21,000, about $32,600, a year students currently must start paying off their loans once they reach a £15,000 (roughly $23,300) threshold cnn's senior international correspondent dan river contributed to this report | london prince charles camilla british | 12 officers, 43 protesters injured in scuffles . london police decry 'wanton vandalism'. protesters attack car carrying prince charles and camilla . riot police called to quell violence after british parliament approves tuition cap hike |
(cnn) president barack obama arrives in mumbai saturday morning for three days of deal making, cultural engagements and talks on regional and global security he and manmohan singh, the indian prime minister, have much to discuss america is the world's most powerful democracy; india is its largest and most vibrant america needs india to stabilize a rough neighborhood; india needs america to counter china's growing power america wants to develop a strategic military alliance by arming india with the modern tools of war; new delhi prefers a more limited transactional relationship with washington to replace its depleted soviet era fleet that avoids making india the operating base of a future conflict america wants less outsourcing and more trade to create badly needed new jobs at home; india, whose protectionist economic tendencies have given way to a meritocracy driven by entrepreneurial spirit, wants more us visas to train its bright minds and can't understand why american innovation has given way to a defeatist closed door, anti immigration mentality president obama's electoral defeat in tuesday's midterm elections assures domestic gridlock for the remainder of his first term in office prime minister singh's government racked by corruption and a bloated bureaucracy has shown little interest in executing the reform mandate it was elected to undertake last year roads have not been built taxes have not been streamlined or collected health care is no better a hallmark nuclear pact reached with washington in 2005 to make india energy self sufficient threatens to be derailed five years on by reactionary legislation introduced in singh's own party kashmiri separatists riot in the north maoist rebels surge in the east india, singh must think to himself at times, is nearly ungovernable yet crippled domestic agendas offer both men an opportunity to lead in foreign policy obama must strike a grand bargain with singh that commits both leaders to take steps that create an open architecture security environment for south asia intelligence needs to be gathered, analyzed and shared communally to combat threats facing the entire region, not just any one country within it, so the landscape for economic revitalization and political reconciliation improves india, president obama should tell his hosts, must now assume the responsibilities imposed upon it by its growing political stature and economic power pakistan, the epicenter of islamist extremism, is the obvious place to start singh refuses to engage pakistan beyond superficial matters because he argues, with cause, that whatever is left of his political clout would evaporate if one more mumbai style terror attack was launched from pakistani soil as hamas often did during the course of israeli palestinian peace negotiations, south asia's terror groups would surely attack at any sign of rapprochement between islamabad and new delhi what are peacemakers to do? obama must offer to bridge the trust gap that keeps india and pakistan apart on security, economic and political issues he should start by asking his military commanders to bring indian and pakistani army and intelligence chiefs together in secret at a neutral location (geneva, switzerland; oslo, norway; or stockholm, sweden) so they can reformulate conditions for sharing critical intelligence the countries' former intelligence chiefs, chander d sahay of india and gen ehsan ul haq of pakistan, did just that from 2003 until 2005 with stunningly effective results afghan military and intelligence officials could join in after the primary indo pakistani relationship is framed through such cooperation, india might find grounds for taking pakistan into confidence on its operations to stabilize afghanistan's economy and to assist in rebuilding its domestic police and paramilitary forces, allaying pakistani army enmity and fears of an east west squeeze play on their borders by new delhi pakistan could commit, in return, to close down or starve from an operational standpoint camps that support the haqqani terrorist network in northern waziristan, from which many who would attack india are trained and ideologically nurtured india might also get significant, albeit nonpublic, assistance from pakistan to douse the flames of revolt in kashmir by encouraging pakistan backed separatist leaders to engage with new delhi in dialogue at a minimum, fewer people would then die done correctly, such earnest dialogue could form the basis for a long term peace contract in the himalayan enclave obama could then offer us support for india's permanent seat at the united nations security council if india demonstrated it was ready to play a major regional role as economic big brother to lesser economies, starting with a trade pact for pakistan jobs to employ today's extremists in pakistan through bilateral trade would reduce tomorrow's pool of would be bombers who could threaten indian centers of commerce to incent pakistan to open up, obama could ask his friends in the us india caucus to lobby for congressional passage of textile tariff relief for pakistan that fuels growth in an industry critical to india pakistan trade: indian americans helping pakistani trade get off the ground detente indeed finally, obama could lean on his indian host to invite pakistan's president over for a summit asif ali zardari, inept and ineffective as he might seem to outsiders, is perhaps in greater control of pakistan's political machinery than most give him credit for and while pakistan's generals despise what they consider his corrupt ways, zardari's commercial instincts will serve him well in using trade as a cornerstone for peace with his eastern neighbors if singh reaches across the divide and offers a political breakthrough that gives zardari a face saving reason to say 'yes' to peace, he might be surprised at how fast the pakistani leader accepts the chance to rise above the politics of distrust and dissension and engage in making peace across the array of issues that divide both nations india must learn, as america did long ago, that with power comes responsibility to take care of those less fortunate around it in a region where ultra power (china) and ultra poverty (afghanistan) co exist, india must take advantage of america's experience and its energetic president to bring peace and prosperity to the region in a manner befitting its rising global stature the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of mansoor ijaz | obama india american mansoor ijaz ijaz | obama will visit india with a group of american business executives . mansoor ijaz says trip offers opportunity for a grand bargain with india . by striking a deal on economic, military, security issues, the two nations would benefit, he says . ijaz: progress on peace in the region and in the fight against terrorism could result |
(cnn) the latest release of white house tapes from the richard nixon presidential library shows how watergate increasingly consumed nixon as his second term was getting underway, the library's director said thursday much of nixon's tapes about watergate have long been made public, but on thursday, the library released additional white house recordings from february 1973 to march 1973, plus some from early april 1973, director timothy naftali said the watergate political scandal, resulting from a break in at the democratic national committee headquarters, eventually led nixon to resign, the only president to ever do so 'watergate is truly heating up for the administration by the end of this particular release of tapes, in march of 1973, and you can see it taking more of the president's time,' said naftali, who was a cold war and presidential historian before joining the national archives, which runs the nixon library 'the tapes are a magnificent aural history of two very busy and important months in the life of president nixon's second term,' naftali added on thursday, the library opened a trove of records at the facility and online, and the new information includes 265 hours of white house tapes the library, in yorba linda, california, also released more than 140,000 pages of presidential records and 75 hours of video oral histories about 2,500 pages of formerly classified national security records have also been made public, and some of them have been posted on the library's website (wwwnixonlibrarygov), including one about covert actions in chile and another about an understanding with british prime minister edward heath on the use of british bases and us nuclear weapons 'i am agreeable to the amendments as proposed and shall consider the understandings existing between our governments with regard to consultation on the use of nuclear weapons, as so amended, to remain fully in effect,' nixon said in a letter to heath one memo is written january 17, 1973, by current anchor and former nixon aide diane sawyer, who says she understands that a decision is forthcoming on the 'fate' of donald johnson as administrator of veterans affairs (now veterans administration) johnson resigned in 1974 under pressure from congress and veterans' groups for alleged mismanagement 'do you have information which would enable us to provide the star with a leak?' sawyer wrote to larry higby, assistant chief of staff the memo contains handwritten notes stating 'approve saying ' or 'disapprove because' the newly available materials are pieces to a larger mosaic about the nixon presidency, naftali said 'this release is significant for people interested in how our government thought about the vietnam cease fire and its durability, and it's very significant about the release of american pows from southeast asia,' naftali said 'it's sort of the first release that has materials relevant to the us government's handling of the wounded knee incident,' when followers of the american indian movement seized the south dakota town for 71 days starting in february 1973, naftali said 'and there's very significant material about the management of us policy toward the middle east,' naftali said | yorba linda california the national archives nixon us 1974 | new: some of the 2,500 pages of formerly classified records are now online at the library website . the richard nixon presidential library is in yorba linda, california . the library, part of the national archives, opens more than 140,000 pages of presidential records . nixon is the only us president to ever resign, in 1974 |
(cnn) a 10 year old colorado girl reported missing one week ago is dead, police said friday, spurring a manhunt for the person who killed her westminster police chief lee birk told reporters that a body found earlier this week 'has been positively identified' as that of jessica ridgeway 'our focus has changed from a search for jessica to a mission of justice for jessica,' birk said jessica was last seen by her mother as she left for school october 5 authorities then issued a statewide amber alert for the girl on sunday, a man in a subdivision in superior discovered jessica's backpack outside his house about 7 miles from the girl's hometown of westminster, said westminster police investigator trevor materasso both towns are along the denver boulder turnpike a body which was 'not intact,' according to police was found wednesday at a park in arvada, a denver suburb just five miles from westminster the body was identified friday as that of jessica with that news, birk acknowledged that authorities 'recognize that there is a predator at large in our community' 'we are doing everything within our power to apprehend that individual,' he said hundreds of volunteers had searched fields and streets, posted fliers and canvassed neighborhoods since news broke of the girl's disappearance hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement officers have also been working the case, according to birk as of friday, authorities had searched more than 500 homes and 1,000 vehicles, responded to more than 1,500 tips and 'covered thoroughly more than 800 leads,' said jim yacone, special agent in charge of the fbi's denver office 'open space and water searches by both law enforcement, the westminster fire department and many hundreds of volunteers have been extensive, and they will continue,' yacone told reporters friday hln: fbi lists possible behavioral traits of abductor | truculently ponerine stogeys | no related information |
