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(CNN)After two days of deliberation, jurors found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all counts in the Boston Marathon bombing. The verdict isn't surprising. What might be, however, is the answer to how we prevent this kind of violence from happening again. Because there could be other more young men just like him, which means the lessons we take from Boston will affect whether we can keep America and Americans safer. Today, nearly 1 out of 4 people in the world are Muslim. By 2050, Pew reports, that will be some 1 out of 3. By 2070? Well, I'll quote the all-caps headline reprinted by the Drudge Report: "Muslims to outnumber Christians!" Many Americans read such numbers and worry: Will this mean more Dzhokhar Tsarnaevs? But that's only if you believe Islam causes extremism, which many have argued. And that's wrong, of course. On the other hand, there are people who claim Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. Which is true — and false. Sure, the Islamic faith forbids murder, but there's a small but significant minority of Muslims murdering people in terrible ways, and in Islam's name. Understanding what leads young Muslims like Dzhokhar down a dangerous path requires we understand radicalization. At any given moment in the Middle East, we have little idea who's going to attack whom next, who's on whom's side, how this is going to end, or what anyone's even fighting over anymore. This bad news is going to turn worse before it gets better. But it will get better. To understand why, we have to take a stab at understanding what radicalizes Muslims . Contrary to common belief, Muslims aren't unusually predisposed to violence. Radical Islam, which has taken on an ugly life of its own, began at the intersection of politics, religion and religious identity. Islam is about what you believe, but it's also about being part of a community. And what happens when you are a member of a community and you see it under attack? Some Muslims who have turned to violence have done so with good intentions (the road to hell, after all). Consider: The tragedy of modern Islam is in its endless sequence of tragedies. Before my time, the brutal Soviet invasion of Afghanistan horrified many Muslims. When I was in high school, Bosnia occupied all our attention. There was of course Russia's brutal war on the Chechen people — Dzhokhar shares his name with a recent Chechen patriot -- and Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories. And the blows against Muslims don't end there. There was Serbia's war on Kosovo, another war in Chechnya, the invasion of Iraq, oppression in Myanmar, civil strife in Syria, the colonization of East Turkestan, massacres of Muslims in the Central African Republic, wars on a besieged Gaza and West Bank still under Israeli rule. Imagine how this looks to a restless young Muslim. Countless places where co-religionists have been killed, and nobody seems to do anything about it. Nobody even wants to. Extremists have long offered crude reasons for why the violence was happening, and then moved quickly to a single, tempting, terrible response: Take up arms — and kill. In her new book, "Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now", Ayaan Hirsi Ali argues that extremism isn't caused by political circumstances, but by Islam itself. Her conclusion is wrong. To fight extremism, we don't need to reform Islam. We need to show young Muslims that extremism is doing the opposite of what it claimed to. Rather than help Muslims, it's harming them. When I was a teenager, our Massachusetts mosque hosted a delegation from Bosnia that shared graphic, heartbreaking stories of rape, exile, and massacre inflicted on Muslims, all because of their faith. The mosque raised money, collected food, blankets, medicine. Promises were made to provide more, and regularly. But we all knew that wasn't enough. As we left the mosque, my peers and I were disgruntled and confused. Shocked. Angry. Our teachers could've told us: Go and fight. Defend your Muslim brothers and sisters who are under siege. Or they could've told us to keep our heads down and make money and live comfortably. Neither answer would have satisfied. Fortunately for us, they offered us a third way. They showed us, patiently, how to work with others, how to compromise, how to get things done. A more engaged American Muslim community, they explained, could use its resources to help people suffering all around the world. They were right. We saw the dead-end road of radicalism from afar, but we also saw, up close, how communities that isolated themselves and turned inward found themselves powerless, ineffectual and ignored. Thanks to social media, a medium that the world's burgeoning young Muslim population is increasingly comfortable with, more Muslims can and will see this, too. Radicalism will be done in by fellow Muslims who want to save their religion from this monster within it. It's happening already. Our national conversation about Islam is focused on the wrong issues. Does Islam need a Reformation? What in Islam causes violence? We would do a lot better if we accepted that Muslims the world over have real grievances — dictatorships, corruption, foreign intervention, religious illiteracy, lack of economic opportunity -- and radicals exploit these. We need to show the young Dzhokhars that, if they want to help, then violence isn't going to help. To fight extremism, we need to pose this question to young Muslims: "Do you want to help your brothers and sisters in faith?" Because those who claim to be defending us are making things so much worse. Their narrative has failed. Their solution is bankrupt. The Caliph wears no clothes. It's the reason why increasing numbers of Muslims reject extremism -- and not just because our numbers are increasing.

Haroon Moghul: Tsarnaev found guilty in terrorist bombing of Boston Marathon. How to prevent future such acts by young Muslims? Pew reports by 2050, one in 4 will be Muslim. Many equate terror with Islam. Not true, but we should grasp what causes radicalization . Moghul: Muslims see their community besieged around world, some think solution is violence. They must be shown other way to help .

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(CNN)Novak Djokovic extended his current winning streak to 17 matches after beating Thomas Berdych 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the rain-interrupted final of the Monte Carlo Masters. But the Serbian world number one didn't have it all his away under uncharacteristically slate gray skies on the Mediterranean coast. Tight . Djokovic edged a tight first set before losing the second after the Czech sixth seed took advantage of the short rain delay and came back strongly. But Djokovic broke twice early in the third set to surge to a 4-0 lead. And although Berdych gamely fought back Djokovic served out for the title. "It was a tough match, a particular match," said Djokovic after winning his 52nd career title, and his second Monte Carlo Masters championship. "Tomas played a great match and deserves this trophy as much as I do," he added. "It was a good final, but bad luck today." Despite running Djokovic close it was Berdych's third loss in a final this year. "What can I say? Novak had another excellent week," he said. "I tried my best but it was not good enough today. I'm missing that one step in my clay game but I'm going to work to raise my game that little bit. I'll do what I can to make that happen and hope to come back next year and go a step further"." Strong start . 2015 has been a sensational year for Djokovic so far. After winning the Australian Open back in January, Djokovic has followed up with Masters' victories at Indian Wells and Miami. He then beat Rafa Nadal, arguably one of the greatest players on clay of all time, in the semi finals in Monte Carlo. Sunday's victory over Berdych means he becomes the first man to win the opening three Masters tournaments of the season.

Djokovic wins Monte Carlo Masters . Defeats Berdych 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 . Djokovic had earlier beaten clay expert Nadal in semis .

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Nairobi, Kenya (CNN)They were sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and fellow citizens. They were students and dreamers, pursuing their ambition for a better life. And on Tuesday night, Kenyans remembered them as innocent victims of a terrorist attack that stunned a nation and left communities heartbroken. The gathering started with quiet chatter among a crowd of hundreds before mourners went silent and moved toward one end of Nairobi's Uhuru Park. Organizers unloaded 147 crosses from a truck and quietly planted them in the ground. Mourners read names of some of the victims as candles flickered in the dark. The crowd then sang the national anthem. The attack at a university in Garissa on Thursday killed 147 people, mostly students. The Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility. As the country mourned the victims, others took to social media to humanize them by sharing their stories. They talked about aspiring lawyers, doctors and teachers. "I can't even look at pictures of the people killed without crying," said Mary Wambui, 32, who lives in Nakuru, hundreds of miles from Garissa. "They were just children. They were trying to make a better life for themselves. Some were first to go to college in their communities. They died trying to get an education." Using the hashtag #147notjustanumber, Kenyans used social media to talk about the lives of the victims. They shared pictures of beaming faces, full of life and energy, in happier days. They talked about parents too shocked to speak after identifying their children's bodies. "We need to talk about the bright futures cut short," said Boniface Mwangi, who organized the vigil. "Today's meeting will be a calling to say, 'We need to remember the 147; they are not just a number.' We are trying to avoid remembering these people as just a number." Some students remain unaccounted for, and wailing relatives alternate their searches between hospitals and morgues. Kenyan authorities have not released a list of the names of the victims. At Uhuru Park, right next to the crosses, a bulletin board featured 32 photos of the young students. "With the previous attacks, there's been a sense of the victims just being numbers," Doreen Areri said. "The idea behind this is to have faces behind the numbers. We need to hear their stories, their dreams." Kellie Murungi said she got some solace from the vigil. "In 2010, I was in a grenade attack in downtown Nairobi and every time there's a terrorist attack, it hits too close to home," Murungi said. " It's not just happened to me, but many others." The vigil was important for the healing process, she said, because "we shouldn't have people walking around with scars." It was the deadliest attack in the nation since al Qaeda killed more than 200 people at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. In the Garissa attack, the terrorists separated Christians from Muslims, making some recite verses from the Quran. Those who couldn't quote the holy book tried to flee the gunfire, but whizzing bullets sent them to the ground. Others scampered into closets and stayed there for hours. Images from the scene showed heaps of students, faces down, lying in pools of blood. "Those images will haunt us forever," said Martin Otieno, 29, who lives in Nairobi. "As a nation, we should never let this happen. We just can't." Kenya launched airstrikes Monday targeting Al-Shabaab's training camps in Somalia, according to a military source, adding that the strikes were not retribution for last week's massacre at the university. "The latest attack of Al-Shabaab bases by the Kenya military is part of the ongoing operations that started in 2011. It is not a retaliation to the Garissa attack. The operation has been ongoing," the source said Monday. Kenyan authorities had intelligence beforehand that a university in Garissa could be attacked, yet the country's rapid response team was stuck in Nairobi for hours after the massacre awaiting transport, a police source said Monday. It's unclear why the elite team was stuck in the Kenyan capital about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of the attack. Kenyan politicians and Nairobi-based journalists arrived on the scene before the team did. Once the team entered the university complex, the hourslong siege was quickly defused. But a government spokesman defended the response time. "With the benefit of hindsight, you can always say things could have been done better," said Manoah Esipisu, a spokesman for Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. However, he added, Kenyan authorities "got the job done" and saved lives. Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed echoed that sentiment in an interview with CNN on Monday. She denied reports that an elite rapid response team single-handedly ended the siege. "We have a military garrison in Garissa, and the work began immediately after the attack was reported and continued for a number of hours until we were able to rescue 663 students of the 800 students that had been taken hostage by these terrorists. So the response was adequate," she said. "We did everything that we could do." Kenya's Interior Ministry named Mohamed Mohamud as the organizer of the attack. The senior Al-Shabaab leader is also known by the aliases Dulyadin and Gamadhere, it said. The ministry offered a reward of 20 million Kenyan shillings, or about $215,000, for information on his whereabouts. He is in charge of external operations against Kenya, according to a government document, and commands the militia along the border. Another terrorist involved in the attacks is Abdirahim Abdullahi, a Kenyan-Somali and the son of a government chief in Mandera, authorities said. Mandera is in northern Kenya. Dorm becomes scene of a slaughter . Al-Shabaab is based in Somalia, and its violence has spread to Kenya before. In 2013, militants attacked Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall, leaving 67 people dead. The terror group has intensified attacks in Kenya since the country sent troops to Somalia four years ago to help battle the militants. CNN's David McKenzie and Joseph Netto reported from Nairobi, and Faith Karimi reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Michael Martinez contributed from Los Angeles.

Kenyans gather in Nairobi to remember victims of a terrorist attack that stunned a nation . The attack at a Garissa university last week killed 147 people, mostly students .

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(CNN)Famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking has proved his comedy chops on shows like "The Big Bang Theory," and now he's trying his hand at musicals. Hawking has partnered with the silly lads of Monty Python to recreate the signature "Galaxy Song" from their 1983 film "The Meaning of Life." The collabo is in honor of Saturday's Record Store Day, when the 7-inch single will be available for sale. The accompanying video is guaranteed to be the most awesome thing you see today. In it, fellow scientist Brian Cox rails against the inaccuracies in "Galaxy Song" when a fed-up Hawking, who has ALS, zooms up in his wheelchair and knocks over Cox. Hawking continues singing the song in his signature computerized voice. Hawking then launches into the stratosphere for a trippy ride and lesson on the cosmos. The scene is derived from a filmed bit that Monty Python uses during its live shows. 40 years of 'Holy Grail': The best of Monty Python . "Galaxy Song" song was written by Python member Eric Idle, along with John Du Prez, and is "an intricate and informative lecture on the enor-mity of the Universe fashioned into a bewitching and, above all, highly amusing pop song," according to the comedy troupe's site. Hawking's version is available for download. It's not Hawking's first music gig; he's also featured on the Pink Floyd song "Talkin' Hawkin.'" The original version of "Galaxy Song" is below. A sampling of the lyrics: "Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at 900 miles an hour. That's orbiting at 19 miles a second so it's reckoned. A sun that's the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at 1 million miles a day. In an outer spiral arm at 40,000 miles an hour of the galaxy we call the Milky Way."

Stephen Hawking is a famed cosmologist and mathematician . He sings Monty Python's "Galaxy Song" in a hilarious new video .

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(CNN)"It's showtime!" Michael Keaton paid homage -- ever so slightly -- to his roles in "Beetlejuice" and "Batman" in his third turn hosting "Saturday Night Live" this weekend. Keaton acknowledged in his opening monologue that a lot has changed since he first hosted the comedy sketch show in 1982. "I had a baby -- he's 31. I also have a new girlfriend -- she's 28," he said. Fans who were hoping for a full-blown revival of Keaton's most memorable characters might have been a little disappointed. SNL cast members Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan begged the actor with a song to "play" Batman and Beetlejuice with them. All they got in response were a couple of one-liners. Overall, Keaton's performance drew high marks from viewers and critics for its "deadpan" manner and "unpredictable weirdness," in the words of A.V. Club's Dennis Perkins. Fans also delighted in a cameo from "Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus during Weekend Update. Keaton scored some laughs from the audience as an ad executive who's not very good at his job, a confused grandfather and a high school teacher who gets asked to the prom in a riff on the romantic comedy "She's All That." Other crowd-pleasing spots included a Scientology parody music video and a news conference spoofing the NCAA student-athlete debate. The show also poked fun at CNN with cast member Cecily Strong playing anchor Brooke Baldwin. Baldwin said on Twitter that she's taking it as a "crazy compliment" and shared a clip from the skit.

Michael Keaton hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the first time in 1982 . In 2015, his nods to starring roles in "Beetlejuice" and "Batman" are brief .

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(CNN)A trip to a former heavyweight champ's gaudy, abandoned mansion. The tallest and fastest "giga-coaster" in the world. A dramatic interview with a famed spiritual leader -- and the tearful reaction by one of his former students. These are some of the best videos of the week: . In the 1980s and '90s -- before he moved to Vegas and started keeping tigers as pets -- former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson lived in a Southington, Ohio, mansion. The home featured an indoor swimming pool, a marble-and-gold Jacuzzi (with mirrored ceiling, naturally) and an entertainment room large enough for small concerts. Tyson sold the house in 1999; it's due to become, of all things, a church. The video can be seen at the top of this story. Not a fan of roller coasters? You may want to skip the next video -- but for the rest of us, the thrill of watching is the next best thing to being there. The Fury 325 can be found at Carowinds amusement part in Charlotte, North Carolina. Watch the video: . In a CNN exclusive, Alisyn Camerota looked into allegations that Bikram yoga creator Bikram Choudhury sexually assaulted six former students. "He's a person who's based a lot of truths on a lot of lies," said Sarah Baughn, who alleges that Choudhury sexually assaulted her. Watch the video: . CNN's Karl Penhaul spoke to a shepherd who witnessed the final seconds of Germanwings Flight 9525, which crashed in the French Alps last week. "I saw the plane heading down along the valley and I said, 'My God, it's going to hit the mountain,' " Jean Varrieras told Penhaul. "I ducked my head. ... Then after that, I saw the smoke." Watch the video: . Magician and comedian Penn Jillette was part of a panel speaking to CNN's Don Lemon about the controversial Indiana religious freedom law. Jillette, an avowed atheist and libertarian, noted "we are not talking about forcing people to engage in gay sex, or even endorse gay sex." His provocative opening led to an energetic back-and-forth with the Alliance Defending Freedom's Kristen Waggoner and the ACLU's Rita Sklar. Watch the video: . A professor of physics at a British university asked 100 people to create a composite with facial features they thought were beautiful -- and then asked another 100 to rate their attractiveness. You'll never guess what celebrities best fit the model. Watch the video: .

Here are six of CNN's best videos of the week . Clips include a look at Mike Tyson's abandoned mansion .

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Washington (CNN)ISIS is a problem that is "off the charts historically" and has sent the United States into "uncharted territory" when it comes to putting down the terror group, the Obama administration's point man in the fight recently told CNN. The comments, which Brett McGurk made in an exclusive interview, were some of the administration's strongest to date in describing the challenge the United States and its allies face in battling ISIS. "This is a problem that is off the charts historically," he said, referring to the more than 20,000 foreign fighters who have gone into Syria. "Just put that into perspective: It's about twice the number that went into Afghanistan in the 1980s over a 10-year period to fight the Soviet Union, and those came really from only a handful of countries." He concluded, "We're in unchartered territory here." McGurk just returned from an urgent summit of coalition nations held in Jordan. Last week, Canada became the latest nation to conduct airstrikes against ISIS over Syria. The United States now lists 62 countries in the coalition. As the U.S.-led coalition has focused attention on Iraq and Syria, ISIS has expanded its reach to Libya, Egypt and Yemen, often with existing extremist groups pledging allegiance to the militants. McGurk did not rule out expanding U.S. military action beyond Iraq and Syria to combat the increasing regional threat. "We have a lot of tools to protect ourselves and our national security interests, some of which are military tools," he said. "Of course we apply those tools when the president determines and our chain of command makes the recommendation that that is the right thing to do." The United States has also been stepping up efforts to involve Sunni groups in the fight against ISIS. To date, that involvement has been extremely limited as Sunni tribes see Shiite militias, many with horrendous human rights records, take the lead. But McGurk said that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is making progress getting Sunni tribes to support a planned Iraqi offensive against ISIS in Anbar province in the coming weeks. He stressed the importance of working with al-Abadi, noting that the Iraqi leader was in Anbar province last week handing out more than 1,000 AK-47s to tribal fighters who are going to join the Iraqi security forces. "We are helping to enable and train (them) as they begin to go on the offensive over the coming weeks and months in Anbar," McGurk said. "They put out this very perverse, twisted vision, and it's very attractive to a lot of young men around the world," he acknowledged. "But in fact, what the foreign fighters are finding in Syria and Iraq is that they're more likely to get killed in Iraq and Syria, and in fact, instead of getting a slave bride as ISIS leaders promise them, they're more likely to get killed by a female Peshmerga fighter in the streets of Kobani." That bottom line, he assessed, could turn the tide: "The foreign fighters are learning the reality of what it's like when they go to join this twisted version of a caliphate, and I think we're going to see those networks begin to dry up."

Obama's point man in ISIS fight doesn't rule out U.S. military action beyond Iraq and Syria . Brett McGurk: Iraqi leader making progress with Sunni tribes in planned Anbar offensive .

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(CNN)With help from some filmmakers, 102-year-old Alice Barker went back in time. Barker was a dancer in such New York nightspots as the Cotton Club and the Cafe Zanzibar in the 1930s and 1940s, part of chorus lines that entertained alongside notables including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Frank Sinatra. There were motion pictures made of Barker, but she had never seen any of them. Moreover, her photographs and memorabilia had all been lost over the years. So she had never seen herself actually dancing -- until now. Mark Cantor of jazz-on-film.com and some volunteers put together a video of "soundies" -- early music videos -- and showed them to Barker at the nursing home where she lives. The ageless dancer was delighted. "It's just fabulous," she said.

Alice Barker was a dancer in the 1930s and '40s . Thanks to filmmakers, Barker -- now 102 -- finally saw herself dance .

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(CNN)Sophisticated, glamorous and spacious -- when the super-rich go house-hunting they are searching for something special. Real estate in London's swankier suburbs can catch a buyers' eye. Mayfair, Kensington and Chelsea have long been the stomping ground of the elite -- and are now welcoming a new wave of African investors. "The Africans who are coming into London now are Africans who themselves have worked for their money," explains Bimpe Nkontchou, a British-Nigerian wealth manager based in London. "They have grown in industry and are actually part of the exciting story of the African renaissance," she continues. "It's bringing to London the best of the continent." These investors are having a considerable impact on London's property market and they mainly come from just six countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Gabon, Cameroon and Senegal. Of these, Nigerians are splashing out the most cash when it comes to bricks and mortar in the British capital -- typically spending between $22 and $37 million on securing a property, according to luxury property agents Beauchamp Estates. Their research shows that over the past three years Africans have spent over $900 million on luxury residential property in London. "The new international African is very well-traveled," explains Nkontchou. "Educated in the U.S., UK and different parts of Europe their taste is definitely more modern and clean." 'Safe-Haven' Owning a home in post codes like W1 or W8 -- around the corner from Kensington Palace -- means more than having a place to lay your head. These buildings are investments which are expected to gain even bigger value in the coming years. High-end auction house Sotheby's says that foreign investors see London as a "safe haven" for prime property investments, and ranks the city as the second most important hub for ultra high-net-worth homes. The only spot more important on the planet is New York City. For evidence that London still attracts high-end buyers, look no further than the sale of a penthouse in Mayfair which fetched $40 million earlier this year. Educated thinking . As well as an intelligent investment, many of the African buyers see these houses as a way of maintaining long standing cultural ties with London -- and it's here they want to send their children to school. Harrow, Eton, Cheltenham Ladies College are all among the list of respected institutions that teach the offspring of wealthy Africans. The Nigerian Embassy in London calculates that Nigerian nationals now spend over $446 million per year on fees, tutoring and accommodation at British schools and university. "West African clients are very much driven by the need to educate their children," says Nkontchou. "Education usually means putting the children on an international stage, and that's one reason why this is feeding into the demand for property in London." Indeed, education industry experts ICEF Monitor say there were over 17,500 Nigerians studying in British universities in 2012 -- about 1,000 more than the 2009/10 academic session. And experts are expecting this trend to continue. "Virtually all the transactions are for end use, not rental investment, which indicates that the African buyer market in London has significant room for growth," says Gary Hersham, director at Beauchamp Estates. "African buyers or luxury tenants in London are currently where the Russians and Ukrainians were five years ago. They have the resources and desire to purchase or rental luxury homes in Prime Central London," he adds. "It is going to be the African century."More from Marketplace Africa . Read this: Africa's green lean speed machines . Read this: African designs rocking art world . Editor's Note: CNN Marketplace Africa covers the macro trends impacting the region and also focuses on the continent's key industries and corporations .

