text
stringlengths 102
11.9k
| query
stringlengths 2
806
| summary
stringlengths 22
3.99k
|
|---|---|---|
(cnn) saudi king abdullah has pardoned a rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison in a case that sparked international attention, a saudi newspaper has reported the case cast light on the treatment of women under saudi arabia's strict islamic law al jazirah newspaper quoted a saudi justice ministry official saying king abdullah issued a royal pardon monday the same day that the hajj, the annual muslim pilgrimage to mecca, begins in saudi arabia the victim's husband told cnn he has not received an official letter regarding her pardon, but considers it to be legitimate since it was announced in an official saudi newspaper he thanked king abdullah for the pardon, saying: 'this fatherly care and noble gesture will help (in) lifting the emotional and psychological stress and suffering that our family has been enduring' 'this is not something new because we know that the king was always generous in dealing with his people and the entire world,' the husband said 'this week, we have two holidays to celebrate; the eid and this great news of the pardon' saudi sources told cnn that the king's pardon was not related to the beginning of the hajj nor the eid al adha festival that follows, which is normally when the saudi monarch issues amnesty for prisoners watch how arab media is reporting the story » saudi arabia's justice minister abdullah bin mohammad al sheikh told al jazirah newspaper that the king felt the pardon would be in the best interests of the saudi people, and the decision did not reflect any lack of confidence in the saudi justice system the white house welcomed king abdullah's decision, but national security council spokesman gordon johndroe stressed that 'this is obviously a matter for the saudi arabians and king abdullah' a saudi court ruled the 19 year old had an 'illegitimate relationship' with a man who was not her husband, and that she was raped after she and the man were discovered in a 'compromising situation, her clothes on the ground' the rape took place in qatif in march 2006 when the woman was engaged to be married the case has drawn international attention, provoked outrage in the west and cast light on the treatment of women under strict islamic law in saudi arabia the woman was meeting with a man described by the woman's attorney as a former friend from whom she was retrieving a photograph when they both were abducted last march seven men, convicted of abducting the pair and raping her, were sentenced from two to nine years in prison abdul rahman al lahim, the lawyer who represented the woman, faced a disciplinary hearing for 'insulting the supreme judicial council and disobeying the rules and regulations' of the judiciary the hearing has been postponed the woman's husband has been outspoken in his support for his wife he called a lebanese tv show to defend her, when a former saudi judge claimed on the program that she 'spoil(ed) their marital bed' by meeting an unrelated male 'in secret' and admitted her guilt al lahim has said he hopes the case changes the saudi justice system 'we want to highlight the rape crimes in saudi arabia and the way they are handled and sentenced in court,' he added 'this is a new era for all of us' he said that the rape case had elicited a fierce response, including calls for his beheading us president george w bush said last week that king abdullah 'knows our position loud and clear' on the case 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 e mail to a friend cnn's mohammed jamjoom, saad abedine and isha sesay contributed to this report | mislearnt cadiueio carpophyl | no related information |
seoul, south korea (cnn) south korea on monday reprimanded five senior military officials after admitting that a north korean soldier had managed to cross the heavily patrolled border between the two countries undetected and knock on the door of his enemy's barracks revelations about the ease with which the north korean soldier reached the south korean side of the border, considered to be the most heavily militarized in the world, have prompted criticism of the nation's military read more: s korea fires warning shots at n korean fishing boats the soldier, whose name and rank were not disclosed, jumped three barbed wire fences along the eastern part of the border without being spotted on october 2, according to the south korean defense ministry he was picked up by south korean soldiers in the province of kangwon only after he knocked on a barracks door, wishing to defect, the ministry said he had escaped from his unit and traveled about 50 kilometers (31 miles) through north korean territory to get to the border zone south korean defense minister kim kwan jin made a public apology in a live broadcast on national television monday, calling the incident 'a clear failure in security operations' 'as the defense minister, i express sincere apology for causing concern to our people,' he said read more: n korea taunts s korean candidate with 'gangnam style' inspired video kim said a lieutenant general, two major generals and two brigadier generals were facing disciplinary action he also pledged to enhance security measures and increase the number of soldiers around the border area the security breach was deemed 'lamentable' in an editorial last week by the korea times, an english language newspaper 'what if the defector were an agent armed with guns and grenades who sneaked into the barracks on orders from the north?' the editorial asked it also criticized the initially misleading information about the situation from defense officials the south korean military had announced a subsequent defection across the border on october 6, in which a north korean solider on guard duty at the border told authorities in the south that he had killed his superiors before fleeing across the military demarcation line north korean soldier shoots comrades before defecting to south at the time, defense officials said it was the first defection over land since march 2010 but news of the controversial october 2 defection and another in september later emerged after a south korean lawmaker, kim kwang jin from the main opposition democratic united party, questioned officials from the joint chiefs of staff in a parliamentary hearing last week in a statement, he criticized the 'lies and deception from the military' according to the lawmaker, at least 10 divisions from the south korean army and two marine corps divisions are guarding the roughly 250 kilometer long border area defections over land through the heavily armed and patrolled border area are rare, as most prefer to try crossing by sea or going through china more than 24,000 refugees have entered the south from the north since the country's division, according to the ministry of unification in seoul | north korea south korea this month north korean the past two months south korean | the north korea south korea border is considered the most heavily militarized in the world . this month, a north korean soldier crossed it undetected . he is one of three defectors in the past two months, a lawmaker says . the south korean defense minister apologizes for the security failure |
london, england (cnn) claims by diana's former butler that he knew a mysterious 'secret' about the late princess have been trashed by the coroner in her inquest diana's former butler has given conflicting information at the enquiry into her death the coroner said the information was already in the public domain and some of it was even mentioned in one of paul burrell's own books considered the first star witness of the inquest, burrell's appearance tuesday was delayed after the coroner asked him to retrieve the last letter the princess gave him monday, the ex butler once described by the princess as 'her rock' told the inquest the letter contained a 'secret,' which he claimed he could not remember after returning to london from his home in northern england tuesday, burrell said the letter was not there, but at his home in florida he then handed the coroner a note that he said contained the supposed secret the coroner revealed that what burrell referred to was that diana was planning to buy property to live in part of the time and that the location may have been in the united states or south africa the coroner said the revelation is 'fairly and squarely in the public domain' and that some of the information appeared in burrell's book 'the way we were' explaining the apparent discrepancies in his testimony, burrell said he was confused by the cross examination, which he described as 'horrid' and 'disgraceful' the questioning of the former butler is expected to continue wednesday diana and her boyfriend, dodi fayed, died in a paris tunnel in the early hours of august 31, 1997, along with their driver, henri paul they had driven away from the ritz hotel in a black mercedes with paparazzi chasing behind there has been speculation that the couple had planned a big announcement the night they died photographers have testified they had heard rumors diana would say she was getting engaged to fayed or having a baby watch report on claims about diana's marriage plans » burrell did not take the stand until tuesday afternoon earlier in the day, the inquest heard from diana's former lawyer, who said the princess had claimed queen elizabeth was planning to abdicate in april 1996 and allow prince charles to be king maggie rae said at the inquest that diana also believed there was a plot to seriously injure her in an accident rae said the claims came at a meeting with her legal team at kensington palace in which the princess also made clear her belief that the succession of the english crown should skip a generation to her son, william the morning's evidence also heard that britain's top police officer had advised the queen against allowing diana to go on holiday with mohamed al fayed, the father of dodi in a note from chief superintendent dai davies, head of the royal protection squad, that was read out to the court, it was stated that he and metropolitan police commissioner sir paul condon believed that the planned holiday was 'unwise' al fayed a successful businessman and owner of the london luxury store harrods was considered a controversial figure at the time diana defied the advice and went on the trip it was during this holiday on the tycoon's luxury yacht in the french resort of st tropez that she met dodi fayed during her testimony, rae also gave an insight into the princess's lifestyle, which she described as 'odd' and 'lonely' she said she did not believe diana's claims of a conspiracy against her 'i remember one occasion when she told me about her weekend and she had been alone in those rather silent set of apartments she had heated her own food in the microwave,' rae told the court 'i thought she lived in a very odd environment i thought she was quite lonely' e mail to a friend cnn's melissa gray contributed to this report | diana paul burrell coroner burrell | claims by diana's butler that he knew 'secret' about her trashed by coroner . paul burrell asked to testify about the last letter the late princess gave him . coroner revealed burrell's 'secret' was diana planned to buy property abroad . but coroner said the revelation is 'fairly and squarely in the public domain' |
(cnn) there are some sports figures who, no matter who else is playing, make you simply want to turn on the television to see what kind of excitement they will bring to the game barry sanders deion sanders michael jordan reggie jackson wayne gretzky pele they make up some of the greatest to ever play their respective sports, and when they hit the field, court or ice, all eyes were on them texas a&m university quarterback johnny manziel hasn't remotely achieved their level of stardom, but when it comes to being mr excitement in college football, man, this kid can flat electrify the crowd with his play and leave his opponents shaking their heads in frustration i don't care about chip kelly's offense or alabama's defense or how bill snyder has revived kansas state's football program there is no doubt that johnny 'football' manziel has taken the college football world by storm, and maybe by the end of the season, he could be the first freshman ever to win the heisman trophy yes, the kid is just that good when texas a&m made the decision to leave the big 12 to play in the southeastern conference, fans and the media alike forecasted a tough few years for the aggies everyone said, 'welcome to big boy football,' citing the recent national champions that have hailed from the conference the critics said the noble men of kyle field texas a&m's home stadium would be the doormat of the league, languishing at the bottom and following the path of arkansas, who left the aggies in the southwest conference in 1991 for the sec and disappeared into oblivion see highlights from texas a&m's win over alabama all of that changed last saturday when the aggies went to tuscaloosa, alabama, for the first time and knocked off the defending national champions and the no 1 ranked team in the country, the alabama crimson tide the one play that will be remembered was the touchdown where manziel stepped up in the pocket, ran into one of his own players, the ball popped up in the air, he caught it, rolled left and found ryan swope in the back of the end zone he is a fearless kid slide after a big run? nope manziel wants to take the head off a linebacker or a safety by slamming into them he's not built like a mack truck in the mold of tim tebow but after the hit, he pops up and runs around the field like an 8 year old ready for the next play the mania around johnny football has taken on epic proportions and it's only going to get bigger, which says a lot in texas, where football has long been like a religion manziel's emergence is excellent for the ninth ranked texas a&m aggies and first year coach kevin sumlin for decades, texas a&m has played in the shadows of its archrival, the texas longhorns while a&m has enjoyed some successful teams in the last two decades, the longhorns have long been a national power the success of the aggies with manziel will no doubt help recruiting and if the runaway candidate to be the mvp of the sec continues to meet the heisman hype, the legend of johnny football will only grow that's good for my alma mater, texas a&m; good for the sec; and good the casual fan who desires a mythical figure to root for | roland martin texas a&m johnny manziel manziel the heisman trophy martin johnny football | roland martin: texas a&m qb johnny manziel has taken the college football world by storm . by season's end, manziel may be the first freshman ever to win the heisman trophy . martin: 'the legend of johnny football will only grow' |
london, england (cnn) princess diana's relationships with two muslim men provoked an outburst from her mother, who called her daughter 'a whore', paul burrell, the princess's former butler, told an inquest monday diana once referred to her former butler paul burrell as 'my rock' burrell, who returned to britain from his home in florida to give evidence, was the first star witness of the london inquest, now in its fourth month his role as confidant to diana, who died in a paris car crash on august 31, 1997, along with her boyfriend dodi fayed and hotel security chief henri paul, meant his testimony was eagerly anticipated burrell, whom the late princess once called 'my rock,' cast doubt on whether diana was ready to marry fayed according to burrell, the princess was still 'holding a candle' for former boyfriend and heart surgeon hasnat khan who she called 'her soulmate' when she started dating fayed 'on the rebound' burrell told the inquest that diana asked him to listen in on a conversation in june 1997 with her mother, frances shand kydd, who died in 2004 and who was critical of her relationship with muslim men 'she called the princess a 'whore' and she said that she was messing around with 'effing muslim men' and she was 'disgraceful' and said some very nasty things,' burrell said he agreed that, as a result of such calls diana, decided not to talk to her mother again the inquest, which began in october and is expected to last another two or three months, aims to uncover the facts surrounding the deaths of the princess and dodi and determine their cause of death whether by accident or otherwise asked earlier in the day if he believed that fayed was 'the one,' burrell said 'no, i did not have that impression' he also cast doubt on claims that fayed and diana were engaged or on the cusp of engagement, saying: 'i find that difficult to believe' asked to explain himself, burrell said: 'because this was only a 30 day relationship and the princess had just finished a long term relationship with someone (khan) she cared deeply about i knew that because i was there and i saw it' diana's 18 month relationship with khan ended around the same time she started seeing fayed in july 1997 burrell said diana had asked him at one point to investigate how a private wedding with khan might take place, given that khan is muslim watch report on claims about diana's marriage plans » khan had not proposed to the princess, burrell said, adding that khan was 'the man she loved more than any other' he said he spoke to diana about the possibility that fayed would give her a ring shortly before her death burrell said he suggested to the princess that she wear it on the fourth finger of her right hand, rather than the left, as is customary with engagement rings 'i need marriage like a bad rash,' burrell claimed diana told him last month at the inquest lady annabel goldsmith, a friend of diana, said the princess had remarked that she needed another marriage 'like a rash on my face' burrell also indicated that the ring was not an engagement ring, as the fayed family has maintained fayed family spokesman michael cole testified last week that dodi's father, mohamed al fayed, was certain the couple had planned to marry lawyers at the inquest asked burrell whether he knew whether a special announcement had been planned for the monday following the fatal car crash there has been speculation the couple planned to announce special news, such as an engagement but burrell said he knew nothing of such a plan he said he had actually looked at diana's schedule for that day and found only mundane items, and nothing to indicate she planned a special announcement burrell also told the inquest he did not believe prince philip, queen elizabeth's, husband was involved in diana's death mohamed al fayed, father of dodi and the owner of harrods department store, has long claimed that senior members of the royal family specifically the queen's husband, prince philip ordered the pair be murdered he also claims that diana was pregnant at the time of her death but burrell said that he knew prince philip very well and that he could not have been behind the deaths 'i can tell you that is not prince philip's nature, ' he said 'plus the princess was the mother of his grandchildren why would he want to harm her? it's not possible' the inquest has seen and heard about correspondence which prince philip sent to diana, with some witnesses claiming that he wrote cruel and hurtful letters but other correspondence shown to the jury appeared to be friendly and was affectionately signed, 'pa' burrell explained that philip could sometimes come across as terse because he says what he thinks 'prince philip doesn't mix his words,' burrell said 'he says it as it is, but he is not a nasty man prince philip isn't known for his diplomacy he was fond of the princess' burrell worked for the british royals for 21 years and became close to diana after her separation from prince charles he has written two books about his time with the princess in his second book, burrell told of a letter from diana which indicated she feared for her life the princess wrote that prince charles planned ''an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury' one of diana's close friends, however, testified last month that she believed the letter could have been forged lucia flecha de lima said on december 18 that burrell was capable of imitating the princess's handwriting lawyers questioned burrell about the date of the letter burrell said it was written in october 1996, two months, after diana and charles divorced yet the letter refers to charles as 'my husband' burrell responded that diana always referred to charles that way, even after the divorce the inquest has revealed that diana was a prolific letter writer who also received a lot of correspondence witnesses, including burrell, recall that the princess kept the letters in her desk, with the more important ones stored in a special box burrell testified that after diana's death, her mother, frances shand kidd, worked every day for a week shredding the papers from diana's desk he said he expressed concern about the shredding during a meeting he had with the queen on december 19, 1997 it was at this meeting that queen elizabeth told burrell: 'there are powers at work in this country about which we have no knowledge' that comment, which has been widely reported, was meant to warn him to be careful, burrell said, and was not a warning about any one person or group of people at the same meeting burrell also told the queen that he had taken some of diana's belongings to keep safe the details of the conversation emerged when burrell stood trial for their alleged theft in 2002, causing the case against him to collapse e mail to a friend cnn's emily chang and heidi berger contributed to this report | paul burrell diana burrell elizabeth | paul burrell, princess diana's former butler, gives evidence at inquest . describes phone call in which diana's mother called her daughter'a whore'. burrell says queen elizabeth's husband was not involved in diana's death . also claims that diana told him: 'i need marriage like a bad rash' |
hong kong (cnn) the real crisis confronting the eurozone is regaining market confidence, not the euro, german foreign minister guido westerwelle said friday 'some people wonder if we're overcoming the euro crisis the right way,' said westerwelle, speaking at the asia society in hong kong 'we do not have a euro crisis, we have a debt crisis which has morphed into a crisis of confidence the euro is stable and is the number two reserve currency in the world' to bolster market confidence in the eurozone, westerwelle who is part of the cabinet level entourage traveling with german chancellor angela merkel for her two day summit in china said it was essential that greece and other debt laden economies in europe maintain paths toward reform athens and berlin in spat over funds greek cuts to be deeper than trailed last week, greek prime minister antonis samaras met with german chancellor angela merkel in berlin to ask for more 'breathing space' for greece to implement austerity reforms the troika consisting of the european union, the european central bank and the international monetary fund is due to report on greece's progress next month 'i don't want to be part of this greece bashing, because it's a real challenge for them i feel for the people on the streets of greece, because the people weren't responsible for what their leaders missed in the past decade 'we feel solidarity but we have to insist they fulfill what they promised,' westerwelle continued 'we can't allow them to weaken the reform agenda it would have a very negative effect in trying to restore confidence to greece and the european union' he also questioned how the spanish government could be persuaded to stay on path if any agreement with greece was weakened catalonia heightens spanish debt fears westerwelle pointed to germany's own debt woes in the wake of west germany's reunification with east germany during the 1990s 'it was only 10 years ago that germany was the sick man of europe reforms may be painful, but they will pay off and that's what we germans have experienced first hand,' he said even as he advocates strict adherence to austerity measures, westerwelle has been a strong voice against politicians who suggest greece should soon exit the eurozone 'the bullying against individual euro countries to achieve political gains must stop,' westerwelle said after alexander dobrindt, the executive secretary of the christian social union of bavaria, suggested a greek departure was imminent, the german daily rheinische post reported on monday earlier this month, westerwelle warned on the 'dangerous tone' arguments on european union were taking 'we must take care not to talk europe down,' he said in a statement, released after italian prime minister mario monti told a german paper that eurozone tensions 'bear the traits of a psychological dissolution of europe' as developing economies like china and india create more regional centers of financial power, a strong eu is 'life insurance' for germany's future, especially as the eurozone represents only about 9% of the world population, westerwelle continued 'europe and european unity is not only our destiny, but our desire,' he said 'there can be no good future for germany without a good future for a united europe,' westerwelle said read more: merkel faces eu clash over china | westerwelle german hong kong germany two day china greece europe | westerwelle: the euro is stable, but the 'real crisis is regaining market confidence'. german foreign minister in hong kong as part of germany's two day summit in china . westerwelle said it was essential that greece and others to maintain paths toward reform . 'there can be no good future for germany without a good future for a united europe' |
(cnn) pope francis has called for mutual respect between religions in a message addressed to muslims as they prepare to celebrate eid al fitr next week, at the end of the holy month of ramadan it is traditional for the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue to send a message of good wishes and a proposed theme for common reflection at this time opinion: how the 'francis effect' could rescue the church but francis, who was elected to the papacy in march, said that he wanted to add the personal touch 'this year, the first of my pontificate, i have decided to sign this traditional message myself and to send it to you, dear friends, as an expression of esteem and friendship for all muslims, especially those who are religious leaders,' he writes 'this year, the theme on which i would like to reflect with you and with all who will read this message is one that concerns both muslims and christians: promoting mutual respect through education' francis said his message should apply to everyone, with all people respecting the life, dignity and rights of each person 'regarding the education of muslim and christian youth, we have to bring up our young people to think and speak respectfully of other religions and their followers, and to avoid ridiculing or denigrating their convictions and practices,' he said what is ramadan? francis returned this week from a trip to brazil for world youth day, during which he met many young roman catholics in his message, the pope refers to a speech he gave to the vatican diplomatic corps in march, in which he stressed the need for dialogue with islam with those words, he sought to 'emphasize once more the great importance of dialogue and cooperation among believers, in particular christians and muslims, and the need for it to be enhanced,' he said the message was sent out in multiple languages, including arabic francis' predecessor, former pontiff benedict xvi, angered many in the muslim world when he gave a speech in 2006 in which he quoted a 14th century byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of islam's prophet mohammed as 'evil and inhuman' and 'spread by the sword' opinion: what the pope left out about women cnn's hada messia contributed to this report | bronchiole metier mocuck | no related information |
washington (cnn) at his request, president barack obama is ending his inaugural oath with: 'so help me god' those four words are not legally or constitutionally required, unlike other federal oaths that invoke them as standard procedure historians have wrangled over whether george washington established precedent by adding the phrase on his own during his first inaugural acceptance, but the library of congress website states he did abraham lincoln was reported to have said it spontaneously in 1861 and other presidents over the years have followed suit a bible is traditionally used in administering the oath opinion: presidents should not swear in on a bible obama took the official oath on sunday at the white house with his left hand on the family bible of his wife, michelle at monday's ceremonial swearing in at the capitol, he will use bibles from lincoln and martin luther king jr obama took the oath with the same lincoln bible in 2009 when he made history as the first african american president the constitution lays out the exact language to be used in the oath: 'i do solemnly swear (or affirm) that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states' four years ago, a california atheist, michael newdow, objected and went to federal court to prevent chief justice john roberts from prompting the president elect to repeat the 'so help me god phrase' newdow, along with several non religious groups, argued the words violate the constitutional ban on government 'endorsement' of religion the high court ultimately rejected the lawsuit two years ago, and no such legal challenges are expected this time lyndon johnson's 1965 swearing in marked a change from tradition his wife claudia, known better as lady bird, held the bible, a job previously managed by the high court's clerk spouses have since had the honor 13 reasons to follow the inauguration on cnn's platforms and nowhere else cnn's kevin liptak contributed to this report | poney estamene farthingales | no related information |
(cnn) a late equalizer from jo ensured manchester city got the draw they needed at italian giants juventus to top their europa league group, but holders atletico madrid are out the english premier league side, deprived of argentina striker carlos tevez who handed in a transfer request last week, fell behind on 43 minutes when niccolo giannetti tapped home alessandro del piero's cross but england winger adam johnson found jo with a defence splitting pass in the 77th minute and the brazilian made no mistake from inside the penalty area it meant juventus, who were already out of the competition, drew all six of their matches after the game city manager roberto mancini told reporters: mancini said: 'i am very happy, because we wanted this, and it was very important to finish top of the group 'we have a chance to go all the way, but it is important to have a good draw for the next round, and after that we will see' city's point sees them finish top of group a, ahead of lech poznan on goal difference the polish side won 1 0 against salzburg, of austria, thanks to semir stilic's goal atletico madrid, who won last year's europa league, were knocked out after a 1 1 draw in germany with bayer leverkusen patrick helmes put the hosts in front before fran merida leveled shortly after the spanish club had to better aris salonika's result against rosenborg to go through but failed on both counts after aris triumphed 2 0 and clinched second place lille took second place in group c from belgian side gent with a 3 0 victory in france ludovic obraniak, pierre alain frau and moussa sow all found the net levski sofia, from bulgaria, claimed their second victory in the competition with a 1 0 win over sporting lisbon the portuguese club had already qualified as group winners in group g, russian outfit zenit st petersburg maintained their perfect record with a 3 0 win over aek athens of greece alexander bukharov, alessandro rosina and igor denisov were all on target belgian club anderlecht compounded aek's misery by securing qualification in second place after a 2 0 victory over hadjuk split of croatia they went through by virtue of a better goal difference matters had already been decided in group h and german side vfb stuttgart maintained their impressive form with a 5 1 thumping of odense, from denmark russian striker pavel pogrebniak was on target as they finished top switzerland's young boys were beaten 1 0 in spain by getafe thanks to adrian corpa's goal but finished two points clear in second place in group i, sampdoria's miserable run continued as the italian side went down 2 0 to debrecen of hungary peter kabat grabbed both goals dutch side psv eindhoven finished top of the group after a 0 0 draw with metalist kharkiv the ukrainian club go through in second place | attestator gonidiospore vicarate | no related information |
philadelphia (cnn) helen gym threw her arms around duong nghe ly 'we did it,' she said, before pulling back to look at ly, a vietnamese immigrant and senior at the south philadelphia high school named in the complaint 'we did it' the philadelphia school district on wednesday signed a 2½ year civil rights agreement with the us justice department to address anti asian immigrant violence at south philadelphia the agreement requires the school to submit an anti harassment action plan and continue implementing policies and procedures to prevent harassment based on race, color and/or national origin the action serves as a nationwide standard for bullying prevention at schools, said maureen costello, director for teaching tolerance at the southern poverty law center 'every school needs a policy, but a policy isn't always enough,' costello said 'everyone needs to know what to look for and how to respond' looking at the school system as a whole, versus creating policies that focus solely on perpetrators, is a more beneficial way to combat the issue of bullying, costello said 'bullying doesn't occur in a vacuum, it occurs where it's allowed,' costello said 'what this (agreement) says to schools is don't wait until there's a problem, every school should be self auditing' complaints were triggered by events on december 3, 2009, during which large numbers of asian immigrant students from south philadelphia high school were assaulted in and around the school throughout the day several students were sent to the hospital the attacks followed years of harassment against asian students at south philadelphia high school, according to the complaints filed with the state and federal government in the days after the incident, more than 50 asian students organized an eight day boycott of the school in efforts to draw attention to what they felt was an inadequate response by the school staff to the ongoing harassment and violence the december 2009 boycott brought nationwide attention to the violence against asian students at south philadelphia months later, a federal investigation was launched after a formal civil rights complaint was filed by the asian american legal defense fund the justice department, which announced its investigation in august, instructed the school system to improve the treatment of asian students 'we will always remember december 3, but we will refuse to be defined by that day,' wei chen, who was a senior at the time of the melee, told the members of the philadelphia school reform commission when the settlement was announced 'a year ago we came to you as victims today we come to you as youth activists, as organizers and leaders who have shown the power to make change' according to the complaint, 'the district and the school acted with 'deliberate indifference' to the harassment against asian students and 'intentional disregard for the welfare of asian students' ' at the school the settlement proves the violence at south philadelphia high school was racial, not gang related as once rumored, making it a bittersweet accomplishment, because the school district failed the students, said gym, a board member for asian americans united, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the asian american community 'we celebrate the lasting gains of these agreements,' said gym, who helped many asian students document their experiences 'we hope that they are also welcomed with a measure of abiding humility and deep sorrow for the lack of action that required it' the settlement agreement, which holds the district responsible for implementation and oversight, resolves eight discrimination complaints alleging widespread harassment of asian students at south philadelphia high school, and will remain in effect until june 2013 the settlement terms 'will in no way impact what is happening' unless the individuals who have been doing the bullying are brought to justice, said steve perry, cnn education contributor and principal at capital preparatory magnet school in hartford, connecticut 'it's not going to change anything,' perry said, adding that a coordinated, united front must be in place between school and home 'parents need to monitor what happens at home, and schools need to monitor what happens at school' it is important to understand what bullying is, perry said, adding that school administrators are responsible for knowing how to detect it 'to be bullied is to have an individual or group experience systematic or focused actions,' he said 'bullying is that behavior that makes you not want to go to school, or not want to live anymore' additional settlement terms require the school and/or district to retain an expert consultant in the area of harassment and discrimination based on race, conduct training of faculty, staff and students on discrimination and harassment based on race; to maintain records of investigations and responses to allegations of harassment; and to provide annual compliance reports to the department and pennsylvania human relations commission, as well as makes harassment data publicly available litigation is not the solution to prevent bullying, said michael josephson, founder of the josephson institute center for youth ethics 'you can make the district police it, but as soon as they go off campus it's not dealt with,' he said in order to combat bullying, students and schools need to do more than translating correspondence into designated languages or submitting annual compliance reports to officials, josephson said 'the reality is we have to create a sense of solidarity we need a kinder, gentler society where respect is the norm,' he said 'yes, we have to pay attention to this, but we can't litigate our way out of this problem' | cnn steve perry | schools need to be proactive about stopping bullying, expert says . cnn education contributor steve perry says bullies must be brought to justice . another expert says we cannot rely solely on legal measures to solve problem |
madrid, spain (cnn) spanish authorities have arrested 25 people suspected in a 10 million euro ($13 million) fraud scheme targeting german owners of timeshare vacation property in the canary islands, police said friday the suspects contacted the timeshare owners, offered lucrative terms to buy their shares and lured the owners into paying what turned out to be non existent taxes or transfer fees, spanish national police said in a statement the timeshare property never actually changed hands, and the suspects vanished, only to surface elsewhere and repeat the alleged scam, police said with help from the german embassy in madrid, investigators identified a web of suspects spread among numerous businesses and locations, mainly on tenerife island one of the largest of the canary archipelago of seven islands in the atlantic ocean authorities arrested 23 german suspects, one polish suspect and one swiss suspect late last week, police said it was not immediately clear how many of the suspects had been arraigned or whether a judge had ordered them to jail or ordered their release if convicted of fraud, they could face up to six years in prison, a police spokeswoman said several million germans visit spain annually, especially the canary islands and also the balearic islands in the mediterranean, and many also own property in the country they, along with other property owners foreigners and spaniards alike have felt the deep economic downturn after spain's real estate bubble and construction boom collapsed many owners have tried to sell their property, usually finding depressed prices, not the lucrative terms that the suspects allegedly offered to the german timeshare owners | canary islands the german embassy german polish swiss | canary islands vacation properties are the target of the scam . police say suspects convinced owners to pay fees for sales that never went through . the german embassy helps uncover a web of suspects . twenty three german suspects, one polish suspect and one swiss suspect are arrested |
washington (cnn) house speaker nancy pelosi on tuesday led jubilant legislators and soldiers discharged under the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy in singing 'god bless america' to celebrate the upcoming repeal of the controversial law president barack obama will sign the repeal bill on wednesday, and pelosi did her part at the ceremony attended by hundreds of supporters of the repeal by signing the measure passed by congress to send it to the white house the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy enacted in 1993 banned openly gay and lesbian soldiers from military service more than 14,000 military members have been discharged because of it pelosi, a california democrat, said the military will be made stronger by including all americans who want to serve without making gay and lesbian members lie about who they are 'isn't this a joyful day?' she said, adding that the repeal measure will 'change the law, improve the policy, make life better for many americans, and make our country stronger' pelosi then asked all in attendance to sing 'god bless america' at the end, democratic rep barney frank of massachusetts, one of the first openly gay house members, could be seen wiping his eyes earlier, democratic rep patrick murphy of pennsylvania told the gathering of an e mail he received from a company commander in afghanistan, who mentioned how he often had to counsel soldiers who received divorce papers or 'dear john' letters from spouses or opposite sex partners murphy continued: 'this young company commander, this captain, on his fourth deployment, wrote in that e mail saying, 'i never thought i'd see the day when i got one of those letters myself and i'm sitting here at three o'clock in the morning in kabul, afghanistan, and i have no where to go because i happen to be gay, and i can't walk to the chaplain, and i can't go to a battle buddy, and i can't walk to my commander's office, so i'm sitting here cradling my 9 mm pistol thinking about blowing my brains out but i read this article about this iraq war veteran named patrick murphy from pennsylvania that's fighting for me, and it gives me hope'' the repeal bill, a campaign promise by obama, won senate approval on saturday in the final days of the lame duck session the house passed it twice first as part of a broader defense bill that was blocked by senate republicans, and then in the separate measure passed by the senate conservative republicans opposed the repeal, saying it would put too much stress on a military fighting two wars however, defense secretary robert gates and joint chiefs of staff chairman adm mike mullen both called for a congressional repeal with a set phase in timetable, warning that 'don't ask, don't tell' could otherwise be abruptly overturned by the courts under the repeal measure, the pentagon will finish developing an implementation plan that rewrites policies, regulations and directives once that potentially lengthy process is complete, obama, gates and mullen will each have to certify that the repeal can move ahead without negatively affecting military readiness and unit cohesion after the certification, another 60 days will need to pass before the repeal is officially enacted cnn's tom cohen contributed to this story | murphy obama wednesday house pelosi god bless america | new: rep murphy tells about a gay soldier's email to him . president obama will sign the repeal bill wednesday . house speaker pelosi calls it a 'joyful day'. pelosi leads a celebrating crowd in singing 'god bless america' |