(cnn) a potential deal that would reopen the federal government and stave off the prospect of a us debt default appears to barely touch the core of obamacare, the health insurance program congressional republicans set out to cripple although the terms of a deal that would end a two week partial shutdown of federal offices and raise the government's legal borrowing limit weren't final tuesday, democratic sources told cnn one possible change being weighed by senate leaders could delay a fee on employers, unions and other health plan sponsors that compensate insurance companies for taking on high risk customers in the first year of the program set up under the affordable care act another could strengthen verification measures for people seeking federal subsidies to help them purchase health insurance required by the law both of those are far short of the target set by conservative republicans in the house of representatives, who hoped to wipe out funding for obamacare, as the program has become known 'this doesn't, frankly, do a whole lot to obamacare,' said lawrence jacobs, director of the university of minnesota's center for the study of politics and governance the computerized insurance exchanges at the heart of the program have had a rocky rollout since they went live on october 1, and there are some provisions that could stand to be fixed, jacobs said but he said those issues are being 'overwhelmed' in the gop push to eliminate it how many have signed up for health care? well, it depends getting rid of the $63 a head high risk charge, known as the transitional reinsurance fee, is a proposal 'that would deserve serious attention' in other circumstances, said jacobs, co author of a 2010 book on the politics of health care states like minnesota, which already has the largest catastrophic reinsurance program, are effectively double taxed by the proposal getting rid of it would mean the costs would be passed along to insurers and consumers, he said 'there are no states that are happy with it,' he said but he said the fee is 'more of a techie issue, to be honest i'm surprised it's on people's radar' meanwhile, calling for tougher verification rules 'is a little confusing,' jacobs said 'the irs has been working pretty hard on this, and with all the problems that the federal exchanges had in launching, this was not one of them,' he said 'that part of the process seems to be working pretty well, so i think this is more of a political thing in adding another level of protection, or red tape i think from a policy perspective, the question is, what needed fixing?' in the house, a republican counterproposal floated tuesday morning would have suspended a tax on medical devices for two years and removed federal health care subsidies for legislators and top obama administration officials but the medical device tax provision had been dumped by tuesday afternoon, house gop sources said that levy is projected to raise about $29 billion over 10 years to subsidize health insurance programs, according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office jacobs said getting rid of it would leave a 'crater' in the program's finances and create 'a kind of avalanche' as other health care industries hospitals, drug manufacturers and insurers lined up for a similar reprieve 'i don't think there are too many folks volunteering for that tour,' he said if there's a deal, what next? the latest developments come less than two days before the united states bumps up against its statutory debt ceiling, raising the risk that washington would be short of funds to pay all of its bills in full and on time and it comes on the 15th day of the partial government shutdown that has idled more than 800,000 federal workers and cost the economy an estimated $20 billion to date the shutdown began after house republicans passed a temporary spending bill that would have eliminated funding for obamacare a bill swiftly rejected by the democratic controlled senate president barack obama has insisted that congress fund government operations and raise the debt ceiling without any 'ransom,' and polls show public opinion turning sharply against the gop as the standoff drags on republican leaders began to look for other concessions from democrats and the administration last week, and some particularly in the senate have begun to criticize the colleagues who led them into the impasse sen bob corker, r tennessee, told cnn's new day that republicans have now wasted weeks 'focused on something that was never going to happen' 'to be candidly candid, it's an embarrassment to me that we have spent all this time on a rabbit trail, leading us to where we are,' corker said but rep ted yoho, a tea party backed florida congressman, told cnn's the lead that he and many of his fellow house republicans would be letting down their constituents if they didn't keep battling the affordable care act 'i'm a member of the house it's a house of the people we're the voice of the people,' said yoho, who has also downplayed the potential impact of a government default 'i ran on defunding, burying and getting rid of obamacare a lot of the members of our house, of our conference, ran on the same thing so for us not to speak up is not to speak up for the american people' hope for a smoother ride on healthcaregov cnn's dana bash, brianna keilar and deirdre walsh contributed to this report | rhombovate hechsher connascency | no related information |
(cnn) 'hoylake, blown upon by mighty winds, breeder of mighty champions' bernard darwin (1876 1961 golf writer and grandson of british naturalist charles darwin) in 1930, in a small corner of england's green and pleasant land, the idea for one of golf's most desirable accoutrements was born the champion golfer of the age american bobby jones won that year's british open at hoylake, near the city of liverpool, as the second leg of an unprecedented grand slam of championships but before he would tame the winds of the wirral peninsula, and go on to win all four major titles on offer in a single season, jones was invited to a players' reception at the club and it was this soiree that would sow the idea for augusta's legendary green jacket, awarded to the winner of the masters 'the story goes that jones was sitting next to a chap called kenneth stoker, who was captain of the club the year before,' hoylake club historian joe pinnington told cnn 'all the captains were wearing their formal kit the red coats that we have 'jones asked about it, was fascinated by it, and eventually stoker said to him: 'now look here mr jones, if you win the tournament this week i'll give you my coat' 'of course jones won and he got the coat' atlanta born jones was afforded a ticker tape parade in new york when he returned in early july with the british open and british amateur titles tucked away in his locker, along with that red blazer from hoylake he was the champion of a nation at a time when sport helped the american public escape the stench of poverty and despair in the wake of the great depression but his mission was only half completed triumphs at the us open and the us amateur would follow, causing the new york times to label jones' achievement 'the most triumphant journey that any man ever traveled in sport' having completed what was known as 'the impregnable quadrilateral' at the tender age of 28, he promptly retired, exhausted from his feats, plunging a nation and a sport into mourning his next project was augusta national, a place for him to play with his pals away from the spotlight, a course that would stage the first incarnation of the masters in 1934 three years later augusta members started wearing green jackets to make themselves identifiable to patrons, and in 1949 it was decided that year's victor, and all the previous champions, would be issued with their own version too 'it's a wonderful link for our golf club to have and the masters is one of golf's great events,' pinnington says 'that red jacket is now at jones' home course the atlanta athletic club in a part of their museum which is called the hoylake room 'we have a wonderful reciprocation with their club, a lot of their members are members at hoylake and we have four or five who are members there' jones headed for hoylake having secured the first leg of his historic quadruple at the home of golf st andrew's in scotland the week before that made him a nine time major champion and one of the most talked about sportsmen of the day unsurprisingly, his arrival at royal liverpool golf club was headline news 'jones was at the height of his fame when he came to hoylake,' explains pinnington, a former club captain 'he'd eclipsed walter hagen and he was a phenomenal man who won 11 majors in total 'amateur golf was followed very closely in those days because professionals were not really socially acceptable in 1930, they weren't allowed through the front door of clubhouses 'jones came at a time when magazines likes vanity fair and country life as well as the times and the telegraph newspapers covered golf 'for the first time sport was on the front pages and jones was the hero of everybody 'he was a magnetic sort of bloke a good looking man with a beautiful golf swing and a wonderful temperament, very different to the bad tempered man who arrived in 1921' jones had smoothed out his irascible constitution, the most famous eruption of which saw him pick up his ball and withdraw from the 1921 british open at st andrew's after a disastrous start but though he exuded a confident air during the course of his four rounds in two days at hoylake, he grappled desperately to combat the stress that plagued him on the inside 'he fell apart during these championships because the nerves were overwhelming,' pinnington says 'he hardly ate he had a bit of toast and maybe a whiskey and water at the end of the day he was in a right old ragged state 'although he looked totally supreme on the outside he was a complete wreck on the inside there were a couple of british guys in contention but jones ground out the last round to win by two from another american, leo diegel, and macdonald smith, from scotland 'it was a key part in his grand slam and we are amazingly lucky to have someone like that in our history at hoylake' the links between hoylake and one of its most illustrious champions don't end there jones' ill health meant he had to decline an offer to return for the club's centenary celebrations in 1969, but contained within his correspondence was another accolade he noted that his first competitive round in britain came at hoylake, during the inaugural international match between the united kingdom and the united states in 1921, as did his last the 1930 open jones was made an honorary member in the wake of his latter triumph his third, having also won the open at royal lytham and st anne's in 1926 and at st andrew's the following year it gave hoylake a unique hat trick the only other amateur golfers to have won prestigious tournament (john ball in 1890 and harold hilton in 1892 and 1897) were also royal liverpool members jones died in in 1971, aged 69, but a corner of hoylake's clubhouse is devoted to his feat and ensures his legacy lives on | orthodome sprit buisson | no related information |
(cnn) a computer failure temporarily halted the processing of food stamp purchases in parts of the country saturday a system shutdown began at 11 am et saturday and affected 17 states, said a spokeswoman for xerox which is a contractor for the program by saturday night, the issue had been resolved 'we realize that access to these benefits is important to families in the states we serve,' said spokeswoman jennifer wasmer 'we continue to investigate the cause of the issue so we can take steps to ensure a similar interruption does not re occur' the food stamp program, officially known as the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or snap, allows many beneficiaries to present a payment card at grocery stores some of those transactions were being prevented saturday in unspecified parts of the country the program is administered by the department of agriculture the department's public affairs staff has been furloughed and its website was not being updated saturday because of the partial government shutdown a phone call to the office of the department's communication director was not answered officials in several states said the computer problem was unrelated to the government shutdown cnn affiliate kjrh tv in tulsa, oklahoma, quoted wasmer as saying the shutdown happened during a test of the company's backup systems she said the glitch also affected payments through the women infants and children, or wic, program cnn's janet digiacomo contributed to this report | usda xerox | no apparent link to shutdown, but usda is unavailable to provide information . problem began during testing of backup systems . system shutdown began saturday morning, contractor xerox said |
(cnn) a first edition harry potter book was sold for about $19,000, according to an auction house in dallas, texas normal copies of the harry potter books go for under $20, unlike the autographed first edition that sold for $19,000 the soft cover book was one of 200 copies printed and is a rarity compared with later editions of the popular series that were printed in the millions, the heritage auction galleries said the book, 'harry potter and the philosopher's stone,' includes an autograph from author jk rowling it's the first book in the harry potter series and was published in the united states under the title 'harry potter and the sorcerer's stone' the auction had estimated that the 223 page book would sell for as much as $12,000 the winning bid of $19,120 bypassed expectations, but it was not the most expensive sale of harry potter related items in an auction last year, an 800 word prequel to the blockbuster harry potter novel series fetched nearly $50,000 for a writer's group and dyslexia charity that prequel was handwritten and signed by rowling | harry potter the philosopher's stone jk rowling 19,120 | the soft cover 'harry potter and the philosopher's stone' is one of 200 copies . the 223 page book includes an autograph from author jk rowling . the winning bid of $19,120 bypassed auctioneers' expectations |
