text
stringlengths 102
11.9k
| query
stringlengths 2
806
| summary
stringlengths 22
3.99k
|
|---|---|---|
(cnn) ted haggard, the former megachurch pastor and former national association of evangelicals chief whose career was undone by a sex and drugs scandal in 2006, will appear in a cable tv special this month 'ted haggard: scandalous' will explore his fall from grace, he said 'it shows the drama and the intrigue' that exploded following revelations that he had engaged in sexual encounters with a male prostitute and purchased crystal meth haggard described the scandal as 'highly embarrassing and shameful for me' the show is scheduled to air on tlc on january 16 in 2006, haggard acknowledged having received a massage from a denver, colorado, man who said that the prominent pastor had paid him for sex over three years haggard also admitted he had bought methamphetamine but said he threw it away those statements led the board of overseers at new life church to fire haggard as senior pastor the church's independent investigative board said he was guilty of 'sexually immoral conduct' after the allegations were made public, haggard resigned as president of the influential national association of evangelicals, an umbrella group representing more than 45,000 churches with 30 million members but the special goes further than the scandal, he said, documenting haggard's attempt to build a new ministry in colorado springs, colorado 'it's the resurrection story,' he said he likened his journey to nfl quarterback michael vick and former new york gov eliot spitzer, co host of cnn's 'parker spitzer,' both of whom endured scandal but have recently returned to the public eye haggard's st james church in colorado springs, colorado, has 300 congregants, he said, a far cry from the thousands who heard him preach in his heyday at crosstown new life church the church, which is not affiliated with any denomination, opened its doors in june 'all are welcome whether you're a democrat, a republican, gay, straight, bi (sexual), tall, short, addict, recovering addict i believe jesus' arms are open to all,' haggard said at the time this is not the first post scandal tv show haggard has appeared in the 2009 hbo documentary, 'the trials of ted haggard' revealed the financial hardships his family was facing after his ouster from new life church haggard said he's still struggling financially 'we're still living on the equity of our home,' he said | trimesinic lucifee semibouffant | no related information |
jerusalem (cnn) the united nations moved wednesday to calm tensions along the blue line separating lebanon and israel, a day after violence erupted in an extraordinary meeting, the commander of the united nations interim force in lebanon, major general alberto asarta cuevas, led talks between top representatives of the lebanese armed forces and the israel defense forces the meeting was held at the un position at the ras al naqoura crossing in south lebanon 'unifil informed the parties that a thorough investigation into yesterday's events is under way and presented its preliminary findings,' unifil said 'unifil urged the parties to exercise maximum restraint, avoid any action that could serve to heighten tensions, and work with unifil in taking steps to prevent any recurrence of such a situation,' it said asarta said both parties were committed to ending hostilities and to complying with un security council resolution 1701, the agreement that ended a five week war between the lebanese group hezbollah and israel in 2006 resolution 1701, which was intended to resolve the 2006 conflict, bars israel from conducting military operations in lebanon israel has accused lebanon based hezbollah, considered a terrorist group by the united states, of violating the resolution by smuggling arms into southern lebanon the united nations said tuesday's violence broke out after israel announced it planned to cut down a tree near the blue line, the line of demarcation that resolution 1701 requires both sides to respect unifil said wednesday that the tree was in israeli territory a lebanese army unit stopped the israelis, and un peacekeepers intervened, lebanon's official national news agency said the lebanese army said it asked the un force to arbitrate the issue, but the israeli forces didn't comply and instead entered lebanese territory that led the lebanese army to open fire, with israeli forces returning artillery fire and hitting a house in the village of odaise an israeli officer was killed the national news agency said two lebanese soldiers and a journalist were killed 'the exchange of fire started, although we did our best to prevent it,' alain le roy, the world body's top peacekeeping official, told reporters in new york israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu warned lebanon and the palestinians wednesday that israel would react with force to what he called violent provocation against its citizens 'i want to make it clear to the hamas and to the lebanese government that they are responsible, that we see them responsible for the violent provocation against our soldiers,' netanyahu said 'do not test our determination to protect the citizens of israel and its soldiers our policy is clear: israel will react and will continue to react with force to any attack against its citizens and soldiers,' he said netanyahu appealed to the international community to support israel's right to defend itself 'the un announcement today clearly corroborates the israeli version of events,' said mark regev, an israeli government spokesman, in a written statement 'our routine activity yesterday was conducted entirely south of the frontier on the israeli side and that the lebanese army opened fire without any provocation or justification whatsoever' but unifil said, 'the investigations are still ongoing' and the body's findings will be released only after they conclude lebanese president michel suleiman said israel violated un resolution 1701 in crossing the blue line and by bombing a lebanese army checkpoint in odaise he said israeli aggression needs 'to be confronted, whatever the sacrifices are' and that he will pursue the issue diplomatically meanwhile, egypt blamed the palestinians for this week's rocket attacks on red sea port cities in israel and jordan, the official mena news agency reported a senior jordanian official told cnn that egyptian investigations proved that palestinian factions from gaza were behind a rocket attack in aqaba one person was killed and five others wounded when a rocket landed in front of a hotel, the official jordanian news agency, petra, reported several apparent rocket explosions also were heard in the nearby israeli city of eilat, the israeli military reported no damage or injuries were reported hamas spokesman sami abu zuhri called the egyptians 'unprofessional and unreliable' and said they were politically driven to justify the blockade of gaza cnn's saad abedine, nada husseini and michal zippori contributed to this report | unifil israelis lebanese un israel israeli | new: unifil chairs talks between israelis, lebanese . un probe says israel was on its side of the border in deadly clashes . israeli and lebanese troops fired on each other tuesday . differing narratives emerge from israeli, lebanese sides |
belfast, northern ireland (cnn) irish victims of sexual abuse are 'disgusted' by a newly revealed letter in which a vatican official expresses 'serious reservations' about requiring bishops to report suspected abuse by priests to police, they said wednesday abuse survivors will question the cardinal leading a special papal delegation to ireland about the letter, they said 'we are disgusted by details revealed in the letter many of our members just can't take this in and have been deeply affected by the revelations,' survivors and victims of institutional abuse spokeswoman margaret mcguckin told cnn the 1997 letter from the vatican's envoy to ireland warns bishops to follow church law in investigating cases of suspected child sex abuse by priests the envoy expresses 'serious reservations' about requiring that such cases be reported to the police the vatican has called the letter 'deeply misunderstood' since it was made public by irish state broadcaster rte this week cnn obtained a copy of the letter on tuesday from a lawyer who represents the vatican a spokesman for the conference of irish bishops said they have since 1996 had a policy of reporting suspected abuse to the police victims of abuse are due to meet cardinal cormac murphy o'connor on friday, they said he was appointed by pope benedict xvi last year to work with the irish church after revelations of widespread abuse by priests and cover ups by their superiors 'the meeting with the cardinal couldn't have come at a better time we will be letting him know exactly how we feel, will be putting many questions and will be demanding answers,' mcguckin said a spokeswoman for the cardinal declined to confirm he would meet victims on friday, citing the sensitivity of the issue the two page letter, written by apostolic nuncio luciano storero, was sent to bishops in ireland in response to a document they had sent to the vatican that recommends mandatory reporting of cases of suspected child sex abuse by priests after studying the irish bishops' document, the vatican's congregation for the clergy said it contains 'procedures and dispositions which appear contrary to canonical discipline and which, if applied, could invalidate the acts of the same bishops who are attempting to put a stop to these problems 'if such procedures were followed by the bishops and there were cases of eventual hierarchical recourse lodged at the holy see, the results could be highly embarrassing and detrimental to those same diocesan authorities,' storero wrote 'in particular, the situation of 'mandatory reporting' gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature,' he added rte said it had received the letter from an irish bishop and that catholic officials in the country had previously refused to release it the rte program 'would you believe?' said pope benedict xvi is now doing more than any previous pope has done to tackle abuse, but asked whether that has been enough martin long, a spokesman for irish catholic bishops, said the pope had twice in the past year urged them to follow procedures the church established to protect children 'also the irish church maintains its policy of mandatory reporting of abuse allegations,' long said, calling on the irish government 'to introduce law which facilitates mandatory reporting of allegations of sex abuse' jeffrey lena, the lawyer representing the holy see in the united states, said in a statement that 'the letter in question has been deeply misunderstood' he said its primary purpose 'was to help ensure that bishops who discipline their priests for sexual abuse did so in a manner that would ensure that the priest not avoid punishment based upon technical grounds this is precisely the opposite of what has been reported in many press accounts' the letter also raised questions about the canonical validity of what lena called the 'study document' produced by the irish bishops' conference 'as such, contrary to media reports, the letter did not constitute a rejection of the position of the conference,' he said 'finally, and again in stark contrast to news reports, the letter nowhere instructed irish bishops to disregard civil law reporting requirements' vatican spokesman federico lombardi said the letter rightly insists that canon law be respected to ensure that guilty priests have no grounds for recourse 'we need to remember that the letter was written before the norms of 2001,' which clarified the matter, he said but victims' and survivors' groups in ireland said the letter proves the protection of pedophile priests from criminal investigation was not only sanctioned by vatican leaders but ordered by them one in four, an organization representing victims of sexual abuse in ireland, said the letter raised questions about the inquiry into child sex abuse by clerics in ireland the survivors network of those abused by priests raised similar concerns 'in the mid 1990s, irish bishops wanted to start telling law enforcement about horrific child sex crimes,' the group said in a statement 'top vatican bureaucrats told them no that's what this newly released letter shows we can't help but wonder how many other similar documents in which the vatican thwarts local efforts to combat abuse remain hidden in church records across the world' 'it's certainly an embarrassment for the vatican,' said cnn senior vatican analyst john l allen jr 'it's another confirmation that, in the late 1990s, there was deep ambivalence in the vatican about how far they should go in terms of reporting priestly sex abuse to civil authorities' but, he added, 'it's not a smoking gun because it is not a directive not an order this is one vatican official giving his opinion it is not a policy document' current church policy calls for such cases learned about outside the confessional to be reported to police, he said cnn's ben brumfield and journalist peter taggart contributed to this report | friday 1997 irish 1996 | victims will grill a cardinal representing the pope on friday, they say . a 1997 letter warns bishops to follow canonical law . victims groups say it is a smoking gun proving a systematic cover up . irish bishops have had mandatory reporting rules since 1996, their spokesman says |
hong kong (cnn) in china, a sex scandal is often more than just a sex scandal because it often involves public money so jilted mistresses have stepped forward as graft busters in china's crackdown on corruption consider the fate of liu tienan the party official lost his job earlier this year after a former mistress revealed he had embezzled $200 million from banks 'they have become the most effective way in combating corruption,' says social commentator and author lijia zhang 'and when these mistresses become the most effective way, that means the government crackdown hasn't been very effective' china's anti corruption drive has targeted so called 'tigers and flies' the powerful leaders and lowly officials who are defrauding the nation party at stake with the very legitimacy of the communist party at stake, the fight against graft has been a main focus of chinese president xi jinping, with his anti corruption tsar wang qishan at his side but how effective has it been? putting aside the widely publicized fall of bo xilai, which is viewed by many as the result of an internal power struggle, the party has yet to make a significant number of high level corruption take downs 'xi jinping has only caught one tiger, a very powerful former head of the china national petroleum corporation (cnpc),' says political analyst and scholar willy lam, referring to jiang jiemin, the former cnpc chief, who also held massive control over china's state owned firms china watchers are keeping a close eye on a far bigger beast china's high ranking ex security chief, zhou yongkang 'at least half of the vice ministerial and ministerial levels who xi jinping has brought to justice have close connections to zhou yongkang,' lam tells me 'this is an important litmus test as to whether wang qishan and xi jinping are willing to break certain conventions 'because there is one well known convention within the communist party former and current officials of the politburo standing committee are untouchable' no rule of law they are untouchable due to the lack of checks and balances in china 'it's like if a person is ill, he takes his own pulse, prescribes his own medicine, he takes an x ray on himself and then if need be he will operate on himself,' says reuters' beijing based correspondent benjamin lim 'that's not possible, but that's what is happening in china' china's political elite is also untouchable thanks to china's lack of rule of law 'there is no rule of law, so people who have good 'guanxi,' people who have good connections with the co called 'red aristocracy' or top officials can grease the palms of the officials to get things done and jump the queue,' says lam without the rule of law or a powerful independent organization against corruption, prospects for reform in china are dim 'there will not be meaningful real reform,' says zhang 'because general reform will require a leader who will have courage and will hurt the interests of his family and friends' 'xi jinping has to become strong in order to reform,' adds lim 'but of course if he becomes strong, he may not reform' easy targets meanwhile, the party fixes its focus on lower, easy to reach targets going after petty officialdom with an austerity drive targeting luxury spending 'at the end of the day, xi jinping's policy of restricting conspicuous consumption, putting an end to banquets and six star hotels, is popular,' says lam 'nonetheless, regarding big time corruption that means the passing of the envelope and greasing the palm through a billion yuan kickback all of this continues to go on' china's war on corruption is merely the swatting of flies | bioinstrumentation nephrectomised calash | no related information |
(rolling stone) even with just 10 tracks and no session details, this companion to martin scorsese's 2011 documentary deserves a brass band welcome six outtakes come from the presumptuous stages of george harrison's 1970 triumph, 'all things must pass,' including a sweet nashville reading of 'behind that locked door,' 'my sweet lord' as acoustic hosanna and a demo of the title song that betrays its roots in the band's frontier hymnal the bob dylan and everly brothers covers have more sheen but also the intimate grace of the quiet beatle's seventies solo prime this set's subtitle suggests there are more rarities to come; based on the quality here, i propose a full blown anthology see full story at rollingstonecom copyright © 2011 rolling stone | harriosn harrison all things must pass bib dylan everyl brothers | the new album is a companion to the 2011 scorsese documentary on harriosn . six of the 10 outtakes from from harrison's 1970 album all things must pass . there are bib dylan and everyl brothers covers |
(cnn) a barge collision near new orleans spilled oil into the mississippi river on friday, prompting authorities to close a five mile stretch of the waterway the st charles parish department of waterworks shut down both of its water intakes located in new sarpy and luling because of the spill, but said the incident did not pose a public threat the area had been reopened, with some restrictions, by friday afternoon as investigators continued to assess the damage, officials said no injuries have been reported, and preliminary estimates put the spill at less than 10,000 gallons of crude oil response agencies have remained on the scene the spill was started after a tanker barge towed by a motorized vessel, settoon, ran into a construction barge towed by the tugboat alydar just before 2 am friday near reserve in st john parish, west of new orleans us coast guard spokeswoman lt suzanne kerver said the tanker barge suffered a 10 feet by 5 feet gash above the water line, allowing crude oil to spill out of the 214,000 gallon tank the leak has since been contained, said lt paul rhynard, also of the coast guard oil mop, a contracted cleanup company, was on the scene and has deployed 100 feet of boom, kerver said 'one of our priorities is to facilitate the safe continuation of commercial traffic,' said coast guard capt pete gautier 'safety is paramount, and the unified command is working to minimize the impact this spill has on people, the environment and commerce' cnn's melanie whitley, aaron cooper and rick martin contributed to this report | less than 10,000 gallons the mississippi river early friday | new: less than 10,000 gallons of crude oil have spilled, officials say . two barges collided on the mississippi river early friday . no one was injured |
baghdad, iraq (cnn) iraq's anbar province once dominated by sunni insurgents but now a bastion of tribal opposition against the militants will soon be run by the iraqi military iraqi soldiers will soon be responsible for running the once militant riven province of anbar the us military said it would transfer security responsibility for anbar this week to the iraqi military, a bellwether event that illustrates what iraq and the united states describe as a profound stride in their efforts to foster stability anbar is the 10th of the 18 provinces where iraqi forces have taken charge of security control since the us led invasion in 2003 and the first largely sunni arab province to do so the other provinces to take charge are in the shiite south and the kurdish north 'we have seen a dramatic increase in security there,' said rear adm patrick driscoll, multi national forces spokesman, speaking to reporters in baghdad on sunday 'i think that the trend now in anbar is to move from the violent kinetic to the rebuilding process,' he said anbar province west of baghdad is a vast territory where iraq shares borders with syria, jordan, and saudi arabia much of the region is desert, and most of the people there live in in the towns and cities such as falluja and ramadi along the euphrates river sunni arabs, such as those in anbar, became politically marginalized when the shiites and kurds took over the new iraqi government from the toppled hussein regime, which had been dominated by and was most amenable to sunnis many sunni arabs in anbar became active in the insurgency, and foreign fighters made their way into anbar via syria as a result, the euphrates river valley region was a hotbed of insurgent activity in the early years of the iraq war us marines launched several offensives against the militants, including a large scale push in late 2004 in falluja al qaeda in iraq and other militants eventually developed a strong foothold in many towns major changes occurred in anbar over the last two years, however, with the emergence of the awakening, the grass roots tribal movement that opposes al qaeda in iraq that movement aided efforts by the us military and iraqi security forces to fight al qaeda in iraq (aqi), and violence there has dropped dramatically in the last two years while sunni tribes in iraq were natural allies for the insurgency when it started in 2003, many locals eventually became disenchanted with what it regarded as al qaeda in iraq's brutality, corruption and hard line enforcement of sharia law the tribal movement in anbar has developed into a political force and has helped spawn another development: us backed iraqi militias such as sons of iraq and awakening councils formed in the sunni regions of iraq over the last couple of years the pentagon's june report to congress on developments in iraq said that in anbar, the 'average number of security incidents remained at five incidents per day over a 90 day period, accounting for less than 4 percent of the attacks in all of iraq' 'this represents a 10 fold reduction compared to the summer of 2006 and is half of the rate of the last few months of 2007' aqi 'continues efforts to regain footholds' in the valley, the report said but the sons of iraq and us and iraqi troops 'continue to hinder aqi's ability to obtain resources or operate effectively in population centers, forcing aqi to operate and conduct attacks from remote locations in the province' at present, the other provinces that have transitioned to iraqi security control are duhuk, irbil and sulaimaniya in the kurdish region, and karbala, najaf, muthanna, thiqar, basra, and maysan in the shiite south the other province to change over to iraqi security control this year is qadisiya in the south | iraqi anbar us sunni | iraqi military set to run the once militant riven anbar province . us military transferring responsibility for anbar to iraqi military this week . sunni tribes helped us and iraqi troops turn the tide against militants |
baghdad, iraq (cnn) the trial of an iraqi journalist charged with throwing his shoes at us president george bush has been postponed, iraq's council of ministers and one of the journalist's lawyers said tuesday amman protesters support muntazer al zaidi, the iraqi journalist held for throwing his shoes at president bush muntadhir al zaidi was due to go on trial wednesday, but the criminal court postponed it pending an appeal filed by his lawyers with the federal court of appeal, a spokesman for the supreme judicial council, abdul sattar bayrakdar, said dhiya al saadi, who leads al zaidi's 25 member legal team, confirmed the postponement al zaidi threw both of his shoes at bush two weeks ago during a news conference with iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki in baghdad neither shoe hit the president, and others in the room quickly knocked al zaidi to the ground before security officials arrested him many iraqis hail al zaidi, who faces a prison term if convicted, as a hero more than 1,000 lawyers have volunteered to defend him, al saadi said the lawyers' appeal asked the federal court to change al zaidi's case from assaulting bush to insulting him if al zaidi is convicted of the former, he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, al saadi said the lawyers are trying to persuade the appeals court that al zaidi did not want to harm bush by throwing the shoes, but simply wanted to insult him by tradition, throwing a shoe is the most insulting act in the arab world al saadi said he met with his client several days ago but was having difficulty meeting with him again he did not give the reason he was not allowed to see al zaidi but said many lawyers have trouble meeting with detainees in iraqi or us custody it will take at least two weeks for the court to set a new date for al zaidi's trial, legal expert tariz harab said cnn's mohammed tawfeeq contributed to this report | python armadilla hexanitrate | no related information |
(cnn) a day after miriam carey ran a barricade and led police on a high velocity chase through the middle of the nation's capital, authorities were searching for clues to explain the bizarre chain of events that led to her death although carey was shot while driving with her baby, the child was uninjured many questions surrounding those facts remain related: was the shooting justified? here's what we know about carey, a 34 year old who reportedly had worked as a dental hygienist in connecticut boyfriend: she thought the president was monitoring her a law enforcement source involved in the investigation said thursday that carey's boyfriend had told police last winter that she appeared to be delusional the boyfriend said she claimed president barack obama had placed stamford, connecticut, where she lived, under lockdown and that her house was under electronic surveillance, the source said he told police that she was suffering from postpartum depression, was having trouble sleeping and was on medication carey underwent a mental health evaluation, the source said related: what is postpartum psychosis? authorities have not officially linked the incident to mental illness or any other factor postpartum psychosis a few months after her daughter was born, miriam carey was diagnosed with postpartum depression with psychosis, her sister told cnn's ac360 postpartum psychosis can cause delusions and paranoia, according to medical experts 'there wasn't a pattern it was something that occurred suddenly,' amy carey jones said 'she seemed overwhelmed there was a lot of stress 'there was not moments of her walking around with delusions that was not what was going on' but her sister was making progress with the help of counseling and medications carey jones said her sister recently told her that the doctors told her she didn't need the medication anymore 'they tapered her off the medications, and she said she felt fine,' carey jones said she declined to discuss what medication miriam carey had taken her home carey lived in an apartment that authorities searched friday medication during the search, authorities found discharge papers from a 2012 mental health evaluation that listed prescriptions for medications to treat depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation said friday earlier, sources said investigators found medications, but that proved later not to be accurate authorities found a laptop computer, a flash drive and three non working cell phones, the source said a letter the source told cnn that carey left a letter addressed to the boyfriend at her apartment and that it appeared to contain white powder the letter was being tested for hazardous substances the baby girl after surviving a high speed police chase with carey at the wheel, authorities placed the girl with a foster family, a spokesperson for washington's child and family services agency told cnn during the chase, no shots were fired from the infinity, cnn's deborah feyerick reported all shots were from law enforcement directed at the passenger side of the car new york relatives in brooklyn in new york city, where carey's mother and one of her four sisters live, a neighbor reported seeing the suspect tuesday picking up her daughter when federal agents arrived to conduct questioning, no one at the apartment answered the door carey's facebook page includes a map pinpointing stamford and new york cnn's chelsea j carter, carol cratty, deborah feyerick, and joe johns contributed to this report | lithochromatic lifters glorioles | no related information |
washington (cnn) when a grenade bounced off his chest and fell to the floor near his fellow troops, petty officer 2nd class michael monsoor acted out of instinct his actions didn't stem from a lack of training his instant reaction was to protect his comrades the navy says he committed a selfless act: jumping on the grenade and taking the full force of the blast president bush presented monsoor's parents with a posthumous medal of honor for their son at an emotional white house ceremony on tuesday watch monsoor's sister share her memories » bush quoted one of the seals saved by monsoor as saying, 'mikey looked death in the face that day and said, 'you cannot take my brothers i will go in their stead'' watch the president bestow the award » monsoor was one of the us military's most highly trained combatants, a navy seal he's the first seal to receive the medal of honor for actions in iraq on september 29, 2006, monsoor was part of a major clearing and isolating operation to root out enemy fighters holding parts of ramadi, the sunni insurgent stronghold west of baghdad monsoor was in a sniper position on a rooftop along with two other seals when a grenade flew into his location from out of nowhere it bounced off his chest and landed in an area where it probably would have killed or seriously wounded all three of them monsoor was in a position to escape before the explosion but instead leapt on the grenade 'he recognized immediately the threat, yelled 'grenade' and due to the fact that two other seal snipers, our brothers, could not possibly escape the blast, he chose to smother it with his body, absorbed the impact and lost his life in the process,' said lt cmdr seth stone, mansoor's platoon commander the blast did not kill him right away; he hung on for 30 minutes his two comrades were wounded but survived the shrapnel that ripped through their bodies stone said: 'he essentially saved [the] navy seals on the rooftop and three iraqi soldiers who were there' until this month, when the white house announced that monsoor would receive the medal of honor posthumously, few people knew of his story born in 1981 in long beach, california, monsoor excelled as a high school athlete he joined the navy before the september 11 attacks in 2004, monsoor graduated from the basic seal training course as one of the top members of his class by march 2005, he had completed his training and was assigned to seal team 3, delta platoon in april 2006, that unit deployed to iraq's troubled and violent western provincial capital of ramadi monsoor would not return home alive his five month stay in ramadi was marked by constant attacks as a heavy machine gunner, monsoor had to stay behind the point man on foot patrols and protect the unit from attacks delta platoon was involved in attacks on 75 percent of its missions in a highly contested part of ramadi called the ma'laab district, according to the navy on a patrol less than a month after arriving in iraq, monsoor showed some of his selfless instinct when gunfire hit a fellow seal in the leg monsoor 'ran out into the street with another seal, shot cover fire and dragged his comrade to safety while enemy bullets kicked up the concrete at their feet,' according to navy documents he received the silver star, the third highest award for valor in combat his unit continued to endure the constant barrage of attacks and some 35 firefights with insurgent forces over the scorching iraqi summer monsoor also was saddled with carrying heavy radio equipment on his back as the 'seal communicator' who called in tank and other support during firefights he received the bronze star for his work as an adviser for iraqi troops 'his leadership, guidance and decisive actions during 11 different combat operations saved the lives of his teammates, other [us led] coalition forces and iraqi army soldiers,' according to navy documents but it was his instinct on his last operation on that ramadi roof that solidified monsoor's standing as a hero e mail to a friend | autostandardization rationalizes swerveless | no related information |
las vegas (cnn) when 150,000 industry execs, entrepreneurs, salespeople, celebrities, publicists, tech reporters and hangers on gather here for the annual consumer electronics show, it's a five day carnival even by las vegas standards glowing screens flash everywhere long lines greet attendees in conference rooms, at taxi stands and at starbucks crowds of laptop toting journalists fight over precious power outlets and through it all, the drumbeat of hype swells and falls as new products are anticipated and unveiled ces, the trade show that introduced the world to the vcr, the xbox and the plasma tv, has lost some of its luster in recent years, but it's still one of the largest showcases for new gadgets and tech trends photographer zoran milich is wandering the halls of ces to capture its colorful sights for cnn we'll be updating this gallery with new images throughout the week 5 fun and odd gadgets from ces | the consumer electronics show this week las vegas ces | the consumer electronics show is underway this week in las vegas . the massive trade show attracts some 150,000 attendees . ces is a showcase for tech companies and startups alike to unveil new gadgets |
havana, cuba (cnn) the united states and cuba should show some flexibility and take steps to improve relations, new mexico gov bill richardson said friday during a weeklong trade mission to the island nation new mexico gov bill richardson calls for 'concrete steps' to improve ties between the united states and cuba 'there is a good atmosphere [between the two countries],' he said at a news conference in havana on friday 'it is the best atmosphere i've seen in many years' richardson called for 'concrete steps from both sides,' but noted a 'lack of flexibility in their positions' and reciprocity from the cuban government he also called on the united states to 'pay more attention to the cuba issue, though acknowledged more urgent us priorities like health care reform have drawn attention away from normalizing relations in his first trip to cuba in 13 years, when he negotiated the release of three political prisoners in 1996, richardson said he is not in cuba as a special us envoy 'my main objective is trade and to improve commercial ties with cuba,' he said, though he acknowledged plans to report recommendations to the obama administration early next week watch richardson discuss goals for cuba trip » despite the near half century trade embargo, the us treasury department allows us states to sell agricultural, medical and it products in cuba on a cash basis the governor also called on the obama administration to ease restrictions of biotechnology products, allow cubans to travel to the united states for academic and cultural exchanges, and implement the changes to cuban american travel and remittances announced in april he mentioned a proposal to allow diplomats in either country to move more freely and offered to broker a dialogue between the cuban government and cuban americans 'if there's going to be a solution for the normalization of relationship between cuba and the united states, cuban americans must play a role,' he said, noting that any such dialogue would not substitute government to government talks richardson known for his diplomatic resume, including high level talks with north korea, sudan and iraq met with cuba's national assembly president, ricardo alarcon, and received a personal letter from former president fidel castro 'it was a positive message that i got,' he said of the letter the former presidential candidate was nominated for commerce secretary in the obama administration, but withdrew amid an investigation over whether cdr financial products inappropriately won $14 million in state work for new mexico | new mexico bill richardson us cuba richardson cuban cuban americans | new mexico gov bill richardson cites 'good atmosphere' between us, cuba . trade embargo has been source of contention between both countries . richardson offers to broker talks between cuban government, cuban americans |
(cnn) a nasa review released wednesday found no evidence that astronauts flew aircraft or spacecraft while under the influence of alcohol nasa found no evidence to back up claims that intoxicated astronauts have been allowed to fly the agency carried out the review after anecdotal evidence emerged of astronauts flying while intoxicated the report, written by bryan o'connor, chief of nasa's office of safety and mission assurance and himself a former astronaut, was posted on the agency's web site 'within the scope and limitations of this review, i was unable to verify any case in which an astronaut spaceflight crewmember was impaired on launch day, or any case where a manager of a flight surgeon or co crewmember disregarded their recommendation that a crewmember not fly shuttle or soyuz,' o'connor wrote the review was ordered in july after an independent panel commissioned by nasa reported two alleged cases in which astronauts were so intoxicated that flight surgeons or fellow astronauts raised concerns over flight safety the astronauts in question were allowed to fly, the panel said the committee was convened by nasa to look into the agency's medical and psychological screening processes after the february arrest of former astronaut lisa nowak for the alleged attempted kidnapping of another astronaut's love interest nowak has pleaded not guilty to the charges 'interviews with both flight surgeons and astronauts identified some episodes of heavy use of alcohol by astronauts in the immediate preflight period, which has led to flight safety concerns,' the committee's july report said 'alcohol is freely used in crew quarters two specific instances were described where astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that flight surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concerns to local on scene leadership regarding flight safety however, the individuals were still permitted to fly' because the independent committee had promised its witnesses anonymity, committee members were reluctant to divulge sourcing information to o'connor so, o'connor interviewed about 90 current and former astronauts, flight surgeons, nurses, technicians, managers and staff of the crew quarters he also reviewed records of calls to safety hotlines, submissions to the nasa safety reporting system and nasa's close call and mishap reporting systems for any evidence pointing to astronaut alcohol abuse he found no evidence of inebriated astronauts, the report said though individuals were able to file reports anonymously, none did so, he said 'the lack of privacy on launch day makes it nearly impossible to hide alcohol use or alcohol induced impairment,' o'connor wrote 'could a crewmember drink to the point of inebriation in his/her room the night before launch? certainly, but, from the time the crew wakes on launch morning until they lift off, they are surrounded by other astronauts, managers, support crew, television cameramen, still photographers, crew quarters staff and others' the review recommends that nasa position a flight surgeon in the suit up room as astronauts are making their final preparations before departing for the launch pad 'to allow more direct contact with the crewmembers on launch day and reduce the reliance on a suit tech (non clinician) picking up any last minute medical issue' e mail to a friend | viscontial recliners qurush | no related information |
(cnn) spanish police announced friday the arrest of one of the most sought after narcotraffickers in the world, edgar guillermo vallejo guarin, also known as 'beto the gypsy' edgar guillermo vallejo guarin on his wanted posters vallejo guarin was arrested outside a luxury hotel in central madrid with the collaboration of the us drug enforcement administration, the spanish civil guard said in a news release vallejo guarin has a long history of violence, involvement in money laundering of drug funds and corruption of high level government officials, the release said among the nations seeking him was the united states, which had offered a $5 million reward to anyone who helped bring about his capture he was also on the us state department's most wanted list in june 2001, he was accused in florida of being a principal source of cocaine smuggled from colombia into the united states throughout the 1990s 'he is responsible for the shipment of a multitude of tons of cocaine via ship to the united states (especially the west coast of florida and miami) and europe,' the release said in addition, he is suspected of being linked to various assassinations, it said it said that, when he was arrested near the hotel, vallejo guarin was carrying false identification documentation that identified him as jairo gomez vallejo guarin's permanent residence was in a suburb of barcelona, but he had been moving among a number of hotels in europe and venezuela in an apparent attempt to avoid arrest, the release said | iliofemoral bicepses nullum | no related information |
(cnn) bill gates is putting out a call to inventors, but he's not looking for software, or the latest high tech gadget this time he's in search of a better condom on its grand challenges website, the bill and melinda gates foundation is offering a $100,000 startup grant to the person who designs 'the next generation condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure' and promotes 'regular use' it may sound like the setup for a joke, but the goal is deadly serious while researchers call condoms one of the best ways to stop the spread of hiv, the virus that causes aids, getting people to use them is another story the foundation wants to see something that will lead men and women outside of a committed relationship to stop and think twice before having unprotected sex the startup grant could lead to $1 million in further funding 'male condoms are cheap, easy to manufacture, easy to distribute, and available globally, including in resource poor settings, through numerous well developed distribution channels,' the foundation says nevertheless, many people are reluctant to use them because they complain that prophylactics interfere with pleasure and intimacy this creates 'a trade off that many men find unacceptable,' the foundation notes contraception, by the numbers in some places and cultures, condom use is often seen as a sign that a man has aids, and many women won't sleep with such men female condoms are even more difficult to use and women are often afraid to suggest using them 'any advance or new design that gets people to use condoms would be a big plus,' dr anthony fauci, head of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases and one of the world's leading aids researchers, said in an interview with cnn he says great strides have been made in treating hiv infection in africa, but for every person who is treated two more become newly infected the numbers are indeed startling: 34 million people in the world are living with hiv, according the 2012 unaids world aids day report about half of them don't know they're infected, according to fauci that problem exists in the us as well, particularly in minority communities 'although african americans comprise 12% of the population, they account for 45% of all new hiv infections nationwide and 65% of all new infections among women,' fauci said previously 'a substantial portion of newly infected african americans are bisexual and homosexual men' the gates foundation hopes that 'new concept designs with new materials can be prototyped and tested quickly' 'large scale human clinical trials are not required,' it adds 'manufacturing capacity, marketing, and distribution channels are already in place' but building a better condom may not be as easy as it seems some sources say the first recorded use of a condom like sheath was in egypt in 1350 bc, and people have been complaining about it and trying to improve on it ever since condom sense: designing the new york city condom | bill melinda gates foundation 100,000 africa us | bill and melinda gates foundation issues $100,000 challenge . condoms widely available; goal is to create one that people will actually want to use . aids continues to grow in africa and in us minority communities . new design would not need extensive clinical testing, foundation says |
tokyo, japan (cnn) four japanese nationals have been arrested in china, and are being investigated for entering a military zone without authorization and videotaping military targets, chinese state media said the arrests come amid the two nations' diplomatic battle over japan's detainment of a chinese fishing captain 'we believe if our employees knew about the area being off limits, or the regulation that prohibited cameras in the location, they would not have taken such action,' the company's executive director said at a news conference friday in tokyo the four japanese nationals were sent to china for a japanese government project to reclaim world war ii chemical weapons left by japan's imperial army, their company said friday a chinese national also is missing and presumed arrested with his japanese co workers on wednesday in in northern hebei province they work for fujita corp, a mid size japanese construction company that goldman sachs group acquired in april 2009 fujita last heard from its employees on tuesday, the company executive director tatsuro tsuchiya said friday the fujita office in china received a text message from one of the employees that said, 'help me,' in chinese the company hasn't heard from them since fujita's representative in china is on the way to hebei province and has reached out to japan's foreign ministry for help, tsuchiya said 'if they are really being detained, we hope nothing but their early release,' he said 'we have very limited information we strongly hope this situation is solved quickly,' he added japan's foreign ministry officials said friday that china had informed them of the arrests, but they had no information about any charges or why the japanese nationals had been detained 'currently, the case is being investigated,' is all that chinese security authorities in shijiazhuang said in a statement, the state run china daily reported but china has had plenty to say about japan detaining the chinese fishing captain beijing has made escalating diplomatic threats against tokyo as it has demanded his release on friday, japan said it will release the captain, but did not offer a time frame the captain was arrested on september 8 off the disputed diaoyu islands, in the east china sea he has been accused of obstructing japanese public officers while they performed duties japan has already freed the captain's 14 crew members, who have flown back to china, and returned their fishing boat the captain and his crew were arrested illegally, according to china beijing says the diaoyu islands and most of the south china sea belong to china, disputing neighboring countries' claims in japan, the islands are known as the senkaku the clash over territorial waters and islands and the natural resources that go with them is a flashpoint in the asia pacific region in response to the fishing crew's arrests, china has halted talks with japan about increasing civil flights and expanding aviation rights between the two countries officials and nationals on both sides also have canceled trips to each other's nations china's foreign ministry has said that japan has 'seriously damaged sino japan bilateral relations' with the fishing crew's arrests tokyo has urged beijing to proceed calmly and cautiously to avoid further deterioration of the situation cnn's yoko wakatsuki contributed to this report | chinese beijing tokyo | one of the four sent their company a text message that said, 'help me'. the four are being investigated for entering a military zone without authorization . they also may have videotaped military targets, chinese state media says . beijing has made escalating diplomatic threats against tokyo over a separate arrest |
