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NEW: "I thought I was going to die," driver says . Man says pickup truck was folded in half; he just has cut on face . Driver: "I probably had a 30-, 35-foot free fall" Minnesota bridge collapsed during rush hour Wednesday .

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota Drivers who were on the Minneapolis bridge when it collapsed told harrowing tales of survival. "The whole bridge from one side of the Mississippi to the other just completely gave way, fell all the way down," survivor Gary Babineau told CNN. "I probably had a 30-, 35-foot free fall. And there's cars in the water, there's cars on fire. The whole bridge is down." He said his back was injured but he determined he could move around. "I realized there was a school bus right next to me, and me and a couple of other guys went over and started lifting the kids off the bridge. They were yelling, screaming, bleeding. I think there were some broken bones." Watch a driver describe his narrow escape » . At home when he heard about the disaster, Dr. John Hink, an emergency room physician, jumped into his car and rushed to the scene in 15 minutes. He arrived at the south side of the bridge, stood on the riverbank and saw dozens of people lying dazed on an expansive deck. They were in the middle of the Mississippi River, which was churning fast, and he had no way of getting to them. He went to the north side, where there was easier access to people. Ambulances were also having a hard time driving down to the river to get closer to the scene. Working feverishly, volunteers, EMTs and other officials managed to get 55 people into ambulances in less than two hours. Occasionally, a pickup truck with a medic inside would drive to get an injured person and bring him back up even ground, Hink told CNN. The rescue effort was controlled and organized, he said; the opposite of the lightning-quick collapse. "I could see the whole bridge as it was going down, as it was falling," Babineau said. "It just gave a rumble real quick, and it all just gave way, and it just fell completely, all the way to the ground. And there was dust everywhere and it was just like everyone has been saying: It was just like out of the movies." Babineau said the rear of his pickup truck was dangling over the edge of a broken-off section of the bridge. He said several vehicles slid past him into the water. "I stayed in my car for one or two seconds. I saw a couple cars fall," he said. "So I stayed in my car until the cars quit falling for a second, then I got out real quick, ran in front of my truck because behind my truck was just a hole and I helped a woman off of the bridge with me. "I just wanted off the bridge, and then I ran over to the school bus. I started grabbing kids and handing them down. It was just complete chaos." He said most of the children were crying or screaming. He and other rescuers set them on the ground and told them to run to the river bank, but a few needed to be carried because of their injuries. See rescuers clamber over rubble » . Babineau said he had no rescue training. "I just knew what I had to do at the moment." Melissa Hughes, 32, of Minneapolis, told The Associated Press that she was driving home when the western edge of the bridge collapsed under her. "You know that free-fall feeling? I felt that twice," Hughes said. A pickup landed on top of her car, but she was not hurt. "I had no idea there was a vehicle on my car," she told AP. "It's really very surreal." Babineau told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "On the way down, I thought I was dead. I literally thought I was dead. "My truck was completely face down, pointed toward the ground, and my truck got ripped in half. It was folded in half, and I can't believe I'm alive." See and hear eyewitness accounts » . Bernie Toivonen told CNN's "American Morning" that his vehicle was on a part of the bridge that ended up tilted at a 45-degree angle. "I knew the deck was going down, there was no question about it, and I thought I was going to die," he said. After the bridge settled and his car remained upright, "I just put in park, turned the key off and said, 'Oh, I'm alive,' " he said. E-mail to a friend .

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Parents beam with pride, can't stop from smiling from outpouring of support . Mom: "I was so happy I didn't know what to do" Burn center in U.S. has offered to provide treatment for reconstructive surgeries . Dad says, "Anything for Youssif"

BAGHDAD, Iraq Dressed in a Superman shirt, 5-year-old Youssif held his sister's hand Friday, seemingly unaware that millions of people across the world have been touched by his story. Nearby, his parents talked about the new future and hope they have for their boy and the potential for recovery from his severe burns. Youssif holds his sister's hand Friday. He's wearing a facial mask often used to help burn victims. It's the best birthday present the Iraqi family could ever have imagined for their boy: Youssif turns 6 next Friday. "I was so happy I didn't know what to do with myself," his mother, Zainab, told CNN, a broad smile across her face. "I didn't think the reaction would be this big." His father said he was on the roof of his house when CNN called him with the news about the outpouring of support for his son. "We just want to thank everyone who has come forward," he said. "We knew there was kindness out there." Like his wife, he couldn't stop smiling. He talked about how he tried in vain to get help for his son in Baghdad, leaving "no stone unturned" on a mission to help his boy. There were many trips to the Ministry of Health. He says he even put in a request to Iraq's parliament for help. The family eventually told CNN their story that Youssif was grabbed by masked men outside their home on January 15, doused in gasoline and set on fire. Simply by coming forward, his parents put themselves in incredible danger. No one has been arrested or held accountable in Youssif's case. Watch CNN's Arwa Damon describe 'truly phenomenal' outpouring » . Shortly after Youssif's story aired Wednesday, the Children's Burn Foundation a nonprofit organization based in Sherman Oaks, California, that provides support for burn victims locally, nationally and internationally agreed to pay for the transportation for Youssif and his family to come to the United States and to set up a fund for donations. You can make a donation at the foundation's site by clicking here. There's a drop-down menu under the "general donation" area that is marked "Youssif's fund." The foundation says it will cover all medical costs from surgeries for Youssif to housing costs to any social rehabilitation that might be needed for him. Surgeries will be performed by Dr. Peter Grossman, a plastic surgeon with the affiliated Grossman Burn Center who is donating his services for Youssif's cause. Officials are still trying to get the appropriate visas for the family's travels. "We are prepared to have them come here, set them up in a housing situation, provide support for them and begin treatment," said Barbara Friedman, executive director of the Children's Burn Foundation. "We expect that the treatment will be from between six months to a year with many surgeries." She added, "He will be getting the absolute best care that's available." Youssif's parents said they know it's going to be a lengthy and difficult process and that adjusting to their stay in America may not be easy. But none of that matters getting help for their boy is first and foremost. "I will do anything for Youssif," his father said, pulling his son closer to him. "Our child is everything." His mother tried to coax Youssif to talk to us on this day. But he didn't want to; his mother says he's shy outside of their home. The biggest obstacle now is getting the visas to leave, and the serious security risks they face every day and hour they remain in Iraq. But this family which saw the very worst in humanity on that January day has new hope in the world. That is partly due to the tens of thousands of CNN.com users who were so moved by the story and wanted to act. CNN Iraqi staff central to bringing this story together were also overwhelmed with the generosity coming from people outside of their border. In a nation that largely feels abandoned by the rest of the world, it was a refreshing realization. E-mail to a friend . CNN.com senior producer Wayne Drash contributed to this report in Atlanta.

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Tomas Medina Caracas was a fugitive from a U.S. drug trafficking indictment . "El Negro Acacio" allegedly helped manage extensive cocaine network . U.S. Justice Department indicted him in 2002 . Colombian military: He was killed in an attack on a guerrilla encampment .

BOGOTA, Colombia A key rebel commander and fugitive from a U.S. drug trafficking indictment was killed over the weekend in an air attack on a guerrilla encampment, the Colombian military said Monday. Alleged cocaine trafficker and FARC rebel Tomas Medina Caracas in an Interpol photo. Tomas Medina Caracas, known popularly as "El Negro Acacio," was a member of the high command of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia and, according to Colombian and U.S. officials, helped manage the group's extensive cocaine trafficking network. He had been in the cross-hairs of the U.S. Justice Department since 2002. He was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and manufacturing and distributing cocaine within Colombia to fund the FARC's 42-year insurgency against the government. U.S. officials alleged Medina Caracas managed the rebel group's sales of cocaine to international drug traffickers, who in turn smuggled it into the United States. He was also indicted in the United States along with two other FARC commanders in November 2002 on charges of conspiring to kidnap two U.S. oil workers from neighboring Venezuela in 1997 and holding one of them for nine months until a $1 million ransom was paid. Officials said the army's Rapid Response Force, backed by elements of the Colombian Air Force, tracked Medina Caracas down at a FARC camp in the jungle in the south of the country. "After a bombardment, the troops occupied the camp, and they've found 14 dead rebels so far, along with rifles, pistols, communications equipment and ... four GPS systems," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said at a news conference. "The death of 'El Negro Acacio' was confirmed by various sources, including members of FARC itself." Medina Caracas commanded FARC's 16th Front in the southern departments of Vichada and Guainia. Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State. E-mail to a friend . Journalist Fernando Ramos contributed to this report.

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President Bush says Tony Snow "will battle cancer and win" Job of press secretary "has been a dream for me," Snow says Snow leaving on September 14, will be succeeded by Dana Perino .

WASHINGTON White House press secretary Tony Snow, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, will step down from his post September 14 and be replaced by deputy press secretary Dana Perino, the White House announced Friday. White House press secretary Tony Snow will step down from his post on September 14. President Bush told reporters Friday that he will "sadly accept" Snow's resignation. Flanked by Snow and Perino in the White House press room, the president spoke warmly of his departing press secretary. "It's been a joy to watch him spar with you," Bush told reporters. Watch the announcement about Snow leaving » . Bush said he was certain of two things in regard to Snow. "He'll battle cancer and win," Bush said, "and he'll be a solid contributor to society." Turning to Snow, the president then said: "I love you, and I wish you all the best." Snow, speaking after Bush at the start of the daily White House news conference, said he was leaving to earn more money. He took a big pay cut, he said, when he left his previous jobs as anchor and political analyst for Fox News. According to The Washington Post, Snow makes $168,000 as the White House spokesman. His family took out a loan when he started the job, "and that loan is now gone." "This job has really been a dream for me, a blast. I've had an enormous amount of fun and satisfaction," Snow said. He said he would continue to speak out on issues, and would do "some radio, some TV, but I don't anticipate full-time anchor duties." Snow said he's received great satisfaction from talking to people about his illness. Snow's cancer was diagnosed for the first time in February 2005. His colon was removed, and after six months of treatment, doctors said the cancer was in remission. Perino announced March 27 that Snow's cancer had recurred, and that doctors had removed a growth from his abdomen the day before. Sources told CNN two weeks ago that Snow was planning to leave his job, possibly as early as September. Bush tapped Snow to replace Scott McClellan in April 2006. Snow had been an anchor for "Fox News Sunday" and a political analyst for the Fox News Channel, which he joined in 1996. He also hosted "The Tony Snow Show" on Fox News Radio. On Thursday, Snow told CNN his health is improving, citing two medical tests this month that found the cancer has not spread. "The tumors are stable they are not growing," Snow said of the results from an MRI and a CAT scan. "And there are no new growths. The health is good." The press secretary, whose hair has turned gray during chemotherapy treatment, said his black hair is expected to grow back in about a month. "I'm also putting on weight again," he said after returning from a 10-day vacation. "I actually feel very good about" the health situation. Snow said on Friday he was to see his oncologist, and they will decide on some minor forms of chemotherapy to start as maintenance treatment. E-mail to a friend .

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Empty anti-tank weapon turns up in front of New Jersey home . Device handed over to Army ordnance disposal unit . Weapon not capable of being reloaded, experts say .

Police and FBI agents are investigating the discovery of an empty rocket launcher tube on the front lawn of a Jersey City, New Jersey, home, FBI spokesman Sean Quinn said. Niranjan Desai discovered the 20-year-old AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher tube, a one-time-use device, lying on her lawn Friday morning, police said. The launcher has been turned over to U.S. Army officials at the 754th Ordnance Company, an explosive ordnance disposal unit, at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Army officials said. The launcher "is no longer operable and not considered to be a hazard to public safety," police said, adding there was no indication the launcher had been fired recently. Army officials said they could not determine if the launcher had been fired, but indicated they should know once they find out where it came from. The nearest military base, Fort Dix, is more than 70 miles from Jersey City. The Joint Terrorism Task Force division of the FBI and Jersey City police are investigating the origin of the rocket launcher and the circumstance that led to its appearance on residential property. "Al Qaeda doesn't leave a rocket launcher on the lawn of middle-aged ladies," said Paul Cruickshank of New York University Law School's Center on Law and Security. A neighbor, Joe Quinn, said the object lying on Desai's lawn looked military, was brown, had a handle and strap, and "both ends were open, like you could shoot something with it." Quinn also said the device had a picture of a soldier on it and was 3 to 4 feet long. An Army official said the device is basically a shoulder-fired, direct-fire weapon used against ground targets a modern-day bazooka and it is not wire-guided. According to the Web site Globalsecurity.org, a loaded M136 AT4 anti-tank weapon has a 40-inch-long fiberglass-wrapped tube and weighs just 4 pounds. Its 84 millimeter shaped-charge missile can penetrate 14 inches of armor from a maximum of 985 feet. It is used once and discarded. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Carol Cratty, Dugald McConnell, and Mike Mount contributed to this report.

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President Bush to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Wednesday . Bush to say that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today's terrorists . Speech will be latest White House attempt to try to reframe the debate over Iraq .

WASHINGTON As he awaits a crucial progress report on Iraq, President Bush will try to put a twist on comparisons of the war to Vietnam by invoking the historical lessons of that conflict to argue against pulling out. President Bush pauses Tuesday during a news conference at the North American Leaders summit in Canada. On Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, Bush will tell members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that "then, as now, people argued that the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end," according to speech excerpts released Tuesday by the White House. "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush will say. "Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president will say. The president will also make the argument that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today's terrorists by compromising U.S. credibility, citing a quote from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the American people would rise against the Iraq war the same way they rose against the war in Vietnam, according to the excerpts. "Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently," Bush will say. On Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "President Bush's attempt to compare the war in Iraq to past military conflicts in East Asia ignores the fundamental difference between the two. Our nation was misled by the Bush Administration in an effort to gain support for the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, leading to one of the worst foreign policy blunders in our history. "While the President continues to stay-the-course with his failed strategy in Iraq, paid for by the taxpayers, American lives are being lost and there is still no political solution within the Iraqi government. It is time to change direction in Iraq, and Congress will again work to do so in the fall." The White House is billing the speech, along with another address next week to the American Legion, as an effort to "provide broader context" for the debate over the upcoming Iraq progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad. President Bush has frequently asked lawmakers and the American people to withhold judgment on his troop "surge" in Iraq until the report comes out in September. Watch Bush criticize the Iraqi government » . It is being closely watched on Capitol Hill, particularly by Republicans nervous about the political fallout from an increasingly unpopular war. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he would wait for the report before deciding when a drawdown of the 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq might begin. Bush's speeches Wednesday and next week are the latest in a series of attempts by the White House to try to reframe the debate over Iraq, as public support for the war continues to sag. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans 64 percent now oppose the Iraq war, and 72 percent say that even if Petraeus reports progress, it won't change their opinion. The poll also found a great deal of skepticism about the report; 53 percent said they do not trust Petraeus to give an accurate assessment of the situation in Iraq. In addition to his analogy to Vietnam, Bush in Wednesday's speech will invoke other historical comparisons from Asia, including the U.S. defeat and occupation of Japan after World War II and the Korean War in the 1950s, according to the excerpts. "In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, many thought it naive to help the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Then, as now, the critics argued that some people were simply not fit for freedom," Bush will say. "Today, in defiance of the critics, Japan ... stands as one of the world's great free societies." Speaking about the Korean War, Bush will note that at the time "critics argued that the war was futile, that we never should have sent our troops in, or that America's intervention was divisive here at home." "While it is true that the Korean War had its share of challenges, America never broke its word," Bush will say. "Without America's intervention during the war, and our willingness to stick with the South Koreans after the war, millions of South Koreans would now be living under a brutal and repressive regime." E-mail to a friend .

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President Bush will have a routine colonoscopy Saturday . While he's anesthetized, his powers will be transferred to the vice president . Bush had last colonoscopy in 2002, which found no problems .

WASHINGTON Vice President Dick Cheney will serve as acting president briefly Saturday while President Bush is anesthetized for a routine colonoscopy, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday. Bush is scheduled to have the medical procedure, expected to take about 2 1/2 hours, at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, Snow said. Bush's last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said. The president's doctor had recommended a repeat procedure in about five years. The procedure will be supervised by Dr. Richard Tubb and conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Snow said. A colonoscopy is the most sensitive test for colon cancer, rectal cancer and polyps, small clumps of cells that can become cancerous, according to the Mayo Clinic. Small polyps may be removed during the procedure. Snow said that was the case when Bush had colonoscopies before becoming president. Snow himself is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer that began in his colon and spread to his liver. Snow told reporters he had a chemo session scheduled later Friday. Watch Snow talk about Bush's procedure and his own colon cancer » . "The president wants to encourage everybody to use surveillance," Snow said. The American Cancer Society recommends that people without high-risk factors or symptoms begin getting screened for signs of colorectal cancer at age 50. E-mail to a friend .

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2,000 customers without electricity, power company says . Magnitude 4.2 quake set off home alarms, says Oakland police dispatcher . "It was fairly mild," police say, no immediate reports of injuries, damage . It was centered two miles east-northeast of Oakland, about 3.6 miles deep .

SAN FRANCISCO, California A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook the San Francisco area Friday at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake left about 2,000 customers without power, said David Eisenhower, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Light. Under the USGS classification, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake is considered "light," which it says usually causes minimal damage. "We had quite a spike in calls, mostly calls of inquiry, none of any injury, none of any damage that was reported," said Capt. Al Casciato of the San Francisco police. "It was fairly mild." Watch police describe concerned calls immediately after the quake » . The quake was centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland, at a depth of 3.6 miles, the USGS said. Oakland is just east of San Francisco, across San Francisco Bay. An Oakland police dispatcher told CNN the quake set off alarms at people's homes. The shaking lasted about 50 seconds, said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. According to the USGS, magnitude 4.2 quakes are felt indoors and may break dishes and windows and overturn unstable objects. Pendulum clocks may stop. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: President Bush says he and first lady are deeply saddened by the tragedy . Mine Safety and Health Administration chief: We've run out of options. The six men have been trapped underground since August 6 . Seven bore holes drilled into the mountain have found no signs of life .

WASHINGTON There is "no remaining hope" of finding six men trapped for almost a month in a Utah coal mine alive, a federal official said Saturday. Isaac Arellano holds a candle and sings during a fundraiser for miners Tuesday in Price, Utah. "Over the past 25 days, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has exhausted all known options in our attempt to reach the six miners," Richard Stickler, head of the agency, said in a statement. "The thoughts and prayers of the dedicated professionals at MSHA are with the families." Sympathy for the failed efforts also came Saturday from the White House. "Last night, a difficult decision was made to end the search," President Bush said in a statement. "Laura and I are deeply saddened by this tragedy and continue to pray for the families of these men." Labor Secretary Elaine Chao called the ordeal "heartbreaking." "The grueling around-the-clock rescue operation that claimed three lives and injured six others has also taken a tremendous toll on the many brave rescuers and the local community, and our thoughts and prayers are with them all," Chao said in a statement. After drilling seven holes into mine tunnels from the mountaintop above, there has been no sign of the miners and microphones have picked up no sound from the men. See a timeline of rescue efforts » . Tests showed underground oxygen levels were too low to sustain human life. "We basically told the families that at this point in time we've run out of options," Stickler said at a news conference late Friday. "We've consulted with the people that we have here, we've consulted with the technical support in Pittsburgh and we've consulted with private consultants in terms of where we can go," he said. "And basically, through all the information we've gleaned over the past nearly four weeks in terms of the conditions we found, in terms of the air readings we found down there and ... everything else, we just don't know where else we can put a hole to get any other information." See photos of the rescue mission » . There were no public statements Saturday from Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Mining, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine, who was the outspoken face of the rescue operation for the first three weeks, then largely disappeared from public view. Federal officials became the spokesmen. No one from Murray Mining was present at Friday's news conference. "They are done. It's finished," the attorney for the families said, according to the Saturday edition of The Salt Lake Tribune. "It's a hard and bitter pill for our families, and there were quite a few tears shed," the newspaper quotes Colin King as saying. The men were trapped during a collapse on August 6, and it is not known whether they survived the cave-in. Efforts to reach them were suspended 10 days later when two rescuers and a federal mining official were killed, and six people were injured in a second collapse as they tried to tunnel horizontally toward the area where the men had been working. Murray said last week that the search effort would stop if no signs of life were found at the sixth hole. Under pressure from the families, however, he agreed to try one more time. Families wanted officials to drill a hole large enough to send down a rescue capsule. The effort to lower the robotic device down a seventh hole had been called "a long shot" by an official. MSHA's Stickler said that hole was drilled into the Crandall Canyon Mine on Thursday, but there were problems with a robotic camera that teams were trying to lower into it. Work resumed Friday, this time at the fourth hole, but the camera could only descend about 7 feet, he said. "Basically, what it saw was really not that much. There was quite a bit of mud in there, water coming down the hole. It really couldn't go any farther than seven feet," he said of the latest try. In addition, the roof was sagging. "The families asked many, many questions and we answered them all the best we could, basically coming to the conclusion that we had run out of options." Murray said last Saturday he has already filed paperwork with federal regulators to permanently close and seal the Crandall Canyon mine. "I will never come back to that evil mountain," he said. Friends and family have identified the six missing miners as Luis Hernandez, Manuel Sanchez, Kerry Allred, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Don Erickson. E-mail to a friend .

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Beckham has agreed to a five-year contract with Los Angeles Galaxy . New contract took effect July 1, 2007 . Former English captain to meet press, unveil new shirt number Friday . CNN to look at Beckham as footballer, fashion icon and global phenomenon .

Football superstar, celebrity, fashion icon, multimillion-dollar heartthrob. Now, David Beckham is headed for the Hollywood Hills as he takes his game to U.S. Major League Soccer. CNN looks at how Bekham fulfilled his dream of playing for Manchester United, and his time playing for England. The world's famous footballer has begun a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy team, and on Friday Beckham will meet the press and reveal his new shirt number. This week, we take an in depth look at the life and times of Beckham, as CNN's very own "Becks," Becky Anderson, sets out to examine what makes the man tick as footballer, fashion icon and global phenomenon. It's a long way from the streets of east London to the Hollywood Hills and Becky charts Beckham's incredible rise to football stardom, a journey that has seen his skills grace the greatest stages in world soccer. She goes in pursuit of the current hottest property on the sports/celebrity circuit in the U.S. and along the way explores exactly what's behind the man with the golden boot. CNN will look back at the life of Beckham, the wonderfully talented youngster who fulfilled his dream of playing for Manchester United, his marriage to pop star Victoria, and the trials and tribulations of playing for England. We'll look at the highs (scoring against Greece), the lows (being sent off during the World Cup), the Man. U departure for the Galacticos of Madrid and now the Home Depot stadium in L.A. We'll ask how Beckham and his family will adapt to life in Los Angeles the people, the places to see and be seen and the celebrity endorsement. Beckham is no stranger to exposure. He has teamed with Reggie Bush in an Adidas commercial, is the face of Motorola, is the face on a PlayStation game and doesn't need fashion tips as he has his own international clothing line. But what does the star couple need to do to become an accepted part of Tinseltown's glitterati? The road to major league football in the U.S.A. is a well-worn route for some of the world's greatest players. We talk to some of the former greats who came before him and examine what impact these overseas stars had on U.S. soccer and look at what is different now. We also get a rare glimpse inside the David Beckham academy in L.A, find out what drives the kids and who are their heroes. The perception that in the U.S.A. soccer is a "game for girls" after the teenage years is changing. More and more young kids are choosing the European game over the traditional U.S. sports. E-mail to a friend .

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Colony collapse disorder has killed millions of bees . Scientists suspect a virus may combine with other factors to collapse colonies . Disorder first cropped up in 2004, as bees were imported from Australia . $15 billion in U.S. crops each year dependent on bees for pollination .

A virus found in healthy Australian honey bees may be playing a role in the collapse of honey bee colonies across the United States, researchers reported Thursday. Honey bees walk on a moveable comb hive at the Bee Research Laboratory, in Beltsville, Maryland. Colony collapse disorder has killed millions of bees up to 90 percent of colonies in some U.S. beekeeping operations imperiling the crops largely dependent upon bees for pollination, such as oranges, blueberries, apples and almonds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says honey bees are responsible for pollinating $15 billion worth of crops each year in the United States. More than 90 fruits and vegetables worldwide depend on them for pollination. Signs of colony collapse disorder were first reported in the United States in 2004, the same year American beekeepers started importing bees from Australia. The disorder is marked by hives left with a queen, a few newly hatched adults and plenty of food, but the worker bees responsible for pollination gone. The virus identified in the healthy Australian bees is Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus named that because it was discovered by Hebrew University researchers. Although worker bees in colony collapse disorder vanish, bees infected with IAPV die close to the hive, after developing shivering wings and paralysis. For some reason, the Australian bees seem to be resistant to IAPV and do not come down with symptoms. Scientists used genetic analyses of bees collected over the past three years and found that IAPV was present in bees that had come from colony collapse disorder hives 96 percent of the time. But the study released Thursday on the Science Express Web site, operated by the journal Science, cautioned that collapse disorder is likely caused by several factors. "This research give us a very good lead to follow, but we do not believe IAPV is acting alone," said Jeffery S. Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory and a co-author of the study. "Other stressors on the colony are likely involved." This could explain why bees in Australia may be resistant to colony collapse. "There are no cases ... in Australia at all," entomologist Dave Britton of the Australian Museum told the Sydney Morning Herald last month. "It is a Northern Hemisphere phenomenon." Bee ecology expert and University of Florida professor Jamie Ellis said earlier this year that genetic weakness bred into bees over time, pathogens spread by parasites and the effects of pesticides and pollutants might be other factors. Researchers also say varroa mites affect all hives on the U.S. mainland but are not found in Australia. University of Georgia bee researcher Keith S. Delaplane said Thursday the study offers a warning and hope. "One nagging problem has been a general inability to treat or vaccinate bees against viruses of any kind," said Delaplane, who has been trying to breed bees resistant to the varroa mite. "But in the case of IAPV, there is evidence that some bees carry genetic resistance to the disorder. This is yet one more argument for beekeepers to use honey bee stocks that are genetically disease- and pest-resistant." Bee researchers will now look for stresses that may combine to kill bees. "The next step is to ascertain whether IAPV, alone or in concert with other factors, can induce CCD [colony collapse disorder] in healthy bees," said Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Besides the Columbia and USDA researchers, others involved in the study released Thursday include researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the University of Arizona and 454 Life Sciences. E-mail to a friend .

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Savers at leading UK mortgage bank lined up to empty their accounts . Northern Rock was bailed out by the Bank of England a day earlier . Reassurances that banks was safe have gone unheeded by many .

LONDON, England Savers at a leading UK mortgage bank lined up for a second day to empty their accounts Saturday, a day after the lender was bailed out by the Bank of England after heavily slashing profit forecasts. Fearful customers line up to withdraw cash from a Northern Rock branch in southeast London on Friday. Long lines formed before counters opened at the Northern Rock building society, one of the UK's top five lenders, as worried customers ignored reassurances from the bank and the government. Customers are believed to have already withdrawn about £1 billion ($2 billion) since the bank's woes were revealed, prompting speculation that the global credit crunch made raising funds through commercial borrowing difficult. Shares in Northern Rock dropped up to 30 percent in Friday trading, with problems spilling over the European banking sector . The British Bankers' Association has urged customers to "calm down," according to the UK Press Association. It said: "Northern Rock is a sound and safe bank and there is absolutely no reason for either mortgage customers or savers to worry." Meanwhile, finance minister Alistair Darling said the Bank of England had stepped in "to create a stable banking system". He said: "People can use their accounts in the usual way, they can carry on making their mortgage payments in the usual way. Northern Rock will be able to carry on its business." Northern Rock chief executive Adam Applegarth said yesterday that the bank had yet to draw on the emergency cash, which he called "a backdrop in case we need to use it", according to PA. E-mail to a friend .

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Because of troubles, Lindsay Lohan likely difficult to insure . Lohan supposed to appear in Shirley MacLaine film "Poor Things" Insurance rates may cost 1 to 3 percent of film's production budget .

LOS ANGELES, California "To insure or not to insure?" It isn't Shakespeare, but it is the dramatic question Hollywood filmmakers are asking about Lindsay Lohan following her legal troubles this week. Lindsay Lohan may still get work after her legal problems are settled, but the cost will be high. It is an important question, too, because whether companies insure Lohan's future movies may determine whether she will quickly fall off Hollywood's A-list. But Lohan fans have little to fear because no actor is uninsurable, say underwriting experts. While some producers may balk at conditions for hiring problematic stars, experts say that unless an actor is serving time in prison, even the most volatile can be covered albeit at a high cost. "For a price, anything can be done, although an insurance carrier can make things so unpalatable that at times the makers of the film just won't be interested," said Ross Miller, partner with insurance brokerage D.R. Reiff & Associates Inc. Lohan's arrest this week in Los Angeles on suspicion of drunken driving and cocaine possession has left Hollywood wondering if the actress, who shot to fame as a child in Disney films like "The Parent Trap," is too risky to cast in a film. Timeline: Lindsay Lohan's troubles » . It remains to be seen whether her latest relapse and brush with the law will cost her a role in "Poor Things," a film produced by and starring Oscar-winner Shirley MacLaine. See a gallery of Lohan's films » . A statement was expected early next week on whether the movie, already delayed this spring due to an earlier rehab stint by Lohan, will proceed with or without her. Insurance experts say the industry has long dealt with similar situations, although they may seem more frequent with the recent heavy media scrutiny of Lohan and fellow troubled party girls Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. "I don't think it (a problematic artist) is any more of an issue," said Wendy Diaz, entertainment underwriting director at Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., the leading film underwriter. "It's pretty standard year to year." But Diaz did say the terms for covering Lohan would likely be "serious at this point." She said Fireman's Fund, in such a case, would likely put in higher deductibles, or ask the star to put their salary into escrow to pay for any losses if production was disrupted. Last July, a producer on Lohan's last film, "Georgia Rule," scolded her publicly for repeatedly showing up late on the set, costing the movie's makers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Brian Kingman, a managing director with entertainment insurance broker Aon/Albert G. Ruben said covering situations like Lohan's required a lot of calculation and risk management. Insurance rates for errant actors can range anywhere from 1 percent to 3 percent of a movie's production budget, which can range from $5 million to $100 million or more, he said. "Filmmakers fall in love with certain actors for certain roles and my job is to find risk-takers to take on the risk," Kingman said. He said actors were always required to undergo a medical exam before getting insurance. In certain circumstances, drug screening is conducted and actors are required to provide blood and urine samples. In cases of known drug abuse, "minders" are sometimes required on set to keep an eye on the actor. Kingman said he had even helped craft policies for actors in the event they risked the possibility of incarceration. "I have been successful in finding and creating incarceration coverage for certain actors on probation which can be revoked if they break certain rules," he said, citing the case of Robert Downey Jr., another high-profile star with a history of legal, drug and alcohol problems. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Two employees bought, sold weapons on their own, company says . Company fired workers, turned them in to ATF, says source . Feds investigating claims Blackwater employees made illegal arms deals . Blackwater in spotlight after shootings last weekend that killed 20 Iraqis .

WASHINGTON Allegations that Blackwater USA whose operations were suspended after 20 Iraqi civilians were shot to death last weekend was "in any way associated or complicit in unlawful arms activities are baseless," the company asserted Saturday. Blackwater employees patrol Baghdad by air in a February 2005 photograph. Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that employees of Blackwater illegally purchased weapons and sold them in Iraq, according to U.S. government sources. A U.S. government official has said the U.S. attorney's office in Raleigh, North Carolina, is in the early stages of an investigation that focuses on individual company employees, and not the firm. Blackwater, which is based in Moyock, North Carolina, is a security firm hired by the State Department to guard U.S. staff in Iraq. "The company has no knowledge of any employee improperly exporting weapons," the Blackwater statement said. "When it was uncovered internally that two employees were stealing from the company, Blackwater immediately fired them and invited the ATF to conduct a thorough investigation." Watch a report on Blackwater's response to the allegations » . The first public hint that an investigation was under way came earlier this week in a statement from State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard after he was accused of blocking fraud investigations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Krongard said the State Department has been cooperating with the prosecutors in the Blackwater probe. "In particular, I made one of my best investigators available to help assistant U.S. attorneys in North Carolina in their investigation into alleged smuggling of weapons into Iraq by a contractor," Krongard's statement said. Blackwater resumed normal security operations in Iraq on Friday, the State Department said, after a brief hiatus following the lethal incident last Sunday. The Iraqi government was outraged by the shootings and disputes the U.S. and Blackwater's claim that the guards were responding to an attack. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Elise Labott and Kelli Arena contributed to this report.