Wealthy Africans are investing in some of London's most upscale real estate . Some Nigerians are spending as much as $37 million on houses . Property experts say African investment in London is set to grow .

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London (CNN)The Pentagon released a map this week showing coalition forces have taken back 25-30% of Iraqi territory seized by ISIS. The map, above, shows gains in key central and northern areas of Iraq where the terror group was previously the dominant force. The gains made in the fight against the terror group by Iraqi security forces and coalition air power certainly look impressive -- although as the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledges it's a dynamic conflict and territory can change hands depending on "daily fluctuations in the battle lines." So, how exactly should we read this information? What does it say about the wider fight against ISIS? CNN asked Afzal Ashraf, a counterinsurgency specialist and consulting fellow at the Royal United Services Institute to give us a steer on what this new data tells us about the fight against ISIS in Iraq. Below is an edited version of the conversation. CNN: So, is the tide turning in Iraq -- is the coalition winning? Afzal Ashraf: When it comes to insurgencies it's always problematic to think about the tide turning in terms of territorial gains because insurgencies by their very nature are extremely good at adapting to change. The one difference between ISIS and insurgencies in general is that ISIS declared itself a state, a caliphate once had territory so any loss is very strategic loss of prestige and image for them. (There have been) significant gains against ISIS -- particularly in Tikrit -- and it's no coincidence we've seen ISIS make spectacular attacks in refugee centers in Syria. It's asymmetric warfare, they know they cannot hold conventional force back for very long so what they do is they withdraw ... then take initiative elsewhere. They have to distract attention from those losses by gains and attacks elsewhere. It continues their image of initiative, of shocking, of reshaping the world -- which is what they are trying to do. CNN: What does the map tell us about the coalition's strategy? AA: It's very telling. There are losses but most of the losses are around the edges of their territory and what that means is a very conventional push forward by the Iraqi forces. It's a push against the front line of ISIS rather than being brave and creative and going in behind ISIS's lines and breaking it up. What this isn't is using maneuverist warfare -- which is a military philosophy that exploits the capabilities of conventional forces to project power by using air forces to take land along main supply routes and put friendly forces on that land to cut land into chunks which causes massive disruption to command and control and their supply chains which can cause forces to collapse much more rapidly than a frontal push. The capability you need (for this kind of warfare) is much more high-tech than the capabilities the Iraqis have. Those capabilities are available in the region -- Jordanians, Egyptians and other forces have helicopters and aircraft -- and it's very interesting that the Middle Eastern nations have not developed an effective coalition to target ISIS which is an existential threat. CNN: What about Ramadi? ISIS seems to be winning there. AA: Ramadi has been a potential battlefield for the past decade. But in this context (ISIS) will ... be pushing in Ramadi because that's an area they have lots of support. It also diverts their attention away from losses to their gains. The concept of success is hugely important to them -- it's what sustains the recruitment effort of ISIS. Nobody wants to join a bunch of losers, so it's very important for them to be seen to be succeeding. Above all this is a rhetorical war that is being fought deliberately in the media. They are losing so of course they are going to try to distract us by destroying ancient statues in Nimrud and killing refugees in camps like Yarmouk. But where it counts they are not standing and fighting.

Pentagon releases map showing coalition forces have taken back 25-30% of Iraq territory from ISIS . Counterinsurgency specialist Afzal Ashraf on what new data tells us about fight . Ashraf: Where it counts (ISIS is) not standing and fighting .

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(CNN)In 1944, 16-year-old Yong Soo Lee of Taegu, Korea, was lured by a friend of hers to meet with an older Japanese man. The man took the two of them, and three other teenage girls, by train, then ship, to Taiwan. There, the girls were forced into sexual slavery, serving four to five Japanese soldiers every day for a year. Lee suffered beatings and torture, was infected with a venereal disease, was fed paltry amounts of food, faced temperatures so cold that ice formed on her body, and was never allowed outside. Only the end of World War II brought her relief. Lee is just one example of the over 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and other Asian nations, who were kidnapped and sexually enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. These so-called "comfort women" suffered unimaginable physical, emotional, and psychological trauma. When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses a Joint Meeting of Congress on Wednesday, he has an opportunity to do right by these women, and issue an unequivocal and irrefutable apology -- something that carries the weight of his government. In 2007, in the very same chamber the prime minister will be issuing his address, the House of Representatives sent a profound message to the Japanese government by unanimously passing House Resolution 121, which I authored. The resolution called on the Japanese government to formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces' coercion of young women into sexual slavery; publicly refute any claims that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the "comfort women" never occurred; and educate current and future generations about this horrible crime. We are still waiting for their government to comply. In 2006, during his first term, Prime Minister Abe unleashed an international firestorm of criticism when he stated that there was no evidence of Japanese coercion and complicity in setting up and running the "comfort women" system. And during his second term, Abe and his right-wing allies have continued to question history -- even trying to dilute and rewrite it. Last year, I, along with 17 of my House colleagues, wrote to the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, calling the timing and contents of the Japanese government report on the 1993 Kono statement: regrettable, unfortunate, unacceptable, and destabilizing. Last year, meanwhile, the Abe administration tried (and failed) to get the United Nations to partially retract their authoritative 1996 report, which called on Japan to apologize to the victims and pay reparations to survivors who had been forced into sex slavery. Most notably, earlier this year, the Japanese government tried unsuccessfully to change passages in U.S. history textbooks about the "comfort women." Some say that Japan has already apologized enough and it's time to move on. To those people I say, in light of these continued attempts to rewrite history, for every step forward the Japanese government takes toward peace and reconciliation, it takes two steps back. As someone who was put into an internment camp as an infant, I know firsthand that governments must not be ignorant of their pasts. In 1942, during World War II, my government put aside the constitutional rights of Japanese Americans and systematically incarcerated 120,000 of us. We were U.S. citizens, but merely because of our ancestry, the government treated us like the enemy. Decades later, we, the Japanese American community, fought for an apology from our government. In 1988, Congress passed, and President Ronald Reagan signed into law, the Civil Liberties Act, which was a formal apology to United States citizens of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly put into internment camps during World War II. Our government made a mistake, but they apologized for it, and healed many wounds as a result. Japan must now do the same. It must show the maturity of a democratic country, apologize for its mistake, and thereby gain the trust of her sister Asian nations. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Prime Minister Abe to face Japan's history. Germany knows something about this. After World War II, Germany engaged in a painful national "coming to terms with the past" that ripped open old wounds so that they could properly heal. Time is of the essence. Today, there are fewer than 100 surviving "comfort women" across the Asia-Pacific. Each year, this number declines. Ms. Lee is one of 53 remaining Korean survivors. The survivors are dying by the day. They deserve the justice and apology that has been due to them for the past 70 years. The opportunity to speak to a joint meeting of Congress is an honor that is reserved for heads of state of our closest allies. I will be in the House chamber when Prime Minister Abe delivers his address. Ms. Lee will attend as my guest. Both of us hope the Prime Minister will take the privilege of this opportunity and finally, and firmly, apologize, and commit to educating the future generation honestly and humbly. Ms. Lee and her sisters deserve no less.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will address Congress on Wednesday . Mike Honda: Abe must commit to educating future generation honestly, humbly .

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(CNN)In this Holy Week, let us be reminded of what the word of God says about fair and living wages. Isaiah 58.6 tells us: . This is the kind of fast day I'm after: . to break the chains of injustice, . get rid of exploitation in the workplace, . free the oppressed, . cancel debts. The McDonald's announcement that the company is going to raise wages for 90,000 of its employees is a significant victory for fast-food cooks and cashiers and those of us who support them. By standing up together, fast-food workers are making it less acceptable for profitable companies like McDonald's to pay wages so low that its workers are boxed into poverty. But this action, which would raise starting wages at 1,500 McDonald's-owned restaurants to at least $1 an hour more than the minimum wage set by local law, falls short in three important ways . First, it leaves out the vast majority of McDonald's workers. The announcement only affects 10% of the McDonald's restaurants in the United States, ignoring the employees who work at franchised McDonald's restaurants. That means hundreds of thousands of workers serving Big Macs and fries won't see a dollar more in their paychecks. McDonald's claims that it has no responsibility for those franchises, but its workers, and the National Labor Relations Board, disagree. Secondly, this raise isn't nearly enough. One dollar above the minimum wage isn't enough to make paying for groceries, rent and transportation much easier, especially coming from a company that makes nearly $5 billion a year in profits. It's not enough for clothing or health care. It's not enough, as people of my faith say, for those cooks and cashiers to afford their daily bread. Thirdly, the raise does nothing to help workers have a voice in determining their workplace conditions. McDonald's and other companies need to stop trying to prevent their workers from speaking out together in a union. They should respect workers' right to collectively demand sensible schedules and such basics as adequate first aid kits, and not being compelled to work off the clock. We are at a turning point in American history. We are at a Third Reconstruction. We are at the moment when forces come together to push this country forward toward the goal of a better life for all: sustainable wages, affordable health care, quality education, and, respect for workers' right to stick together in unions so they can be heard. We are wining this fight, and the McDonald's announcement is proof that the momentum is on our side. When all McDonald's workers have more money in their pockets, they will inject money back into their neighborhoods, boosting the entire economy. Instead of houses in foreclosure and hungry children, we would have a rising wage floor and thriving communities that support more jobs. Today, thousands of McDonald's workers live below the federal poverty line. Many get help from government programs, especially food stamps, to make it week to week. Whether we like it or not, our tax dollars help McDonald's keep wages artificially low. This isn't just an economic issue. It's a moral issue. I've talked to workers at McDonald's restaurants who say they have to skip meals because they don't have enough money. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can't afford to buy a hamburger?" It's time for McDonald's to make sure all the people who serve its burgers are paid enough to afford to eat them for dinner. But we aren't going to wait for divine intervention. We're going to keep organizing and keep fighting until the workers at McDonald's, and every other fast-food restaurant, get what makes sense for their families and our communities: a $15 per hour wage and a path to form a union without interference or retaliation. McDonald's took a small step forward by raising wages for a small minority of the people who run their stores. It's time for the corporation to find a way to raise wages for everyone working in its restaurants so they can pay their bills, put some money back into their community, and expand prosperity and opportunity across our land.

William Barber: McDonald's will raise minimum wage $1 for 10% of workers. This is a step in right direction but falls short in three ways . He says it leaves out 90% of workers, is not enough to lift workers from poverty, company prevents workers from speaking out in a union .

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(CNN)Sofia Vergara's ex-fiance is speaking out about their dispute over frozen embryos created while they dated. In an op-ed published by The New York Times on Wednesday, Nick Loeb explained his rationale for fighting to keep the two female embryos he shares with the actress. "I wanted to keep this private, but recently the story broke to the world," Loeb wrote. "It has gotten attention not only because of the people involved -- my ex is Sofia Vergara, who stars in the ABC series "Modern Family" -- but also because embryonic custody disputes raise important questions about life, religion and parenthood." Loeb says he met the actress in 2010 and they got engaged two years later, at which point they decided to create the embryos and conceive a child via a surrogate. After two attempts failed to bring fertilized embryos to term, they created two more embryos using her eggs and his sperm. "When we create embryos for the purpose of life, should we not define them as life, rather than as property?," he said. "... A woman is entitled to bring a pregnancy to term even if the man objects. Shouldn't a man who is willing to take on all parental responsibilities be similarly entitled to bring his embryos to term even if the woman objects?" Loeb said he filed a complaint against the 42-year-old actress to prevent her from destroying their two embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization. He filed it in August in Santa Monica, California, where they apparently lived while they dated. "We signed a form stating that any embryos created through the process could be brought to term only with both parties' consent. The form did not specify -- as California law requires -- what would happen if we separated," he said. " I am asking to have it voided." Representatives for Vergara have declined to comment in the past. Loeb has said he believes "life begins at fertilization" and wants to implant the embryos in a surrogate and bring them to term. He said he doesn't want any money from the egg donor. The case has led to questions about who has the right to embryos. Typically, a prior legal agreement between a couple spells out who has ultimate authority, said fertility specialist Dr. David Tourgeman, who's not involved in this case. "Usually when embryos are created, whether the couple is married or just consenting adults, there's usually a power of attorney that is described to these embryos, if they are frozen for future use," he said. In most cases, the mother or the origin of the egg is given power of attorney, although anyone can make a request, Tourgeman said. If there's a disagreement, the courts usually get involved to decide who legally owns the embryos, he said. Vergara is now reportedly engaged to actor Joe Manganiello.

Loeb says he filed a complaint against the actress to prevent her from destroying their two embryos . The couple created the embryos while they were engaged .

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Lampedusa, Italy (CNN)The cramped galley of the ship is filled with the smell of fresh garlic frying in olive oil. Gaetano Cortese, a tall, thin, sunburned 27-year veteran of Italy's Guardia di Finanza (Finance Police) is waxing eloquent on his favorite subject: food. "We picked it this morning from the hills of Lampedusa," he declares with a flourish, waving thin sprigs of wild asparagus under my nose. He demonstrates how you must break it apart with your fingers, bit by bit, until you get to the hard part, which you keep aside to boil down in water for the pasta sauce he is preparing with his shipmate, Enzo Idone. Cooking, however, may be a positive distraction from dark memories. How I was smuggled into Europe -- and why it was worth it . We boarded the Finance Police's ship, the Calabrese, in Lampedusa harbor earlier in the evening. The Calabrese regularly patrols the Mediterranean off Lampedusa, which is Italy's southernmost territory and just 70 miles, or just over 110 kilometers, from the Tunisian coast. In recent years, it has been the first point of entry to Europe for tens of thousands of migrants from Africa and the Middle East. A few years ago, the Calabrese was on the look out for "contrabandisti," smugglers trafficking in cigarettes and drugs. But in recent years, its 12-man crew has joined Italy's effort to rescue migrants coming from Africa and the Middle East. We spend seven hours on board the ship, but nothing much happens. We see some Italian fishing boats the crew knew by sight. Shortly after sunset, the Calabrese's captain, Gianluca Busonera, begins calling out quick orders to his men as we approach a small boat. The easy-going crew seem to tense up. One man turns on a bright spotlight and focuses the beam on the boat, while another with powerful binoculars read out the name on the back. Busonera peers intently at the boat, which appears to be a fishing vessel, then shrugs. "It's fine," he tells me. "If it were low in the water, we'd know it was full of people, but this boat is riding high." He waves to the Tunisian boat, where an older man in a jacket waves back. Busonera gives him a thumbs up, and steers the ship to the right. It's a routine evening for the Calabrese, and that is just fine with the crew. They've seen enough troubles in their time to appreciate an uneventful day's work. Back in the galley, I ask Cortese about his worst experience while serving at sea with the Guardia di Finanza. He and most of his shipmates took part in the rescue effort on October 3, 2013, after a ship with hundreds of migrants had gone down off Lampedusa. More than 350 people died in that disaster. The crew of the Calabrese was able to rescue four of the survivors. Cortese's cheery demeanor suddenly becomes serious. "I still remember pulling out of the water, with our hands, a young, pregnant woman who had just died," he recalls. "There were children," adds his crewmate, Idone, shaking his head. "We recovered the bodies of children. It was a bad situation. I remember the body of a boy we recovered. We put him in a body bag. His head was in this hand," he said waving his hand as if he had just picked up the lifeless body. Why migrants are risking their lives to reach Italy . Cortese and Idone stress that as fathers, there is nothing worse than having to see the bodies of dead children. "At the moment," recalls Cortese, "we were too busy to think about it, but when we go home, before going to sleep, it comes back to us." He emphasizes that he and his shipmates were just doing their duty as professional military men. Out in the Mediterranean, with no land in sight, you realize just how vast it is. And although it's been warm on land in Sicily recently, at night on the water, it's cold and windy. On board the Calabrese, we are warm, well-fed and in good company. The ship is well-maintained and equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, allowing Busonera to plow confidently through the waves in the dark without fear of running into anything. It contrasts starkly with conditions migrants have recounted to us of the rickety boats and unseaworthy rubber dinghies they use to try to cross the Mediterranean. Often they're without food, water or shelter, their boat's crew inexperienced and untrained. That's if they have a crew at all. Many migrants have been beaten and robbed of all their possessions before they board. And unless a ship like the Calabrese comes to their rescue, death at sea is a definite possibility.

Ben Wedeman joins the Calabrese, an Italian patrol boat as it traverses the Mediterranean looking for migrants . Often the crew have little to report, only coming across fishing boats or other commercial vessels . The Calabrese was involved in a rescue in October 2013, during which more than 350 people died .

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(The Hollywood Reporter)A trailer for Zack Snyder's upcoming "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" leaked online on Thursday before quickly being taken down minutes later. A YouTube user uploaded the handheld or camera phone capture of the trailer, which had Spanish subtitles on the screen. The trailer begins with a commentator's voice asking, "Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?" As footage of Superman plays, numerous commentators' voices overlap one another with their opinions of the superheroes, including "We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior" and "Maybe he's just a guy trying to do the right thing." Ryan Gosling in talks to star in "Blade Runner" sequel . A blurred image of Ben Affleck's face appears shortly before a masked Batman appears, followed by the two superheroes coming face to face. The highly anticipated footage was set to premiere in Imax theaters on Monday. On Wednesday morning, Snyder teased the trailer by releasing a short excerpt on Twitter. "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" will be released on March 25, 2016 and stars Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman. The film also stars Amy Adams. How much it costs to get Mark Hamill's autograph at "Star Wars" celebration . ©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.

"Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" trailer leaked Thursday before being yanked offline . Film will be released on March 25, 2016 and stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill .

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(CNN)Actress Mindy Kaling's brother says that he posed as a black man years ago to get into medical school and that the experience opened his eyes to what he calls the hypocrisy of affirmative action. The revelation comes as Vijay Chokal-Ingam, who is of Indian descent, is pitching a book about his experiences as a "hard-partying college frat boy who discovered the seriousness and complexity of America's racial problems while posing as a black man." On his website, AlmostBlack.com, Chokal-Ingam says he hatched the plan in 1998 after realizing in college that his grades weren't going to be good enough to get into med school as an Indian-American. "So, I shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man," he wrote on the website. "My change in appearance was so startling that my own fraternity brothers didn't recognize me at first." He says he joined an organization for black students and applied to schools using his middle name, JoJo. The plan had some drawbacks, said Chokal-Ingam, who describes himself now as a "professional resume writer, interview coach, and graduate school application consultant." "Cops harassed me. Store clerks accused me of shoplifting. Women were either scared of me or couldn't keep their hands off me," he wrote. "What started as a devious ploy to gain admission to medical school turned into a twisted social experiment." He says it worked. Despite a relatively mediocre 3.1 college grade-point average and a good-but-not-great score of 31 on the Medical College Admission Test, Chokal-Ingam claims he was wooed by several top medical schools. He even posts documents on his website to bolster his claims, including an enthusiastic letter from a dean at the Emory University School of Medicine congratulating him on his "excellent scores" on the MCAT. But there's little evidence to suggest his posturing as a "black" applicant helped him get into these schools. First, there is no point of comparison: Chokal-Ingam never applied to medical schools as an Indian-American. Ultimately, he told CNN he applied at 22 medical schools and interviewed at 11. He was wait-listed at four schools and got into only one. Chokal-Ingam eventually attended Saint Louis University Medical School, dropping out after two years. Affirmative action has been in the news a lot the past few years, with a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that tightened how affirmative action admissions programs have to be structured and a 2014 ruling that upheld the University of Michigan's ban on the use of race in admissions. Chokal-Ingam says his story shows how affirmative action "destroys the dreams of millions of Indian-American, Asian American, and white applicants for employment and higher education." "It also creates negative stereotypes about the academic abilities and professional skills of African-American and Hispanic professionals, who don't need special assistance in order to compete with other minority groups," he wrote. But a Saint Louis University spokeswoman disputed the account, telling the Huffington Post that race never played a role in Chokal-Ingam's admission. "His MCAT scores and science grade point average met SLU's criteria for admission at that time, and his race or ethnicity did not factor into his acceptance into the University," the website quoted SLU spokeswoman Nancy Solomon as saying. As might be expected, Chokal-Ingam's claim hasn't gone over well in some quarters. "How does @VijayIngam disprove the benefits of #affirmativeaction when he never gained admission to SLU based on it?" one Twitter user asked. Some were more blunt. One said Chokal-Ingam "is an idiot." "Whatever you feel about affirmative action, let's consider that one person's experience over a decade and a half ago -- an experience that ultimately didn't yield any deluge in acceptance letters anyway -- is not really indicative of the current state of college admissions," wrote Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams. "Nor is it necessarily an exemplary window into the complex and mysterious vetting process of elite institutions," she added. "Instead, Chokal-Ingam's story is one of a successful woman's brother liberally using her name to drum up attention and controversy." Chokal-Ingam's sister, formerly of "The Office" and current star of TV's "The Mindy Project," is among those who aren't on board, he wrote on his website. She "strongly disapproves of my book," he wrote, arguing that it will bring shame on the family. But others said they don't see what all the fuss is about. "I don't blame this guy at all he earned the right to get into that school via hardwork and wasn't getting it and felt like others were getting what he wanted to so he did what he had to," Twitter user josephdiano77 said.

Vijay Chokal-Ingam says he pretended to be black to get into medical school . He says the experience showed him that affirmative action is a flawed system .

