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NEW: Bridge reopens Friday morning after highway engineers give OK . Four killed in chain reaction crash that started when two tractor-trailers collided . Three killed in pickup truck that fell off bridge; 4th victim in car that hit one 18-wheeler . Crash happened on bridge linking Pharr, Texas, and Reynosa, Mexico .

Two tractor-trailer trucks crashed and burst into flames Thursday on a bridge between the United States and Mexico, shutting a key border crossing and killing four people, police said. Police look at the aftermath of a fiery crash on a bridge linking Reynosa, Mexico, and Pharr, Texas. The collision on the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Texas triggered a chain-reaction accident with three other vehicles, said Lt. Lupe Salinas with the Pharr Police Department. A pickup flipped off the bridge, killing three people. Another person died in a vehicle that struck one of the tractor-trailers. Six others were injured. Pharr Emergency Management Coordinator Elsa Sanchez told The Associated Press the pickup truck had Texas license plates, and the two 18-wheelers and a minivan involved in the wreck appeared to have Mexican plates. Watch aftermath of fiery crash » . The accident happened around 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. ET). The bridge was closed for the rest of the evening. The bridge reopened on Friday morning after Texas Department of Trnasportation engineers inspected it, according to CNN affiliate KRGV. The bridge is normally open from 6 a.m. until midnight and is closed overnight. The 3.2-mile-long bridge connects U.S. 281 in Pharr, Texas, to the city of Reynosa in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, according to the city of Pharr's Web site. On an average day, the site says, 5,800 vehicles cross it. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Ed Payne and Jessica Jordan contributed to this story. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Riots in French suburb for second night after two teens killed in police crash . Violence spreads from Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris, to two nearby towns . More than 60 police injured, bombarded with Molotov cocktails and bottles of acid . Parallels drawn with unrest in 2005, when President Sarkozy was interior minister .

PARIS, France The Paris suburbs were again rocked by riots after a second night of lawlessness Monday caused widespread destruction and left scores of police injured, according to French authorities and media reports. Firefighters in a Paris suburb battle to control a blaze started after youths rioted Sunday night. An angry mob repeatedly clashed with riot police and torched cars and buildings in the town of Villiers-le-Bel, north of Paris, after two teens on a motorcycle were killed following a collision with a police car Sunday night. Rioters bombarded police with baseball bats, Molotov cocktail bombs and bottles filled with acid as the violence spread to the nearby towns of Longjumeau and Grigby Monday night. The 15- and 16-year-old boys, both sons of African immigrants, according to police, died when their motorbike hit a patrol car in Villiers-le-Bel. Some residents, populated largely by immigrants and their French-born children, accused police of fleeing the crash scene. However, three eyewitnesses, interviewed on TV, said the police stayed and tried to revive the two boys with mouth to mouth resuscitation. Watch why a repeat of past rioting is feared » . More than 60 police officers were injured in Monday night's confrontation, with five kept in hospital in a serious condition, according to reports in a number of French newspapers. A spokesman for the police authorities in the Val d'Oise prefecture refused to confirm the numbers of police injuries, telling CNN that police feared the information could further enflame the already tense situation. The police spokesman said 60 cars, a library and car dealer's showroom had been set on fire in Villiers-le-Bel. He said a police station had also been damaged and 15 garbage cans torched. Security was tightened Tuesday, with helicopters deployed to patrol over the town, the spokesman said. Villiers-le-Bel was not among the districts hit by the weeks of nationwide rioting in November 2005, when disaffected youths nationwide set thousands of cars ablaze to protest against unemployment and discrimination. Those riots were also sparked by fatalities, namely the deaths of two men of North African descent who were electrocuted while hiding from police in an electrical substation. French president Nicolas Sarkozy, then serving as the interior minister, provoked controversy at the time by referring to the rioters as "scum." Sarkozy, currently on a state visit to China, had urged residents Monday to "cool down and let the justice system determine who is responsible for what." A spokesman for the president's office told CNN Tuesday they were continuing to monitor the situation. The prosecutor's office in the nearby town of Pontoise has already begun an inquiry into the deaths. Police said the teens drove through a red light without wearing helmets and on an unregistered bike. But Omar Sehhouli, the brother of one of the victims, told French media the police involved should be arrested. "Everyone knew the two boys here," he told French radio. "What happened, that's not violence, it's rage." According to the initial findings from the French police watchdog, reported Tuesday in the daily newspaper, Le Figaro, the boy's motorbike was driving "at very high speed" and had failed to give priority to the police patrol vehicle. The police car was driving normally at around 40 kilometers an hour, the newspaper reported the watchdog had found. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Jim Bittermann contributed to this report .

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Head of Iraqi Red Crescent says parents abandoning their kids at alarming rates . Sometimes he wonders: "Oh my God, how are we going to solve it?" The greatest concern is the long-term effect on an entire generation . "Trauma of what's happening to those children is enormous"

BAGHDAD, Iraq The head of Iraq's main humanitarian group said an 18-year-old approached him with a baby suffering from leukemia. The desperate mother said she'd do "anything" for treatment for her child and then offered herself up for sex. Baha, 12, waits for treatment in an Iraqi Red Crescent center after shrapnel pierced his left eye. Said Ismail Hakki breaks down in tears as he recalls that story. Leukemia can be treatable to a degree in much of the world, but not in Iraq. The baby died two months later. "It shook me like hell," said Hakki, the president of the Iraqi Red Crescent. "All my life I've been a surgeon. I've seen blood; I've seen death. That never shook me none whatsoever. But when I see the suffering of those people, that really shook me." The plight of Iraq's children is nearing epidemic proportions, he said, with mothers and fathers abandoning their children "because they're becoming a liability." The parents don't do it out of convenience, they do it out of desperation. Watch the plight of Iraq's children » . "When you become so desperate, you tend to just throw everything up and go," Hakki said. "Every time I look at those children, I ask myself first, 'What crime have those children committed?'" Hakki says Red Crescent has the monumental task of treating and feeding more than 1.6 million children under the age of 12 who have become homeless in their own country. That's roughly 70 percent of the estimated 2.3 million Iraqis who are homeless inside Iraq. How to help the Iraqi Red Crescent . With 95,000 volunteers and 5,000 employees, the Iraqi Red Crescent is the last line of defense for the country's poor, sick and displaced. They try to blend in as best they can, with Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds working in the neighborhoods distinct to their ethnicities. Six employees of the Iraqi Red Crescent have been killed over the last four years. Eight have been wounded, including six left disabled by the severity of their wounds. Hakki says the spike in numbers of abandoned children is especially alarming, the result of sectarian violence and drastic socio-economic problems. The majority of parents in Iraq, he says, leave their children with a single relative who often has about 20 to 30 children to look after. Some parents just leave their kids altogether. Many of the families are living in areas without basic needs, like water and electricity, and there are no jobs available. "It's a desperate situation," he said. "Children are becoming a liability for both the father and the mother." The greatest concern is the ripple effect it will have in the long term an entire generation lacking basic life skills, surviving with no education, no income and no families. See wounded Iraqi children get help in neighboring Jordan » . "The trauma of what's happening to those children is enormous," he said. "If somebody is injured by a bullet or shrapnel, it takes a week or two and he's fine. ... The psycho-social injury is pretty deep and can take months, if not years, to heal. "That's the task the mammoth task the Iraq Red Crescent is facing." The group gets some financial support from the central government. It's also negotiating with the U.S. Embassy, he said, to see if it can offer financial aid. But funds are low. Just recently, the group closed 18 camps for the winter and is trying to house those thousands of people in abandoned government buildings. At a waiting room at an Iraqi Red Crescent treatment center in Baghdad's Mansour district, CNN came across several young children in desperate need of care. But they were among the lucky ones if that term can even be applied because their parents remain with them. Baha, a 12-year-old boy, was waiting to see a doctor, recalling the exact date January 16, 2004 he lost his left eye. "I want my eye to get well," he said. Baha was with his father in a market when someone opened fire on U.S. soldiers. When the soldiers fired back, shrapnel hit his eye. Despite what happened, this brave boy still goes to that same market. "I'm not afraid," he said. Across the room, 3-year-old Saja lightened the mood in the room. "Iraqis, we are still brothers!" she sang. She giggled, laughed and darted around, bringing smiles to all who saw her. Yet, she couldn't see most of what was around her. She's blind in one eye and losing sight in the other the result of shoddy medical care. Her father, Dia'a, said he heard about the Iraqi Red Crescent from television and others who had been treated here. He said he can't afford to travel outside the country for medical treatment for his girl. This clinic, he said, has given him "a ray of hope that I had lost." He, too, expressed despair over the plight of Iraq's youngest generation. "Our children are suffering. All they talk about is weapons and bombs," he said. "They are children. We are older; our hair turns gray. What happens to them hearing all the explosions and bombs? "We can't make them feel better because we are down." That's a sentiment that haunts the head of the Iraqi Red Crescent. "There are times I get up in the middle of the night and I say, 'Oh my God, how are we going to solve it? God help me to help those kids!'" E-mail to a friend . CNN.com's Wayne Drash contributed to this report in Atlanta.

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NEW: Military says some of the 26 bodies may belong to Iraqi police . Complex believed to be an al Qaeda in Iraq haven . Coalition forces say they made the discovery during operations in northern Iraq . Military: Evidence of torture and murder against local villagers found .

BAGHDAD, Iraq Coalition forces found 26 bodies buried in mass graves and a bloodstained "torture complex," with chains hanging from walls and ceilings and a bed connected to an electrical system, the military said Wednesday. Twenty-six bodies were found in mass graves near a "torture complex" discovered by coalition forces. The troops made the discovery while conducting an operation north of Muqdadiya, Iraq. From December 8 to 11, the troops who found the complex also killed 24 people they said were terrorists and detained 37 suspects, according to a statement issued by Multinational Division North at Camp Speicher in Tikrit. The moves were part of an operation called Iron Reaper that has been in progress across northern Iraq for the past few weeks. The complex was in an area thought to be an al Qaeda in Iraq haven and operating base, the military said. Iraqis had told the military about the site during an earlier operation. "Evidence of murder, torture and intimidation against local villagers was found throughout the area," the military statement said. Ground forces first found what appeared to be a detention facility, which was one of three connected to the torture complex, Multinational Division North said. One of the facilities appeared to have been a headquarters building and a torture facility, it added. As the area was cleared, the bodies were found. Eventually, 26 bodies were uncovered in mass graves next to what were thought to be execution sites, the military said. The bodies are believed to have been dead between six and eight months, according to a gruesome military video shot at the scene. Some had their hands tied behind their backs. Identification is proving to be a challenge because of advanced decomposition. Photos given to the news media show a filthy bed wired to an electrical system, with an outlet hanging from wires on the wall. In the video, troops point out rubber hoses and boxing gloves, a ski mask and a blood-covered sword and knives. Other still photos show an entrance to the underground bunker and barbed wire stretched outside it. A short distance away from the complex, troops found a bullet-riddled Iraqi police vehicle. Some of the bodies may belong to Iraqi police, according to the military video. The operation netted nine weapons caches, which have been destroyed, the military said. They included anti-aircraft weapons, sniper rifles, more than 65 machine guns and pistols, 50 grenades and a surface-to-air missile launcher and platform, the statement said. Also found were mines, pipe bombs, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar tubes and rounds and 130 pounds of homemade explosives. E-mail to a friend .

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Pakistan rejects fears its nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of extremists . Mohamed ElBaradei, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief, voiced his worries Tuesday . ElBaradei: I fear chaos in this state, which has 30 or 40 nuclear weapons . Pakistan: Our nuclear weapons as secure as those held by other nuclear states .

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistan's foreign ministry Wednesday rejected concerns raised by the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief that the country's nuclear weapons "could fall into the hands of an extremist group in Pakistan or in Afghanistan." Mohamed ElBaradei, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief. fears for Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Mohamed ElBaradei's comments to Al-Hayat newspaper were "irresponsible" and "unwarranted," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said at a news briefing on Wednesday. "Pakistan rejects the statement by Dr. ElBaradei, Director General IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), hinting at the possibility of its nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremists," according to a ministry statement. "As head of the IAEA, which is a U.N. body, he has to be careful about his statements which ought to remain within the parameters of his mandate. "His remarks also ignore the fact that the strategic assets of Pakistan are fully secure and under multilayered safeguards and controls exercised by the National Command Authority." In an interview published in Al-Hayat Tuesday, ElBaradei said that Pakistan's recent political instability makes it more sensitive to susceptible to problems in other Muslim countries. "The effects of any new war in the Middle East and the Islamic world could have repercussions, not only in Iran, but what I fear most is the effect in Pakistan, a nation with many internal problems," ElBaradei said. "I fear a system of chaos or extremist regime in this state, which has 30 or 40 nuclear weapons." Pakistan has been in a state of political upheaval since the country's opposition challenged President Pervez Musharraf's tight grip on power, pushing him to step down as military chief and lift the emergency rule he had imposed in early November. The country further spiraled into chaos after the December 27 assassination of leading opposition figure and former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. In response to the IAEA director-general's comments, Pakistan's foreign ministry stressed in its statement that ElBaradei, "on several occasions, has been briefed about the structure and control mechanisms put in place to ensure complete safety of our nuclear assets." "Pakistan is a responsible nuclear weapon state. Our nuclear weapons are as secure as that of any other nuclear weapon state. We, therefore, believe statements expressing concern about their safety and security are unwarranted and irresponsible. "Pakistan attaches great importance to IAEA and has extended cooperation and assistance to the Agency on many important issues towards the fulfillment of its mandate. Our civilian nuclear program is under IAEA safeguards and we have always fully complied with IAEA obligations," the ministry said. E-mail to a friend .

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The Boeing 777 aircraft first entered service on June 7, 1995 . First airplane U.S. (FAA) approved for extended-range twin-engine operations . Engineers designed, electronically pre-assembled the 777 using computers . In 2005, a Boeing 777 set a new world record for distance traveled non-stop .

The Boeing 777 is the mainstay of many airlines' long-haul fleets and has never been involved in a fatal accident during its service history. British Airways aircrew fly the Royal Standard from the flight deck of the Boeing 777 aircraft. The aircraft first entered service on June 7, 1995, with more than 900 suppliers from 17 countries coming together to provide the more than three million parts needed in its construction, according to the Boeing Web site. Since its inaugural flight, Boeing has extended the 777 family to five commercial passenger models and a freighter version, collectively making more than two million flights. The aircraft seats between 301 and 368 passengers in a three-class configuration and can fly distances up to 17,500 kilometers. The 777 has also won a number of design awards, as well as setting a number of records and firsts. On November 9 and 10, 2005, a Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner set a new world record for distance traveled non-stop by a commercial jetliner. The 777-200LR set a record distance of 21,601 km on a route traveling eastbound from Hong Kong to London Heathrow. The flight lasted 22 hours and 42 minutes. The achievements was recognized by the U.S. National Aeronautics Association, The Federation Aeronautique Internationale and the Guinness Book of Records. The Federation eéronautique Internationale recognized the Boeing 777 in April 1997 for achieving a speed and distance record for airplanes in its size and class. The Boeing Web site claims the 777 set the "Great Circle Distance Without Landing" record, traveling 20,044 km, and it set the record for "Speed Around the World, Eastbound," traveling at an average speed of 889 km per hour. According to Boeing the aircraft reached 500 deliveries by 2005 faster than any other twin-aisle commercial airplane in history. Boeing prides itself on the 777's landing gear, which it claims is the largest ever incorporated into a commercial aircraft. Each main landing gear is fitted with six wheels, while the nose gear has two. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Secretary of state calls Rep. Tom Lantos "a true American hero" Lantos was only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress . California congressman disclosed last month he was suffering from cancer . Lantos had said he would not seek re-election to 15th term in House .

WASHINGTON Rep. Tom Lantos, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, died Monday due to complications from cancer, his office said. Lantos was 80. Rep. Tom Lantos represented his Northern California district for 14 terms. He died at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, surrounded by his wife, Annette, daughters Annette and Katrina and many of his 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, according to his office. Lantos' life was "defined by courage, optimism, and unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family," said his wife, Annette, his childhood sweetheart, in a statement the House of Representatives released. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that she was "quite devastated" by the death of her "dear, dear friend." She called him "a true American hero" and "the genuine article." "He's going to be really, really missed," she said. Rice described Lantos as "the embodiment of what it meant to have one's freedom denied and then to find it and to insist that Americans stand for spreading the benefits of freedom and prosperity to others." Lantos, who was serving his 14th term in the House, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December. He announced last month that he would not seek a new term. "It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress," Lantos said in a statement at the time. "I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country." Watch Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid remember Lantos » . The lawmaker is the only Holocaust survivor to have served in Congress. The Hungarian-born Lantos came to the United States in 1947 after surviving a forced-labor camp in his Nazi-allied homeland. He escaped and was sheltered in a Budapest safe house set up by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who was credited with saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. He arrived in the United States after being awarded an academic scholarship to study, according to his congressional Web site. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from the University of Washington in Seattle and later earned a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, the site said. As a lawmaker, Lantos was an outspoken human rights advocate. He supported the 2002 congressional resolution that authorized President Bush to launch the invasion of Iraq but later became an outspoken critic of the conflict. He was the latest of more than a dozen members to announce plans to leave the House at the end of the year, most of them Republicans. His San Francisco-area district is solidly Democratic, and he won re-election with more than three-quarters of the vote in 2006. "Chairman Lantos will be remembered as a man of uncommon integrity and sincere moral conviction and a public servant who never wavered in his pursuit of a better, freer and more religiously tolerant world," House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said in a statement. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: All vehicles banned in city of Amara through Thursday, provincial governor says . Death toll continues to rise as Interior Ministry reports 151 wounded . State television reports that many of the casualties are women, children . Amara has been scene of fighting between rival Shiite factions vying for power .

BAGHDAD, Iraq All vehicles were banned from the largely Shiite city of Amara Wednesday after three car bombs ripped through a market district, killing at least 27 people and wounded 151, officials said. Iraqis gather at the site of a car bomb in the city of Amara on Wednesday. The blasts detonated in close succession in a commercial area in the central section of Amara, the provincial capital of Maysan province and a city that has been the scene of fighting between rival Shiite factions. Baghdad was also hit by violence on Wednesday. A car bomb there killed five Iraqi civilians and wounded 15 others, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. The incident occurred in a Christian section of the largely Shiite New Baghdad district. Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, head of the Interior Ministry's National Command Center, confirmed the casualty figures in the Amara bombing. He and a committee were headed to Amara to investigate the incident. He said the ministry fired the city's police chief in the aftermath of the attack. Maysan Gov. Adil Muhawdar Radhi announced the vehicle ban, which he said will be in place through Thursday. He said additional security measures have been put in place in the city. The first bomb, in a car parked in a commercial area, detonated about 9:30 a.m. As onlookers gathered, the second one exploded in a nearby garage a few minutes later. It was followed by a third bomb in the garage a few minutes after that. Ambulances and police raced to the scene. News footage showed burning vehicles and black smoke, and the clothing of victims scattered beside pools of blood. Iraqi state television showed hospitals packed with people. Al-Forat, an Iraqi TV station affiliated with the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq political movement, reported that most of the casualties were women and children. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a statement, denounced the attack. "The targeting of unarmed civilians today in the markets of Amara town by car bombs that is another ring in the chain of conspiracy against the Iraqi people that is aiming to destabilize the security and stability in this province," which he said endured cruelty under the Saddam Hussein regime. Maysan, which borders Iran, has been under Iraqi security control much of this year after control was transferred from the British military. It was not immediately known who was responsible for the blasts, but the violence is a reminder of the intense fighting between the Mehdi Army the militia of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Brigade, the militia of the SICI, which condemned the bombings and blamed "Saddamists and Takfiris." The two movements are bitter rivals and have been in the middle of local power struggles in Iraq's southern provinces and other Shiite areas. Watch how Shiite groups have been vying for power » . Britain, which has been in command of the south since the Iraqi war began, has been working to withdraw its troops from the region, which, despite this latest violence, has always been more stable than Baghdad and other outlying regions. Britain's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that the British military will transfer security control of the southern province of Basra to Iraqi forces on Sunday. Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraq's government spokesman, confirmed the date and said the Maysan attacks will not affect the handover. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

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Bush: U.S., Turkey and Iraq must unite against PKK Kurdish separatists . Iraqi Kurds are critical of both PKK and air attacks against them . Turkey bombed alleged PKK sites in northern Iraq over the weekend . PKK has spent 20 years fighting for autonomy in Turkey; uses Iraq as a base .

WASHINGTON U.S., Turkish and Iraqi leaders all held talks Monday about Kurdish rebels using northern Iraq as a launchpad for cross-border attacks into Turkey. Turkish troops patrol near the border with Iraq on Monday. President Bush chatted by phone with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while separately two senior Iraq national government figures met with the head of the country's Kurdish region. The diplomatic moves came after Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish separatist targets in northern Iraq on Saturday and Sunday as well as last week. Bush and Erdogan talked about the dangers of the Kurdish separatist rebels along the Turkish-Iraqi border, the White House confirmed. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said they discussed their common efforts to fight terrorism, and the importance of the United States, Turkey and Iraq working together to confront the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Bush has vowed to help Turkey fight PKK rebels. The PKK has spent two decades fighting for autonomy for Kurds in southeastern Turkey, with some of its attacks launched from inside northern Iraq. The United States and European Union consider the group a terrorist organization. Last week, Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, said his country's maneuvers against Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq were based on intelligence provided by the United States. In the Kurdish Iraq city of Sulaimaniya, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is Kurdish, and Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who is Sunni Arab, met with Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani. Iraqi Kurdish officials, while critical of the PKK, have denounced the Turkish bombing campaign. Last week, Barzani snubbed visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in protest of the attacks. "We have vehemently condemned the bombardment. The bombing targeted safe and secure areas and innocent people. Several people were either killed or wounded," Barzani said on Monday at a press conference with the others. "We held consultations with President Jalal Talabani and we will continue our consultations with other concerned parties to put an end to these aggressions and put to an end the shelling of villages." The three Iraqi officials also dealt with national unity. They signed a "memorandum of understanding" to deepen relations further with their three parties: Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and al-Hashimi's Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab entity. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kathleen Koch, Talia Kayali and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report .

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Italian tennis players Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali banned by the ATP . The pair have been suspended for betting on matches, although not their own . Starace suspended for six weeks while Bracciali is banned for three months .

ROME, Italy Italian tennis players Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali have been banned by the ATP for betting on matches. Top Italian player Potito Starace has been suspended for six weeks for betting on matches. The country's top player Starace 31st in the ATP rankings has been suspended for six weeks from January 1 and fined $30,000 (20,890 euros) for making five bets totalling around 90 euros two years ago. Bracciali, world ranked 258, has been banned for three months and fined $20,000 (13,930 euros) for making around 50 five-euro bets between 2004 and 2005. The Italian Tennis Federation confirmed the news on its website, www.federtennis.it. However, they denounced the penalties as disproportionate, saying the players never bet on their own matches. "Injustice is done," the statement said. "These penalties are absolutely, excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players." The federation said the two were not aware of the ATP's betting regulations, and that they stopped placing the bets as soon as they learned it was against the rules. Another Italian player, Alessio Di Mauro, became the first player sanctioned under the ATP's new anti-corruption rules when he received a nine-month ban in November, also for betting on matches. Starace and Bracciali said they were scapegoats for a larger match-fixing scandal."It's disgusting," said the 26-year-old Starace. "The ATP doesn't know where to turn. It's all a joke." Bracciali said the two had been "sacrificed." "That's why they came after us," the 29-year-old said. "We are not champions and we don't count in the upper echelons." ATP officials could not be reached for comment on Saturday. Concerns about match-fixing have risen since August, when an online betting company reported unusual betting patterns during a match between fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina. The company, Betfair, voided all bets and the ATP has been investigating. Davydenko, who retired while trailing in the third set, denies wrongdoing. Since then, several players have said that they had been approached with offers to fix matches in exchange for money. E-mail to a friend .

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Dodi Fayed's bodyguard says can't remember crash that killed Princess Diana . NEW: Trevor Rees received anonymous threatening phone calls, letters after crash . Princess Diana, boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul all died in accident . Rees was a bodyguard employed by Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed .

LONDON, England The sole survivor of the crash that killed Princess Diana has told a court he still cannot remember the incident but does not support the conspiracy theories surrounding it. Bodyguard Trevor Rees and the back of Princess Diana's head are seen shortly before the car crash. Bodyguard Trevor Rees, formerly known as Trevor Rees-Jones, was the front-seat passenger in the Mercedes that carried Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul. He sustained serious injuries in the August 31, 1997 crash and testified that he received anonymous phone calls and letters after the accident, threatening him to keep quiet. He said the caller told him to keep quiet, saying, "We know who you are, we know where you are, and we know where you live." Rees said he didn't take the calls or letters seriously. A lawyer also asked Rees about a supposed encounter with a woman in which he told her, "If I remember, they're going to kill me." Rees said he didn't recall the conversation and found it unlikely he ever made the remark. Rees, who still has a visible scar from the accident over his left eye, told the court he remembers nothing new about the crash, which, he has said, was an accident. He has said the last thing he remembers that night was leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris, and that his next memory is more than a week later, in his hospital bed, when his parents told him everyone else in the car was dead. Rees suffered major injuries to his lower jaw, the base of his brain, and his pulmonary system and has had several surgeries and hospitalizations, some of which al Fayed paid for. Rees also testified that he did not support the allegations by Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed al Fayed, that British security services were behind the crash. He denied the security services paid him to change his story. At the time of the crash, Rees was working for al Fayed's security team and was assigned to guard Dodi Fayed. He was also protecting the princess because she was Fayed's companion on the trip. He no longer works on al Fayed's security team. Rees has said what was once a good relationship with his former employer has broken down, largely because he does into support al Fayed's conspiracy theories about the crash. "I am not a part of any conspiracy to suppress the truth at all," Rees testified. "All I have ever done is given the truth as I see it." In 2000, Rees published a book, "The Bodyguard's Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor," offering his account of the events surrounding the crash. He said al Fayed tried unsuccessfully to stop the book's publication in England. Rees told CNN he wrote the book to give a definitive account of what he remembered and knew, but also to counter al Fayed's accusations that his unprofessionalism caused the accident. Rees also said proceeds from the book helped pay his legal bills. During the morning session, Rees testified that he had two flashbacks in the months after the crash, but his psychiatrist told him they were false memories. In the first, Rees said, he recalled hearing the voice of a woman apparently Diana calling out, "Dodi" from the back seat of the car. In the second flashback, Rees said he recalled seeing a paparazzi motorbike next to the car. Lawyer Ian Burnett then read from a letter written by Al Fayed to Lord Stevens, who investigated the crash for the British police. In the letter, Al Fayed says Rees is lying about losing his memory. "He knows the detail which the security services are so eager to suppress," Al Fayed wrote, alluding to his belief that the crash was part of a murder plot. Rees testified that he was not lying about his memory loss: "I have no memory of after leaving the back of the hotel, that's my last true memory." Rees also said claims the couple visited a jeweler's in Monte Carlo to buy an engagement ring in late August 1997 were untrue. British authorities hold an inquest whenever someone dies in suspicious circumstances. A judge, who is also called a coroner, holds hearings to determine how the person died, but he will not determine blame or apportion guilt. Although Diana and Dodi Fayed died in Paris, a British coroner must still investigate because their bodies were returned to Britain. The inquest does not involve driver Henri Paul because his body remained in France. British authorities had to wait to begin the inquest until after French authorities concluded their investigation, which lasted from August 1997 to late 2003. The inquest then began but immediately adjourned so that British police could do their own report, which was needed for the British inquest. The British police inquiry took almost three years and concluded in December 2006. The inquest then resumed in October 2007 and is expected to last four to six months. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Teresa Martini contributed to this report.

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NEW: Sewage was partially treated, Office of Emergency Services says . The 2.7 million-gallon spill occurred Thursday night, Sheriff's Department says . Pump and alarm failed at Marin County waste treatment facility . Area being tested; boaters advised to avoid Richardson Bay area .

SAN FRANCISCO, California Nearly 3 million gallons of sewage spilled into San Francisco Bay when a pump failed at a waste treatment facility, the Marin County Sheriff's Department told CNN on Friday. Attempts are being made to contain Thursday night's 2.7 million-gallon sewage spill. The 2.7 million-gallon spill occurred Thursday night. A pump failed at the South Marin Sanitation District's waste treatment facility in the town of Mill Valley, said Lt. Doug Pittman. The waste was released into Richardson Bay, an inlet of the large bay on the east shore of Marin County, he said. See the spill from the air » . The sewage and storm water was partially treated, according to Greg Renick of the California Office of Emergency Services. In addition to the pump failure, he said, an alarm that would have alerted workers at the facility to the spill also failed. The accidental release occurred between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday, according to a statement from Marin County's emergency operations center. But the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin didn't report it to the state until 11:16 p.m., Renick said. The state Office of Emergency Services notified local offices in the bay area within an hour of receiving the report, he said. The Marin County Department of Environmental Health was conducting tests Friday to determine how far the contamination had spread, Pittman said. Boaters were being warned to avoid the Richardson Bay area, and residents were told to avoid contact with the water. The California Department of Fish and Game has had a boat and personnel on the water since early Friday, and has found no sign of sick or distressed wildlife resulting from the spill, agency spokesman Steve Martarano said. Marin County is just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Chuck Afflerbach contributed to this report .

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CBS: Hussein claimed he didn't think the U.S. would invade Iraq over WMD . FBI agent says Hussein lied about having WMD to intimidate Iran . But the Iraqi dictator said he wanted to start the WMD program again, agent said . Hussein was captured in 2003 and hanged in 2006 .

Saddam Hussein let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate Iran and prevent the country from attacking Iraq, according to an FBI agent who interviewed the dictator after his 2003 capture. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an unknown location in Iraq after his capture in 2003. According to a CBS report, Hussein claimed he didn't anticipate that the United States would invade Iraq over WMD, agent George Piro said on "60 Minutes," scheduled for Sunday broadcast. "For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq," said Piro. During the nearly seven months Piro talked to Hussein, the agent hinted to the Iraqi that he answered directly to President Bush, CBS said in a posting on its Web site. "He told me he initially miscalculated ... President Bush's intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 ... a four-day aerial attack," Piro said. "He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack." "He didn't believe the U.S. would invade?" Correspondent Scott Pelley asked. "No, not initially," Piro answered. Once it was clear that an invasion was imminent, Hussein asked his generals to hold off the allied forces for two weeks, Piro said. "And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war," the agent said, referring to the insurgency. But Piro said he was not sure that the insurgency was indeed part of Hussein's plan. "Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency," he said. Hussein had the ability to restart the weapons program and professed to wanting to do that, Piro said. "He wanted to pursue all of WMD ... to reconstitute his entire WMD program." Hussein said he was proud he eluded U.S. authorities who searched for him for nine months after the U.S.-led invasion, Piro said. "What he wanted to really illustrate is ... how he was able to outsmart us," Piro said. "He told me he changed ... the way he traveled. He got rid of his normal vehicles. He got rid of the protective detail that he traveled with, really just to change his signature." Hussein was hanged in 2006. E-mail to a friend .

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Pictures of Nancy Grace's twins . John David and Lucy Elizabeth were born November 4, 2007 . Come back to this site for regularly updated pictures!

• The twins get a check-up (2/26/08) • VIDEO: Nancy Grace introduces on set 2-14-08 • The twins go out for a stroll (2/11/08) • The twins at 3 months (2/4/08) • The twins in January (1/21/08) • VIDEO: First video of Nancy Grace's twins E-mail to a friend .

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There are more than 44 million people of Hispanic origin in the U.S. The community includes diverse national origins, generations, languages . Some observers say enough similarities exist to project a communal identity .

Hispanics are described as the largest minority group in the United States, as a burgeoning force in the electorate and as an untapped frontier of the business market. Yet these descriptions belie the complexity of the 44 million people to whom they refer. Susana Clar, with daughters Vanessa and Virna , says the labels "Hispanic" and "Latino" are limiting. Even the terms used to name them Hispanics, Hispanic-Americans, Latinos, Latino-Americans, the Spanish-surnamed too tightly package the people categorized by those definitions, some observers say. "We are mixed and we are many things," said Phillip Rodriguez, a documentary filmmaker. Many of his films, such as "Los Angeles Now" and "Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream," explore the experience and identity of Latinos in the United States. Latinos "very often don't share language, don't share class circumstances, don't share education; it's very difficult to speak about them as one thing," he said. From a census standpoint, being of Hispanic or Latino origin means a person identifies himself in one of four listed categories: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban or "other Spanish, Hispanic or Latino" origin. In the latter more open-ended category, respondents can write in specific origins, such as Salvadoran, Argentinean or Dominican. According to a Pew Hispanic Center/Kaiser Family Foundation survey in 2002, that is how most Latinos choose to identify themselves. When asked which terms they would use first to describe themselves, 54 percent said they primarily identify themselves in terms of their or their parents' country of origin. About one quarter choose "Latino" or "Hispanic," and 21 percent chose "American." But the broader terms Latino, Hispanic are the ones tossed about when the media want to discuss a "trend among Latinos," or when a politician appeals to the "Hispanic vote." The U.S. government came up with the term "Hispanic" in the 1970s to generally refer to people who could trace their origin to Spanish-speaking countries. The term "Latino" refers to origins from Latin America, which includes non-Spanish speaking countries like Brazil. The terms are often used interchangeably, which is a point of some contention in the wider community. But do the terms carry meaning among the people to whom they refer, or are they merely governmental designations? "That's the way you call our people," Susana Clar, 52, said of the terms. She and her family emigrated from Uruguay nearly two decades ago, and she works as a vice president in her daughter, Vanessa Di Palma's, Salt Lake City, Utah-based communications firm. "Either you are Latino [or] Hispanic. I'm fine with that, but I think that we are so much more than that," Clar said. Manuel Baez, 49, a native of the Dominican Republic who owns an insurance agency in Tampa, Florida, laughingly answered the question of how he identifies himself. "Manuel or Manny," he said, adding, "We're being put together in this package and that's too hard," he said, stressing that he didn't like labels. He continued, "Dominican-American really represents who I am, instead of Dominican or Latino." He never uses Hispanic to identify himself because "I am mixed," Baez said. "Hispanic doesn't go with me because I don't believe that Spain was the best thing for Latin America." "For me...there is no such thing as a Latino identity," said Suzanne Oboler, professor of Puerto Rican and Latino studies at John Jay College at the City University of New York. "There's certainly a cultural understanding... [And] a political identity," she said, noting that the many different groups will join on particular issues such as immigration and wages. But she stressed that it was not a homogenous group. "Not all Latinos speak Spanish, for example. Not all Latinos are going to vote Democratic... All Latinos are not immigrants." Others, such as Carl J. Kravetz, a longtime veteran of Hispanic marketing, said similarities among the different subsets of Latinos do show a Latino identity, one partly fused through the group's experience in the United States. Kravetz heads a Los Angeles-based Hispanic advertising agency called cruz/kravetz: IDEAS. The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies embarked on a Latino cultural identity project last year when Kravetz was the organization's chairman to better understand a group of consumers they felt could not be adequately reached through the traditional Spanish-language market. There is "very definitely a Latino identity," Kravetz said. It is drawn along parallels in values and ways of thinking and regardless of country of origin, the group tends to "cluster" in a few areas, he said. Those areas include interpersonal relationships (Latinos tend to emphasize family; individuality is not as important), perceptions of time and space (they have longer time horizons and have a relaxed sense of privacy), and spirituality (religion and spirituality have a strong influence on Latino life and perception of the world). David Chitel, the founder of New Generation Latino Consortium, a group of advertising and media companies, also said there are definite cultural ties among Latinos, particularly between those born in the United States. So much so, he said, that he and others coined the term "new generation Latinos" to refer to them. "We're talking about people that have grown up here in the U.S. in Latino households, most likely with their parents speaking Spanish at home, eating certain foods at home, certain values and traditions that are instilled in them, from music to religious beliefs to the importance of family, these sorts of things," Chitel said. "And it creates very much an identity that is Latino." Chitel said this group of U.S.-born Latinos should be reached with culturally nuanced media, in the same way the African-American market functions. Still, some chafe at the labels. "Every time it comes up it just kind of annoys me and makes me mad," Anna Rivas, of Boulder, Colorado, said of her background. Her parents emigrated from Mexico before she was born, but she said she's never identified with the Mexican culture. "On a regular basis I get asked where I'm from," she said. "And I'll usually reply, 'My parents are from Mexico.' And I don't say, 'I'm Hispanic or Latino, or I'm from Mexico,' because I'm not." E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Clinton wins in Ohio, Texas, CNN projects . NEW: McCain clinches GOP nomination; Huckabee drops out . NEW: Clinton wins Rhode Island; Obama wins Vermont .