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Several famous songs written by men for a woman . Beethoven's "Für Elise" may have been written "for Therese" Songwriters make up stories about who is behind "867-5309/Jenny"

1. "Für Elise" Bob Dylan wrote "It Ain't Me, Babe" for Joan Baez. Written by: Ludwig van Beethoven . Written for: Some girl probably not named Elise. In fact, as far as most historians can tell, Beethoven didn't even know an Elise. Instead, the song was originally titled "Bagatelle in A minor" based on some handwritten notation a Beethoven researcher claimed to have seen on a now-lost copy of the sheet music. Further complicating things, Beethoven had hideous handwriting to the point that some scholars speculate the song was actually written "for Therese," as in Therese Malfatti, one of several women who turned down a marriage proposal from the notoriously lovesick maestro. 2. "Philadelphia Freedom" Written by: Elton John & Bernie Taupin . Written for: Billie Jean King, as a thank-you for a tracksuit she gave Elton. And what a tracksuit it must have been! The 1975 song remains one of the most popular disco hits ever, leaving thousands of Hustle enthusiasts wondering just what Billie Jean King had to do with Philadelphia, anyway. Turns out, the song was a reference to King's pro tennis team, The Philadelphia Freedoms. Prior to 1968, tennis players were all considered "amateurs" and weren't eligible to receive prize money. So, if you didn't have the wealth to support yourself, you couldn't play. Billie Jean King fought against those constraints, ultimately founding Professional World Team Tennis in 1974 and turning tennis into a paid league sport. 3. "Lola" Written by: The Kinks' Ray Davies . Written for: A transvestite. But the question is, which one? According to Rolling Stone, "Lola" was inspired by Candy Darling, a member of Andy Warhol's entourage, whom Ray Davies briefly (and cluelessly) dated. If that's the case, then "Lola" is just another notch on Darling's song belt she's also referred to in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side." ("Candy came from out on the Island/ In the backroom she was everybody's darlin'.") But, in the Kinks' official biography, Davies tells a different story. He says "Lola" was written after the band's manager spent a very drunken night dancing with a woman whose five o'clock shadow was apparently obvious to everyone but him. 4. "867-5309/Jenny" Written by: Jim Keller (of Tommy Tutone) and Alex Call . Written for: Unknown, as the songwriters apparently make up a different story about its inspiration every time they're asked. While the woman continues to remain a mystery, however, the phone number is all too real. In fact, it's been wreaking havoc ever since 1982 and the passage of time hasn't quelled of the number of crank calls. In 1999, Brown University freshman roommates Nina Clemente and Jahanaz Mirza found that out the hard way, when the school adopted an 867 exchange number for its on-campus phone system. Immediately, the girls' innocuous Room No. 5309 became a magnet for every drunk college kid with a 1980s fetish. Other unfortunate phone customers have fought back with creative and profitable solutions, like the holder of 212-867-5309, who put his phone number up for auction on eBay in 2004. Bids approached $100,000 before eBay pulled the item at the request of Verizon, the number's actual owner. 5. "Oh, Carol" Written by: Neil Sedaka . Written for: Carole King, naturally. Sedaka and King actually dated briefly in high school a romance Sedaka was able to successfully milk with "Oh, Carol," a then top-10 (if now somewhat forgettable) 1959 pop song. However, the real success of "Oh, Carol" came a few months later, when it inspired King to write a rebuttal entitled "Oh, Neil." At the time, King and her husband, Gerry Goffin, were fledgling songwriters in need of a hit tune. "Oh, Neil" wasn't that, but it did pay off. After Sedaka gave a tape of the song to his boss, King and Goffin landed jobs at the legendary Brill Building pop music factory, where the duo went on to write chart-toppers like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and "The Loco-Motion." 6. "It Ain't Me, Babe" Written by: Bob Dylan . Written for: Joan Baez, though it clearly wasn't the nicest gift Dylan could have given her. The two met in 1961, when Baez was an up-and-coming folk singer and Dylan was a nobody from Minnesota. Desperate to make his break in the music biz, Dylan worked like crazy to get Baez's attention. He eventually ended up going on tour with her, which is how he first became famous, and also how the two began dating. For a while, they seemed like the golden couple, but things soon went downhill. During a European concert tour together in early 1965, they had a huge fight and parted ways. That May, Dylan was holed up in a hotel after being hospitalized with a virus, and Baez, hoping to remain friends, decided to bring him flowers. Sadly, that's how she found out that her ex was already dating someone else. That someone else was Sara Lownds, whom Dylan married a mere six months later. 7. "Our House" Written by: Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) Written for: Joni Mitchell. In December 1968, Nash and Mitchell moved into a cozy little house in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles. Though commonly left out of the hippy pantheon, Laurel Canyon was sort of a commune-home away from commune-home for San Francisco society not just CSN&Y, but also Jim Morrison, the Eagles, Frank Zappa, and more. "Our House" was directly inspired by a lazy Sunday in the Nash/Mitchell household. The couple went out to brunch, hit an antiques store, and then returned to find the house just a bit chilly, at which point Nash literally "lit a fire," while Mitchell "placed the flowers in the vase that she bought that day." No, really. The whole tableau seemed so ridiculously domestic to Nash that he immediately sat down and spent the rest of the day writing about it. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Majority Leader says a number of Dems are "revisiting their own positions" Turkey is upset about World War I "genocide" resolution in Congress . House resolution calls killing of Armenians "genocide" Incirlik Air Base is key point for U.S. military supply of Iraq mission .

WASHINGTON Some Democrats appear to be wavering on a highly contentious House resolution labeling Turkey's treatment of Armenians in World War I as genocide. A KC-135 tanker lands at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey in 2003. Turkey, a longtime U.S. ally and NATO partner, was incensed by the resolution calling the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide and threatened to block access to Incirlik Air Base after the resolution passed a House committee vote. The base, in southern Turkey near Syria, is a major resupply center for U.S. operations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Mideast and Asia. The Pentagon is preparing to set up new supply routes for troops in Iraq if Turkey cuts off U.S. access to the strategically important Incirlik, military officials said Tuesday. Ankara acknowledges the killings of Armenians during World War I but vehemently objects to the "genocide" label. The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week adopted the nonbinding resolution. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would bring the measure to a vote of the full House sometime next month. But the Bush administration urged Congress to drop the issue, and some leading Democrats urged Pelosi not to bring it to the floor. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer signaled Tuesday that the vote might be put off. "I said I thought we would bring this up prior to us leaving here," said Hoyer of Maryland. "I have not changed on that, although I would be less than candid to say that there are a number of people who are revisiting their own positions. We will have to determine where everybody is." Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced his opposition to the resolution last week. And Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida and John Tanner of Tennessee, both members of the U.S. House delegation to NATO, urged Pelosi to reconsider in a letter released Tuesday. "More than half of the cargo flown into Iraq and Afghanistan comes through Incirlik Air Base, and this base would be a key component of any plans for redeployment of our troops in the future," they wrote. Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pentagon planners are looking at "a broad range of options" to keep food, fuel and ammunition flowing to U.S. troops in Iraq if Turkey blocks Incirlik. "We're confident that we'll find ways to do that," Ham told reporters at the Pentagon. "There's likely to be some increased cost and some other implications for that, and obviously we'd prefer to maintain the access that we have." Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed lawmakers' concerns last week. "About 70 percent of all air cargo going into Iraq goes through Turkey. ... About a third of the fuel that they consume goes through Turkey or comes from Turkey," Gates said. He also said that 95 percent of the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protective vehicles, or MRAPs, being deployed in Iraq are flown through Turkey. The vehicles are built to withstand roadside bombs. See Incirlik's key location » . The U.S. military issued a "warning order" a few days ago to ensure that alternative air crews, planes, fuel and routes are lined up if Turkey stops or restricts U.S. access to Incirlik, a source said. Jordan and Kuwait are among the alternatives the United States is considering. Some fear pursuit of the resolution would also embolden the Turks to attack Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq which could further complicate Iraqi stability, U.S. officials said. Incirlik offers 10,000- and 9,000-foot runways and 57 hardened aircraft shelters, according Globalsecurity.org, a source of background information about military issues. Globalsecurity said Incirlik has become a hub for cargo shipments to Iraq, taking over for Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany because it is closer to Iraq, reducing the strain on troops and aircraft. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Barbara Starr and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

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Boy, 12, lost leg to car bombing in Iraq; cousin was killed by blast . He is now heading to the United States to get a prosthetic leg . Boy: "I want to ... meet this person that gave me my future back" Charity director says helping the boy makes her "cry with joy"

BAGHDAD, Iraq Twelve-year-old Mohammed Rasoul, his right leg severed below the knee, maneuvers on crutches over the dirt and loose stones through the Falluja graveyard. Mohammed Rasoul sitting with his mother, Jinan Khalifa, eagerly awaits his trip to the United States. Row after row of headstones stand as the deadly reminder of the tragedy the city went through as insurgents battled for control of the city. Mohammed stops at his cousin's grave. "I feel an ache when I think of her. Every time I remember her, I cry," he told CNN at a visit to the grave a few months ago. As he spoke, he poured water on a tree he planted next to it. The headstone reads: "Martyr 643, the child Hajer Ismael Khalil, 13 October 2006." Clutching her photograph, Mohammed says, "My cousin died on the scene. I still remember her screams." The same explosion cost him his leg and his childhood. "A car came out of nowhere. My cousin was playing with her friend," he says. "I remember [the car] was green. It detonated." Watch Mohammed tell his story » . His mother, Jinan Khalifa, remembers that day all too well. She was in the kitchen when she heard a deafening explosion. "There was shattered glass from the windows falling all over us. I went outside and saw my son covered in blood from head to toe," she says. Her son endured 11 operations before doctors amputated his leg below the knee. Khalifa says her son put forward a tough face, but when he finally went back home the shock hit him. "That's where his personality started to change. He stopped laughing," she says. "It was tearing me up," Mohammed says "It was hard for me to watch others play. And I couldn't, I couldn't walk, it agitated me." CNN first broadcast his story in May where it caught the attention of an American charity, the Global Medical Relief Fund, which offered to help. "I cannot put my feelings into words," Khalifa says. "An entire book would not be enough. They gave my son his hope back. The America we knew was one that came, bombed, harmed. But when this organization came forward, we saw another face of America." The Global Medical Relief Fund, a small charity based in New York that helps children of war and natural disasters, has arranged for surgery and treatment at the Shriners Children Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elissa Montanti, the founder and director of the organization, says she was inspired to act when she first heard of Mohammed's tragic story. "I said, 'Oh, please, let me help this boy.' " Mohammed will arrive in the United States on Thursday afternoon. He will be fitted for a prosthetic leg in coming weeks and examined to see if he needs additional surgery. Montanti said her organization has a list of other young Iraqi children in need of help. "The word needs to get out." Asked how it makes her feel to help Mohammed, she says, "It makes me cry with joy." Mohammed, too, is ecstatic. "I didn't think this act of human kindness would be presented to me," he says. "I didn't have hope in Iraq hope that I would ever get my hope back. I didn't have a future." He adds, "I want to go to America and meet this person that gave me my future back." When he comes back home, he wants to help rebuild Falluja, starting with his school, which was bombed during the 2004 Falluja offensive. "I will never leave school and, God willing, I will continue my education and become an architect and build all the schools," he says, standing on his crutches. But first, he says, he wants to walk to water the tree he planted next to his cousin's grave. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Wayne Drash contributed to this report from Atlanta.

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NEW: Chadian president wants journalists, flight crew released . Red Cross, UNICEF, UNHCR interview children that charity tried to fly out of Chad . Most are not from Sudan and have families, agencies say . Six members of Zoe's Ark, 11 others under arrest in Chad .

ABECHE, Chad Most of the 103 children that a French charity attempted to take to France from Chad for adoption are neither Sudanese nor orphans, three international aid agencies reported on Thursday. Hundreds of women protest child trafficking and shout anti-French slogans Wednesday in Abeche, Chad. Six members of Zoe's Ark were arrested last week as they tried to put the children on a plane to France, where the charity said host families were waiting to take the children in. Three French journalists, a seven-member Spanish flight crew and one Belgian were also arrested. Representatives of the journalists and flight crew said they were unaware of problems with Zoe's Ark and thought they were on a humanitarian mission. Chadian President Idriss Deby hopes the journalists and the flight crew will be freed, his chief of staff, Mahamat Hissene, said Thursday. The president would legally be able to intervene in the case if it is transferred from a judge in the eastern city of Abeche, where the children were taken, to a judge in N'Djamena, the capital, Hissene said. The transfer will take place Monday, according to media reports. The International Red Cross Committee, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF said most of the children were living with their families before Zoe's Ark took them. The charity said the children were Sudanese orphans that it was trying to rescue from a war-torn nation. The agencies said most of the children also probably come from Chadian villages along Chad's border with Sudan. The children have been living in an orphanage in Abeche while authorities and aid agencies try to determine their identities. Watch a report on whether the children are orphans » . Chadian authorities immediately accused the charity of kidnapping the children and concealing their identities. Chad's interior minister said Zoe's Ark dressed the children in bandages and fake intravenous drips to make them look like refugees who needed medical help. The charity workers and journalists have been charged with kidnapping and extortion and could face 20 years of hard labor if convicted. The Spaniards and Belgian are charged with complicity. The Spanish flight crew is innocent and should be released, a company executive said Thursday. "We thought we were doing a humanitarian transport," said Antoni Cajal, sales director of Spain's Gir Jet charter firm. "If an NGO [nongovernmental organization] has done something wrong, it's impossible for us to know." Spain's Foreign Ministry has publicly expressed its disagreement with the charges and has dispatched top diplomats to Chad to try to win the group's release. Over the weekend, the captain appealed urgently to be rescued, fearing the crew could be harmed or killed, Cajal said. But the four women and three men are in good condition in custody, Cajal said, based on his conversations with a Spanish consular official who came from Cameroon to Chad and has been able to visit them. The detention is the first problem of its kind for the company, which hopes government negotiations can resolve the issue, Cajal said. On its Web site, Zoe's Ark describes itself as a nonprofit organization based in Paris that sends teams of physicians, nurses, firefighters and other specialists to care for children in war zones and place them with families in France, who then apply for asylum on their behalf. The Red Cross, UNHCR and UNICEF said the 21 girls and 82 boys range in age from about 1 year to about 10, and they are healthy. The agencies said they have been interviewing the children individually to determine their backgrounds. "So far, the interviews carried out with the children some of whom could not provide any information due to their young age led to the preliminary conclusion that probably 85 come from Chadian villages near the cities of Adre and Tine along the Chadian-Sudanese border," the agencies said. "Ninety-one children said they had been living with their family, consisting of at least one adult they considered to be their parent," the agencies said, adding that interviews with the remaining 12 children were ongoing. The agencies called their investigation painstaking and challenging because of the number of children, their youth and the situation in the region. Other French charities earlier had questioned whether Zoe's Ark could legally arrange adoption of children from Darfur, and contacted French authorities, according to French newspapers and The Associated Press. French authorities have reacted angrily to the Zoe's Ark trip, calling the group's actions "illegal and irresponsible." The French Foreign Ministry has said the dispute will not affect France's participation in a European peacekeeping force due to be deployed along the border between Chad and Sudan. In response to the dispute in Chad, the Republic of Congo said late Wednesday it was suspending all international adoptions, The Associated Press reported. Reporters Without Borders said it will work for the release of the three journalists arrested in Chad. The organization said photographers Marc Garmirian of the Capa news agency and Jean-Daniel Guillou of the Synchro X agency were on assignment for their news organizations and were not part of the charity's efforts. The third journalist, Marie-Agnes Peleran of the TV station France 3 Miditerranee, was traveling with the group in a personal capacity, though she carried a camera from her station, Reporters Without Borders said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Al Goodman contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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NEW: Judge signs order to exhume the body of Drew Peterson's third wife . Peterson has said he believed his fourth wife left him for another man . Police: Case shifts from a missing persons search to a potential homicide . Friends and family: Stacy Peterson expressed concerns about her husband .

BOLINGBROOK, Illinois The disappearance of a suburban Chicago police sergeant's wife is now being treated as a potential homicide, and her husband is a suspect, authorities said Friday. Stacy Peterson, 23, has been missing from her suburban Chicago home since October 28. In another development, a judge signed an order to exhume the body of Drew Peterson's third wife, who was found drowned in a bathtub in 2004, said Will County State Attorney James Glasgow. Peterson, 53, said he last spoke to 23-year-old Stacy Peterson his fourth wife the night of October 28. Drew Peterson initially told the media he believed his wife ran off with another man, but he hasn't repeated that accusation. CNN has been unable to contact Drew Peterson for comment. The couple have been married four years and have two children, who have been interviewed for the investigation, Glasgow said. Drew Peterson also has older children from a previous marriage. Investigators have twice searched the couple's home and vehicles, and removed several items, including computers, said Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich. Drew Peterson allowed a limited search on the night his wife was reported missing, but investigators were not allowed to look throughout the entire house and were given access to only one of the vehicles at that time, Dobrich said. "Early on, we looked at this as a missing persons case, but also believed strongly ... it was strongly starting to look at Drew Peterson as being a person of interest," Dobrich said. "I would say that right now, Drew Peterson has gone from being a person of interest to being a suspect." New information turned up during the investigation also raised questions about the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, which was ruled an accident by a coroner's jury, Glasgow said. "There are strong indications that it was a homicide," he said. "That's why we are doing the exhumation, because there are tests that need to be done that weren't done during the first autopsy." Watch why authorities want to exhume the body » . Glasgow cited abrasions on Savio's body and a gash on her head that could not be readily explained. "Our main thrust is to determine whether or not it was a homicide, and as we do that, we will see if there is any evidence that implicates anyone," he said. Glasgow, who was not state attorney at the time of Savio's death, said he reviewed the case file before deciding to reopen the case. "With 29 years of experience, there was no doubt in my mind it wasn't an accident," he said. "That was clear." In 2002, Savio was charged once with battery and once with domestic battery against her husband, but was found not guilty at trial, Glasgow said. Another time, she tried to bring domestic battery charges against Peterson, but no charges were ever filed. Savio's sister, Sue Doman, said Savio expressed fear of Drew Peterson. "She told me all the time, 'He's gonna kill me. It's gonna look like an accident,' " Doman said. Doman said she didn't believe her sister could have died in the way the investigation concluded. "I don't understand accidental drowning. You just don't drown in the bathtub, especially a small whirlpool. You just don't do that," she said. Meanwhile, friends and family of Stacy Peterson said she expressed concerns about her husband. A friend, Steve Cesare, has told CNN he received e-mail from her describing her relationship as abusive. The woman's aunt, Candace Aikin, of El Monte, California, said Stacy Peterson confided in her that there were problems during a visit to the Peterson home in suburban Chicago last month. "She said that she was afraid because he was following her around 24/7, even inside the house," Aikin said. "He was very obsessed and stalking her, even inside her house. She was very, very full of stress and just not happy in her marriage at all," Aikin said. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: President Musharraf orders troops to take a television station's equipment . Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan says he's under house arrest . President Musharraf says his actions are for the good of the country . White House calls Musharraf's emergency declaration "disappointing"

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Hours after declaring a state of emergency Saturday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ordered troops to take a television station's equipment and put a popular opposition leader under house arrest. President Pervez Musharraf explains his actions in a televised address Saturday. Musharraf also suspended the constitution and dismissed the Pakistan Supreme Court's chief justice for the second time. On Sunday, police arrested the Javed Hashmi, the acting president of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's opposition party was arrested, along with 10 aides, The Associated Press reported. Hashimi was arrested when he stepped outside his house in the central city of Multan, AP reported. The country is at a critical and dangerous juncture threatened by rising tensions and spreading terrorism, Musharraf said in a televised address to the nation after declaring martial law. As Pakistani police patrolled the streets of the capital, Islamabad, Musharraf said his actions were "for the good of Pakistan." Watch Musharraf's speech » . There was quick condemnation from within and outside his country. The Supreme Court declared the state of emergency illegal, claiming Musharraf who also is Pakistan's military chief had no power to suspend the constitution, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry said. Shortly afterward, government troops came to Chaudhry's office and told him the president had dismissed him from his job. Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar was quickly appointed to replace him, according to state television. It was the second time Chaudhry was removed from his post. His ousting by Musharraf in March prompted massive protests, and he was later reinstated. See a timeline of upheaval in Pakistan » . Musharraf complained in his speech that the media which he made independent have not been supportive, but have reported "negative" news. Early Sunday, two dozen policemen raided the offices of AAJ-TV in Islamabad, saying they had orders to take the station's equipment. The government also issued a directive warning the media that any criticism of the president or prime minister would be punishable by three years in jail and a fine of up to $70,000, said Talat Hussain, director of news and current affairs for AAJ. Watch a former Pakistani P.M. call the developments in his country 'disturbing' » . U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is in Turkey for a conference with Iraq and neighboring nations said The United States doesn't support any extra-constitutional measures taken by Musharraf. "The situation is just unfolding," Rice said. "But anything that takes Pakistan off the democratic path, off the path of civilian rule is a step backward, and it's highly regrettable." A senior Pakistani official said the emergency declaration will be "short-lived," and will be followed by an interim government. Martial law is only a way to restore law and order, he said. Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, agreed. "I can assure you, he will move on the part of democracy that is promised ... and you will see that happen shortly." Musharraf was re-elected president in October, but the election is not yet legally official, because the Supreme Court is hearing constitutional challenges to Musharraf's eligibility filed by the opposition. Under the constitution, Musharraf couldn't run for another term while serving both as president and military leader. The court allowed the election to go ahead, however, saying it would decide the issue later. Some speculated that the declaration of emergency is tied to rumors the court was planning to rule against Musharraf. Musharraf has said repeatedly he will step down as military leader before the next term begins on November 15 and has promised to hold parliamentary elections by January 15. Meanwhile, popular opposition leader Imran Khan said early Sunday that police surrounded his house in Lahore, barged in and told him he was under house arrest. Musharraf also had Khan placed under house arrest during a government crackdown in March 2006. Asked about Musharraf's actions Saturday, Khan said, "We are going to oppose this in every way." "None of us accept ... this whole drama about emergency." Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who arrived in Karachi Saturday from Dubai, where she had gone to visit her family described a "wave of disappointment" at Musharraf's actions. Watch crowds surround Bhutto upon her arrival » . Bhutto who returned to Pakistan last month after several years in exile wants to lift her Pakistan People's Party to victory in January's parliamentary election in the hope she can have a third term as prime minister. The nation's political atmosphere has been tense for months, with Pakistani leaders in August considering a state of emergency because of the growing security threats in the country's lawless tribal regions. But Musharraf, influenced in part by Rice, held off on the move. Watch a report on the volatile situation in Pakistan » . Musharraf, who led the 1999 coup as Pakistan's army chief, has seen his power erode since the failed effort to oust Chaudhry. His administration is also struggling to contain a surge in Islamic militancy. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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NEW: Accused pedophile Chester Arthur Stiles gets additional charges . NEW: "I think he's a little out of it," his attorney says . Suspect's ex-girlfriend: "I've had my share of nightmares" Stiles, 37, arrested following a routine traffic stop .

With his hands and feet shackled and his face obscured by his long hair, Chester Arthur Stiles made his initial court appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday morning on charges stemming from the videotaped rape of a 2-year-old girl. Chester Stiles appears Wednesday in a Las Vegas, Nevada, courtroom. Stiles, 37, was taken into custody Monday night after a Henderson, Nevada, police officer pulled over the white Buick Century he was driving. Prosecutors added a couple more charges before Wednesday's hearing, bringing the total to 23 felony counts, including a charge of lewdness with a minor, sexual assault and the use of a child in the production of pornography, according to a statement issued by the Clark County, Nevada, court. One of the lewdness charges stems from a 2004 incident, while the others are related to the videotape, the court said. Judge Deborah Lippis set November 19 as the date for the preliminary hearing. After the hearing, Stiles' court-appointed attorney said his client was overwhelmed by the public opinion in the case. "I think he's a little out of it," public defender Jeff Banks said. Jerry T. Donohue, the attorney for the girl's mother, told CNN that the child on the videotape was younger than 3 when the abuse occurred. The girl, who is now 7, was found last month after a nationwide search. The girl's mother said on "The Dr. Phil Show" Wednesday that she was "relieved" about Stiles' arrest, although it would have been "better if they found him dead." The woman said she will testify against Stiles if the case goes to court. She told Phil McGraw that her daughter remembers nothing about the videotaped assault and that she recently had a conversation with the girl about inappropriate touching. She said her daughter told her that if someone touched her inappropriately, the girl would scream and tell her mother. But, she told McGraw, "I don't trust anybody now." Although she is in a relationship with a man her daughter calls "Dad," she said, "I don't feel comfortable leaving her with him, nor with anybody else. ... I just cry and blame it on myself." Eight-and-a-half months pregnant, she said the incident has placed a lot of strain on her. Asked if she would rather not have known about the assault, she said, "Yes, I could have lived without knowing it." A former girlfriend of Stiles' said that, before the arrest, she lived in fear after going to police to identify the suspect after seeing enhanced photos from the videotape on the local news. "I've had my share of nightmares," Elaine Thomas told CNN's Nancy Grace. Thomas said she screamed when she recognized the photos on television and had no choice but to contact police about the man she had thought was a "weapons enthusiast" with only a minor criminal record. Watch Thomas say how she felt when she saw the photos » . "How could I not tell them who that man was? That little girl suffered unimaginable things, and I knew for a fact it was him," Thomas said. Another former girlfriend of Stiles', Tina Allen, said this month she thinks she is the reason Stiles came in contact with the girl and is "mortified" by the allegations against him. "He said he'd been in the Navy and, you know, I was looking for a strong guy to represent to my sons what I thought they needed to be," Allen said. Allen said she took Stiles to a crowded apartment where her son and daughter lived. Also living in the apartment were a family friend and her daughter, the alleged assault victim. Todd Allen, Tina Allen's son, said he recognized his old apartment from scenes in the video. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Ed Payne and Ted Rowlands contributed to this report.

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Jordan opens school doors to all Iraqi children, regardless of refugee status . Principal says her school is 20 percent Iraqi this year . Education minister: Iraqi kids will be incorporated into "mainstream" life . One student says he lost five family members in Iraq .

AMMAN, Jordan In the sunbathed schoolyard of the Shmisani Institute for Girls in Amman, Jordan, principal Sanaa Abu Harb makes an announcement over the speaker system. Iraqi students at the Shmisani school in Amman gather around a teacher. One in 5 students there is Iraqi. "All Iraqi girls come outside now. All Iraqi girls. Iraqi girls only!" she repeats several times, making sure the message is clear and waving away Jordanian pupils attracted by the commotion. Dozens of girls in green apron-like uniforms pour out into the courtyard and cluster on the top level of a stone staircase overlooking a concrete playground. Harb wants the CNN crew to see how many Iraqi refugee girls her school is accommodating. This school year, she says, 145 students are Iraqi roughly 20 percent of the students at this state-funded institution with another 40 Iraqi children on a waiting list. Watch Iraqi girls describe a long way from home » . The reason behind the jump in the number of Iraqis at the school is a new government policy: For the first time since the start of the Iraq war, Jordan is allowing all Iraqi children regardless of refugee status to enroll in state-funded schools. Simply, this means that even illegal refugees with no paperwork can send their kids to school with no questions asked. The move is cementing a massive population shift in the Middle East. More than 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the violence in their homeland, most of them seeking refuge in neighboring Jordan and Syria, according to humanitarian officials. Jordanian Minister of Education Khalid Touqan says he expects Jordan to accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi students this year. That's more than double the number of Iraqi children enrolled in public school two years ago. Harb, on the front line of the phenomenon, says the influx is putting a strain on her school. Even with some U.N. and U.S. aid to Jordan, there's still not enough money. "We need more teachers here, more resources, more buildings, more chairs for all Iraqi students and our students," she says. In a nearby neighborhood, in the study room of the Ahmed Toukan School for Boys, a handful of Iraqi kids talk of their experience living far from home. Seated at a rectangular table covered with a red and white tablecloth, the boys tell stories of horror and displacement. Eighteen-year-old Qutaiba lost five immediate family members before moving to Jordan to try to live a normal life. Matter-of-factly and with a straight-ahead stare, he repeats the number: "Five members." Most of the boys and young men from Iraq have missed several years of school up to a four-year educational gap that will delay not only their high school graduation, but also their entry into the workforce. All say, though, that they feel lucky to have gotten out, even if the violence in their country means always having to be on the move, ready to live far from home and away from loved ones. "It's not strange for me to be in the middle of people I don't know," says eleventh grader Ziad Tarek Al Shamsi. "I had friends in Iraq when I was small, I left them. In America, I left them. I came here, I left them." He pauses: "But you have to miss your country." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates up to 250,000 school-age Iraqi children are in Jordan. Many of them are enrolled in private institutions. But as families run out of money they had when they left Iraq, they turn to public schools. Even so, more than a month into the new academic year, fewer Iraqi families than first anticipated enrolled their kids in schools this year. According to the charity Save the Children, 21,000 Iraqi children have so far enrolled in Jordanian classrooms. As a result, the government extended the deadline for student applications and cut down on the required paperwork for Iraqi families. The lower registration numbers were attributed in part to illegal refugees' fears of being identified through their children's school records. Regardless of what the final number will be this year, the population shift in the Middle East is, according to UNHCR head Antonio Guterres, the largest urban refugee situation in the world. Iraqi families are changing the social fabric of Jordanian society. About 10 percent of Jordan's population is now made up of Iraqi refugees the estimates range from 500,000 to 750,000 of them. The schoolchildren are living examples of how the Iraq war may permanently change the Middle East. "Iraqi children will be incorporated and integrated within our mainstream line of education," says Touqan, the education minister. "We will not run a parallel system of education." E-mail to a friend .

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President Bush nominated Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales . Mukasey is a former federal chief judge in New York . Some Democratic senators opposed nominee due to views on waterboarding . Human rights groups consider waterboarding a form of torture .

After weeks of controversy over Michael Mukasey's views on waterboarding, the Senate late Thursday approved the former judge's nomination for attorney general by a 53-40 vote. Waterboarding threatened to derail the approval of President Bush's nominee to lead the Justice Department. President Bush nominated Mukasey to replace longtime ally Alberto Gonzales, who resigned in September. The nomination had been considered at risk after a number of Democratic senators opposed Mukasey because of questions that arose from his views on the terror interrogation technique known as waterboarding and the president's power to order electronic surveillance. Mukasey, a former federal judge in New York, told senators he considers waterboarding "repugnant," but he could not categorically say whether the technique amounts to torture, which U.S. and international law bans. Waterboarding is a technique that involves restraining a suspect and pouring water on him to produce the sensation of drowning. Mukasey's confirmation was all but assured last week when two key Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Chuck Schumer of New York said they would vote in favor of Mukasey despite the controversy. "The Department of Justice, once the crown jewel among government institutions, is adrift and rudderless," Schumer said Tuesday the same day the committee voted 11-8 to send Mukasey's nomination to the Senate floor. "It desperately needs a strong and independent leader at the helm to set it back on course and I believe Judge Mukasey is that person." Schumer said that in a meeting Friday the nominee said that Congress would be within its rights to pass a law that bans waterboarding across all government agencies and that the president "would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore" it. Schumer said he believed Mukasey would be more likely to find waterboarding illegal than an interim attorney general. "Indeed, his written answers to our notices have demonstrated more openness to ending the practices we abhor than either of this president's previous attorney general nominees have." But Mukasey's pledge to enforce such a law rang hollow with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, the Judiciary Committee's chairman. "Some have sought to find comfort in Judge Mukasey's personal assurance that he would enforce a future, new law against waterboarding if this Congress were to pass one," Leahy said Tuesday. "Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of this president." However, the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said he believed Mukasey would enforce a law banning waterboarding. "He could have said a lot of things which would have given me more assurances," Specter said earlier. "But he is intelligent; he's really learned in the law. He's strong, ethical, honest beyond any question. He's not an intimate of the president." A majority of Americans consider waterboarding a form of torture, but some of those say it's OK for the U.S. government to use the technique, according to a poll released Tuesday. Asked whether they think waterboarding is a form of torture, more than two-thirds of respondents, or 69 percent, said yes; 29 percent said no. Asked whether they think the U.S. government should be allowed to use the procedure to try to get information from suspected terrorists, 58 percent said no; 40 percent said yes. The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. telephone poll of 1,024 American adults was carried out over the weekend and had a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. E-mail to a friend .

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Jordan opens school doors to all Iraqi children, regardless of refugee status . Principal says her school is 20 percent Iraqi this year . Education minister: Iraqi kids will be incorporated into "mainstream" life . One student says he lost five family members in Iraq .

AMMAN, Jordan In the sunbathed schoolyard of the Shmisani Institute for Girls in Amman, Jordan, principal Sanaa Abu Harb makes an announcement over the speaker system. Iraqi students at the Shmisani school in Amman gather around a teacher. One in 5 students there is Iraqi. "All Iraqi girls come outside now. All Iraqi girls. Iraqi girls only!" she repeats several times, making sure the message is clear and waving away Jordanian pupils attracted by the commotion. Dozens of girls in green apron-like uniforms pour out into the courtyard and cluster on the top level of a stone staircase overlooking a concrete playground. Harb wants the CNN crew to see how many Iraqi refugee girls her school is accommodating. This school year, she says, 145 students are Iraqi roughly 20 percent of the students at this state-funded institution with another 40 Iraqi children on a waiting list. Watch Iraqi girls describe a long way from home » . The reason behind the jump in the number of Iraqis at the school is a new government policy: For the first time since the start of the Iraq war, Jordan is allowing all Iraqi children regardless of refugee status to enroll in state-funded schools. Simply, this means that even illegal refugees with no paperwork can send their kids to school with no questions asked. The move is cementing a massive population shift in the Middle East. More than 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the violence in their homeland, most of them seeking refuge in neighboring Jordan and Syria, according to humanitarian officials. Jordanian Minister of Education Khalid Touqan says he expects Jordan to accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi students this year. That's more than double the number of Iraqi children enrolled in public school two years ago. Harb, on the front line of the phenomenon, says the influx is putting a strain on her school. Even with some U.N. and U.S. aid to Jordan, there's still not enough money. "We need more teachers here, more resources, more buildings, more chairs for all Iraqi students and our students," she says. In a nearby neighborhood, in the study room of the Ahmed Toukan School for Boys, a handful of Iraqi kids talk of their experience living far from home. Seated at a rectangular table covered with a red and white tablecloth, the boys tell stories of horror and displacement. Eighteen-year-old Qutaiba lost five immediate family members before moving to Jordan to try to live a normal life. Matter-of-factly and with a straight-ahead stare, he repeats the number: "Five members." Most of the boys and young men from Iraq have missed several years of school up to a four-year educational gap that will delay not only their high school graduation, but also their entry into the workforce. All say, though, that they feel lucky to have gotten out, even if the violence in their country means always having to be on the move, ready to live far from home and away from loved ones. "It's not strange for me to be in the middle of people I don't know," says eleventh grader Ziad Tarek Al Shamsi. "I had friends in Iraq when I was small, I left them. In America, I left them. I came here, I left them." He pauses: "But you have to miss your country." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates up to 250,000 school-age Iraqi children are in Jordan. Many of them are enrolled in private institutions. But as families run out of money they had when they left Iraq, they turn to public schools. Even so, more than a month into the new academic year, fewer Iraqi families than first anticipated enrolled their kids in schools this year. According to the charity Save the Children, 21,000 Iraqi children have so far enrolled in Jordanian classrooms. As a result, the government extended the deadline for student applications and cut down on the required paperwork for Iraqi families. The lower registration numbers were attributed in part to illegal refugees' fears of being identified through their children's school records. Regardless of what the final number will be this year, the population shift in the Middle East is, according to UNHCR head Antonio Guterres, the largest urban refugee situation in the world. Iraqi families are changing the social fabric of Jordanian society. About 10 percent of Jordan's population is now made up of Iraqi refugees the estimates range from 500,000 to 750,000 of them. The schoolchildren are living examples of how the Iraq war may permanently change the Middle East. "Iraqi children will be incorporated and integrated within our mainstream line of education," says Touqan, the education minister. "We will not run a parallel system of education." E-mail to a friend .

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Authorities uncover a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. embassy in Baku . The United States has reduced its embassy's operations . Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday .

Authorities in Azerbaijan recently uncovered a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Baku, prompting the facility to close its doors to the public Monday, Azerbaijan and U.S. officials told CNN. The Bibi Heybat Mosque, just outside the capital Baku. As a precaution, Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday "following security concerns nearby," Britain's Foreign Office said. The terror plot was unraveled after a weekend raid outside Baku that netted several suspected members of the radical group, two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified and a spokesman for Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry told CNN. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack stressed that the details "are still unfolding," and the threat "may or may not be" linked to the Saturday raid. "There were some specific and credible threat information concerning the embassy and plans by militants to in some way do harm to individuals in and around the U.S. Embassy there," McCormack said, noting that no specific individuals were targeted. Several days ago, an Azerbaijani army officer who had connections to a radical Islamic group seized four assault rifles, a machine gun and 20 hand grenades from his military unit and hid them in the outskirts of Baku, the ministry spokesman and U.S. officials said. Government security forces tracked down the group and arrested several members during a sweep on Saturday in the village of Mastaga, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Baku, the spokesman said. One suspected member of the militant group resisted arrest and was killed in the sweep, the spokesman said. Several others are still at large, he added. He said the terror plot also targeted Azerbaijani government buildings. The U.S. Embassy in Baku issued a warden message warning Americans in Azerbaijan to take precautions. "While there is no information at this time that other American or Western interests in Azerbaijan are being targeted, the U.S. Embassy encourages Americans to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to bolster their own personal security," it said. Azerbaijan is a former Soviet republic that borders the Caspian Sea, and lies just north of Iran. McCormack said U.S. authorities are working closely with their counterparts in Baku and will determine when normal embassy operations will resume. He said he expects the embassy to limit its operations on Tuesday, as well. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Igor Malakhov in Moscow, Zain Verjee in Washington and Roger Clark in London contributed to this report .