(cnn) most americans probably still believe the biggest threat to our national security is terrorism we're debating increasingly intrusive security measures, and not long ago we heard about a homegrown terrorist in oregon who wanted to cause a huge explosion at a christmas tree lighting ceremony yet mexican drug cartels are arguably as dangerous and deadly as terrorists, and they were operating far inside our borders well before 9/11 the decision to go into afghanistan was an easy one to make; or at least it was in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks, america learned all about al qaeda we were prepared to do whatever it took, spend whatever it cost, and deploy tens of thousands of our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen to effectively and efficiently do the job it seems like the job they've been doing is working, to an extent we haven't experienced a large terrorist attack on us soil since 9/11 and al qaeda is a shadow of its former self but do we know for a fact that our presence in afghanistan is the exact thing that's preventing more terrorist attacks? maybe, and maybe not most people don't want to take chances, and most people would say that terrorism is still the biggest threat to our national security i beg to differ let's switch gears for a minute to the drug war in mexico, where more than 30,000 people have been killed since president felipe calderón came into office and the annual body count goes up every december granted, most of the people being tortured, kidnapped or killed have historically been criminals involved in the drug trade however, that's changing we're seeing more and more innocent bystanders, including children, being gunned down as collateral damage the big concern, of course, is whether the violence is going to spill over into the united states but there are two real problems with this debate first, no standardized definition exists as to what constitutes border violence spillover it really is in the eye of the beholder, which means that if you ask a texas city mayor and an arizona rural border county sheriff whether they're seeing it, you're likely going to get two very different answers the second problem is that we're too focused on spillover in the border area to realize that mexican drug cartels have deeply infiltrated every corner of the united states, and they did so well before terrorism and religious extremists entered our national consciousness according to the us department of justice's national drug intelligence center, members of mexican cartels are operating in more than 270 us cities and thousands of smaller communities those same cartels dominate drug trafficking operations in places like los angeles, phoenix, houston, chicago, detroit, denver, atlanta and newark, new jersey violent gangs across the country act as their proxies and sell mexican drugs like marijuana, crystal methamphetamine, brown powder and black tar heroin, and colombian cocaine in our cities and neighborhoods from san diego to syracuse, new york so why don't we hear more in the media about the activities of mexican cartels on us soil? mostly because cartels like to keep a low profile and blend in drawing attention to cartel operations in the united states is very bad for business and our law enforcement officers can generally be depended on to do their jobs a big shootout in a san diego shopping district or downtown houston between dozens of heavily armed cartel gunmen and the us army isn't going to happen any time soon but that doesn't mean drug related violence isn't happening in the united states, and sometimes well away from the border in 2009, five mutilated bodies were found outside a drug stash house in a well to do northern alabama county dozens of law enforcement officers have been shot at and many severely injured by heavily armed men who work for mexican cartels defending marijuana crops in states like oregon, tennessee and north carolina closer to the border, last year, gang members from 'los palillos' were indicted in the kidnapping, torture and murder of nine people in san diego county two of those victims were dissolved in vats of acid after they were killed this is the real and current major threat to our national security tens of thousands of violent mexican cartel members who are living and operating under our noses in our cities, communities and public lands we've spent more than $365 billion on the war in afghanistan since 2001, and about 1,400 military members have lost their lives in the process we've committed only $16 billion to the drug war in mexico only a few hundred million of which has actually been spent since 2007 and our military isn't allowed to step one foot in country unless it's for training purposes in a time when our national deficit is skyrocketing and the collective belt is tightening, we need to take a good look at our priorities when it comes to national security so can our commitments to afghanistan and mexico be compared? maybe, maybe not we know the number of innocent americans who died as a result of terrorist attacks on us soil but we also have a rough idea of how many americans die every year as a result of using drugs being peddled by mexican cartels operating in our country i can assure you that the number of american drug casualties is much higher we also need to take into account the cost of interdicting even a small percentage of those drugs at the border, as well as the environmental toll that domestic marijuana cultivation is taking on our nation's landscape afghanistan and mexico can't be compared in the ways we're fighting those wars, but they certainly can in the ways our government chooses to assess and protect us from the threats they pose the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of sylvia longmire | omniproduction fille tartufian | no related information |
(cnn) virginia police detectives talked sunday for the first time with a 12 year old virginia girl and the man who allegedly kidnapped her and has been deemed a prime suspect in her mother's death roanoke county police detective john mcphail said that sunday morning he and three colleagues discussed the death of 41 year old tina smith with jeffrey scott easley, currently in police custody in san francisco, california, on warrants for abduction, credit card theft and credit card fraud while police are investigating tina smith's death as a homicide, they have not said how she died they also talked with brittany mae smith, tina's daughter, who police had been searching for since monday mcphail said the girl 'will be heading back to roanoke soon,' but did not disclose when exactly that might happen mcphail addressed reporters in front of san francisco's hall of justice at 2 pm (5 pm et) sunday, a day after he and his three fellow detectives arrived in california from virginia all four have been assigned a particular aspect of a case that involves both the abduction of brittany smith and the death of her mother he did not disclose what police talked about with easley or brittany smith, saying that the investigation was still ongoing roanoke county police chief ray lavinder said saturday that easley is a 'very good suspect' in the death of tina smith his girlfriend and brittany's mother who was found dead inside her salem, virginia, home last monday police believe that tina smith was killed sometime between the morning and evening of december 3, lavinder has said on that same day, surveillance video shows easley and brittany smith shopping for a blue, domed tent at a walmart in salem lavinder said that authorities believe the two left virginia, heading west toward california, on that night or early saturday, december 4 they traveled more than 2,300 miles in tina smith's silver 2005 dodge neon four door sedan, later located in a parking lot adjacent to san francisco international airport after authorities had found brittany smith and easley a tipster in a safeway supermarket in san francisco spotted the pair after seeing their images earlier on cnn, said san francisco police officer albie esparza the two had been holding up a cardboard sign and asking for money, lavinder said on sunday, mcphail said that he and the other virginia detectives visited the supermarket, as well as the area within walking distance where the tent had been found and easley and brittany smith had been staying esparza said brittany was turned over to california's child protective services division after she was found she has no visible injuries and has been in touch with family members, according to lavinder easley did not resist arrest, he added the chief has said easley met tina smith online this summer, then moved into the family home in october police issued an amber alert for brittany on monday after finding the body of her mother tina smith's co workers had called to express concern that she hadn't shown up for work authorities in florida and alabama followed suit with amber alerts in subsequent days, and notices went out to law enforcement nationwide authorities said they do not know if the girl went west willingly with easley regardless, with brittany smith safely located, virginia authorities say they have now turned their focus to the homicide investigation they are also trying to get easley back east, though an extradition hearing hasn't taken take place in california courts he could go to virginia relatively soon if he waives extradition, or the process may be delayed weeks if he contests his return | virginia jeffrey easley san francisco california easley tina smith | virginia police meet with jeffrey easley and the girl he allegedly abducted . they also went to the san francisco supermarket where the two were found . the girl and suspect were soliciting money outside the california store friday . easley is a 'very good suspect' in the death of tina smith, the girl's mother, police say |
(cnn) they wore feathers they wore fancy hats and of course, they wore fur never mind the human the dog in haute couture was the fashionistas' focus during pet fashion week but the models strutting down the runway were of the four legged variety the glamorous pooches were accompanied by human models but the furry ones were getting all the attention it was pet fashion week new york and these canines were not wearing the boring plaid raincoats that have sold for years they were wearing one of kind design creations the show last weekend was aimed at owners of sophisticated canines who may be willing to pay for their pup's own stylist booths at the annual event features couture clothing, jewelry and other accessories for the well dressed doggie all part of the $40 billion pet industry e mail to a friend | complanation derfly milers | no related information |
(cnn) a qantas passenger jet landed safely in singapore on friday after turning back due to engine problems shortly after takeoff, australian transport safety bureau spokesman neville blyth told cnn 'i saw flames five minutes into flight and we could see flames through the left side window,' said passenger terence sim it is the second qantas jet in two days to return to singapore as a result of engine trouble in friday's incident, the boeing 747 400 was carrying 412 passengers and 19 crew members and was headed to sydney, australia, according to a qantas spokesman, who would not provide his name, citing company policy on thursday, a qantas airbus a380 jet made an emergency landing at changi airport after one of its four engines shut down as it started a flight to sydney as the plane headed back to the airport, part of the engine's covering, or cowling, tore off airbus announced friday that it asked all operators of a380s with rolls royce engines to inspect them as a precaution the australian transport safety bureau says it has deployed investigators to examine the cause of thursday's engine failure on the airbus a380 and is currently gathering more information regarding friday's incident none of the passengers aboard the boeing 747 400 also had been aboard the airbus a380, according to the qantas spokesman | qantas singapore australian transport safety bureau boeing 747 400 | new: passenger says he saw flames outside the jet's left side window . qantas passenger jet lands safely in singapore . australian transport safety bureau has deployed investigators to singapore . boeing 747 400 is the second jet to return there as a result of engine trouble in two days |
(cnn) from 'mississippi masala' to 'vanity fair,' mira nair's movies have entranced audiences in india and the west cnn spoke to the director of 'monsoon wedding' and 'salaam bombay!' at the bollywood movie awards in long island about filmmaking in india and america and her adaptation of jhumpa lahiri's novel about loss and family, 'the namesake' film director mira nair cnn: what inspired you to make 'the namesake'? mira nair: i happened to read 'the namesake' on a plane in early 2004, when i traveled from new york to jo'berg to finish the filming of 'vanity fair' i read 'namesake' while in huge grief with the death of a beloved person to me [mira's mother in law] it was at that state of mourning that i picked up this novel, and in it jhumpa writes really acutely of a loss of a parent in a foreign country, and i thought i had been understood by someone it was also a story that linked the two cities in which i had grown up calcutta and new york city and it was almost certainly the road that i had traveled it just spoke to me and i felt compelled to do this film a few months later we were shooting it cnn: it's filmed in both india and new york, such different cultures tell us about the universal themes involved during the film nair: well, the story of movement and crossings is as old as the hills it's a tale of millions of us that have left one home for another, and tried to find out who we are through these places then when we have children, life gets more interesting it is about growing up through our adult lives and our children's lives it is also equally a love story between two people who come from a culture who don't send roses and diamonds for love; who sit at a kitchen table and look at each other it's about that generation of parents who have that stillness about one another, versus the clang and hustle of young gogol who is 15 and grows up in an american world because he wishes to be american that flow that see saw between parents and children, that's what 'the namesake' is about cnn: tell us about casting the role of gogol nair: well, kal penn plays gogol and he's known as a comic star, but i had no idea that he existed until my 15 year old son said, 'this has to be your gogol' i didn't take him seriously at all until every night the campaign mounted at home: 'tell me in the morning it's kal penn!' he would say and then kal wrote to me and told me he became an actor because he had seen 'mississippi masala' when he was eight years old and realized people on the screen could look like him, and other such seductive things he came to my office and auditioned and he was just so appealing, and so much the real thing, that i cast him as gogol cnn: how have indian audiences reacted to your heavily western influenced films? nair: it's not that different a kind of audience, that's what pleases me 'salaam bombay!' we really made for the children on the streets and the kids who really love that bollywood stuff, and also with 'deeply alternative,' which ran for 27 weeks 'monsoon wedding' was also a big hit in india but no, they don't come to my films for bollywood fare; it's a completely alternative thing in terms of audiences on both sides, i've been blessed: the films have been really well received and highly anticipated cnn: 'the namesake' was filmed in america and india what differences were there in the two locations? nair: in india it is more about orchestrating chaos, and it's about sifting the chaos, but i get especially excited about the throb and chaos on the streets and so on, and in america it's about paying for the chaos, you know every head has to be placed there and paid for cnn: 'the namesake' is about not losing the identity of indian culture was that a challenge? nair: i am at home in many cultures i live actively in three continents and i've done that for most of my life, so i just make films as i see the world, and that happens to speak to people i do things that i want to do it so happens because i am fluent in both worlds that my films enter both worlds, perhaps cnn: do indian and american audiences behave differently? nair: no, not really i think films have to reach people and really grab them that's what i hope to do when i make a film to get under your skin and really make you think about something, and have a transporting time that takes you somewhere e mail to a friend | monsoon wedding vanity fair salaam bombay the namesake jhumpa lahiri's gogol indian american | nair directed 'monsoon wedding,' 'vanity fair,' 'salaam bombay!'. her film, 'the namesake,' is based on jhumpa lahiri's novel . nair cast character of 'gogol' after teenage son's recommendation . nair: indian and american audiences 'not that different' |