(cnn) chicago bulls guard derrick rose broke down in tears at a press conference when asked what a new shoe contract worth $250 million meant to him his responses on camera and on twitter were about his feelings on the teachers strike in chicago he had a $250 million shoe contract, but the youth of his hometown of chicago were on the mind of this young man it was obvious that rose understood the political aspect, but he focused on the human aspect he realizes that he could have easily been one of the kids killed in the senseless violence that has ravaged his native city, he realizes he is fortunate and if you were a witness to the interview, you would agree that the last thing on his mind was a tax break also recently, baltimore ravens player brendon ayanbadejo's took a public stand on lbgt rights it prompted emmett burns, a state delegate from baltimore county, to ask that ravens owner steve bisciotti, 'take the necessary action, as a national football league owner, to inhibit such expressions from your employees and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions i know of no other nfl player who has done what mr ayanbadejo is doing' it was a perfect example of a critic using the 'shut up and play' motto ayenbendajo's stance is one that has been taken up by other nfl players, such as michael irvin, but maybe the best response came from fellow lbgt supporter minnesota punter chris kluwe, who wrote possibly one of the best political statements ever made by an athlete to burns kluwe's second point in the letter reads: 'you wrote, 'many of your fans are opposed to such a view and feel it has no place in a sport that is strictly for pride, entertainment and excitement' holy ing balls did you seriously just say that, as someone who is, according to your wikipedia page, 'deeply involved in government task forces on the legacy of slavery in maryland?' have you not heard of kenny washington? jackie robinson? as recently as 1962 the nfl still had segregation, which was only done away with by brave athletes and coaches daring to speak their mind and do the right thing, and you're going to say that political views have 'no place in a sport'? i can't even begin to fathom the cognitive dissonance that must be coursing through your rapidly addled mind right now; the mental gymnastics your brain has to tortuously contort itself through to make such a preposterous statement are surely worthy of an olympic gold medal (the russian judge gives you a 10 for 'beautiful oppressionism')' social media allows for a constant, entertaining and unfiltered window into users' thoughts it has become an arena where the convictions, thoughts, feelings and politics of some of our favorite athletes take the forefront facebook and twitter have revolutionized how we communicate with sports icons, because anyone with an ip address can express themselves any way they choose from anywhere in the world social media helped bring fans closer to athletes and to feel a part of the game, with real time responses in some instances yet something unexpected has happened fans are getting a direct line into some of the personal issues and opinions that historically were heavily guarded in the past, agents and marketing personnel felt if athletes gave their opinions on hot topics, it could destroy huge endorsement contracts this complicated view of sports and politics has historically led to a series of great moments, as well as missed opportunities, depending on your political point of view it was the tempestuous climate of the 1960s that displayed the most famous political stances from athletes moments of protest were thrust into the living rooms of a worldwide audience: first was muhammad ali's historic stand against the draft process and the vietnam war then came the 1968 olympic summer games in which john carlos and tommie smith raised their fists to the sky in protest, with peter norman wearing an olympic project for human rights badge to support them the media attention helped propel what can be considered one of the most iconic images and moments in sports into a historic notion of free speech while those athletes' political stances are admired and even idolized today, they faced major repercussions back then ali was stripped of his title and boxing license, while smith and carlos were forced to relinquish their medals atlanta native mel pender, who won a gold medal in those olympics as a member of the 4x100 relay, witnessed that moment firsthand 'athletes don't do enough when it comes to politics,' pender said the statement that was made that day in mexico city was not intended to bring attention to the fight for freedom and equality for black people, but for all people there will always be someone on the other side of the issue for our athletes, the backlash can be debilitating to their career, finances or fan base social media and its unfiltered commentary has in some ways become a pr agent's worst nightmare that intimate window into athletes' thoughts has no buffer and is putting the power into their hands jim brown has urged some of the world's most notable athletes, like michael jordan and tiger woods, to take a stand on social and political issues for years brown questioned their need to protect their image over standing up for what was right lz granderson, in an august commentary for espn, discussed the evolution of sports and politics as it relates to michael jordan during jordan's early playing days he refused to support democratic candidate harvey gantt, who was running for a senate seat jordan famously declared, 'republicans buy sneakers, too' at that time there would likely have been backlash against jordan, who as a retiree recently hosted a private fundraising dinner for president obama these days, famous athletes are open with their views without any fear of backlash tim tebow appeared in an anti abortion commercial with his mother and is very active on twitter discussing his faith in the spring, the miami heat players, in a show of solidarity during the trayvon martin shooting investigation, united for a hooded photo honoring martin's memory the sports world is evolving much the way the world is adjusting to social media and new ideas this new age of athletes are willing to use their social status to influence the political and cultural landscape change is constant, but growth is optional social media has united athletes and fans in a way that not many other avenues can you may not always agree with the stance of your favorite athlete, but at least these days they have an opinion, and it seems they are willing to let the world know | mohammedanism rallidae newswriter | no related information |
(cnn) nelson mandela, anti apartheid icon, nobel peace laureate and south africa's first black president, celebrated his 90th birthday friday by doing something he had indicated he would not do again grant an interview to journalists mandela sits at the 6th nelson mandela lecture in soweto, johannesburg a cheerful looking mandela welcomed cnn's robyn curnow, along with reporters from two other organizations, into the sitting room of his home in qunu, a small village in the rolling hills of south africa's eastern cape region where he grew up 'what day is this?' mandela joked, pretending not to realize it was his birthday he used a smile to dodge curnow's first question of what was his favorite memory from his long life he did say he was very happy to have lived to be 90 mandela credited his longevity to the way he conducted his life he is known to be disciplined with his diet and exercise asked if, in hindsight, he wishes he had spent more time with his family, he answered yes 'i don't regret it because the things that attracted me were things that pleased my soul' graca machel, whom he married on his 80th birthday, sat nearby and mandela was surrounded by grandchildren watch what mandela's grandchildren have to say » mandela then lamented the gap between rich and poor in south africa 'poverty still grips our people if you're poor, you're not likely to live for long,' he said watch cnn's mandela interview » this was mandela's first meeting with reporters since he announced in 2004 that he would give no more interviews while he stayed out of the spotlight over the last four years, he has stayed busy with his charitable causes all week residents of qunu, 600 miles south of johannesburg, have been making preparations for the celebrations events planned include a soccer festival, a pop concert and lunch for 500 politicians, veterans of the anti apartheid struggle and other guests at his home saturday an exhibition of letters that children wrote to mandela and the late us civil rights campaigner rosa parks will be displayed at the nelson mandela museum, a short distance from his house 'we are very excited,' local school principal mpondomise ndzambo told the associated press, sitting in his office beneath a photograph of the former president 'usually these celebrations are done in johannesburg, so this is a way of being part of it' send your birthday messages in 1964, a court sentenced mandela to life in prison for plotting to overthrow the government by violence he spent the first 18 years at robben island prison, off cape town, south africa, and later spent time at pollsmoor prison and victor verster prison, closer to the mainland while in prison, mandela became recognized as the most significant black leader in south africa, and he became a potent symbol of resistance in the anti apartheid movement mandela consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom south africa's last apartheid era president who also served as mandela's vice president, fw de klerk, released mandela in february 1990 after 27 years in prison mandela was elected president of the african national congress the following year, and in 1994, he was elected president of his country as south africa's first black president he only ran for one term mandela ushered in a democratic, multiracial society that is still going strong in a fitting tribute de klerk described mandela as 'one of the greatest figures of the 20th century,' ap reported mandela's recent birthday tribute concert in london's hyde park marked the 20 year anniversary of the free mandela event that was held in the same city to demand his release from prison during the concert a frail mandela told cheering fans, 'your voices carried across the water to inspire us in our prison cells far away tonight, we can stand before you free 'we are honored to be back in london for this wonderful occasion 'but even as we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our work is far from complete 'where there is poverty and sickness, including aids, where human beings are being oppressed, there is more work to be done our work is for freedom for all' proceeds from the london concert went toward the 46664 campaign, which mandela founded in 2003 to raise awareness about the impact of aids, especially in africa, and to promote hiv prevention measures around the world the name of the charity represents mandela's prison number when he was incarcerated at robben island organizers put 46,664 tickets up for sale | mandela first 2004 fw de klerk the 20th century south africa | mandela: called on the rich to help the poor in birthday interview . it was mandela's first meeting with reporters since 2004 . fw de klerk: mandela 'one of the greatest figures of the 20th century'. while in prison, mandela became most significant black leader in south africa |
washington (cnn) us, turkish and iraqi leaders all held talks monday about kurdish rebels using northern iraq as a launchpad for cross border attacks into turkey turkish troops patrol near the border with iraq on monday president bush chatted by phone with turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdogan, while separately two senior iraq national government figures met with the head of the country's kurdish region the diplomatic moves came after turkish warplanes pounded kurdish separatist targets in northern iraq on saturday and sunday as well as last week bush and erdogan talked about the dangers of the kurdish separatist rebels along the turkish iraqi border, the white house confirmed national security council spokesman gordon johndroe said they discussed their common efforts to fight terrorism, and the importance of the united states, turkey and iraq working together to confront the kurdistan workers' party, or pkk bush has vowed to help turkey fight pkk rebels the pkk has spent two decades fighting for autonomy for kurds in southeastern turkey, with some of its attacks launched from inside northern iraq the united states and european union consider the group a terrorist organization last week, turkey's ambassador to the united states, nabi sensoy, said his country's maneuvers against kurdish militant targets in northern iraq were based on intelligence provided by the united states in the kurdish iraq city of sulaimaniya, iraqi president jalal talabani, who is kurdish, and vice president tariq al hashimi, who is sunni arab, met with kurdish regional government president massoud barzani iraqi kurdish officials, while critical of the pkk, have denounced the turkish bombing campaign last week, barzani snubbed visiting us secretary of state condoleezza rice in protest of the attacks 'we have vehemently condemned the bombardment the bombing targeted safe and secure areas and innocent people several people were either killed or wounded,' barzani said on monday at a press conference with the others 'we held consultations with president jalal talabani and we will continue our consultations with other concerned parties to put an end to these aggressions and put to an end the shelling of villages' the three iraqi officials also dealt with national unity they signed a 'memorandum of understanding' to deepen relations further with their three parties: talabani's patriotic union of kurdistan, barzani's kurdistan democratic party and al hashimi's iraqi islamic party, a sunni arab entity e mail to a friend cnn's kathleen koch, talia kayali and mohammed tawfeeq contributed to this report | concinnously homecroft glanduliform | no related information |
san jose, california top seed andy roddick easily defeated delray beach winner kei nishikori of japan 6 2 6 4 in the headline match at the atp tournament in san jose on thursday night a pumped up roddick needed little over an hour to dispatch teenager nishikori roddick needed just 63 minutes to defeat the 18 year old japanese who won his first atp title on sunday and was on an eight match winning run but american number one roddick imposed his quality from the start by taking a commanding 3 0 lead and breaking nishikori's serve before the youngster won a game roddick, who has won twice in san jose, repeated the break later in a feisty opening set which came to a head in the seventh game roddick barked at the young player as they exchanged shots at the net nishikori held his cool, did not respond, and just walked away 'i didn't understand a word he said,' nishikori said but when pressed he acknowledged that he did in fact understand what roddick had shouted at him but just did not want to repeat it before the press but roddick had no trouble repeating what he had said 'i told him to stick me with it the next time i just let him know that he needs to finish it i had no problem with it but it was a monologue' roddick duly rounded off the set in the next game and broke nishikori's service in the fourth game of the second only for his youthful opponent to break straight back but as nishikori served at 4 5 to stay in the tournament he made two crucial errors he missed an easy slam shot that would have given him the advantage at deuce and then saw his saw his volley go wide that gave roddick the match 'i made too many easy mistakes,' nishikori said 'i didn't take advantage of the many chances i had but overall i was happy with the way i played' in the early evening match, james blake, beaten by nishikori in the delray beach final, overcame first serve problems to beat jesse levine 6 4 6 4 to move onto the quarterfinals the second seeded new yorker, ranked ninth in the world, will face robby ginepri in the quarterfinals 'i thought i played well,' blake said 'i felt comfortable and although i had a slow start i was able to put pressure on jesse' in afternoon matches, john isner beat third seeded german tommy haas 4 6 7 6 6 3 to advance to the quarterfinals isner, the atp tour's second tallest player at six foot nine, will next face spain's guillermo garcia lopez haas, ranked 26th in the world, was three match points from winning the second set in a tiebreaker before the 106th ranked isner rallied to win fifth seeded mardy fish also advanced, beating germany's denis gremelmayr 6 7 6 3 6 3 to make the quarterfinals for the second week in a row fish will face roddick in the quarterfinals taiwan's lu yen hsun beat american lucky loser wayne odesnik 6 4 6 4 lu will face fourth seeded czech radek stepanek in the quarterfinals e mail to a friend copyright 2008 cnn all rights reservedthis material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed associated press contributed to this report | andy roddick last eight atp san jose american delray beach kei nishikori japan second james blake third tommy haas | top seed andy roddick reaches last eight of atp tournament in san jose . the american defeats delray beach winner kei nishikori of japan 6 2 6 4 . second seed james blake also advances but third seed tommy haas is out |
washington (cnn) several marines who were involved in the november 2004 offensive in falluja, iraq, are now the focus of an investigation into allegations that civilians were intentionally killed during the operation, several pentagon officials have confirmed members of the 1st us marines expeditionary force operate in falluja, iraq, in november of 2006 no one has been charged in the probe, which is based on what one official told cnn were 'credible allegations' from a former marine that marine volunteered the information during an employment polygraph test administered by the us secret service several sources familiar with the probe say the naval criminal investigative service is conducting the investigation the allegations first surfaced on a web site, defendourmarinescom, posted by nathaniel helms, a military journalist who wrote a book about the marines in falluja the web posting includes an account from a marine who alleges eight captured iraqis were gunned down following a firefight the weeklong anti insurgent offensive in falluja began on november 7, 2004 it was called operation new dawn, and it sparked intense fighting involving airstrikes and house to house searches there were reports of civilians being killed in the crossfire at that time the allegations are the latest involving marines and civilian deaths in iraq seven marines and a navy medic were charged with killing an iraqi civilian in hamdaniya in april 2006 one marine will serve eight years in a plea deal; another marine withdrew his guilty plea, saying he acted under orders four marines were charged with murder in the 2005 killings of 24 iraqi civilians in haditha four officers are accused of failing to investigate and report the deaths properly haditha was a target of marine operations to root out insurgents both us military law and international law of armed conflict prohibit the killing of unarmed captured prisoners, whether or not they are combatants e mail to a friend | marines falluja marine naval criminal investigative services | several marines are the focus of 2004 falluja civilian death investigation . allegations from former marine called 'credible'. sources: naval criminal investigative services conducting the probe |
(cnn) seeking to blunt a sharp backlash to recent privacy policy changes, google has offered to share 'the real story' about a system that compiles information about users based on their activity on all of google's sites and products this week, google announced new privacy settings they spell out the fact that the company collects and compiles data about its users based on their activity on its various sites from its search page to gmail to youtube to phones running its android operating system the announcement gave some privacy advocates cause for alarm, even though google says the information is assembled to enhance user experience, such as better targeting ads that will be of interest to its customers perhaps most notably, eight members of congress, both democrats and republicans, wrote a letter to google ceo larry page asking for clarification about the changes 'while google suggests that the purpose of this shift in policy is to make the consumer experience simpler, we want to make sure it does not make protecting consumer privacy more complicated,' reads the letter the lawmakers also noted that because of google's global reach, the change 'potentially touches billions of people worldwide' it asks google to share what kind of data it currently collects and explain how information collected under the newly announced system will be used in a post on the company's public policy blog, google's betsy masiello wrote that there have been misconceptions about the changes 'a lot has been said about our new privacy policy,' she wrote 'some have praised us for making our privacy policy easier to understand others have asked questions, including members of congress, and that's understandable too' among the points that masiello makes in the post: users don't have to be logged in to use many of google's products, including search and youtube no data is collected when a user is not logged in when logged in, users can edit or turn off their search histories, switch gmail chat to 'off the record,' use 'incognito mode' on the google chrome browser or employ other of google's privacy tools quite simply, web users don't have to use all of google's products she noted that google won't be collecting any more data about users than it was before 'we're making things simpler and we're trying to be upfront about it period,' she wrote not everyone was convinced while noting that there are some advantages to having your information stored in one place, brent rose wrote for tech site gizmodo that there are some scary aspects to it as well 'there are certainly reasons to be concerned about keeping all of your eggs in one basket it means there's a single point of failure, which makes me nervous,' rose wrote 'the fact that you can't opt out of shared search data, and that google will know more about you than your wife? that's a little creepy' | respondents steddle prettyface | no related information |
(cnn) when my parents bought their first mobile phones about 10 years ago, i didn't think they'd ever get the hang of using them mom would answer my call from the front of the line at starbucks and say, 'hello darling, yes i'll take the tall thanks, what is it, james do you have any cash?' all in one breath my favorite were the random, cryptic one word text messages like 'i' or 'soon' or 'shirtt' but things have changed these days mom sends texts saying: 'video chat in 5?' (insert smiley face) of course it's not me she wants to see in the chat window on her computer screen it's my 2 year old daughter, kylie video chats have become routine when my parents are at their home in maryland dad will pick up colorful objects a buzz lightyear figurine, a sombrero, a bird feeder and move them toward his laptop's tiny camera lens, making kylie squeal or say, 'what's that funny thing, granddad?' and mom will hold up an outfit she bought for her granddaughter to see if it meets our approval (it usually does) my in laws are slowly getting into it, too unable to attend kylie's first birthday party, they watched us from laptops we set up on top of bookshelves from their homes in victoria, british columbia, and the remote pender island, they watched kylie slap her teeny hand into her cake's white frosting as everyone sang happy birthday every now and then, we'd look up and wave or raise a glass of champagne becoming grandparents isn't the sole reason my parents have become technically savvy mom had a kindle before kylie came along but it has likely sped things up they were quick to take on google+ hangouts when my husband (who, full disclosure, works for google) suggested it as an easier option for us to chat face to face online they now school their fellow baby boomer pals in london and australia on how to use it, to varying degrees of success and mom is now more adept at navigating apple tv than i am when she's babysitting kylie and a request (read: demand) comes down for the youtube rendition of 'twinkle twinkle' featuring the little owl, mom will bring it up on the tv screen quicker than you can say, 'holy diaper rash' (mind you, kylie is figuring all this out just as quickly she knows that slamming a laptop shut concludes a chat she deems to be getting dull adorable when you're in the room with her, not so funny if you've been hung up on) for grandparents who are online and a recent pew study suggests 53% of american adults over 65 are, with one in three of those seniors using social networks living apart from grandkids doesn't mean never seeing them margie tucker, 62, of voorhees, new jersey, says she feared she and her husband, steven, would be strangers to their 4 year old grandson because he lives in denver so she got into skype 'my family would laugh at me, because when (my grandson) was just beginning to move around, i was happy just to sit and watch him without any dialogue going on,' tucker says 'we've watched him learn to ride his bike, play ball, learn to write his name, play with his trucks we often eat together, although they are two hours behind us' and let's not forget the wonders of virtual babysitting 'my daughter is a single mom, so i have even kept (my grandson) 'occupied' for a few minutes while she got dinner started or put a load of laundry in,' tucker says 'i like my ipad because it's so portable and easy to use i have shown him an interesting bug on our deck, what the new carpet looks like, and how high the snow is at our house my own kids were raised with long distance grandparents, and there is little comparison to the advantages we have now' kathryn barker, 65, from redding, california, is active on facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram and has her own blogging website and in spite of her initial reluctance, she's taken to texting as a way to stay in touch with two of her out of town grandchildren, who are 8 and 10 'i cannot quite get the hang of abbreviating words, and incorrect punctuation is difficult for me to ignore,' she says 'but i am giving in to not capitalizing words my thumb dexterity is still lacking' barker has also tried facetime for video calls and notes that her grandchildren never comment on her tech willingness likely, she says, they expect everyone to know as much as they do or more 'i think i'm just your average grandma in awe of the ease with which these kids have transcended a world i came to know later in life' i sometimes wonder if it's odd for my parents to see their granddaughter expertly scroll through photos on my iphone with her miniature finger after all, it freaks me out while the internet has held my hand through my adult life, my childhood was devoid of doodads (unless you count the portable pac man console my brother and i used to fight over) lance ulanoff, editor in chief at mashablecom, refers to the key generation in technological proliferation as 'digital natives' 'these are the people who over the next five years will enter adulthood, who know nothing but the digital experience,' he says 'it's completely natural for them to share everything it's natural for them to expect whatever they can see on a big screen they can see on a small screen, to have access to every bit of information they need in the palm of their hands they don't even imagine anything other than that those are the people that are going to transform society' for now then, grandkids and parents would do well to take advantage of something the baby boomers still seem to hold dear balance while they might embrace technology to stay in the mix and because they enjoy it, they're also big fans of powering down tucker says she still occasionally writes letters on paper to post to her grandson in denver and visits whenever she and her husband can and when my parents are spending time in new york, they bring kylie play doh, crayons and books granddad takes her to the park and pushes her on the swing, her hair blowing in 10 different directions you know stuff that doesn't require an on off switch has having grandchildren spurred you to improve your grasp of new technology? share your experience in the comments section below | dhal bittings swaver | no related information |
washington (cnn) the permanent council of the organization of american states has approved a resolution asking troops to withdraw from the disputed border area between costa rica and nicaragua in a resolution issued early saturday, the council said both nations should 'avoid deployments of the armed forces or security forces in the area where their presence could generate tensions' tensions between nicaragua and costa rica have flared over calero island, a parcel of land on the atlantic coast managua claims the area is nicaraguan and denies its troops are in costa rican territory costa rica claims it has been invaded the resolution supported a report by oas secretary general jose miguel insulza that said both sides should resume binational talks and not escalate the military and police presence near the disputed area the council's washington meeting was contentious, however, beginning friday afternoon and lasting until early saturday as diplomats tried to reach consensus ultimately, the resolution passed with 22 votes, the organization said in a statement three countries abstained and two voted against it denis ronaldo moncada, nicaragua's ambassador to the organization of american states, said early saturday that officials from his country would challenge the resolution 'in the end, an agreement was reached that is really without any value,' he said 'we are going to challenge this resolution we are going to question it, and we are going to document our position against this resolution, which was flawed from the outset and flawed in its conclusion,' he said costa rican officials claimed the vote was a 'triumph of peace and law' 'now, more than ever, the nicaraguan authorities must know to listen to the clamor of all of the hemisphere in favor of peace and peaceful relations between neighboring nations, and withdraw their armed forces from costa rican territory,' costa rica's foreign ministry said in a statement costa rica claims that in addition to the nicaraguan troops, a dredging project in the river is dumping sediment on its side of the border, and that a costa rican flag in the area was replaced with a nicaraguan flag nicaragua has accused costa rica of breaking diplomatic relations between the countries wednesday, costa rican president laura chinchilla said her country would take its border dispute with nicaragua to the united nations and the international court of justice if a resolution is not found chinchilla has said her country accepted the recommendations made by insulza, but that before there are binational talks, the nicaraguan troops must move back into undisputed nicaraguan territory if the nicaraguan troops pull back from the disputed area, chinchilla said she gives assurances that costa rican police will not move in in response, nicaraguan vice president jaime morales carazo acknowledged that costa rica may have no standing army, but said that means little, given that members of the costa rican police are better armed than nicaragua's soldiers in an earlier interview with cnn en espanol, he called on costa rica and nicaragua 'to resolve this as brothers' and 'for a ceasefire in the verbal war,' but added that nicaragua is not the aggressor 'we cannot invade our own floor of our own house,' he said 'neither can we accept from anyone conditions or ultimatums' cnn en espanol's ione molinares contributed to this report | warmhearted pressurage indy | no related information |
paris, france (cnn) no one was expecting it, but there it was the 'f' word so rarely uttered in the world of high fashion had just slipped through the lips of one of the world's most stylish women carine roitfeld wears a pink goat hair coat to the william rast fall 2009 show during new york fashion week 'i think we need to become more frugal,' says carine roitfeld, editor in chief of vogue paris 'not on quality,' she hastens to add, 'just on organization' the fashionista's favorite fashion editor is sitting on a leather chair in her sparse white office the shelves are all but empty there's no in tray on her desk and certainly no computer 'they're not my specialty,' she shrugs an orange blossom candle twinkles in its glass casing and pictures stand some still in their wrapping against the wall she's been in this office for eight years but it looks like she moved in last week she hasn't even had time to hang her pictures, and it's not hard to see why every month, roitfeld and her small team pull together what is considered to be the world's most fashion forward magazine watch carine roitfeld revealed » vogue paris may have a fraction of the circulation of its american stable mate 139,000 versus 13 million but what it lacks in numbers it makes up in prestige still, roitfeld recognizes that even the upper end of the magazine market is not immune to the deepest global recession in decades she's prepared to make cuts and rather than begrudgingly canceling a coffee order or two, she's almost relishing a return to the pre boom days when challenges were overcome with creativity rather than cash 'it's become ridiculous,' she tells cnn, explaining that where once eight people may have gathered around a table to discuss a photo shoot, now there are 25 'some things got too far away there were people who were flying private jets we need to go back to reality 'i don't want to take the money out of the beauty of the picture, i don't want to change the paper of the magazine, i don't want to change the materials, but we can do it another way' 'when it's more difficult you have to be more creative' cnn's revealed joined roitfeld and five members of her team as they gathered round a glass table to choose the cover of the april edition of french vogue it doesn't happen often usually the cover is a fait accompli but this time us actress scarlett johansson has confused the issue by unexpectedly dying her hair 'this cover, it was very difficult,' carine explains, 'because we want people to recognize scarlett and then she changed her hair color' three mock ups lie on the table; different fonts, colors and wording cover johansson's lascivious poses it's clear which one carine prefers and, rather predictably, it's her choice that will hit news stands this week 'i think this is a vogue image and i want to stick to being vogue,' she says of her decision 'the cover is like the publicity for your magazine it's very important we need the more appealing one, the more visible one' carine roitfeld was a highly respected and well connected fashion stylist with no experience in magazine editing when she took the job as editor in chief at vogue paris in early 2001 see photos from carine's personal album » she was already an old friend of renowned photographer mario testino; they met 25 years ago when both were yet to make their names he's now godfather to her two children, vladimir and julia, who are 28 and 27 respectively, and who both now live in new york roitfeld and testino later teamed up with us designer tom ford during his first years as creative director at gucci to reinvigorate the brand with an innovative advertising campaign roitfeld was approached by jonathan newhouse, chairman of conde nast international to take the role at french vogue during her time there, advertising revenue has increased almost 10 percent and circulation is up 27 percent 'it is probably a 'carine effect',' concludes xavier romatet, the president of conde nast publications, which owns vogue magazine 'carine's probably the most creative person i've met in my life,' he told cnn, describing her as a savvy business woman with a finely tuned intuition as to what her readers want roitfeld scoffs at suggestions that she has an acute business mind, saying, 'i think i'm a terrible business woman' still, what she's doing at french vogue is obviously working and despite persistent rumors that she may soon announce her departure, she insists she has no plans, as yet, to leave 'i'm very happy here,' she tells cnn before adding cryptically, 'but i'm sure something new is going to happen in the next year' many in the industry have tipped roitfeld to replace anna wintour in new york, should the esteemed editor of american vogue choose to retire read more about roitfeld's views on the new york job roitfeld says she hasn't been approached about the job, and if she were, she probably wouldn't take it 'of course you'd be proud to be offered a job at this vogue, because it's the biggest vogue 'but i'm not sure i'd be happy to work at the biggest vogue it's too big; you have to talk to too many different people i'm very happy at french vogue to be able to do everything almost everything i want to do in the magazine 'anyway my husband doesn't want to go,' she adds later with a smile roitfeld is anxious not to feed any speculation of a competitive rift between her and wintour, referring to her us counterpart as the 'first lady' of fashion 'anna does a great job i respect her a lot,' roitfeld says | vogue paris carine roitfeld cnn roitfeld anna wintour us vogue | as editor in chief of vogue paris, carine roitfeld sets the benchmark for style . she told cnn the industry needs to become more frugal during the recession . originally a fashion stylist, roitfeld is admired for her creativity and originality . she refutes rumors that she's poised to replace anna wintour at us vogue |
(cnn) a professional bmx rider remained hospitalized saturday in las vegas, nevada, after he suffered injuries in a horrific crash during a qualifying run, officials said lavin, 33, of las vegas, was rushed to university medical center after thursday's accident at the three day dew tour championship video showed lavin soaring high over a dirt ramp before crashing to the ground lavin was wearing a helmet, tour spokeswoman nicole mancuso told cnn 'tj is an important member of the dew tour family the tour, athletes and action sports industry are all keeping him in our thoughts and prayers,' race officials said in a statement lavin's mother told cnn affiliate ktnv that lavin broke his eye socket and wrist, and is in a medically induced coma to reduce swelling on his brain she said she's confident her son, a veteran of the pro dirt circuit, will pull through the competitor remained in critical condition saturday, hospital spokeswoman danita cohen said lavin, the host of mtv's 'real world/road rules challenge' program, has won the gold at several x games and has produced a music album, according to mtv the dew tour was established in 2005 and features five events with a combined $25 million purse skateboarding and freestyle motocross are featured this weekend, along with the bmx competition cnn's phil gast contributed to this report | lavin las vegas mtv | new: lavin remains in critical condition after friday accident . pro dirt circuit bicyclist crashes in las vegas competition . lavin is the host of an mtv reality competition program |
islamabad, pakistan (cnn) the us military says only one supply route to afghanistan has been closed by the pakistani government after fighting that led to the deaths of three pakistani soldiers, and a military spokesman said thursday that united states is hopeful the situation is only temporary pakistan banned nato supply convoys from entering afghanistan after the deaths of the three soldiers, whom the government says were killed in pakistani territory during fighting between nato troops and militants, according to a military official from the nato led command in afghanistan lt col john dorrian, an isaf spokesman, said the torkham gate in the khyber agency has been closed since about midday on thursday chaman gate, the other border crossing between pakistan and afghanistan, remains open 'we don't think it's a very serious problem,' dorrian said 'it's a throroughfare we use a lot so it is significant but we can work around it' 'we do expect these matters to be resolved' the us embassy in islamabad is talking with pakistan to resolve the situation supply convoys are all important for the afghan war effort, and officials from nato's international security assistance force (isaf) were trying to persuade pakistan to lift the ban coalition forces rely heavily on convoys from pakistan to bring in supplies and gear torkham gate is one of the main ports of entry for materiel coming into the war zone but he emphasized it's not the only way of getting supplies in, he said khyber agency is one of the seven districts in pakistan's tribal region about half the cargo that flows into afghanistan comes in via one of the two gates from pakistan, the defense department says another 30 percent uses two major routes through kazakhstan and uzbekistan, one via russia and the other via the caucasus the remaining 20 percent mostly sensitive items like weapons, ammunition and other critical equipment comes in by air isaf said in a statement thursday that its forces saw what they thought were insurgents trying to fire mortars at a coalition base in the dand patan district of afghanistan's paktiya province, near the pakistani border an air weapons team targeted the suspected insurgents' firing position, located inside afghanistan along the border area, and the aircraft entered pakistani airspace briefly 'as they engaged this initial target,' the isaf statement said after this strike, the 'aircraft received what the crews assessed as effective small arms fire from individuals just across the border in pakistan' and the isaf aircraft, operating in self defense, entered into pakistani airspace and killed 'several armed individuals' later, pakistani military officials told isaf that coalition aircraft struck its border forces 'isaf and pakistani forces are reviewing the operational reporting to verify the exact location of the two engagements and the facts in this case, and we will work together to fully investigate this incident 'both sides have in mind that it is the insurgents, operating on the border between pakistan and afghanistan and violating the territorial sovereignty of both countries, that we are focused on fighting,' the isaf statement said isaf issued 'sincere condolences to the pakistani military and the families of those who were killed or injured' the pakistani government said two helicopters from afghanistan appeared to have crossed the border into pakistan in the mandata kandaho, ali mangola area of the upper kurram agency and engaged an outpost of frontier corps through cannon fire the post, manned by six soldiers, is located 200 meters inside pakistan, and troops fired their rifles to indicate that the helicopters were crossing into pakistani territory instead of heeding the warning, the choppers fired two missiles and destroyed the post, killing the three soldiers and injuring three others 'this is the third incident of its kind during past one week in the wake of the last incident on 27 september, contact was made at the highest military level and the incident was regretted by the usa,' the government said nato helicopters crossed into pakistani airspace from afghanistan in pursuit of insurgents over the weekend, killing 49 people, a spokesman told cnn monday crossing the border did not violate the international security assistance force rules of engagement, maj michael johnson said pakistan is very sensitive about us led military operations on its territory and issued a strong protest monday pakistan called the incursions 'a clear violation and breach' of un rules for foreign forces in afghanistan the united nations 'mandate terminates/finishes at the afghanistan border there are no agreed hot pursuit rules,' pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement a commander of international forces in the western part of afghanistan said thursday that pakistan's recent ban on use of supply routes is 'not a problem' for troops in his area of the country italian gen claudio berto, talking to reporters in the pentagon via satellite from afghanistan, said, 'in my point of view, it's not a problem, we are really far away from pakistan, and if you mean the goods for the soldier, they're coming through other borders, for example turkmenistan and we have no problem with this issue' | us afghanistan pakistan pentagon isaf torkham gate the khyber agency nato | new: about half of us cargo comes into afghanistan via pakistan, pentagon says . isaf spokesman says torkham gate in the khyber agency is closed . spokesman: 'we don't think it's a very serious problem'. pakistan says 3 of its soldiers were killed during nato attack on insurgents |