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Seoul, South Korea (CNN)On March 20, 2013, a cyberattack brought chaos to several banks and media outlets in South Korea. Then more ominously on December 23 last year, computers at the country's nuclear operator were breached. Again cybercrime was suspected. The source of these attacks? North Korea. And South Korean investigators say they have proof -- the actual malicious codes used in the attacks. They shared this data with CNN. The 2013 attack, known as "Dark Seoul," paralyzed an estimated 48,000 computers at a number of major banks and broadcasters, disrupting network systems and wiping their hard disks clean. "It would try to delete essentially all your files... then restart the system. You would come back up and nothing would be there," Joshua James, a digital forensic expert, told CNN. "If it infected more financial systems, it could have deleted all financial data in Korea. I mean, it is dangerous," the visiting professor at Chuncheon's Hallym University added. Live footage of the breaches showed computer screens at the media companies completely down, while bank customers were unable to make withdrawals, or transfer money online. "Dark Seoul" happened shortly after the North Korean government announced it would end the armistice agreement that brought the three-year Korean War to an end in July 1953 amid growing tensions with its neighbor. The latest high-profile digital incursion, in December, attempted to steal data from South Korea's nuclear operator, including plant blueprints and personnel information. Though investigators said no critical data was stolen, the attack raised serious concerns about the safety and security of the 23 nuclear power plants it runs. The attack itself was described by James as a "spear-fishing" exercise where unsuspecting victims -- retired and current employees of the nuclear operator -- were prompted to open up a disguised document in their email. "As soon as you double click on it, it starts running in the background of your computer where you can't see ... it's also trying to open up your computer -- what we call a back door -- to give access to the infected system by the attacker," he told CNN. The attack, which James said was simpler than "Dark Seoul," came just a few days after Sony Pictures said their systems has been "hacked," another attack the South Korean authorities blamed on North Korea. "From a law enforcement or investigation side, we're trying to actually trace back to who did it," said James. Seoul announced in mid-March that some of the IP addresses used in December incursion could be traced back to Shenyang, China, which can be easily accessed from the North Korean border. Codes used in the attack were said to be similar in pattern to those used by the North Koreans, South Korean authorities said. "The malicious codes used in the attack were same in composition and working methods as "Kimsuky" codes known to be used by North Korea," the prosecutor's office that leads 17 other government agencies and Internet companies in the investigation said in the statement in March. Pyongyang has dismissed the claims it launched these attacks, calling them a "plot and fabrication that can never win over the truth." But many experts say North Korea appears to be investing more in cyberwarfare because it is cheaper than spending on conventional weapons and can cause significant economic damage to its southern rival. Indeed South Korea's Defense Ministry estimates that North Korea is operating a "cyberarmy" of 6,000 workers as it focuses on strengthening its asymmetrical warfare capability. "Hacks are going on all the time, constantly -- though how many actually make the news is a very small amount," said James. "How many are detected in general? I think the average person would have no clue they've been hacked. "Organizations need to invest the same amount that hackers are investing to protect themselves and right now they're not," he added. Many in South Korea believe not enough effort is being put into defending against cyberattacks. A report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, a government-funded think tank, estimates that "Dark Seoul" caused about $820 million worth of damage. Its report, published in 2014, predicted that by 2020, South Korea could be exposed to hacking attacks causing up to $25 billion in economic damage.

South Korean investigators say they have proof that North Korea is launching cyberattacks . Reports say the North is investing heavily in digital warfare . December attack on banks in South Korea caused about $820 million worth of damage, a report says .

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Garissa, Kenya (CNN)The sign painted onto the school entrance wall reads: "Youth is a mistake, adulthood is a struggle, old age is a regret." The black humor of the message provides some light relief for a school that lives in constant fear of a terrorist attack because of what is taught inside its walls. The students (aged 8 to 14) at the Ibnu-Siina school in northern Kenya are getting a so-called "Western" education, taking lessons in subjects like mathematics, science and English. But it's an education that Al-Shabaab -- the Somali-based terror group -- is trying to prevent the children from obtaining, according to the head of the school. "These men, Al-Shabaab, want to make sure everything goes negative," headmaster James Ndonye told CNN. "They want to make sure they terrify the teachers so they go to their homes -- so the kids in this area don't get what they deserve." Al-Shabaab militants have launched a series of deadly attacks over the last few years in the region mostly targeting Christians. Many of the math and science teachers in this area are Christian. In early April, Al-Shabaab brutally massacred 147 people at Garissa University in northern Kenya. It was the group's deadliest attack to date. The gunmen would have driven down the road past the Ibnu-Siina school -- and its single unarmed guard -- to get to the university, only a few hundred meters away. Kenyan teachers and students alike are terrified. "The University College of Garissa was the only and first university college in northern Kenya. We were happy when we got it a few years ago," explained Garissa Regional Governor Nadif Jama. "Today it has been closed. That is Al-Shabaab's mission," Jama said. "That is what they want. And that is nothing but destroying the fabric of our being a civilized society." And it's not just in Kenya. Terrorist groups across the Sahel region are waging war on schools, teachers and students. In northeast Nigeria, the Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been waging war against the government -- and the civilian population -- for several years. Most notoriously, perhaps, was Boko Haram's kidnapping of around 270 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, Borno state, last April. But the group has also carried out numerous other attacks on schools, slaughtering young boys and girls as they sleep in their dormitories. Last year in Garissa, James Ndonye lost five of his 11 teachers amid rising fears of an Al-Shabaab attack on the school. He replaced them, but it wasn't easy. Yet despite the ever-present threat of terror, Ndonye has stayed to help the children. "I risk my life because -- for this class, there's a target we have for last year ... and I love that class very much," Ndonye said. Exclusive: Tracking the killer behind Garissa massacre .

Looming threat of Al-Shabaab has terrified students and teachers in Kenya . Terror group massacred 147 at Kenyan university last week .

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(CNN)Since the headline-grabbing murder of American journalist James Foley by ISIS militants eight months ago, the world has been regularly confronted with a modern form of an ancient, primally horrifying method of execution. British and American aid workers, Japanese and American journalists, Kurdish and Syrian soldiers and Egyptian and now Ethiopian Christians were among those who followed in Foley's wake: their gruesome beheadings documented on camera and disseminated as propaganda to a global online audience. These highly ritualized killings have galvanized international opposition to the group -- and helped attract a wave of foreign recruits to the ISIS cause. But beyond this, some experts such as psychology professor Arie W. Kruglanski suggest, the wave of savage beheadings may be having an unlikely knock-on effect. He says the spate of jihadist beheadings may be encouraging copy-cat acts or threats of decapitation -- not only from Islamists, but from the "disbelievers" they target. Kruglanski, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, says the frequent, high profile reports of ISIS beheadings could result in psychologically "priming" people to be more inclined to emulate them, or threaten to, during moments of conflict or extreme stress. Because of the attention that jihadist beheadings have commanded internationally, "the very concept of beheading, that was virtually non-existent in our unconscious prior to these events being propagated, is now there," he told CNN. "It comes to mind when a conflict happens, when you react aggressively," he said. "It sits there in our unconscious and can be activated under certain circumstances when the passions run high, and result in actual behavior." Reports of beheadings also emerge from Saudi Arabia, where it is a legal method of execution under the country's judicial code; and Mexico and Brazil, where it is typically the work of criminal gangs. But neither has placed the practice in the global spotlight to anything like the same degree as ISIS's propaganda, in which the threat is extended to "disbelievers" around the globe. A similar copy-cat effect had been observed with the phenomenon of school mass shootings, said Kruglanski. "Once the idea is planted then when someone is upset, feeling violent, the idea of getting a gun and shooting up a school comes more readily to mind, because it's sitting there in our unconscious," he said. A lack of hard data on the global incidence of beheadings makes it impossible to say conclusively whether such killings are being carried out by non-jihadists more often. But reports of such cases have been frequently making the headlines. In December and January, two victims were decapitated -- outside a Florida home, and in a shopping mall in China's Shaanxi province -- in crimes with no apparent connection to terror. In London alone, a city deeply impacted by the murder and attempted decapitation of soldier Lee Rigby by Islamic extremists in 2013, three women were reportedly beheaded last year in alleged crimes with no apparent jihadist motivation. And in the United States, an Oklahoma man is awaiting trial, accused of beheading a co-worker in September. (Whether he was inspired by ISIS propaganda remains unclear; he was reportedly a recent convert to Islam and had posted Osama bin Laden and beheading content online.) Whether or not "non-jihadist" beheadings are on the increase, this brutal method of killing has inarguably come to occupy a larger part of the public consciousness, as ISIS's beheadings have grabbed international headlines and the terror group's call on supporters to attack "disbelievers" has reverberated worldwide. In Australia and the Philippines, jihad-related threats or plots to decapitate have allegedly been made in the past seven months; recently, a Muslim convert in London was found guilty of a plot to behead a British soldier, inspired by the Rigby murder. The theme of beheading was also front and center in an incident in Belgium in January, where fans of football team Standard Liege unfurled a giant banner depicting the severed head of an opponent. The club condemned their actions as "totally unacceptable." Beyond this, threats to behead also seem to have gained a wider currency among non-jihadists, said Kruglanski. In the U.S., a Michigan man was arrested in January for threatening to decapitate the New York police officer who put Eric Garner in a fatal choke hold, which triggered widespread civil rights protests. And months earlier, in October, police reportedly received a threat to behead elementary school students in Rhode Island. Roderic Broadhurst, a professor of crime, policing, security and justice at the Australian National University said the ISIS beheadings may have shown those engaging in attention-seeking threats of violence a sure way to get noticed. "An awareness of what really shocks and gets 'news' is clearly on show," he said. The threats and banner demonstrated the way in which the spread of beheading rhetoric may be having a psychologically "brutalizing" effect on society, said Kruglanski, intensifying the violence of our thoughts, words and actions. "Ultimately, we're talking about contributing to the brutalization of interpersonal and inter-group conflict all over the planet," he said. Justin Hastings, a senior lecturer in international relations and comparative politics at the University of Sydney, said that while ISIS beheadings "might inspire some people to prefer that particular way to kill people as opposed to others," he believed it would eventually fall out of favor. While beheading had been adopted by ISIS as their stock in trade, it would inevitably lose its shock value, driving jihadists to ramp up the levels of atrocity in order to continue capturing international attention. One such dramatic escalation occurred in February, when ISIS released a propaganda video in which the tactic of beheading was abandoned altogether for fresh horrors -- burning Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh alive in a cage. Later that month, ISIS released a video released showing what appeared to be Kurdish Peshmerga fighters paraded down Iraqi streets in cages. For many, a baffling aspect to the executions has been how such overweening brutality could win support for the ISIS cause. While the executions are viewed by the vast majority of people as repellent, Kruglanski said, they could exert a strong pull for sympathizers by projecting "a sense of godlike power." "We all have this morbid, instinctual fascination with death and killing and torture, which is sublimated and constrained by civilization and our culture and socialization," he said. "Most of us are peaceful even though these drives exist in our subconscious; civilization rests on its ability to constrain them." But when the "death instinct" -- "this drive to kill and promote violence" -- was legitimized by a powerful narrative, such as a religious or ideological call to global jihad, "then that can result in unregulated atrocities," he said. For some foreign jihadists who had traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight for ISIS, the realities of the so-called "Islamic State" had driven them to return home disenchanted, he said. But others remained. "In each of us there is this battle of good versus evil," said Kruglanski. "It's a battle in everybody's soul."

The wave of ISIS beheadings has horrified people all over the world . It may also have contributed to isolated beheading incidents by non-jihadists, says an academic . Professor Arie W. Kruglanski says exposure to the videos could help "prime" some to emulate them .

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(CNN)A Lamborghini sports car crashed into a guardrail at Walt Disney World Speedway on Sunday, killing a passenger, the Florida Highway Patrol said. The crash occurred at 3:30 p.m. at the Exotic Driving Experience, which bills itself as a chance to drive your dream car on a racetrack. The 36-year-old passenger, Gary Terry of Davenport, Florida, was pronounced dead at the scene, Florida Highway Patrol said. The driver, 24-year-old Tavon Watson of Kissimmee, Florida, lost control of the vehicle, the Highway Patrol said. He was hospitalized with minor injuries. Petty Holdings, which operates the Exotic Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway, released a statement Sunday night about the crash. "On behalf of everyone in the organization, it is with a very heavy heart that we extend our deepest sympathies to those involved in today's tragic accident in Orlando," the company said. Petty Holdings also operates the Richard Petty Driving Experience -- a chance to drive or ride in NASCAR race cars named for the winningest driver in the sport's history. CNN's Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.

Authorities identify the deceased passenger as 36-year-old Gary Terry . Authorities say the driver, 24-year-old Tavon Watson, lost control of a Lamborghini . The crash occurred at the Exotic Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway .

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Boston (CNN)After weeks of dramatic and emotionally wrenching testimony in the Boston Marathon bombing trial, jurors deliberated for more than seven hours Tuesday. But they haven't reached a verdict yet. The jurors sent out two questions, which are scheduled to be addressed when they return to court Wednesday morning. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 21-year-old accused Boston Marathon bomber, faces life in prison or the death penalty. On Monday, the jury saw a video of the moment a bomb exploded and disemboweled an 8-year-old boy and ripped the leg off his sister. The blast killed a 23-year-old graduate student from China. The jurors heard more horror from April 15, 2013. At one point, prosecutors played a video that showed the scene after a bomb exploded -- blood and injured victims everywhere and the sounds of a child howling. His mother lost her leg. "The defendant brought terrorism into the backyards and main streets," Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty said. "The defendant thought that his values were more important than the people around him. He wanted to awake the mujahedeen, the holy warriors, so he chose Patriots' Day, Marathon Monday," a time for families to gather and watch the marathon. Tsarnaev's defense attorney Judy Clarke tried to persuade jurors that her client's older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a shootout with police days after the terror attack, was the instigator of the marathon plot. The younger man, Clarke said, was only following his older brother. "If not for Tamerlan, it would not have happened," Clarke argued. Bomb survivors and victims' family members wiped away tears and comforted one another in court. Tsarnaev fidgeted at the defense table as he has done throughout the trial. Bill Richard, father of bomb victim Martin Richard, 8, craned his neck to watch Tsarnaev as the prosecutor spoke. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev "chose a day when the eyes of the world would be on Boston," Chakravarty said. "He chose a day when there would be civilians on the sidewalks, and he targeted those civilians: men, women and children." The lawyer waited a beat. "He wanted to terrorize this country. He wanted to punish America for what it was doing to his people." The prosecutor showed a picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, in the marathon crowd. The day of the bombings, Chakravarty said, "they felt they were soldiers. They were the mujahedeen and they were bringing their battle to Boston." Tsarnaev is accused of 30 counts, including setting off weapons of mass destruction at a public event as an act of terrorism. Seventeen of those counts carry a sentence of death or life imprisonment. If Tsarnaev is found guilty of at least one of the 17 capital counts, the trial will proceed to a second phase, the so-called penalty phase. That part of the trial will include evidence of aggravating and mitigating factors, and the jury will be asked to weigh elements that make this crime especially heinous against details from Tsarnaev's background and mental health history that would weigh in his favor. Since testimony began March 4, federal prosecutors have called 92 witnesses, and the defense just four. It seemed a mismatch from the start. "He was there," Clarke conceded as the trial opened, but the defense strategy always had been to focus on persuading the jury to spare Tsarnaev's life. Jurors were shown a photo of Tsarnaev standing by a tree behind the family of Martin Richard. "These children weren't innocent to him," the prosecutor said. "They were American. He knew what that bag was designed to do." Chakravarty quoted Martin's father who earlier testified, "I guess we were just unlucky that day." But luck had nothing to do with the Boston bombings, the prosecutor said. "This was a cold, intentional, terrorist act," he said. The brothers' acts that day were intended, he said, "to make a point. To tell America, 'We won't be terrorized by you anymore. We will terrorize you.' " The defense has maintained that Tsarnaev, who was 19 and flunking out of college at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, fell under the sway of his older, more radicalized brother. "In the past few weeks, we have come face to face with tragedy, suffering and grief in dimensions none of us could imagine," Clarke said. "We've heard words, we've heard screams and we've heard cries. For this suffering and pain, there is no excuse." She acknowledged her client participated in a "senseless act." Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a Golden Gloves boxer, had hoped to wage jihad, and his slacker younger brother was just along for the ride, the defense has maintained. During the 15-minute rebuttal period, prosecutor William Weinreb told jurors not to be distracted by the defense's "attempt to point the finger at somebody else." "There should be no doubt in your mind that the defendant and his brother are equally guilty," he said. They were "partners in crime." Weinreb pointed out that after the bombing, Tsarnaev went to the grocery store. "Tamerlan Tsarnaev didn't turn his brother into a murderer. To shred the bodies of women and children with a homemade type of bomb, you have to be different from other people," the prosecutor said. "If you are capable of such hate, such callousness that you can murder and maim 20 people and then drive to Whole Foods and buy some milk, can you really blame it on your brother?" The radicalization of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev . From the start, prosecutors presented a compelling case in which the horrors of April 15 to 19, 2013, were vividly brought to life once again. They began with the stories of bombing survivors and first responders, who described acts of courage and compassion amid madness and chaos. The final moments of the three Boston Marathon spectators who died were recounted by the people who were by their sides. According to testimony, Tamerlan Tsarnaev set off a bomb made from a 6-quart pressure cooker, explosive powder from fireworks, duct tape, nails and BBs on Boylston Street near the finish line. That bomb, which exploded near Marathon Sports, claimed the life of Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager. Twelve seconds later, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly detonated a second, similar bomb outside the Forum restaurant, slightly more than a block away. That blast killed the boy, Martin Richard, and Lingzi Lu, 23, a graduate student from China. Chakravarty's voice grew soft Monday as he recalled the victims: . Martin's 69-pound body "was shattered, broken, eviscerated, burned. There wasn't a part of this boy's body that wasn't destroyed." Lu "received blast injuries all over her body. Her leg was torn open, and she bled out." Campbell died in less than a minute from "massive blast injuries to her lower extremities. Parts of her body were shredded." Sean Collier, the MIT campus police officer killed three days after the bombings, "never had a chance." He was shot between the eyes. "They assassinated him." The brothers allegedly killed the 26-year-old officer for his service weapon but couldn't pry it loose from a safety holster. Case ends with grisly photos and testimony . Dun Meng told the jury about his frightening 90 minutes with two carjackers, one who admitted being involved in the marathon bombing. He identified that person as Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Police fired 210 rounds at the brothers when they tracked a GPS device in Meng's stolen Mercedes and cornered them in Watertown, Massachusetts. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev struck Tamerlan, who was wounded, when he charged police in the car. Tamerlan died of his injuries. "Tamerlan wanted suicide by cop," the prosecutor said Monday. "He was ready for heaven. But the defendant had other plans." Dzhokhar ditched the stolen car and sought shelter in a dry-docked boat parked in a trailer in a backyard in Watertown. As he hid, he used a pencil to scrawl what prosecutors called a "manifesto" in which he said he was jealous of his brother for dying as a martyr and reaching paradise. He also lashed out at the United States for policies he said killed Muslims, writing, "I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all." Federal prosecutors also presented evidence gleaned from searches of the brothers' computers, including militant literature written by top al Qaeda leaders. And they traced the purchase of the pressure cookers, ammunition and BBs, which appeared to have been made by Tamerlan. Boston trial: What defense?

Court has adjourned for the day after more than seven hours of deliberations . Jurors sent out two questions that are set to be addressed Wednesday . If Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is found guilty of at least one capital count, trial will go to penalty phase .

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(CNN)Britain's Prince Harry arrived Monday in Australia, where he'll be spending four weeks with the country's military. Before reporting for duty, the 30-year-old prince visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the capital, paying his respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier. A crowd of onlookers gathered outside the memorial. Some snapped photos of the royal visitor, while one boy held a sign celebrating the prince's hair color: "Red Heads Rule!" During his time down under, Harry "will work and live alongside colleagues in the Australian Army in a number of regiments in Sydney, Darwin and Perth," the Australian Defence Forces said last week. He has already spent time with Australian troops on a number of occasions during his 10-year military career, according to a royal spokesman. "Prince Harry has trained and served alongside Australian armed forces on operational tours to Afghanistan; he has met them during the Invictus Games; and even trekked to the South Pole with a couple of Australian soldiers," the spokesman said ahead of the visit. The younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Harry is known in the British Army as "Captain Harry Wales," from his official title and name, His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales. He began his formal military duties in 2005 at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Last month, he announced that he would be leaving the armed forces in June, describing the decision as "really tough." Australian military officials say the prince's program with them will be "challenging." It will involve training in urban settings and patrolling the Australian bush, as well as aviation activities and fire exercises. He'll also participate in regular activities such as physical training and pack marches. Another focus of Harry's visit is to spend time meeting wounded, injured and ill service members in Australia. "Wounded warriors" are a special interest for Prince Harry. He helped spearhead and continues to champion the Invictus Games, a competition for former military personnel who have been wounded in the line of duty. During his attachment with the Australian military, Harry will accompany Charles on a trip to Turkey at the end of April for commemorations on the anniversary of the World War I Battle of Gallipoli.

Prince Harry pays his respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier . He is starting a four-week attachment with the Australian military .

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(CNN)Hillary Clinton is now officially a candidate for president -- and the never ending Clinton story rumbles on. She has been a part of all our lives now for approaching a quarter of a century. She started as the first lady that the right loved to hate, then the deceived wife, next a senator, then a candidate for president in one of the most dynamic primaries in history and finally, a secretary of state. The Republicans have their aristocratic Bushes, the Democrats have their Clintons. And if Hillary or Jeb were to win two presidential terms, then in the 44 years from 1981 to 2025, 28 will have had a Clinton or a Bush in the White House. The great American republic now looks about as democratic as "Game of Thrones." But even though Hillary Clinton has been around nearly my entire lifetime, The Economist may speak for many when it asks: "What does Hillary stand for?" There is a paradox she presents: She is by far the best-known presidential candidate across both parties and, for the moment, almost unchallenged within her own. Yet even though Diane Feinstein can assert confidently that Hillary "doesn't 'need' (the White House). But she wants it" -- the question unanswered is "What for?" And for liberals, who believe that government is there to do something, it's this lack of definition that is surely so disconcerting about Clinton. There are good grounds for a liberal primary challenge to Clinton. The economy has revived under Obama but, say critics, largely to the benefit of Wall Street and the super-rich. The riots in Ferguson, Missouri, were a painful reminder that the poor, particularly the nonwhite poor, have been left behind. Clinton's credentials as a fighter against inequality are mixed. It is true, as the Wall Street Times notes, that she has previously called for "universal prekindergarten, equal pay for women, increases in the minimum wage, paid family leave, higher taxes on the wealthy and an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit for working-poor families." But she counts among her friends precisely those corporate people blamed by the Occupy crowd for the country's inequality. Clinton is now, wisely, trying to distance herself from the Clinton Foundation -- after all, its fundraising efforts among foreign interests are hardly the stuff of populist liberalism. Then there is her foreign policy record. Clinton voted in 2002 to authorize the Iraq War (though in her memoir last year, she backed away from the vote, writing that she "got it wrong.") As secretary of state, she is easily associated in the mind of the left with such controversies as the war in Syria, the crisis in Libya and the collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt. That some of these may have had little to do with her is beside the point. Clinton is going to have to spend a sizeable amount of time during the primaries explaining and defending the things that occurred while she was working for the Obama administration. Her personal ethics are on the agenda, too -- as demonstrated by the flap over her use of a private email account. These are the issues that her Democratic rivals are running on. In Iowa last week, both Jim Webb and Martin O'Malley attacked Wall Street, Webb adding that he had also opposed the Iraq War. Both men questioned the wisdom of Clintonian triangulation -- the idea that the White House can be won, and the country successfully governed, by always seeking the middle ground. Both men would be wise to focus on Iowa; to contrast a populist, folksy campaign with the distant, over-managed style of Clinton. And both would do well to tap into a feeling that it would be unhealthy, undemocratic and plain dull to let Hillary coast to the nomination without a proper challenge. Nevertheless, there is a strange contradiction between the constant assertions that Democrats want a race and the polling evidence that Clinton would beat anyone who tried to take her on. Why do liberals demand a conversation about policy if the only answer they can still come up with is Hillary? The explanation is that the Democratic Party is intellectually impoverished. We hear often of the GOP's problems, how out of touch with a changing electorate it is and how it is divided against itself. The Democrats' challenges, however, are just as substantial. They've just been masked by having a charismatic man in the White House dominating the national conversation. Obama was elected at one of the highest points of national Democratic popularity. But, since then, Democratic power has been whittled away in successive congressional and local elections -- leaving the party without significant representation in the Deep South and absent any mildly conservative support at all. Everything was staked on Obamacare, which was ambitious and noble venture but without an obvious second act to follow. Democrats have become about defending the honor and reputation of their president rather than proposing bold new reforms. And the mood of their base can be felt either in the violence in Missouri or the disaffected, hollow laughter of "The Daily Show" audience. Cynicism abounds. Who really imagines that Hillary Clinton is the kind of personality that can spark a renaissance of thinking or a rejuvenation of activism among liberals? To repeat the question: what is she exactly running for? If she has one trump card to play, however, it is reinvention. Recall that she started the 2008 primaries out as a moderate, play-it-safe frontrunner and ended them drinking beer in an Indiana bar -- reinvented, in the words of Barack Obama, as Annie Oakley. If there is little intellectualism left in liberalism, at least Hillary Clinton is clever. Which is why she remains an asset to her party.