(cnn) the oil disaster in the gulf of mexico was the most searched term on yahoo in 2010, the search engine said wednesday 'people turned to the web to watch the live feed of the oil leak, search for answers to the spill's impact, and get details,' yahoo said in announcing its annual look back at the top trends of the year the search engine compiles its year in review by looking at user search terms the fascination with this year's world cup soccer tournament, the iphone and the tv show 'american idol' also ranked among the most searched items celebrities dominated the rest of the top 10 with pop singer miley cyrus, lady gaga and justin bieber among them the oil disaster began on april 20 when an explosion aboard an oil rig sent crude spewing from a bp owned well deep below the gulf of mexico more than 49 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude spilled into the gulf of mexico before the well was finally sealed on september 19 'in 2010 consumers watched the bp disaster unfold like a slow motion horror film and discovered a love for the 'other' football,' said vera chan, senior editor and web trend analyst for yahoo the world cup soccer tournament the most watched sporting event in the world is held every four years 'search trends showed excitement around the players and teams throughout the world cup tournament,' yahoo said in a statement 'many consumers asked questions about the rules of soccer, and some even logged on to identify the annoying sounds coming through their televisions (think vuvuzela horns)' the top yahoo searches of 2010 are: 1 the gulf of mexico oil disaster 2 the world cup soccer tournament 3 pop singer miley cyrus 4 reality tv star kim kardashian 5 singer lady gaga 6 apple's iphone 7 actress megan fox 8 singer justin bieber 9 'american idol' 10 singer britney spears | the world cup every four years | the search engine compiles its list from user search terms . celebrities dominate the top 10 . the world cup is held every four years |
washington (cnn) a us commander in iraq said he believes it's not possible to withdraw troops from his region south and east of baghdad by year's end as an influential senator called for a day earlier maj gen rick lynch said his forces would lose the edge they have gained if troops were withdrawn army maj gen rick lynch, commander of the multi national division center, was asked to comment on republican sen john warner's recommendation that president bush start withdrawing us troops from iraq by christmas speaking to pentagon reporters friday via teleconference from iraq, lynch said, 'only when the iraqi security forces come forward and say, 'ok, here i am, i'm trained and equipped, i'm ready, i'm the iraqi army or i'm the iraqi police,' can i turn those sanctuaries over, and that's not going to happen between now and christmas' lynch, whose operations cover the central part of iraq, south of baghdad, said soldiers have been helped by the 'surge,' or additional troops, and have made strides against militants but he said, 'if we were to lose that capability, the enemy would come back' watch lynch discuss the effect of pulling troops » 'we would take a giant step backward,' said lynch, adding he needs the troops to fight both shiite and sunni militants and to confront significant iranian influence in the region by next spring or summer, however, such a move might be possible if enough progress is made, he said retired army brig gen david grange, a cnn military analyst, agreed with lynch's assessment 'time is necessary for the iraqi people to gain confidence in us and iraqi troops throughout their neighborhoods, get the commerce and other quality of life improvements to take hold, enable the weak political structure a chance to improve and exploit the counterinsurgency opportunities that success is providing from this effort,' grange said warner, an influential republican and former chairman of the senate armed services committee, on thursday recommended that bush announce the beginning of a us withdrawal in mid september and that those troops should be back in the united states by christmas 'in my humble judgment, that would get everyone's attention the attention that is not being paid at this time,' warner said he added: 'i really, firmly believe the iraqi government, under the leadership of prime minister [nuri] al maliki, let our troops down' warner, a virginia republican who was a former navy secretary, suggested pulling 5,000 troops off the battlefield would send 'a very clear signal' without endangering the missions being carried out by the rest in texas, where bush is on vacation, national security council spokesman gordon johndroe said the white house appreciated warner's advice but would wait for the recommendations of gen david petraeus, the us commander in iraq, and the us ambassador in baghdad, ryan crocker, before making any decisions petraeus and crocker are to report to the white house in september on the progress of the troop surge warner opposed bush's january decision to send nearly 30,000 additional us troops to iraq but he has so far also opposed democratic efforts to force the president to start bringing us troops home the surge campaign was aimed at buying time for iraq's government to reach a political solution to the sectarian and insurgent warfare that has wracked the country since the us invasion in 2003 warner's recommendation came on the same day as the release of the us intelligence community's latest report on iraq, which found 'measurable but uneven improvements' in security in recent months however, it concluded that iraq's political leaders 'remain unable to govern effectively' democrats have tried to wind down the war since taking over congress in january, but senate republicans have used filibuster tactics to stymie those efforts after thursday's report, senate majority leader harry reid, d nevada, called on republican senators to join democrats to force bush to change course and a senior democratic leadership aide urged warner to add his vote to those efforts 'will he [warner] vote with us on anything? that is still the open and most important question,' the aide said 'a recommendation to the president is different than voting for binding legislative language compelling the president to act' a senate republican leadership aide said friday that warner's remarks slowed some of the momentum on iraq that republicans had gained after democrats had acknowledged recent military success in iraq but unless warner were to change his vote to side with democrats, the impact on the debate in congress is minimal republicans 'aren't in any different place than they yesterday,' the source said a senate democratic leadership aide had a similar opinion of the impact 'the real question would be is warner willing to vote to support a change of course and policy, and as of yesterday he ruled that out,' the source said the aide suggested that warner's recommendation was timed to coincide with the national intelligence estimate because it gives the white house a position it might be willing to accept that the 5,000 troop cut might be palatable to bush warner and the armed services chairman, sen carl levin, d michigan, recently returned from a visit to baghdad with harsh words for the al maliki government levin said monday that iraq's parliament should throw al maliki out of office and replace his government warner said he would not join that call 'but in no way do i criticize it,' he added e mail to a friend cnn's jessica yellin contributed to this report | gop john warner bush iraq democratic warner | gop sen john warner asks president bush to announce iraq withdrawal plan . democratic leadership aide presses for warner to vote for pullback |
washington (cnn) about 100 people, including students majoring in homeland security and criminal justice, were arrested tuesday in an undercover drug sting at san diego state university, officials said officials say the evidence seized includes 50 pounds of marijuana, four pounds of cocaine and 350 ecstasy pills among those arrested, 75 were students, one of them a criminal justice major charged with possession of guns and cocaine, authorities said one student allegedly dealing cocaine was a month short of obtaining a master's degree in homeland security at the california school and worked under campus police as a student community service officer campus police initiated the investigation about a year ago, after a student's fatal overdose in may 2007, university president steve weber said about five months ago, as the investigation evolved, campus police sought and received help from the us drug enforcement administration there was a second overdose death in february at a fraternity house 'if proven guilty, these individuals have preyed on students and have ruined hundreds of lives,' weber said in addition to facing criminal charges, the students have been suspended from school and evicted from campus housing, he said twenty one people who are not students were arrested recently on a variety of drug charges, officials said damon mosler, chief of the narcotics division for the san diego county district attorney's office, was surprised by what he described as the dealers' openness about what they were doing 'they weren't picky about who they sold to,' he said, alleging that undercover officers would simply call them and say, ' 'hey, i heard you deal will you sell to me?' 'and they did' officials say the evidence seized as part of operation sudden fall includes four pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana and 350 ecstasy pills authorities also took one shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols and $60,000 in all, authorities confiscated more than $100,000 worth of drugs, mosler said bags of marijuana weighing four or five pounds would sell for $4,000 to $5,000, he said, and a kilogram of cocaine would sell for about $17,000 before going to las vegas for the weekend, fraternity members involved in the sale of drugs sent text messages to their customers saying, 'we're going to close out our inventory' and inviting them to 'buy the cocaine at discounted prices,' mosler said after the weekend, they sent another text message saying they were back and ready to do business, mosler said search warrants were carried out last week on suspects' houses off campus, and search warrants were served tuesday at on campus housing mosler described the students as 'mid level distributors' who were selling more than a person might buy for personal use he identified phi kappa psi and theta chi as the two fraternities involved in the latter case, firearms were found in the house, he said the firearms included semiautomatic 9 mm or 40 caliber handguns and a rifle, mosler said he said the students face charges that include possession for sale and sale of cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana dea agents infiltrated several student drug distribution cells and made more than 130 drug purchases and seizures, a news release said authorities said they infiltrated seven campus fraternities and found that in some, most of the students were aware of drug dealing by fraternity brothers | san diego state university dea | new: officials: about 100 arrested at san diego state university . officials: 75 student arrested; one dealing coke and working for campus police . dea helped campus police conduct a yearlong undercover operation . text message sent to customers advertised cocaine at 'discounted prices' |
(cnn) which came first, the troubles or the fame? after the suicide of a former contestant on gordon ramsay's 'kitchen nightmares,' the spotlight shined bright on the issues of reality tv stars new jersey restaurant owner joseph cerniglia plunged into new york's hudson river in september 2010, and the new york city medical examiner ruled the death a suicide cerniglia had appeared on the first season of the fox reality show hosted by famed chef ramsay at the time the episode was taped in 2007, cerniglia was facing financial issues stemming from his then struggling restaurant ramsay offered advice on how to turn his business around, telling the chef, 'your business is about to f**king swim down the hudson' ramsay released a statement following cerniglia's death 'i was fortunate to spend time with joe during the first season of 'kitchen nightmares,' ' ramsay said 'joe was a brilliant chef, and our thoughts go out to his family, friends and staff' cerniglia's death once again raised the specter of suicide in connection with reality television 'i absolutely don't feel that everyone who appears on a reality show is a damaged person,' said sharon waxman, founder of entertainment site the wrap, which in 2009 examined the suicides of 11 people connected to reality shows 'i'm just saying that there's probably a higher percentage than in the normal population who are attracted to that and who might have some vulnerabilities that will be exploited by being on television' there have been several cases, including najai turpin, a boxer who killed himself in 2005 after participating in the reality show 'the contender,' hosted by sylvester stallone and sugar ray leonard in 2008, a one time 'american idol' auditioner, paula goodspeed, was found dead of an overdose near the home of one of the show's judges, paula abdul abdul later said that goodspeed had been obsessed with her for several years and that she had begged producers not to allow goodspeed to audition the fox network declined to comment on goodspeed's death, but former 'idol' producer nigel lythgoe told people magazine he had no recollection of abdul requesting that goodspeed not be allowed on the show rachel brown, a 2006 contestant on 'hell's kitchen,' which is also hosted by ramsay, was found dead of a gunshot wound in her dallas home in 2007 a representative of the tarrant county medical examiner's office confirmed to cnn that brown's death was ruled a suicide princess banton lofters is a development producer who has worked on casting several reality shows, including 'the real housewives of atlanta' she said she has seen the process morph over the years 'i know that when i am casting, i am looking for that person who is going to shine,' banton lofters said 'that could be shining in personality, shining in lifestyle or shining in just their story but i think it's definitely changed in that (casting professionals) are probably now looking for a little bit more of the crazy' but with so many people these days pursing the limelight via reality shows, is the number of troubled contestants just an expected statistic? celebrity and fame expert cooper lawrence said that may be, though she pointed to a 2006 study authored by dr drew pinsky (host of hln's dr drew on call' and former vh1 reality shows 'celebrity rehab' and 'sober house') and s mark young as evidence that reality television attracts a specific type of personality in the study, published in the journal of research in personality, celebrities including television stars, comedians, musicians and reality stars were given the narcissistic personality inventory 'the numbers for the reality stars were off the charts,' lawrence said 'it makes sense, because you are not an actor playing a role, you're not a musician hiding behind a guitar, you're you the level of narcissism for reality stars is documented and goes well beyond the normal population' and while narcissism isn't an indicator for suicide, cooper said it can be an indicator of a troubled person who lacks the stability to deal with the dark side of notoriety 'reality television has provided an outlet for narcissistic individuals, many with limited abilities, to believe that they can succeed in the entertainment industry,' the study said 'this desire to enter the industry may be fueled by the types of fantasy feelings of success, power and glory that narcissists seem to exhibit' dr paula clayton, who in 2010 was medical director for the american foundation for suicide prevention, said that there is no data that definitively link reality television with an increased probability of suicide but that a mental disorder like narcissism could make a person more prone to taking his own life 'ninety percent of people who kill themselves have a mental disorder when they kill themselves, the most common one being depression,' she said 'there are all of these background factors that are the most important, and these reality shows and whatever happens might be the final straw' the wrap's waxman said their series on reality show suicides sought to examine whether the sometimes brutal nature of appearing on reality shows with all that entails, including public scrutiny, was a cause or whether such shows simply attract troubled individuals waxman said the debate rages on 'i think the experts will tell you that both are factors,' she said 'to some degree, there are people who are needy in some way who are looking for fame for some particular reason to fill some need that they have which makes them particularly vulnerable' 'but also the experience of being on television exposed in that way and often seeing themselves on television being 'franken edited' or what they call 'franken bytes,' where they edit a sequence together just to heighten the drama of every scene, is sometimes really mortifying for people, and they're really not prepared for that' blogger kath skerry, who runs givememyremotecom, said she worries that those who are focused on the fame that reality tv brings may not be mentally or emotionally prepared for the downside 'if you fail on reality tv, you're failing in a very big way,' she said 'in a way that is seen by millions and millions of people, and to have that level of vulnerability exposed can raise the dramatic stakes of your situation' for help please contact the national suicide prevention lifeline or call 1 800 273 8255 and they will put you in touch with someone in your area | olivaster misrehearsed agnomen | no related information |
(cnn) the indian city of mumbai exploded into chaos early thursday morning as gunmen launched a series of attacks across the country's commercial capital, killing scores of people and taking hostages in two luxury hotels frequented by westerners deepak chopra says extremists could be reacting to barack obama's gestures toward muslims cnn's larry king spoke with author deepak chopra about the situation larry king: let's go to dr deepak chopra, the physician, philosopher his new book is 'jesus: a story of enlightenment' where were you born in india, deepak? deepak chopra: i was born in delhi, but i have been in these hotels many, many times i have stayed there, so i know the scene; i know the restaurants i have been trying to get in touch with my friends and relatives, some of whom i have spoken to, some of whom i can't speak to the lines are jammed we're texting each other a friend of mine from egypt was in the restaurant at the taj hotel when the firing started, and somehow she managed to avoid the fray, hid in a basement and is now holed up in a room which is right next to the taj hotel and is waiting to be told what to do the situation is complex, larry, because it could inflame to proportions that we cannot even imagine it has to be contained we now recognize that this is a global problem, with only a global effort can solve this and you know, one of the things that i think is happening is that these militant terrorist groups are actually terrified that [president elect barack] obama's gestures to the rest of the muslim world may actually overturn the tables on them by alienating them from the rest of the muslim world, so they're reacting to this you know, this is obama's opportunity to actually harness the help of the muslims you know, there's 18 billion muslims in the world that's 25 percent of the population of the world it's the fastest growing religion in the world we cannot, if we do not appease and actually recruit the help of this muslim world, we're going to have a problem on our hands and we cannot go after the wrong people, as we did after 9/11, because then the whole collateral damage that occurs actually aggravates the situation in india, this is particularly inflammatory, because there's a rise of hindu fundamentalism we saw what that did in gujarat, where, you know, muslims were scorched and they were killed, and there was almost a genocide of the muslims india has 150 million muslims that's more muslims in india than in pakistan so this is an opportunity right now for india and pakistan to recognize this is their common problem it's not a muslim problem right now; it's a global problem king: do you think that this is just the beginning, that there's a potential impact, or more? chopra: there is a potential impact of a lot more carnage but it can be contained and right now, one of the questions, you know, after i heard barbara starr talking about how coordinated this is, that there are militant groups that cross international boundaries, is who is financing this? where is the money coming from? we have to ask very serious, honest questions what role do we have in this? are our petrodollars funding both sides of this war on terrorism? why are we not asking the saudis where that money is going that we give them? is it going through this supply chain to pakistan? it's not enough for pakistan to condemn it pakistan should cooperate with india in uprooting this they should be part of the surgery that is going to happen it's not enough for indians to blame pakistanis indians should actually ask the pakistanis to help them and it's not enough for us to worry about westerners being killed and americans being killed every life is precious over there we have got to get rid of this idea that this is an american problem or a western problem it's a global problem, and we need a global solution, and we need the help of all the muslims, 25 percent of the world's population, to help us uproot this problem king: what does india immediately do? chopra: india at this moment has to contain any reactive violence from the fundamentalist hindus, which is very likely and possible so india has to condemn that by not blaming local muslims they have to identify the exact groups and the world has to be very careful that they don't go after the wrong people because if you go after the wrong people, you convert moderates into extremists it happens every time, and retribution against innocent people just because they have the same religion actually aggravates and perpetuates the problem king: are you pessimistic? chopra: i think mr obama has a real opportunity here, but a challenging opportunity, a creative opportunity get rid of the phrase 'war on terrorism' ask for a creative solution in which we all participate king: is it because the war on terrorism really can never be won because the terrorists (inaudible)? chopra: because it's an oxymoron it's an oxymoron, larry, a war on war, a war on terrorism you know, terrorists call mechanized death from 35,000 feet above sea level with a press of a button also terror we don't call it that, because our soldiers are wearing uniforms they don't see what is happening, and innocent people are being killed so, you know, terror is a term that you apply to the other king: thanks, deepak chopra, as always, extraordinarily enlightening | deepak chopra barack obama muslims chopra | 'this is a global problem,' author deepak chopra says . barack obama must use chance to get muslims' help, he says . officials must not go after the wrong people, chopra says |
moore, oklahoma (cnn) oklahomans will 'rise again' and will have the nation behind them as they struggle to bounce back from tornadoes that tore through the state last week, officials said sunday, a day of quiet reflection and prayer 'as fellow americans, we're going to be there as shelter from the storm for the people of moore who have been impacted,' said president barack obama 'and when we say that we've got your back, i promise you that we keep our word' the president described himself as a messenger speaking on behalf of the entire nation as he toured storm damage sunday he praised local officials, first responders and school principals for their work in the wake of the storms, which killed 24 people, injured more than 375 others and damaged 12,000 residences in and around the oklahoma city metropolitan area one block, two tornadoes: life in the cross hairs 'this area's known more than its share of heartbreak, but people here pride themselves on the oklahoma standard being able to work through disasters like this and come out stronger on the other side,' he said speaking in front of the wreckage of the destroyed plaza towers elementary school in moore, obama called for americans to donate to help storm relief efforts 'it's going to take a long time for this community to rebuild, so i want to urge every american to step up,' he said, suggesting donating via the american red cross website after his public remarks, obama met with first responders at a moore fire station 'we got to talk to him after he saw the damage, and of course, once you see the damage, it's different,' moore police sgt jeremy lewis told cnn affiliate koco 'no matter how many pictures you look at, you see it in person, it's going to to change even the president, which it did' obama vowed to keep helping the area rebuild, long after camera crews and reporters from around the country leave 'he let us know that after all the media and everything is gone, he'll still be sending anything that we need,' lewis said, 'and he'll make sure that we get the town built back up' it's been a weekend of highs and lows for the tornado ravaged area with some school buildings still in shambles, students received diplomas at a convention center on saturday funeral homes and churches were busy with services nearly a week after the devastating storm a public memorial and prayer service was held sunday evening at the first baptist church in moore, where tissues were laid out in the pews 'our spirits have been shaken this week,' oklahoma gov mary fallin said at the service 'our hearts have been broken, but our resolve is strong and we will rise again in the midst of human tragedy, we've seen the best of oklahoma come forth' fallin held up two items she found in the wreckage of a school a note from a student, and a poster with classroom rules, imploring children to always do their very best she welcomed a teacher and a group of students from briarwood elementary the school was destroyed by the tornado, but everyone survived holding flowers, the students sang 'jesus loves me,' a song some of them were singing as the storm blasted their school 'i think it was probably the start of healing for the community,' debby goss, a shawnee, oklahoma, resident, said about the prayer service 'i think a lot of people do pull together here, and this was a good time for them to see each other in one place that wasn't a rescue center or a disaster area that there was a peaceful place for them to just sit and think about the other people that are here to support them and help' a tornado bearing down; a mom in labor saturday's graduation festivities were infused by reminders of the storm's tragic aftermath when southmoore high's alyson costilla walked across the stage to get her diploma, about a dozen people in the crowd stood and held up pictures of her mother, who died in a 7 eleven ravaged by the powerful winds a balm after the storm transforming moore back into the city it was won't be easy its public schools alone suffered $45 million in damage, including the two elementary schools that were leveled insurance claims related to monday's storm will likely top $2 billion, according to kelly collins from the oklahoma insurance department but residents aren't doing it all alone honest advice from joplin to moore besides the presence of federal emergency management agency representatives and other public officials on the ground, they've had friends, relatives, even strangers come out to help last week, caleb allison stared out at the mass of debris that covered the yard in front of his destroyed home 'who's going to come get it?' the westmoore high school spanish teacher wondered 'even our insurance company said, 'you could pay someone to do it, but it might take days before they can come out here,'' allison told cnn but for allison, what seemed like a mammoth problem was swiftly solved on sunday with the help of a group of students, parent teacher association members and fellow teachers from his school and heritage trails elementary, where his wife teaches music 'we probably had 70 to 80 people in our front yard,' he said, 'and we cleaned it in a matter of 30 minutes' morgan delong, one of the volunteers, said many whose homes survived the storm are eager to chip in 'it's kind of our turn to return that blessing and help people out and it's incredible to be around all the faculty members and other students,' she said 'it's amazing to just look out and see how our community's coming together' tornado heading your way? here's what to do as obama got a firsthand look at the debris left by the tornado, the state's governor told cnn that her chief request for the federal government is help plowing through regulatory hurdles 'basically what i need is the ability to get through red tape, the ability to get the fema funds in here quickly and to get the services that our citizens need to help them recover through this terrible disaster,' gov fallin said on cnn's 'state of the union' fallin, a republican, said the initial reaction from the federal government in assisting her state was fast and effective 'so far we have had great response,' she said, quickly adding there was a long way to go before moore returns to normal 'this is a massive debris field it's not just a couple blocks,' she said 'it's miles' principals recall day tornado hit cnn's george howell reported from moore cnn's catherine e shoichet reported and wrote the story from atlanta cnn's jeff kepnes, dana ford, rene marsh, nick valencia, kevin liptak, eric fiegel, greg botelho, mariano castillo contributed to this report | jesus loves me sunday | children sing 'jesus loves me' during a memorial service sunday night . 'it's going to take a long time for this community to rebuild,' the president says . 'when we say that we've got your back, i promise you that we keep our word,' he says . funerals continue to be held for some of the 24 killed |
(cnn) a nationwide sweep by federal agents targeting the violent ms 13 street gang has resulted in hundreds of arrests, including 263 gang members, the us immigration and customs enforcement agency announced friday those arrested in the july and early august sweep include suspects wanted on murder, assault, sexual assault, robbery and kidnapping charges, among other offenses, ice said in a news release among those charged are 158 members and associates of ms 13, with 105 others allegedly belonging to other gangs authorities arrested 84 non gang members wanted on criminal charges and 14 people on immigration violations as part of the same sweep, according to the federal agency murder suspect who is a member of ms 13 arrested special agents with ice's homeland security investigations unit also seized 28 firearms, 10 kilograms of marijuana, 123 grams of cocaine, over 770 grams of heroin and about $22,400 in cash agency officials describe ms 13 also known by the name mara salvatrucha as 'one of the most dangerous transnational criminal gangs in the world today' salvadoran immigrants fleeing that nation's civil war started ms 13 some years ago in los angeles ms 13 leader gets 76 years since then, the group has grown to about 10,000 members most of them central and south american immigrants operating in largely independent chapters across 42 states, according to the fbi authorities allege ms 13 members engage in various criminal activities, including drug trafficking, murder, rape, robbery and other crimes and ms 13 extends well beyond the united states, which is why many efforts to combat it have spanned borders in 2005, for instance, a two day operation involving more than 6,400 government agents in the united states, el salvador, honduras, guatemala and mexico led to 660 arrests some 237 of those arrests were in el salvador, with 73 in the united states massive international sting nets 660 and last october, president barack obama's administration named the organization a transnational criminal enterprise, with the goal of freezing millions of dollars in profits from drug and sex trafficking operations read more: central america's bloody drug problem | ms 13 fbi | new: federal agents also seize drugs, firearms and cash . gang sweep nabs 158 members and associates of notorious ms 13 gang, among others . immigration agents made the arrests in july and early august . the fbi calls ms 13 an 'exceedingly violent' gang |
(cnn) over the past few weeks almost a third of all americans headed back to classrooms from early learning centers to universities, as students and as teachers accompanied by the usual seasonal mix of joys and jitters or perhaps not lately it seems we've been inundated with bad news: the nation's report card is crummy; schools are broke and failing; graduates can't find jobs and with competition for resources putting increased pressure on standardized test scores, cheating scandals have become practically ho hum among all these headlines resides a more quietly sobering fact: this year's high school graduates will be the first educated entirely under the no child left behind act in other words, a whole generation of kids who've grown up with an emphasis on multiple choice testing, who've been taught that knowing the one right answer is more important than the process of inquiry, who've learned that admitting 'i don't know' is a crime but the problem isn't simply with a narrowly conceived educational policy pressure to know the right answer (or, more precisely, to appear to know) isn't limited to the classroom it's pervasive throughout our culture a reality at once daunting and hopeful daunting because it means real reform will require more widespread change hopeful because it means there's something every one of us can do about it maybe even starting today i'm talking about breaking the habit of faking knowledge in order to save face for most of us, the fear of not knowing of looking dumb gets ingrained when we're small and reinforced throughout life in ways both subtle and overt for every time someone reassured us, 'there's no such thing as a stupid question,' weren't there ample experiences on the playground, at the dinner table, and yes, in the classroom that convinced us otherwise? anyone who's ever been reprimanded or ridiculed for revealing ignorance knows all too well: the taste of shame is bitter and lingering we'll go to great lengths to avoid it, often without deliberate thought how many times have i found myself nodding in feigned recognition when someone makes reference to a person or book they assume i know? how many times have i been guilty of unwittingly inflicting similar discomfort on others? in some walks of life, presenting a knowing demeanor is practically a job requirement one financial adviser recalls how, early in his career, he was so anxious to impress upon his clients that he knew was he was doing, he'd use meetings to 'information dump' only subsequently learning that they'd been too embarrassed to speak up and confess they had no idea what he was talking about a surgeon tells about the time when, as a new intern, afraid to admit unfamiliarity with a procedure and ask questions, she plunged in confidently and made an incision four times longer than the patient had been told the scar would be politicians routinely face shame if they confess to not knowing remember rick perry's memory lapse during the 2011 republican primary debate? it seems we'll forgive our elected officials just about any breach of ethics, but let them admit to anything less than invulnerable certainty and they can kiss our vote goodbye for the past several years, i've made a conscious effort to be candid about the limits of my own knowledge as a college teacher, i've discussed this intention explicitly with students and colleagues guess what? i'm mortified to report: despite my public resolution to practice this most essential form of academic integrity, i still catch myself engaging in a kind of knee jerk, face saving, passive dissimulation on a semi regular basis based on what i hear from others, i'm not alone such behavior is apparently endemic so what are we to do? for starters, talk about it own up to instances when we faked knowledge initiate conversations about what makes us more or less susceptible to this behavior you're likely to hear some funny stories, and the experience of shared vulnerability is humanizing and makes for closer connections best of all, it creates an environment in which all stand to grow my friend lori, during her years as a high school history teacher, constantly encouraged her students to play in the wide open spaces of uncertainty one way she did this was by sharing her own gaps in knowledge she'd model not just her comfort with not having figured everything out, but her delight in it this, she seemed to convey, was where real intellectual pleasure lay: in the adventure of exploring the unknown often she'd assign shakespeare as a way of getting students to think about power and status she'd have them read one of the plays, then ask: 'who's more powerful in this scene?' her students, anxious to deliver the 'right' answer, would demand clarification 'what do you mean? powerful how?' lori would shrug and unfurl her fingers: nothing up my sleeves this isn't a trick if her students protested, she'd say simply, 'that's all i know' and so they'd be forced to grapple not only with the answer to her question, but with the meaning of her question, with the definition of power in the first place, which she, the authority figure, had just handed over to them: you guys figure it out you decide in this way, they were learning about history and drama but also about shifts in power, and who may wield it, and how classrooms can work and how societies can work, and about the very nature of 'right' answers as opposed to the illimitable richness of interrogating the questions this is what excites me when i think of heading back to school this fall: the prospect of bringing such generous, generative energy into the classroom perhaps filling in the ovals with number two pencils is important for helping us understand how far we are from achieving equity in schools across the nation that is a vital project, deserving urgent attention but we won't ever achieve equity let alone excellence if we don't also work to make our schools places where we all feel safe saying 'i don't know' the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of leah hager cohen | leah cohen cohen | this year's high school grads will have been entirely taught under no child left behind . leah cohen: there's too much emphasis on memorizing the right answer rather than encouraging inquiry . she says people are deathly afraid of admitting that they don't know something . cohen: our fear of ignorance keeps us from learning as much as we should |
atlanta, georgia (cnn) lynne lucas is taking herself off the meat market monique brown is sick of having to look cute all the time and scott hayes is searching for his inner child imari havard, co founder of playdate, dances with some participants on the dance floor it's saturday night at playdate in atlanta, georgia, where 400 adults have gathered to play games, drink and socialize 'it's not your usual bar scene where i look good, you look good, i'm scared to talk to you,' hayes says as he scans a giant jenga tower for the right block to pull 'you'll talk to anyone when you're playing games, because you're trying to beat them' next to hayes, brown watches a rambunctious game of pictionary while a twosome fights it out with rock 'em sock 'em robots nearby across the room, lucas joins her friends in a game of trouble and on the dance floor, imari havard is hula hooping with some ladies havard is the co founder of timeless entertainment concepts, host of playdate, with ryan hill and ronald gaither timeless' mission is clear: provide a fun alternative to the typical nightlife scene for an entrance fee of just $10 per person in other words, if you're looking for love in all the wrong places, try a game of hungry hungry hippos tell us how your and your sweetheart first met playdate began in atlanta in 2005 and has slowly expanded from a monthly crowd of 80 to 500 twice a month in nine cities across the nation the three men hope to start affiliates in another 20 markets this year 'it's a pretty simple word of mouth advertising,' havard says of how they've made playdate so popular 'the no 1 question asked on a monday morning, is 'how was your weekend?' the number two most popular question is 'what did you do?' well, we've built our entire program around answering those questions' while gaither takes care of the legal and administrative aspects, hill and havard attend events and deal with affiliates the two opposites complement each other tonight, hill wears a red polo shirt and jeans havard wears a stingy fedora and a pin stripe suit jacket hill uses the words 'overhead,' 'clientele' and 'venue negotiation' regularly in conversation havard is more likely to shout phrases like 'patricia's in the house, y'all!' and while havard is swiveling his hula hooping hips, hill blends into the background 'someone has to have a respectful corporate face,' hill says as he laughs at havard's antics see photos from the event » meanwhile, alisha wheeler has on her game face a man she just met is teaching her to play scrabble, and it's not as easy as it looks wheeler found out about playdate on the internet and decided to check it out 'to be able to play games again and not be an adult for one night, it's kind of fun,' she says 'it's not the typical, uneasy having to go up to someone you don't know, because everyone has on these silly nametags, and [the games] are like an icebreaker' todd jones agrees a playdate veteran, jones has been coming to the events since they started three years ago he's even attended launches in other cities and says the atmosphere is the same everywhere 'when you go to a club, people will stand around they're very defensive,' jones says 'but here, you really have to intermingle' gesturing to the six women he's playing uno with, jones says he doesn't come to playdate looking to hook up 'i just come here really to have a good time if something happens after that, then, fine' havard says that's the basis of his company, timeless, which also offers paint by numbers and call me up paint by numbers lets people socialize while painting a 100 square foot mural call me up is a new interactive take on a stand up comedy club 'you go to a nightclub, a lot of times, that scene is the same,' havard says 'it's too loud; it's too dark; it's too smoky a lot of people have on their nightclub personas, so you don't get to know real people what we've found with playdate is, it lets people let their guard down and be themselves it's romantic, in a sense, because you begin to connect like you did when you were younger' back on the dance floor, havard narrates a game of musical chairs as the music stops, a woman and man fight for the last chair 'girl, you've got a nice booty, but it ain't in the seat,' havard shouts into the microphone 'everybody say byyyyyeee!' as the crowd shouts a farewell, hill looks at his watch, shrugs proudly and smiles 'it's not every day you can answer 'what do you do for a living?' with 'i have fun, and i make sure other people have fun, too,' ' he says 'i mean, where else in the world would you see 30 and 40 year olds playing musical chairs at midnight?' | tetrarchies squashing justine | no related information |
washington (cnn) the us supreme court on monday declined to hear an appeal from a female death row inmate who said fetal alcohol syndrome should have been considered by the state court that reviewed her sentence the us supreme court has closely monitored louisiana's capital punishment system in recent years the justices gave no reason for rejecting the appeal, which challenged the constitutionality of louisiana's capital sentencing procedures and argued that brandy holmes' alleged developmental disabilities should disqualify her from execution holmes, 29, is one of two women scheduled to be executed in louisiana she and a male co defendant were convicted of murder in the new year's day 2003 death of julian brandon, a retired minister near shreveport holmes is being held at the louisiana correctional institute for women at st gabriel experts on fetal alcohol syndrome call it the nation's leading preventable cause of mental retardation as many as 40,000 newborns in the united states are affected each year by their mother's alcohol use, according to an advocacy group the syndrome can lead to brain damage, behavioral problems and intellectual disabilities holmes' attorneys said she functions like a 10 to 12 year old 'brandy has a hallmark case of fas,' said tom donaldson, president of the national organization on fetal alcohol syndrome, which supported the defendant in her high court appeal 'her mother testified that she drank throughout her pregnancy, and in fact named her daughter after her favorite drink brandy's capacity to appreciate the criminality of her actions or to conform to the law is very seriously impaired' donaldson and others argue the medical and legal system is unprepared to recognize, intervene and educate when presented with the majority of fas related cases, especially those involving younger defendants in a petition to the justices, holmes' attorney, charles ogletree, argued the louisiana supreme court did not 'review the extensive mitigating circumstances that limited ms holmes's moral culpability and compare them to the mitigating circumstances presented in similar cases the [state] court also failed to consider that petitioner's co defendant received a death sentence and that the prosecutor stated at the co defendant's trial that he (and not the petitioner) was the more culpable party' that co defendant, robert coleman, remains on death row at the louisiana state penitentiary at angola ogletree is a noted harvard law school professor who taught president obama when he was a law student the state in its reply brief noted the violent nature of the robbery murder the victim's wife also suffered gunshot wounds in the attack she lived in a severely impaired state for years and passed away in october 2008 investigators said holmes tried to use the victims' atm card and destroyed evidence of the crime detectives said she even stole a videotape of her confession that was left unattended at the police station 'holmes destroyed this tape by sneaking it into the ladies' room and flushing the magnetic tape down the toilet, after substituting a blank tape in the stack of taped statements that had been left unsecured on a detective's desk,' according the the state's brief police also suspect she flushed jewelry she had been wearing, which they suggested may have been stolen from the brandons the supreme court previously had banned execution of the mentally retarded, though the justices established no clear benchmark on iq test results to guide criminal courts the justices also have closely monitored louisiana's capital punishment system in recent years, criticizing in some cases the role of some prosecutors and the procedural guarantees required in such cases the justices last year ordered a new trial for an african american capital defendant after finding problems with how prosecutors excluded blacks from an all white jury that same year, the high court blocked use of the death penalty for a new orleans area man convicted of child rape louisiana was one of the few states that had actively pushed execution for nonhomicide crimes fifty three women remain on death row around the country forty women have been executed in the past century 11 since 1976 when the supreme court restored capital punishment, according the death penalty information center the other woman on death row in louisiana is antoinette frank, a former new orleans policewoman convicted of three murders, including that of her former partner on the police force her scheduled execution last year was delayed indefinitely by appeal the high court also announced monday that it will not hear appeals in the following cases: | avadavat geotonus artifactitious | no related information |