Sen. Hillary Clinton got her campaign back on track with projected wins in the Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries. Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed victory in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island. Delegate-rich Texas and Ohio were considered must-wins for her campaign. Obama, who claimed victory in Vermont, had won 12 straight contests since Super Tuesday on February 5. Texas also held Democratic caucuses Tuesday, but it was too close to declare a winner. "For everyone here in Ohio and across America who's been ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out, for everyone who has stumbled but stood right back up, and for everyone who works hard and never gives up this one is for you," Clinton said before supporters in Columbus. "You know what they say," she said. "As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Well, this nation's coming back and so is this campaign." Obama congratulated Clinton on her victories but downplayed his losses. CNN's political team weighs in on the results » . "We know this: No matter what happens tonight, we have nearly the same delegate lead as we had this morning, and we are on our way to winning this nomination," Obama told supporters in Texas. Sen. John McCain swept all four Republican contests on Tuesday to become his party's presumptive nominee. Read about McCain's victory . McCain won primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, giving him more than the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination. "I am very, very grateful and pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a great sense of responsibility, that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States," McCain told supporters Tuesday night. Watch McCain claim victory » . Mike Huckabee dropped out of the Republican race after the results came in. "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been, but now what must be and that is a united party," Huckabee told a crowd in Dallas. Watch Huckabee bow out » . McCain is slated to go to the White House on Wednesday to receive the endorsement of President Bush, according to two Republican sources. The Arizona senator's campaign his second run for the White House was largely written off for dead last summer amid outspoken opposition from the party's conservative base, a major staff shakeup and disappointing fundraising. But McCain said earlier Tuesday that he was confident he would emerge as the presumptive nominee by the end of the night. McCain overwhelmingly won moderates and conservatives in Ohio, but he lost the evangelical vote to Huckabee, according to exit polls. Obama's campaign pressed to extend voting by one hour in two Ohio counties. See county-by-county results in Ohio . "Due to reports of ballot shortages in Cuyahoga and Franklin counties, we requested a voting extension in those counties," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. A judge ruled to keep parts of Cuyahoga county open an extra hour. In Texas, Clinton held a two-to-one advantage over Obama with Hispanic voters, while Obama had the overwhelming advantage with black voters in the state's Democratic primary, according to CNN's exit poll. See county-by-county results in Texas . Eighty-three percent of blacks voted for Obama, while 16 percent supported Clinton, according to the exit poll. Meanwhile, 64 percent of Hispanics backed Clinton, while 32 percent went for Obama. Early exit polls indicate a distinct "age gap" in both states. Obama appealed most strongly to younger voters while older voters favored Clinton. Among Ohio Democratic primary voters aged 17 to 29, 65 percent went for Obama, and 34 percent went for Clinton. Among those age 60 and older, Clinton led Obama 67-31 percent. The same pattern held true in early exit polling from the Texas Democratic primary. Among voters aged 18 to 29, Obama led Clinton 61-39 percent, and among voters 60 and older, Clinton led Obama 63- 36 percent. Poll workers in Collin County, near Dallas, estimated that nearly three-quarters of the Democratic voters would participate in the Democratic caucuses to be held after the polls close. In an unusual system, the 193 delegates that Texas will send to the Democratic National Convention will be split between Obama and Clinton according to the results of both the primary and the caucuses. State party officials say the dual primary/caucus system promotes participation in the party. Both Clinton and Obama have encouraged supporters to do the "Texas two-step" and vote in both events. Obama came into the day with momentum on his side. He had 1,378 pledged delegates and superdelegates to Clinton's 1,269. Neither candidate is close to the 2,025 needed to win the Democratic nomination. Allocate delegates yourself and see how the numbers add up » . Former President Bill Clinton said in February that if his wife won Ohio and Texas, she'd go on to win the nomination. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Paul Steinhauser, Rachel Stratfield, Mary Snow, Mark Preston and Sasha Johnson contributed to this report.

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Grand jury upgrades charges against girl's mother and mother's husband . Presented new evidence, jury took just 3 minutes to vote for tougher charges . Riley Ann Sawyers, initially known as Baby Grace, was beaten to death . Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek death penalty for couple .

A Texas couple charged with killing the little girl known as "Baby Grace" now face capital murder charges, after a Texas grand jury upgraded the charges on Wednesday. Riley Ann Sawyers was moved from Ohio to Texas by her mother. Prosecutors said they have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against the girl's mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, and Trenor's husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II. Two-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers was beaten to death and her body was disposed of in Galveston Bay. Riley's body was found October 29 by a fisherman on an uninhabited island in the bay. It was wrapped in black plastic bags and stuffed in a blue, plastic bin. Her identity was not known at first, and police dubbed her "Baby Grace." Police sketches of the child were widely distributed, and Sheryl Sawyers, the girl's paternal grandmother, contacted police from her Ohio home to say the drawing resembled her granddaughter. DNA testing confirmed the child's identity. Trenor, 19, and Zeigler, 24, were initially charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence. But since the initial charges were filed last month the investigation has continued and police have gathered additional evidence, in addition to confirming Riley's identity, said a statement released Wednesday by Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk. Based on that, the grand jury was asked to upgrade the charges, he said. A three-hour hearing was held Wednesday in which grand jurors heard testimony from five witnesses, including police and FBI investigators and the medical examiner. The grand jury deliberated for only three minutes Wednesday before upgrading the charges, Sistrunk said. Trenor told police Riley had been beaten and thrown across a room and that her head was held under water before she died July 24. She said the couple hid the girl's body in a storage shed for one to two months before putting it in the plastic container and dumping it into the bay. A medical examiner said Riley's skull was fractured in three places that would have been fatal injuries. Trenor and the girl moved to Texas from Ohio in May to be with Zeigler, who Trenor had met online. Sistrunk said the investigation is continuing, and a decision on whether to seek the death penalty will not be made until its conclusion. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Kennedy: Bush drawing wrong lesson from history . President says withdrawing from Iraq will embolden terrorists . Speech is latest White House attempt to try to reframe the debate over Iraq .

KANSAS CITY, Missouri President Bush drew parallels between the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the potential costs of pulling out of Iraq in a speech Wednesday. President Bush draws parallels Wednesday between the cost of pulling out of Iraq and "the tragedy of Vietnam." "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush told members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, at their convention in Kansas City, Missouri. "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 said. The White House billed the speech, as it did next week's address 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. Bush also sought to shore up the perception of his support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, after voicing some frustration with him on Tuesday. "Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy good man with a difficult job and I support him," Bush said. "And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position. Watch Bush reiterate his support for al-Maliki » . Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, said Bush had drawn the wrong lesson from history: . "America lost the war in Vietnam because our troops were trapped in a distant country we did not understand supporting a government that lacked sufficient legitimacy with its people," Kennedy said in a statement. Sen. Joe Biden, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, invoked his own Vietnam analogy in a statement released after the speech: . "It's the president's policies that are pushing us toward another Saigon moment with helicopters fleeing the roof of our embassy which he says he wants to avoid." Biden said Bush continues to cling to the premise that Iraqis will rally behind a strong central government, but he believes that will not happen. "There's no trust within the Iraqi government; no trust of the government by the Iraqi people; no capacity of that government to deliver security or services; and no prospect that it will build that trust or capacity any time soon," Biden's statement said. But House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said more Democrats are "bucking their party leaders" in acknowledging progress in Iraq. "Many rank-and-file Democrats have seen this progress firsthand and are now acknowledging the successes of a strategy they've repeatedly opposed," Boehner said in a statement. "But Democratic leaders, deeply invested in losing the war, would rather move the goalposts and claim that a precipitous withdrawal is the right approach despite the overwhelming evidence of significant progress." Former presidential adviser David Gergen said Bush ran the risk of doing as much harm as good for his case. "By invoking Vietnam he raised the question, 'if you learned so much from history, how did you ever get us involved in another quagmire?' " Gergen said. Gergen said he did agree with Bush in one respect, though: "He's right, initially when we pulled back in Vietnam there were massive killings." On Tuesday, Bush had expressed frustration with the pace of progress toward political reconciliation in Iraq, saying if the Iraqi government doesn't "respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government." Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday shot back at criticism of his government, including pointed remarks from a U.S. senator who called his administration "nonfunctioning" and urged Iraq's parliament to turn it out of office. Speaking at a press conference in the Syrian capital of Damascus, al-Maliki characterized such comments as "irresponsible" and said they "overstep the bounds of diplomatic and political courtesy." Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh told CNN that al-Maliki was referring to comments made Monday by Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, who called on Iraq's parliament to turn al-Maliki's "nonfunctioning" government out of office when it returns in two weeks. Levin said al-Maliki's government was "too beholden to religious and sectarian leaders" to reach a political settlement that would end the country's sectarian and insurgent violence. In his speech, Bush said 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. "Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently," Bush said. 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. 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 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 the Petraeus report will have no effect on 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 referred to previous conflicts in Asia in talking about the war against terror in Iraq. "There are many differences between the wars we fought in the Far East and the war on terror we are fighting today," Bush said. "But one important similarity is that at their core, they are all ideological struggles. "The militarists of Japan and the Communists in Korea and Vietnam were driven by a merciless vision for the proper ordering of humanity. They killed Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force this ideology on others." Bush said history proved skeptics wrong about Japan's ability to become a free society and will prove those who want to withdraw from Iraq wrong. "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 said. "Today, in defiance of the critics, Japan ... stands as one of the world's great free societies." E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: D.A. seeks dismissal of Tim Masters murder case . Masters was released Tuesday; conviction was tossed . Masters convicted in 1999 of murder, sexual mutilation of 37-year-old woman . He spent nearly nine years in prison .

A Colorado prosecutor Friday asked a judge to dismiss the first-degree murder charge against Tim Masters, who spent nine years in prison until new DNA evidence indicated someone else might have committed the crime. Tim Masters, center, walks out of a Fort Collins, Colorado, courthouse Tuesday with his attorney David Wymore. Court papers filed by District Attorney Larry Abrahamson cited "newly discovered" evidence, but took pains to state that evidence didn't clear Masters. "While the newly discovered DNA evidence does not exonerate Timothy Masters, it clearly warrants a complete re-examination of all the evidence related to the murder of Peggy Hettrick," the court papers state. The motion seeks dismissal of the charges "in the interest of justice." It points out the DNA testing used to uncover the new evidence wasn't available when Masters was investigated and tried. On Tuesday a judge threw out Masters' 1999 murder conviction, and he was freed also "in the interest of justice." Although the motion signals that Abrahamson is dropping the Masters case, he did not rule out future prosecution. In a statement, the prosecutor cautioned: "Contrary to news reports, the DNA testing results only suggest that there may be others, along with Timothy Masters, who should be investigated. These test results do not provide us with enough information to completely exonerate anyone." Abrahamson said he has asked Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to appoint a special prosecutor to continue the investigation of Hettrick's slaying. The attorney general will announce his decision early next week, Abrahamson said. Masters, 36, has been investigated for Hettrick's murder since he was 15. He has insisted he had nothing to do with her death, and no physical evidence ties him directly to the crime. Watch Masters describe his anger at police » . A jury convicted Masters 12 years after the discovery of Hettrick's stabbed and sexually mutilated corpse in a field near his trailer. Among the evidence jurors considered were a collection of knives found in Master's bedroom, gruesome sketches and testimony from a prosecution expert that he fit the psychological profile of a killer. Masters' defense team said he was framed, and that police and prosecutors sat on evidence that could have raised doubt about his guilt. The significance of Friday's motion to dismiss is largely procedural, but Abrahamson indicated earlier this week that it might be unnecessary to try Masters again. "In light of newly discovered evidence revealed to me on Friday," Abrahamson said in a statement a week ago, "I will be moving as expeditiously as possible to make the determination of whether all charges against Timothy Masters will be dismissed." Abrahamson also has vowed to review all "contested convictions" in which advances in DNA testing may prove useful. He said he wanted to examine the legal discovery process and that he had met with the Fort Collins police chief and his officers "to discuss the critical flow of information with assurance that all information is available to our office and the defense." Special prosecutor Don Quick filed a motion earlier this month citing four instances in which police and prosecutors should have handed over evidence to Masters' original defense team. See the key players in the case » . Among them was a police interview with a plastic surgeon who said it was improbable that a teen could have made the meticulous cuts necessary to remove Hettrick's body parts. Also, according to Quick's motion, police failed to divulge that a renowned FBI profiler warned police that Masters' penchant for doodling gruesome horror scenes did not tie him to the crime. Investigations into how police and prosecutors handled the case continue. E-mail to a friend .

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Indian police covered up murder of UK girl in Goa, state's tourism minister said . Police arrest one man over the death of the 15-year-old . Mother of Scarlett Keeling says she thinks police have arrested wrong man .

NEW DELHI, India Police covered up the murder of a British teenage girl in Goa last month to protect the tourist industry, a state minister and local media said Monday. Scarlett Keeling stands on Anjuna beach in Goa a few days before her death. Officers had initially said Scarlett Keeling had drowned on Anjuna beach after taking drugs, but changed their story when the 15-year-old's mother protested and a second autopsy suggested she had been raped and murdered. A suspect in the case was arrested Sunday but Fiona MacKeown said she did not believe he was the man who killed her daughter. "This is a clear case of murder and it has gone out of proportion because the police tried to cover it up," Francisco X. Pacheco, Goa's Tourism Minister told Reuters.com. Indian media suggested the cover-up was an attempt to protect Goa's tourism industry. "They should have arrested this man a long time ago and this issue would have got diluted, but now because of the tainted image of some police officers in the case, things have gone out of hand," Pacheco said. Police said they were investigating allegations of a cover-up and the actions of junior officers. "There are certain things under my scrutiny and I have taken cognizance of all these issues, specially these officers," Kishan Kumar, a senior police officer overseeing the probe told Reuters. Keeling's mother said she also believed police were trying to cover up the truth behind her daughter's murder, and that they had arrested Samson D'Souza, 29, to make it look like they were making progress in the case. "We've had an awful lot of contact with people that have been in this situation before, and they've warned us to be careful the police will try and find someone immediately to try and put a front on it that they're actually doing something," Fiona MacKeown told BBC radio on Monday. Kumar described D'Souza as a "local Anjuna boy" who was a bartender at Liu's, a beachfront bar. He said police had confirmed D'Souza's role in Keeling's rape and were now trying to find evidence that he killed the teenager. "We have sufficient evidence to show that he was involved in rape," Kumar told CNN. "So far as murder is concerned, we are investigating further." Scarlett and her family arrived in November for an extended vacation in Goa, known for its white sandy beaches and dance music scene. Beachfront shacks house the bars that fuel the nightlife. MacKeown said Scarlett was left in the care of a trusted male friend and his aunts while the rest of the family traveled to an adjoining Indian state, but she told the BBC that she has had no contact with the family since her daughter's death. The mother said Monday she sent a letter to Goa's chief minister asking for India's Central Bureau of Investigation to look into the case. Goa is popular with Western tourists but several tourists have died from drug overdoses in recent years while women have been attacked and sexually assaulted. The Times Of India said 126 foreigners have died in Goa over the last two years and in January this year a 30-year-old British woman was raped. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Tess Eastment contributed to this report.

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Phrase in Obama speech similar to that of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick . Clinton: "If your whole candidacy is about words, then they should be your own" Obama downplays significance, says: "Clinton has used words of mine as well"

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each accused the other of borrowing portions of their presidential campaign speeches Monday. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, left, on the stump with Sen. Barack Obama. The Clinton campaign accused Obama of borrowing from a close supporter, and the Illinois senator responded by saying his own words have been used by Clinton. On a conference call with reporters, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said it was clear Obama had "lifted rhetoric" from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Late Monday, Clinton followed up with a swipe of her own. "If your whole candidacy is about words, then they should be your own words," Clinton said in Madison, Wisconsin. "That's what I think." Obama downplayed the significance of the accusation. "I've written two books, wrote most of my speeches. So I think putting aside the question ... in terms of whether my words are my own, I think that would be carrying it too far," Obama said. "Deval and I do trade ideas all the time, and you know he's occasionally used lines of mine," Obama said. Obama said he also used some of Deval's words at a Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Wisconsin. "I would add I've noticed on occasion Sen. Clinton has used words of mine as well," said Obama. "As I said before, I really don't think this is too big of a deal." Obama campaign officials said Clinton had a pattern of borrowing from some of her rival's signature phrases, including "Yes, We Can" and "Fired Up, Ready to Go." They circulated a YouTube video and list of these alleged instances to reporters. The Clinton campaign earlier pointed to similarities between the words of Obama and Patrick that have raised eyebrows and attracted traffic on YouTube. A central passage in a speech Obama gave Saturday aimed at convincing voters that his campaign is not just about lofty rhetoric is adapted from one that Patrick used in his 2006 campaign, the Obama campaign said when asked about it. The controversy is lost on the Massachusetts governor, who endorsed Obama. Obama's campaign had Patrick call the New York Times over the weekend and issue a statement. "Senator Obama and I are long-time friends and allies. We often share ideas about politics, policy and language," Patrick said in the statement. "The argument in question, on the value of words in the public square, is one about which he and I have spoken frequently before. Given the recent attacks from Senator Clinton, I applaud him responding in just the way he did." Watch a comparison of Obama's and Patrick's speeches » . The Obama campaign also confirmed comments chief strategist David Axelrod an adviser on Obama's Senate campaign and Patrick's gubernatorial run made to the New York Times about the speeches. "They often riff off one another. They share a world view," Axelrod told the Times about Obama and Patrick. "Both of them are effective speakers whose words tend to get requoted and arguments tend to be embraced widely." Responding to attacks from Clinton that he offers words while she offers action, Obama has been arguing that words matter. Saturday night at a gala for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Obama said to frequent applause, "Don't tell me words don't matter! 'I have a dream.' Just words. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words, just speeches!" In 2006, Patrick, fending off attacks from his rival Kerry Healey, told a crowd, "Her dismissive point, and I hear it a lot from her staff, is all I have to offer is words. Just words. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' just words. Just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' just words. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' just words. 'I have a dream' just words." Clinton has argued that while Obama provides rousing speeches, she has the stronger grasp of the issues and the knowledge of how to use the presidency to start making changes from "day one." Speaking last week at a General Motors plant in Ohio, she said, "There's a big difference between us speeches versus solutions, talk versus action. You know, some people may think words are change. But you and I know better. Words are cheap. I know it takes work." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Josh Levs, Rebecca Sinderbrand and Chris Welch contributed to this report.

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Sen. Larry Craig files appeal to get guilty plea in sex sting withdrawn . Craig criticizes Mitt Romney for quickly calling for his resignation . The Idaho Republican was GOP presidential candidate's liaison to the Senate . Craig stepped down from Romney campaign when news of his arrest broke .

WASHINGTON Sen. Larry Craig filed an appeal Monday in his continued legal fight stemming from a bathroom sex sting this summer. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, initially said he would resign at the end of September but then changed his mind. The Idaho Republican wants the Minnesota Court of Appeals to overturn a judge's decision refusing to let him withdraw a guilty plea to misdemeanor charges stemming from his arrest in June. "From the outset Senator Craig has maintained that he is innocent of any illegal conduct at the Minneapolis airport," Craig's lawyer, Billy Martin, said in a written statement. "Like every other citizen, Senator Craig has the constitutional right to make every effort to clear his name." Martin called the judge's decision "a manifest injustice." In an interview Sunday with Boise, Idaho, TV station KTVB, Craig said "we don't know what the appellate court will say to me," according to the station's Web site. Watch Craig discuss his chances on the appeal » . "Honestly, the appeals courts tend to defend the courts below them. It is my right to do what I'm doing. I've already provided for Idaho [the] certainty that Idaho needed, I'm not running for re-election. I'm no longer in the way. I am pursuing my constitutional rights." The appeals process could take months to complete, court spokesman Kyle Christopherson said. Craig entered a guilty plea after his arrest in a men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for allegedly propositioning a plainclothes police officer for sex. Craig originally said he would resign from the Senate on September 30 if he could not get the guilty plea withdrawn. He later postponed his decision until the judge ruled. After an October 4 ruling against him, Craig changed course, saying he would not resign and would continue to pursue his legal options. "I am innocent of the charges against me," he said at the time. The Idaho lawmaker's decision not to resign has created a political headache for the Senate's Republican leadership. When news of the arrest first surfaced, GOP leaders called for an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. They later applauded Craig's decision to resign. And when Craig announced that he would continue to serve in the Senate, GOP leaders did not appear pleased. "It's embarrassing for the Senate. It's embarrassing for our party," said Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who leads the GOP's Senate campaign committee, on the day of the judge's decision. "I think it's best for the U.S. Senate, it's best for certainly his party, that he just keeps his word." Romney accused . In an interview taped Sunday with NBC's Matt Lauer, Craig complained that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney "threw me under the campaign bus" when news of his arrest came out. "He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again," Craig told Lauer in the interview set to run Tuesday night, according to MSNBC.com. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, called Craig's behavior "disgraceful" and urged the senator to resign when news of the arrest broke in August. Craig was Romney's Senate liaison before resigning from the campaign. Romney spokesman Kevin Madden defended the presidential candidate's response. "Gov. Romney simply believes that a public office is a public trust," Madden said. "He believes when a public official enters a guilty plea, they have broken that public trust and should step aside for the sake of their constituents." Also in the Lauer interview, Craig and his wife, Suzanne, denied that their marriage is a cover for his homosexuality, according to MSNBC.com. "People know me and know that I would never do that," said Suzanne Craig, MSNBC.com reported. "That's almost like selling your soul for something." The senator has denied he is gay. "I love this woman very, very much," Larry Craig said, according to MSNBC.com. "The day I found her, I fell deeply in love. And we're heading toward our 25th anniversary." When she learned the story was going to break, Suzanne Craig said, "I felt like the floor was falling out from under me. ... And I felt like almost like I was going down a drain for a few moments," according to MSNBC.com. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Scott Anderson and Alexander Romney contributed to this report.

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U.S. puts sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, banks, individuals . Revolutionary Guard accused of supporting nuclear proliferation . Guard's Quds force said by U.S. to support terrorism . Sanctions mean financial assets of Revolutionary Guard, others, are frozen .

WASHINGTON The United States imposed stiff sanctions against Iran on Thursday, targeting two Iranian military groups and a number of Iranian banks and people it accuses of backing nuclear proliferation and terror-related activities. "What this means is that no U.S. citizen or private organization will be allowed to engage in financial transactions with these persons and entities," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. "In addition, any assets that these designees have under U.S. jurisdiction will be immediately frozen." Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made the announcement in a brief appearance before reporters on Thursday morning. Rice accused Iran of "pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon; building dangerous ballistic missiles; supporting Shia militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories; and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israel off the map." Watch Rice tell why sanctions are being imposed » . "Many of the Iranian regime's most destabilizing policies are carried out by two of its agencies: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or the IRGC, and the Quds force, an arm of the IRGC," she said. She said the sanctions were being imposed "because of the Revolutionary Guard's support for proliferation and the Quds force support for terrorism." The United States also designated three Iranian state-owned banks for sanctions, two of them "for their involvement in proliferation activities" and the other "as a terrorist financier," Rice said. "Iran funnels hundreds of millions of dollars each year through the international financial system to terrorists," Paulson said. "Iran's banks aid this conduct using a range of deceptive financial practices intended to evade even the most stringent risk management controls." The Revolutionary Guard Corps, he said, "is so deeply entrenched in Iran's economy and commercial enterprises, it is increasingly likely that, if you are doing business with Iran, you are doing business" with the corps. "We call on responsible banks and companies around the world to terminate any business with Bank Melli, Bank Mellat, Bank Saderat, and all companies and entities" of the corps, Paulson said. The move marks the first time the United States has attempted to punish another country's military through sanctions. Previous sanctions imposed by the United States have been tied to Iran's nuclear program. The United States has been working with other world powers to halt what they believe is Iran's intent to develop a nuclear arsenal. Iran says it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful reasons. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, said last month that Iran's declared nuclear material has not been diverted from peaceful use and criticized U.S. rhetoric regarding Iran. The Quds Force is blamed by the U.S. military for training and arming Shiite militias in Iraq and smuggling highly lethal explosives into Iraq, where they are used to attack coalition forces. Iran denies the charge. "If the Iranian government fulfills its international obligation to suspend its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activity, I will join my British, French, Russian, Chinese and German colleagues, and I will meet with my Iranian counterpart any time, anywhere," Rice said. "We will be open to the discussion of any issue. But if Iran's rulers choose to continue down a path of confrontation, the United States will act with the international community to resist these threats of the Iranian regime." Last month, representatives of world powers announced that unless a November report shows a "positive outcome" of talks with Iran about its uranium enrichment program, they will move ahead with plans for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on the country. The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Iran suspend enrichment of uranium and has imposed limited sanctions on Tehran for refusing to comply. The European Union is weighing its own unilateral sanctions. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kathleen Koch and Elise Labott contributed to this report.

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Sheikha Lubna was first female minister in the United Arab Emirates . Openness to foreign ownership is the "natural path", she says . If countries "lock up" interest due to protectionism there are other places to go .

Not only is Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi the first woman to hold a ministerial post in the United Arab Emirates, the first female minister of economy in the Gulf, and the first to start a Middle Eastern BB marketplace, but she's also the first minister - anywhere in the world - to launch her own perfume line. Member of Sharjah royal family and one of Forbes' 100 most powerful women, Sheikha Lubna took the post of minister for economy and planning of United Arab Emirates in 2004. Her background is in IT and before the government appointment worked at the Dubai Ports Authority where she gained the "Distinguished Government Employee Award" in 1999 for developing a documentation system that reduced cargo turnaround from one hour to ten minutes. In 2000, Sheikha Lubna founded Tejari, the first Middle Eastern business-to-business marketplace. As a result of Tejari (Arabic for commerce) 70 percent of Dubai's government purchases are made online, while only 30 percent of bureaucrats were web-literate before its launch. One of the cornerstones of Sheikha Lubna's work has been to allow for foreign ownership, so when John Defterios met up with her, he began by asking her about her upcoming strategy. Sheikha Lubna: We are looking with scrutiny at the companies a lot at the moment and we have several sectors. We will evaluate each sector, from the service side, finance, accounting. And any sector that we believe we need further development in terms of economic growth, then we will focus on that: on increasing the acquisition or the ownership of the foreign company. Defterios: If you look at the Middle East, specifically within this Gulf region, it's quite a radical change to open up specific sectors to majority foreign ownership. Is this society in the region ready for this move? Sheikha Lubna: Interestingly, the United Arab Emirates is host to 80 percent of its population coming from outside. We host 200 nationalities, so for us, the contribution to the economy has already started over 15 years ago with the existence of the expatriate community. So in many ways I think the openness is only a natural path: it's an organic path to continue the openness that exists. Foreign direct investment is not your own wealth. When you have your own wealth, you have a tendency to be complacent sometimes, because it's your money and you may not think you need to actually strengthen your infrastructure. However, if you look at foreign direct investment, it mandates you to be much more transparent, you have to be very diligent about your work, and it also creates new knowledge coming into the country and you can create more development through employment. Defterios: It's interesting, you read the front line of the DP World, P&O acquisition and the furor it created in the United States particularly within Congress. What are the lessons, not just from the UAE perspective, but the lessons learned from both sides during that whole process? Sheikha Lubna: First of all, I think it is important to understand, in this global world, there is a circulation of funds and there is excess of wealth that has to go somewhere. Liquidity of markets sometimes means you invest internally or you invest abroad. We've learned a lesson being in the oil crises earlier that you need to diversify your money and look into investment abroad. And we've seen this where the UAE invests in the Far East, Australia, Asia as well as in Europe and the United States. What's more important to understand is that if you're going to lock up your interest in terms of selling either because of protectionism or a particular idea in your mind that I don't want to sell to this particular organization versus another, there are other places. Defterios: That's not a veiled message your saying, that's pretty forthright this comment. Sheikha Lubna: But it's a message to all of us. If today I lock up my investment opportunity here, money will not come to me, money will go somewhere else. When I have investment coming from abroad, it creates confidence in this country that 'I am a global image'. So when I say it, I am not directing this as a message to a particular country. I am saying all countries are equal when it comes to regulation, when it comes to responsibility, when it comes to strategy in terms of attracting foreign funds and wealth coming to the country. So that's really a lesson that's very very critical. Defterios: A number of firsts: the first to start a B2B marketplace; the first female minister within the country, an economy minister; and the first to launch a perfume range as well. What is it all about? Trailblazing, setting examples, being an entrepreneur? How would you describe what you're doing here? Sheikha Lubna: Everybody laughs about the perfume. One, I think the United Arab Emirates, since inception (it's not from today but from the founder late Sheikh Zayed) has always given equal opportunities for women. But it's up to us as women to decide what is it that we can push, and what it is that we can do and not do. In my personal belief you need a bridge, you need a door opener for women. And sometimes women do not want to take the risk. Sometimes they are shy of achieving what they should be achieving. I had the opportunity and I had the trust from the government and the community, so to me, it is setting the example internally for the young women, and men by the way. Be it in technology, or economy or e-commerce. Defterios: And the perfume line is the exclamation point? Sheikha Lubna: A young woman, actually a perfume creator, who sells exclusively to Saks Fifth Avenue in Dubai, decided to create a perfume with my name. So I had two mandates from her. One, I had to smell it, otherwise if it doesn't smell good I'm not going to take it as a name. So one, I had to actually agree to the scent of the perfume. And it's an Arabic perfume by the way. And second, my mandate was that I would only launch it with my name for her, if she gives 20 percent of its sales and revenue to the Friends of Cancer Patients. E-mail to a friend .

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Iraqi woman perseveres because "all the people that I love have been crushed" CNN's Arwa Damon reveals stories of horror, tragedy among Iraq's women . Doctor says she wants all Iraqis to do their part: "I wish everybody would believe" One woman's husband was killed in 2007; his melted flesh is etched in her mind .

Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. Here, CNN's Arwa Damon describes the hardships faced by Iraqi women. Her documentary airs this weekend on CNN and CNN International. Nahla's husband returned to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He was killed in a bomb blast in 2007. BAGHDAD, Iraq The pain here is choking it's a dark, suffocating sorrow. "They took my husband away in front of me. I found his body in the morgue a few days later. He had multiple bullet wounds and his eyes had been gouged out," one woman tells me, forcefully twisting a tissue in her hands as if it somehow could ease her agony and erase the chilling memory. She didn't want her story told, too afraid that she would meet the same fate as the man she loved. Her husband's body bore the "signs of torture." How many times has that phrase been used? It's such a common phrase it's as if what really happened gets glossed over: skin scraped off their bodies, fingernails ripped out, horrifying screams of pain before death. How many times have we reported death tolls from one horrific bombing or another and not been able to get across that these are lives that literally were blown apart? No matter how hard we in the media try, Iraq remains a nation filled with untold tragedies, the scope of which so often is overwhelming. And no matter how hard Iraqis try to shield themselves and those they love from the horrors here, more often than not they fail. Yet they keep fighting. See the sacrifices of Iraq's women » . Nahla works at a radio station and is one of those women. She's tall, slender, elegantly dressed and has a firm handshake. I look at her and it's nearly impossible to imagine what she's been through. "This numbers game, you always think that you are exempt from the numbers," Nahla tells me, referring to the daily death toll. "You're pained by them, but you are outside of them." Watch Nahla's struggle to live on » . On April 14, 2007, her world shattered. There was an explosion on a bridge in the capital and 10 people were killed. Her husband, Mohammed, was one of them. "And with it, I am motionless," she says. "Truly, life was in color and now it is in black and white. I feel like it is a game of musical chairs we used to play with others. ... One time you are hit with the chair; another time, someone else is. Now, my son and I are out of the game completely, completely." The image of the man she loved, tall and proud, is of a doctor who moved his family back to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein because he believed his country needed him. He was a father who doted on their 6-year-old autistic son. Also etched into her memory is the image of his charred body, melted together with nine others, a twisted pile of black, scorched flesh. Yet Nahla's voice is calm as she speaks, only breaking at the very end of our conversation, when the pain, buried so deep, rises to the surface. She couldn't suppress her gut-wrenching dry sobs. I don't know how many times I have heard stories like hers after nearly five years of war here, and yet I still get chills. I can't stop being in awe nor can I stop looking at these women in amazement. Life in Iraq has forced people to confront horror that would leave many of us paralyzed. Watch a divorcee forced to live amid squalor with her kids » . Where do they find the strength to keep going? Some don't and choose to live out their lives as hollow shells, just waiting for this wretched existence to be over. But so many others refuse to be beaten down, refuse to allow the horror that is Iraq to win and kill their spirit. "If I want to see Baghdad again from before the war, I have to do my part while the other person will do his part and the other person will do his part," says Dr. Eaman, a children's doctor, as her bright smile seems to shine unnaturally in Baghdad's grim atmosphere. "This is the dream, and I wish everybody would believe it and it will happen, I'm sure, and this is what is keeping me here," she continues. "I have been attacked by three insurgents and was going to be kidnapped." She now lives at the hospital, choosing to disassociate herself from her 8-year-old son to keep him safe. Watch why "I must help my people" » . "I wish I can have him with me, live with me, you know, raising him, and just show him how to do things more than anything else," Eaman says as she laughs and apologizes for her tears. She knows she chose to live with that pain because she believes other children need her more. "Iraq is my life, is my country. Being a woman and knowing what other [countries] look like, I want to make a change. I want to make a change for the future for a lot of people." Yanar is another fighter, petite with curly dark hair and a commanding presence. "You have been beaten, pushed, kicked and blindfolded," Yanar says, describing today's Iraqi woman. "You cannot see, you cannot hear, but you are kicking back. It's not OK to be like that. You kick back and you fight for what you deserve ... you should not be turned into a prisoner." She started the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq to act as a watchdog to help safeguard women's rights amid war and conflict. She is another woman who exhibits jaw-dropping courage. Go inside Iraq with CNN's Arwa Damon » . She left her family and her comfortable life in Canada and came to Baghdad to build growing support for women's rights. She lives a life that at times sounds more like a James Bond movie having to constantly move because of death threats than that of a mother of a 9-year-old. "At many stages I had to change my house so my address is a secret; nobody knows where I am other than 10 very close allies," Yanar says nonchalantly, as if what she is saying is completely normal. But in Iraq it is it's a country where a person's parameters of what they accept as being "normal" have to shift to survive. "What brings me here," Yanar says, "it is that everybody that I love, all the people that I love have been crushed." She adds, "This cannot happen, should not happen, cannot be allowed to happen." What we as journalists cannot allow to happen is for these voices to go unheard. No matter how hard it is for us to find them literally navigating roadblocks and checkpoints or spending days chasing down someone the voices of the innocents caught in war must be heard. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Girl, 13, was disoriented when found under wing, mother says . NEW: Lack of major injuries "seems incredible," mother says . NEW: Rescuers carried girl 3.5 hours over mountains in heavy rain . Girl was only survivor in Panama crash that killed three .

PANAMA CITY, Panama The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed two Americans and a Panamanian pilot was awake and talking Wednesday, a doctor said. Francesca Lewis, 13, apparently fell out of the plane or was ejected on impact, her mother, Valerie Lewis, told CNN on Wednesday. The girl endured two days in the rugged mountains of Panama, in frigid temperatures and heavy rain, before rescuers stumbled upon her in the wreckage on Christmas Day. "She's doing all right," Valerie Lewis said. "She is having tests done at the hospital right now, and so far things seem good kind of miraculous. "The fact that she so far doesn't seem to have any major damage seems incredible." Dr. Alexander Quidano at the Mae Lewis Medical Center in Boquete, Panama, said Francesca was in stable condition, awake and speaking. She was being treated for a fractured arm and several cuts, but tests, including a CAT scan, were under way to make sure nothing else was wrong, Quidano said. Francesca apparently was disoriented when her rescuers saw her under a wing of the wrecked plane, her mother said. She thought she was at home and wondered why an airplane wing was in her house, her mother said. Rescuers carried the girl on a stretcher for three and a half hours in torrential rain over rugged terrain to a helicopter. "We're so relieved to have her with us," her mother said. The small plane disappeared Sunday in a mountainous area of Panama. Authorities found the bodies of pilot Edwin Lasso, American businessman Michael Klein and Klein's 13-year-old daughter, Talia, about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement posted on the Web site of Panama's civil protection agency. Francesca and Talia were friends. Watch latest from school the girls attended » . Rescuers planned to retrieve the three bodies Wednesday, said Thomas Mesa, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Panama City. Klein, a 37-year-old hedge fund manager, was vacationing with the two girls when they took the flight Sunday to photograph a volcano in Chiriqui province, about 285 miles west of Panama City. Authorities think the small single-engine Cessna ran into bad weather. Radio contact with the flight was lost about noon Sunday. Authorities and hundreds of volunteers spent the last two days searching the dense jungles and mountainous terrain, but heavy rain in the area had hampered recovery efforts. "I just want to thank all of the people that cared so much about trying to help us," Valerie Lewis said. "So many people tried to help, and at great effort and sacrifice, and through the Christmas holiday. "I mean, the most important family holiday, people were giving up that to go and trudge through the mud. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. We really appreciate everything that was done." Klein was president and CEO of eGroups Inc. in 1999 and 2000, when Yahoo! acquired the company, merging it with its own e-mail services and changing its name to Yahoo! Groups, which now serves more than 100 million users worldwide. "My heart goes out to everyone," Valerie Lewis said. "We all have been through a tremendous trauma together." E-mail to a friend .

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Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif has his candidacy papers rejected . Had submitted nominations papers for Pakistan's parliamentary election . Returning officer in Lahore upheld ineligibility objections from other candidates .

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistan election officials on Monday disqualified opposition party leader and former former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from participating in January parliamentary elections. Election officials say Nawaz Sharif's previous convictions bar him from standing for reelection. A spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League told CNN Monday that Sharif had been barred by the election commission because of a previous criminal conviction. Sharif filed paperwork for his candidacy last week, although he had left open the possibility that he would boycott the election in protest of a state of emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf. Sharif, an outspoken critic of Musharraf, who ousted him from power in 1999, had said he wanted to keep all options open. Sharif returned to Pakistan last month, ending seven years in exile in Saudi Arabia. He had first returned in September, but Pakistani authorities deported him within hours of his arrival. Sharif was convicted of terrorism, hijacking and tax evasion after Musharraf seized power in 1999. He was released in 2000 in exchange for agreeing to 10 years of exile in Saudi Arabia. He retained his Pakistani citizenship, but has not been allowed to travel to Pakistan or directly take part in Pakistani politics. Musharraf, who quit as military leader and took office for a third term last week, has pledged to lift the state of emergency by December 16. He was criticized of using the emergency to crack down on political rivals and to purge the judiciary of those likely to block the approval of his reappointment as leader. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Zein Basravi contributed to this report.

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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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European leaders agree to send 1,800-strong security force to Kosovo . Kosovo expected to declare independence from Serbia in new year . Serbia insists region should remain autonomous within its borders .

BRUSSELS, Belgium European leaders agreed Friday to send an 1,800-strong security force to maintain stability in Kosovo, although they stopped short of backing independence for the province. French soldiers at the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo last month. Kosovo is expected to declare independence from Serbia early in the new year. Serbia, however, insists the region should remain autonomous within its borders. Speaking at the end of a one-day summit of European heads in Brussels, Jose Socrates, the Portuguese prime minister currently holding the European Union presidency, said that sending the security mission was a "political decision." The police and security force is expected to be deployed to the Balkan state ahead of an announcement of independence. "This is the clearest signal that the EU could possibly give that it intends to lead on the whole issue of Kosovo's future, its status and its role in the region," Socrates said. According to CNN's Robin Oakley in Brussels, European leaders are trying to balance an obvious readiness to back Kosovan independence with incentives to Serbia, which is seeking membership of the EU. EU leaders are deeply conscious of their failure in the early 1990s to move early enough to prevent the bloodletting in the Balkans over the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, he said. Although most EU leaders support Serbia becoming a member state to boost stability in the Balkans, French President Nicholas Sarkozy said that Serbia's membership is dependent on it recognizing Kosovo's independence and handing over war criminals. Socrates confirmed to CNN that any fast-tracking of Serbia into the EU could only be considered if it agreed to hand over Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general wanted at the The Hague for suspected war crimes. Two years of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo ended in failure earlier this week, when talks mediated by Europe, the United States and Russia ended without an agreement. The disputed province is dear to the Serbs, Orthodox Christians who regard it as Serbian territory. But it is equally coveted by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, Muslims who have a 90 percent majority. Since 1999 the United Nations has been running the province with NATO peacekeepers, who still number 16,000. Oakley said the EU mission to Kosovo would help to ease the handover from the U.N. to local authorities. E-mail to a friend .

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GAO: Investigators took advantage of "weaknesses in TSA procedures" GAO: Those "weaknesses" were not detailed for security reasons . GAO said terrorists using same items could seriously compromise a flight . Transportation Security Administration: Checkpoints only part of total security .

WASHINGTON Investigators with bomb-making components in their luggage and on their person were able to pass through security checkpoints at 19 U.S. airports without detection, according to the Government Accountability Office. Passengers pass through security at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. GAO officials are expected to testify about the investigation Thursday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The investigators reported that most of the time security officers followed Transportation Security Administration policies and procedures, but investigators were able to take advantage of "weaknesses in TSA procedures and other vulnerabilities." "These weaknesses were identified based on a review of public information," the planned GAO testimony says. Investigators concluded that if they had attempted the same test at other airports, they would have evaded detection. But the GAO did not detail the weaknesses because they "are sensitive security information." The investigators obtained the bomb-making components at local stores and over the Internet for less than $150, according to testimony. Watch a tester point out a TSA mistake » . The GAO said its investigators also tested the devices that could be built with the components they smuggled and discovered that "a terrorist using these devices could cause severe damage to an airplane and threaten the safety of passengers." The GAO investigators devised two types of devices: an "improvised explosive device" made of a liquid explosive and a low-yield detonator, and an "improvised incendiary device" that could be created by combining commonly available products prohibited in carry-on luggage. The GAO said it found the instructions for creating the devices "using publicly available information," including Internet searches. According to the testimony, a transportation security officer barred one of the investigators from bringing an unlabeled bottle of medicated shampoo through the checkpoint. But the security officer allowed a liquid component of the improvised explosive device to pass through undetected, although that item is prohibited by the TSA. In another test, the investigator put coins in his pockets to assure he would get a secondary inspection. But the officer, using a hand-wand and a pat-down, failed to detect any of the prohibited items the investigator was carrying. The GAO said it had briefed the TSA on its findings "to help them take corrective action." In testimony to be provided to the same congressional committee, TSA chief Kip Hawley defends the administration's policies and procedures, saying that the screening checkpoints are but one of a "multilayered approach to security." "We recognize that, despite our efforts to make each layer as strong as possible, a concerted effort may target any one layer," according to the testimony. "Our ongoing success is a result of the tremendous power in the reinforced, multiple layers. Truly, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and together, they are formidable." Hawley sketches for members of Congress 19 security steps the TSA employs before, during and after checkpoint screening. "Each and every one of these 19 security layers is important and strong in its own right," he says. "Linked together, they are effective and daunting." Although it would not discuss the specific nature of its recommendations, the GAO said it recommended establishing special screening lines based on risk and passengers with special needs. The TSA should introduce more "aggressive, visible and unpredictable" measures to detect concealed items and develop new technology for screening at checkpoints. Hawley's said the TSA concurs with the GAO's recommendations and specifically discussed several "new technology" items that he said were "greatly improving our effectiveness in detecting prohibited items." Among the new technology, he said, were whole body imagers, bottled liquids scanners, hand-held explosives scanners and advanced technology X-rays. And, he added, "our pursuit of new technology is not limited to what I described today." He also said the TSA is constantly conducting covert tests of the screening process, including detection of prohibited liquids and IEDs. "The nation's aviation system remains secure," he said, "but requires ongoing improvement and vigilance to stay ahead of the threat of terrorism." E-mail to a friend .

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Amnesty International and The Red Cross released reports Monday . Amnesty report: "A climate of impunity has prevailed; the economy is in tatters" Amnesty says conditions for women have worsened with rise of religious groups . Vice President Dick Cheney describes war as success with challenges .

As the war in Iraq reaches its five-year anniversary this week, two of the world's leading humanitarian groups issued extensive reports Monday describing a crisis of huge proportions with little reason for hope. Iraqi women mourn the death of their relative outside the morgue in the restive city of Baquba, Iraq, on March 12. "Despite claims that the security situation has improved in recent months, the human rights situation is disastrous," Amnesty International says in its report, titled "Carnage and Despair: Iraq Five Years On." In a summary of the report, Amnesty writes that "a climate of impunity has prevailed, the economy is in tatters and the refugee crisis" keeps escalating. The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a report titled "Iraq: No Let-up in the Humanitarian Crisis," writes, "Despite limited improvements in security in some areas, armed violence is still having a disastrous impact. Civilians continue to be killed in the hostilities. "The injured often do not receive adequate medical care. Millions of people have been forced to rely on insufficient supplies of poor-quality water as water and sewage systems suffer from a lack of maintenance and a shortage of engineers." The Bush administration and many Republican lawmakers, including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, have frequently praised successes in Iraq in recent months, noting improvements in security in key areas. They attribute that in part to the buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq ordered by President Bush last year. Vice President Dick Cheney described the five year U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in a news conference Monday during a visit to Baghdad. "This week marks the fifth anniversary," said Cheney. "It has been a difficult, challenging, but none the less successful endeavor." Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have said the government failed to use the downturn in violence to achieve the steps it was supposed to make possible. Sen. John McCain met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday where he stressed the United States' commitment to Iraq. "We recognize that al Qaeda is on the run, but they are not defeated. Al Qaeda continues to pose a great threat to the security and very existence of Iraq as a democracy. So we know there's still a lot more work that needs to be done," he said. Amnesty writes, "Key political benchmarks have yet to be realized." Both Amnesty and the Red Cross slam the Iraqi government for failing to grapple with the critical needs of their populations. Amnesty also says the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led Multi-National Forces are responsible for some nightmarish circumstances. "Civilians are also at risk from Multi-National Forces and Iraqi security forces, with many killed by excessive force and tens of thousands detained without charge or trial," Amnesty writes in its summary. "The death penalty was reintroduced in 2004 and hundreds of people have been sentenced to death. At least 33 people were executed in 2007, many after unfair trials." In its report, Amnesty says the Iraqi government "has failed to introduce practical measures to deal with the gross and serious human rights violations perpetrated by its security forces. There appears to be no serious willingness to investigate properly the many incidents of abuses, including killings of civilians, torture and rape, and to bring those responsible to justice. "The government has also been unable to reign in Shiite militia groups, such as the Mehdi Army, or to rid the Interior Ministry of death squads. The fact that the government is divided along sectarian lines has serious repercussions on its effectiveness and bodes ill for the future." The two reports cite a litany of concerns, including severe widespread poverty, a lack of food and water, and broken families left to scrounge for whatever they can find to get by. Both reports describe a situation that shows no sign of clear improvement. Amnesty also says conditions for women have worsened with the rise of fundamentalist religious groups. Many women "have been forced to wear Islamic dress or targeted for abduction, rape or killing." The group notes a study by the World Health Organization in 2006/2007 that found 21 percent of Iraqi women had experienced physical violence. Amnesty adds that the "predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq has been more stable with fewer acts of violence, and has seen growing economic prosperity and foreign investment. However, here too there continue to be serious human rights violations, including arrests for peaceful political dissent, torture, ill-treatment, the death penalty and the killing of women in so-called honor crimes." The Red Cross says that despite the struggles in Iraq, the organization "has been able to help hundreds of thousands of the neediest Iraqis." The group called for a "renewed effort" to "address the needs of everyday Iraqis." E-mail to a friend .

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Sen. Barack Obama has electrified younger voters . Sen. Hillary Clinton has maintained favor with voters older than 40 . CNN has projected Sen. John Edwards will finish in third place .

Solid support from registered Democrats and women in New Hampshire were crucial Tuesday as Sen. Hillary Clinton rebounded from her third-place finish in last week's Iowa caucuses. Sen. Hillary Clinton has spent the past few days saying she has the experience to change Washington. She narrowly defeated Sen. Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary, with 39 percent of the vote to Obama's 37. "Last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," the New York senator said after her victory. "Now let's give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me." Forty-three percent of self-styled independents said they voted for Obama, and 31 percent said they backed Clinton. Independents made up 43 percent of all voters polled. Addressing his roaring supporters after the race was called, Obama congratulated Clinton. But he was a candidate determined to draw a distinction between Clinton and himself. "But the reason our campaign has always been different, the reason we began this improbable journey almost a year ago, is because it's not just about what I will do as president," he said. "It is also about what you, the people who love this country, the citizens of the United States of America, can do to change it. That's what this election is all about." But Clinton was ahead of Obama 45 percent to 34 percent among those who said they were registered Democrats. Those voters made up a majority 54 percent of all respondents. Clinton also claimed the majority of women's votes, according to the polling. That's in contrast to last week's Iowa caucuses, in which Obama surprised observers by stealing the female vote from Clinton. Analysts say that shift among female voters was crucial to the Clinton turnaround. "If I had a single word, the word would be 'women,' " said CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. "She got the women back." And Schneider said the support of union voters that put Clinton over the top. "Union voters have her a 10 point lead," he said. CNN projected former Sen. John Edwards to finish third. College graduates, who made up 29 percent of the electorate, opted narrowly for Clinton 38 percent to Obama's 37 percent, according to the polling. Those polled who called themselves very liberal, and moderate, went with Clinton over Obama although by less than 2 percentage points in each and those who said they are somewhat liberal were evenly split. Pundits also were citing the role of former President Bill Clinton in helping his wife recover from what pre-primary polls were suggesting was a deficit of 9 percentage points to Obama in New Hampshire. The former president spent Tuesday in Hanover home to Dartmouth College where Obama had been expected to win handily. "They dispatched him to the area that Obama was surging," said CNN analyst Donna Brazille, who managed former Vice President Al Gore's campaign in 2000. "I think it had the effect of tamping down Obama support and giving Senator Clinton a real reason to come back in this race." New Hampshire was considered crucial to Clinton's campaign. If Obama had been able to sweep Iowa and New Hampshire after months of Clinton being considered the front-runner among Democrats it could have given him powerful momentum going into future primaries. "Age is also playing a big factor older voters are overwhelmingly outnumbering younger voters a proportion that is clearly benefiting Clinton," Schneider said. "Sixty-seven percent of Democratic primary voters are over the age of 40, and they are breaking heavily for Clinton over Obama." Over the past several days, Clinton has trumpeted her experience, saying that she has delivered change as both first lady and as a senator. After losing to Obama in last week's Iowa caucuses, it was unclear whether she could overcome what appeared to be Obama's ability to electrify American voters who had previously taken a sour and skeptical view of politicians and the political process. The duel between the Obama and Clinton campaigns grew especially testy Monday and Tuesday. She said she had more experience than he, and was therefore more qualified. He accused her of representing the status quo of Washington. And on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Bill Clinton criticized the media for not pressing Obama more fully on Iraq, and accused the Illinois senator of shifting his position to reflect changing attitudes about the war in Iraq. Then, there was an issue unto itself Hillary Clinton's almost-tears. Clinton's eyes welled up this week while responding to a voter's question about her health and appearance. Pundits and voters alike questioned whether Clinton's emotions were sincere or faked as part of some strategy to diminish criticism that she is too steely, too cold. In front of the crowd of mostly female New Hampshire voters, an admittedly fatigued Clinton responded to a question by saying: "This is very personal for me, it's not just political, it's [that] I see what's happening, we have to reverse it." Her voice broke, and she was then applauded by the crowd. Polls indicated the show of emotions fared well with male voters, according to CNN's John King, but turned off some female voters. Edwards was followed in votes by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich. E-mail to a friend .

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Kuwait's leader dissolves parliament and calls for early elections after conflict . Cabinet resigned earlier this week after a power struggle with the government . The emir said he was forced to act to safeguard Kuwait's national unity . New elections have been set for May 17 according to state-run news agency .

Kuwait's leader dissolved parliament on Wednesday and called for early elections, after the Cabinet resigned this week following a power struggle with the government. Kuwait's emir has dissolved parliament following conflict between the Cabinet and govenrment. The emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, said he was forced to dissolve parliament to safeguard Kuwait's national unity, citing the fragile political situation in the region and his primary concern for internal security and stability. New elections have been set for May 17, according to Kuwait's state-run news agency, KUNA. According to Kuwait's constitution, elections must be held within 60 days of dissolving parliament. Kuwait's parliament, made up mostly of opposition politicians, has been locked in a feud with the government which it accuses of corruption and abuse of power. Parliament has continuously called for some government members to be investigated, which is what prompted the Cabinet to resign this week. Al-Sabah said he tried to get lawmakers and government ministers to reconcile their differences, but they only inflamed the situation through their statements to the media. E-mail to a friend . CNN Senior Arab Affairs Editor Octavia Nasr contributed to this report .

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NEW: Children's mother says Eddie Harrington had threatened the kids before . Harrington was last seen in Columbus, Georgia, March 5 . Police say he was depressed, threatened to kill kids . He took twin girls, 23 months, and boy, 3, from their home .

Investigators have found the bodies of three small children and the father who allegedly abducted them from their home in Columbus, Georgia, two weeks ago, the FBI said Wednesday. Eddie Harrington threatened to kill his children before disappearing with them, police say. "It is my sad duty to report that deceased bodies of these children and Eddie Harrington were located this afternoon," said FBI Special Agent Gerald Green. A coroner would confirm the identities, he added. The remains were discovered in a wooded area of Columbus by a person walking nearby, Green said. Watch the FBI say the bodies were in a car » . Eddie Harrington, 28, whom police described as depressed, took the children March 5, police said. Before he left, Harrington sent a letter indicating his intent to kill his twin 23-month-old girls, Aliyah and Agana Battle, and his son, Cedric Harrington, 3, officials said. The day before Wednesday's grisly discovery, the children's mother told CNN's Nancy Grace that Harrington had threatened them before. "He's just told me he'll do anything to keep me at that time, and he said that he was going to take them and ... kill himself and the kids," Agena Battle said. "But then later on, he told me that it was just to prove to me that, you know, what he'll do for me." Battle also described the moment earlier this month when she knew something was wrong. "I got home and I realized that the kids weren't there, and Eddie wasn't there either, and when I looked on the dresser and read the note, that's when I realized that my kids are in trouble," she said. A week ago, a tearful Battle publicly begged her boyfriend not to harm the children. "I am asking the public to please help me. I want my children home where they belong, with me," she said at an FBI news conference. "Please, if you see Eddie, the car or the children, please call 911. Please help me and keep them in your prayers." Watch the mother's tearful plea » . A child abduction alert was issued in Georgia after the children disappeared. "We have great concern for the safety of these children," Green said at the time. It was unclear what sparked Harrington's decision to take the children, authorities said. E-mail to a friend .

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Danish police say several arrested for plotting "terror-related assassination" Agency reports that suspects include two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin . Newspaper says the target was its cartoonist Kurt Westergaard . Prophet Mohammed drawings sparked protests in the Muslim world two years ago .

Danish authorities said Tuesday they have arrested three people who allegedly were plotting a "terror-related assassination" of a cartoonist whose drawing of the Prophet Mohammed sparked rage in the Muslim world two years ago. The cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed provoked widespread outrage in the Muslim world two years ago. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said police arrested a 40-year-old Dane of Moroccan origin and two Tunisians. The Danish citizen is charged with a terrorism offense, the intelligence service said, and the Tunisians will be deported. Police have not yet released the names of the three. The operation took place in the Aarhus area of western Denmark at 4:30 a.m. local time following lengthy surveillance, the intelligence service said. The target of the plot, the intelligence service said, was the cartoonist for the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jullands-Posten, which first published the controversial drawings in September 2005. The paper identified the cartoonist as Kurt Westergaard. Watch how threats have targeted cartoonists » . "Not wanting to take any undue risks [the intelligence service] has decided to intervene at a very early stage in order to interrupt the planning and the actual assassination," the statement by Jakob Scharf, the agency's director general, said. "Thus, this morning's operation must first and foremost be seen as a preventive measure where the aim has been to stop a crime from being committed." The uproar over the cartoons ignited after the Danish newspaper published caricatures of Islam's Prophet Mohammed. Some Muslims believe it is forbidden by the Quran to show an image of the prophet. Demonstrations erupted across the world in early 2006 after other newspapers reprinted the images months later as a matter of free speech. Some turned deadly. Many protesters directed their ire at Denmark, prompting the closure of several Danish embassies in predominantly Muslim countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan. Westergaard's cartoon depicted the prophet wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse. Westergaard said he wanted his cartoon to say that some people exploited the prophet to legitimize terror. However, many in the Muslim world interpreted the drawing as depicting their prophet as a terrorist. "Of course I fear for my life after the Danish Security and Intelligence Service informed me of the concrete plans of certain people to kill me," Westergaard said in a statement posted on the newspaper's Web site. "However, I have turned fear into anger and indignation. It has made me angry that a perfectly normal everyday activity which I used to do by the thousand was abused to set off such madness." CNN's Paula Newton said the arrests reinforced growing fears in Europe that radical Islam was trying to suppress free speech. "More and more Europeans feel that Islam is a threat to their way of life," Newton said. A recent Gallup poll for the World Economic Forum showed a majority of Europeans believed relations between the West and the Muslim world were worsening. According to the poll this sentiment was strongest held among Danish. Westergaard remains under police protection and does not know whether it will continue. "I could not possibly know for how long I have to live under police protection; I think, however, that the impact of the insane response to my cartoon will last for the rest of my life," he said. "It is sad indeed, but it has become a fact of my life." Carsten Juste, the paper's editor-in-chief, said staffers have been "deeply worried" for several months. "The arrests have hopefully thwarted the murder plans," he said on the newspaper's Web site. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report .

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Rodent the size of small car discovered in Uruguay . Scientists say the rodent must have weighed 1,000 kilograms . Small size of its teeth suggests it fed mainly upon soft vegetables and fruit .

Scientists have discovered the remains of a rodent the size of a small car which used to forage the South American continent. The 1-ton creature is believed to have been about 3 meters in length and 1.5 meters tall. The fossilized skull of the new giant rodent . The giant rat's skull, which measures an impressive 53 centimeters in diameter was found by Andrés Rinderknecht and Ernesto Blanco, two scientists from Montevideo, Uruguay. The two paleontologists stumbled upon the fossilized remains in a broken boulder in San Jose along the coast of Uruguay. By looking at the size ratios of the skulls and bodies of existing rodents, scientists determined the bodyweight of the rodent must have approached 1,000 kilograms or a ton, making it the world's largest rodent to have been discovered to date. The relatively small size of its teeth however, suggests it fed mainly upon soft vegetables and fruit. "We can give an educated guess that the rodent would have been 3 meters long assuming that it was similar to a Capybara (the largest rodent alive today) and taking it into account that large mammals generally have relatively smaller heads. It's tail probably was closer to the one of capybara or guinea pig (very short) and not like a rat," Ernesto Blanco says. The scientists believe the rodent, named Josephoartigasia monesi, roamed the earth about four million years ago at the same time as other giant creatures, such as terror birds, saber-toothed cats, ground sloths and giant armored mammals. During this period, the now arid region was forested and rich in vegetation. The largest living rodent is the capybara, a 50 kilogram guinea pig found in South America. E-mail to a friend .

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Atlanta surpasses LA, Philadelphia as city with most bank heists . FBI says it's the result of rising violent crime and increased number of banks . FBI: Expect more bank robberies around holidays . Bank official says most robbers get away with just $2,000 to $3,000 .

ATLANTA, Georgia It was an image that got the nation talking: Two giggling young women in oversized sunglasses robbing a bank. The "Barbie Bandits" helped their hometown earn the dubious distinction as the nation's bank robbery capital. Here one of the so-called "Barbie Bandits" is captured on surveillance video at a surburban Atlanta bank. Atlanta's FBI field division topped Los Angeles in reporting the most bank heists, with 350 for the 12 months ending September 30, 2007, according to the FBI, which annually names areas most prone to bank robberies. The Los Angeles area was No. 2 with 338 heists, followed by Philadelphia with 316. Just Thursday, two suspects overpowered a security guard at an Atlanta, Georgia, bank, took his gun, robbed the bank and fled with money in hand, police said. Eventually, police shot one of the suspects in an exchange of gunfire. Two more armed bank robberies took place in metro Atlanta Friday. The FBI says violent crime is up across the nation, especially in major metro areas like Atlanta. So it's no surprise Atlanta has become a prime target for bank robberies, FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett told CNN. Watch Hotlanta or Heistlanta? » . "This goes hand in hand with those figures," Emmett said. Atlanta's rapid growth over the last decade has also been a factor. A recent Atlanta Business Chronicle article reported that metro Atlanta has 26 more banks than in all of North Carolina roughly one bank for every 3,500 people in the region. See photos of bank heists in metro Atlanta » . "We would attribute a lot of that [bank robberies] to the growth and the fact that the banking industry has matched that growth with an increase in bank branches throughout the area," Emmett said. Atlanta's rise in bank heists comes just as Los Angeles has aggressively countered once out-of-control bank robberies. Los Angeles has gone from more than 500 bank robberies in the mid-2000s to this year's 338, the FBI stats show. According to the FBI, its Atlanta field division reported 350 bank robberies in the last year the most notorious of which were the "Barbie Bandits" and "Grandpa Bandit" robberies. The FBI says 122 of the heists were armed robberies, or robberies where a weapon was visibly used. Emmett said many more of the robberies were what law enforcement officers classify as "note jobs" where a robber gestures as if he or she has a gun on them in a demand note handed over to the teller. Also factored into the total number of robberies were ATM heists and a record nine armored car robberies. Those armored car robberies are particularly disturbing to Emmett. "Anyone that would confront an armored car courier knowing that he's already armed and in somewhat of a defensive posture, that mindset is very troubling for law enforcement," he said. While Emmett said there is no "typical" bank robber, he said he has seen some trends, most notably that they are often people battling drug addictions. He also said bank robbers are often repeat offenders. Two recent high-profile cases in Atlanta seem to confirm that. Two women dubbed the "Barbie Bandits" were arrested after working with a bank employee to rob a Bank of America in the Atlanta suburb of Acworth. They both later admitted to police to having drug addiction problems. Recently apprehended 69-year-old Bobby Joe Phillips, dubbed the "Grandpa Bandit," is suspected to have robbed seven banks in Tennessee and the Atlanta area and had a criminal history. Emmett says typically very little money is taken in a bank heist. Joe Brannen, president of the Georgia Bankers Association, agrees, saying "the average is $2,000 to $3,000. It's not as big a payoff as most people think it is." With the holidays in full swing, authorities are steeling themselves for a spate of bank robberies with robbers looking for quick holiday cash. "I would make the assumption that a large part of it is the increased [financial] pressures this time of year," said Brannen. The FBI advises banks to be extra vigilant this time of year and to keep a close eye on jittery individuals donning gloves, hats and sunglasses. But Brannen says profiling people like that can be problematic. "We've chosen not to go there. Here in Atlanta, lots of people wear head coverings for religious purposes. This is a free and open society," he said. He said customers want to come into a bank unimpeded that 99.9 percent are just customers, not bank robbers. Brannen says banks do all they can to balance convenience for their customers and the bank's need for security. "There is no good, magic solution." he says. Emmett said as long as metro Atlanta continues to grow, so will the number of bank robberies. "This is something that is part of growth. We have more banks. We have more people. We're a big city now." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Rusty Dornin contributed to this report.

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Michael Vick wrote five-page letter to judge seeking leniency . Former NFL star said he was wrong and promised to make amends . Vick's mom, Atlanta mayor and sports legends also sent letters to judge . Vick sentenced Monday to 23 months in prison in dogfighting case .

Disgraced former NFL star Michael Vick declared that "I am not the bad person or the beast I've been made out to be" in a letter to a judge asking for leniency. Michael Vick wrote he was "forever a changed man." "I have been talked about and ridiculed on a day to day basis by people who really don't know Michael Vick the human being. They only knew the football player which is unfair," Vick said in a handwritten letter released this week. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson sentenced Vick on Monday to serve 23 months in prison for financing a dogfighting ring and helping to kill pit bulls that did not fight aggressively. Vick wrote the judge that he had accepted responsibility for his actions, would pay restitution and never again use "a single dollar that I have earned for anything but to help people." Read letters from Vick, his mom, sports stars » . The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback said he grew up not knowing the severity of the crime of dogfighting and asked Hudson for "a second chance." Other letters supporting Vick were sent by his mother, his seventh-grade teacher and children he had met since becoming a star and one of the NFL's most highly paid players. Brenda Vick Boddie said her son fell victim to friends who took advantage of Vick's inability to "say no." "PLEASE Your HONOR give my baby Michael another chance. [H]e's never been in trouble with the law before, PLEASE! PLEASE! one more chance," she pleaded in her own handwritten letter. Former Falcons teammate Warrick Dunn, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and two sporting legends former home-run king Hank Aaron and former two-time boxing heavyweight champion George Foreman also wrote letters on Vick's behalf. E-mail to a friend .

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Stolen art can be lost for decades . Soft targets like museums entice thieves, experts say . Stolen Rockwell found in Steven Spielberg's collection decades after theft . Nothing glamorous about art thieves, expert says .