(cnn) a 62 magnitude earthquake struck off japan's eastern coast early tuesday, the us geological survey reported with a depth of 9 kilometers (56 miles), the tremor was about 96 kilometers (almost 60 miles) east northeast of miyako and 550 kilometers (342 miles) north northeast of tokyo, according to the us agency the quake occurred just over a year and a half since a 90 magnitude earthquake triggered a huge tsunami off japan, resulting in thousands of deaths and the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century the japan meteorological agency, however, did not issue any tsunami warnings or advisories immediately after the tuesday morning quake, according to its website no such warnings were issued by the pacific tsunami warning center either a little more than 30 minutes after this first earthquake, another significant, if slightly weaker one, hit the same general area this 51 magnitude tremor was about the same distance from tokyo as the first and about 107 kilometers (66 miles) east of miyako which was among the areas devastated by the march 2011 earthquake and tsunami according to the us geological survey tuesday's second quake was much deeper than the first, rooted about 38 kilometers (236 miles) below sea level | panmixias bloomer concentrating | no related information |
(cnn) since the infidelity scandal that took down the cia chief david petraeus broke last friday, a scattered timeline of bizarre events have captivated, if not confused, the public there is his mistress and biographer, paula broadwell then there is jill kelley, the florida woman whose claim about anonymous e mails questioning her character triggered an fbi probe that uncovered the broadwell petraeus affair finally, there is gen john allen, the man who commands us forces in afghanistan and whose nomination to become the nato supreme allied commander of europe is now in question confused? maybe laying it out by the numbers will help: 4 number of stars, as a general, with which petraeus retired 38 four star officers in the us military, as of august 2012 2 number of generals involved in the scandal 5 in which top percentage of his west point class petraeus graduated 38 years petraeus and his wife holly have been married 22 current and former directors of the central intelligence agency 197 amazoncom sales rank of broadwell's book 'all in: the education of general david petraeus' on wednesday 76,792 previous rank on amazoncom before the scandal made the news 20,000 30,000 number of documents many of them e mails between allen and kelley that investigators are reviewing 7,969 number of us government requests for data on gmailcom user accounts, according to a google transparency report covering january to june of 2012 6 number of minutes in which petraeus and broadwell were reportedly able to finish each mile on their runs together 0 number of active 'friends of macdill' air force base visitor passes currently held by kelley timeline of the petraeus affair | petraeus us army allen kelley the us central intelligence agency | 4 number of stars awarded petraeus as us army general . 2 number of four star generals involved in the scandal . around 30,000 documents many of them emails investigators are looking at related to allen and kelley . 22 current and former directors of the us central intelligence agency |
(cnn) the remarkable recovery of an abducted 8 year old girl in fresno, california which combined solid police work with the efforts of good samaritans turned bittersweet tuesday when authorities said the victim had been sexually assaulted still, the fact that the girl was back home after the harrowing ordeal brought thanks from her parents during a news conference tuesday afternoon speaking through an interpreter, the girl's father said he was 'very happy that his daughter is home' police praised citizens, the media and good samaritans as 'heroes' on tuesday, saying their efforts led to recovery and the arrest of the man, a suspected gang member, accused of taking her 'it is truly a miracle of god that she is with us today,' police chief jerry dyer said the girl was recovered tuesday, hours after authorities said she was forced into a pickup truck at a fresno apartment complex by a man who had approached a group of children playing she was taken to a hospital for an examination, dyer told reporters, initially saying the girl was 'frightened' and 'traumatized' but in good condition police indicated later she was the victim of sexual assault in a wooded area, perhaps out of town, before the motorist drove back to fresno cnn does not identify possible victims of sexual assaults watching the girl and her mother reunite, dyer said, was 'the highlight of my career' police identified the suspect as gregorio gonzalez, 24, of fresno charges against him will include kidnapping, false imprisonment and sexual assault gonzalez, who lives with his grandparents, is a member of the bulldog gang, has been arrested for possession of a sawed off shotgun and was on probation for felony domestic violence, dyer said about 7 am (10 am et), a person described by dyer as a good samaritan told police he was driving when he saw a truck similar to a description of the suspect's vehicle given by authorities the person, who had watched the news and was familiar with the case, began to follow the truck, dyer said the driver initially said he only saw a man in the truck and no one else, but within a few minutes saw a child stick her head up 'he realized right then and there he had the suspect vehicle,' dyer said the man pulled in front of the truck and cut it off, and the young girl 'took the moment of opportunity, opened up the passenger door, and jumped out and ran,' he said a second good samaritan stayed with the girl, dyer said the driver pursued the pickup truck and was able to obtain a partial license plate number, which he gave to dispatchers, the chief said cnn affiliate kfsn later spoke with victor perez, who said he was the motorist who followed the suspect's truck 'i thank god that he put me here to help out that little girl' about 40 minutes later, the california highway patrol received a report of a truck matching the vehicle description parked behind a church, dyer said responding officers were not able to find the truck at the location and contacted the tipster, who advised them it had been driven away it was later found parked nearby, behind an apartment complex the officer initially thought the truck was not occupied, but a man raised up as the officer exited his car, dyer said the unarmed man was taken into custody without incident, he said a witness has identified the man as the person at the abduction scene, the chief said 'we beat the odds today,' dyer said, adding that often abduction victims aren't found until it is too late of those killed in an abduction, 74 percent are killed in the first three hours, he said 'i want to say thank you to the citizens of fresno and the good samaritans,' he said 'they are heroes' he also thanked the media for their assistance authorities were notified of the incident about 8:30 pm monday, dyer had said earlier a man reportedly drove up to an apartment complex where a group of children were playing, approached two girls and attempted to lure them into his truck a younger girl, 6, walked away, dyer said, but the victim began walking with the man two witnesses nearby, a man and a woman, saw what was going on and yelled at the children to get away from the vehicle and the man, dyer said but before the girl had time to react, he said, the man grabbed the girl, pushed her into the driver's side of the pickup and sped off with the truck's headlights off the girl's mother got into a car and tried to chase the truck down, but was unsuccessful, dyer said police had received a report shortly before the incident of a man with a similar description and vehicle exposing himself to young girls nearby, the chief said the man got into a pickup and drove away with his lights out, dyer said the mother of one girl chased him on foot but did not catch him the vehicle was described as being a late 1970s or early 1980s model ford or chevy pickup, either dark brown or reddish brown in color, dyer said earlier the two door pickup reportedly had a 6 inch wide white stripe on the side, and was spotted on policing cameras from the area, he said the police chief said the man attempted to entice the girls into the truck by promising them something, but would not say what cnn affiliate kfsn reported the man spoke in spanish and told the children that he would take them to the dollar store and buy them toys if they got into the truck a man who was detained earlier tuesday after a witness tip was questioned and released; authorities believed he was not involved 'this is truly the first stranger abduction kidnapping that i believe has occurred at least since i have been the chief,' dyer said such incidents are 'very rare in law enforcement today, fortunately' mayor ashley swearengin summarized the city's reaction 'this is a remarkable accomplishment for an entire community,' she said 'this is a relatively happy ending to an otherwise tragic tale' cnn's scott thompson, melanie whitley and phil gast contributed to this report | shehitah elaters taino | no related information |
babahoyo, ecuador (cnn) at least 10 people have died and thousands have been left homeless after torrential rains inundated large parts of ecuador, officials said thursday a man grabs on to a piece of wood as a boat passes him on a flooded street this week in puerto inca, ecuador authorities said the rains, which began a week ago, were the worst in a quarter century civil defense officials said more than 10,000 families have been affected los ríos north of guayaquil was the hardest hit of nine provinces affected, civil defense officials said in los ríos province, five people died when an ambulance drove into a hole at the side of a street at dawn thursday a newborn boy, his parents, a doctor and a driver were killed streets also were flooded in the capital of quito watch the scenes of devastation in ecuador » on wednesday, president rafael correa declared a state of emergency and ordered 2,000 members of the army and the police to help rescue workers correa increased by $25 million the $10 million he already had allocated for the emergency efforts he also directed another $88 million to municipalities once the crisis has eased, an emergency fund will give seed and fertilizer to help farmers whose fields were washed away, ecuador's government said there also have been reports of livestock drowning cristina medina, a spokeswoman for the ecuadorean red cross, said provinces most heavily affected were along the pacific coast, where drinking water was often in short supply in some towns, high waters forced entire neighborhoods to evacuate, medina said e mail to a friend | turfmen franciscan thanksgiving | no related information |
rome, italy italian tennis players potito starace and daniele bracciali have been banned by the atp for betting on matches top italian player potito starace has been suspended for six weeks for betting on matches the country's top player starace 31st in the atp rankings has been suspended for six weeks from january 1 and fined $30,000 (20,890 euros) for making five bets totalling around 90 euros two years ago bracciali, world ranked 258, has been banned for three months and fined $20,000 (13,930 euros) for making around 50 five euro bets between 2004 and 2005 the italian tennis federation (fit) confirmed the news on its website, wwwfedertennisit however, they denounced the penalties as disproportionate, saying the players never bet on their own matches 'injustice is done,' the statement said 'these penalties are absolutely, excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players' the federation said the two were not aware of the atp's betting regulations, and that they stopped placing the bets as soon as they learned it was against the rules another italian player, alessio di mauro, became the first player sanctioned under the atp's new anti corruption rules when he received a nine month ban in november, also for betting on matches starace and bracciali said they were scapegoats for a larger match fixing scandal'it's disgusting,' said the 26 year old starace 'the atp doesn't know where to turn it's all a joke' bracciali said the two had been 'sacrificed' 'that's why they came after us,' the 29 year old said 'we are not champions and we don't count in the upper echelons' atp officials could not be reached for comment on saturday concerns about match fixing have risen since august, when an online betting company reported unusual betting patterns during a match between fourth ranked nikolay davydenko of russia and martin vassallo arguello of argentina the company, betfair, voided all bets and the atp has been investigating davydenko, who retired while trailing in the third set, denies wrongdoing since then, several players have said that they had been approached with offers to fix matches in exchange for money e mail to a friend | italian potito starace daniele bracciali atp starace six weeks bracciali three months | italian tennis players potito starace and daniele bracciali banned by the atp . the pair have been suspended for betting on matches, although not their own . starace suspended for six weeks while bracciali is banned for three months |
(cnn) the mysterious burst of light in the sky and loud booms witnessed sunday night by residents along the mid atlantic coastline was likely caused by a russian rocket booster re entering the atmosphere, said an official at the us naval observatory a mysterious flash in the sky sunday night may have been debris from the soyuz spacecraft's booster the exact cause of the flash that caused hundreds of people to call the media, local authorities and the national weather service was still unknown monday afternoon but eyewitness accounts of the color, shape and timing of the light and sound had officials at the naval observatory confident of the phenomenon's cause: the re entry of orbiting space junk from the russian soyuz spacecraft that blasted off last week from kazakhstan 'an object like this will have a pretty spectacular display when it enters the atmosphere,' said us naval observatory spokesman geoff chester monday morning after the incident, chester said he traced the rocket booster's path and found it was hovering over cape hatteras, north carolina, around the time people reported seeing the light ireportcom: did you see the mysterious flash? sunday's mysterious flash and booms also could have been a fireball, a natural phenomenon that occurs when a rock about the size of a suitcase slams into the earth naval observatory officials say that scenario is unlikely in this case, since the space junk was already orbiting in the area chester said the yellow, orange and iridescent green flashes reported by witnesses resemble both fireballs and burning space junk 'the visual reports are consistent with either case,' he said 'but the fact that a russian rocket booster was passing through that area of the sky at the same time, it's a pretty strong factor in my opinion to make that the culprit' the timing of the light and sounds also indicates it was likely space debris chester said it usually takes up to a week for a rocket booster's orbit to decay the russian spaceship was launched last thursday the booming sounds were likely noises from the explosion, he said there are no reports of damage, weather officials say fragments of the object likely landed in the atlantic ocean the likelihood of space debris hitting one's home is pretty remote, chester said, so residents don't have to worry the light and sounds, which shook houses, occurred between 9:30 and 9:45 pm and could be seen and heard from southern maryland to north carolina, said jeff lewitsky, a forecaster for the national weather service forecast office in wakefield, virginia after receiving dozens of inquiries on sunday night from concerned citizens, lewitsky and his team analyzed the radar and satellite loops and determined the phenomenon wasn't caused by weather lewitsky said his office has not had residents report such a sighting in the past 20 years officials have ruled out another possibility: the light was not likely a solar wind or flare, which is a burst of energy that travels from the sun, said a spokeswoman for the space weather prediction center at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration | humorific linpin waveforms | no related information |
(cnn) jose mourinho was precisely as we had remembered him provocative, outspoken, manipulative, supremely confident, and utterly compelling the only thing lacking in the portuguese's first campaign back in charge at chelsea was the usual glut of trophies but if you listened to the former real madrid and inter coach opine on the english premier league title race last season, his side was never in the running despite managing a club owned by roman abramovich, who is worth a reputed $10 billion, mourinho decried his team as the 'little horse' in the scurry for the finish line this season, ominously, his tone is different the acquisition of two big names from spain cesc fabregas of barcelona and diego coasta from la liga champion atletico madrid has taken his squad onto a different plane, while the return of stalwart didier drogba adds an unashamedly sentimental sheen 'we have the squad that we want to have,' mourinho told reporters on the eve of the new season 'it is a squad for tomorrow, for next season and also a squad with big possibilities for the next five or 10 years with so many young people' chelsea may have finished third last season, but mourinho's tactical prowess was still in evidence not only did he propel the londoners to home and away wins over eventual champion manchester city, he did the same to liverpool a morale crushing 2 0 victory at anfield in late april was the beginning of the end for the reds' title aspirations it was against the lesser lights chelsea faltered, but with his squad now bolstered by yet more quality, mourinho's charges won't be as generous this time around verdict: surely, a third premier league title under mourinho awaits manchester city champion twice in the past three seasons, city might have to play second fiddle to mourinho and chelsea in 2014 15 last season's triumph was a mass of contradictions for large parts of the campaign big spending city was considered favorite but became ultimately reliant on liverpool's last gasp stumble to claim top honors manuel pellegrini's charges spent just 15 days at the top over the whole campaign; the irony of this season may well see it spend more time at the summit without finishing as top dog the club's chilean coach is a year older and wiser as to the travails of english football however, and it has lavished more cash on fleshing out a squad that already has more depth than an olympic swimming pool city has raided portugal to prise fernando and eliaquim mangala from porto, while goalkeeper willy caballero and bruno zuculini have arrived from spain that quartet's lack of english experience has been offset to a degree by the arrival of two seasoned premier league campaigners plucked from city's rivals frank lampard, a three time title winner, has joined on loan from city's subsidiary club new york city fc after being released by chelsea, while france defender bacary sagna has signed from arsenal as ever, city's success will hinge on its twin titans: midfielder yaya toure, who has resolved to stay at the club despite threatening to leave after he received a modest birthday present; and prolific argentina striker sergio aguero, who has signed a new five year contract verdict: close but no cigar as city settles for second best manchester united this is where the waters become muddied can louis van gaal transform manchester united into a serious title contender by sheer force of personality alone? the great alex ferguson was able to, propelling his team to title success in his final season despite notable deficiencies in his squad but those holes remain not filled by david moyes in his disastrous sole season in charge even if june's purchase of ander herrera from athletic bilbao in spain will add some much needed creativity in the middle of the park promising english left back luke shaw has also been added for what many believe to be a vastly inflated sum, but the 19 year old will miss the opening month through injury for all its limitations, this is still a team that boasts a strike force as lethal as they come wayne rooney, newly installed as van gaal's captain, needs 15 goals to move third on the premier league's all time scorers list and robin van persie's four goals at the world cup were crucial as van gaal led netherlands to third place in brazil there are no european champions league distractions for united after last season's malaise, finishing a lowly seventh, so the squad should stay fresh and hungry whatever happens, it won't be dull with van gaal around verdict: an up and down season to end in third place arsenal the gunners have become masters of deception in recent years promising premier league campaigns have frittered away and shots at silverware squandered that is precisely what happened in the top flight last season arsenal spent 128 days atop the division in 2013 14 but suffered maulings at the hands of chelsea and liverpool as a familiar post christmas slump took hold a spike as spring emerged helped usher in champions league qualification for the 17th straight year but then came a watershed moment in may an fa cup triumph victory over hull city in england's premier knockout competition slaked a nine year thirst for a trophy and eased the pressure on arsene wenger that had been steadily mounting throughout that time a change of direction that began with the marquee signing of mesut ozil from real madrid this time last year has continued, with â£66 million ($110m) spent ahead of the new campaign the purchase of alexis sanchez from barcelona after his fine world cup with chile has convinced many fans the gunners can stay in title contention as 2014 15 reaches its business end in taking right back mathieu debuchy from newcastle united, wenger has replaced departing frenchman bacary sagna with an equally competent compatriot colombia world cup star david ospina represents competition for wojciech szczesny in the race for the goalkeeper's jersey and teenage defender calum chambers who cost a reported $25 million from southampton indulges wenger's 'one for the future' passion another couple of signings before the window shuts on september 1 could catapult the london side into the title reckoning, but a top four finish should still be comfortable even without verdict: a fast start before a predictable fade to fourth place for the third successive season liverpool how do you replace luis suarez? the simple answer is you can't the uruguayan's move to barcelona may have engendered an $1285 million windfall, but he takes with him wistful memories of a luxuriant season that reaped 31 goals and 12 assists manager brendan rodgers has chosen to disseminate that cash liberally, rather than try to plug the gap with one marquee signing that has one obvious advantage and one undeniable negative eight new arrivals means liverpool's options are now rich and plentiful but, as tottenham found out so painfully when trying to replace gareth bale last season, it is rare they all hit the ground running add to that a phalanx of extra games now that the reds are in the european champions league after an absence of four seasons, and repeating last year's push for the title seems unrealistic the likes of adam lallana and dejan lovren, both plucked from southampton, have premier league and world cup experience while the likes of midfielder emre can and striker divock origi have huge potential though the latter, who scored belgium's winner against algeria at brazil 2014, has been loaned back to french club lille rodgers' renowned man management skills will be tested as he and aging captain steven gerrard attempt to bed the new arrivals into the liverpool way unless assimilation takes less time than expected, this season is destined to become one of transition for the reds verdict: a fifth place finish after a long winter of adjustment which team do you think will win the title? have your say in the comments box below or continue the conversation with cnn fc on twitter or on facebook | 2014 15 english season saturday chelsea jose mourinho first 2011 manchester city manchester united louis van gaal | the 2014 15 english premier league season starts on saturday . chelsea, led by jose mourinho, is favorite to lift its first title since 2011 . defending champion manchester city has added six players to its squad . manchester united hoping to restore glory under new boss louis van gaal |
(cnn) mauricio pochettino is the latest incumbent of tottenham hotspur's managerial hot seat the london club have appointed the argentinean after raiding fellow english premier league outfit southampton for his services pochettino guided saints to their highest ever epl finish last season and was credited with bringing through a talented clutch of youngsters at the club the 42 year old now has the task of guiding spurs into the lucrative european champions league, knowing failure could cost him his job tottenham chairman daniel levy sacked two managers in less than six months first andre villas boas then tim sherwood for failing to deliver a top four place in an statement on the club's official website, pochettino said: 'this is a club with tremendous history and prestige and i am honored to have been given this opportunity to be its head coach 'there is an abundance of top class talent at the club and i am looking forward to starting work with the squad 'tottenham hotspur has a huge following across the world and i have great admiration for the passion the fans show for this team 'we are determined to give the supporters the kind of attacking football and success that we are all looking to achieve' pochettino took over at southampton in january 2013 with the club struggling at the foot of the premier league and guided them to safety this season he took them to their highest ever league placing eighth and helped develop a core of home grown talent including adam lallana and luke shaw, who are both expected to go to the world cup with england but expectations are much higher at spurs, with a succession of managers being fired for not securing the top four berth that offers entry to europe's money spinning champions league harry redknapp is the only manager in recent times to qualify for the competition, leading spurs to the quarterfinals in 2010/11 before he was sacked in 2012 andre villas boas, the former chelsea manager, finished fifth in his first season before being relieved of his duties in december last year with the club languishing in seventh tim sherwood a former player at the club took over as caretaker but was sacked at the end of the season after spurs finished sixth levy said in the club's statement: 'in mauricio i believe we have a head coach who, with his high energy, attacking football, will embrace the style of play we associate with our club 'he has a proven ability to develop each player as an individual, whilst building great team spirit and a winning mentality we have a talented squad that mauricio is excited to be coaching next season' coaches jesús pérez, miguel d'agostino and toni jiménez have also followed pochettino to white hart lane, with southampton's search for a new manager now under way in a statement on the club's official website announcing pochettino's resignation, chairman ralph krueger said: 'we will be looking for a manager that shares our values, our principles and our philosophy 'a manager who can continue to grow the first team and build on our strong foundation a foundation led by an ambitious vision and plan that continues to build on our world class academy, our amazing 129 year heritage and our excellent staff, and rewards our loyal and passionate fan base' also see: real secure 'la decima' also see: the $200m 'mistake' | spurs argentinean mauricio pochettino pochettino english premier league southampton 42 year old epl last season five year white hart lane | spurs appoint argentinean mauricio pochettino as their new manager . pochettino joins from fellow english premier league club southampton . the 42 year old led saints to their highest ever epl finish last season . pochettino signs a five year deal at white hart lane |
kuala lumpur, malaysia (cnn) there are no immediate links between the 19 people arrested on suspicion of planning terror attacks on malaysia's administrative capital, putrajaya, and the islamic state of iraq and syria (isis), police said wednesday 'these individuals, however, share a similar ideology with isis and other terrorist groups such as boko haram and jemaah islamiah they come from a salafi jihadist movement,' the asian country's counter terrorism deputy chief, ayob khan pitchay mydin, told cnn al qaeda linked jemaah islamiah (ji) was behind the 2002 bali bombings, which left 202 people dead and other bombings in south east asia, while boko haram is the islamist militant group waging a campaign of terror in nigeria however, malaysian police believe the individuals concerned were making their way to join isis in its war in syria after investigating their travel plans 'we know they planned to join isis through their travel itineraries,' said ayob khan the 19 suspects 17 men and two women, who were arrested in operations between april and july had planned flights to istanbul, turkey before going to syria over land via turkey's hatay province, the counter terrorism specialist said seven people have already being charged in court for various terror related activities bars targeted during their investigations, police say they uncovered plans by the group to bomb bars and other alcohol related establishments, including a brewery, around the city 'they were also using facebook to raise money for their activities under the guise of humanitarian efforts in the middle east,' said ayob khan he declined to reveal how much money had already been raised, or to identify the group's name, as they are still investigating its links with other groups in june, 26 year old ahmad tarmimi maliki became the first malaysian suicide bomber linked to isis the factory worker, who was behind an attack that killed more than 20 elite iraqi soldiers at their base in al anbar in may, was identified after reports surfaced on an isis linked website his photograph was also featured | malaysia isis | police: 19 people arrested on terrorism charges in malaysia not linked to isis . they share a similar ideology with isis and other terrorist groups such as boko haram, police said . the group, which has not been named, planned to attack bars around malaysia's administrative capital |
(cnn) the king of spain relinquished his crown yesterday so did the country's football dynasty goals were scored aplenty, and one mighty underdog lifted its nation's spirits even in loss here's what we'll be talking about and looking forward to today at the world cup: 1 england vs uruguay third time's the charm: second guessing is second nature for fans, but england's taken it to a whole another level we swear they're overly obsessed over wayne rooney (somewhere david beckham is going, 'wayne, i know boy, do i know') we're talking about a guy who's scored 39 goals for his country, but not a single one at a world cup and this is his third one uruguay should fare better than it did in its 1 3 loss to costa rica its star forward, luis suarez, recovering from knee surgery, is ready to play it's not just that he can score and do so spectacularly it's the confidence that his presence will infuse in the team 2 other showdowns lord of the dance: it sure would be nice to see colombia score against the ivory coast just to enjoy another one of its goal celebrations imagine how the players would dance if they won this match and virtually assured their passage into the next round? clean sweep: in the last match of the day, greece plays japan don't yawn greece, while far from dazzling, played much better in its opener than the final score reflected (a 3 0 loss to colombia) japan, too, was pretty good against the ivory coast until the elephants nabbed two late goals fans of the samurai blue clean up after themselves in the stands here's hoping the team does so too on the field 3 spain's ouster spanish inquisition: there's going to be an anguished inquest in spain today its players came into the tournament singing 'we are the champions' they leave red faced, losing not just to the netherlands 1 5 last week, but also to chile 0 2 they lost to chile a team that's never beaten them, ever! here's how hard the rain fell on spain in 2010, it conceded only two goals the entire tournament in just two games this year, it swallowed seven! chile, on the other hand, was still singing up a storm in rio early this morning its team was a joy to watch: cohesive, clever, confident 4 the aussie underdogs call and response: it was the soccer equivalent of that musical form one team scored; the other equalized mere minutes later and although australia was the huge underdog to the dutch behemoth yesterday, this was no oranje rout the netherlands move on to the round of 16 after beating the socceroos 3 2 but what we'll remember is the aussies' never say die fight and tim cahill's thunderstruck volley sublime! 5 stadium security tear down this wall: at first, it seemed kind of humorous: ticketless fans marauding through a tunnel underneath the stadium looking for their dream destination seats at the world cup then it turned into something like the running of the bulls the fans knocked down temporary walls as they herded down the corridor, swarming past stunned journalists inside the maracana stadium an hour before the chile spain kickoff yesterday cops detained at least 85 just for kicks while you wait for the games to begin, here is some soccer related stuff that's making waves this thursday: if not ronaldo, then eminem?: the deuce is loose and ready to produce rhymes in times that strike and score, that you'll adore, that take their toll, until he reaches his goooooooooooooooal sorry, we'll leave the rapping to clint dempsey, aka the deuce (his preferred uniform number), who according to the wall street journal will release a new album after the cup it's not his first rap effort, as fans of the 2006 us team will recall and we shall call it golfball: a game that combines the two why not? soccer in a minion nutshell: also known as haters gonna hate | england rooney colombia the ivory coast japan | england is hoping for a win and for rooney to score . colombia takes on the ivory coast . japan is deceptively good |
(cnn) the humane society of the united states released thursday what it says is video showing gruesome images of many dead chickens and in some cases, mummified chicken carcasses at a farm in southeastern pennsylvania the animal protection organization says the video is from an undercover investigation it conducted at kreider farms in manheim, pennsylvania, in february and march kreider farms, on its website, describes itself as 'a real working farm supplying fresh quality eggs, milk, drinks and premium batch churned ice cream to select wholesalers and retail stores' the video, played in a news conference, showed dead chickens in cramped cages surrounded by live chickens and eggs many of the birds appeared to be trapped either in cage wire or in automated feeding machinery 'during the investigation, thousands of birds died of dehydration when there was a water system malfunction that people didn't notice for two or three days,' said paul shapiro, vice president of the humane society of the united states 'hen's legs and wings and more were found stuck inside of the wires of the cages, trapping these animals, preventing them from gaining access to food or water some of the floors in these barns were so packed with dead flies that our investigator described the experience as similar to walking on top of rice krispies' but kreider farms president and ceo ron kreider issued a statement disputing the humane society's claims 'the allegations by hsus are a gross distortion of kreider farms, our employees and the way we care for our birds,' the statement read 'there are still many unanswered questions regarding how and when this video was shot, edited and assembled' the humane society is pushing for passage of a bill currently in the house of representatives that it says would lead to a friendlier system of egg production the bill is supported by the united egg producers, which represents farmers responsible for more than 80% of the country's egg production other influential food industry organizations, however, are opposed to the legislation the national pork producers council, for example, issued a news release in january calling it a 'farm takeover bill,' and saying 'it would set a 'dangerous precedent' for allowing the federal government to regulate on farm production practices, including animal housing' the bill calls for an increase in the size of chicken cages, with the aim of preventing cramped and unsanitary conditions in which chickens lay eggs the law would be phased in over an extended period to give farms time to make the necessary changes it is unclear when the house might take up the bill for consideration kreider said in his statement kreider farms supports such legislation and asserted that more than 80% of the chickens there are already housed in new, larger, state of the art facilities still, shapiro said the conditions on farms such as kreider's aren't acceptable and threaten the health of people 'there is a direct connection many times between how we treat animals and problems that we cause for ourselves,' he said 'oftentimes when we abuse farm animals, we're not doing ourselves any favors in the process 'there's a clear case to be made, for example, that increasing the amount of birds who are cramming in together, giving them less and less space, increases the risk of salmonella infection in fact, at kreider farms we saw they were testing positive for salmonella at this facility and so it's important to recognize that, of course, the cruelty to animals by itself is extraordinarily problematic, but there's also a consumer safety aspect to this' | the humane society | the humane society shows video of dead chickens at an egg farm . the farm calls the allegations of inhumane conditions 'a gross distortion'. the humane society is pushing passage of legislation to create better conditions |
(cnn) folashade abugan is the third nigerian athlete to have failed a drugs test at the commonwealth games in india, where she won two silver medals, it was revealed on friday abugan, who came second in the women's 400 meters last week and the 4x400m relay on tuesday, has been stripped of both of her medals after testing positive for the banned anabolic substance testosterone prohormone the 20 year old, who was world junior champion in 2008, has waived her right to have her 'b' sample tested, the commonwealth games federation said a day after the four yearly event finished in new delhi 'folashade abugan returned an adverse analytical finding from a test conducted on october 8, 2010, after competing in the women's 400 meter final,' the cgf said in a statement the news comes as a blow to the nigeria team, who were already reeling following the failed tests of both women's 100m champion osayemi oludamola and samuel okon, who came sixth in the men's 110m hurdles that duo tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexanamine the cgf statement also said abugan has admitted liability for the failed test, and she has been disqualified from all the events she participated in 'ms abugan wrote to the cgf waiving her rights to have her 'b' sample analyzed and a hearing, as provided for within the cgf anti doping standard (ads) she also admitted liability 'she has been disqualified from all events she participated in during the games, with the results nullified this includes her silver medal in the women's 400 meters 'as she was also a member of her country's second placed 4x400m relay team, that result is also nullified' the silver medal she obtained in the 400m will now go to aliann tabitha pompey of guyana, with christine amertil of the bahamas being promoted into the bronze medal position england's quartet of kelly massey, victoria barr, meghan beesley and nadine okyere have been elevated to second position in the 4x400m relay, with canada's amonn nelson, adrienne power, vicki tolton and carline muir now claiming bronze | hearthrug undigressiveness puttock | no related information |
los angeles, california (cnn) talk about burying the hatchet when former president bill clinton turned out to rally for california democratic gubernatorial nominee jerry brown on friday night, the former rivals hugged and made up really, they embraced the two have a bitter political history dating to 1992, when they ran against each other in the democratic presidential primary back then, brown earned clinton's animus by refusing to drop out until well after it was clear clinton had locked up the nomination speaking before a crowd on the campus of the university of california, los angeles, brown heaped praise on the former president 'let me tell you about president clinton i don't need to say much not only was he great in office, but he has been great after he left office,' brown said 'he didn't retire to palm springs to play golf, he's out there doing stuff he's helping people in haiti he's fighting aids' he cheered the former president for 'motivating the highest angles of our spirit' clinton returned the favor, telling the crowd of screaming students, 'i've known jerry brown for almost 35 years when we were governors together, we strongly supported to push for green energy he knew it was good economics when most people thought it was a fools errand' reviewing brown's history as a two term california governor, then mayor of oakland and now attorney general, he enthused, 'i watched him consistently choose the future over the present, but not take a meat axe to the present' insisting 'that's what you need now' brown is in a tight race with former ebay ceo meg whitman, who has funded her campaign with more than $119 million of her own money it was whitman who first brought clinton into this race when she ran an ad featuring old footage of then gov clinton ripping into brown during the 1992 campaign a clearly irked brown responded by making a snarky remark about clinton's honesty and tossing in a reference to the affair with monica lewinsky brown later said he called clinton's office to apologize and the former president announced plans to endorse his old rival there were times during clinton's speech that brown seemed to lose patience, staring at the ground or stonily straight ahead but there were no openly tense moments for most of his remarks, the former president talked about the economy, accusing republicans of digging america into a fiscal ditch and insisting 'the last thing you want to do is put the shovel brigade back in the hole' he made a special appeal to the crowd of mostly college students, imploring them 'if young people vote as the same percentage of the electorate they did two years ago, then the good guys win' he also gave praise to the other candidate on the stage, lieutenant governor hopeful gavin newsom, who is a clinton friend and a supporter of hillary clinton's candidacy during the last election but clinton offered a special compliment for brown 'he's the only politician in america i've heard say this except me' and went on to insist that 'as horrible' as the recession has been 'when we come out of it, if we learn right lessons from it, we will be stronger for it' he criticized whitman's policy positions and closed with a brown endorsement saying, 'the candidates have radically different ideas: one will lead us to a brighter future and the other will lead us to a movie we've seen before' when they left the stage, the former adversaries went their separate ways brown walked off while clinton worked the ropeline, crossing through the barricade and into the crowd to shake hands with just about every waiting visitor | jerry brown democratic california | jerry brown is a democratic gubernatorial nominee for california . the two have a bitter political history dating to 1992 . they ran against each other in the democratic presidential primary |