Timothy Stanley: Hillary Clinton running for president, but it's not clear what she stands for. There are grounds for a liberal primary challenge . He says Democrats who call for reform offer only Hillary Clinton. She's formidable candidate, but where are bold new ideas?

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(CNN)Launching rockets is a complicated thing. Landing them upright on a platform floating in the ocean? Well, that's never been done before. SpaceX, the private space exploration company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, hopes to give it a try. But weather forced it to scrub Monday's plan to launch. SpaceX said on Twitter that Tuesday at 4:10 p.m. ET will be the next opportunity for the company to launch a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carrying an uncrewed cargo spacecraft called Dragon on a flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station. That will be the easy part. After the launch, SpaceX will try to guide the bottom stage of the rocket upright onto a platform, or what it calls an autonomous spaceport drone ship, in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida. Usually booster rockets burn up in Earth's atmosphere or, like NASA's space shuttle boosters, they fall back into the ocean. So why try to land one? Musk wants to cut costs. On his company's website, he says that if anyone can figure out how to "reuse rockets just like airplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred." SpaceX tried to land a Falcon 9 on the drone ship in January, but the rocket hit at an angle and exploded. The company has previously said the odds of a successful landing are about 50%. If you want to see how it goes, it will post photos online throughout the mission and will put video on YouTube. And if the landing doesn't work? SpaceX says it will keep trying and, after it masters landing at sea, hopes to someday land rockets on the ground. What about the rest of the rocket and the Dragon? The smaller, top part of the rocket will carry the Dragon into orbit and then break away from the cargo ship and burn up in Earth's atmosphere. The Dragon will dock with the space station a couple of days after launch to deliver more than 4,300 pounds (1,950 kilograms) of supplies, including research equipment and ISSpresso, an espresso maker that astronauts can use to make coffee and tea. The space station crew will spend about five weeks unpacking the Dragon. They'll then stuff it with over 3,000 pounds of science experiments, trash and other stuff to send back to Earth. When they're done, Dragon will leave the space station and mission controllers will guide it to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off California. This is the sixth SpaceX mission to the International Space Station. The company was the first private space contractor to dock with the station. CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

SpaceX says weather forced it to delay its rocket launch plan . The company plans to launch a two-stage rocket to the International Space Station . After the launch, SpaceX will try to guide the bottom stage upright onto the platform .

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Atlanta (CNN)A passenger on an Atlanta-bound Air Canada flight told a CNN reporter on the plane Friday that a stranger sitting behind him tried to choke him. Oliver Minatel, 22, said he was sleeping on Air Canada Flight 8623 from Toronto when he felt something around his neck. "With a rope, something that he has, he just jumped on me. That's what happened," Minatel told CNN's Paula Newton moments after the incident. She was seated four rows behind Minatel, a professional soccer player traveling with his team. The incident occurred about a half-hour before the flight landed, after the pilots had begun their descent. "I forced it (the cord) down and then other people came to help, and then I got out and he started saying that we were here to kill him," Minatel said. The man was not restrained for the rest of the trip, but the flight crew told him to stay seated with his seat belt on. The man kept trying to get out of his seat but other passengers yelled at him whenever he tried to stand up. The two-hour flight landed at Atlanta's Hartsfield airport at about 4:30 p.m. where it was met by U.S. authorities. The suspect was escorted off the plane. An FBI spokesman confirmed the agency responded to the incident. "The passenger, however, was transported for medical/mental evaluation under the direction and coordination of the Atlanta Police Department," Special Agent Stephen Emmett said. "While there are currently no federal charges pending, the facts of the matter are being relayed to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta." Minatel, a forward from Brazil, was traveling with his teammates from the Ottawa Fury Football Club of the second-division North American Soccer League. They are scheduled to play the Atlanta Silverbacks on Saturday. "We're very thankful to everyone who came to the aid of Oliver and relieved that he's O.K. and ready to play in our game," Fury FC Head Coach Marc Dos Santos said in a statement posted on the team's website. Several witnesses said they saw the suspect try to choke Minatel with the cord of his headphones. Kevin Kerr says he was seated next to the suspect. "He was talking about how this soccer team was trying to kill him. I thought he was maybe a deranged fan," said Kerr. Kerr said he fell asleep and he awakened to see the suspect trying to choke Minatel. "I assisted to make sure that didn't happen," Kerr said. The Canadian businessman said he and members of the soccer team kept a close eye on the suspect as the plane landed to make sure he did not threaten other passengers.

Oliver Minatel, a 22-year-old player from Brazil, was attacked from behind, he says . Witnesses say suspect tried to choke him with the cord from his headphones . Team says forward is OK, will play Saturday night; suspect was taken for evaluation .

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(CNN)When Hong Kong police answered a call in the early hours of a Saturday morning last November, they encountered a grisly scene and an alleged crime that shocked the city. One woman was lying on the floor with cuts to her neck and buttocks. Another was stuffed inside a suitcase on the balcony. A former banker, 29-year-old Briton Rurik Jutting, was charged with two counts of murder. On Thursday, a court hearing that was to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed to trial was adjourned until May. Here's what we know so far about the victims and their alleged attacker. Jutting allegedly lived at the murder scene, an upmarket apartment in the middle of Wan Chai, an inner-city suburb that's home to an eclectic mix of late-night bars, residential tower blocks and local markets selling groceries and assorted cheap goods. In the early hours of Saturday morning, November 1, police say Jutting called them to the apartment. There they found a woman lying on the blood-splattered floor, later identified as 29-year-old Seneng Mujiasih. During a search of the apartment, officers uncovered another body hidden in a suitcase on the balcony. It's alleged 25-year-old Sumarti Ningsih was killed on October 27, five days before her body was found. Sumarti Ningsih was from Cilacap, in Central Java, and was the mother of a five-year-old girl. In a statement, her cousin, Jumiati, described her as "just an ordinary woman from Indonesia" who, like many others, was "forced to work abroad to feed her poor family and make her dream comes (sic) true." "She wanted to work as professional so she can earn money and dignity for her family," Jumiati wrote. "She is good girl and did not deserve this treatment." According to the Asian Migrant Coordinating Body, Ningsih was visiting Hong Kong as a tourist and had been due to fly back to Jakarta the day after her body was found. Last year, her grieving father, Ahmad Khaliman, told Agence France-Presse that his daughter had worked in Hong Kong as a domestic helper between 2011 and 2013. She'd since returned on two occasions, Khaliman said. He said the family had been shocked by her murder, and called for the perpetrator to be executed. "If not, I cannot accept it. He has already taken my daughter's life, so he has to pay with his life," he told CNN affiliate Trans7. Seneng Mujiasih had more recently worked as a domestic worker in Hong Kong but had overstayed her visa, according to the Asian Migrant Co-ordinating Body. Also known as Jesse Lorena, Mujiasih was from the city of Muna in Sulawesi province, in southeast Indonesia. Other than that, few details are known about her life and why she stayed on in Hong Kong. After news of their death spread, fellow domestic workers held a vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park. Around 200 people gathered to sing and pray, and lay flowers besides photos of the two women. The victims' bodies were buried after being repatriated to Indonesia in November. Before being taken into custody, Rurik Jutting lived in the upmarket J Residence in Wan Chai. He was detained at the scene, where police found the bodies of two women and seized a knife during a search of the premises. It's unclear when Jutting left his job as a trader at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch; a BoA spokesman would only confirm that a man of the same name had worked there in the past. Jutting's profile on LinkedIn said he haad been employed at the bank's structured equity finance and trading division in Hong Kong since July 2013. Before that, he worked in the same unit in London for three years. According to the profile, Jutting previously worked in capital markets for the British bank Barclays and studied history and law at the prestigious University of Cambridge, between 2004 and 2008. As part of the trial process, tests were conducted to determined if Jutting was psychologically fit to enter a plea. He was. The case was then adjourned to allow for more than 200 pieces of forensic and DNA evidence to be analyzed.

Hong Kong banker alleged murder case adjourned until May . The 29-year-old Rurik Jutting is accused of killing two Indonesian domestic workers .

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(CNN)The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign surely anticipated the coming wave of inquiries and criticism about conflicts of interest involving big foreign donors to charities run by the Clinton family -- questions set to get a thorough airing in a new book called "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich" by Peter Schweizer, coming out May 5. My guess is that the issues raised by the book will prompt Team Clinton to put its candidate on the road, where she can continue holding loosely scheduled, informal meetings with ordinary Americans -- the sorts of people more concerned about local jobs than whether some foreign government or company paid a big speaking fee to Bill Clinton in hopes of getting special treatment by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It's not that the alleged conflicts aren't potentially serious; as I recently noted in these pages, they are. According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2014 the Clinton Foundation "received money from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman, among others. The donors included Canada's foreign affairs department, which is promoting the Keystone XL pipeline." That's the same Keystone XL pipeline from Canada that the State Department all but endorsed, concluding after a five-part analysis that ran to 17,000 pages that the project's environmental impact would be minimal. President Obama vetoed a bill that would have allowed the pipeline to be built, but it's legitimate to ask whether the donation from Canada directly or indirectly influenced the State Department's analysis. And several news outlets have reported that banks and other companies with business before the U.S. government were donors to the Clinton Global Initiative, a sister group that was spun off from the Clinton Foundation. CNN's Alexandra Jaffe wrote last month that "listings for the Clinton Global Initiative's Annual Meeting found partnerships with at least six banks that were under investigation, involved in litigation or had been fined by government agencies and regulators at the time of the meeting. In every case, the bank in question was listed as a sponsor of the event even after the investigations were widely reported in the media." Those are serious matters -- but so are stubborn unemployment, troubled schools, high taxes and other problems that top the list of voters' concerns. A bank giving money to charity in hopes of buying leniency from the government is a cause for concern, but until and unless a smoking gun appears in the form of a clear exchange of money for favors, it becomes hard to say what, exactly, is wrong with donating cash to aid in a good cause like combating world hunger or helping to rebuild Haiti. Even among the banks fined for wrongdoing that contributed to Clinton charities, noted Jaffe, "there's no indication the Clintons had any knowledge of the ongoing investigations into banks supporting the foundation's efforts." That doesn't leave much room for outrage. A more serious critique of the Clinton foundations is that they have been an administrative and financial quagmire from their origins, running deficits, expanding uncontrollably and cutting deals that not only raise ethical questions but cast the family's management skill in a less-than-flattering light. In a well-known case of deception, a con man named Raffaello Follieri charmed his way into the foundation's good graces, earning public praise from Bill Clinton for promising $50 million to the Clinton Global Initiative -- money that never materialized. A more serious problem developed internally, with staff members fighting over the direction and management of the charities. In 2007 and 2008, the foundation ran a $40 million deficit and in 2012 had an $8 million deficit. So we already knew that the Clintons' charities suffered from poor management and took money from companies and governments that were clearly trying to curry favor. It's distasteful, but by now it's not news. Unless the forthcoming book unveils some blockbuster new information, questions about the Clintons' charities is likely to wind up on the same political shelf on which voters seem to have parked concerns about Hillary Clinton's use of private emails to conduct State Department business. According to a recent poll by the rightward-leaning Rasmussen -- taken after the email issue was splashed all over the news -- a survey of voters likely to vote in 2016 found that 57% expect Clinton to win the presidency. No wonder Clinton seemed positively unconcerned about the forthcoming book. "We're back into the political scene, and therefore we will be subjected to all kinds of distractions and I'm ready for it," she said in New Hampshire. Calling extensive exposure of conflicts of interest "distractions" suggests that Clinton knows what the polls suggest: that in a nation still struggling to emerge from a long recession, voters will likely judge her on something other than the efficiency and ethics of her charities.

Errol Louis: New book to detail alleged conflicts of interest with foreign donors to Clinton family charities . He says without smoking gun, it's likely not election deal-breaker for Americans worried about issues like economy, jobs, schools . Louis: More notable is mismanagement, ethical history of Clinton charities .

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(CNN)In her 40 years living in Rochelle, Illinois, Cathy Olson had never seen a tornado that big. "I saw the top of the funnel cloud, and it was absolutely massive," she said. She watched the hulking gray twister grind past her town Thursday, tearing up its fringes. Farther north, in the rural Illinois hamlet of Fairdale, one person died as a twister shredded homes and ripped trees bare of leaves and most limbs. Only the thickest branches remained standing. It was the only death reported so far in two days of tornado touchdowns. Rochelle was fortunate. But in nearby Kirkland, debris was so thick on the roads, responders searching for trapped residents could not yet assess the damage or injuries, fire officials said. On Thursday, a video surfaced on YouTube of a massive twister barreling across an open field, barely missing farmhouses and barns. Images of the funnel turned up elsewhere on social media. Multiple tornadoes ripped through the rural Midwest on Thursday. A large and dangerous twister tore across fields in Iowa. And a twister touched down 70 miles outside of St. Louis. Eight tornadoes were reported Wednesday in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, the Storm Prediction Center said. But it appears residents have been fortunate enough to come away from the terrifying weather spectacle alive. Hail stones the size of tennis balls plummeted down on Ashton, Illinois. It could have been worse as severe tornado damage dotted a path not far from the dense populations of Chicago and Rockford -- the state's third largest city. The tornado cut a 22-mile path through Ogle County, according to disaster management coordinator Tom Richter. North of Rochelle, a tornado took away a local favorite restaurant -- Grubsteakers. "It's kind of one of your little greasy spoon restaurants," said Eric Widick, who drove up in his truck to help out. "We're a community. If one person is in need, we'll all be there for them." People were inside when the storm quashed Grubsteakers and turned over a semitruck parked outside. No one was killed or seriously injured, Widick said. Although a patron who found shelter in a restroom was trapped inside for about half an hour. People had been eating at Grubsteakers for some 25 years and will miss it, Widick said. In Rochelle, the tornado flattened some of Olson's friends' homes. A safe distance away from it, at her mother's house, she had to think about her husband, Chet, who was reelected mayor of the town of about 10,000 people the day before. He'd have a job ahead of him. "I have not been able to get a hold of him, Olson said, "but I know he's in touch with the sheriff and is safe," she said. Sheriff Brian VanVickle told journalists late Thursday that the tornado had spared life and limb in Ogle County aside from some people whose injuries were easily treatable. The county lost 20 homes -- one of them was his own. Fifty to 100 houses had significant damage, he said. Only foundations remained of some homes, said storm chaser Dan Gottschalk. "You can hear the hissing everywhere from where the structures used to be," he said. Lindsey Clark, a reporter from CNN affiliate WREX, said rescuers were pulling trapped people from a home in the Rochelle area. VanVickle was newly elected sheriff of Rochelle on Wednesday. On Thursday, the storm took his house and his sister-in-law's. "I've got the clothes on my back," he said. But his family wasn't at home when it hit. "My family was on the way to Louisville, dog was in the basement and she survived." It was the first tornado the sheriff had ever seen in his county. "I've lived here all my life, am the fifth generation in the county. My mom said this is the first time she's ever seen a tornado." He is thankful that the National Weather Service warned one could come. That saved lives, he believes. The service warned of a "particularly dangerous situation." People across the Midwest should be on alert for severe weather. Tornado watches were set to run out early Friday. CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton, Catherine Shoichet, Greg Botelho, Dave Alsup, Steve Almasy, Jack Maddox and Sean Morris contributed to this report.

At least one person died as a result of storms in Illinois, an official says . Fire department: Rescuers searching for trapped victims in Kirkland, Illinois .

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Atlanta (CNN)Federal marshals have arrested Scott Kelley, a fugitive accused of kidnapping who was featured on CNN's "The Hunt." Kelley, 50, was taken into custody at the Atlanta airport Wednesday after arriving on a flight from Costa Rica, Deputy U.S. Marshal Jamie Berry said. "It was time to come home," Kelley told People magazine about his decision to return to the United States. Kelley has been wanted since 2004, accused of noncustodial kidnapping and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. His wife, Genevieve Kelley, who's charged with the same crimes, turned herself in to authorities last year, just a few months after the case was featured on CNN's "The Hunt." Her trial is scheduled to start next month. The couple is accused of leaving New Hampshire, kidnapping Genevieve Kelley's daughter, Mary Nunes, and beginning a life on the lam when she was 8 years old. At the time, the child's father, Mark Nunes, had full custody rights. The search for the three spanned the United States, Canada and Central and South America. It ended on Monday, when Scott Kelley and Mary Nunes entered the U.S. Consulate in Costa Rica and requested passports so they could return to the United States. The consulate notified U.S. Marshals, Berry said, and when Kelley and Nunes flew to Atlanta on Wednesday investigators were waiting for them. Mary Nunes, now 19, was interviewed by investigators at the Atlanta airport to ensure her health and safety and then allowed to continue to her final destination, Berry said. Previously, authorities had said her whereabouts were unknown. CNN New Hampshire affiliate WMUR reported that the daughter plans to testify at her mother's trial. In a statement released through a private investigator he's hired in the case, her father said that he was thrilled to learn Mary is safe. "We love Mary and are overjoyed that she is alive and back in the US. Our hearts and home are open to her, and we will do everything we can to insure she remains safe and healthy," Mark Nunes said in a statement. "We remain concerned about her emotional and physical well-being. We look forward to the day our family is finally reunited." Kelley's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Before allegedly fleeing the country, Genevieve Kelley had accused her ex-husband of abusing their child. Investigators found no basis for the accusations and no charges were filed. On a Facebook page defending her, supporters of the mother say she did what any parent would do under the same circumstances. Photos on the page show her standing with friends holding signs that say, "Justice for Gen! Children need protection." Wayne Rioux, who was then the police chief of Whitefield, New Hampshire, told "The Hunt" that a video Genevieve and Scott Kelley made, intended to prove their abuse allegations, aroused his suspicions. Rioux watched the tape for "any evidence of wrongdoing by Mark Nunes." "But throughout the tape all I saw was this bizarre, strange conduct by the mother," Rioux said, "who was absolutely brainwashing the daughter and trying to get the daughter to say things against her daddy." Attorney Alan Rosenfeld has argued that Genevieve Kelley had no other option than running away with her daughter, after a court-appointed guardian and social service agencies had said they didn't believe the abuse allegations. "Simply put, there was no lawful alternative to provide safety for this child," he said earlier this year, according to WMUR. Earlier this year, Brazilian police tracked down Victor Arden Barnard, another fugitive who'd been featured on "The Hunt." The 53-year-old American pastor is accused of dozens of sexual assaults in Minnesota. Last year, the same day Genevieve Kelley was arrested, authorities in Texas announced that in an unrelated case, remains found were confirmed to be those of another fugitive featured on the program, Kevin Patrick Stoeser. Stoeser, a U.S. soldier who was dishonorably discharged, pleaded guilty in 2003 to child sexual assault and child pornography charges and was sentenced to 13 years behind bars. Remains of Shane Miller, another suspect featured on the "The Hunt," were found last year. And Charles Mozdir, another suspect who was profiled on the show, was killed in a gunbattle with authorities. CNN's Tricia Escobedo and Slma Shelbayah contributed to this report.