(cnn) tiger woods battled to three under 69 on the north course at torrey pines as he made a solid start to his 2011 pga tour campaign woods, who has slipped to number three in the world rankings behind european pair lee westwood and martin kaymer, carded three birdies without a bogey to leave himself well placed in the farmers insurance open at tied for 22nd he was five shots behind leader sunghoon kang after the south korean rookie claimed a one stroke first round advantage from americans rickie fowler and alex prugh 'i played alright today,' woods told the golf channel 'these are some of the narrowest fairways we've seen on tour, it was tough' woods has won seven times at his favorite venue in la jolla in california, the last victory in 2008 at the us open that left him on 14 major wins, the run halted by first injury and then the damaging revelations of marital infidelities which led to a self imposed exile from tournament golf woods was paired with rocco mediate, who he beat in the famous playoff to win the 2008 us open despite being hampered by leg injuries a third american, anthony kim, made up the group and shot 68 starting on the 10th in perfect playing conditions, woods picked up birdies on the 12th, second and sixth a further birdie chance came at the seventh, but his putt slid by and a rare errant tee shot on the next left him in trouble in a fairway bunker his second shot failed to find the green, woods hammering his club to the ground in frustration, but he showed his old powers of recovery with a pitch and single putt to save par he was also left frustrated after failing to gain his birdie on the par five ninth after another indifferent drive, but has happy with his overall display crowd favorite john daly, who played the south course, was among the early clubhouse pacesetters with a superb five under 67 and ended the day tied for fifth along with woods' great rival phil mickelson and 2009 us pga champion ye yang of south korea but it was yang's 24 year old compatriot kang who took the first day plaudits after a fine 64 also playing the north course and starting on the 10th, he carded three birdies and an eagle on his front nine and closed with three birdies in his last four holes for a flawless round on the same course, prugh closed with four successive birdies after starting on the front nine, while last season's rookie of the year fowler picked up a shot at the last playing from 10 the 22 year old's 65 featured one dropped shot but he still finished one ahead of 25 year old american rookie chris kirk last weekend's bob hope classic winner, venezuelan rookie jhonattan vegas, was one of 13 players on 69 along with woods, us ryder cup player hunter mahan and colombian camilo villegas mediate was tied for 54th in an even bigger group on 71 along with rookie joseph bramlett, the first african american golfer to earn a tour card through qualifying school in 25 years | tiger woods first the farmers insurance open torrey pines this year 2010 korean sunghoon kang john daly | tiger woods shoots a solid 69 in his first round at the farmers insurance open at torrey pines . the former world no 1 is playing his first event of this year after winless 2010 . he is five shots off the leading pace set by korean rookie sunghoon kang . john daly in contention after a five under 67 on south course |
jerusalem (cnn) israeli officials are seeking a meeting with turkey's ambassador to protest a show on turkish television that reportedly depicts israeli soldiers murdering palestinian children israeli foreign minister avigdor lieberman says the turkish tv show 'is being done with state sponsorship' turkey has been israel's strongest muslim ally in the middle east, and the move comes as relations between the countries have soured in recent days over the latter's decision to exclude israel from scheduled military exercises the turkish tv show 'constitutes the most serious level of incitement, and it is being done with state sponsorship,' israeli foreign minister avigdor lieberman said in a statement the show aired this week on turkey's state run trt 1 network it shows an actor dressed as an israeli soldier shooting what appears to be an unarmed palestinian girl in another sequence, an israeli soldier opens fire on an infant being held by what appears to be a family member 'such a series which bears no connection whatsoever to reality, presenting idf [israel defense forces] soldiers as murderers of innocent children, should not be broadcast even in hostile states and certainly not in a state that maintains full diplomatic relations with israel,' lieberman said the show called 'ayrilik' is billed on the trt web site as the 'first time a tv series shows the ongoing, bleeding wound of the world which is taking place on palestinian lands it shows the painful stories of the people who lived on invaded palestinian lands in 1948, especially women and children' israel and turkey have enjoyed close military and economic ties for more than a decade but relations have grown testy at times in recent years over israel's activities in the palestinian territories and over its gaza offensive in december and january on tuesday, a senior us military official said turkey's decision this week to postpone a nato war exercise appears to have been a political decision intended to exclude the israelis the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said us officials were uncomfortable about excluding israel and so welcomed postponing the maneuvers in which us military units were scheduled to participate the exercises were to start monday and run through october 23 turkish lawmaker suat kiniklioglu, deputy chairman of the external affairs committee for the ruling justice and development party, said that it isn't 'state policy for turkish television to portray israel badly' he said the television network contracts with private producers 'it's probably some producer who is trying to tap into popular reaction against israel, trying to make money off it,' said kiniklioglu, who has not seen the program kiniklioglu said it 'would not be wrong to say turkish israeli relations have become much more fragile' after gaza, commenting on the exclusion of israel from military exercises 'this is basically all about gaza the humanitarian crisis is continuing and prime minister [recep tayyip] erdogan is upset about it' alon liel, israel's top diplomat in turkey during the 1980s, said he believes the relations between the two countries are in crisis 'this unbelievable attack on the israeli army is in the country that in the last 15 years was probably the closest to our army, so it's a major surprise, a major change,' liel said cnn's ivan watson and yesim comert contributed to this report | turkish israeli palestinians turkey israel | turkish tv show reportedly shows israeli soliders killing young palestinians . israeli official says show 'constitutes the most serious level of incitement'. israeli officials seek a meeting with turkey's ambassador to protest show . ties between nations strained after turkey excludes israel from military exercises |
(cnn) world number two phil mickelson has indefinitely suspended his pga tour schedule after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer phil and amy mickelson have been married for 13 years and have three children three time major winner mickelson was due to play at the byron nelson championship starting on thursday and defend his title at colonial next week but has withdrawn to be alongside his wife, amy 'after undergoing an extensive battery of tests phil mickelsons's wife, amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer,' said a statement on the american's official web site 'more tests are scheduled but the treatment process is expected to begin with major surgery, possibly within the next two weeks' mickelson met his wife, a former cheerleader for the phoenix suns national basketball association team, in 1992 and they were married in 1996 they have three children nine year old amanda, seven year old sophia and evan who is six pga tour commissioner tim finchem said on the official pga web site: 'we are saddened by the news of amy mickelson's diagnosis, but are hopeful that with the support of phil and her family and friends, she will come through this difficult tim 'the thoughts and prayers of everyone connected with the pga tour are with the mickelson family' world number one tiger woods added: 'elin and i are deeply saddened to hear the news about amy our thoughts and prayers are with her, phil, the children and the entire mickelson family' | phil mickelson pga tour mickelson amy | world number two phil mickelson has suspended his pga tour schedule . mickelson has withdrawn to be alongside his wife amy who has breast cancer . the pair have been married for 13 years and have two daughters and one son |
london, england (cnn) rory mcilroy may be tipped for great things but according to the 'cnn living golf' producer, chris eldergill, his home course is on the road to success as well the cnn crew with rory mcilroy at the lough erne golf resort, northern ireland in these troubled times, you're hard pushed to find a golf development which either hasn't been put on hold or canceled altogether that coupled with the fact that golf tourism in northern ireland has been in steep decline, it's a testament to the people of lough erne golf resort that they're opening their brand new championship course this summer we have just returned from lough erne, which is situated about two hours west of belfast in northern ireland, after spending some time with golf's biggest teenage sensation, lough erne's attached professional rory mcilroy watch a preview of the show » whilst it was impressive to see such maturity from a 19 year old who has achieved so much so young, it was also impressive to see the surroundings he is blessed with created by six time major champion nick faldo, the faldo course will be a par 72 layout set on a breath taking peninsula if the photos don't help visualize this for you, think loch lomond and like the venue for the annual scottish open, don't bet against this being a regular stop on the european tour in the near future during our stay, we were itching to get out and experience some of the course for ourselves but with gusting winds and with water on 14 of the 18 holes, only the brave or very talented would have survived and neither applied to us! but with such a rich tradition of superb golf courses in northern ireland like royal portrush, castlerock and royal county down, how will lough erne compete? simple their resident professional just days after this year's open championship at turnberry in scotland, mcilroy will take on ireland's greatest ever golfer, three times major champion, padraig harrington, in the inaugural lough erne challenge, a one day event scheduled for wednesday, july 22 harrington is gunning for a third consecutive open championship whilst mcilroy is aiming to be the youngest major winner in history not bad publicity for a course which would have been open for a mere three weeks only 4,000 tickets have been set aside for the event so if you can't make it to turnberry, you could do worse than to see these two fight it out cnn living golf airs at the times below: all times gmt thursday, april 2: 1230, 1730 saturday, april 4: 0700, 1730 sunday, april 5 : 0300, 0730, 1500 | rory mcilroy lough erne golf resort belfast the faldo course nick faldo padraig harrington | teenager rory mcilroy is resident pro at lough erne golf resort near belfast . the resort plans to open its new championship course this summer . 'the faldo course' was created by six time major champion nick faldo . rory mcilroy will take on padraig harrington in its inaugural event on july 22 |
(cnn) security forces rescued a us citizen from the taliban on sunday during an operation in eastern afghanistan, officials said dr dilip joseph was kidnapped wednesday by insurgents in kabul province, the nato led international assistance security force said in statement he was believed to be in imminent danger of injury or death, which is why gen john allen, commander of us forces in afghanistan, ordered the mission 'today's mission exemplifies our unwavering commitment to defeating the taliban,' allen said in a statement 'i'm proud of the american and afghan forces that planned, rehearsed and successfully conducted this operation thanks to them, dr joseph will soon be rejoining his family and loved ones' further information on joseph, including his hometown, was not immediately available | physophorous resented plethora | no related information |
(cnn) nigerian born entrepreneur kase lawal is the epitome of the american dream arriving to the us a young, idealistic student, lawal has carved a name for himself in one of the most competitive industries in the world: oil now head of a multi billion dollar empire, his houston based company, camac, is one of the largest black owned businesses in the us, generating over $2 billion dollars a year founded nearly 25 years ago, lawal built camac (which stands for cameroon american) from a small agriculture business into a global oil company but it's taken a lot of hard work, determination and guts to get him to the top born and raised in ibadan, nigeria in 1954, lawal became interested in america and its civil rights movement during his teens after finally persuading his father, a local politician, to send him to university in america, lawal headed to georgia and then houston, where he attended the texas southern university after graduating with a bachelor of science in chemical engineering in 1976, lawal, like many of his classmates, started out as a graduate in the energy industry first as a chemist for dresser industries (now halliburton) and then as a chemical engineer with shell oil refining co during this time he met his wife, eileen through a mutual friend and had his three children now married and settled, it wasn't long before the innovative young nigerian started to implement his business ideas in 1986 he established camac, a company trading agricultural commodities such as sugar, tobacco and rice in the early 90s he made the leap into the energy sector after the nigerian government started to develop its energy market with his knowledge of nigeria and his houston address, lawal was ideally positioned to attract major oil companies in 1991 camac made a deal with the oil giant conoco, agreeing to jointly operate and share production from any nigerian discoveries this turned out to be lawal's big break with his political contacts, local market knowledge and now with the backing of a major oil firm, lawal's houston based company became an instant player in the energy industry as lawal told cnn: 'that partnership i believe was the cornerstone of the camac that you know today subsequently with that credibility and the advantage of partnering with conoco, we were also able to partner with bp and also with statoil of norway and currently we have made a partnership with eni, the largest italian company, which is one of the top five oil companies in the world' now camac has offices in london, johannesburg, lagos and port harcourt, nigeria and is involved in oil exploration, refining and trading he was awarded the usafrica business person of the year in 1997 and in 2002 camac was named the largest african american owned company on the black enterprise 100s list | samson obscura precede | no related information |
london (cnn) it is a guilty pleasure of anyone supposed to be working, and a time waster that has kept millions of us up far too late at night viral videos from pop videos to advertising, parodies to accidental hits have been entertaining, and occasionally informing, us like never before in 2012 here is cnn's selection of some of the top viral videos this year most watched viral video of all time: psy: 'gangnam style' youtube views at time of writing: 826 million published: july what's the big deal: 2012 has undoubtedly been the year of 'gangnam style' this video by south korean rapper psy became the most watched youtube video of all time in november when it surpassed teenage pop star justin bieber's 804 million views for 'baby' more: rapper living 'gangnam style' goes viral the rap is named after the pricey seoul district of gangnam and features 34 year old psy dressed in tuxedo and sunglasses dancing his much copied galloping style 'horse dance' best gangnam parody: mitt romney style youtube views at time of writing: 238 million published: october what's the big deal: 'gangnam style' has been copied and parodied so many times that we felt the tributes were worth a category in their own right the parodies range from a 'the lord of the rings' themed 'gandalf style' to 'london style' to 'kim jong style' parodying north korea's leader our favorite is 'mitt romney style,' by new york based collegehumorcom, making fun of the republican governor and failed presidential candidate's wealth and swagger best advertisement: a dramatic surprise on a quiet square youtube views at time of writing: 388 million published: april what's the big deal: in this advertisement for the launch of the television channel tnt in belgium, the company placed a big red button in the main square of a small belgian town with a sign saying 'push to add drama' the ensuing chain of events and the crowds' reaction when a passing cyclist presses the button, makes compelling viewing cnn and tnt are both time warner companies most watched documentary: kony 2012 youtube views at time of writing: 94 million published: march what's the big deal: rarely has a campaign video gained such a reaction this video by the san diego based campaign group invisible children about the african warlord joseph kony gained 74 million views within a week of its release in march more: violent warlord video goes viral kony has operated in central africa for two decades and is wanted for crimes against humanity by the international criminal court however the controversial video was dismissed by some critics as inaccurate, oversimplified and distracting from more effective charity work, and others questioned the group's motives and transparency best marriage proposal: isaac's live lip dub proposal youtube views at time of writing: 163 million views published: may what's the big deal: this makes a change from the schmaltz you might expect from a public marriage proposal, as actor isaac lamb organized this intricately choreographed live performance with 60 friends miming to the bruno mars song 'marry you' as lamb wrote in the youtube blurb: 'i told my girlfriend to meet me at my parent's house for dinner 'when she arrived i had stationed my brother to sit her in the back of an open honda crv and give her some headphones he 'wanted to play her a song' what she got instead was the world's first live lip dub proposal' best mis hap: catch the ice dude youtube views at time of writing: 213 million published: september what's the big deal: this german man jumps dramatically into a frozen pool, not realizing quite how frozen solid it is the result: ouch! more: why cannonball, frozen pool don't mix the hysterical laughter from his friends and 213 youtube viewings are schadenfreude in action best radio phone in: please move the deer crossing youtube views at time of writing: 101 million published: october what's the big deal: a woman who has become known as donna the deer lady calls a local radio station in fargo, north dakota, complaining that deer crossings are encouraging deer to cross busy roads 'why are we encouraging deer to cross at the interstate?' she asks the presenter makes a brief attempt to explain that deer crossing signs are to warn motorists of areas with large deer population, rather than for the benefit of the deer, before giving up and agreeing to publicize her concerns best public service broadcast: dumb ways to die youtube views at time of writing: 253 million published: november what's the big deal: this was created by the melbourne metro as a reminder that getting hit by a train is the dumbest way to die other dumb ways to die suggested in the song and animated video include taking your helmet off in outer space, selling both kidneys on the internet and dressing up as a moose during hunting season best corporate comebac: bodyform responds: the truth youtube views at time of writing: 34 million published: october what's the big deal: this video came after a man called richard neill posted an amusing rant on the facebook page of sanitary towel manufacturer bodyform complaining that their advertisements showing happy women taking part in extreme sports during their periods were misleading the company responded with a mock contrite apology video, supposedly from its managing director (although actually an actress) that they had lied to him about periods the technology site mashable wrote of bodyform's video: 'this may be the best response ever to a facebook rant period' | maltreats filiform tactics | no related information |
(cnn) the world's best female golfer, lorena ochoa of mexico, has exclusively revealed to cnn that a meeting with tiger woods in her youth inspired her to become the player she is today tiger woods and lorena ochoa pose at the golf writer's association of america awards in 2007 the pair first met at tory pines when both competing in the junior world championships, an event that woods won a record six times and ochoa has won five the two then met again 15 years later at the golf writer's association of america awards where both were named players of the year ochoa, 27, told cnn's living golf program the meeting had a big impact on her: 'you don't realize the importance of things until you're older and look back i'm just glad it worked out the way it did for us 'he was boy and i was a girl, we were both young and we didn't know what we were doing i didn't see him for another 15 years, but i reminded him and showed him the pictures and he was like 'wow'' ochoa, who started playing golf aged just five years old, has now won 26 lpga tour titles but said despite the success it has been harder to sustain her number one spot than it was to attain it 'it's harder to stay number one than getting there if you get distracted or stop practicing you can very easily lose your position ochoa overtook annika sörenstam to become the world number one ranked golfer in 2007 and since has won two majors, including the women's british open and the kraft nabisco championship the mexican also picked up the honda lpga thailand recently but says her drive to win more remains the same: 'my life has changed a lot i've been preparing myself to get to that position so it didn't take me by surprise it took me five years from turning professional to becoming the number on in the world it's not easy but it's been a lot of fun and i want to stay here' the next major championship for ochoa to set her sights on will be the mcdonald's lpga championship on june 11 14 | allegiances monteith accable | no related information |
(cnn) she's been compared to the dalai lama, the chinese tibetan buddhist leader, but the name rebiya kadeer doesn't ring a bell to many people outside of china rebiya kadeer has been dubbed 'the mother of all uyghurs' nevertheless, the world famous man and the relatively obscure woman share similarities that chime with political relevance a diminutive northern virginia resident, kadeer has emerged as the voice of the restive but relatively unknown uyghur muslims, a turkic speaking ethnic minority in china, and the group's far flung diaspora and like the dalai lama, she's revered by supporters and reviled by the chinese government 'even though one is a man, and the other is a woman, they have one thing in common, and that is they engage in activities to split the motherland and damage national unity,' said qin gang, a spokesman for the chinese foreign ministry kadeer, 62, emerged in the world media spotlight after china blamed her for stoking july's unrest in china's remote xinjiang autonomous region, an area four times the size of california in the northwestern part of the country reports vary on the number of people killed, ranging from around 200 to many more the problems began in late june, after two uyghur migrant workers at a toy factory in guangdong province were killed after a brawl between uyghurs and ethnic han chinese the majority group in china uyghurs protested in urumqi, the xinjiang capital, hundreds of miles from the toy factory uyghurs and han reportedly attacked each other nur bekri, the chinese government's top official in xinjiang, accused kadeer and the world uyghur congress she leads of instigating the unrest via the internet 'the violence is premeditated, organized violent crime,' bekri said 'it was instigated and directed from abroad and carried out by outlaws in the country' china's constitution guarantees ethnic minorities equal rights and limited autonomy and the chinese government has implemented several programs designed to help ethnic minorities, but kadeer says china still treats uyghurs as second class citizens and she blames china for most of the recent unrest since the violence erupted, kadeer has worked the media with a mission, drumming up support for the uyghur cause and shining a light on what she says are china's 'unjust policies' toward her people the estimated size of uyghur population in china ranges from 8 million to 11 million people, making them a distinct minority in a country of 15 billion people uyghurs have long complained of being treated as a lesser class, but china has dismissed that charge and touted its commitment to ethnic unity 'let them hear our voice and raise public awareness about our situation,' kadeer told cnn 'that's the main thing that i wish to do right now' dubbed 'the mother of all uyghurs,' kadeer doesn't quite fit the profile of a political firebrand born in modest circumstances, kadeer fell into dire poverty amid the late chinese communist leader mao zedong's forced relocation programs she worked her way up from laundry worker to become a millionaire businesswoman as china opened to free enterprise she amassed an empire with department stores, real estate, lumber, scrap iron, factories and other enterprises she was also chosen as a member of a chinese national congress and other posts however, the mother of 11 children some of whom are in jail in china wasn't shy about speaking out about the conditions faced by uyghurs, such as political imprisonment her activism landed her in jail in 1999, an incarceration that attracted international attention and condemnation from rights groups and western political officials china released her on medical grounds in 2005 amid pressure from the us government she was granted political asylum in the united states, reunited with her husband, and embarked on activist work along with her role as president of the world uyghur congress, kadeer is the president of the board of the uyghur american association and the full time director of the international uyghur human rights and democracy foundation those groups receive money from us taxpayers through the national endowment for democracy, a private, nonprofit organization created 'to strengthen democratic institutions' around the world hugh pope, author of the 'sons of the conquerors: the rise of the turkic world,' describes kadeer as a skillful and hard working activist who has done a lot for the uyghurs he said she is well situated in the washington area, where she has easy access to media outlets, and is a 'natural focal point' for the uyghur rights cause 'she has a canny sense on how to get on top of the situation as long as she can maintain the dalai lama like profile, she will persist in being a spokeswoman for the uyghurs,' pope said dru gladney, an expert on china and its ethnic groups, described kadeer as a significant leader who is a charismatic, determined and maternal figure who can move easily among the elites and the common people she has a message that can unite uyghurs, and china's criticism of her in some ways has enhanced her stature, said gladney, president of pacific basin institute at pomona college in california 'she seems like somebody all uyghurs can look up to,' he said he noted that her following is 'quite remarkable' since she is a woman and both muslim and chinese cultures are patriarchal she abhors violence and favors peaceful resolution of conflicts, gladney said in that respect, she mirrors the non violent sentiment espoused by the dalai lama, who wrote an introduction to kadeer's autobiography 'dragon fighter,' recently published in english 'the uyghur and the tibetan people have a history of relationship and in modern times have shared somewhat similar experiences i therefore hope that this book by mrs kadeer will enable the readers to comprehend the experience of the uyghur people,' the dalai lama wrote kadeer told cnn she has had 'close communication' with the dalai lama she said 'our philosophy in peace is the same' and said the movements of both peoples for justice are connected 'if the chinese have the authority to destroy one of them, they have the authority to destroy the other,' she said china's state run xinhua news agency reported tuesday that chinese president hu jintao, in a visit to yunnan province this week, urged all people to show mutual respect and concern he also said all ethnic minorities are important members of the chinese family, the news agency reported in a story that did not specifically mention uyghurs the communist party of china and the government plan to emphasize more strongly developing areas inhabited by ethnic minorities and strengthen support to improve their livelihood, according to xinhua's paraphrasing of hu's remarks in a recent wall street journal essay, 'china's ethnic fault lines,' gladney wrote that by the mid 1980s 'official minorities were beginning to receive real benefits from the implementation of several affirmative action programs' they include 'permission to have more children (except in urban areas, minorities are generally not bound by the one child policy),' paying fewer taxes, getting 'greater access to public office,' and better education for children in mandarin chinese rather than native tongues kadeer has spent much of the last few weeks plowing through media interviews and chatting about how she juggles being the 'mother of all uyghurs' with being a mother to her flesh and blood children 'my family is very supportive of my activity,' she said through a translator yet she has spent time apart from her husband, also a uyghur activist, and children because of political ferment and imprisonment kadeer says this is a 'very dark time for the uyghur people' she condemned chinese security forces for killing and injuring uyghur demonstrators this month in urumqi unrest also took place in the cities of kashgar and hotan, she said while she focuses on what she says is the chinese crackdown against uyghurs in 'east turkestan' the name uyghurs use for the region she also condemned reported violence by 'a number of uyghur demonstrators' 'uyghur demonstrators were doubtless expressing discontent over the severe and comprehensive repression they have suffered for years in east turkestan,' she said she cited 'arbitrary detention, torture, and execution' the repression of their religion, 'forced abortion and discrimination in several spheres, including health care and employment' in her talks, kadeer who sports braids and a traditional uyghur dopa cap urges china to 'stop the cultural genocide' and 'address the legitimate grievances of the uyghur people' 'i do believe that even our enemy would come dine at our table,' she said, 'because what we have been doing is in a peaceful way so i do believe that they would come to our table and resolve this' cnn's jim clancy contributed to this report | rebiya kadeer uyghur muslims china chinese kadeer uyghur | rebiya kadeer emerges as leader of minority uyghur muslims in china . chinese government reviles kadeer, blames her for stoking unrest . kadeer mirrors the non violent sentiment espoused by the dalai lama . this is a 'very dark time for the uyghur people,' kadeer says |
new york (cnn) olympic gold medalist michael phelps has acknowledged he engaged in 'regrettable' behavior and 'demonstrated bad judgment,' after a british newspaper published a photograph of the swimmer smoking from a bong sports attorney ryan smith thinks michael phelps should speak to public about his opposition to drug use ryan smith, a sports attorney and bet talk show host, on monday spoke to john roberts on cnn's 'american morning' about how the incident could affect phelps' career john roberts: what was your reaction to news of this picture of michael phelps surfacing? ryan smith: the thing with michael phelps is, he's not only been an outspoken athlete against drugs so he's done a lot of testing, he's been supportive of wada, which is the world anti doping agency but he's really a guy of high character so you look at this, and my first thought was, 'what about his endorsement deals? what's going to happen in those?' a lot of endorsement deals have clauses that say that you can't do bad actions like this, not only crimes, but just things that you do bad in public could result in the termination of your contract so he could lose a lot of money on this roberts: now he never really admitted to smoking marijuana the united states olympic committee isn't going to sanction him, it looks like, but did call his actions disappointing but to the greater issue that you were talking about, in terms of his endorsement deals, do you think anybody is going to say, well, this is the straw that broke the camel's back with this guy? he had one incident back in 2004 but are you going to dump michael phelps because of this picture? smith: it could happen, and the reason why is because a lot of these companies that are sponsoring him really are focused on kids and how actions of their athletes affect children so that can be a big problem the other thing is, unlike an athlete that plays sports every year in the public spotlight, the olympics for swimmers comes only every four years so he doesn't have that chance to rehabilitate his image immediately like a lot of other athletes, a basketball player or a football player would so companies might say, you know what, let's not work with michael phelps right now, because he doesn't really have a chance to redeem himself a picture says a thousand words, and how can he fight that? roberts: how could you turn this around? if you were his attorney, if you were advising him what would you do? smith: the first thing i would suggest is a drug test and i know that that's not required and i also know that he's not really going to have a problem with swimming in 2012 but i would just show that hey, i'm clean, i'm doing great the next thing i would do is go out there in the public and talk about the troubles with working with drugs and really show the public that you are not about drug use, you are not about doing bad things in public you are only about supporting the rules of wada, the world anti doping agency, and supporting their drug testing program so you can show that, hey, this is a minor incident, not a big deal and really what it's all about is remaining clean roberts: if you were to lay a bet, would you say anybody drops him? smith: i would say he'll have some problems i don't know if i would say that a big sponsor would drop him, but i would say that a more wholesome oriented sponsor might | bskt sirree traipsed | no related information |
(cnn) customs officials in australia have cried fowl after searching a airline traveler and allegedly finding two live pigeons stuffed in his tights customs officials in australia allege that a man tried to smuggle pigeons hidden in his tights the 23 year old man was stopped at melbourne international airport sunday after arriving on a flight from dubai, australia's customs and border protection service said in a statement posted on its web site the service alleges that two eggs were found inside a multivitamin container carried by the passenger, who comes from melbourne a further search revealed that he was wearing tights with a live bird stashed down each leg photographs show the birds appear to have been rolled in newspaper and polythene with only their heads showing the images indicate that one bird was attached to each of the alleged smuggler's lower legs customs officials also claim that plant seeds were found in the man's moneybelt and undeclared eggplant in his baggage 'wildlife smuggling is not only cruel to the animals involved, it poses a severe risk to the australian environment and the health of the australian community,' said richard janeczko, customs and border protection national manager investigations 'it is important that people declare all animal and plant materials to customs and border protection when they enter australia,' janeczko added the service said that the maximum penalty for wildlife smuggling is 10 years imprisonment and/or a a$110,000 ($70,000) fine | customs dubai 70,000 | customs officers stopped 23 year old man as he returned from dubai . photographs show live birds were rolled in newspaper and polythene . maximum penalty for wildlife smuggling is 10 years jail and/or $70,000 fine |
(cnn) questions continued to swirl thursday over the president's decision to withdraw a pardon for a new york developer involved in a long island mortgage fraud scheme president bush withdrew the pardon of isaac toussie after a firestorm of criticism isaac toussie, 36, was convicted in 2001 of mail fraud and of making false statements to the department of housing and urban development that stemmed from the mortgage scheme the white house initially announced the pardon tuesday afternoon, immediately setting off a firestorm of criticism from angry homeowners and investors, as well as government watchdog organizations quick to note toussie's ties to prominent republican officeholders among the questions now being asked are: • why didn't the white house conduct a more thorough investigation of toussie's background? • why did white house counsel fred fielding circumvent the typical pardon application process by directly considering toussie's clemency request instead of leaving it to the justice department? • did toussie get special treatment because of his political connections? watch why bush withdrew the pardon » toussie and his father, also a developer, are defendants in a lawsuit filed in new york federal court on behalf of more than 400 minority home purchasers who allege a conspiracy involving racial steering, racketeering and fraud related to homes the toussies built on staten island, attorney peter seidman told cnn seidman, a partner in a law firm representing the plaintiffs, said he was 'very pleased' with president bush's order for a review of the pardon 'it [the pardon] was a bitter pill for the home purchasers to swallow,' he said the toussies had previously been accused of conspiring with lenders and others to build and sell substandard homes a charge they denied according to a senior administration official, the white house learned new information about toussie's case tuesday night hours after the pardon was announced specifically, the white house learned, according to the official, 'additional information about the nature of fraud [toussie] carried out' the white house also learned that toussie's father had made numerous contributions to leading gop politicians in 2008, toussie's father donated almost $40,000 to arizona sen john mccain, minnesota sen norm coleman, oregon sen gordon smith and virginia rep eric cantor white house press secretary dana perino issued a statement wednesday saying that 'based on information that has subsequently come to light,' bush had told the justice department's pardon attorney not to act on the pardon extended to toussie instead, perino said, 'the president believes that the pardon attorney should have an opportunity to review this case before a decision on clemency is made' while almost all pardon requests go through the justice department, the constitution allows the president to grant a pardon or commutation to any individual for any reason perino said toussie's pardon was withdrawn before it reached the final stage of the process the president's request never made it to the pardon attorney, who actually executes the pardon requests bradford berenson, toussie's lawyer, issued a statement saying toussie 'remains confident' that the pardon attorney will find in his favor toussie was sentenced in september 2003 to a five month prison sentence in the long island case, as well as three years of supervised release seidman told cnn that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the toussies allege that the quality of construction in homes they bought on staten island was inferior to that in the model homes upon which they had based their decision to buy they also allege that their applications were coded by race, a violation of civil rights laws, and that they were steered away from racially integrated neighborhoods to segregated neighborhoods, he said 'i'm baffled that toussie was selected as a candidate for a pardon in the first place,' seidman said 'so i don't know what i would say about the re examination, other than why in the first place they thought he was worthy' the toussies deny the allegations in the lawsuit an administration official noted it is rare for a pardon to be reversed bush's 189 pardons and nine commutations are far fewer than those granted by presidents bill clinton and ronald reagan in either of their two term administrations bush's planned pardon of toussie was one of 19 presidential pardons announced earlier this week cnn's kevin bohn, elaine quijano and alan silverleib contributed to this report | isaac toussie new york white house toussie gop | isaac toussie was involved in mortgage scheme in new york . answers wanted about how thorough of an investigation there was before his pardon . questions remain about whether pardon was due in part to political connections . white house learned toussie's father made contributions to top gop politicians |
berlin, germany (cnn) german investigators thursday acknowledged 'credible information' indicating that one of the world's most wanted nazi war criminals died almost 20 years ago in egypt the former the hotel in cairo where heim spent his final days the announcement from the baden wuerttemberg state criminal investigations office came a day after german public broadcaster zdf reported similar findings about aribert heim, wanted since 1962 zdf said research it conducted with the new york times showed that heim died in cairo in 1992 of intestinal cancer witness accounts and documents, including a passport, prove that heim lived under the false name of tarek farid hussein, zdf said cnn spoke to heim's son, ruediger heim, who said his father fled germany to egypt via france, spain and morocco ruediger heim told cnn he visited his father in cairo several times, including in the final weeks of his life when the terminal cancer was discovered the german investigators said they were was checking the new information 'this information has not yet been verified due to time constraints,' the office said in a statement but german authorities said they already had hints that heim was living and working in egypt the office said it received information in 1965 and 1967 indicating heim was working in the country, but egyptian authorities at the time, acting on a german request, did not find any conclusive evidence 'our main goal now is, in cooperation with the egyptian authorities, (to) identify the remains of aribert heim,' the office said the chief nazi hunter at the simon wiesenthal center, efraim zuroff, said the news about heim's death, if true, is deeply disappointing 'i personally feel a tremendous sense of disappointment that he escaped justice,' zuroff told cnn but he emphasized that he had not seen the evidence that heim was dead 'there is no body and no grave, so we can't do a dna test,' he said, adding that 'there are people who have a vested interest in convincing us that he is no longer alive' he said he expects to see the documentary evidence of heim's death on thursday heim would be 94 years old if he were still alive zuroff described heim as 'the most wanted nazi war criminal,' and said the simon wiesenthal center was about to raise the reward for information about him from €315,000 ($405,000) to €1 million ($13 million) when it heard the reports of his death during world war ii heim was a doctor at the mauthausen concentration camp, where he was known to inmates as 'dr death' for performing often fatal experiments on prisoners after the war, he was initially cleared of wrongdoing, but in 1962 german authorities issued an arrest warrant for him cnn berlin bureau chief frederik pleitgen contributed to this report | german nazi egypt aribert heim death zdf cairo tarek farid hussein | german broadcaster reports nazi hiding in egypt died in 1992 . aribert heim known to inmates as 'dr death' performed experiments on prisoners . zdf reports he lived lived in cairo as tarek farid hussein; died of cancer . nazi hunter groups says it expects to see documentary evidence thursday |
washington (cnn) president barack obama claimed the second major legislative victory of his young administration wednesday, signing a bill to provide federally funded health care to an estimated 4 million children president obama says the schip bill is a downpayment on his 'commitment to cover every single american' the final version of the new law, which expands the state children's health insurance program (schip) by roughly $35 billion over the next five years, passed a sharply polarized house of representatives earlier in the day, with almost every democrat voting in favor of the expansion and most republicans opposing it with the bill, obama said at a white house ceremony, 'we fulfill one of the highest responsibilities that we have to ensure the health and well being of our nation's children' the president said the bill was a downpayment on his 'commitment to cover every single american' the schip expansion is obama's second major legislative win in less than a week the first was thursday's approval of the lilly ledbetter pay equity act, which makes it easier to sue employers for wage based discrimination learn more about the schip program » the expansion is also a sign of the strength of washington's new democratic majority former president george w bush vetoed two similar health care bills in 2007, arguing that the legislation would encourage families to leave the private insurance market for the federally funded, state run program before the bill's passage, schip covered almost 7 million children whose parents earn too much to qualify for medicaid the federal health insurance program for the poor but who can't afford private insurance the new law boosts total schip funding to approximately $60 billion the expanded program will be financed with a 62 cent per pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes 'this is a day worthy of celebration there can be no greater cause than protecting the well being of our nation's children,' new jersey rep frank pallone, the legislation's primary house author, said shortly before the bill's final passage on a 290 135 vote passing the health program's expansion is 'morally the right thing to do by our children,' said freshman rep tom perriello, d virginia 'at a time when the cost of health care is crushing america's families this is an important lifeline' opponents of the legislation argued that, among other things, it will allow undocumented immigrants to illegally access taxpayer financed health care, and is insufficiently funded 'this will go out of control just like all the other [entitlement] programs have, and our children will pay,' rep jack linder, r georgia, warned during the house debate wednesday rep steve king, r iowa, ripped the bill as a 'foundation stone for socialized medicine in the united states,' arguing that raising the income limit for schip eligibility will serve as the basis for a massive expansion of government run health care the senate passed the expansion friday in a 66 32 vote all those voting against the bill were republicans, though nine republicans voted in favor of the measure | obama state children's health insurance program house schip senate last week | new: president obama signs state children's health insurance program into law . house approves the bill in vote that falls largely along party lines . schip passed the senate last week . schip makes additional 4 million kids eligible for federally funded health insurance |
moscow (cnn) pilot error, slight intoxication of the navigator, and a failure of the crew to interact properly caused a plane crash that killed 47 people in june of this year, russia's interstate aviation committee (iac) said monday the crew should have circled to make a fresh attempt at landing in poor weather conditions, the iac probe found it 'was the failure of the crew to decide on a go around and descend below the minimal established safety altitude in the absence of visual contact with approach lights and landmarks which resulted in the collision of the aircraft with trees and ground,' the iac said the report comes out nearly two weeks after another plane crash that killed dozens of russian and international hockey players in yaroslavl, russia an investigation into that crash is ongoing monday's report examined a tupolev 134 airliner that went down june 20 in the russian northwest city of petrozavodsk the jet with 43 passengers and a crew of nine took from moscow for petrozavodsk, about 950 kilometers (600 miles) to the north controllers lost contact with the twin engine plane, and it crashed onto a highway outside besovets, near the petrozavodsk airport, the transportation ministry reported 'the first thing that the plane had contact with was a pine tree of about 15 meters high,' alexander neradko, head of the russian federal aviation agency said on russian state tv at the time of the crash 'this proves that the plane didn't break in mid air but that all that destruction was inflicted to it as a result of that contact,' he said nearly 140 rescue workers, doctors and police officers responded to the crash the iac investigates and analyzes aviation accidents in the former soviet union, and oversees civil aviation across the region | nonvibratile pangens cruces | no related information |