(cnn) a school security chief gave an emotional account thursday of his shootout with a florida man who held school board members hostage before opening fire mikes jones with bay district schools in panama city told hln 'prime news' he was afraid the system's superintendent was dead after clay duke, 56, pointed a handgun at the leader and opened fire tuesday afternoon everything around me was just silent it was in slow motion,' said jones, a former school board member and a retired panama city police officer superintendent bill husfelt then raised his head above the counter after the shooting incident, in which at least 15 shots were fired 'i couldn't believe he was alive,' jones told hln after a day spending time with his pastor and family, jones talked with the media about the gun battle that took place during a routine school board meeting 'when he fired the first shot, i had no recourse it was a gun battle,' mike jones told reporters about his encounter with duke 'i'm not a hero i had just done my job' jones, who is known as the affable 'salvage santa' for his charity work, said his 'heart goes out' to the family of duke, who his wife described as having bipolar disorder 'i just want to get right with god about this and right with my church about what had happened,' said jones duke's widow, rebecca crowder duke, apologized for her husband's actions and said she understood that jones was doing what he was 'trained to do' jones wasn't supposed to be at the routine meeting, but swung by in case there were questions about a remodeling matter related to his job 'i wasn't in the building five minutes that i got into the gunfight' he said he got a call about the dramatic confrontation and went downstairs inside, duke had approached the front of the room, spray painted a red 'v' with a circle around it on the wall and brandished a handgun he ordered the room cleared of everyone but six men and got into a discourse with board members and husfelt about several issues, including the termination of duke's wife jones did a 'peeka boo' look into the room, hoping duke would come out the officer, who recently received rapid response training, went to his vehicle to get a protective vest and more ammunition and returned 'i was peeking through the crack of the door and when i saw his back and he was squared up with both hands i knew that the fight was fixing to happen,' said jones but the officer said he could not get a clear line of fire on duke a chilling video of the meeting, from a live internet feed provided by cnn affiliates wjhg and wmbb, shows husfelt attempting to reason with duke husfelt pleaded with duke to allow the other members to leave the room 'will you let them go? you're obviously upset at me, so why are they here?' he asked on the video at one point, husfelt told duke, 'i don't want anybody to get hurt i've got a feeling that's what you want, is you want the cops to come in and kill you because you are mad, because you said you are going to die but why? this isn't worth it' duke then pointed the pistol at husfelt, who said, 'please don't please don't please' but duke pulled the trigger as husfelt and the others hit the floor the gunman fired several times, missing everyone crowder duke told wjhg on wednesday that her husband, who she described as having bipolar disorder and unable to get work recently because of his prior criminal record, intentionally fired over the people and did not intend to harm them 'if he really wanted to shoot anybody, they (would have) already been dead,' said crowder duke, who police say was terminated as a teacher this year she said she had received praise from her principal jones said he believed the superintendent had been shot he opened the door with one hand and opened fire with the other, wounding duke three times in a gunfire exchange the suspect fell to the floor and fatally shot himself in the head, police said wjhg reported that jones was taken to a hospital with chest pains after the incident the officer said he first struck duke in the back and was worried he might go to jail 'there's just so many things that go through your mind it was instinct and training' jones told reporters he feels husfelt deserved the accolades for asking duke to let the other school board members go 'mike and his timing saved our lives,' husfelt said but it was evident at thursday's press conference the incident took a toll on jones 'the first thing that came to mind (was) what is this community going to think of me?' he said 'i'm known as salvage santa, this nice guy now i've taken somebody's life' crowder duke said she has no animosity toward jones 'i don't fault you for (the shooting) i know you were just doing what you were trained to do, and i'm sorry that god had to choose you to do that because you are a very kind, sweet, generous man,' crowder duke told wjhg husfelt said the district would re evaluate security in the wake of the incident but said he doubted security would have made a difference 'we could have had this place like fort knox there was nothing we could have done to stop him' for 27 years, jones has restored bicycles, raised money and collected toys to be given away to needy children, according to the panama city news herald the officer said he would be at a local store thursday night to further the effort | gunman mike jones jones | security chief said he was afraid gunman killed superintendent . gunman's wife: mike jones did what he was 'trained to do'. school security officer recounts gun battle at a school board meeting . jones is known as 'salvage santa' for his charitable work |
(cnn) us president barack obama is expected to finalize a comprehensive partnership with indonesia during his two day stop in the southeast asian nation where he spent part of his childhood however the indonesia volcano that threatened president obama's visit is now 'likely' to shorten an already brief stop to the capital city of jakarta obama met with indonesian president susilo bambang yudhoyono and held a news conference with him he is also scheduled to attend an official dinner; and visit the istiqlal mosque, the largest mosque in southeast asia white house spokesman robert gibbs, who earlier told reporters that officials were closely monitoring the ash cloud from mount merapi, said forecasting shows air traffic might again be disrupted gibbs said the president still hopes to deliver a speech at the university of indonesia 'my sense is, our hope is that while we may have to truncate some of the morning we can get the speech in,' gibbs told reporters aboard air force one on a flight from new delhi to jakarta obama lived in the indonesian capital from 1968 1971, leaving aged 10 click through cnn's photo gallery above to see what indonesians are thinking of his upcoming visit and to learn about his time there | us barack obama indonesia jakarta asian obama | us president barack obama lived in indonesia from 1968 1971 . he will be in jakarta as part of a 10 day asian tour to boost trade, ties . obama is expected to finalize a comprehensive partnership with indonesia |
london, england (cnn) an american professor doing research in london stumbled across a series of previously unknown letters written by, to, and about benjamin franklin, a stunning find that sheds new light on early us history the letters cover benjamin franklin's success in dealing with a british general the collection of 47 letters are hand written copies made 250 years ago, when franklin lived in london that they were filed under the copyist's name, not franklin's, may explain why they were overlooked by historians until now, said a curator at the british library, where the letters are held the find is reported in the april issue of the william & mary quarterly, a journal of early american history and culture the letters are important in large part because they offer a 'wealth of new details' that affect modern understanding of franklin, writes alan houston, the political science professor who discovered the letters in the spring of 2007 they also raise the question of how many other documents remain waiting to be found on franklin and his life houston, a professor at the university of california at san diego, discovered the letters on the last day of his last research trip to london, just before the library's closing time 'the first item was a letter from benjamin franklin to the secretary of the governor of maryland, and i looked at it and i started to read, and i thought, 'this doesn't look familiar,'' houston told cnn 'i've read everything franklin ever wrote' houston said he quickly began to realize he had uncovered something previously unknown to historians 'i swear, i just about shot through the ceiling i was so excited,' he said 'it's like finding a treasure chest' houston had been working at the time on a book on franklin, 'benjamin franklin and the politics of improvement,' published last year the letters cover franklin's success in dealing with british gen edward braddock, who had been sent to pennsylvania in 1755 to defeat the french at fort duquesne, in modern day pittsburgh the march to retake the fort was part of the french and british battle for control of the western lands in the colonies, part of a larger struggle for control of north america, houston said the problem was that braddock was given no horses or wagons when he arrived in america no means of transport for him and his 2,000 redcoats braddock started to blame his hosts, so franklin the pennsylvania assembly's leading politician stepped in to help franklin went all over pennsylvania trying to persuade farmers to lend their horses and wagons to braddock and his men it wasn't easy, because the farmers were tough negotiators who were also anxious and suspicious of the effort eventually, franklin managed to get the farmers to agree, and within weeks, braddock and his men were on the march braddock suffered a devastating defeat before he even reached the fort, however, when a much smaller contingent of french and indian soldiers surprised the british they killed braddock and about 1,000 of his men despite the defeat, franklin's success in what became known as 'the wagon affair' highlighted his skill as a colonial leader, houston said when franklin was sent to london in 1757 as a representative of the assembly, he brought with him a collection of letters detailing that success it was proof of his political value to great britain and that the assembly's loyalties had been on the right side this collection of letters, which franklin referred to in his autobiography as his 'quire book,' was never found, however until now houston said he believes the documents he read at the british library are copies of that collection they were made by thomas birch, an industrious and obsessive transcriber of historical documents who copied anything he could get his hands on 'there was a vogue it was very common for letters to be copied,' said matthew shaw, curator of the us collections at the british library 'birch was very well known for being a copyist' birch and franklin were friends in london, both members of the royal society, and houston said he believes the copies were made sometime between 1757 and 1758 'birch undoubtedly found franklin's quire book captivating, and he appears to have copied anything that remotely interested him,' houston writes in the journal also, braddock's campaign and defeat were widely discussed in london, and 'birch may have wanted to capture a crucial moment in the life of the (royal) society's most famous american member' birch's transcripts were filed in the british library as 'copies of letters relating to the march of general braddock' they form part of the massive birch collection containing the hundreds of volumes of his copies that birch bequeathed to the library on his death, said shaw they weren't properly catalogued until the early 1970s, shaw said, which is largely why they haven't been used by scholars 'it's the first time they've really been shared with a wider audience,' shaw told cnn 'we're very pleased' | benjamin franklin london british french north america franklin pennsylvania | collection of letters by, to, and about benjamin franklin found in london . letters were copied by hand and had been filed under copyist's name . letters concern war between british and french for control of north america . franklin was sent to london in 1757 to represent pennsylvania's assembly |
(cnn) residents of the two largest us cities will finally be able to tap into sprint nextel's 4g wireless network soon sprint plans to launch its speedier, fourth generation internet in new york on november 1 the 4g network will come to los angeles, california, at the beginning of december and to san francisco, california, in late december, the company said sprint, the third largest us cellular provider by number of subscribers, rolled out its first 4g city network two years ago in baltimore, maryland since then, the telecom has added 54 cities, a mix of large metropolitan areas like chicago, illinois, and las vegas, nevada, as well as smaller ones with the three imminent additions, sprint can color in some crucial sectors of its 4g coverage map it's an important weapon to have in the face of plans by verizon wireless, the largest us cell carrier by subscribers, to cover 38 cities with its 4g network this year moreover, the upcoming launches push sprint closer to achieving its goal of covering the homes of 120 million americans with its 4g network by the end of the year 10 million more than verizon's plan but verizon's 4g network can reach speeds faster than sprint's the new infrastructure sprint uses is in partnership with clearwire, so the major telecom is reliant on clearwire (in which sprint owns a majority stake) to determine where it will build the so called wi max 4g technology 'wireless is a very competitive arena,' acknowledged sprint spokeswoman kathleen dunleavy teresa kellett, sprint's director of 4g, said she doesn't foresee verizon's (and eventually at&t's) speed advantage being an issue 'the speeds with our 4g is significantly better than anything [customers] have experienced to date on a wireless device,' kellett said 'they just need it to be responsive enough and fast enough for what they're doing' kellett boasts that sprint subscribers can receive access to unlimited wireless data on 4g, whereas she expects other carriers will put caps on how much customers can download at&t has already put a halt to unlimited data plans for new customers after sprint 4g was launched in baltimore, 20 months passed before a phone maker built a handset compatible with the faster network with that evo 4g smartphone from htc and another from samsung electronics and 10 other miscellaneous devices sprint is confident with its lead however, t mobile began selling its first phone designed to take advantage of its next gen hspa+ network last week another htc phone, called the g2 verizon says it will have 4g cards for laptops this year and will have a half dozen 4g capable products to show in january verizon may add another gun to its arsenal rumors are flying that apple will build an iphone compatible with verizon's network, a phone which may or may not use 4g 'we feel very strongly about our evo,' dunleavy, the sprint spokeswoman, said 'we feel it can stand head to head with the iphone' | sprint new york los angeles san francisco | sprint plans to launch its 4g data network in new york on november 1 . the telecom plans to roll out 4g in los angeles and san francisco in december . the major city launches come in the face of increased competition in 4g internet |
(cnet) ceatec didn't officially start until monday, but toshiba was already getting the lion's share of the buzz here on the show floor, with its glasses less 3d tv the device was announced sunday night, and people flocked to the demonstration in a dark makeshift theater monday, where the wait was nearly an hour the reason? because finally, mercifully, a tv maker has come up with a way to watch 3d at home without those ridiculous plastic glasses there were three sizes on display: 12 inches, 20 inches, and 56 inches while the smaller size models are destined for the japanese market in december, the 56 incher is just a prototype and there are no imminent plans to make it into an actual product, according to a toshiba representative here the 3d regza tv uses the cell broadband engine that takes a 2d image and then simultaneously creates nine images of it from nine different directions, in real time it's displayed on a high definition led tv cnet: watch an explanation video of how the technology works after spending some time in the theater, we found the tv works surprisingly well it's not a 3d cinema quality experience, and there's clearly room to improve, but again, you don't have to wear any glasses still images fare better than moving images and you have to sit (though we stood during the demo) very close to the center of the screen to get the effect with the 12 inch version, move more than a few inches to the left or right and the 3d effect is lost however, the viewing angle was better on the 20 inch model, and the best on the 56 inch one and there's another matter of practicality: to get the best effect, you have to stand pretty close to the led tv, closer than any normal person would want to for fear singeing their retinas that's why the glasses less 3d laptop, a toshiba dynabook, is a far more realistic application of the glasses less technology: it's the same size as the 12 inch tv, but since it's natural to sit very close to a laptop and look at it straight on, the aforementioned problems are negated the 12 inch 3d tv goes on sale in japan at the end of this year for 120,000 yen, or $1,500 the 20 inch will have a 240,000 yen price tag, or about $2,900 sorry, rest of the world, you'll have to wait, since there's no timetable for bringing either to other markets © 2010 cbs interactive inc all rights reserved cnet, cnetcom and the cnet logo are registered trademarks of cbs interactive inc used by permission | toshiba ceatec last night 12 inch japan the end of this year 1,500 | toshiba is getting lion's share of buzz at ceatec with glasses less 3d tv . device was announced last night and people flocked to demonstration . you have to sit very close to the center of the screen to get the effect . the 12 inch 3d tv goes on sale in japan at the end of this year for $1,500 |
seoul, south korea (cnn) south korea will hold its largest ever winter live fire drills thursday in an area adjacent to north korea, the south korean army said on wednesday the drills are scheduled as tensions between the two countries remain high south korea held live fire military exercises earlier this week, a move that north korea said could ignite a war both koreas have traded tough talk and conducted military drills in the weeks after north korea shelled a south korean island last month see more of cnncom's koreas coverage the attack killed two marines and two civilians | koreas south korea | the drills come as tensions between the two koreas remain high . south korea held live fire military exercises earlier this week |
london, england (cnn) the sole survivor of the crash that killed princess diana has told a court he still cannot remember the incident but does not support the conspiracy theories surrounding it bodyguard trevor rees and the back of princess diana's head are seen shortly before the car crash bodyguard trevor rees, formerly known as trevor rees jones, was the front seat passenger in the mercedes that carried diana, her boyfriend, dodi fayed, and their driver, henri paul he sustained serious injuries in the august 31, 1997 crash and testified that he received anonymous phone calls and letters after the accident, threatening him to keep quiet he said the caller told him to keep quiet, saying, 'we know who you are, we know where you are, and we know where you live' rees said he didn't take the calls or letters seriously a lawyer also asked rees about a supposed encounter with a woman in which he told her, 'if i remember, they're going to kill me' rees said he didn't recall the conversation and found it unlikely he ever made the remark rees, who still has a visible scar from the accident over his left eye, told the court he remembers nothing new about the crash, which, he has said, was an accident he has said the last thing he remembers that night was leaving the ritz hotel in paris, and that his next memory is more than a week later, in his hospital bed, when his parents told him everyone else in the car was dead rees suffered major injuries to his lower jaw, the base of his brain, and his pulmonary system and has had several surgeries and hospitalizations, some of which al fayed paid for rees also testified that he did not support the allegations by dodi fayed's father, mohamed al fayed, that british security services were behind the crash he denied the security services paid him to change his story at the time of the crash, rees was working for al fayed's security team and was assigned to guard dodi fayed he was also protecting the princess because she was fayed's companion on the trip he no longer works on al fayed's security team rees has said what was once a good relationship with his former employer has broken down, largely because he does into support al fayed's conspiracy theories about the crash 'i am not a part of any conspiracy to suppress the truth at all,' rees testified 'all i have ever done is given the truth as i see it' in 2000, rees published a book, 'the bodyguard's story: diana, the crash, and the sole survivor,' offering his account of the events surrounding the crash he said al fayed tried unsuccessfully to stop the book's publication in england rees told cnn he wrote the book to give a definitive account of what he remembered and knew, but also to counter al fayed's accusations that his unprofessionalism caused the accident rees also said proceeds from the book helped pay his legal bills during the morning session, rees testified that he had two flashbacks in the months after the crash, but his psychiatrist told him they were false memories in the first, rees said, he recalled hearing the voice of a woman apparently diana calling out, 'dodi' from the back seat of the car in the second flashback, rees said he recalled seeing a paparazzi motorbike next to the car lawyer ian burnett then read from a letter written by al fayed to lord stevens, who investigated the crash for the british police in the letter, al fayed says rees is lying about losing his memory 'he knows the detail which the security services are so eager to suppress,' al fayed wrote, alluding to his belief that the crash was part of a murder plot rees testified that he was not lying about his memory loss: 'i have no memory of after leaving the back of the hotel, that's my last true memory' rees also said claims the couple visited a jeweler's in monte carlo to buy an engagement ring in late august 1997 were untrue british authorities hold an inquest whenever someone dies in suspicious circumstances a judge, who is also called a coroner, holds hearings to determine how the person died, but he will not determine blame or apportion guilt although diana and dodi fayed died in paris, a british coroner must still investigate because their bodies were returned to britain the inquest does not involve driver henri paul because his body remained in france british authorities had to wait to begin the inquest until after french authorities concluded their investigation, which lasted from august 1997 to late 2003 the inquest then began but immediately adjourned so that british police could do their own report, which was needed for the british inquest the british police inquiry took almost three years and concluded in december 2006 the inquest then resumed in october 2007 and is expected to last four to six months e mail to a friend cnn's teresa martini contributed to this report | spondylus steer semiape | no related information |
(cnn) stranded in the snowy california woods for three days after losing their way while searching for a christmas tree, a father and his three children fashioned a 'help' sign out of twigs on a nearby unpaved road, according to the helicopter pilots who found them lexi and joshua dominguez exit a helicopter wednesday, shortly after being found the four sought shelter from the heavy snow in a culvert and removed their sodden socks in an effort to stay warm and dry while they waited for rescue, the pilots said frederick dominguez said that during the three day ordeal, he and his children slept inside a log for warmth and ripped apart their shirts to wrap their wet, freezing feet 'you just go to survival mode,' he said 'every parent would do that you would do anything, sacrifice yourself, because these are your kids' dominguez and his children christopher, 18; lexi, 14; and joshua, 12 were reported missing monday night by dominguez's former wife and the children's mother, lisa sams, according to police in paradise, california, a town of 27,000 people about 90 miles north of sacramento watch the family talk about their 'scary' ordeal » 'i'm glad i'm home praise god,' dominguez told reporters after exiting a chopper at the search command post 'it was awful' asked how he survived, he replied, 'jesus christ' dominguez said he used branches and sticks to spell out the word 'help' near the culvert, where the three slept the last two nights at times sleeping with their feet inside each other's shirts to help stave off frostbite he said his daughter was the first to hear a california highway patrol helicopter overhead he said he ran though several feet of snow barefooted to wave it down 'when they turned around, man, i was just praising god and saying, 'thank you lord, thank you lord,' because i knew we had made it,' he said police vehicles equipped with snow chains rumbled up mountain roads to help conduct the search, which also involved a snowmobile and dogs more than 80 searchers scoured the woods wednesday until the four were found about 1 pm (4 pm et) officer steve ward said he was piloting the helicopter out ahead of bad weather when he spotted dominguez coming out of the culvert and waving 'we were very lucky that we just saw this guy at the last second' paramedic flight officer dave white, who was with ward, said that after the two shut down the helicopter and waved the family over, all four came running 'the little girl was in tears,' he said white said the family was found north of where ground crews were searching the pilots could see the 'help' sign they had made with twigs on a nearby four wheel drive road, he said christopher dominguez told cnn's anderson cooper the family got lost sunday searching for a tree, which they had chopped down but later abandoned he said they didn't have food, heavy coats or other provisions to help prepare for the cold nights 'we weren't prepared at all,' he said 'we just thought we were going to go up to the mountains, get our tree and go back home it didn't turn out that way' after the family failed to locate their vehicle, he said, snow and darkness began to fall at that point, lexi dominguez said, 'i started freaking out' 'it was really, really scary,' she said 'i just remember walking and walking and being like, we're not going to make it,' lexi said and as they huddled for warmth, christopher dominguez said, his sister sang songs to help pass the time until help arrived 'we were all just happy, happy to be rescued,' christopher dominguez said late wednesday, huddled with his siblings under blankets in their home 'i feel good, just happy to be home,' said joshua dominguez 'because i didn't think we were going to make it' all four appeared to be in good condition as they were brought by chopper to the command post and taken to ambulances wendy wilson, the children's aunt, told cnn the two younger children had some frostbite on their toes and a touch of hypothermia, but were expected to make a full recovery butte county search and rescue dispatcher madde watts said, 'they had angels with them, for sure' the search riveted those in paradise and beyond mayor alan white, whose son played soccer on the same team as joshua last year, said he and many others in and around paradise have cut christmas trees in the same place where the family vanished when winter weather sours there, he said, people in the woods can get lost quickly 'if you're 50 feet from your car, you might not be able to find it,' he said although police found the family's car, it offered no clues as to where they might have gone the inaccessible area is beyond the reach of cell phones, authorities have said paradise high principal mike lerch said students had volunteered to help in the search 'this is a good family,' he said christopher dominguez had graduated from the school a few months ago, lerch said, and lexi is a sophomore there joshua attends paradise intermediate school e mail to a friend | joshua 12 family culvert frederick dominguez sunday christmas tuesday | new: joshua, 12, 'happy to be home i didn't think we were going to make it'. family sought shelter from snow in culvert, warmed each other's frostbitten feet . frederick dominguez and his 3 children set out sunday to cut christmas tree . more than 80 people searched for them tuesday in heavy snow |
new york (cnn) six british soldiers who have been charged with assaulting an off duty new york city police officer are expected to appear in court this week, according to a police spokesman the six soldiers were arrested early friday morning after the 30 year old police officer was injured outside a bar in manhattan's murray hill neighborhood, said new york police department spokesman sgt thomas antonetti a verbal altercation quickly escalated into a physical fight, he said the cause is still unclear, he added all of the soldiers are fiji nationals who serve in the 1st scots guard of the british army, according to antonetti the group was visiting new york city for a battalion rugby match the men are identified as iosefo yavala, iliakini raderua, thomas shute, felite vunisarati, mosese kuruala, and joeli raduva according to nypd the nypd officer, 30, and a friend, 26, suffered lacerations and bruising to the face and head they were taken to a hospital where they were treated and released, antonetti said all six british soldiers were charged with third degree assault, antonetti said one of the men was also charged with robbery, accused of trying to steal the nypd officer's cell phone, he said the british ministry of defence released a statement to cnn saying it is 'aware of an incident in new york involving some british army soldiers this is a matter for the nypd and it would be inappropriate to comment while there is an ongoing investigation all those who are found to fall short of the army's high standards will face disciplinary action, up to and including discharge, if appropriate' three of the men will appear in a new york district court on tuesday, according to public records from the new york criminal court | misbeseem laxatives mesomorphy | no related information |
los angeles, california (cnn) oscar said yes to 'no country for old men' and to european actors on sunday night actors daniel day lewis, tilda swinton, marion cotillard and javier bardem toast their success 'no country,' the coen brothers' brutal tale of a man pursued by death and the law across the bleak moonscapes of west texas, won best picture at the 80th academy awards the four acting awards, meanwhile, went to europeans: marion cotillard, daniel day lewis, javier bardem and tilda swinton the coens also won best director and best adapted screenplay, and bardem, who played cattle gun armed killer anton chigurh, won best supporting actor producer scott rudin shared the best picture award with the brothers 'we're very thankful to all of you out there for letting us continue to play in our corner of the sandbox, so thank you very much,' joel coen said in accepting the directing award he observed that the pair didn't think they were doing much different work now from when, as a child, ethan coen 'got a suit and a briefcase and we went to the minneapolis international airport with a super 8 camera and made a movie about shuttle diplomacy called 'henry kissinger, man on the go' ' watch the best of the winners' backstage remarks » the coens, who have been known for their arch style and oddball humor in films such as 'fargo,' 'o brother, where art thou' and 'the big lebowski,' received some laughs for ethan coen's laconic acceptance speeches after the pair won for adapted screenplay, ethan coen gave a brief thanks upon winning the directing award, he expanded on his speech slightly, sort of: 'i don't have a lot to add to what i said earlier thank you,' he said day lewis was more effusive in his thanks after winning best actor for his performance as a misanthropic oilman in 'there will be blood' 'my deepest thanks to the members of the academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town,' the british actor said as he accepted the award 'i've been thinking a lot about fathers and sons in the course of this, and i'd like to accept this in the memory of my grandfather, michael balcon, my father, cecil day lewis, and my three fine boys, gabriel, ronan and cashel,' he added see the complete list of winners as he accepted his first oscar, bardem, one of spain's top actors, thanked his directors and reflected on his role as a creepy killer with a bad haircut 'thank you to the coens for being crazy enough to think that i could do that, and to put one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head,' he said watch 'no country' win best picture » it was his second career nomination his other came for 'before night falls' (2000), in which he played cuban poet reinaldo arenas in a mild surprise, french actress cotillard won her first academy award for her portrayal of singer edith piaf in 'la vie en rose' early handicappers had bet heavily on veteran julie christie, a previous oscar winner who played a woman falling victim to alzheimer's in 'away from her' but cotillard, who's received raves for her performance as the french singer, had been considered a strong contender for best actress 'i'm speechless now i i thank you life, thank you love,' cotillard exclaimed 'and it is true, there are some angels in this city thank you so, so much!' the actress has appeared in dozens of films in her native france, but she may be most recognizable to american audiences for her performances in 'a very long engagement' (2004) and 'big fish' (2003) in a highly competitive race, swinton nabbed the best supporting actress oscar for her portrayal as lawyer karen crowder in the legal drama 'michael clayton' 'i have an american agent who is the spitting image of this really, truly, the same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks,' the british actress said, examining her new oscar 'and i'm giving this to him because there's no way i'd be in america at all, ever, on a plane if it wasn't for him' see swinton on the red carpet » swinton beat out 83 year old ruby dee, who had been considered a sentimental favorite for her first oscar nomination in the supporting actress category, playing mama lucas to denzel washington's drug kingpin frank lucas in 'american gangster' swinton also beat cate blanchett (as a mid '60s take on bob dylan in 'i'm not there') and amy ryan (a difficult working class mother in 'gone baby gone') the academy awards opened with host jon stewart joking about the recently ended writers strike which forced a cutback in the golden globes and threatened the oscars as well and commenting on the bleakness of the best picture nominees 'tonight we look beyond the dark days to focus on happier fare: this year's slate of oscar nominated psychopathic killer movies,' stewart joked 'does this town need a hug? what happened? 'no country for old men,' 'sweeney todd,' 'there will be blood'? all i can say is, thank god for [the comedy 'juno's'] teen pregnancy i think the country agrees' check out oscar prep photos » 'juno' has been the little movie that could all season the film, which cost a relatively paltry $75 million, was the only best picture nominee to top $100 million at the box office, ensuring it a rooting interest from moviegoers star ellen page received plaudits for her performance as the title character, and screenwriter diablo cody famously a former stripper has become one of hollywood's 'it' scribes cody won best original screenplay 'this is for the writers i want to thank all the writers i especially want to thank my fellow nominees because i worship you guys and i'm learning from you every day,' cody said the first award of the evening, for costume design, went to 'elizabeth: the golden age' the best animated feature went to 'ratatouille,' a computer animated pixar film directed and written by oscar winner brad bird ('the incredibles') the rat turns chef movie beat out 'persepolis,' based on the graphic novel by marjane satrapi, and 'surf's up,' a computer animated film about penguins 'the counterfeiters' from austria took the best foreign language film the movie is based on a true story about a counterfeiter who, after being sent to a concentration camp, was employed by the nazis to fake other countries' currency best original song was awarded to 'falling slowly' from 'once' it beat out three songs from 'enchanted,' the disney film about an animated princess come to life the oscars were spread around 'no country' picked up four, 'the bourne ultimatum' earned three (one for its rapid fire editing) and 'there will be blood' received two: day lewis' acting award and robert elswit's cinematography honor but nobody had any doubt what film was considered the evening's big winner 'there's nothing like it, and especially with these two guys,' producer rudin said backstage with the coens of their unusual western 'i'm incredibly proud, and i think it's the best movie we have been involved with i loved it from the first minute i saw it' e mail to a friend | europeans day lewis bardem swinton diablo cody juno jon stewart | 'no country for old men' wins four awards, including best picture and director . four acting awards go to europeans: cotillard, day lewis, bardem and swinton . best original screenplay is awarded to former stripper diablo cody for 'juno'. host jon stewart jokes about the recently ended writers strike |
(cnn) the death of a passenger last week aboard an american airlines flight underscores the importance of taking precautions before flying, a travel health industry representative said monday an american airlines passenger complaining that she was having trouble breathing died on a flight last week jill drake, a marketing representative for medaire, inc, said its physicians last year advised 74 airlines on how to handle more than 17,000 in flight medical events flight attendants with sick passengers call good samaritan hospital in phoenix, arizona, a level one trauma center where emergency room physicians and a service able to translate 140 languages are on call to answer questions from any of 2 million airline passengers flying at any given time, she said 'very rarely' does the call result in a diversion, a decision made not by the doctor but by the pilot who must consider a number of variables beyond the passenger's health, she said the pilot must weigh weather conditions, remaining fuel and proximity to an airport as of 1 pm (3 pm et) monday, medaire had fielded 110 calls, 'which is a very busy day for us,' she said on average, the company gets about 50 in flight calls from commercial airliners for an entire day, and an additional 25 or 30 calls related to events that occur at airport gates or aboard yachts and commercial ships, she said airlines contracting with medaire include continental, southwest and british airways american has its own in house medical team drake said medaire's doctors documented 97 onboard deaths in 2007, down from 110 in 2006 the top categories of in flight illness are fainting, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory issues such as shortness of breath, heart problems ranging from arrhythmias to arrest and orthopedic problems, such as broken bones, drake said by law, us based commercial airlines must carry automatic external defibrillators, oxygen and medical kits some airlines choose to carry extra, non mandated medications if a passenger already has breathing problems, airplane travel will only worsen the condition because cabins are typically pressurized at 8,000 feet, said drake her advice to anyone not feeling 100 percent: 'do not travel' and anyone with a medical condition who travels should pack any critical medications in a carry on bag, she said though flight attendants are trained to handle on board emergencies, 'they are not medically trained,' she said 'to think that they are going to be able to assist your every need, that's quite a high expectation' hydration and moderation are key, and passengers should carry water and a snack, she said vacationers often return home from tropical locales sunburned and, in some cases, drunk 'altitude amplifies the buzz,' drake said 'you have a couple of cocktails in denver, you feel it a little bit more than in omaha' denver's altitude is 5,280 feet; omaha's is 1,040 feet flying in a fresh cast can also prove dangerous 'your arm could expand and it could cut off your circulation,' she said, noting that the risk is reduced with older casts, which have typically already expanded to accommodate any swelling though the faa began demanding that airlines carry certain medications more than 30 years ago, the list was tiny during the 1990s, overseas airlines began carrying more sophisticated equipment, and pressure increased for us based airlines to follow, said dr russell rayman, executive director of the aerospace medical association, which has roughly 3,000 members including physicians, research scientists and flight nurses congress held hearings and then required airlines carry more robust kits and defibrillators by 2004 american airlines was among the first to do so, said dr david mckenas, who served for 10 years as the airline's corporate medical director until 2002 he lauded the defibrillator as 'so good it's like 100 cardiologists in a box' the machine will only work if the patient's heart is fibrillating, a condition where the contractions become so irregular it loses its ability to pump blood efficiently american airlines buys its kits from banyan international corp, which describes itself as 'the nation's leading provider of emergency medical kits' each of the nine pound, $250 kits includes aspirin, alcohol swabs, nitroglycerine tablets, antihistamines, iv tubing, a stethoscope, a blood pressure gauge, a bronchodilator, syringes, gloves, saline solution, epinephrine, dextrose, a manual resuscitation bag, alcohol pads and shears oxygen comes in several forms aboard planes the oxygen that flows into masks stored above individual seats is not medical oxygen and would not suffice for a passenger in an in flight medical emergency, said rayman flight attendants have portable bottles of oxygen that they are to use for themselves in the event of a cabin decompression 'it could be used if there is a medical emergency on board, but that's not its purpose,' he said more oxygen is stored in the cockpit for the pilots though medaire keeps track of its clients' medical air incidents, rayman criticized the faa's failure to do so 'there is no central repository where these things can be archived and then retrieved,' he said 'they don't want to report it because it just doesn't look good it's not good pr, you could say' he said even an anonymous registry would serve a useful purpose 'we're concerned for safety on the flight,' faa spokeswoman alison duquette said 'once someone leaves the aviation system, there is no way for us to track the outcome' e mail to a friend | last week american airlines | flight attendants call hospital with 24/7 staff, multi lingual staff who give advice . pilots, not doctors, decide whether to divert a flight due to passenger illness . us based commercial airlines carry defibrillators, oxygen and medical kits . a passenger died last week aboard an american airlines flight |
(cnn) on november 18, 1978, 909 americans were led to their death by the rev jim jones in a mass murder suicide pact in a south american jungle only 33 people survived cnn special correspondent soledad o'brien reported on their untold stories in 'cnn presents: escape from jonestown' correspondent soledad o'brien sr executive producer/vp mark nelson executive producer james polk executive director jody gottlieb producer david matthews senior editor and producer/lead editor april hock senior editors/producers jack austin lee hughey blake luce karen nolan wendy tennery production assistant jack lyons photojournalists jonathan schaer greg kilday david jenkins henry young mike calloway david rust ken day mark biello sound technicians kevin kvicala doug thomas jerry appleman david ruff post production producers john cooke matt scheibner audio mixer rick sierra on line editor gary wilkinson manager of production amy jordan thelma paschal production manager jamie hutton production coordinator abigail daniels | tecnology prunello timefully | no related information |