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Man posted photos on the Internet of himself sexually abusing underage boys . Computer experts managed to undo digital masking to reveal the man . Man abused 12 boys in Vietnam and Cambodia .

PARIS, France Interpol on Monday took the unprecendented step of making a global appeal for help to identify a man from digitally reconstructed photos taken from the Internet that it said showed him sexually abusing underage boys. This moving image shows how police used software to unscramble the image. (Source: Interpol) The man's face was disguised by digital alteration, but the images were capable of being restored, according to a bulletin from Interpol the international police agency based in Lyon, France. Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said the pictures have been on the the Internet for several years, but investigators have been unable to determine the man's identity or nationality. "We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public's help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens," Noble said. He said there is "very good reason to believe that he travels the world in order to sexually abuse and exploit vulnerable children." Interpol has determined the photos were taken in Vietnam and Cambodia. "The decision to make public this man's picture was not one which was taken lightly," said Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings Unit. The suspect's photo and more information can be seen online at Interpol's Web site. E-mail to a friend .

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Six of seven dead in fire were University of South Carolina students . Official: Six treated at hospital and released were also USC students . Mayor Debbie Smith said one of 13 at house is related to owner of house . Victims' names not being released until families are notified .

Six of the seven college students killed in a massive house fire Sunday morning in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, attended the University of South Carolina, a university official said Sunday. "This is a very sad day for the University of South Carolina family," Dennis A. Pruitt, the vice president for student affairs, told reporters. The seventh fatality is believed to be a Clemson University student, he said. The six survivors who were treated and released from Brunswick Community Hospital are also USC students, he said. Pruitt said the bodies were being sent to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for identification. Watch home video showing the house in flames » . "It is difficult to ascertain exactly who was in the house and who was not," Pruitt said, explaining that several area houses were filled with college students visiting for the weekend. Newspaper deliveryman Tim Burns was aghast when he first saw the inferno early Sunday morning. He tried to approach the door but the flames were too intense, he told the Associated Press. "When I was going up to the entryway, you could hear the windows above me explode," Burns said. "When I knew the flames had taken over, I don't think I've ever felt as helpless in my life." The USC students were affiliated with the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Pruitt said, although he stressed that the weekend was not an official Greek function. "It just so happens, as on many university campuses, that certain sororities and certain fraternities hang around together," he said. One person described as "unaccounted for" was later confirmed dead, Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith told CNN. "We suffered a terrible tragedy at Ocean Isle this morning," Smith said in a news conference. "Nothing like this has ever happened at Ocean Isle Beach, and we hope it never will again." She said officials had not yet contacted all the victims' families, and that they were not yet releasing their names. The mayor said one of the 13 people in the house was related to the house's owner. Smith said the house was fully "engulfed" in flames around 7 a.m. when the fire department arrived on the scene, about five minutes after the fire department was notified. She said the house had working smoke detectors, AP reported. Officials are investigating the cause of the fire, Smith said. "We ran down the street to get away," Nick Cain told the AP. The University of North Carolina student was staying at a house about 100 feet away. Some of his friends had met several people staying at the house that burned down. "The ash and the smoke were coming down on us. We were just trying to get away," Cain told the AP. Ocean Isle Beach is a popular resort destination along the southern coast of North Carolina. The 7-mile-long island's year-round population is about 425, while the summer season population is about 25,000, according to the town's Web site. E-mail to a friend .

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Official: Streets bustling, workers returning, markets "back like gangbusters" Troop surge, citizens groups, Mehdi Army cease-fire all help security situation . Iranian weapons, fighters still posing problems in northeastern Baghdad . Commander says more families will return when basic services fully restored .

WASHINGTON Attacks are down 75 percent in recent months in a perilous stretch of neighborhoods in northeastern Baghdad, prompting a U.S. military officer to proclaim Monday that security there is "dramatically improving." Concerned citizens have helped troops improve security in parts of Baghdad, a military official says. People line the streets, cars congest them, trash collectors and other city workers have returned, local leaders are holding community meetings again and "markets have come back like gangbusters," said Army Col. Don Farris, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. He added that the largely Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq presence has been "crushed" since the beginning of May. However, there are still dangers, most notably the threats posed by Iranian-backed Shiite militants, Farris said. Speaking to Pentagon reporters via video link from Baghdad, Farris cited several factors he said contributed to the improving security situation. Among them is the "surge," the additional U.S. troops deployed earlier this year. Watch how old rivalries have been posing problems » . Also helping improve the security situation are the cease-fire by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army and the development of a program that employs "concerned local citizens" to assist U.S. and Iraqi forces, Farris said. Some of those citizens are members of local Sunni "awakening councils," comprised of former militants often armed who create neighborhood watch groups to root out the insurgent elements in an area. Especially in the last six weeks, Farris said, civic and religious leaders have seen outsiders operating in the area and troops have made arrests, two Iranian operatives among them . "From my foxhole, in our sector, it is working," he said of the improving security in the area. "I can only speak to what I see in my sector and I am encouraged." Farris' sector which includes the Sunni-dominated district of Adhamiya and Sadr City, the Shiite slum where militants have demonstrated a strong presence has seen a "remarkable turnaround," he said. Many of the communities in his area have been wracked with sectarian warfare and terrorized by insurgents and death squads. Despite improvements in the security situation, Farris warned that "we still have a lot of work to do" because there doesn't appear to be any sign that Shiite extremists with links to Iran are halting their activities. Farris said troops also are still finding explosively formed penetrators, which are often delivered or manufactured by Iran. Nine such bombs were found in late October, he said. There are intelligence reports indicating weapons and money are still flowing into Sadr City, he said. There are also problems returning refugees and displaced people to their homes in the area, Farris said, because "essential services" like water and electricity are not yet up to snuff. Though a "trickle" of families has returned home and many are asking when they can return, Farris said he believes residents will return en masse only when basic services are in better shape. Paul Folmsbee, a State Department provincial reconstruction team leader, said at the same news conference that his personnel was handling development issues involving law, governance, economic development and essential services. Farris' Monday remarks echo a string of similar assertions made by U.S. and Iraqi military officials over recent weeks. The military officials say they are seeing signs of Sunni-Shiite reconciliation. At a press conference earlier Monday in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Ed Cardon, deputy commander for support of Multi-National Division-Center, discussed a "definite period of progress" in his region on the southern Baghdad outskirts. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: White truck seen on Santiago Canyon Road near time fire started . Charges filed against man who allegedly set small fire and walked off . Catalino Pineda one of five arrested in arson investigations this week . Arson investigations continue across multiple California counties .

Officials are searching for the driver of a white truck seen on Santiago Canyon Road on Sunday, near the time the Santiago fire started, Orange County authorities said Friday. Chief Chip Prather holds a photo of a white truck similar to the one seen on Santiago Canyon Road. "These people are not suspects at this time," Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather said. "They are persons of interest who were seen near the fire in a vehicle like this." The vehicle is a white, 1998 to 2004 Ford F150 pickup with chrome tubular running boards. Prather said the information came from a lead called into the investigation's tip line. A $250,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the blaze. Watch how residents feel about arsonist » . The Santiago fire, now 27,000 acres and still burning, was deliberately set, officials said Thursday. Several mandatory evacuations remain in place for the Santiago fire, which has destroyed 14 homes and various other structures. Late Friday afternoon, the blaze moved into Silverado Canyon, authorities said. Sheriff's deputies were evacuating residents in the fire's path. Watch the Santiago flames rage » . Authorities also suspect arson in the Rosa fire in San Diego County, which burned more than 400 acres before being fully contained. There was no information on the investigation. Elsewhere, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed arson charges Friday against a 41-year-old Sun Valley man who witnesses said set a fire in the West Hills neighborhood and walked away. Catalino Pineda is one of five people who have been arrested in arson investigations this week, but none of them has been linked to the major wildfires raging across Southern California. Pineda was arrested Wednesday after witnesses said they saw him lighting a fire on a hillside, police said. The fire was quickly extinguished. The witnesses followed Pineda to a nearby restaurant and called police, who arrested him. Pineda was expected to be arraigned in Van Nuys Superior Court Friday, Deputy District Attorney Steven Frankland said. He is charged with one count of arson of a structure or forest. Pineda is being held on $75,000 bail and faces up to six years in prison if convicted. In San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, John Rund, of Hesperia, was arrested Wednesday on arson charges after a witness reported seeing him in brush near the starting point of a fire Tuesday, the sheriff's department said. That fire was quickly put out by passers-by. Investigators are trying to determine if Rund, 48, may have ties to other wildfires. He is being held on $750,000 bail. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office on Thursday filed arson charges against Anthony Riperti, 47, of Redlands. A statement from the office did not say when or where Riperti is accused of setting a fire. He is being held on $250,000 bail. In San Diego County, the sheriff's department this week arrested an adult and a juvenile allegedly seen by an anonymous tipster starting a fire in Vista in the northern part of the county. In a written statement, the sheriff's department identified the adult as Gorgonio Nava. The Vista fire Department extinguished the blaze before it grew out of control, the statement said. Investigators have determined that the Grass Valley fire in San Bernardino County was not caused by arson, and a preliminary investigation into the cause of the 11,675-acre Slide fire seems to indicate arson was not a factor, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beaver said. More than 1,600 homes have been destroyed in the past week by Southern California wildfires. E-mail to a friend .

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John Lewis Partnership began as a shop on London's Oxford street in 1864 . All 67,100 employees are partners in the organization and own shares .

The partnership started as a single shop on Oxford Street in London, opened in 1864 by John Lewis. Today the partnership is an organization with bases throughout the UK, with supermarkets and department stores, employing approximately 67,100 people. All 67,100 permanent staff are Partners who own 26 John Lewis department stores, 183 Waitrose supermarkets, an online and catalogue business, John Lewis Direct a direct services company - Greenbee, three production units and a farm. Every Partner receives the same scale of bonus, based on a fixed percentage of their annual wage. The bonus for 2006 was 18% equivalent to 9 weeks pay, which was rolled out for every employee. Chairman Sir Stuart Hampson retired at the end of March 2007, his successor is Charlie Mayfield. Hampson's salary for January 26, 2006 to January 26, 2007 was $1.66 million which included the partnership bonus of $250,000. John Lewis' consolidated revenue for the last financial year was $11.4 billion. E-mail to a friend .

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Stiles described as "survivalist type" who carries a weapon . Mother has cooperated with police, sheriff says . Girl on tape, now 7, found safe with family . Tape shows man sexually abusing the girl 4 years ago .

A girl who was shown on a videotape being sexually assaulted in Las Vegas has been found and is safe, officials in Nye County, Nevada, said Friday. Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, is being sought as a suspect, police say. "We have found the child, Madison. She's safe. The detectives say she is in good condition," Nye County Sheriff Tony De Meo said. The girl, now 7, was shown in a sex video made four years ago, Detective David Boruchowitz said at a news conference Friday night. She was found Friday with family in Las Vegas after thousands of tips poured in, thanks to an appeal by police to the news media to show the girl's picture. CNN and other news organizations did so until the child was found, when De Meo asked them to stop showing the picture. "The mother has cooperated with us," De Meo said. "We believe that the mother was not aware of anything that went on with this young girl," he said. "It was very sad for her to find this out." A former Las Vegas animal trainer, Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, a resident of Pahrump, Nevada, has been identified as a suspect and is being sought in the case, De Meo said. Pahrump is about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. Watch what's known about Stiles » . Stiles was a distant friend of the girl's family, De Meo said. Someone close to Stiles has told investigators that Stiles is a "survivalist type" and always carries a weapon, Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said. De Meo addressed Stiles directly: "Turn yourself in to your local law enforcement agency," he said. "Understand this: Law enforcement not only has a long arm, but a long memory. You will not be forgotten by members of this agency or any other law enforcement agency." The FBI is also seeking Stiles on state charges of sexual assault and lewdness with a minor under the age of 14 in a separate matter, De Meo said. Police, who had called Stiles a person of interest, began calling him a suspect late Friday. There appeared to be physical similarities between Stiles and the man in the videotape, De Meo said. "Nothing that I have seen in my career comes close to what this girl has gone through. Whoever this person is is a predator that, as far as I'm concerned, belongs in custody and, if successfully prosecuted, in jail for as long as the law allows," De Meo said earlier. Detectives said the child showed little emotion during the rapes, indicating she may have been brutalized before. Nevadan Darren Tuck recently gave police the videotape, saying he found it in the desert, De Meo said. Police said the tape was in his possession at least since May before he handed it over to authorities. He is being sought on a parole violation for failure to pay child support, but police who want to question him further have been unable to locate him. Tuck, who also allegedly showed the tape to others before giving it to police, faces a possible 10-years-to-life sentence for exhibiting pornography and another one to six years for possession of child pornography, De Meo said. Harry Kuehn, Tuck's attorney, said this week on CNN's "Nancy Grace" that Tuck was "racked by indecision" about what to do with the tape once he realized what it was. Asked why, Kuehn said, "He's explained that to us, and at this point, we're not going to share that, because it goes to the defense of the matter." "You have to consider what kind of concerns my client had; He's previously dealt with the sheriff's office in Nye County; it was previously unsatisfactory," the attorney said. E-mail to a friend .

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Frank Lloyd Wright wanted store magnate to sleep on porch . Salvador Dalí's stated ambitions were bigger than Napoleon's . Ayn Rand: Laughing at yourself same as "spitting in your own face"

(Mental Floss) They say a lot of artistic expression is motivated by self-loathing. But not for these folks! Long before the Material Girl ordered papa to stop preaching, these six puffed-up virtuosos knew darn well how to strike a pose. Alfred Hitchcock didn't leave people in suspense about how he felt about actors. Here's to the creative types who managed to raise egotism to an art form. Alfred Hitchcock . Hitchcock was, without question, one of the towering geniuses of cinema. And, like many greats, he wasn't exactly the best collaborator. Hitchcock was particularly trying for screenwriters, who felt he never properly credited them for their work. But he was notoriously hard on actors. He was once quoted as saying, "Actors are cattle" a quip that stirred up a huge outcry (actors can be so touchy). In response, he issued this correction: "I have been misquoted. What I really said is, 'Actors should be treated as cattle.'" Although it began accidentally (when he was short an actor for the film "The Lodger"), Hitchcock soon made it his egotistical trademark to appear in his own films, amassing a total of 37 cameos throughout his career. Ayn Rand . The egotist's egotist, author Ayn Rand (born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum) is the patron saint of Thinking You're Better Than Everybody Else. Her most famous novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, are massive dramatizations of Objectivism, her self-spun Oscar-the-Grouch philosophy for success. Objectivism champions ego and accomplishment, shuns all religion as folly, and condemns any form of charity or altruism as counterproductive to society. Rand's novels often focus on protagonists (invariably men) who are shunned by others because of their genius, but then persevere over the foolishness of morons to prove said genius and emerge triumphant. Not surprisingly, she saw humility as a weakness and regarded laughing at yourself as "spitting in your own face." So, just how much did Rand believe in her own philosophy? Let's just say a lot. With signature modesty, she ranked herself as the philosophical equal of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Orson Welles . When you create a cinematic masterpiece such as "Citizen Kane" at the ripe old age of 25, you're bound to get a big head. But Welles was convinced of his own importance much earlier than that. In fact, "Citizen Kane" might have been sparked by nothing more than a bruised ego. After all, it's said he devised the film as a withering exposé of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst because Hearst slighted Welles at a dinner party. Of course, after the unparalleled success of "Citizen Kane," Welles's arrogant side didn't get any less subtle. Do yourself a favor: Track down a recording of Welles' outtakes for a TV commercial for frozen peas. You'll hear everything you need to know about the filmmaker's oversized ego. A classic quote goes: "In the depths of your ignorance, what is it you want?" Frank Lloyd Wright . As the brains behind the Robie House, Fallingwater, Taliesin West, the Guggenheim, and countless other design benchmarks, Frank Lloyd Wright is arguably the genius of 20th-century architecture. And, boy, did he know it! Wright was notorious for believing he was superior to mere mortals. In fact, the architectural egomaniac frequently acted as though the rules even those of geography and climate did not apply to him. But when you're Wright, you're right. In 1935, department store magnate Stanley Marcus (of Neiman-Marcus fame) commissioned the architect to design his Dallas home, but the project quickly went sour. Wright's avant-garde floor plan included "sleeping porches" that required his client to sleep outdoors year-round. In addition, Marcus' small bedroom "cubicles" came equipped with almost no closet space. When Stanley respectfully explained that temperatures during summer nights in Dallas often exceed 80 degrees and a high-fashion tastemaker might need bigger closets, Wright threw a series of tantrums. Fortunately for the voyeur in us all, said tantrums usually took place in letter form. Preserved and occasionally displayed at the Dallas Museum of Art, they make for delicious reading. Salvador Dalí . "Every morning when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being Salvador Dalí." Yup, he actually said that. Everything about the legendary Surrealist painter (he of the melting clocks) from his whacked-out paintings to his curled-up mustache was designed to shock, destroy convention, cause scandal, and stir controversy. Criticized for choosing to live under General Franco's fascist government in Spain, Dalí defended his position by stating that he didn't care about others so long as he could be king. Not exactly a man of the people. If he wasn't getting enough attention, he was known to walk the streets of New York City clanging a hand bell. Of course, this is also the guy who once said, "The thought of not being recognized [is] unbearable." Need another telling quote? "At the age of 6 years, I wanted to be a chef. At the age of 7, I wanted to be Napoleon. My ambitions have continued to grow at the same rate ever since." Apparently, so did his ego. Al Jolson . Plenty of performers this side of Gallagher have been labeled "the world's greatest entertainer." But Al Jolson really, really believed it. The vaudeville singer, actor, dancer, and comedian was born Asa Yoelson in Seredzius, Lithuania, in what was then part of Imperial Russia. As a performer, he was known for hijacking the action in the middle of shows, ad-libbing, or just stopping to talk to the audience. During a 1911 performance of the critically hated "Paris is a Paradise for Coons" (title not edited for political correctness), Jolson stopped and asked the audience if they'd rather hear him sing than see the rest of the play. The crowd roared with applause, and Jolson ditched the whole program and took over. From that moment on, no one else could share the stage with him. Unlike some of the egomaniacs on this list, however, Jolson can be forgiven somewhat for his arrogance. According to most contemporary accounts, he actually was the greatest in the world. But, despite the enormity of his contributions to stage and screen, Jolson's legacy has become a political hot potato because of his use of stage blackface (considered highly offensive now, but pretty common at the time). E-mail to a friend . For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.

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Brazilian Kaka is named European player of the year . The AC Milan player is chosen ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester Utd . Argentine Lionel Messi of Barcelona finishes third .

PARIS, France AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaka has been named European player of the year, lifting France Football's Ballon d'Or award. Kaka has already claimed all of the game's major prizes. His success comes two years after his fellow countryman, Barcelona's Ronaldinho, claimed the award . The 25-year-old Kaka was a major factor in AC Milan's triumphant Champions League campaign. The runner-up was Manchester United's Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo with Barcelona's Argentinian midfielder Lionel Messi finishing third. "This is very special for me - it culminates an astonishing year for me," Kaka said. "It's the top prize around and the only way to win something like this is to play for a team like AC Milan. It's great to be part of a team that wins." At 25 years old, he has already won all the game's major prizes, individually and collectively. He was part of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning squad, although he was limited to just 19 minutes as a substitute against Costa Rica. He was top scorer in last season's Champions League, helping Milan to avenge their loss to Liverpool in the 2005 final. He won the Italian domestic title in his first season at Milan having joined from Brazilians Sao Paulo for$ 8.5 million, a sum that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi then described as peanuts. E-mail to a friend .

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BUPA was founded in 1947 in response to plans to establish the NHS . The company's biggest base is in the UK but has customers in three continents . BUPA care homes cater for a number of conditions, including Parkinson's .

BUPA is an international health and care company with bases on three continents and more than eight million customers. BUPA began as The British United Provident Association in 1947 to preserve freedom of choice in health care. It believed that with a National Health Service being introduced a year later, there would still be a need for a complimentary service enabling people from all walks of life to afford the benefits of choice in where, when and by whom they were treated. Led by the growing public demand for health care and a lack of quality private accommodation BUPA initiated the Nuffield Homes Charitable Trust - later renamed Nuffield Hospitals. BUPA's biggest and original business is health insurance in the UK, both for individuals and corporations that want to look after the health of their employees. More than half of the UK's top companies are BUPA customers. The company's UK care homes offer specialist care to residents who include the elderly, the mentally ill, young people with physical or learning disabilities and people with conditions such as Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. BUPA is a leading healthcare company in the UK, Spain, Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malta and Saudi Arabia. BUPA International supplies health cover to expatriates in over 180 countries. Sanitas, the BUPA business in Spain, has one million insured customers who have access to a network of 18,000 medical professionals and 450 medical centres. E-mail to a friend .

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"Heartbroken" house owner's daughter among six survivors hospitalized . One survivor jumped out of a third-story window into a canal to escape . University of South Carolina mourns deaths of six students .

The owner of a North Carolina beach house where seven college students died in a weekend fire said Monday that his family's "lives were just changed forever" by the tragedy. Chip Auman said his 18-year-old daughter survived the fire but was hospitalized and in stable condition because of complications from smoke inhalation. "The thought of losing a child is unimaginable to me, and as a father my heart goes out to the families that lost a loved one in this situation," he said. Auman said the situation was "hard to fathom." "There's just no words to describe what we've been going through," he said, asking for prayers for survivors and the families of those who died. "We're numb, we're confused, we're heartbroken." Two college campuses mourned Monday. Six University of South Carolina students and a Clemson University student died in the fire early Sunday morning in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. Six other South Carolina students were able to get out of the house in time. The six were treated and released from nearby Brunswick Community Hospital, but Auman's daughter was hospitalized again in Hartsville, South Carolina. Authorities from the state Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation into the cause of the fire. Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith said the house was "engulfed" in flames when the fire department arrived on the scene, about five minutes after being notified. The flames shot into the sky and ultimately left little more than portions of the framing. Fire officials do not believe foul play was involved. Watch a neighbor's video, fears of fast-burning fire » . Dennis A. Pruitt, the vice president for student affairs for the University of South Carolina, said investigators have said it would be Tuesday or Wednesday before the identities of the victims are confirmed publicly. It could be as much as a month until investigators know the cause of the fire, Pruitt said. The university did not cancel classes on Monday, but Pruitt said arrangements had been made for those who need to go home or stay out of class at the 28,000-student campus. Pruitt said meetings had been held Sunday with members of Delta Delta Delta sorority and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The South Carolina students were affiliated with those houses, he said, although he stressed that the weekend was not an official Greek function. He also said counselors and ministers were available to help students deal with the loss of their classmates. The university president, Dr. Andrew Sorenson, contacted the families of those who died in the fire to express the condolences and support of the university community. Jay Laura, student president of the USC chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said the campus would pull together after the tragedy. "If any place can come together to help in the healing process and the aftermath of an event like this, it is South Carolina," Laura said at a Monday afternoon press conference. Fire survivor Tripp Wylie, a 20-year-old South Carolina sophomore, said he jumped out of a third-story window into a canal to escape the flames and was unable to get back in to help his friends. "I could see a buddy of mine off to the left who had gotten out. He was just yelling at me to jump and stuff," Wylie told CNN affiliate WYFF. "The smoke was pouring out, couldn't really breathe, so I had to make a quick decision. [I] just kind of leaned out the window and luckily I jumped far enough to make it into the canal." Neighbors flocked to see the fire as firefighters battled and ultimately got the blaze under control. See the scenes of devastation » . George Smith, who lives across the street from the house, said he heard sirens between 6:30 and 7 a.m. and went outside to see "the whole sky lit up." "The whole house was completely engulfed in flames, up to about 20 feet," he said. "I have never seen [a fire] move so fast." George Smith said the house's occupants were "partying in there yesterday and into the night." After about 10:30 p.m. Saturday they quieted down, he said. Linda Sing said she was walking her dog when she saw the fiery destruction. She noted that firefighters had saved an adjacent house by spraying it down with water. "We knew there were people in there, but we hoped and prayed they'd gotten out," Sing said. "This is the worst thing I've ever seen. We've had hurricanes, but this is worse." Ocean Isle Beach is a popular resort destination along North Carolina's southern coast. The year-round population of the 7-mile-long island is about 425, but it swells to about 25,000 during the summer season, according to the town's Web site. E-mail to a friend .

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A Mauro Camoranesi goal earns Juventus a 1-1 draw with leaders Inter Milan . Argentine striker Julio Cruz had given injury-hit Inter the lead in the first half . The result maintains Inter's unbeaten record and moves them two points clear .

ROME, Italy Mauro Camoranesi scored with 13 minutes left to earn Juventus a 1-1 home draw with Serie A leaders Inter Milan on Sunday. Julio Cruz is mobbed by team-mates after giving Inter the lead in their 1-1 draw at Juventus. Camoranesi picked up a headed knock-down from substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta before seeing his shot deflect off defender Walter Samuel to leave goalkeeper Julio Cesar helpless. Inter took a first-half lead when Argentine striker Julio Cruz broke Juve's offside trap and latched onto Brazilian midfielder Cesar's through ball before firing past Gianluigi Buffon. The result means Inter retain their unbeaten record this season, despite injury problems that saw the likes of Patrick Vieira, Francesco Toldo, Marco Materazzi and Dejan Stankovic ruled out. The defending champions are now two points clear of Fiorentina at the top of the table, with Roma a point further behind and Juventus in fourth place. Earlier in the day, Roma missed out on the chance to close the gap on Inter when a late collapse saw them throw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Empoli. First half goals from French winger Ludovic Giuly and Matteo Brighi had put the visiting Romans in charge and for more than an hour they looked set to cruise to victory. But with 23 minutes remaining Ighli Vannucchi reduced the deficit and Sebastian Giovinco snatched an injury time equaliser to deny Luciano Spaletti's injury-depleted team. Siena snatched a share of the spoils from Parma in a 2-2 draw as Daniele Galloppa scored in the last minute while Napoli needed an injury time goal from striker Ezequiel Lavezzi to deny rock-bottom Reggina their first win of the season, forcing them to settle for a 1-1 draw in the south. E-mail to a friend .

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David Trezeguet omitted from France squad to play Morocco and the Ukraine . The Juventus striker last played for his country in the 1-0 defeat by Scotland . He was dropped for the wins against Lithuania and the Faroe Islands .

LONDON, England France coach Raymond Domenech has again omitted striker David Trezeguet from his squad for this month's friendly against Morocco and the Euro 2008 qualifier against the Ukraine. Happier times: David Trezeguet celebrates after scoring for Juventus against Torino. Trezeguet has scored scored 10 goals in 11 Serie A matches for Juventus this season including two hat-tricks but has failed to win his way back into the 24-man party. The 29-year-old, who last played for France in the 1-0 home defeat by Scotland in September, was furious after being dropped for the games against Lithuania and the Faroe Islands. He played no part as Domenech's team overtook the Scots at the top of Group B with comfortable victories last month. The coach said: "David is having a great start to the season with Juventus, but he's in competition for a place. If we qualify, the Euro 2008 will be in eight months. A lot of things can happen in between. "I hope David will help Juventus win the Italian league title and that he will be at the Euro 2008 with us, and that he will find his form again for France." Domenech has again included young Lyon forward Hatem Ben Arfa, who made his debut as a substitute against the Faroes and scored the final goal in a 6-0 victory. Ben Arfa is joined in the squad by club-mate Karim Benzema, while Bolton's Nicholas Anelka is also among the forwards named despite still recovering from an injury. Captain Patrick Vieira is ruled out due to injury, but the Inter Milan midfielder will join up with the squad anyway. "A player of Patrick's dimension is going to be missed, but we just have to accept it and get on with it. Pat should be coming to see us because he's a leader, and he's the captain," Domenech added. France face the Moroccans on November 16 and then travel to the Ukraine on November 21. Domenech's team will qualify for the finals if Italy beat Scotland at Hampden on November 17. If the Glasgow game ends in a draw, France will need at least a point in Kiev to book their ticket. France squad: Goalkeepers: M Landreau (Paris St Germain), S Frey , U Rame . Defenders: E Abidal (Barcelona, P Evra (Manchester United), W Gallas , B Sagna , L Thuram , S Squillaci , F Clerc . Midfielders: A Diarra , L Diarra , M Flamini , C Makelele , J Rothen , J Toulalan , S Nasri . Strikers: N Anelka , H Ben Arfa , K Benzema , S Govou , T Henry , F Malouda , F Ribery (Bayern Munich). E-mail to a friend .

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Documents say after suicide attempt, Jeffs repeatedly banged head on cell wall . Transcripts say Jeffs confessed to "immorality," said he is not "the prophet" Jeffs' attorneys say he has recanted statements . Jeffs due to be sentenced November 20 on accomplice to rape charge .

Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs tried to hang himself earlier this year while he was in jail awaiting trial, according to court documents unsealed by a Utah judge on Tuesday. Sect leader Warren Jeffs arrives in court to hear the verdict against him September 25 in St. George, Utah. Jeffs, the leader and so-called prophet of the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is now awaiting sentencing after being convicted on two counts of being an accomplice to rape. The documents, released by Fifth District Judge James Shumate at the request of the media, also indicate that Jeffs confessed to "immorality" with a "sister" and a daughter more than 30 years ago. Among the documents is a competency report on Jeffs completed in April, in which social worker Eric Nielsen wrote that throughout the month of January, Jeffs refused food and drink and developed ulcers on his knees from kneeling in prayer for hours. On January 28, the report said, he attempted to hang himself in his cell. In the days following the suicide attempt, while he was on suicide watch, Jeffs on separate occasions threw himself against the wall and banged his head on the wall. Jail transcripts show that Jeffs' suicide attempt came three days after a visit with his brother, Nephi, in which he said, "I am not the prophet. I never was the prophet, and I have been deceived by the powers of evil ... I ask for everyone's forgiveness." Jeffs also told his brother: "Farewell forever." The day before that, Jeffs told a follower in a phone conversation that he was "covered with immorality with a sister and a daughter when I was younger." In the FLDS, members call adult women "sister," and Jeffs' meaning was unclear. Jeffs' defense attorneys, who argued against the release of the documents, said in a motion opposing the unsealing of the statements that Jeffs recanted them the following month. Defense attorneys claim Jeffs' medical condition influenced his state of mind when the statements were made. They presented Shumate with a letter from another Jeffs attorney, arguing that the statements' release could influence an Arizona jury when Jeffs stands trial in that state. Jeffs, 51, was convicted in September of being an accomplice to rape. He was accused of using his religious influence over his followers to coerce a 14-year-old girl into marriage to her 19-year-old cousin. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison when he is sentenced November 20. The FLDS which is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church is based in the side-by-side border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. Jeffs, a former school headmaster, is the son of the sect's previous president and "prophet," Rulon Jeffs, who died in 2002. Jeffs was on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list when he was arrested in August 2006 outside Las Vegas, Nevada. Critics say that inside the FLDS, marriages are arranged for girls as young as 13, and competition for brides may be reduced by exiling male teens and young men. If male followers are excommunicated, critics claim, wives and children can be reassigned. During Jeffs' trial, defense attorneys claimed authorities were persecuting Jeffs because of his religious beliefs, including practicing polygamy as the way to heaven. If Jeffs disavowed being the prophet of the FLDS, it could cause upheaval within the secretive sect. However, two of his followers who spoke to CNN although FLDS members usually do not talk to reporters said they do not believe he made the statements. "He is a perfectly priestly man," said a woman who identified herself as Cathy. "He is a man of God, and we will always love him. Once a prophet, always a prophet." Her husband, Patrick, told CNN, "It's hogwash. I don't believe it ... I will always consider him my prophet." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Gary Tuchman contributed to this report.

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Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa steers Bahrain's economic growth . Says Bahrain's strength is its "human capital" in the finance sector . Calls on world to unite to resolve nuclear dispute with Iran .

This week MME speaks to the man charged with boosting growth in the Kingdom of Bahrain: Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa. Sheikh Mohammed is concerned the nuclear dispute with Iran is deterring potential investors . As chief executive of the Economic Development Board, one of Sheikh Mohammed's main tasks is to ensure Bahrain stays ahead of its competitors. The government's pushing ahead with economic reforms to reduce the Kingdom's dependence on oil. But with crude prices near $100 a barrel, John Defterios asked whether the appetite for change had diminished. SM: The reforms are being done for aspirational reasons rather than necessity, so we are trying to enter the post-oil area because we want to. And therefore, because of this aspirational aspect, trying to get to as opposed to people pushing us somewhere we don't want to go. JD: How do you redefine Bahrain's role? Traditionally it's been a financial center, but you have Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai even Abu Dhabi emerging in financial services. How you redefine it to sustain a lead? SM: The rising tide lifts a lot of places and as the region is booming and growing, financial services are growing throughout the region. Bahrain's strengths have been and will continue to be its human capital, the people that have led the financial sector and the long standing regulations that have been established in Bahrain. JD: Strategically and a geopolitical question here: the Crown Prince came out and declared what Iran's intentions really are in his view for a nuclear policy, and called for greater diplomacy right ahead of a visit by the President of Iran to the country. What's the motivation here? SM: We feel that the distraction caused by the Iranian nuclear issue is holding investment back in the region as a whole, and increasing the security threat of the region. Nobody is debating the right to peaceful nuclear power, but we all have that need and we all need a peaceful resolution to this. JD: Historically, Iran has even made claims against Bahrain, what do you do now moving forward now? Do you bring Russia, China, the United States and the European Union closer together, in terms of where we should be going in the future? SM: We've resolved our historical issue with Iran, and we are well beyond that, but going forward... This is such a important issue affecting security worldwide, that we feel it is important and at a level high enough that we need all powers involved because it does affect everybody. JD: Can the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) become much tighter as an organization to have a voice in that process; as opposed to speaking from the sidelines and hoping that the major powers move forward? SM: Absolutely, I mean, the GCC is speaking with a unified voice. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came out with a proposal for providing nuclear fuel from an independent authority; this was completely backed from the GCC. We are all moving forward and are willing to play a beneficial role to resolve this issue. Meet the Sheikh: . Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa is chief executive of the Economic Development Board, the organization responsible for stimulating and supporting growth of the Bahraini economy. He was appointed in June 2005, following 10 years working directly for His Highness Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defense Force and Chairman of the Economic Development Board. From 1995 to 1999, he was director of the Crown Prince's office. In 1999, he was appointed head of the court and also deputy head of the Crown Prince's International Scholarship Program. During this time, Sheikh Mohammed was heavily involved with the Crown Prince's initiatives to liberalize the telecommunications sector and with labor market and economic reforms. A keen motor sports enthusiast, Sheikh Mohammed was deputy board chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit and is a former vice president of the Bahrain Motor Club, now known as the Bahrain Motor Federation. Sheikh Mohammed, who is married with two sons and one daughter, was born on April 14, 1969. In 1992, he received a bachelor's degree in economic theory from the American University, Washington DC. Two years later, he received a post-graduate diploma in business studies from the London School of Economics. (source: Bahrain Economic Development Board) E-mail to a friend .