(cnn) a new york businessman says tampa, florida, socialite jill kelley asked him for an $80 million commission if she used her influence to win a south korean business contract kelley, who triggered an fbi investigation that led to the resignation of cia director david petraeus, claimed she was a high level representative of the south korean government, says the businessman, adam victor in reality, according to the south korean foreign ministry, kelley holds a simple honorary title 'special consul' which boasts no official responsibilities with the prospect of a commission on a $4 billion deal to provide natural gas, kelley 'tried to sell herself as something she was not,' victor, president of transgas development systems, told cnn 'i told her she was crazy' it's not the only time kelley has claimed to have privileges because of a special diplomatic status on sunday, she called 911 complaining that a man she didn't know was on her property, describing herself as an 'honorary consul general' with 'inviolability' a spokesman for kelley did not return cnn's phone calls seeking comment although there have been no allegations of wrongdoing, it's among the latest twists in a story with possibly troubling ramifications on several levels, including, potentially, national security pillow talk: a spy agency's 'worst nightmare' kelley came under public scrutiny after petraeus quit last week, admitting his extramarital affair with his biographer, paula broadwell anonymous e mails sent to kelley prompted her to alert the fbi, which eventually uncovered the affair kelley has close ties to several high ranking military figures, including petraeus and gen john allen, commander of us forces in afghanistan living not far from macdill, home of the us central command, or centcom, kelley and her husband, scott, a doctor, hosted parties attended by high ranking military officials she even took part in a special operations command sponsored parachute dive, the army said an $80 million commission would have been helpful to the kelleys she and her husband have struggled with financial troubles, according to public records their tampa area home, which was purchased in 2004 for $15 million, has been the subject of foreclosure proceedings since april 2010 records show a total of 11 lawsuits involving the kelleys kelley is well connected to the local military culture in october 2010, she took part in a parachute skydive organized by the us special operations command the jump was part of a program that 'reached out' to members of tampa's civilian community and the media, a command spokesman said hosting foreign guests was not unusual for the kelleys, a high ranking former centcom military officer said in a may 14 e mail obtained by cnn, kelley invites tampa mayor bob buckhorn to join her at her home for dinner with 'a group of vip's visiting from afghanistan, pakistan and napal, (sic) here by the authority of the state department ' read kelley's e mails many guests at kelley's parties were foreign liaison officers attached to the so called coalition village at macdill's sprawling compound, the source said most of those foreign liaisons were not cleared for sensitive classified access to military documents 'they frankly didn't have a lot to do,' the former officer said, 'and looked forward to the parties given by the kelleys' while the kelleys opened their mansion to military brass, perhaps understandably, they haven't been as welcoming to members of the news media parked outside kelley complained about it in an e mail obtained by cnn that was sent to buckhorn at 5:57 am tuesday 'bob,' wrote kelley, 'hope all is well can you help out with the obstruction by the paparazzi, since they're blocking our alley, our driveway and continue to trespass on my property my kids are scared, and need their 'home' back' another e mail from kelley complained about tampa police releasing recordings of her 911 calls last weekend ' my family has been put through the ringer and my kids are scared,' kelley wrote in the e mail 'and to put insult to injury, your police dept gave the local 911 tapes to the press! my home address and cell phone number is played on them i have been receiving threats all night, by people that now have my cell phone number i cannot understand why your dept would release my address and cell number and make me and my daughters in harms way' although 911 recordings released by officials often include caller phone numbers and addresses, most major news organizations do not release that information as part of the recordings another fact that has emerged is that kelley visited the white house complex three times since september 28, once for a tour with her family and twice for courtesy meals in its cafeteria with her sister and a white house staffer, a white house official said friday the staffer met the family during a visit to macdill air force base, the military installation near where the kelleys live the petraeus scandal: what we know so far | kelley white house between september and november petraeus south korean jill kelley special operations command | kelley visited the white house three times between september and november . businessman: woman who triggered petraeus probe offered to influence south korean deal . he says jill kelley claimed to be a high level south korean government representative . kelley went skydiving with a special operations command team, military says |
washington (cnn) the us military's 'don't ask don't tell' policy could be overturned in the first year of president elect barack obama's administration, according to the lead sponsor of a bill that would repeal the law a bill that would repeal the us military's 'don't ask don't tell' policy has 149 co sponsors in the house obama has pledged to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the us military a spokesman for obama's transition office would not comment for this story, but two months ago, obama suggested he would move cautiously, telling the philadelphia gay news he would first get the military on board 'although i have consistently said i would repeal 'don't ask don't tell,' i believe that the way to do it is to make sure that we are working through processes, getting the joint chiefs of staff clear in terms of what our priorities are going to be,' obama told the newspaper instituted in 1993, the policy ended the military's practice of asking potential service members if they are gay, but requires the dismissal of openly gay service members a bill to replace the law with a policy that would allow gays to openly serve has 149 co sponsors in the us house, including ellen tauscher, d california tauscher said that with a new administration, the timing is right to try to pass the bill 'the key here is to get bills that pass the house and the senate, that we can get to president elect obama to sign, and i think that we can do that, certainly, the first year of the administration,' tauscher told cnn gay rights advocates say it's important for obama to avoid the approach used by the clinton administration president clinton initially promised to repeal the military's then complete ban on gays with an executive order but the plan roiled pentagon brass including then joint chiefs chairman colin powell and provoked a fierce backlash from conservatives in congress congress stripped clinton of his power to change the policy and forced him to accept the 'don't ask don't tell' compromise a law that can be repealed only by congress but after 15 years and four wars, attitudes in the pentagon and among the public have changed a washington post/abc news poll this summer found 75 percent of americans support allowing gays to serve openly, compared to only 45 percent in 1993 retired adm charles larson, the former head of the naval academy, heads a list of more than 100 retired us military leaders who have signed a statement calling for an end the policy, according to the palm center at the university of california santa barbara the think tank has studied issues involving gays in the military for the past decade cnn's laurie ure contributed to this report | anaphroditous sweepback uneroded | no related information |
mexico city, mexico (cnn) a vicious turf war between drug cartels and mexican authorities that has left as many as 4,300 dead so far this year may have caused a breach in the internal security systems of interpol, the international police organization a member of the federal investigative agency participates in an narcotics operation interpol, which is based in france, announced wednesday it is sending a team of investigators to mexico to investigate the possibility that its communications systems and databases are not being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes the prospect was raised after the arrest of the top official working with the agency in the country ricardo gutierrez vargas, director for international police affairs at mexico's federal investigative agency and the head of mexico's interpol office, was placed under house arrest sunday, the attorney general's office said tuesday more than 30 officials have been arrested since july in connection with the anti corruption operation limpieza, an ongoing investigation into information leaks by law enforcement officials to drug traffickers, said niverda amado, a government press secretary in mexico city gutierrez can be held for up to 40 days while authorities 'obtain sufficient evidence to determine his probable responsibility,' the attorney general's office said in a news release rodolfo de la guardia garcia, a former top official at the federal investigative agency, also is under 40 day house arrest he was arrested october 29 mexico's interpol office, or national central bureau, is staffed and run by the federal investigative agency mexican officials did not offer specifics on their investigation other than to say that operation limpieza, which means 'operation cleanup,' is aimed 'against public servants who give reserved information to people not authorized to have it' interpol said in a news release wednesday it needs to make sure the agency's information remains secure 'as mexico's attorney general's office has a duty to ensure that interpol's communications system and databases are being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes and in compliance with interpol's rules, interpol is immediately dispatching a team of general secretariat staff to mexico,' interpol said 'the purpose of their mission is to meet with relevant mexican authorities in order to establish if there are any allegations of improper use of interpol's systems by any mexican law enforcement official' after the investigation, interpol said, the agency will determine whether proper security steps have been taken 'an assessment can then be made of the procedures put in place by the attorney general's office, which is responsible for the interpol office in mexico, to ensure that interpol's rules and regulations are being followed,' the agency said the arrests came amid 'a war of master proportions' between authorities and narcotics traffickers that has left more than 4,300 dead so far this year, according to the council on hemispheric affairs, an independent research and information organization by comparison, the council said in a report tuesday, there were 2,700 drug related deaths in 2007 'homegrown drug cartels operating from both within and outside the country are engaging in a vicious turf war to seize control of major trafficking corridors while engaging in almost open warfare against the mobilized forces of the state,' the council says about what it calls 'narco fueled crime' mexican leaders have been trying to tamp down the violence by tightening controls on money laundering and cracking down on corruption among local and municipal police forces infiltrated by drug traffickers it may not be enough 'due to pervasive corruption at the highest levels of the mexican government, and the almost effortless infiltration of the porous security forces by the cartel, an ultimate victory by the state is far from certain,' the hemispheric council concludes drug trafficking in mexico is a $20 billion to $50 billion a year industry, as much as the nation earns from tourism or remittances from mexicans living in the united states, said robert pastor, a former national security adviser to president jimmy carter and now a professor of international relations at american university in washington he has been studying latin america for more than four decades 'this is a huge industry with an extraordinary capacity to corrupt and intimidate the country and they're doing both right now,' said pastor, also a former director of the carter center's latin american and caribbean program the drug cartels are paying some mexican officials bribes of $150,000 to $450,000 a month, authorities have said the payment is far beyond the per capita income of $12,500 a year in mexico, where one of every seven mexicans lives in poverty, according to the cia world factbook pastor believes that mexican president felipe calderon, who took office in december 2006, made a correct assessment that he needs to fight the drug cartels as hard as he can 'you have to obviously escalate the cost of violating the law,' he said the united states also could help more, he said 'there are 7,600 gun shops within 50 miles of the mexican border, and they're selling primarily to drug lords,' pastor said 'we are part of this problem and we haven't been significantly supportive' and while the war may never be completely won, the government can make vast gains, as happened in colombia, he said pastor was in mexico giving a speech last week when colombian president alvaro uribe met with mexico's calderon mexicans were quite taken with uribe's message on how to fight drug traffickers, pastor said the first step that uribe took, he said, was to take the fight to the paramilitary forces, the drug traffickers and the leftist guerrillas known as farc, who often work in collaboration with the traffickers also, pastor said, colombian officials 'used money the same way that the narcotraffickers do to bribe people and there's a lot more security on the streets and everywhere else, so people feel safer' despite the gains, he said, the ultimate answer may have to come from the political arena, not from law enforcement 'there's no easy solution to it unless you put an end to the criminalization drugs, and that's not going to happen,' pastor said cnn's arthur brice contributed to this report | interpol mexico ricardo gutierrez vargas operation cleanup gutierrez vargas | new: interpol sending team to mexico to check if sensitive info compromised . ricardo gutierrez vargas detained under mexico's 'operation cleanup'. gutierrez vargas is head of interpol operation in mexico . previous 'cleanup' arrests have involved charges of selling info to drug cartels |
(cnet) three state attorneys general were scheduled to meet with craigslist representatives to begin negotiations toward eliminating advertisements from the site for prostitution and other suspected illegal sexual activities philip h markoff is suspected of killing a 25 year old masseuse he met through craigslist at a boston hotel state attorneys general from missouri, illinois, and connecticut were to represent a group of state attorneys general in a meeting tuesday in new york city with representatives of the web site missouri attorney general chris koster said his office found several ads offering and seeking prostitution on craigslist pages for the kansas city, st louis, columbia/jefferson city, and springfield areas 'craigslist is allowing advertisements for illegal activities like prostitution on its site,' koster said a statement 'it is blatant it is irresponsible it is illegal' craigslist ceo jim buckmaster expressed optimism toward the goal of reducing illegal activity on the site but stopped short of discussing the removal of the 'erotic services' section 'craigslist looks forward to meeting with the attorneys general, and anticipates making further progress toward the common goal of eliminating illegal activity from craigslist, while preserving its full utility and benefit for tens of millions of law abiding americans who value and depend on craigslist's free local community services in their everyday lives,' buckmaster said in a statement the site's erotic services section was thrust into the national spotlight following the arrest last month of philip h markoff, who is suspected of killing a 25 year old masseuse he met through craigslist at a boston hotel markoff, a 22 year old medical student at boston university, was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and kidnapping he is also suspected of attacks on two other escorts at hotels however, even before the so called 'craigslist killing,' the site had worked with a group of 40 attorneys general to create new measures on the site designed to thwart ads for prostitution and other illegal sexual activities craigslist requires anyone posting ads to the erotic services section to submit an operational phone number and credit card, the site announced last year but those measures don't do enough to stem prostitution, according to a federal lawsuit filed in march against craigslist by the sheriff of illinois' cook county, alleging that the web's largest classifieds publication is 'facilitating prostitution' sheriff tom dart asked the court to force craigslist to remove the erotic services section and for $100,000 in compensation for the man hours the county paid police to investigate alleged criminal services being advertised on the site buckmaster suggested at the time that the suit was a waste of time, saying that 'craigslist cannot be held liable, as a matter of clear federal law, for content submitted to the site by our users' craigslist announced later that month that ads for such services were down 90 percent to 95 percent during the past 12 months on craigslist sites that serve five major us cities however, many cnet news readers suggested that the reduction was due to the ads being relabeled and moved to another section while some portray craigslist as the world's largest bordello, workers in the sex trade say the site helps reduce the risk of violence prostitutes often face 'craigslist is important to helping us avoid violence,' a 35 year old sex worker in san francisco told cnet news last month before the murder in boston occurred 'craigslist is a way to filter out that kind of personand with craigslist there is no need for pimps' © 2009 cbs interactive inc all rights reserved cnet, cnetcom and the cnet logo are registered trademarks of cbs interactive inc used by permission | craigslist tuesday philip markoff | craigslist has been under fire over its listings for suspected illegal sexual activities . three state attorneys general plan to meet with craigslist representatives tuesday . two sides are expected to discuss eliminating ads for prostitution from the site . philip markoff is suspected of killing a masseuse he met through craigslist |
(cnn) venezuelan president nicolas maduro is unapologetic about his government's response to opposition protesters during weeks of unrest in the south american country think about what the us government would do if a political group laid out a road map for overthrowing president barack obama, maduro said thursday in an exclusive interview with cnn's christiane amanpour 'what would happen in the united states if a group said they were going to start something in the united states so that president obama leaves, resigns, to change the constitutional government of the united states?' maduro said, according to a cnn translation of his remarks 'surely, the state would react, would use all the force that the law gives it to re establish order and to put those who are against the constitution where they belong' maduro said that a minority group among the opposition is responsible for a 'violent plan' that group, he said, has put the opposition in a 'dire situation' the venezuelan president spoke with amanpour in an exclusive interview a day after the one year anniversary of the death of his predecessor, president hugo chavez the interview aired friday on cnn weeks of anti government protests have rattled venezuela and drawn sharp responses from maduro, who has called for peace while describing those opposing him as fascists and extremists demonstrators say they have taken to the streets to protest shortages of goods, high inflation and high crime it's the biggest threat maduro has faced since his election last year one opposition leader who encouraged protests, leopoldo lopez, is behind bars, facing charges of arson and conspiracy 'he created a road map to topple the legitimate government,' maduro said 'so now he's in jail and he has to go through justice' maduro said he supported venezuelans' right to protest conditions in the country, which he said were not as bad as was being portrayed for example, he said, unemployment has dropped from 25% to less than 10% over the past decade and extreme poverty has fallen from about 35% during the 1990s to 6% today he made no apologies for continuing work on the goals spearheaded during the reign of his predecessor and lifted from the playbook that guided his mentor, former cuban president fidel castro health care and education to all and the eradication of extreme poverty protesters have accused maduro's government of violence that has claimed some 20 lives during the protests government officials have blamed lopez and other opposition leaders for fueling the violence and not doing enough to stop it maduro said the unrest had not kept him awake at night 'i sleep like a child,' he said 'luckily, i have peace of mind, total peace of mind, and i have it because i know i've been loyal and i'm filling the legacy of this marvelous giant figure who is president chavez, and it gives me peace of mind, and i do things with honesty to favor my people' maduro said venezuela has fine relations with the people of the united states he cited trade union workers, artists, intellectuals and members of social movements as examples but he acknowledged that relations between washington and caracas have been rocky 'there is sufficient evidence of us agencies, of how you have conspired to put an end to this revolution, to destroy president chavez,' he said last month, maduro expelled three us diplomats form venezuela, accusing them of conspiring against his government in response, the united states last week expelled three venezuelan diplomats but maduro held out hope for warmer relations 'we want to have a new type of relation, based on respect, equality among states and the recognition of what we are today,' he said he said he was confident that his recent appointment of maximilian arvelaez as his new ambassador to washington, a position that's been vacant since 2008, would result in progress 'i'm certain that he will be very helpful to establish new levels of relations,' he said washington has appeared far less enthusiastic about closer ties with venezuela a state department spokeswoman said last month that the united states wants to develop 'a more constructive relationship with venezuela,' but noted that wouldn't be easy 'we've said many months ago that could include an exchange of ambassadors,' the spokeswoman, jen psaki, told reporters 'but venezuela also needs to show seriousness for us to be able to move forward and recent actions, including expelling three of our diplomats, continue to make that difficult' that tense relationship could change, maduro said asked what his message was for the united states, the venezuelan president didn't hesitate 'my message is respect, dialogue, overcoming the visions that they have about venezuela precisely, i made a decision to designate a new ambassador for the united states,' maduro said 'don't go into a dead end in relation to venezuela and latin america our message to everyone in power in the united states is respect venezuela, respect latin america, and let's establish new levels of relations' cnn's luis arce contributed to this report | washings presentment overrigidness | no related information |
(cnn) ifa, one of europe's largest consumer electronics exhibitions kicked off this week in berlin with manufacturing giants such as samsung, sony and lg all rumored to be launching new products at the show, cnn asked stephen graves, online editor at stuff magazine, to select five of his favorite gadgets from the exhibition floor sony xperia z1 sony's new flagship smartphone features an amazing 207mp camera, plus an even tougher and more water resistant frame than its predecessor the xperia z inside, the xperia z1 has a more powerful quad core processor and a whopping 3000mah battery and with a razor sharp 5in full hd screen, it's shaping up to be yet another top class android phone stuff's will dunn says: 'although it's not a comprehensive overhaul of sony's flagship phone, the xperia z1 does offer several incremental improvements' read more: xperia z1 review panasonic toughpad 4k ut mb5 panasonic has managed a world first with this 4k compatible tablet, which features an incredibly sharp 3840 x 2560 pixel screen at 20 inches in size, it's around four times bigger than an ipad and manages only two hours of battery life, so portable it isn't but this windows 8 powered beast is certainly something to behold don't expect to spot many in the wild though the €4,500 price tag will be hard for even the most ardent early adopter to stomach samsung galaxy gear and galaxy note 3 samsung put on a huge press conference to announce a handful of new products, but the korean giant is clearly banking on them being blockbuster hits the galaxy note 3 is the third generation of the note 'phablet' (bigger than a smartphone, smaller than a tablet) with a 1920 x 1080 57in screen, eight core processor, 13mp camera with 3x optical zoom and a swanky stitched leather back panel, it's looking set to be one of the most powerful, versatile mobile devices on the market read more: galaxy note 3 review the galaxy gear is something entirely new for samsung it's an android powered smartwatch that maintains a link to your samsung galaxy phone to deliver notifications, control music playback and access apps read more: samsung galaxy gear review 3doodler a 3d printer that you hold in your hand like a pen, the kickstarter funded 3doodler is undoubtedly one of the coolest breakout oddities of ifa 2013 the size of a cuban cigar, it extrudes hot, quick setting plastic from its nozzle nib, allowing you to 'sketch' out small 3d models in minutes it's much faster than using a traditional 3d printer and doesn't require any software to boot read more: 3doodler review for all the latest news from ifa 2013, click here | filoplumaceous pnxt staddling | no related information |
los angeles (cnn) seven months in the los angeles county jail have taken a physical toll on conrad murray, the doctor convicted in michael jackson's death, his lawyer told cnn monday 'he looked horrible,' attorney valerie wass said, describing a visit last week with murray 'i've never seen him like that i'm shocked' word that murray is suffering behind bars may be welcomed news to some jackson fans who were angry that prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter and not the more serious crime of murder murray, 59, has been in jail since november when he was found guilty he must serve two years of his four year sentence in jail, which would put his release in october, 2013 michael jackson 'bad' reissue to feature unreleased wembley stadium show next monday will be the third anniversary of jackson's death, which the los angeles county coroner ruled was caused by a fatal combination of the surgical anesthetic propofol and sedatives administered by murray 'he told me last tuesday 'i may not make it out of here alive this is a very dangerous place i'm in here dying the system is intent on killing me,'' said wass, who is handling murray's appeal the doctor suspects his moldy, fly infested, 5 by 7 foot cell is making him sick, causing headaches that have plagued him for several weeks, wass said when wass took murray's complaints to jail officials, they told her his activities are restricted because 'we're afraid somebody's going to pop him,' she said it took several days for murray to see a doctor about his persistent headache last week, wass said murray is 'receiving the appropriate level of care for his medical condition,' los angeles county sheriff spokeswoman nicole nishida said monday murray is serving his sentence in the county jail, which is operated by the sheriff, because of rules imposed to relieve state prison overcrowding there is little chance he would be transferred there, wass said dr murray's medical license suspended wass said she believed murray would better off in a state prison, where he would be able to get exercise and fresh air regularly he's only seen the sunshine once in the past four weeks, even though prisoners in the high security 'f block' are suppose to be taken to the jail roof each monday afternoon, she said murray told his lawyer even the 'grim sleeper' suspect, who is charged with killing 10 women over a 22 year period, was allowed on the roof last monday while murray was not, wass said the sheriff's spokeswoman said he was getting 'standard roof time' of once a week 'i feel like a pow,' murray told his lawyer, using the acronym for prisoner of war he gets fresh underwear just once a week, his lawyer complained murray's getting the 'normal linen and clothing exchange,' nashida said still, murray appears to be getting along well with his jailers, his lawyer, wass, said 'i've been respectful to the sheriff's deputies and for the most part they have reciprocated,' the lawyer quoted murray telling her the jail food is disagreeable to murray, wass said he told her he's has 'nothing real to eat' since being locked up a breakfast of a 'smelly' boiled egg, two slices of bread, cereal and milk is delivered at 4:30 am each day, followed by a peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwich for lunch dinner, delivered at 3:30 pm, is usually is 'a meat product that looks like clotted blood,' along with green beans, corn and cabbage, she said murray passes his time each day helping other inmates improve their vocabulary with a 'word of the day' game that he designed, she said wass, who is working without pay, is still preparing the appeal of murray's conviction conrad murray sentenced to four years behind bars | conrad murray murray seven months 16 months next monday third michael jackson's | 'i may not make it out of here alive,' conrad murray tells his lawyer . murray complains he's getting sick in his moldy, fly infested, 5 by 7 foot cell . after serving seven months, murray has 16 months to go in jail . next monday is the third anniversary of michael jackson's death |
(cnn) carefully maneuvering around a jumble of slippery rocks, josephat torner slowly steps inside a cluster of dark caves in northeast tanzania ahead of him, leading the trail with an air of assurance, walks a local witchdoctor aided by a couple of artificial lights, the two figures venture deeper into the darkness, running their hands along the cavern's limestone walls for guidance bats meandering above their heads, the men enter a vast cave chamber dotted with a handful of rocks 'what i want to know is,' torner breaks the silence,' have you ever seen anyone pray for something evil down here?' he asks the witchdoctor 'so they can get hold of someone? like an albino?' an albino himself, torner has been traveling around tanzania to debunk the widespread misconceptions about the congenital disorder dozens of albinos have been mutilated and slaughtered in the country in recent years, because of rumors being spread that their body parts can bring wealth and good luck read this: witchcraft in tanzania to stop the atrocities, torner thought he needed to confront the group he believed was the source of these rumors: witchdoctors and that's what brought him to the depths of this cave, face to face with his 'enemy' 'we call you a spirit because a white person like you is the devil,' readily admits the witchdoctor 'you're saying i'm a white demon?' torner hits back, 'we are demons?' the reply: 'yes, because you're white' 'in the shadow of the sun' this dramatic confrontation is one of the most intense moments captured in a new documentary, called 'in the shadow of the sun' the independent film, shot by director harry freeland, chronicles the life story of torner and his fight for acceptance of albinos in a country where little is known about the genetic disorder 'my heart always is still looking the recognition of people with albinism in this world,' says torner, who's been an advocate for albino rights since 2004 'just to recognize that we are here' torner and freeland spent six years creating the film the director's inspiration to make a documentary on albinism came nearly a decade ago, when he had one of his first encounters with someone with the disorder in senegal 'a woman approached me in the street, held out her child and said 'here, take it back, where it comes from,' remembers freeland 'she had a child with albinism and because i'm white, she thought the child belonged to me in some way her husband had left her for having a white child and accused her of sleeping with a white man' leading man people with albinism are born with genes that do not make the normal amounts of the pigment called melanin those born with the disorder, which affects people from all races, inherited the genes from their parents who may or may not have any of the associated traits but many people don't understand the effects of the condition and as freeland discovered, in parts of africa albinos often suffer social stigma, prejudice and even attacks read this: slave trade ghost town keen to make a film documenting the plight of this group of people, freeland headed to tanzania, the country reported to have one of the biggest albino populations in the world there, he came across many amazing stories, but he didn't find his leading man until he met torner 'i just heard him speak and instantly, i just knew he was the one to lead the film,' says freeland 'i think so many stories that come out of africa are negative, and everything about josephat is positive' despite growing up with a disorder that left his skin and hair pale, as well as his strength and eye sight weak, torner has succeeded in making the best of his situation over the years, he's overcome struggles and discrimination to receive an education and get married a father of two, torner' has even climbed africa's tallest mountain, kilimanjaro, to prove that albinos can achieve greatness 'it was really very difficult to climb,' he admits 'but i was climbing because at that time i had an agenda behind for what is happening to this world,' he adds 'we are killed, we are hunted, we are chopped so i climbed with a special message to the african countries: that we are able but [also] protect us, give us a chance, don't stigmatize, don't isolate, don't hide us to the darkness room just open the way' 'why are they killing us?' in 2009, the tanzanian government embarked on a campaign against the killers of albinos, particularly in the lake victoria region freeland says at the heart of the problem are witch doctors making claims that albino body parts can bring wealth 'in tanzania, there's been 72 reported people with albinism killed over the last five years,' says freeland, noting that the actual number could be higher 'and there's been 34 people left mutilated that have survived attacks' some of the victims were people torner used to know 'i was angry,' says torner, recalling the moments following his confrontation with the witchdoctor 'he answered it to me directly, without even trying to hide anything so i was angry, of course, because i remember my brothers and sisters whom i lost, because i will not see them forever and while he's there he's continually surviving,' he adds 'so, you ask yourself, 'what's the problem? why are they killing us? why are they hunting us?'' torner realizes he may never get a suitable answer to those questions yet, this doesn't stop him from doing all he can to bring attention to his message of creating a more inclusive society he hopes that his community work and the documentary focusing on his efforts, coupled with the outreach from other organizations and the government, will eventually make tanzania a place where albinos aren't forced to stay in the shadows 'it's my dream in my life that people with albinism are respected and given all rights which other human beings are being given,' he says 'this is what is in my heart when i would see justice to people with albinism; when i would see the lifespan of people with albinism is increasing, this is still a dream to my life' | tanzania josephat torner in the shadow of the sun | in recent years, there's been an increase in the deaths of albinos in tanzania . at the heart of the problem, are rumors that albinos' body parts can bring wealth and good luck . josephat torner has been spreading awareness about albinism in tanzania . his efforts have been captured in the documentary 'in the shadow of the sun' |
(cnn) it's almost that time: the once a decade moment when the us bureau of the census tries to determine the population counting more than 300 million residents is a complex and costly operation (an estimated $14 billion), but the results yield the basis for how we apportion congress, distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds and understand basic changes to the number and geographic distribution of us residents the largest challenge that the census bureau faces is ensuring everyone is counted, regardless of where they live, who they live with and perhaps most controversially, regardless of whether they are authorized to live in the united states most households will receive a census form by mail in mid march to be filled out as of census day, april 1 first results of state counts for redistricting purposes must be delivered by december 31 the rest of the results will be released over a period of time that ends in 2013 filling out a census form is mandatory by law the 2010 census will have 10 basic questions for each household member, but it is viewed as a burdensome task by some because they see the questions as too personal or the process too intrusive others distrust what the government will do with the information or fear that it may be used against them some are hampered by language barriers still others have more than one residence every decade, the census bureau works hard to make sure everyone is counted once and only once and it makes an extra effort to count those who have traditionally been hard to count: racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and the poor this coming census the largest count of the us population with more immigrants and minorities than ever will be complicated further by the economic downturn and foreclosure crisis because many people are 'doubling up' or otherwise living in temporary quarters the census questionnaire asks for a count of all people who live and sleep in the household 'most of the time,' as of april 1, but not those who are living away at college or in the military or those who are living in a nursing home or who are in a jail, prison or detention facility (they are counted separately from households) 'home' may have changed recently for those whose hardship leaves them little choice but to live with relatives or friends, however temporary that may be 'home' for displaced residents of the gulf coast may be miles away from where they lived before the devastation that hurricanes katrina and rita wrought in their communities 'home' for some immigrants is in us communities even though they are not legally residing in the united states and 'home' may be in a prison or detention center in a state far away from the inmate's hometown residence these are the very residents that census will try hardest to enumerate this spring abutting the challenges of where to call home are the public debates surrounding them: civil rights leaders, recognizing the unique context of the gulf coast region, are working hard to ensure an accurate local census at the same time, other regional leaders would like to see displaced gulf coast residents counted where they lived before the storms a coalition of african american leaders is lobbying for inmates to be counted in their place of residence before imprisonment a tug of war has ensued between latino leaders on one side who are working to get an accurate count of the population regardless of legal status and those on the other side who are advocating a census boycott by immigrants as a way to put pressure on congress to move forward with federal immigration reform a recent amendment introduced in the senate would have delayed the implementation and hiked up the cost of the census, had it passed in an attempt to exclude the unauthorized population from the official count for congressional apportionment purposes, it would have required questions on citizenship and immigration status for each respondent that data is not collected to encourage participation in the census the senators missed the deadline by two years to make a change of that order of magnitude given the demands and challenges, it is vital that we bear in mind the importance of achieving an accurate count and the economic, political and policy implications if we fail understanding our changing population: state and local data on age, race and ethnicity, household size and composition help communities with projections for school enrollment, housing, transportation and health care businesses use census data for decisions about where to locate and for marketing purposes information from the census is used to prepare for emergency services, research changes and advocate for various causes distributing federal dollars geographically: more than $400 billion a year is at stake, federal funds that go to states and localities to build schools, hospitals, highways and fund programs such as medicaid apportioning congress: the redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats is contingent on census results this is the primary purpose of the census as written into the us constitution states and localities also use the data to redistrict; therefore it is in every state's interest to be accurately represented based on their residents one debate that has been resolved: census 2010 will not use statistical sampling as many republican leaders have feared sampling has been proposed as one way to mitigate the undercount of minority populations, the majority of whom are assumed to vote democratic the us bureau of the census does use sampling in its annual american community survey that collects more detailed data including social, economic, and demographic characteristics the political and equity arguments will continue to surface as we head into census 2010 public officials, advocacy groups, and community organizations will need to work together with census officials to get the most out of what will be a difficult enumeration, but one that sets the stage for the next decade the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of audrey singer | 2010 audrey singer latino us singer | as the 2010 census gets underway, the counting process will be especially difficult . audrey singer says recession has led to people doubling up in living quarters . she says latino leaders are split over how to deal with the census . the census aims to count everyone, whether they're legally entitled to be in us, singer says |
kabul, afghanistan (cnn) militants carried out a deadly attack on a government building in eastern afghanistan and fired rockets near kabul's main airport monday as the taliban began their annual spring offensive an armed group stormed the provincial justice department in the city of jalalabad on monday morning, clashing with afghan security forces, authorities said by the time the fighting ended, three insurgent gunmen, two police officers and five civilian employees of the justice department were dead, said sediq sediqqi, a spokesman for the afghan interior ministry at least one other civilian was wounded, he said in the capital, kabul, two rockets landed near military buildings around the northern side of the city's international airport but didn't cause any casualties or material damage, the interior ministry said car bomb kills 4, injures 22 in afghanistan as they often do, the taliban offered a different version of events, claiming the rocket attack had killed several people and damaged buildings in their statement last week announcing the start of their spring military operations, the taliban said the offensive's main targets would include foreigners, afghan government staff and their organizations nationwide each year since nato forces entered afghanistan, the taliban has launched renewed attacks as the snow melts most nato troops are due to withdraw from afghanistan by the end of this year as the us led war effort winds down cnn's masoud popalzai and journalist qadir sediqi reported from kabul cnn's jethro mullen wrote from hong kong | jalalabad kabul taliban year spring afghan | new: attackers kill seven in jalalabad fighting . militants clashed with security forces after storming a government building in the city . rockets land near military buildings in the area around kabul's international airport . the taliban say this year's spring offensive will target foreigners, afghan authorities |
(cnn) sri lanka's president declared wednesday that the country's tamil insurgents are on the verge of total defeat, saying their demise has helped unite the island nation on the 61st anniversary of its independence sri lankan president mahinda rajapaksa 'we are today a nation that has defeated a powerful enemy that stood before us,' mahinda rajapaksa said in his independence day speech 'our entire nation is now united in the shade of the national flag' but in other parts of his speech, rajapaksa indicated that the fight against the tamil tiger rebels was not over 'i am confident that in a few days we will decisively defeat the terrorist force that many repeatedly kept saying was invincible,' he said in another part of the speech, he said, government forces over the past two and a half years have 'been able to almost completely defeat' the rebel forces sri lanka's defense secretary gotabhaya rajapaksa rejected calls wednesday for a negotiated end to the fighting he said there would be no political solution, the online edition of the island reported some in the international community have suggested negotiations to give the rebels an opportunity to surrender that idea is ridiculous, an angry rajapaksa told the island, emphasizing that nothing short of unconditional surrender of arms and cadres could end the offensive on the vanni front government troops and tamil rebels are locked in a battle for the remaining rebel strongholds in the north of sri lanka, where the the country's ethnic tamil minority has been fighting for an independent homeland since 1983 watch a report on risks facing journalists in sri lanka » humanitarian groups say as many as 250,000 unprotected civilians are trapped in the area where the fighting is taking place, and the onslaught has intensified as government forces have closed in on the rebels aid agencies have asked for increased access to the region, calling conditions in northern sri lanka a nightmarish situation the fighting has forced the closure of pudukkudiyiruppu hospital in the vanni region, the last functioning medical facility in the conflict zone | callum indignity pauperized | no related information |