hong kong (cnn) undeterred by the embarrassment of a failed rocket launch earlier this year, north korea appears to be pressing ahead with the development of long range missiles, according to an analysis of satellite images by a us academic website drawing on commercial satellite imagery, the website 38 north suggests that the reclusive north korean regime has carried out at least two tests of large rocket motors at the sohae satellite launch station on the country's west coast since april that's the same site from which the nuclear armed north launched a long range rocket on april 13 that broke apart shortly after takeoff pyongyang said the rocket was supposed to put a satellite in orbit, but the launch was seen by many other countries as cover for a ballistic missile test the most recent test of a large rocket motor at sohae took place in mid september, according to the analysis posted monday by 38 north, which is run by the school of advanced international studies at johns hopkins university 'these tests, critical for the development of new rockets, appear to have been of liquid fueled, first stage engines' for the type of satellite launch vehicle that failed in april or a new long range missile that was on show at a parade in pyongyang this year, 38 north said another big rocket launch would further sour north korea's relations with the united states and south korea the failed launch in april scuppered a deal for washington to provide thousands of tons of food aid to the north's malnourished population it also drew condemnation from the un security council, which repeated demands for pyongyang not to carry out similar tests in the future the botched launch followed previous attempts in 2006 and 2009 the difference this year was north korea's decision to invite members of the international news media inside the country during the launch period, allowing them to visit the sohae station ahead of the launch north korean state run media also reported the rocket's failure to put a satellite in orbit, something they hadn't done for the two previous launches but the setback hasn't stopped pyongyang from vaunting its alleged military capabilities last month, it said its missiles could reach the us mainland, a claim questioned by some analysts the unsuccessful satellite launches in 2006 and 2009 were both followed weeks or months later by nuclear tests that hasn't happened so far this time, but 38 north warned monday that it remains a possibility 'in the aftermath of the us and south korean presidential elections, pyongyang may embark on a new round of activities in the first half of 2013, including rocket and nuclear tests that will contribute to further development of its nuclear deterrent,' the website said president barack obama was reelected this month in the united states, and the south korean presidential election takes place next month south korean officials have said they believe the north is ready to carry out a nuclear test whenever leaders in pyongyang make 'a political decision' to go ahead with it the 38 north article monday also noted construction activity on the upper gantry platform of the launch area at sohae that would tally with future launches of long range rockets that are much larger than the one that failed in april the website said it had previously reported indications that north korea was working on such a rocket the analysis of the satellite pictures for 38 north was provided by nick hansen, who has specialized in image technology during a 43 year career in intelligence for the us military and private sector he pointed to the removal of fuel tanks, the appearance of exhaust stains and the apparent scorching of nearby vegetation between april and september as signs of rocket engine tests at sohae the south korean defense and unification ministries declined to comment on the article from 38 north cnn's kj kwon in seoul, south korea, contributed to this report | reciprocate hydroplaner motivationally | no related information |
(cnn student news) students will investigate the contributions of hispanic americans to us culture, and what it means to be an hispanic in america today procedure point out to students that hispanic heritage month (september 15 october 15) celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to spain, mexico and the spanish speaking nations of central america, south america and the caribbean according to the us census bureau, 'september 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five latin american countries: costa rica, el salvador, guatemala, honduras and nicaragua in addition, mexico and chile celebrate their independence days on september 16 and september 18, respectively' in observance of hispanic heritage month, send student groups on a multimedia scavenger hunt to investigate how hispanic americans have contributed to us culture, and the opportunities and challenges that exist for hispanics in america today pose the following questions to guide students' research: 1 according to the us census bureau, what is the estimated hispanic population of the united states? what percent of the total us population does this number represent? 2 what aspects of hispanic culture can be found in the us? 3 who are some hispanic americans who have had an impact in us politics and government? 4 who are some famous hispanic american musicians, artists, writers and actors? how have they impacted us culture? 5 what hispanic businesses exist in your community and other parts of the us? how have these businesses contributed to the us economy? 6 what issues have you seen or heard about in recent news that are of interest to the hispanic community? have groups share and discuss their findings with the class extension instruct each student to interview several hispanic american teens and adults to get their responses to the following question: what would you like other americans to know about what it means to be hispanic in america today? have students summarize the interviewees' responses and share them with the class related resources maps hispanic heritage independence day: september 15 cuba mexico dominican republic and puerto rico correlated standards social studies i culture social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity v individuals, groups and institutions social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions the curriculum standards for social studies (http://wwwsocialstudiesorg/standards/ are published by the national council for social studies (http://wwwsocialstudiesorg) | hispanic americans us hispanics america hispanic | students will investigate how hispanic americans have contributed to us culture . students will identify opportunities and challenges that exist for hispanics in america . students can use videos and maps to further their understanding of hispanic heritage |
miami, florida (cnn) a grand jury tuesday indicted four suspects on charges of first degree felony murder and armed burglary in the slaying of washington redskins star sean taylor a grand jury identified eric rivera jr as the shooter in the death of nfl star sean taylor court documents say the youngest is alleged to have fired the fatal shot the three adult suspects venjah k hunte, 20, jason scott mitchell, 19, and charles kendrick lee wardlow, 18 appeared in court tuesday via videoconference wearing thick green vests, which defense attorneys said were suicide safety smocks they were ordered held without bail at the pre trial detention center in miami, florida, where corrections officer janelle hall said they are under suicide watch the fourth suspect eric rivera jr, 17 remained in custody in fort myers, florida his attorney, wilbur smith, told cnn he expected his client to be moved to a miami dade juvenile detention facility wednesday watch cnn's rick sanchez speak to attorneys for two of the suspects » rivera was armed during the alleged burglary, and 'during the course of the commission of the offense discharged a firearm and as a result of the discharge, death or great bodily harm was inflicted upon sean maurice taylor, a human being,' the indictment says the four men were arrested friday, officials said taylor, 24, died a day after he was shot during an apparent burglary at his home miami dade police investigators said they believe the burglars thought the house was empty thousands of mourners attended taylor's funeral monday at florida international university's arena see photos from the funeral » police said taylor and his girlfriend, jackie garcia, were awakened by noise coming from the living room early november 26 taylor got up and locked the bedroom door, but the door was kicked in and two shots were fired, police said one struck taylor in the leg garcia and the couple's 18 month old daughter were not hurt authorities have said garcia told police she was hiding under the bedding during the attack, did not see what happened and could not provide a suspect description a break in had been reported at taylor's residence eight days earlier a police report from that incident said someone forced a window open and left a kitchen knife on a bed several drawers and a bedroom safe were searched during the break in, according to the report taylor spent four years with the redskins, earning his first pro bowl selection in 2006 he suffered a sprained right knee in a november 11 loss to the philadelphia eagles and had not played since the 2004 first round draft pick played at the university of miami, where he was an all american in 2003 he was regarded as one of the hardest hitting players in the nfl e mail to a friend cnn's kim segal and john couwels contributed to this report | 17 year old eric rivera jr miami wednesday sean taylor taylor last week | new: the 17 year old suspect allegedly fired the fatal shot . new: eric rivera jr will be moved to a miami dade facility wednesday, attorney says . three adult suspects in sean taylor slaying on suicide watch . taylor died after being shot in home invasion last week |
hollywood, florida (cnn) a man serving a life sentence for robbing a drugstore has confessed to overpowering and fatally shooting a deputy who was taking him to court wednesday, authorities said michael mazza, 40, was arrested outside a pawn shop in hollywood, florida, hours after the death of broward county deputy paul rein sparked a massive manhunt it was the third shooting of a broward county sheriff's deputy in four months, and the second fatality the incident happened as mazza was being taken to the second day of his trial in connection with the armed robbery of a coral springs bank, sheriff al lamberti said mazza was being transported in a medical van because of a medical condition, lamberti said the driver's compartment of the van was separated from the back by a cage or grill mazza and rein left about 8:05 am, lamberti said minutes later, a truck driver who saw all or part of the altercation near pompano beach called 911 'all of this transpired within six minutes that's all it took,' lamberti said the struggle began when rein apparently pulled the medical transport van over at an intersection the deputy's body showed other injuries from the fight a broken finger, bruises and cuts, lamberti said mazza allegedly took rein's service weapon away from him and shot him, authorities said although two shots were fired, rein was shot only once, the bullet entering his upper chest and exiting his lower back, lamberti told reporters after the shooting, mazza is believed to have thrown rein from the van and driven away a city public works employee later spotted the blood spattered van in fort lauderdale, lamberti said mazza, meanwhile, is believed to have hitchhiked his way down to hollywood, about 20 miles away he approached a man at a pawn shop and asked for a ride the man, who was headed to a second pawn shop, agreed when the man arrived at the second pawn shop, he left mazza in the car and went inside, lamberti said as he was talking to the clerk, a television in the shop began broadcasting news about the deputy's shooting, and showed a picture of mazza, he said the man 'tells the clerk, 'hey, i have that guy in my car,' ' lamberti said he went back to the car, took his keys, came back and told the clerk to call police mazza was arrested shortly afterward rein's gun was found with mazza in the man's car, the sheriff said mazza faces charges including first degree murder and escape, lamberti said he was being interviewed by police wednesday afternoon and was to appear before a judge at some point, he said, and afterward would be transported to dade county jail because the shooting was 'an emotionally charged event for all of us we feel it's probably