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Bush says most of Congress "acting like a teenager with a new credit card" Bill would have funded agencies, but also a prison museum, sailing school . House panel chairman: Bush's veto "not responsible and not credible" Democrats to schedule override vote, but Bush GOP allies confident about veto .

NEW ALBANY, Indiana President Bush vetoed a $600 billion spending bill Tuesday, accusing Democratic leaders of wasting money and plotting tax increases, then took his budget fight with Congress on the road. Congress should cut spending "and send me a responsible measure that I can sign into law," President Bush said. "The majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far, it's acting like a teenager with a new credit card," he said in a speech in New Albany, Indiana. The bill which Bush said was laden with $10 billion in "pork" would have funded the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. It also would have funded projects such as a prison museum, a sailing school and a program to teach Portuguese. "Congress needs to cut out that pork, reduce the spending and send me a responsible measure that I can sign into law," the president said. Watch a report on the veto » . While polls show Bush's popularity remains at near-record lows, Congress ranks even lower as a whole. The president has taken numerous opportunities to mock the spending habits of the Democratic leadership and force confrontations over the appropriations bills needed to fund the government for the 2008 budget year, which began October 1. The bill Bush vetoed Tuesday includes about $150 billion to run those departments and more than $450 billion in mandatory spending on Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health care programs for the elderly and poor, according to the House Appropriations Committee. The committee's chairman, Rep. David Obey, called Bush's veto "not responsible and not credible." "This is a bipartisan bill supported by over 50 Republicans," Obey, D-Wisconsin, said in a statement issued after the veto. "There has been virtually no criticism of its contents. It is clear the only reason the president vetoed this bill is pure politics." Bush said Democrats are supporting $22 billion in additional spending beyond his budget proposals this year and $205 billion over five years money he said would ultimately be raised by tax increases. "When the bill for all that spending comes due, Congress is going to turn to the working people, to the small-business owners and the entrepreneurs," he said. Tuesday's veto is the fifth cast since Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. Congress has overridden one of those, voting last week to authorize $23 billion in water projects nationwide over the president's objections. Democrats will schedule another override vote this week, an aide to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. But Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, said Bush's GOP allies are confident they will be able to sustain the veto. Bush signed a $470 billion Pentagon spending bill that covers the Defense Department's normal operations, but Democrats split $50 billion in spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan off into a "bridge fund" to which they plan to attach demands for Bush to withdraw U.S. combat troops. The measure sets up another confrontation with the White House. Bush also demanded Congress reform the alternative minimum tax a measure originally aimed at preventing the wealthy from evading taxes, but one that increasingly affects middle-class earners without raising additional revenue. He said a plan proposed by Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to eliminate the tax was unacceptable. "Preventing a tax increase in one area should not be an excuse for raising taxes in other areas," he said. "Congress should eliminate the tax increases in the bill and send the AMT relief to my desk as soon as possible." The elimination of the tax would cause an estimated $800 billion to be lost over 10 years. To replace that, Rangel's bill would add a 4 percent surtax on individual incomes over $100,000, after deductions, and close corporate tax loopholes. The bill also would cut rates for many individual and corporate taxpayers. Republicans have already started calling it "the mother of all tax increases." "With all the other pressures on our economy, raising taxes is one of the most unwise things Congress could possibly do," Bush said. Bush acknowledged the difficulties Americans face from high fuel prices, a "challenged" housing market and "uncertainty" in financial markets stemming from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market "but as we have seen in recent years, this economy is resilient, and that's important for the American people to understand." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

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France lock Sebastien Chabal cited for a dangerous tackle on Simon Shaw . Chabal faces disciplinary hearing on Monday after incident against England . Sale forward will miss the third and fourth-place play-off is he is suspended .

PARIS, France France lock Sebastien Chabal has been cited for a dangerous tackle on England's Simon Shaw during Saturday's World Cup semifinal in Paris. Simon Shaw offloads despite being tackled by Raphael Ibanez, left, and Sebastien Chabal. The Sale Sharks forward will face a disciplinary hearing on Monday after his tackle on opposite second-rower Shaw was noted by citing commissioner Dennis Wheelahan. Chabal started the match on the substitutes' bench, but was brought on in the 26th minute to replace the injured Fabien Pelous during hosts France's 14-9 defeat. If he is suspended, then Chabal will miss Friday's third and fourth-place play-off match at the Parc des Princes. Meanwhile, France coach Bernard Laporte said that the defeat was tougher to take than England's 24-7 win in the 2003 semifinals. "In 2003, they were better then us. In fact they were better than everyone," said Laporte, who is leaving his role to take up the post of junior sports minister in the French government. "They were like the New Zealand of this tournament - the favorite, except they went all the way. This time it's harder because yesterday it was 50-50." Meanwhile, England seeking to become the first nation to defend the World Cup title revealed that star kicker Jonny Wilkinson again had problems with the match balls during the semifinal. The fly-half, who voiced his concerns after struggling with the boot against Australia, rejected a ball before kicking a vital three-pointer against France. "We didn't say it last week but a non-match ball got onto the field in Marseille which Jonny kicked," director of rugby Rob Andrew said. "He didn't think about it while he was kicking it. "The match balls are marked, numbered one to six. Last night they had 'World Cup semi-final England vs France' written on them. On match night, Jonny was vigilant when kicking for goal that they were actually match balls he was kicking. "The practice balls lose pressure and shape. The whole issue last week, the organizers accepted all six match balls should be used by both sides on the Thursday before game." E-mail to a friend .

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YouTube questions address taxes, the Bible, abortion, gun control . Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee spar over immigration . McCain challenges Paul over suggestion to bring troops home from Iraq . Nearly 5,000 videos for the GOP debate; 2,000 more than Democratic debate .

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida The acrimony from the Republican campaign trail carried over quickly into the CNN/YouTube GOP presidential debate Wednesday. The debate marked the first time the candidates had faced off on the same stage in over a month. With five weeks to go until the first contest of the 2008 nominating season, the Republican candidates engaged in a free-for-all, trying to differentiate their views on immigration, the Iraq war, abortion, gun control and even whether they believed every word in the Bible was true. Unlike previous debates in which the candidates focused most of their attacks on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Wednesday night's attacks were launched at each other. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney traded jabs over illegal immigration, something they have been arguing about on the trail for the past month. Romney attacked Giuliani's record, saying that as mayor, he promoted illegal immigration. And Giuliani shot back, accusing Romney of having a "sanctuary mansion" at his own home. Watch the debate format produce raw moments » . "In his case, there were six sanctuary cities. He did nothing about them. There was a sanctuary mansion at his own home, illegal immigrants were being employed," Giuliani said. Romney denied Giuliani's allegation, and the two raised their voices as they tried to talk over each other. In his quest to appeal to the hard-line immigration wing of the party, Romney also turned some of his fire on the same topic toward former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has been rising in the polls. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who has anchored his candidacy on securing the borders and cracking down on illegal immigration, seemed delighted with the give and take, saying the other candidates were trying to "out-Tancredo" him. Huckabee drew one of the night's largest cheers when he said that one of the agencies he would abolish to control federal spending was the Internal Revenue Service. "Most people in this country are more afraid of an audit than they are of a mugging, and there's a reason why," he said. Sen. John McCain, freshly back from a visit to Iraq over Thanksgiving and the most hawkish of the candidates, and Rep. Ron Paul, the most anti-war of the candidates, tangled on two occasions over the Iraq war. Did YouTubers get their questions answered? » . Asked which government programs they would cut, Paul said bringing the troops home from Iraq would save "a trillion dollars." McCain said: "It's that kind of isolationism that caused World War II," which drew some hoots from the crowd. Watch McCain, Paul spar on Iraq » . Paul replied: "The real question you have to ask is why do I get the most money from active duty officers and military personnel?" A retired brigadier general, Keith Kerr, who is gay, asked candidates if they thought U.S. military personnel were professional enough to work with gay and lesbian troops. CNN later learned that a June media release from the campaign of Democratic front-runner Clinton listed Kerr as a member of its steering committee for gay and lesbian supporters. Watch Kerr deny that the Clinton campaign influenced his question » . David Bohrman, CNN senior vice president and executive producer of the debate, said, "We regret this incident. CNN would not have used the general's question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate." Political Ticker . Kerr told CNN after the debate that he has not worked for the Clinton campaign and was representing no one other than himself. Kerr also said he is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay and lesbian Republican grass-roots organization. Prior to the debate, CNN had verified Kerr's military background and that he had not contributed money to any presidential candidate. In a section of the debate about gun ownership rights, three of the GOP presidential hopefuls said they do not own guns: McCain, Giuliani and Romney. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quipped, "I own a couple of guns but I'm not going to tell you what they are or where they are." Watch the candidates address gun control » . The debate turned personal when a viewer, holding the Bible, asked: "Do you believe every word of this book? And I mean specifically, this book that I am holding in my hand." Huckabee, a Baptist minister, said, "Sure, I believe the Bible is exactly what it is." Giuliani said he believes the Bible, but not "literally true in every respect." After that, Romney stammered a bit when moderator Anderson Cooper asked him if he believed every word. Watch the candidates get personal about the Bible » . "Yeah, the Bible is the word of God. ... I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God," Romney said. When asked about abortion, Romney said he was wrong in favoring a woman's right to choose his position when he was elected governor of Massachusetts. "If people in this country are looking for someone who's never made a mistake on a policy issue and is not willing to admit they're ever wrong, they're going to have to find somebody else. On abortion, I was wrong," he said. His remarks came in response to the 30-second video produced for the debate by Thompson's campaign, which included a clip of Romney expressing support for Roe vs. Wade during a 1994 debate against Sen. Ted Kennedy. When asked what women and doctors should be charged with if abortion was to become illegal, Paul said it was not an issue for the president or the federal government. "We don't need a federal abortion police, that's the last thing we need," Paul said. He added that the issue should be left to the states and courts and not federal authorities. On the issues of taxes, Thompson said he'd "never met a tax he liked." "I've got a tax-cut bill on the table. But I don't do pledges to anybody but the American people," he said. His response was met by a "Go, Fred, go!" from a member of the audience. On the issue of trade with China, Rep. Duncan Hunter said China is "cheating on trade ... and it's in the interest of the United States to stop China's cheating. Buy American this Christmas season that might keep your neighbor from losing his job." The candidates fielded video questions submitted by the public via the YouTube Web site, just as Democratic White House candidates did in July. The debate was the first time the GOP candidates had faced off on the same stage in over a month. CNN's political team viewed nearly 5,000 videos for the GOP debate about 2,000 more than they saw for the Democrats' debate. E-mail to a friend .

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More than 1,000 freed detainees reportedly keep pledge not to rejoin insurgency . U.S. general tries to reassure Sunnis that detainees face no abuse . More than 80 percent of detainees are Sunnis . U.S. airstrike kills 13 suspected terrorists west of Baghdad .

BAGHDAD, Iraq None of the 1,000-plus Iraqi detainees freed in recent weeks have broken a pledge not to return to the insurgency, according to the Marine general who oversees the U.S. detention centers in Iraq. A U.S. military panel reviews a detainee's case at Camp Cropper near Baghdad. Speaking in Arabic, Maj. Gen. Doug Stone on Wednesday reassured Iraqis about how the 25,000 detainees mostly Sunnis are treated after being taken into custody on suspicion of involvement in the insurgency. Stone described the detention system as "open and transparent," saying it makes the detainees better citizens and helps break the cycle of violence and poverty in the country. Stone said detainees get free medical care equal to what he gets as a general, food and water made to Islamic standards, educational opportunities, jobs skills and contact with families. The U.S. detention centers at Camp Bucca near the southern port city of Basra and in Camp Cropper near Baghdad are political sore points for Sunnis, who make up 83 percent of the detainees held. The main Sunni political coalition the Iraqi Accord Front cited the centers as one reason for quitting the government during the summer. Last month, the U.S.-led coalition launched Operation Lion's Paw in which between 50 and 70 detainees would be released daily during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan after taking a pledge not to rejoin the insurgency against the Shiite-led government. "This pledge is an Iraqi pledge, a pledge before an Iraqi judge, frequently with a family member present," Stone said. "I am pleased to tell you that in the more 1,000 that have gone through this program and taken the pledge, not one has returned to threaten Iraqi or coalition forces." Stone said the releases would continue at the same pace beyond Ramadan. Stone's description seems a far cry from the Abu Ghraib prison operated by the U.S. military in the first years after the invasion. That prison was closed down and razed in the wake of an international scandal over prisoner abuse. "There are no secrets that go on in detention," Stone said. "Our facilities are open to inspection by any agency that we in the federal government believe is credible. These agencies are welcomed because they are windows for the world." See what life's like inside Camp Cropper's walls » . By the time of their release, "detainees grow in terms of working in an inter-sectarian environment," he said. Each detainee has a chance to take classes up to a sixth-grade level, and high school classes are being planned, Stone said. About one-third or 8,000 are in school, with 7,000 having passed the fifth-grade level, he said. The 860 detainees who are 17 or younger are all in school, Stone said. The average stay for a detainee is 300 days, but some have been detained for two years or longer, he said. A review board interviews detainees to decide if they are a threat to security, he said. If they are deemed not to be, they are offered freedom in exchange for taking the pledge. Only 280 detainees are foreigners, mostly from Syria, Egypt, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, he said. Other developments .

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Argentina beat Bolivia 3-0 in South American qualifier for 2010 World Cup . Juan Roman Riquelme nets twice as Argentina win third successive match . Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez quits after 5-1 loss against Paraguay .

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Juan Roman Riquelme scored twice as Argentina beat Bolivia 3-0 to notch a third successive victory in the South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup on Saturday. Juan Roman Riquelme celebrates after scoring his first goal in Argentina's win against Bolivia. The midfielder followed up his brace of spectacular free-kicks in the opening 2-0 victory against Chile to help put his country five points clear of second-placed Brazil, who play Peru in Lima on Sunday. Riquelme again shrugged off his lack of club action with Villarreal, where he has fallen out with the Spanish side's management, to net twice in the second spell after Sergio Aguero gave the home side a first-half lead. The 19-year-old scored his first goal at international level five minutes before the interval after starting in a three-man attack with Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi. He headed home after Martin Demichelis nodded a cross from Manchester United striker Tevez back across goal. Riquelme added the second 11 minutes after the break with a dipping free-kick which beat Carlos Arias from 25 yards, having been superbly denied by the keeper's one-handed effort shortly beforehand. And he finished off the scoring in the 73rd minute with a cool sidefoot finish after being set up by Messi to cap off a match in which captain Javier Zanetti made a record-breaking 116th appearance for Argentina. Argentina next travel to Colombia on Tuesday, when winless Bolivia have an away clash with Venezuela. In other South American qualifiers, Colombia beat Venezuela 1-0, and Paraguay routed Ecuador 5-1. Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez, a Colombian, quit after his team's loss saying: "I have taken the irrevocable decision to resign." E-mail to a friend .

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South African reggae legend Lucky Dube killed in attempted hijacking . Dube, 43, killed Thursday in Johannesburg after hijacker tried to steal his car . Death casts shadow over South Africa's preparations for rugby World Cup final .

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Reggae legend Lucky Dube, one of South Africa's most famous musicians, was killed in an attempted car-jacking as he dropped his children off at a relative's house, his record label said Friday. Reggae star Lucky Dube was much loved by his fellow South Africans. Dube, 43, was killed in Johannesburg around 8 p.m. local time Thursday after someone tried to steal his car, Gallo Record Company said in a statement. Police said he was shot. The statement said Dube attempted to escape but died almost instantly from his wounds. Dube was much loved by his fellow South Africans, and his death cast a shadow over festivities ahead of South Africa's highly-anticipated appearance in the rugby World Cup final with England this weekend. News of his death was the headline in many Friday newspapers, knocking the World Cup off the front pages for the first time in days. Callers to talk radio stations suggested the Springboks wear black armbands in remembrance of Dube when they take to the field Saturday in Paris. Gallo Records called the death "senseless and random," and it was not clear whether Dube's attackers knew who he was. South Africa is one of the most dangerous societies in the world. Figures from the South African Police Service show that from April 2006 to March 2007, more than 19,000 South Africans were murdered, more than 52,600 people were raped, and nearly 13,600 people were carjacked. "It's very sad," said Mark Sutherland, London bureau chief for Billboard Magazine. "He's a big loss to the South African music business. (He was) one of their most successful artists and certainly one of their leading reggae artists." Sutherland said Dube was an extremely respected musician who toured extensively around the world. Dube had just returned from a tour of the United States that stretched from California to New York. His record company said Dube leaves "a great void" in the music industry after a 25-year career. Dube recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans. Born outside Johannesburg in 1964, Dube was named "Lucky" by his mother because he was the first child to be born after several failed pregnancies. Dube started singing in 1982, joining a band playing Mbaqanga, or traditional Zulu music. It was only later that he began recording reggae tracks as a solo singer, but the genre was to dominate and define the remainder of his career. Ivor Haarburger, the chief exectutive of Gallo Music Group, said he was deeply saddened by the loss. "Lucky was not just an extraordinary artist, he was a personal friend," Haarburger said. "It's so sad to lose such a great friend and so tragically." Dube is survived by his wife, Zanele, and his seven children: Bongi, Nonkululeko, Thokozani, Laura, Siyanda, Philani and three-month old Melokuhle. E-mail to a friend . CNN correspondent Robin Curnow contributed to this report.

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Vince McMahon: WWE has one of best drug-testing programs . Wrestling boss tells CNN that individuals bear responsibility for actions . Critics say WWE penalties for drug use are not harsh enough . Wrestlers still can get drugs if they have prescriptions from doctors .

The late Chris Benoit idolized the Dynamite Kid, who was half of a professional wrestling team famous in the 1980s for spectacular high-flying, acrobatic moves. Chris Benoit strangled his wife and suffocated his son before hanging himself in June. The Dynamite Kid and his partner, Davey Boy Smith, were known as the British Bulldogs. They were quick, agile and muscular, and in 1986 they won the World Wrestling Federation tag team championship. Young Benoit dreamed of wrestling like the Dynamite Kid, whose real name is Tom Billington. At the beginning of his career, Benoit adopted the Dynamite nickname and copied his idol's signature moves. In June, Benoit murdered his wife and young son before hanging himself. Investigators found testosterone, painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs in Chris Benoit's body, Georgia's chief medical examiner said a month later. When asked about Benoit's double murder-suicide, Billington told CNN, "It can make you aggressive, the steroids. But personally I wouldn't, you know, kill no bleeding kid, or wife either." Billington now lives in a public housing apartment outside Manchester, England. He has lost the use of his legs. A pin sticks out from one of his toes. Billington blames his wrestling life for doing this to him wrestling and the fact that he ignored doctors who told him to stop the punishment to his body. And from the steroids, he said. Billington told CNN that the steroids came from doctors, from friends, even from steroids meant for horses. He took them all, took a terrible pounding in the ring, and like his partner (who died at age 39 in 2002), began taking extensive amounts of painkillers. Benoit's death has refocused a media spotlight on the organization for which he wrestled, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, and the man who has ruled wrestling for years, Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon. McMahon, appearing with Linda McMahon, his wife and WWE CEO, told CNN: "Nothing from the WWE, under any set of circumstances had anything to do with Chris Benoit murdering his family. How did we know Chris Benoit would turn into a monster." Read a full transcript of the McMahons interview . Vince McMahon defended the organization, saying its drug-testing policy was not just for show. "Our policy stacks up just as well as anyone else's in sport, although again emphasizing we are entertainment, and no one in entertainment, no one has this kind of wellness policy," McMahon said. Critics say McMahon pushes his stars and non-stars, works them too many nights per year and has encouraged the large physiques prevalent in modern wrestling. They say McMahon only looks at his employees as commodities, pawns in a huge business. His businesses are quite successful. About 16 million people a week tune into WWE TV shows. Two of their cable programs "Raw" and "Friday Night Smackdown" are weekly ratings giants. Pay-per-view specials generate an average of $100 million per year. When asked about the high number of former wrestlers who had died before they turned 50 years old, Vince McMahon said each person in the WWE bore responsibility for their own lives especially outside the arena. "If someone passes through our organization, it is not our responsibility for someone's personal activities," he said. He also said there isn't "any organization in the world, be it entertainment or be it sport, that can tell you that they are totally drug-free." Watch as a WWE wrestler says the perception of steroid use is wrong » . The McMahons said the WWE is taking steps toward improving its oversight of its athletes. Since the newest WWE drug screening program began in February 2006, more than 30 of the organization's wrestlers have been suspended, including two since CNN's interview with the McMahons. David Black who helped the NFL develop its drug program and now runs tests for the WWE says twice that number have tested positive and been given a warning. But Dr. Gary Wadler, a world-renowned expert in the study of drugs and athletes, says the WWE is not doing enough. "It certainly falls far, far short of where it needs to be," he said. "And there is a gold standard, and I measure all these sporting and entertainment activities against this gold standard. And [the WWE is] miles apart." Wadler, a longtime critic of McMahon, was referring to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in Colorado Springs, Colorado. U.S. athletes training for the Olympics are randomly tested and, if caught just once, face a two-year suspension from competition. If caught a second time, they can be banned for life. Black's programs test wrestlers four times a year. The first is a "baseline" test, according to the WWE. Black then tests for "nonmedical" uses, meaning that if an athlete has a prescription, he is cleared. "It's just a loophole that in my mind guts the entire program," said Travis Tygart, who heads the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. McMahon denies that his wrestlers are pushed to use steroids. He says the average wrestler is lighter than in recent years. Watch one of the new WWE stars talk about being "straight edge" » . "There's an expression in our business, that here is where you make your money. It's your face, it's what you do with it," he said. "It's your personality, it's what you do with it. It's your delivery, your elocution. It's storyline, it's things, all those things that are theatrical as well as athletic in the ring." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Drew Griffin contributed to this report.

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Justa Grata Honoria plotted to kill her emperor of Roman Empire . When first plot failed, she offered to marry Attila the Hun . He failed to annihilate Rome, or marry her . She then suffered the fate she dreaded .

(Mental Floss) Everyone goes through a rebellious phase. And, if you're lucky, you'll be able to look back on those years and laugh. If you're less lucky, you spent those years on a reality show, so for the rest of time, millions of strangers can look back on them and laugh instead. In modern times, cats frolic among the ruins of ancient Rome. But, hey, it could be worse. You could be responsible for the fall of Western Civilization, just like Justa Grata Honoria, the Roman princess whose wild ways and naked ambition set off a chain reaction that culminated in the destruction of the Roman Empire. Barely regal . Smart, conniving, and ruthless, Honoria possessed all the attributes befitting a Roman emperor, except for that pesky Y chromosome. As a young girl, she watched as her dimwitted six-year-old brother, Valentinian III, was crowned emperor of the Western Roman Empire, while she was set aside to await a suitable marriage. Hardly content to lead a quiet and chaste life, Honoria rebelled with aplomb, sleeping her way through the royal court while still in her teens. Although her after-hours habits caused quite the scandal, they failed to satiate her need for attention and power, so Honoria set her eyes on the throne. Employing her ample charms, she seduced her brother's royal chamberlain, Eugenius, and together, they plotted to murder Valentinian and seize power. But, alas, their scheme was soon exposed. Eugenius was executed, and Honoria was sent to a convent in Constantinople. Life as a nun was a fate worse than death for Honoria, but even that couldn't quell her ambition. She spent her years at the nunnery plotting one escape attempt after another. Finally, out of sheer desperation, she turned to sources outside the empire. Her savior would have to be powerful enough to defy Valentinian and risk open war with Rome. Only one man fit that description: Attila, king of the Huns. Attila the hubby . Honoria got the barbarian's attention with a mutually beneficial proposal: If Attila would rescue her, she would marry him, and he would get half of the Western Empire as her dowry. Of course, Honoria was in no position to rightfully offer any portion of the Roman Empire. But she was betting that after marrying her, Attila would conquer the whole Empire, and she'd become queen to boot. Attila had secretly been planning a move against Rome for years, and Honoria's letter gave him the perfect opportunity to strike. Wasting no time, he told Valentinian that he planned to marry Honoria, and demanded the dowry he'd been promised. Naturally, Valentinian refused, and Attila used his status as a "wronged husband" to invade Roman territory in 451 C.E. The Hun armies quickly swept through the Empire, destroying everything in their path, and eventually they arrived in Rome. Like all the other cities before it, Rome would also have been annihilated were it not for the famine and disease that devastated the Huns during the invasion. Rome survived Attila's assault with the unlikely help of another nomadic enemy tribe, the Visigoths, but the Western Empire never recovered. Within a generation, the armies of the Goths, Franks, and Huns had overrun the area. The Princess bride . Ultimately, Honoria became neither Roman empress nor a Hun queen. Attila never rescued her, and she was eventually sent back to Rome and left to her brother's justice. Not wanting to cause a scandal by having her executed, and unwilling to send her back into exile where she could scheme again, Valentinian settled on a suitable third option. After years of struggle, Honoria finally suffered the fate she had been dreading all along: She was married off to an elderly Roman senator, and the rest of her life went unrecorded by history. E-mail to a friend . For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.

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No end "until it reaches the ocean or the winds turn around," official says . Nearly 350,000 homes in San Diego County evacuated; 70 people injured . Flames have charred 700,000 acres, more than 1,000 homes . Not "enough fire engines in the state of California," Ventura County official says .

SAN DIEGO, California Firefighters in Southern California are facing wind-whipped walls of flame from 15 wildfires that have scorched more than 400,000 acres and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. Firefighters battle the Witch fire Tuesday in the Del Dios area of Escondido, California. The blazes have killed one person and injured at least 70 more. Firefighters were aided by resources from Mexico, the state and federal governments and even inmates from California's prisons. San Diego Fire Department Battalion Chief Bruce Cartelli described scenes of "utter devastation" with hundreds of homes lost and "many hundreds" of others damaged. "It's probably the worst significant event in my career of 36 years," he said. "It will not end ... until it reaches the ocean or the winds turn around," Cartelli said. Meteorologists suggested that Santa Ana winds, which have fueled the wildfires with some gusts approaching 100 mph, could die down Wednesday afternoon. "We are still facing some very serious fires," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said after an aerial tour of the affected area. "The weather has made it very difficult for the air assets to get up and fight the fires. ... If the weather cooperates, maybe we can turn the tide tomorrow." Officials have evacuated nearly 350,000 homes in San Diego County alone, where the worst of the fires are blazing. Using U.S. Census Bureau numbers from the 2000 census, that could mean as many as 950,000 were affected by the fires. Watch evacuees shaken, firefighters battling » . In San Diego County, at least half a million residents had been ordered to find refuge in shelters, schools and stadiums as fires pushed into new areas. Among the evacuees as more than 4,000 military personnel from several bases in the area. With the winds pushing them across the area, the fires spread quickly, forcing some residents to flee in the middle of the night. "My wife woke me up like 12 o'clock, screaming and yelling that the flames were coming down," said Johnny Villanueva of Spring Valley, who fled with his wife and daughter to San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, which is serving as a shelter to more than 12,000 evacuees. "We just loaded up the car really quick and came down here ... slept in our vehicles." His wife, Elizabeth, added, "I saw on the mountain on fire, and said, 'Oh my God, my family. ... Let's go." With Qualcomm Stadium being used by the evacuees, the San Diego Chargers planned to practice at the Arizona Cardinals' stadium in Glendale for next weekend's game. Lake Arrowhead resident Michelle Dresser, who owns a business and was chased from her home by a wildfire last year, said she was waiting until the last minute to leave. She spent the night in her store, partly to help customers and neighbors. "It is crazy. We are surrounded by fire on both sides," she said. Asked by CNN where she would go, she replied, "I have to find someplace to accept two dogs, two cats and a turtle." Watch people staying with pets at refuge » . Animals are allowed in Qualcomm Stadium, a nearby field and Del Mar Fairgrounds and Racetrack. President Bush is scheduled to visit the area on Thursday, the White House said. Chertoff arrived in San Diego Tuesday afternoon for a "first-hand look" at the devastation. "I wanted to see for myself, first of all, how the shelter situation is in San Diego, what the fires look like up close," Chertoff told CNN. The secretary said that the federal response to the wildfires is "phenomenally better" than the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, "because we have been preparing and planning and training together for the last 2 ½ years." "Unlike in Katrina ... we have now built the process ... and we've rehearsed it, so when we take the field, the team already knows what we need to do," he said. See photos of the fires » . And the scene at Qualcomm Stadium on Tuesday did seem to live up to Chertoff's expectations as volunteers cheerily handed out chairs, food and water. Thirty-four firefighters have been injured, authorities said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was "heartbroken" after touring the Lake Arrowhead area, where the Grass Valley and Slide fires have burned 5,000 acres and destroyed more than 200 homes. "This is a tragedy, what is happening in California," he told reporters. The combination of dry terrain, searing heat and hammering winds had created "the perfect storm for fire," the governor said. Schwarzenegger said about 7,000 firefighters were battling the blazes, including 2,300 inmates from California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said the mayor of Tijuana, Mexico, had sent four fire engines and their crews to help out, and the governor of Baja California had offered help. Chertoff said cots, blankets, water and other supplies have been moved where they are needed, and more are coming. The Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered 25,000 cots to Qualcomm early Tuesday. At least 150 National Guard members are assigned to provide security at the stadium. See where the fires are burning » . Of San Diego County's 10 major fires, the Witch fire in the north, which has grown to 200,000 acres, is the priority because of its significant threat to structures, said Ron Lane, the county's director of emergency services. The Harris fire had burned more than 70,000 acres by mid-morning. In northern Los Angeles County, the Ranch, Buckweed, and Magic fires have charred more than 93,000 acres and fire officials fear they could merge. "We want to keep these fires as small as we can," said Capt. Barry Parker of the Ventura County Fire Department. The 54,500-acre Ranch fire was only two miles away from the 1,200-acre Magic fire. The blazes are straddling the L.A.-Ventura County line. Asked if he had enough resources, Parker said, "We truly don't." "We're using a limited amount of resources to go in and fight these fires," he said. "We've got about 600 people on the Ranch fire; we normally would have about 1,500. "So we have to be absolutely surgical in how we plan and how we tactically use our fire equipment because we just simply don't have enough fire engines in the state of California to battle these blazes." In San Diego County, a utility spokesman said a 500,000-volt transmission line was damaged when the Harris fire expanded, and it will be out of service until at least Wednesday. Other transmission lines have been destroyed. Sanders said Mexico's Federal Electrical Commission was providing power to the area's grid to help make up for the losses. California also received extensive offers of manpower and equipment from the military. A total of 550 Marines were ready for deployment from Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, and 67 Defense Department employees 12 firefighting teams already were engaged. Eleven Defense Department helicopters equipped with water buckets and more than 17,000 National Guardsmen were available, along with six C-130 aircraft able to drop water and flame retardant on the flames. But aerial attacks on the fires have been limited by the fierce Santa Ana winds. The Red Cross and other groups also were in the wings. They and some other groups were waiting for the flames to die down before bringing in their volunteers. The Red Cross has set up 11 shelters in the area and housed 3,000 people Monday night. More were expected Tuesday. A firefighter at Rancho Bernardo in San Diego County showed distress. "Every one of us out here feels like these homes are our own. We know what it's like to see people's faces when they've lost everything. It's devastating to see so much of this all at once." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Thelma Gutierrez and Dan Simon contributed to this report.

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MME speaks with Sallie Krawcheck, boss of Citi Global Wealth Management . Ranked by Fortune magazine as World's 12th Most Powerful Woman in 2007 . Manages client assets worth $1.8 trillion, formerly bank's CFO . Tells MME: "we're very bullish" on economic potential of the Middle East .

If you thought it was difficult managing your own money in 2007, consider the pressure of the task when you're dealing with $1.8 trillion of client assets. Sallie Krawcheck has made Fortune's list of the World's Most Powerful Women every year since 2002 . That's what Sallie Krawcheck does as Chairman and Chief Executive of Citi Global Wealth Management. She joined the banking industry as a research analyst, but quickly rose through the ranks, gaining a reputation for honesty and integrity along the way. Dubbed the "Mrs Clean" of Wall Street, Ms Krawcheck was credited with restoring investors' faith in analyst reports while head of retail brokerage firm Smith Barney. She joined Citigroup in 2002, and spent some time as Chief Financial Officer before taking up her current role in March 2007. Sallie Krawcheck has been a regular entrant on Fortune's list of the World's Most Powerful Women in Business in 2007, she made number 12. John Defterios caught up with Ms Krawcheck in Dubai. He asked her for her views on the movement of capital outside the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States). Sallie Krawcheck : I think what's happening right now, it's fascinating because in the United States and in developed Europe we're having a liquidity crunch someone might argue a liquidity crisis. And in fact, we are awash with liquidity in the Middle East and in Asia as well, so there's really a bifurcation that's occurring in the world. And if you think about, oil doesn't even have to stay at the 90-plus dollar level it is; even at levels in the 70's, 60's, 50's, 40's, a tremendous amount of liquidity is being generated in these markets which is really being put back into the market. Yes, the investments are going up globally, but the governments here really are investing back in the infrastructure and the economies of this region. And so over time, you're really going to see... I think continue to see... a shift in economic activity on a relative basis from the more developed economies here to the Middle East as well as to Asia. John Defterios : It's coming almost as a perfect storm; we have a sub prime crisis, a 20 percent fall in the dollar in the last two years. In this window of time, is there a danger that the financial capitals build outside of Wall Street and it undermines its role? : I think there is no doubt that New York is losing its status as a financial capital of the world. If you think about some years ago, if you think about the internet bubble for example, where it was New York and California wasn't it? And you look at a whole range of reasons for it, and the sub prime crisis perhaps, the decline of the dollar perhaps. But you have overlapping regulators in the United States, you have very high taxes in the United States, you have a very litigious environment in the United States, and you have the emerging markets coming up, so capital is being raised outside of the United States. These things, some of which are negative for the United States, some of which are positive for the other regions, is accelerating a shift that was underway from New York, to London, to Hong Kong, to Singapore, and potentially to Dubai as well. : Some of the wealth funds are now on the radar of both Wall Street and Capitol Hill in Washington. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't say I want some of that liquidity but I only want part of that liquidity. What is the result of that do you think? Can you over-regulate the sovereign funds? : Oh, I think you can over-regulate the sovereign funds. I think the same question can be asked of the private equity funds and the hedge funds as well; where in a lot of countries the regulators have been struggling with the issue of 'here are very important drivers of global markets and global liquidity'. And the concern is if, gee these are going to be important going forward, we want to have these involved in our economy and our markets, but if we regulate this alone that money will skitter away to another market to a market outside the United States or Europe for example. : It's fascinating because if you look at Qatar or Egypt or Shanghai, the stock markets have almost had like a one way path; there's been some correction here in the Middle East. But what are we likely to see here, stair steps up the ladder with some corrections along the way, or an implosion because of the rapid gains? : I think you've got to separate the idea of what's going on in the real economies and what's going on in the market places. They move together, but sometimes they separate, they diverge, and they can diverge for a long period of time. If you look at economic growth potential of the Middle East, of Asia, of Latin America, we feel very bullish about this. And I was making the point earlier today, China has been growing at 11 or 12 percent, not for one year or two years, but literally for 30 years. For 30 years it's been growing at that kind of rate and really can continue as far as the eye can see. So, say the same thing for the Middle East, the growth even at a lower oil price can be significant, but can be high single digit or double digit for some foreseeable period going forward. : Is Wall Street, or for that matter, London or any other financial center ready for a woman for example in your case, 1.4 trillion dollars of assets... : 1.8 Thank you... : ...to run one of the major money center banks of the world? I'm sure you're feeling this pressure even though you're young by international standards. Are we ready for a woman to take over a money center bank? : Well it looks like the United States may be ready for a woman to take over as President. So I think if we're ready to potentially have a woman run the country, I think we are getting ready as a country, to potentially have a woman run a money center bank. Now, you know, the board wouldn't ask and I wouldn't accept, but if you look across Wall Street, there are a few women who are putting themselves in positions to be successors the next time there are CEO's who move along, and I think it's a very exciting development for the industry and for the country. Have your say. Email us at mme@cnn.com, or send an i-report. E-mail to a friend .