Scott Kelley, stepfather accused of kidnapping, is arrested at the Atlanta airport . Mother Genevieve Kelley's trial is set to begin next month . Mary Nunes' father says he is "overjoyed she is alive and back in the US"

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(CNN)Jon Reiter is no stranger to Mount Everest -- its world-record height, its prestige, its challenges. And its dangers. He learned that again shortly before noon Saturday, after a monster magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal. It not only rattled cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara, but caused avalanches at Everest and nearby peaks. Reiter was safe but shaken by the devastation. He told his wife, Susan, about his putting one dead person in a sleeping bag and zipping it up, seeing others killed by the falling ice and collapsing snow, and doing all he could to help others fighting for their lives. "It's been a really rough day," Susan Reiter told CNN. "Jon's been comforting injured people that he doesn't think will survive." Jon Reiter told CNN on Sunday morning that 17 people had been killed on the mountain. The Indian Army's Everest Expedition evacuated the bodies of 13 mountaineers from a base camp who had been preparing to scale the mountain, spokesman Col. Rohan Anand said Saturday. Separately, Dr. Nima Namgyal told CNN he has seen 14 bodies so far. Many of those killed came from other countries, according to Namagyal, something that's not surprising given Everest's lure for many hikers around the world. What may be as remarkable is all those who survived, a number that's likely in the hundreds. They are women and men like Alex Gavan, who tweeted about running for his life from his tent. "Huge disaster," the mountaineer said hours later, warning that the death toll could skyrocket if helicopters didn't come quickly to evacuate those hurt. "Helped searched and rescued victims through huge debris area. Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap." Another hiker, Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, wrote on Facebook that "a huge avalanche swept over basecamp" that had almost 500 tents, saying he survived by hiding behind a stone structure. Afterward, the camp's dining tent was transformed into a makeshift hospital headed by the camp manager, who happens to be a doctor. And even hours after the biggest quake struck, the threat of more casualties -- and the challenge of finding out how high the toll actually is -- remained very real. "On top of the whiteout after the avalanche it has been snowing since last night so it is difficult to see the following avalanches, and there are so many - maybe one every 5 min - that I have stopped counting," Pedersen wrote on Facebook. "This also makes it more difficult to search for people." Several companies specialize in bringing hikers to Everest. One of the biggest is Alpine Ascents International, based in Washington state. "The Alpine Ascents International Mt. Everest climbing team was in the icefall and is now safe at Camp 1, avoiding the avalanche that hit Base Camp," the Seattle-based company reported on Facebook. "Please keep those affected in your thoughts as we continue to receive updated reports on the damage and losses in Nepal." But not every foreign company that brings climbers to Nepal was so lucky. Two reported the deaths of Americans on the mountain. That includes British-based Jagged Globe, which has offered mountaineering expeditions, courses, adventure skiing and other experiences for the past 20 years. The company reported Saturday that American Dan Fredinburg died in the Everest base camp avalanche, while two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries. A Google executive who made headlines for dating actress Sophia Bush, Fredinburg had been posting photos and updates of his adventures in Nepal on Instragram and Twitter, where he referred to himself as an "adventurer, inventor, and energetic engineer." His sister updated the account with a message, saying he suffered a major head injury. "We appreciate all of the love that has been sent our way thus far and know his soul and his spirit will live on in so many of us. All our love and thanks to those who shared this life with our favorite hilarious strong willed man. He was and is everything to us," his sister, Megan, wrote. The expedition company sent its condolences. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dan's family and friends," read a statement on Jagged Globe's website, "whilst we pray too for all those who have lost their lives in one of the greatest tragedies ever to hit this Himalayan nation." Eve Girawong, a base camp medic from New Jersey who worked on the mountain, also was killed, according to her family and employer. "On behalf of my family, it is with deep sadness that I write that our beloved daughter, younger sister and best friend has been taken from us today. Nong Eve Girawong was doing the thing she loved doing most -- helping others. Words cannot describe the heartbreak and pain that we are currently suffering," a family member wrote on Facebook. She was working for Madison Mountaineering, a boutique mountain guide service based in Seattle. Kurt Hunter, one of the company's co-founders, confirmed her death. Jim Whittaker, the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest back in 1963, is still a mentor to experienced climbers trying to follow in his footsteps. The 86-year-old confirmed that climbers he knows to currently be on Everest are safe. But some are trapped above the icefall, "which is very dangerous anyway," Whittaker told CNN. Since the avalanches, "the whole route would be different now than before the quake. They'll have to put a new route in from base camp up through that icefall ... They (the climbers) will have to cool it for a couple days, way until the route is reestablished ... they've got enough food and fuel for the stoves." His son, Leif Whittaker, told CNN that he hasn't heard from everyone he knows to be on Everest. "It's really tragic and I'm really saddened by the news," he said. "I have a lot friends in the area and friends on Everest right now. It's hard to get news from base camp and the mountains because communication is difficult as it is. Many of my friends are safe, but I'm not sure if all of them are. "It's been a bad few years on Everest," he said. "My heart goes out to them, and I'm sending them my love and strength." This tragedy struck just over a year after another deadly avalanche on the 29,035-foot peak that likewise sent everyone -- from seasoned Sherpas to foreign tourists -- running for their lives. At least 13 Nepalese locals and Sherpas were killed in that incident, which at the time was the deadliest incident ever around Everest. The highest single-day death toll before then came in May 1996, when eight climbers disappeared during a big storm -- an episode chronicled in Jon Krakauer's bestselling book, "Into Thin Air." Given the scale of the avalanches and fact they occurred near the start of the busy spring climbing season, it's possible this day could turn out to be the most deadly. Climbers traditionally arrive in April to get acclimated to the high altitude before trying to scale the summit. There's no guarantee they'll get the chance to go up this season. After last year's avalanches, the mountain was shut down. But whether it's their livelihood or their obsession, the people who tackle Everest will be back. "This is our job," said Pasang Sherpa, who lost "friends in brothers" in the 2014 avalanche. "So there is always a risk of death." For many mountaineers, the draw of Everest has long been hard to resist. One of them is Reiter, who has scaled all of "The Seven Summits" -- the highest mountain on each of the seven continents -- except this one. This would be his third straight year trying. He turned back in 2013 "because it didn't feel right" and survived last year's avalanche, according to his wife Susan. Her husband phoned her multiple times since the latest avalanches, reassuring her that he's OK physically even as he struggles emotionally with the tragedy. But does that mean he won't go back to try to scale Everest again? "You would think that he wouldn't because of this and because of last year," Susan Reiter said from her Northern California home. "But knowing my husband I think he will. I hope not, but I don't want to hold him back." Nepal rescue efforts come down to neighbors . CNN's Katia Hetter, Jessica King and Carma Hassan contributed to this report.

Family of American medic killed posts message on Facebook says she died while at base camp . At least 13 die after avalanches at Mount Everest base camp, authorities say; Climber says 17 dead . Dining tent at one base camp has been transformed into a hospital, another hiker says .

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(CNN)Officer Michael Slager's five-year career with the North Charleston Police Department in South Carolina ended after he resorted to deadly force following a routine traffic stop. Slager, 33, has been fired, officials said Wednesday. His wife is eight months' pregnant and the city will continue paying for her medical insurance until the baby is born, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey told reporters. He also has two stepchildren. His mother was interviewed by ABC News on Thursday. She told ABC her son loved being a police officer. "I can't imagine him doing something that. ... It's not like him. That's just not his character," Karen Sharpe said. She told ABC she hasn't watched the video of the shooting. Slager initially told investigators that he used a Taser in a confrontation Saturday with Walter Scott, who was pulled over for a busted taillight. But Scott went for the Taser, according to Slager. A widely circulated video of the shooting death of the 50-year-old unarmed African-American man by the white police officer tells another story: Scott attempts to run. His back is to Slager, who, from a few yards away, raises his gun and fires. Slager is now charged with murder. The FBI is involved in the investigation of the slaying of the father of four. "Shots fired and the subject is down," Slager said moments after the shooting, according to reports. "He took my Taser." Slager was proficient with the nonlethal Taser. According to personnel records, he scored 50 out of 50 on a Taser certification exam in 2011. Before the officer starts firing at Scott, the video shows a dark object falling behind him and hitting the ground. It's not clear whether that is the Taser. Later in the video, when Slager approaches Scott's body, he drops a dark object next to the man. Again, it's not clear whether that's the Taser. It's unknown whether Scott took the officer's Taser or whether the officer picked the object up and moved it closer to the body. Slager was named in a police complaint in 2013 after he allegedly "tased a man for no reason" before slamming him to the ground and dragging him, according to the North Charleston Police Department. At the time, Slager was searching for a suspect who was described as being 5-feet-5-inches tall. The African-American man he confronted was 6-feet-3 inches tall. A lawyer for the man who filed the complaint, Mario Givens, said his client plans to file a lawsuit. "The citizens of North Charleston shouldn't have to live in the fear," the lawyer, Eduardo Curry, told reporters Thursday. Givens said Slager came to his door, ordered him out of the house and then tased him. "It was painful," he said. "I fell. I have a couple bruises." Slager was later cleared in that incident. "I was upset," Givens said. "They took a real long time to even investigate the case." In another complaint in January, Slager was cited for failing to file a report after an African-American woman called police because her children were being harassed. Slager had worked as a waiter before joining the military, records show. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 2003 to 2009, according to a job application filed with the North Charleston Police Department. That application, filed in January 2009, said Slager had not been convicted of a felony in the past seven years. Personnel documents describe Slager as "enthused" when he joined the force and said he demonstrated "great officer safety tactics" in dealing with suspects. South Carolina senators, governor condemn police shooting . Slager's annual in-service mandatory training included a range of topics from first aid to firearms and Taser use. Slager passed his certifications. In August, Slager passed a firearms qualification. From 2009 to 2014, Slager qualified in the use of his Glock firearm. He received and passed yearly training in "bias based profiling" and "ethics," the documents said. He also was certified by the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy in March 2013 as having "met and successfully completed the in-service requirements" as a law enforcement officer. Slager completed a separate 10-hour "active shooter incident response training" course in December 2013. According to the documents, Slager was involved in a "nonpreventable" traffic accident last year when a motorist with his car in reverse struck the officer's patrol car. The driver fled the scene. Since graduating from the police academy in 2010, a supervisor twice noted in training reports that he "spoke with (Slager) in reference to certain procedures in reference to conducting motor vehicle stops and citizen contacts." No other details were provided. Slager signed his oath of office with the police force on March 1, 2010, pledging to "faithfully serve the citizens of this city" and "never abuse my authority either by words or acts." "I will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence," the oath said. Who was Walter Scott? CNN's John Newsome contributed to this report.

Officer Michael Slager's mother says she couldn't watch the video of the incident . Slager was fired earlier this week . Slager is charged with murder in the death of Walter Scott .

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(CNN)Pope Francis will visit Cuba on his way to the United States in September, the Vatican said Wednesday -- a trip that will come months after he helped negotiate a diplomatic thaw between the two countries. The exact timing of the Cuba trip wasn't immediately released, but the Vatican said the Pope would stop in Cuba before his planned late September stops in Washington, New York and Philadelphia. In Havana's Cathedral Square, people reacted joyously to the news. "The Pope coming here, maybe he could ... make more positive ways for Cubans to go towards religion, more than politics," said Raul Garcia, a Cuban-American who returned to the island. "I think it's going to be a very good visit, very beneficial for the country." "We are waiting for him. We're very happy he is coming," said Ulises, a man who sells brightly colored paintings of antique cars to tourists on the street next to the sprawling Havana Cathedral. "He should come and get to know it and walk around the pretty spots in Havana." Cuba's state-run television reported that Francis would visit, but like the Vatican did not report exactly when he would arrive. Francis, the first pope from Latin America, played a role in restarting diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, earning praise from both U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro. The Pope made personal pleas to Obama and Cuban leaders in private letters, writing that the two nations should try to reset their relations after decades of friction. The Vatican also hosted talks between U.S. and Cuban delegations in October, where they hashed out aspects of a new trade policy and discussed the release of jailed American contractor Alan Gross, who was freed as part of the detente between the two countries. "I want to thank His Holiness, Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is," Obama said in December as he announced a U.S. policy shift on Cuba. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has displayed a deep interest in international affairs. He repeatedly urged Western leaders not to bomb Syria, hosted a prayer service between Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the Vatican and waded into diplomatic controversy last week by referring to the killing of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago as a "genocide." The latter move deeply upset Turkish leaders, who recalled their Vatican ambassador. The Pope is expected to continue his international activism in July with a trip to South America, where he will visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. In late September, Francis will visit Washington, where he will address Congress; New York, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly; and Philadelphia, where he will celebrate a public Mass that's expected to draw more than 1 million people. Francis will be the third consecutive leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Cuba. St. John Paul II stopped there for several days in 1998, and Pope Benedict XVI visited for three days in 2012. Church officials in Havana said that they expect Francis' visit to be shorter than those of his predecessors. Officials from the Vatican are expected to travel to the island soon to finalize logistics for Francis' trip, the officials said . CNN's Patrick Oppmann reported from Havana. CNN's Jason Hanna wrote in Atlanta. CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report from Rome.

Trip will come before Pope Francis arrives in United States . Francis played key role in re-establishing diplomatic ties between Cuba and U.S.

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Hong Kong (CNN)When she was growing up, Mui Thomas, wanted to be a fashion model -- not an unusual aspiration for a young girl. But Mui suffers from a rare genetic condition that leaves the skin on her face and body red raw and open to infection. "I really don't think I knew that I didn't look like everybody else," she says. She was born with Harlequin ichthyosis, which means her skin is extremely thick, dry and flaky -- resembling fish scales. She can't sweat but she can shed tears. On the day we speak, her appearance raises few eyebrows at her local Starbucks in Sai Kung -- she's a familiar and well-known presence in the waterfront Hong Kong town where she grew up. Mui's struggle to come to terms with her condition and other people's reactions to it has, at times, left her on the brink of suicide. But, now 22, she refuses to let it get in the way of her life -- she has a full-time job, plays sport and is embarking on a career as public speaker -- educating and inspiring others about the challenges of looking "visibly different." After she was abandoned at birth, long-time Hong Kong expats Tina and Rog Thomas began fostering Mui, when she was just one and a half years old. They were told she didn't have long to live. "We wanted to give her a family life in the time she had," says Tina. However, Mui began to thrive in a loving family environment and Tina and Rog formally adopted Mui when she was three years old. Together they gradually learned how to manage her skin condition. Each day she bathes twice, ideally for two hours each time, and everywhere she goes she carries a backpack with three or four tubs of cream that she must apply throughout the day to stop her skin from drying out. She's thought to be the fourth oldest person alive with harlequin ichthyosis. The oldest is 31. But while Mui's unusual appearance made little difference during her early years, that changed when she started secondary school. The school she attended required that she be accompanied by a educational assistant, which put up a barrier between her and the other children and made it difficult for her to make friends. Things got worse when she became a victim of cyberbullying. She began to deny her appearance, stopped bathing, taking her medication and applying the cream. At times, she considered jumping from the balcony of her home. "They'd say things like 'You shouldn't have been born' -- and very personal things that only people who knew me would know," she says. "It made me very wary of everybody. Even when people tried to be nice, I didn't repay it. I didn't trust them." The worst episode lasted for 10 months and only stopped after police became involved and found the bully -- someone whom Mui thought was her friend. Mui left school with no qualifications. She says the school didn't push her to study and made too many allowances for her skin disorder. "I still wish I had got a very hard kick up the backside from the teachers when I wasn't doing work," says Mui. Since leaving school, Mui has found a full-time job working with people with special needs and at weekends can be found running around a rugby pitch with a whistle -- she's a referee for kids' matches. Along with her parents, she's also begun speaking about her experiences of living with a "visible difference" and cyberbullying at schools around Hong Kong. Her father has also written a family memoir called "The Girl Behind the Face." Many have found her story inspirational -- a real life version of the young adult novel "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio about a young boy with a deformed face who enters middle school. On Saturday, she will graduate from school assemblies and speak in front of a paying audience at a TEDx talk in the city. Her father is both protective and proud. He thinks public speaking will help Mui come to terms with her condition but he's also wary that she could be portrayed as a "modern freak show." "It's difficult for her because she spent so long denying it. The more she confronts it, the more she is aware of it -- it will build confidence," he says. There's even talk she might take part in a fashion show for people with visible difference, realizing a childhood dream. In person, Mui comes across as articulate, poised and confident -- something her mom says comes out of spending so much time with adults while growing up -- and it's easy to see how she could command an audience of hundreds. But after two hours of chatting in a coffee shop, she's a little bored and keen to get back to her job. She flings her backpack over her shoulder and dashes off into Hong Kong's crowded streets.

Mui Thomas has a rare genetic condition that leaves her skin raw and open to infection . Abandoned at birth, Tina and Rog Thomas adopted Mui . She's now 22, a rugby referee and an inspirational speaker .

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(CNN)That's some rich "American Pie." The lyrics to the famed Don McLean song sold for $1.2 million Tuesday morning at an auction held by Christie's. "Don McLean's manuscript of 'American Pie' achieved the 3rd highest auction price for an American literary manuscript, a fitting tribute to one the foremost singer-songwriters of his generation," Christie's Tom Lecky said in a statement. McLean told Rolling Stone that it was time to part with the manuscript. "I'm going to be 70 this year," the singer and songwriter said in February. "I have two children and a wife, and none of them seem to have the mercantile instinct. I want to get the best deal that I can for them. It's time." Over the years, "American Pie" has become one of the most dissected and argued-about songs in the pop music canon. McLean has said that the opening lines were inspired by the death of Buddy Holly, but after that, it's all been conjecture -- which hasn't stopped a marching band's worth of analysts from trying to parse the symbols in the 8-minute, 33-second opus. Is the jester Bob Dylan? The football game Vietnam? The "girl who sang the blues" Janis Joplin? (One thing's certain: Buddy Holly's plane was NOT named "American Pie.") "Over the years I've dealt with all these stupid questions of 'Who's that?' and 'Who's that?' " McLean said. "These are things I never had in my head for a second when I wrote the song. I was trying to capture something very ephemeral and I did, but it took a long time." The song catapulted the former folk singer to headliner status. The song hit No. 1 in early 1972, despite its length. (The 45-rpm single split the song in half on its A and B sides.) The draft that was auctioned is 16 pages: 237 lines of manuscript and 26 lines of typed text, according to Christie's. It includes lines that didn't make the final version as well as extensive notes -- all of which should be revealing, McLean said. The record for a popular music manuscript is held by Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," which sold for $2 million in June. Opinion: What's so great about 'American Pie'?

Don McLean's "American Pie" lyrics auctioned for $1.2 million . The song is dense with symbolism; McLean says lyrics, notes will reveal meaning . "Pie" is McLean's biggest hit, was No. 1 in 1972 .

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Ferguson, Missouri (CNN)Change has come to Ferguson. After months of turmoil and upheaval, months of frustration and anger, the beleaguered city has a new governing board. And it looks very different than the old one. Buoyed by a higher-than-normal 30% turnout, two African-American candidates won their wards Tuesday night to make the six-member City Council 50% black. Ferguson's population of about 21,000 is 70% black, but the City Council was predominantly white, as is the police force. Supporters of both candidates said that from the tragedy of a young black man's death, a new day dawned in Ferguson. Ella Jones screamed when her victory became official late Tuesday night. She won 49.76% of the vote. "Thank you, Ward 1. I love you," an emotional Jones said at a party held at Drake's restaurant. She will become the first black woman ever to sit on the Ferguson council. But both Jones and Wesley Bell, who won the Ward 3 seat with nearly 67% of the vote, said they did not see their victories from a racial perspective. Jones, who resigned her job as a Mary Kay cosmetics sales director to run for office, said in her ward, she heard the same complaints from a 65-year-old black man as she did from his white peers. "My job is to be that catalyst so we can put a new face on Ferguson," she said. Bell, a lawyer and criminal justice professor, said, "I'm more interested in having quality on the council," when asked about the change in its racial makeup. He had made community policing his No. 1 priority and said he intends to be deeply involved with the hiring of a new police chief in this St. Louis suburb. The former chief, Tommy Jackson, resigned after a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report found systemic discrimination against African-Americans in law enforcement and the municipal court. Bell said he wants Ferguson's police officers to be judged by the number of people they know in the community, not by the number of tickets they issue. One other seat was up for grabs in Ferguson. That was won by Brian Fletcher, a former mayor who launched the "I Love Ferguson" campaign to raise money for mom-and-pop businesses that were hurt by the violence and vandalism during the protests last fall. Fletcher beat his opponent, Bob Hudgins, with 56.7% of the vote. Fletcher told voters he was best suited for a City Council job despite his critics' claims that he was too entrenched in the old guard. "I understand that feeling, but those individuals don't know me," he said. Fletcher said he had contacts with elected officials from his almost three decades in politics. That would be an invaluable asset in getting Ferguson back on its feet, he said. The city is required to approve a new budget by the end of June, and the new council will have to look for alternative sources of revenue to replace the $3 million or so lost from money generated by traffic tickets and fines. "That amount will drop significantly," Fletcher said. Earlier in the day, the skies grew dark and the radio crackled with warnings of flash floods. Amid the rain, Ferguson opened its polls at 6 in the morning with concern that few would come out to vote in such a pivotal election. But Tuesday was different. It was the first city election since white police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August. There was dread, especially in the African-American community, that if the turnout was low, then all the protests, investigations and calls for change would have been in vain. The candidates who had run campaigns calling for change hoped a decent turnout would weigh in their favor. "That is what our democracy about," Bell said. Bell ran against Lee Smith, a retired electrical plant employee, in Ward 3, which includes Canfield Drive, where Brown was killed, and the West Florissant Avenue business corridor that felt the brunt of the protests and the vandalism. Charred, heavily damaged buildings still stand as scars of Ferguson's despair and anger. "You got your vote on?" yelled Tommy Chatman Bey, a Bell supporter who was distributing campaign literature at Koch Elementary School, the precinct closest to where Brown lived. Some residents did have their vote on. They felt a duty to vote this year. One of them was Yvette Bailey, 41, who works as a planner for Coca-Cola. Yes, she voted in presidential elections, but she never paid much mind to local races. Until now. Even though she was aware of the problems around her, Brown's killing, she said, woke her up. "It made me think of all the males in my family," said Bailey, who lives right off Canfield Drive. She was undecided about who to vote for until the last minute when she walked into the polling station with another voter and they discussed the race. Bailey decided to cast her vote for Bell simply because he was a young man. She thought he had energy and was more in sync with Ferguson's youth. "I think he will be more open-minded," she said after voting. Changing the way Ferguson polices its people was No. 1 on many a voter's agenda. Even the candidates who take issue with the Department of Justice report on Ferguson agreed that the city needed change when it came to policing. "We have to get out of this law enforcement for business," said candidate Doyle McClellan, coordinator of the computer network security program at Lewis and Clark Community College. McClellan referred to the DOJ's finding that Ferguson issued fines and traffic tickets to generate revenue for the city. "That's not a good thing," McClellan said as he stood in the drizzle at a polling station, hoping to persuade voters who were still undecided. Ted Heidemann, a 67-year-old retired airline pilot, said he voted for Fletcher. If some residents saw Fletcher as part of the problem, Heidemann asked why no one complained when Fletcher was mayor. He said Brown's shooting brought a lot of bad things to light. "We didn't realize the effect some of the institutional problems had on poor people," he said. "Some things need to be changed, and we are aware of that." By midafternoon, Fletcher said the numbers were looking good. At a church where voters from all three wards were casting ballots, Fletcher predicted a 40%-50% turnout. When the rain let up for a few minutes, a stream of voters trickled into the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Ferguson to cast their votes. Ellory and Kathy Glenn both voted for Fletcher's opponent, Hudgins, a political novice who attracted attention as a white man who routinely stood with protesters on the front lines. Hudgins likes to talk about how he married a black woman and has a biracial teenage son. "I wanted change," said Ellory Glenn, 60, who is black. His wife is white. He said the couple moved to Ferguson after he retired from the Marine Corps in 1995 because they felt it was a racially welcoming place. But now, after all the problems rose to the surface, it's time for fresh blood on the council, Glenn said. "Quit using law enforcement as a revenue stream," Glenn said. "That's like using the military to go into places and looting them. The police are supposed to keep order." Angela Jackson came to vote with her husband and two little girls in tow. She voted for Jones, the former Mary Kay cosmetics sales director. Jackson echoed the thoughts of other Ferguson residents who experienced something new in this election: candidates coming to their door. Past elections have not seen the kind of canvassing activity that took place in the last few weeks. Nor have past municipal elections drawn so much media attention. "One thing we really liked is (Jones) came to our door and talked to us about her desire to make change in our neighborhood," Jackson said. "She's going to be hands on. She lives in the neighborhood as well and has for the past 36 years. We were kind of taken by that." The rain began to fall again as the Glenns got in their car. It was expected to continue off and on through the day and night. But at about 5, just when many voters were leaving work, the sun shone brilliantly. Overheard at one precinct: Good weather brought out the worst in Ferguson last August. Maybe today, it would bring out the best.