Steven Spielberg led the FBI straight to a stolen $700,000 Norman Rockwell painting someone snatched from a Missouri gallery. It was in his collection in California. The original of this Norman Rockwell reproduction was found in the collection of Steven Spielberg last year. Spielberg wasn't the thief, and he doesn't know who took Rockwell's "Russian Schoolroom" an oil of 16 pupils looking at a bust of Lenin. All the A-list director knows is he paid about $200,000 for the 16 x 37 canvas in a legitimate purchase. The FBI says its just one example of how pilfered art lands in respectable places. And it was an uncommon ending for stolen art someone found it. Recovering masterpieces happens in less than 5 percent of cases, said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, the FBI's Art Theft Program manager. Usually, expensive pieces go missing. No one knows who took them. No one gets prosecuted, and everyone wonders, "Why steal something you can't turn to cash quickly?" Art thieves do a simple risk versus reward evaluation, said Corine Wegener, associate curator of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Thieves know that "even if they receive only a fraction of the work's market value, the cash gained was at low risk of death or injury museums can be a relatively soft target," said Wegener, who's teaching a University of Minnesota class this month on art theft. But it could be years or never before the thief sees even a small payoff. In 1990, robbers took $300 million worth of certified masterpieces among them Rembrandt's "Storm on the Sea of Galilee" and Vermeer's "The Concert" from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. No one's seen them since. On Sunday, robbers made off with one of the biggest art hauls in European history, grabbing four paintings worth an estimated $163 million from the E.G. Buehrle Collection in Zurich, Switzerland. They took works by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. See what robbers grabbed in Switzerland » . "These paintings are extremely valuable on the open market, but they'll never go onto the open market. So at the same time they're both priceless and worthless," said Charles Hill, the former chief of Scotland Yard's art and antiques unit. "Some thieves may buy into the myth that a wealthy but unscrupulous collector will contact them and offer to take the art off their hands," Wegener said. "When this doesn't happen, the thieves often try to ransom the art back to the museum or the insurance company." One London art dealer, who said he has handled stolen works, told CNN on condition of anonymity that an insurance company would rather get art back at a fraction of its original price than pay the owner its insured value. Watch how art thieves operate » . Ransoming art to an insurance company through an intermediary adds "up to 10 percent of the market value, which ... given the art market, is quite a lot of money," the dealer said. David Vuillaume, secretary general of the Swiss Museums Association, told Time magazine that ransom may be what the thieves behind the Swiss heist want. "We are thinking that maybe in a week or two there will be a ransom demand. But we just have to wait and see," Time quoted him as saying. The museum has offered $90,000 reward for information leading to their recovery, Time reported. Options for art thieves . Julian Radcliffe, chairman of the Art Loss Register, which operates a database to help recover lost and stolen art, said ransom or reward are unlikely to bring results. "It is very seldom that people have been able to undertake a ransom," he said. "This gang might think that a reward has been offered, and that they'll get the reward." But in fact, "the reward won't be paid unless someone is arrested, or there is proper criminal intelligence," and that's unlikely to happen, Radcliffe said. He said the thieves may just be patient, willing to get their payoff decades later. Or the art may move through an underground network, gradually increasing in value, before being slipped back onto the legitimate market. Take Spielberg. He bought "Schoolroom" in an above-the-board transaction. "Usually, these pictures will change hands in the criminal underworld at a fraction 1 percent or less of their true market value," Radcliffe said, before someone tries to get them back into the international market. In such an effort, the seller may hope the work has been forgotten over time or they may disguise it as a copy or student re-creation. "They may try and sell them not as being by Degas, but as being a copy, or school, or by a follower of one of the great artists. And that is the ways in which they try and get them on the market," Radcliffe said. The original thieves rarely face justice, the FBI's Magness-Gardiner said. "The stolen items turn up years, sometimes decades, after the theft," she said. "Because a work of art does not require a title document in order to be transferred from one owner to another, a stolen object easily enters the legitimate stream of commerce. "It is impossible to trace them back to the original thief in most cases. Even if the original thief can be identified, there is also a statute of limitations on prosecution for theft," Magness-Gardiner said. What happens to stolen art? Even if the art is recovered, original owners may not get it back. While museum pieces are likely to go back to their collections, private owners may not be so lucky. "Russian Schoolroom" remains in Spielberg's possession while courts determine the rightful owner, a spokesman for the director said. But art stolen from a Los Angeles mansion and sold in Sweden remains with its Swedish purchasers, according to a case file posted on the Web site of the Los Angeles Police Department's Art Theft Detail. Even though the thief was caught, "the Swedish government refused to return the paintings, claiming that according to Swedish law, the auction buyers had purchased the paintings in good faith," according to the Web site. In the case of Rockwell's "Russian Schoolroom," someone took it from a gallery in Clayton, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, in 1973, according to an FBI synopsis of the case. In 2004, The FBI's Art Crime Team found out that the piece had been for sale at a New York Rockwell exhibition 15 years earlier and posted a picture and description of the painting on its art recovery Web site. Spielberg's staff learned of the search and told the FBI that Spielberg had it in his collection in Los Angeles. He had purchased it from a legitimate dealer in 1989, an FBI press release said. The agency also determined the painting was auctioned in New Orleans in 1988, but it has yet to determine who took the painting or its whereabouts from 1973 to 1988. Whoever took "Russian Schoolroom" from the suburban St. Louis gallery in 1973, or the masterpieces from the Boston museum 1980, or the works lifted in Zurich this week, shouldn't be mistaken for a high-society, tuxedo-wearing, "Thomas Crown Affair" kind of thief, Radcliffe said. "These people are the worst sort of criminal. They are just like the criminals who traffic individuals or sell children, or murder. "They are thoroughly unpleasant people. There is no romanticism in anyway that should be connected to it." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Paula Hancocks and Teresa Martini contributed to this report.

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Pete Sampras beats world nunber one Roger Federer in exhibition in Macau . Sampras wins 7-6 6-4 but rules out comeback to main ATP tour . Federer had won their two previous exhibition matches on Asian tour .

MACAU, China Pete Sampras rolled back the years to upset current world number one Roger Federer in an exhibition match in Macau on Saturday. Sampras enjoyed the spoils of victory in Macau after two previous defeats to Federer. Federer had one the two previous clashes in an Asian series in straight sets but was handed a 7-6 6-4 defeat in the finale. American ace Sampras downplayed his victory, noting Federer was coming off a long season and that he was helped by his big serve and the fast indoor carpet surface. He had only aimed to win one set during the three-match series. "Let's not get carried away," he said at a news conference. Sampras ruled out a comeback from retirement, telling the audience after the match, "I had my time in the 90s." Federer tried to put on a positive spin on the loss, saying he wasn't embarrassed to lose to his idol, but still showed some disappointment. "It's been tough beating my idol the last two times. I'm happy that he got me at least once," he said, but adding, "I hope we can do it again in the future. I'd like to get him back." The two players have won a combined 26 Grand Slam titles, but Sampras, 36, retired five years ago after winning the U.S. Open in 2002. Federer is coming off another outstanding season in which he won three grand slams and last week's Masters Cup in Shanghai. "I'm sort of surprised. This guy can play tennis, you know," the Swiss player said after his loss Saturday. Federer beat Sampras 6-4 6-3 in Seoul on Tuesday and edged the American 7-6 7-6 in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. In Macau, Federer was never able able to force a break point on the powerful Sampras serve, but had set points at 6-5 and 8-7 in the tiebreak. But Sampras saved both and a run of three points, capped by a forehand winner, gave him the opener. The ninth game of the second second proved vital as a forehand error by Federer gave Sampras a break point which he gratefully took with another fine forehand. Sampras closed out the match as a Federer backhand return sailed long. Federer said he thought Sampras could still beat the world's top five players on a fast surface. Sampras then predicted that Federer could beat his record of most grand slam wins "if not next year, pretty soon." "He's a great, great player. He's got things in his game that I couldn't do," he said. 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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President Bush: Measure is "essentially identical" to the proposal he vetoed before . Bill would have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance Program . Bush: Measure "moves our country's health care system in the wrong direction" Program covers 6 million children whose parents don't qualify for Medicaid .

WASHINGTON President Bush vetoed an expansion of the federally funded, state-run health insurance program for poor children for a second time Wednesday, telling Congress the bill "moves our country's health care system in the wrong direction." In his veto message, President Bush calls on Congress to extend funding for the current program. In his veto message, Bush said the bill is almost a duplicate of the proposal he spiked in October. "Because the Congress has chosen to send me an essentially identical bill that has the same problems as the flawed bill I previously vetoed, I must veto this legislation, too," he said in a statement released by the White House. The bill would have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance Program by nearly $35 billion over five years, the same as the measure Bush vetoed October 3. Track recent and historical presidential vetoes » . The president 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 addressed 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. Though the measure had strong bipartisan support, it fell short of the two-thirds majorities needed to override a presidential veto in the House and Senate. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Democrats were more interested in scoring political points with the veto than in reaching a compromise with Republicans. "We could have resolved the differences in his program in 10 minutes, if the majority had wanted to resolve the differences," Boehner said. "This has become a partisan political game." 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 wanted to extend the program to another 4 million, paying for it with a 61-cent-per-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes. "What a sad day that the president would say that rather than insuring [millions of] children, 'I don't want to raise the cigarette tax,' " said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She called for a January 23 vote on whether to override the veto. Meanwhile, Bush called on Congress to extend funding for the current program to keep the 6 million now covered on the rolls. E-mail to a friend .

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Four crew members of Seattle-based Alaska Ranger died, Coast Guard says . Others were rescued, but one person is still unaccounted for, spokesman says . Boat was about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor in remote Aleutian Islands .

Four crew members died and one was missing in the frigid waters off Alaska's Aleutian Islands after their fishing vessel sank Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. A crew member of the Alaska Ranger is taken on board the Coast Guard Cutter Munro. The Seattle, Washington-based Alaska Ranger was in 10-foot seas and winds of 30 to 35 miles per hour when it reported water was leaking into its steering gear compartment about 2:50 a.m. Sunday. The trawler had 47 people on board, said Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane, a Coast Guard spokesman. Four of those had been confirmed dead by late morning, Lane said. One person is still unaccounted for, said another Coast Guard spokesman, Lt. Eric Eggen. Watch a report from Lt. Eggen » . The 180-foot processing trawler was about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor, in the remote Aleutian Islands, when the crew reported being "overwhelmed by water" and abandoned ship, Eggen said. Most of the crew had survival suits to protect them from water that was near-freezing, said Cmdr. Todd Trimpert, a Coast Guard spokesman. No cause of death was immediately known for the four crew members who died, but "certainly, they were in the water a long time," Trimpert said. "Without a survival suit, generally your survival time is less than 30 minutes," he said. The company that owned the ship, The Fishing Company of Alaska Inc., identified the four who did not survive as Captain Eric Peter Jacobsen, Chief Engineer Daniel Cook, Mate David Silveira and Crewman Byron Carrillo. "They were incredibly brave, hard-working men," the company said. "Our hearts are broken." A nearby ship, the Alaska Warrior, rescued 25 crew members while the Coast Guard retrieved the rest of the crew, the company said. "We do not have sufficient information to determine why the vessel foundered," the company said. "We will do everything possible to find out what occurred with the hope that something can be learned that will be of value to the fishing community." Amy Roman, a niece of Daniel Cook, told CNN affiliate KING-TV that her uncle "died how he wanted to. "If you're a fisherman, you want to die out at sea," she said. "If you're a true fisherman, this is how you want to go." Survivors were being taken aboard the Coast Guard cutter Munro. A helicopter and a C-130 transport plane were also taking part in the effort, the Coast Guard reported. The sinking left an unknown amount of diesel fuel on the surface of the Bering Sea, Lane said. The fishing industry is perennially among the most deadly in the United States. In 2005, 48 fishermen died, up from 38 the year before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That made it the nation's most dangerous occupation for the year, with a fatality rate of 118.4 per 100,000 nearly 30 times higher than the rate of the average worker. E-mail to a friend .

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Ty Ziegel lost an arm, part of his skull when he was attacked in Iraq . VA initially rated his brain injury at 0%, meaning he got no compensation for it . Another vet: VA rejected his claim, saying his wounds were "not service connected" Ziegel: "I want to make the VA system better"

WASHINGTON, Illinois Ty Ziegel peers from beneath his Marine Corps baseball cap, his once boyish face burned beyond recognition by a suicide bomber's attack in Iraq just three days before Christmas 2004. Ty Ziegel, a Marine, was badly wounded in Iraq. He battled the VA over disability benefits when he returned. He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged. Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand. Ziegel, a 25-year-old Marine sergeant, knew the dangers of war when he was deployed for his second tour in Iraq. But he didn't expect a new battle when he returned home as a wounded warrior: a fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs. "Sometimes, you get lost in the system," he told CNN. "I feel like a Social Security number. I don't feel like Tyler Ziegel." His story is one example of how medical advances in the battlefield have outpaced the home front. Many wounded veterans return home feeling that the VA system, specifically its 62-year-old disability ratings system, has failed them. Watch Ziegel display his model skull » . "The VA system is not ready, and they simply don't have time to catch up," Tammy Duckworth herself a wounded veteran who heads up the Illinois Department of Veteran Affairs told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in March. VA Acting Secretary Gordon Mansfield said cases like Ziegel's are rare that the majority of veterans are moving through the process and "being taken care of." He also said most veterans are fairly compensated. "Any veteran with the same issue, if it's a medical disability, ... it is going to get the same exact result anywhere in our system," he said. More than 28,500 troops have been wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, including about 8,500 that have needed air transport, according to the U.S. military. See photos of these Iraq war heroes » . A recent Harvard study found that the cost of caring for those wounded over the course of their lifetime could ultimately cost more than $660 billion. In Ziegel's case, he spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Once he got out of the hospital, he was unable to hold a job. He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington, Illinois. Instead, he got a check for far less than expected. After pressing for answers, Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries: 80 percent for facial disfigurement, 60 percent for left arm amputation, a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury, right eye blindness and jaw fracture. "I don't get too mad about too many things," he said. "But once we've been getting into this, I'm ready to beat down the White House door if I need to." "I'm not expecting to live in the lap of luxury," he added. "But I am asking them to make it comfortable to raise a family and not have to struggle." Within 48 hours of telling his story to CNN this summer, the Office of then-VA Secretary Jim Nicholson acted on Ziegel's case. The VA changed his head trauma injury, once rated at 10 percent, to traumatic brain injury rated at 100 percent, substantially increasing his monthly disability check. Duckworth, the Illinois VA chief, knows exactly what Ziegel and other severely wounded vets are going through. She lost both her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade struck her Blackhawk helicopter on November 12, 2004. Her right arm was also shattered. Watch how Duckworth's wounds changed her life » . She told CNN she received "incredible care" at Walter Reed for 13 months, but soon realized the transition to the VA wouldn't be as smooth. "I started worrying about the fact that maybe this country won't remember in five years that there are these war wounded," Duckworth said. Garrett Anderson with the Illinois National Guard, for example, has been fighting the VA since October 15, 2005. Shrapnel tore through his head and body after a roadside bomb blew up the truck he was driving. He lost his right arm. The VA initially rejected his claim, saying his severe shrapnel wounds were "not service connected." Watch Anderson describe "my arm was hanging there" » . "Who would want to tell an Iraqi or Afghanistan soldier who was blown up by an IED that his wounds were not caused by his service over there?" said Anderson's wife, Sam. After pressure from Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the VA acted on Anderson's case. He has since been awarded compensation for a traumatic brain injury. "It upsets me that the VA system operates in a way that it takes people of power and who you know and what you know to get what you want," said Anderson, who is now retired. When asked about Anderson's case specifically, the VA's Mansfield said such cases make him "more dedicated" to fixing the system. In July, President Bush and a commission appointed to review the care of veterans returning from war announced the need for a complete overhaul of the disability ratings system, which dates back to World War II. The VA is now considering action on the commission's recommendations. Ziegel eventually won his battle. Still he feels for so many others he believes are getting cheated by the system. "We're feeding the war machine, but you never think of the war machine that comes home and needs, you know, feeding back home," he said. His family hopes they don't have to fight the VA again. In August, Ty Ziegel's brother, 22-year-old Zach Ziegel, was deployed to Iraq. "I want to make the VA system better because if he has to go through anything I went through, that's really going to upset me. That'll make my fuse real short and hot," Ty Ziegel said. E-mail to a friend .

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Two bombs explode in Algerian capital near government and U.N. buildings . Algeria blames group linked to al Qaeda . Official death toll is 26, but some sources say as high as 76 . U.N. officials say five of its staff killed and 14 missing .

ALGIERS, Algeria Rescuers are sifting through the rubble of the United Nations headquarters in Algiers hoping to find survivors after a powerful bomb ripped off the building's facade and leveled nearby U.N. offices. Rescuers and bomb experts search for survivors in the rubble of a destroyed building. It was one of two suspected car bombs that struck Algiers within 10 minutes of each other. The death toll is unclear: the official government count is at least 26, but hospital sources in Algiers told CNN affiliate BFM-TV that 76 people were killed in the two blasts. A statement from the United Nations said 45 people were reported killed. Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni blamed a militant Islamic group with ties to al Qaeda for the attacks, which also targeted a building housing Algeria's Constitutional Council and Supreme Court. In a posting on an Islamist Web site, the group al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility. CNN could not immediately corroborate that claim, but the Web site is known to carry messages, claims and videos from al Qaeda and other militant groups. In the posting, the bombers were identified as Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Othman and Abdel Rahman Abu Abdel Nasser al-Asimi. It said two trucks were filled with "no less than 800 kg (1,763 pounds) of explosives." The group called the operation "another successful conquest and a second epic that the knights of faith have dictated with their blood, defending the wounded Islamic nation and in defiance to the Crusaders and their agents, the slaves of America and the sons of France." At least 10 U.N. staffers were among those killed, according to U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe. The offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees located across the street from the U.N. headquarters were leveled by a blast that struck about 9:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday. "Our offices are basically destroyed now, nothing works," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said from its Geneva headquarters. Watch his full interview . He said rescuers are working into the night trying to get to the trapped U.N. workers. "It's a very serious situation still with the U.N. in Algiers," he said. In a strongly worded statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned what he called "an abjectly cowardly strike against civilian officials serving humanity's highest ideals under the U.N. banner." "The perpetrators of these crimes will not escape the strongest possible condemnation and ultimate punishment by Algerian authorities and the international community," Ban said in the written statement. He said he has sent senior advisers and other top U.N. officials to head to Algiers to assist in the investigation and rescue effort. Most of those killed in the coordinated attacks were victims of the first suspected car bombing near the Constitutional Council which oversees elections and Supreme Court in the Algiers neighborhood of Ben Aknoun, according to the state-run Algeria Press Agency. That blast struck a bus outside the targeted building, killing many of those on board, the news agency reported. One man said he heard the first blast then the second exploded in front of him. "I saw the trees falling and the glass shattering in front of me. I had to run away from the car," he said. Zerhouni said the attack was the work of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat , the same group that took responsibility for an attack in April in downtown Algiers that killed 33 people. That group also uses the name al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb after merging with al Qaeda earlier this year. It abandoned small-scale attacks in favor of headline-grabbing blasts after it joined with al Qaeda. CNN International Security Correspondent Paula Newton said the merger combined the expertise of Algerian guerrillas with the operational ability of al Qaeda in North Africa, enabling the group to penetrate the usually extensive security in high-profile areas of Algiers. She said the group's goal is to destabilize countries like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which it sees as enemies of the Islamic state. Zerhouni said police interrogations of GSPC members arrested in the wake of the April attack revealed that Algeria's Constitutional Council and Supreme Court were on a list of GSPC targets. Algeria, which has a population of 33 million, is still recovering from more than a decade of violence that began after the military government called a halt to elections which an Islamist party was poised to win. Tens of thousands of people died in the unrest. Although the country has remained relatively peaceful, recent terrorist attacks have raised fears of a slide back to violence. E-mail to a friend .

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3 Michigan residents and an Ohio resident named in conspiracy, arson counts . They are said to have set fire to an agriculture research building at Michigan State . Fire nine years ago caused $1 million in damage and loss of research records . Michigan State Police chief called fire 'a significant act of domestic terrorism'

WASHINGTON Four people said to have acted on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front have been indicted on a charge of setting fire to an agriculture research building on the Michigan State University campus more than eight years ago, authorities announced Tuesday. Three Detroit, Michigan, residents and a Cincinnati, Ohio, resident were named in conspiracy and arson counts for a fire at a campus facility that housed federally funded plant genetic research. Officials said the December 31,1999, fire on the East Lansing campus caused more than $1 million in damage to facilities and the loss of research records. They also are accused of setting fire the next day to commercial logging equipment near Mesick, Michigan, in order to sabotage lumbering activity. "This investigation has been ongoing for almost a decade, and it should be a reminder to all that the FBI does not allow the passage of time to thwart our ability to apply our full resources to a case," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena. Michigan State Police Chief James Dunlap called the case "a significant act of domestic terrorism." "This was more than an attack on a building and the destruction of valuable property," MSU President Lou Anna Simon said. "It was an assault on the core value of free and open inquiry at a research university." Officials said those named in the indictment are Marie Mason, 46, of Cincinnati; and Frank Ambrose, 33, Aren Burthwick, 27, and Stephanie Fultz, 27, all of Detroit. E-mail to a friend .

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Air Force says 2 pilots in good condition after ejecting from plane . Emergency responders on scene of crash at Andersen Air Force Base . Crash is the second in three days involving an Air Force craft .

A B-2 stealth bomber crashed early Saturday morning local time in Guam, according to the Air Force. A B-2 stealth bomber taxis at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in a 2005 photo. Two pilots who were aboard during the crash, at Andersen Air Force Base, ejected from the bomber and were in good condition afterward, according to an Air Force statement. The pilots were from the 509th Bomb Wing. The military didn't release their names. Emergency responders were on the scene of the crash. A board of officers will investigate its cause. The crash is the second in three days of an Air Force craft. Watch smoke rise from crash site . An Air Force fighter pilot was killed Wednesday after two F-15C jets collided during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico. The planes were from the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat-flying unit out of Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola, Florida. E-mail to a friend .

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GM owners won't need LoJack because cars come with OnStar option . Smokers considering fabric protection should check for policy exclusions . But generally, as long as you keep your car washed you don't need sealant . Some warranties offer transferable policies that let you "sell" it with car .

(AOL Autos) Okay, you've decided what model of car you want to buy. And you know, more or less, how much you want to spend or how much you can afford. You've kicked tires, talked to salesmen, taken a few shiny new numbers for a test-drive and you're ready to make the deal. If you eat in your car you may want to consider fabric or leather protections. Except, you're not quite done. You still need to decide whether to buy any of those "extras" that your salesperson will always suggest. Some of these extras have real value and are probably worth adding. Others ... maybe not so much. The list of "extras" offered by most dealers, may include paint sealant, fabric protection/leather care, extended warranties, extended 'one price' service contracts, rust/underbody coatings and anti-theft systems, to mention a few. We wanted to know which of these new car extras were worth it and which ones a consumer can do without. To get to the bottom of it, we thought we would consult an expert David Bennett, Manager of Automotive Programs for AAA. As it turns out, like most things in life, the answer often just comes down to what's best for you, depending on your own situation, budget or locale. Let's address these add-ons one by one: . Paint sealant . "I think that most paint jobs on cars are pretty good these days, so in most cases you probably don't need that anymore," said Bennett, who offered one caveat. "But that can depend on what part of the country you live in what the climate is, whether you get a lot of snow and ice, and what the road crews put down on the road whether it is salt, or if it is something that is less harmful to the paint. But generally, as long as you keep your car washed, and wash that salt off of it, and get it waxed regularly, that paint should last without getting the 'add-on' sealer at the dealership. Also, if you get a chip or a ding, get it fixed so the rust doesn't get a chance to set in and spread." Fabric / leather protection . These extras are fairly self-explanatory the dealer "treats" the upholstered or leather seating with a "protection" product that make the seats more resistant to stains or scuff marks. "This can be a good purchase, but the first question you should ask before buying it is, 'What kind of lifestyle do I lead?' suggests Bennett. "Do you have a lot of kids and are they prone to spill things? Or is your vehicle mostly going to be occupied by adults?" Do you eat in the car with some regularity? If so, and you're just too darn messy for your own good, a stain protection might be a good way to go. "Also, look at exclusions in the plan," advises Bennett. "If you're a smoker, and the plan excludes burn holes from cigarette ashes, and you're not diligent about making sure your ash is always short, that might not be a good purchase because of that exclusion. Each of these policies or plans is probably offering something different, and you need to read all of the exclusions before making that purchase, because it might not be a good one for you." If you want to save some cash, one option would be to forego the protectant and just make sure you clean your seats regularly with a good upholstery cleaner or leather cleaner. To remove spots from a leather seat, use a good leather cleaner and work it into the spot with a soft cloth. If the spot still remains, let it sit for a few hours. Repeat, as they say, if necessary. It's also a good idea , to use a leather conditioner regularly on leather seats to restore moisture and to maintain its appearance. Rustproofing . This is when the dealership applies various rust-inhibiting chemicals, waxes or sealers to the vehicle's undercarriage. It can also be applied to other rust-prone areas. Rustproofing treatments sometimes include a guarantee over a certain number of years. Keep in mind that some guarantees require annual "checkups" to re-apply the sealers or rust inhibitors to any areas where the rustproofing may have been damaged. "I don't think this is necessary in most cases," opines Bennett. "The way most vehicles are constructed today, they are not nearly as prone to underbody rusting as they used to be in the old days even in the north, where they get a lot of snow." LoJack Car Security System / Anti-theft systems: . The folks at LoJack Car Security Systems report that a vehicle is stolen every 25 seconds in the U.S. Using a car alarm is one way to protect your vehicle. But if you want to go the more high-tech "tracking" route, using a security system like LoJack may give you more peace of mind. The LoJack System, includes a small radio frequency transceiver hidden in up to 20 different places in the vehicle. The System uses a code that is tied into the Vehicle Identification Number . Then, when you report that your car has been stolen, the state police crime computer can match code against the state VIN database. This automatically activates the LoJack System in the vehicle emitting an inaudible signal. Then, police cruisers and aviation units that have the LoJack tracking system can identify the vehicle's location, track it and recover it. LoJack claims that over 200,000 vehicles have been recovered worldwide using their system, with over 100,000 of those in the U.S. "Whether or not this is a purchase you should make depends on various factors. If you live in a high-crime area, a system like this could provide you with peace of mind," advises Bennett. "But even if you live in a safe, low-crime district, your car can still be stolen from a busy downtown street or parking garage," he notes. One caveat: Some car owners may not want their car back after it has been stolen, especially if it has been seriously vandalized, or if it has been driven so hard that it causes some mechanical problems. Another thing to consider is that owners of GM vehicles that come with its patented OnStar system, probably won't need a theft tracking program, says Bennett. "Because the system allows OnStar operators to track the location of the vehicle if it is stolen. So if you buy a GM car with the OnStar system, you may want to pass on a LoJack or similar tracking system." Extended warranties . "This really does depend on how long you plan to keep the vehicle, because most of these extended warranty plans don't kick in until the manufacturer's warranty expires," advises Bennett. "And these days, those manufacturers warranties are three or five years, sometimes longer. "So if you plan on selling the car after three or five years, it probably doesn't make sense to buy the extended warranty." Some warranties offer transferable policies, which let you "sell" the warranty along with the vehicle. Others allow you to "return" the warranty for a pro-rated refund. Bennett also explains that not all warranties are created equal. "They usually have three levels of warranties: A basic extended warranty will just cover the powertrain, for example; while a better one will cover the powertrain plus some other components that are listed or an 'exclusionary' extended warranty may say it covers everything except those items that are listed. At the top end, the best warranty just covers everything, but that is also the most expensive." Bennett gives an example of one manufacturers warranty. "For a 2007 Buick, the basic manufacturers warranty is five years or 100,000 miles for the powertrain coverage, and the corrosion warranty is six years or 100,000 miles. In fact, that's the same warranty GM offers on their Chevy and Cadillac brands." "That's a pretty good warranty, so if you plan on only keeping your vehicle for five years or less, the extended warranty is probably money you don't need to spend." E-mail to a friend .

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Courtney Larrell Lockhart's mother says she's sorry for suffering of victim's family . "I never thought Courtney would do this," mother tells television station . Lockhart charged in Tuesday slaying of Auburn University freshman Lauren Burk . Lockhart is being held in the Russell County jail, authorities say .

In a television interview, the mother of a man charged in the murder of an Auburn University freshman repeatedly says she's sorry about the suffering the victim's family is enduring. Courtney Larrell Lockhart was arrested Friday in Phenix City, Alabama, about 35 miles from Auburn. "I never thought Courtney would do this. I never, never thought," Courtney Larrell Lockhart's mother Catherine Williams told CNN affiliate WRBL on Saturday. "But I'm sorry for that family and I'm sorry. I'm just sorry," she said. "I got nothing else to say. I'm just sorry for the loss of that family." Police announced Saturday that they had arrested Lockhart, 23, of Smiths, Alabama, in connection with the shooting death of Lauren Burk, 18, of Marietta, Georgia. Watch the mother cry and apologize » . Lockhart faces charges of capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder during an attempted rape, police said. Also, Lockhart is facing robbery charges in the Phenix City, Alabama, area, said William Clanton of the Phenix City Police Department. Clanton did not know how many robberies Lockhart was suspected of committing. Lockhart is being held in the Russell County jail, but is expected to be moved to Lee County soon, where Auburn University is, Clanton said. Burk was found shot Tuesday night on North College Street, a few miles north of campus. She died later at a hospital. Minutes after police responded to a call reporting an injured person and found Burk, they received a report of a car which turned out to be Burk's on fire in a campus parking lot. Authorities believe gasoline or another accelerant was used to ignite Burk's car, Auburn Assistant Police Chief Tommy Dawson said Friday. Police were investigating whether a gas can found in downtown Auburn was related to the case. Memorial services for Burk were held Saturday and Sunday at a Marietta church and synagogue. A campus-wide memorial service will be held Monday. A memorial service was held Sunday in Athens, Georgia, for another slain university student Eve Carson, the Athens Banner Herald reported. Carson, 22, the student body president for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was found shot to death in a suburban neighborhood not far from campus about 5 a.m. Wednesday. Her car was found Thursday, in another neighborhood to the west, about a block or two from where she lived with roommates. On Saturday, police released two surveillance photographs of a "person of interest" taken by an ATM camera in the Chapel Hill area, Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said. The person appeared to be using one of Carson's ATM cards and was driving a vehicle that was possibly hers. Curran called the photographs the "biggest break" in the case, which he said still appears to be random. Reminders of the popular student president appeared on the jerseys of the university's men's basketball team Saturday night as they took on Duke University's Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina. The top-ranked Tar Heels wore jersey patches that read "Eve." Many of Duke's fans donned small light-blue ribbons as a show of support. There was a moment of silence for Carson before tip-off. The ribbons and moment of silence say "a heckuva lot about Duke University," UNC Coach Roy Williams told reporters after the game. The Tar Heels won 76-68. E-mail to a friend .

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Claims that one woman died from cancer, another from fasting in cult's cave . Russian cult leader told followers world would end in May . Sect members threatened to commit suicide if authorities tried to intervene .

MOSCOW, Russia A cult member who spent several months holed up in a cave with dozens of other people anticipating the end of the world claimed Wednesday that two women died and were buried inside. An above-ground kitchen used by the doomsday cult in the Penza region during the summer. The former cave-dweller, Vitaly Nedogon, relayed his claims to Russian TV journalists, according to Anton Sharonov, a spokesman for the administration of Penza, a region southeast of Moscow. The official said Nedogon did not report the information to police or authorities. Once the rest of the apocalyptic sect leaves the cave, investigators will move in to try to confirm Nedogon's report, Sharonov said. Nedogon and others left the cave, said to be near the village of Nikolskoye, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Russian capital, about a week ago, after part of its ceiling collapsed. He claimed two women died at different times during the cult's seclusion, which began in November 2007. One woman died of cancer and the other from excessive fasting, he told the media. "However," Sharonov told the Russian news agency Interfax, "the Penza regional administration is of the view that these deaths must be proven legally, which is possible only if all the people leave the cave so that investigative officials can examine it." Sharonov said those who remain in the cave told Penza officials during negotiations that they would come out by the Russian Orthodox Easter, on April 27. He said officials believe 11 people are left in the cave, but only nine will be alive if Nedogon's report is true. According to Interfax, Penza Deputy Governor Oleg Melnichenko, who is leading the local effort to resolve the situation, said he was unaware of any deaths in the cave. The cave ordeal began when Kuznetsov, the group's leader, told his followers to hide themselves to await the end of the world, which he predicted would take place in May. They had threatened to commit mass suicide if authorities tried to intervene. Thirty-five sect members are believed to have entered the cave initially, Interfax said. E-mail to a friend . From CNN's Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow.

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At age 6, Elaine Sonnen says, her son, Richard, wanted to kill her . Fed up with bullying, Richard says he plotted to kill eight classmates . Elaine immediately sought mental help for her son after learning of his plan . Richard spent 16 months in mental institutions and now lives on his own .