better that he be housed at another facility outside of broward county,' lamberti said, and dade county agreed to house him mazza initially was reluctant to talk to authorities, but later agreed, and confessed to shooting rein, the sheriff said he offered no details lamberti said mazza was serving a life sentence for robbing a drugstore in coconut creek, correcting his earlier statement that mazza was serving two life sentences he was on trial for robbery of the coral springs bank broward county also has a pending case against mazza a february drugstore robbery in pompano beach, he said mazza was dressed in civilian clothes a suit rather than jail scrubs wednesday because he had a court date, authorities have said when caught, however, mazza was wearing a t shirt, shorts and sneakers, lamberti told reporters police are investigating whether he had planned the escape in advance and whether anyone helped him rein's co workers told reporters he was 'in outstanding condition physically' the sheriff's office has fitness for duty standards that deputies must meet broward county deputies conduct some 400 to 500 inmate court transports a day one deputy transporting up to a handful of inmates, lamberti said thin staffing and scant resources prevent more than one deputy being involved, he said 'it's a routine thing,' lamberti said 'but it shows, in this profession, nothing is routine, whether it be a domestic, a traffic stop or just transporting an inmate to court' as news of the escape broke, all 273 schools in broward county went on lockdown, according to nadine drew, a spokeswoman for the school system lamberti said rein's wife spoke to her husband by cell phone just 10 minutes before he was shot 'she said you never think it's going to happen to you,' the sheriff said the deputy was memorialized wednesday on the web site of the broward county sheriff's office visitors to the site were greeted by a photo of rein, with a caption saying, 'husband father friend' e mail to a friend | michael mazza mazza | new: deadly struggle 'transpired within six minutes that's all it took,' sheriff says . new: suspect faces charges including first degree murder and escape . incident happened as the deputy was transporting michael mazza to court . mazza was apprehended after a massive manhunt |
new york (cnn) after his state's coastline took the brunt of superstorm sandy, new jersey gov chris christie said friday that he expects power to be almost fully restored statewide by saturday night 'life will be back for most of new jersey to normal come sunday,' he told reporters more than 175,000 households in the garden state are still in the dark, and homes with saltwater electrical damage will have to be inspected by electricians before having their power restored 'some of those homes have already been disconnected,' said chris eck, a spokesman jersey central power & light, the state's second largest power provider 'we can't energize the circuit until we know the system is safe' christie's comments came after a tour of the jersey shore, where superstorm sandy ravaged homes and business 'much of the iconic boardwalk is buckled and much of the piers are out to sea,' he said 'the shore and boardwalk in seaside heights of my childhood no longer exists' 'this is our katrina,' the governor added still in the dark, frustration mounts in new york neighborhood to the north, some 20,000 households across new york city and westchester county remained without power another 150,000 homes in long island and harder hit areas of queens, such as rockaway peninsula, were also in the dark after the double blow of sandy and this week's nor'easter but in an attempt to deal with persistently long gas lines, new york police started enforcing a new alternating fuel ration system on friday drivers with license plates that end with a letter or an odd number could fill up friday, while those with even numbers or zero can fill up saturday 'i think it will make the lines go down,' sue powers of long island told cnn affiliate ny1 'waiting (in) line here for 8â½ hours is not fun' meanwhile, residents in long island who have been without power for 11 days expressed anger at elected officials at a rally friday, and the politicians deftly redirected the anger at the long island power authority, charged with restoring power local and federal officials who stood to speak before residents in oceanside, on long island, were met with boos and pointed questions about whether they had any power and how comfortable they were 'what are you doing for us?' some in the crowd shouted braving the boos, kate murray, presiding supervisor for the town of hempstead, suggested residents ask themselves where the utility officials are 'lipa is the only entity that can turn on your electricity where are they?' she said 'they won't talk to us we call them every day; they won't give us one answer' murray seemed to successfully shift the residents' cries against the politicians into chants of 'where is lipa? where is lipa?' 'lipa has absolutely abrogated all of its duties,' she said 'they should be wiped off the face of the earth' no one from the utility was present to address the anger in a written statement, the company said it has more than 8,200 linemen and tree trimming crews making progress 'when possible, we will restore power to customers who have been without power for the longest time,' the utility said in the statement 'your safety and well being remain our no 1 priority and we thank you for your continued patience during this difficult time' us rep carolyn mccarthy, d new york, tried to reassure residents that all their elected officials were working around the clock on their behalf 'everybody is suffering we have to get through this together, and we will get through this together,' mccarthy said meanwhile, the national park service announced the statue of liberty, which had been dark since superstorm sandy, was to be relit friday the national park foundation said the statue 'will once again shine as a beacon of hope, a bright testament to the strength and resilience of the united states and the steadfast ability of our citizens to join together and rebuild in the face of adversity' new jersey, where sandy made landfall october 29, put gas rationing rules into effect last week in 12 counties cold brings fresh misery to sandy victims christie told reporters thursday that the nor'easter, which brought cold and snow to the area, was responsible for 167,000 new outages but praised utility workers who were trying to get the lights and heat back on residents got a break from the cold weather on friday as temperatures rose into the upper 40s and lower 50s in new england, new york and new jersey after morning temperatures that dipped into the 30s | the garden state katrina new jersey's new york city long island superstorm sandy | new: more than 175,000 households in the garden state are still in the dark. 'this is our katrina,' new jersey's governor said . rationing is instituted to address a gas shortage in new york city and long island . the gas crunch came after superstorm sandy and a nor'easter hit the area |
san francisco, california (cnn) 'human error factors' probably were involved in a ship crash and oil spill that killed nearly 400 birds in san francisco bay and prompted a federal criminal probe, the us coast guard said monday a worker checks oil cleanup gear near the golden gate bridge thursday in san francisco, california the us attorney in san francisco has opened a federal criminal investigation into wednesday's crash of the mv cosco busan to determine whether the captain and crew violated federal maritime laws although not officially detained, the captain and crew were barred by law from leaving the vessel, which is docked for repairs in oakland, the coast guard said 'you had a competently manned ship with a pilot, all the navigation and sensors,' said adm thad allen, coast guard commandant there were 'probably some human error factors, but we need to determine the facts, because there's no reason a ship like that should have collided with the bridge' watch allen on the criminal probe » the cosco busan was departing oakland for south korea when it struck a tower supporting the western suspension span of the bay bridge, cutting a 212 foot, 12 foot wide gash in the ship's side about 58,000 gallons of heavy duty bunker oil poured out of the vessel as it was moored near treasure island see where oil spilled » the oil sickened birds and formed globules on more than 20 of the area's beaches it oozed along the san francisco city waterfront and out of the bay, beneath the golden gate bridge toward marin county allen defended the coast guard against criticism of its response to the spill some lawmakers, including one of the state's us senators, democrat barbara boxer, have criticized the coast guard's handling of the collision and resulting spill boxer said the coast guard initially reported that the ship's owner had said only 140 gallons had spilled from the cosco busan boxer and house speaker nancy pelosi of california have called for congressional hearings into the accident and resulting spill although allen conceded some confusion in the coast guard's communication, he said it did not reflect their response 'response was set into play within an hour of the event itself,' allen said monday regarding the initial low estimate of 140 gallons of lost oil, allen said heavy fog and damage to the ship's tanks hindered initial aerial and on ground evaluations of how much oil had leaked from the ship in addition to federal prosecutors, the national transportation safety board is investigating the accident, and ntsb spokeswoman debbie hersman said sunday that agency was interviewing the pilot, the ship's crew, and other pilots who were on the water at the time of wednesday's crash see photos of oil coating the bay » the crew had been on its inaugural voyage on the ship, which the current owner purchased last month, hersman said the ntsb also intends to review the ship's voyage data recorder, which should have recorded captain and crew conversations on the bridge and other information in the 12 hours leading up to the bridge collision, hersman said the oil spill has sparked concern among local officials and environmentalists as of sunday, 23 beaches in the area remained closed angel island state park, the bay's largest island, reopened monday, the coast guard said gov arnold schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency, freeing money to clean up the spill seven miles of containment boom stretched across the bay has collected more than 12,271 gallons of oil so far, and another 4,000 gallons have evaporated, officials said nearly 400 dead birds have been recovered from the bay, while another 500 birds have been rescued alive but soaked in oil, according to lisa curtis, administrator of the department of fish and games office of spill prevention and response in 1989, the oil tanker exxon valdez ran aground and fouled alaska's prince william sound with almost 11 million gallons of crude the nation's worst ever oil spill thousands of birds and animals died in the disaster, according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration often birds and animals are threatened when they come in contact with the oil and swallow it as they try to clean themselves, said the noaa web site in addition to birds, oil spills can be very harmful to fish and shellfish, noaa said twenty wildlife teams were scheduled monday to be the bay, working to find sick birds so they can be rehabilitated, curtis said on sunday, the state's other us senator and a leading coast guard official decried the accident 'this an incident which, in my view, should not have happened,' sen dianne feinstein, d california, said sunday after being briefed by coast guard officials rear adm craig e bone, the coast guard's director of inspection and compliance, echoed feinstein's comments 'this incident should have never ever occurred,' he said 'there's systems, there's capabilities, there's licensed operators, there's a pilot on board the vessel, there's the capacity and the capability to safely navigate through this port and waterways every day' he added, 'but we have to move beyond the incident and the fact that it occurred and move forward into the response' the california department of transportation said the collision did no structural damage to the bridge and there was no interruption of bridge traffic more than 250,000 vehicles daily e mail to a friend | coast guard cosco busan bay bridge feds 58,000 gallons | new: coast guard initial assessment: human error probably involved . it was crew's first voyage on cosco busan, which hit bay bridge in dense fog . crew not allowed to leave ship due to federal law, says coast guard . feds launch criminal probe; 58,000 gallons leaked and killed nearly 400 birds |