washington (cnn) president bush on wednesday signed a sweeping energy bill that he said would help the country become 'stronger, cleaner and more secure' president bush on wednesday signs a bill raising auto fuel economy standards for the first time in decades the bill approved overwhelmingly tuesday by the house of representatives raises automotive fuel economy standards for the first time in more than three decades, requiring a corporate average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 it also boosts federal support for alternative fuel research and energy conservation efforts a republican filibuster in the senate removed provisions that bush objected to that would have eliminated tax breaks for oil companies and a requirement that electric utilities produce a portion of their power from alternative sources the current fuel economy standards of 275 miles per gallon for passenger cars and 222 for light trucks were established in 1975 the new bill sets a single average standard for manufacturers senate majority leader harry reid, d nevada, said tuesday's bill was 'a great, wonderful first step for an energy revolution that starts in america and ripples throughout the world' but reid said democrats would continue pushing to shift federal tax breaks away from fossil fuel producers and into renewable energy research one of the party's top priorities when it took control of congress in january house opponents such as rep joe barton, r texas, complained that the bill will undo many of the efforts made to foster increased production of fossil fuels in an energy bill passed in 2005 'i understand the consequences of elections i understand there's a new majority,' said barton, the ranking republican on the house committee on energy and commerce 'i do not understand how what made sense two years ago doesn't make sense today' barton called the legislation a 'no energy' bill and 'a recipe for recession,' arguing its mandated conservation measures would raise prices for fuel, homes and appliances for consumers e mail to a friend cnn's ed henry contributed to this report | 35 miles per gallon senate | new law raises auto fuel efficiency standards . increase to fleet average of 35 miles per gallon is first in 32 years . senate majority leader calls bill a 'great, wonderful first step' |
jerusalem (cnn) israel's parliament has voted to dissolve itself and schedule an election in january, setting the stage for the beginning of an intense political campaign in the middle eastern nation the election is set for january 22, moved up from october 2013, according to a statement on the knesset website tuesday last week, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called for the early election after failing to agree on a budget with his coalition partners, saying the vote should be held 'as soon as possible' for the good of the country he said the election was necessary to ensure 'a responsible security and economic policy' in the face of the economic downturn and threats to israel's security from iran and elsewhere 'it is my obligation as the prime minister to put the national interest above everything else,' netanyahu said 'so i have decided that it is in the best interest for the state of israel to go to elections now and as soon as possible' the israeli prime minister said he had concluded after talks with the heads of the other parties in his coalition that it was not possible to pass a 'responsible budget with a long term outlook' for israel researchers at the bank of israel predicted in september that israel's economic growth this year would come in at 33%, versus 30% next year inflation through the end of the third quarter of 2013 was forecast to be 26% two coalition partners, the ultra orthodox party shas and yisrael beytenu, avigdor lieberman's nationalist party, were against cuts being imposed on lower earners, including young families and families with many children defense minister ehud barak, leader of the independence party, was against any cuts in the defense budget without those three coalition partners on board, netanyahu had little chance of getting the budget through the knesset | january 22 october 2013 last week israeli benjamin netanyahu | the election is set for january 22, moved up from october 2013 . last week, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called for the early election . he called for election after failing to agree on a budget with his coalition partners |
(cnn) english premier league giants liverpool announced plans monday to stay at their 'spiritual home' of anfield rather than move to a new stadium the north west of england club will be working with liverpool city council to regenerate the area around the historic ground, which would include new housing developments under the proposals, anfield will be extended from its existing 45,000 capacity to a 60,000 all seater stadium, enabling the club to better compete with other epl sides such as manchester united and arsenal the team's us owners fenway sports group are renowned for re developing existing old stadiums, most notably the home of their boston red sox baseball team, now named fenway park liverpool managing director ian ayre said that the decision to stay at anfield rather than move forward with previous 10 year old proposals for a new ground at stanley park, had been heavily influenced by the owners and the club's 120 year history 'i think this is the spiritual home of liverpool football club,' he told the club's official website 'we've had some of the greatest triumphs in our history here, so it makes sense if there's a right solution that this is the place we should continue to play our football' criminal proceedings launched in 1989 hillsborough stadium crush the mayor of liverpool, joe anderson, told a press conference monday that the local authority had developed a 'good, honest relationship and partnership' with fenway sports group he announced that the council had secured a $40 million grant to regenerate the area around the stadium, with further investment likely to be achieved anderson said he had visited boston to see the fenway park development and meet liverpool's owners john henry ii and tom werner, who took control of the club two years ago they replaced the previous american pair of tom hicks and george gillett jr with widespread approval from liverpool fans ayre said the announcement was a 'huge step forward' but warned that it was subject to the 'right financing solution' and the uk planning process liverpool dominated english football in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 11 league titles and seven trophies in european competition but in recent years they have played second fiddle to arch rivals manchester united their success in the english league cup last season was their first trophy since 2006, but was not enough for manager kenny dalglish, appointed by fenway group, to stay in his job brendan rogers took over in the summer, but has overseen a difficult start to the season with a squad weakened by injury and departures | liverpool anfield stanley park club boston red sox | liverpool to stay at their historic anfield ground . new project will see stadium capacity increased to 60,000 . 10 year old plans for a new stadium at stanley park shelved . club shares same owners as boston red sox baseball team |
(instyle) need some halloween costume inspiration? see how your favorite celebrities celebrate the most frightful night of the year: kim kardashian
'poisonous!!!' the reality star tweeted of her poison ivy outfit stacy keibler with jewelry by graziela and dana rebecca designs, keibler looked boo tiful as the host of a halloween masquerade at the hyde bellagio in las vegas christina aguilera christina aguilera toted boyfriend matthew rutler as the knight to her queen for their festivities in los angeles alyson hannigan
the actress played the role of a scarecrow, while daughter satyana dressed as a pumpkin halloween 2012: best celebrity inspired halloween costumes annalynne mccord
the actress channeled the victorian era to host the haunted seduction halloween party held at pure nightclub in las vegas michelle trachtenberg
the actress brought tim burton's 'blue girl with wine' piece of artwork to life in new york halloween 2012: cupcakes from the bakeries stars love fergie
with teddy bear, trophy, sash, and tiara in hand, the singer played the perfect toddler beauty queen at heidi klum's halloween bash at ph d at dream downtown in new york dita von teese
the burlesque star pulled a piece out of her closet for maroon 5's hollywood halloween 'last minute decision to go out for halloweenscraping through my wardrobe for something that resembles a costume no problem!' she tweeted of her emergency costume leona lewis
the singer represented a tragic pageant queen, sash and all lauren conrad
the reality star turned fashion designer reworked a cute red and white polka dot dress into a minnie mouse costume miranda kerr
the victoria's secret angel stepped into the ring at catch rooftop in new york city to host a bash as a circus ringmaster see 51 more celebrities in halloween costumes! get a free trial issue of instyle click here! copyright © 2011 time inc all rights reserved | annalynne mccord victorian halloween las vegas michelle trachtenberg tim burton's blue girl with wine christina aguilera maroon 5's hollywood | annalynne mccord channeled the victorian era to host a halloween party in las vegas . michelle trachtenberg brought tim burton's 'blue girl with wine' artwork to life . christina aguilera played a pirate at maroon 5's hollywood bash |
(cnn) in a presidential campaign laden with historic twists, the biggest shock may be yet to come: with three weeks to go, the first of two remaining debates tonight, and most americans yet to cast their ballots, the final surprise may be that there are no surprises left this campaign for president may be over there is a good chance that the denver debate was the watershed that carries this election to its conclusion if so, barack obama has only himself to blame yes, the polls show a very close race, but the momentum has belonged to romney since his superior showing in the first debate long ago, team obama displayed a heartbreaking lack of faith in its candidate and his prospects abandon hope, all ye who campaign here; they never tried to get barack obama re elected president constrained by the paucity of their achievements and the poverty of their ideas, perhaps they felt they had no choice: we can't win, they concluded, but maybe we can stop the other guy from beating us obama's thin campaign only tried to stop his opponent from winning get instant updates on the second presidential debate on cnn's live blog until this last month, the president's 'this is a one man race' marketing philosophy was working but only with the assistance of an opponent who ran as if his shoes were tied together mitt romney had allowed obama to paint him as an unacceptable alternative he also helped the president with 47% of the brushstrokes team romney's inability to introduce their candidate as a good and decent man has frustrated romney's core supporters, who've longed to hear more about their man's munificence and compassion romney's campaign seemed equally unable to acquaint voters with the transformational business leader who, as ann romney describes, has routinely done things others thought 'impossible' all that changed two weeks ago in the pure denver air what millions of dollars of ads had not been able to do, mitt romney did for himself the romney who showed up in the first debate did not, as obama had led voters to expect, have horns and tail instead, he was the most unexpected candidate of all: a reasonable alternative to good hearted but flailing president in debate one, romney even admitted he was having fun, an emotion we were not led to think he was programmed to express ireport: share your questions for moderator candy crowley in the presence of an acceptable republican replacement, the only theory of the president's campaign, that voters had no choice but obama, began to break down voters began to suspect there was no alternative, not to obama, but to romney suddenly, barack obama was the man who wasn't there if the 2008 election was about hope and change, the 2012 contest has always about strength and certainty in these turbulent and uncertain times, the most unacceptable quality in a leader is weakness in one flashing moment in a primary debate, tim pawlenty refused to say to romney's face what he had said absent his presence, that romney had created 'obomneycare' without hesitation, voters neutered pawlenty general election voters may have seen similar weakness in obama, as he sleepwalked with unmasked indifference through his greatest political challenge if our president wasn't equal to the defining moment of his own re election, how can we trust him to rise to the test of fixing the economy? now, with only three weeks to go, obama's campaign marinades in its powerlessness doubts metastasize as the administration moans that no one asked the president to protect our libyan ambassador, as if it had not been his responsibility he's started losing female voters, treating women as no more than a constituency of sexual organs and then hiding behind his secretary of state's skirt he pretends to protect women, hispanics, seniors, when he cannot protect himself obama, romney face big hurdle in town hall format: unpredictability debates are the most primitive moments in our democracy in these primal contests, we test those who would lead our country we send our gladiators into the coliseum to see if they have the authority to command an unexpected moment, satisfying our blood thirst for strong leadership there is no bigger test tonight we should expect a solid performance from both men romney has been doing 'ask mitt anything' town halls for five years on the stump these days, he connects with ease, telling stories of the people he's met, moved by their hopes and suffering his growth is evidence that our campaign process is not only built to pick presidents but to shape them obama is gifted in the town hall debate format, too his performance against john mccain was stately; but one debate alone is probably not enough to rebuild what he has destroyed, the image of constancy and strength five things to watch for in tuesday's debate it takes only a moment to reveal feebleness it requires many to reestablish certainty one good debate tonight will help re energize obama's base but not our country's confidence in him whether victory belongs to romney or obama, we do not know but this cake may be baked: the denver debate may have eradicated the opportunity for both candidates to change the outcome of this election mitt romney may have already won this election: even if the president has a strong performance tonight, he failed us on the economy, failed us in libya, failed us in denver how can we trust that barack obama won't fail us again? the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of alex castellanos | alex castellanos romney obama castellanos | alex castellanos: what if there are no more surprises in the presidential campaign?. he says the momentum since the first debate has been all in favor of romney . it may be too late for obama to make up for his debate weakness, castellanos says . castellanos: both candidates have shown they can handle town hall format |
(cnn) in san diego county, officials are racing, literally, to save pets and livestock left behind by hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing the raging wildfires horses stand in a pen as fire threatens the bonita neighborhood in san diego, california for the county of san diego department of animal services, it's nonstop work to save as many lives as possible, said lt daniel desousa 'we're doing the best we can to keep ahead of the flames and pull the animals out,' he said tuesday 'are animals going to be killed? yes but we're doing the best we can' with help from los angeles and the humane society of the united states, the county's 30 animal services officers have been answering calls from people who left their pets and livestock behind as well as those who have seen animals left in evacuated areas many people calling don't have enough trailers to get all of their horses to safety and need help, he said 'i never knew we had so many horses here,' desousa said 'and we're seeing even more this time because our fires are bigger and worse (than the 2003 fires that swept the area)' watch people staying with pets at refuge » at a fairground in san diego county, 2,000 horses are being boarded, but desousa said it seems like horses are being housed everywhere even mall parking lots with their anxious owners standing next to them 'if you have an open space, we'll put horses on it,' he said the humane society's curtis ransom is stationed at an emergency campground in san diego county where people have taken refuge with their dogs, cats, horses and even goats 'it's a whole different situation from katrina; people are taking care of the animals,' ransom said 'the message has gotten out it's a horrible disaster, but as far as the facilities and the willingness to take in animals, i don't think there's any hesitation,' he said he said they have received invitations from shelters to take in pets they even have one place that could house an elephant, if needed and many of the evacuation areas are allowing people to bring their furry friends also, news stations are informing people about where they can take their animals if their neighborhood is evacuated, ransom said desousa said the county has been so busy with the work, they don't have figures on how many animals they've saved and evacuated one officer called to say there was a bird left in a house in the fire's path he wanted to know if he should kick in the door to get the animal desousa told him that the door won't matter if the fire destroys the house save the bird, he told him other times, flames have been too close for officers to grab the animals, desousa said on the job for 19 years, desousa said this is the worst series of wildfires he's seen even many of the officers themselves have been evacuated desousa has his three dogs, three cats, a tortoise and a snake in his office he said when they were told to evacuate, they divvied up priorities 'i ran home, grabbed the animals and my wife grabbed the family photos,' he said e mail to a friend | fiendism frowny teleostome | no related information |
washington (cnn) president barack obama said wednesday he was unaware of any disclosure of classified information from the scandal engulfing former cia director david petraeus and gen john allen, the top us commander in afghanistan, that could damage national security 'i have no evidence at this point from what i've seen that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security,' obama said in his first post election news conference obama, addressing the ongoing controversy for the first time publicly, said petraeus tendered his resignation because his actions 'did not meet the standards he felt were necessary as the director of the cia' the former four star general admitted last friday that he had had an extramarital affair with a woman who was later identified as a co author of his biography the fbi is also investigating allen over his contacts with another woman whose complaints about anonymous, harassing e mails led to the discovery of the petraeus affair when asked if he should have known about the investigation into his former cia chief earlier, the president said he is 'withholding judgment' because all of the information is not yet available 'i'm going to wait and see how this whole process unfolded,' obama added the scandal has threatened to complicate obama's focus on critical negotiations with congress over spending cuts and taxes it has also raised questions surrounding the cia's response to congressional inquiries into the september terror attack on the us diplomatic mission in benghazi, libya, that killed four americans, including ambassador christopher stevens on that matter, obama offered a fierce defense of un ambassador susan rice, who has come under scrutiny for public comments in the days following the attack in which she placed blame for it on a mob enraged by an anti muslim video the president said rice was speaking with the information provided by the intelligence community and has acted with 'skill, professionalism, toughness and grace' in response to statements wednesday from sen john mccain and sen lindsey graham, who said they would block a potential rice nomination for a cabinet position, obama said if the lawmakers want to 'go after somebody, they should go after me i'm happy to have that discussion with them' 'for them to go after the un ambassador, who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and besmirch her reputation is outrageous,' he said on another pressing foreign policy issue, obama said he was not ready to arm the syrian opposition movement, saying that the nation needed to avoid indirectly providing weapons to groups or people who would seek to harm americans or israelis the united states is supporting a new coalition of syrian dissidents and is seeking to accelerate assistance in their effort to force syrian president bashar al assad to leave office on budget matters at home, obama opened the door to compromise regarding the impending fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts the president said he was encouraged by recent comments from members of the republican party surrounding the need for more revenue from the wealthiest americans as part of a plan to reduce the deficit 'both parties voted to set this deadline, and i believe both parties can make these decisions together in a balanced and responsible way,' obama said obama stood by his previous statements about tax rates he called on house republicans to agree to senate passed proposals that would extend current tax rates for those making $250,000 a year while allowing rates to return to higher levels for those making over that amount and insisted he would not accept a lower tax rate for the wealthiest 2% of americans his comments should not come as a surprise, he said, given his statements during the election 'i've got one mandate to help middle class families and families working hard to get into the middle class,' obama said he specifically referenced a letter he received from a man in tennessee who said he did not vote for obama the voter said he was watching obama's comments recently on cnn about the fiscal cliff and said his hope 'is that we can make progress in light of personal and party principles, special interest groups, and years of business as usual we've got to work together and put our differences aside' after reading from the letter, obama added: 'i couldn't say it better myself that's precisely what i intend to do' the president is often criticized for not forging relationships with congress, to the detriment of his agenda on wednesday he acknowledged that history and said he can 'always do better' his relationships haven't 'always manifested itself in the kind of agreement i'd like to see between democrats and republicans,' he said obama is set meet with major ceos following his news conference, some of whom flexed their political muscle to defeat democrats in elections last week he is expected to find backing for some of the administration's positions ahead of negotiations with congress on avoiding the fiscal cliff leaders of the largest companies have indicated they are holding back hiring and spending because they are worried about washington gridlock over the fiscal cliff the president sat down tuesday with labor leaders and the heads of six independent groups involved in organizing grassroots support for progressive causes and told them that he intended to allow the bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest americans while preserving them for middle income earners, according to several people at that meeting 'the president was very strong on saying there's going to be an end to the bush tax cuts one way or another,' said one participant who requested anonymity to discuss the off the record meeting obama is to meet with senate majority leader harry reid, minority leader mitch mcconnell, house speaker john boehner and minority leader nancy pelosi at the white house on friday the president took on two other issues that he has said he will address during his second term: immigration and climate change an increase in the hispanic vote that helped him win battleground states, created an opening, obama said, to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something he and members of congress failed to pass during his first term he expects a bill to be introduced soon after his inauguration in january, adding an agreement should address border security and pathways to citizenship for thousands of illegal immigrants if they go to college or serve in the military obama also reaffirmed his belief that 'climate change is real' and is 'impacted by human behavior and carbon emissions' he said it could be tackled if members of both political parties are prepared to make some 'tough political' decisions the last time obama held a full blown news conference at the white house, his first campaign rally was two months away and former pennsylvania sen rick santorum looked to have the upper hand over mitt romney in the gop presidential primaries to be sure, in some ways the political landscape has changed dramatically since obama fielded questions from the white house press corps on march 6: he is now assured of four more years in the oval office and can claim fresh leverage in his dealings with republicans over reaching a budget deal but in many ways, the political environment closely mirrors what it looked like eight months ago: republicans remain in control of the house of representatives, the gop leadership maintains it is opposed to any measure that will raise tax rates on the nation's top earners and the president's approval rating remains stubbornly stuck around a less than impressive 50% moreover, with election year politics having largely rendered congress unproductive over the past year, many of the same issues remain at the forefront as they did the last time the president held a formal news conference namely the ballooning national debt, the tepid economic recovery, unrest in the middle east and the specter of a nuclear iran to be fair, obama has taken the national media's questions in other forums since his march news conference, most recently in late august when he made an unannounced stop at the regular white house briefing in the midst of the heated campaign and a week before the start of the republican national convention but he only took four questions that day and the entire session lasted less than 30 minutes moreover, the president ran for re election while largely ignoring white house reporters in favor of local outlets and entertainment shows pressed on why he wasn't taking more questions from national media outlets, obama campaign aides said the president could reach more battleground voters via local news than through network television programs or national publications fiscal cliff headache for middle class those interviews were largely filled with predictable softball questions, though it should be noted that one colorado news anchor drew wide praise for aggressively questioning the president over conflicting white house accounts in the aftermath of the benghazi attack the president also showed a preference for more light hearted forms of media during the course of the campaign, granting interviews with comedians jon stewart and jay leno, daytime talk show 'the view,' and mtv's sway calloway again, obama aides stressed the president was likely to reach more undecided voters through these programs than traditional news shows but critics, including some who are part of the very press corps obama appeared to be ignoring, questioned whether the president was attempting to dodge more hard edged questions indeed, white house press secretary jay carney was asked last week if the president's more or less avoidance of the white house press corps over the last eight months showed a 'certain amount of disdain' for them 'absolutely not,' carney replied 'absolutely not the president was out there campaigning for re election and giving interviews daily to reporters from news organizations across the country, from regional newspapers and television stations, and answered a lot of tough questions' poll: public concern over effects of the 'fiscal cliff' alex mooney and tom cohen contributed to this report | obama un susan rice benghazi petraeus | new: president obama expects immigration bill to be introduced after inauguration . obama offered fierce defense of un ambassador susan rice over benghazi comments . obama said unaware of any disclosure from petraeus scandal that could harm national security . president opened door to compromise regarding the impending fiscal cliff |
jerusalem (cnn) clashes broke out friday between palestinians and israeli security forces after the funeral of a palestinian teenager abducted and killed in jerusalem this week more than 60 people were injured in fighting in parts of jerusalem, according to the palestinian medical relief society, a group that said it was involved in evacuating injured palestinians it said the injuries mostly involved rubber bullets fired at the upper body and chest israeli police said 13 officers were slightly injured in the east jerusalem neighborhood of shuafat, where palestinian protesters were throwing rocks at police, who responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas police have said they are investigating whether the palestinian youth's death was an act of retaliation for the killings of three israeli teens, whose bodies were discovered monday in a field in the west bank the killings of the palestinian and israeli teenagers have ratcheted up tensions in a region where peace talks fell apart earlier this year ahead of the palestinian boy's funeral, israeli police significantly stepped up security around palestinian areas of the city, putting up checkpoints and shutting off access to the shuafat neighborhood where the slain teen, mohammad abu khedair, lived carried in by dozens of people, the 16 year old's body was brought to a mosque there for the funeral after the ceremony, his remains were taken by his family for burial in a nearby cemetery the sound of sirens and gunfire filled the streets of the palestinian suburb as fighting again erupted a cnn team on the ground saw about 30 israeli riot police firing rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades in the direction of palestinian protesters, who were throwing stones and molotov cocktails toward the police cnn's ben wedeman was slightly injured when a rubber bullet hit him in the forehead friday afternoon he continued to report from the site after medics attended to him the clashes went on for several hours until the mood calmed a little around 6 pm local time the violence may pick up again later friday evening after muslims break their ramadan fast well over 1,000 palestinians gathered for the funeral despite strict israeli security measures that have limited movement around jerusalem, including in the old city the funeral coincided with the first friday prayers held during the ramadan period when emotions are often heightened violence first broke out after news of abu khedair's death wednesday, and it also flared overnight in parts of the city and the west bank the palestinian red crescent said 27 palestinian youths were injured in the overnight unrest it wasn't immediately clear if any israelis were hurt a palestinian farmer is in critical condition after israeli fire hit him on his farm east of gaza, according to palestinian medical sources in gaza on friday palestinian security sources said that four rockets were fired from the same location forced into car israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu pledged thursday to find the perpetrators responsible for the boy's killing, an act he described as 'a despicable crime' israeli authorities are still trying to determine who killed abu khedair and why, netanyahu said abu khedair was heading from his home to a mosque for prayers around 4 am wednesday when three men forced him into a car and drove off, his father, hussain abu khedair, said the boy's body was found about an hour later in a forest in west jerusalem israeli police have said they are looking into the possibility that his death was related to a family dispute as well as the alternative theory that it was a revenge killing 'the investigation is continuing we are still looking at the possibility to determine if we are talking about a criminal incident or a nationalistic incident,' israeli police spokesman mickey rosenfeld said arrests after israelis kidnapped since the june 13 abduction of the israeli teens eyal yifrach, gilad shaar and naftali frankel on their way home from school, israel has arrested hundreds of activists from hamas, the militant islamic organization it blames for the kidnapping israeli forces have also destroyed the homes of the two main suspects it has identified in the israeli teenagers' abduction wafa, the palestinian state news agency, reported wednesday that 15 palestinians have been killed during that time the figure includes six killed by israeli troops in the west bank, three in an israeli airstrike in gaza, two dead of heart attacks after west bank raids, plus the recently slain palestinian teenager hamas has praised the kidnappings of the israelis but denied that it was responsible for what happened it warned that if netanyahu 'brings a war on gaza, the gates of hell will open to him' rockets, airstrikes this week's unrest comes as israelis and palestinians continue to trade blows over longstanding issues there have been palestinian rocket attacks and israeli airstrikes on friday the israeli air force struck three hamas targets in southern gaza, the idf said in a statement at least 14 rockets and mortars were fired from the palestinian territory, according to the idf ten of them hit israeli territory while three were intercepted by the iron dome missile defense system and one landed in palestinian territory, the idf said opinion: teens' killing hurts israelis, bad for palestinians opinion: slain teens call for justice, not escalation cnn's ben wedeman reported from jerusalem steve almasy in atlanta and laura smith spark in london reported and wrote cnn's michael schwartz, kareem khadder, jethro mullen, pierre meilhan and amir tal contributed to this report | jerusalem palestinian east jerusalem israel israeli | new: more than 60 people injured in fighting in jerusalem after palestinian teen's funeral . family buries slain teenager after funeral held at east jerusalem mosque . israel tightens security around jerusalem . police investigating whether boy's death in retaliation for killings of three israeli teens |
(cnn) the new version of apple's mobile operating system, ios 7, was released september 18 to mostly positive reviews it was the biggest change to ios since it was introduced six years ago, overhauled to add a slate of new features and a more streamlined, flat, abstract look but nobody's perfect, right? it's not unusual for new operating systems to have some glitches in their earliest days nobody's talking about anything cataclysmic this time, like the apple maps fiasco on ios 6 that led ceo tim cook to issue a rare apology and which some say led to the ouster of apple senior vice president scott forstall but a couple of weeks into its existence, ios 7 has prompted a handful of complaints from users here are five of the most frequently heard, along with tips for how to fix, or at least bypass, them imessage failing apple says it's aware of an issue that's causing texts sent through its imessage app not to go through for some users on various apple oriented message boards, ios 7 users were complaining that they'd send a message which appeared to work fine, only to later see the dreaded red exclamation point that means it wasn't actually sent 'we are aware of an issue that affects a fraction of a percent of our imessage users, and we will have a fix available in an upcoming software update,' apple said in a statement e mailed to media outlets 'in the meantime, we encourage any users having problems to reference our troubleshooting documents or contact applecare to help resolve their issue we apologize for any inconvenience this causes impacted users' the fix? until the update rolls out, some users say they've been able to get rid of the problem by turning their phone off and back on animation flu some folks say they're already sick of ios 7 literally iphone and ipad users, or at least a few of them, say they're getting symptoms similar to motion sickness while looking at ios 7 animations on the new system, images zoom in and out when users switch between apps as time explains, the brain gets unsettled when the eyes try to focus on images that don't match up for example, when you're on a rocking ship or moving car and trying to read a stationary item, like a book the fix? ios 7 users can go to 'settings,' then 'general' and then 'accessibility' click on 'reduce motion' to make the zooming go away battery drain this one has been mostly reported by users of older phones like the iphone 4s simply, they say ios 7 seems to drain their batteries faster than ios 6 did one factor may be that ios 7 expands the ability to run apps in the background while focusing on another task the fix? again, go to 'settings' and 'general,' but then choose 'background app refresh' from there, you can choose which apps you'll allow to run in the background and which you won't there are also general battery saving steps, like dimming your screen and making sure things like gps and bluetooth are switched off if you're not using them certain apps log you out this one might take care of itself over time when apple updates its operating system, apps that rely on parts of it (like camera) must update as well until they do, they sometimes kick users out on apple message boards, users were mentioning apps like snapchat and mailbox as frequent offenders the fix? some developers may have already tweaked their products, and other fixes are probably on the way but if you're still having problems, you can go to 'settings,' 'general' and 'background app refresh' again turn off any apps you're having problems with lock screen bypass this one has already been addressed in an ios 7 update from apple just days after the new operating system rolled out for the first few days, iphones and ipads apparently were vulnerable in one particular instance if users were running the camera app and had control center activated on their lock screens, there were a few steps someone could take to unlock their phones but the ios 702 update, released on september 26, 'fixes bugs that could allow someone to bypass the lock screen passcode,' according to apple are you encountering issues with ios 7? if so, have you found a way to fix them? let us know in the comments | apple ipads | imessage not working for some users of apple's new mobile system . some also say they get motion sickness from animation on their ipads and iphones . apple has already fixed a lock screen bypass . fixes or workarounds exist for most glitches |
(cnn) my oh my miley! miley cyrus did an in your face, look at me now, pornographic performance at the record industry's most public coming out party, the mtv video music awards this was no accident she did every porn star move in the book, and the only thing different was that there wasn't actual genital connection, and her seemingly sprayed on rubber undies and bra did cover her private parts what was miley thinking? you don't have to guess she was probably thinking: 'i'm not that miley cyrus anymore and this ought to prove it' it's shocking all right but let's face it a 20 year old these days is unlikely to be a virgin and if she's in the fast lane (read: hollywood, new york city and other big cities) she is not going to look innocent shocked at miley? have you noticed your average 15 year old girl lately? she has her midriff bared, she's wearing her underwear for the world to see and her skirt may or may not cover her butt and crotch outraged parents: what was miley thinking? it's hard to take it as parents we know how young 15 really is hell, we know how young 20 is my guess is after miley has finished with her personally satisfying pr moment from this, she's going to tone it down eventually but right now, this is her battle cry: i am a fully sexual, bad assed vixen and live with it how should we integrate this new human being with the little girl disney promoted as wholesome and childlike? maybe a better use of our time is to think about the models of sexuality that are in most rock groups and how we talk to our kids about them the metaphors in the lyrics and bump and grind moves in the videos have been around for quite a while so how do we tell our children that they can be young men and women without looking and acting, like rock performers? well, this is a well beaten drum i'm going to pound, but we have to talk to them about how that is show business, and that in real life, a little bit of subtlety goes a long way that ultimately, in this turtle and hare story, the more discriminating, less crudely sexual person wins the girl or guy's love, and a lot of other good things in life miley upholds vmas tradition we can give the talk without having to link this performance to abstinence before marriage, or that sexuality per se is wrong or bad for you the statistics will tell you that approach is, for most parents, a losing game but research does tell us that parent's opinions and values really do matter on quite a number of sexual issues we can take a middle road take this performance (and others) as a teachable moment and do what all reputable sex education courses tell us to do talk about your own values and why you have them and why they matter while sexuality can be expressed in our dress and behavior, there are far better ways for young women to be attractive and appealing it cannot be said that miley made a wrong career choice: look at the press coverage! but modeling porn star appearance and performance is a dangerous choice for our young people i don't think we are ever going to get our teenagers and young adults back in saddle shoes (except as a sly joke) but i do think we can show them that miley cyrus' act is a sexual cartoon and that they can put themselves together and act in a way that will make them far more popular and desirable in the long run than what they see in a mtv award show the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of pepper schwartz | miley cyrus's mtv pepper schwartz today schwartz | miley cyrus's performance at the mtv video music awards show stunned viewers . pepper schwartz: let's face it, young women today are flaunting their sexuality . she says we need to tell kids that in real life, a little bit of subtlety goes a long way . schwartz: there are far better ways for young women to be attractive and appealing |
(cnn) for hasif nazri, the malaysia airlines flight 370 contained a tragic coincidence two friends from two different periods of his life both unknown to each other were on board the flight but as time goes by, the 33 year old malaysian process engineer says hope is fading 'i was shocked, really shocked to be honest, but now that shock is turning to sadness,' he told cnn 'of course, i'm holding out some hope all we can do now is pray' his former classmate, mohd sofuan ibrahim, also 33 and malaysian, was scheduled to report for duty at malaysia's ministry of international trade and industry branch office in beijing even taking a facebook photo before he boarded the plane read more: still no sign of flight 370 'we were at the same residential school and we shared the same dorm and stuck together in the dining hall,' he said 'he was a good, kind hearted friend, very helpful, cheerful and definitely no wallflower he was a very good speaker and teachers remembered him as a very good student' nazri then discovered another former classmate, 33 year old ch'ng mei ling, was also on board flight 370 he said that mei ling, a malaysian national who worked as a process engineer at flexsys america lp, a manufacturer and supplier of chemicals for the rubber industry based in ohio, would always be remembered as a 'very cheerful girl' 'she was very adaptable we had a lot of course work that we had to do together and she was very easy to work with,' he said 'she was also very funny as a chinese person she used to like playing with the malay language; her laugh was very infectious' desperate for information in mumbai, 23 year old technology graduate archit joshi was also desperately seeking information about his classmate swawand kolekar who was listed aboard flight 370 he said kolekar's family were in beijing and also desperate for information on their son 'swawand was very reserved but very, very intelligent,' joshi told cnn 'he was a bit of a techno freak and he made a lot of circuits and projects at engineering college 'he didn't have many friends, he was a bit of a loner, but he had all the attributes a good friend should have' in china, meanwhile, home to most of the 239 people on board, relatives of passengers were increasingly frustrated monday as the agonizing wait for news continued more than 100 people signed a hand written petition demanding 'the truth' from the airline by sunday evening they also urged the chinese government to help them deal with malaysian authorities zhang guizhi, the aunt of passenger li yan, told cnn that she had arrived in beijing from her native henan province in central china and remained uncertain about how the airline would help her obtain a passport to travel to wherever the plane is found she started crying when she mentioned her 31 year old niece had traveled to malaysia with her husband and four friends on vacation 'still no information and still waiting i'm not happy with the airline's arrangements so far,' she said a man who identified himself as the brother in law of passenger ding lijun said he had just arrived from tianjin, approximately an hour south east of beijing he teared up when he said ding had been working in malaysia as a construction worker for a year and was making his first trip home opinion: when passenger jets mysteriously disappear flights to malaysia in kuala lumpur, ahmad jauhari yahya, ceo of malaysia airlines, said the carrier was making arrangements to fly next of kin to the country's capital as the search for flight 370 continues 'we'll be accommodating them in hotels around kuala lumpur,' he said 'we have made an offer for two next of kin to be flown immediately' increasingly frustrated relatives in china, however, continued to demand more information some blamed the chinese government, which they claimed had not come forward 'i'm not going home until i know what happened,' said the father of one of the passengers named as yan ling 'we've lost loved ones and they need to answer our questions when are you going to tell us and what are you going to do? we still don't know if they are alive or dead' grief counselors were on hand in beijing and in kuala lumpur to assist relatives 'we have dispatched about 15 volunteers to beijing,' said deputy ceo of the buddhist group tzu chi, sio kee hong 'in malaysia, we have mobilized about 60 people on a daily basis, 24 hours a day we have volunteers providing care to the families 'those with frustrations, we will be with them physically (and) provide whatever assistance is required psychological support is the most important thing at this juncture' read more: what we know so far | chinese beijing malaysia airlines kuala lumpur | reports of passengers come in from shocked families and friends . one man discovers two separate friends on the passenger manifest . chinese relatives in beijing increasingly frustrated as they wait for information . malaysia airlines offers to fly next of kin to kuala lumpur as the search continues |