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British teacher in Sudan found guilty of insulting religion . Gillian Gibbons, 54, arrested after her class named teddy bear "Mohammed" Gibbons was not convicted of two other charges brought against her . UK consular staff, Gibbons' defense team initially refused access to the court .

KHARTOUM, Sudan A Sudanese court found a British teacher guilty of insulting religion and sentenced her to 15 days in prison Thursday for allowing a teddy bear to be named "Mohammed," British authorities and her lawyer reported. An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons, who has been found guilty of insulting religion. Gillian Gibbons also faces deportation from Sudan after her prison term, her lawyer told CNN. He said that he was "very disappointed" with the verdict and that Gibbons planned to appeal. Gibbons was not convicted of two other charges brought against her inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, her lawyer said. Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after she asked her class of 7-year-olds in Khartoum to name the stuffed animal as part of a school project, the British Foreign Office said. She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan's constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred. Although there is no ban in the Quran on images of Allah or the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's founder, likenesses are considered highly offensive by Muslims. Watch latest developments in the case. » . Appearing somber and dazed, Gibbons arrived at the central courthouse in Khartoum for her closed hearing early Thursday. A staff member from the British Embassy in Khartoum and defense lawyers attended the hearing with her. The courthouse was heavily guarded by police, who kept journalists and, for a while, even one of her attorneys away. Gibbons could have faced a sentence of 40 lashes, a fine, or a jail term of up to a year, according to the Foreign Office, which expressed Britain's dissatisfaction with the verdict. "We are extremely disappointed that the charges against Gillian Gibbons were not dismissed," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement issued shortly after the verdict was announced. "As I said this morning, our clear view is that this is an innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher. Our priority now is to ensure Ms. Gibbons' welfare, and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her. I have called in the Sudanese ambassador, Omer Siddig, this evening to explain the decision and discuss next steps." Watch a report on reactions to the verdict » . The Foreign Office said Gibbons would be given credit for the four days since her arrest, meaning that the she has 11 days remaining on her sentence. Earlier, Miliband had met with Siddig, who was summoned to the Foreign Office in London. "I explained to him that we were very concerned by the case. We believe that this was an innocent misunderstanding," Miliband said in a statement released Thursday after the meeting. "The Sudanese ambassador undertook to ensure our concerns were relayed to Khartoum at the highest level. He also said he would reflect back to Khartoum the real respect for the Islamic religion in this country," the statement added. On the first floor of the courthouse, around 25 police linked arms and forced journalists and British officials away from the court entrance. Police detained some journalists, and confiscated a camera belonging to a freelance CNN cameraman. Four vans filled with riot police were waiting outside the courthouse, but there were no signs of street disturbances or protests. Staff from Gibbons' school, including Robert Boulos, the head of Unity High School, were present. The staff members refused to comment on their colleague's predicament. On Wednesday, Boulos said he was "horrified" when he found out that the complaint about the naming of the bear came from a member of his own staff not from a parent, as originally thought. Defense counsel later confirmed that the complaint came from Sarah Khawad, a secretary at the school. Gibbons has been working at the school popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates since August, after leaving her position as deputy head teacher at a primary school in Liverpool, England, this summer, Boulos said. He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats. E-mail to a friend . Journalist Andrew Heavens contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Chavez says Uribe had asked him to help secure the release of hostages . Uribe cited Chavez's direct communication with Uribe's top general as breach . Chavez accuses Uribe of lying . Chavez says his arms are open to the Colombian people .

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday he is cutting all ties with Colombia as long as Alvaro Uribe remains its president. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe withdrew his support for the Venezuelan leader's mediation efforts with the FARC. "I say before the world, while President Uribe is president of Colombia, I will not have any type of relation with him or with the government of Colombia," Chavez said in an address broadcast on national television. "I can't, I can't, I can't." Chavez noted that Uribe had asked him to help secure the release of hundreds of hostages being held by the leftist rebel group Armed Revolutionary Front of Colombia and the National Liberation Army . "I went with my heart in my hand, and I was ready," Chavez told a group of supporters in the southwestern state of Tachira. "I was prepared to go to the most dangerous forest in the country to help." But last Thursday, Uribe ended Chavez's participation, citing his direct communication with Uribe's top general, a move that Uribe said broke protocol. "When we were at the point of succeeding, Uribe comes and, without telling me anything, he didn't even call me on the phone or send me an emissary, just sent me a letter saying he was ending my mission," Chavez said. "That was a kick." Without being specific, Chavez accused Uribe of having lied. "That's real ugly," he said. Chavez also accused Uribe of having bowed to pressure from Washington "to get rid of Chavez." But the firebrand Venezuelan president, who has called U.S. President George W. Bush "the devil," said his arms are open to the Colombian people. E-mail to a friend .

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Obama holding concerts to win over African-American Christians in S. Carolina . But lineup offends homosexuals, angered by appearance of anti-gay singer . Obama disavows preacher-singer's views, asks gay pastor to appear too .

COLUMBIA, South Carolina Democratic Sen. Barack Obama kicked off a series of local outreach gospel concerts Friday in Charleston, South Carolina, that unexpectedly came back to bite his campaign. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is competing for the black vote with Hillary Clinton. The concerts were meant to boost black voters' support for his presidential nominee bid the kind of events that would normally fly under the national radar. The ensuing controversy highlighted that Obama's desire to unite disparate voting blocs especially religious voters under his umbrella of "change" is not without some serious pitfalls. When the campaign announced the lineups for the three-city "Embrace the Change!" gospel tour last week, one name stood out to gay bloggers: Donnie McClurkin. The Grammy-award winning singer is on record as saying homosexuality is a choice, and that he was "once involved with those desires and those thoughts" but was able to get past them through prayer. To say the least, neither of those arguments is very popular in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. John Aravosis, a prominent gay blogger and co-founder of the Web site AmericaBlog, led the charge against the Obama campaign, writing that the Illinois Democrat was "sucking up to anti-gay bigots" and "giving them a stage." When the story bubbled up into the mainstream media, it took the Obama campaign by surprise. Obama's efforts in the Palmetto State have overwhelmingly targeted African-American churchgoers in a bid to win over black voters in South Carolina from rival Sen. Hillary Clinton. The campaign has vigorously promoted the candidate's faith, launching "40 Days of Faith and Family" in September, which used Bible study groups to tap into the black electorate. Campaigners have run three radio ads, one of which called Obama a "Christian family man," that aired on gospel stations across the state. Earlier this month, Obama spoke at an evangelical church in the traditionally conservative city of Greenville, where he demonstrated a casual familiarity with Christian vocabulary, telling the crowd, to much applause, that "I am confident that we can create a kingdom right here on Earth." After that appearance, the Obama campaign told CNN that Republicans no longer had a choke hold on issues of faith and values. "I think that what you're seeing is a breaking down of the sharp divisions that existed maybe during the '90s," Obama said. "At least in politics, the perception was that the Democrats were fearful of talking about faith, and on the other hand you had the Republicans who had a particular brand of faith that oftentimes seemed intolerant or pushed people away." But on Tuesday, Obama was forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that some Christians and gays are a little more than just strange bedfellows, especially among blacks. Obama issued a statement saying, "I strongly disagree with Reverend [Donnie] McClurkin's views and will continue to fight for these rights as president of the United States," and argued that it is important to confront homophobia among religious African Americans. A September poll of African Americans in South Carolina by Winthrop University and ETV showed that 62 percent of those surveyed said that "sex between two adults of the same sex" is "strongly unacceptable." Obama held a conference call Wednesday with Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, and announced that the Rev. Andy Sidden, an openly gay South Carolina pastor, will appear at the same event as McClurkin on Sunday in Columbia. Solomonese was not completely assuaged. "I spoke with Senator Barack Obama today and expressed to him our community's disappointment for his decision to continue to remain associated with Reverend McClurkin, an anti-gay preacher who states the need to 'break the curse of homosexuality,'" he said in a statement. "There is no gospel in Donnie McClurkin's message for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. That's a message that certainly doesn't belong on any presidential candidate's stage." The State newspaper in Columbia reported Friday that Obama organized a conference call Thursday night with gay and lesbian leaders. After the call, the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement announced it will hold a protest vigil outside Sunday's concert in Columbia. Privately, Obama aides say they believe Obama is a candidate of real, transformational change, and that uproars like the McClurkin controversy are necessary speed bumps on the road to bringing people with opposing viewpoints together to air their differences. Will Obama's refusal to kick McClurkin off the concert bill hurt him? Like many political squabbles, despite the national story, it depends how much the controversy resonates with voters in those crucial early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. And in South Carolina, where African Americans make up about half of Democratic primary-goers, voters might not have a problem with McClurkin at all. E-mail to a friend .

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Navy says it has lost confidence in officer's ability to command . Crew members on sub disciplined for faking inspection records, Navy says . Ten people have been relieved of duty; six received "nonjudicial punishment"

The commander of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton has been relieved of his command amid an inquiry into misconduct by crew members, the U.S. Navy said Friday. The USS Hampton appears in an undated photograph. Cmdr. Michael B. Portland lost his post "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement. Cmdr. William J. Houston will replace Portland. The crew neither maintained inspection records nor conducted the required inspection of chemical levels associated with the cooling system of the ship's nuclear reactor, Navy officials said. The crew then went back and falsified existing records to make it appear the work had been done. "There is not, and never was, any danger to the crew or the public," the Navy said. Portland's demotion brings to 10 the number of people relieved of duty on the submarine in the wake of the misconduct probe. Six personnel have been punished for forging inspection records for the cooling system, the Navy officials said Monday. Those six one officer and five enlisted personnel received a "nonjudicial punishment" after other Navy personnel discovered their actions, the officials said. The Navy said Friday that one officer and two enlisted crew members have been temporarily reassigned to Submarine Squadron 11. Portland also will be temporarily reassigned to that squadron. The misconduct was discovered September 17 but not made public until after completion of an initial inquiry. A fact-finding investigation is under way, and further action against Navy crew members is possible, a Navy official said. The Hampton remains in port in San Diego, California. In all, the $900 million vessel's crew includes 13 officers and 116 enlisted personnel. E-mail to a friend .

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Kelly Pless started gaining as a teen and weighed 220 pounds at her heaviest . Exercise and an "eat to live" eating philosophy helped her shed 95 pounds . Pless started out walking but now runs 40 miles a week . She is training to run two marathons this winter .

If someone had asked Kelly Pless to describe herself three years ago, the word "fit" would have never crossed her mind. Kelly Pless weighed 220 pounds at her heaviest. She lost 95 pounds through diet and exercise. For most of her adult life, the 31-year-old graduate student from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, has struggled with her weight. She started gaining as a teenager and by the time she graduated from high school, she was carrying 215 pounds on her 5' 2" frame. Prom, she says, was a nightmare. "I had to go to three different stores to buy a dress," Pless said. "I had to buy the biggest, also the ugliest, prom dress the store had because it was the only one that would fit." After high school, she lost 50 pounds. But because she hadn't done it in a healthy way, her weight crept back up to 220 pounds. At 28, she started having trouble breathing and doctors told her the weight was to blame. She reached her breaking point. "I remember being heavy and feeling like being fit just wasn't something I could be," said Pless. "I remember feeling like even if I tried, it wasn't something my body was capable of." Despite her doubts, Pless decided to do something. Fortunately she didn't have to look far for inspiration. See before and after weight loss photos from CNN.com I-Reporters » . "My manager at the Kennedy Space Center ran marathons, and he was the same age as my father," she said. Because her own father had diabetes and was in poor health, he seemed much older, she said. Over the next three to four months, she began walking, without any real goal or expectation. Pless believed that if she just focused on eating less and moving more, everything would fall into place. "At first, it was hard to start exercising because I was worried people would make fun of me," Pless said. "But then I just told myself, if that's the worst that could happen ... I just got out there and didn't care." Eventually, she started to run or "shuffle" as she jokingly recalls. She also adopted an "eat to live" philosophy and satisfied her cravings for sweets by eating lots of fruit. "I changed how I felt about food and what it meant to me," said Pless, who occasionally indulges in a bite of birthday cake or a piece of chocolate. "One of the first things I cut out was cakes and cookies. That was my weak spot. After a few months of cutting those things out, I focused more on portion control," said Pless. "I pretty much eat when I'm hungry and don't eat when I'm not and really try to pay attention to when those times are. Make sure I'm not eating out of boredom or [at] social events, I try to make sure I'm not overeating, just because everyone else is." Kelly Pless shares her weight loss secrets » . Pless pays close attention to societal pressure, which she believes is the reason many people overeat. Restaurant servings are about three times bigger than a normal portion size, she says. She makes sure she doesn't overeat when dining out simply because the food is there. "What's hard is to change how you feel about foods that you love or that aren't necessarily good for you, or actually change how you look at food. That was the hardest part for me." Instead of giving in to the temptation or convenience of calorie-laden or fatty foods such as cheeseburgers from the drive-through, Pless asks herself, "What do I really want to eat? Or, what does my body really want right now?" All of the hard work and determination paid off. Pless has lost 95 pounds and kept it off for 1½ years. As a result, she says, she's healthier and more confident. She's also set a new professional goal to pursue a doctorate in food and exercise psychology so she can help others who are battling obesity and eating disorders. "[The] negative side to weight loss is that people treat people differently. Being fat was a good filter I'm automatically treated better by people because I'm thinner. Society is so hard on people who are overweight or obese," said Pless. "Now, those people think I'm funnier or smarter." Pless runs about 40 miles a week while she trains for two marathons she plans to run this winter. The first is in November in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the second is in Miami, Florida, in January. Forty pounds ago, the first thing she wanted to do once she lost the weight was to have a tummy tuck to remove all of the loose skin. But now, she said she can't imagine taking the break from running that recovering from surgery would require. "Running has become a constant for me and does so much more for me than maintain my weight, which is now about 125 pounds," said Pless. If her past is any indication of her future success, Pless will certainly cross the finish line. I-Report: Have you lost weight? Share your story, tips and photos E-mail to a friend .

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Illegal exports to Iran, China an increasing problem, Justice Department says . Pittsburgh company cited for export of products with nuclear applications . Utah men charged with attempting to illegally export jet fighter parts .

WASHINGTON The illegal export of U.S. military technology to Iran and China poses a growing threat, the Justice Department said Thursday as it announced plans to combat the practice. Iran is the only country still flying the F-14 Tomcat. The department said the United States will tighten monitoring of export licenses and increase export restrictions on technologies that could have both civilian and military applications and could pose a danger to U.S. national security in the hands of terrorists or potential enemies. "China and Iran pose particular U.S. export control concerns," the Justice Department said in a statement issued Thursday. "Recent prosecutions have highlighted illegal exports of stealth missile technology, military aircraft components, naval warship data, night vision equipment, and other restricted technology destined for China or Iran." Representatives of more than a half dozen federal agencies will jointly announce their plans at a Justice Department news conference Thursday. Officials plan to highlight two recent cases. In the past week a Pittsburgh company, SparesGlobal Inc., was sentenced for lying about an illegal export of products that can be used in nuclear reactions and in the nose cones of ballistic missiles. The products ended up in Pakistan after being routed from the United Arab Emirates. In Utah, two men were charged last week with attempting to illegally export restricted components for F-4 and F-14 fighter jets. F-14 components are widely sought by Iran, which is the only military in the world that still flies the jet. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report.

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NEW: Congo rebels blame Rwandan Hutus for attack, report says . Internally displaced Congolese flee as rebels attack government troops . Torrential rain makes refugee movement difficult . U.N. refugee agency: Some 375,000 have been forced from homes in past year .

Tens of thousands of Congolese refugees fled camps Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo as rebel troops attacked government forces in the area, the U.N. refugee agency said. Refugees move along a road Tuesday in Mugunga, near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A press release from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it didn't appear rebels had targeted the camps, but it reported some were looted after camp residents, classified as internally displaced persons, fled. Roads to Goma, about 10 miles from the camps, were crowded with refugees and local residents fleeing the fighting, the UNHCR reported. Torrential rain made the movement even more difficult. "The main road toward Sake was crowded with people; we had difficulties getting through," UNHCR field safety adviser Pierre Nazroo was quoted as saying in the agency's release. "Internally displaced people are moving from site to site, direction Goma." UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said, "They have been living in extremely difficult conditions anyway. Now they have nothing but what they can carry." Redmond added, "These are people in poor health; they are soaking wet because of the torrential downpours. They need shelter, they need water, they need a lot of assistance so we're going to have to move quickly to get that help to them because a lot of them are already in a weakened state." While the Congolese government accused troops under rebel general Laurent Nkunda of staging the attack, a Nkunda spokesman denied the allegation, according to a report from the Integrated Regional Information Networks, a U.N.-affiliated news service. The spokesman, Bwambale Kakolele, said Rwandan Hutu rebels who also operate in the area were behind the attack, that report said. A spokesman for the U.N. military mission in the Congo said it was uncertain which group attacked the Congo army outpost near the village of Kishangazi, according to the U.N.-affiliated news service. "We think it could have been insurgents close to Nkunda who attacked, but we cannot rule out the [Rwandan rebels]," spokesman Col. Pierre Cherayron was quoted as saying. The UNHCR identified the affected camps as Mugunga I, Mugunga II, Lac Vert and Bulengo, saying about 28,000 had abandoned the first three camps and about 2,000 had left Bulengo. The UNHCR said 375,000 Congolese in North Kivu province have been forced from their homes in the past year. In the past two months alone, 160,000 have fled their homes amid the fighting between renegade troops and government forces, the agency said. North Kivu is in eastern Congo near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda. Congolese President Joseph Kabila has tried to gain a cease-fire with the rebels in the area under Nkunda, but fighting continues as hard-liners among the rebels and in the government have blocked reconciliation efforts, according to the International Crisis Group, an nongovernmental organization looking for solutions to conflicts. E-mail to a friend .

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Genarlow Wilson: Accepting plea deal would have left him without a home . Wilson, 21, promises to be more conservative, alert and thankful in future . He plans to study sociology in college -- "I feel like I've been living my major" Wilson served two years in prison after consensual oral sex with teen girl .

ATLANTA, Georgia Genarlow Wilson, freed last week from a Georgia prison, said he's glad he rejected a plea deal from prosecutors, even if it would have sprung him from prison months earlier. Genarlow Wilson tells CNN on Sunday that he will be more conservative and alert in the future. The 21-year-old, who served two years of a 10-year sentence for aggravated child molestation, said the prospect of being labeled a sex offender drove him to turn down the deal. He had to think about his 9-year-old sister and having a family of his own one day, he said Sunday. "It might've been lesser time, but then again, I would have nowhere to go because I would have no home," Wilson said during a CNN interview scheduled to air Monday at 8 p.m. "I wouldn't be able to stay with my mother because I have a little sister. You know, when you're a sex offender you can't be around kids. Basically, I can't even have kids myself, you know, so what is the point of life?" he asked. In 2005, a jury found Wilson guilty of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a 2003 New Year's Eve party. Wilson was 17 at the time of the party. Watch Wilson say why he rejected the plea deal » . The conviction carried a 10-year mandatory prison sentence and a sex offender designation. According to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, prosecutors in Douglas County, Georgia, offered Wilson a plea deal that would have reduced his sentence, possibly to time served, and would have eventually removed the conviction and sex offender status from his record. Defense attorney B.J. Bernstein said in June that Wilson rejected the deal because he didn't want to plead guilty to a felony with a 15-year sentence. The state Legislature last year amended the law under which Wilson was convicted, making such sexual encounters misdemeanors. However, the Legislature did not make the law retroactive, so it had no effect on Wilson's sentence. Now 21, Wilson was released Friday after the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the young man's sentence "constitutes cruel and unusual punishment." Wilson said Sunday he feels no "negative energy" toward District Attorney David McDade, who fought efforts to have Wilson's sentence reduced. Instead, Wilson said, he is focused on the future and hopes to soon immerse himself in his college studies. He wants to major in sociology, he said, "because I feel like I've been living my major." The new Genarlow Wilson will be more conservative, more alert and more appreciative of the blessings bestowed upon him, he said. "When it seems like you have everything, you know, you feel like you have no worries until it's all gone, and I know what it feels like to be without and I don't want to ever feel like that again," said the former honor student, football star and homecoming king. "I don't ever want to see the inside of a prison or a prison, period." Though he called his sentence "absurd," Wilson said he understands that prosecutors "were doing their job and they felt they were carrying out the law." Wilson also said he knows what he did was foolish. "I was young then. I did some idiotic things in my teen years, but you know, every average teen does," he said. "I don't think any of us made very wise decisions, but I don't think that any of us can go back then and change what happened." E-mail to a friend .

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Rubbish is piling up on the streets of Naples, with municipal dumps full . Many commentators question the role of the local mafia in the award of contracts . More than $2.5B in emergency funds has been spent on the problem over the years . One dump was going to be a golf course -- residents furious it is being re-opened .

ROME, Italy The garbage crisis in Naples encompasses the worst Italian clichés, and in particular those of the southern part of this lovely peninsula: mismanagement, political interference, mafia profiteering and the ability of those responsible to deflect the attention and the blame elsewhere. Naples has had problems in finding sites for municipal dumps now workers have stopped collecting trash. There is a popular saying here that roughly goes like this: everybody is competent enough (to find a solution) but nobody is responsible (for actually carrying it out). In many parts of the world waste disposal is a business and usually it is a good business. Garbage can be transformed into various sources of energy and then sold for a profit. In Naples, garbage is also good business, but in the sense that millions, if not billions, of euros have been wasted and nobody really knows how. The problem is as old and ugly as rotten trash. The region's dumps reached full capacity more than a decade ago, and since then a state of emergency has been declared every year. Eight different commissioners have been appointed, but they have all failed to solve the problem. State of emergency means government money: €1.8 billion (more than $2.5 billion) in emergency funds have been devolved to deal with the problem. It is still difficult to find out where or how that money has been spent. Incinerators that were supposed to be built were never finished, either because the companies in charge of constructing them could not finish the job, or else because magistrates stopped the work, pending ongoing criminal investigations into alleged mafia involvement. One Italian newspaper suggested that a good 20% of the money went to pay for the salaries of those in charge of coming up with a solution to the problem. More worrying perhaps, is another suggestion: that the local mafia, known as the Camorra, is taking advantage of the situation. As the crisis has worsened over the years, so the Camorra's profits, estimated now at around €1 billion (roughly $1.45 billion), are alleged to have increased. How does the local mafia make money? The Naples prosecutor in charge of environmental crimes says city government officials use the state of emergency to quickly award contracts which otherwise would have to be checked by complicated anti-racketeering legislation. Once they receive the money, companies linked to the underworld dispose of the waste either in the open or, ironically, at regular city dumps, even if they are overflowing. The mafia clans have now managed to burrow their way so deeply into the system that every attempt to fix the problem has proved futile. But why are citizens protesting now? Well, the government wants to re-open a previously shut dump to dispose of 3,700 tons of waste which is laying in the streets of Naples and surrounding areas. The problem is that when the site was closed years ago, locals were promised that a golf course would be built there. As a result, many residents invested savings to construct apartments and residences in the vicinity in some cases just a few yards away from the site. They are now waking up to a mountain of trash instead of 18 holes. A rotten deal indeed. E-mail to a friend .

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Famous American foods created across United States . Connecticut diner claims creation of the hamburger . Onion rings were courtesy of cook at Pig Stand in Texas . Fat Darrell came from "Grease Trucks" at Rutgers University .

(Mental Floss) 1. The Hamburger Louis' Lunch, New Haven, Connecticut . This burger did not come from Louis' so ketchup is OK. There are competing claims for the coveted "Inventor of the Hamburger" title, but according to Louis' Lunch (and the Library of Congress, for that matter), this small New Haven restaurant takes the prize. The story goes something like this: One day in 1900, a rushed businessman asked owner Louis Lassen for something quick that he could eat on the run. Lassen cooked up a beef patty, put it between some bread, and sent the man on his way. Pretty modest beginnings for arguably the most popular sandwich of all-time, huh? If you visit Louis' today, you'll find that not much has changed. The Lassen family still owns and operates the restaurant, the burgers are still cooked in ancient gas stoves, and, just like then, there is absolutely no ketchup allowed. 2. The Fried Twinkie The ChipShop, Brooklyn, New York . Sometimes what counts isn't being the inventor, it's being the innovator. Take the fried Twinkie, for example. The Twinkie in all its indestructible glory has been around for ages, but when ChipShop owner Christopher Sell had the brilliant idea to freeze the snack, dip it in batter, and deep-fry it, the Twinkie took gluttony to new heights. Even The New York Times raved about how "something magical" happens when you taste the deep-fried Twinkie's "luscious vanilla flavor." Sell, who was trained in classical French cuisine, didn't start with the Twinkie, though. In his native England, he fried up everything from M&M's to Mars bars. 3. Root Beer Float Myers Avenue Red Soda Co., Cripple Creek, Colorado . If you thought what happened up on Cripple Creek only happened in song, you're sorely mistaken. In August of 1893, a failed gold-miner-turned-soda-company-owner named Frank J. Wisner was drinking a bottle of his Myers Avenue Red root beer while looking up at Cow Mountain. Just then, a full moon illuminated the snowcap on the otherwise black mountain, and Wisner had a brilliant idea float a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass of his root beer. The new drink was christened the "black cow" and became an instant classic. Today, of course, most of us call it a root beer float. 4. Corn Dogs Cozy Dog Drive In, Springfield, Illinois . In 1946, Ed Waldmire, Jr., revolutionized the stick-meat world when he debuted the Cozy Dog the first corn dog on a stick. At first, he wanted to call his creation the "Crusty Cur," but his wife convinced him to change the name to "Cozy Dog." She felt people wouldn't want to eat something described as "crusty." Good call, Mrs. Waldmire. Shortly after the Cozy Dog's inception, the Cozy Dog Drive In opened alongside old Route 66 and has been serving up corn dogs ever since. 5. The Pizzeria Lombardi's, New York City, New York . Pizza has existed in one form or another for a long time, but America got her first true pizzeria when Gennaro Lombardi opened up a small grocery store in New York City's Little Italy. An employee named Anthony "Totonno" Pero started selling pizzas out of the back, and in no time, Lombardi's was concentrating on its burgeoning pizza business instead of plain old groceries. In 1905, the establishment was licensed as a pizzeria, and it's stayed that way ever since. Well, almost. The original restaurant closed in 1984 but reopened down the street 10 years later. On its 100th anniversary in 2005, Lombardi's decided to offer its pizza for the same price it'd been sold for in 1905 5 cents a pie. Needless to say, the line wrapped around the block. 6. Fat Darrell R.U. Hungry, New Brunswick, New Jersey . You may not know what the Fat Darrell is, but when you hear what it contains, you'll understand why it's truly a work of inspired genius. Since 1979, Rutgers University has played host to a collection of mobile food vans collectively known as the "Grease Trucks." Originally, they served a sandwich called the Fat Cat, which contained two cheeseburger patties, French fries, lettuce, tomato, and onions. Then one night in 1997, a hungry (and broke) student named Darrell W. Butler convinced one of the vendors to put chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, French fries, and marinara sauce on a sandwich. Strangely, the concoction sounded so appetizing that the next 10 people in line ordered it, and the Fat Darrell became a mainstay at the Grease Trucks. Hey, not any old sandwich gets to be named Maxim magazine's top "Meat Hog" sandwich. 7. Philly Cheesesteak Pat's King Of Steaks, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Philadelphia is known for many things (Ben Franklin, the Liberty Bell, and Rocky, for starters), but fine dining is not really its forte. That's OK, though, because Philly is the home of Pat's King of Steaks, and Pat's King of Steaks is where the Philly cheesesteak was born. One day back in 1932, hot dog stand owners Pasquale and Harry Olivieri decided to change things up and make a steak sandwich with onions. A cab driver who ate at Pat's daily insisted on trying the new sandwich, and with the first bite declared, "Hey, forget 'bout those hot dogs, you should sell these!" Cab drivers know fast food about as well as anyone, so the brothers did just what the cabbie suggested. In no time, the modest stand turned into the Pat's that exists today. Controversy remains, however, over who's responsible for putting the cheese in cheesesteak. Pat's claims it was the first to do so (in 1951), but across-the-street rival Joe Vento of Geno's Steaks (opened 1966) insists he added the finishing touches. 8. Onion Rings Pig Stand, Dallas, Texas . According to most sources, the onion ring was invented when a careless cook at a Pig Stand location in Dallas accidentally dropped an onion slice in some batter, then pulled it out and tossed it in the fryer for lack of a better destination. Now, you'd think inventing the onion ring would be enough for one restaurant chain, but not Pig Stand. The company also lays claim to opening America's first drive-in, inventing Texas toast, and being one of the first restaurants to advertise using neon signs. Not bad for a little outfit from Texas. 9. Derby Pie Melrose Inn, Prospect, Kentucky . A Kentucky favorite, derby pie is a chocolate and pecan tart with a pastry-dough crust and that's about all we know about it. Why? Because the recipe is jealously guarded by the Kern family. Melrose Inn manager George Kern created derby pie in the mid-1950s with help from his parents, Walter and Leaudra, and the dessert was such a hit that the family was soon baking the treat full-time. In fact, Mrs. Kern, being the crafty monopolist she was, copyrighted the name, and to this day, you can only get real "Derby-Pie®" through Kern's Kitchen, Inc. Not only that, but a man from New England once handed Leaudra a blank check for the recipe so that his daughter could make the pie at home. She refused.I E-mail to a friend . For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.

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Authorities uncover a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. embassy in Baku . The United States has reduced its embassy's operations . Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday .

Authorities in Azerbaijan recently uncovered a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Baku, prompting the facility to close its doors to the public Monday, Azerbaijan and U.S. officials told CNN. The Bibi Heybat Mosque, just outside the capital Baku. As a precaution, Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday "following security concerns nearby," Britain's Foreign Office said. The terror plot was unraveled after a weekend raid outside Baku that netted several suspected members of the radical group, two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified and a spokesman for Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry told CNN. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack stressed that the details "are still unfolding," and the threat "may or may not be" linked to the Saturday raid. "There were some specific and credible threat information concerning the embassy and plans by militants to in some way do harm to individuals in and around the U.S. Embassy there," McCormack said, noting that no specific individuals were targeted. Several days ago, an Azerbaijani army officer who had connections to a radical Islamic group seized four assault rifles, a machine gun and 20 hand grenades from his military unit and hid them in the outskirts of Baku, the ministry spokesman and U.S. officials said. Government security forces tracked down the group and arrested several members during a sweep on Saturday in the village of Mastaga, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Baku, the spokesman said. One suspected member of the militant group resisted arrest and was killed in the sweep, the spokesman said. Several others are still at large, he added. He said the terror plot also targeted Azerbaijani government buildings. The U.S. Embassy in Baku issued a warden message warning Americans in Azerbaijan to take precautions. "While there is no information at this time that other American or Western interests in Azerbaijan are being targeted, the U.S. Embassy encourages Americans to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to bolster their own personal security," it said. Azerbaijan is a former Soviet republic that borders the Caspian Sea, and lies just north of Iran. McCormack said U.S. authorities are working closely with their counterparts in Baku and will determine when normal embassy operations will resume. He said he expects the embassy to limit its operations on Tuesday, as well. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Igor Malakhov in Moscow, Zain Verjee in Washington and Roger Clark in London contributed to this report .