london (cnn) a retired bishop and a retired priest have been arrested by british police on suspicion of sexual offences against boys and young men one as young as 12 in the 1980s and 1990s the 80 year old former church of england bishop, from somerset in south west england, was questioned in connection with eight alleged offences before being released on medical advice police say the man the highest ranking church official to be arrested on abuse allegations will be questioned again at a later date his former colleague, a 67 year old retired priest from west sussex, in southern england, was questioned over two alleged offences before being released on bail pending further inquiries the pair are understood to have worked alongside each other in the chichester diocese, but police say the allegations are being treated separately, and that there is no suggestion that the men acted together the latest sexual abuse scandal to hit the uk this one rocking the anglican church comes after two other british institutions, the bbc and the nhs, were caught up in the case of jimmy savile, a british tv presenter accused of assaulting vulnerable teenagers peter saunders, of the national association for people abused in childhood (napac), told cnn his organization had been inundated with reports of abuse since the savile allegations came to light: 'we've had four or five times as many calls to our support line and emails and messages just in these last few weeks it is overwhelming i think what's happening is that we are recognizing, as a country, the huge extent of the problem of child abuse' detective chief inspector carwyn hughes of sussex police, who is leading the investigation, known as operation dunhill, said the church of england was co operating fully with police 'the force will always take seriously any allegations of historic sexual offending, and every possible step will be taken to investigate whenever appropriate,' he said in a statement 'allegations of historic offences are treated just as seriously as any more recent offences' the right reverend paul butler, bishop of southwell and nottingham and chair of the churches national safeguarding committee said in a statement: 'the church of england takes any allegations of abuse very seriously and is committed to being a safe place for all 'we have robust procedures and policies in place, but we can never be complacent we would like to urge any victims or those with information to feel free to come forward knowing that they will be listened to in confidence' butler said the cofe which wanted its churches to be 'places of safety and joy, righteousness and justice' had offered support to those involved in operation dunhill one of the alleged victims in the case told cnn he was grateful to the archbishop of canterbury, rowan williams, for instigating the review which had led to police investigating the abuse allegations, but said he wanted the church of england to issue an official apology sussex police insists that there are 'no allegations of recent or current offending' and that there is nothing to suggest any young people are currently at risk | british the chichester diocese the church of england sussex police | a retired bishop and a retired priest have been arrested by british police on suspicion of sexual offences . the pair are understood to have worked alongside each other in the chichester diocese . police say the church of england is co operating fully with them . sussex police insists that there are 'no allegations of recent or current offending' |
london, england (cnn) josephs and marys in search of a room at the inn this christmas are being made an offer they can't refuse mary and joseph ride a donkey to bethlehem in a performance of the nativity story near guildford, england a british hotel chain is promising free accommodation to couples who share their first names with the couple from the christian nativity story almost 30 josephs and marys had already signed up for the free night's stay at the travelodge, said shakila ahmed, a spokeswoman for the hotel chain 'the 'gift' of a free night's stay is to make up for the hotel industry not having any rooms left on christmas eve over 2000 years ago when the original 'mary and joseph' had to settle for the night in a stable,' the company says on its web site the offer is good at any one of the chain's 322 hotels in the united kingdom, the web site says the couples must bring proof of identity and must prove that they are in a long term relationship 'if you satisfy the criteria, you get a free night in a family room for two adults and two children,' ahmed said 'there's also parking space for a donkey if needed,' she joked ahmed said the offer, which will run from christmas eve to twelfth night december 24 to january 5 had been very well received 'we've had a lot of interest i think people like the fact that it resonates with the nativity story at a time when the actual meaning of christmas often becomes forgotten in festive overkill,' she said couples can register their names at a special e mail address set up by travelodge, which has hotels across the britain, ireland and spain, ahmed said e mail to a friend | nativity josephs marys | couples who share names with the couple from the nativity story get free room . almost 30 josephs and marys have signed up for the free night's stay . couples have to bring proof of identity . they also have to prove that they are in a long term relationship |
new york (cnn) in an effort to control the city's goose population and improve aviation safety, authorities slaughtered 1,676 canada geese across new york last summer, according to a recent us department of agriculture report officials from the agency's wildlife service eliminated 89% of the geese that reside within 7 miles of new york's two major airports after a 2009 incident in which birds flew into the engines of us airways flight 1549, the report said the collision forced the pilot, capt chesley 'sully' sullenberger, to make a dramatic landing in the hudson river the report released in november called new york's estimated 15,000 to 20,000 canada geese 'a significant aviation safety hazard,' describing the population as 'five times the amount that most people would find socially acceptable' but animal rights activists cry foul 'i fly out of the new york airports and i want to be safe just as much as the next person,' said stephen zawistowski, a spokesman for the american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals 'but there are a combination of nonlethal alternatives such as habitat management and reproduction control that can be implemented to prevent the need for a mass euthanasia of canada geese' the number of geese euthanized in 2010 was up 441 from the previous year, the report said the birds are generally rounded up when their feathers molt, rendering them unable to fly, said usda wildlife services spokeswoman carol bannerman they are then transported in crates and euthanized, she said the practice began in 2004 at new york's riker's island used as one of the city's primary prison complexes due to it's proximity to laguardia airport | canada new york last summer 89% new york's geese 2010 the previous year | authorities slaughter 1,676 canada geese across new york last summer . officials eliminated 89% of the geese near new york's two major airports . the number of geese euthanized in 2010 was up 441 from the previous year |
(cnn) it may take a lot of frequent flier miles, a penchant for cold places, a tolerance of taxes and regular doses of chocolate, but happiness could be within reach however, it's not where most people might expect journalist eric weiner says he wanted to explore the relationship between place and happiness just ask eric weiner, who made it his mission to find the most content places around the globe, uncovering lots of surprises along the way hungering for a tropical paradise? a warm climate doesn't necessarily make a happy nation, weiner said thinking of moving to a wealthy state? money can degrade happiness, he found weiner, who wrote the book, 'the geography of bliss: one grump's search for the happiest places in the world,' began his quest for very personal reasons 'i'm an unhappy person, so it's kind of what prompts a hungry person to search for food,' he said weiner spent 10 years as a foreign correspondent for national public radio, a job that took him to some of the least happy places in the world it was enough to send him on a yearlong journey to look for just the opposite weiner mapped out his quest with a combination of scientific and personal methods, choosing some countries because they traditionally score high on happiness surveys and selecting others to see how factors like money play a role a world map of happiness, based on 100 different studies and produced by britain's university of leicester in 2006, listed denmark as the world's happiest nation but for weiner, the place where he felt the most bliss was a toss up between bhutan and iceland, countries that ranked eighth and fourth, respectively, on the happiness map weiner's list of favorites also included thailand, india and switzerland see photos of his favorites and listen to him explain why they're happy » his top two picks, though very different countries, have unconventional paths to happiness, he said 'bhutan is probably the closest thing on earth to shangri la, that fictional paradise,' weiner explained he pointed out that while other countries focus on their gross domestic product, the himalayan kingdom proudly touts its policy of 'gross national happiness' 'the bhutanese very much believe that happiness should be part and parcel of every government decision,' weiner said cold place, warm relationships thousands of miles away, weiner found happiness in a very different environment, marveling at the creativity and 'coziness' of iceland 'everyone in iceland is a poet,' weiner recalled he visited the country during winter and said he found a certain beauty in the cold and the darkness such a chilly climate usually encourages warm relationships, weiner found 'the cold inspires people to cooperate, traditionally if you go back a few hundred years, people in cold climates have to cooperate or they die together it's that simple,' he said weiner found a different flavor of happiness in switzerland, where he discovered people are content partly because everything runs like clockwork simple pleasures like trains arriving on time contributed to national happiness, he said but there may be a much sweeter reason why switzerland is a happy place 'the swiss eat a lot of chocolate, and let's not forget that,' weiner said he was also impressed with how the swiss view money 'their attitude is that if you've got it, hide it while our attitude is if you've got it, flaunt it,' weiner said, comparing the swiss to americans weiner called the united states, which came in at no 23 on the university of leicester's world map of happiness, a nation that 'is not as happy as it is wealthy' the impact of wealth and taxes the relationship between money and happiness took weiner to the middle east and qatar, a country with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, thanks to oil and natural gas revenues, according to the cia world factbook 'i went there specifically to examine what happens when the entire country wins the lottery,' weiner said he found the wealth made the residents comfortable, but also degraded their level of contentment 'most of our happiness is derived from our relationships with other people,' weiner said 'the money in qatar has allowed them to wall themselves off, literally and figuratively, from other people that's not a recipe for happiness' there are no income taxes in qatar, but that's not a cause for contentment, weiner found some taxation is necessary for happiness because it's a way of being invested in a place, he argued 'you're giving money to someone else, a government, and you're trusting them to do something good with it,' weiner said 'in a country where there's no taxation at all, people don't have vested interests in how well the government performs you can't say, 'hey, those are my tax dollars at work'' quest creates buzz weiner's book has struck a chord, recently rising to the top 10 of the new york times nonfiction best seller list an expert who studies happiness said part of the book's appeal may lie in how weiner mapped out his journey 'he arranges an interesting itinerary because he uses science as his compass,' said daniel gilbert, a psychology professor at harvard university and the author of 'stumbling on happiness' gilbert said it's only recently that a combination of biology, sociology and psychology has been able to answer the 'where's and why's' of happiness, a subject that has always fascinated people 'the quest for happiness is the central preoccupation of human beings and has been for as long as there have been human beings,' gilbert said he echoed weiner's findings that bliss is other people 'everyone has been telling us for the longest time that happiness is about social relationships, well, bingo, they're right,' gilbert said meanwhile, after a year of exploring some of the world's happiest places, weiner the self described 'grump' said his mind set has improved somewhat 'i would describe myself as a recovering grump,' weiner said 'at this point, i think i am marginally happier than before i started the project' e mail to a friend | eric weiner bhutan earth shangri la iceland switzerland | journalist spent a year looking for the world's happiest countries . eric weiner: bhutan is probably the closest thing on earth to shangri la . he marvels at the creativity and 'coziness' of iceland . self described 'grump:' chocolate contributes to happiness in switzerland |
(cnn) police arrested an indian man for 'violating public decency' and breaching modesty laws after he dressed in traditional arab women's clothing and slipped into a women only park in sharjah, one of the united arab emirates it was not clear if the man's moustache might have been a weak point in his disguise read more: are these shorts too short? foreigners told to cover up in uae officers arrested the man friday after multiple complaints from visitors saying they spotted a man walking around the park in women's clothing a mug shot of the man wearing a headscarf and an abaya, a traditional loose fitting black garment, has been released by police and widely circulated in the local press the man, identified only by his initials, rsr, violated 'principles of public decency and societal customs and authentic arab islamic traditions,' sharjah police said in a news release issued saturday read more: islamic fashion lets women cover up in style it was later discovered that the man had been living in the country illegally and his case has been transferred to the public prosecutor's office, police said the man is in custody and has not been available for comment police would not reveal if he has a lawyer, saying only that the case is now with the public prosecutor the emirate of sharjah is only 10 miles from its glitzy neighbor, dubai, but is much more conservative the third largest emirate in the uae, sharjah is known for enforcing a strict dress code under which residents have to be attired decently by islamic standards ladies only parks, beaches and clubs are common | indian sharjah uae | an indian man is accused of 'violating public decency' in sharjah, part of uae . he donned women's clothing and sneaking into a women only park . it was not clear if his moustache might have been a weak point in his disguise |