(cnn) the us diplomatic cables obtained and released by wikileaks frequently rely on unnamed sources for delicate information but one such source a businessman in mozambique has furiously denied making remarks about high level corruption attributed to him by a us diplomat a cable dated january 2010 sent by then charge d'affaires todd chapman at the us embassy covered allegations about officials enabling drug trafficking by accepting bribes they were based on a source who said he had 'personally seen' one senior official [who is named in the cable] 'receiving pay offs quite openly' but now that source insists such words never left his mouth 'i feel i have been used this is all todd chapman's own agenda he obviously imagined i would never read what he had written,' the source told the state run agencia de informacao de mocambique (aim) several current and former officials came under attack in the cable in question chapman wrote that his source had told him the country's ruling party, frelimo, 'brazenly squeezes the business community for kickbacks' the source also supposedly called the country's president a 'vicious scorpion who will sting you,' and said frelimo and an alleged drug lord had their own clearing agent at a port in an interview with aim, chapman's source admits meeting him in 2009 but says he only told the diplomat of problems he was having with his business when asked about other things, the source said, 'i just told him i didn't know i only knew what i read in the papers' a similar case surfaced in a leaked cable from peru in march 2009, the us embassy in lima sent a dispatch insinuating that a regional army commander, general paul da silva, was involved in drug trafficking the source's name was redacted, but he suggested the general was coordinating drug shipments with another man who was later arrested for smuggling drugs hidden in consignments of frozen fish da silva, now the head of peru's military, strongly denied the allegation and has threatened to bring legal action against the ambassador who wrote the cable the wife of zimbabwe's president has sued a zimbabwean newspaper for $15 million following its publication of allegations contained in a leaked cable that she was linked to and profited from illegal diamond sales in the southern african country the accusations in the mozambique cable echo comments in several others from the country between july 2009 and january of this year there are reports of officials routinely taking payoffs to turn a blind eye to drug shipments one summary says bluntly: 'mozambique has been called the second most active narcotics transit point in africa' the state department would not comment on the leaked cables that were supposedly authored by chapman a profile on the networking website linkedin lists chapman as now working at the us embassy in afghanistan in a cable from november 2009, chapman writes, 'the decrease in drug related arrests at maputo international airport is not attributable to improved interdiction efforts but rather increased police and customs involvement in drug smuggling a high level law enforcement official admits most police drug seizures are not reported to his office because traffickers and police make on the spot arrangements to allow the drugs to continue to flow' several attempts by cnn seeking comment from mozambique's government were unsuccessful, but the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation released a statement denying the accusations 'this information does not have any support base and undermines the image, prestige and good name of the mozambican state and its leaders,' said the statement reported by radio mozambique chapman said one prominent businessman, mohamed bashir suleman, was 'described by multiple contacts as the largest narcotrafficker in mozambique' with contacts at senior levels of the government suleman is also a donor to the ruling party earlier this year, president barack obama identified suleman under the foreign narcotics kingpin designation act, and the us treasury department subsequently sanctioned businesses he owned, calling him a 'large scale narcotics trafficker' suleman strenuously denied the allegations in a news conference, saying he had never been involved with drugs as for his relationship with frelimo, he said: 'i am a member of the party, and i gave financial support for the good of the country and the good of the party' he denied receiving any favors from the ruling party and said all of his goods passed through port scanners a cable from july 2009 said a source within frelimo had described a customs official as 'the king of corruption' six months later, chapman wrote that same official had purchased real estate 'valued at well beyond what his government salary should be able to afford' the official's office told cnn he was on vacation and wouldn't be available for comment until later this month chapman contended that of the more than ten drug seizures during 2009, none had led to prosecutions as of january 2010 he said a senior law enforcement officer admitted most seizures aren't made public because officials ask for bribes and keep the drugs for resale chapman also said police told embassy officers they weren't willing 'to go after 'big fish' narcotraffickers because of their ties to senior officials' not every official is accused of living a double standard 'mozambique's tax authority (at) has garnered a reputation for honesty and transparency,' chapman wrote in july 2009 'mozambique most certainly is not yet a thoroughly corrupted narco state,' he says but, 'money laundering, related government corruption (possibly even official support), and ties to south asia mean that the problem has the potential to get much worse' transparency international, which monitors corruption worldwide, said in a 2009 report that 'the end of hostilities provided increased corruption opportunities, through the development of a market economy in the context of a weak state' cnn's marilia brocchetto contributed to this report | portcullis lipothymial dimethylamino | no related information |
london (cnn) lisa suarez's voice breaks as she stands in the snow outside london's heathrow airport, unable to get a flight home to dallas, texas 'it's very hard,' she says 'all i want for christmas is to hug my daughter' she and her family are among hundreds of thousands of people stranded by 'freak weather conditions' that dumped unexpected tons of snow on europe this weekend, snarling flight schedules at the continent's busiest airports heathrow planned to cancel all arrivals sunday, but later said it might allow three planes to land a dozen long haul flights are scheduled to take off sunday night, spokesman andrew teacher said he did not say which ones charles de gaulle airport in paris told travelers to expect two hour delays and cancellation of a quarter of flights one in five flights was being canceled at the french capital's second airport, paris orly, with delays of an hour expected, aeroports de paris said on its website germany's frankfurt airport said at least 500 of a planned 1,300 flights would be scrapped sunday and more snow is expected in germany during the day, which will put further strain on flight schedules, spokesman waltraud riehemann said more than 200,000 passengers were due to take off from heathrow on sunday, said donna o'brien, a spokeswoman for heathrow airport operator baa most won't be able to, she said workers were trying to remove 30 metric tons of snow from each of the airport's 200 aircraft parking stands, according to the airport's website meanwhile, ground travel in france was also snarled by heavy snowfall and cold temperatures the uk's foreign and commonwealth office said sunday that french authorities reported they are preventing all cargo trucks and buses from using roads in northern france and the greater paris metropolitan area, and that car travel is 'unadvisable' air and rail services were also affected, the office said the adverse weather in france even affected pop singer lady gaga, who said on her facebook page that all 28 of her tour trucks had been detained by the government for more than 24 hours the lady gaga concert set for sunday night was rescheduled for tuesday, according to the website of the palais omnisports de paris bercy, where it was to be held a monday concert remains scheduled paris police said that since noon saturday, more than 1,300 trucks had been barred from entering paris, and no trucks were being allowed to circulate in the city they could not confirm whether lady gaga's trucks were among them in other travel news: britain's automobile association helped more than 3,000 drivers by 10:30 sunday morning, and was getting 800 calls for assistance every hour, it said it expected 14,000 call outs by the end of the day, nearly twice the average on a sunday another organization, the rac, said it was getting 1,500 calls an hour to help drivers, mostly in scotland london's gatwick airport says its runway is open and 'operations are gradually returning to normal' heathrow will have no flights from terminals 1 or 4, and only a small number from terminals 3 and 5, it says terminal 2 is closed for renovation heathrow urges passengers to check with airlines before flying contact numbers are listed on its website, wwwheathrowairportcom british airways tells passengers to check wwwba2gocom before coming to the airport customers who need to rebook in the us should call 1 800 247 9297 those in the uk should call 0800 727 800 ba warns of high call volume despite hiring extra call center staff and urges people to call only if necessary bmi cancels all flights to and from heathrow and asks passengers not to come to the airport british train operator network rail says trains are running more or less normally, but advises passengers to check before traveling heathrow is europe's busiest airport and one of the busiest in the world paris charles de gaulle is second, and frankfurt sees the third highest traffic on the continent forecasters say the united kingdom will remain in the grip of bitter winter weather at least through monday heathrow employees are working to try to make the airport fully operational by monday 'we've got a few thousand people that have, unfortunately, had to spend the night,' baa spokesman teacher said sunday 'we've been making them as comfortable as possible with blankets, with food and water' teacher said ice is the main problem affecting flights 'we are extremely sorry for the disruption that's been caused to people's journeys today, but the decision has been made simply to avoid any kind of potential risk,' teacher said 'these are absolutely freak weather conditions,' he added 'we've not seen a storm like this in 20 years' on saturday, frigid temperatures and extreme conditions pummeled europe from northern ireland to bulgaria, blizzard conditions left airports with heavy delays or shut them entirely snow, ice and fog have caused travel chaos ahead of a busy holiday travel week and severe weather could continue on monday as another series of weather systems move in, said met office special forecaster tony burgess 'there is another risk of [heavy snow] across england and south wales on monday,' burgess said the next wave of snowy weather is expected to bring up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) to some parts of the united kingdom, with london expected to receive 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) of snow the weather system will move across france and germany on sunday below normal temperatures are expected to continue in northern europe into the beginning of next week journalist nina dos santos and cnn's frederik pleitgen, katy byron, kathryn tancos, mila sanina, boriana milanova, hada messia, per nyberg, peter taggert, denise quan and charley keyes contributed to this report | paris uk france london heathrow europe | trucks stopped outside paris because of heavy snow . uk authorities issue travel advice for france . london heathrow may let a handful of planes land, a spokesman says . airports across europe are dealing with significant delays |
mount airy, maryland (cnn) us president george w bush on friday stressed the role of faith based groups in the fight against aids, calling the struggle one of conscience and morals on the eve of world aids day activists call for more aids funding in front of the white house, draped with a giant red aids ribbon bush was speaking at calvary united methodist church in maryland after meeting with representatives of religious and community groups 'faith based groups like these are the foot soldiers in the armies of compassion,' he said 'they are helping to defeat this epidemic one soul at a time' more than 33 million people worldwide have hiv the virus that can lead to aids according to the united nations that includes 25 million children younger than 15 watch a report on living with hiv » more than 2 million people have died of aids this year including 330,000 children bush is asking congress for an additional $15 billion to continue and expand the president's emergency plan for aids relief, a program approved by congress after he announced it in his 2003 state of the union address on friday, he announced plans to visit sub saharan africa early next year to see the program at work he renewed his call for lawmakers to continue funding it 'now the time has come for the united states congress to act again,' he said 'i'm confident they will' the white house says the program which targets countries hardest hit by the disease has treated more than 13 million people with aids increased funding would boost that number to 25 million, while expanding aids prevention programs and offering care to millions more with aids despite some successes, the program has been criticized for requiring that participating groups emphasize abstinence education at the white house, about 40 people carried signs in support of more aids funding before speaking, the president, along with first lady laura bush, participated in an hourlong faith based roundtable discussion at the church among others, the president met with martha chilufya, founder of the mututa memorial center in zambia the center works with faith based and other caregivers to serve more than 150 patients laura bush and daughter jenna visited the center in june bush said the first lady will join him on his trip next year a giant red ribbon the international symbol for aids awareness was hung from the north portico of the white house friday morning 'to represent the continued battle against hiv/aids and to affirm the matchless value of every life,' the white house said e mail to a friend cnn's larry lazo contributed to this report | overmelt actuarian believe | no related information |
(cnn) two days after the ferry they were on sank after colliding with a cargo ship, 82 people remained unaccounted for sunday in waters between southern philippine islands, a coast guard official said authorities have found the bodies of 38 people and rescued another 750, said coast guard spokeswoman dawn baterbonia the incident occurred around 9 pm friday in the mactan channel about 2 miles northwest of cebu city, the capital of cebu province the passenger ship mv st thomas aquinas was coming from nearby butuan city and the cargo ship the sulpicio, which had about 20 people aboard was leaving cebu for the province of davao in mindanao the passenger ferry sank, but not before sending out a distress call heard by coast guard officials the cargo vessel involved in the crash along with navy, coast guard and commercial vessels was helping in the rescue efforts the incident recalls one of the worst maritime disasters in world history dating to december 20, 1987, also off the philippines between 1,700 and more than 4,000 people were killed when the ferry dona paz collided with the tanker mt victor the number of casualties has varied; many claim the dona paz was extremely overcrowded philippines arrest chinese 'poachers' after reef collision ships collide in north sea cnn's greg botelho and sara mazloumsaki contributed to this report | vacuolar hydrangeas plummet | no related information |
(cnn) a 12 year old boy should get a say in whether he gets circumcised, the oregon supreme court has ruled the court sent the parental custody dispute back to the trial court 'to resolve the factual issue whether m agrees or objects to the circumcision' 'm' is the child at the center of a long running custody dispute between james and lia boldt, who divorced in 1999 soon after, the father began studying judaism and later converted he also started teaching his son about the faith by then, james had parental custody and told his ex wife the boy would convert as well, and that to do so, he would have to have the circumcision procedure the mother objected, saying the child had been raised in the russian orthodox faith while the couple was married because the two sides disagreed, and were living in neighboring states, the conflict dissolved into ongoing personal and constitutional dispute james boldt said that as a jew and the primary caregiver, he has a first amendment right to practice his faith as he sees fit for his child lia boldt countered her son does not want to go through with the circumcision, and that it is an invasive, irreversible, and potentially dangerous medical procedure the state high court seemed especially reluctant to address the issue, saying normally such disputes 'are considered private family matters' but the justices noted 'these parties cannot or will not resolve this matter without resort to the courts' so rather than offer a definitive ruling, the justices ordered both sides to go to the actual source of the conflict 'in our view, at age 12, m's attitude regarding circumcision, though not conclusive of the custody issue presented here, is a fact necessary to the determination' of whether the mother can press her objections to the procedure, wrote chief justice paul de muniz for the six member panel 'forcing m at age 12 to undergo circumcision against his will could seriously affect the relationship between m and his father, and could have a pronounced effect on father's capability to properly care for m' there was no initial reaction to the decision from the parents or their attorneys the case is james boldt v lia boldt (s054714) e mail to a friend | judaism russian orthodox | case part of parental custody dispute . father converted to judaism after splitting with wife . father wanted son to convert after getting custody . russian orthodox mother says son doesn't want procedure |
(cnn) a man who rescued a co worker from the jaws of a crocodile in northern australia also accidentally shot him in the process, police said a mature saltwater crocodile in the the murky waters of the adelaide river, near darwin in the northern territory the two men were collecting crocodile eggs by a river bank in australia's northern territory tuesday when a crocodile grabbed jason grant by the lower right arm, a spokeswoman for the area police told cnn the second man, zac fitzgerald, shot the crocodile, causing it to let go of grant's arm but a second shot that fitzgerald fired struck grant in the upper right arm, said northern territory police spokeswoman katie fowden grant, who is in his late 20s, was flown to a hospital for treatment of both the bullet and the crocodile wounds his injuries were not life threatening, fowden said the two men are workers at a crocodile farm in darwin, the capital city of the northern territory they were collecting the eggs legally, police said e mail to a friend cnn's saeed ahmed contributed to this report | australia second the northern territory | man rescues co worker from jaws of crocodile in northern australia . he shot crocodile, causing it to let go of man's arm, second shot hit man's arm . the two were collecting crocodile eggs by a river bank in the northern territory . wounded man's injuries were not life threatening |
(ewcom) there aren't really any rules when it comes to celebrating labor day some people like to enjoy their last days of summer with a beach trip, and others like to use their monday off to never change out of their pajamas we're not here to judge but what we are here to do is give you your all day tv marathon options, just in case you like to celebrate in front of the tv we've rounded up the marathons that will keep you busy from morning till night (none of this five episodes and done stuff): *note: final time is when final episode begins; all in et us open tennis (cbs, 11 am to 6 pm) criminal minds (ion, 11 am to 2 am) storage wars: texas followed by storage wars (a&e, 9 am to 7: 30 pm) call of the wildman and call of the wildman: more live action! (animal planet, 9 am to 5 am) untold stories of the er (dfh, 7 am to 1 am) two and a half men (fx, 7 am to 5 pm) american ninja warrior (g4, 9 am to 7 pm) minute to win it (gsn, 8 am to 5 pm) pawn stars (history, 8 am to 5:30 pm) arrested development (ifc, 6:15 am to 4:45 pm) ridiculousness (mtv, 1 am to 2:13 pm) life below zero (ngc, 9 am to 2 am tues) the haves and the have nots (own, 9 am to 1 am tues) law & order: criminal intent (oxygen, 6 am to 5 pm) beverly hills pawn (reelz, 9 am to 7:30 pm) mythbusters (sci, 9 am to 2 am tues) the millionaire matchmaker (style, 6am to 7 pm) long island medium (tlc, 6 am to 1 pm) followed by an episode of long island medium on the road at 2 pm castle (tnt, 10 am to 9 pm) the andy griffith show (tv land, 8 am to 5:12 pm) ncis (usa, 8 am to 6 pm) followed by an episode of ncis: los angeles at 7 pm roseanne (we, 10 am to 7:30 pm) keeping up with the kardashians (e!, 1 pm to 10 pm) bonus shark movie marathon: sand sharks, jersey shore shark attack, dinoshark, sharktopus, super shark, ghost shark, sharknado, 2 headed shark, super shark (syfy, 9 am to 1 am) our recommendations: arrested development, ridiculousness, castle, maybe just a little bit of keeping up with the kardashians, and as much of the shark movie marathon as you can possibly consume happy labor day! 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 | labor day several marathons | labor day is a great one to kick back with some tv . there will be several marathons of everything from crime shows to comedies . there is also a bonus shark movie marathon |
atlanta, georgia (cnn) four active duty us soldiers three of them elite army rangers have been arrested and charged with planning to rob drug traffickers a courtroom sketch shows david white, left, stefan champagne, center, and carlos lopez wearing street clothes, rangers carlos lopez, 30, and david ray white, 28, and army medic stefan andre champagne, 28, appeared in federal court friday they're charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and with carrying firearms in connection with that conspiracy us magistrate judge alan baverman ordered them held in custody until a preliminary hearing wednesday another ranger, randy spivey, 32, is scheduled to appear in court monday 'it is a sad day when members of one of america's most elite corps of soldiers, the army rangers, are alleged to have become involved in criminal activity,' us attorney david e nahmias said of the case 'these men were trained to defend the people and principles of this country, not to use their skills to steal cocaine from drug dealers at gunpoint' lopez, white and champagne were arrested thursday at a storage facility in sandy springs, georgia, a suburb just north of atlanta, by agents of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives who had set up a sting operation spivey was apprehended at camp frank d merrill, an army ranger training center in dahlonega, georgia, on friday, the atf said dahlonega is about 60 miles north of atlanta lopez, white and champagne were to commit the robbery while spivey covered for them back at the camp, where the men are stationed, according to an affidavit filed with us district court all four were to get a cut of the spoils of the robbery, the affidavit from atf agent brett turner says the investigation began in november, when the atf 'became aware' that some soldiers were interested in robbing drug dealers of their cocaine, turner says he posed as a disaffected security guard for the drug traffickers who wanted to 'rip them off' the first try to set up the 'robbery' failed, but a second attempt earlier this month succeeded, leading to the arrests at the storage facility and, a day later, the ranger camp a subsequent search found that lopez, white and champagne were carrying semiautomatic pistols and had an ar 15 assault rifle and a field pouch with 15 magazines of ammunition for it in their vehicle agents also found a ski mask, binoculars and a taser among the items the men brought with them the four soldiers face minimum mandatory sentences of 10 years in prison each for the drug conspiracy and an additional five years, consecutive, for the weapons allegation the army rangers are an elite light infantry fighting force capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours they became a permanent presence in the us military in the 1970s from the colonial era until that time, rangers were activated for specific missions or conflicts and then deactivated when their work was completed e mail to a friend | atf the army rangers | arrests made after atf agents set up a sting operation . affidavit: atf 'became aware' some soldiers wanted to rob dealers of their cocaine . the investigation began in november . the army rangers are an elite light infantry fighting force |
tokyo (cnn) radiation readings near tanks holding toxic water at japan's crippled nuclear power plant have jumped to a new high, the plant operator said wednesday tokyo electric power company, which has been struggling to deal with a series of leaks at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant, said it detected a radiation level of 2,200 millisieverts near the tanks on tuesday that's up from a previous high of 1,800 millisieverts on saturday those levels, detected around the same tank, are strong enough to kill an unprotected person within hours but tepco said the type of radiation is easy to shield against how did we get to this point? the announcement of the increased reading came a day after the japanese government officially stepped into the effort to deal with the contaminated water crisis at the fukushima plant, which was severely damaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck northeast japan in march 2011 the government said tuesday that it would spend the equivalent of $470 million on measures that included an ambitious plan to freeze the ground surrounding the plant's stricken reactors to prevent the contamination of groundwater at the site tepco has accumulated a vast volume of tainted water in roughly 1,000 huge storage tanks at the site, some of them hastily assembled in the aftermath of the tsunami more leaks feared at fukushima and the amount of radioactive water at the plant keeps growing day by day, as groundwater seeps in and the company pumps liquid around the damaged reactors to keep them cool last month, tepco said one of the tanks at the site had leaked 300 tons of toxic water, prompting japan's nuclear regulator to declare the situation a level 3 serious incident, its gravest assessment since the reactor meltdowns at the plant in 2011 tepco looks for outside help to stabilize crippled fukushima nuclear plant the nuclear watchdog, the nuclear regulation authority, said this week that the recent high radiation readings have raised suspicions of more leaks from other water containers tepco said wednesday that it hadn't found any leaks from this tank and that the cause of the high radiation reading was under investigation japan fed up with 'whack a mole' approach to fukushima | tepco saturday hours | tepco says it measured radiation of 2,200 millisieverts at the plant . the reading came from near a tank holding contaminated water . the previous highest reading around that tank was 1,800 millisieverts on saturday . those levels are strong enough to kill an unprotected person within hours |
(cnn) scientists are more convinced that human activity is behind the increase in global temperatures since the 1950s, which has boosted sea levels and the odds of extreme storms, according to a leaked draft of an upcoming un report 'it is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010,' according to a summary of the draft obtained by cnn 'there is high confidence that this has warmed the ocean, melted snow and ice, raised global mean sea level and changed some climate extremes in the second half of the 20th century' those conclusions come from the upcoming report of the un intergovernmental panel on climate change, the fifth in a series of multiyear reports seen as a benchmark on the subject the panel's last report, in 2007, concluded that it was 90% certain that rising temperatures were due to human activity; the new draft raises that figure to 95% climate change may increase violence, study shows the panel's report is slated for release in sections, starting in september, and could be revised but marshall shepherd, a research meteorologist at the university of georgia and the president of the american meteorological society, said the report is expected 'to strongly identify the significant human impact on the climate system' 'there are certainly some uncertainties that should be acknowledged, but the consensus is very clear that humans are playing a significant role,' said shepherd, who contributed to the 2007 report but was not involved in compiling the upcoming document increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other emissions have driven up global average temperatures by about 06 degrees c (1 degree f) since 1950, the report states that's likely to go up by between 1 and 37 degrees c (18 to 66 f) by 2100, the draft states climate change sticker shock: arctic thaw could cost $60 trillion meanwhile, the rise of sea levels, currently about 3 mm (1/8 inch) per year, is 'very likely' to speed up global average sea levels are expected to go up between 50 and 97 cm 20 inches to more than 3 feet by 2100, according to the draft 'emissions at or above current rates would induce changes in all components in the climate system, some of which would very likely be unprecedented in hundreds to thousands of years,' it states those changes are likely to occur 'in all regions of the globe' and affect the water cycle, rising ocean acidity and changes in the water cycle 'many of these changes would persist for many centuries,' it added opinion: obama is right on climate change the effect has already been seen in shrinking summer icepacks in the arctic ocean and warming permafrost in the northern hemisphere, it states 'it is very likely that the arctic sea ice cover will continue to shrink and thin and that northern hemisphere snow cover will decrease during the 21st century as global temperature rises,' the draft states the science of global warming is politically controversial but generally accepted as fact by most researchers, who point to heat trapping carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels as the major cause a may study of research papers published between 1991 and 2011 found that more than 97% of those that expressed an opinion on the cause of increasing temperatures supported that consensus skeptics point to the fact that the rate of warming has slowed since 1998, a record warm year but two more years, 2005 and 2010, have topped that record and the report notes that each of the last three decades have been warmer than the last meanwhile, the insurance industry and urban planners are treating sea level rise as a real threat a study published over the weekend in the scientific journal nature climate change warned that the world's largest coastal cities will face tens of billions in flood losses a year even with improved defenses the most vulnerable city on the list was the chinese city of guangzhou, with miami, new york, new orleans and mumbai rounding out the top five new york and much of new jersey are still rebuilding from 2012's catastrophic superstorm sandy, and a federal government report released monday said reconstruction should take into account 'the existing and future threats exacerbated by climate change' 'more than ever, it is critical that when we build for the future, we do so in a way that makes communities more resilient to emerging challenges such as rising sea levels, extreme heat and more frequent and intense storms,' housing secretary shaun donovan wrote in the report's preface cnn's tristan smith, dave hennen and brandon miller contributed to this report | un 95% | sea levels are 'very likely' to rise more rapidly, draft finds . an upcoming un report says scientific consensus is hardening . the report says it's 95% certain that humans are behind rising temperatures . the conclusions are consistent with those of other recent studies |
(cnn) the leaders of three world religions will be visiting the united states this week, and although the media spotlight is focused on pope benedict xvi and the dalai lama, thousands of ismaili muslims are celebrating a rare us tour by the aga khan the aga khan says a 'clash of ignorance' has led to friction between islam and the west the aga khan doesn't exactly fit the image that may be expected for the spiritual leader of 20 million ismaili muslims across the world; he usually wears a suit and tie but his followers see him as the final authority on interpreting the quran one one muslim scholar said that in that regard, 'he is more powerful than the pope' the aga khan, 71, arrived friday in austin, texas, where he met with gov rick perry and signed a memorandum with the university of texas on behalf of his aga khan university the two schools agreed to share research and cooperate in what was described as 'a move towards narrowing the gap between the west and islam' aga khan university is an international university with teaching sites in eight countries: afghanistan, kenya, pakistan, tanzania, uganda, syria, egypt and the united kingdom the agenda for the aga khan's first us tour in 20 years includes stops in chicago, illinois; los angeles, california; and atlanta, georgia; places he described as having 'particular importance to the ismaili community over the last half century' watch the aga khan's arrival in the us » his trip to the united states and to other ismaili communities around the world is in celebration of his 'golden jubilee' which actually fell last year marking 50 years as the spiritual leader 'it's not very often that the ismaili community gets this opportunity,' said saloni firasta vastani, a volunteer community leader in atlanta the aga khan 'has a worldly responsibility in addition to spiritual,' vastani explained and that is why the centerpiece of his role is his $150 million nonprofit, nondenominational foundation that focuses on helping the poor the imam's personal life has sometimes overshadowed his message of tolerance, which a spokesman for the us ismaili community says has 'not been well covered' by the media 'in the western world, he is not as well known, except for the british tabloid press, which will talk about his racehorses and the private life of his father,' dr mansoor saleh said the aga khan repeatedly focuses on a 'clash of ignorance,' not a clash of cultures, that has led to the current friction between islam and the west 'the hope is that this visit will provide the impetus for the west to understand what he does and what he stands for,' saleh said last year, forbes magazine listed the aga khan, who lives in the paris suburbs, as the 10th richest royal in the world, valued at $1 billion in a previous article, the magazine heralded him as 'venture capitalist to the world,' saying the aga khan 'was early among experts in third world development to grasp that government handouts and multilaterally funded megaprojects often foster dependence, not self reliance, in the people they're meant to help' prince karim al husseini became the current aga khan as a 20 year old harvard student, after his grandfather passed the title on to him and not his father, prince aly khan, who was once married to the american actress rita hayworth despite the aga khan's immense wealth, the imam shuns the title of 'philanthropist' because he feels that the aga khan foundation is part of his mandate as a religious leader his teachings also stress respecting other cultures and faiths, vastani said 'there's not enough education on both sides, and we're living in such a global place now, so learning about each other is important,' she said 'that's the way the ismaili community views it' dr liyakat takim, who teaches islamic studies at the university of denver, said it is not the aga khan's wealthy lifestyle that draws the most criticism from fellow muslims but his authority to interpret the quran for ismaili muslims 'ismailis see him as the final authority in today's world,' takim said 'his word is law' that means as a spiritual leader, the aga khan 'is able to reinterpret' the teachings of islam and has the authority to 'nullify or supersede religious practices' 'that would include things like daily prayers,' takim said 'ismailis see themselves firmly within the islamic tradition but of course other muslims have problems with that' but for many ismailis, the aga khan's role transcends that of spiritual leader those who feel that way include zarifmo aslamshoyeva, who credits his foundation with saving her life, as well as the lives of her husband and their two children now an editor with cnn in atlanta, aslamshoyeva saw her life as a television news anchor in her native tajikistan came crashing down after the collapse of the soviet union sparked a civil war in her country in 1992 aslamshoyeva lived in the remote, mountainous pamir region of tajikistan, isolated from the aid that flooded in following a lull in the fighting 'there was aid in the capital and in the surroundings, but they could not reach us in the mountains,' she said pamir residents normally stockpile food for the harsh winters, but nearly everyone ran out of food in the middle of winter partly due to an influx of refugees fleeing the fighting in the capital, dushanbe 'at home, there was no electricity, no food i would just sit there and look at my children,' she said their faces were pale and thin without any paychecks from moscow, many people were forced to beg on the streets 'by then, who cares if you have an education or if you are a doctor or journalist? we all had nothing, and we were worried about our children' it felt like the world had forgotten about her small region and their suffering, she said 'pamir was just a little tiny place,' she said 'people know tajikistan but not pamir' despite intermittent power, television remained the only way to communicate she says her life changed on the day she was called in to the tiny tv station to read an announcement telling residents that food from the aga khan foundation had finally arrived in pamir 'i never heard of the aga khan foundation, but i had heard of the aga khan,' she said her grandmother had spoken of 'the imam' in hushed tones during the communist period since that day, aslamshoyeva said, aid began pouring in, changing her life forever 'he helped everyone who lived in tajikistan: russians, germans, jews,' she said 'it didn't matter what religion you were' e mail to a friend | aga khan ismaili muslims us ismaili 50 years quran | aga khan is spiritual leader of 20 million ismaili muslims around world . his trip to us, other ismaili communities marks 50 years as spiritual leader . followers consider him the final authority on interpreting quran |
(cnn) all this excitement over recent russian public diplomacy on syria is a bit odd to those of us who have been following that diplomacy strategy for over a decade that vladimir putin chose to write an op ed in the new york times this week is not at all shocking it is part of a broader pattern of russian outreach that began in 2001 what confuses people about russian public diplomacy is that it often veers from a closed fist approach to an open handshake depending on its narrow objective all the while testing america as it seeks to build its own popularity around the world since the end of the 1990s the russians have been aware that america and other nations see a weakened former soviet empire behaving badly in the world, and they have sought to correct that perception beginning with the hiring of an american public relations firm back in 2006, which generated interest at the time for years the russians have worried about how they are portrayed in american media, about hollywood's depiction of russians as mobsters and thugs, for example scholars of russia have written often about russia's near obsession with its place in the world, including a fixation on polls like gallup's about russia's popularity with the outside world over the years, russian officials have looked for opportunities in the media to portray russia as helpful and constructive even when it was not they attempted to use russian television, and later the internet, to brandish a better image in the west creating a news agency, ria (the russian agency for international information) which operates 80 news bureaus around the world and russia today which boasts a following of 630 million people in over 100 countries the russians are also fans of inserting newspaper supplements of russia today in american newspapers just to remind readers of their relevance let's face it russia remains relevant but its image in the world has suffered throughout the last decade, for good reason think of some of the recent events: the conflict russia had in 2008 with its southern neighbor, georgia, over the disputed territory of south ossetia then there was the feud with ukraine in 2009 which resulted in russia cutting off gas to ukraine there was a series of international corruption scandals around a russian oil firm, gazprom, including accounting charges involving us financial firms one cannot, of course, forget the magnitsky case which emanated from the arrest, and subsequent death in custody of a russian lawyer who became a whistle blower about human rights that case led to a feud with the united states, congressional sanctions, and the release of a list in april of russian individuals not allowed into america add to that the russian imprisonment of a feminist punk rock group pussy riot for daring to protest against the russian government oh, and let's not forget russia's hosting of nsa leaker edward snowden russia often finds itself in the odd situation of doing negative things and trying to get positive press it cracks down on dissidents one day but then bids for the olympics the next it woos the united states and then bashes it and then its leader writes an op ed writing op eds in american newspapers is not new for the russians a good example comes from three years ago in march 2009, on the eve of a g 20 meeting with president obama, russian president dmitry medvedev wrote an op ed in the washington post, telegraphing a new us russian relationship based on the concept of mutual interests he cleverly invoked the writing of the french philosopher, alexis de tocqueville, author of 'democracy in america' in the op ed the russian president predicted 'a great future for our two nations,' adding that 'so far, each country has tried to prove the truth of those words to itself and the world by acting on its own i firmly believe that at this turn of history, we should work together' what is worth remembering is that the russians don't mind twists and 'turns of history' and they don't mind a bit of confusion about whether or not they are good guys or bad this op ed in the new york times has generated both outrage and curiosity with some predictable criticism by the anti russia crowd on capitol hill, who believe america will be duped for americans, there is something emotional about russia it inevitably evokes fear and fascination in the united states and the west perhaps because of its long and complex history, its culture, and memories of cold war days when so much time, effort and money was spent defending ourselves against the soviet union russia's latest attempt to win hearts and minds is intriguing and is likely to be effective if the result is some kind of interim deal over chemical weapons a positive step by syria, at the urging of moscow, to acknowledge its chemical stockpiles and surrender even a portion of them would be a good development and russia will claim credit for saving the day if the diplomacy fails, and the us decides to strike syria, russia will lay the blame for any damage on america so either way, the gamble makes sense from putin's view as for the united states, we have no choice but to take russia up on the offer to press the syrians to relinquish control over the weapons americans like peaceful solutions and we certainly should test the proposition with russia but while we are diplomatically dueling with russia, we must remain mindful of their public diplomacy strategies, watch closely as they maneuver and, in the end, do what is in our own national security interest the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of tara sonenshine | tara sonenshine putin russia us | tara sonenshine: putin op ed not surprising: russia has long tried to build its popularity . putin attentive to polls on views of russia, tries to stem persistent negative portrayals, she says . she says oddly, russia keeps doing negative things and trying to get positive press . sonenshine: op ed has provoked many; russia doesn't mind; putin enjoys tweaking us |