For the first time ever, Ferguson's City Council will be half black . The two winning black candidates vowed to bring reform . The election was a critical test in this beleaguered city .

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(CNN)The commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency will make an emergency visit to the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria on Saturday, a spokesman says. Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl will assess the humanitarian situation in the camp and speak with individuals about ways to relieve the suffering of the people who remain there. "The visit is prompted by UNRWA's deepening concern for the safety and protection of 18,000 Palestinians and Syrian civilians, including 3,500 children," agency spokesman Christopher Gunness told CNN's Paula Newton. "Yarmouk remains under the control of armed groups, and civilian life continues to be threatened by the effects of the conflict." Krähenbühl will meet with senior Syrian officials, U.N. and relief agency staff members, and displaced people from the camp itself. The Yarmouk refugee camp, which sits just 6 miles from central Damascus, has been engulfed in fighting between the Syrian government and armed groups since December 2012. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the militant group ISIS and the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front control about 90% of the camp. The organization also claims that the Syrian government has dropped barrel bombs on the camp as recently as Sunday in an effort to drive out armed groups. Yarmouk was formed in 1957 to accommodate people displaced by the Arab-Israeli conflict and is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. The U.N. relief agency estimates that there were 160,000 people in the camp when the conflict began in 2011 between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters. That number has dropped to about 18,000, according to estimates. Yarmouk has been largely cut off from aid since November 2013. There have been widespread reports of malnutrition and shortages of medical care. "We will not abandon hope," Gunness said. "We will not submit to pessimism, because to abandon hope would be to abandon the people of Yarmouk. ... We cannot abandon the people of Yarmouk, and we will not, hence this mission."

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency chief will visit Yarmouk camp Saturday . Pierre Krähenbühl will assess the humanitarian situation there . Yarmouk has been engulfed in fighting since December 2012 .

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(CNN)Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been caught on camera guzzling a glass of beer in seven seconds amid raucous cheers from onlookers. His feat of swift consumption in a crowded bar impressed some people but annoyed others. And observers were quick to point out that Abbott had previously criticized binge drinking in Australia. Abbott was in a Sydney pub on Saturday evening when a group of Australian rules football players invited him to have a drink with them. The Prime Minister accepted and even gave a short, impromptu speech, one of the football coaches, Simon Carrodus, told The Australian Woman's Weekly. "Then he proceeds to reach down and grab a schooner and he drank from head-to-toe the entire schooner, dribbling little bits on his shirt ... tipped it upside down on his head. And he was proud as punch," Carrodus said. A schooner holds about three-quarters of a pint. Video of Abbott making short work of the beer as the crowd around him chants "Skol! Skol!" drew plenty of attention on social media. Some commentators focused on Abbott's drinking technique. But others suggested he was setting a bad example. Abbott had attacked binge drinking as recently as last year. "Like most Australians, I enjoy a drink on social occasions," he said in January 2014. "However, as a father and as a citizen, I'm appalled by the violent binge drinking culture that now seems so prevalent, especially at "hot spots" in our big cities." Casting those concerns aside, some social media users belittled Abbott's beer swilling. They said his effort was a pale imitation of the legendary drinking exploits of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who is credited with drinking two and a half pints in 11 seconds.

Some observers applaud Abbott's beer swilling in a pub full of sportsmen . The Prime Minister last year criticized binge drinking culture in Australia .

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(CNN)An American teenager who helped her boyfriend stuff her mother's lifeless body into a suitcase at an upmarket hotel in Bali has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Heather Mack, 19, who gave birth to her own daughter just weeks ago, was found guilty with her 21-year-old boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, of killing Sheila von Wiese-Mack on the Indonesian island last August. Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for battering von Wiese-Mack to death in room 317 of the St. Regis Bali Resort. Schaefer had claimed he killed his girlfriend's mother in self-defense after a violent argument erupted over the young couple's relationship. The beaten body of von Wiese-Mack was found in a large silver suitcase that the couple had loaded in a waiting taxi outside the resort. They told the driver they'd be back soon, but after a lengthy wait he alerted hotel staff who inspected the bag, noticed blood and called police. The lovers were arrested after being found the following morning at another hotel about 15 kilometers (nine miles) away. Inside the bag, von Wiese-Mack's body had been wrapped in hotel bedding. A forensic examination determined that she had died from a blunt force to the face that fractured her facial bones and caused her to suffocate. Described as a Chicago socialite, von Wiese-Mack was reported to have a troubled relationship with her teenage daughter. Schaefer denied that the murder was premeditated. He told the court that he acted in self-defense when his girlfriend's mother started strangling him during an argument in the Bali hotel room. "She squeezed my neck for about 20 to 30 seconds. I couldn't breathe. I had blood going to my head and my eyes were so watery," Schaefer told the court. He said he reached for a nearby bowl "before she could." "I couldn't see for a moment because my eyes were so watery and I was distraught, I was in a state of mind, I had no idea what was happening. I was almost about to black out. And I grabbed it and I started swinging," he told the court. Mack told the court her mother had threatened to kill the couple's unborn baby, according to local media. The prosecutor alleged that the two planned the murder, because Mack's mother disapproved of their relationship. After being detained by police, the couple initially claimed they'd been taken captive at the resort by an armed gang, whose members killed Heather's mother, and from whom they managed to escape. The two were tried separately, though both trials were heard by the same court, with the same prosecutors. Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of 18 years for Schaefer and 15 years for Mack. Under Indonesian law, Mack will be allowed to keep her baby with her in prison for two years, after which she can nominate who should take custody. Journalists Fairuz Husaini and Ragil Lestari and CNN's Kathy Quiano contributed to this report.

Heather Mack jailed for 10 years over mother's murder in Bali . Boyfriend Tommy Schaefer sentenced to 18 years in prison for the attack . Mack gave birth to the couple's daughter last month .

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Kano, Nigeria (CNN)An explosion late Thursday outside a bus station in the northeast Nigerian city of Gombe ‎killed at least five people and injured more than a dozen others, witnesses said. The explosion outside the Bauchi Motor Park‎ happened around 8:30 p.m. after a woman left her explosives-laden handbag near a bus filling up with passengers. The bus was heading to the central Nigerian city of Jos, 125 kilometers away. "There has been an explosion just outside the motor park and five people have been killed while more than 12 others have been seriously injured," said Adamu Saidu, an employee at the bus station. "Some of the injured have had their limbs blown off‎ and one of them has had his eye gouged out," said Saidu, who was involved in the evacuation of the victims to a hospital. The woman pretended to be going to Jos and lingered around the bus, which was ‎waiting to fill up with passengers, according to Falalu Tasiu, a grocer near the bus station. "The woman kept talking on the phone and dropped her bag beside the bus, pretending to be waiting for the bus to fill up," Tasiu said. "She moved towards shops overlooking the bus station as if she was going to buy something and disappeared. Moments later the bag exploded and set the bus on fire, killing five people and inujuring around 15 others," Tasiu said. Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Boko Haram Islamists have repeatedly carried out suicide and bombing attacks on bus stations and markets in Gombe and other northern cities, making the group the main suspect. Boko Haram has in recent months been under sustained pressure from sweeping offensives from a four-nation regional alliance of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The regional offensives have considerably weakened Boko Haram's capabilities, which has prompted the Islamists to resort to attacks on soft targets such as bus stations, markets and schools. The explosion was the first attack since Nigeria held its presidential election at the weekend, which was won by opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who vowed to crush Boko Haram when he assumes office in late May.

Woman leaves explosives-laden handbag beside bus during boarding . No group has claimed responsibility, but Boko Haram is suspected .

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(CNN)Residents of central Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, have learned the hard way that key strategic bombing targets are located in their neighborhoods: Detonating ordnance has been shattering their windows and doors. And fighting has killed hundreds of people in less than two weeks. The Saudi-led coalition smashed parts of Yemen's Defense Ministry Central Command in the capital over the weekend, senior Yemeni officials said. Under the rain of coalition bombs, the Houthis, who are Shiites in a majority Sunni country, still control Sanaa. But the airstrikes have hurt them and destroyed a lot of infrastructure. The electricity has gone out on 16 million Yemenis living in Houthi-held areas, the Yemeni officials said. Many fear they will lose access to clean water as well. Yemen's deposed President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi heaped scorn on top of the airstrikes. He fired his former Army chief of staff, Hussein Khairan, on Sunday. The firing had no practical effect, since Khairan had switched sides weeks ago and is the Houthi rebels' acting defense minister. Hadi is holed up in Saudi Arabia, which is working to defeat his enemies and reinstall him. Fighting has ended dozens of lives each day. On Monday, more than 50 people died in the port city of Aden alone, where Houthis and their allies are battling troops loyal to Hadi on the ground, Agence France-Press reported. Since the bombing campaign and intense fighting began just over a week ago, some 600 people are estimated to have been killed. Many more have been wounded, and tens of thousands have fled the country. The International Committee of the Red Cross has cried out for a humanitarian ceasefire to let aid in. "Otherwise, put starkly, many more people will die. For the wounded, their chances of survival depend on action within hours, not days," said Robert Mardini, the ICRC's head of operations in the Near and Middle East. "Medical supplies need to be here yesterday," said ICRC spokeswoman Marie-Claire Feghali from Sanaa. "We need to save the lives that can be saved." Saudi Arabia signed off on letting the ICRC into Yemen via two aircraft -- one with medical supplies, the other with workers. But flying in will be hard, since most airlines have canceled their flights, and airstrikes have taken out many airfields. On Monday, the flight loaded with 48 tons of medical supplies was grounded in Djibouti, Feghali said. The ICRC is hoping to fly out in a day or two. Following the ICRC's call, on Saturday the U.N. Security Council discussed the humanitarian situation at Russia's behest. Moscow submitted a draft resolution calling for a halt to the airstrikes by the nine-country regional coalition. The meeting adjourned with no decision announced. One diplomat said the draft was missing key elements. It didn't call for the Houthis to stop fighting or for political talks between the belligerents, the diplomat told CNN on condition of anonymity. Yemen has been descending into chaos in the weeks since Houthi rebels -- who have long complained of being marginalized in the majority Sunni country -- forced Hadi from power. The Houthis put Hadi under house arrest when they overtook Sanaa in January. But Hadi escaped in February, fled to Aden and declared himself to still be president. Houthis and their allies, including those loyal to Hadi's predecessor, then fought Hadi's forces in the Aden area. Hadi fled Aden in late March, ultimately for Saudi Arabia, when the rebels and their military allies advanced on the city. The conflict prompted Saudi Arabia, a predominately Sunni nation and Yemen's northern neighbor, and other Arab nations to intervene with force. The Houthis are allied with Iran, Saudi Arabia's bitter rival across the Persian Gulf, and Riyadh does not want an proxy of Iran in power on its border. Complicating matters in Yemen is the fact that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- not the Houthis or the forces loyal to Hadi -- holds sway in the country's east. AQAP is considered one of the most ruthless branches of the terrorist organization. It has taken advantage of the chaos to overrun one city and break prisoners out of jail. Hadi's government had cooperated with the United States to fight AQAP, but with the Houthi takeover, that arrangement has evaporated, and the terror group operates generally unchecked.

Bombing of targets in central Sanaa smashes residents' windows and doors . Hundreds killed in less than two weeks; humanitarian situation desperate, agencies say .

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(CNN)Washington. New York. Philadelphia. Havana? The Vatican says Pope Francis may add another leg to his trip to the United States this September, visiting Cuba just months after he helped negotiate a diplomatic thaw between the two nations. The possibility, which would add a dimension of international intrigue to an already highly anticipated trip, was first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. In response to reporters' questions, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement, "The Holy Father has taken into consideration the idea of making a stop in Cuba" on his way to or from the United States this September. "However, contacts with the Cuban authorities are still in too early a phase for it to be possible to regard this as a firm decision or an operative plan," Lombardi continued. Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, played a key role in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, earning praise from both President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro. The Pope made personal pleas to Obama and Cuban leaders in private letters, writing that the two nations should try to reset their relations after decades of friction. The Vatican also hosted talks between U.S. and Cuban delegations in October, where they hashed out aspects of a new trade policy and discussed the release of jailed American contractor Alan Gross, who was freed as part of the detente between the two countries. "I want to thank His Holiness, Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is," Obama said in December as he announced the U.S. policy shift. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has displayed a deep interest in international affairs. He repeatedly urged Western leaders not to bomb Syria, hosted a prayer service between Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the Vatican and waded into diplomatic controversy on Sunday by referring to the killing of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago as a "genocide," a move that deeply upset Turkish leaders, who recalled their Vatican ambassador. The Pope is expected to continue his international activism this July with a trip to South America, where he will visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. Just a few months later, in late September, Francis will visit Washington, where he will address Congress; New York, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly; and Philadelphia, where he will celebrate a public Mass that's expected to draw more than 1 million people. In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday, Archbishop Charles Chaput, the Pope's host in Philadelphia, said he'd hadn't heard about the potential for a papal visit to Cuba until he turned on the morning news. Two previous Popes have visited the Caribbean nation: St. John Paul II in 1998 and former Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Pope Francis played key role in re-establishing diplomatic ties between Cuba and U.S. "Contacts with the Cuban authorities are still in too early a phase," Vatican spokesman says .

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(CNN)It's a warm afternoon in Miami, and 35-year-old Emanuel Vega has come to Baptist Health Primary Care for a physical exam. Dr. Mark Caruso shakes his hand with a welcoming smile. Vega, a strapping man with a thick black beard, is feeling good, but he came to see the doctor today because his wife thought he should -- she even made the appointment. It is free to him under his insurance policy with no co-pay, as most preventive care is under the Affordable Care Act. Vega is one of more than 44 million Americans who is taking part in a medical ritual: visiting the doctor for an annual physical exam. But there's little evidence that those visits actually do any good for healthy adults. Caruso listens to Vega's heart and lungs, checks his pulse in his ankles and feels around his lymph nodes. He also asks Vega about his exercise and sleeping schedule and orders blood and urine tests. As long as everything checks out, Caruso asks Vega to return for another exam in a year. Vega says he definitely will. It was a positive experience for both doctor and patient, and they're not alone; 92 percent of Americans say it is important to get an annual head-to-toe physical exam, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation). And 62 percent of those polled said they went to the doctor every year for their exam. But the evidence is not on their side. "I would argue that we should move forward with the elimination of the annual physical," says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a primary care physician and a professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School. Mehrotra says patients should really only go to the doctor if something is wrong, or if it's time to have an important preventive test like a colonoscopy. He realizes popular opinion is against this view. "When I, as a doctor, say I do not advocate for the annual physical, I feel like I'm attacking moms and apple pie," Mehrotra says. "It seems so intuitive and straightforward, and [it's] something that's been part of medicine for such a long time." But he says randomized trials going back to the 1980s just don't support it. The Society for General Internal Medicine even put annual physicals on a list of things doctors should avoid for healthy adults. One problem, Mehrotra says, is the cost. Each visit usually costs insurers just $150, but that adds up fast. "We estimate that it's about $10 billion a year, which is more than how much we spend as a society on breast cancer care," Mehrotra says. "It's all a lot of money." And then there's the risk that a doctor will run a test and find a problem that's not actually there. It's called a false positive, and it can lead to a cascade of follow-up tests that can be expensive and could even cause real harm. Dr. Michael Rothberg is another primary care physician and a health researcher at the Cleveland Clinic. He generally avoids giving physicals. "I generally don't like to frighten people and I don't like to give them diseases they don't have," Rothberg says. "I mostly tell my family, 'if you're feeling well, stay away from doctors. If you get near them, they'll start to look for things and order tests because that's what doctors do.' " "The flip side of that is if you're not feeling well, don't keep it to yourself. Don't minimize it. Don't pretend it's not there," he adds. Rothberg says he still has patients who always schedule an annual exam. For those patients, he skips the physical aspects of the exam and focuses instead on talking to them about their dietary and exercise habits, possible risks, age-appropriate vaccinations and any screening tests they may need. The guidelines discouraging annual physicals are aimed specifically at asymptomatic adults. Dr. David Fleming, president of the American College of Physicians, says it's important for elderly patients to be seen on a regular basis, to "do a full assessment of everything -- how they live at home, if the conditions are safe, are they at risk of falling? They need a flu shots every year. This is a population where it's definitely indicated." Back in Miami, Caruso is also well versed in the research on annual physicals, but he still believes in them. "I think having a look at somebody is worth its weight in gold," he says. It's an important part of developing a relationship with a patient, he says, and there have been countless times when he's found real problems during an exam just like the one he gave to Vega. "What if Mr. Vega had had a lump or bump that wasn't right?" Caruso asks. "What if when he had his shirt off, Mr. Vega said, 'Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this spot on my chest,' and it ended up being a melanoma we discovered early?" And Vega did end up needing a little help -- he has a bad back that's landed him in the ER several times. Caruso was able to link him up with a back specialist to help him manage the problem. Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit national health policy news service.

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(CNN)Former Australia cricket captain and legendary broadcaster Richie Benaud has died at the age of 84. Benaud, whose witty one-liners from the commentary box resonated far beyond Australia's shores, said last year he was being treated for skin cancer. "After Don Bradman, there has been no Australian player more famous than Richie Benaud," Cricket Australia said on its website. "Benaud stood at the top of the game throughout his rich life, first as a record-breaking leg-spinner and captain, and then as cricket's most famous -- and most impersonated -- broadcaster." A veteran of 64 Test matches, Benaud was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. While many regarded his voice as the soundtrack to an Australian summer, Benaud was equally revered by the cricketing public on the other side of the world where he spent more than four decades with the BBC taking the game into millions of British living rooms. But whether you were sitting in Sydney or in South London, there were plenty of "marvelous" Richie moments from the box to savor: . "And Glenn McGrath dismissed for two, just ninety-eight runs short of his century." "From our broadcasting box you can't see any grass at all. It is simply a carpet of humanity." "Captaincy is 90% luck and 10% skill. But don't try it without that 10%." News of his passing quickly generated a wave of condolences, including from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. "To most Australians Richie Benaud was cricket. He personified its traditions and its values," Abbott said in a written statement Friday. "While many Australians only know Richard Benaud as the voice of cricket, we should not forget that in his day he was a cricketer with few equals. It was why he was so insightful as a commentator. "As a player his record has withstood the test of time. He led the Australian side from 1958/59 through to 1963/1964, never losing a series in his 28 Tests as captain. "As captain, he was first to lead a full Australian tour to India and Pakistan in 1959/60. He was the first cricketer to reach a Test double of 2,000 runs and 200 wickets. "Given the special place Richie Benaud has in our national life, I have asked that on the day of his funeral flags fly at half-mast. I extend my condolences and the condolences of the Australian people, to his wife Daphne and his family and friends. Current Australian captain Michael Clarke posted an image of Benaud on Instagram with the message: "What a man. Extremely sad day. You were a lot more then just a cricketer Richie. RIP." Clarke's former teammate Shane Warne also took to Instagram to post a touching letter to the late commentator. He wrote: "Dear Richie, I've known you & Daphne for close to 30 years & to everyone you were a legend on all levels & rightly so too. "As a cricketer, commentator & as a person, you were the best there's ever been & to top it off, an absolute gentleman... For me it was an honour & a privilege to call you a close friend & mentor, we had so many wonderful times together, talking cricket & in particular, our love & passion of leg spin bowling. "I will cherish our entertaining dinners & all the fun times we shared over a long period of time. I would also like to thank you & Daphne for all your support & time you made for me as a young cricketer & leg spin bowler trying to make his way as an 18 year old, your tips & advice along the journey meant so much !!! "Richie, you were loved by everyone, not just the cricket family, you were the godfather of cricket & you will be missed by all... R.I.P my friend." Benaud, who was born in 1930 in Penrith, New South Wales, lead Australia into an era of world dominance as a player. But it was after he hung up his spikes that his legendary status was confirmed. Writing in a column in The Australian, cricket writer Gideon Haigh wrote "television was Benaud's calling, suiting his captain's spontaneity and intuition. "He was authoritative but not pedantic, dignified but not pompous, and never spoke unless he had something to say. He was so popular that many humorists strove to imitate him, so distinctive that none ever quite got him right." The BBC's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew agreed. "He was quite simply peerless. Nobody else had his authority, popularity and skill," Agnew said in a column on the BBC website. "If you speak to any broadcaster from any sport, they will point to Richie as the standard-bearer." Australian national team coach Darren Lehmann said Benaud set "an incredibly high standard on and off the field." "The fact that Australia never lost a series under his captaincy says so much and those standards were just as high when he turned his attention to calling the game," he told cricket.com.au. "We loved listening to him commentate when the team was together in the dressing room. When he was on air, we always had the TV volume turned up because his comments were so insightful." Benaud's passing also drew messages of sympathy on social media from beyond his native Australia. Imran Khan, the former captain of Pakistan and now a leading politician there, tweeted: "Saddened by the death of Richie Benaud, one of the greatest cricketing brains." While Kumar Sangakkara, the current captain of Sri Lanka's Test team, posted: "So sad to hear about the passing of Richie Benaud. The great voice of cricket is no more. He defined an era with conviction and sincerity." British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "I grew up listening to Richie Benaud's wonderful cricket commentary. Like all fans of the sport, I will miss him very much." CNN's Pierre Meilhan and Azadeh Ansari contributed to this report.