GREENCREEK, Idaho It was just 2½ years ago when Elaine Sonnen found out that her 16-year-old son, Richard, had been planning a Columbine-style attack at his high school. Richard Sonnen spent 16 months in mental health institutions after plotting to kill his high school classmates. It would be a fitting payback to his high school classmates who Richard said relentlessly bullied him. "I always wanted to get back at them," Richard Sonnen said of his classmates. "I always wanted to strangle them. ... I was always mad. I was always angry and I would come home and cry to mom and dad." Both Richard and Elaine Sonnen spoke to CNN at the 45-acre family farm. Unlike Columbine and recent school shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech, Elaine Sonnen did see the warning signs in her son and was able to stop him. Elaine and her husband, Tom, adopted Richard from a Bulgarian orphanage when he was just 4½ years old. "I mean, we just loved him, and he was just a big sparkle of life," she said. But only a few months after they brought him home, they began to see another side of their son. He was angry and unpredictable. Elaine Sonnen says that at age 6, Richard told her he wanted to kill her. She said he would shake with anger to the point that he'd scream at her, telling her he wanted to destroy her. "People thought he was just the greatest kid in the world. Very polite, well-mannered, caring," Elaine Sonnen remembered. "At home, he could be anywhere from just a really helpful kid to a monster. A terrifying monster." Mother says son had 'two' personalities » . In junior high, he said, "evil" classmates started picking on him. Boys and girls, he said, bullied him until he couldn't take it anymore. "I always wanted to get revenge," he said. By the eighth grade, Richard was put on anti-psychotic medications. He had been diagnosed as bipolar and was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and other disorders. In 1999, when the Columbine shootings happened, the Sonnens feared that Richard might do the same thing one day. "We stopped and looked at each other and said, 'This could be Richard; some day this could be him,' " Elaine Sonnen said. Years later, during his junior year in high school, they were right. Fed up with the bullies, Richard says, he felt like an outcast and started looking for a way to get even. Secretly, he began reading books about Columbine in his school library. The shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, became his heroes. "They planned it out so perfectly and so meticulously ... that I just, wow, you know," he said. "They're my gods." Watch a preview of "Campus Rage" » . He even created a hit list of the classmates he planned to kill at Prairie High School in Cottonwood, Idaho. "My plan was to set around bombs around the school. ... I analyzed a lot of where everybody sat and where everybody did their thing," he said. "I had pinpoints of where I wanted to go, where I wanted to do it." Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack, who consulted on a 2002 federal government study of school shootings, said it found that most school shooters often had feelings of anger, sadness and isolation as well as homicidal and suicidal thoughts. "We see a young man who obviously is telling us how depressed he was, how angry he was and how much he looked up to people who we know are very disturbed and very dangerous, and how close he came to killing people," said Pollack, who watched CNN's interview with Richard. Elaine Sonnen found out about her son's plan during a conversation with him. She ordered him to write down the names of the eight students he wanted dead and then gave the list to his caseworker the next day. Later, he added a teacher and his mother and sister to the hit list. She took immediate action and had her son committed to an Idaho mental institution. Over the next 16 months, he received treatment at several mental health facilities throughout Idaho. "There, I opened up. I felt better. I moved on with myself," Richard said. "They felt at that point ... they had done everything they could do for him," Elaine Sonnen added. "He was doing great. He could make it on his own. They had no question." In January 2007, after almost a year and a half in mental institutions, Richard Sonnen started a new life at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. He was taking a cocktail of three anti-psychotic drugs to help him function. "[For] the first time in 12 years, I was able to hold my son," said Elaine Sonnen. "So I knew he was on the road to be well." Everything seemed to be looking up, but in April 2007, three days after the Virginia Tech massacre, Richard's mother received a call from police. They told her Richard had made about four threats to carry out shootings at Lewis Clark State College and Lewiston High School. Police told her Richard planned to go home, get some guns and go back to school to pull off a sniper attack from a clock tower on the college's campus, she said. Police took him into protective custody and searched his apartment for clues. But, in the end, he was released because, authorities say, they didn't have enough evidence to charge him with a crime. Richard said the whole incident was a big misunderstanding. He said he was telling people about his high school plot and never threatened his college or local high school. But his mother doesn't believe his version of the story. "No. I believe he made those threats," she said. "I still believe it." Richard, now 19, signed an order banning him from campus for one year. Today, he lives on his own in Washington state. He's still on medication but not seeing a psychiatrist. Since he's over the age of 18, his mom can't force him to go. Is Elaine Sonnen still afraid of her son? "Yeah, at times, I'm very afraid," she said. "Because he still has a lot of anger towards me." She said the signs are still there, and she fears what could happen if he ever stops taking his medicine. "He's not getting the help and the insight from a professional that could see the signs," she said. "Because as a person with a mental illness, you have skewed thinking." Even though Richard calls her the "greatest person in the world," Elaine Sonnen protects the family by keeping an alarm on her son's bedroom door when he comes home to visit. So why are Richard Sonnen and his mother, Elaine, speaking out now? In the wake of the Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech shootings, Richard wants young people experiencing the same symptoms he had to seek out help. His mother wants parents and authorities to listen for warning signs and to act fast and decisively. E-mail to a friend .

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Second-placed Ajax held 2-2 at home by Vitesse Arnhem in Dutch Eredivisie . The Amsterdam side now trail league leaders PSV Eindhoven by five points . PSV defeated Excelsior 2-0 on Saturday to open up six-point gap at top .

AMSTERDAM, Holland Ajax lost ground on Dutch league leaders PSV Eindhoven after being held to a 2-2 draw at Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday. Ajax's Leonardo, front in blue, duels for the ball with Sebastien Sansoni and Abubakari Yakubu of Vitesse. The Amsterdam side led 2-1 with two goals in four minutes just after half-time from Urby Emanuelson and Luis Suarez following Mads Junker's early opener, but Harrie Gommans rescued a draw. Ajax are now five points adrift of PSV, who beat Excelsior 2-1 on Saturday, with Heerenveen, Feyenoord and Groningen just one point further back. Feyenoord were held 1-1 at home by Groningen on Sunday, with Marcus Berg putting the visitors on course for a 13th win of the season until an own goal by Mark-Jan Fledderus on the stroke of half-time gave the Rotterdam side a point. At the other end of the table, Heracles registered their first away win of the season with a 5-0 thumping of fellow strugglers Venlo. Relegation-threatened Sparta Rotterdam and NEC Nijmegen both picked up vital victories. Sparta won 2-1 at sixth-placed Twente Enschede as goals from Yuri Rose and Charles Dissels on 28 and 51 minutes kept the visitors above of second-bottom Nijmegen on goal difference. NEC won 2-0 at home to ninth-placed Utrecht, the club's first victory since early November, as Jhonny van Beukering and Brett Holman netted in the second half. E-mail to a friend .

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Queen Elizabeth opens Heathrow Airport's $8.6 billion new Terminal 5 . The new building took more than 15 years to complete following protests . Launch a day after security scare at one of world's busiest international airports . A lone man ran onto a Heathrow runway carrying a backpack on Thursday .

LONDON, England Queen Elizabeth helped launch Heathrow's $8.6 billion new Terminal 5 on Friday as part of the British airport's rejuvenation plan to maintain its status as one of the world's most important transport hubs. A general view of the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport prior to its official opening on Friday. The British monarch, who also opened Heathrow's first passenger terminal in 1955, was present under strict security a day after a man carrying a backpack was arrested for running onto a runway at the airport. The first flights from the new terminal are scheduled for March 27. Its opening has come after 15 years of planning and construction by its owners BAA and protests by local residents and environmental groups. It is part of a strategy which could lead to passenger numbers almost doubling to 122 million a year, with a sixth terminal and a third runway in the pipeline despite some vociferous opposition. Spanish-owned BAA, which also runs Gatwick and Stansted in Britain, also plans to eventually demolish Terminals 1 and 2 and replace them in a project called Heathrow East. Watch Queen Elizabeth meet airport staff. » . Residents were once told by BAA that there would be no fifth terminal, but the company is planning to forge further ahead despite the concerns of environmental groups. "Terminal 5 stands as a monument to the binge-flying culture this Government has done so much to encourage," Greenpeace transport campaigner Anita Goldsmith told the UK Press Association. "It's part of an obsession with expansion which can only mean more flights, more emissions and more climate change." Richard Dyer of Friends of the Earth added: "If the Government is serious about tackling climate change, the opening of Terminal 5 must mark the end of airport expansion in Britain. "Further expansion of Heathrow would be environmentally irresponsible and isn't necessary for the economy of London." However, business groups welcomed the expansion at Heathrow. "Thriving, growing airports are vital to help maintain Britain's economic competitiveness," Neil Pakey, chairman of the Airport Operators' Association, told PA. "Domestic air links to Heathrow are particularly valuable for the regional economies, and this new terminal will undoubtedly provide them with a much-needed boost. The passage of the current Planning Bill must ensure that this is the last airport which has to endure such an absurdly protracted planning process." See British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh's views on the terminal. » . Visit London chief executive James Bidwell said: "T5 will provide visitors to London and the UK with a spectacular first impression and alleviate the pressure experienced at Heathrow, the world's busiest airport. "The terminal's smoother check-in process and state-of-the-art baggage management system will certainly better the tourist experience and should help improve the airport's international reputation." E-mail to a friend .

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Soyuz capsule lands hundreds of kilometers off-target . Capsule was carrying South Korea's first astronaut . Landing is second time Soyuz capsule has gone awry .

MOSCOW, Russia Russian space officials say the crew of the Soyuz space ship is resting after a rough ride back to Earth. A South Korean bioengineer was one of three people on board the Soyuz capsule. The craft carrying South Korea's first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan on Saturday, 260 miles (418 kilometers) off its mark, they said. Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the condition of the crew South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko was satisfactory, though the three had been subjected to severe G-forces during the re-entry. Search helicopters took 25 minutes to find the capsule and determine that the crew was unharmed. Officials said the craft followed a very steep trajectory that subjects the crew to gravitational forces of up to 10 times those on Earth. Interfax reported that the spacecraft's landing was rough. This is not the first time a spacecraft veered from its planned trajectory during landing. In October, the Soyuz capsule landed 70 kilometers from the planned area because of a damaged control cable. The capsule was carrying two Russian cosmonauts and the first Malaysian astronaut. E-mail to a friend .

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Police said man lost his balance on an escalator as fans left the stadium . He died about 25 minutes later at Booth Memorial Hospital . Police are investigating the death as an accident .

NEW YORK The daughter of a man who died after falling four stories at Shea Stadium said her father was not sliding down the escalator when the accident happened, as police reported. A statement from the New York Police Department on Tuesday said witnesses saw 36-year-old Antonio Nararainsami of Brooklyn sitting on the banister of the escalator when he lost his balance and fell. Nararainsami's daughter, Emily, told CNN affiliate WABC on Tuesday that her father was walking down the escalator, not sliding on its banister, as fans left the stadium after the New York Mets-Washington Nationals game. She said she and another relative saw what happened. "He wasn't moving or nothing; he was just walking down. I guess he tried to say something to us or something, and I guess he just lost his balance and flipped over," she said. Nararainsami died at Booth Memorial Hospital about 25 minutes after the 10 p.m. incident. Police are investigating the death as an accident. E-mail to a friend .

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Judge: Heather Mills "a less than impressive witness" Paul McCartney's ex-wife received nearly $50M payout in divorce ruling . Ruling follows collapse of ex-Beatle's four-year marriage to former model .

LONDON, England Heather Mills presented "less than candid" testimony about her life with former Beatle Paul McCartney during her divorce case and made more money during their marriage than before, according to a ruling released Tuesday. McCartney's lawyer Fiona Shackleton, left, pictured after it is alleged Mills threw water over her. Mills represented herself during the proceedings and was a "less than impressive witness" on her own behalf, Judge Hugh Bennett wrote in awarding her £24.3 million ($48.6 million) far less than the £125 million she had sought from McCartney in the dissolution of their four-year marriage. "Having given in her favor every allowance for the enormous strain she must have been under and in conducting her own case, I am driven to the conclusion that much of her evidence, both written and oral, was not just inconsistent and inaccurate but also less than candid," Bennett wrote. Mills emerged from the court Monday angry about the judge's treatment of her. She said the judge and attorneys acted like they were part of a "club." Blog: Did Mills pour water on McCartney's lawyer? A summary of Bennett's decision was released Monday, but Mills had sought to keep the full ruling under wraps. Britain's Court of Appeals ruled against her Tuesday, and her lawyer, David Rosen, said she accepted the decision. See a list of expensive celebrity divorces » . "She as a mother has strived to protect her child and felt there were certain issues and matters in the judgment which affected that," Rosen said. Mills opposed the full ruling's publication because it contained private details about her and her 4-year-old daughter with McCartney, Beatrice. Watch Mills react to Monday's decision » . Bennett had good things to say about Mills in his judgment, commending her strength in the face of disability. Mills lost her left leg below the knee in a 1993 traffic accident. But he discounted many of the arguments the former model made about her personal wealth before and after her 2002 marriage to McCartney. He ruled that Mills earned far less before marriage than she claimed, and far more while married and at several points in his decision, he wrote that Mills' ideas about their marriage were "make-belief." "I find that, far from the husband dictating to and restricting the wife's career and charitable activities, he did the exact opposite," Bennett wrote. McCartney, meanwhile, presented balanced evidence and was a consistent witness, he wrote. "He expressed himself moderately though at times with justifiable irritation, if not anger," the judge wrote in a glimpse of the emotions aired behind closed doors. Read the full ruling (.pdf file Adobe Acrobat required) Bennett found Mills failed to produce financial records to back up statements about money she claimed to have in the bank before marriage, which she said amounted to more than £2 million. In one instance, the judge pointed out McCartney's company loaned Mills money to buy a home in Hove, England money that she would not have needed had she had such an amount in the bank. And Bennett found that Mills' income actually improved during the marriage. In one year, she earned £1 million ($2 million) from a single modeling contract, he wrote. And he quoted Mills' 2002 book, "A Single Step," in which she wrote that her charity work and public speaking roles had expanded "to such an extent that it has left little time for anything else." "She is a kindly person and is devoted to her charitable causes," the judge wrote. "She has conducted her own case before me with a steely, yet courteous, determination." The couple met in 1999, a year after the death of McCartney's wife of 30 years, Linda. The judge said McCartney continued to grieve for his late wife well into his marriage with Mills and he suggested Mills misrepresented her case because she had been star-struck. "The wife for her part must have felt rather swept off her feet by a man as famous as the husband," he wrote. "I think this may well have warped her perception leading her to indulge in make-belief. The objective facts simply do not support her case." Bennett discounted Mills' claims that she was anything more than a loving and devoted wife in helping McCartney. "The wife's evidence that in some way she was the husband's 'psychologist,' even allowing for hyperbole, is typical of her make-belief," the judge wrote. Mills and McCartney failed to agree on a divorce settlement in six days of hearings in February, leaving the judge to decide the terms. Bennett's 58-page decision concluded that £24.3 million was enough for Mills to live comfortably and take care of their daughter's needs. McCartney had proposed a £15.8 million settlement. The judgment included £35,000 a year for Beatrice, £600,000 for Mills and £2.5 million for her to purchase property in London. E-mail to a friend .

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Samsung Group chairman, Lee Kun-hee, plans to resign, Yonhap reports . Lee's decision comes a few days after his indictment amid corruption investigation . Lee was indicted for tax evasion and breach of trust . Prosecutors say indictment relates to a plan to transfer control of the firm to his son .

SEOUL, South Korea The chairman of the Samsung Group plans to resign, according to a report published Tuesday by Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. Chairman of the Samsung Group Lee Kun-hee has been indicted for tax evasion and breach of trust. The decision of Lee Kun-hee to step down comes a few days after his indictment amid an investigation into corruption allegations. Lee was indicted for tax evasion and breach of trust. Samsung is South Korea's largest conglomerate. It has annual sales of nearly $160 billion and accounts for 18 percent of South Korea's economic output. The company's exports valued at about $70 billion account for a fifth of all South Korean exports. Lee was indicted for breach of trust in connection with a plan to transfer control of the company to his son, a prosecutor said. He was also indicted for tax evasion. Investigators started looking into Samsung in January, after a former company lawyer said the company created slush funds worth $200 million. Last week, however, a prosecutor said an investigation found no evidence supporting an allegation that the company bribed government officials and prosecutors. Samsung has apologized for "causing concerns" and said it would outline plans for reform this week. E-mail to a friend .

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Indonesian court sentences Abu Dujana to 15 years in prison . Dujana is the alleged leader of the military wing of Jemaah Islamiyah . Dujana is accused of direct involvement in the Bali nightclub bombings of 2002 . After his arrest last June, Dujana admitted he was Jemaah Islamiyah's military chief .

JAKARTA, Indonesia An Indonesian court has sentenced the alleged military commander of an al Qaeda-linked terror network to 15 years in prison. Abu Dujana is suspected of plotting attacks on the Australian Embassy and J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta. Abu Dujana is the alleged leader of the military wing of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that is thought to be linked to al Qaeda. It aims to create a Muslim "superstate" across much of Southeast Asia. Dujana, a slight, wiry man, is accused of direct involvement in the Bali nightclub bombings of 2002 that killed more than 200, mostly Western, tourists. He is also suspected of plotting subsequent attacks on the Australian Embassy and J.W. Marriott hotel, both in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Furthermore, authorities say Dujana is behind the violence in Poso, on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island. Fighting between Muslims and Christians periodically breaks out in the region and sometimes turns deadly. Police have accused Jemaah Islamiyah of sending armed militants to Poso. The court found Dujana guilty Monday of illegally possessing firearms and explosives, and of harboring suspected terrorists. His lawyers said they may appeal the sentence. After his arrest last June following a four-year hunt, Dujana admitted to CNN that he was Jemaah Islamiyah's military chief. But he said that happened only after the attacks on Western targets. He described Jemaah Islamiyah to CNN as "an underground organization," saying "it will continue to exist and continue to move on with its plans" to create an Islamic state under Sharia law despite his capture. "When a part of it is cut off ...there will be a replacement, it's only natural," he said. Dujana denied being involved in the Marriott Hotel attack. He told CNN that he helped fugitive suspect Noordin Top plan the attack, meeting him both before and after the devastating blast that killed 12 people and injured 150. "It's true, I did have a meeting with Noordin before the Marriott bombing but that doesn't mean I was involved in the attack," he said. "In that meeting, we're just aligning our views with each other there was absolutely no discussion about planning any bombing." In his CNN interview, Dujana was quick with messages of hate, calling all Westerners legitimate targets because of the actions of leaders like U.S. President George W. Bush and then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who he says are not giving Muslims the chance to be in power. Dujana studied in Pakistan and fought in Afghanistan from 1988 to 1991. He told CNN that he met al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan during the fight against Soviet occupation. At the time, bin Laden was a field commander and he was an ordinary soldier, he said. Dujana said bin Laden was well respected then and helped him and others realize that it was permissible to kill people to defend Islam. "I didn't read it in the Quran," he said. " It's based on the teachings of our teachers, clerics, especially what Osama bin Laden first said." "Because of America's arrogance, many in the Muslim world know, believe, it's permissible to kill American soldiers. It's halal; it's permitted," he said. The court declared Jemaah Islamiyah a terrorist organization Monday and ordered it to pay 10 million rupiah ($1,088). Around the same time Dujana was captured last June, authorities also apprehended Jemaah Islamiyah's leader, known simply as Zarkasih. A verdict on his case is expected soon. Last week, two other top Jemaah Islamiyah leaders Dr. Agus Purwanto and Abdur Rohim were brought to Indonesia following their arrest in Malaysia. Both are being investigated for their possible role in fomenting violence in Poso. Terrorism expert Sidney Jones says Abdur Rohim is believed to have replaced Zarkasih as Jemaah Islamiyah leader. "It is another major blow to Jemaah Islamiyah, but difficult to tell what the impact will be," Jones told CNN via e-mail last week. "It could embolden a more militant faction. [It] could also lead to some serious reassessment within the organization about its future." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kathy Quiano contributed to this report.

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NEW: Pope tells bishops abuse of children was "gravely immoral behavior" Pope, president discuss Middle East, Latin America, says White House . Six-day, two-city visit to U.S. marks Pope Benedict XVI's first as pope . Pope will celebrate Mass at stadium Thursday, travel to New York on Friday .

WASHINGTON Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday addressed issues ranging from the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church to the easy availability of pornography to the "alarming decrease" in Catholic marriages in the United States. The pope arrives to address U.S. bishops in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He spoke at a prayer service with U.S. bishops at Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America. Benedict said the sexual abuse of children by priests has caused a "deep shame" and called it "gravely immoral behavior." "Many of you have spoken to me of the enormous pain that your communities have suffered when clerics have betrayed ... their obligations," he told the bishops. Responding to the situation has not been easy and was sometimes very badly handled, the pope admitted. Watch the pope address the issue » . "It is vitally important that the vulnerable are always shielded from souls who would cause harm," he said. The pope then turned his attention to a different concern involving kids. "What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" he asked. Benedict urged the media and entertainment industry to take part in a "moral renewal." Earlier Wednesday, President Bush, first lady Laura Bush and more than 13,500 spectators welcomed Benedict in an elaborate ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. In remarks greeting the pope to the White House, Bush called the United States "a nation of prayer." Bush was interrupted by applause as he said, "In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed." Benedict responded by praising the role of religion in the United States. "From the dawn of the republic, America's quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the creator," he said. Watch Benedict talk about his hopes for the trip » . Earlier, a U.S. Marine Corps band performed the national anthem of the Holy See as well as "The Star-Spangled Banner." A fife and drum corps in Colonial costumes also played tunes, including "Yankee Doodle," and soprano Kathleen Battle sang "The Lord's Prayer." The day, with perfect spring weather, was also the pontiff's 81st birthday. After the ceremony concluded, the crowd, led by Battle, serenaded Benedict with "Happy Birthday" as he smiled from a White House balcony. Watch a priest who has known Benedict for years tell what he's like » . Guests on the South Lawn included Catholic clergy, ecumenical representatives, Catholic schoolchildren, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sisters of the Poor and Knights of Columbus. Event planners faced an enormous demand for tickets for what White House press secretary Dana Perino called "one of the largest arrival ceremonies ever held at the White House." Following the ceremony, Bush and the pope had a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office. The pope left the White House at about noon in his distinctive "popemobile." His massive motorcade moved slowly down the wide avenues of the U.S. capital to the Vatican Embassy, where the pope is staying. Crowds of enthusiastic spectators waved U.S. and Vatican flags and screamed as the pontiff rode past. A smiling Benedict arrived Tuesday at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to cheers from a crowd of invited guests. The pontiff was greeted by Bush, the first lady and their daughter Jenna, each of whom shook his hand. It was believed to be the first time an American president has greeted a world dignitary on arrival at Andrews. It marks Benedict's first visit to the United States as pope. Watch how the pope's visit could affect the presidential campaign » . Security will be tight during the six-day visit, with 27 state, local and federal agencies protecting the pope as he meets with religious leaders, celebrates Mass at two baseball stadiums and makes his way around in the popemobile. Benedict faces no specific threats, according to the FBI, but a March audio message from Osama bin Laden mentioned the pontiff. The centerpiece of the trip's Washington leg will be Thursday's Mass at Nationals Park, a new baseball stadium where 46,000 people will gather to see the pope. Everyone must go through metal detectors on entering, and nearby roads and bridges will be closed. Temporary flight restrictions will be in place over the stadium, and a 1½-mile section of the adjacent Anacostia River will be closed during the Mass. Benedict will travel to New York on Friday and address the U.N. General Assembly, linking the visit to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He'll celebrate Mass on Sunday morning at Yankee Stadium. Where will the pope be? » . One of the stated goals of the pope's visit is to energize the U.S. Catholic community with its estimated 70 million members. Three years after succeeding Pope John Paul II, Benedict is likely to also address the church's relationship with other faiths, the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the upcoming U.S. presidential election, said John Allen, a CNN Vatican analyst. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Elaine Quijano contributed to this report.

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Kevin Kuranyi's early goal gives Schalke a 1-0 home victory against Hamburg . Schalke now level in second position with Bremen, who draw 3-3 at Karlsruhe . Bayern Munich will all but clinch the title with a win over Stuttgart in Sunday .

BERLIN. Germany Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi fired Schalke up to joint second in the Bundesliga, while Bayern Munich have a golden chance to put one hand on the league title if they beat Stuttgart on Sunday. Kuranyi's early goal was enough to give Schalke a vital victory over Champions League rivals Hamburg. Kuranyi's 15th league goal of the season after just two minutes gave Schalke the three points with a 1-0 win in Hamburg to go level on 54 points with Werder Bremen, who shared a thrilling 3-3 draw at Karlsruhe. After Schalke sacked coach Mirko Slomka a fortnight ago, caretaker coach Mike Bueskens was delighted with the victory over their rivals. "I am very, very pleased with the win," he said. "We beat a direct competitor for a Champions League place and the early goal worked very well for us. Hamburg played well, but they didn't take their chances." Schalke and Bremen, who remain second on goal difference, are now nine points behind Bayern with four games left. A Bayern win will send them 12-points clear with a vastly superior goal difference and only a mathematical miracle would prevent them being crowned German champions for the 21st time. But Bayern are without internationals Miroslav Klose and Philipp Lahm against Stuttgart, while Oliver Kahn is a huge injury doubt for the clash against Stuttgart who welcome back Mario Gomez back from injury. The draw in Karlsruhe was a blow to Bremen, who were shocked by an early goal when home striker Sebastian Freis drilled home his 15th minute shot. Werder hit back when midfielder Diego equalised eight minutes later and former Schalke midfielder Mesut Oezil scored his first goal of the season to put Bremen 2-1 ahead on 29 minutes. But Freis added his second on 59 minutes before Kapllani put Karlsruhe ahead only for Bremen striker Boubacar Sanogo to level the scores in the 86th minute. "It was a very entertaining game and the fans got their money's worth," said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf. "But we can't be happy with the result, because it was possible for us to keep the pressure on." Further down the table, striker Mike Hanke gave Hanover an early goal at home to Hertha Berlin before Czech striker Jiri Stajner enjoyed the simplest of tap-ins to make it 2-0 after 26 minutes. But Berlin clawed a goal back with a second-half penalty to make it 2-1 before Lukasz Piszczek equalised in the 66th minute to make it 2-2. At the bottom of the table, Slovakian striker Marek Mintal netted a first-half goal for Nuremberg and Russian striker Ivan Saenko made it 2-0 against Arminia Bielefeld after 39 minutes with a superb strike. But Bielefeld hit back as Artur Wichniarek and Markus Bollmann scored second-half goals to make it 2-2. Energie Cottbus pulled themselves further from the relegation battle with a 2-1 win over Hansa Rostock, while Duisburg have gone bottom of the table with a 1-1 draw against Bochum. On Friday night, mid-table sides Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 while on Sunday Bayer Leverkusen can break into the top five if they beat Wolfsburg at home. E-mail to a friend .

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First tornado hit St. Charles, Maryland, about 30 miles south of Washington . Second tornado struck 30 minutes later outside Hyattsville, Maryland . No injuries were immediately reported .

WASHINGTON A pair of tornadoes struck suburban Washington on Sunday, mangling trees and stripping siding off several homes, the National Weather Service confirmed. No injuries were immediately reported. The first tornado hit St. Charles, Maryland about 30 miles south of Washington just after 2 p.m. It uprooted several trees, many of which fell onto cars and homes. The strongest wind from that touchdown was 80 mph enough force to blow out windows. A second tornado followed about 30 minutes later outside Hyattsville, Maryland about 10 miles northeast of the capital. The high-speed winds, peaking at 100 mph, hit the George E. Peters Adventist School especially hard, tearing off a portion of the roof and flinging it and mounds of debris into the parking lot. A nearby construction trailer was also knocked over. E-mail to a friend .

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Scotland Yard releases report into assassination of Benazir Bhutto . Only apparent injury was a major trauma to the right side of the head . UK experts all exclude the injury being a wound as a result of gunshot . Injury consistent with her head impacting upon the lip of vehicle escape hatch .

IP-455 Press Release 8 February 2008 The findings of a Scotland Yard inquiry into how Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto died after being attacked during a political rally in Rawalpindi were presented to the Government of Pakistan today. The bomb explodes near Bhutto's vehicle following a political rally in Rawalpindi. The conclusions of the inquiry were outlined in a detailed report handed over to interim Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz by Detective Superintendent John MacBrayne, accompanied by a senior official from the British High Commission, during a meeting in Islamabad. The text of the executive summary of the report is as follows: . On the 27th December 2007, Mohtarma Benazir BHUTTO, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party , died as a result of being attacked in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Following discussions between the Prime Minister and President Musharraf, it was agreed that officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command should support the investigation into Ms Bhutto's death. The primary focus of the Scotland Yard team was to assist the Pakistani authorities in establishing the cause and circumstances of Ms Bhutto's death. The wider investigation to establish culpability has remained entirely a matter for the Pakistani authorities. The SO15 team was led by a Detective Superintendent Senior Investigating Officer, and comprised two forensic experts, an expert in analysing and assessing video media and an experienced investigating officer. The team arrived in Pakistan on 4th January 2008 and spent two and a half weeks conducting extensive enquiries. During the course of their work, the team were joined by other specialists from the United Kingdom. The UK team were given extensive support and co-operation by the Pakistani authorities, Ms Bhutto's family, and senior officials from Ms Bhutto's party. The task of establishing exactly what happened was complicated by the lack of an extended and detailed search of the crime scene, the absence of an autopsy, and the absence of recognised body recovery and victim identification processes. Nevertheless, the evidence that is available is sufficient for reliable conclusions to be drawn. Within the overall objective, a particular focus has been placed on establishing the actual cause of death, and whether there were one or more attackers in the immediate vicinity of Ms Bhutto. The cause of death . Considerable reliance has been placed upon the X-rays taken at Rawalpindi General Hospital following Ms Bhutto's death. Given their importance, the x-rays have been independently verified as being of Ms Bhutto by comparison with her dental x-rays. Additionally, a valuable insight was gained from the accounts given by the medical staff involved in her treatment, and from those members of Ms Bhutto's family who washed her body before burial. Ms Bhutto's only apparent injury was a major trauma to the right side of the head. The UK experts all exclude this injury being an entry or exit wound as a result of gunshot. The only X-ray records, taken after her death, were of Ms Bhutto's head. However, the possibility of a bullet wound to her mid or lower trunk can reasonably be excluded. This is based upon the protection afforded by the armoured vehicle in which she was travelling at the time of the attack, and the accounts of her family and hospital staff who examined her. The limited X-ray material, the absence of a full post mortem examination and CT scan, have meant that the UK Home Office pathologist, Dr Nathaniel Cary, who has been consulted in this case, is unable categorically to exclude the possibility of there being a gunshot wound to the upper trunk or neck. However when his findings are put alongside the accounts of those who had close contact with Ms Bhutto's body, the available evidence suggests that there was no gunshot injury. Importantly, Dr Cary excludes the possibility of a bullet to the neck or upper trunk as being a relevant factor in the actual cause of death, when set against the nature and extent of her head injury. In his report Dr Cary states: . • "the only tenable cause for the rapidly fatal head injury in this case is that it occurred as the result of impact due to the effects of the bomb-blast." • "in my opinion Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto died as a result of a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of the bomb-blast and due to head impact somewhere in the escape hatch of the vehicle." Given the severity of the injury to Ms Bhutto's head, the prospect that she inadvertently hit her head whilst ducking down into the vehicle can be excluded as a reasonable possibility. High explosives of the type typically used in this sort of device, detonate at a velocity between 6000 and 9000 metres per second. This means that when considering the explosive quantities and distances involved, such an explosion would generate significantly more force than would be necessary to provoke the consequences as occurred in this case. It is also important to comment upon the construction of the vehicle. It was fitted with B6 grade armour and designed to withstand gunfire and bomb-blast. It is an unfortunate and misleading aspect of this case that the roof escape hatch has frequently been referred to as a sunroof. It is not. It is designed and intended to be used solely as a means of escape. It has a solid lip with a depth of 9cm. Ms Bhutto's injury is entirely consistent with her head impacting upon the lip of the escape hatch. Detailed analysis of the media footage provides supporting evidence. Ms Bhutto's head did not completely disappear from view until 0.6 seconds before the blast. She can be seen moving forward and to the right as she ducked down into the vehicle. Whilst her exact head position at the time of the detonation can never be ascertained, the overwhelming conclusion must be that she did not succeed in getting her head entirely below the lip of the escape hatch when the explosion occurred. How many people were involved in the immediate attack? There has been speculation that two individuals were directly involved in the attack. The suggestion has been that one suspect fired shots, and a second detonated the bomb. All the available evidence points toward the person who fired shots and the person who detonated the explosives being one and the same person. • Body parts from only one individual remain unidentified. Expert opinion provides strong evidence that they originate from the suicide bomber. • Analysis of the media footage places the gunman at the rear of the vehicle and looking down immediately before the explosion. The footage does not show the presence of any other potential bomber. • This footage when considered alongside the findings of the forensic explosive expert, that the bombing suspect was within 1 to 2 metres of the vehicle towards it rear and with no person or other obstruction between him and the vehicle, strongly suggests that the bomber and gunman were at the same position. It is virtually inconceivable that anyone who was where the gunman can clearly be seen on the media footage, could have survived the blast and escaped. The inevitable conclusion is that there was one attacker in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle in which Ms Bhutto was travelling. In essence, all the evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device. At the time of the attack this person was standing close to the rear of Ms Bhutto's vehicle. The blast caused a violent collision between her head and the escape hatch area of the vehicle, causing a severe and fatal head injury. John MacBrayne QPM Detective Superintendent Counter Terrorism Command 1st February 2008 E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: 2 U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Baghdad on Monday, U.S. says . NEW: Other roadside bombs in Baghdad kill one police officer, injure four people . Death toll rises to 40 in explosion in Karbala, official says; 65 injured . Explosion was near holy shrine for Shiite Muslims, burial spot of Hussein bin Ali .

KARBALA, Iraq A female suicide bomber apparently targeting Shiite worshippers killed at least 40 people and wounded at least 65 in Karbala on Monday, according to an Interior Ministry official. Iraqi security forces gather around the site of a car bomb explosion in Baghdad on Monday. The incident occurred one-half mile from the Imam Hussein shrine of Karbala. Karbala is a Shiite holy city, and the Imam Hussein shrine is one of Shiite Islam's holiest locations. The shrine marks the burial spot of Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed in battle nearby in 680. No more information was immediately available about the blast southwest of the capital city, Baghdad. Earlier Monday, in Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol, killing one officer and wounding another, the Interior Ministry told CNN. A short time later, another roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, wounding four bystanders, a ministry official said. The first attack took place about 8:30 a.m. in the upscale Mansour neighborhood, where law enforcement officials have come under frequent attacks in recent weeks. Also Monday, two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, officials said. The incident occurred about 12:20 p.m. as the soldiers were "conducting a route-clearance combat operation north of Baghdad," according to a news release. The names of the soldiers were not immediately released. Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in the Iraqi capital Monday on an unannounced visit. Cheney told reporters that the five years in Iraq since the war's start has been "well worth the effort." He said he met with top Iraqi officials. He appeared at a news conference with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to the country. Cheney began a trip to the Middle East on Sunday with an official itinerary that listed stops in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank, according to the White House. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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Independents, Democrats can vote in Michigan's open Republican primary . No Democratic delegates at stake, and most top-tier candidates aren't on ballot . Economic woes top concern for Michigan primary voters .