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Ralph Lauren began as tie salesman from the Bronx . First design: Wide ties when others were narrow . Has designed high fashion for four decades . Goal: Glamorous clothing that is "consistent and accessible"

It all boils down to this. It doesn't really matter all that much what hot, nubile French maverick has set the fashion world on fire. Or which Milanese visionary has a new fabric technique discovered during a life-changing trip to Angkor Wat that's sure to bring back sixties minimalism with a twist. Or that so-and-so has signed a deal to develop boutique spa hotels around the globe in former monasteries. Because, in the end, he's Ralph Lauren, and we're not. Ralph Lauren has his eye on China and Japan. For four decades no other designer has had a greater impact, not only on the way American men and women dress but also on the way they imagine, seek and indulge in the Good Life, than the former tie salesman from the Bronx. "Those ties were handmade, by the way," recalls Lauren. "Back then, ties, even designer ones, didn't sell for more than $5 apiece. Mine were $12 to $15. Such luxury in something so simple was revolutionary." And ironic. Because while no other designer logo exemplifies aspiration in the home of the free and the brave like the mallet-wielding guy on the pony, Lauren originally named his company Polo because "it was the sport of kings. It was glamorous, sexy and international." See his designs » . In the beginning a few people questioned if it was named after Marco Polo but today the fact that virtually none of Lauren's millions of devoted customers has ever even seen a polo match is immaterial. Lauren instinctively caught something that was in the air before any of his competitors had a chance to grab it the desire, not just to be a success but to look like one before you'd even achieved your goal. What's more, Lauren made it look as easy as Fred Astaire dancing down a staircase. "What matters the most to me are clothes that are consistent and accessible," says the designer. "When I look at the people I've admired over the years, the ultimate stars, like Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Astaire, the ones who last the longest are the ones whose style has a consistency, whose naturalness is part of their excitement. And when you think of the blur of all the brands that are out there, the ones you believe in and the ones you remember, like Chanel and Armani, are the ones that stand for something. Fashion is about establishing an image that consumers can adapt to their own individuality. And it's an image that can change, that can evolve. It doesn't reinvent itself every two years." However, with a media that is insatiable for the new, the now and the next, being steadfast doesn't always make for good copy. "The spotlight is always going to search for the newcomer," Lauren admits. "And that's fine. But the key to longevity is to keep doing what you do better than anyone else. We work real hard at that. It's about getting your message out to the consumer. It's about getting their trust, but also getting them excited, again and again. My clothes the clothes we make for the runway aren't concepts. They go into stores. Our stores. Thankfully, we have lots of them," says Lauren. "What I rely on is people walking into my store saying, 'I want your clothes.'" Well, if all of Lauren's customers shouted that together, he would go deaf faster than he could pull on one of his classic pullovers. Lauren's effortless luxury is all over the red carpet, on ski slopes and boats, at Wimbledon and elsewhere. It furnishes living rooms and graces dinner tables. It's on the bed, in the bed and under the bed and now sits on coffee tables, thanks to the tome Ralph Lauren , celebrating his 40-years-and-growing career. But far from giving his customary over-the-head wave and riding off into his Colorado-ranch sunset, the designer is going even more global. "Americans have a real inferiority about their own style. We've brought sportswear to the world, and yet we have a long way to go." Already in Milan, London, Paris and Moscow, Lauren has more stores planned for China, Japan ... oh, everywhere. "There aren't enough Americans out there," he says. Who better to start with than Ralph? Just as long as he doesn't let on that most of us still can't play a lick of polo. E-mail to a friend . Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

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Bush: Senate "wasting valuable time" with children's health insurance bill . Congress "holding hostage" funds for troops, Bush says . Bush accuses Congress of gridlock, failing to promote anyone's agenda . Democrats fire back, saying Bush's words "ring hollow"

President Bush blasted the Democratic-controlled Congress on Tuesday for having "the worst record in 20 years." "Congress is not getting its work done," Bush said, flanked by members of the Republican House leadership. "The House of Representatives has wasted valuable time on a constant stream of investigations, and the Senate has wasted valuable time on an endless series of failed votes to pull our troops out of Iraq." Bush criticized Congress for not being able to send "a single appropriations bill" to him. "They haven't seen a bill they could not solve without shoving a tax hike into it," he said. Democrats quickly fired back. Jim Manley, senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said, "Taking advice from President Bush about fiscal responsibility and getting things done for the American people is like taking hunting lessons from Dick Cheney. Neither is a very good idea." Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Illinois, issued a statement saying, "President Bush's rally this morning reminds us that congressional Republicans remain ready and willing to rubber-stamp the Bush agenda: No to children's health care; no to a new direction in Iraq; and no to investing in America's future. The White House and congressional Republicans want to continue the status quo." Bush said the Senate was "wasting valuable time" by taking up the children's health insurance bill, which he had earlier vetoed. Watch Bush describe what he thinks Congress is doing wrong » . House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, issued a statement calling Bush "the biggest obstacle" to extending health coverage to "10 million low-income, working-class American children." Hoyer said GOP House leaders need to "stop posing for pictures, and sit down with Democrats and Republicans in Congress who are working together to extend coverage to our children." The State Children's Health Insurance Program measure passed in the House last week would expand the program by nearly $35 billion over five years, the same as the measure Bush vetoed on October 3. Bush had proposed adding $5 billion to the program, and said the version he vetoed would have encouraged families to leave the private insurance market for the federally funded, state-run program. Democratic leaders said the new version addresses Republican objections by tightening restrictions on illegal immigrants receiving SCHIP benefits; capping the income levels of families that qualify for the program; and preventing adults from receiving benefits. The program currently covers about 6 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. Democrats want to extend the program to another 4 million, paying for it with a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes. Bush said Congress knows the current version of the children's health bill "does not have a chance," to get enough votes to override another veto. Hoyer accused Bush of breaking a promise he made in 2004 to extend coverage under the SCHIP program. "Now, Congress must do what the president said he would do," he said in his statement. The Senate could vote on the bill as early as Tuesday. Bush also threatened to veto a "three-bill pileup." "There are now reports that Congressional leaders may be considering combining the Veterans and Department of Defense appropriations bills, and then add a bloated labor, health and education spending bill to both of them," he said. "Congress should pass each bill one at a time in a fiscally responsible manner," he said. Bush also urged Congress to send him a "clean defense appropriations bill and a war supplemental bill." "They ought to get me a bill that funds among other things bullets and body armor," he said. Bush also criticized Congress for trying to "hold hostage" funding for troops. "It would be irresponsible to not give our troops the resources they need to get their job done because Congress was unable to get its job done," he said. Hoyer's release said Bush's comments on appropriations bills and fiscal responsibility "ring hollow." "The fact is, this administration has pursued the most fiscally irresponsible policies in American history, turning record surpluses into record deficits and adding more than $3 trillion to the national debt," he said. "Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility today because we believe our government must pay for the things it purchases and not force our children to pay our bills. The fight over 2008 appropriations bills is not a fight over spending. It is a fight over priorities." E-mail to a friend .

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Striker Cristiano Lucarelli keeps his place in Italy's squad to face Scotland . Lucarelli impressed by scoring twice in the recent victory over South Africa . Juventus striker Raffaele Palladino earns his first call-up to the senior squad .

ROME, Italy Italy national coach Roberto Donadoni has left Cristiano Lucarelli in his squad for next Saturday's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier in Scotland. Lucarelli keeps his place in the Italian squad after scoring twice against South Africa. The Shakhtar Donetsk striker is in fine form and has been rewarded for his inspiring performance in last month's friendly against South Africa, when he scored twice in the world champions' victory. While Donadoni has again left out veteran forwards Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero, he has handed Juventus striker and Italy under-21 international Raffaele Palladino his first call-up to the senior squad. Donadoni's squad is also boosted by the return from suspension of captain Fabio Cannavaro, . Italy go into the clash in Glasgow third in Group B, two points behind leaders France and one point below Scotland. Italy end their qualifying campaign by taking on bottom side the Faroe Islands in Modena on November 21. Italy squad: . Goalkeepers: Marco Amelia , Gianluigi Buffon , Gianluca Curci Defenders: Andrea Barzagli , Daniele Bonera (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini , Fabio Grosso , Massimo Oddo (AC Milan), Christian Panucci , Gianluca Zambrotta Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini (AC Milan), Mauro Camoranesi , Daniele De Rossi , Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Simone Perrotta , Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan) Strikers: Antonio Di Natale , Alberto Gilardino (AC Milan), Vincenzo Iaquinta , Cristiano Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk), Raffaele Palladino , Fabio Quagliarella , Luca Toni (Bayern Munich) E-mail to a friend .

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Erik Prince, CEO of Blackwater USA, testifies before House panel . Hearings held amid an FBI probe into a shootout involving Blackwater personnel . Prince: "I believe we acted appropriately at all times"

Erik Prince, the chairman and CEO of Blackwater USA, appeared Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Erik Prince, CEO and chairman of Blackwater USA, is sworn in Tuesday at a congressional hearing. The committee convened amid an FBI investigation into a September 16 shootout involving Blackwater personnel that resulted in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. Following is a transcript of Prince's opening statement: . Chairman [Henry] Waxman, [D-California], Congressman [Thomas] Davis, [R-Virginia], members of the committee, my name is Eric Prince, and I am the chairman and CEO of the Prince Group and Blackwater USA. Blackwater's a team of dedicated professionals who provide training to America's military and law enforcement communities and risk their lives to protect Americans in harm's way overseas. Under the direction and oversight of the United States government, Blackwater provides an opportunity for military and law enforcement veterans with a record of honorable service to continue their support to the United States. Words alone cannot express the respect I have for these brave men and women who defend who volunteer to defend U.S. personnel facilities and diplomatic missions. I am proud to be there to represent them today. After almost five years in active service as a U.S. Navy SEAL, I founded Blackwater in 1997. I wanted to offer the military and law enforcement communities assistance by providing expert instruction and world-class training venues. Ten years later, Blackwater trains approximately 500 members of the United States military and law enforcement agencies every day. After 9/11, when the U.S. began its stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and then Iraq, the United States government called upon Blackwater to fill a need for protective services in hostile areas. Blackwater responded immediately. We are extremely proud of answering that call in supporting our country. Blackwater personnel supporting our overseas missions are all military and law enforcement veterans, many of whom have recent military deployments. No individual ever protected by Blackwater has ever been killed or seriously injured. There is no better evidence of the skill and dedication of these men. At the same time, 30 brave men have made the ultimate sacrifice while working for Blackwater and its affiliates. Numerous others have been wounded and permanently maimed. The entire Blackwater family mourns the loss of these brave lives. Our thoughts and our prayers are with their families. The areas of Iraq in which we operate are particularly dangerous and challenging. Blackwater personnel are subject to regular attacks by terrorists and other nefarious forces within Iraq. We're the targets of the same ruthless enemies that have killed more than 3,800 American military personnel and thousands of innocent Iraqis. Any incident where Americans are attacked serves as a reminder of the hostile environment in which our professionals work to keep American officials and dignitaries safe, including visiting members of Congress. In doing so, more American service members are available to fight the enemy. Blackwater shares the committee's interest in ensuring the accountability and oversight of contract personnel supporting U.S. operations. The company's personnel are already accountable under and subject to numerous statutes, treaties and regulations of the United States. Blackwater looks forward to working with Congress and the executive branch to ensure that any necessary improvements to these laws and policies are implemented. The worldwide personnel protection services contract, which has been provided to this committee, was competitively awarded and details almost every aspect of operation and contract performance, including the hiring, vetting guidelines, background checks, screening, training standards, rules of force and conduct standards. In Iraq, Blackwater reports to the embassy's regional security officer, or RSO. All Blackwater movements and operations are directed by the RSO. In conjunction with internal company procedures and controls, the RSO ensures that Blackwater complies with all relevant contractual terms and conditions, as well as any applicable laws and regulations. We have approximately 1,000 professionals serving today in Iraq as part of our nation's total force. Blackwater does not engage in offensive or military missions but performs only defensive security functions. My understanding of the September 16 incident is that the Department of State and the FBI are conducting a full investigation, but those results are not yet available. We at Blackwater welcome the FBI review announced yesterday, and we will cooperate fully and look forward to receiving their conclusions. I just want to put some other things in perspective. A recent report from the Department of State stated that in 2007 Blackwater conducted 1,873 security details for diplomatic visits to the red zone, areas outside the Green Zone in Iraq, and there have been only 56 incidences in which weapons were discharged, or less than 3 percent of all movements. In 2006, Blackwater conducted over 6,500 diplomatic movements in the Red Zone. Weapons were discharged in less than 1 percent of those missions. To the extent there is any loss of innocent life, ever, let me be clear that I consider that tragic. Every life, whether American or Iraqi, is precious. I stress to the committee and to the American public, however, that I believe we acted appropriately at all times. I am prepared to answer your questions. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: French president returns to France with three released journalists . Journalists are among seven Europeans freed Sunday in child "kidnap" row . There are still 14 other people in custody in Chad . Father: "They never said they would take away our children"

PARIS, France Three French journalists charged in an alleged plot to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe arrived in Paris on Sunday, hours after French President Nicolas Sarkozy held emergency talks in Chad. But 14 other people remained in custody in the African nation, some facing serious charges that could send them to jail for up to 20 years. The journalists were among seven Europeans a Chadian judge released Sunday, including a Spanish flight crew, whom Sarkozy dropped off in a brief stop in Madrid on his way back from Chad. All were arrested last week after workers from Zoe's Ark a French-based charity group were accused of trying to fly 103 children out of Chad in a kidnapping and adoption operation. Watch a report on how the events unfolded » . Some of the children may never return to their families because it is too difficult to determine their backgrounds, Red Cross spokeswoman Inah Kaloga told CNN on Friday. Those who remain under arrest in Chad are six members of the French charity, four Chadians and four remaining members of the flight crew. Some face kidnapping and fraud charges. Zoe's Ark leader Eric Breteau testified Saturday to a court in the Chadian capital that the three journalists and the flight crew of seven Spaniards and a Belgian were not involved in the alleged plot, court witnesses told CNN. At least some of the flight crew are scheduled to testify before a judge on Monday. The three journalists initially had been charged with complicity in the alleged kidnapping attempt. It's not clear if the charges against them have been dropped. Watch the freed Europeans leave Chad » . In a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Sunday at Madrid's Torrejon Air Force Base, Sarkozy expressed satisfaction that some of those detained had been released. At the same time, however, he told reporters, "We should respect the sovereignty of Chad." Zapatero thanked Sarkozy for dropping the four Spanish flight crew members off in their home country, and thanked Chadian President Idriss Deby for allowing them to return. After his emergency talks in Chad, Sarkozy stressed the scandal would not affect the strong relations between the two countries or affect the planned deployment of a European force to protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region who have fled to Chad and the neighboring Central African Republic. Sarkozy also said he hoped the six remaining French nationals all from Zoe's Ark would face trial in France. The charity says that the children were orphans from the Darfur region where the United Nations estimates 200,000 people have been killed in four years of conflict and that the group was taking them to host families in France. But after preliminary interviews with the children, aid agencies said Thursday it appeared most of them probably are not orphans and not from Sudan, but instead come from villages on the Chadian side of the border with Sudan. The children are staying in an Abeche orphanage while aid agencies and government officials try to find out where they came from a challenge hindered by the number of children, their youth, and the volatile situation in the region. A father of three of the children allegedly kidnapped told a French newspaper he put his children into the charity's care after he was told they would be educated at a school under construction in a nearby town. The Chadian man, who gave his name as Arbab, told Le Parisien on Sunday that workers from Zoe's Ark had visited his village three times. "They never said they would take away our children," he told the newspaper. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Nic Robertson and Al Goodman contributed to this report.

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Judge doubles bail to $250,000, accuses of "arrogance" or "ignorance" Jailed since Friday, Simpson was required to put down $37,500 in cash to get out . Bail bondsman tells judge O.J. Simpson never paid him . DA says Simpson violated bail terms by leaving message for co-defendant .

LAS VEGAS, Nevada Former football star O.J. Simpson walked out of jail late Wednesday after posting $250,000 bail. O.J. Simpson leaves the Clark County Detention Center late Wednesday night. Eighth District Judge Jackie Glass hours earlier doubled Simpson's bail to ensure his appearance at an April 7 trial. Glass said Simpson had violated terms of his previous bail. Glass was adamant that Simpson remain in the Clark County Detention Center until 15 percent of the $250,000 is paid in full $37,500 after it was revealed in court that Simpson never paid any part of his previous $125,000 bail. "There's no 'get-out-of-jail-free card' today," an angry Glass told Simpson's lawyers. "I don't want him out of the jail until the 15 percent is paid in full." Watch the scolding judge » . The judge scolded Simpson, saying he wasn't taking the matter seriously. "I don't know if it's just arrogance. I don't know if it's ignorance," she chided. Simpson posted bail at about 6:15 p.m. local time (9:15 p.m. ET), according to Las Vegas authorities. Simpson returned to jail in Nevada from his home in Florida January 11 for Wednesday's hearing, after prosecutors alleged he violated the terms of his bail by attempting to contact a co-defendant. The original bail bondsman Miguel Pereira of Florida-based You Ring, We Spring testified Wednesday that the former football player didn't put any money toward the bail that allowed him to leave jail in September. "Not one cent," he said. The bail bondsman himself paid the 15 percent premium and the $40 filing fee to allow Simpson to leave the detention center, although he said he had a power of attorney for Simpson's Florida home but never filed a lien on it. When questioned by Simpson attorney Yale Galanter, Pereira admitted he had never sent Simpson a bill for the premium. But, he said, he had an understanding with Simpson that he would be paid "after it was all over." Glass described it as "mind-boggling" that Simpson never had to put up any collateral for his first bond and that the bail bondsman never asked for anything. Prosecutors also produced Wednesday a recording of a profanity-laced voice mail message left on Pereira's answering machine in November from Simpson, which he told Pereira to deliver to co-defendant Clarence Stewart. The prosecutor said the message contained "an undercurrent of a threat," and he wanted the bail to be raised to at least $1 million. Galanter did not contest the authenticity of the recording. As part of his bail granted September 19, Simpson was to have no contact whatsoever with victims, witnesses or co-defendants in the case. Glass said the same goes this time. Watch how Simpson wound up in jail » . "When I tell you, Mr. Simpson, there are conditions and there are rules, let me make sure you understand if you violate those rules ... you'll be back, locked up in the Clark County Detention Center; do you understand me?" the judge asked. "I understand 100 percent," said Simpson, dressed in a navy blue jail jumpsuit. "No contact [with others in case], no phone messages to third parties, no emails, no letters nothing," Glass added. Galanter said his client "was truly contrite about what has occurred." "He will abide scrupulously by whatever this court decides," the attorney said. Simpson faces trial April 7 on 12 criminal counts, including conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon. The charges stem from a September 13 incident at a Las Vegas hotel in which he allegedly stole sports memorabilia he said belonged to him from dealers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. According to earlier testimony, Beardsley and Fromong were offering more than 600 Simpson-related items for sale, including ties Simpson wore during his criminal trial for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was acquitted in that trial. E-mail to a friend .

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F-15s grounded after a November 1 crash in Missouri . F-15 is used for ground support in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . All U.S. Air Force 224 E-model aircraft will undergo a one-time inspection .

WASHINGTON The Air Force is returning F-15E Strike Eagle jets to service over Iraq and Afghanistan after grounding other F-15s, the Air Force said Wednesday. The Air Force grounded models of its F-15 fleet after the crash of an older model F-15C this month. The F-15s were grounded after a crash earlier this month in Missouri of an older model that disintegrated in flight. Each F-15E must pass an inspection of critical parts on the airframe before returning to flying missions, Air Force officials said. All U.S. Air Force 224 E-model aircraft will undergo a one-time inspection of hydraulic system lines, the Air Force statement said. The longerons molded, metal strips of the aircraft fuselage that run from front to rear will also be inspected, according to the Air Force. The straps and skin panels in and around the environmental control system bay will also be examined, officials said. The Air Force would not say whether the parts being inspected were part of the problem on the aircraft that crashed. The investigation into why that plane fell apart in flight is still ongoing and Air Force officials will not say what happened until the investigation is complete, an Air Force spokesperson said. Air Force officials said the rest of the almost 500 F-15s older airframes than the F-15Es will remain grounded until the investigation offers a solution to what happened. The E-model aircraft, the youngest and most sophisticated in the F-15 inventory, is heavily used by Central Command for ground support in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also used for the homeland security mission over the United States known as Operation Noble Eagle. On November 3, the Air Force grounded all of its F-15s in response to a November 1 crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C in Boss, Missouri. The grounding forced Central Command to use other Air Force, Navy and French fighters to fill the gaps, though Strike Eagles did fly to support troops in battle in Afghanistan as an emergency measure while they were still under grounding orders, according to Central Command reports. The plane that crashed, built in 1980, was one of the older F-15s in the fleet. The F-15E Strike Eagle is an air-to-ground and air-to-air fighter, making it more versatile than other F-15 models, which are used for only air-to-air missions. The Strike Eagle is used in Afghanistan and Iraq in its air-to-ground role, using its advanced sensors to drop bombs on targets. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Sen. Hillary Clinton defends vote on resolution, saying "it's not a law" Sen. Barack Obama: President could use Iran measure to justify military action . Obama says Clinton's vote for resolution shows "flawed" judgment . Differences with Clinton will be clear in "next phase" of campaign, Obama says .

WASHINGTON Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday criticized a recent vote by Democratic presidential rival Sen. Hillary Clinton as helping to give President Bush a "blank check" to take military action against Iran. Sen. Barack Obama says Sen. Hillary Clinton has shown "flawed" judgment. "We know in the past that the president has used some of the flimsiest excuses to try to move his agenda regardless of what Congress says," Obama said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Last month, Clinton voted to support a resolution declaring Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite part of the Iranian military, a foreign terrorist group. (The nonbinding amendment to the Defense Authorization Act passed by a 76-22 vote.) Obama said he would have voted against the measure but didn't because he was campaigning in New Hampshire at the time. He said it was impossible to know when votes will be scheduled in the Senate. "This is a problem" related to running for president, he said. Obama said Clinton also had shown "flawed" judgment during the vote to authorize the Iraq war five years ago. "We know that there was embodied in this legislation, or this resolution sent to the Senate, language that would say our Iraqi troop structures should in part be determined by our desire to deal with Iran," Obama said. "Now if you know that in the past the president has taken a blank check and cashed it, we don't want to repeat that mistake." Clinton on Thursday defended her vote on the resolution during an interview on New Hampshire Public Radio, saying "what I voted on was a nonbinding resolution. It's not an amendment. It's not a law." While Clinton was campaigning Sunday in New Hampton, Iowa, an audience member at a town hall-style meeting pressed her on why she voted for the Iran measure and asked why she hadn't learned from past "mistakes." Calling "the premise of the question" wrong, the senator from New York argued the resolution calls for the terrorist label so that sanctions can be imposed. The sanctions, Clinton said, will in turn "send a clear message to the leadership" and lead to stronger diplomatic efforts. Earlier this month, Clinton also co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, that would prohibit military operations against Iran without congressional approval. Obama's comments came on the fifth anniversary of the 77-23 Senate vote that authorized the president to use force against Iraq. Obama, then an Illinois state senator, spoke out against the resolution authorizing force at the time. Clinton's 2002 vote shows a clear difference in judgment between the two of them, Obama said. Watch as Obama questions Clinton's judgment » . "I don't think it disqualified her, but I think it speaks to her judgment and it speaks to my judgment," Obama said. "It speaks to how we will make decisions going forward. "I think her judgment was flawed on this issue." Obama said he also will step up efforts to clarify his differences with Clinton, whom many political observers view as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. "There's no doubt we are moving into a different phase of the campaign," Obama said. "The first part of a campaign is to offer some biography and give people a sense of where I've been and what I am about. "In this next phase, we want to make sure that voters understand that on big issues, like the decision to go into the war in Iraq, I had real differences with the other candidates, and that reflects on my judgment." Another leading Democratic candidate, John Edwards, also voted in 2002 to authorize force in Iraq while he was then a senator from North Carolina. He later called his vote a mistake. In a veiled swipe at Clinton, Obama also suggested he could better unite the country and offer "something new, as opposed to looking backward and simply duplicating some of the politics that we've become so accustomed to, that frankly the American people are sick of." Obama would not say whether he would consider Clinton as his running mate should he become the Democratic Party's nominee. "I think Sen. Clinton is a very capable person," he said. "Right now, my goal is to make sure I am the nominee, and she is still the senator from New York." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Scott Anderson and Alexander Mooney contributed to this report.

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NEW: T.I. to remain in custody until Friday, when there's a bond hearing . Rapper was arrested Saturday on weapons charges . T.I. won two awards at BET awards show Saturday night .

ATLANTA, Georgia After his weekend arrest on gun charges, rapper T.I. will remain in custody until a bond hearing Friday, a federal magistrate said Monday. T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested without incident in midtown Atlanta. The entertainer, whose real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested Saturday just hours before he was scheduled to perform at the BET Hip Hop Awards. The small court room of Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman was packed with family, supporters and media, but even more people, including the rapper's mother, were turned away because of the overcrowding. Harris, 27, was arrested in a federal sting after his bodyguard-turned-informant delivered three machine guns and two silencers to the hip-hop star, according to a Justice Department statement. Watch a search of the rapper's home » . He was held in federal custody over the weekend. Authorities said that Harris provided the bodyguard $12,000 to buy the weapons, which Harris is not allowed to own because he is a convicted felon. Court documents said Harris was convicted on felony drug charges in 1998, and a federal affidavit said he has been arrested on gun charges in the past. However, one of his attorneys, Dwight Thomas, said he was not aware Harris was a convicted felon and that "a number of people" live in Harris' suburban Atlanta home. Thomas added there were "two sides to every story sometimes three" and he was confident the legal system would work in Harris' favor. The entertainer was taken into custody about 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Atlanta, where the BET award show was taped. Harris, the show's top nominee, was up for nine awards, including CD of the year and lyricist of the year. He also was scheduled to perform, along with fellow rap stars Common, Nelly and Kanye West. Harris won two awards. The show went on without the self-proclaimed "King of the South," whose car and home in the Atlanta suburb of College Park were searched after his arrest. Authorities said they found three more firearms in the car in which Harris drove to pick up the machine guns and silencers, "including one loaded gun tucked between the driver's seat where Harris had been sitting and the center console." At his home, authorities found six other guns, five of them loaded, in his bedroom closet. "Machine guns pose a serious danger to the community, which is why they are so carefully regulated," said David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. "The last place machine guns should be is in the hands of a convicted felon, who cannot legally possess any kind of firearm. This convicted felon allegedly was trying to add several machine guns to an already large and entirely illegal arsenal of guns." The sting came after Harris' bodyguard was arrested purchasing the machine guns and silencers from an undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Wednesday, according to the Justice Department statement. The bodyguard then agreed to cooperate with the ATF, the statement said. The guns were not registered on the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record as required by law. The bodyguard who has worked for Harris since July told authorities he had bought about nine guns for the rap star in the past, the statement said. On Wednesday, authorities said, Harris arranged for the bodyguard to pick up $12,000 in cash from a bank to buy the guns. After his arrest, the bodyguard made phone calls to Harris, which authorities recorded, the statement said. Harris was supposed to meet the bodyguard in a shopping center parking lot in midtown Atlanta to pick up the guns. Authorities arrested Harris there without incident, the Justice Department statement said. Court documents in the case show Harris was convicted on felony drug charges in Cobb County, Georgia, in 1998 and sentenced to seven years' probation. "Harris has additional arrests and at least one probation violation for unlawfully possessing firearms," according to an affidavit. Harris' music is built around the drug culture and is known as "trap musik," the name of Harris' second album. A "trap" is Southern slang for a drug house. Harris soon will appear in the movie "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. The film is set to open November 2. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mike Phelan and Catherine Callaway contributed to this report.

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More than 1,700 people dead, toll expected to rise, official says . 15,000 people are injured following Thursday's tropical Cyclone Sidr . U.N. World Food Programme has food for 400,000 people for three days . Power outages, massive traffic jams and poor phone service in Dhaka .

DHAKA, Bangladesh More than 1,700 people have died in Bangladesh after a devastating tropical cyclone ripped through the western coast of the country, and the toll is expected to rise, a government spokesman tells CNN. Families stand amid the wreckage caused by the cyclone Friday in southern Bangladesh. Brig. Gen. Qazi Abedus Samad, director of operations for the country's armed forces, told CNN Saturday the toll had reached 1,723, and the figure is expected to rise. As flood waters recede, aid workers say they expect to find scores more bodies when remote villages are finally reached and the counting is done. They face debris-blocked roads, no electricity and almost nonexistent communications. In addition to the dead, another 15,000 people have been injured. Thousands of people have been displaced and many are still missing. Cyclone Sidr, with sustained winds of at least 131 mph (210 kph), made landfall Thursday night along the western coast of Bangladesh near the border with India, unleashing floodwaters. Government spokesman Fahim Munaim told CNN by telephone that the government held an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday to assess the disaster and discuss recovery issues. He said the extent of the cyclone's damage may be much worse because emergency relief had not been able to reach remote areas. The government has identified the 12 worst districts all of them located on the southern coast out of the 23 affected by the cyclone, Munaim said. See victims pick up the pieces after the storm » . The Bangladeshi air force, army and navy are working to provide shelter for the many people who have been displaced. Power is still out in much of the country but it is being restored. Watch how the cyclone spawns a large relief effort » . Vince Edwards, national director of the relief agency World Vision in Bangladesh, said the high wind speeds of Cyclone Sidr have laid waste to the all-important rice crop and caused a huge loss of livestock. He said 280,000 families have been rendered homeless by the cyclone, but many have been able to get shelter from family members. World Vision is deploying 135 staffers and 7,000 volunteers to provide food, shelter and other relief. The group is appealing for $1.5 million in further funds to assist some 9.300 families rebuild their homes. In Dhaka about 200 miles north of the worst-hit region there were power outages, massive traffic jams and spotty phone service, CNN's Cal Perry said from the city. "From an infrastructure perspective, the country absolutely has been brought to its knees," he said. Red Crescent spokeswoman Nabiha Chowdhury told CNN that communication with her agency's teams who have arrived in the stricken area is spotty, but they have resources with them to immediately help people with water purification, which she said was a top priority. Those teams have cash with them to buy relief supplies from local wholesalers, said Chowdhury, who said the latest number of people injured was 15,000 with 1,000 missing. Chowdhury said about 600,000 people had fled, adding that about 2 million people lived along the coast. The U.N. World Food Programme said it has enough high-energy biscuits to feed 400,000 people for several days. Another humanitarian group, Save The Children, appealed for aid from the public. "Many families have lost everything, including their homes and their crops, and they are struggling to survive," said Kelly Stevenson, Save the Children's Bangladesh director. "We are appealing to the U.S. public to support our efforts to assist children and families affected by this disaster. We remain very concerned about possible outbreaks of cholera and severe diarrhea due to the lack of access to clean water," he said in a written statement. The U.S. Department of State pledged Friday pledging "to work with the government and foreign donors to assist in relieving the effects of the disaster." Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. Mission in Bangladesh, anticipating the storm, pre-positioned 16 Zodiac boats, water treatment systems, water ambulances and food for a more rapid response. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to approve plans to send up to three Navy amphibious warships, with up to 3,500 Marines, to locations off the coast of Bangladesh to assist in relief efforts. E-mail to a friend .

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Louisiana resident, 18, faces federal hate-crime, conspiracy charges . Driver allegedly taunted civil rights marchers with nooses on pickup truck . Marchers were protesting handling of several racially charged incidents .

WASHINGTON A man has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly displaying hangman's nooses from the back of a pickup truck during a civil rights march last year in Jena, Louisiana. A photo taken by I-Reporter Casanova Love shows a noose hanging from a pickup in Alexandria, Louisiana. Jeremiah Munsen, 18, of Grant Parish, repeatedly drove slowly past a group of marchers gathered at a bus depot in Alexandria, which is near Jena, as they awaited buses to return them to Tennessee, federal authorities said Thursday. As many as 20,000 marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena. Authorities there had been accused of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases, including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black high school students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat. The noose incident at Jena was the beginning of months of racial tension that included the beating of a white student, allegedly by six black classmates. The black students were prosecuted, but the three white students responsible for the nooses in the tree were not. Munsen and an unnamed conspirator had attached nooses to their pickup on September 20 and driven to Alexandria specifically to threaten and intimidate the marchers, the authorities said. View a series of photos of the truck » . A juvenile passenger was apprehended with Munsen, according to the arresting officer's report. The juvenile told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan and that he had "KKK" tattooed on his chest, the police report said. He also said that he tied the nooses and that brass knuckles found in the truck belonged to him, the report said. "This indictment accuses the defendant [Munsen] of conduct that constitutes a federal civil rights conspiracy violation and a federal hate crime," said U.S. Attorney Donald Washington. Washington and Grace Chung Becker, acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, announced the indictment, issued by a grand jury in Shreveport, Louisiana. A photograph of the truck was sent to CNN by I-Reporter Casanova Love, 26, who said he is in the U.S. military. He was visiting his family in Louisiana and said he witnessed the event. Love added, "If the police had not stepped in, I fear what might have happened." E-mail to a friend .

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R.E.M. song "Until the Day Is Done" debuts on CNN . Song also to be used in documentary "Planet in Peril" Song will be on R.E.M.'s upcoming album . Band releasing live CD/DVD next week .

Rock group R.E.M. debuted a song from its upcoming album Wednesday on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°" program. R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe says the band was honored to be involved with the "Planet in Peril" project. The song "Until the Day Is Done" also will appear later this month in "Planet in Peril," a four-hour CNN documentary that looks at environmental crises around the world. "With 'Planet in Peril,' Anderson Cooper and his team have done an amazing job capturing global eco-devastation," said R.E.M singer Michael Stipe in a news release. "The images in the film are beautiful, while at the same time heartbreaking and frightening. We are honored to have our song included in this monumental project." This isn't the first time R.E.M. has worked with Cooper. The band premiered its video "Bad Day" on the show in 2002. "Planet in Peril" executive producer Charlie Moore said the group's longstanding commitment to environmental causes made them a natural choice for the project. Watch a trailer for "Planet in Peril" and hear "Until the Day Is Done" » . Moore said they contacted R.E.M. earlier this year to see if the group would be willing to write a song to go with the documentary, and the band happened to be in the studio working on their upcoming album. "We were able to hear some of the stuff they were doing and this particular song fits perfectly for the project," Moore said. He said the group, their management and their record label were eager to be involved. "It's sort of serendipitous that we were able to work something out with them," Moore said. "All the stars were lined up for this to happen, they were in the studio, they were working on a song that fit with the feeling that the pictures portray and they really match up very well. And we like their music, we like their work and are just thrilled that they wanted to be a part of it." "Planet in Peril" features CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and "Animal Planet" host and wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin. The two-part documentary was filmed in 13 countries and focuses on the issues of climate change, deforestation, species loss and overpopulation. CNN will air "Planet in Peril" on October 23 and 24 at 9 p.m. ET. It also will be broadcast on CNN International. In a message on the R.E.M.'s Web site, the group said it had finished recording songs for the new album, which is scheduled to be released next year. The band also is releasing a live CD/DVD on Tuesday with 22-tracks recorded at a 2005 concert in Dublin, Ireland. E-mail to a friend .

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Attack occurred near an office housing judicial police in the city of Thenia . The blast destroyed about 20 houses; 23 also injured . Al Qaeda also took responsibility for a January 2 bombing that killed four .

A car bomb attack in Algeria has killed three people and wounded 23, the Algerian Press Service reported. An Algerian policeman stands in front of destroyed buildings in Thenia. The attack occurred Tuesday near an office housing judicial police in the city of Thenia, about 50 km (31 miles) east of the capital of Algiers, the agency said. The blast destroyed about 20 houses, and a commission has been appointed to look after the victims, the press agency said. Islamic extremists in Algeria and other North African countries have struck several times in recent years. An al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility last year for the deadliest attack in Algiers in 10 years, a bombing that destroyed the prime minister's headquarters and a police base, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 220. Al Qaeda also took responsibility for a January 2 bombing that killed four and wounded 20 at a building housing security forces in Naciria, a city about 50 km (31 miles) east of Algiers. E-mail to a friend .

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Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr say their music sounds better . The former Beatles talk to CNN's Larry King . Widows of John Lennon and George Harrison also appeared . Harrison, Ono say their husbands still have strong presence .