washington (cnn) now that un ambassador susan rice has withdrawn her name from consideration for secretary of state, her supporters are criticizing those who brought her down as well as president barack obama, a long time friend, who they say left her twisting in the wind 'i'm not just disappointed that president obama didn't go forward (with the nomination) he accepted her resignation not to put her name forward,' donna brazile, cnn political contributor and democratic strategist, said on the situation room 'i can understand that the president doesn't want to use all of his political capital, re fight these battles,' brazile said 'they had the knives out for susan, a whole bunch of people this is an old boys' network this is how it operates' susan rice withdraws her name from consideration as secretary of state rice withdrew her name from consideration to become the top us diplomat on thursday after drawing heavy criticism from arizona sen john mccain and other republicans over her public statements about the deadly attack on the american diplomatic mission in benghazi, libya, in september in a letter to obama, she said the senate 'confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly — to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities that trade off is simply not worth it to our country' last month, obama defended rice at a white house press conference and challenged her republican detractors to 'go after me' and calling the character attacks 'outrageous' but obama stalled for weeks on nominating rice or anyone else, which indicated her prospects for the job were dim ultimately, rice's possible nomination was a casualty of a deeply partisan climate in an ongoing political showdown between obama and republicans over the handling of the libya attack that killed ambassador christopher stevens and three other americans, said david rothkopf, editor of foreign policy magazine a lucky day for susan rice 'the rice incident does not represent a significant deviation from the partisan standards of the recent past in washington,' rothkopf said 'in other words, every so often a candidate is targeted and blocked by one party or the other it happens more often (with) the supreme court than with cabinet posts or ambassadorships but it happens' rice became the administration's point person on explaining events in benghazi in multiple tv appearances just days after the attack, rice said the violence apparently was linked to a protest over an anti muslim film produced in the united states senior us officials have said rice's comments were based on an intelligence assessment that was later revised to reflect the belief that it was a planned terrorist assault mccain was withering in his criticism of the administration's initial public explanation he said 'this president and this administration has either been guilty of colossal incompetence or engaged in a cover up, neither of which are acceptable to the american people' mccain is well known for his bluntness but rice also has a reputation for being a aggressive and an effective operator in the corridors of power during her years in washington 'i guess my theory is that she's a sharp tongued, blunt person, and, in the past, she has taken some shots at john mccain and others, and so this is their chance,' conservative new york times columnist david brooks said recently on pbs' newshour of gop criticism of rice before her withdrawal opinion: an unfair portrait of susan rice 'they have no wellspring of sympathy with her, the way they actually probably do with john kerry, her potential rival to be the next secretary of state, having taken a bunch of delegation trips with kerry around the world and so, i suspect there's a lot of old history here that is bubbling up,' he said during the 2008 presidential campaign, rice, who was then serving as the obama campaign's senior foreign policy adviser, called mccain's proposed terrorism policies 'dangerous' other factors in the rice saga were at play as well, rothkopf said 'i think it is more complicated than that and has roots associated with a variety of other factors: the political origins of the debate over benghazi during the campaign, mccain's dissatisfaction with answers rice gave him in person (that deepened his concerns), his ties to and preference for other choices for the job, and so on,' rothkopf said rice was reportedly defensive during her followup meetings with lawmakers aimed at addressing their concerns with her benghazi comments that apparent impression raised red flags with other senators on the fence about her prospects for higher office mccain is seeking a slot on the foreign relations committee next year to be in a position to help weigh in on the next secretary of state and could be in place to question kerry, a fellow decorated vietnam veteran, if he is nominated to the position mccain, who has a good relationship with kerry, and other republican senators have said they would prefer to see the massachusetts democrat and current foreign relations chairman, running american diplomacy rice once appeared to be the inevitable secretary of state cnn's ted barrett, dana bash, ashley killough and elise labott contributed to this report | mesochilium grandad stonepecker | no related information |
(cnn) the latest constitutional amendment being floated by some senate republicans to deny citizenship to children born in the united states to unauthorized immigrants is not new calls for modification of the 14th amendment's birthright citizenship guarantee have appeared during other moments of immigration related hand wringing the question is whether the idea is a good one and the reform is not unthinkable from a democratic point of view in fact, the united states and canada stand apart from other major immigrant receiving societies in the breadth of birthright rules the united kingdom amended its laws in 1981 to provide that only children born to citizens, or permanent residents born in the uk, are citizens at birth in 2004, voters in ireland amended their constitution along similar lines, in part for reasons familiar to the american audience: fear that birthright citizenship attracted asylum claimants who could use their children as anchors the french rule allows children born to foreign parents to become citizens at the age of majority (when the state no longer considers a person a minor), rather than at birth but if ever there were a case for maintaining american exceptionalism, the 14th amendment is it rejection of universal birthright citizenship would upend practices vital to the success of the american venture the proposed amendment's implicit premise, that children of parents who have broken the law do not deserve us citizenship, contradicts a basic american value: the sins of the parents should not be visited upon the children justice robert jackson put it succinctly in dissent from the korematsu decision (1944), which found japanese internment policies during world war ii constitutional: 'if any fundamental assumption underlies our system, it is that guilt is personal and not inheritable' justice harry blackmun reasoned similarly in plyler v doe (1982) when striking down a texas law that would have denied unauthorized children access to public schools frustration with illegal immigration, he wrote, ought not lead to unequal treatment of children who had no hand in creating their 'illegality' us courts and most legal scholars have consistently interpreted the citizenship clause to apply universally, save to the children of diplomats, invading armies and native americans (though the supreme court has never directly addressed the status of children born to unauthorized immigrants) the clause thus operates as a constitutional reset button each generation born in the us stands on its own, with equal citizenship status, regardless of parentage given our history as a society of immigrants, this rule has been crucial to our development into a cohesive political community and to our ability to integrate each new immigrant cohort it ensures that those who are born and raised in the united states have an equal opportunity to participate and contribute and are regarded by others as full americans not all children born in the us remain, and perhaps those senate republicans envision deporting all unauthorized immigrants and their children but clear eyed pragmatism tells us that most children born here also go to school, become socialized and enter adulthood here, making them functionally american unless we are prepared to tolerate the emergence of castes based on parentage, universal birthright citizenship and a robust naturalization regime should remain in place the goals of the proposed amendment are not strictly punitive, though its effects inevitably would be its supporters argue it would reduce incentives for illegal immigration but this argument is not serious the obstacles to passage are nearly insurmountable, and this particular amendment has never come close to succeeding more important, changing the birthright rule would have little to no effect on illegal immigration no doubt stories exist of mexicans crossing the border just to give birth or of tourists arranging vacations to produce us citizen children but the actual causes of illegal immigration are complex and overwhelmingly related to the absence of job opportunities in mexico and the demand for immigrant labor in the us precisely because illegal immigration is difficult to prevent, lawmakers substitute symbolic posturing for genuine policymaking though the 14th amendment is likely safe, it is instructive whenever politicians propose manipulating it to remember its historical role the reset principle can also inform debates over other issues, such as the dream act, which would legalize high school graduates who were brought to the us illegally as children even the debate over whether to legalize existing unauthorized immigrants, which is more complex because of their culpability, would benefit from an appreciation of how second chances can advance equality and integration the conventional interpretation of the 14th amendment reminds us that we take our aspirations to equality seriously we are willing to risk certain costs, such as opportunistic immigration and the creation of citizens who may never develop ties to the us, to ensure political equality for the united states to stand alone on this principle does nothing less than reaffirm traditions that have helped turned a collection of people from all over the world into an integrated and powerful success the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of cristina rodriguez | us cristina rodriguez constitution | 14th amendment guarantees us citizenship to anyone born on us soil . cristina rodriguez says that's been crucial for cohesive, casteless us society . she argues modifying constitution would not reverse tide of illegal immigration |
(hong kong) (cnn) the day after the biggest murder trial in recent chinese history, the country's state media ran stories about the defendant, gu kailai, the high powered wife of deposed chinese politician bo xilai, but kept headlines off the front page the court is still deliberating the case against gu she and a family aide, zhang xiaojun, are accused of poisoning british businessman neil heywood in a hotel room in the city of chongqing last november according to a court official, gu's defense team raised no objection to the prosecution's charges, detailed thursday in a one day trial, a month after she and zhang were charged with murder before thursday's court appearance, gu and zhang hadn't been seen publicly since their arrest in april and they have been unreachable for comment on friday, most major chinese publications including the global times, people's daily, beijing daily, beijing news, guangming daily and beijing morning post published stories about the trial, but they were relegated to page three and beyond one article in the beijing times included a sketched image of gu, but otherwise no photos were published and the reports carried the same story published on state run news agency, xinhua discussion about gu's trial and the surrounding scandal was blocked on social media friday, but netizens in china appeared to be using code names to evade censors one user on sina weibo, the chinese microblogging site, referred to bo, the former communist party chief of chongqing, and his wife, gu as 'b&g' the user wrote: 'b&g case is under strict censorship in china thus not seen on media, all we can see is the standard cctv version by contrast the case is attracting intense international attention and making headlines almost everywhere' 'the immense international attention is natural considering how high level it is and the great impact on chinese politics' some netizens expressed support for bo, referring to him as 'grandfather bo' and wrote about missing his leadership other posts played off bo's last name, which can mean thin, weak or poor in chinese, and some obliquely used the word 'tomato,' apparently to refer to chongqing, which literally means 'the red city in the west' gu's trial has been closely watched by international media, however proceedings were closed to international journalists who clustered outside the court house in hefei thursday after the trial, chinese run state television, cctv showed clips of gu appearing before the court and walking outside flanked by police 'it's a very carefully staged, supposedly public trial, but it isn't public at all,' said jerome cohen, a law professor at new york university 'it's just carefully organized and highly limited in who can attend' the shakespearean like saga involving gu and bo has become one of the most sensational chinese political scandals in recent memory before the allegations in the case came to light, bo was considered to be a strong contender for entry to the politburo standing committee, the nine member team that steers chinese policy but, bo has now been stripped of all his political titles and is being investigated for what officials call, 'serious disciplinary violations' he has been out of the public eye and unreachable for comment however, when the scandal first broke, bo denied any wrongdoing and accused critics of slinging mud at the family for political reasons the scandal comes just months before the country's senior leaders meet to hand over the reins of power to the next generation of leaders, a once in a decade event gu and a family aide, zhang, are accused of poisoning heywood, a 41 year old british businessman who was found dead in november in the southwestern chinese metropolis of chongqing, the city where bo was the communist party chief gu's trial ended after seven hours on thursday the verdict will be delivered at a later date after deliberations, according tang yigan, deputy head of the hefei intermediate people's court tang delivered a statement to the press after the trial thursday, divulging some details of the case against gu chinese authorities have said that gu and her son had 'conflicts' with heywood 'over economic interests' and that she was motivated to kill the briton because of fears for her son's safety cohen, the co director of new york university's us asia law institute, suggested that attempts to block discussion of the trial on social media might only encourage speculation and rumor amongst the chinese public in the absence of facts, rumors can spawn 'some very sophisticated conspiracy theories, many of which are wrong,' he said 'unless there is some kind of investigation reported to the public i think the chinese people who are highly sophisticated and now have the internet and social media, they will remain very, very suspicious of what's going on,' he said gu's trial is considered one of china's most high profile cases since the gang of four trial in 1980 the gang of four, comprised of four officials including the widow of mao zedong, was tried for their role in the country's ill fated cultural revolution all four were imprisoned after a trial that lasted for six weeks cohen said he watched their televised trial in china more than three decades ago since then, 'there have been enormous changes,' he said 'now you have codes of law, you have legal institutions, hundreds of thousands of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, a lot more experience than they had before but in the end, one has to ask what has changed fundamentally with respect to criminal justice?' cnn's tian shao and intern sisi tang contributed to this report | chinese gu kailai gu | chinese media published the same story about gu kailai . discussions about murder trial have been banned on chinese social media . gu's murder trial on thursday lasted 7 hours |
(cnn) airlines canceled thousands of flights for a second day and began to regroup as a historic winter storm pushed through the upper midwest and into the northeast on wednesday o'hare international airport was expected to have limited or no flight operations as up to two feet of snow was forecast to fall on the windy city, said karen pride, a spokeswoman for the chicago department of aviation more than 1,300 flights were canceled on tuesday at chicago's midway airport, airlines canceled flight operations on tuesday the carriers expect to begin operating again on wednesday afternoon, although most weren't likely to resume before evening, pride said both chicago airports remained open despite the grounding of flights hundreds of cots were made available to passengers stranded by the storm, according to pride some concessions were to remain open to accommodate them airlines canceled more than 4,000 flights on tuesday as the massive storm surged out of the southern plains, spreading snow and ice from texas into the ohio valley 'it's going to take days to clear out this storm,' said cnn meteorologist jacqui jeras 'this is a monster' it was also slow going at other airports dallas fort worth international reopened late tuesday morning after shutting down for several hours because of ice, spokesman david magana said american airlines canceled about 1,900 flights for tuesday, 800 of those at dallas forth worth alone the carrier is also scrubbing more than 1,000 flights for wednesday american airlines is allowing travelers who are scheduled to fly on monday through thursday from more than 30 airports in the midwest including those in chicago, detroit and milwaukee, wisconsin to change their plans without penalty southwest airlines canceled more than 900 flights on tuesday, according to spokeswoman marilee mcinnis, who said hundreds of flights will likely be grounded for wednesday passengers with reservations for travel through chicago, st louis, detroit and other cities are eligible to reschedule their flights airtran airways scrubbed 185 flights for tuesday and has canceled another 75 flights on wednesday, spokesman christopher white said airtran passengers traveling through two dozen cities in the region including chicago, st louis and boston can change their reservation without penalty delta air lines canceled 625 flights for tuesday and was grounding at least 800 more for wednesday ahead of the storm, delta issued a winter weather advisory for the northern united states passengers traveling to airports in 20 states through friday can reschedule their itineraries without a fee or get a refund if their flights are canceled or significantly delayed continental airlines, which canceled 650 flights, will allow changes for travel to, through and from nearly three dozen airports, including the airline's hubs in newark in new jersey and cleveland for travelers scheduled to fly through thursday continental said operations at newark airport would be suspended through noon wednesday us airways has also relaxed its change fee policies for passengers scheduled to fly through thursday to or from 27 cities from portland, maine, to akron, ohio travelers on jetblue flights to and from six cities and metropolitan areas in the northeast on tuesday and wednesday will also be able to change their plans with no fees united airlines, which canceled 800 flights, has issued travel waivers for passengers traveling to, from or through 19 states in the midwest and northeast as well as five canadian cities travelers will be able to alter their plans without fees or get a full refund if their flight is canceled | museum overcold cytidines | no related information |
(cnn) a norwegian shipping firm has ordered its vessels to avoid the waters off the horn of africa and criticized governments for failing to curb a wave of piracy after somalia based hijackers seized their largest prize to date image taken by the us navy of pirates leaving a captured merchant vessel in the gulf of aden the decision by the maritime company odfjell se means its 90 plus ships will take the additional time and expense to sail around the southern tip of africa instead of going through the suez canal, a shortcut for mariners for nearly a century and a half 'it is a huge step, but what we have seen is that the piracy activity in the area has increased,' the company's president, terje storeng, told cnn 'we have thought about the crew on board the ships and we don't want them to be exposed to this risk of being hijacked any longer' storeng said in a statement the company will still sail through the gulf of aden only if explicitly committed to doing so by existing contracts the gulf of aden, which lies between the horn of africa and the arabian peninsula, is the gateway to the southern red sea, which is linked to the mediterranean by the suez canal going around the cape of good hope would add thousands of kilometers to a voyage from the middle east to europe or north america map of the new route » the announcement followed monday's news that the 300,000 metric ton oil tanker sirius star was captured by pirates in the indian ocean over the weekend the hijacking took place more than 720 km (450 miles) off the kenyan port of mombasa, well south of the zone patrolled by international warships in an effort to clamp down on the pirates watch more about the tanker hijacking » 'this is the furthest out to sea that we've seen any attack, so it's concerning to us,' lt nathan christensen, a us navy spokesman in bahrain, told cnn 'the pirates are certainly expanding their ability to attack ships out to sea' the 330 meter (1,080 foot) ship, owned by a subsidiary of the saudi aramco oil company, was headed for an anchorage off the somali coast early tuesday the pirates typically hold the crews hostage and attempt to extract a ransom from the owners of the vessels the hijacking of the sirius star, which launched earlier this year, is part of a recent upsurge of attacks off east africa, according to the international maritime bureau the attacks are spreading farther north to the gulf of aden and farther south off the kenyan coast, said noel choong, who heads the bureau's piracy reporting center, which monitors attacks around the world from its base in kuala lumpur, malaysia 'the risks are low and the returns are extremely high for these pirates,' choong told cnn pirates know that their chances of getting killed or captured during a hijacking are very low, he said the imb issued a warning november 14 about the possibility of attacks south of somalia, choong said the next day, pirates hijacked the sirius star the oil tanker, known in the industry as a 'very large crude carrier,' was following the route around the cape of good hope when it was attacked because it was too big to go through the suez with a full load, said arthur bowring, managing director of the hong kong shipowners association 'these pirates seem to be incredibly well equipped and very well armed and very well informed about shipping,' bowring told cnn 'they would appear to be able to go anywhere to get these tankers' the sirius star is the largest vessel ever to be attacked by pirates, choong said it is carrying a crew of 25, from croatia, britain, the philippines, poland, and saudi arabia odfjell's president said the detour around the cape will take between six and 12 days longer than going through the suez storeng would not say how much extra the deviation would cost, though he said odfjell would ask its customers to contribute to the extra cost 'on the other hand, we will not pay the duties to pass the suez canal,' he said 'that's quite an expensive canal passage the duties there are quite heavy' odfjell operates a fleet of chemical carriers, and similar ships have been among those hijacked in recent months in its statement, the norwegian company said it was 'frustrated' by what it called the 'limited interest' shown in securing the high seas 'the efforts that are being made do not seem to put an effective end to what can best be described as ruthless, high level organized crime,' storeng said storeng said the company has suffered one attack, about a month ago in the same area, but the captain and crew managed to deflect the pirates by using the ship's firefighting system he said odfjell prefers to travel with escort vessels instead of hiring private on board security 'we feel that taking on board a ship armed people, and having the risk of shooting at the chemical tankers with explosive cargos on board, is not a good idea,' he told cnn 'we don't want to have a big blow up we prefer to have escort of naval ships as compared to having people on board to protect us with guns we don't feel that is a good option' but the us led naval mission that patrols the horn of africa said successful attacks have decreased in recent weeks russian and british warships have fended off pirate attacks on commercial shipping in the past week, authorities in those countries have reported some experts say the area is too vast to be successfully patrolled by government or military ships, and that pirates take advantage of it cnn's david mckenzie in nairobi, kenya, and caroline faraj in dubai, united arab emirates, contributed to this report | odfjell africa gulf pirate aden this year | odfjell: ships will take additional time, expense to sail around south of africa . company to sail through gulf of aden only if contractually obliged to . pirate attacks have increased sharply in perilous gulf of aden region this year . multinational naval force has been patrolling the area to provide protection |
bangkok, thailand (cnn) flights into thailand have been thrown into chaos wednesday after explosions at two bangkok airports wounded four people and triggered the closure of its main international gateway a major hub in the region for travelers, authorities said passengers face a long wait inside suvarnabhumi airport with most flights canceled the blasts come a day after thousands of anti government protesters stormed the airports to protest the return of thai prime minister somchai wongsawat from the apec summit in peru one blast occurred at suvarnabhumi airport at 5 am (2200 tuesday gmt), an airport official said one person was wounded in that attack continued protests caused authorities to cancel all incoming and outgoing flights there, an assistant to airport director serirat prasutanond told cnn three protesters also entered the airport's control tower, demanding the prime minister's flight schedule, the associated press quoted group capt chokchai saranon, a control tower official, as saying as the airport had been shut down, there were no controllers in the tower, ap reported watch what's behind protesters' demands » the other blast occurred at 6:40 am wednesday (2340 tuesday gmt) at the don muang international airport, wounding three people, police said suvarnabhumi airport later canceled all flights, ap reported on tuesday thousands of anti government protesters partially shut down suvarnabhumi airport, the country's main airport, an airport spokesman said watch fists fly in the terminal » pro and anti government protesters also exchanged gunfire, a thai police official said protesters with golf clubs and long wooden sticks also clashed with airport taxi drivers, with each side throwing things at the other the clash started when the anti government group people's alliance for democracy (pad) was mobilizing supporters near the don muang airport, which the government is using as its temporary office ireportcom: are you there? send pics, video the pad ran into a pro government group, resulting in an exchange of abusive words, and the pro government group threw rocks into the pad crowd prompting an exchange of gunfire, the police official said the pad has been leading protests against the government since may, accusing the government of being a front for ousted former prime minister thaksin shinawatra protesters surrounded the parliament building on monday, forcing lawmakers to postpone their session thaksin was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, only to return after the people power party won elections in december 2007 he left again in august of this year, shortly before he was to face trial on corruption charges in october thailand's supreme court ruled that thaksin had abused his powers while in office and sentenced the absent former leader to two years in prison the case was one of several lodged against thaksin, who protesters want to return to thailand to face trial thaksin stayed in the united kingdom for much of this year before british authorities revoked his visa cnn's kocha olarn contributed to this report copyright 2008 cnn all rights reservedthis material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed associated press contributed to this report | suvarnabhumi airport don muang international airport people's alliance for democracy may | new: authorities cancel all flights at suvarnabhumi airport after blast; one wounded . three people wounded at blast at don muang international airport . pro and anti government protesters exchange gunfire . people's alliance for democracy has been leading protests since may |
(cnn) so what really goes on at the world's busiest airport? since midnight tuesday, a team of more than 30 journalists from cnn has descended on hartsfield jackson atlanta international airport the world's busiest by volume of passengers to find out cnn is looking at the areas we never see when we travel behind the scenes luggage screening with the transportation security administration, on the ramp with southwest airlines ground crews and more and we're looking at the stories behind the people who pass through and work in the airport every day the resulting project will publish later this year, but you can follow along by searching the hashtag #atl24 on twitter or instagram or by following this twitter list from @cnntravel here's a collection of some of the most interesting posts so far tweet with #atl24 or post a comment to let us know what you'd like to learn more about at the world's busiest airport | ultraexcessive obcordiform nontenableness | no related information |
london, england (cnn) days after thick snow brought london to a standstill, the traditional drizzle has returned and it is business as usual in the bustling british capital the snowmen who populated london during the heaviest snowfall in 18 years are looking worse for wear the pavement might be slippery with ice but the resumption of the bus and rail services means that you'll at least be able to move around the city all airports in the south are operating normally albeit with some delays so there's no excuse to stay away with that in mind, cnn business traveller has compiled a guide for visitors to the city it is still wise to bring an umbrella, but this week you may want to throw in a couple of ski poles time zone: london is currently on greenwich mean time (gmt), five hours ahead of eastern standard time and eight hours behind hong kong from the airport: non stop train services link gatwick, heathrow and stansted aiports with central london the heathrow express takes 15 minutes to paddington station and costs from $24 (£1650) for a single journey the london underground costs only $6 (£4) but takes an hour a breakfast meeting: visitors with a healthy budget and appetite might want to start the day at the grand café in the wolseley (160 piccadilly, w1j) where you where you can buy a traditional fry up or 'the english' for just shy of $20 (£1350) a budget option with no less of a london flavor can be found at the the cock tavern (east poultry avenue, ec1a) in the heart of smithfield market meat has been traded there for 800 years and early in the morning you can still see butchers plying their trade in bloodied coats for dinner: impress with a table at one of london's most famous restaurants, le gavroche (43 upper brook street, w1k) or gordon ramsay at claridge's (brook street, w1k) for a cheaper option try a traditional pie and mash shop, the once staple of working class east london life one of the oldest is m manze (87 tower bridge road, se1) that sells jellied eels as well as pie and mash amid the traditional decor of tiled walls, wooden benches and white marble table tops for a drink: two of the oldest london pubs include ye olde cheshire cheese (145 fleet street, ec4a) in the city of london and the prospect of whitby (57 wapping wall, e1w) a short walk along the thames from canary wharf for one of the best hotel bars try the lanesborough (hyde park corner, sw1x) and one aldwych (1 aldwych, wc2b) high flyers can also take in the view over a drink at vertigo 42, the champagne bar atop tower 42 (25 old broad street, ec2n) tipping: expect to tip around 10 percent in restaurants and cabs, but no tips are expected in bars on a fine afternoon (they do exist): visit st james's park to seek out its pelicans and to catch a view of buckingham palace from the bridge on the lake then walk via westminster abbey to waterloo bridge for spectacular views of the palace of westminster, somerset house and victoria embankment finish with a ride on the london eye staying dry: improve your swing at one of london's indoor golf centers urban golf (soho and smithfield) features eight simulators, two putting greens, a bar and lounge and coaching shelter can also be found in some of london's iconic department stores harrods and harvey nichols are both in knightsbridge opening hours: most shops and businesses are open from 9 am or 10 am until 6 pm larger stores in central london stay open till 7 pm or 8 pm and later on thursdays what to avoid: the crowds of tourists in leicester square, the trocadero and the ubiquitous scottish steakhouses in london's west end transport: be warned: a single stop tube journey in central london costs $8 (£4) to save money buy an oyster card, which can be used on london's underground (£160 per single stop journey), buses, trams and some overland rail services black cabs can be hailed anywhere fares are high but the pay off is that all drivers must pass the 'knowledge' an in depth exam on navigating around london which means they really do know where they are going don't miss in february: in 2009 the royal botanic gardens at kew (richmond, tw9) is celebrating its 250th anniversary with a 'tropical extravaganza' of exotic plants in one of its conservatories the natural history museum (cromwell road, sw7) is commemorating the bicentenary of charles darwin's birth and 150th year of the publication of on the origin of species with a major exhibition a number of star studded plays have also just opened in london's theatreland imelda staunton, star of harry potter, is in joe orton's entertaining mr sloane (trafalgar studios until april 11) james mcavoy is in richard greenberg's three days of rain (apollo theatre until may 2) what to pack: february is a particularly bleak and cold month in britain so pack an umbrella and warm clothes for a handy keepsake of the city, buy an umbrella on arrival from james smith & sons (53 new oxford street, wc1a) the shop has hardly changed since it opened in 1830 and offers an impressive range of umbrellas and essential gentlemen's accessories oh, and don't forget to pack thermals and some decent footwear what are your tips for london visitors? sound off below | bradynosus quadrangled ungirdle | no related information |
(cnn) yahoo! announced monday that the search is on for the internet giant's next ceo jerry yang, yahoo! co founder, speaks at an electronics show in las vegas in january the new ceo will replace yahoo! co founder, jerry yang, who assumed the position in june 2007 and has since come under fire for failing to turn around the company yang will step down when a replacement is selected just two weeks ago at the web 20 summit, yang was asked if he was the right guy to lead the battered portal yang dodged the question by defending his passion for the company he co founded 13 years ago 'i didn't make the decision of being the ceo lightly,' he said 'i wanted to make a change at yahoo! that i believe i can make that's a dream that i felt i could achieve by being ceo and that's still the dream today' now, yang plans to return to his former role as 'chief yahoo' and will still have a seat on the board, yahoo! said during his short tenure, yahoo! has had two major rounds of layoffs and has seen its search market share shrink significantly while a series of reorganizations led to the departure of senior executives wall street and shareholders criticized yang for falling short of reaching an agreement to sell the company to microsoft yang also was taken to task when google pulled out of a controversial ad agreement earlier this month that would have boosted yahoo's revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars yahoo! said the search for a new ceo will encompass both internal and external candidates 'over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, jerry yang has led the repositioning of yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues,' said chairman roy bostock 'jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new ceo who can take the company to the next level' | jerry yang yahoo yang microsoft | jerry yang plans to resume his former role as 'chief yahoo'. the yahoo! co founder will still have a seat on the board . yang criticized for not reaching deal to sell yahoo! to microsoft . yang took over as ceo in june 2007 |
london, england (cnn) the worst snowstorm to hit britain in 18 years forced the cancellation of more than 650 flights at london's heathrow airport monday and shut down the city's bus network, partially paralyzing the british capital a group of men push a giant snowball across kensington gardens, west london monday heathrow, one of the busiest transport hubs in the world, closed both its runways for more than two hours monday morning and operated with just one for the rest of the morning, according to baa, the company which runs it london city airport is also closed, while the british capital's other two airports, stansted and gatwick, were operating with severe delays, baa said british airways canceled all flights out of heathrow until 5 pm except for edinburgh and lisbon routes send your ireport videos, stories one of the city's largest cab companies was in such high demand it stopped taking cash and credit card bookings, serving only customers with accounts, it said dial a cab, which has a fleet of over 2,500 vehicles, served mainly blue chip companies trying to get employees into work, said keith cain a control room manager for the company customers waited up to an hour and a half for a cab early in the morning, he said see gallery of uk under snow » jochen jaeger, 36, found himself stranded at heathrow, unable to fly home to zurich or to get back into the apartment he rented in london 'i will stay here at the airport,' he told cnn 'there is no other option i may have to spend the night here' american businessman ken plunkett, 60, from st paul, minnesota, was trying to fly out from heathrow airport but found himself caught in the weather chaos 'i know england does not have the infrastructure to remove snow like we do in minnesota,' he said watch passenger stranded by snow » jenny leslie, a shop worker at heathrow's terminal 2, said it was so quiet at the airport 'you can hear a pin drop' southampton airport, southwest of london, was also closed for several hours monday morning, but re opened by 1200 gmt but many people in the city were delighted by the unusual weather 'londoners of all ages are childishly happy to be making snowmen and having snowball fights bankers of all ages are throwing snowballs in the middle of the residential streets,' monica majumdar told cnn in an ireport she lived in new york before moving to london four years ago, and was surprised by how little snow it took to bring the british capital to a standstill 'i have seen snow like this but somehow, it's more beautiful here it's partly due to the fact that even londoners are amazed by the snow so there is a general air of surrealism,' she said via e mail ' i do feel like i'm in a christmas snowglobe, with all the iconic london monuments blanketed by the powdered snow' london's famous red buses were pulled off the roads on sunday night as the snow got deeper it was the first time 'in living memory' that all city bus service had been suspended, including when london was being bombed during world war ii, a spokesman for the city's transit agency, transport for london, said 'bus services were suspended throughout london last night on the grounds of passenger safety due to the unsafe road conditions resulting in a large number of traffic incidents across london,' the agency said in a statement monday morning watch london grind to a halt » about six million people ride london buses each day, said the spokesman, who asked not to be named some bus service had been restored by lunchtime on monday london mayor boris johnson suspended the £8 ($1130) daily congestion charge drivers normally pay to enter central london, the city transport authority said some bus service had been restored by lunchtime on monday the city's subway system was also experiencing severe delays, leaving normally bustling central london something of a ghost town on a regular weekday, london's transit system handles more than three million passenger journeys the federation of small businesses estimated that at least one in five workers nationwide about 64 million employees failed to make it into work monday morning but the figure was estimated to be far higher around two in five in london and southeast england, which is home to around a fifth of all british businesses monday's disruptions are likely to cost businesses £12 billion ($17 billion), fsb spokesman stephen alambritis told cnn britain's national weather service, the met office, issued severe weather warnings for all of england and much of scotland and wales for both monday and tuesday it reported 20cm of snow in balham, south london, and 15cm at canary wharf in east london the last time such widespread snowfall affected britain was in february 1991, the met office said watch ireport on snowy stonehenge the snow meant a break from school for the region's children as classes gave way to snowball fights in the southern english seaside resort of brighton there was a carnival atmosphere as dozens of people who were unable to get to work threw snowballs and built snowmen on the beach mother of three fiona robbins, 45, added: 'everyone is very excited to be able to show their children proper snow for the first time' tuesday's forecast is expected to bring some relief, with the snow expected to stop and temperatures to rise above freezing two climbers were found dead monday morning on snowdon, the highest mountain in wales, after being reported missing sunday night, north wales police said it was not clear if their deaths were related to the storm cnn business assignment editor alysen miller, laura perez maestro, simon hooper and olivia feld in london contributed to this report | uk $17 billion england 18 years heathrow gatwick monday, tuesday | uk business spokesman: disruptions would likely cost $17 billion . meteorologists said snow is worst in southeastern england in 18 years . major international airports including heathrow, gatwick badly affected . uk weather service issues severe weather warnings for monday, tuesday |
(cnn) a fire on the back porch of a home in coatesville, pennsylvania, was the town's 18th arson fire of the year, authorities determined wednesday morning the latest in a string of arson fires was quickly extinguished on a back porch of this coatesville house john hageman from the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives said the small fire broke out about 9:45 pm tuesday in the eastern pennsylvania town four other fires were deliberately set saturday in neighboring communities in surrounding chester county, according to the atf they were ignited on the front and side porches of homes, officials said none of the homes was completely lost, hageman said the coatesville arsons have received national attention at least 30 fires have been deliberately set in coatesville in 2008 and 2009 of those, more than half have occurred in the past four weeks the string of arson fires has rattled residents, who have demanded action from city hall and fire officials a county task force is investigating the arsons and looking into other fires near coatesville, which is about 40 miles west of philadelphia fire swept through 15 homes in the town during the weekend of january 24 and 25, authorities said coatesville has a population of about 11,000 | coatesville pennsylvania fire | back porch fire is ruled an arson in coatesville, pennsylvania . the town, population 11,000, has had 18 arsons so far this year . at least 30 fires were deliberately set in the town in 2008 and 2009 . fire swept through 15 coatesville homes the weekend of january 24 25 |