(cnn) urine and feces have been a hot topic among hong kongers the past week, leading to chinese netizens calling for a boycott of hong kong on june 1 it all began with a dispute between locals and chinese mainland tourists over a toddler who reportedly answered the call of nature on a hong kong street videos of the clash went viral over the last week, stirring online uproar in both hong kong and the mainland, prompting foreign policy to brand the incident 'bladdergate' several video clips capturing the alleged event have spread around the internet in one, seen by cnn, a hong konger can be seen yelling 'we have called the police,' while the enraged father asks, 'do you have kids? don't your kids need to pee?' the mother claimed not to know where the toilets were some locals came out in the parents' defense, saying, 'don't scare the kid it's not a big deal' the fiasco ends when the police arrive the parents were arrested on suspicion of theft and assault, but were not charged under hong kong's public cleansing and prevention of nuisances regulation, no person in care or custody of any child under 12 years of age shall permit, without reasonable cause, such child to answer the call of nature in public places the man was released unconditionally while the woman was released on bail and has to report back to the police in mid may the boycott pledge when news of the clash hit the internet, many chinese netizens called out hong kongers for their perceived lack of empathy and for filming the urinating toddler hong kongers countered that it was uncivilized for chinese parents to let their kids urinate on the street one chinese netizen on a popular chinese forum, tianya, pledged to boycott hong kong from june 1 'if us, the mainlanders, stopped traveling to hong kong for months, they will come begging us to go back,' he said in his declaration 'we are not entirely sealing off hong kong but just to show them we are god as we are the consumers' some netizens agreed with the action while some said it might be a conspiracy to stir conflicts between the two parties as hong kong 2017's universal suffrage's public consultation is on the way hong kong has been fighting for a universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017, which has in the past been chosen by a small group of elites and said to be influenced by the chinese government on the other hand, similarly irritated hong kong netizens were thrilled at the prospect of a boycott 'who cares for your money, you who think shopping is an act of charity,' said one commenter on apple daily, a local news website 'remember to keep your promise and never come to hong kong again' another said, 'it's the first movement both hong kong and china support!' mass urination? the fiasco has escalated to another, smellier level another pledge on the same forum was posted under the heading 'declare war on hong kong's civilization!' the poster asks chinese tourists to let their children relieve themselves on the streets of hong kong during the upcoming labour day holiday, which spans a week from may 1 hong kong netizens called for a photography competition on facebook in response, telling locals to take photos as evidence if toddlers are seen relieving themselves in public places sohu, a popular online news outlet and platform in china, even conducted a survey on the incident, asking: 'a mainland toddler spotted urinating on the street of hong kong was reported to the police what do you think?' out of more than 260,000 responses, about 40% said they consider it a prejudice against mainlanders by hong kongers another 40% thought it's understandable that a child would urinate on the street if there's a line of people outside the washroom global times, a tabloid owned by the state news media people's daily, quoted academics on the case 'some hong kong citizens, especially the young, have no cultural identification with the mainland and they have always seen mainlanders as uncivilized people,' said zhu shihai, a professor from the central institute of socialism, in the global times zhu dismissed the incident, saying hong kongers were being 'overdramatic, in this case' zhang dinghuai, a professor at the contemporary chinese politics research institute of shenzhen university, told the global times that people with vicious intentions have deliberately upgraded a simple incident into a conflict | insouciant syenodiorite kingston | no related information |
(cnn) in the last 30 plus years, bob pittman has helped found mtv, became a successful producer, headed time warner's six flags theme parks division, ran the century 21 real estate company, took over aol in its formative years and was chief operating officer of the merged aol time warner now he's getting back to his roots: radio three years after making an investment in the sometimes maligned clear channel, the largest radio company in the united states, he's the ceo in a phone interview with cnn, his mississippi twang contrasting with his rapid fire delivery, pittman talked about why he got back into radio, his responses to criticism of clear channel and lessons he's learned during his career, which started at a radio station in brookhaven, mississippi, when pittman was 15 the following is an edited and condensed version of the interview: cnn: why do this? bob pittman: as i began looking at the company a couple years ago, i was stunned to find the real facts by reading the press, i thought that radio was somehow in trouble and was following the path of television and having all sorts of fragmentation problems, and nothing could be further from the truth it's been remarkably stable and when i looked at technology, i looked at it as an opportunity, not a risk cnn: in recent years, with voice tracking and consolidation of personnel, clear channel has seemed to become less local do you want to bring it back to its local base? pittman: i think it is still local, and i think people have misinterpreted what we're doing if people think we're making things less local we're still providing the news and the weather and the emergency services and local contests, local promotions, etc what we're able to do now is we're able to tap into a lot of talent we've got nationally we have the ability for the person from a remote studio to still talk about the town, and we have local people in the town who are directing the person as to what's important and developing those local relationships local is still paramount to us and very important to making a radio station a radio station cnn: there were cutbacks over thanksgiving how does that fit in with the overall plan? pittman: actually, our head count has not gone down as a company we're constantly rebalancing technology has changed the way we work and where we need our people we've built an entire national advertising sales and marketing and partnership group we've added technology groups, an entire digital group the way we're doing business today is trying to reflect the way people are living it's one of the problems with any company started after the internet you really have to go in and adjust it to new technology cnn: there are all kinds of other technologies jockeying with radio how do you compete against them? pittman: we don't compete with that i think again you've got to go back and look at what radio is radio is very different from someone's music collection, and the two have always co existed very well together your music collection is really where you curate music exactly for you at that moment you're living, and you don't want any interruptions radio is actually the exact opposite yes, we play music, (but) turning on the radio is like walking into your favorite bar where everybody knows you and you know them, and you say, 'what's up?' so we tell you about new music, we play new music, we've got gossip, we've got call ins, we've got listeners on the air, we've got contests, we've got jokes you hit your favorite personality who is really like your best friend people have always had music collections (and) always had radio that hasn't changed cnn: how does (clear channel's website) iheartradio fit in? pittman: what we want is to find more listening occasions about 30% of the listening to stations on iheartradio is done to stations outside their markets if you're sitting in brookhaven, mississippi, and you want to find out what's going on in new york, you might tune in to z100, the same way when i was a kid growing up in brookhaven, mississippi, i listened to wls in chicago because i was fascinated to listen to a slice of the big city in addition to that, we do the custom radio stations, like a pandora a playlist creator and perfect four, playlists created for certain activities we also have facebook deeply embedded in iheartradio, which allows people to share what they're doing, so it becomes a social experience as well in terms of the digital revolution we're way behind, but we do think it's a terrific opportunity for us cnn: what are the positives and negatives about being the 800 pound gorilla? pittman: we're no 1 in all media just our radio (stations) reach 239 million people a month but when people call you an evil empire, what they're saying is, you're not doing anything new and exciting and i think the opposite side of having a big platform to play with is you can do great stuff we try to be very attuned to what's important to our listeners, and we have an obligation to help our listeners and help our communities and we view part of our job is to connect the music to the fans that's what radio does cnn: what are some of the lessons you've learned in your career? pittman: the good news is i've been in a lot of different industries i spent many years in the internet business, i was there at the birth of the national cable networks, i've been an advertiser (the late time warner chief) steve ross taught me to take chances don't ever think you've arrived (entrepreneur) henry silverman gave me great lessons about controlling costs and making sure you're really getting a return on your money we funded our digital growth and these great initiatives by getting rid of some things that were legacy that weren't applicable to operations today it's constantly being in touch both with the consumer and being realistic as to where technology is today and where we need to be allocating our resources | telautomatics allusively unimpassionedness | no related information |
(cnn) arsenal have secured their passage to the knockout stages of the champions league with a 3 1 win over partizan belgrade in group h theo walcott came off the bench to score a crucial second half goal for the gunners as they made sure of second place in the group arsene wenger's team dominated possession for much of the match but their finishing lacked precision against a poor partizan side robin van persie opened the scoring for the home side after half an hour smashing home a penalty kick after he had been brought down by jovanovic samir nasri should have doubled their lead two minutes into the second half after the ball broke to him in space in the penalty area, but he fired high over the bar arsenal were made to pay for the french midfielder's profligacy four minutes later when cleo scored for the visitors when his deflected shot beat keeper fabianski wenger responded by sending on theo walcott who then delivered the vital second goal, taking advantage of some sloppy partizan defending to volley home from six yards in the 73rd minute nasri made up for his earlier miss three minutes later, driving the ball low past stojkovic after some neat work from alex song the only disappointment for arsenal was bacary sagna's red card for a foul on aleksandar lazevski with four minutes remaining second half goals from razvan rat and adriano ensured shakhtar donetsk claimed top spot in the group as they beat braga 2 0 at home the ukrainian champions finished with 15 points arsenal has to settle for second place with 12 points in group e, bayern munich finished top of the table with 15 points after a comfortable 3 0 home win over basel the swiss side's hopes of progressing to the knockout stages were ended by two quick goals by bayern in the first period franck ribery opened the scoring after 35 minutes with anatoliy tymoschuk doubling the lead two minutes later the french star made it 3 0 five minutes after the break when he side footed home after thomas muller's low cross from the right roma, who only required a point to secure second spot behind bayern, were on course to grab all three until their hosts cfr cluj scored a late equalizer the serie a side took the lead after 21 minutes as the romanian side gifted them possession in their own half fabio simplicio then sent through marco borriello who slotted the ball past eduard stancioiu in goal but lacina traore equalized for the home side with only two minutes of normal time remaining but the point couldn't stop cluj finishing bottom of the group with only four points from their six games chelsea's slump in form continued as they lost 1 0 to marseille at the stade velodrome, but still topped group f with 15 points marseille, who had already secured second place, scored a late winner as brandao turned the ball past petr cech in the 81st minute spartak moscow beat their hosts msk zilina 2 1 to finish the group stage in third place with nine points slovakian champions zilina took the lead in the 48th minute with a goal from tomas majtan, but spartak struck back six minutes later as alex struck home confidently, while ibson made sure of three points in the 61st minute meanwhile in group g, real madrid hammered auxerre 4 0 as karim benzema scored a hat trick the frenchman striker opened the scoring after 12 minutes heading home a cristiano ronaldo cross ronaldo then made it 2 0 shortly after halftime smashing the ball into the roof of the net after latching onto a pass from marcelo benzema bagged his second in the 72nd minute firing low past olivier sorin and claimed a third two minutes before time the win means madrid finish on top of the group with 16 points, while ac milan were second with eight points in the other match in group g, caretaker manager frank de boer registered his first win for ajax as they overcame ac milan in the san siro jol quits ajax amid newcastle rumors the visitors were unlucky not to be ahead at half time as the serie a leaders failed to find any rhythm but ajax made the breakthrough 12 minutes into the second half thanks to a goal from demy de zeeuw toby alderweireld made it 2 0 after 66 minutes to ensure three points and a place in the europa league | unnagging rittmaster squamomastoid | no related information |