(cnn) tropical storm rafael unleashed heavy rain and powerful gusts to the virgin islands and threatened more areas in the caribbean sea late saturday night with sustained winds of 50 mph, rafael could get even stronger as it bears down on several islands popular with tourists 'some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and rafael could become a hurricane by late monday,' the national hurricane center in miami said at 11 pm saturday at that time, the tropical storm was centered about 40 miles west northwest of st marten and 95 miles east of st croix rafael was moving north at 14 mph a tropical storm warning is in effect for a number of caribbean isles, including the us and british virgin islands, st marten, anguilla, antigua, barbuda, st kitts and guadeloupe dousing rains and steady winds in excess of 39 mph are expected in 12 to 24 hours in these places, according to the hurricane center puerto rico is under a tropical storm watch, meaning such conditions are possible forecasters expect rafael to dump between 3 to 5 inches of rain over the lesser antilles and virgin islands, with some pockets getting as much as 10 inches 'these rains could cause life threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas of mountainous terrain,' the hurricane center said the storm could impact rescue efforts for two men and one woman whose small aircraft crashed saturday morning about six nautical miles (7 miles) south of st thomas in the us virgin islands, coast guard spokesman ricardo castrodad said they were aboard a twin engine piper pa 23 that left st croix destined for st thomas, according to federal aviation administration spokeswoman kathleen bergen rescue crews from the coast guard and us virgin islands department of natural resources saved one female passenger, valerie jackson, who told them three others were still unaccounted for a coast guard cutter ship, two helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft have been dispatched from puerto rico for the search, castrodad said the effort continued saturday night despite what the coast guard spokesman said were deteriorating conditions due to rafael cnn's chandler friedman contributed to this report | trent rerun epilogistic | no related information |
(cnn) winter weary residents in the great plains are bracing for yet another blow this week, compliments of a system that spent sunday pounding those in and around denver with high winds and heavy snow the colorado capital had already gotten over 8 inches of snow by 5:30 pm mt (7:30 pm et) the snow socked the city's main airport, where more than 200 of 1,500 flights had been canceled and other travelers faced average delays of more than 4 hours on sunday night, according to the federal aviation administration even more snow had fallen in other places, including 19 inches in jefferson, about 70 miles southwest of denver by sunday night, the worst was over for much of colorado, though not for points east, which are expected to be hammered to start the workweek that includes several plains states, which are already reeling from a dizzying few days of harsh winter weather last thursday, for instance, a storm dumped up to 22 inches of snow on parts of kansas two days later, teresa moore said her street in kansas city, kansas, still hadn't been plowed, making it impossible for her to take her husband to his doctor's appointments or visit her son at the hospital 'if we have an emergency or a fire, the rescue can't come down here so what are we to do,' moore told cnn affiliate kctv ' it just doesn't make any sense' she got some relief when plow trucks finally hit the roads around her home later saturday, but it won't last long that city is expecting 9 to 15 inches of snow monday night into tuesday forecasters have upped their predictions for the amount of snow expected in northwest oklahoma to 8 to 10 inches, with 15 inches in spots this may be a shock to some, given that temperatures in places reached the mid 60s on sunday 'may see 4 6 foot drifts!' wrote national weather service meteorologist rick smith on twitter 'traveling is beyond discouraged!' such forecasts raised alarms throughout the plains, leading to crowded stores as residents prepared for the storm amanda roberts, an entrepreneur and blogger in warrensburg, missouri, was one of them writing on twitter, she said she made out well in her preparations 'the snow has everyone stocking up on groceries,' she said 'fresh produce is basically gone but i got the last gallon of chocolate milk i call it a win' record setting february kansas city international airport set a february 21 record of 9 inches of snow, 4 more inches than the amount that fell the same date in 2010 monday might bring 6 to 10 more inches, forecasters said kansas city is approaching its february snowfall record of 207 inches, set in 1960 the state of kansas is also still digging out in many places wichita saw its second highest storm snowfall total on record last week with 142 inches over two days, the national weather service said the town of russell in the state's middle lay under a 22 inch layer of white by the time the storm roared by silver lining the snowstorm turned out to be a welcome one to many kansans and many others throughout the great plains, who have been suffering a drought for a third straight year kansas, nebraska, iowa, missouri and a host of other farm heavy states have seen crop losses as a result the kansas department of agriculture expects those conditions to continue into april, but near record levels of snowfall will ease the problem and could help the drought end faster 'it snows so infrequently here now we've been in a really bad drought for several years; really, really hot summers and just no moisture so we're thrilled to see snow or ice whatever moisture we can get,' wichita resident kristen woodburn said ranchers embraced the storm, even though bitter cold snow can be deadly during calving season frank harper, a kansas rancher from sedgwick and the immediate past president of the kansas livestock association, said the storm caused more work for him because he had to bring his calves inside to warm them up but he called the snowstorm a blessing for bringing good moisture to the winter wheat rain, flooding the issue in southeast while millions will see snow including chicago, where 3 to 5 inches of snow and sleet are expected tuesday rain may rule for the next few days in parts of the southeast mobile, alabama, on the gulf coast, had overcast skies and a temperature of 68 degrees at 5 pm ct sunday but within a few hours and through monday night, residents there can expect heavy rains and wind gusts as strong as 30 mph the rain is part of a band affecting five southeastern states where flash flood watches are in effect from monday afternoon through tuesday morning some areas from louisiana to south carolina could see up to 4 inches of rain cnn's judson jones and steve almasy contributed to this report | denver 8 inches over 4 hours sunday night plains monday | new: denver gets over 8 inches of snow, but worst appears to be over . new: flight delays at denver's airport averaged over 4 hours on sunday night . parts of several plains states could be hit hard by heavy snow, high winds monday . flash flood watches are in effect in parts of five southeastern states |
(cnn) the upcoming presidential election will likely hinge on whether voters trust president obama or mitt romney to restore a robust economy presidents have less power over the economy than they and most people believe congress, the fed, and the economy's inherent dynamics all play major roles but the president can lead on key issues and set the tone for economic policy to understand how the romney and obama views differ, consider two issues the first is how to avoid the so called 'fiscal cliff' under current policy, substantial tax hikes and spending cuts kick in on january 1, 2013 the bush tax cuts, in particular, are scheduled to expire, and both domestic and military spending are scheduled to fall, under the debt ceiling deal of august 2011 both candidates view this tightening in fiscal policy as a threat to economic recovery, but they differ on which aspects to modify obama wants to continue the bush tax cuts on middle class households but let them expire on high income households and obama opposes the automatic spending cuts in general, although most observers suspect he would be open to some cuts in military spending cnn money: tax deduction cap how much would it raise and who would pay? romney also wants to extend the bush tax cuts, but for all households rather than just the middle class in fact, romney has called for further reductions in tax rates, including those on corporate income romney will likely accept cuts to domestic spending while opposing those to the defense budget obama, therefore, will use negotiations over the fiscal cliff to push greater redistribution of income and for shifts in expenditure from military to domestic programs; romney the reverse neither candidate, of course, describes his position in these terms obama will paint the debate over tax policy as about fairness, while romney will say it is about promoting economic growth obama will defend domestic expenditure as 'investment' in our future, while romney will characterize much of it as waste regardless, the two have different priorities for taxes and spending on the tax side, romney's position is more convincing raising rates on high income households will generate only modest revenue, and higher rates on dividends and capital gains are bad for growth likewise, lower corporate tax rates will boost growth more broadly, obama's focus on redistribution sends a chilling message to entrepreneurs and innovators, and any negative impact on growth makes the debt situation worse on the budget, neither candidate is sufficiently skeptical of federal spending obama errs in believing that federal expenditure is mainly 'investment' in reality, huge chunks such as drug prohibition, the national endowments for the arts and humanities, the corporation for public broadcasting, nasa, earmarks, the postal service, amtrak, foreign aid, agricultural subsidies, the small business administration, along with bridges to nowhere, the big dig, and high speed rail are wasteful opinion: romney's radical economic plan for us romney makes a similar mistake for military spending many defense and national security activities, such as the ongoing war in afghanistan, provision of national security for nations in western europe and other parts of the globe, not to mention unnecessary weapons systems, redundant military bases, and more, are difficult to justify the second big issue facing obama or romney will be taming the growth of medicare both candidates agree that, under current projections, medicare grows faster than the national's overall economic output forever, which means medicare is essentially bankrupt romney and obama disagree, however, on how to fix medicare obama's approach consists of the independent payment advisory board, a creation of the affordable care act the ipab will have the power to restrict medicare expenditure, chiefly by controlling health care prices and limiting reimbursement for care deemed unnecessary or not cost effective romney wants to shift most or all future medicare beneficiaries (those currently 55 and younger) to vouchers by limiting the rate at which the voucher amount increases over time, this approach can also slow medicare expenditure and if competition among insurers makes the health insurance market more efficient, vouchers can reduce spending further both approaches, therefore, aim to 'save medicare,' but in fundamentally different ways: the ipab relies on government to decide what health care is valuable, while the voucher approach lets individuals make those choices of the two, obama's has little chance of success, given the failure of similar efforts in the past price controls incentivize health care providers to game the system, such as by billing for extra tests, procedures, and medications this also means that price controls will introduce myriad inefficiencies in the health care system the romney voucher approach has more potential, but the devil is in the details any voucher system must include enough insurers to generate real competition and the definition of 'health insurance' must be sufficiently broad that competing insurers can offer policies that genuinely limit costs in addition, the most obvious way that insurers can lower premiums is by raising co payments and deductibles this would be a good outcome, since it would encourage seniors to balance the benefits and costs of health care yet this also means seniors would pay more, a fact not often emphasized by advocates of vouchers obama's and romney's economic visions differ, therefore, on three fundamental issues: how much government should redistribute income; what kind of federal spending is worth its costs; and whether governments or markets allocate resources more efficiently the choice is not unambiguous, but overall romney has the better view the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of jeffrey miron | jeffrey miron romney miron medicare obama | libertarian economist jeffrey miron says both candidates' economic plans have flaws . he says romney's position on taxes is stronger, higher rates will curb growth . miron says both candidates try to control the unsustainable growth of medicare . he says obama seeks to use government to curb costs while romney relies on a voucher plan |
(cnn) a 28 year old jamaican born man has confessed to his involvement in the stabbing deaths of an american couple on the caribbean island of st maarten, a prosecutor said wednesday the suspect, whom authorities have identified only by his initials mkj, has also confessed involvement to a robbery of a restaurant last month, said general solicitor taco stein the suspect had previously denied any involvement in the killings last month of michael and thelma king, of south carolina, at their oceanfront residence in cupecoy, a beach town on the southwest tip of the dutch island nation their bodies were discovered september 21, authorities said the suspect appeared before a judge wednesday, who granted the prosecution's request for a pretrial detention of eight days for the suspect, stein told cnn investigators are now working to confirm the details of the suspect's statements and are gathering additional evidence to present in court, stein said a second suspect in custody in the kings' murders has been identified as a 17 year old man with the initials of jcm, stein said he hasn't confessed to any involvement in the slayings and will appear in court thursday for a pretrial detention hearing, stein said st maarten is a self governing country within the kingdom of the netherlands, whose economy is based on the tourism industry more than 1 million tourists visit the island each year the killings occurred in what is generally considered a safe area that is popular with tourists, according to the solicitor general investigators believe the murders took place during a robbery of the kings, stein said bodies of us couple killed in st maarten are handed over | jamaican 28 michael thelma king south carolina cupecoy cnn | a jamaican born man, 28, tells investigators he was involved in murders . a judge orders a pretrial detention of the man . michael and thelma king of south carolina were slain in the beach town of cupecoy . the suspect also confesses to a restaurant robbery, prosecutor tells cnn |
(cnn) the spacex dragon capsule remains on course for the international space station despite losing one of nine booster engines, but a satellite launched on the same rocket didn't reach its intended orbit, its operator said monday spacex launched the first commercial space cargo mission on sunday night but a minute and 19 seconds after the falcon 9 booster lifted off from cape canaveral, florida, one of the nine merlin engines that power the rocket '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 unmanned capsule, which is carrying about 1,000 pounds of supplies for the space station, is scheduled to arrive at the orbital platform on wednesday, spacex said opinion: spacex a pioneer in space and on earth however, the rocket also was carrying a satellite for the new jersey based communications company orbcomm the satellite separated properly from the second stage of the falcon 9 but the engine trouble meant the satellite would not pass clear of a safety zone if it fired its own engine, leaving it in a lower orbit than planned, orbcomm said in a statement issued monday night engineers from orbcomm and its partner on the project, sierra nevada corporation, 'have been in contact with the satellite and are working to determine if and the extent to which the orbit can be raised to an operational orbit using the satellite's on board propulsion system,' the statement said neither spacex nor orbcomm responded to request for comment about the satellite issue california based spacex said earlier that controllers are reviewing flight data in an effort to figure out what happened to the booster rocket, but initial readings indicate the no 1 engine fairing broke apart under stress in may: dragon returns to earth after 'grand slam' space mission 'we know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it,' the company said but it said two of nasa's saturn v boosters lost engines on two flights during the apollo program, and the falcon 9 'is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission' the failure occurred second after the booster achieved supersonic speed and approached its moment of maximum aerodynamic pressure after liftoff video posted online by the company shows a flash as the rocket ascends, followed by what appears to be debris falling away from the accelerating craft sunday's launch was the first of a dozen freight runs that spacex is scheduled to make to the station under a contract with nasa, which plans to turn much of its focus toward exploring deep into the solar system nasa administrator charles bolden called it 'a critical event in space flight' spacex, meanwhile, is looking beyond just cargo flights to developing a human rated 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 and 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 | moper conformant saught | no related information |
new york (cnn) two turkish american gas station workers on suburban long island say they were assaulted and beaten with a flagpole bearing an american flag on the night of election day five men face charges in the alleged attack, police said thursday the incident began when some teenagers became angry when they were asked to show identification for a tobacco purchase, said erdaogan yavuz, the manager of the ok gas station in wantagh, new york, told cnn 'my father is a cop and he's going to kill all you guys,' one of them said, according to yavuz the teens, yelling expletives, left only to return a short time later with two older men all five began to assault yavuz and his co worker, yuksel cebeci, yavuz said cebeci was able to get inside the station, but yavuz said he was beaten badly one of the older men shouted, 'you aliens get out of my country!' 'then he grabbed the [gas station's] flag and hit me in the face with the flagpole, and that's when i grabbed the flag from him to defend myself,' said yavuz, who said he became a naturalized citizen of the united states in march when nassau county police arrived on site, the man attacked one of the officers, according to a spokesman for the 8th precinct in levittown the officer was treated at st joseph hospital in bethpage for lacerations to his right knee and a swollen hand, the spokesman said cebeci was treated for broken fingers, yavuz said all five men were charged with assault but the case will not be prosecuted as a hate crime, said chris munzing, the deputy director of communications for nassau county police the men were arraigned on wednesday, and november court appearances have been set, the district attorney's office said the district attorney's office identified the men as nicholas lazarus, christ makhmaltchi, gregory vitale, richard vitale jr and richard vitale sr attempts to reach the suspects and their attorneys were not immediately successful thursday afternoon a surveillance video from the gas station is in the hands of prosecutors, officials said | observance crumply oryctologist | no related information |
(cnn) tropical storm cristobal formed early sunday in the caribbean, having strengthened from a tropical depression, the national hurricane center said it has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph the hurricane center issued tropical storm warnings on sunday for the southeastern and central bahamas as well as for the turks and caicos islands cristobal is moving to the northwest but is expected to turn to the northeast in the coming days and miss the us coastline | 45 mph bahamas nws the united states early next week | it has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph . tropical storm warnings have been issued in parts of the bahamas . nws forecast puts the storm east of the united states early next week |
(cnn) sixteen year old valery bianco and his 13 year old sister marina bianco take extra care in preparing and wrapping their shoe box gifts for 'operation christmas child' they know firsthand what these gifts could mean to a child 'i was almost 10 when i received my shoe box, and it was touching to receive a gift as an orphan, someone people don't care about,' valery says those shoe boxes were the first gifts that valery and marina received during their life at a russian orphanage when they were sent to the orphanage years earlier, they were not allowed to bring any possessions with them birthdays were not celebrated and there were no toys to be found on christmas morning all the two siblings had was each other at times, it was hard for them to see how the tough life at the orphanage affected each other 'i would see him fight with other boys and i would run into my room and hope he was ok there were so many fights,' marina said for marina, the shoe box gift came when she needed it the most she was 6 years old when it arrived at that point, she was becoming very angry, finding herself in a lot of fights as well she started believing that she had nothing to fight for 'i did not care what happened to me,' marina said 'people would want to beat up on me i thought, well that is what life is but when i received the shoe box, i realized that someone did care for me in the world, and i thought that i should live a good life' her shoe box had the simplest items: a small towel, a few toiletries, a coloring book and stickers and a small stuffed animal for marina, these possessions meant she was worth something 'i realized you can be anyone you want, that you can control your own life,' marina said four years after receiving those first gifts, valery and marina were adopted by a family in the united states as they were adjusting to an american life, learning english and a different culture, their new older sister came home from school one day with a shoe box present that she was wrapping for 'operation christmas child' the 'operation christmas child' program was started in 1993 by samaritan's purse, a christian international relief group that first year, operation christmas child collected 28,000 shoe box gifts since then, the organization has received more than 8 million shoe boxes, which have been shipped to more than 100 countries for this holiday season, they are accepting gifts through december 25 and have created a 'build a box' online tool, where the gifts can be virtually selected and purchased then a samaritan's purse volunteer packs and wraps the shoe box gift 'i knew how it felt to receive that box, how it changed my life if there is a person right now, a child in trouble, thinking of running away, that box could comfort him that is how i felt,' marina said 'i realized i could help others' as marina started her own shoe box to send, she included a coloring book, a toothbrush, hard candy, a ball and a puzzle in russia, she loved puzzles because they would give her a focused activity during the many hours she was alone with her thoughts in the orphanage valery's shoe box had similar items, but he made sure his also included a toy car it brought back memories of the one he received in his shoe box gift 'i know they will have fun with that, i know i enjoyed it as a kid i put my love in there and what i thought would comfort them to let them know this is for you you can own something now,' valery said one ingredient requested for every shoe box, whether built online or prepared at home, is a personalized note of encouragement for the child who will receive it marina's note was easy for her to write 'i told them about myself, that i received a box, and that i hope this box touches their life i also wrote my address and e mail in case they ever wanted to reach me,' marina said when valery thinks of a child reading his words of support, he recalls the note he received 'i used to think about who sent my box, i wondered what they were like and what they enjoyed doing i knew it was a good person with love in them,' valery said valery and marina were silent as they wrapped their shoe boxes and realized that they are now the people making a difference to find out how to participate, order materials or find shoe box drop off locations, call 1 800 353 5949 or go online to the samaritan's purse operation christmas child | operation christmas child valery marina bianco russian marina | 'operation christmas child' ships shoe boxes of presents to children in 100 countries . valery and marina bianco received shoe box gifts in a russian orphanage . valery and marina say the shoe box gifts gave them a sense of worth |
soweto, south africa (cnn) there are still bullet holes in the stained glass windows of this church they're a reminder, tommy zwane says, of the dark days before nelson mandela became his country's first democratically elected president the regina mundi catholic church in soweto was at the heart of the uprising against apartheid most famously on june 16, 1976, when young students rebelled against the education system and were fired upon by police 'things were difficult for everybody, for black people in this country we used to run and come to this church to pray to god so that he could come and assist us, because we were in trouble at that time,' zwane said 'there was no understanding between us and the government of south africa' on sunday, people filled the church's pews for a very different reason to sing, pray and honor mandela's legacy days after his death in a home nearby services at churches, synagogues and mosques throughout south africa honored mandela the national day of remembrance is one of a string of events planned to say farewell to the iconic figure who helped south africa break the practice of racial segregation and end white minority rule a massive memorial service is scheduled for tuesday in johannesburg's fnb stadium, which can hold 94,000 people a state funeral will be held december 15 in mandela's ancestral hometown of qunu in the eastern cape province at least 70 heads of state and 10 former heads of state have said they're coming to south africa this week, government international relations spokesman clayson monyela said from the united states, officials said, us president barack obama and first lady michelle obama will be accompanied by president jimmy carter, president george w bush and president bill clinton and their wives more than two dozen us lawmakers are also scheduled to attend south african president jacob zuma, who announced mandela's death thursday, used the revered leader's well known clan name sunday as he asked churchgoers to remember the former president's values 'when i say we pray for the nation, (it) is that we should pray for us not to forget some of the values that madiba stood for, that he fought for, that he sacrificed his life for,' he said 'he stood for freedom he fought against those who oppressed others he wanted everyone to be free' in a suburb of pretoria, parishioners said they were grateful for the man who saved them from revenge 'his presence in our lives meant so much for the afrikaaner people, allowed them to get rid of their guilt feelings and to participate in the journey that he invited us to join,' wilhelm jordaan said in soweto, kathy and stewart allen said they don't normally attend the regina mundi church but they wanted to be there on sunday 'we believe that this church embodies all the history, and everything that he stood for,' kathy allen said once again, stewart allen said, mandela has brought the country together cnn's kim norgaard and catherine e shoichet contributed to this report from atlanta | south africa nelson mandela churchgoers soweto nelson mandela's a day mandela december 15 | new: official: 70 heads of state are coming to south africa to honor nelson mandela . churchgoers in soweto celebrate nelson mandela's legacy . services are held nationwide on a day of remembrance for mandela . a state funeral will be held december 15 |
(cnn) inter milan beat african underdogs tp mazembe 3 0 to win fifa's club world cup in abu dhabi on saturday first half goals from goran pandev and samuel eto'o and a late strike from substitute jonathan biabiany sealed victory for the european champions at the zayed sport city stadium congolese side mazenbe had shocked internacional of brazil in the semifinals but found themselves outclassed by the serie a champions the win will take a little of the pressure off inter manager rafael benitez, whose side are trailing arch rivals ac milan in the italian title race this season inter took the lead after 14 minutes when pandev was found by eto'o with the macedonian scoring neatly with three minutes, inter had extended their advantage after javier zanetti's cut back found cameroon star eto'o to fire home mazembe goalkeeper muteba kidiaba, one of the stars of their passage to the final, came to the rescue with two fine saves to deny diego milito as inter looked to kill the game off for good but mazembe had few chances, the best falling to dioko kaluyituka, who saw a first half stoppage time volley blocked by ivan cordoba and was denied by julio cesar with time running out maicon hit the post for inter after the break but sealed victory as biabiany run on to a through ball to score the third with five minutes left earlier, south american champions internacional took third place with a 4 2 win over seongnam ilhwa chunma of south korea with alecsandro scoring twice | inter milan fifa club world champions abu dhabi inter tp mazembe congo saturday goran pandev samuel eto'o jonathan biabiany internacional of brazil seongnam ilhwa chunma third | inter milan crowned fifa club world champions in abu dhabi . inter beat tp mazembe of the congo 3 0 in the final on saturday . goals from goran pandev, samuel eto'o and jonathan biabiany seal victory . internacional of brazil beat seongnam ilhwa chunma 4 2 in third place playoff |
(cnn) armenian president robert kocharian declared a state of emergency saturday night after a day of clashes between police and protesters, a spokeswoman for the armenian foreign ministry said opposition supporters wave an armenian flag during a protest rally in yerevan, armenia, on saturday the protesters claim last month's presidential election was rigged the state of emergency will 'hopefully bring some order' to the capital, yerevan, said salpi ghazarian, assistant to the armenian foreign minister, who spoke to cnn early sunday the state of emergency could last until march 20, she said, but the government hopes 'that it will be lifted sooner' the clashes began when authorities used force to clear freedom square of thousands of demonstrators who had camped there for the past 10 days, according to a us embassy official ghazarian said the authorities 'moved in' because 'they thought that there were arms there, and it turned out that they were right' watch a report on clashes between police and the opposition » the embassy official estimated that the demonstrations in freedom square grew to as many as 60,000 armenians at times over the last 10 days as of early sunday morning, freedom square was empty, ghazarian said, but the protesters were demonstrating in a main square elsewhere in the city watch ghazarian discuss the situation in armenia » 'what is happening on the streets of yerevan is people protesting what they consider to be unfair elections,' ghazarian said 'after the president was forced to declare a state of emergency, things have quieted down there are a couple of burning cars, and there are a few hurt people,' she said 'we're convinced that this will come to an end soon' she did not elaborate on the number of people injured or the extent of their injuries witnesses told cnn that saturday morning's action by armenian riot police was bloody, but the us official said there were no confirmed deaths or serious injuries an armenian woman interviewed by cnn said there was 'huge chaos' when police moved in 'these are innocent people,' she said 'they just want their freedom they just want to be heard they are being beaten up, some people have horrible wounds' she asked that cnn not use her name because she feared for her safety as night fell saturday, the sounds of gunfire could be heard from the direction of the protesters' gathering, and tracer fire could be seen in the sky, according to another yerevan resident, who also asked not to be identified out of fear for his safety the man said his wife saw two demonstrators hit by a police car earlier in the day the car initially did not stop, he said, but the protesters surrounded the car, dragged the officers out and burned the vehicle, he said the officers were able to escape, he said, but he did not know the condition of the protesters who were struck the protests began soon after the february 19 presidential election opposition presidential candidate levon ter petrosian lost to prime minister serzh sarkisian, a political ally of outgoing president kocharian the opposition party immediately accused the government of vote fraud and demanded that the results be voided ghazarian said sunday that the government had reached out to the opposition 'we are hoping with the help of the international community, the opposition, the leader of the opposition, will come and enter a political dialogue rather than continuing this debate on the streets,' she said haroutiun khachatrian, editor of the noyan tappan news agency, told cnn that riot police arrested several hundred people in the square saturday morning, including many opposition party officials ter petrosian was there but was not arrested, he said the opposition vowed to pursue its claims through legal means the organization for security and co operation in europe (osce) monitored last month's armenian election and concluded that it was mostly in line with international standards, although it did include some criticism in its report the us embassy has warned the several hundred americans living in yerevan to stay at home and avoid the downtown area where the demonstrations have been taking place, the us official said armenia, population 3 million, is a former soviet republic east of turkey, south of georgia and north of iran e mail to a friend | cemeterial wull saphie | no related information |
san francisco, california (cnn) nearly 3 million gallons of sewage spilled into san francisco bay when a pump failed at a waste treatment facility, the marin county sheriff's department told cnn on friday attempts are being made to contain thursday night's 27 million gallon sewage spill the 27 million gallon spill occurred thursday night a pump failed at the south marin sanitation district's waste treatment facility in the town of mill valley, said lt doug pittman the waste was released into richardson bay, an inlet of the large bay on the east shore of marin county, he said see the spill from the air » the sewage and storm water was partially treated, according to greg renick of the california office of emergency services in addition to the pump failure, he said, an alarm that would have alerted workers at the facility to the spill also failed the accidental release occurred between 5:30 and 8:30 pm thursday, according to a statement from marin county's emergency operations center but the sewerage agency of southern marin didn't report it to the state until 11:16 pm, renick said the state office of emergency services notified local offices in the bay area within an hour of receiving the report, he said the marin county department of environmental health was conducting tests friday to determine how far the contamination had spread, pittman said boaters were being warned to avoid the richardson bay area, and residents were told to avoid contact with the water the california department of fish and game has had a boat and personnel on the water since early friday, and has found no sign of sick or distressed wildlife resulting from the spill, agency spokesman steve martarano said marin county is just across the golden gate bridge from san francisco e mail to a friend cnn's chuck afflerbach contributed to this report | office of emergency services 27 million gallon thursday night sheriff's department marin county richardson bay | new: sewage was partially treated, office of emergency services says . the 27 million gallon spill occurred thursday night, sheriff's department says . pump and alarm failed at marin county waste treatment facility . area being tested; boaters advised to avoid richardson bay area |
new york (cnn) a massive anti mafia sweep that stretched from new york to sicily has not only cut off the head of the gambino crime family but lopped off 'the shoulders and chest' too, prosecutors said thursday john 'jackie the nose' d'amico, shown in 1992, is one of 62 people indicted sixty two members of the gambino, genovese and bonanno families face 80 charges, ranging from money laundering to illegal gambling and murder 'these charges strike at the very core of the gambino family,' said benton campbell, united states attorney for the eastern district of new york the gambino family profited from extortion within the new york construction industry and its labor unions, according to the charges watch the perp walk » several companies allegedly paid a 'mob tax' in return for 'protection' and 'permission to operate,' said gordon heddell, inspector general of the us department of labor other charges involve an alleged illegal gambling ring, said richard brown, queens county district attorney nicholas corozzo a reputed captain in the gambino family was involved in a sports gambling enterprise that relied in part on toll free telephones, brown alleged meanwhile, four members of the gambino family are charged with eight crimes involving murder, according to the indictment those charges include the felony murder of jose delgado rivera, who was shot and killed in an armored truck during a robbery in 1990 'today we are able to bring closure to crimes from the past that have never been forgotten,' campbell said he said the crimes span back over three decades watch feds say they've 'cut off the head' of crime family » key to the gambino arrests thursday was a member of the attorney general's organized crime task force who infiltrated the gambino family and recorded hundred of hours of conversations, said john milgrim, a spokesman for the attorney general forty five of those charged are already in custody, police said arrests were made in new york city; long island, new york; and new jersey 'it is as unrelenting as weeds that continue to sprout in the cracks of society,' new york attorney general andrew cuomo said of organized crime 'we will not rest until organized crime is a distant memory' in addition to the arrests in the new york area, police in italy detained 77 people in connection with organized crime those arrests netted important members of a powerful clan in sicily linked to mafia boss salvatore lo piccolo, who was believed to be the successor of the boss of bosses, bernardo provenzano watch the prosecutor explain why authorities acted now » police say that in his attempt to rise to power, le piccolo tried to mend fences with new york based mafia families after those ties were broken during the bloody mafia wars of the 1980s those families included the gambinos of new york and the inzerillos of italy provenzano was arrested two years ago in corleone 'it is evident that the intent of the mafia in palermo was to re establish a dialogue through the inzerillo family in the us,' francesco messineo of the italian police said 'a dialogue that was never interrupted because the relationship between the american and the italian mafia is historic, based on long tradition but there was certainly an attempt to re establish that connection' investigators believe mob clans wanted to collaborate on illegal commercial ventures such as money laundering and drug trafficking italian officials said the arrests were aimed at preventing these illegal activities, but they warned that other mafia clans in sicily oppose the return of the inzerillo family to the island, and therefore were concerned about a new mafia war e mail to a friend cnn's deborah feyerick and alessio vinci contributed to this report | gambino department of labor italy | dozens of people face charges, ranging from money laundering to murder . gambino family accused of profiting from extortion . several companies allegedly paid a 'mob tax,' department of labor official says . police in italy also make 77 arrests in connection with organized crime |