(cnn) as anti american furor raged in the home of the arab spring, the top us diplomat on friday sternly warned countries where the unrest has been most pronounced: stop the violence and seek justice against those attacking diplomatic missions, or else the united states will from morocco to malaysia, thousands of muslims have taken to the streets in recent days many have fumed over what secretary of state hillary clinton described friday as an 'awful internet video that we had nothing to do with' an inflammatory anti islam film posted online this summer and publicized in recent days the 14 minute film trailer, which was privately produced in the united states led by a man federal officials identified as nakoula basseley nakoula, mocks the prophet mohammed as a womanizer, child molester and ruthless killer protesters haven't all been violent, and they represent a fraction of their respective nations' populations: in egypt, a nation of more than 80 million people, a few thousand have clashed with security forces outside the us embassy in cairo still, confrontations have aggravated relations between the united states and other nations and led to several deaths including those of the us ambassador to libya and three others killed in an attack tuesday in benghazi, libya the un security council issued a statement friday voicing 'deep concern' over attacks on diplomatic posts, calling them 'unjustifiable regardless of their motivations' clinton said such assaults are misguided and fly in the face of the better society many in these countries recently fought for when they overthrew authoritarian rulers 'the people of egypt, libya, yemen and tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob,' she said friday during a ceremony in which the bodies of the four killed in benghazi returned to the united states 'reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts and we will keep taking steps to protect our personnel around the world' the contrast between then and now was especially evident in tunisia, birthplace of the arab spring two years ago, the self immolation of street vendor mohamed bouazizi set off popular unrest that soon led to the downfall of tunisia's longtime leader, president zine el abidine ben ali on friday, hundreds of demonstrators some belonging to the salafi movement were back on the streets of tunis, setting their sights on the us embassy they burned cars, praised late al qaeda leader osama bin laden, stormed the embassy complex and replaced the us flag with their own black banner, according to witnesses a nearby american school was 'unusable' after being badly damaged, us state department spokeswoman victoria nuland said two people were killed and more than 20 wounded, interim tunisian president al munsif al marzouki said later friday on state run tv while asserting the anti islam video that stirred outrage 'cannot be justified by claims of freedom of opinion and speech' (and adding tunisia plans to sue the filmmaker), al marzouki condemned the 'irresponsible, unjustified acts of violence by protesters' who wrongly blamed the us government for the film new details emerge about mystery filmmaker anti american protests some peaceful, some violent were hardly confined to tunisia here's a breakdown of events friday around the muslim world: in the egyptian capital of cairo, a running battle between police and protesters continued into its fourth day there was a peaceful demonstration at tahrir square, though unrest erupted outside the us embassy as riot police continued to clash sporadically with protesters the interior ministry issued a statement saying 53 security officers were injured friday, seven by birdshot and birdshot was blamed for the death friday of one protester, whom the egyptian ministry described as an ex convict with an extensive criminal record thirty of the 142 people arrested since the unrest began tuesday remain in custody read more about clashes in cairo in egypt's northern sinai, islamist bedouins staged a protest, a security official said militants carrying automatic weapons breached a base housing international peacekeeping troops and burned trucks and a watch tower the armed clashes injured at least four troops and an islamist bedouin the 1,500 troop mission has supervised the security of the egyptian israeli peace treaty since 1979 in sudan's capital, khartoum, protesters got inside the compound with germany and britain's embassies they did not breach the british building, but some got into the german embassy and pulled down a german flag before police with tear gas forced them to retreat at least two people died after being run over by a police vehicle, reported the state run suna news agency, calling their deaths 'an accident' fifty policemen were injured and protesters set a police car on fire, the report said, citing police forces us vice president joe biden later friday called his sudanese counterpart, ali osman taha, to 'express his concern' and press sudan to protect diplomats and their facilities in the african nation in yemen, police opened fire to stop protesters from reaching the us embassy in sanaa, eyewitnesses told cnn yemeni government forces were sent in and, by late in the day, surrounded the us embassy compound, nuland said afghanistan saw its first demonstrations friday hundreds in eastern nangarhar province burned a us flag and chanted 'death to america' and 'we condemn the film' the demonstration lasted about an hour and ended peacefully, a local official said the afghan government has ordered an indefinite block of youtube to prevent people there from watching the clips and staging violent protests in gaza, several thousand gathered after friday prayers and chanted anti american and anti israeli slogans and burned effigies of us president barack obama in syria, hundreds of protesters outside the us embassy in damascus waved placards condemning the film and blaming the us administration for allowing it to be produced and broadcast, the state run syrian arab news agency reported in lebanon, hundreds took to the streets in the northern city of tripoli, attacking and burning down a kfc restaurant one person was killed and 25 others wounded in scuffles between protesters and security forces there also were protests in iran, iraq, pakistan, turkey england, israel, nigeria, malaysia, bangladesh and india among other locales demonstrations were not unexpected: on thursday, the fbi and the us department of homeland security warned there could be more violence 'at home and abroad as the film continues to gain attention' and days before violent protests tuesday in egypt, the us embassy in cairo was warned by the us intelligence community of concerns about the anti islam film that sparked the uproar, a us official told cnn the cable sent to the embassy did not mention a specific threat it only warned about the existence of the online movie and the fact that it was gaining attention jewish groups mad about early reports on anti islam film us authorities have discounted as false a producer's claims to news outlets that the filmmaker was an israeli who made the movie with financing from more than 100 jewish donors israel's government denies that the film's maker is israeli despite the firm condemnation by us government officials, some in the muslim world especially those raised in regimes in which the government must authorize any film production cannot accept that a movie like 'innocence of muslims' can be produced without being sanctioned by washington, said council of foreign relations scholar ed husain 'they're projecting their experience, their understanding (that) somehow the us government is responsible for the actions of a right wing fellow,' said husain, a senior fellow at the new york think thank read husain's piece explaining dissent in arab nations latest on the investigation into us ambassador's killing sources tracking militant islamist groups in eastern libya say the tuesday attack that killed ambassador chris stevens was most likely carried out by a pro al qaeda group four people have been arrested in connection with the attack, although they were not directly tied to the killings, said monem elyasser, the chief aide to libya's prime minister elyasser did not release identities or detail the allegations against the four in custody the evidence leading to the arrests was based partly on witnesses, but 'mostly pictures that were taken around the compound at that time,' libyan prime minister mustafa abushagur told cnni's christiane amanpour mohammed al megaryef, president of libya's general national congress, said he was '100% sure that (the attack) was preplanned, and it was carried out with the intention to inflict all this damage, all this havoc' including rocking relations between libya and the united states he called for 'the international community' to help libyan security control militant groups behind such violence contrary to al megarye's assertion, white house spokesman jay carney said friday that us authorities know of 'no actionable intelligence' that indicates the benghazi attack 'was planned or imminent' what muslim nations' leaders are saying and not about violence the united nations has asked its non libyan staff to temporarily leave benghazi and head to tripoli as a 'precautionary measure,' said radhia achouri, head of the un mission in libya and since tuesday's assault, the us has announced it will fly unmanned drones over libya and dispatch two warships carrying guided missiles the first of which has already arrived off the coast of libya us marine teams have been dispatched to libya as well as yemen and sudan to safeguard american diplomatic posts in those nations, according to us officials 'although these security forces are equipped for combat, these movements have been undertaken solely for the purpose of protecting american citizens and property these security forces will remain in libya and in yemen until the security situation becomes such that they are no longer needed,' obama said have you witnessed the attacks? share your images, but stay safe cnn's harmeet singh, kareem khadder, mohammed tawfeeq, arwa damon, ben wedeman, hamdi alkhshali, brian walker and elise labott, and journalists masoud popalzai, zied mhirsi, isma'il kamal kushkush contributed to this report | interdependent khakis cricketed | no related information |
mexico city (cnn) mexican president felipe calderon outlined a series of economic recovery measures wednesday, including freezing gasoline prices for the rest of the year and lowering natural gas prices by 10 percent mexican president felipe calderon announces his economic recovery proposals on wednesday calderon also announced an ambitious agenda to help rebuild the nation's highways, bridges and other public use facilities the national infrastructure program, as he called it, will spend 570 billion pesos ($42 billion) petroleos mexicanos, the nationally owned oil industry, will receive an additional 17 billion pesos ($12 billion) calderon made his wide ranging announcement in a nationally televised speech attended by his wife, cabinet members, governors and other public and private officials he said mexico is in better shape this year to fight off recession than it was in previous instances the recovery plan will address five areas: employment aid, family finances, competitiveness, infrastructure, and actions toward public spending that is more transparent and efficient in all, calderon promised to spend billions of pesos to help mexicans weather the global financial storm for example, calderon pledged 26 billion pesos ($193 million) to improve a social security program for unemployed mexicans, increasing from two months to six months the time they will receive medical and maternity coverage other programs he announced also carried hefty price tags the government will spend 22 billion pesos ($163 million) to help mexicans who are unemployed or underemployed, calderon said the recovery measure includes financing to help poor families buy more energy efficient electrical appliances the government will set aside 750 million pesos ($55 million) to pay 50 percent of the costs of replacing old appliances to help businesses, the federal government will make at least 20 percent of its purchases from small and medium size companies, calderon said the government also will establish a 5 billion peso ($372 million) fund to start a 'made in mexico' program for businesses to sell supplies to the national petroleum industry | mexico year billions of pesos mexicans | mexico leader says gasoline prices will be frozen for rest of year . also planned is ambitious program to rebuild nation's infrastructure . billions of pesos will be spent to help mexicans weather financial storm . plan also calls for steps to aid small and medium size companies |
(cnn) fannie mae and freddie mac were created to help individuals realize the american dream of home ownership, but they now find their survival at risk in the us mortgage crisis steps to shore up fanniemae and freddie mac could eventually stabilize home prices friday's closure of california based indymac bank by federal regulators on friday sparked investor panic that sent shares of mortgage finance giants fannie mae and freddie mac on a wild ride and fueled speculation of a government rescue on sunday, the treasury department and federal reserve announced steps to make funds available to fannie mae and freddie mac if necessary indymac, which reopened monday under federal supervision, was once one of the nation's largest home lenders thanks in part to the nation's mortgage crisis, it lost hundreds of millions of dollars this year and last, and concerns about the bank led customers to withdraw $13 billion in the last two weeks, prompting the government takeover below, cnn's ali velshi and gerri willis answer questions about fannie mae, freddie mac and indymac and how you may be affected q: what are fannie mae and freddie mac and what do they do? a: originally chartered by congress, both were converted into private companies with shares traded on wall street neither company directly loans money to prospective home buyers instead, they buy mortgages from banks and other lenders on the secondary market, thus freeing up more funds to home lenders they resell bundled loans as mortgage backed securities read more about fannie mae and freddie mac » combined, the two companies own or guarantee almost half of the home loans in the united states, or $53 trillion of mortgage debt q: how did they get their names? a: fannie mae was created in 1938, during the great depression the nickname comes from the acronym fnma, which stands for federal national mortgage association freddie mac was chartered by congress as a private corporation in 1970 to end fannie mae's monopoly over the secondary mortgage market the name freddie mac spawns from the acronym fhlmc, or federal home loan mortgage corp q: what's the connection between the indymac takeover and fannie mae and freddie mac? a: nothing, except both crises stem from the same problem: a drop in home prices and the inability of mortgage holders to make their payments, thereby leaving banks (whether it was indymac, an actual lender, or fannie/freddie, the secondary banks that had bought mortgages) holding the bag q: will the government's actions change the value of my home? a: steps the federal government is taking to shore up freddie mac and fannie mae is ultimately a positive for the housing industry although it won't happen overnight, housing prices could be stabilized by the move the reason? these two institutions are critical to the smooth functioning of the mortgage underwriting industry q: is my money safe in the bank? a: up to certain limits, money is safe in banks insured by the federal deposit insurance corp the fdic guarantees traditional bank accounts up to $100,000 and individual retirement accounts up to $250,000 money beyond those limits isn't guaranteed if a bank fails in the case of indymac, the fdic says it will cover 50 percent of uninsured balances there but as a practical matter, consumers shouldn't count on that bottom line: owning accounts with amounts that exceed the fdic limits is like driving without a seat belt watch: is your bank safe? » q: how are the government's moves to help fannie mae and freddie mac going to affect mortgages, loans and the federal budget deficit? a: shoring up freddie mac and fannie mae is good news for consumer lending lending generally because it boosts confidence in the mortgage markets if you already have a loan, it's won't have immediate consequences we don't yet know if it will be successful and how much the two entities might take advantage of the federal governments offer to lend them money for that reason, it's difficult to say what the impact might be on the federal budget deficit suffice it to say, however, that the buck always seems to stop with the american taxpayer | fannie mae freddie mac us | fannie mae, freddie mac own or guarantee almost half of us home loans . government announces steps to shore up mortgage giants if necessary . steps could stabilize home prices |
bangkok, thailand (cnn) oscar winning actress angelina jolie has asked thailand to permit greater freedom for thousands of refugees stuck in camps after fleeing neighboring myanmar, according to a un statement released friday angellina jolie and brad pitt visited refugees in northern thailand on wednesday jolie and actor brad pitt traveled to a refugee camp in northern thailand on wednesday in effort to draw international attention to what the un has called 'restricted' movement of roughly 111,000 refugees housed in nine camps along the thai myanmar border, the statement said jolie has spent several years as a goodwill ambassador for the un high commissioner for refugees she said her passion for helping refugees, whom she calls 'the most vulnerable people in the world,' was sparked in 2001 during visits to cambodia' the un estimates more than 5,000 people have fled to northern thailand's mae hong son province between 2006 and 2007 a recent cnn investigation found evidence of the thai army towing an apparent boatload of 190 rohingya refugees a muslim minority group from myanmar out to sea, prompting thai authorities to launch an investigation cnn's dan rivers and kocha olarn contributed to this report | angelina jolie thai myanmar jolie un | angelina jolie calls on thai leaders to grant more freedom to refugees . thousands of refugees are stuck in camps after fleeing myanmar . jolie is currently goodwill ambassador for un high commissioner for refugees |
cnn years ago, a frustrated boy with a violent temper attacked his own mother with a hammer (his older brother restrained him) he stabbed a schoolmate over a dispute about which radio station to listen to; the knife blade luckily hit a belt buckle carson wants to continue educational efforts and find ways to reform the health care system when he retires that brash teen today is a world renowned neurosurgeon and the director of pediatric neurosurgery at johns hopkins children's center dr benjamin s carson made medical history in 1987 by performing the first successful surgery that separated twins conjoined at the back of the head he also became known for his expertise in pediatric brain tumors and methods of controlling seizures in 2008, he received the presidential medal of freedom, this country's highest civilian honor having come up from the streets of detroit, michigan, to receiving an award at the white house, carson, 56, works to spread his gospel of education and hard work to motivate others he and his wife, candy, started a scholarship foundation to help children with strong academics and humanitarian qualities to pay for college 'i have at least 100,000 letters from kids and adults from around the world telling me how it changed their lives,' carson said their tales of transformations and redemption inspire him to keep talking about educational empowerment and overcoming adversity, he said an obstacle is a hurdle, and 'you jump over it,' carson said 'every time you see a hurdle, you jump over it, and it strengthens you for the next one and if that's the case, you lead a victorious life, because whatever comes before you, you know you're going to get around it' carson was raised in detroit, majored in psychology at yale university and attended medical school at the university of michigan, where he studied neurosurgery carson's life has been told through plays, books and movies, including a tnt made for tv movie called 'gifted hands,' which airs saturday (tnt is part of turner broadcasting, which also owns cnn) the biopic stars academy award winner cuba gooding jr as carson 'i think he's an angel, a gift from god,' gooding said 'he has touched a lot of people's lives' carson holds more than 50 honorary doctorates and hundreds of other awards he's fortunate, he acknowledges, but this doctor does not believe in luck 'i always say you make your own luck by being prepared,' he said his mom pushed him hard sonya carson 'would not accept the victim mentality she wouldn't let us accept the victim mentality no excuses she didn't make excuses, and she didn't accept excuses,' carson said she turned off the tv, sent carson and his brother to the library and made them write weekly book reports meanwhile, she worked several jobs to support her two sons she is now 80 and lives with carson in baltimore, maryland when carson was young, he was influenced by stories about booker t washington, a former slave who taught himself to read and later advised presidents, and the biblical character joseph, who persevered though his brothers sold him into slavery 'those kinds of stories had an impact on me and helped me to believe it's not where you started, it's where you end that counts and you have a whole lot to do with that,' he said 'everybody has problems they just come in different forms if that problem for you becomes a containing fence, then you become a victim once you think you're a victim, you are one, and you're not going anywhere' in the same way, carson's biography has resonated with people like 22 year old douglas nivens ii of baltimore, maryland nivens' mother was killed when he was 4 years old, and his father was imprisoned for her murder his aunt raised him, and he endured relentless teasing for his interest in academics while attending public schools in baltimore city during middle school, nivens picked up carson's autobiography, 'gifted hands,' and immediately identified with it 'it was a relief to see someone grew up in the city and didn't have a luxurious life but overcame it all,' he said 'i love stories about underdogs, those who overcome adversity and do something' when he was in middle school, nivens won two $1,000 scholarships from the carson scholars fund, which helps children with strong academics pay for college 'when it came to times of doubt during high school, when i talked to my adviser, they would say, 'you got this award not everyone gets it you're not dumb you have the tools to be successful in life,' ' nivens said 'that's what really helped me in terms of self esteem and management in high school' he graduated with honors from the university of maryland, baltimore county in may 'i probably should not be where i am,' said nivens, a budget analyst for the us social security administration 'i went to baltimore public schools my father's in jail; my mother is dead statistically, i should not be here i should be on parole somewhere or even dead i never looked at it that way i made it through' carson said he's heartened by stories pf people who've been inspired by his biography 'my message is that the person who has the most to do with what happens to you is you,' carson said 'not somebody else, and not the environment if you have a normal brain, you're capable of incredible things' | johns hopkins carson baltimore maryland | doctor overcame troubled youth to head pediatric neurosurgery at johns hopkins . carson won medal of freedom and shares his biography to motivate others . surgeon's biography inspired baltimore, maryland, teen that anything is possible |
(cnn) long before chen guangcheng became internationally known as a human rights crusader, villagers near his home knew him as the man to go to when they had trouble with local authorities despite having little formal legal education, chen began advocating on behalf of villagers in 1996 at the age of 25, according to china human rights defenders, a china based human rights group chen has been at the center of a burgeoning international impasse since his dramatic escape last week from the guards who kept him under house arrest in a small village in eastern china he was confined to his home after serving four years in prison, apparently over his legal advocacy for what he called victims of abusive practices such as forced abortions by china's family planning officials fellow activists say he made his way to the us embassy in beijing, where he remains as the united states and china try to sort out the future for chen, who has sought to call attention to the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations in china yet he never sought out to be a rabble rouser, said new york university law professor jerome cohen, who first met chen when the activist traveled to the united states as part of a state department program in 2004 'you got the feeling you were in the presence of some chinese equivalent of gandhi or something,' cohen said 'he had this gentle but steely moral force' chen was born in 1971 in dongshigu, a small farming village in eastern shandong province, more than 400 kilometers (248 miles) from beijing after an eye infection left him blind as a child, chen seemed destined to a farmer's life, just like his parents but at the age of 17, chen's fortune turned when he learned of a school for the blind in a nearby city chen learned the law from television and radio broadcasts, newspapers and books he also took a few constitutional law classes at the college for the blind where the primary course of study was massage therapy 'when he came back to his village, he didn't want to spend his time giving massages,' cohen said 'he wanted to help people who weren't getting help elsewhere' he quickly became known locally as an advocate for farmers and the disabled in shandong, where he offered free advice on taxes and corruption and stood up for the disabled 'someone has to fight for people with no voice,' time magazine quoted him as saying 'i guess that person is me' he also helped his village obtain a system to pump well water, making clean water easily accessible to villagers for the first time and helping cement his local reputation, cohen said his desire to continue helping the disabled and voiceless led chen and his wife, yuan weijing, to take on concerns that officials in linyi, a city in shandong, were using violence and coercion in a campaign to enforce china's policy limiting many couples to one child the investigation carried him to beijing, where he pressed national officials to take action against the local authorities it also carried him to prison, where he spent four years behind bars on what supporters called trumped up charges before authorities confined him to house arrest in 2010 what chen was fighting: forced abortions in a video released after his escape last week, chen said he and his family were beaten and cut off from the outside world during their detention the case that brought him to international prominence began in 2005 that's when he learned of claims that local officials were requiring parents with two children to be sterilized and forcing abortions in women pregnant with their third child, according to human rights groups the officials were trying to meet birth quotas set by the national government, according to amnesty international in june 2005, three months after beginning his investigation, chen organized a lawsuit against local officials and traveled to beijing to meet with legal experts and tell international journalists about his findings hours after meeting with journalists from time, he was taken into custody by government agents and sent back to his home, where he was placed under house arrest authorities also refused to allow his lawsuit to proceed chen escaped from house arrest at that time as well and ventured to beijing, where he met with supporters including cohen chen was pale, anxious, with little appetite, cohen said but it was apparent even then that the people he was trying to help with his legal efforts was what concerned him, not his own welfare, cohen said 'one day, when he was especially frustrated by the county court's refusal to accept the lawsuits he brought on behalf of impoverished pro bono 'clients,' he asked me: 'what do the authorities want me to do? lead a protest in the streets? i don't want to do that,'' cohen said in testimony to the congressional executive committee in november ironically, that's what authorities soon accused chen of doing his august 2006 conviction on charges of 'intentionally damaging property and gathering crowds to disturb transport order' led to a four year prison sentence human rights groups roundly called the charges trumped up and demanded his release instead, chen went to prison where, according to amnesty international, fellow prisoners beat chen on orders of guards, authorities refused him medical treatment and limited visits with his wife and lawyers to no more than 30 minutes a month by this time, the detained activist had turned into an international cause celebre time selected him as one of 2006's 'top 100 people who shape our world,' along with premier wen jiabao the following year, the ramon magsaysay award foundation, which grants prizes to asians who excel in their fields, named chen among its honorees for his 'irrepressible passion for justice in leading ordinary chinese citizens to assert their legitimate rights under the law' after serving his sentence in september 2009, chen was released to house arrest, but he and his family continued to endure abuse, according to human rights groups and chen himself in a video released april 27, chen said guards repeatedly beat him and his wife and prevented visitors from reaching their home 'all the stories online about the brutal treatment i received from the linyi authorities, i can personally testify they are true,' he said in the video posted to youtube 'the reality is even harsher than the stories that have been circulating' in the video released after chen's escape, he called on chinese authorities to leave his family alone and punish the officials who he says illegally detained him and engaged in abuses against him and his family the man whose ever present dark sunglasses have become a symbol for supporters worldwide also posed a question to chinese officials who have taken great steps to keep his name and likeness out of the national media and discussions 'if you continue to ignore me,' he said, 'what would the public think?' cnn's beijing bureau chief jaime florcruz contributed to this report | ruckling crassities paaraphimosis | no related information |
(cnn) a louisiana appeals court ruled it was too early to consider a motion to release a black teenager who allegedly took part in beating up a white classmate in jena, louisiana, last year mychal bell, 17, is accused with five others of severely beating justin barker in a school fight the tuesday ruling is the latest turn in the racially charged saga of a group known as the jena 6 six black teens initially charged with attempted murder after they allegedly knocked out classmate justin barker and stomped him during a school fight five of the teens were charged as adults civil rights groups and other organizations have marshaled thousands of people to march on jena on thursday, a day originally slated for 17 year old mychal bell's sentencing hearing on battery and conspiracy convictions however, a district judge earlier this month tossed out bell's conviction for conspiracy to commit second degree battery, saying the matter should have been handled in the juvenile court on friday, the 3rd circuit court of appeals in lake charles, louisiana, did the same with bell's battery conviction a three judge panel ruled tuesday, however, that it would not consider a motion to free bell from prison 'the motion for release from custody, filed by the defendant in this court, is premature,' the panel ruled without setting a date for considering the motion the future of bell's case is up to the district attorney, who must decide whether to refile the charges in juvenile court, bell's attorney bob noel said last week charges against four of the teens bell, carwin jones, theodore shaw and robert bailey have been reduced to battery and conspiracy shaw and jones have not gone to trial bailey has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his trial is scheduled for november 26 bryant purvis and an unidentified juvenile remain charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder advocates of the jena 6 say the story began well before the december 4 beating they say it began in september when three white students decided to hang nooses from a tree on campus in september 2006, a black student asked the vice principal if he and some friends could sit under an oak tree where white students typically congregated told by the vice principal they could sit wherever they pleased, the student and his pals sat under the sprawling branches of the shade tree in the campus courtyard the next day, students arrived at school to find three nooses hanging from those branches according to the town talk in nearby alexandria, the school's principal recommended expulsion for those behind the nooses instead, the newspaper reported, a school district committee suspended three white students for three days for hanging the nooses, a gesture written off as a 'prank' racial tensions flared the district attorney was summoned to address the student body off campus fights were reported on november 30, someone torched the school's main academic building the arson remains unsolved, but many suspect it was linked to the discord four days after the arson, several students jumped barker, knocking him unconscious before stomping and kicking him parents of the jena 6 say they heard barker was hurling racial epithets barker's parents insist he did nothing to provoke the beating barker was taken to a hospital with injuries to both eyes and ears as well as cuts his right eye had blood clots, said his mother, kelli barker he was treated and released that day bails for the jena 6 were set at between $70,000 and $138,000 all but bell posted bond the judge has refused to lower his $90,000 bail, citing bell's criminal record, which includes four juvenile offenses two simple battery charges among them e mail to a friend | tandour linguodistal kidlet | no related information |
atlanta, georgia (cnn) bp, which is responsible for the greatest oil spill in american history, has made the right call in deciding to suspend dividend payments this year dividends are not legally required; they are optional if bp does not pay a dividend, a shareholder cannot go into court and sue bp dividends are to be paid only when the company has enough money to take care of its operations, including potential liability for the spill some have argued that bp should pay dividends this year because there are plenty of individuals who count on those quarterly dividends that is a familiar argument it conjures images of the elderly being forced to choose between buying food or medicine that imagery was raised in 2003, when president bush pushed a dividend tax cut through the republican controlled congress, reducing the maximum tax rate to be paid on dividends to only 15 percent (you and i pay taxes on our interest and wages at rates up to 35 percent) the reasons for the tax cut were varied, from compensating for risk to encouraging savings to an argument that it 'will help millions of seniors who depend upon dividend income for their day to day expenses,' a line from congressman sam johnson of texas johnson was certainly not alone in arguing that the dividend tax cut would help senior citizens bush's signing statement provided that 'we're helping seniors who rely on dividends' what the republicans neglected to say was that it was not taxpayers' senior status that made it more likely that they would receive dividends, but their income levels the typical low or middle income senior does not have a lot of income and does not receive dividends a 2006 study by the center on budget and policy priorities showed that only 4 percent of households with less than $50,000 of income own stock and actually receive capital gains and/or corporate dividends only 11 percent of households with incomes under $100,000 receive capital gains and/or corporate dividends however, more than 75 percent of all capital gains and dividend income goes to households with income over $200,000, which represents only 3 percent of all us households the reality is that the typical american bp shareholder is not really going to miss that dividend payment british newspapers have reported that uk pension funds have heavily invested in bp, so the impact could be somewhat greater there bp has agreed to create a $20 billion escrow fund that will be administered by an independent third party, kenneth feinberg, the mediator who oversaw the september 11 victims' claims this is certainly a step in the right direction bp is not obligated to pay the $20 billion all at once but has several years to fund the escrow account any amount paid to shareholders is forever lost to victims of the gulf spill so if bp were to pay any dividends now and subsequently become financially unable to make more payments to the escrow fund, the gulf victims would become victimized again shareholders who own stock in an oil company that drills offshore without adequate plans in place, should disaster strike, have made a risky investment indeed given the potentially catastrophic impact of the oil spill, how can bp really know how much all of the costs will be? and the safest course of action is to wait until the company gets a better handle on its potential liabilities, which seem to be growing daily between the business owners in the gulf with their very livelihoods being threatened, the workers who are unable to earn a living and the looming environmental cleanup costs (once the oil actually stops spilling into the ocean) on the one hand and bp's shareholders on the other hand, the choice is easy: the shareholders should wait for their dividends after all, isn't that why their tax rates are so low? the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of dorothy brown | bp dorothy brown | bp decided to suspend dividends for rest of year as it creates escrow fund for liability . dorothy brown says it's impossible to say how much liability bp will have for oil leak . she says bulk of dividends go to people who have high income . investors in oil company that drills offshore assume risk, she says |
(cnn) alvaro quiros triumphed at the qatar masters on sunday when the spaniard finished three shots clear of former champion henrik stenson and louis oosthuizen spaniard quiros clinched his third european tour title and now looks set for a first appearance at the masters the 26 year old survived a late scare to card a final round of three under par 69 and finish at 19 under 269 a showing that sends him into the world top 30 and opens the door for his masters debut at augusta in april swede stenson's three putt bogey at the last for a 68 allowed south african overnight leader oosthuizen to share second with the 2006 champion after a final round of 71 stenson, last year's runner up to adam scott, snatched the lead at 16 under with an eagle at the 10th, but quiros and oosthuizen playing a group behind responded with birdies of their own to leave all three tied through 11 the momentum swung quiros' way as he birdied the 12th and oosthuizen dropped a shot to fall two off the pace before the spaniard extended his lead as he converted from eight feet a hole later stenson put pressure on with birdie of his own at 15 to move within one at 17 under before quiros wobbled as he sent his three wood approach from the rough into the water quiros eventually holed from 15 foot putt for bogey, but then birdied 16 and 17 to take a two stroke lead down the last and claim a third european tour title oosthuizen had birdied the last to record a second successive runner up finish, which sees him move up to fifth on the season money list a place ahead of stenson ireland's damien mcgrane carded a bogey free 67 for fourth at 13 under, while spaniard miguel angel jimenez's three birdies earned him a 69 and a share of fifth with dutchman maarten lafeber (72) world number two sergio garcia (70) had a share of seventh place at 11 under | spaniard alvaro quiros the qatar masters henrik stenson louis oosthuizen quiros masters | spaniard alvaro quiros triumphed by three strokes at the qatar masters . former champion henrik stenson and louis oosthuizen shared second . quiros is in line for his masters debut after climbing into the world top 30 |
nairobi, kenya (cnn) a high level kenyan delegation has agreed with the international criminal court to set up a tribunal by july 2010 to prosecute those who instigated last year's devastating post election violence residents of a nairobi slum shout during clashes between two rival groups in january 2008 failing that, the government in kenya will refer the case to the court's prosecutor to take over the delegation, in a signed agreement with chief prosecutor luis moreno ocampo, also agreed to provide the court with a report on the current status of investigations and prosecutions so it can carry out 'preliminary examinations' of the case the violence that erupted in kenya following a disputed election in december 2007 nearly tore apart an african country once considered an island of peace in an otherwise troubled region that includes somalia nearly 1,500 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced after the re election of mwai kibaki the opposition, led by raila odinga, and many independent observers, said the vote had been rigged under pressure from abroad and the region, former un secretary general kofi annan helped hammer out an agreement that led to a coalition government of all major political parties a key part of the deal was the forming of a tribunal to investigate and prosecute the leaders responsible for the violence annan promised to hand over a list of suspects to the court, should the kenyan government not form a tribunal he gave august as a deadline the court's agreement with kenya now gives the government breathing room a un special investigator, in a report issued in june, called for the resignation of top kenyan officials and sweeping changes in the country's security forces to end reported unlawful killings by police nationwide the report called for the resignation of kenya's attorney general and the immediate replacement of the police commissioner it also said kibaki should publicly acknowledge his commitment to ending unlawful killings by police the kenya government expressed its 'deep displeasure' and 'grave concern' with the report, saying it impinged on the country's sovereignty the un investigator also advocated creating an independent civilian police oversight body, and said the international criminal court should investigate violence after the 2007 election he urged the government to create a witness protection program as well many analysts who follow kenya think the next general election in 2012 has a significant chance of descending into violence, should key government reforms not be put in place | kenya tribunal | violence after december 2007 elections nearly tore kenya apart . nearly 1,500 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced . tribunal was part of deal to end ethnic violence |
(cnn) us president obama and russian president dmitry medvedev announced wednesday that their countries will soon begin negotiations on reducing their nuclear arsenals, according to a joint statement from the two leaders russian president dmitry medvedev and president obama talk wednesday in london ahead of the g 20 the announcement came after obama and medvedev met in london ahead of thursday's g 20 summit the statement said the two leaders agreed that the strategic arms reduction treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms which expires in december 'has completely fulfilled its intended purpose and that the maximum levels for strategic offensive arms recorded in the treaty were reached long ago' 'they have therefore decided to move further along the path of reducing and limiting strategic offensive arms in accordance with us and russian obligations under article vi of the treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons,' the joint statement said watch obama and medvedev meet » negotiators from both countries will soon begin talks 'to work out a new, comprehensive, legally binding agreement on reducing and limiting strategic offensive arms to replace the start treaty,' the statement said earlier, two senior obama administration officials said another goal of the president's meeting with medvedev was to set a date for a us russian summit in moscow, russia, this summer the joint statement said negotiators from both countries would report their progress on working out the new nuclear arsenal reduction agreement by july 'the new agreement will mutually enhance the security of the parties and predictability and stability in strategic offensive forces, and will include effective verification measures drawn from the experience of the parties in implementing the start treaty,' the statement said in a joint news conference wednesday with british prime minister gordon brown ahead of his talks with medvedev obama emphasized that russia and the united states also have a common interest in 'reducing nuclear stockpiles and promoting nuclear non proliferation' across the world watch obama, brown statement ahead of world stage » 'one of the things i have always believed strongly is that both the united states and russia and other nuclear powers will be in a much stronger position to strengthen what has become a somewhat fragile thread bare nonproliferation treaty if we are leading by example and if we can take serious steps to reduce the nuclear arsenal,' obama said 'i think people on both sides of the atlantic understand that as much as the constant cloud, the threat of nuclear warfare has receded since the cold war, that the presence of these deadly weapons, their proliferation, the possibility of them finding their way into the hands of terrorists, continues to be the gravest threat to humanity what better project to start off than seeing if we can make progress on that front i think we can' the us president said there's been a rift in the past several years in the us russian relationship 'there are very real differences between the united states and russia, and i have no interest in papering those over but there are also a broad set of common interests that we can pursue' and 'great potential for concerted action,' obama said watch how us and russia plan to reset relations » along with the nuclear issue, obama said, the countries 'have an interest in stabilizing the world economy both countries have an interest in finding a sustainable path for energy and dealing with some of the threats climate change that we discussed' also on wednesday, the white house released a statement saying that obama will visit china this year obama met chinese president hu jintao as world leaders gathered in london for thursday's g 20 summit watch an assessment of obama's first g 20 summit » the two agreed to set up a high level strategic and economic dialogue chaired by cabinet level representatives secretary of state hillary clinton and secretary of the treasury timothy geithner for the united states, and state councilor dai bingguo and vice premier wang qishan for china obama and hu appear to have deferred the question of human rights, one of the greatest points of friction between the two sides 'the two sides agreed to resume the human rights dialogue as soon as possible,' the white house statement said china did not immediately confirm the details of the us announcement cnn's suzanne malveaux contributed to this report | russia joint us russian moscow white house obama china | nuclear talks announcement with russia comes ahead of g 20 summit . joint statement: 'new agreement will mutually enhance security of the parties'. presidential meeting also aimed to set up us russian summit in moscow . white house: obama will visit china and 'resume the human rights dialogue' |
washington (cnn) private military contractor blackwater usa 'delayed and impeded' a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in falluja, iraq, the house oversight committee said thursday in a report family members of the slain blackwater employees listen during a congressional hearing earlier this year blackwater contractors jerry zovko, scott helvenston, mike teague and wesley batalona were ambushed, dragged from their vehicles and killed on march 31, 2004 the burned and mutilated remains of two of the men were hung from a bridge over the euphrates river, an image that fueled american outrage and triggered the first of two attempts to retake the city from sunni arab insurgents the company stalled the committee's investigation into the incident by 'erroneously claiming' documents related to the incident were classified, trying to get the defense department to make previously unclassified documents classified and 'asserting questionable legal privileges,' according to a report from the house oversight and government reform committee's democratic staff according to blackwater's reports on the killings, the men killed in falluja had been sent into the area without proper crew, equipment or even maps one company document found a 'complete lack of support' for its baghdad, iraq, office from executives at the company's headquarters in north carolina, the committee report states 'according to these documents, blackwater took on the falluja mission before its contract officially began, and after being warned by its predecessor that it was too dangerous it sent its team on the mission without properly armored vehicles and machine guns and it cut the standard mission team by two members, thus depriving them of rear gunners,' the report states in a written response to the report, blackwater called it 'a one sided version of this tragic incident' 'what the report fails to acknowledge is that the terrorists determined what happened that fateful day in 2004,' the company said 'the terrorists were intent on killing americans and desecrating their bodies documents that the committee has in its possession point out that the blackwater team was betrayed and directed into a well planned ambush' the report notes that members of the now defunct iraqi civil defense corps 'led the team into the ambush, facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team's escape, and then disappeared' blackwater did not discuss details of the report's findings, noting the incident is still the subject of a lawsuit by the slain contractors' families the committee's chairman, california democrat henry waxman, has scheduled a hearing tuesday on blackwater's operations in iraq the company's chairman, erik prince, is scheduled to testify at that hearing the committee previously disclosed that the day before the fatal mission, the manager of blackwater's baghdad office warned his bosses he lacked armored vehicles, radio gear and ammunition during february's hearing and in a subsequent written response, blackwater general counsel andrew howell told the committee that documents on the attack had been classified by the us government but the pentagon later told the committee the documents had not been classified in addition, blackwater made 'multiple attempts' to get the defense department to declare company and coalition provisional authority reports on the incident classified, the report states the pentagon refused the families of the slain men have sued blackwater security consulting, one of the most familiar of hundreds of private military contractors operating in iraq the families allege the company failed to provide their relatives with adequate gear and weaponry blackwater has denied the allegations and argued the men agreed to assume the risks of working in a war zone thursday's report adds to the intense scrutiny the company has faced since it was involved in shootings september 16 in western baghdad iraqi authorities said blackwater guards protecting a us embassy convoy opened fire indiscriminately, killing as many as 20 civilians blackwater said its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on the convoy deputy secretary of state john negroponte on thursday told a senate committee that 'something went tragically wrong' in the baghdad incident, and that the state department and iraqi authorities are conducting a thorough investigation he said blackwater guards had fired their weapons on 56 of the 1,873 escort missions they have conducted in iraq in 2007, 'and each such incident is reviewed by management officials to ensure that procedures were followed' 'i personally was grateful for the presence of my blackwater security detail, largely comprised of ex special forces and other military, when i served as ambassador to iraq,' negroponte told the senate appropriations committee on wednesday in response to questions 'their alert and controlled posture kept me safe to get my job done' e mail to a friend | house 2004 falluja company blackwater | house probe: blackwater tried to delay, impede investigation into 2004 killings . four blackwater employees ambushed, killed in falluja in 2004 incident . company said unclassified documents were classified, report says . blackwater calls report 'a one sided version of this tragic incident' |