LAS VEGAS, Nevada Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr clowned around and marveled at their band's amazing impact in an interview Tuesday on CNN's "Larry King Live." Larry King, left, poses with (l-r) Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Ringo Starr Tuesday in Las Vegas. "We were just kids from Liverpool," McCartney said. "And, yes, it is quite amazing, because as time goes on, it kind of becomes more and more of a phenomenon." McCartney said the early Beatles knew they were a good band and were pretty sure of themselves, but Starr said, "We thought we'd be really big in Liverpool." "I think the most exciting thing is that, you know, we expect people our age to know the music. But actually, a lot of kids know the music," Starr said. "And if anything is left, we have left really good music, and that's the important part, not the moptops or whatever." The pair appeared relaxed in sneakers and almost matching black suits and joked frequently often at each other's expense. "They were nothing," Starr said of his former bandmates. "And then I joined and then they got this record deal and look what happened." "No, we were good," McCartney retorted. "You wanted to join us. You begged to join us." "I didn't beg," Starr said. Watch Paul and Ringo talk about the Beatles' magic » . McCartney and Starr were in Las Vegas with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, to celebrate the anniversary of Cirque du Soleil's "Love," which uses the Beatles' music. Harrison said her husband was friends with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and came up with the idea before he died of cancer in 2001. "George was around just long enough to transmit that to all of us," Harrison said. Ono said she wasn't sure at first what her husband would have thought about the project. John Lennon was shot near the couple's New York apartment in 1980. "Now I really know that John would be very happy with this," she said. Neither woman has remarried and they both said it was still sometimes difficult to deal with their losses. "We feel so strongly about our husbands that sometimes it's hard for us, isn't it?" Ono said. "It's hard, you know," Harrison said. "I mean their presence is very powerful and very strong. But the incredible thing about them is that they everything they left the world and left us is uplifting and joyful." The Beatles' music received a bit of a facelift for the show and has been remixed in 5.1 surround sound. (An album, "Love," came out last year.) "Paul and I went to listen to the music in 5.1 and we go 'Whoa, listen to that,' " Starr said. "You know you can hear everything now. Things that we buried a lot. It's all very clear, so it's really great to hear it." "Most historic stuff goes down with age, you know?" McCartney added. "Winston Churchill's old papers go brown and crinkly, while our music gets brighter and shinier." "Next year, it will be 10.1," Starr joked. McCartney's latest solo album, "Memory's Almost Full," is No. 3 on the album charts and Starr is scheduled to release a greatest hits album in August. E-mail to a friend .

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Mother seeks to have womb of severely disabled daughter, 15, removed . Briton wants to prevent cerebral palsy sufferer feeling pain of menstruation . UK doctors seek legal advice to see if they can perform hysterectomy . Charity for disabled says move could infringe human rights .

LONDON, England A mother is seeking to have the womb of her severely disabled daughter removed to prevent the 15-year-old from feeling the pain and discomfort of menstruation. Doctors in Britain are now taking legal advice to see if they are permitted to carry out the hysterectomy on Katie Thorpe, who suffers from cerebral palsy. But a charity campaigning for the disabled said on Monday the move could infringe human rights and would set a "disturbing precedent." Andy Rickell, executive director of disability charity Scope, told the Press Association: "It is very difficult to see how this kind of invasive surgery, which is not medically necessary and which will be very painful and traumatic, can be in Katie's best interests. "This case raises fundamental ethical issues about the way our society treats disabled people and the respect we have for disabled people's human and reproductive rights. Watch why the surgery is so controversial » . "If this enforced sterilization is approved, it will have disturbing implications for young disabled girls across Britain." Katie's mother Alison Thorpe, who lives in Billericay, southern England, said the operation was in her daughter's best interests. "First of all, this is not about me. If it was about me, I would have given up caring for Katie a long, long while ago," she told GMTV. "It is about quality of life and for Katie to not have the associated problems of menstruation adds to her quality of life. It means she can continue with the quality of life we can give her now. "Katie wouldn't understand menstruation at all. She has no comprehension about what will be happening to her body. All she would feel is the discomfort, the stomach cramps and the headaches, the mood swings, the tears, and wonder what is going on." Thorpe said an operation would be best for Katie, despite the initial pain it would cause. She added: "The short-term pain and discomfort we can manage with painkillers. We will be able to manage that pain much better than menstruation once a month, when Katie cannot tell us 'I'm in pain.'" E-mail to a friend .

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Haitham Sabah al-Badri was the al Qaeda emir of greater Samarra . U.S. military says al-Badri suspected in two other attacks that killed 49 . Family of slain girl upset soldier wasn't sentenced to death, Reuters says . At least 11 people killed in mortar attacks in Baghdad, Interior Ministry says .

BAGHDAD, Iraq Coalition troops killed the al Qaeda terrorist who masterminded the February 2006 attack on Samarra's al-Askariya mosque and set off continuing violence and reprisal killings between Sunnis and Shiites, the U.S. military said Sunday. The attack on Samarra's al-Askariya mosque set off violence between Sunnis and Shiites. Haitham Sabah al-Badri, the al Qaeda emir of greater Samarra, was killed by an airstrike Thursday east of Samarra, said Rear Adm. Mark Fox during a news conference. "Eliminating al-Badri is another step in breaking the cycle of violence instigated by the attack on the holy shrine in Samarra," Fox said. "We will continue to hunt down the brutal terrorists who are intent on creating a Taliban-like state in Iraq." Coalition forces Thursday raided four buildings outside Samarra that were associated with al-Badri, according to a U.S. military news release. During the raid, at least four armed men were seen leaving the buildings and setting up tactical fighting positions in an effort to ambush coalition forces, the release said. The coalition forces called in close air support, killing al-Badri and the three others, the release said. One of those killed was identified as a foreigner; al-Badri was identified by his close associates and relatives, the military said. El-Badri's death was first reported Saturday by a high-ranking Iraqi Interior Ministry official. No one was injured in the attack on the Golden Mosque, one of the holiest Shiite sites, but thousands have been killed by the death squads and reprisal bombings that have ravaged Iraq in the 17½ months since the attack. In addition to the February attack that collapsed the mosque's dome, another bombing in June destroyed the shrine's two remaining minarets. Al-Badri is believed to have been involved in other attacks, including two last year, Fox said the June 23 bombing of a Kirkuk courthouse that left 20 Iraqis dead and the August 28 attack at a Samarra checkpoint that killed 29 Iraqi soldiers. Samarra is in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad. Mortar attacks kill 11 . Two mortar rounds struck a gas station in a mainly Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 15 others, a spokesman with Iraq's Interior Ministry said. The attack in the Afdhailiya neighborhood happened about 8 a.m. (12 a.m. ET), the spokesman said. Suicide bombers attacked two gas stations Wednesday, killing 70 people, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, coalition forces said Saturday they killed four suspected militants and detained 18 thought to have helped make or plant roadside bombs, the U.S. military said. The militants were suspected of coordinating logistical support from Iran for elements of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army and other Shiite militias operating in Iraq, the military said. Iraqi family upset with U.S. soldier's sentence . A U.S. soldier has been sentenced to 110 years in confinement for participating in the rape of a 14-year-old girl and the killings of her and her family in Iraq, an Army spokeswoman said. The girl's family told Reuters on Sunday they were dismayed by the punishment and would have preferred to see the death penalty handed down in the case. Pfc. Jesse Spielman was convicted Friday of rape, conspiracy to commit rape, housebreaking with the intent to commit rape and four counts of felony murder. The girl, her parents and younger sister were shot dead in March 2006 in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. "We were expecting the death penalty against those criminals and the place to carry out the sentence is where the incident happened," the girl's cousin, Abu Ammar, told Reuters. Her uncle, Hadi Abdullah, told the wire agency that family members wished there was a way to appeal the sentence so the death penalty could be imposed. Three soldiers have previously pleaded guilty in the case and were given sentences ranging from five to 100 years. The accused ringleader, former Pvt. Steven Green, was discharged from the Army and awaits trial in a civilian court. Other developments . CNN's Pierre Bairin and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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Thousands lined Beirut streets to honor anti-Syrian MP, killed in car bomb blast . Noted parliamentarian killed along with four others during Wednesday rush hour . Flag-draped coffin paraded through streets before burial in Christian district . Day of national mourning called, with schools, universities, public offices shut .

BEIRUT, Lebanon Amid high emotions and tight security, thousands lined the streets of Beirut Friday to honor Antoine Ghanem, the anti-Syrian Lebanese MP killed in a powerful bomb blast along with four others. Amin Gemayel , Phalange party head, carries the coffin of assassinated deputy Antoine Ghamen. Against an atmosphere of intense political and patriotic fervor, the flag-draped coffins of the politician and two bodyguards also killed in Wednesday's rush hour blast made its way through the city's Christian district to the Sacred Heart church on what the government had declared as a day of national mourning. The procession was accompanied by thousands waving flags, as well as a brass band playing the anthem of Ghanem's Phalange Party, The Associated Press reported . TV pictures showed distraught mourners crowding and reaching out to the coffins as they were carried aloft. Several people were seen to collapse and had to be carried away. Mourners also carried photographs, threw rose petals and unfurled banners, some of which read "We Won't Kneel," AP said. The coffins were greeted at the Christian Maronite church with applause from the gathered mourners, the agency said, including majority leaders and the Lebanese cabinet as well as Ghanem's family and friends. Ghanem was later buried in the city's Christian district. Ghanem's death is the latest in a series of attacks targeting prominent anti-Syrian figures, with the most notorious being the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which sparked widespread protests that led to the ouster of Syrian forces from Lebanon. Hariri also died in a massive explosion. The incident threatens to cast the country into political uncertainty ahead of a key presidential vote in a tightly divided parliament, almost evenly split between anti- and pro-Syrian camps. Watch how Ghanem's death disrupts Lebanese politics » . CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler said that many Lebanese now feared for the future, especially given other events in the region including the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, recent political differences in Iraq and Iran's bid to become a super power. "There continues to be among a great deal of people here a sense of foreboding that perhaps the worst is yet to come," he said. U.S. President George W. Bush, in a written statement, joined other world leaders in condemning the "horrific assassination." "Since October 2004, there has been a tragic pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to silence those Lebanese who courageously defend their vision of an independent and democratic Lebanon," Bush said Wednesday. Also in a written statement, a spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon said the U.N. secretary-general "condemns in the strongest terms this terrorist attack." "The secretary general urges all Lebanese to exercise utmost calm and restraint at this very critical time and to allow judicial procedures to take their course," the spokesperson said. Bush's statement added: "The United States opposes any attempts to intimidate the Lebanese people as they seek to exercise their democratic right to select a president without foreign interference. We will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Lebanese people as they resist attempts by the Syrian and Iranian regimes and their allies to destabilize Lebanon and undermine its sovereignty." The U.S. Embassy in Beirut issued a statement saying: "It is not a coincidence that these attacks target those figures who have been working to secure Lebanon's independence from renewed Syrian hegemony. We note with concern that many Lebanese politicians allied with Syria have in fact warned that murder and violence would be the results of any effort to exercise genuine parliamentary democracy." And U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a written statement, said: "The bombing that claimed these lives was another act in a campaign of terror by those who want to turn back the clock on Lebanon's hard-won democratic gains." "The world should speak with one voice in calling for an end to violence in Lebanon intended to subvert democratic processes in that country," Rice said. "Lebanese elections, scheduled to begin in just days, must proceed, in accordance with the Constitution, without threats of foreign interference and the violence that accompanies such obstruction." E-mail to a friend .

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Dogs ruled in New York during Pet Fashion Week . Dazzling couture designs trotted down the runway . Upscale pet accessories, apparel, and lifestyle items on display . Design awards encourage pushing the envelope in style .

They wore feathers. They wore fancy hats. And of course, they wore fur. Never mind the human the dog in haute couture was the fashionistas' focus during Pet Fashion Week. But the models strutting down the runway were of the four-legged variety. The glamorous pooches were accompanied by human models but the furry ones were getting all the attention. It was Pet Fashion Week New York and these canines were not wearing the boring plaid raincoats that have sold for years. They were wearing one-of-kind design creations. The show last weekend was aimed at owners of sophisticated canines who may be willing to pay for their pup's own stylist. Booths at the annual event features couture clothing, jewelry and other accessories for the well-dressed doggie all part of the $40 billion pet industry. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: The 17-year-old suspect allegedly fired the fatal shot . NEW: Eric Rivera Jr. will be moved to a Miami-Dade facility Wednesday, attorney says . Three adult suspects in Sean Taylor slaying on suicide watch . Taylor died after being shot in home invasion last week .

MIAMI, Florida A grand jury Tuesday indicted four suspects on charges of first degree felony murder and armed burglary in the slaying of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. A grand jury identified Eric Rivera Jr. as the shooter in the death of NFL star Sean Taylor. Court documents say the youngest is alleged to have fired the fatal shot. The three adult suspects Venjah K. Hunte, 20, Jason Scott Mitchell, 19, and Charles Kendrick Lee Wardlow, 18 appeared in court Tuesday via videoconference wearing thick green vests, which defense attorneys said were suicide safety smocks. They were ordered held without bail at the Pre-Trial Detention Center in Miami, Florida, where Corrections Officer Janelle Hall said they are under suicide watch. The fourth suspect Eric Rivera Jr., 17 remained in custody in Fort Myers, Florida. His attorney, Wilbur Smith, told CNN he expected his client to be moved to a Miami-Dade juvenile detention facility Wednesday. Watch CNN's Rick Sanchez speak to attorneys for two of the suspects » . Rivera was armed during the alleged burglary, and "during the course of the commission of the offense ... discharged a firearm and as a result of the discharge, death or great bodily harm was inflicted upon Sean Maurice Taylor, a human being," the indictment says. The four men were arrested Friday, officials said. Taylor, 24, died a day after he was shot during an apparent burglary at his home. Miami-Dade police investigators said they believe the burglars thought the house was empty. Thousands of mourners attended Taylor's funeral Monday at Florida International University's arena. See photos from the funeral » . Police said Taylor and his girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, were awakened by noise coming from the living room early November 26. Taylor got up and locked the bedroom door, but the door was kicked in and two shots were fired, police said. One struck Taylor in the leg. Garcia and the couple's 18-month-old daughter were not hurt. Authorities have said Garcia told police she was hiding under the bedding during the attack, did not see what happened and could not provide a suspect description. A break-in had been reported at Taylor's residence eight days earlier. A police report from that incident said someone forced a window open and left a kitchen knife on a bed. Several drawers and a bedroom safe were searched during the break-in, according to the report. Taylor spent four years with the Redskins, earning his first Pro Bowl selection in 2006. He suffered a sprained right knee in a November 11 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and had not played since. The 2004 first-round draft pick played at the University of Miami, where he was an All-American in 2003. He was regarded as one of the hardest-hitting players in the NFL. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kim Segal and John Couwels contributed to this report.

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Couples who share names with the couple from the Nativity story get free room . Almost 30 Josephs and Marys have signed up for the free night's stay . Couples have to bring proof of identity . They also have to prove that they are in a long-term relationship .

LONDON, England Josephs and Marys in search of a room at the inn this Christmas are being made an offer they can't refuse. Mary and Joseph ride a donkey to Bethlehem in a performance of the Nativity story near Guildford, England. A British hotel chain is promising free accommodation to couples who share their first names with the couple from the Christian Nativity story. Almost 30 Josephs and Marys had already signed up for the free night's stay at the Travelodge, said Shakila Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the hotel chain. "The 'gift' of a free night's stay is to make up for the hotel industry not having any rooms left on Christmas Eve over 2000 years ago when the original 'Mary and Joseph' had to settle for the night in a stable," the company says on its Web site. The offer is good at any one of the chain's 322 hotels in the United Kingdom, the Web site says. The couples must bring proof of identity and must prove that they are in a long-term relationship. "If you satisfy the criteria, you get a free night in a family room for two adults and two children," Ahmed said. "There's also parking space for a donkey if needed," she joked. Ahmed said the offer, which will run from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night December 24 to January 5 had been very well-received. "We've had a lot of interest. I think people like the fact that it resonates with the Nativity story at a time when the actual meaning of Christmas often becomes forgotten in festive overkill," she said. Couples can register their names at a special e-mail address set up by Travelodge, which has hotels across the Britain, Ireland and Spain, Ahmed said. E-mail to a friend .

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Police confiscate computers, examine information on Web sites . Gunman may have frequented the Westroads Mall, police say . Mall shooter was ward of state for almost four years, governor says . Army recruiters turned down Robert Hawkins when he tried to enlist .

OMAHA, Nebraska Investigators probing the deadly mall shooting in Omaha have seized computers and are analyzing information on Web sites in the search for clues in the case, police said Thursday. The 19-year-old gunman sent at least one text message to his former girlfriend, with whom he broke up about two weeks ago, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren said. Robert Hawkins also left a voice mail for his mother before killing eight people at a department store Wednesday. He chose his victims randomly, police believe, then took his own life. Hawkins visited a friend near the Westroads Mall before the shootings and apparently went directly to the shopping center after that meeting, Warren said. Police don't yet know why Hawkins chose the mall or the Von Maur department store in particular, Warren said, adding only that the teen "may have frequented the Westroads Mall." See who Hawkins killed in department store » . The incident itself appeared to be premeditated, as Hawkins left a suicide note and other correspondence, Warren said. Watch officials detail the rampage » . "Typically there are hints that something like this may take place," Warren said. "Certainly you can't anticipate someone engaging in this type of shooter rampage, but if there is any justification, any explanation," police will find it, he said. "Apparently he had been experiencing some mental health problems, ideations of suicide." Debora Maruca-Kovac a friend of Hawkins' family who was letting him live in her home found the suicide note just minutes before the shootings. Watch her describe their last conversation » . "He basically said how sorry he was for everything," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday. "He didn't want to be a burden to people and that he was a piece of s- all of his life and that now he'd be famous." Warren said the rifle used was an AK-47. Police haven't finished tracing the gun, but believe Hawkins stole it from his stepfather's home. Security officers flagged Hawkins as suspicious when he entered the mall. He left soon after he entered, then returned less than six minutes later with something apparently hidden in a balled-up sweatshirt. He went up an elevator to the mall's third floor, then immediately began firing, ultimately turning the firearm on himself, Warren said. "It doesn't appear as though there was an opportunity for intervention," Warren said. Hawkins fired more than 30 rounds, the police chief said. The shootings sent panicked holiday shoppers fleeing for cover. "It was just so loud, and then it was silence," said witness Jennifer Kramer, who hid inside a circular clothing rack. "I was scared to death he'd be walking around looking for someone else." Watch how Kramer and her mother hid » . A friend of Hawkins' said he hadn't thought Hawkins was capable of such violence. "He was the one guy, you know, if people would be getting in a fight he'd be trying to break it up," said Shawn Saunders, who had known Hawkins for about 2½ years. "If there were arguments amongst our friends or groups, he was kind of like the calm, cool and collected one." Watch how Saunders learned Hawkins was the shooter » . Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said Hawkins had been a ward of the state for nearly four years, but he did not specify in what capacity. The state's custody ended in August of last year, Heineman said. U.S. Army recruiters turned Hawkins down last summer when he tried to enlist, a source familiar with the situation said Thursday. The source didn't want to be named because it is against the military's rules to discuss potential recruits. The reason for his rejection was unclear. Heineman ordered that flags throughout the state be lowered to half-staff through Sunday. The dead include six store employees and two customers, ranging in age from 24 to 66. One store employee was in critical but stable condition Thursday and another had been upgraded from critical to serious, according to hospital officials. Another person was still being treated Thursday afternoon, Warren said, but he did not specify whether the individual was a customer or employee. Two other customers had been treated and released, he said. Westroads Mall remained closed Thursday, but the facility, including the Von Maur store, could reopen Friday. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

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Angelina Jolie visits Iraq to boost efforts to help internally displaced refugees . Actress tells CNN: "There doesn't seem to be real coherent plan to help them" Jolie is goodwill ambassador for U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees . More than 4.2 million Iraqis have fled homes, 2 million to neighboring states .

BAGHDAD, Iraq Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie is visiting Iraq to boost what she sees as lagging efforts to deal with the problems of 2 million "very very vulnerable" internally displaced people in the wartorn country. Angelina Jolie has been working to focus attention on problem of refugees in Iraq. "There doesn't seem to be a real coherent plan to help them," said Jolie, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN's Arwa Damon Thursday. "There's lots of goodwill. Lots of discussion, but there seems to be a lot of talk at the moment, and a lot of pieces that need to be put together. I'm trying to figure out what they are." A goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Jolie wants to find ways to help the agency be more active inside war-torn Iraq. Watch CNN's exclusive interview with Jolie » . Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence in the country has sparked a displacement crisis that is considered the most significant in the Middle East since the 1948 creation of Israel. More than 4.2 million Iraqis have fled their homes, around 2 million to neighboring states, mostly Syria and Jordan, and another 2.2 million displaced inside Iraq. The flight was aggravated by the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, an attack that stoked pitched sectarian warfare. Many of the internally displaced live precarious lives amid conditions of squalor, crowded into camps and slums that often lack basic necessities, such as proper food, health care and shelter. "How Iraq settles in the years to come is going to affect the entire Middle East," said Jolie. "It's in our best interest to address a humanitarian crisis on this scale because displacement can lead to a lot of instability and aggression." Read transcript of interview . Jolie has been working to help draw attention to the problem and has called for governments to bolster their support of the U.N.H.C.R. In August, Jolie first visited Iraq and Syria to get a sense of the problem. She heard stories from refugees about their plight. Watch as Jolie lunches with troops » . This visit to Iraq is focusing on the problems of the internally displaced, 58 percent of whom are under age 12. A top issue for the agency is getting better security. Jolie is talking with U.S. officials, including top U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, about that issue, and are willing to provide such security which she said "needs to be addressed and solved." The Iraqi government needs to empower agencies that deal with migration to address the concerns of the displaced but that has not happened yet, she said. Jolie said it was crucial that the government prepare a plan to deal with refugees who return home from Syria and Jordan and find that their homes are "occupied" by others or "bombed out." She emphasizes the way in which these people are resettled will have "broad implications" in the region. Jolie also is talking to people about moving forward the U.S. effort to resettle Iraqi refugees in the United States, which has set a goal of taking in 12,000 of those people by September. Only 375 have been admitted so far. "I have to believe there are people working toward that goal," she said. International agencies, such as the United Nations and the Arab League, and many countries in the region and in Europe are addressing the refugee and the internally displaced persons' crisis, and money is being allocated to Iraq and host countries to help clothe, feed and house people. Most of the refugees are in Syria and Jordan, and they reside in big cities like Damascus and Amman. The U.N.C.H.R. is trying to help governments in Syria and Jordan to cope with the influx, which has stretched the resources of institutions like schools and health systems. It is also attempting to help 41,000 non-Iraqi refugees in Iraq, such as Palestinians and Iranians. Last month, the UNHCR announced a plan to seek $261 million this year for its work to help these refugees. It has almost 350 staffers "directly engaged in operations for Iraq and the surrounding region." Officials in Iraq and the coalition have been heartened by the fact that some refugees are starting to trickle back home. But they are returning to a country where mixed Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods have turned into Sunni or Shiite enclaves and that they might not be able to return to their homes. E-mail to a friend .

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Udinese stay fifth in Italy's Serie A after suffering a 3-1 defeat away to Napoli . Ezequiel Lavezzi scored twice in two second-half minutes to end goal drought . Both teams were reduced to 10 men, with one player sent off in each half . Fabrizio Miccoli scores only goal to give Palermo a 1-0 victory over Livorno .

NAPLES, Italy Udinese remained in fifth place in Italy's Serie A after suffering a 3-1 defeat away to Napoli on Saturday, with both teams having a player sent off. Ezequiel Lavezzi inspired Napoli to victory against Udinese, netting twice and setting up the first goal. Ezequiel Lavezzi scored twice in two minutes to end a goal drought lasting two and a half months, netting on 74 and 75 as Napoli moved up to ninth in the table. The Argentine also provided the cross that Udinese defender Cristian Zapata put into his own net to leave the visitors playing catch-up from just the third minute. Pepe leveled the score on nine minutes, and then Napoli played with 10 men from the 36th minute after Paolo Cannavaro was expelled for a last-man foul. But the teams were even in numbers again after Pepe was ejected for a second yellow card on 60 minutes. Udinese are still four points behind fourth-placed Fiorentina and the last Champions League berth. Fiorentina hosts AC Milan, which has 30 points, on Sunday. In Saturday's other match, Fabrizio Miccoli scored the only goal to give Palermo a 1-0 victory over Livorno. Miccoli struck in the 76th minute with a shot from just outside the area with Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia partially unsighted by several players. Palermo keeper Alberto Fontana saved a penalty by Francesco Tavano at the end of the first half, and had to make several vital stops in the first opening period. Palermo had lost their last three Serie A matches and dropped down the table, but the win put them one point above Napoli in eighth. In Sunday's other matches, leaders Inter Milan host second-bottom Empoli and second-placed Roma travel to third-bottom Siena. Genoa are at home to Catania, third-placed Juventus host bottom club Cagliari, Sampdoria travel to Lazio, Parma play Atalanta and Reggina face fellow strugglers Torino. E-mail to a friend .

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Orange jailed in Alabama in 1965 for getting students to help voting rights drives . In march to support him, a man was killed, leading to 'Bloody Sunday,' famed march . After successful Selma-to-Montgomery march, Voting Rights Act signed into law .

ATLANTA, Georgia The Rev. James Orange, a civil rights activist whose 1965 jailing sparked a fatal protest that ultimately led to the famed Selma-to-Montgomery march and the Voting Rights Act, died Saturday at Atlanta's Crawford Long Hospital, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said in a statement. He was 65. Orange was a native of Birmingham, Alabama, "who resided in southwest Atlanta for four decades while fighting the good fight for equality and social justice for all mankind," said the SCLC, a civil rights organization. Orange was arrested and jailed in Perry County, Alabama, in 1965 on charges of disorderly conduct and contributing to the delinquency of minors for enlisting students to aid in voting rights drives. As rumors spread that Orange would be lynched, civil rights activists organized a march to support him. However, the marchers clashed with Alabama state troopers during the February 18 demonstration, and a young black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, was shot in the stomach. "I could hear the singing and the commotion," Orange told CNN last year. "Once the tear gas was flying and the shots started, I couldn't tell what was going on." Jackson, 26, died eight days later. Witnesses said Jackson's grandfather, who was active in the voting rights movement, had been beaten by troopers, and Jackson was trying to get him to the hospital. The anger resulting from Jackson's death led civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to organize the Selma-to-Montgomery, Alabama, voting rights march. The first attempt at that march was broken up by club-wielding state troopers and sheriff's deputies, a melee that became known as "Bloody Sunday." "Jimmie's death is the reason that Bloody Sunday took place," Orange said. "Had he not died, there would never have been a Bloody Sunday." On the marchers' third attempt, in March, they made it to Montgomery. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law in August 1965. In May 2007, a former Alabama state trooper, James B. Fowler, now 74, was indicted in Jackson's shooting, one of several cases involving the deaths of civil rights activists that prosecutors have revived in recent years. Fowler has claimed he shot Jackson in self-defense, but Orange and Elijah Rollins, who was upstairs at a nearby cafe when the shooting took place, last year disputed claims that protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at police. "Not one bottle or brick was thrown back at the troopers," said Orange, adding that film and a Justice Department report back that up. He said he was glad Jackson's case had "never been forgotten." Orange was a project coordinator at the SCLC from 1965 to 1970, then later became a regional coordinator with the AFL-CIO in Atlanta, the SCLC said. Since 1995, he had served as the founder and general coordinator for the M.L. King Jr. March Committee-Africa/African American Renaissance Committee, Inc., which coordinated commemorative events honoring King and also promoted industry and commerce among Atlanta, the United States and South Africa. Orange is survived by his wife, five children and two grandchildren, the SCLC said. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Saturday. E-mail to a friend .

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Woman remembers one Valentine's Day as "Black Monday" High expectations for day can come crashing down . Man ended Valentine's Day in handcuffs with date puking . Skip gag gifts -- can of Spam not a good gift .

For some, Valentine's Day can be heavenly. For others, it's just plain hell. Take Felicia Sullivan, of Brooklyn. Four years ago, she and her live-in boyfriend the guy she thought she would marry were having a pre-Valentine's Day brunch when Sullivan leaned over and whispered a few sweet nothings in his ear. "I said, 'I'm so happy to know that you're the one for me. Aren't you glad to know I'm the one for you?' " says Sullivan, 32, who works in marketing. "And there was this silence. And then he was, like, 'I know you're the one for me now. But can you give me until summer to make a final decision?' " Aghast at his response, Sullivan quickly broke things off but she couldn't move until she found a new apartment. Home alone on February 14 in the apartment they shared, she decided to snoop through her ex-boyfriend's e-mail and discovered he'd had contact with several other women while they were together. "I've never been a big fan of the holiday," Sullivan says. "But now I typically refer to it as Black Monday..." Watch whether romance is still alive » . Good times, bad times . Sullivan isn't alone in dreading Valentine's Day. Thanks to super-sized expectations and over-the-top commercialization, February 14 has gone from a sentimental aside to a pressure-filled gauntlet lined with chocolate boxes, tennis bracelets and cheesy stuffed bears. See where the love dollars go » . "The holiday's designed to make you feel ," says Judy McGuire, author of "How Not to Date." "If you're in a relationship, it's never anything that it's supposed to be. And if you're single, you feel like a big loser because you don't have anybody. I think people should lower Valentine's Day expectations to pretty much nil. That way, anything that happens is good." Brian Wise, a 32-year-old technical writer from Seattle has seen his Valentine's Day go sideways repeatedly most memorably the time he ended up in handcuffs (and not in a good way). "Last year, I was in Singapore and I met this beautiful woman who took me to dinner at this hot, new restaurant,'" he says. "But then she gets food poisoning and ends up in an alley with major gastrointestinal problems. And while I'm standing guard, the cops pull up and think I'm paying her for sex." Wise talked his way out of an arrest (luckily, one of the policemen had eaten at the same place) but he's found no release from his unlucky Valentine's. "It doesn't matter who I'm out with," he says. "The day is just cursed." There are ways, though, to avoid a miserable holiday. Good plans . Most women will admit they like to celebrate, but a fancy night on the town isn't necessary. "Sometimes, hanging out at home can be a lot more fun than going out to some restaurant filled with couples," says author McGuire. "Stay home with champagne, caviar and maybe a new toy from a tasteful sex shop." If you're not dating anyone, take some time to indulge yourself (a luxurious bar of chocolate, a pedicure), do something relaxing (take a yoga class or get a massage) or spend time with some of your closest friends. Make sure you're on the same page . And if you do make plans, stick to them. Galen, a 28-year-old secretary from Seattle, and her boyfriend had made special Valentine's Day plans a month in advance. But on the big night, his buddies showed up and talked him into going out with them instead. "I was dressed to the nines," says Galen, who asked that her last name not be used. "When his friends stopped by, he says, 'Do you mind if I go with them?' I said, 'Fine, go,' being totally sarcastic, and he picked up his coat and left." Although they talked about it later, Galen said, her boyfriend seemed not to understand that she was unhappy with his wanting to ditch her for his buddies. The two later broke up. Breaking a date on Valentine's Day is definitely bad form, but automatically expecting one to happen (a much more common scenario) is also problematic. To avoid a disconnect with your significant other, McGuire suggests being honest. Simply expecting your partner to know what you want is unrealistic. Not-so-good gifts . If you decide to go the gift route, McGuire recommends not settling for a cliché like a stuffed animal or a hastily purchased bouquet of flowers. "Listen to what the person talks about," she says. "She may want the new 'Godzilla' game for her Wii. His underwear may be riddled with holes." Another thing to avoid, advises Katie Briggs, 44, of Seattle, is the gag gift. A few years ago, Briggs and a new beau went out to a nice restaurant where they shared dinner, drinks and presents. Briggs gave her date homemade cookies and a Starbucks gift card. He gave her a beautifully-wrapped box of Spam. "He thought it was the best joke ever," says Briggs. "But it just wasn't thoughtful. If you're going to go with a joke, you need to back it up with something else." E-mail to a friend . LifeWire provides original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers. Diane Mapes is the author of "How to Date in a Post-Dating World." Her column, "Single Shot," appears in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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Majid Khan's attorneys say he endured an "aggressive" interrogation program . Khan's allegations of torture redacted in court documents . Bush administration: Khan worked for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed . CIA: The United States does not conduct or condone torture .

WASHINGTON Attorneys for a "high-value" terror suspect who says he was tortured while being held at secret CIA prisons have requested that a judge bar the agency from destroying evidence of the alleged torture. One of 14 "high-value" detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, alleges he was tortured. The motion, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys on behalf of Majid Khan who is being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is dated November 29. That is a week before CIA Director Michael Hayden acknowledged the agency destroyed videotapes it made in 2002 of interrogations of al Qaeda suspects using newly approved "alternative" interrogation techniques. Khan a native of Pakistan who attended high school in Baltimore was held for more than three years at the secret CIA prisons and "subjected to an aggressive CIA detention and interrogation program notable for its elaborate planning and ruthless application of torture," attorney Gitanjali S. Gutierrez claims in the court documents. Details of Khan's torture claims are redacted in the filing a whole page is blacked out but Khan's attorneys say he suffers "severe physical and psychological trauma from which he is unlikely ever to recover fully" as a result of his ordeal. Asked about Khan's claims, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told CNN, "CIA's terrorist interrogation effort has always been small, carefully run, lawful and highly productive. Fewer than 100 hardened terrorists have gone through the program since it began in 2002, and of those, less than a third required any special methods of questioning. The United States does not conduct or condone torture." Khan's attorneys claim he was taken into custody in 2003 and "forcibly disappeared" before his transfer to Guantanamo, "where he remains imprisoned without charge or trial." He filed a legal challenge to his detention in September 2006 and appeared before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal in April, the court documents said. He was found to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant, but filed a challenge to that on August 14. He was not allowed to meet with an attorney, however, until October, the document said. The Bush administration contends Khan was an operative working for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Khan researched how to blow up gas stations and poison reservoirs in the United States, the administration has said. He is among 14 "high-value" detainees held at Guantanamo. Gutierrez and another CCR attorney, Wells Dixon, also released declassified notes of their meetings with Khan, saying he has been on hunger strikes while in Guantanamo, is "painfully thin and pale" and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. In detention, he has been able to communicate with Abu Zubayda, an alleged lieutenant for Osama bin Laden, they said in the notes. A government official with knowledge of the destroyed CIA tapes has said that Zubayda was one of the two al Qaeda suspects whose interrogations were videotaped. While undergoing interrogation and torture by the CIA, "Khan admitted anything his interrogators demanded of him, regardless of the truth, in order to end his suffering," the documents said. Without a court order requiring the preservation of evidence, "there is substantial risk that the torture evidence will disappear" and that may affect the challenge to his detention, the attorneys claim. The motion was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Hayden has said the CIA stopped videotaping in 2002, while Khan was not taken into custody until the following year. "The careful, professional and lawful questioning of hardened terrorists has produced thousands of intelligence reports, revealed exceptionally valuable insights on al Qaeda's operations and organization, foiled terrorist plots and saved innocent lives," Gimigliano said. "The information developed by the detention and interrogation program has been irreplaceable, and the program has operated in strict accord with American law." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Gary Nurenberg contributed to this report.

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Sharon Long is forensic artist who creates faces from skulls . Fort Myers, Florida, police called her after they found eight sets of remains . Only two of the eight remains have been identified .