(cnn) police deaths in afghanistan have doubled this year after nato forces handed over security responsibility to poorly equipped and poorly trained local security forces the country's new interior minister, mohammad omar daudzai, said that 1,792 afghan policemen had lost their lives and more than 2,500 had been injured since march that's double the number of a year ago roadside bombs planted by the taliban and other insurgent groups inflict the most damage, according to daudzai afghan, nato troops repel taliban attack on us base near pakistan local police suffer because they lack modern weapons, armored vehicles and adequate training, he said the security forces remain dependent on nato air support during their operations on the front lines, the frustration is obvious security forces need better equipment 'my job is to save the lives of my people,' said abdullah khan, who mans a checkpoint in the city of jalalabad 'that is not possible with a few ak 47 guns and the soft skin ford ranger vehicle that i have' he said it doesn't help that most of his officers are illiterate the situation illustrates the difficulties local forces face as nato and american troops largely exit the county by the end of 2014 the plan is to withdraw all combat troops but keep a residual force in the country to help train afghans and carry out counterterrorism operations when needed civilian casualties in afghanistan up by nearly a quarter | pinworm tuttiman conidiophorous | no related information |
(cnn) muslim and moderatetwo words that describe bangladesh, where hillary clinton arrived saturday as part of a three nation tour of asia she left china where diplomatic drama over a chinese human rights activist overshadowed all else and stepped foot in bangladesh amid political turmoil involving the disappearance of a key opposition leader her presence, the first by a secretary of state since 2003, reflects america's interest in growing ties with asian nations and puts bangladesh, one of the world's most impoverished nations strategically located near india, china and myanmar, on center stage cinton's trip, said a senior state department official, is an opportunity to improve america's bilateral relationship with bangladesh, a democratic muslim majority nation that is seen by washington as a viable alternative to extremism it's a bilateral relationship that was initially troubled because of us support for pakistan in bangladesh's war of independence, won in 1971 but ties between the two nations have improved considerably and the united states is now bangladesh's largest trading partner clinton will meet with prime minister sheikh hasina and foreign minister dipu moni, and is expected to stress the importance of democratic institutions and ways to improve conditions for the 160 million bangladeshis who live in a country the size of iowa washington sees bangladesh, the world's largest contributor of personnel to un peacekeeping forces, as a willing partner on counterterrorism and global security, the state department official said clinton will discuss development issues with micro credit guru and nobel laureate muhammad yunus and fazle hasan abed, the founder of brac, a large non profit that works to alleviate poverty clinton will also meet with khaleda zia, leader of the opposition bangladesh national party (bnp) amid considerable political tension zia's party and the ruling awami league have accused each other in the abduction of key bnp lawmaker ilyas ali the disappearance has sparked rallies and strikes that have led to deaths of at least four people, according to amnesty international ali's disappearance is the latest in a spate of disappearances in which security forces have been implicated, although they deny detaining those missing, amnesty said more than 20 people have 'disappeared' in bangladesh this year, the global monitoring group said clinton is visiting bangladesh 12 years after her husband, bill clinton, did so as the first us president to make such a trip hillary clinton goes next to neighboring india, where she is scheduled to stop in kolkata, near the bangladeshi border, and new delhi there, she will meet with the feisty chief minister, mamata bannerji, who dismantled 34 years of communism in last year's west bengal state elections but is very much opposed to allowing large foreign retailers like wal mart in india ironically, clinton's visit to new delhi coincides with that of an iranian trade delegation that is looking for ways to circumvent tough us sanctions that have proven crippling to the economy of the islamic republic | washington bangladesh muslim clinton india | washington sees bangladesh as a viable alternative to extremism . the muslim majority nation is moderate and democratic . but it has seen political turmoil after the disappearance of an opposition leader . clinton next goes to india |
london (cnn) alex salmond, scotland's first minister, is fond of saying that when the united nations was first formed in 1945, it had just 50 members today, he adds, that figure has risen to almost 200 it's a nice line, although in reality the emergence of a new nation remains relatively rare but there does seem to be a pattern emerging, in europe and beyond in spain (catalonia) and belgium (flanders), as well as the united kingdom (scotland), secessionist movements appear to be on the rise all three have existed for decades, yet they seem particularly lively in the second decade of the 21st century thus salmond, who this weekend addresses delegates at the scottish national party's annual conference in the scottish city of perth, likes to talk of scotland's 'home rule journey' being part of a bigger international trend his point is clear: 'independence,' far from being dangerous or unusual, is a natural state of affairs professor robert young, an expert in secession, says all three countries have a history of regional or devolved government (relatively recently in the case of the uk) 'i was considering the old question,' he says, 'about whether regional government structures aid or inhibit secessionist movements 'it seems to me that they aid them, other things being equal the secessionist party will come to power, sooner or later, because governments become unpopular if they then govern well, this serves as a further mobilizing mechanism' only recently a secessionist movement, the nationalist party convergència i unió first took office in catalonia in 1980, while in scotland the snp formed a minority government in 2007 becoming a majority four years later in flanders the nieuw vlaamse alliantie, which wants gradual secession from belgium, recently swept the board in municipal elections this week british prime minister david cameron traveled to edinburgh to sign an agreement on the terms for a scottish independence referendum due in october 2014 in catalonia, meanwhile, opinion polls suggest a majority favor secession, while snap elections on 25 november are expected to return a regional parliament dominated by pro independence parties secessionist movements in spain, belgium and the uk hinge upon a heady mix of national identity, history and economics catalonia and flanders believe that they contribute more to national coffers than they get out scottish nationalists make similar claims vis à vis north sea oil although the westminster government refutes that as too simplistic anecdotal evidence suggests basque and catalan nationalists are watching events in scotland closely iñigo gurruchaga, a london based correspondent for the basque newspaper el correo, says spanish politicians and commentators are particularly struck by the willingness of the uk government to facilitate a referendum on scottish secession 'for basques and catalans who defend their right to decide their own constitutional arrangements it is seen as proof of a british 'democratic maturity' that is missing in spain,' he says 'it is very doubtful that an agreement similar to the one announced in edinburgh on monday would be reached in spain over the next two years' 'once the scottish referendum is held and the result is known,' adds gurruchaga, 'it would likely have again a substantial effect on attitudes in spain' young believes relations go even deeper than keeping abreast of news developments 'sovereigntist movements,' he says, 'keep in close touch and learn from and encourage each other' indeed, in young's home country of canada, the parti québécois (pq), which recently formed a minority government in the french speaking province, has not ruled out another referendum on secession (there were others in 1980 and 1995) the pq also maintains links with the snp visiting paris this week, quebec premier pauline marois said scotland's quest for independence 'inspires us' and on a trip to london last month, the veteran catalan nationalist jordi pujol praised salmond while warning that scotland might opt for independence if the uk government did not devolve more power the snp leader has clearly studied pujol's style closely, echoing the catalan's 'gradualist' approach to acquiring more powers short of full independence but while the world's nationalist leaders might monitor each other's progress, support for secession in quebec, scotland and flanders remains a minority view; only in catalonia does it appear to total more than 50% that could, of course, change, particularly as austerity bites around the world; nationalist movements, like political parties, rise and fall in popularity some parts of the world might even be heading in the opposite direction on november 6 the same day as the us presidential elections puerto ricans will vote in a plebiscite on the commonwealth's constitutional status, choosing between us statehood, independence or 'free association' the governor, luis fortuno, supports statehood as the best option for puerto rico, currently a us territory, although opinion polls are inconclusive even so, the united nations would do well to at least clear some desk space in preparation for its 194th member | sovkhozes stickums photozincography | no related information |
(cnn) after a couple of weather delays, nasa finally launched its moon research mission saturday morning called grail, the effort will study how the moon was formed it will explore 'the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon,' nasa said two lunar orbiters are aboard a united launch alliance delta ii rocket, which launched from cape canaveral, florida the crafts grail a and grail b will eventually separate from the delta rocket grail stands for gravity recovery and interior laboratory once in orbit, the orbiters' speeds will increase when they pass over formations on the moon's surface, allowing scientists to measure those formations based on the distance between the two spacecraft 'trying to understand how the moon formed, and how it evolved over its history, is one of the things we're trying to address with the grail mission,' says maria zuber, principal investigator for grail from the massachusetts institute of technology 'but also, (we're) trying to understand how the moon is an example of how terrestrial planets in general have formed' nasa says the mission is 'the first time students have a dedicated camera on board a planetary spacecraft ' teachers will be able to register their classes and allow their students to explore specific regions of the moon in detail through pictures taken by the spacecraft digital video imaging system called moonkam will offer middle school students the opportunity to request photography of lunar targets for classroom study sally ride, the first american woman to fly in space, heads the project | aquocellolitis boulevardiers baizing | no related information |
(cnn) thirty five nigerian policemen are missing following an insurgent attack saturday on a police training school in one of the most volatile parts of the african nation, police said a search and rescue effort has been launched after the third attack this month the gwoza training camp in borno state, according to a statement posted online by the nigeria police force it was not immediately clear whether anyone had claimed responsibility afterward, the force's inspector general suleiman abba ordered that security be tightened around all police facilities in the country it's not known what happened to the missing officers, though the police force statement did say there is a 'very promising prospect of locating them' 'while enjoining all citizens to remain calm and join hands with the security forces in the collective fight against insurgency, the igp restates his determination to work closely with other security agencies to stem the tide of terrorism in the country,' added the police in their statement out of abuja, nigeria's capital nigeria has been beset by violence for some time, particularly in the northeastern states of borno, yobe and adamawa much of it has blamed on the islamist militant group boko haram whose name means 'western education is sin' in the local hausa language the group has bombed schools, churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children; and assassinated politicians and religious leaders alike | borno third this month northeast nigeria | police: insurgents attack a police training school in borno for the third time this month . a search and rescue effort is launched for the 35 policemen . northeast nigeria has been beset by violence |
new york (cnn) a federal judge ruled tuesday that a new york gun law restricting assault weapons and large capacity magazines was constitutional, but he threw out a provision prohibiting the loading of more than seven rounds of ammunition into a firearm judge william skretny of us district court in buffalo found that parts of the gun control law known as the safe act and enacted by gov andrew cuomo early in 2013 restricting assault weapons and large capacity magazines did not violate the second amendment and met an important governmental interest in public safety but the judge ruled that the seven round limit on ammunition was unconstitutional and 'arbitrary,' according to the decision the law was passed in january 2013 after the mass shooting at a newtown, connecticut, elementary school armed with a semi automatic rifle, gunman adam lanza killed 20 first graders and six school staff members at sandy hook elementary school on december 14, 2012, before taking his own life earlier, he killed his mother inside their home the new york state rifle & pistol association filed the lawsuit in march, challenging the law's constitutionality the association did not immediately return cnn's message seeking comment | new york 2012 newtown | new york judge upholds law restricting assault weapons and large capacity magazines . provision prohibiting the loading of more than seven rounds thrown out . laws passed after 2012 mass shooting at newtown elementary school |
(cnn) forecasters say the united kingdom will remain in the grip of bitter winter weather through at least monday 'heavy snow showers sunday will affect northeast england and eastern parts of scotland as a snow system comes in off the north sea,' said met office special forecaster tony burgess 'southern england should not see much snow sunday, heathrow and gatwick will hopefully improve, and northern ireland will see a bit of respite,' he said burgess added that another series of weather systems will move into the area, warning, 'there is another risk of [heavy snow] across england and south wales on monday' a spokesman for heathrow airport operator baa told cnn, 'we have a team working very hard around the clock to do everything to prepare the airport for operation' baa is sending similar information out as twitter messages frigid temperatures and extreme conditions continued to pummel europe saturday snow, ice and fog have caused travel chaos ahead of a busy holiday travel week from northern ireland to bulgaria, blizzard conditions left airports with heavy delays or shut them entirely london's heathrow and gatwick airports closed all runways saturday afternoon because of heavy snow and ice, though gatwick reopened at 3 pm after clearing 4 inches of snow from the tarmac despite the reopening, the airport warned of 'inevitable' delays and cancellations throughout the day british airways canceled all saturday domestic and european flights at heathrow on saturday night the airport announced it would be closed indefinitely all easyjet and british airways flights with the exception of a flight to egypt were canceled out of gatwick as well police closed several access roads surrounding the airports due to dangerous driving conditions the delays and cancellations extended across europe to amsterdam, the netherlands; geneva, switzerland; munich, germany; paris, france; and copenhagen, denmark heavy snowfall also forced the closing of hungary's budapest ferihegy international airport on saturday it had reopened by 4:30 pm the relentless weather caused approximately 250 flights to be cancelled and thousands of passengers stranded at amsterdam's schiphol airport on friday, according to airport spokeswoman antoinette spaans 'we are expecting more delays due to weather conditions,' spaans said saturday 'the most delays and cancellations are expected to affect air traffic within europe,' she added katherin kujit and her husband spent four hours at schiphol and still didn't make their flight 'some people seemed very calm, but many were agitated,' kujit said 'you could not sit, suitcases everywhere people squashed closely together because they don't want to lose 4 inches in line' they eventually gave up and booked a monday flight to the united states ireland braced for an icey saturday as the irish meteorological service, met eireann, forecast widespread frost, ice and freezing fog for the morning, and some sleet and snow showers for later in the day temperatures were expected to drop down to between 4 and 8 degrees celsius below zero (between 18 degrees and 25 degrees fahrenheit) saturday night northern ireland was blanketed at the end of this week with its worst snowfall in 25 years, according to cnn affiliate tv3 the government issued emergency snow warnings friday night, and more snow was expected saturday the police service of northern ireland warned motorists to avoid treacherous roads and travel 'only if absolutely necessary' a british airways flight from boston and bound for london's heathrow airport was flying over ireland when passengers looking at their seat back video screens noticed the map showed their plane making a u turn the aircraft later landed in reykjavik, iceland passengers alternately groaned and laughed when airline officials told them they had no idea when the flight to the united kingdom could continue at frankfurt airport saturday approximately 240 flights were canceled and delays are expected to continue, according to airport officials airport personnel worked frantically saturday morning to de ice airplanes and return the airport to full operations, ross said he added that while about 3,000 passengers were stranded friday, after having passed through passport control, the situation has improved saturday and that stranded passengers were provided food and water for the wait travelers were experiencing similar delays in berlin 'our holiday plans seem to be on the verge of being frozen for now,' said arundhati banerjee of the united kingdom, who was stranded at the airport meanwhile in bulgaria, the eastern part of the country has been under snow for three days, with accumulation at nearly 1 meter (40 inches) in some areas, according to cnn affiliate btv the main highway, airport and port in varna, bulgaria, were closed friday for several hours four regions in bulgaria silistra, dorbich, varna and burgas elevated the weather advisory, and the country was still expecting heavy snowfall and strong winds, btv's website said many roads remain closed, and town and villages were without water or electricity in belgium, the weather forced truck drivers to spend a freezing night in their cabs after authorities banned trucks over seven tons from travelling on icy roads italy's ansa news agency reported that two people had died because of the bad weather a truck driver who was killed in a car accident and a man who died of a heart attack while cleaning up snow outside his house hundreds of passengers were stranded in florence, italy, after snow and ice stopped high speed trains from entering the city's train station, the agency said in northeastern greece near macedonia, heavy snowfall mid week caused massive problems on several highways, where snowchains were declared mandatory, according to national news athens news agency meteorologists say the cold weather is caused by a negative phase of the arctic oscillation, which means that cold arctic air is flowing into southern latitudes that are normally much warmer forecasters don't expect conditions to change anytime soon the next wave of snowy weather is expected to bring up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) to some parts of the uk, with london expected to receive 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) of snow the weather system will move across france and germany on saturday night and sunday below normal temperatures are expected to continue in northern europe into the beginning of next week cnn's kathryn tancos, mila sanina, boriana milanova, hada messia, per nyberg, peter taggert and charley keyes contributed to this report | omnificence opulent boloball | no related information |
(cnn) marina abramovic is fixing her deep brown eyes on me she gently takes my hand and leads me across london's serpentine gallery's marble floor, to a window whose white blinds are obscuring the greenery of hyde park beyond she places her hand reassuringly on my back and whispers: 'ten minutes like this' frankly, if she had asked me to stay there forever, i would have probably agreed i have been charmed by the self styled grandmother of performance art the legendary serbian born new york based artist is in london for the biggest show of her career, and she is revealing a small glimpse of it to a room full of enchanted international journalists entitled 512 hours, the exhibition will see abramovic in residence at the serpentine gallery for 64 days, spending eight hours a day with no breaks trying to create art out of nothing the museum walls have been stripped, and there are some folding chairs and beds which she may or may not use in storage, but essentially, abramovic is relying purely on an exchange of energy with her audience 'it took me 25 years to gather courage, concentration and knowledge to come to this' the formidable artist says, clad in an almost monastic outfit of black high neck shirt, long overcoat and dark trousers 'it's difficult to say what i'm going to do because i don't know what i do know is that in this piece i have to give not 100, but 120 per cent of myself, because only then i can create energy out of empty space' if this seems like an audacious proposal, abramovic has managed to do something similar with aplomb before for her 2010 retrospective at the museum of modern art in new york, over 850,000 people queued day and night just to sit opposite her, many breaking down in tears when finally faced with her mesmerizing appeal it's hard to think of another artist who can draw monumental crowds with such an airy concept, but after spending half an hour with abramovic, you start to see the pull strikingly beautiful in the flesh and looking two decades younger than her 67 years, she exudes a mesmerizing mix of hypnotic energy, reassuring warmth and sharp wit even so, what makes people from all walks of life, as seen in new york, wait for hours just to be in her presence? 'connection,' says julia peyton jones, co director of the serpentine gallery, who first invited abramovic to stage a show after she won the golden lion at the venice biennale in 1997 'when we grow older we lose that connection with other people, and marina helps us regain it through her' in a career spanning over 40 years, abramovic has constantly challenged the notions of what art should be, using her body as an instrument, and sometimes risking her life in the process she has lain inside a burning star of sawdust, had a crossbow pointed to her heart, and even allowed the audience to prod and cut her naked body as she lay motionless 'every performance has a concept, and when i set out the rules i stick to them no matter what, 'the artist told me over the phone when i interviewed her about the marina abramovic institute, a space she is creating in hudson, new york, for development and study of performance art 'even if in the end i don't survive, i don't care,' she says iron willpower this steely resolve could be attributed to her upbringing in post world war ii belgrade, as the daughter of two national heroes ordained for bravery her family valued achievement above all, and household rules were strict: 'until i was 29 years old and left home i had a curfew of 10 pm, so all my performances had to be done by that time 'i think i inherited self control and discipline from my parents, and the idea that your personal life isn't important, but that what you achieve matters,' she explained in her thick slavic accent, only slightly softened by the years she has spent abroad however, her ascetic approach to her craft has not stopped her from being the darling of the celebrity art circuit she has danced with jay z in his music video, counts james franco and lady gaga as loyal fans and friends, and was named as one of time magazine's most influential people of 2014 these mainstream accolades have led some critics to accuse abramovic of losing her avant garde edge, a judgment that doesn't seem to faze her: 'i stepped out of an art context into a much larger context, but if anything, i have become more radical at my age i should be having a nice retrospective, go on holidays, but instead, i decided to push myself like never before and create art out of nothing, it's not easy you know,' she says laughing it takes less than 10 minutes in her company to see that for abramovic, art and life are one thing even the act of breaking up with her lover and collaborator of many years ulay was a performance they both walked the great wall of china from opposite directions, meeting for one final embrace in the middle her unconventional lifestyle has left little place for other people in her world, but you get the sense that the way she lives is less of a choice and more of a necessity: 'i wake up every day with so many ideas, and the desire to create is as strong as the need to breathe for me, art is my cause,' the formidable artist tells me for those who have hoped to snap a selfie with the grand dame at her serpentine show, bitter disappointment awaits abramovic is asking her audience to leave their gadgets at home: 'i don't want people to blog or tweet it without experiencing it the now is the only reality we have in our lives,' she says it seems that at a time when the pace of life threatens to engulf us, marina abramovic wants us to slow down and live in the present read more: gerda taro: the forgotten war photographer you should know read more: the evolution of mariah carey: from wide eyed teen to songbird supreme read more: if the shoe fitssarah jessica parker teams up with manolo blahnik ceo | marina abramovic 64 days london serpentine gallery serbian new york time 2014 james franco lady gaga | performance artist marina abramovic is staging her most controversial show yet . she will spend 64 days trying to create art out of empty space at london's serpentine gallery . the serbian born new york artist was named one of time's most influential people of 2014 . she counts james franco and lady gaga as loyal fans and friends |
(cnn) more than three years ago, the outgoing us ambassador in zimbabwe, christopher w dell, wrote a valedictory note about the government of president robert mugabe it was titled simply 'the end is nigh' his advice to the us state department: 'stay the course and prepare for change' in the southern african nation today, president mugabe is still in place, though he now heads an uneasy power sharing government with the opposition movement for democratic change (mdc) the cable, dated july 2007, is one of thousands obtained by wikileaks, some of which were published sunday in the new york times and four european newspapers that had advance access to the documents dell goes on to characterize mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, as 'a brilliant tactician' who is 'more clever and more ruthless than any other politician in zimbabwe' he also believes mugabe is 'hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own infallibility' he notes that contacts within the ruling party, the zanu pf, are desperately seeking reform but acknowledge that it won't happen while the 'old man' is still there mugabe has been in power in zimbabwe since its independence in 1980 once one of africa's wealthier nations, with a thriving agricultural sector, it has deteriorated into economic and social turmoil in 2007, the same year the cable was written, zimbabwe had the highest inflation rate in the world at 66,212 percent, according to the international monetary fund fuel and food shortages prompted dell to say 'for the first time the president is under intensifying pressure simultaneously on the economic, political and international fronts' and that mugabe was 'running out of options' he says it up to the us 'once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things' he admits in 2007 that mugabe will 'not wake up one morning a changed man, resolved to set right all he has wrought he will not go quietly nor without a fight he will cling to power at all costs' dell added: 'mugabe and his henchman are like bullies everywhere: if they can intimidate, you they will but they're not used to someone standing up to them and fighting back' according to the cable, dell said the 'optimal outcome is a genuinely free and fair election, under international supervision' thabo mbeki, former president of south africa, had been trying to mediate in zimbabwe and had, according to dell, 'the best, albeit very slim, hope of getting there' when considering possible mugabe successors, dell is less than impressed with the options he calls the mdc 'far from ideal' and is 'convinced that had we [the us] had different partners, we could have achieved more already' he goes on to lament that the current leadership would 'require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power' morgan tsvangirai, prime minister and mdc head, is characterized by dell as a 'brave, committed man' with 'star quality' however, dell criticizes tsvangarai as being 'not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him' perhaps most tellingly dell says of the mdc leader: 'zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery' last week, tsvangirai took president mugabe to court, claiming he was making unilateral decisions regarding important cabinet and judicial appointments in violation of the power sharing arrangement | wikileaks us zimbabwe christopher w dell robert mugabe dell morgan tsvangirai african | wikileaks releases 2007 cable from outgoing us ambassador to zimbabwe . christopher w dell likens president robert mugabe to a bully, predicts change . dell wasn't optimistic about morgan tsvangirai and other leadership options . inflation and turmoil have plagued the southern african nation for decades |
(cnn) police were on tuesday investigating the death of model and tv personality peaches geldof, the 25 year old daughter of irish musician and live aid organizer bob geldof and tv presenter paula yates geldof, who was just 11 when her mother died, was found at her home in wrotham, kent, southeast of london, on monday officers were called 'following a report of concern for the welfare of a woman,' a force spokesman told the press association in a statement kent police said that a post mortem examination would be carried out in the next few days 'at this stage, the death is being treated as an unexplained and sudden death,' kent police said 'officers are working to establish the circumstances around the death' bob geldof released a statement saying his family is 'beyond pain' 'she was the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us,' the statement reads 'writing 'was' destroys me afresh 'what a beautiful child how is this possible that we will not see her again? how is that bearable? we loved her and will cherish her forever' the mother of two was a prolific poster on twitter her last message sunday included a photo of her as a child with her mother, captioned 'me and my mum' 'my beloved wife peaches was adored by myself and her two sons astala and phaedra and i shall bring them up with their mother in their hearts every day,' husband tom cohen said in a statement 'we shall love her forever' she hosted the show 'omg! totally peaches' on britain's itv channel starting in 2011 the live show was based on geldof and a panel helping viewers find solutions to their problems a host of celebrities paid tribute tv mogul simon cowell tweeted his condolences: 'the few times i met peaches she was a sweet, funny warm person much love to her family she has left behind' cnn presenter myleene klass said: 'the news of beautiful peaches is utterly devastating, god bless her babies rip mama xxx' geldof was the second daughter of yates, who rose to fame in the 1980s as presenter of music show 'the tube' she died from an heroin overdose in 2000, aged 41 yates had divorced boomtown rats singer bob geldof in 1996 after starting a relationship with inxs frontman michael hutchence but the following year hutchence committed suicide in a hotel room in sydney, australia, and in 1998 yates lost custody of the three daughters she had with geldof peaches, pixie and fifi bob geldof later adopted yates and hutchence's daughter heavenly hiraani tiger lily peaches geldof married rock musician max drummey but split in 2009 after just six months she married cohen, the lead singer of rock band scum in 2012 people we lost in 2014 cnn's philip taylor contributed to this report | peaches geldof live aid bob geldof paula yates model geldof | police investigate death of model and tv personality peaches geldof . she was daughter of live aid organizer bob geldof and tv presenter paula yates . she was 'the wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us,' father says . model and tv presenter geldof was married and had two sons |
(cnn) britain's prince william attended a remembrance service sunday in afghanistan's helmand province to honor british and commonwealth war dead, his press office said in a statement the prince attended the service at camp bastion, the main british military base in afghanistan, along with liam fox, britain's secretary of state for defense, according to clarence house 'prince william laid a wreath to pay homage to british and commonwealth sailors, soldiers and airmen who have fallen in battle,' the statement said fox and the prince, the second in line to the british throne, also attended a parade and spent the morning meeting with troops from the nato led international security assistance force, and visited camp bastion's medical center 'remembrance sunday is a time when the entire country stops to recognize the sacrifices made by the armed forces on our behalf,' fox said in the statement 'i am extremely proud that prince william and i could come to camp bastion to stand alongside the men and women serving in afghanistan today i pay tribute to them and everyone who has served before them in this conflict and others on behalf of the freedoms that the british people enjoy' prince william departed for the united kingdom soon after the remembrance day parade, according to clarence house the visit was the prince's second to afghanistan he previously visited in april 2008 william is a search and rescue pilot with the royal air force, where he holds the rank of flight lieutenant he is posted to raf valley, the station on the island of anglesey in north wales he is known as flight lieutenant wales within the british air force | british william afghanistan | prince observes remembrance sunday ceremony at a british base . william also met with troops and visited a medical center . the visit is his second to afghanistan |
(cnn) an iranian judge has sentenced a man accused of stealing chocolate and cocoa from a candy shop to have his hand cut off, the semi official fars news agency reported saturday 'considering the confession of the defendant and the fact that he was found guilty of breaking and entering, according to the quran, he deserves to have his hand cut off,' fars quoted the judge as saying as he ordered the sentence the 21 year old man, whose name was withheld by the court, was arrested in may while driving in a suspicious manner, fars reported during the arrest, police recovered cash as well as chocolates and cocoa 'after the man was taken to a police station, a report of a robber at a candy store was received by police,' fars said police told fars that the man later confessed to robbing the store in addition to the amputation sentence, the man was ordered to spend six months in prison for destruction of property and an additional six months for resisting arrest, according to fars such an amputation sentence is often handed down to habitual thieves in iran who have prior convictions for theft and robbery cnn's shirzad bozorghmehr contributed to this report | may fars news agency iran | the man was arrested in may and was found with cash, chocolates and cocoa . he later confessed to robbing a candy store, the semi official fars news agency reports . such a sentence is common in iran for habitual thieves |
(cnn) saddam hussein let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate iran and prevent the country from attacking iraq, according to an fbi agent who interviewed the dictator after his 2003 capture iraqi leader saddam hussein in an unknown location in iraq after his capture in 2003 according to a cbs report, hussein claimed he didn't anticipate that the united states would invade iraq over wmd, agent george piro said on '60 minutes,' scheduled for sunday broadcast 'for him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant saddam he thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the iranians from reinvading iraq,' said piro during the nearly seven months piro talked to hussein, the agent hinted to the iraqi that he answered directly to president bush, cbs said in a posting on its web site 'he told me he initially miscalculated president bush's intentions he thought the united states would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 a four day aerial attack,' piro said 'he survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack' 'he didn't believe the us would invade?' correspondent scott pelley asked 'no, not initially,' piro answered once it was clear that an invasion was imminent, hussein asked his generals to hold off the allied forces for two weeks, piro said 'and at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war,' the agent said, referring to the insurgency but piro said he was not sure that the insurgency was indeed part of hussein's plan 'well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency,' he said hussein had the ability to restart the weapons program and professed to wanting to do that, piro said 'he wanted to pursue all of wmd to reconstitute his entire wmd program' hussein said he was proud he eluded us authorities who searched for him for nine months after the us led invasion, piro said 'what he wanted to really illustrate is how he was able to outsmart us,' piro said 'he told me he changed the way he traveled he got rid of his normal vehicles he got rid of the protective detail that he traveled with, really just to change his signature' hussein was hanged in 2006 e mail to a friend | occlude spousy uletic | no related information |
• the twins get a check up (2/26/08) • video: nancy grace introduces on set 2 14 08 • the twins go out for a stroll (2/11/08) • the twins at 3 months (2/4/08) • the twins in january (1/21/08) • video: first video of nancy grace's twins e mail to a friend | nancy grace's john david lucy elizabeth november 4, 2007 | pictures of nancy grace's twins . john david and lucy elizabeth were born november 4, 2007 . come back to this site for regularly updated pictures! |
(cnn) the small, black and white newspaper ad offered a discount: nine holes of golf for $911 on september 11 the management of a wisconsin golf course said the idea was to remember the victims of the september 11, 2001, attacks, but the ad turned into a public relations disaster on social media by tuesday, tumbledown trails golf course was reporting death threats the golf course in verona, wisconsin, placed an advertisement in monday's wisconsin state journal offering to 'commemorate' the 12th anniversary of the terror attacks with '9 holes with cart for only $911 per person or 18 holes with cart for only $1911!' the ad quickly began circulating on social media, and the golf course's facebook page was flooded with angry comments 'it's an abomination and a disgrace,' one commenter wrote 'to make an opportunity out of a national tragedy is outrageous,' another said the management of the course posted an apology on facebook tuesday and on a recorded message on the course's main phone line 'please accept our sincere apologies,' the recording said 'our attempt to remember the tragedy of that day has been met with negativity and now even death threats we ask that you please take a moment to reflect and remember those we lost that day, as we were trying to do' by tuesday afternoon, many facebook commenters were defending the course some called the ad an honest mistake, and some said outsiders were pumping up the outrage 'they shouldn't have to apologize for anything! who are you people to judge,' one commenter wrote 'i've played the course before nice staff and seem like good people' another called the ad 'badly worded, ill thought out' but added, 'i'm not any more offended than i have been throughout the years every time i see a 9/11 limited edition coin on tv or exploding towers with an eagle crying on a t shirt or the hundreds of others exploiting a tragedy for profit' a message left on the course's voice mail was not returned tuesday management said in a facebook post the course may be closed wednesday because of security concerns | termwise contributional manganja | no related information |
(cnn) a judge sentenced a former peace corps volunteer to 15 years in prison for abusing girls under the age of 6 in south africa while he was a volunteer there, federal officials said the sentencing was announced thursday in a statement from us immigration and customs enforcement jesse osmun, 33, of milford, connecticut, joined the peace corps in 2010 and worked in a nongovernmental organization's aids center for children whose families had suffered or died from the disease, his attorney, richard meehan, jr, told cnn thursday osmun volunteered as a web designer for the center and worked with older children in a 'scout' program while there, osmun engaged in sexual acts with four girls, all under the age of 6, officials said one girl was abused twice a week over the course of approximately five months, authorities said peace corps volunteer charged with sexual abuse of children in africa 'the way that the government has framed the case is that a teacher walked into a room that (osmun) was in with three little girls,' meehan said the teacher noticed that osmun quickly zipped his pants and, after questioning one of the girls, the teacher found that he had exposed himself and asked them to touch him when the program director of the ngo confronted him with these allegations, osmun confessed to being involved with the four little girls, saying that he had touched them and asked them to touch him in exchange for candy, his attorney said osmun resigned from the peace corps and returned to the united states the us peace corps has called osmun's acts 'reprehensible' the organization was notified about the allegations against him after he returned to the united states, and it immediately contacted authorities, the peace corps said in a statement special agents from ice's homeland security investigations (hsi) directorate then worked with members of the south african police service and directorate for priority crime investigation to launch an investigation that resulted in osmun's arrest on august 4, 2011, officials said osmun was sentenced wednesday to 180 months in a us prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release david fein, us attorney for the district of connecticut, congratulated all investigative parties in a statement 'their collaborative efforts, and this strict sentence, have stopped this child predator,' he said the peace corps donated $20,000 to a fund that osmun's family started for his victims 'the peace corps is committed to ensuring that the children affected by these crimes receive proper care and treatment,' peace corps director aaron williams said 'as this sentence clearly demonstrates, there will be no refuge for us citizens who believe that they may victimize children outside the united states,' said peter vincent, director of hsi's office of international affairs 'no place is too distant or too remote to escape the attention of law enforcement' osmun's attorney noted that his client gave a full confession and cooperated with the court to spare the victims the trauma of a trial meehan attributed these actions to the judge giving osmun a lower sentence than was recommended | nainsook shean drammed | no related information |
Subsets and Splits