new delhi, india (cnn) an indian court in the western state of gujarat has convicted 31 of the 94 people charged with conspiracy and murder for setting fire to a passenger train in 2002 which triggered widespread religious violence, resulting in the death of more than 1,000 people sixty three of the accused, including one of the main conspirators, were acquitted tuesday due to lack of evidence, prosecutors said a suspected muslim mob attacked the sabarmati express near the town of godhra on 27 february, 2002, killing more than 50 people, most of whom were hindu pilgrims the hindu pilgrims were returning from the north indian town of ayodhya where they had been demanding that the government build a temple on the ruins of a 16th century mosque the train fire sparked days of rioting in which more than a thousand people, mostly muslims, were killed the cause of the train fire has long been disputed special security arrangements were made throughout the state ahead of the sensitive verdict to maintain peace indian authorities have also imposed restrictions on broadcasting video or photographs of the original carnage on the day of the verdict so far, no violence has been reported following the verdict | democracy turnabouts escapists | no related information |
(cnn) actress ashley judd says a wolf management program backed by alaska gov sarah palin is 'incredibly savage it's not right, it's not appropriate, it makes no sense on any level' ashley judd is criticizing the aerial hunting of wolves, a program supported by alaska gov sarah palin appearing on cnn's 'larry king live,' judd repeated her criticism of a program that allows hunters firing from aircraft to shoot wolves to thin the numbers of the animals judd recently appeared in a video for the washington based defenders of wildlife action fund, which also opposes the palin backed aerial hunting program referring to the former republican vice presidential candidate by name in the video, judd says that palin is 'championing the slaughter of wildlife' 'when sarah palin came on the national scene last summer, few knew that she promotes the brutal aerial killing of wolves,' judd says in the video, adding, 'it is time to stop sarah palin and stop this senseless savagery' palin responded on tuesday, releasing a statement calling defenders of wildlife action fund an 'extreme fringe group,' and saying, 'it is reprehensible and hypocritical that the defenders of wildlife would use alaska and my administration as a fundraising tool to deceive americans into parting with their hard earned money' watch why judd, palin are trading barbs » judd said alaska's program is a 'distortion' of wildlife hunting under normal circumstances, and that the program attracts 'urban hunters, trophy hunters from out of state' palin did not appear on 'larry king live,' but rod arno, executive director of the alaska outdoor council, told king by telephone that only alaska residents can participate in the aerial wolf hunting program, and then they must obtain a state permit the purpose of the program is to facilitate control of alaska's wolf population, which preys on moose and caribou, arno said 'the only criticism is from people who aren't up here participating in a predator prey scheme,' he said judd was accompanied by rodger schlickeisen, ceo of the defenders of wildlife action fund, and he said 'hundreds' of scientists have criticized the aerial hunting program schlickeisen suggested that palin's government allow television crews to videotape the hunting process 'and you could put this out for all the people in american to see and she (palin) could proudly stand up for it' | bandsmen hominal effigiating | no related information |
pyongyang, north korea (cnn) the crowd cheers as the stars make their way to the ring for first pro wrestling bout north korea has seen in almost 20 years back then, we're told the spectators thought the action was real now, they're more savvy, and appreciative, clapping loudly as the former american stars execute their maneuvers during the two day contest in pyongyang 'we're here to do something bigger and better,' pro wrestler jon 'strongman' anderson roars backstage he could also be alluding to the purpose of the trip, an attempt at 'sports diplomacy' by antonio inoki, a japanese former pro wrestler turned politician he's organized the trip at a time of thawing relations between japan and north korea over the issue of abductions of japanese citizens in the 1970s and '80s recent talks opened the door for further investigations by north korea and a report is expected in the next few weeks the behind the scenes diplomacy is a long way from the public spectacles staged during this mixed martial arts festival the stars of the show including former nfl star bob 'the beast' sapp join arm wrestling and tug of war competitions with the pyongyang locals, some who seem more than a little bemused tightly controlled international media has joined the tightly controlled tour, which took us from the birthplace of the nation's founder, kim il sung, to the pet projects of its current leader, kim jong un a bus ride seemed to take us back in time as we passed fields where locals where working, tending the soil with their hands our destination was a country club where, for the equivalent of $10 an hour, locals can ride horses in an indoor arena it's a past time only for pyongyang's elite the country's per capita income is estimated to be around $1,000 to $2,000 a year, putting such pursuits out of reach of most people however, outside pyongyang there's a place where anyone can see the country's most impressive monuments, without having to visit each one it's a theme park that displays north korea's landmarks in miniature many of them could be found in pyongyang indeed, visitors could even see the real life tower of juche from the park the original, built on the shore of the river taedong, is named after the political ideology formed by the country's eternal president kim il sung, that 'man is the master of everything and decides everything' then there's the victorious fatherland liberation war museum and more lessons in north korean history we were shown a video that shared the country's perspective on the korean war (1950 53) it was started by an attack from united states, the video declared when i questioned this, the guide replied, 'that's what you're taught this is the truth' north korea's military might and successes were paraded in other displays we were shown a us navy research ship the uss pueblo that was seized in 1968 for allegedly spying on the dprk washington claims it never entered north korean waters photos showing planes and helicopters that had crashed in north korean territory were also displayed, including a graphic image of a dead us soldier asked why it was necessary to display the photo, the guide replied: 'dead pilot? because it shows that anybody who violates our sovereignty and intrudes on us to commit espionage must be killed like this' pet projects since taking power after his father's death in 2011, kim jong un has sought to make his mark on the country and its population of some 25 million people he's launched a number of pet projects, spending millions on a new children's hospital and a slide filled water park in pyongyang, which we've seen firsthand during our trip however, outside pyongyang it's unclear how far the spending has spread north korea remains a secretive state, accused by a united nations panel of widespread human rights abuses, charges that the country denies minders have watched our every move, from the moment we landed in pyongyang to the bus ride to our hotel, which sits on its own island the tour has followed pre approved routes; we're shown what they want us to see so far, that has been impressive infrastructure for a country that's struggling to feed its own people, and that has erected an almost unassailable boundary between it and the outside world hilary whiteman in hong kong contributed to this report | nutwoods sunburn blastoporphyritic | no related information |
(cnn) world champion valentino rossi pipped fiat yamaha team mate jorge lorenzo on the finish line in a thrilling finale to the catalunya motogp rossi shows his delight after clinching a thrilling victory over jorge lorenzo in barcelona on sunday with lorenzo starting on pole, the two riders dominated the race throughout before exchanging the lead several times on the final lap but italian rossi eventually sealed victory by just 0095 seconds in front of 90,000 fans in barcelona the 99th win of his remarkable career casey stoner finished third, meaning that he, rossi and lorenzo are now all level at the top of the championship standings on 106 points stoner's ducati managed to hold off the challenge from repsol honda's andrea dovizioso, who finished fourth, while loris capirossi came fifth daniel pedrosa, colin edwards, randy de puniet, mika kallio and nicky hayden completed the top 10 on sunday 'it was a great battle, the two yamahas were flying on this track,' rossi told bbc sport 'after some laps i knew i had to fight and it was a great fight to the end, i wasn't sure of the result until the end' stoner revealed afterwards that he had not been fully fit 'i've been slowly getting a little more sore and sick each day, and i was cramping after the warm up,' he said 'i was really afraid about finishing the the race halfway through i just gave up, i had nothing left, and i decided to just run for the points' | semibiographically boneheads shiel | no related information |
(cnn) the southeast is among the areas of the united states with the highest concentration of cases of hiv and aids, according to a new online tool called the national hiv/aids atlas in this map of aids prevalence rates in the southeast, red represents the highest (0593 percent or greater) aids experts in the region say that access to health care, especially when it comes to screening, is a major problem in rural communities in the southeast, people with hiv tend to get tested late, after they have become sick, partly because of stigma, said kathie hiers, executive director of aids alabama in birmingham 'if you look at access to health care and almost any kind of health care report card, the south is the worst,' she said with little or no public transportation, people in non metropolitan areas are at a disadvantage when they need to see a particular kind of doctor, experts say there is also a shortage of doctors who deal with hiv in the region, hiers said these problems also resonate with georgia's rural communities, which represent 39 percent of the hiv/aids burden in the state, said raphael holloway, director of the hiv unit at the georgia division of public health the remaining 61 percent of people living with hiv or aids are in the metro atlanta area 'in some districts, for example, there may be 10 counties within that health district but only one infectious disease doctor that people can access for care and services,' he said it is also difficult to get hiv education to people in rural areas, he said of the 29 states reporting county level data for the national hiv/aids atlas, georgia had more counties than any other state with the highest levels of hiv and aids prevalence although this does not represent a comprehensive national assessment, georgia ranked fifth in reporting of new aids cases in 2007, behind texas (fourth), florida (third), new york (second) and california (first), according to the centers for disease control and prevention the northeast also has a heavy burden of hiv/aids cases nationally, atlas collaborators said other states with high numbers of counties with high hiv prevalence included florida, new york and south carolina the atlas, the first of its kind to map out hiv and aids at the level of counties, launched in time for saturday's hiv/aids testing day the national institutes of health is encouraging everyone age 13 to 64 to get tested for hiv as part of routine health care 'not knowing one's hiv status endangers one's health and the health of one's sexual partners by getting tested for the virus and learning one's hiv status soon after infection, treatment can begin early, substantially delaying the development of hiv related illness and prolonging life,' said dr anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the national institutes of health the national hiv/aids atlas allows users to explore the prevalence of hiv and aids in any region of the united states the map, a project of the national minority quality forum, encompasses all 50 states, the district of columbia, puerto rico and the us virgin islands the more red a region appears, the greater the prevalence, which is the ratio of the number of people living with the disease at a given time to the total number of people living there at that time users can look at rates of disease by gender, race/ethnicity and age group in regions where this information is available the map also has different settings for hiv and aids, the more severe illness caused by the hiv virus they can also zoom into counties and, for new york city only, zip codes about 33 million people have hiv/aids worldwide as of 2007, according to the world health organization the cdc estimates that 11 million americans have hiv and that 56,300 new infections occurred in the united states in 2006 nearly 75 percent of hiv/aids diagnoses among adolescents and adults in that year were for males people who worked on the atlas project were surprised at how concentrated hiv and aids are in certain us counties 'being able to look at all the data in this way reminds us that the hiv epidemic is not uniformly distributed throughout the us,' said patrick sullivan, associate professor of epidemiology at emory university, who collaborated on the atlas the atlas also reflects the disproportionate number of african americans who have hiv and aids 'you can see at the level of the national map that there's so much variation in the us about which groups have been impacted,' sullivan said demographics and county level data are not available for some states, or parts of some states, because of the way these places report data by region, researchers said these areas appear as gray when users zoom in some places also appear gray because the disease case count is so low the atlas is based on data from public health departments from 2006, the most recent available collaborators say they hope to update the maps when new data become available the atlas, which launched monday morning, had about 100,000 visitors by tuesday afternoon, and more than 10,000 people completed the free registration in that time, said gary puckrein, executive director of the atlas project to find an hiv testing facility near you, visit wwwhivtestorg | us african americans atlas | hiv epidemic is not uniformly distributed throughout the us. disproportionate number of african americans have hiv/aids . atlas is based on data from public health departments from 2006 |
(cnn) globalization washes like a flood over the world's cultures and economies floods can be destructive; however, they can also bring blessings, as the annual floods of the nile did for ancient egypt the world's great universities can be crucial instruments in shaping, in a positive way, humankind's reaction to globalization and the development of humankind itself traditionally, universities have been defined and limited by location, creating an academic community and drawing students and scholars to that place eventually, some universities began to encourage students to study elsewhere for a semester; today most do recently, some even those known for their cautiousness about innovation have developed 'branch campuses,' or outposts at which graduate or undergraduate degrees are granted the benefits of globalization are not evenly spread, but it is unalterably part of the landscape, and it is causing the world to miniaturize the great question is how our institutions will respond to this global miniaturization will it be out of fear, feverishly attempting to cabin off themselves, or with an eye on the opportunities, and the possibility of creating a new age of cultural and intellectual ecumenism for universities, the latter should be a far more comfortable fit this natural instinct of universities connects well with the emerging contours of economies in the 'knowledge century': that they will be driven by ideas and creativity, and that this world network of thought and innovation will be concentrated in a small set of global 'idea capitals' among which the talented and creative will circulate these idea capitals will be characterized not merely as centers of finance, insurance and real estate (the fire sector), but also as centers of intellectual, cultural, and educational activity ('ice,' as i have called it elsewhere) the world's most enlightened leaders have accepted a crucial proposition: universities, especially research universities, will be principal incubators and drivers of the ice sector great universities attract and retain the creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs who propel thought, both producing and consuming intellectual, cultural and educational activities how will universities shape themselves to meet this? there will be many models some incremental, some bold one new university model is already proving itself at nyu: the 'global network university' in opening nyu abu dhabi last week, nyu has created not only a new liberal arts university campus but a new university architecture nyu abu dhabi is a second 'portal campus,' along with our long standing campus in new york; these are the anchors and basic hydraulics of a network that also knits together 12 other academic sites the global network university allows faculty and students to move seamlessly through the network and around the world without separating themselves from the university's intellectual community and resources it is a veritable mobius strip of talent and thought research labs continents apart can be connected, increasing their potency faculty in one location can be made available to students in another consider: a professor in new york can offer a course featuring participation by students at several sites the professor assigns team exercises, with students from many different sites working together that interaction will be powerful in itself, but that need be only the start: we'll likely see some or all of the students deciding to come together the following semester at one of the network sites by uniting portal campuses and other academic sites, the global network creates an organic circulatory system that mirrors the flow of talent and creativity that increasingly defines the world the result is more than an internationalized university with loose connections between a central location and branches around the globe; instead, the talent and assets become fully available to enhance research and learning in every other part in higher education, nothing is more powerful than a good idea and this idea has resonated strongly in the first class of undergraduates admitted to nyu abu dhabi, just 21 percent of applicants were admitted fewer than 200 of over 9,000 applicants they hail from 39 countries, speak 43 different languages, with nearly 90 percent of them bilingual; and have sat scores at 75th percentile 770 for verbal and 780 for math these scores match the most highly selective universities in the world universities tend to be hidebound, but they will need to change i don't claim that the global network university will be the universal form for higher education's future; there are other ways to respond to academic globalization that will endure and make sense but to thrive, universities will need to look very different from the way they do now, and they will have to find a form well suited to the new reality of an ever increasing flow of human capital and talent in the knowledge century the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of john sexton | sourweed parole cattily | no related information |
johannesburg, south africa (cnn) south africans voted wednesday in elections that the ruling african national congress is expected to win in a landslide a woman votes in a church in soweto during wednesday's elections but the anc, led by jacob zuma, could see its two thirds parliamentary majority reduced by the country's numerous opposition parties the anc has increased its share of the vote in every election since the end of apartheid in 1994 leading the opposition challenge is congress of the people, or cope; a breakaway faction of the anc which has capitalized as the anc has been dogged by corruption and accused of failing to deliver services to the poor 'people are taking this election very seriously,' said cnn's robyn curnow 'it's a pivotal election and the political landscape in this country has changed because of the emergence of the cope party' voter shares feelings about anc and new rival » voters stood in line for hours after a slow start, blamed partly on cold weather polling stations closed at 1900 gmt but anyone in line at the time was allowed to vote the independent electoral commission said the sheer number of people voting created long lines and a shortage of ballot boxes and papers in some districts and voting stations the anc's prospects have not been helped by the controversial election of zuma to the party leadership last year until early this month, zuma, who is practically the country's president in waiting, was facing fraud and corruption charges the charges were dropped two weeks before the elections because of alleged political interference in his case that decision by the country's prosecuting authority sparked widespread outrage, with opposition parties accusing prosecutors of buckling under political pressure but the anc continues to command widespread respect and support among ordinary south africans for its role in the struggle against apartheid and most consider the party of nelson mandela their political home in an effort to shore up support for the anc, the 90 year old mandela shared the stage with zuma at the party's final pre election rally in johannesburg on sunday mandela was also photographed as he voted wednesday watch mandela vote with old activists and first time voters » first time voter lucas nomblelani, a young black south african sporting the purple ink on his thumb that proved he had cast his ballot, said he found it hard not consider what the anc had done for the country 'those people they fight for us,' he told cnn 'i'm here, i can vote i don't have the soldiers here to force me to do something' he adds, 'now we are free, all of us, to do what we want to do it's my choice to vote today' still, the emergence of cope has unnerved the anc learn more about some of south africa's political parties launched in december, cope is made up of former anc members who quit following anc's sacking of thabo mbeki as the country's president 'it is a baby with teeth we can bite and i do believe the people of south africa have heard our message,' cope presidential candidate mvume dandala said wednesday, according to reuterscom zuma, who is widely expected to be the country's next president, has already pledged his party will use its predicted majority responsibly and maintains he is innocent of corruption allegations 'when i grew up, i did know that this day would come,' he said as he voted in his village birthplace of nkandla in kwazulu natal, reuterscom reported watch more about anc leader jacob zuma » in the past 15 years, the anc has built 28 million houses and provided running water, sanitation and electricity to the poor south africa boasts a robust constitution and the strongest economy on the continent yet more than 1 million people still live in shacks, and the newly constructed homes have been found to be substandard, with many falling apart even before being handed over to beneficiaries queuing up to vote in soweto, lulu makapela said many people were disappointed by the anc's failure to deliver on promises to deliver better housing, education and jobs 'people have been giving us promises and there is a wide gap between rich and poor,' makapela told cnn watch a voter in line discuss the election » although the country's economy has grown under the anc, it has not produced significant job opportunities one in four adults is unemployed at the same time, many senior members of the anc have created wealth for themselves while majority of the country's citizens wallow in poverty watch criticism of the ruling anc » violent crime has also escalated last year, nearly 50 people were killed daily, according to police and though south africa won the bid to host the football world cup in 2010, many say that the billions that are being spent on the tournament could be better used to lift the lives of the needy cnn's nkepile mabuse in johannesburg and robyn curnow in soweto contributed to this report | south africans african national congress anc controversial jacob zuma | south africans vote in election african national congress expected to win . opposition parties hoping to slash anc's parliamentary majority . poverty, rising crime among top issues south africans face . controversial jacob zuma expected to become president |
(cnn) aiman youssef can't catch a break with the weather first, superstorm sandy leveled his home and devastated most of his neighborhood in the new york city borough of staten island now, an arctic blast that forecasters warn can have deadly consequences is gripping the region a gas powered heater and a tent was the only defense youssef had late thursday from the biting cold as he handed out jackets and sweaters at a makeshift supply depot he established to help his midland beach neighbors who, in some cases, are still struggling to get the power back on 'a lot of people have been coming so we give them jackets, we give them sweaters,' he told cnn affiliate ny1 'yeah, we are trying we are trying our best to help them' but even as he helped his neighbors, he wondered how long he could keep the heater running at the tent where some of his neighbors were seeking shelter gas, he said, is expensive exposure to subfreezing temperatures has left at least three people dead in wisconsin, minnesota and illinois, according to authorities the national weather service forecasters urged caution early friday as they warned 'bitterly cold conditions' were expected to continue across much of the midwest, mid atlantic and northeast into the weekend widespread light snow showers were expected across the upper great lakes region and across the ohio valley before moving later in the day across the eastern united states, according to the weather service forecasters at the national weather service predicted 1 to 4 inches of snow for areas in the ohio valley and mid atlantic regions on friday with the carolinas and tennessee valley getting freezing rain beginning early in the morning the snow was expected to move later in the day into the eastern united states it was not good news in portions of new york and new jersey, where homes destroyed by superstorm sandy in places such as staten island and far rockaway, queens, lacked basic utilities needed to restore heat with temperatures plummeting, warming centers were opened in new york, new jersey, pennsylvania and other areas, according to various emergency management officials schools shuttered, planes grounded dozens of school systems in tennessee and some in northern georgia said they would be closed schools in raleigh, north carolina, will close early, a spokesman with wake county schools said 'we're going to make sure we put a plan in place so that the buses are rolling while it's still safe and the students are back home before weather becomes an issue,' he told cnn affiliate wral road crews in north carolina began salting major and secondary roads on thursday in an attempt to avoid the possible repeat of a january 19, 2005, storm that stranded thousands, including 3,000 wake university students on campus cindy mease ended up sleeping on the floor of her office after a failed attempt to try to get home in that storm 'it was just a cluster i mean, it was crazy out there,' she told cnn affiliate wral in raleigh '(cars would) hit a hill, and people would just start sliding back down' travelers were already feeling the effects of the storm a spokeswoman for nashville international airport said all inbound american airlines flights for thursday night and friday morning were canceled though she had no official word from other carriers, emily richard said she anticipated they also would cancel flights caught in the snow the snow in pennsylvania played a role in the apprehension of suspected armed robbers, according to authorities investigators in moon township, just outside of pittsburgh, tracked the footprints of three people and arrested them in connection with the robbery of a taxi driver at gunpoint after tracking their footprints in the fresh snow on wednesday, police told cnn affiliate kdka the footprints in the fresh snow, according to police, led from the scene of the robbery to the front door of one of the suspects cnn's steve almasy, joe sutton and rachel rodriguez contributed to this report | the national weather service four inches the ohio valley mid atlantic freezing rain georgia tennessee carolinas | the national weather service warns the bitter cold is expected to continue . forecasters predicted up to four inches of snow in the ohio valley and mid atlantic . freezing rain is forecast for northern georgia and portions of tennessee and the carolinas |
washington (cnn) as absentee ballots pour in from us troops overseas, officials are voicing concerns that many of those votes won't be counted an absentee ballot from arlington county in virginia shows the names of the general election candidates 'it's dismal,' said rosemary rodriguez, who works for the us elections assistance commission, a non partisan group 'these are the voters that are in some cases preserving our liberties and out there with their lives on the line' rodriguez estimates that in the last general election, only about 30 percent of overseas military ballots were actually returned and counted 'it's disenfranchising our military and frankly i think it's very unpatriotic,' said retired navy lt melissa cox boss a part of the problem is that each state has its own rules for absentee voting, and those rules can change in the middle of an election season in virginia, for example, the federal write in ballot required a witness' signature and address that proved confusing for soldiers overseas because there was no box provided for a witness address rokey suleman, the fairfax county registrar, initially said he would have to discard 63 votes because voters neglected to provide a witness address 'these ballots that aren't being met i can't accept as valid ballots at this point if the law changes, i welcome a review of the law i think the law is horrible,' he said late monday, virginia's attorney general agreed, saying all county registrars could ignore that part of the law other areas, like arlington county, refused to disqualify the absentee ballots that were filled out improperly, contributing to the the ag's decision to intervene another part of the problem is that delivering mail from a battlefield can be challenging, according to rep kevin mccarthy mccarthy, r california, says absentee ballots mailed from war zones are not getting to county registrars fast enough to be legally counted 'with all the modernization that we have, we should be able to move these ballots, track them at the same time, bring the modernization and technology we have today to make sure our heroes across this world get treated fairly,' he said mccarthy said he is pushing a bill through congress that would address these issues, but not in time for this election overseas absentee ballots were at the center of the florida recount during the 2000 presidential election between george bush and al gore bush aides and republican surrogates blasted their democratic rivals for having overseas absentee ballots disqualified in florida counties, many for lack of postmarks many of those ballots were presumed to have been from service members supporting bush joe lieberman, the democratic vice presidential candidate, denied that charge and said that the disputed votes deserve the 'benefit of doubt' '[gore] and i would never authorize and would not tolerate a campaign that was aimed specifically at invalidating ballots from members of our armed services, and i've been assured that there were more absentee ballots from non military voters that were ultimately disqualified,' he said during an interview on nbc's 'meet the press' more than a month after the election, the florida supreme court upheld two state court rulings that cleared the way to count thousands of ballots in predominantly republican seminole and martin counties | states election season 30 percent 2004 2000 florida | states' rules for absentee ballots vary; rules can change during election season . 30 percent of overseas military ballots returned, counted in 2004, official estimates . mail from war zones sometimes does not get to county registrars in time . military ballots were a focus in the 2000 recount in florida |
(cnn) saturday saw protests across the united states, held to express solidarity with the anti government demonstrations currently roiling egypt whether on the east coast or the west coast, crowds carried banners, flags and signs as they chanted, hoping their support could be felt thousands of miles away in cairo, alexandria and other egyptian cities in san francisco, demonstrators gathered at a corner on market street and quickly packed the sidewalk, waving egyptian and american flags participants seemed to represent a rainbow of backgrounds and ages there were elderly couples, teenagers and children with egypt's colors painted on their faces many egyptian americans were there, enlivening the chants with arabic phrases but plenty of people of latin, caucasian and asian descent also turned out to march, support egyptian demonstrators and demand the resignation of president hosni mubarak among the call and response chants came a reference to recent protests in tunisia: 'oh mubarak, can't you see? time to join ben ali' in seattle, traditional egyptian melodies were heard among the chants and slogans one man who led the chorus of old songs was impressed by the egyptian movement's use of social media 'thanks to new technology and new communications, the people from facebook and twitter, we are able to come together and make this happen all the young people they feel like sometimes there is no chance but you see this and think there is a chance' there was a small demonstration in texas outside the egyptian consulate building in houston it seemed to be a family affair, with small children flashing peace signs as their families waved flags and signs 'they need everyone to hear them,' one demonstrator told cnn affiliate kiah 'that's the only way we can get change it's not going to come from within, it's going to come from outside that's why we're out here now' egyptian americans gathered in toledo, ohio, too they waved egyptian flags and carried signs that read 'defend democracy' and 'defend human rights' although only a handful of people braved the cold, nearly every passing car honked in support on the east coast, hundreds gathered outside the united nations in new york they held up signs that read: 'mubarak regime must go,' 'egypt's struggle is our struggle!' and 'egypt we hear you!' meanwhile, they yelled out in unison, 'hey! hey! ho! ho! mubarak must go!' sharif sadek, a young egyptian american filmmaker in the new york crowd, said the ouster of the egyptian leader is the only acceptable outcome he urged us leaders to make this happen 'the united states can urge mubarak to step down and leave the country go to switzerland go to south africa go to the moon we do not want president mubarak,' sadek said in washington, protesters assembled outside the egyptian embassy before heading to the white house one protester held up a cardboard sign that read: 'pharaoh! let the people go!' sam abouissa, a protest organizer who said his brothers were arrested in egypt while protesting, said he walked door to door in the capital to solicit support from fellow egyptians 'we need freedom we need freedom on the internet freedom of communications freedom of expressing our opinion freedom of life freedom of choice,' abouissa said 'we have to choose we have to be free to choose' anti mubarak demonstrations were scheduled to take place in locations across the united states on sunday too cnn's mia aquino, ross levitt and susan candiotti contributed to this report | un new york mubarak | new: solidarity demonstrations are held in cities large and small . new: many ethnic groups and ages are represented among the demonstrators . hundreds attend a protest outside the un in new york, chanting 'mubarak must go' |
(cnn) architecture buffs savor chicago's buildings, but you don't have to be a connoisseur to appreciate the city's masonry and steel marvels some of america's most influential architects worked in the windy city the chicago architecture foundation conducts more than 70 different kinds of tours and expects to lead more than 200,000 people through various corners of the city this year chicago's reputation for world class architecture took root during an 1880s building boom, spurred by the city's rapid growth as a transportation hub the great fire of 1871 destroyed much of the city's original construction and set the stage for innovation cnn asked jason neises, the foundation's director of tours, to give us some highlights of chicago's rich architectural history: the chicago river: birth of a city 'the chicago river is really the centerpiece of the whole city, and it's the reason why chicago is here this transportation network that allowed chicago to grow into a world class city,' neises said much of the city's best architecture both historic and modern can be seen along the river, making river cruises a top draw for tourists see a gallery of chicago's architectural highlights » don't miss: the wrigley building and the tribune tower (at michigan avenue and wacker drive) were built in the 1920s to house the wrigley chewing gum company and the chicago tribune 333 west wacker drive, completed in 1983, features a wall of green glass that curves to follow a bend in the chicago river daniel burnham (1846 1912): city planner burnham was an influential early chicago architect but is most notable for his 1909 plan for chicago and its lasting influence on urban planning 'even in modern chicago in 2007, people think about his plan when looking to do new things in the city,' neises said early in his career, burnham worked with william le baron jenney, who is known as the 'father of the skyscraper' for his work with metal frame construction later, burnham and his partner, john wellborn root, built a number of buildings in what became known as the chicago commercial style, which used metal framework to allow for taller buildings with larger windows and more open floor plans don't miss: the rookery (1885 88), 209 s lasalle st this building, designed by burnham and root, uses both load bearing masonry and metal frame construction, tracing the evolution of commercial architecture santa fe building (1904), 224 s michigan ave designed by dh burnham and co, the building is the former home of burnham's own offices and now houses the chicago architecture foundation it's a mature version of the chicago commercial style that developed in the 1880s lakefront parks: testament to foresight the lakefront parks were protected from commercial development from the city's earliest days and incorporated by daniel burnham into his 1909 city plan, creating one of the most unique and enjoyable aspects of chicago's urban landscape don't miss: grant park, south of the chicago river, is the centerpiece of the park system the expanse is home to the 1927 buckingham fountain and several of chicago's top museums, and it hosts many of the city's popular festivals louis sullivan (1856 1924): american vision sullivan, one of america's most influential architects, rejected the tradition of copying historic european styles and worked instead to develop uniquely american buildings sullivan believed that buildings should look organic and in harmony with their environment, and he developed the 'form follows function' philosophy don't miss: the auditorium building (1886 1890), 430 s michigan ave, was designed to house a theater, a hotel and offices, and is widely recognized as sullivan and his partner dankmar adler's masterpiece frank lloyd wright (1867 1959): design revolution wright, widely considered to be the greatest architect of the 20th century, started his career in chicago working first for joseph lyman silsbee and soon after for adler and sullivan louis sullivan was wright's mentor slide show: learn more about frank lloyd wright » wright developed the prairie style in the chicago area, revolutionizing residential architecture the style is characterized by accentuated horizontal lines and a fluid relationship between a structure and its environment don't miss: frank lloyd wright's home and studio (1889 1898) at 951 chicago ave in oak park, illinois, is open for tours and accessible via public transportation the robie house (1909), 5757 s woodlawn ave, is a masterpiece of the prairie style art deco: jazz age aesthetics chicago's rapid growth in the 1920s and '30s created a need for new office buildings reflective of the jazz age style 'this is the era of steam ship travel across the atlantic and some of the first airplanes and these wonderful, long, streamlined automobiles and that same design sensibility was translated into architecture,' neises said the resulting buildings were smooth, with little applied ornamentation and an emphasis on unbroken vertical lines don't miss: the chicago board of trade building (1930), 141 w jackson blvd, designed by holabird and root, exemplifies art deco's emphasis on verticality ludwig mies van der rohe (1886 1969): emerging modernism mies van der rohe's innovation brought chicago's architecture to the world stage again in the 1940s with his glass and steel highrises he designed some of the first modernist buildings in the city, embracing modern materials and technology 'if you're building a steel building, why would you disguise that as a stone building? celebrate the steel, celebrate modern technology, put materials together artistically in a modern way,' neises said, explaining mies van der rohe's style don't miss: 860 880 lake shore drive (1949 1951) these glass and steel apartment towers are among the city's most famous post world war ii buildings chicago modernism: growing influence pioneered by mies van der rohe, modernism in chicago was proliferated in the '50s and '60s by his students and followers modernist architects believed that the form, shape and volume of a building, rather than its ornamentation, should express its beauty these ideas came to dominate commercial and institutional architecture for decades 'it's a very kind of 'thinky' way of trying to design buildings, which is what's a little bit off putting for some people,' neises said but this is the reason he enjoys giving the foundation's modern skyscrapers tour 'i can't always get people to like this stuff, but i can get them to appreciate it' don't miss: the inland steel building (1956 57), 30 w monroe st designed by skidmore, owings and merrill (the same firm that designed the sears tower), this dramatic skyscraper clad in stainless steel was the first skyscraper to be built in the loop after the great depression millennium park: a new era millennium park, which opened several years late in 2004, combines art, architecture, music and landscape design to great effect at michigan avenue and randolph street, the park has quickly become one of the most popular tourist destinations in chicago don't miss: the jay pritzker pavilion is an undulating outdoor concert venue designed by frank gehry 'cloud gate,' british artist anish kapoor's reflective elliptical sculpture, invites visitors to see themselves in its surfaces from every angle chicagoans affectionately refer to it as the 'bean' | the chicago architecture foundation america windy city chicago the 1880s | the chicago architecture foundation conducts more than 70 different tours . some of america's most influential architects worked in the windy city . chicago's reputation for world class architecture took root in the 1880s |
washington (cnn) lt gen martin dempsey, the acting commander of us central command, spent wednesday in beirut, lebanon, to discuss the security crisis with officials there and assure them that us military aid will continue, a us military official said the lebanese army has been out in force in beirut following battles between pro and anti government forces he met defense minister elias murr and lt gen michel suleiman, the commander of the lebanese armed forces in the wake of the lebanese government losing control of part of its capital to the militant group hezbollah the trip had not previously been scheduled it is not clear when it was added to the agenda of the top us military commander for the region discussions centered on continued us military assistance to the lebanese armed forces in light of the ongoing crisis 'the us government will continue to support the legitimate institutions of the lebanese government and the lebanese people as they seek to preserve their independence and security,' the military official said for the last several years, the defense department has supplied lebanese armed forces with ammunition, armored vehicles and weapons the lebanese army said tuesday that it will use force if necessary against armed groups, acting after at least 62 people were killed as anti government hezbollah militants battled supporters of lebanon's pro western government while the military largely stayed on the sidelines, declining to intervene the army reversed its stance tuesday, saying it would take steps up to and including the use of force in response to 'security activity and military presence,' an apparent reference to public activity by armed groups the violence is the worst to hit lebanon since the end of its civil war in 1991 it started in beirut, but quickly spread to nearby mountain villages in the mount lebanon area and to tripoli pro and anti government political parties in tripoli announced a cease fire monday night that seemed to be holding at least in the hours immediately after the announcement meanwhile, several western and middle east nations have lined up to support an arab league effort to intervene in the political crisis an arab league delegation is scheduled to arrive in lebanon this week in hope of negotiating an agreement between the lebanese government and the shiite hezbollah movement | us central command lebanon last week us lebanese 1991 | acting commander of us central command in lebanon to discuss security crisis . at least 62 died last week after battles between govt forces, anti govt militants . discussions centered on continued us military assistance to lebanese army . the violence is the worst to hit lebanon since the end of its civil war in 1991 |
(cnn) the board of jamaica's anti doping commission (jadco) resigned after several of the caribbean nation's sprinters were caught cheating earlier this year and a former head of the body highlighted a lack of testing jamaica's minister responsible for sport, natalie neita headley, announced the news while also saying her country vowed to step up the fight against drug cheats the resignations take effect at the end of 2013 'quite recently, jadco's commissioners met and acknowledged that there is a public perception of the existence of conflicts of interests among some of the members of the commission,' headley said in a statement posted on the website of the office of the prime minister even though jamaicans usain bolt and shelly ann fraser pryce were named male and female athletes of the year, respectively, by track and field's governing body last week, ex world record holder asafa powell and sherone simpson made the wrong type of headlines when they admitted to testing positive for banned substances in july three time olympic gold medalist veronica campbell brown tested positive, too, although she was cleared to return by officials in jamaica who deemed she didn't intend to enhance performance through taking a banned diuretic members of the world anti doping agency (wada) examined jadco's operations last month and headley said jamaica would give its 'full support' to stiffer revisions to the wada code expected to come into play in 2015 in august, renee anne shirley the former executive director of jadco told sports illustrated that jadco conducted a mere one out of competition test from march to july 2012, the months leading into the summer olympics in london 'at no time has wada ever deemed jamaica or jadco to be non compliant,' headley said 'at no time has wada threatened to bar jamaica or jamaican athletes from participating in any international event — olympic games, world championship or the like 'as we continue to build on this rich sporting legacy, the government of jamaica will continue to do whatever it can to protect our good name and reputation and in the maintenance of a doping free sporting environment' | remarkers numerate predeclare | no related information |