The most compelling action during Michigan's primary Tuesday will be on the Republican side. The Democratic Party has stripped the state of its delegates for moving up its primary date so early, and top-tier Democratic candidates have taken their names off the ballot, except for Sen. Hillary Clinton. The struggling auto industry has been a drag on Michigan's economy. In many ways, the Republican battle for Michigan will be similar to last week's New Hampshire contest. The primary is open, and any registered voter including independents and Democrats can participate. Sen. John McCain won New Hampshire with the help of independent voters, and he is campaigning hard to re-create that success in Michigan. In 2000, McCain defeated then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the Michigan primary. In that vote, more than half 52 percent were either independents or Democrats. Among Republican voters, McCain lost to Bush 29 percent to 66 percent. In that contest, almost three out of every 10 voters identified themselves as members of the religious right. Overall, Michigan is a swing state, producing narrow margins of victory for presidential candidates and statewide officeholders. However, voting trends favor the Democrats. Michigan's governor, Jennifer Granholm, is a Democrat, as are the state's two U.S. senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. The Democratic presidential nominee has carried Michigan in the last four elections. Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 standard bearer, won Michigan 51 percent to 48 percent over President Bush. The state's economy is powered by the automotive industry, which has experienced its fair share of struggles. Michigan's unemployment rate, 7.4 percent, is higher than the national average of 5 percent. Region by region . Wayne County, in the southeastern corner of the state, contains the economically depressed Detroit, Michigan's largest city. Detroit is predominantly black and solidly Democratic. North of Wayne County are the more-affluent suburban counties of Oakland and Macomb, which have grown in population in the last two decades. These two counties have been the state's central political battleground in recent elections. West of Wayne is the "university belt," home to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Michigan State University in East Lansing. The area also includes the industrial cities of Saginaw and Flint, where unions remain strong, as well as Jackson and Bay City. The state's capital, Lansing, and the sparsely populated upper peninsula are also part of this region. The southwest part of the state is dominated by Grand Rapids, Michigan's second-largest city. Grand Rapids is traditionally Dutch-American and has many Christian conservatives and generally votes Republican. The area also contains smaller industrial cities and farming communities. The economy of the sparsely populated north and northwest is based on agriculture, tourism and timber. It traditionally votes Republican. Endorsements . The Detroit Free Press has endorsed McCain. "While the Free Press differs with McCain on a number of issues, the Arizona senator is a smarter, more tested and pragmatic leader who has shown since 2000 that he knows how to build bipartisan alliances around issues," the newspaper said in an editorial. The Detroit News also endorsed McCain, citing his fiscal conservatism and command of military and foreign affairs, over Michigan native Mitt Romney. "Other GOP contenders, most notably former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, are capable figures with impressive resumes and a solid grasp of the issues. But McCain's longtime presidential ambitions are at last aligned with the needs of the nation," the newspaper said. E-mail to a friend .

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Rangers remain four points clear in Scotland after a superb 4-0 win at Hearts . Jean-Claude Darcheville and Nacho Novo both net twice for the league leaders . Celtic remain second in the table following 2-1 victory against Inverness Caley .

GLASGOW, Scotland Jean-Claude Darcheville and Nacho Novo both scored twice to fire leaders Rangers to a 4-0 win at Hearts, their 10th consecutive Scottish Premier League victory. Jean-Claude Darcheville scored two first-half goals as Rangers cruised to a 4-0 victory at Hearts. Hearts found themselves ripped apart by a rampant Rangers side, who sent out a clear message to rivals Celtic by maintaining their four-point advantage at the summit. Darcheville claimed the opener after 25 minutes, cutting inside from the left and squeezing his shot inside the far post from a tight angle. The same player added a second two minutes before the break, scoring from close range after a Barry Ferguson corner was not cleared. Darcheville was withdrawn for Novo at the interval, but if Hearts thought the departure of the Frenchman meant some much-needed respite, they were sadly mistaken. Novo was on the pitch for seven minutes when he helped himself to a goal of his own. Charlie Adam set up the shot with a low ball across goal and all that was required from the striker was to bundle home from close range. The same two players combined again to supply Rangers with their fourth goal with 69 minutes gone. Adam was again the provider and this time Novo produced a cheeky back-heel finish from five meters. Meanwhile, goals by Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras gave Celtic a hard-fought 2-1 win at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Australian international McDonald's 25th goal of the season right on the interval gave the champions the lead and his Greek team-mate bulleted an Aiden McGeady cross past goalkeeper Michael Fraser on the hour mark. But the final minutes were needlessly fraught for Celtic after Caley striker Marius Niculae took advantage of Scott Brown's misplaced pass to pull a goal back in the 70th minute. E-mail to a friend .

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Democrats' system includes about 800 superdelegates -- party officials, leaders . Unlike elected delegates, superdelegates can vote for any candidate they choose . Some says they fear superdelegates could tip balance against the popular vote . If such a thing happens, some say voters will feel alienated, disenfranchised .

Some Democrats say they fear their party's method of picking a nominee might turn undemocratic as neither presidential candidate is likely to gather the delegates needed for the nomination. The Democrats' superdelegate system is supposed to avoid turmoil at the party's conventions. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are running neck and neck toward the party's August convention in Denver, Colorado. Most projections show neither getting the necessary 2,025 delegates in the remaining nominating contests before then. Party rules call for the votes of superdelegates 800 or so party officers, elected officials and activists to tip the balance. The party instituted the system to avoid the turmoil that a deadlocked race would create at a convention. But even some superdelegates are questioning the system, as the party heads toward the conclusion of a race in which they might determine the outcome. "It's not the most democratic way of doing things," said Maine superdelegate Sam Spencer. Watch the scenario for a "civil war" in the Democratic Party » . At least two organizations have launched petition drives to reflect how the vote went in primaries and caucuses. MoveOn.org, which has endorsed Obama, is trying to get 200,000 signatures this week and plans to run an ad with its petition in USA Today. And Democracy for America, headed by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's brother Jim, said it will deliver signed petitions to all the superdelegates. While pledged delegates are allocated with the understanding they'll vote the way their state went in its primary or caucus, superdelegates are free to vote however they want. And even if they pledge their support to a candidate, they're free to change at any time. Clinton already has 234 superdelegates and Obama has 157. But Obama has a sizable lead in pledged delegates, 1,096 to 977, and is on a roll, having won all eight nominating contests since Super Tuesday. See which states pledged delegates come from » . If the superdelegates were to tip the balance against the popular vote, the turmoil would last long beyond the convention, longtime Democratic Party strategist Tad Devine said. "If a perception develops that somehow this decision has been made not by voters participating in primaries or caucuses, but by politicians in some mythical backroom, I think that the public could react strongly against that," Devine said. "The problem is [if] people perceive that voters have not made the decision instead, insiders have made the decision then all of these new people who are being attracted to the process, particularly the young people who are voting for the first time, will feel disenfranchised or in some way alienated," he said. Superdelegates were established in 1982 to bring more moderate Democrats back to conventions, where their attendance had been dropping since the 1950s, and to relect the party's mainstream more accurately. "[Superdelegates] are the keepers of the faith," said former San Francisco, California, Mayor Willie Brown. "You have superdelegates because this is the Democratic Party. You don't want the bleed-over from the Green Party, the independents and others in deciding who your nominee will be." Devine was part of the first campaign to benefit from the roles of superdelegates that of former Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984. Mondale's 1984 campaign went into the party convention with too few delegates to secure the nomination against the campaigns of former Sen. Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson. Mondale had received more votes, but Hart had won more states. Mondale was able to line up the superdelegates going into the convention and avoid a fight on the convention floor. Each campaign actively is trying to encourage the unpledged delegates to pledge to their side. Jason Rae, a 21-year-old Wisconsin superdelegate, said he's gotten calls from former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from Hillary Clinton's camp, and Obama's wife, Michelle, visited with him during a campaign stop Tuesday in Wisconsin. Rae said he hasn't yet decided how he'll vote in Wisconsin's primary on Tuesday. Crystal Strait, a party activist from California, said she's received calls from Clinton herself and daughter Chelsea but she remains uncommitted. Massachusetts superdelegate John Walsh said he'll stay loyal to Obama despite the fact that the senator lost the primary in Walsh's state. So will fellow Massachusetts superdelegates Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry. Among Clinton's committed superdelegates are Harold Ickes Jr., her husband's former deputy chief of staff; Terry McAuliffe, who led her husband's 1996 re-election campaign and is chairman of her campaign; and her husband. Whether those superdelegates stay committed to their candidates, even if it means tipping the outcome of the race against the pledged delegate lead or the popular vote, could split the party. "It's in a total contradiction of the way the Democrats have set up their primary process, with all this proportional representation," said CNN political analyst Amy Holmes. "The whole point of it was that no one could walk away with the elites. And if this is decided by superdelegates, I think the Democratic Party morally is going to be looking at each other and say, 'What did we just do?' " Devine said it could hurt the party in the general election. "I think it will hurt us particularly because so many of the policies that we're saying we will pursue in government as Democrats are based on fairness, whether it's the tax policies that we advocate or the social programs we want to advance, there's a fairness component in all of that," he said. "People need to believe, I think, that our process is fair as well, if they want to believe that our policies will be fair." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Campbell Brown, John Helton and Ed Hornick contributed to this report.

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Police: Man stopped at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport dressed as a priest . Initially refused to be searched, saying that he was a religious person . Found to have $155,000 worth of cocaine strapped to his legs under his vestments . Officers trying to establish whether the man, on flight from Peru, is a priest .

A man dressed as a priest caught at Amsterdam's airport with three kilos of cocaine under his vestments claimed to police that his packages contained "holy sand", Dutch police said. Security officials conducting a normal security check at Schiphol airport last year. Police stopped the man at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport as he was transiting on a flight from South America, Robert Van Aapel, a spokesman for the Dutch Royal Military Police told CNN by phone Saturday. "He refused to be searched saying that he was a religious person and it was not allowed," Van Aapel said. "However, this is normal procedure so our officers insisted. They asked him again and after the second time they carried out the search and discovered the man had packs strapped to his legs below his priest's clothes. He told us they contained holy sand," he said. He said the man, who is aged around 40 and a Bolivian national, was arrested Thursday after arriving in to the airport on a flight from Lima, Peru. He was attempting to transit on a flight to Milan when he was apprehended with the cocaine, worth around €105,000 ($155,000). The Bolivian appeared in court Friday on charges of drug smuggling, Van Aapel said. Dutch police are trying to establish if the man is a real priest after he claimed to be a senior member of the clergy in the Bolivian capital La Paz, he added. E-mail to a friend .

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Greensburg rebuilds "green" after tornado demolished 90 percent of the town . Long-term goal is to have 100 percent renewable energy . The city hopes to open a biodiesel facility as one of its first green newcomers . Nonprofit expert says terrible tragedy "also provided an incredible opportunity"

GREENSBURG, Kansas There are still piles of bricks and rubble on countless streets in Greensburg, Kansas, a year after a tornado demolished more than 90 percent of the town. On May 4, 2007, a ferocious twister blasted Greensburg, Kansas, killing 11 people in the town of 1,400. Yet what is happening in the city's rebuilding process may not only re-invent Greensburg but provide a model for "green" building everywhere. Just a week after the deadly tornado hit May 4, 2007, a similar idea sparked in the mayor, a representative from the governor's office and a nonprofit expert from a nearby town. The concept: If the whole town had to be rebuilt anyway, why not be bold and build it as a global example of conservation, energy efficiency and creativity? Daniel Wallach, the nonprofit specialist, soon got the green light to help residents and businesses start over in a project known as Greensburg GreenTown. "Kansas is known for being very conservative," Wallach said. Watch how the town went green » . "My first order of business was to listen. What I heard were a lot of concerns about politicization and being associated with 'tree huggers.' I helped frame it with the people here in such a way they saw, this is their movement," he said. Fifth-generation Greensburg resident Anita Hohl joined the staff of Greensburg GreenTown as a Web specialist. "I was pretty green to begin with. I used to get teased about being a tree hugger. Now it's 'the thing!' This has really brought us so much closer together. What you can accomplish when just a few people are working toward the same goal is amazing," she said. Her farming grandparents instilled the virtue of being energy-efficient. "My grandma always put her clothes on the line, did her own gardening and re-used everything," Hohl said. Hohl and her husband, a daughter, a son, four cats, a dog and two birds are among the Greensburg residents in "FEMAville," a cluster of mobile homes set up as temporary housing. The family hopes to break ground soon for their new house and move in by Thanksgiving. Although they have made the best of the cramped quarters, she says, there are some challenges. "It sort of feels like living in a cheap motel! But it's a lot better than it could be. It's nice to have a place to be," she said. From the start, the GreenTown staff knew that getting the business community on board with the green plan was vital. And in rural America, there is no business that's more of a bedrock than the John Deere dealership. In Greensburg, that dealership has been in the Estes family for four generations. Their facility was wiped out by the twister. "The building was a total loss. And we saved only 13 pieces of machinery out of 220 on the lot," Kelly Estes said. "The FEMA guy said he had never seen anything like it. Steel twisted into brick, and then the miles per hour needed to pick up combines that weigh 25,000 pounds and move them half a mile in the air," he said. Kelly and his brother Mike decided to rebuild in town to the highest green-building standard. The U.S. Green Building Council establishes a rating system for efficient buildings called LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The Greensburg facility is aiming for LEED platinum, the most demanding standard. There is one wind turbine on their new property, a 100-foot structure designed to generate 5 kilowatts of electricity. It is providing power for the construction site. Although "green" may be viewed as trendy and new by some, Mike Estes knows that it is not for show. "We're looking at saving money here; truthfully, we are. We're running a business. If we can't make this make sense, why would we do it?" he asked. And he says the non-political approach of the city in encouraging energy efficiency has helped. "I don't think it's red or blue to be green; I think green is green, and green makes sense. And green saves you green!" he said with a laugh. Being a model for the world in energy efficiency is a major goal of Greensburg GreenTown. But there is another even more urgent aim: keeping this rural town from disappearing. The lack of jobs in many small towns means that after teenagers graduate from high school, they have to leave to find other opportunities. "The average age of people living in rural communities is in their 50s," Wallach said. "There are very few folks in the communities under that age, because there are just no jobs. Families have been split up for decades." So in addition to the long-term goal of Greensburg's pre-tornado businesses from leaving, people hope to attract new green trade as well. The city wants to open a biodiesel facility as one of its first green newcomers. Another long-term goal is to have 100 percent renewable energy. It is probable that the greatest contribution would come from large wind turbines. "The timing of all this is, in some ways, almost spooky," Wallach said. "It's like the world was ready for this to happen, for a town to be completely re-imagined. The tragedy was terrible. But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity." E-mail to a friend .

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Barcelona striker Lionel Messi is ruled out for six weeks with a thigh injury . The Argentine sustained the injury in Tuesday night's 1-0 victory over Celtic . It is third time in the last three years that Messi has suffered the same injury .

BARCELONA, Spain Barcelona's Argentina striker Lionel Messi will be out of action for six weeks after tearing a muscle in his left leg during Tuesday night's 1-0 Champions League victory over Celtic. Messi is helped off the pitch after injuring his left thigh during Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Celtic. The Catalan club confirmed on Wednesday that Messi will miss both legs of Barcelona's Champions League quarterfinal encounter. It will also be a race against time for the 2007 World Player of the Year runner-up to be fit for the semifinals if Barcelona get past an opponent who will be named after the draw on March 14. Messi picked up the injury after 34 minutes during Barcelona's victory over the Scottish side, which booked their spot in the last eight by easing through 4-2 on aggregate. It is third time in the last three years that Messi has had the same injury, the last occasion being on December 15 against Valencia, which ruled him out of the 'El Clasico' derby the following week against Real Madrid. In addition to his chronic problems with his left thigh, Messi has had four other significant injuries in the last two years which have caused him to miss a month or more. Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has been forced to defend the club's medical services in the wake of Messi's latest injury. "To doubt that they are doing their best is an insult. The medical staff and the club in general are working to prevent these sort of problems. They are working hard but there is always a player that can be injured," said Dutchman Rijkaard. Messi's injury reopens the door for Thierry Henry to claim his place in the starting lineup. The Frenchman has rarely impressed since his big-money move from Arsenal to the Spanish giants last summer. Rijkaard also has other options to replace Messi on the right flank in the shape of Portuguese international Deco or teenage Mexican winger Giovanni Dos Santos. E-mail to a friend .

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Partygoer used make-up to darken skin, went as escaped prisoner . Acting Immigration chief judged costume contest . Congress told photos destroyed before Julie Myers' confirmation hearings . CNN got photos through Freedom of Information Act request .

WASHINGTON The federal government has released to CNN more than 100 photographs of a Halloween party that temporarily threatened to derail the nomination of a top Department of Homeland Security official. ICE chief Julie Myers poses with a costume contest winner at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement party. The images included several digital photos that the official had ordered erased because they were deemed to be inappropriate and offensive. At the party, Julie Myers, then-acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement , part of the Department of Homeland Security, gave an award for "most original costume" to an employee wearing prison stripes, a wig with dreadlocks and face-darkening makeup. Immediately after posing for a photo with the winner, Myers later told Congress, she recognized that she made an error in judgment and ordered the photos deleted from the camera. Myers said she did not know the employee was wearing skin makeup, but ordered the photos destroyed because she did not think that "recognizing an escaped prisoner in any way was beneficial to the agency's goal of treating everyone in our custody with dignity and respect." This week, in response to the Freedom of Information Act request filed by CNN on November 6, ICE released 113 official photographs of the party, including all of the deleted photos, which technicians were able to electronically restore. An ICE spokeswoman denied the photos were suppressed until after Myers' job was secure, saying ICE responded in an "efficient time frame" to the FOIA request. News of the photos' existence infuriated some members of Congress, who said they should have been made aware of them earlier. "It is too bad that these photos surfaced too late to have dealt with her nomination, perhaps, in a different way," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, who last November put a "hold" on Myers' confirmation because of the hubbub. Watch what congressmen think about party photos » . Myers was confirmed on December 20. As an assistant secretary of Homeland Security, she leads ICE, the agency charged with enforcing immigration law in the nation's interior. The agency has more than 15,000 employees, including 6,000 investigators. McCaskill said she believed the photos would have affected the confirmation. "This is such brutally bad judgment that, to me, it indicates that the leadership of this division is flawed," she said. Rep. Bennie Thompson, whose committee oversees ICE, said Wednesday he is upset both by the photos and by ICE's failure to give the photos to Congress in November. "I was satisfied [with Myers' explanations and apology] until I found out that these pictures existed," Thompson said. An ICE spokeswoman denied that there was any intentional effort to mislead Congress. "We had asked that they be destroyed, and as far as we knew, that was the case," spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said. Myers was "frank and honest about every aspect of that situation from the very beginning," she said. An estimated 50 to 75 employees attended the October 31 costume party at ICE headquarters in the District of Columbia. A poster advertising the contest said costumes should be tasteful and "office appropriate." Myers declined to talk to CNN Wednesday, but in written comments to Congress last November, she offered the following account of the incident: . She and two other ICE officials served as judges of the costume contest, and she had "very limited interaction" with the employee in the prisoner costume, who "was present at the [judging] table for less than half a minute before he moved on. "I was not aware at the time of the contest that the employee disguised his skin color," she wrote. Nonetheless, after posing for a photo with the employee, she realized it was inappropriate. "Although I did not know that this individual had disguised his race, I determined that I had made an error in judgment in recognizing an escaped prisoner at this party," she wrote, and she instructed her chief of staff to direct the official photographer to delete the photos. In an internal e-mail that was sent at 3:05 p.m., shortly after the party was to end, the ICE public affairs director, Wendy Burrell, said, "Please make sure that the photos of the most creative (single male entry) are destroyed. They may not be used in any publication, Web site, compilation disk, you name it. Not just not used. Please erase all." Myers said she was "shocked and horrified" to learn the next day that the employee had used skin-darkening makeup. The employee was counseled, and Myers sent out a note to all agency employees expressing regret over the event, agency spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said in November. "It is now clear that, however unintended, a few of the costumes were inappropriate and offensive," Myers wrote. She reminded employees of their responsibility to complete diversity training and said managers should distribute and discuss ICE's diversity policy statement during staff meetings. The employee who donned the inmate costume was placed on two weeks of administrative leave, counseled by a supervisor and returned to full duty. E-mail to a friend .

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Health magazine names Top 10 chain restaurants for fresh, healthy food . Writers looked at 43 chains with more than 75 locations across the country . Experts' favorite: Uno's Chicago Grill, with trans fat-free menu, many grilled entrees .

If you're like us, you eat out more than ever and, as nice as it is to not have to cook, those meals out can actually feel like work. How do you navigate the minefields of huge portions, hidden fats, and sky-high sodium levels? Olive Garden's Venetian Apricot Chicken has 448 calories and 11 grams of fat. You shouldn't have to resign yourself to paying for restaurant meals with a future cardiac risk. You just need to know where to go to find healthy, fresh food. To that end, we went out into the world of sit-down restaurants, looking to separate the wheat from the chaff. Backed by an advisory panel of experts in healthy dining, we sifted through 43 chains with more than 75 locations across the country and, frankly, were astonished by how many restaurants made no nutritional information available. Health.com: Meet Health's experts . But judge we did those brave (and progressive) enough to share their numbers. What you hold in your hands are the 10 that stood at the top of the heap. Uno's Chicago Grill . If you haven't been to your local Uno's recently, you're in for a great surprise. Sure, its famous deep-dish (read high-fat) pizzas still hold court, but nutrition has become the word of the day with a completely transfat-free menu and plenty of grilled entrees (including antibiotic-free chicken). Adding to the healthy variety: whole-grain pasta and brown rice, organic coffee and tea, and flatbread pizzas that have half the calories of deep-dish ones. Plus, you can add a salad to your pizza for half-price because, according to the menu, "We want you to get some greens in your diet." Now that's a blue-ribbon commitment to health. Another reason Uno's is at the top of our list: You know what you're eating. In the lobbies of most of the restaurant's locations, there are Nutrition Information Centers that detail ingredients, fat and sodium contents, and calories and fiber of every item, in addition to gluten-free options. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at Health magazine's restaurant choices » . • Danger zone: Deep-dish pizzas can pile on the fat. • We love: The Penne Bolognese just 16 grams of fat (well within the daily recommended max of 65 grams of fat for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet). Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes . Can a buffet-style restaurant that symbol of American overindulgence possibly be one of the healthiest restaurants in the country? It can in this case, because this salad-soup-and-bakery eatery (Southern California locations are named Souplantation, everywhere else they're called Sweet Tomatoes) uses produce so fresh that it's guaranteed to have been "in the ground" 24 hours before it's in a refrigerated truck on its way to the restaurant. At the salad bar you'll find seasonal vegetables like squash and bell peppers, freshly tossed and prepared salads, and a great range of nonfat dressings. San Marino Spinach With Pumpkin Seeds and Cranberries, anyone? This is paradise for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone who's looking for a low-sodium, low-fat, high-nutrient meal outside the home. • Danger zone: Plate overload after all, it's all-you-can-eat. • We love: The Tomato Spinach Whole Wheat pasta, a delicious combo of whole grains and veggies. Mimi's Cafe . This cozy café-style restaurant transforms normally less-than-healthy foods into better and still tasty options: a half-pound cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce (that's right, no bun); the cutely named Naked French Market Onion Soup, served without cheese. Another thing to love is the way that Mimi's clearly steers you toward its healthy options. Its "Lifestyle Menu" points you to low-carb picks like the fish of the day served with fresh steamed veggies. Also, Mimi's keeps portions small, so you can get away with occasionally having one of their more indulgent entrees like the Sweet & Sour Coconut Shrimp (608 calories). Health.com: Healthiest fast-food restaurants . • Danger zone: The "Comfort Classics" page of the menu, with throwbacks like rich (super-high-fat) Chicken Cordon Bleu. • We love: Chicken & Fruit grilled chicken and a garden salad, plus wedges of fresh orange, honeydew, watermelon, and cantaloupe. P.F. Chang's China Bistro . Take the best aspects of Asian cuisine a combination of fresh vegetables and protein surround them with healthy influences such as whole-grain brown rice, wild-caught, sustainable Alaskan salmon, and all-natural chicken, and you have a recipe for delicious, healthy dining. Wok-based cooking (which requires less oil) using soybean oil keeps fat contents low, and less sodium in the sauces rounds out P.F. Chang's healthy take on Chinese food. Special credit goes to their nutritional information being based on the whole entrée, not a single serving like at most places. Health.com: Eat out, without gaining a pound . • Danger zone: Traditional, fat-dense items such as Lo Mein Beef. • We love: Carb-free vegetarian lettuce wraps wok-seared tofu, red onions, and water chestnuts with mint and lime, set in lettuce cups. Bob Evans Restaurants . You wouldn't think a restaurant that prides itself on sausage could muscle its way into the top five healthiest restaurants in the country. But Bob Evans scores high on its dinner menu, which has plenty of low-carb, low-fat entrees and alternatives for children and adults (chicken tenders that are grilled instead of fried, potato-crusted flounder, and salmon stir-fry). Look for sides like steamed broccoli florets and fresh fruit, and enjoy old-fashioned family meals in a modern, nutrition-forward way. • Danger zone: Breakfast, where bacon and sausage are kings. • We love: Healthy options on the kid's menu, like slow-roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and glazed baby carrots, and fruit and yogurt dippers for dessert. Ruby Tuesday . If we'd done this survey in 2004, Ruby Tuesday might have won the blue ribbon for printing all its nutritional content right on the menu. It was revolutionary, and, frankly, it didn't last. But the healthy ethos survived in the chain's ingredients: organic greens, hormone-free chicken, transfat-free frying oil, and better-for-you beverages including Jones organic teas and made-to-order drinks like all natural lemonades (think real fruit and juice). It's easy to find the good stuff it's highlighted and the offerings range from a chicken wrap in a whole-wheat tortilla to broiled tilapia. Health.com: The best independent restaurants . • Danger zone: Comfort-food entrees like Gourmet Chicken Potpie, which piles more than half your daily calories on the plate. • We love: That they've even healthied-up the burgers, offering veggie-and turkey-versions. Romano's Macaroni Grill . This Italian eatery puts its entire menu's nutritional content online, so you know before you go what to steer clear of mainly, the massive baked pastas. But what pushed Macaroni Grill onto our best list is its "Sensible Fare" menu, with entrees like Simple Salmon, a grilled fillet sided by grilled asparagus and broccoli. Grazie for whole-wheat penne available as a substitute in any dish. And bravo for including a grilled skinless chicken breast with steamed broccoli and pasta on the kid's menu. • Danger zone: Heavy entrees like spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce. • We love: The delicious Italian sorbetto and biscotti: just 330 calories and 4 grams of fat. Chevy's Fresh Mex . Chevy's makes a big deal out of the "fresh" in its name, and with good reason no cans in the restaurant, fresh salsa blended every hour, fresh avocados smashed every day for guacamole, and watch-them-made tortillas. All oils are trans fat-free, and the Mexican-style fare has lots of healthy options including Grilled Fish Tacos. Health.com: America's not-so-healthiest restaurants . • Danger zone: Sodium counts. To get below 1,000 milligrams, you'll need to get those Chicken Fajitas with no tortillas, tomalito, rice, sour cream, or guacamole. • We love: Fresh fish of the day, grilled and served on a skillet with homemade salsa. Olive Garden . Like Macaroni Grill, this Italian eatery has great-for-you options, as long as you keep your wits about you (again, avoid the baked pastas!). Use the olive-branch icon on the menu to find low-fat "Garden Fare" items such as Venetian Apricot Chicken. Even the fries aren't a disaster, because they're done in trans fat-free oil. You can grab some whole-grain goodness, too, by choosing the whole-wheat linguine at dinner as a substitute for any pasta. • Danger zone: The non-olive-branch entrees. Olive Garden provides no nutritional information on anything else on the menu. • We love: The low-fat Capellini Pomodoro (644 calories and 14 grams fat). Denny's . Yes, the home of the Lumberjack Slam and Moons Over My Hammy offers lots of skinny options to counter its fatty mainstays. "Fit-Fare" dishes such as the grilled-chicken-breast salad, and tilapia with rice and veggies, each have less than 15 grams of fat. Denny's also posts full nutritional information on its Web site. Its use of trans fats to cook its French fries kept it from landing higher on our list, but the rest of the fried food is trans fat-free. • Danger zone: Breakfast specials, especially the Meat Lover's Scramble, which is as bad for you as it sounds. • We love: The online nutritional chart has Weight Watchers Food Exchange Values. E-mail to a friend . Enter to win a monthly Room Makeover Giveaway from MyHomeIdeas.com . Copyright Health Magazine 2007 . Additional reporting by Brittani Tingle.

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Manchester United earn 0-0 draw away to Barcelona in first leg of semifinal . United's top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo misses penalty in the third minute . Barca dominated Champions League tie but could not breach United's defense . Goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar made several saves but not seriously tested .

Cristiano Ronaldo missed an early penalty as Manchester United earned a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium on Wednesday night. Cristiano Ronaldo sent his penalty attempt wide as United failed to take an early lead at the Nou Camp. The Portugal winger, the top scorer in this season's competition, spurned the chance to net for the 39th time overall this campaign and give United a vital away goal. The 23-year-old hit the stanchion high outside goalkeeper Victor Valdes' left-hand post in the third minute after Gabriel Milito handled his header from a Paul Scholes corner. It was United's best chance in a game dominated by the home side, who had the best of possession with some silky moves but failed to find the killer pass in the final third of the pitch. United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar made a string of saves, especially in the second half, but was not often seriously tested. Barcelona were boosted by the return of Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who started alongside Samuel Eto'o up front, with Thierry Henry on the bench after also being cleared following an illness. Messi picked out Samuel Eto'o in the 13th minute only for midfielder Scholes making his 100th Champions League appearance to make a vital interception. Barcelona pressed forward again in the 21st minute and Rafael Marquez got clear of his marker but his header failed to trouble Van der Sar, who was back in the side following a groin injury. Then Yaya Toure showed good skill for the home side and sent a good cross into the area that was turned away by Van der Sar. Ronaldo felt he should have had another penalty in the 30th minute when he was bundled over by Marquez after Xavi had carelessly lost possession, but Swiss referee Massimo Busacca allowed play to continue. Eto'o rattled in a shot after 34 minutes but Wes Brown who passed a late fitness test to replace the ill Nemanja Vidic in central defense made a vital block. Brown partnered Rio Ferdinand, with England midfielder Owen Hargreaves operating as a makeshift right-back. Deco, starting his first game for Barcelona after two months out with injuries, then failed to test Van der Sar with a free-kick in the 38th minute. Marquez was booked in the 44th minute after tripping Ronaldo as he attempted to surge forward, meaning the Mexican is suspended for next Tuesday's second leg at Old Trafford. Ronaldo sent his effort from an acute angle wide of the post. After the break, Messi saw his effort blocked in the 47th minute and then Van der Sar tipped over defender Gianluca Zambrotta's long-range effort. Messi beat three United players but Ferdinand cut out his low cross from the right, then he played in a superb ball for Eto'o who lashed his shot against the side-netting. Deco tested Van der Sar with a low drive, then the Dutchman easily dealt with a 20-yard effort from Xavi. Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard took off Messi in the 62nd minute, replacing him with teenager Bojan Krkic, who scored the winner in the first leg of the quarterfinal against Schalke. A foul on the Serbian-born Spaniard drew a yellow card for Hargreaves in the 73rd minute, then United boss Alex Ferguson bolstered his midfield by bringing on Nani for England forward Wayne Rooney who had started up front with Carlos Tevez. Rijkaard responded by replacing Deco with Henry in the 77th minute, and the French forward forced a scrambled save by Van der Sar with a long-range shot on 83. Ferguson brought on veteran winger Ryan Giggs for Tevez soon after, then Van der Sar denied Andres Iniesta and also dived to comfortably save Henry's free-kick from 35 yards. Barcelona continued to press until the final whistle, but still could not create a clear-cut opportunity. E-mail to a friend .

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Police impose a curfew in Jaipur day after bomb attacks kill at least 63 people . Local Indian official blames "unnamed international terror group" for blasts . Bombs explode within 12 minutes of each other, 200 people also wounded . Police suspect bicycles may have been used to carry the bombs .

NEW DELHI, India Police imposed a curfew in Jaipur on Wednesday, a day after near-simultaneous bomb attacks in the ancient Indian city killed at least 63 people and wounded more than 200. Indian women mourn the death of their relatives in the May 13 serial blasts in Jaipur. Vasundhara Raje, chief minister of Rajasthan the state of which Jaipur is the capital blamed an "unnamed international terror group" for the attack, but said it was too early in the investigation to specify which one. H.G. Ragavendhra, Jaipur's superintendent of police, told CNN that police found nine newly-purchased bicycles at the scene, and think they were used to carry the explosives. The owner of the bike shop is helping police draw a sketch of the person who purchased them. Police have also picked up six suspects and were questioning them. Jaipur, known as the "pink city" for its rose-colored forts and palaces, is a popular tourist attraction. The majority Hindu city of 2.7 million people has a sizable Muslim population. The day-long curfew, authorities said, was meant to prevent "communal violence." It was intended to prevent large crowds from gathering at the blast site and hampering the investigation, said Jaipur police director Kanhaiya Lal. Also, tempers could flare as mourners spend the day carrying bodies to their home villages and to crematoriums, he said. Home ministry officials suspect the Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami of being behind the attacks, according to CNN's sister network CNN-IBN and the Press Trust of India. No one has claimed responsibility. In the past, officials have blamed attacks within its borders on "foreign" Islamic extremist groups fighting against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. It is a term that is commonly understood to refer to Pakistan. Kashmir has been the source of bitter dispute and two wars between India and Pakistan. Both control parts of the region, which is predominantly Muslim. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attacks. See the aftermath of the explosions. » . Raje told reporters Wednesday that the military had been placed on alert and security tightened around the borders of the state, the western edge of which lies next to Pakistan. She also took to task the central government, saying it had provided no advance warning about the possibility of such an attack. Furthermore, Raje said, the central government left a state-proposed organized crime bill unapproved for two years. The bill would have allowed local police more leeway to interrogate suspects plotting attacks, she said. On Tuesday evening, eight bombs tore through crowded markets and a packed Hindu temple in Jaipur's walled city. The blasts went off within a 12-minute span and within 500 meters (0.3 miles) of each other. Police defused a ninth bomb. The Jaipur blasts bear an eerie resemblance in its pattern to a deadly attack two years ago in India's financial capital, Mumbai. In July 2006, more than 200 people were killed when seven explosions targeted commuter trains in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. In that incident, the explosions went off within a span of 11 minutes. Both attacks used RDX, one of the most powerful kinds of military explosives, and ammonium nitrate, an oxidizing agent in explosives. And both attacks took place during the evening hours and on Tuesdays. The Jaipur blasts occurred near the temple on a day when devotees pray to Hanuman, the Hindu monkey king. Nearby markets and bazaars that were also targeted were filled with tourists and locals. In the Mumbai attack, the blasts were timed to go off during the height of rush hour. And authorities said the bombs all appeared to have been planted on trains that left the Churchgate station used daily by thousands of commuters in the metropolis of more than 11 million people. Indian officials blamed Pakistan's intelligence services and a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, for the attack. Pakistan, which banned Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in 2002, denied any involvement. The Jaipur blast has one more element in common with yet another deadly attack: the use of bicycles. Just as on Tuesday, assailants used bombs strapped to bicycles in an attack at a mosque in the western Indian city of Malegaon in September 2006. At least 33 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in that explosion, which took place on a Friday when the mosque is filled with Muslim worshippers. That attack was also blamed Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. Authorities have not connected the Jaipur blast to any previous attacks. HuJi or the Movement of Islamic Holy War is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. It is banned in neighboring Bangladesh, where it is accused of carrying out several attacks, including a foiled plot to kill the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2000. And it has been blamed for several attacks inside India, including one at the American Center in Calcutta that killed five policemen in 2002. India ranks among the countries where terrorism is most common, the U.S. State Department said. "The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, attacks by extreme leftist Naxalites and Maoists in eastern and central India, assaults by ethno-linguistic nationalists in the northeastern states, and terrorist strikes nationwide by Islamic extremists took more than 2,300 lives this year," the agency said. CNN's Tess Eastment and Saeed Ahmed contributed to this report.