MIAMI, Florida Sharon Long's work has earned her the nickname "Skull Lady." Sharon Long is a forensic artist whose job is to help identify the dead, often murder victims. She is a forensic artist whose job is to give faces and sometimes identities back to anonymous murder victims who have been robbed of both. Armed with sculptor's clay, glass eyes, wigs and research, Long creates a face from a human skull. When Fort Myers, Florida, police found eight sets of human remains in the woods in March, they turned to her anything to help identify the people who were so mercilessly left to rot amid the trees and mud. "[Police] have no other way. They have no fingerprints; they have no flesh. Usually, the last resort is building a face," Long said. See the "skull lady" at work » . She hopes that when the faces of those killed get printed in newspapers or appear on TV or online, a friend or loved one recognizes them and says, "Gee, we haven't seen so-and-so for a while, and that kind of looks like him." "Then, at least, you have a lead, and then you can get DNA from people. And then [police] have something to go on." Long, 67, has made faces for the unknown victims of grisly homicides and solved historical mysteries. During her 20-year career, the forensics specialist from the University of Wyoming helped identify the crew of the H.L Hunley, a Confederate submarine sunk during the Civil War. She also created the first picture of the only explorer to have died on the Lewis and Clark expedition. When law enforcement asks for Long's assistance, it is almost always on a case that has gone very cold. And that was exactly the case in Fort Myers, where police were desperate for any information on the dead they found: eight men killed, their bodies discovered in a wooded area on March 23, 2007. Watch how bones can give clues to investigators » . There were no witnesses, no leads and little evidence of killings other than the victims' bones. If Long could identify the victims of the crime, it might help to catch a serial killer. But before Long could create any likeness of the victims, she would have to do a lot of work hundreds of hours of it. Long first creates a mold of the skull and uses it to make a plaster replica. She puts eraser tips on points to mark tissue depth. Sculptor's clay fills in for skin and muscle. The faded gumline on the skull's teeth helps Long determine how thick the person's lips were. The victim's hair and eye color requires guesswork and research, Long says. Often while working on cases, she talks to people who lived in the same area as the victim or victims to find out the most common eye color and what hairstyles are in fashion. See how to decode a face » . She spent two months on the Fort Myers skulls. "I start working, and 15 hours can go by, and I don't get up and move, and you don't realize how much time has gone by, and, well, that's how intense I get," she said. "It's like you get carried away in this life of somebody. I start trying to think of them as being an alive person and doing something and not getting killed." Eventually, publicity about the Fort Myers case would lead people with missing relatives to submit their DNA. Testing revealed that two of the men were Erik Kohler and John Blevins. Both men lived hardscrabble lives and had run-ins with police. Both disappeared in 1995. At a news conference last month where Fort Myers police unveiled Long's sculptures, investigators said they still need to identify the other six victims if they are to solve the case. Kohler and Blevins didn't closely mirror Long's sculptures of their faces, but there were some similarities, some facial features that looked liked the two dead men. And that's what police say they want: They hope people with missing relatives will look at every detail of the other six sculptures to see whether they notice any resemblance, no matter how faint. "Going into this, I knew there would be some level of subjectivity in the art part of it, but I think what it does is generate the interest," Fort Myers Police Detective Barry Lewis said. "I am just looking for that one little similarity, that one little key that someone could recognize that they could make a call that that is their loved one." Since the news conference, police say, they have received hundreds of leads. Long's work on the case might be done, but she still has nightmares about the eight men killed. "I hear screaming, and I hear pleading, and I hear all these things which I couldn't imagine," she said. "I can see somebody dragging a body out there, and here he kept taking them to the same area. I think, what in the hell is wrong with this guy?" Six of those killed remain nameless. And police are still trying to find the killer. Authorities urge anyone with more information on the case to call 877-667-1296. E-mail to a friend .

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Four-week-old polar bear separated from mother amid fears she would eat it . Nuremberg City Zoo's other polar bear ate its own two offspring earlier this week . Mother was showing signs of being upset and confused, zookeepers said .

German zookeepers in Nuremberg will bottle-feed a four-week-old polar bear and rear it away from its mother after concerns the mother would eat her cub, officials said Thursday. Zookeepers fear the unnamed polar bear cub could be at risk of being eaten. The cub, which doesn't yet have a name, was being cared for at Nuremberg City Zoo, where it was resting under heat lamps and is drinking formula. "It's gaining weight, it's very hungry, it drinks a lot of milk," said Alexandra Foghammar, a spokeswoman for the city. The zoo announced Thursday that the cub is female. Wednesday, the zoo said keepers decided to take the cub away from its mother, Vera, because the mother was showing signs of being upset and confused, taking her baby in and out of the animals' enclosure. "We were 100 percent sure that the baby was going to die if we didn't take it away from her," Nuremberg zoo director Dag Encke told Time magazine. "This would have been a death verdict for the cub." The zoo confirmed earlier this week that its other female polar bear, Vilma, had eaten her two offspring. The zoo said it feared Vera would do the same, so it took her cub away as a precaution. Since then, the cub is thriving in the care of humans, but Vera seems to miss her cub, Foghammar said. Watch how zoo has faced criticism over polar bears. » . "The mother is a little bit nervous," she said. "She walks around and is searching for the baby, but the responsible persons for the zoo say this is normal. It will continue for three or four days. It's a normal situation." The zookeepers are pondering whether to bring another adult bear, possibly the cub's father, Felix, to the zoo to help Vera overcome her loss, and are seeking another small bear to serve as a companion for the rescued cub, Time reported. The zoo said a keeper entered Vilma's enclosure Monday and noticed that her two cubs were nowhere to be found. The zoo said it assumes Vilma ate her young because she believed the cubs were sick, though zookeepers say the cubs were last seen on Sunday and appeared in good health. But Foghammar told Time that the separation of the bears was bad for the "principle of wildlife conservation" at the zoo: "Now the cub will not grow up to act in a natural way, just as the mother lacked the experience to bring up a cub." The plight of the cub follows the case last year of Knut, a cub rejected by its mother at Berlin Zoo who became the focus of a media frenzy after animal rights campaigners called for it to be killed, claiming it had become too dependent on humans. E-mail to a friend .

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Parents of church shooter meet with victims' family . They "met and hugged and cried," pastor says . Matthew Murray, 24, killed four people in two shootings, before killing himself . His parents also thanked guard who shot their son .

Pastor Brady Boyd calls it the "highlight of my ministry" seeing the parents of the man who shot up his church be embraced by the parents of two teenage sisters who were killed in the attack. A former roommate took this photo of Matthew Murray performing in a 2002 Christmas program. "The four of them met and hugged and cried," said Boyd, the senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "It made me evaluate my own life and think, 'Is there anyone I'm not forgiving?'" Boyd was referring to a meeting on January 3 between Ron and Loretta Murray, whose 24-year-old son Matthew carried out the December 9 attack at New Life Church, and David and Marie Works, whose daughters, Stephanie, 18, and Rachael, 16, were killed in the rampage. David Works also was wounded in the shootings. Learn more about the victims » . The pastor said he invited the Murrays to visit the New Life campus after praying over the holidays. The family immediately accepted his invitation and was given a guided "step-by-step" tour of where the rampage took place and shown where their son died. "It was extremely emotional. They wanted to hear the details. I kept telling them I would stop with details, but they wanted to hear them," he told CNN in a phone interview this week. At one point, the parents also met with security guard Jeanne Assam, who shot their son in the leg before he turned his gun on himself. The parents thanked Assam for her swift action and for helping save more lives, said Casey Nikoloric, a Murray family spokeswoman and long-time friend. "They told Assam that they were so deeply sorry she had to do what she did," said Nikoloric. "There were tears, lots of embraces, prayers." The visit, she said, was "very, very, very important" in the healing process for the Murrays as they deal with the loss of their son and the terror he inflicted. Boyd agreed. "I thought this would be best for the Murrays," he said, adding that it touched everyone involved. "I've never seen repentance and forgiveness as profound as I did that day." The Murrays toured the church with their other son, Christopher, 20, a student at Oral Roberts University. The Murrays met the Works in Boyd's office. He said he also asked the Murrays to share "some of the good memories" of Matthew as a boy. "It put it in context: This kid was raised in an upper middle-class home and had every chance to do well," Boyd said. "You wonder what went wrong for Matthew. They described Matthew as any parent would describe their son." The pastor said he didn't tell many people about the meeting before it happened, fearing it "could have gotten volatile and hostile." "It was risky, but I knew enough about the Murrays to know they were mature and good people," he said. On Sunday, he began his sermon by telling his congregation about what had transpired just a few days earlier. He was met with loud applause. Matthew Murray began his assault that day at the Youth With a Mission center in Arvada, Colorado, killing two people Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24 and wounding two others before he went to the New Life Church, about 80 miles away. The Murrays visited the mission center December 12 and met with the families of the slain victims, according to Nikoloric. "The depth of our sorrow and our grief is greater than we could possibly describe," the Murrays said in a written statement. "But with thanks to God, these remarkable families and their pastors and churches, healing and reconciliation have begun." E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: 123 structures destroyed by wildfires in Lake Arrowhead . NEW: White House: Federal Agriculture Department will provide fire crews . Fires threaten San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park; animals evacuated . Malibu Canyon fire is 10 percent contained, officials say .

SAN DIEGO, California More than a dozen uncontained wildfires raged Monday across Southern California, threatening thousands of structures and forcing people to flee homes from San Diego to Malibu to Lake Arrowhead. This photo taken from space Monday afternoon shows smoke rising from the wildfires in Southern California. Fire officials said more than 265,000 people have been evacuated and nearly 4,900 firefighters are battling the fast-moving blazes, which began over the weekend. By Monday afternoon, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention had reported 13 active wildfires have consumed more than 98,000 acres and destroyed or damaged at least 50 homes and businesses across six counties. The winds driving the flames are expected to stay strong, coming out of the northeast, at least through Tuesday, according to CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano. "It's a tragic time for California," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said earlier Monday. He declared a state of emergency in seven counties and asked the National Guard to pull 800 soldiers from patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border to help battle the wildfires. Monday evening, Schwarzenegger asked U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to order delivery of all available Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems to help fight the fires. Watch fires devour homes and land » . Citing the proliferation in the number of fires, Schwarzenegger wrote, "Your immediate assistance is necessary to deploy Department of Defense aircraft located in Wyoming, North Carolina and Colorado to assist California in our firefighting effort." According to the White House, the federal Agriculture Department will provide fire crews, air tankers and helicopters to fight the fires, and the state will receive assistance grants to help pay firefighting costs. See where fires burn across Southern California » . Hardest hit was San Diego County, where 250,000 people have fled from five fires. One person was killed and 18 were reported injured in the county, including five firefighters. Local officials said the fire situation had worsened throughout the day, prompting new evacuations. "We have a very dangerous, unpredictable situation," said Ron Roberts, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. "We have some of the highest temperatures, some of the driest landscape conditions and some of the most powerful winds all the ingredients for a perfect firestorm." On one cul-de-sac in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo, five of six homes burned to the ground, leaving flames from gas lines flickering amid the ruins, according to a KGTV report. See photos of the fires » . Officials turned Qualcomm Stadium, home of the NFL's San Diego Chargers, into an evacuation center. Residents of four housing areas at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in northern San Diego County were put on notice for possible evacuations and told to pack personal belongings as a precautionary measure. Earlier Monday, fixed-wing firefighting aircraft were grounded by the strong winds, officials said, making the jobs of fire crews on the ground even harder. Fires threatened the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park on Monday, causing the park to close. Some of the animals, such as endangered condors, are being moved to a safer location, according to zoo spokeswoman Yadira Galindo. Authorities are asking people to hold off on 911 calls unless there is a real emergency, saying clogged cell phone lines are hurting rescue efforts. The largest of the wildfires was the Buckweed blaze north of Los Angeles, which has consumed 27,500 acres and forced the evacuation of 15,000 residents from Santa Clarita and nearby communities, according to the state forestry department. About 4,000 structures were threatened, and the fire was moving toward the Magic Mountain amusement park. Two fires that erupted Monday morning in San Bernardino County near Lake Arrowhead have destroyed at least 123 structures and charred 1,800 acres, said Loretta Benavidez, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino National Forest. Several communities in the area, including Green Valley Lake, Arrowbear and Running Springs, were evacuated. And in Malibu Canyon, south of the Pacific Coast Highway, nearly 1,450 firefighters were battling a blaze that began Sunday afternoon and still threatened 900 structures in the area, which is home to many Hollywood luminaries, the state forestry department said. The Canyon fire is only 10 percent contained, an official said. The Pacific Coast Highway remains shut down in Malibu. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Glasgow derby between Celtic and Rangers on Wednesday is postponed . Decision made as a mark of respect after death of ex-player Phil O'Donnell . Motherwell's home game against Celtic next Sunday was already called off .

GLASGOW, Scotland Wednesday's Glasgow derby between Celtic and Rangers has been postponed as a mark of respect following the death of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell, the Scottish Premier League announced. O'Donnell, left, celebrates Motherwell's Scottish Cup final win against Dundee in May 1991. "These are never easy decisions. But we recognise that as a former player, Phil was part of Celtic's extended football family," said SPL secretary Iain Blair. "After consultation with Rangers we agreed to postpone the Old Firm fixture on the second of January." Motherwell's game against Hibernian on the same day was called off on Saturday night in the hours after O'Donnell, 35, died following his on-field collapse. Gretna's match against St Mirren was also postponed as it was scheduled to take place at Fir Park which has become a shrine to the memory of O'Donnell, but the SPL confirmed that the other three fixtures scheduled for Wednesday will go ahead. Celtic skipper Stephen McManus spoke out in favor of the postponement after he and his team-mates met on Monday morning for the first time since O'Donnell's death. "A number of our squad have very close connections to Phil's family and feel it would be inappropriate to proceed with this match at such a time, following such a tragic event," he said. Rangers manager Walter Smith agreed that the game should not be played. "You cannot think of playing at a time like this," he said. "Obviously it is a very difficult time for everybody, especially Phil O'Donnell's family." Motherwell's home game against Celtic next Sunday had already been postponed by the SPL. E-mail to a friend .

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Indian judges bus mobile courts to rural villages to ease backlog . Judges say the mobile courts make justice more convenient . India has an estimated 300 million unresolved court cases .

HARYANA, India In a nation of more than a billion people and millions of unresolved court cases, how do you take care of the backlog? Long distances over questionable roads stop many Indians from making it into courtrooms. Solution: You take the courts to the people. A bell rings. A bailiff yells out the name of the accused. It's another day in the mobile courtroom of Judge Sandeep Singh. His courtroom is a desk plopped down in the middle of a dusty schoolyard in the northern Indian village of Haryana. "It works like any other regular court," Singh said. "The only difference is that instead of people going to the court, the court comes to the village." The mobile court is bused into rural areas to hear both criminal and civil complaints as part of an effort to dig the nation's court system out from under an enormous backlog of cases. With an estimated 300 million unresolved cases languishing in Indian courts, one consultant believes, it could take more than 300 years to clear the docket at the current pace. There's one main reason for the backlog: inconvenience. People often have to travel long distances over questionable roads, using slow modes of transportation. "The witnesses definitely, they don't show up and even the parties they don't show up and they send their advocate," Singh said. "But here, people are closer by, so definitely it makes a difference." With distance no longer a problem, more villagers and their attorneys are coming to hearings. Compared to the traditional legal system, the mobile court claims to be both fast and efficient. Singh said he has been able to clear 1,100 cases in just six months time compared to 500 under the traditional court system. E-mail to a friend .

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Fran Townsend says she'll look for opportunities in the private sector . Townsend has worked in government and law enforcement for 25 years . Townsend will be on a panel searching for a replacement .

WASHINGTON President Bush's top adviser on homeland security is stepping down after 4½ years on the job, the White House said Monday. Fran Townsend served more than four years as homeland security adviser. Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend turned in her letter of resignation to President Bush on November 6 and will be looking for new opportunities outside government. "I'm going to just take another job doing 20-hour days, but this time in the private sector," said Townsend, who has spent 25 years working in law enforcement and government. Bush praised Townsend's work Monday. "Fran has always provided wise counsel on how to best protect the American people from the threat of terrorism," Bush said in a statement. "We are safer today because of her leadership." Townsend's job, as the president's top adviser on fighting terrorism, involved identifying terrorist groups around the globe and assessing their threat, and finding ways to track and cut off their funding. She said that experience should will be useful in the private sector as well. Townsend the mother of two, ages 6 and 12 said she first will look into public speaking, writing and board work before pursuing opportunities in global risk management for a large multinational corporation or financial institution. Watch how Townsend is planning to use her skills » . She said she's been talking with the president about her planned departure for eight months. Townsend's name had come up during the president's recent search for a new attorney general, but she was not considered. She said not getting the job "had absolutely nothing to do with her decision to leave." She said Bush had wanted her to stay on in his administration. "It was a hard decision as I have loved and will cherish my every minute of service," she said in an e-mail. "My family actually advocated that I remain and has always been supportive of my service so this was entirely my decision." Townsend is part of the search committee to find a replacement by the beginning of next year. The president appoints the senior staff position, and it needs no Senate confirmation. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.

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Attorney: Clients allege terrorism, war crimes, wrongful death, seek $7.86 billion . Plaintiffs want $20 million in damages for each of 393 victims named in suit . Chiquita admits paying a group that the U.S. labeled a terrorist organization . Company "categorically denies" attorneys' allegations, says it will fight them .

NEW YORK Chiquita Brands International faces a $7.86 billion lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of nearly 400 Colombian families who say the company should be held responsible for the "torture and murder" of their loved ones. With a map of alleged victims, Jonathan Reiter makes his case Wednesday at a New York news conference. Attorney Jonathan Reiter said his clients are seeking "damages for terrorism, war crimes ... and wrongful death." The plaintiffs are asking for $10 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages for each of the 393 victims named in the suit. Earlier this year, Chiquita, as part of a plea agreement, admitted that what it called protection payments had been given to Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC. AUC was named a terrorist organization by the United States in 2002, making it a crime to give them money. The lawsuit alleges Chiquita's interaction with the paramilitary group went further than the payments it accuses the company of facilitating shipments of arms to the group. "They conspired with the AUC, aided and abetted them in a far-reaching conspiracy and plan to control every aspect of banana growing, distribution and sale," Reiter said. The attorney said one couple refused to sell their banana farm "for pennies" and were killed by AUC in 2001, and other murder victims had been directed to "sell their bananas only to Chiquita." The families filing the suit will remain anonymous because of fear of reprisals in their home country, he said. "The principle upon which this lawsuit is brought is that when you put money into the hands of terrorists, when you put guns into the hands of terrorists, then you are legally responsible for the atrocities, the murders and the tortures that those terrorists commit," Reiter said. Responding to the allegations Wednesday afternoon, the company said, "Chiquita Brands International categorically denies the allegations made by these attorneys. We reiterate that Chiquita and its employees were victims and that the actions taken by the company were always motivated to protect the lives of our employees and their families." Chiquita's director of communications, Michael Mitchell, went on to say, "Our company had been forced to make protection payments to safeguard our workforce. It is absolutely untrue for anyone to suggest that these payments were made for any other purpose." Mitchell said the company will fight the allegations. "Chiquita has already been the victim of extortion in Colombia. We will not allow ourselves to become extortion victims in the United States." In the March plea agreement, Chiquita Brands International agreed to pay a $25 million fine for the payments made by the company's former banana-producing subsidiary in Colombia. During a government investigation, the company admitted to making payments to AUC even after outside counsel told the company those payments were illegal and should stop immediately. E-mail to a friend .

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Two cars loaded with gasoline and nails found abandoned in London Friday . 52 people killed on July 7, 2005 after bombs exploded on London bus, trains . British capital wracked by violence by the IRA for years .

LONDON, England A chronology of bombings and attempted bomb attacks in the mainland UK since the 1970s: . Police close off streets around Haymarket, in London's busy theater district. June 29, 2007: Police defuse a bomb consisting of 200 liters of fuel, gas cylinders and nails found in an abandoned car in Haymarket, central London. A second car packed with gas and nails was later found to have been parked just a few hundred yards from the first, before it was towed away by traffic wardens in the early hours of Friday for violating parking restrictions. Police say two vehicles clearly linked. July 21, 2005: Two weeks after the deadly 7/7 bombings, four men are alleged to have attempted to carry out a second wave of attacks against London's transport network at three London underground stations and aboard a bus. But their alleged rucksack bombs fail to explode. July 7, 2005: Four suicide bombers detonate themselves aboard three underground trains and a bus in a morning rush hour attack against London's transport network, killing 52 people and injuring around 700 more. Al Qaeda claims responsibility in a video statement. August 2004: Anti-terrorist police disrupt a plot by Islamic militants to blow up targets including the Ministry of Sound nightclub and the Bluewater shopping center in southeast England using explosives packed into limousines and large vehicles. Seven men are convicted in May 2007 and sentenced to up to 26 years in prison. March 2001: A car bomb explodes outside the BBC's London headquarters, wounding one man. Police blame the Real IRA, a republican splinter group opposed to the IRA's cease fire. April 1999: Three people die when a nail bomb explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub in London's gay district the third in a spate of series of nail bomb attacks also targeting immigrant areas of the city that left dozens injured. A 23-year-old self-declared "Nazi", David Copeland, is sentenced to six life terms. June 1996: A massive IRA bomb explodes in a shopping center in central Manchester, injuring more than 200 people. February 1996: Two people die as IRA terrorists detonate a bomb in London's Docklands area, causing damage estimated at around $170m and ending the group's 17-month cease fire. April 1993: An IRA truck bomb devastates part of London's financial district, killing one and wounding 44. March 1993: Two boys aged three and 12 are killed and dozens are injured by two bombs left in litter bins in Warrington, northern England. The IRA admits planting the bombs. April 1992: A huge IRA car bomb in London's financial district kills three people and wounds 91. February 1991: IRA terrorists launch a mortar attack at Prime Minister John Major's Downing Street offices. No-one is injured. September 1989: Eleven people die and 22 are wounded when an IRA bomb explodes at a Royal Marine music school in Deal, southern England. December 1988: A Pan Am airliner explodes over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 259 aboard and 11 people on the ground. Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, convicted of the attack in 2001, was this week granted the right to mount a fresh appeal. (Read about Lockerbie bomber) October 1984: Five people die in an IRA bomb attack on a hotel in Brighton, southern England, where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet are staying for the Conservative Party's annual conference. December 1983: An IRA bomb at London's Harrods department store kills six people. July 1982: Two IRA bomb attacks on soldiers in London's parks kill 11 people and wound 50. October-November 1974: A wave of IRA bombs in British pubs in Birmingham and Guildford kill 28 people and wound more than 200. February 1974: A coach carrying soldiers and families in northern England is bombed by the IRA, killing 12 and wounding 14. E-mail to a friend .

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Fire chief: "I think it's a miracle that we haven't seen some serious injuries" Officials are investigating whether truck's speed a factor in the accident, chief says . Evacuees taken to an armory converted into a shelter, Red Cross says . Man tells WCVB-TV his car caught fire, exploded as he fled; "I got out just in time"

At least 200 people were evacuated from their homes, including 84 residents of an apartment building for the elderly, after a tanker truck carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline erupted early Wednesday in a northern Boston suburb. Firefighters battle a blaze Wednesday north of Boston after a tanker overturned carrying 9,000 gallons of gas. No serious injuries were reported in the Everett, Massachusetts, blast, but witnesses recounted close calls to a local television station. One man said he narrowly escaped from his car before it exploded. "In consideration of everything that firefighters had to deal with, I think it's a miracle that we haven't seen some serious injuries," Everett Fire Chief David Butler said. The tanker overturned and caught fire at a traffic circle in the town of about 37,000 outside Boston. Officials are investigating whether the driver was speeding, Butler said. "Our major concerns right now are we still have an ongoing fire operation in the family dwellings, and we are still heavily engaged in those operations, and we have some concerns environmentally," Butler said. Watch residents of an elderly housing complex describe their shock » . Flames from the truck engulfed at least 40 cars and three buildings, two of them houses, fire officials said. The truck was destroyed, but the driver was not seriously injured, the officials said. WCVB-TV in Boston identified the driver as Chad LaFrance of Dover, New Hampshire. Seven hours after the truck caught fire, firefighters were still battling a blaze in one of the homes, according to the television station. Evacuees were taken to an armory converted into a shelter, Red Cross official Amelia Aubourg told CNN. Local streets were closed temporarily, and a nearby school was shut down for the day, WCVB reported. One evacuee who fled a high-rise building told the television station he saw at least 15 cars burning. "And popping, they were popping. I don't know if it was tires that were blowing, but they were completely gone, the cars," Dan Savage told WCVB. Nearby resident Chris Barrow awoke to the sound of a "big bang," he told WCVB. At first, he thought it was a car accident, but when he went outside to investigate the noise, he saw fire "just coming down the hill toward the houses as fast as you could think." Barrow tried to escape in his car, but fire quickly surrounded the vehicle, he told the TV station. "I rode over the fire and my car caught fire," he told WCVB. "I got out just in time, and I ran a couple feet just before it blew up." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Michelle Cumbo and Saundra Booker contributed to this report.

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NEW: Fires at Camp Pendleton cause evacuation of 3,000 marines . Military lending direct and indirect assistance to firefighting efforts . As firefighting efforts go on, base officials poised to evacuate . Navy and Marine Corps have more than 20 facilities in San Diego area .

Dozens of Defense Department personnel are actively engaged in fighting the wildfires raging in Southern California, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, and thousands more National Guard and active-duty military personnel are available to help. The Rice fire, east of Camp Pendleton, caused the evacuation of the Fallbrook community. Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said that 12 Defense Department firefighting teams, with 12 engines, are already working the blazes and more than 17,000 National Guardsmen are potentially available if needed. In addition, he said, 550 Marines from Camp Pendleton are preparing to deploy to the fire area. "All of the aid that we provide is the result of a request ... from the state," McHale said. "However, we have been very proactive in independently preparing those capabilities for the possibility of such requests, and we have reached out early to state officials." California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already called up 1,500 National Guard troops, including more than 200 taken from border duty to help with supplies and security at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium and DelMar Fairgrounds and Racetrack, where thousands of evacuated residents are taking shelter. Schwarzenegger also requested and received from the federal government six "modular airborne fire fighting systems" units which are C-130s that drop water and fire suppressant on the blazes. Watch California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger talk about the crisis » . The Pentagon provided 11 helicopters equipped with water buckets to fight the fires, McHale said. Aerial attacks on the fires, however, have been minimal because of high Santa Ana winds with gusts approaching 70 mph. In an effort to make room for more civilians who have had to evacuate their homes, sailors stationed in Southern California are abandoning their barracks. "Orders have been given to all sailors ashore in barracks to move to shipboard billeting to provide room for evacuees," said a Tuesday statement released by the U.S. military. Only essential personnel are requested to report to duty at Naval Base San Diego, Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, and Naval Air Station in El Centro. Those bases have also set up cots and tents for evacuees. Also, the Navy has offered an Aegis cruiser, a guided missile destroyer, and two fast frigates to support evacuation efforts. Meanwhile, the Pentagon designated March Air Reserve Base as the primary staging area for medical and relief supplies coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, McHale said. And some 100 California National Guard medical personnel are helping alleviate "critical staffing shortfalls" at the San Diego Veterans Center, whose hospital staff are under voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders. The fires are also having a direct effect on military personnel McHale said 1,400 Navy personnel and their families have been forced to evacuate, and Camp Pendleton ordered 3,000 Marines to evacuate because of the fire, the Pentagon announced Tuesday evening. In all, the military has about Video 20 facilities around the San Diego area. E-mail to a friend .

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Scientology membership a privilege that's earned, Cruise says . 2004 video part of ceremony honoring Cruise for humanitarian work . Scientology defined as "study of the truth"

Tom Cruise expounds on his beliefs in Scientology in a 2004 video that made its way onto the Internet this week. Tom Cruise appears with his wife, Katie Holmes, at a movie premiere earlier this month. "I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist, and it's something you have to earn," Cruise says at the beginning of the video. Cruise says he's "driven ... by the opportunity to really help, for the first time, change people's lives. I'm absolutely, uncompromisingly dedicated to that." The video was shown at a 2004 Scientology ceremony honoring Cruise for his humanitarian work. Church of Scientology officials said it can be viewed at any of its churches, but it created a stir this week when what the church calls a pirated and edited version appeared on YouTube. The video has since been taken off YouTube, but an interview portion remained available on the celebrity Web site gawker.com on Thursday. Watch snippets of Cruise video » . "The Cruise Indoctrination Video Scientology Tried To Suppress" is the title of gawker.com's presentation. "You have to watch this video," the site says. "It shows Tom Cruise, with all the wide-eyed fervor that he brings to the promotion of a movie, making the argument for Scientology," which it calls "the bizarre 20th-century religion. Watch "Showbiz Tonight" discussion of Cruise video » . Cruise talks over a repetitive guitar-riff soundtrack, and appears to be answering questions, though an interviewer is not seen or heard. A second part of the video, made available to CNN by the publisher of a new unauthorized biography of Cruise, shows Cruise accepting Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor award and exchanging military-like salutes with Scientology chairman David Miscavige to audience applause. The publisher denies leaking other parts of the video to the Web. In the video by the publisher, Cruise also salutes a portrait of L. Ron Hubbard, cited on the church's Web site as the founder of "the only major religion founded in the 20th century." Hubbard's biography cites his accomplishments as everything from mariner and horticulturalist to author and humanitarian. In the video, Cruise puts emphasis on the latter role. A Scientologist "has the ability to create new realities and improve conditions," Cruise says. On its Web site, the Church of Scientology highlights its humanitarian work, from anti-drug campaigns in places from Minnesota to Taiwan to teacher training in India. The Web site defines Scientology as "the study of truth." Cruise embraces that in the video. "If you're a Scientologist, ... you see things the way they are," Cruise says. He also says he finds peace in the religion. "The more you know as a Scientologist, you don't become overwhelmed by it," according to Cruise. The unauthorized biography of Cruise is by author Andrew Morton. A Cruise spokesperson and the Church of Scientology have disputed the book, saying Morton did not seek their comment. "Accuracy and truth were not on Morton's agenda," according to a church statement. Morton denies that and says Cruise, who he calls "a towering figure on the international scene," and his faith are worthy of scrutiny. "Tom Cruise has done remarkable work for his faith over the past few years," Morton said. "If it wasn't for him the Church of Scientology would be a shadow of what it is today." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Brad Lendon, David Mattingly and Don Lemon contributed to this report.

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French and Australian leaders arrive in Afghanistan . Both leaders expected to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai . Both will visit with their respective country's troops .

KABUL, Afghanistan Australia's new prime minister assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday that his country's troops intend to be in Afghanistan "for the long haul." French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, shakes hands with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. Kevin Rudd and French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew into the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday to meet with Karzai and visit their respective country's troops participating in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. In a morning meeting, Sarkozy "assured President Karzai of his government's long term political and military support with the people of Afghanistan," according to a statement from the Afghan president's office. Rudd, who was elected in a landslide victory Nov. 24, appeared with Karzai at a news conference, where he repeatedly said that the Australian commitment to Afghanistan is strong. "We will be, as I said before, in this country, Afghanistan, for the long haul. It's important for us to be here in partnership with NATO countries," Rudd said. "On the question of the broader security policy challenges faced within Afghanistan, of course they are significant, they are real. But we are confident that in partnership with our friends in the Afghan government and with our other allies, particularly in NATO, that we can continue to achieve real progress in the long-term security of this country," he added. Australia's new defense minister, however, warned U.S. and NATO allies recently that they risk losing the war in Afghanistan without a sharp shift in military and reconstruction efforts there. Joel Fitzgibbon, who took office with Rudd allies during a conference in Scotland earlier this month, said that more work needs to be done to win the "hearts and minds" of the people of Afghanistan in the 6-year-old war against the country's former Taliban rulers and their al Qaeda allies. Karzai wished those at the news conference a merry Christmas, then thanked Australia, France and other countries for their help and support. More than 1,900 French troops are in Afghanistan, serving both the ISAF and the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom. Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor to the war in Afghanistan, with nearly 1,000 troops stationed mostly in the southern province of Oruzgan. Sarkozy, elected to lead France last May, told the U.S. Congress during a visit last month that France would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States on the war in Afghanistan. "Let me tell you solemnly today: France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what's at stake in that country is the future of our values and that of the Atlantic Alliance," he said. Rudd made a surprise visit Friday to Iraq, where he promised continued Australian aid, despite a decision to withdraw all 550 Australian troops in Iraq by mid-2008 an effort his predecessor, John Howard, staunchly opposed. Rudd had said he would start a phased withdrawal of Australian forces from Iraq if his Labor Party won the vote. E-mail to a friend . Journalist Farhad Peikar in Kabul contributed to this report.

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NEW: Vick's attorney says early surrender shows Vick accepts responsibility . Sentencing set for December 10 on dogfighting charges against Michael Vick . Atlanta Falcons quarterback pleaded guilty in August . Monday, he surrendered to begin whatever sentence he gets on December 10 .

Michael Vick turned himself in to authorities on Monday to get a head start on serving his sentence for running a dogfighting ring, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Michael Vick leaves court in Richmond, Virginia, in August after pleading guilty to dogfighting charges. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10 on a federal conspiracy charge of bankrolling the dogfighting operation. Vick, 27, voluntarily turned himself in around noon, said Kevin Trevillan of the Marshals Service, and is being held at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, until the sentencing hearing. The quarterback, who has been suspended indefinitely by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, faces 12 to 18 months in prison on the charge. Vick pleaded guilty in August after three associates admitted their own roles in the operation and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. "From the beginning, Mr. Vick has accepted responsibility for his actions and his self-surrender further demonstrates that acceptance," Vick's attorney, Billy Martin, said in a statement. "Michael wants to again apologize to everyone who has been hurt in this matter and he thanks all of the people who have offered him and his family prayers and support during this time," Martin's statement said. CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin speculated that Vick started his sentence early "to get it out of the way." Watch Toobin explain why Vick would surrender early » . On September 25, a Virginia grand jury indicted Vick and the three co-defendants Purnell Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Quanis Phillips, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia; and Tony Taylor, 34, of Hampton, Virginia on state charges of running a dogfighting ring at Vick's home outside Newport News. The Surry County grand jury brought two charges against the four men: one count of unlawfully torturing and killing dogs and one of promoting dogfights. Each is a felony charge that could result in a five-year prison term. In addition, Taylor faces three additional counts of unlawful torture and killing of dogs. A hearing in that case is set for November 27, but Vick does not have to be in court at that time. In September, Vick was put under tight restrictions by the federal court after he tested positive for marijuana use. Vick tested positive for the drug on September 13, a court document from the Eastern District of Virginia shows. As a result, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson ordered Vick to "submit to any method of testing required by the pretrial services officer or the supervising officer for determining whether the defendant is using a prohibited substance." Those methods could include random drug testing, a remote alcohol testing system "and/or any form of prohibited substance screening or testing," the order said. Vick was also ordered to stay home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., "or as directed by the pretrial services officer or supervising officer," the order said. He was to be electronically monitored during that time. Vick must participate in substance abuse therapy and mental health counseling "if deemed advisable by the pretrial services officer or supervising officer" at his own expense, the order said. E-mail to a friend .