mexico city, mexico (cnn) a recently retired mexican army general whose bullet riddled body was found tuesday near cancun had taken over as the area's top antidrug official less than 24 hours earlier, officials said a soldier guards the forensics office where the body of a slain former general was taken in cancun, mexico retired gen mauro enrique tello quiñonez, his aide and a driver were tortured before being killed, said quintana roo state prosecutor bello melchor rodriguez y carrillo he said there was no doubt tello and the others were victims of organized crime 'the general was the most mistreated,' rodriguez said at a tuesday night news conference monitored by el universal newspaper 'he had burns on his skin and bones in his hands and wrists were broken' an autopsy revealed tello also suffered broken knees and was shot 11 times, mexico city's excelsior newspaper said tello had just been appointed a special drug fighting consultant for gregorio sanchez martinez, the mayor of the benito juarez municipality, which includes the city of cancun tello, who retired from the army in january at the mandatory age of 63, had moved to the resort area three weeks ago the three victims were found inside a white toyota pickup truck outside of cancun on the road to merida the truck belongs to the benito juarez municipality, excelsior said, citing luis raymundo canche, an assistant prosecutor for quintana roo state the three men were abducted monday night, possibly in cancun, tortured and then later shot to death, el universal said, citing prosecutor rodriguez the bodies were found with their hands bound, the newspaper said the killings happened around 4 am, the prosecutor said the other two victims were identified as lt julio cesar roman zuniga, who was tello's aide and the chief bodyguard for mayor martínez, and civilian driver juan ramirez sanchez tello is the second high ranking army officer to be killed in the area in the past few years lt col wilfrido flores saucedo and his aide were gunned down on a cancun street in 2006 that crime remains unsolved the killings come as mexico grapples with the highest violent death rates in its history around 5,400 slayings in 2008, more than double the 2,477 reported in 2007, according to attorney general eduardo medina mora former us house speaker newt gingrich has characterized the battle among drug cartels and with government authorities as a 'civil war' on tuesday, 12 men were gunned down in chihuahua state in northern mexico, excelsior reported wednesday eight other people were shot and killed in chihuahua last weekend more than 200 people have been killed this year in ciudad juarez, the largest city in chihuahua and considered the most violent town in mexico, el tiempo newspaper said, citing local authorities last year, according to the national commission on human rights, there were 1,900 organized crime killings in the state of chihuahua about 1,600 of those slayings occurred in ciudad juarez | unfinishable unindividualize tectospondylous | no related information |
editor's note: brian levin is director of the center for the study of hate & extremism and an associate professor at california state university, san bernardino he is the editor of the recently published book: 'hate crimes: understanding and defining hate crime' (praeger, 2009) and was a 2004 summer seminar scholar at the center for advanced holocaust studies at the united states holocaust memorial museum brian levin says hate groups feel marginalized by the growing tolerance of diversity in the larger society san bernardino, california (cnn) last saturday, a young african american president used eloquent prose to challenge the world to learn from the horrors of the nazi holocaust at germany's buchenwald concentration camp: 'to this day, there are those who insist that the holocaust never happened a denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful this place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts; a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history' yesterday, less than a mile from the white house, an old bigoted white man was suspected of firing back his response at the place where america tries to draw lessons from that hatred yesterday's shooting is the latest in a series of murderous attacks by erratic far right wing extremist 'lone wolves' over the past three months when shocking violence like this arises, commentators point to various factors including mental illness, political debates and the availability of guns we, however, must first acknowledge the hand of a small but expanding hate movement as a potent, yet invisible, accomplice that incites and inspires society's disaffected to serve as its most violent warriors ironically, it is the movement's decline that makes its violent fringe feel most compelled to act in april the department of homeland security in a controversial, though ultimately prescient, report concluded, 'the historical election of an african american president and the prospect of policy changes are proving to be a driving force for right wing extremist recruitment and radicalization' that month richard poplawski, a 22 year old with a history of both job failures and anti semitic conspiratorial internet rants, was charged with gunning down and killing three pittsburgh police officers during an ambush at his home he was in fear of the 'obama gun ban' and the 'evil of the jews,' according to the anti defamation league at the end of may, scott roeder, 51, a divorcee with a criminal record and a history of financial difficulties, shot a controversial abortion provider to death at his church in kansas years earlier, after his life began to unravel into fanaticism, he joined an anti government and anti semitic movement called 'the freemen' only days after president obama's buchenwald speech, authorities suspect, longtime anti semite james von brunn, an itinerant 88 year old divorcee from maryland, decided to make his second armed foray to combat an imagined jewish plot both involved a symbolic government operated washington landmark on december 7, 1981, the 40th anniversary of the pearl harbor attack, during another economic downturn, the then 61 year old holocaust denier attempted to enter the federal reserve building to kidnap fed board governors at gunpoint von brunn and other anti semites believe that the federal reserve is part of a jewish conspiracy to control the country by subverting the banking system similarly, in their view, the us holocaust memorial museum is yet another jewish government plot to subvert history for years he railed against the 'browning of america,' the 'poisoning' of the gene pool and the 'holocaust hoax' despite the fact that he says he worked for noontide press, a publishing outfit owned by arguably the most notorious holocaust denier, he was never able to get his own anti semitic book published von brunn's latest desperate attack comes as he nears the end of his life, and when the hate movement itself as well as the nation are at a crossroads the shooting comes at a time when society as a whole increasingly rejects the bigotry he strove so long and unsuccessfully to entrench as a young child, he lived in a nation where the invisible empire numbered 45 million, thousands of hooded klansmen marched on the capital, and blacks were segregated and many were lynched today, a somewhat resurgent hate movement has grown to a record 926 groups up more than 50 percent alone this decade, according to the southern poverty law center still, the news has not been great for hate groups the increase comes off of a historic low and appears to be caused in part by a splintering of large groups and the emergence of smaller, less effective ones in addition, a leadership vacuum has emerged as many of the charismatic hatemongers of the past have died, retired or been incapacitated by prison, ill health or scandal unlike the millions of klansmen of the 1920s, today's hardest core probably number no more than a couple of hundred thousand more tourists probably visit the holocaust museum on a busy day than the total national membership of the klan notwithstanding a spike in some very disturbing racial incidents related to the election of obama, except for washington state, the most recent data trickling out shows a decrease or stability in the handful of jurisdictions reporting 2008 hate crimes the anti defamation league just reported the fourth annual decline in anti semitic incidents in the united states, and 65 percent of whites and a record number of blacks, 59 percent, say race relations are good, according to a new york times/cbs poll however, all the good news about tolerance, a pending federal hate crime bill, the election of an african american president and our increasing diversity are seen as nothing less than a final frontal attack on white nationalism itself for the remaining haters, desperate times and recent attacks may in fact be taken as one last violent call to arms the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of brian levin | magnetron harasses conned | no related information |
washington (cnn) pledging to take 'the air out of golden parachutes,' president obama announced wednesday that executives of companies receiving federal bailout money will have their pay capped at $500,000 under a revised financial compensation plan $500,000 will be the limit on executive salaries at companies receiving tax dollars, president obama says last year's 'shameful' handout of $18 billion in wall street bonuses 'is exactly the kind of disregard for the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self interest and short term gain at the expense of everything else,' obama said to reporters at the white house 'for top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis isn't just bad taste it's a bad strategy and i will not tolerate it we're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid so that when firms seek new federal dollars, we won't find them up to the same old tricks,' the president added under obama's plan, companies that want to pay their executives more than $500,000 will have to do so through stocks that cannot be sold until the companies pay back the money they borrow from the government the rules will be implemented by the treasury department and do not need to be approved by congress the restrictions will most affect large companies that receive 'exceptional assistance,' such as citigroup the struggling banking giant has taken about $45 billion from the government's troubled asset relief program the new rules also will mandate that shareholders of banks have a greater say about the salaries paid to company heads the measures will put in place greater transparency for costs such as holiday parties and office renovations obama also pledged further reforms in the future, promising that the administration will 'examine the ways in which the means and manner of executive compensation have contributed to a reckless culture and quarter by quarter mentality that in turn have wrought havoc in our financial system' watch obama talk about limiting executive salaries » 'we're going to be taking a look at broader reforms so that executives are compensated for sound risk management and rewarded for growth measured over years, not just days or weeks,' obama said cnn's suzanne malveaux contributed to this report | 500,000 obama over $500,000 citigroup | new: pay for executives at companies that take bailout money capped at $500,000 . new: obama pledges further rules on compensation . compensation over $500,000 will have to be in stocks with sales limit . the plan will affect companies getting 'exceptional assistance,' like citigroup |
beijing (cnn) if the latest us intelligence reports are true then north korea is planning to test fire not one but multiple missiles, the latest provocative act by its unpredictable young leader while the region has become used to the posturing from pyongyang, the recent wave of rhetoric has been unusually sustained and virulent, leading some analysts to consider the possibility of an armed confrontation between the two koreas the neighbors remain technically at war after the 1950 53 conflict ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty so far kim jong un has refused to listen to the international community, leaving many to wonder if anyone can appeal to the leader, thought to be 30 years old, and defuse the crisis all eyes are turned on china of all the regional powers, analysts say, china has the greatest potential leverage over its traditional ally chinese troops fought side by side with the north koreans during the korean war that left the korean peninsula divided over the years it has supplied the north with much of its fuel, food and other resources china could stop doing this at any time but it has rarely done so 'chinese netizens say, 'if we squeeze it for one week, what do you do the next week? you have to un squeeze because we can't let them die,'' explained sunny lee, a south korean writer and scholar 'they think it's an ineffective strategy from the start' lee says china has tried squeezing the north in 2002 and again in 2006 'they tried it and realized it did not work,' he said it fears the specter of millions of starving refugees crossing into china along its 1,400 kilometer (880 mile) border with north korea it also fears a united korea under the control of south korea, a close us ally lee says china benefits from the status quo and from pyongyang's brinkmanship 'when north korea makes some noise, the us ambassador asks the chinese ambassador at the united nations for a dialogue, it becomes a public g 2,' he said 'it elevates china's international status it seems, on the surface, that china has now come around as a respectable global stakeholder' but lee said the us benefits too 'it can pressure south korea to join its military defense system, it can pressure south korea to join a regional trading group, and it can sell south korea more advanced weapons, which are very expensive' meanwhile, analysts say a full scale north korea attack is unlikely, but they also fear a mishap could unintentionally trigger a localized skirmish a fact that has triggered unusually strong statements from beijing opinion: will china finally 'bite' north korea? 'no country should be allowed to throw a region into chaos for selfish gains,' declared president xi jinping last monday, apparently an oblique slap at its wayward ally north korea's latest bout of saber rattling began on february 12, when it conducted a third underground nuclear test the international community reacted with outrage, while the united nations responded with more sanctions even former cuban leader fidel castro, a north korean ally, warned against conflict last week he described the current tensions on the peninsula as one of the 'gravest risks' for nuclear holocaust since the cuban missile crisis in 1962 us secretary of state john kerry is visiting china this week to press beijing to lean on its wayward neighbor 'of course they will use their influence,' jon huntsman, the former us ambassador to china, told cnn's wolf blitzer 'the question is will north korea listen to their admonition? they have influence, but they've been lied to and they've been cheated by north korea they know that and they are feeling the sting of it' huntsman believes the chinese have less clout with the north koreans 'business is done by people and they have less of a personal rapport at senior levels with the korean leadership than they did in the years back,' he said none of china's current leadership has met with kim jong un last november, china dispatched li jianguo, a senior communist party official, to pyongyang in a last minute effort to convince kim to forgo its planned nuclear test li failed since then, there have been no high level exchanges between the two former allies indeed the last high profile foreigner to spend quality time with the young kim was dennis rodman, the eccentric former nba basketball star 'you have a friend for life,' rodman told kim after the two men sat next to each other to watch a basketball exhibition in pyongyang in march the meeting showed another side of a young man thrust into the seat of power with much to prove, according to korea watchers christopher hill, a former us ambassador to south korea, said the flurry of tough talk out of pyongyang shouldn't be ignored, but it could be directed to the citizenry itself 'i think there's a big element of domestic north korean politics, if one can understand that concept, where clearly kim jong un is not being well received,' hill told cnn recently 'i think they are trying to kind of boost his status to some sort of wartime leader' it remains to be seen how far the relatively inexperienced leader will go to shore up his position at home even if this pushes the north's traditional ally too far lucrezia seu in beijing contributed to the report | north korea china kim jong un xi jinping kim | new intelligence reports suggest north korea planning multiple missile launch . traditional ally china increasingly irritated by regime under kim jong un . president xi jinping: no country should be allowed to throw region into chaos . analysts believe kim is under pressure to justify his position at home |
(healthcom) stepped up colon cancer screening has helped slash death rates from the disease across the us in recent years, but not all regions of the country have benefited equally according to a new study from the american cancer society, the drop in death rates has been considerably faster in the northeast than in the south in the early 1990s, the states with the highest rates of colon cancer deaths were clustered in the rust belt, mid atlantic region, and new england within a decade, the study shows, the highest rates could instead be found in the deep south and appalachia, thanks to sharp declines in the northeast death rates in massachusetts, rhode island, new york, maine, and connecticut all fell by 33% or more during that 10 year span, whereas the decline was 15% or less in six southern states, including west virginia, louisiana, and alabama, according to the study healthcom: colon cancer: what increases your risk in mississippi, the decrease in the death rate wasn't even statistically significant, making it one of only two states (along with wyoming) to see no measurable improvement 'the main factor is really [that] screening rates are lower in the south compared to the northeast,' says ahmedin jemal, phd, the lead author of the study and the vice president of surveillance research at the american cancer society, in atlanta southern states are generally poorer than northern states, and they tend to have more residents without health insurance who may forgo the regular screening that experts recommend for people over age 50, jemal explains and as the study notes, southerners are also more likely to be obese and to smoke both known risk factors for colon cancer (also known as colorectal cancer) healthcom: 10 states that consume too much fast food the new study, which appears in the july issue of the journal cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention, follows on the heels of a report released tuesday by the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) that highlighted nationwide gains in the fight against colon cancer between 2003 and 2007, the percentage of us adults ages 50 to 75 who had ever had a colonoscopy or other screening test increased from 52 to 65%, according to the report the benefits of the wider screening could be seen in the national death rate from the cancer, which declined from 19 to 167 per 100,000 inhabitants over the same period (jemal and his colleagues used some of the same data sources as the cdc researchers) colon cancer screening saves lives, but more need to do it the importance of screening is borne out by the state data in the new study, says d kim turgeon, md, an associate professor of gastroenterology at the university of michigan, in ann arbor in states that showed reductions in mortality rates of 20% or more between 1990 and 2007, she notes, at least 55% of the target population was screened in 2004 'all of the states that have really changed their mortality a lot are screening more of the population,' she says poverty is a key factor in the regional disparities seen in the study, says mira katz, phd, an associate professor of health behavior and health promotion at the ohio state university, in columbus not only do poor people have less access to health care, katz says, but they may also be getting confusing messages about screening colonoscopies can be prohibitively expensive if not covered by insurance, but many doctors believe they are the only acceptable option and fail to suggest fecal occult blood tests, a more affordable alternative that uses stool samples healthcom: which colon cancer screening test should you get? 'you have [a] disconnect between what people can afford because they're uninsured, and what providers will recommend,' katz says 'the best colon cancer screening test is the one that gets done' the new findings provide more evidence that colon cancer screening works, but for many people, the tests remain a tough sell, says leonard saltz, md, head of colorectal oncology at memorial sloan kettering cancer center, in new york city 'it is hard to convince the average american to go to the doctor when he or she is healthy or to convince insurers that money spent on screening now not only saves lives but saves money later,' he says copyright health magazine 2011 | the deep south appalachia southerners | within a decade, highest rates could be found in the deep south and appalachia . southerners more likely to be obese and to smoke both known risk factors . colonoscopies can be prohibitively expensive if not covered by insurance |
(cnn) the country music association awards show is billed as 'country music's biggest night' and it certainly was for married stars blake shelton and miranda lambert, who cemented their status as nashville's golden couple by winning male and female vocalist of the year for the fourth year in a row shelton also picked up his first win for album of the year wednesday night, but 'the voice' star was aced out as entertainer of the year by sentimental favorite george strait, who last won that title in 1990 afterward, shelton told a roomful of journalists, 'he's not just entertainer of the year he's entertainer of the last three decades he's king george, and i couldn't be happier with how this night turned out' there were some fresh faces at the podium, too kacey musgraves was named new artist of the year, while florida georgia line nabbed duo of the year and single of the year for the summertime smash 'cruise' and at the tender age of 23, taylor swift received the cma's prestigious pinnacle award for achieving global success and recognition unique to country music swift later told cnn, 'i was freaking out my parents were losing it this is kind of like a night you have in your daydreams where it's like everyone you love is there it just was unreal, honestly' the 47th annual cma awards opened with a musical number that parodied a real life 'feud,' pitting the zac brown band's frontman against supporters of chart topper luke bryan reportedly because brown had criticized bryan's latest single in a radio interview but even before the show started, bryan told cnn, 'zac and i saw each other backstage, and we hugged, and it's not that way so it's all good no big feud me and zac we may have a collaboration coming one of these days you never know' in their sixth year as hosts, brad paisley and carrie underwood got some laughs with a skit that mocked obamacare the pair pretended to be trying to sign up for the health care program before launching into a new take on the george strait classic 'amarillo by morning' 'obamacare by morning,' they sang 'why's this taking so long? i'm going to end up with hemorrhoids/if i sit here 'til dawn' | blake shelton miranda lambert george strait taylor swift brad paisley carrie underwood obamacare | blake shelton and wife miranda lambert are named male and female vocalist of the year . george strait wins entertainer of the year . taylor swift receives the pinnacle award . co hosts brad paisley and carrie underwood mock obamacare in skit |
(cnn) former egyptian president hosni mubarak's health is deteriorating as he struggles with complications from stomach cancer, his lawyer said monday 'he has cancer in the stomach, and it's getting worse,' said farid el deeb, the lawyer for mubarak and his family the news on mubarak's condition comes five weeks ahead of his and his two sons' criminal trial mubarak, who stepped down amid intense domestic and international pressure earlier this year, is accused of ordering police officers to use live ammunition to kill protesters on january 25 in cairo's tahrir square the former president could be executed if he is convicted of ordering killings, egyptian justice minister mohamed abdelaziz al juindy has said el deeb has said mubarak is 'very sad and sorry' about the allegations, but has no regrets and denies giving any kind of authorization to fire on demonstrators mubarak has been held in sharm el sheikh international hospital in the red sea resort community since mid april after complaining of heart palpitations egyptian prosecutors said earlier this month that the former leader is too ill for transfer to a prison hospital in tora, concluding that the hospital cannot accommodate mubarak's needs el deeb revealed monday that mubarak underwent major surgery in june 2010 at a german hospital dr markus wolfgang buchler removed parts of mubarak's pancreas, gall bladder and a growth on his small intestines that operation was kept secret, with even top government aides unaware of the procedure, el deeb said buchler, chairman of the surgery department at a hospital in heidelberg, said mubarak should receive a comprehensive follow up every four months for two years after the surgery 'but the follow up was completely ignored,' el deeb said according to the general prosecutor, six doctors affiliated with egypt's military were dispatched to see mubarak at the sharm el sheikh hospital and released a report on may 24 a week later, on june 1, egyptian prosecutors released a statement that said mubarak had repeated irregular heartbeats that, combined with low blood pressure and an 'instant drop in blood circulation in the brain leads to instant unconsciousness' the report also found the former president had an increased risk of heart attack and suffered from depression, fatigue and muscle weakness dr mohamed el deeb, a member of the presidential palace medical team who had accompanied mubarak to germany for his surgery, asked buchler if he would visit mubarak in sharm el sheikh and the family lawyer, also named el deeb but no relation to the doctor, said he submitted an official request thursday asking for permission for the german surgeon to check on mubarak prosecutors forwarded the request to mohammed tantawi, head of the ruling military council, 'but we have not heard back from them yet,' said el deeb, the lawyer egypt's ruler for 30 years, mubarak stepped down february 11 after an 18 day uprising in which pro democracy protesters demanded a change in government and reforms he and his family have been under investigation since the supreme council of the armed forces and prime minister essam sharaf's caretaker cabinet took over mubarak's sons, gama and alaa, are accused of acquiring property at below market prices, el deeb said they face charges of illegal gains and corruption, said adel saeed, a spokesman for egypt's general prosecutor all three are scheduled to be tried at cairo criminal court on august 3, saeed said aly hassan, a judicial analyst affiliated with egypt's justice ministry, recently said egyptian courts can proceed with a trial even if a defendant is in poor health 'in previous cases, suspects appeared in court with life support machines, so mubarak's health does not mean he is paralyzed,' hassan said 'if he has heart problems and doctors indicate improvement, then he can appear in court for several hours' | mubarak german farid el deeb hosni mubarak june 2010 august 3 | new: mubarak's lawyer has requested a german doctor be allowed to visit him . lawyer farid el deeb says hosni mubarak had major surgery in june 2010 . his trial on charges he ordered protesters shot is set to start august 3 . doctors say he has a host of problems, but an expert says the trial should go on |
(cnn) last week the un's senior official for extrajudicial executions, philip alston, argued in a critical report and remarks delivered in geneva, switzerland, that the united states should explain the legal rationale for the cia's campaign of drone strikes in northwest pakistan, which he characterized as 'a vaguely defined license to kill' that has created 'a major accountability vacuum' alston is also urging the obama administration to disclose the number of civilians killed in the drone strikes that is a controversial matter among the pakistani public, less than a tenth of whom support the strikes, because of their perceived high civilian death rate the drones' latest important victim is mustafa abu al yazid, an egyptian founding member of al qaeda who served as the group's number three and was in charge of overseeing the group's plots, recruitment, fundraising and internal security while yazid's death is doubtless a blow to the terrorist group, al qaeda seems to have a stash of number threes waiting in the wings at least eight men who have held that slot since 2001 have since ended up in jail or dead yazid joins three other number threes who have met their fates at the wrong end of hellfire missiles: muhammad atef, hamza rabia and abu laith al libi yazid was not the only casualty from the drone strike that killed him: reports say his wife, three daughters and a grandchild also died in the may attack in the mountainous pakistani tribal agency of north waziristan, a reminder that militant leaders are not the only ones to be felled by drones according to our count, the drones program in pakistan has reportedly killed at least 976 people since 2004, of whom approximately two thirds were described as militants or suspected militants in reliable press accounts, indicating that a third of the victims were not militants the obama administration has already authorized 90 drone strikes in and around pakistan's federally administered tribal areas (fata), double the number the bush administration authorized in its two terms in office the accuracy of the drone strikes has improved even as the pace of the program has increased over the past two years in 2008, the first year the drones program picked up speed in pakistan, an average of only 43 percent of the fatalities from the strikes were reported to be militants or suspected militants in 2009, that figure shot up to 62 percent, and so far in 2010 it stands at 87 percent, suggesting that the nonmilitant death rate from drone strikes has dropped to around 10 percent this year, according to our database overall, since barack obama took office, his administration's drone strikes in pakistan have killed an average of 71 percent militants, compared with the bush administration's 55 percent, according to reliable media accounts the obama administration drone strikes also seem to be having more success eliminating militant leaders, as at least 13 have been confirmed killed in drone attacks since obama was inaugurated in january 2009, compared with 16 during the bush administration's five years of authorizing drone strikes in pakistan this increase in accuracy targeting both high level and lower level al qaeda and taliban members appears to stem from the cia's use of smaller missiles and increased cooperation with the united states' pakistani counterparts who, despite public protests about violations of their national sovereignty by the drone strikes, have quietly been sharing vital intelligence an unnamed us official commented, 'you need guys on the ground to tell you who they [the targets] are and that isn't coming from some white guy running around the fata' after 26 strikes in the pakistani tribal region of south waziristan during the first 10 months of 2009, they halted after the start of pakistan's military ground operations there in mid october 2009, another indicator of us pakistan cooperation about the drones program as pakistan gears up for operations in north waziristan the last redoubt for a militant mélange that includes the haqqani network, various factions of the afghan and pakistani taliban and al qaeda the united states has fired more drone strikes than ever into this region: 37 of 2010's 39 reported strikes have hit targets in north waziristan so far no drone strikes appear to have targeted osama bin laden, who occasionally releases audiotapes taunting the united states as he did a few weeks after the alleged botched christmas day attempt by an al qaeda affiliate to blow up a northwest airlines passenger jet over detroit, but who otherwise has vanished into the wilds of the afghan pakistan border region and al qaeda's number two official, ayman al zawahiri, who was last targeted by a drone strike in january 2006, has since then proven equally elusive the criticism of the drone program by the united nations official philip alston seems to have had little impact on the obama administration, which is plowing ahead with drone strikes in pakistan's tribal regions on the grounds that they are 'effective, exact and essential' the opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors the new america foundation drones database is available here | uncorruptive neighed dyehouse | no related information |
cankiri, turkey (cnn) in the searing heat of an anatolian afternoon, work continues busily on the vast building site that fills an entire block of cankiri's otherwise quiet town center polls suggest the erdogan's akp is heading for another victory a massive western style shopping complex is rising from the ground next the local mayor, irfan dinc, has plans for a smart new bus terminal on the outskirts of this small regional capital a couple of hours north of ankara designated a 'preferential province,' investors in cankiri already receive lucrative tax breaks now dinc hopes to tap into european union funds as part of his efforts to put the town on the map 'cankiri is generally known for being a rural, modest province,' dinc tells cnn 'but we are becoming more integrated we are connecting cankiri to the rest of the world' cankiri is typical of the turkish provincial towns and regions that are beginning to emerge from the shadow of istanbul and ankara driven by surging economic growth and the sort of place where campaigning ahead of sunday's parliamentary elections is at its most fierce yet the issue that forced prime minister recep tayyip erdogan into early elections showed how fragile turkey's young democracy can still be and how a dispute in ankara's corridors of power can still tip the entire country into political crisis erdogan's critics in turkey's traditional establishment accuse his justice and development party (akp) of islamist tendencies and of plotting to dilute the secularist principles of the modern turkish republic, as laid down by the country's revered founder, mustafa kemal ataturk that came to a head in april when the government nominated the country's foreign minister, abdullah gul, for the presidency the fact that gul's wife chooses to wear a headscarf prompted a secularist outcry, with opposition lawmakers backed by the constitutional court blocking the nomination, millions protesting in ankara, istanbul and izmir and even the leaders of the army the traditional defenders of secularism issuing an e mail in which they stated their readiness to intervene in the event of the election of a president not to their tastes in cankiri, it is hard to see how the headscarf could have become such a potent political symbol many women here chose to wear them, but plenty of others don't and life continues harmoniously as it has done for decades in this culturally conservative country suat kiniklioglu, a local akp parliamentary candidate and one of a new breed of technocratic young politicians attracted by the party's modernizing instincts, told cnn the real divide in turkey was between 'those who want the old order to continue and those who want the old order to change' he argues it has been the akp rather than the main opposition republican party (chp) led by veteran politician deniz baykal, the self styled defenders of ataturk's legacy that has argued for closer integration with the european union and for a globalizing drive that has brought visible benefits to places like cankiri 'we represent the people who believe turkey should open up and that the old ways of doing things no longer work for us we do not reject secularism we just argue for a more user friendly secularism we do not think it should matter if a woman chooses to wear a headscarf' final polls ahead of sunday's vote suggest the akp is heading for another victory, but this is not a straightforward election the party still faces the job of electing a president and has vowed to press ahead with constitutional changes to prevent a similar crisis occurring again but without securing an unlikely two thirds majority, it could find itself blocked by its parliamentary opponents just as easily after the elections as before them and while the chp is not expected to get the votes it needs to form a government, the secular establishment remains a dominating presence in turkish politics, notably through its close ties to the army, which has acted four times since 1960 to bring down governments of which it disapproved also damaging for the akp has been a surge in turkish nationalism, largely on the back of reaction against regular terrorist attacks by the pkk which have led military chiefs to call for action against kurdish northern iraq that feeling has been capitalized on effectively by the nationalist party (mhp), which may well achieve the 10 percent share of the vote necessary to enter parliament, further shifting the political balance of power particularly successful in rural areas, the mhp is challenging strongly in cankiri an akp stronghold to win a place on the list of three mps the province will send to parliament for ibrahim kalin, an ankara based political analyst and newspaper columnist, the main question surrounding sunday's vote is not who will win, but whether turkey can return to anything approaching normal politics after a bitterly polarized campaign 'politicians are ruining turkish democracy, they are ruining people's trust in politics, they are ruining people's faith in politicians,' kalin told cnn 'there needs to be a little more calmness, a little bit more of a sense of responsibility for the immediate future i'm talking two weeks down the road when they come back to parliament and you have a country to run they have to make some compromises and compromises i think have to begin now' e mail to a friend | reinfect joiningly faithworthiness | no related information |
(cnn) the mother of a 25 year old woman killed in a boston hotel more than a week ago said friday that she will remain haunted by her daughter's death for the rest of her life the mother of julissa brisman says she remains haunted by her daughter's death 'our family has been devastated by the loss of our beautiful daughter, julissa,' carmen guzman said in a statement released friday, which would have been julissa brisman's 26th birthday 'the feeling of losing my daughter in this way and the pain she must have felt will haunt me for the rest of my life,' guzman said 'she won't live to see her dreams we will hold julissa in our hearts every day' philip markoff, 23, a second year student at boston university's school of medicine, is charged with killing brisman on april 14 at boston's copley marriott hotel police have said that brisman, a model from new york, advertised as a masseuse on the online classifieds web site craigslist they say markoff may have met her through the online site prosecutors say brisman sustained blunt head trauma, and said she was shot three times at close range one of the bullets passed through her heart, killing her, prosecutors said markoff, who was arraigned tuesday, is being held without bail his attorney, john salsberg, told reporters after the hearing that markoff is 'not guilty of the charges he has his family's support i have not received any document or report or piece of evidence other than what i heard in the courtroom all i have at the moment are words no proof of anything' a procedural not guilty plea was entered on markoff's behalf, according to suffolk county district attorney daniel conley markoff is also charged in connection with the april 10 robbery of trisha leffler, 29, at a westin hotel in boston leffler was robbed of $800 in cash and $250 in american express giftcards, according to police reports she was held at gunpoint and bound, prosecutors said megan mcallister, who identified herself as markoff's fiancee, maintained his innocence in an e mail sent to abc news mcallister said markoff 'is the wrong man' and 'was set up' 'unfortunately, you were given wrong information as was the public,' she wrote 'all i have to say to you is philip is a beautiful person inside and out and could not hurt a fly!' authorities believe the motive in brisman's death was robbery, conley told reporters in executing a search warrant at markoff's home, police found a firearm, along with restraints and duct tape, he said authorities in boston are working with police in warwick, rhode island, on what could be a related case on april 16 at a holiday inn express in warwick, a man tied up and demanded money from a 26 year old dancer who had posted a craigslist advertisement, warwick police chief col stephen mccartney said the robbery was interrupted when the woman's husband entered the room after pointing his gun at the husband, the suspect fled, mccartney said he said the incident 'may be related to similar crimes occurring in the boston area' but that had not been determined | julissa brisman philip markoff brisman markoff | mother of craigslist victim julissa brisman says family 'devastated' by loss . philip markoff, 23, charged in brisman's death . police say markoff met brisman on popular online classifieds web site . markoff's family, fiance maintains his innocence of charges |
(cnn) the legacy of us sen edward kennedy, who died on tuesday, spreads far and wide, and across the ocean to now independent bangladesh there, he is still revered for calling attention to what many deemed an unfolding genocide massachusetts sen ted kennedy, known as the 'lion of the senate,' died tuesday at 77 it may have started as a politically prudent move by a democratic senator eyeing the white house during a republican regime but kennedy stood up to the nixon administration in 1971 and alerted the world to the bloodshed that was engulfing then east pakistan 'in 1971, there were very few leaders from the so called free world who were paying any attention to what was going on in bangladesh and for ted kennedy to come forward and to personally visit, the impact was huge,' said akku chowdhury, founder and director of bangladesh's liberation war museum 'and that's one thing bangladeshis have always remembered' at the time, the us policy directed by president richard nixon and his national security adviser henry kissinger was to resolutely support pakistan, from which bangladesh was trying to secede the administration's reasons: the soviet union and india had just signed a treaty of friendship, and nixon was concerned about the expansion of soviet influence in the region thus, it made strategic sense for the united states to align itself with india's neighbor, pakistan the united states turned a blind eye to reports of atrocities committed by the pakistani army to suppress the independence movement even as us diplomats urged the administration to speak up 'our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy our government has failed to denounce atrocities,' consul general archer blood wrote in one of many telegrams from dhaka to the us state department questioning american policy 'but we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term 'genocide' is applicable, is purely an internal matter of a sovereign state' the 'blood telegram,' as it came to be known, was reclassified as secret, and blood transferred out of dhaka soon after, kennedy traveled to east india to gauge the plight of displaced bangladeshis more than 10 million of whom had sought refuge there on his return, he issued a scathing report to the senate judiciary committee on refugees the report, 'crisis in south asia,' spoke of 'one of the most appalling tides of human misery in modern times' 'nothing is more clear, or more easily documented, than the systematic campaign of terror and its genocidal consequences launched by the pakistani army on the night of march 25th,' he wrote 'all of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from islamabad america's heavy support of islamabad is nothing short of complicity in the human and political tragedy of east bengal' the nixon administration maintained its stance but kennedy's focus on the mass killings came as everyday americans began to share in the outrage for instance, beatle george harrison's concert for bangladesh, the first benefit event of its kind, was staged to further highlight the plight of bangladeshi refugees besieged, the us congress pushed through a bill to ban arms sales to pakistan on december 16, 1971, bangladesh gained independence after a 10 month struggle, in which 1 million to 3 million bengalis were killed 'when the fighting was over, there were vultures almost too fat to fly, and bangladesh was a land with few of the sinews of nationhood left unsevered,' the national geographic said in a piece about the birth of the country two months later in february 1972 kennedy flew to bangladesh and delivered a speech at dhaka university, where the killing rampage had begun a year earlier about 8,000 jubilant students crowded into the university courtyard and jammed lecture hall balconies and roofs, greeting him with chants of 'joi kennedy' a variation on the independence slogan of 'joi bangla' in his speech, kennedy drew parallels between the liberation of bangladesh and the american revolution he said america had prospered despite predictions that it would collapse following independence, and so would bangladesh 'even though the united states government does not recognize you, the people of the world do recognize you,' kennedy told the crowd on the university campus stood a banyan tree where bengalis student leaders had planted the seeds for the independence movement and which the pakistani army had destroyed as a symbolic gesture during his visit, kennedy planted a new tree there it still stands today a testament to a country that overcame long odds to survive and one man who helped champion it | kennedy bangladesh us pakistan india bangladeshis pakistani beatle george harrison | kennedy spoke out about bangladesh when us policy was supporting pakistan . kennedy visited east india, then wrote report on displaced bangladeshis . in report, he accused pakistani army of 'systematic campaign of terror'. beatle george harrison also highlighted refugees' plight with benefit concert |
johannesburg, south africa (cnn) prosecutors dropped corruption charges monday against south africa's ruling party president jacob zuma, who is expected to win the presidential race later this month jacob zuma is expected to win the country's upcoming presidential election the leader of the african national congress had been charged with more than 700 counts of corruption and fraud the charges, which were linked to a multibillion dollar arms deal in the country, were dropped after eight years of investigations zuma, who was named one of time's most influential people in 2008, is favored to win the country's next presidential elections scheduled for april 22 he served as deputy president of south africa from 1999 until he was fired in 2005 by president thabo mbeki over his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal opposition parties are accusing prosecutors of buckling under pressure from the ruling party mokotedi mpshe, head of the national prosecuting authority, disagreed 'an intolerable abuse has occurred,' mpshe said after reading transcripts of telephone conversations between two prosecution chiefs who appear to be planning to charge zuma before anc party elections cnn's nkepile mabuse contributed to this report | jacob zuma anc south africa zuma | jacob zuma is president of the anc, the most powerful party in south africa . he is widely predicted to win the presidential vote, expected to take place in april . zuma has denied claims of accepting bribes, money laundering, among others . opposition parties accuse prosecutors of buckling under pressure |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.