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CNN projects McCain wins Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont . Huckabee withdraws from race for GOP nomination . CNN: McCain had amassed 1,047 delegates before Tuesday . McCain campaign was largely written off last summer .

DALLAS, Texas Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose White House aspirations went into a nose dive last summer, clinched the Republican Party's presidential nomination Tuesday night with a sweep of GOP contests in four states. "I am very, very grateful and pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a great sense of responsibility, that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States," McCain told supporters in Texas. CNN estimates that McCain has amassed 1,195 delegates to the GOP's September convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, four more than the 1,191 needed to claim the party's nomination. "Now, we begin the most important part of our campaign: to make a respectful, determined and convincing case to the American people that our campaign and my election as president, given the alternative presented by our friends in the other party, is in the best interest in the country that we love," McCain said. "The big battle's to come," he said. "I do not underestimate the significance nor the size of the challenge." Watch McCain address supporters after sweeping Tuesday's contests » . McCain's last leading rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, bowed out of the race after his projected losses in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont and urged his supporters to back the Arizona senator in November. "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been but now what must be, and that is a united party," Huckabee said. Watch as Huckabee ends his presidential bid » . Claiming the title of presumptive nominee will give McCain a head start on the general election campaign while Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still locked in a battle for their party's title, said Alex Castellanos, a GOP strategist and CNN contributor. Allocate delegates yourself and see how the numbers add up » . "Tomorrow, he can get started," Castellanos said. "He'll have the [Republican National Committee] behind him. He'll have a broad base of financial support. It's a big step. Meanwhile, it looks like the Democrats are engaged in the land war across Russia, so he's got a big advantage now." Both Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, and Obama, the first-term senator from Illinois, called McCain on Tuesday night, campaign officials said. Obama told McCain he looks forward to running against him in the fall, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. McCain is slated to go to the White House on Wednesday to receive the endorsement of President Bush, according to two Republican sources. The Arizona senator's campaign his second run for the White House was largely written off last summer amid outspoken opposition from the party's conservative base, a major staff shakeup and disappointing fundraising. But the former Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war rebounded with wins in January's primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, the state where his first presidential bid foundered. "There were times, obviously, when my political campaign was not viewed as the most viable in America, as you probably know," he told reporters in San Antonio earlier Tuesday. "In fact, I was reminded of the words of Chairman Mao, who said it's always darkest before it's totally black." McCain's fortunes also rebounded as U.S. commanders in Iraq credited the 2007 launch of a campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces with a sharp decline in American and Iraqi casualties. The senator had been one of the most outspoken advocates of the shift and has blasted his potential Democratic rivals for calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the widely unpopular war. "This is a man with a lot of trials in his life," said former Education Secretary William Bennett, a CNN contributor. "He's had a lot of downs; he's been up, and this is a big up." McCain has been turning his fire on the Democrats, for whom Tuesday's races in Ohio and Texas are seen as pivotal. See scenes from Tuesday's voting » . But Democrats have been pounding McCain over his January comment that he would be satisfied if U.S. troops remained in Iraq for 100 years, as long as the insurgency there died down. And Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has attacked his reputation as a reformer over the past week, accusing McCain of trying to evade federal spending limits by opting out of public financing after using the promise of federal funds to obtain a bank loan and automatic ballot access for his primary campaign. Dean told CNN on Tuesday that McCain "really is the focus of what we're doing now, in terms of his ethics problems and his problems with the war and his problems with the huge deficits that they've run up on the Republican side." In 2000, McCain upset then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the New Hampshire primary by touting "straight talk" and his record as a Republican maverick. Bush came back in South Carolina amid a divisive and bitter campaign that left McCain denouncing leaders of the party's religious conservative wing as "agents of intolerance," and Bush went on to win the presidency. Since then, McCain has enraged conservative leaders by opposing Bush's signature tax cuts, co-sponsoring the campaign finance reform law that now bears his name and supporting a controversial White House-backed plan to offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. But their support was spread among a fractured GOP field, and their main standard-bearer, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, quit the race after a disappointing showing in February's Super Tuesday primaries. Exit polls in Texas and Ohio found that about three-quarters of Republicans would be satisfied with McCain as their nominee, however. Those surveys found that the economy was the top issue for GOP voters in both states and by a wide margin in Ohio, which has seen a sharp decline in manufacturing jobs in the past decade. Although national security issues are a strong suit for McCain, Castellanos said he might need some help if a weakening economy is the central issue in November. "It's never been Sen. McCain's strength," Castellanos said. He said McCain would need to make the case that "I'm going to grow this economy; Barack or Hillary, they're going to grow government." McCain had amassed 1,047 delegates before Tuesday, according to CNN estimates. At stake in Tuesday's contests were 256 delegates, allocated on a winner-take-all basis by statewide or congressional district results. E-mail to a friend . CNN correspondent Dana Bash and political editor Mark Preston contributed to this report.

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Sin Hwa Dee founded by former soya salesman and soya production operator . One of Sin Hwa Dee's factories dedicated exclusively to Yu Sheng products . In 2005, Sin Hwa Dee moved into their own building, CHNG Kee's Foodlink .

Sin Hwa Dee began operations in the 1970s as a cottage industry in the former soya sauce-producing enclave of Kim Chuan Road, in the Paya Lebar area of Singapore. Mr. and Mrs. Chng Kee started out producing soya and oyster sauces, bean paste and plum paste in the 1970s. It was founded by the late Mr. Chng Kee, a former soya salesman, who ran the business with his wife, a soya production operator. Together they sold mainly soya and oyster sauces, bean paste and plum paste in bulk under the Sin Hwa Dee label to the restaurant, hotel and catering industries. In 1990, the company began producing the preserved fruits and vegetables used to make the traditional Lunar New Year dish of Yu Sheng. One of Sin Hwa Dee's factories is dedicated exclusively to the production of Yu Sheng products, while another factory produces noodles for the restaurant and catering industries. Mr. Chng's daughter Jocelyn first decided to introduce the company's products to the foreign market when she attended the SIAL exhibition in Paris in 1992, noting that there was a clear interest in Asian food. Sin Hwa Dee's first premix, the Laksa Paste, was launched into the food services market under the CHNG Kee's label in 1994, followed by the Kung Bo Sauce, the Black Pepper Sauce and their famous chicken rice mix. In 1996, the company invested heavily in equipment and technology to produce sauces and premixes in bottles for the retail market under the CHNG Kee's label. In 2005, Sin Hwa Dee moved into their own building, CHNG Kee's Foodlink, located in Senoko South Road, north of Singapore, with a production team of over 75 employees producing more than 20 tons of sauces per day. Today, their clientele includes Singapore Airlines, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King, hotels such as the Ritz Carlton, Conrad International Centenniel, Raffles Hotel, Hilton Hotel, Marriott Hotel, and restaurants such as Lei Garden and Crystal Jade.

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Troops to stay until 2011, with the stipulation that NATO contribute more forces . Most of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are in Kandahar province . The Canadian mission in Afghanistan was to end next February . Critics say the cost has not been disclosed to Parliament or the public .

Canada's House of Commons voted Thursday to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan until 2011, with the stipulation that NATO send reinforcements to the volatile Kandahar province. Canadian soldiers walk along a track at the Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan last month. Most of Canada's 2,500 troops in Afghanistan are in Kandahar as part of the NATO-led mission to stabilize the war-torn country. Their presence has sparked controversy in Canada, with the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party calling for an immediate troop withdrawal. Supporters of the mission argued that Canadians have made progress in providing schools, health care and clean water for thousands of Afghans. They said the improving conditions would be impossible without troops ensuring a secure environment for aid workers and local residents. "The military needs to be there," said Harold Albrecht, a conservative member of Parliament. "The military provides the civil order we would expect from police here." The Canadian mission in Afghanistan was to end next February. It has claimed the lives of 80 soldiers and a diplomat, according to The Associated Press. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has endorsed a panel's recommendation to keep troops in place only if another NATO nation dispatches additional troops to Kandahar. Canada wants a minimum of 1,000 reinforcements, The Globe and Mail reported. Thursday's motion, passed with a 198-77 vote, brought Harper's Conservative party and the opposition Liberals together on the issue. Other parties, however, noted that the cost of maintaining a troop presence in Afghanistan has not been disclosed to Parliament or the public. "We must provide clarity to the Canadian people," said Nathan Cullen of the New Democratic Party. "We believe it to be wrong for our country." E-mail to a friend .

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U.S. drivers face patchwork of speed limits across the nation . Parts of Texas have speed limits of 80 miles per hour . Some researchers skeptical of link between accidents, high speeds .

(AOL Autos) Some drivers would say that the United States is a crazy quilt of speed limits, with an emphasis on the "crazy." A sign indicating the highest speed limit in the country stands by Interstate 10 outside of the West Texas town of El Paso. Since 1995, states have been free to set their own maximum speed limits, leading to long debates on safety standards. To some folks, the speed limits are just insane either too low or too high, depending on their views about what makes driving safe. Advocates of low speed limits won't find much to like about Texas. True to its frontier roots, it stands out as the land of the fast getaway. The top rural speed limit is normally 70 mph, but in 2006 it set a maximum daytime speed of 80 miles per hour, the highest speed limit on the country, on more than 500 miles of rural interstate in its southwest corner. This includes parts of Interstate 10 between Kerrville and El Paso and of I-20 between Monahans and the I-10 interchange. The speed limit for rural roads in Montana is 75 mph. As a result, it takes just three hours to travel the 228 miles from Billings to Butte at the posted speed. But that's much slower than a Montana driver could have made the trip in early 1999. At that time there was a six-month speeders' honeymoon when the state had almost no control over rural speeds, partly as a result of an unfavorable court ruling. St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands is at or near the other end of the spectrum. In the U.S. territory the speed limit is 20 mph in the city and 30 out in the country. When it comes to accident rates, though, you would be far better off on a Montana interstate than competing with the island's frenetic drivers on the way to Paradise Point. Nationwide, maximum speeds range from 60 miles per hour in Hawaii to 75 in most of the West. Meanwhile, much of the eastern Midwest and the Northeast has opted for maximum speeds of 65 mph, although Michigan and Indiana chose the 70 mph standard more common to the South and the Great Plains states. So if you are cruising west along I-90 out of Ohio, you can enjoy the increase in speed across 150 miles of Indiana before Illinois' lower speed limit or its state police reins you in. As you continue west, interstate speed limits bump up to 70 in Iowa, and then you can maintain a steady 75 from Nebraska through to the California line, where interstate speeds drop off to 70 again. Should you choose to detour into Oregon, you're back down to 65. From a highway safety standpoint, the patchwork of speed limits at least seems to make sense. Speeds are slower in more populous Eastern states and faster in the wide-open West, although the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety argues that some of the new, higher speed limits out West and elsewhere are costing lives. It estimates that deaths on interstates and freeways have increased 15 percent due to the higher speed limits. But some researchers are skeptical about the link between accidents and high speeds on rural highways, if not on city streets and rural two-lanes. They point to the lower fatality rates on European highways, even though the speeds are generally higher. The maximum legal speed is roughly 80 mph in Poland, Austria, France and a few other countries. There is no speed limit on much of Germany's autobahn, although some sections are restricted to about 80 mph or less. Ironically, the new regime of U.S. speed limits has helped researchers make sense of whether higher rural speed limits are dangerous. Political scientist Robert Yowell, a professor at Northeast Lakeview College in Texas, examined what happened after states began setting higher rural speed limits in 1995. With the federal 65 mph limit gone, it was possible to compare the accident rates before and after the new limits went into effect. The results were clear: "By and large, across the 50 states, there was no discernible effect from the higher limits," Yowell said. "Two or three states actually had a decrease in fatalities." Once speed limits are raised on interstates, drivers are more likely to get off the more dangerous two lanes and use the faster routes, Yowell said. Furthermore, the motorists traveling the fastest on the higher-speed interstates tend to be good at that kind of driving. The less competent drivers at high speeds tend to drive more slowly. While Yowell admits most states are well-intentioned, he's "not willing to accept that speed limits are solely a function of safety," he said. "They are a function of revenue generation as well. There have been cases of judges saying communities have to raise their speed limits because they were obviously being used to raise revenues and that's not a proper use of the law." In part, Yowell looks to differences in political cultures to explain the great continental divide in speed limits. "It may be that certain states have a different approach to questions involving personal liberty versus collective safety," he said. His research doesn't surprise Jim Baxter, president of the Waunakee, Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association. His organization had lobbied heavily for an end to the federal limits. Baxter's rule of thumb for computing the right speed limit is the traffic engineering standard known as the 85th percentile speed. That's the speed that 85 percent of motorists drive at or below. But it tends to be well above the speed limits that most jurisdictions set. With the speed limit set at that level, traffic tends to move smoothly, reducing the risk of accidents, Baxter said. If you put the limit below that speed, some vehicles are traveling far more slowly than the fastest drivers, creating the most dangerous conditions of all. Baxter argues that most drivers naturally tend to drive at speeds that suit the road conditions and their driving skills. St. Thomas is a case in point, albeit an extreme one. With its congestion and rugged terrain, the island is bereft of performance cars; many of the vehicles are older pickups, aging Japanese compacts and SUVs. The treacherous conditions restrict speeds far more effectively than any local law. As Joe Aubain, executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, puts it, "Even if you wanted to go a whole lot faster, you couldn't," he said. E-mail to a friend .

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His name is "Average," he fled wreckage of President Mugabe's Zimbabwe . One of the 4,000 who flee hunger, homelessness into South Africa a day . Once-prosperous nation now an economic disaster with 5,000 percent inflation .

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa His name is "Average" and the story of his desperate flight from the wreckage of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe is an increasingly common one. Math teacher Mawise Gumba fled Zimbabwe and found his qualifications mean little as a refugee. The tall 34-year-old, slouching exhausted in a Johannesburg church that has become a de facto transit camp, is one man in a tide of migrants washing up in South Africa. "There is nothing for me there in our country any more. I had no job and I could not afford anything. Even when I was working life was tough," he said. "It's hard for everyone ... I thought it was better for me here," said the former store clerk, whose dusty jeans and boots tell of a long and difficult journey. The tale told by Average whose name is not unusual in Zimbabwe is depressingly familiar to a people who have watched their once prosperous land spiral into economic disaster. When Mugabe's government, facing inflation of close to 5,000 percent, ordered companies to halve prices of basic goods and services a month ago effectively demanding that they operate at a loss Average lost his job as the supermarket chain he worked for cut staff. Facing the prospect of homelessness and hunger in his own country, he joined the estimated 4,000 Zimbabweans who head south to South Africa, most of them illegally, every day. Mugabe, 83 and in power since the country's independence from Britain in 1980, has been accused of running Zimbabwe's economy into the ground while implementing a draconian crackdown aimed at keeping power. His decision to launch violent seizures of white-owned farms seven years ago is partly blamed for soaring unemployment and the highest inflation rate in the world. Average scraped together his last salary, some money he made from trading sugar bought at a discount from the supermarket where he worked, and funds borrowed from friends to secure a visitor's visa and bus ticket to Johannesburg. A friend who promised to meet him on arrival failed to show up, leaving him stranded without a place to sleep. On Wednesday evening he walked into the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg and joined a long queue of people waiting for shelter and food. The church's homeless shelter has become a virtual refugee camp for 800-900 Zimbabweans and a smaller number of migrants from other countries. "Over the past three years, and more so over the past couple of months, I have noted an exponential increase in the number of people we have from Zimbabwe," Bishop Paul Verryn said. Outside his office the line of people waiting for help grew. Many of the new arrivals were asleep in their seats. "We offer them a place off the streets, where they are protected and have warmth from the inclement streets of Johannesburg," Verryn said. At sunset the refugees crowd into the building and lay out reeking blankets. "People just sleep anywhere they can find a space to sleep. Some people sleep on the steps here, in the corridors and others in the foyer and in the meeting rooms," said 27-year-old Walter Rusike from Harare. The commerce graduate and his wife and two children share a meeting room with other families and have been at the shelter for four months. Average said he hoped to get accommodation for a few days until he finds his friend, work or both. "I have a diploma in stores management and store control, a certificate in security and a driver's licence. I think maybe I will be able to find some work with my qualifications. Anything will be better than the situation I was in," he says. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Obama responds to question about attempts to paint him as unpatriotic . Obama cited for not wearing American flag lapel pin, among other things . Obama: "There's always some nonsense going on in general elections" Clinton has said she has shown she can withstand conservative attacks .

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended himself and his wife Sunday against suggestions that they are insufficiently patriotic. Sen. Barack Obama defended himself and his wife against recent suggestions that they are not patriotic. After a town hall meeting in Lorain, Ohio, a reporter asked Obama about "an attempt by conservatives and Republicans to paint you as unpatriotic." The reporter cited the fact that Obama once failed to put his hand over his heart while singing the national anthem. Obama replied that his choice not to put his hand on his heart is a behavior that "would disqualify about three-quarters of the people who have ever gone to a football game or baseball game." The reporter also noted that the Illinois senator does not wear an American flag lapel pin, has met with former members of the radical anti-Vietnam War group, Weather Underground, and his wife was quoted recently as saying she never felt really proud of the United States until recently. Asked how he would fight the image of being unpatriotic, Obama said, "There's always some nonsense going on in general elections. Right? If it wasn't this, it would be something else. If you recall, first it was my name. Right? That was a problem. And then there was the Muslim e-mail thing and that hasn't worked out so well, and now it's the patriotism thing. "The way I will respond to it is with the truth: that I owe everything I am to this country," he said. The first-term senator from Illinois has been the subject of various debunked rumors since launching his presidential campaign allegations that he is a Muslim, that he took his oath of office on a copy of the Quran and that he attended a radical Islamic school while living in Indonesia as a boy. "You will recall that the reason I came to national attention was a speech in which I spoke of my love of this country," said Obama. He and his wife, Michelle, had already explained her comments. "She simply misspoke," he said. "What she was referring to was [that] this was the first time she has been proud of politics in America. Watch what Michelle Obama said » . "That's true of a lot of people who have been cynical and disenchanted. And she's spoken about how she has been cynical about American politics for a very long time, but she's proud of how people are participating and getting involved in ways that they haven't in a very long time." About not wearing an American flag lapel pin, Obama said Republicans have no lock on patriotism. "A party that presided over a war in which our troops did not get the body armor they needed, or were sending troops over who were untrained because of poor planning, or are not fulfilling the veterans' benefits that these troops need when they come home, or are undermining our Constitution with warrantless wiretaps that are unnecessary? "That is a debate I am very happy to have. We'll see what the American people think is the true definition of patriotism." Obama did not respond to the question about the Weather Underground, a group whose members bombed the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon during the 1970s. Last week, the New York Sun reported that as an Illinois state senator in 2001, Obama accepted a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founder of the group who was not convicted for the bombings and now works as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. But the paper said that, in a statement, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, William Burton, said, "Sen. Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence ... But he was an 8-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost 40 years ago is ridiculous." Former first lady Sen. Hillary Clinton has said repeatedly that she is a stronger candidate because she has already shown she can withstand conservative attacks. E-mail to a friend .

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Six young Italians found shot in the head in western German city of Duisburg . Five were dead when authorities arrived, one died later . The victims were between 16 and 39 years old, police say . Police believe the killings may be linked to organized crime in Italy .

BERLIN, Germany Six Italian men were shot dead in the German city of Duisburg on Wednesday in an execution-style killing linked to a mafia feud. Police remove a body from the scene. Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the shootings appeared to be linked to a feud between two mafia clans in the southern region of Calabria, home to the 'Ndrangheta organized crime group. Here are some key facts about the group: . ORIGINS: . The Calabrian "Honored Society", known as "'Ndrangheta", in the Calabria region of south Italy is the equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia. 'Ndrangheta began as a defense network for impoverished rural peasants against aristocratic landlords. Members emigrated to Canada and the United States, and were discovered running an intimidation scheme in Pennsylvania mining towns in 1906. HOW DOES IT WORK? They are known as "The Honored Society", Fibbia or Calabrian mafia. Instead of the pyramid structure of bosses used by other mafia, The 'Ndrangheta" uses families based on blood relationships, inter-marriages, or being a Godfather. Each group is named after their village, or after the family leader. TWENTIETH CENTURY EXPANSION: . When Calabria began the process of industrialization and urbanization in the late 20th century, the 'Ndrangheta became interested in drug trafficking, weapons sales and public works and construction. THE PRESENT: . In 2004, authorities uncovered an international drugs trafficking network involving gangs in South America, Australia, and Europe. Drugs from Colombia were destined for countries such as Greece and Bulgaria. Italian officials estimated at the time that 80 percent of Europe's cocaine had arrived from Colombia via Gioia Tauro's docks in Reggio Calabria. Italian anti-organized crime agencies have estimated that the 'NDrangheta earns about $30 billion annually, mostly from illegal drugs, but also from ostensibly legal businesses such as construction, restaurants and supermarkets. There are believed to be about 100 'Ndrangheta families in Calabria, who have become more successful than their Sicilian counterparts because their family ties are closer. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Ex-ABC News reporter John McWethy, 61, dies in Colorado ski accident . McWethy was wearing helmet at time of crash, coroner says . Reporter died doing "something he truly loved," says ABC president . "Unflappable" reporter "really did have handle on what life was for," ex-colleague says .

WASHINGTON Former ABC News chief national security correspondent John McWethy died from injuries in a Colorado skiing accident, a coroner said Thursday. John McWethy, right, shares a laugh in 2002 with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington. A witness said McWethy, 61, was skiing fast on an intermediate trail Wednesday at Keystone Ski Resort when he lost control and slammed into a tree, said Joanne L. Richardson, the Summit County, Colorado, coroner. McWethy died while being treated for blunt-force injuries at Summit Medical Center, Richardson said. "He just missed a turn and slid sideways is what we're surmising," she told CNN. McWethy was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, she said. With his wife, Laurie, McWethy recently had moved to Boulder after nearly 30 years as an ABC News correspondent, so he could enjoy Colorado's ski trails, according to a statement from ABC News President David Westin. "He was doing something that he truly loved," Weston said. "But he deserved many more years doing it than he was given." Friends and former colleagues described McWethy as an outstanding reporter who also cherished life outside work. "He always knew without exception what so many in the powerful business of TV news fail to learn until it's too late: In the end, all we have is our families and our friends and our self-respect as news reporters," said CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, who worked as a producer with McWethy for three years. Both Starr and former CNN producer Chris Plante admired McWethy's coolheaded reporting from the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, when a hijacked airliner punched a huge, fiery hole in the building's massive facade. "He was unflappable even in the most extreme situations because he was always centered by his love for his family and the knowledge that the television news business and all of this Washington hoo-ha was not 'real life,' " Plante said. "Unlike so many, he really did have a handle on what life was for. And the last moments of his life are proof of that." College classmate Bob Steele wrote about McWethy's "mighty" skepticism of authority in an article published online for the Poynter Institute. While they attended Depauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, Steele said McWethy "challenged the University President and his policies. He protested against the Vietnam War." Steele wrote that McWethy considered "why" to be "the most powerful word in the English language." Len Ackland of the University of Colorado's Center for Environmental Journalism told The Denver Post that his longtime friend "was a very humble guy." Ackland told the paper that McWethy "didn't talk about himself much. He was the kind of journalist who didn't want to be out front. It was always about the story, not about him. He was the kind of guy you enjoyed sitting down to have a beer with." McWethy left behind two sons, Adam, 28, and Ian, 24, according to the Post. His wife, who was with McWethy at the time of the accident, told the Post her husband was a good skier who enjoyed living in Colorado. "He loved it here," she told the paper. "I think he loved the beauty of its nature, the open spaces, the wildlife, everything." In his statement, Westin said, "He was one of those very rare reporters who knew his beat better than anyone, and had developed more sources than anyone, and yet, kept his objectivity." After working as a reporter for U.S. News & World Report, McWethy joined ABC News in 1979, going on to cover conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo and Liberia, according to the ABC News Web site. McWethy was the network's primary reporter assigned to Secretaries of State James Baker, George Shultz, Warren Christopher and Lawrence Eagleburger, ABC said, and he had traveled to more than 50 countries. McWethy was honored with at least five national Emmys during his time at ABC and also received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and an Overseas Press Club Award, according to ABC News' Web site. "For three years I watched one of the finest news reporters do what so many in television still cannot do to this day: be a reporter first, foremost and always," Starr said. Colleagues said he'll be missed. "Everyone that knew Jack is trading stories today," Plante said. "There is nothing but a sense of unambiguous loss on the part of all of his friends, colleagues, competitors and even the uniformed military officers that he covered as a reporter." E-mail to a friend .

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Investors are being wooed by funds specializing in high-end musical instruments . The Stradivarius violin is the premier investment instrument . A new hedge fund called the Fine Violins Fund is dedicated to top-range instruments .

LONDON, England Record oil prices, the sub-prime mortgage mess and slumping stock markets are hardly music to the ears of investors. In tough economic times like these, investors seek out safe, stable investments such as guaranteed government bonds or CDs. Yet a growing number are being wooed by the sweet sounds, and profits, of something new investment funds specializing in high-end musical instruments. The Stradivarius violin only about 700 are believed to exist is the premier investment instrument. Talented musicians want them, but can't afford them one fetched $3.5 million at auction. Enter Nigel Brown, winner of The Queen's Award for Enterprise and Chairman of the NW Brown Group, a financial services company. He brings musician and investor together. "What happens is, a musician comes along to see me, having fallen in love with an instrument," Brown says. "Then, what I do is to pull a syndicate of people together to buy this instrument so that the musician can then have the use of it ..." Down the road, the musician can buy the instrument from the investors. They split the profits if its value appreciates. That's how violinist Matthew Trusler got his $2 million Stradivarius. Brown loved Trusler's playing and funded the instrument himself. "They are just the most fantastic violins that were ever made," Trusler says, clutching his. "This one was made in 1711 ... and it's been around for 300 years and it's a really wonderful violin." Not everyone is convinced a Stradivarius is such a great deal particularly modern instrument makers. "I think if you can get hold of one of the very best Strads, not just any Strad ... I think they probably give you, as a player, something special," says violin-maker Andreas Hudelmayer. "But if you can't have one of the very few best, you are just as well off with a new instrument." His reasoning? The cost of insuring a Stradivarius for just a couple of years would pay for a new, top-quality violin, Hudelmayer says. Even so, the reality is that old violins are attracting those looking for alternative investments. A new hedge fund called the Fine Violins Fund is dedicated to top-range instruments. The latest studies show exclusive violins are earning a steady 3.5 percent a year since 1850. That beats U.S. Treasury bonds over the same timeframe, with their 2.19 percent average yield. Of course, you have to be in the investment game for the long haul. "They've proved to be fantastic investments," says Simon Morris, director of Beare's a broker and appraiser of high-end violins, violas and cellos. "For many of the musicians that bought say in the 1960s, they've been the best pension plan they could've had. "Like anything, you have to purchase well and sell well. You can't just go and buy any old thing." But for these investors, the financial return is only part of the investment. "The fact they make a financial gain is of course gratifying at the end of the day, but it is mostly the support of the musician," says Brown. "They like being able to go along to a concert and hear their instrument performed by their artist." E-mail to a friend .

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Super Cup winners AC Milan are held to a 1-1 home draw by Fiorentina . Brazilian Kaka gave Milan the lead with a penalty after a foul on Ambrosini . Adrian Mutu equalised for Fiorentina with a header from Santana's cross .

MILAN, Italy European Super Cup winners Milan were brought back down to earth at the San Siro on Monday, as Fiorentina held them to a 1-1 draw in Serie A. Kaka wheels away in celebration after scoring his penalty against Fiorentina. Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu earned the visitors a point with a 56th-minute header after Milan playmaker Kaka had scored from the penalty spot in the 27th minute. Milan, who beat Genoa 3-0 in their opening league game, join Fiorentina as one of seven teams with four points in the league table. Mutu scored against the run of play from Mario Alberto Santana's cross. Earlier, Fiorentina defender Dario Dainelli had conceded a penalty when he tripped Massimo Ambrosini in the area. Filippo Inzaghi wasted a golden chance to win the match in the 71st minute when Kaka slid the ball across the front of Fiorentina's goal. However, the Italy forward somehow managed to miss the ball and an open net. Fiorentina could have won it late on but midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic hit the post. "I am always angry when we don't get the maximum points, but in this case we did everything we possibly could," said Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti. "We tried to win and ran quite a few risks, but so soon after our last game it was understandable we had some difficulties." E-mail to a friend .

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Beijing to London jet lands short of runway at Heathrow Airport . NEW: Investigator says pilot talked of not having power . Passenger: We just dropped. I couldn't tell you how far . 136 passengers evacuated from plane; 17 minor injuries reported .

LONDON, England Air crash investigators are trying to work out why a Boeing 777 landed short of the runway at London Heathrow airport, skidding on grass and ripping apart sections of the aircraft. I-Reporter Alex Quinonez took this image of a casualty being taken by medics from Heathrow Airport. An investigator who has been briefed on the incident told CNN the plane's captain "is claiming there wasn't power when he needed it." Passenger Paul Venter told the UK Press Association: "The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldn't tell you how far." London ambulance services said 17 people suffered minor injuries, and the number could increase as several others are still being assessed. Images showed the Boeing 777 BA flight 38 from Beijing, China grounded on tarmac after touching down several hundred meters short of the airport's south runway, close to a perimeter road, with its emergency chutes deployed and white fire-fighting foam covering the engines. The undercarriage, left wing and left engine of the aircraft were severely damaged, as if it had skidded across the ground. At least one of the plane's wheels had been torn off. The most visible damage was to the left wing, which was covered in mangled metal where it meets the fuselage. Tire tracks hundreds of meters long could be seen in the grass behind the plane, which was surrounded by fire engines and other emergency vehicles. Eyewitness Neil Jones said the plane had made a "very, very unusual approach" to the airport and sounded louder than usual, PA reported. "You could see the pilot was desperate, trying to get the plane down. The aircraft hit the grass and there was a lot of dirt. The pilot was struggling to keep the plane straight. I think he did a great job." Read passenger and eyewitness accounts of the crash landing . The BBC said an unidentified Heathrow worker told the broadcaster that he had spoken to the pilot. The pilot said, according to the worker, that the plane's electronics had failed and that he was forced to glide it to the ground. The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch will lead the inquiry into the crash landing. A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is also heading to London, accompanied by representatives from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Adminsitration. Jerome Ensinck, a passenger aboard the flight, said there had been no indication that the plane was making an emergency landing. "There was no indication that we were going to have a bad landing," he said. "When we hit the ground it was extremely rough, but I've had rough landings before and I thought 'This is the roughest I've had.' "Then the emergency exits were opened and we were all told we should go through as quickly as possible, and the moment I was away from the plane I started to realize that the undercarriage was away, and we had missed the runway. "I feel lucky at the moment, but I think now I realize I've had a close call. If we had hit the runway, it would have been worse." In a statement, British Airways said all 136 passengers and 16 crew members had been evacuated from the plane with six minor injuries taken to hospital. BA chief executive Willie Walsh praised the actions of the crew. "We are very proud of the way our crew safely evacuated all 136 passengers on board," Walsh said in a statement. "The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years," he added. Walsh also said that an investigation was being conducted by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and that it would be inappropriate to speculate about likely causes. Airport authorities said Heathrow's southern runway had been closed, but the northern runway remained open. But the incident immediately led to major delays for passengers. Some incoming flights were being diverted to other airports on a flight-by-flight basis, according to Heathrow's Web site. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said there was nothing to suggest the incident was terror-related. The Boeing 777 is the mainstay of many airlines' long-haul fleets and has never been involved in a fatal accident. However, the aircraft involved in Thursday's incident appeared to have had a fortunate escape, having approached Heathrow over heavily-populated west London suburbs before its crash landing. CNN's Richard Quest, who covers the airline industry, said it appeared the damage happened after the plane touched down. The incident occurred at 12:42 p.m. (7:42 a.m. ET) as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to leave Heathrow for a visit to China and India. His flight was delayed but his jet was not directly involved, PA said. • British Airways has set up helpline numbers for friends and relatives concerned for passengers involved in the incident: . From within UK: 0800 389 4193. From outside UK: +44 191 211 3690 E-mail to a friend .

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Chilean judge orders prosecution of 98 former Pinochet soldiers, agents . Order is related to investigation of 60 people who disappeared in 1970s . Hundreds were killed or disappeared during Augusto Pinochet's rule . Suspects are expected to appear in court in Chile on Tuesday .

SANTIAGO, Chile Nearly 100 former Chilean soldiers and secret police will be prosecuted on charges they tried to cover up the disappearance and deaths of 119 people during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a judge ordered Monday. Former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, pictured in 2000. The disappearances occurred between 1974 and 1975, during what was known as "Operation Colombo," which targeted Pinochet's opponents. Chile's military government published information outside the country to make it seem that the victims had died fighting guerrillas. Chilean magistrate Victor Montiglio based his order on an investigation that says 60 victims were illegally arrested by the Office of National Intelligence and kept in detention centers before they disappeared. DINA's former director, retired Gen. Manuel Contreras, has already been sentenced to 250 years in prison in other cases involving human rights violations. He found out about Montiglio's ruling in his prison cell. Minister of Justice Carlos Maldonado said the former soldiers will be taken to military compounds after they appear before Montiglio on Tuesday. The civilian suspects will be jailed in the Santiago Uno and Punta Peuco penal facilities, which are outside Santiago, he said. A U.S. backed-coup toppled democratically elected President Salvador Allende in 1973, after which Pinochet took power. In March 2008, a court in Chile sentenced 24 former police officers for their roles in kidnappings, torture and murders that happened just after the coup, Chile's Judicial Authority said. Thousands of Chileans were victims of the national crime wave. Pinochet, whose reign lasted from 1973 to 1990, was widely blamed for encouraging subordinates to kidnap, torture and kill people with suspected leftist ties, such as journalists and union members. Years after he left power, courts indicted Pinochet in two human rights cases, but judges threw out the charges on the grounds that he was too ill to stand trial. Pinochet died in 2006. CNN's Alberto Pando contributed to this report.