(cnn) protection from the sahara's howling dust storms may have helped the sphinx maintain its steady gaze over the millennia newly discovered walls on the giza plateau were part of an enclosure to protect the sphinx from wind borne sand, egypt's supreme council of antiquities says according to some texts, the walls were built by king thutmose iv (1400 1390 bce) because of a dream he had during a hunting trip, the council's secretary general, zahi hawass, said tuesday 'in the king's dream the sphinx asked the king to move the sand away from his body because it choked him,' hawass said in a written statement for the favor, the sphinx promised to make thutmose iv king of egypt until the discovery of sections of the walls buried in the sand on the eastern and southern side of the giant figure, archaeologists believed there was a wall only on its north side the new sections are part of a larger wall, hawass said one wall runs north south and is 282 feet (86 meters) long, while the other runs east west and is 151 feet (46 meters) long both walls stand about 3 feet (1 meter) tall researchers also may have found the remains of a wall dating to the time of king khafre, whose pyramid is the second largest in giza khafre's burial complex boasted an unprecedented profusion of statues, among them the sphinx, according to national geographic carved from bedrock in front of khafre's pyramid, the sphinx depicts the pharaoh as a human headed lion, wearing the headdress of the pharaohs | sphinx khafre | walls are found along two more sides of the sphinx . they were used to protect the giant carving from the wind . the sphinx is near the khafre pyramid |
london (cnn) a british businessman who is accused of having his wife killed during their honeymoon in south africa will be allowed to leave jail on bail, a judge decided friday shrien dewani is accused of hiring a crew of hitmen to kill his wife during a taxi ride in cape town, south africa in november british judge duncan ousely rejected concerns from the south african government that dewani would use his funds and international connections to flee before an extradition hearing ben watson, a lawyer for the south african government, cited hotel surveillance video that he said showed dewani twice meeting with a cab driver as the sort of evidence indicating dewani's involvement in a plot against his wife but ousely ruled that dewani, who did not attend the hearing, had a genuine interest in clearing his name and said he has cooperated with investigators from both england and south africa dewali's solicitor, andrew katzen, said he was 'delighted' with the outcome but declined further comment following the court hearing dewani, who is jailed in london's wandsworth prison, will be allowed to stay at his parents' home he will be required to report to a police station in bristol every morning a court hearing has been temporarily scheduled for jan 20, but it is unclear when south africa will submit a formal extradition request dewani's lawyers say he is innocent and will fight extradition dewani's wife, anni dewani, died in an apparent carjacking as the couple took a taxi ride in a crime ridden neighborhood of cape town dewani was allowed to leave south africa, but this week prosecutors there accused him of hiring a crew of hitmen to kill his wife 'the alleged hijacking was in fact not a hijacking, but part of a plan of subterfuge which shrien dewani, the husband of the deceased and the accused, had designed to conceal the true facts that the deceased was murdered at the instance of the husband,' south african prosecutors wrote in court documents in the documents, prosecutors detail meetings that dewani had with the taxicab driver where where he allegedly paid the driver 15,000 south african rand ($2,170) to have a crew of hitmen kill his wife and make it look like a carjacking the court documents do not say why dewani allegedly wanted his wife dead the driver, zola tongo, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in south africa after admitting to taking part in the killing cnn's nkepile mabuse contributed to this report | south africa south african dewani | businessman accused of arranging fatal hit on his wife in south africa is granted bail . the couple's cab driver told authorities of the alleged murder plot . south african authorities want dewani extradited |
(cnn) a judge could decide next week whether some or all of the details in search warrants related to the death of a 10 year old disabled north carolina girl will be made public police found some of zahra baker's remains on november 11, just over a month after her stepmother elisa baker reported her missing while elisa has been charged with obstruction of justice for writing a fake ransom note and leaving it at the family's hickory home no one has been charged directly in her death meanwhile, the investigation has continued, with detectives requesting numerous warrants related to the case they asked for an additional 15 sealed warrants on wednesday in catawba county court, on top of the many they requested previously a motions hearing is scheduled for monday, december 13, to determine if details of any, some or all of the sealed warrants will be released some of the search warrants obtained by the hickory, north carolina, police were made public earlier this month, giving a glimpse into the grisly events that could have led to the death of the freckled face girl, who lost part of her left leg at age 5 to cancer according to one of the search warrants, a tipster told police that zahra had been at a north carolina home with two men and one of the men said 'he had done something very bad and needed to leave town' one of the men was associated with zahra's stepmother but was not zahra's father, the tipster said the tipster also told police that zahra had been raped by both men and that she had blood on her private area and legs, the search warrant said the tipster told police that he got the information about the alleged rape from a friend who was told about it from his sister police went to the home to see if they could confirm the fourth hand information and found a mattress at the side of the house that 'had a large dark stain in the middle,' the search warrant said the tipster said the men did not admit to killing the girl but did say that they 'might have hit her in the head,' the search warrant said police were also told by an attorney for elisa baker that the girl was dismembered in one search warrant, dated october 27, police say they were looking for 'latex gloves used while the body of zahra baker was dismembered' they also were searching for 'white trash bags used to store body parts,' the warrant said in that warrant, police were seeking to search the hickory home that zahra lived in with her stepmother and father adam troy baker besides the obstruction of justice charge, elisa baker is accused of writing worthless checks police have said she had been cooperating with investigators, including going with them to a search site adam troy baker was arrested in late october in nearby catawba county on eight charges: five counts of writing bad checks and three counts of failing to appear in court authorities said the charges were unrelated to zahra's disappearance, and he was later released on bail insession's jessica thill contributed to this report | zahra baker 10 monday zahra november 11 a month | a key hearing related to the investigation of zahra baker, 10, will happen monday . a judge could decide to release search warrants from detectives probing her death . zahra's remains found november 11; over a month after she was reported missing . a tipster had suggested zahra may have been raped, per earlier released warrants |
(cnn) a saudi arabian human rights attorney is asking the government to allow him to represent a woman who was gang raped and then sentenced to prison for speaking out about the case human rights groups want saudi arabia's king abdullah to drop charges against the rape victim the attorney, abdulrahman al lahim, had his license revoked last week by a judge for speaking to the saudi controlled media about the case, al lahim told cnn the judge more than doubled the sentence against al lahim's 19 year old client because she spoke to the media about the case, a court source told arab news, an english language middle eastern daily newspaper the woman who was initially sentenced in october 2006 to 90 lashes had her sentenced increased to 200 lashes and was ordered to serve six months in prison under saudi arabia's strict islamic law 'we were shocked,' al lahim said of the increased sentence cnn has been unable to reach saudi government officials for comment on this report, despite repeated requests watch the emotional toll the crime took on the rape victim » al lahim had petitioned the court to sentence the attackers to the death penalty, but instead the court agreed to increase their jail sentences, which had been two to three years, to two to nine years, al lahim said the case has sparked outrage among human rights groups 'barring the lawyer from representing the victim in court is almost equivalent to the rape crime itself,' said fawzeyah al oyouni, founding member of the newly formed saudi association for the defense of women's rights 'this is not just about the girl, it's about every woman in saudi arabia,' she said 'we're fearing for our lives and the lives of our sisters and our daughters and every saudi woman out there we're afraid of going out in the streets' human rights watch said it has called on saudi arabia's king abdullah 'to immediely void the verdict and drop all charges against the rape victim and to order the court to end its harassment of her lawyer' the woman, who is married, and an unrelated man were abducted and she was raped by a group of seven men more than a year ago, the lawyer said the male victim was also given an increased sentence of 200 lashes and six months in prison, al lahim said the man and woman were attacked after they met so she could retrieve an old photograph of herself from him, according to al lahim citing phone records from the police investigation, al lahim said the man was trying to blackmail his client he noted the photo she was trying to retrieve was harmless and did not show his client in any compromising position al lahim said the man tried to blame his client for insisting on meeting him that day it is illegal for a woman to meet with an unrelated male under saudi's islamic law al lahim has been ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing at the ministry of justice next month, where he faces a possible three year suspension and disbarment, according to human rights watch he told cnn he has appealed to the ministry of justice to reinstate his law license and plans to meet with justice minister abdullah bin muhammad bin ibrahim al al sheikh 'currently she doesn't have a lawyer, and i feel they're doing this to isolate her and deprive her from her basic rights,' he said 'we will not accept this judgment and i'll do my best to continue representing her because justice needs to take place' he said the handling of the case is a direct contradiction of judicial reforms announced by the saudi king earlier this month 'the ministry of justice needs to have a very clear standing regarding this case because i consider this decision to be judiciary mutiny against the reform that king abdullah bin abdulaziz started and against saudi women who are being victimized because of such decisions,' he said saudi arabia's islamic law or sharia is not written and, therefore, subject to a wide array of interpretations human rights watch points out that a judge in jeddah threw out a lawyer simply because he was a member of the ismaili faith, a branch of shia islam under saudi law, women are subject to numerous restrictions, including a strict dress code, a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man's permission to travel or have surgery women are also not allowed to testify in court unless it is about a private matter that was not observed by a man, and they are not allowed to vote the saudi government recently has taken some steps toward bettering the situation of women in the kingdom, including the establishment earlier this year of special courts to handle domestic abuse cases, adoption of a new labor law that addresses working women's rights and creation of a human rights commission christoph wilcke of human rights watch praised the female rape victim and her attorney for speaking out about the case, which he said may be indicative of 'many injustices that we still don't know about' 'it's not only one court, it is the saudi government that is fully behind punishing a woman who's been raped [and] punishing the lawyer who's trying to help her and doing that both because they've spoken to the media,' wilcke told cnn 'and if they hadn't spoken to the media, we wouldn't know about it' shying away from criticism of key ally, state department spokesman sean mccormack called the case and the punishment 'surprising' and 'astonishing' 'while this is a judicial procedure part of a judicial procedure overseas in courts outside of our country, still while it is very difficult to offer any detailed comment about this situation, i think most people would be quite astonished by the situation, ' mccormack said 'i can't get involved in specific court cases in saudi arabia dealing with its own citizens but most people here would be quite surprised to learn of the circumstances and then the punishment meted out,' he said e mail to a friend cnn's saad abedine and mohammed jamjoom contributed to this report | nonpassionately averse stumpknocker | no related information |
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