Richie Benaud first earned fame as a cricket player, later as broadcaster . Prime Minister Tony Abbott calls him "a cricketing champion and Australian icon"

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London (CNN)Ever written yourself a note, stuffed it in your pocket and headed out into the world only to discover that, somewhere along your journey, the piece of paper has disappeared? If you live in the UK, there's a small chance that note has found its way into the hands of 23-year-old Daisy Bentley. For the past six years, the London-based artist has scoured the streets of cities and towns looking for those odd bits of paper that flutter to the ground when their owners aren't looking. Her quest has uncovered a fascinating, if idiosyncratic, collection of shopping lists, reminders, requests, love notes and motivational musings, all poignant pieces of others' lives. And now a gallery in London has put a selection on display for the public. "I wasn't intending to start a collection," she told CNN. "I always naturally collected things -- as many artists do -- and it got to the point that I was picking up every one I saw. Now I can barely walk down a street without picking up a scrap of paper." Bentley began collecting them six years ago after a note caught her eye one rainy night on a walk in her home town of Norwich, England. It's something she confesses has been a lifelong love -- keepsakes ranging from her mother's cutlery to her own dead goldfish have ended up carefully preserved in her collection for posterity. The notes project, she says, is a culmination of keeping her eyes on the sidewalk and spotting the little things that most people wouldn't notice as they walked down the street. "I get very odd looks from strangers," she admits, "but since I've made friends and families aware of the project, they get very excited when I find one while out with them." And while some dismiss such behavior as hoarding, Bentley feels it is part of human nature to hold on to items, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. "Humans want to collect and show to others," she says. "They want to share and learn from the things they have found." She says her collecting has led to interesting anthropological insights into the human condition. One of her favorite observations is the evolution of handwriting over the past few decades, from the beautiful copperplate penmanship of the '70s to modern teen girl love notes with hearts dotting i's and multiple exclamation marks. More recently, the note collection has led to an exhibition at Stour Space gallery in London's Hackney Wick, where Bentley works as a shop and studio manager. It showcases a small part of her 1,500-strong collection. The decision to display the notes came in part from a desire to put them back into the public space. "I always wanted to showcase them, to see what people's reactions were and if anyone would come forward," she said. So far two note owners -- one a colleague from the gallery and one an employee from a pub whose beer coasters she had found on her quest -- have revealed themselves as owners of notes. Bentley gave them framed prints as a thank you. And while some may find the notion of handwritten notes quaint, as social media and smartphones begin to replace handwriting, Bentley says she finds the note collection an interesting way for an artist to explore people's lives. "Technology is useful, but sometimes the simplest ways are still the best," she said. "I still usually draw a map rather than relying on technology to get to a place -- and many people are just the same."

A selection of notes from British artist's 1,500-note collection goes on display in London . Artist spent six years trawling streets finding scraps of paper detailing people's lives . In era of smartphones and social media, notes provide reminder of power of handwritten word .

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(CNN)Supported by American intelligence and supplied with advanced U.S.-made weaponry, Saudi jets began airstrikes in Yemen late last month in the name of what the kingdom's Washington ambassador described as "restoring the legitimate government" and protecting a "Yemeni constitution and elections." The need to protect constitutions and elections is a rather strange message from the representative of an absolute monarchy. Indeed, Saudi motives in Yemen likely have nothing to do with protecting the country's "legitimate government," its constitution or its electoral process. So what is really going on? The kingdom's real motives seem clear if one looks at Saudi monarchy's history of not allowing regional competition of any kind, while consistently combating efforts to build democratic governments that empower the people. This approach was evident in 2013, when Saudi Arabia voiced its support for the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsy in Egypt, which was in keeping with counterrevolutionary Saudi policies that aimed to contain or reverse the results of the Arab Spring. The Saudi goal is simple: Prevent the rise of any popularly supported government in the region that seeks self-determination. And the excuse of "resisting Iran's influence," meanwhile, appears to be nothing but sectarian bluster. For example, in 2009, the Houthis (more accurately described as the Ansarullah) were not yet receiving help from Iran, yet for weeks the kingdom pummeled them with airstrikes, following Saudi claims of a Houthi incursion. True, the Ansarullah movement now benefits from Iranian support. But it is far from the only group getting help from outside sources in the region. With all this in mind, the American decision to stand behind the Saudi attack on Yemen can best be described as misguided. Although the Houthi movement's rhetoric is unquestionably anti-American, it has not targeted any American interests. In fact, when the U.S. Embassy packed up in Sanaa in January, leaving a fleet of over 20 armored SUVs behind at the airport, the Houthis reportedly said they would round up the cars and deliver them to a U.N. representative in Yemen. And while the Houthis did not welcome the American presence in Yemen, they did not interfere with U.S. operations against al Qaeda in the country. But one of the biggest miscalculations has been that U.S. policy has adopted the Saudi-Gulf narrative on Yemen, effectively placing Saudi ambitions to control Yemen above previous American priorities like destroying the safe haven for al Qaeda there. Indeed, the Obama administration appears to have abandoned Yemen to Saudi machinations. This reality was underscored when U.S State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki effectively endorsed Saudi bombing, saying the "Saudis have legitimate concerns about the possible impact of current events in Yemen on their security." The implication here seems to be that any country "concerned" about its neighbors can go ahead and bomb them, a view that risks creating a dangerous precedent. Back in September, White House spokesman Josh Earnest described Yemen as a success story in the war on terrorism, explaining that the U.S. priority in Yemen was not to establish a "Jeffersonian democracy" but to prevent Yemen from becoming a safe-haven for al Qaeda and affiliates. Yet if that policy goal remains in place, then it must be acknowledged that the Saudi war on Yemen will not only undermine the U.S. aim of preventing al Qaeda from making Yemen a safe haven, but also undermine broader U.S. efforts in Yemen. The reality is that Saudi and Gulf Co-operation Council jets are effectively acting as al Qaeda's air force by bombing the same group that had managed to uproot al Qaeda from several Yemeni regions. Interestingly, while Saudi Arabia deployed about 100 aircraft against the Houthis on the second day of its offensive, it reportedly deployed a mere four fighter jets in the early U.S.-led campaign against ISIS last year. Regardless, the results of the Saudi campaign are unlikely to be positive -- one only need look at the way a much smaller Houthi force than today was able to outfox the Saudi military back in 2009. Back then, Houthi forces consisted of only a few hundred fighters, but they shocked the Saudi army, reportedly capturing Saudi equipment and forcing the evacuation of almost 250 Saudi villages as it seized territory along the border. Today, that ragtag group of Houthi rebels has been replaced by a much larger group called Ansarullah, modeled after Lebanon's Hezbollah. Back in 2009, the rebels were limited to parts of the Saada region and were self-funded, although Yemen claimed they had minor assistance from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Yet despite this, they were still able to withstand some 90 days of Saudi bombardment. Today, the Ansarullah group is receiving political, financial and military support from Iran. Already, the Saudi government was forced to cancel flights to southern airports, and it has also reportedly suspended classes in schools in the border regions. The situation is only likely to deteriorate as the fighting continues. What should be done now? Saudi interests in Yemen should not replace those of the United States. With this in mind, the Obama administration should work to find an immediate political solution to the conflict, one that can be embraced by the various Yemeni factions. A change in approach is essential not only because the Saudi-led war on Yemen is wrong and destined to fail, but because it might end up further opening the Yemeni door to Iran. But perhaps most importantly, by supporting a self-interested Saudi campaign, the U.S. may actually empower an al Qaeda with the potential still to do great harm to the United States.

Saudi Arabia has launched airstrikes against rebels in Yemen . Ali AlAhmed: Results of Saudi campaign unlikely to be positive .

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(CNN)Sky watchers in western North America are in for a treat: a nearly five-minute total lunar eclipse this morning. Here's how it's unfolding: . It started at 3:16 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, when the moon began moving into Earth's shadow. For the next hour and 45 minutes, that shadow will move across the moon and engulf it at 4:58 a.m. Pacific Time. The total eclipse will only last four minutes and 43 seconds, and NASA says that makes it the shortest one of the century. Watch it live on NASA TV . While people west of the Mississippi River will have the best view, at least a partial eclipse will be visible across the nation. But sunrise will interrupt the show on the East Coast. Parts of South America, India, China and Russia also will be able to see the eclipse, but it won't be visible in Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Africa or the Middle East. A lunar eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon form a straight line in space, with the Earth smack in the middle. The sun shines on the Earth and creates a shadow. As the moon moves deeper into that shadow, it appears to turn dark and may even appear to be a reddish color. Why red? Because Earth's atmosphere is filtering out most of the blue light. Some people have nicknamed the effect the "blood moon." NASA says lunar eclipses typically happen at least twice a year, but this eclipse is the third in a series of four in a row, known as a "tetrad." The first was on April 15, 2014. The second was in September 2014, the next is Saturday and there will be one more, on September 28. If you want to learn more about the eclipse, NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams will take questions on Twitter @NASA_Marshall. Did you see the total lunar eclipse? Share your photos with CNN iReport.

The total eclipse will only last 4 minutes and 43 seconds . People west of the Mississippi River will have the best view . Parts of South America, India, China and Russia also will see the eclipse .

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Tokyo (CNN)The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has given up trying to recover a robotic probe after it stopped moving inside one of the reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) deployed the remote-controlled robot on Friday inside one of the damaged reactors that had suffered a meltdown following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. It was the first time the probe had been used. The robot, set out to collect data on radiation levels and investigate the spread of debris, stalled after moving about 10 meters, according to a statement released by TEPCO. A newly released report and footage from the robot shows that a fallen object had blocked its path and left it stranded. TEPCO decided to cut off the cable connected to the device Sunday as it had already covered two-thirds of the originally planned route. It managed to collect data on radiation levels in 14 of the 18 targeted locations. Four years after the devastating nuclear crisis, the radiation levels inside the three damaged reactors are still extremely high and remain unsafe for people to enter. Decommissioning work is estimated to cost $50 billion and will take years to complete. TEPCO called the robotic probe an "unprecedented" experiment. CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki reported from Tokyo, Japan and Naomi Ng wrote from Hong Kong.

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant said it has abandoned a robotic probe inside one of the damaged reactors . A report stated that a fallen object has left the robot stranded . The robot collected data on radiation levels and investigated the spread of debris .

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(CNN)A federal grand jury has charged millionaire real estate heir Robert Durst, a convicted felon, with unlawful possession of a firearm. In this week's indictment, Durst, 71, is accused of possessing a .38 caliber revolver, which authorities allegedly found in his hotel room last month. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if found guilty of that charge, according to the indictment. The charge is the latest in a litany of accusations. A Louisiana judge ruled last month that Durst, who is charged with first-degree murder, will be held without bail at a facility near New Orleans. Durst was featured this spring in "The Jinx," a HBO documentary about him. He's accused of killing his friend Susan Berman at her home in California in 2000. He also faces state weapons and drugs charges in New Orleans. Last month, court documents claimed that Durst had a loaded .38-caliber revolver, marijuana, his passport and birth certificate, a latex mask with salt-and-pepper hair attached and more than $40,000 cash. He also had a UPS tracking number. The package was intercepted by the FBI, prosecutors said, and it contained clothing and more than $100,000 in cash. But the bigger courtroom fight will probably unfold in Los Angeles, where the district attorney filed a first-degree murder charge against Durst last month. He awaits extradition to Los Angeles to face that charge. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Prosecutors accuse Durst of "lying in wait" and killing Berman, a crime writer and his longtime confidante, because she "was a witness to a crime." Berman was shot in the head in her Beverly Hills home in December 2000, shortly before investigators were set to speak with her about the 1982 disappearance of Durst's first wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst. Durst has long maintained that he had nothing to do with Berman's death or his wife's disappearance. It's not the first time he has been accused of murder. He admitted killing and dismembering his neighbor at a 2003 trial, but he was acquitted after arguing that he acted in self-defense. FBI agents have also asked local authorities to examine cold cases in locations near where Durst lived over the past five decades, a U.S. law enforcement official said. Unsolved cases in Vermont, upstate New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California are among those getting a new look, the official said. Durst's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said it's a sign that authorities are desperate. DeGuerin has said Durst has serious medical conditions. He is suffering from hydrocephalus, which required brain surgery a couple of years ago, DeGuerin said. Doctors implanted a stent on the right side of his head, the attorney said. "At the same time he was in the hospital, he had an operation on his esophagus to remove cancer. So he's got some serious health issues. ... He's lost a lot of weight. He's not in good health," DeGuerin said. DeGuerin also said that Durst is "mildly autistic" and has received treatment in the past from one of the country's leading experts in Asperger's syndrome and autism.

Durst, a convicted felon, charged with unlawful possession of a firearm . He is accused of having a .38 caliber revolver and faces up to 10 years in prison .

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Charleston, South Carolina (CNN)The casket is draped with an American flag, and Walter Scott is dressed in a dark suit. A white banner with a blue star refers to his favorite NFL team. It says: "Tradition, the Cowboys way." A few mourners trickled into the Fielding Home For Funerals in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley comes by to pay his respects and show support for the Scott family. They are not at Friday night's visitation, the mayor says. The stress of the past week since Scott was fatally shot in the back by a North Charleston police Officer Michael Slager is too much. They went by the funeral home earlier but they are exhausted, he says. They need their privacy now and at Saturday's funeral and burial, he says. "This is a heartbreaking tragedy for everyone in our community," he says, adding they share the grief of their neighbors in North Charleston and with the Scott family. "It breaks everyone's hearts, wherever we live." Meanwhile, police continue to investigate the incident in which Scott ran from his car after a traffic stop then was shot while fleeing from Slager. On Friday afternoon, police met with a man who was in Scott's car when Slager pulled it over for a broken taillight. The passenger's name wasn't in a police report obtained by CNN. The passenger was detained briefly after the shooting, one officer wrote in the report. Scott family attorney Chris Stewart said the man with Scott was a co-worker and friend. But he did not identify the friend by name, nor did Thom Berry, a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman, who confirmed Friday's meeting. Slager has been fired and faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted on a murder charge. Video shot by a witness shows the officer shooting Scott in the back as he runs away. Slager had told investigators he feared for his safety after he and Scott tussled over his Taser. His lawyer, Andy Savage, said Friday he "has not received the cooperation from law enforcement that the media has." Savage's office said in a written statement that it has yet to receive "any investigative documents, audio or video tapes, other than a copy of Mr. Slager's arrest warrant." The news release added that the lawyer has been advised that the police union that Slager belongs to "is no longer involved in the case." On Thursday, dash cam video and a new witness emerged from the day Scott died. The dash cam footage shows Slager talking calmly to Scott during the traffic stop. Scott apparently says he has no insurance on the vehicle, and Slager returns to his car to do paperwork. Moments later, Scott gets out of his car and bolts. A foot chase ensues. Scott never reappears on the dash cam video, but a witness later takes video of the officer shooting Scott several times in the back as he is running away. "Nothing in this video demonstrates that the officer's life or the life of another was threatened," National Urban League President Marc Morial said. "The question here is whether the use of force was excessive." On Thursday, a new witness emerged in the case. Gwen Nichols told CNN's Brian Todd that she saw a scuffle between Scott and Slager at the entrance to a vacant lot. "It was like a tussle type of thing, like, you know, like, 'What do you want?' or 'What did I do?' type of thing," Nichols said. "I didn't hear Mr. Slager saying: 'Stop!' " Scott was the subject of a bench warrant over $18,104.43 in unpaid child support at the time of the stop, according to court records. That may be why he ran, an attorney for the family said. Criminal defense attorney Paul Callan said he believes Slager's defense will play up the reported scuffle in arguing that this is not a murder case. "Defense attorneys will say this was a heat of passion shooting -- (that) this was something that he did suddenly after some kind of an altercation, a physical altercation with a suspect," Callan said. "And that would constitute manslaughter under law, as opposed to murder, and it makes a huge difference in sentencing." In South Carolina, a murder conviction requires a measure of premeditation. What we know about Officer Slager . The investigation has been turned over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED. In a statement released Thursday, SLED said its investigators found troubling inconsistencies from the very start. "We believed early on that there was something not right about what happened in that encounter," SLED Chief Mark Keel said in a statement. "The cell phone video shot by a bystander confirmed our initial suspicions." Feidin Santana, who took the video of the shooting, told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he was walking to work when he saw Slager on top of Scott, who was on the ground. He said he could hear the sound of a Taser in use. Santana said he didn't see Scott go after the Taser, as Slager initially claimed. He said he believes Scott was trying to get away. "Mr. Scott never tried to fight," Santana said. Neither the struggle nor the use of a Taser was captured on video, because Santana started recording shortly after that. His video shows Scott running away from Slager before the officer aims his gun. Slager fires eight shots toward Scott, striking him five times. A timeline of events . While the initial traffic stop may have seemed to be perfectly normal and professional, and the foot chase a reasonable choice, an analyst saw little justification for that last act. "I'm not familiar with South Carolina police training, but I guarantee you that they do not teach to shoot a fleeing unarmed man in the back," said Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit. There are several claims in the initial police reports that are not supported in Santana's video. And there may be more to the investigation than just whether Scott's killing was justified, CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos said. "If it's determined that multiple officers attempted to cover for the shooting officer, and it's shown that those reports were false, this will be a devastating blow for law enforcement everywhere," he said. Who was Walter Scott? CNN's Polo Sandoval reported from Charleston and Steve Almasy reported and wrote in Atlanta. CNN's Jim Sciutto, Jason Carroll and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

Mourners attend visitation service for Walter Scott . Police meet with man who was passenger in his car when it was pulled over . Michael Slager's lawyer says police aren't being helpful at this point .

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(CNN)A dress worn by Vivien Leigh as she played Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind" has fetched $137,000 at an auction. That's a pretty healthy profit for the collector who bought the outfit decades ago for a mere $20 as it was on the verge of being tossed out. The outfit, a gray two-piece ensemble, was sold at an auction in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday, according to Heritage Auctions. It was the most sought after item among roughly 150 pieces of "Gone With the Wind" memorabilia on sale in the auction. They come from the huge collection amassed by James Tumblin, who used to work at Universal Studios. Tumblin said he came across the Scarlett O'Hara dress in the early 1960s while doing some research at a costume company. "I saw this dress on the floor and a docent told me not to bother to pick it up, because they were throwing it away," he said, according to The Telegraph. "I asked if he would sell it to me," he said. "I had noticed there was a printed label saying Selznick International Pictures and 'Scarlett production dress' was written in ink." From that savvy purchase, his "Gone With the Wind" collection snowballed. Other standout items include a straw hat worn by Leigh in a number of scenes in the movie and a gray wool suit worn by Clark Gable as his character, Rhett Butler, kicks down the door of Scarlett O'Hara's boudoir. The dress -- a jacket and full skirt ensemble -- was worn in several key scenes in the 1939 movie, including when Scarlett O'Hara encounters Butler and when she gets attacked in the shanty town. The outfit has suffered a little with age, however. When Leigh wore it in the movie, it was slate blue-gray. Over the years, it's faded to light gray. But that didn't deter the winning bidder on Saturday.

Collector says he bought the outfit as it was about to be thrown away . Vivien Leigh wore it in several key scenes in the 1939 movie .

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(CNN)Call it a little piece of heaven for a family torn apart by tragedy. Back in July, Sierra Sharry and Lane Smith were just about to become parents. Sharry was eight months pregnant. But then Smith fell and hit his head. He was taken to the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Smith never recovered. "July 13th 2014 was the absolute worst day of my life," Sharry posted on Facebook. "I lost my best friend. The father of my unborn child." Their son Taos arrived a few weeks later. When it was time for his 6-month pictures, Sharry had a special request. Maybe the photographer could make their family complete, just for one picture . "They asked me if I would be willing to 'play around' with capturing their first family photo by editing Taos' daddy in one of their pictures," Kayli Rene' Photography posted on Facebook. "I just got to thinking, we don't have a picture with Lane in it," the new mom told CNN affilaite KOCO. The photographer wasn't sure it would work, but they found just the right picture of Smith -- one that has him looking over his family's shoulder. "Lane's not physically here with us, of course, but that picture represents to us that he is always watching over us and he will always be there for us no matter what," Sharry said. The family photo has become a social media sensation after appearing on the photographer's Facebook page this week. It has some 193,000 likes and more than 24,000 shares. "I can't believe she actually did this," Sharry said. "It's like amazing and apparently everyone else thinks it is too."

Sierra Sharry was eight months pregnant when her son's father died . A photographer was able to add Lane Smith to the family photo .

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(CNN)The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels vowed not to back down on Sunday as a top Saudi military official claimed weeks of airstrikes had significantly weakened the Shiite group. "Our fighters will not evacuate from the main cities or the government institutions," rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said in a televised address. "Anyone who thinks we will surrender is dreaming." His comments came after more than three weeks of Saudi-led coalition bombings aimed at pushing back the Houthis, who surged into the capital of Sanaa in January and ousted President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi from power. Hadi still claims he's Yemen's legitimate leader and is working with the Saudis and other allies to return to his country. Since mid-March, more than 700 people have been killed in violence that shows no sign of slowing, according to figures from the World Health Organization. The Houthis say they have the support of the country's people behind them. "It's the right of the Yemeni people to stand against the attacks in all possible means as long as the attacks continue," Al-Houthi said Sunday. "After our people move and react against the attacks and killing of children and women, we do not want to hear any voices and cries." But there are signs of some fracturing among forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, many of whom have fought alongside the rebels. Gen. AbdulRahman AlHalili, who leads more than 10,000 troops, has now allied himself with Hadi, military sources said Sunday. Meanwhile, Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri said Sunday that airstrikes had decimated the Houthis' central command by targeting their communications. The rebels, he said, are now holding a defensive stance in besieged areas. Since it began the campaign known as Operation Decisive Storm on March 26, the Saudi-led coalition has launched 2,300 airstrikes, Asiri said. After hours at sea, chaos and desperation in Yemeni city . CNN's Don Melvin and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi says in a televised address that fighters will not pull out of major cities . A top military leader pledges allegiance to Yemen's ousted President .

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(CNN)The overturned convertible was smoldering, when police pulled up to it on a New Jersey roadway. The driver was pinned inside -- and unconscious. Not knowing when the car might burst into full flame, they scrambled to save her, while a police dash cam rolled. CNN obtained the footage from affiliate WPIX. Kinnelon Police Officers Mark Ehrenburg and Ricky Ferriola cut the seat belt from her, then dragged the woman's limp body away from the crash to start emergency medical care. Not a minute later, flames licked out of the car. Two more minutes -- an explosion. All three were lucky to escape the flames. The rescue started when someone reported an erratic driver on Thursday, and the officers sped off to investigate. When they pulled up at the scene, the 2006 Toyota Solara convertible was already a smoking wreck. Its horn was blaring. The officers ran over to the flipped over car, and shouted over the honking horn at the driver, "Can you hear me?" No response, not even a gesture, the video showed. It took them two minutes to cut off the seat belt, as smoke kept rising. Once they had her in safety, the officers hooked the driver up to a defibrillator and started CPR. The woman, identified by the Kinnelon Police Department as Dawn Milosky, 45, of Beachwood, New Jersey, was airlifted to Morristown Medical Center and survived. She's been charged with driving while intoxicated, having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle, reckless driving and with failure to stay in her lane, according to WPIX. Kinnelon Police Sgt. Chris Carbone told WPIX that they released the video to show that the driver may have died, if others had not informed the police. As for his colleagues' bravery, he said, "A lot of times, we don't think of our own safety doing this job." CNN's Ben Brumfield and Jackie Castillo contributed to this report .