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Valentino Rossi claims pole position for Sunday's Italian MotoGP in Mugello . A lap of one minute 48.130 seconds enough to give Rossi first pole of season . Yamaha rider Rossi three points ahead of Honda's Dani Pedrosa in standings .

MUGELLO, Italy Italian Valentino Rossi's resurgence continued on Saturday, as the five-time MotoGP champion took pole position at his home race in Mugello. Rossi gives the thumbs up after taking his first pole position of the season at his home race in Mugello. The 29-year-old has struggled since winning his last title in 2005 but is back at the head of the field this season on his Fiat Yamaha and has won the last two races. A lap of one minute 48.130 seconds was enough to see him take his first pole position of the season ahead of Dani Pedrosa in second and fellow-Italian Loris Capirossi in third the 50th pole of his career and 40th in MotoGP. "For sure we will try to keep this winning streak going. I was quite worried after practice because we had some problems but the team modified the bike and it is faster now," said Rossi. "My last pole position was a long, long time ago I can't even remember when it was, so I am very happy. Loris is behind me and with two Italians on the front row the crowd will be very special here." Rossi is three points ahead of Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa and his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo going into Sunday's race with reigning champion Casey Stoner a further 28 points back on his Marlboro Ducati. Rossi's time bettered the previous record pole time by Spaniard Sete Gibernau by more than 0.8 seconds, and that marker was posted two years ago on a more powerful bike. In fact, the top seven finishers all beat Gibernau's lap, achieved on a 990cc bike as opposed to the 800cc versions of today.

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Roger Von Bergendorff indicted on ricin possession charges . Bergendorff had been hospitalized with suspected ricin poisoning . Authorities found ricin, guns in Bergendorff's Nevada hotel room . Thomas Tholen, Bergendorff's cousin, also faces charges .

A federal grand jury indicted a man arrested last week in connection with a mysterious case of exposure to the deadly biological agent ricin, prosecutors said. Authorities found ricin, weapons and an anarchist manual in Roger Von Bergendorff's Nevada hotel room. Roger Von Bergendorff, 57, was indicted on charges of possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number, said Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bergendorff was hospitalized for two months with suspected ricin poisoning, and was discharged before his arrest. His initial court appearance was last week, Collins said, and he did not enter a plea. An arraignment is scheduled for May 2. Bergendorff was hospitalized in February complaining of breathing difficulties. Two weeks later, Thomas Tholen, a cousin who went to Bergendorff's Las Vegas hotel room to recover his belongings, discovered what turned out to be ricin. Authorities also said a search of the room found four guns, the book "Anarchist's Cookbook," a collection of instructions on poisons and other dangerous recipes and castor beans, syringes and beakers. Ricin is extracted from ground-up castor beans. Tholen was charged earlier in April with failing to report the commission of a crime. A federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly concealing the knowledge that production and possession of a biological agent a felony was being committed. Bergendorff previously lived in Tholen's home in Riverton, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. After the ricin was discovered, the FBI searched that home as well as storage units Bergendorff used in Utah. Authorities said FBI agents searching the storage units found castor beans, chemicals used in the production of ricin, a respirator, filters, laboratory glassware, syringes and a notebook on ricin production. If convicted as charged, Bergendorff would face a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. E-mail to a friend .

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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe likens U.S. diplomat to prostitute . Mugabe warns U.S. and Britain to keep out of Zimbabwe . Morgan Tsvangirai attends funeral and accuses Mugabe supporters of murder .

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has warned against outside influences in next month's run-off election, likening one American diplomat to a "prostitute" and threatening to oust another from his country. Robert Mugabe tries to stir voters with a blistering speech criticizing the U.S. and Britain. "Zimbabwe cannot be British, it cannot be American. Yes, it is African," said Mugabe, whose speech Sunday was quoted Monday in The Herald, the state-run newspaper. "You saw the joy that the British had, that the Americans had, and saw them here through their representatives celebrating and acting as if we Zimbabwe are either an extension of Britain or ... America. You saw that little American girl [U. S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer] trotting around the globe like a prostitute..." Mugabe went on to say that U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee would be expelled from the country if he "persisted in meddling in Zimbabwe's electoral process," the newspaper reported. The fallout from Zimbabwe's stalled election has brought international criticism, with Frazer taking the most emphatic stance. In April, Frazer accused Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for nearly three decades, of "trying to steal the election" and "intimidating the population and election officials as well." The first election was March 29. An announcement of the winner of the presidential election was delayed for weeks as opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed he had won. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, after a long delay, ruled that neither candidate had won the required majority of votes, and scheduled a runoff election for June 27. Since the March balloting, there have been numerous reports from Tsvangirai's party and church groups about kidnappings, torture and other violence, including the deaths of opposition party members. They say the violence targets opponents of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party. At about the same time Sunday that Mugabe was giving his campaign speech, Tsvangirai was speaking at a funeral. Tsvangirai spoke harshly as he stood near the casket of a man he claimed was killed by Mugabe's supporters. Watch Tsvangirai address mourners » . "This is a clear testimony of the callousness of this regime," said Tsvangirai to a funeral procession of hundreds gathered outside the capital city of Harare. "They can kill us. They can maim us. But we are going on the 27th of June, our hearts dripping with blood, to vote him out of office." Mugabe denies his supporters were responsible for election-related violence.

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Serie A champions Inter Milan confirm dismissal of coach Roberto Mancini . Mancini allegedly fired for comments made after defeat to Liverpool in March . Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho favorite to take over at the San Siro .

Serie A champions Inter Milan have confirmed the dismissal of coach Roberto Mancini, opening the way for former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to replace him. Mancini guided Inter Milan to the Italian league title for three successive seasons. Ironically, the 43-year-old Mancini, who guided Inter to three successive Italian league titles, is now the favorite to take Mourinho's former job at Stamford Bridge. Inter who won the first of their three titles in 2006 because those above them were demoted or deducted points over the matchfixing scandal released a statement about the sacking. "Inter Milan have informed Roberto Mancini that he has been relieved of his role as coach, especially because of his comments that he was not going to stay after the end of the season following the Champions League tie against Liverpool on March 11," read their statement. Mancini, however, rescinded those comments the following day declaring that he had made them in the heat of the moment following Inter's elimination from the competition, losing 3-0 on aggregate. Inter's reasons for sacking Mancini appear less credible after club president Massimo Moratti announced that the coach had changed his mind about leaving at the end of the season. "I've had a talk with Mancini, who confirmed to me that he wanted to stay at Inter next year to see out his contract. He wants to win the Champions League for us next season," Moratti said on March 12. "Mancini's words surprised me, I didn't expect it and even less so I believe the people close to him." Mourinho, nicknamed 'The Special One' for guiding Porto to the Champions League in 2004 and then Chelsea to two Premier League titles, would not come cheap, but the exit of Mancini has cost Inter dear too as his contract, which runs till 2012, will leave him 24 million euros richer as compensation. However, Mancini was unable to make Inter into viable Champions League contenders despite the three Serie A titles. Mancini is the ninth coaching casualty under Moratti, following Ottavio Bianchi, Roy Hodgson, Luigi Simoni, Mircea Lucescu, Marcello Lippi, Marco Tardelli, Hector Cuper and Alberto Zaccheroni.

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ATM photo shows driver, shadowy figure in back seat of SUV . Driver appears to be using one of student Eve Carson's ATM cards . Carson was found shot to death early Wednesday near campus . Carson was student body president at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .

A shadowy figure in the back seat of an SUV in surveillance photos is a second "person of interest" in the slaying of the University of North Carolina student body president, police said Monday. Investigators say a second male appears in the back seat in this ATM photo, which has been colorized. Police on Saturday released photos taken by an ATM camera that show a young man driving a sport utility vehicle possibly using one of student Eve Carson's ATM cards in the Chapel Hill area. A large, shadowy form appears in the back seat of the vehicle, which police say may have been Carson's. Carson, 22, was found shot to death early Wednesday in a suburban neighborhood near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Her Toyota Highlander was found the next day in another neighborhood to the west, close to where she lived with roommates. "We do believe there is a second unidentified male seated in the rear seat," the Chapel Hill Police Department said in a statement. "We have been exploring ways to enhance the quality of this photo in an effort to learn more about this person." Police have not identified the pictured driver, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a vintage Houston Astros baseball cap. Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said Saturday that Carson's killing "feels like a random crime." The medical examiner told police that there were no injuries to Carson's body besides gunshot wounds and no signs of sexual assault, Curran said. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people crowded the First United Methodist Church in Carson's hometown of Athens, Georgia, for her funeral, the Athens Banner-Herald reported. The University of North Carolina will hold a memorial service for Carson after students return from this week's spring break, Chancellor James Moeser said in a statement on the school's Web site. On Saturday, the school's top-ranked men's basketball team wore reminders of the popular student president on their jerseys as they took on Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Watch as students remember the slain campus leader » . The North Carolina players wore patches on the jerseys that simply read "Eve," and many of Duke's fans donned small light-blue ribbons as a show of support. A moment of silence for Carson also was held before tipoff. The UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees has pledged $25,000 to the Crime Stoppers program in the area for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible in Carson's slaying. Carson was a student member of the board. E-mail to a friend .

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The Gerolsteiner company is ending its sponsorship of the Pro Tour team . They have been team sponsors since 1998 and their contract ends next year . Stefan Schumacher and Davide Rebellin are leading team members . T-Mobile have fired Lorenzo Bernucci after a positive dope test .

GEROLSTEIN, Germany Mineral water company Gerolsteiner have decided to drop their sponsorship of the German ProTour cycling team, which expires at the end of the 2008 season. German rider Stefan Schumacher is a member of the Gerolsteiner team. Gerolsteiner, who have been team sponsors since 1998, said there was a change in marketing strategy. Gerolsteiner has invested around $12 million annually in the team, which includes riders Stefan Schumacher, Fabian Wegmann, Markus Fothen and Robert Foerster. Gerolsteiner said on Tuesday they were no longer reaching their targeted audience through cycling because it was changing from being solely a producer of mineral water to a supplier of nonalcoholic drinks. Gerolsteiner team chief Hans-Michael Holczer was deeply upset by the news. "There were tears in my eyes," said Holczer. The German Cycling Federation said they would help the team to find a new sponsor. "It is not an entirely unexpected decision. After such a long collaboration, you notice changes in your partner," said Holczer, who will begin the hunt for a new sponsor. "We have one of the best teams on the market with a national and international reputation." The T-Mobile cycling team has fired rider Lorenzo Bernucci after his positive doping test at the Tour of Germany last month. Bernucci violated the team's code of conduct and was removed from T-Mobile's roster at the Spanish Vuelta, the team said on Tuesday. He tested positive for a non-amphetamine appetite suppressant. Bernucci is licensed by the Monaco cycling federation, which will be responsible for further investigation and possible additional sanctions, T-Mobile said. He tested positive on August 15 for the substance sibutramine, an appetite suppressant sold under various brand names, such as Reductil and Ectiva. The world governing body of cycling, UCI, informed T-Mobile of Bernucci's positive test. Bernucci told team management that he had been using Ectiva for four years and had purchased it over the counter at a pharmacy in Italy, not knowing it been added to the list of prohibited substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency, T-Mobile said. According to UCI rules, a first violation for sibutramine if it is determined that it was not intended as a performance enhancer can result in anything between a warning and a one-year suspension. "We do not know if this was an attempt at performance enhancement or just poor judgment," T-Mobile team chief Bob Stapleton said. "But we know it is unacceptable that riders take any medication without the approval of the team doctor. It's a clear violation of our code of conduct and we act now on that basis." E-mail to a friend .

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Nations hoping for deal in which Libya would compensate terrorism victims . Eights acts would be covered in possible agreement . Libya has tried to normalize relations with U.S. by renouncing terrorism . U.S. oil companies want to explore and develop Libya's oil fields .

WASHINGTON Negotiations between the United States and Libya that could result in compensation for past acts of state-sponsored terrorism by Libya are under way, a senior State Department official said Friday. The wreckage of Pan Am 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland; the bombing killed 270 people in 1989. U.S. and Libyan officials met Wednesday and Thursday, the official said. The nations hope to hammer out a deal in which Libya would "resolve all outstanding claims in good faith" and offer "fair compensation" to victims and their families, he said. "We are just at the beginning of this process. The goal is to get something that is fair and comprehensive," the official said. The official said that any agreement would cover about eight acts, including the 1989 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground; and the 1986 bombing of the La Belle disco in Berlin, Germany, that killed two people and injured at least 120, including 40 Americans. Outstanding terrorism claims have been a problem for Libya in its attempts to normalize relations with the United States and to begin development of its oil resources. Libya has expressed disappointment that it has failed to reap any political and economic benefits promised by the U.S. government and others after Libya renounced terrorism and stopped development of weapons of mass destruction. And some of the largest U.S. oil companies are eager to begin exploration and development of Libya oil fields, among the 10 largest in the world. The new negotiations and development of an agreement would ideally fulfill all outstanding lawsuits against Libya and allow investment to move forward. A joint U.S.-Libyan statement said, "Both parties affirm their desire to work together to resolve all outstanding claims in good faith and expeditiously in the establishment of a fair compensation mechanism."

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The photos are published on the National Indian Foundation's Web site . Government: Men appear strong and healthy, live in communal shelters . "Uncontacted tribes" are thought to have had no contact with outsiders .

Researchers have produced aerial photos of jungle dwellers who they say are among the few remaining peoples on Earth who have had no contact with the outside world. Indigenous Brazilians are photographed during an overflight in May, reacting to the sights over their camp. Taken from a small airplane, the photos show men outside thatched communal huts, necks craned upward, pointing bows toward the air in a remote corner of the Amazonian rainforest. The National Indian Foundation, a government agency in Brazil, published the photos Thursday on its Web site. It tracks "uncontacted tribes" indigenous groups that are thought to have had no contact with outsiders and seeks to protect them from encroachment. More than 100 uncontacted tribes remain worldwide, and about half live in the remote reaches of the Amazonian rainforest in Peru or Brazil, near the recently photographed tribe, according to Survival International, a nonprofit group that advocates for the rights of indigenous people. "All are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed or decimated by new diseases," the organization said Thursday. Illegal logging in Peru is threatening several uncontacted groups, pushing them over the border with Brazil and toward potential conflicts with about 500 uncontacted Indians living on the Brazilian side, Survival International said. Its director, Stephen Cory, said the new photographs highlight the need to protect uncontacted people from intrusion by the outside world. "These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," Cory said in a statement. "The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct." The photos released Thursday show men who look strong and healthy, the Brazilian government said. They and their relatives apparently live in six communal shelters known as malocas, according to the government, which has tracked at least four uncontacted groups in the region for the past 20 years. Watch a report on the tribe » . The photos were taken during 20 hours of flights conducted between April 28 and May 2.

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Sen. Hillary Clinton booed when she criticizes Sen. Barack Obama at debate . Clinton, Sen. Chris Dodd slam Obama's stance on Pakistan . Obama: U.S. should go into Pakistan if intelligence warrants it . Debate sponsored by AFL-CIO drew thousands of labor activists .

CHICAGO, Illinois At a debate in front of thousands of labor union activists Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama's Democratic presidential rivals blasted him for his remarks about Pakistan. Last Wednesday, the Illinois senator said that if it were necessary to root out terrorists, he would send U.S. forces into Pakistan without the country's approval. "You can think big, but remember, you shouldn't always say everything you think if you're running for president, because it has consequences around the world," Sen. Hillary Clinton said during a 90-minute Democratic presidential forum in Chicago sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Chicago is Obama's hometown, and Clinton's statement drew boos. The New York senator responded, "We don't need that right now." Despite the frosty reception, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd joined Clinton in criticizing Obama. He said Obama's stance could undermine Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the country's military ruler, who has been a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda. "While General Musharraf is no Thomas Jefferson, he may be the only thing that stands between us and having an Islamic fundamentalist state in that country," Dodd said. "So while I would like to see him change, the reality is, if we lose him, then what we face is an alternative that could be a lot worse for our country." Obama jumped into the fray. "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure that we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism," he said. "If we have actionable intelligence on al Qaeda operatives, including [Osama] bin Laden, and President Musharraf cannot act, then we should," Obama said. "That's just common sense." He also said Americans had the right to participate in the debate over such a key aspect of American foreign policy. But Clinton countered by saying that while U.S. forces might have to pursue action inside Pakistan "on the basis of actionable intelligence," it was "a very big mistake to telegraph that and to destabilize the Musharraf regime, which is fighting for its life against the Islamist extremists who are in bed with al Qaeda and the Taliban." "Remember, Pakistan has nuclear weapons. The last thing we want is to have al Qaeda-like followers in charge of Pakistan and having access to nuclear weapons." Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware responded later in the debate, noting that the strategy Obama outlined was already U.S. policy. "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts," Biden said. "It's already the policy of the United States has been for four years that there's actionable intelligence, we would go into Pakistan." E-mail to a friend .

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EPA says new regulations will reduce rat poison exposure to children, wildlife . Environmental groups laud efforts to keep rat poison off consumer market . New restrictions prohibit sale of loose pellets, bulk bags for personal use . Bait blocks for rats that are used in the wild can attract endangered species .

Ecological and conservation groups are praising a move by the Environmental Protection Agency to impose new restrictions on rat poisons to help reduce the threat of accidental exposure to children and wildlife. The rules say only farmers, livestock owners and certified rodent control employees can buy rat poison in bulk. "We are very happy that the EPA has done all it can to get these products off of the consumer market," said Michael Fry, director of conservation advocacy for the American Bird Conservancy. "By putting these restrictions in place, they are allowing a compromise to be made between themselves and organizations who have been working on this problem for a long time." The EPA's new measures, which were handed down Thursday, require that rat poisons be kept in bait stations above ground and in containers that meet agency standards. Loose bait, such as pellets, and the four most hazardous types of pesticides, known as "second-generation anticoagulants," will no longer be sold for personal use. Under the new restrictions, only farmers, livestock owners and certified rodent control employees will be allowed to purchase rat poison in bulk. Bags larger than 8 pounds will no longer be sold at hardware and home-improvement stores. Children who come into contact with highly toxic pellets can experience terrible symptoms from digesting them. They include internal bleeding, nosebleeds, hair loss and extensive bruising. Between 2001 and 2003, rat poison was responsible for nearly 60,000 poisonings, according to a study done by the American Association of Poison Control Centers. About 250 of these yearly exposures result in serious injuries or death. The EPA said it believes the restrictions will not only keep the products out of children's hands, but also reduce the ecological and wildlife risks associated with exposure to rat poison. Bait blocks that are typically placed on the ground use fish and other flavors that attract endangered species, including mountain lions. "In California, almost every animal tested by the National Wildlife Service had residues of rodenticides," said Fry. "The rat baits are also very lethal to scavengers, because the toxins remain in the rodent's body long after they initially die." Although the EPA is receiving considerable praise for the initiative, this isn't the first time the agency has worked to combat the threat of rat poison. In 1998, the EPA established two standards for rat poison. The agency required manufacturers to include an ingredient that made the poison taste bitter and use an indicator dye that would make the ingestion of pesticides more recognizable. But regulations were revoked in 2001 after the agency came to a mutual agreement with manufacturers to rescind the requirements. "We determined that the dye wasn't effective in keeping children from being accidentally exposed and the bittering agent actually resulted in a loss of efficiency in controlling rodents," said Steven Bradbury, director of the agency's Division of Special Review and Re-registration. "In our decision Thursday, we felt that we needed an approach that would stop children coming in contact with the pesticides in the first place. That ultimately led to the implementation of bait stations," Bradbury said. The decision to revoke the requirements led the West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. and the Natural Resource Defense Council to file a lawsuit three years later. Both organizations saw the retraction as a way to make it easy for consumers to purchase unsafe rodenticides over the counter. According to the West Harlem group, inner-city housing and park departments such as the New York City Housing Authority could continue laying rat baits in public areas that were easily accessible to children. "Studies show that the number of poisonings in minority children is much higher than others," said Aaron Colangelo, a staff attorney at the Natural Resource Defense Council. "Not only do we have an environmental health issue, but an environmental justice issue as well." New York State Health Department studies showed that 57 percent of children hospitalized for rat poisoning were black and 26 percent were Latino. The EPA said it is working to reduce those numbers in upcoming years with regulations like the ones it introduced this week. "We were frustrated that the EPA dragged their feet for three years before finally taking some productive steps," said Colangelo. "But, from our perspective, they are finally starting to do what needs to be done in order to protect children." After June 4, rat poison manufacturers will have 90 days to comply with the EPA's guidelines. They will then have the opportunity to design new bait stations and formulas for their poisons. All new products should be registered and certified by June 2011.

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15 dead in Missouri, 1 killed in Georgia, six in Oklahoma, officials say . States of emergency declared in Oklahoma, Georgia counties . Storm system struck Midwest, then continued into the South . President Bush has pledged federal support, has talked to states' governors .

PICHER, Oklahoma Powerful storms killed 22 people in three states over the weekend, including an Oklahoma mother who died while huddling over her child, authorities said. Her son survived with facial injuries. Teresa Bland, left, comforts Betty Bayliss among the debris in Picher, Oklahoma, on Sunday. Emergency management agencies in two states reported deaths in four counties. There were six people killed in Ottawa County, Oklahoma; 13 in Newton County, Missouri; one in a small community just east of Carthage in Jasper County, Missouri; and one in Purdy in Barry County, Missouri. The severe weather moved into the Southeast, killing at least one person in Laurens County, Georgia. Watch how the storm hit one Georgia town hard » . The deadly Midwest tornado at times, a mile wide blew winds estimated at up to 175 miles per hour, tracking a total of 63 miles from Oklahoma to southwest Missouri, according to the National Weather Service. The storms spawned five twisters in Oklahoma and two in neighboring Arkansas. Possible tornadoes also were reported Sunday evening in the coastal Carolinas, according to the weather service. No injuries or fatalities were immediately reported. An official surveying the damage in the Midwest said it looked like a "war zone." "It's just horrific. It's devastating to all of us," said Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, who declared a state of emergency in Ottawa County. "It appears the search and rescue part of the mission is over and now we're in the cleanup phase." Sherri Mills was in the small Oklahoma town of Picher northeast of Tulsa trying to find family pictures inside the wreckage that had been a friend's home. Mills said her friend was not home when the tornado struck. See scenes from the devastation » . "Thank God she wasn't here," said Mills, standing in front of the piles of brick and wood. "[She] lost everything. This was a two-story big brick home." Another man in Picher said he was home with his family when the storm hit. He said he was blown around inside the home and was lucky to be alive. "We got down on the floor and huddled up together, and we weren't in there thirty seconds when it hit the house," the man said. "We ended up right there under that door. At least I was under the door. My wife, two granddaughters, and my daughter was all there, just bunched up against each other." Watch a longtime pilot say he's never seen such destruction » . President Bush pledged federal support. "Mother's Day is a sad day for those who lost their lives in Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia because of the tornadoes," Bush told reporters in Waco, Texas. "We send our prayers for those who lost their lives. The federal government will be moving hard to help." Aboard Air Force One, Bush contacted Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and spoke with Henry after arriving at the White House. Bush did not specify what support the federal government would provide. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison also were in touch with the governors and planned to tour the disaster areas Tuesday. "We will partner with our state counterparts to ensure that we bring the full complement of federal resources to their aid as needed," Paulison said. Lisa Janak, spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, said one person was killed in Dublin, just south of Macon. And the nearby town of Kite, with about 200 residents, was "significantly damaged," she said. Earlier, Janak said there were reports that the town was "gone," but added later that those claims were exaggerated. Perdue declared a state of emergency Sunday in six counties in Georgia. Watch how a severe storm took Georgia by surprise » . Authorities fear there may be additional casualties in Missouri, said Susie Stonner, spokeswoman with the state Emergency Management Agency in Jefferson City, Missouri. A twister touched down in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday and killed six people in Ottawa County, according to emergency officials. Another 150 were injured and an unknown number of people were missing. No other information was available about the Oklahoma mother who died while huddling over her child. Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said the town enlisted firefighters from surrounding areas who went house-to-house in a 20-block area, sifting through rubble and searching for survivors. "It looks like a war zone," she said. "Some homes have fallen in, some homes have lost roofs and some are now just slabs." Freelance journalist Mike Priest went to a heavy-hit neighborhood in Picher on Sunday, surveying an area where almost all the houses were leveled. All the residents had evacuated leaving behind, cars, clothes and even their pets, Priest said. "As you can see some people's pets have been left behind and they are fighting over some food," he said, shooting footage of the scene. "Just total devastation. Houses wiped all the way down to the foundation. You can see what used to be a house in the driveway. The storm was incredibly, incredibly strong right through here." CNN's Lee Garen, Susan Candiotti and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.

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Nationwide Airlines pilot dumped fuel until he landed plane Wednesday . An object was sucked into the engine as the nose wheel lifted from the ground . 100, including crew, were on the plane; no one was injured . Plane passenger: "Everyone started panicking"

Brendon Pelser said he saw pure terror in the faces of his fellow passengers after an engine fell from a wing as it took off from Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday. Men were sweating profusely, women were crying. "There was fear on their faces," Pelser said. "Everyone started panicking." But the pilot of Nationwide Airlines' Boeing 737 Flight CE723 was able to fly long enough to dump fuel and make an emergency landing at Cape Town International Airport. Including crew, 100 hundred people were on the plane that departed at 3:50 p.m. on an hourlong flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. No one was injured. The jet had only been in the air about 10 minutes before the engine fell. "We heard something crash and bang, the plane veering left and right. A person on the right side said the engine was missing had broken clean off," said Pelser. Watch Pelser describe how the flight crew told passengers to "prepare for the worst" » . "They flew us in very slowly. We were all prepared for the worst. We went into the fetal position, head between the legs," he said. "Then we hit the runway." "I did kind of pray. I didn't want to die. I'm not really ready to die," the 33-year-old said. An object had been sucked into the engine as the nose wheel lifted from the ground and officials are trying to identify it. The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to release an engine "when extreme forces are applied," to prevent structural damage to the wing, Nationwide said on its Web site. The airline described the incident as a "catastrophic engine failure." As the nose wheel lifted from the ground, "the captain heard a loud noise immediately followed by a yaw of the aircraft (sideways slippage) to the right," the airline said in a news release. The flight instruments showed the No. 2 engine on the right side had failed, it said. Pelser said he spent the night in Cape Town, then flew back to Johannesburg where he lives, on the same airline. Nationwide said the engine had undergone a major overhaul in March 2005 at "an approved Federal Aviation Authority facility in the U.S.A." and had flown only 3,806 hours since then. "These engines typically achieve 10,000 hours between major overhauls," Nationwide Airlines' press release stated. E-mail to a friend .

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Emmanuel Adebayor hits hat-trick as Arsenal thrash Derby 6-2 at Pride Park . The result follows Arsenal's 5-0 win against bottom side earlier this season . Arsenal are four points behind Man United and Chelsea with two matches left .

DERBY, England Substitute Emmanuel Adebayor struck his second hat-trick against Derby this season as Arsenal ran riot with a 6-2 Premier League victory at Pride Park. Arsenal players celebrate Robin Van Persie's goal in their comfortable 6-2 victory over Derby. The Gunners, 5-0 winners at The Emirates earlier in the season, made sure of third place in the table with a rousing second-half display against relegated Derby, who move closer to being the Premier League's worst-ever side. Arsene Wenger's side led 2-1 at the break after goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Robin van Persie either side of a Jay McEveley effort. Theo Walcott was on target too, but the second half belonged to Togo international striker Adebayor, who struck three times to take his season's tally to 30 in all competitions, with Rob Earnshaw grabbing a consolation for the hosts in this eight-goal thriller. Bottom side Derby, now 30 league games without a victory, began the more purposefully and Emanuel Villa only just failed to connect Tyrone Mears' inviting low cross . Then Mile Sterjovski's drive took a major deflection off Alex Song to wrong-foot goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, making his first league start for Arsenal, only for the ball to creep past the right-hand post. The Gunners struggled to find their rhythm early on and were fortunate not to go behind when Villa's bullet header flew just over. Derby were made to pay for those early misses when Darren Moore's 25th minute mistake presented the ball to Niklas Bendtner, who played a one-two with Robin Van Persie before coolly slotting the ball into the left corner. However, Derby soon scored the equalizer they deserved. Robbie Savage's inswinging free-kick landed on the six-yard line and Jay McEveley reacted first to hook the ball home. The home side's joy was short-lived though, when Derby's defensive frailties were exposed again as Van Persie as given all the time in the world to chest down Kolo Toure's floated pass and volley home in style. Adebayor replaced Van Persie for the second-half and Arsenal immediately looked intent on adding to their goals tally. Twice Kolo Toure, playing at right-back, fired over, the second opportunity created by Cesc Fabregas' brilliant backheel. There was nothing goalkeeper Roy Carroll could do to deny Adebayor Arsenal's third goal. Walcott took advantage of Alan Stubbs' slip to cut the ball back to Emmanuel Eboue, who gave Adebayor an easy finish. Walcott should have made it four when he was put through by Bendtner but the teenager fired wide with the goal at his mercy. By now it was looking all too easy for the Gunners as they toyed with home side, creating chances at will but against the run of play Derby reduced the deficit to just a single goal when substitute Robert Earnshaw stroked the ball home. Yet within a minute the two-goal cushion was restored, Gael Clichy pinging a pinpoint pass to Walcott wide on the left before the youngster cut inside and curled into the top-right corner. Adebayor grabbed another poacher's goal, sliding to convert another Clichy assist with 10 minutes remaining before he wrapped up his hat-trick from an acute angle in added time. With two games remaining, Arsenal are four points behind Manchester United and Chelsea, still with an outside chance of lifting the Premier League title. E-mail to a friend .

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NEW: Woman suffered brain injury, multiple skull fractures, medical examiner rules . Spotted eagle ray leaps from water, strikes woman on boat, officials say . Victim was 55-year-old woman from Michigan . Spotted eagle ray weighed 75 to 80 pounds, official says .

MIAMI, Florida A woman who died after she was hit by a spotted eagle ray leaping from the water off the Florida Keys suffered "multiple skull fractures and direct brain injury," a medical examiner said Friday. The dead spotted eagle ray lies on the deck of a boat in Florida. Judy Kay Zagorski, 55, of Pigeon, Michigan, died Thursday of "blunt force craniocerebral trauma" after the ray hit her when she was in a boat, Monroe County medical examiner Michael Hunter determined. He gave no indication in the preliminary report whether the blow from the ray itself or her head hitting the deck, or both, killed her. "It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened." Zagorski was on the boat with her father and other family members and friends. She was seated or standing in the front of the vessel as it was traveling about 25 mph out of a channel, Pino said. "The ray just actually popped up in front of the vessel," he said. "The father had not even a second to react. It was too late. It happened instantly and the woman fell backwards and, unfortunately, died as a result of the collision." The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key, about 2½ hours' drive south of Miami. Zagorski was taken to the Fishermen's Hospital in Marathon, where she was pronounced dead. Watch marine officers work around dead ray on boat » . Pino said he had seen rays leap into the air, but added, "it's very rare for them to collide with objects." Watch experts explain why eagle rays leap » . The spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 to 80 pounds and had a 6-foot wingspan, Pino said. Watch officials investigate eagle ray collision » . Florida Fish and Wildlife said eagle rays "are not an aggressive species, but they do tend to leap from the water." Spotted eagle rays can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet and can weigh 500 pounds, it said. Learn more about eagle rays » . Television personality Steve Irwin was killed when a ray's barb pierced his heart in September 2006. A month later, an 81-year-old Florida man, James Bertakis, survived after a ray leaped from the water and stung him in the heart, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He spent five weeks on a ventilator and his recovery took several months, his sons told the Detroit Free Press in his former home state of Michigan. E-mail to a friend .

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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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NEW: Clinton says she's not making any decisions tonight . NEW: CNN projects Clinton wins South Dakota; Obama takes Montana . Obama passes delegate threshold . Clinton tells New York lawmakers she would be Obama's No. 2 .

WASHINGTON In what he called a "defining moment for our nation," Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday became the first African-American to head the ticket of a major political party. Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday told supporters he will be the Democratic nominee. Obama's steady stream of superdelegate endorsements, combined with the delegates he received from Tuesday's primaries, put him past the 2,118 threshold, CNN projects. "Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," he said. "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States." Watch Obama say he'll be the nominee » . Obama's rally was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September. Speaking in New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, congratulated Obama for his campaign, but she did not concede the race nor discuss the possibility of running as vice president. "This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," she said. Watch Clinton congratulate Obama » . There were reports earlier in the day that she would concede, but her campaign said she was "absolutely not" prepared to do so. Two New York lawmakers also told CNN on Tuesday that during a conference call Clinton expressed willingness to serve as Obama's running mate in November. Watch the latest on a possible joint ticket »' One source told CNN that Clinton told those on the call that if asked by Obama, she would be interested in serving as his running mate. One of the lawmakers said Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been pushing the idea privately for several weeks. The Clinton campaign maintains the New York senator merely said she would do whatever is in the party's best interest, and that her comments Tuesday are no different than what she has been saying for weeks. Clinton said she would meet with supporters and party leaders in the coming days to determine her next steps. She also asked people to go to her Web site to "share your thoughts with me and help in any way that you can." Watch what could be in store in Clinton's future » . CNN has projected that Clinton will win the primary in South Dakota and Obama will take Montana. Those states marked the final contests in the primary season. Obama praised Clinton's campaign. He has been speaking favorably of the New York senator as his focus has turned toward the general election and his battle against John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. "Sen. Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight," he said. Diving into general election mode, Obama turned his attacks to McCain, saying it's "time to turn the page on the policies of the past." "While John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign," he said. "It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year." Earlier Tuesday night, McCain portrayed himself as the candidate of "right change." "No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward," he said in Kenner, Louisiana. CNN's Candy Crowley, Jim Acosta, Suzanne Malveaux, Paul Steinhauser and Robert Yoon contributed to this report.