The overturned car was smoldering on a New Jersey roadway when police arrived . It burst into flames shortly after they pulled out the unconscious driver .

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(CNN)Paul Walker is hardly the first actor to die during a production. But Walker's death in November 2013 at the age of 40 after a car crash was especially eerie given his rise to fame in the "Fast and Furious" film franchise. The release of "Furious 7" on Friday offers the opportunity for fans to remember -- and possibly grieve again -- the man that so many have praised as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. "He was a person of humility, integrity, and compassion," military veteran Kyle Upham said in an email to CNN. Walker secretly paid for the engagement ring Upham shopped for with his bride. "We didn't know him personally but this was apparent in the short time we spent with him. I know that we will never forget him and he will always be someone very special to us," said Upham. The actor was on break from filming "Furious 7" at the time of the fiery accident, which also claimed the life of the car's driver, Roger Rodas. Producers said early on that they would not kill off Walker's character, Brian O'Connor, a former cop turned road racer. Instead, the script was rewritten and special effects were used to finish scenes, with Walker's brothers, Cody and Caleb, serving as body doubles. There are scenes that will resonate with the audience -- including the ending, in which the filmmakers figured out a touching way to pay tribute to Walker while "retiring" his character. At the premiere Wednesday night in Hollywood, Walker's co-star and close friend Vin Diesel gave a tearful speech before the screening, saying "This movie is more than a movie." "You'll feel it when you see it," Diesel said. "There's something emotional that happens to you, where you walk out of this movie and you appreciate everyone you love because you just never know when the last day is you're gonna see them." There have been multiple tributes to Walker leading up to the release. Diesel revealed in an interview with the "Today" show that he had named his newborn daughter after Walker. Social media has also been paying homage to the late actor. A week after Walker's death, about 5,000 people attended an outdoor memorial to him in Los Angeles. Most had never met him. Marcus Coleman told CNN he spent almost $1,000 to truck in a banner from Bakersfield for people to sign at the memorial. "It's like losing a friend or a really close family member ... even though he is an actor and we never really met face to face," Coleman said. "Sitting there, bringing his movies into your house or watching on TV, it's like getting to know somebody. It really, really hurts." Walker's younger brother Cody told People magazine that he was initially nervous about how "Furious 7" would turn out, but he is happy with the film. "It's bittersweet, but I think Paul would be proud," he said. CNN's Paul Vercammen contributed to this report.

"Furious 7" pays tribute to star Paul Walker, who died during filming . Vin Diesel: "This movie is more than a movie" "Furious 7" opens Friday .

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Dongguan, China (CNN)For a decade, the New South China Mall -- the biggest shopping mall in the world -- has been an embarrassment for its owners and China. Opened to the public in 2005 in Dongguan in the south of the country, the goal was to attract 100,000 visitors a day with an array of entertainment, shops and eateries. Outside the mall, a giant Egyptian sphinx and a replica of the Arc de Triomphe were erected alongside fountains and canals complete with Venetian gondolas. It even boasted an indoor roller coaster. But despite the grand plans neither stores nor shoppers came. Soon, it was classified by industry analysts as a "dead mall" and it became an unflattering symbol of China's runaway speculation on real estate projects. The mall spans five million square feet of shopping area, making it the largest in the world in terms of leasable space -- more than twice the size of Mall of America, the biggest shopping center in the United States. When I visited two years ago, the mall was deserted. Most units were empty. Paint was coming off the walls and store signs and advertisements had faded. The air had a dry smell of dust and garbage was piled everywhere. The occupancy rate was less than 10%. It was a walk through a ghost mall. However, a visit in late March revealed a different picture. The mall was buzzing with activity. Large parts of the previously abandoned buildings are now full of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. Visitors could be seen browsing for luxury sunglasses and designer jeans, dining at the Korean, Italian or Chinese restaurants or enjoying the new entertainment facilities. Screams and laughter can be heard from merry-go-rounds. "It's been a big change. It's a clear modernization," said David Carr, an English teacher from the United States who is living in Dongguan with his wife Danae, also a teacher. "We come here at least once a month now." Despite the signs of life, much of the mall is still vacant. But most of the unoccupied units, along with halls and walkways are under renovation. Even on a Saturday, it's full of construction workers and the constant sound of jack-hammering and sawing. Ms Shu, head of New South China Mall's marketing unit, told CNN that there are plans for a re-launch ceremony this spring, when all construction work will be completed and most shop and restaurant areas are leased to tenants. "All construction that is currently going on at the mall is preparation for the opening in May," she said, declining to give her full name. "We expect that from May, we will have almost full occupancy rate and no empty shops." She said she couldn't offer any more details as she was not authorized to speak with media. Ms Ye, head of investments, confirmed that "business is really great," but would not comment further. Dutch retail chain Spar, which has expanded its supermarket to two floors, explained on its website that it had re-launched last year during the mall's "upgrading and retrofitting program." There are also plenty of recruitment ads posted at the entrance of the mall. When I spoke to her, Huang Haiyan, a young Chinese woman, was just two days away from opening a little café called "Miss & H" in one of the passage ways being renovated. Sitting on the sidewalk outside the café, she and her partners were busy washing up cups, classes and plates ahead of the big day. "I'm so excited!" she said, showing the kind of enthusiasm that had been non-existent when I last visited the mall two years ago. "You must come, my coffee is the best in China!" The area around the previously run-down Arc de Triomphe is now a tranquil roofed boulevard with small coffee shops where youngsters play cards and mothers sip lattes. In January, a globe shaped IMAX-style cinema was launched at the outdoor square. One of the more eye-catching new sources of entertainment is a role-playing amusement center for children called Myrules World. Today, it no longer feels like a walk through a ghost mall. It's hard to believe how rapid the change has been. Economist Brian Jackson says the shift in focus towards restaurants and businesses that target China's middle, rather than, upper class, is a smart move on behalf of the developers. "Many large malls (and residential construction) in China.... are all hoping to target one demographic -- the upper class," he said. "What is needed to succeed is retail space that caters to (the much larger) bulk of middle-class Chinese." And, he says, other developments that were once labeled "ghost cities" have gone on to thrive. "One to three years is a blink of an eye in terms of city developments, so many of these cities still have time to fill and become functional,"Jackson said. Despite its retrofitting program, the problems that have dogged the mall since its start will not disappear instantly. Most of Dongguan's almost 10 million inhabitants are migrant workers struggling to make ends meet. The town is also facing difficulties as manufacturing moves elsewhere in China or to Southeast Asia where wages are lower. China is also haunted by serious problems in its real-estate market, with over investment and large vacancy rates. In March, prices of new homes fell for the twelfth consecutive month. What's more, the mall's latest re-launch is not its first. In 2007, the mall changed name from "South China Mall" to "New South China Mall, Living City" and a revitalization plan was drawn up by current owners the Founders Group, a conglomerate set up by Peking University, and its subsidiary PKU Founder. But the revamp failed and the mall remained empty. Now, the owners are hoping for third time lucky. PICTURES: Inside a Chinese ghost city .

For a decade, the New South China Mall has lain empty . It was labeled a "ghost mall" -- symbol of China's runaway speculation on real estate . However, a recent visit showed it may be springing back to life .

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(CNN)What do we have for the contestant on "The Price Is Right"? A brand-new car! Whoops. That wasn't supposed to happen. On Thursday's edition of the popular game show, model Manuela Arbelaez accidentally revealed the correct answer to a guessing game for a new Hyundai Sonata. Host Drew Carey couldn't stop laughing. "Congratulations! Manuela just gave you a car!" he exulted. Arbelaez was mortified, attempting to hide behind the display. But everything turned out OK, she tweeted later. It's been a busy week for "The Price Is Right." On Wednesday, former host Bob Barker, 91, showed up to run his old show.

"The Price Is Right" gives away a car ... accidentally . A model makes a big mistake during a game . Host Drew Carey thought the error was hilarious .

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(CNN)The death of Freddie Gray, which was the flashpoint for the protests and now the riots in Baltimore, has raised again the questions surrounding police use of force, especially after the now-familiar video of officers arresting Mr. Gray and loading him into a police van. Gray was arrested by police on April 12. The 25-year-old was carried in the van for 40 minutes and he was not properly buckled in, according to authorities. Gray's family said his voice box had been crushed and his neck snapped, and after a week of hospitalization, he died. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts has said, "We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times." The police and the U.S. Justice Department are investigating. The case raises at least three legal issues: . Believe it or not, the charging document in this case gives us more information than the now-viral video of the arrest.In that narrative, police state "Defendant fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence." According to the officers' words, that's the sole reason a stop was initiated. There is no other description of either criminal activity or safety concerns. The next sentence is important too: "The defendant was apprehended in [a specific location] after a brief foot chase." The police are locked in: it appears that by their own narrative that the unprovoked flight was the only reason for the stop, because the very next thing that happens...is the stop. Can the police stop you if all you do is run from them when you see them? For the most part, yes. But having grounds to stop is not the same as having probable cause to make an arrest. In this case, Mr. Gray took off running. The United States Supreme Court and Maryland courts have made clear that unprovoked flight -- running away from the police for no reason -- is enough to support reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. When you add to the suspect's flight the Supreme Court's recognition that the character of the neighborhood is also a factor in assessing reasonable suspicion, it appears that the police in this case had at least enough to justify the stop, constitutionally. Much to the chagrin of public defenders and defense attorneys, as long as an officer testifies minimally to an individual (1) running away, (2) in a "high crime" area, the stop will usually be "good." But police are supposed to articulate the additional safety concern to get to the frisk. Police must also have reasonable suspicion that the suspect may be "armed and presently dangerous" to additionally conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing for the sole purpose of discovering weapons. The charging document doesn't really identify a safety concern ... or does it? After the chase, and before an arrest: "This officer noticed a knife clipped to the inside of his front right pants pocket." Shouldn't that really say: "I saw a clip but whatever it was clipped to was inside a pocket ... where I couldn't see it"? That's a close call: Police were lawfully at the stop stage, but the knife -- even though it was inside his pants pocket -- was visible from the outside ... because of an identifying knife clip? See how artfully that was done? Observation of a knife is definitely a safety concern. Observation of a clip? I suppose that will get the officer to the frisk of the pocket ... assuming he is a connoisseur of knife clips and can differentiate them from hair clips, chip clips, etc. According to William Murphy, an attorney for Gray's family, he was carrying a "pocket knife of legal size," and the lawyer contended that police didn't see the knife before the altercation. The legality of the knife will be an issue, but police have essentially conceded that the knife was not seen until the stop. The important thing here is that a stop and frisk is not the same as an arrest. In theory, if a stop gives rise to no suspicion, and a frisk yields nothing more than a comb and some pocket lint, the citizen should be free to leave. An arrest requires much more: probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, and nothing less. That knife was the only crime he was charged with, so again, police are locked into a narrative by their own report. If it ultimately turns out to be a legal knife, there will be a lot of scrutiny on the decision to arrest. For example, if the "knife" was one of those pointy files attached to a 2-inch nail clipper, that does not sound like good faith probable cause for an arrest. Remember also that based on the police narrative in the report, they did not see the knife until after they seized Mr. Gray. So the question arises: What would they have done with Gray if he had no knife or other contraband on him? They could, but most likely not unless there was some intentional act that resulted in Gray's death. As we've seen, charging officers with crimes -- especially murder -- is rare and difficult. If you're pro-cop, you could say that's because they are well-trained and rarely abuse their force. If you have a more jaded view of law enforcement, you would say it's because they are well-trained, and consequently very skilled at testifying or explaining their use of force. Baltimore Police are suggesting Mr. Gray's injuries occurred after his arrest, while he was being transported back for processing, and that he may not have received proper medical attention. That's not a surprise. In fact, from a liability perspective, this is a good strategic move for the police. It will be harder to hold them liable if Gray's injuries happened after -- not before -- his arrest. Pre-arrest, Gray's "seizure" would be judged by a "reasonableness" standard, under the Fourth Amendment. However, courts have limited these "seizures" to the initial act of seizing the person. Any excessive force claims after the arrest are not covered by the Fourth Amendment. The claims of an arrestee are instead governed by a different constitutional provision: the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. So what? What's the difference between the Fourth and 14th Amendment anyway? When it comes to potential civil liability of the officers, it makes a huge difference. The applicable burden of proof and chances of winning a lawsuit depend largely on which constitutional standard governs. Under the Fourth Amendment, the test is whether the force was objectively unreasonable based on the totality of the circumstances. Under the 14th Amendment standard, the officer will only be liable if the force was applied maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing unnecessary and wanton pain and suffering. That's a much tougher burden for a plaintiff to meet. Fortunately, courts have held that pretrial detainees like Freddie Gray are entitled to at least the same protection under the 14th Amendment as are convicted prisoners under the Eighth Amendment, and its prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishments," in this case the deliberate indifference to medical needs of prisoners. Confused? You're not alone. Even a Supreme Court justice has taken issue with this view of the Constitution. Other jurisdictions have actually opted to extend the protections of the Fourth Amendment after arrest, so not only could reasonable minds differ ... reasonable courts, judges, and states differ, too. It's just that Maryland is not within one of those jurisdictions. But it's true. It's a kind of unintentional "gap" in constitutional coverage, one the courts have struggled to deal with. Based on the law, it seems that if an arrestee is hurt during a "rough ride," police might avoid liability in Maryland if they contend the injury was not caused wantonly or sadistically. That's a higher standard for liability than if Freddie Gray was hurt pre-arrest, so, if it's the truth, it just happens to also be a constitutionally convenient one.

Were the police justified in stopping Freddie Gray? Can they be held liable for his death?

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(CNN)"Jake the dog and Finn the human. The fun will never end. Adventure Time." So begins the dreamy theme song intro to the strangely addictive Cartoon Network TV show that's centered around psychedelic characters like the Ice King, Marceline the Vampire Queen and, of course, Jake and Finn. Now, mega-fans of the hit show can experience "Adventure Time" in the skies. Thai Smile, a subsidiary of Thailand flag carrier Thai Airways, on Thursday unveiled colorful new livery featuring Jake, Finn and the beloved Princess Bubblegum sprawled across an Airbus A320 at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The interior of the plane also has an Adventure Time theme, with overhead bins, head rests and even air sickness bags covered in the faces of characters from the show. Airlines show off their new flying colors . The Adventure Time plane is the result of a partnership between Thai Airways subsidiary Thai Smile and Cartoon Network Amazone, a new water park near the Thai resort city of Pattaya featuring attractions based on shows that appear on the Turner Broadcasting System channel. Turner Broadcasting is a parent company of CNN. Check out these cool airline liveries . The inaugural Thai Smile Adventure Time flight takes place on April 4, heading from Bangkok to Phuket.

Thai Airways subsidiary Thai Smile features Cartoon Network paint job on A320 jet . Overhead bins, head rests and air sick bags feature characters from Cartoon Network .

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(CNN)I usually think of April as tax month, but it seems to be morphing into National Get Tested Month. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban advised Twitterers to have their blood tested for everything available -- and to do so every three months. Following her mother's cancer diagnosis, singer Taylor Swift urged her fans to remind their parents to get screening tests. And Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation to allow Arizonans to get any lab test without a doctor's order. Freedom of information -- always sounds like a good thing. But there are many lab tests to order on yourself: Medicare's Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Fee Schedule lists over a thousand. They are not all blood tests, but a lot of them are. And since blood tests require blood, you would surely develop at least one medical problem if you actually followed Mr. Cuban's advice to get them all: anemia. A frothy private sector is gearing up to serve the "test me" market. In those states that allow it -- and over half do -- laboratories are offering walk-in and online services to individuals who want to check their own lab values. (And if you want to get in on the ground floor of this business, check out the franchise opportunities at Any Labtest Now, Fastest Labs, and All Labtests Fast.) Some might argue that this freedom to test is the path to a healthier society. But the primary effect won't be more health, but rather more medical care. Fundamentally well people will appear in doctors' offices with "abnormal" results. Abnormalities are common in normal people, as we learned when Whole-body CT scanning was in vogue a decade ago (thankfully, only briefly). So doctors will increasingly face one of two options: take the time to reassure these new patients that their results aren't really that abnormal or chase down abnormal results with more testing. Further testing will often make clear that the initial results were false alarms. Or it will confirm the presence of abnormality -- most of which will be minor abnormalities. Often it won't be clear what to do, but doctors will be pressed to do something. That's when the real problems begin. Will anybody be helped? Maybe. Will anybody be hurt? Definitely. The disturbing truth is that it is hard for us to make well people feel better. But it's not that hard for us to make them feel worse. Decades of research have shown that there are real side-effects to testing the well: more anxiety (that can't be good for your health), more procedures (which often involve needles, pain and can even lead to complications like collapsed lungs) and more treatment for "disease" not destined to cause problems (as in over a million additional American men treated for prostate cancer, ditto women for breast cancer). To see how far wrong testing can go, check out South Korea: where ultrasound screening has increased the amount of thyroid cancer -- and thyroid cancer surgery -- by 15-fold. I can tell you one thing for sure, the freedom to test won't save money. Sure, a competitive market will drive down prices for individual tests. But advertising will drive up the volume of testing. And then there are all the office visits and subsequent testing for the abnormal results. This will cost people real money -- either in terms of higher insurance premiums or higher out-of-pocket costs. Maybe this kind of freedom of information isn't such a good thing. Of course, there have been genuine advances in diagnostic testing. Diagnostic tests can be extremely useful in sorting out acute medical problems. But if you feel well, don't think that testing will make you feel better. The biotech sector is excited about testing well people -- it's a huge market -- and is developing lots of new product. Now you can sequence your DNA, soon you will be able to monitor your immune system's signature. Now you can monitor your vital signs on your smartwatch, soon you will be able to test your breath for lung cancer on a phone app. They are even implanting thermodynamic sensors in a bra to test for breast cancer. A breast cancer monitoring bra -- I can't make this stuff up. Should we outlaw an individual's freedom to test? No. We don't need another victimless crime. But it is certainly an area that demands regulation. The Food and Drug Administration has a longstanding mandate to protect us from snake oil treatments. Now it needs to start worrying about snake oil testing. It's also an area that demands education. The public needs to know that while medical data can be very useful, that doesn't mean they are routinely useful. Abnormalities in sick patients mean something different than the same abnormalities in well people. It is easier to collect data than it is to know what the data mean -- much less what to do about the results. Freedom is a good thing. But feel free not to exercise your freedoms. Just as carrying a gun doesn't necessarily make you any safer, testing yourself doesn't necessarily make you any healthier.

Mark Cuban said people should have their blood tested every quarter . Gilbert Welch: Giving people more tests will increase health spending, but it won't make us healthier.

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(CNN)Warren Weinstein, who appears to have been the only American citizen held hostage by al Qaeda, was accidentally killed in a U.S. drone strike in January. But it didn't have to be that way. A senior U.S. official familiar with the handling of the issue told CNN that the U.S. government made no serious effort to negotiate for the 73-year-old development expert's release, either directly to al Qaeda or through proxies in Pakistan. Another senior U.S. official told CNN that Weinstein's capture by al Qaeda made it hard for the United States to negotiate, even though proxies such as the Pakistani government have links to intermediaries who might have helped. A senior Pakistani official told CNN that after Weinstein was kidnapped, the Pakistani government put out feelers to members of the militant Haqqani Network and to the Pakistani Taliban, which are both allied to al Qaeda, to see if these groups might be able to initiate some kind of negotiation about Weinstein. According to the official, nothing came of those feelers. The senior Pakistani official says that during the past year Pakistani soldiers, who were part of a military offensive in the tribal area of North Waziristan near the Afghan-Pakistan border where Weinstein was believed to be being held, went door-to-door looking for the American. Nothing came of this search either. On Thursday, the U.S. government announced that Weinstein had been killed in a "counterterrorism operation" in January, which is how the government often describes CIA drone strikes. According to New America, which tracks drone strikes in Pakistan, CIA drone attacks happened in Shawal, North Waziristan, on January 19 in which at least four militants were killed; also on January 15 in Tehsil Ladha, South Waziristan, in which at least five militants were killed; and on January 4 in Datta Khel, South Waziristan, in which at least eight militants were killed. It is in one of these strikes that Weinstein was almost certainly killed. Lt. Col. Jason Amerine, a planner on the U.S. Army staff, is under investigation over a purported unauthorized disclosure to U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter's office, which has demonstrated a strong interest in the fate of American hostages held by al Qaeda and the Taliban. A plan was developed in the Pentagon to secure the release of Weinstein, according to a staff member on Hunter's committee. That plan was to release Haji Bashir Noorzai, a prominent and influential member of the Taliban who is in prison in the States on drug trafficking charges, in exchange for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Berghdal, who was held by the Taliban until last year; Taliban hostages Caitlin Coleman, a U.S. citizen, and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle; and Dr. Shakil Afridi, who spied for the CIA in Pakistan and was being held in a Pakistani prison, as well as Weinstein. It's not clear how far this plan of action went. Amerine is invoking whistleblower protection and denies making an unauthorized disclosure. Hunter, a California Republican, released a statement Thursday, saying, "The only government organization seriously developing options to recover Weinstein and others in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region was within the Pentagon -- led by war hero Jason Amerine." As an Army captain, Amerine led a small detachment of U.S. Special Forces into Afghanistan in November 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. The operation was instrumental in helping to topple the Taliban and to install Hamid Karzai as the new leader of Afghanistan. Who exactly carried out Weinstein's kidnapping from his house 3½ years ago in the Pakistani megacity of Lahore has until now not been clear. A senior Pakistani counterterrorism official told CNN that members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, kidnapped Weinstein at his Lahore home on August 13, 2011. IMU is an Uzbek terrorist group headquartered in the tribal regions of Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan. According to the Pakistani official, the leader of the Weinstein kidnapping cell was a relative of Tahir Yuldashev, the former IMU leader killed in a CIA drone strike in the Pakistani tribal regions in 2009. The initial lead that traced the Weinstein kidnapping to the IMU came from another high-profile kidnapping in Pakistan two weeks after Weinstein's abduction. Shahbaz Taseer, the son of a leading Pakistani liberal politician Salman Taseer -- who was killed by Pakistani militants eight months earlier -- was kidnapped in Lahore on August 26, 2011. At the scene of Taseer's kidnapping one of the kidnappers dropped a cell phone and SIM card that eventually led Pakistani officials to focus on the IMU group in Lahore, according to the senior Pakistani counterterrorism official. The police subsequently arrested three Uzbeks and four Pakistanis who were part of the IMU cell that had carried out the Weinstein kidnapping. Members of the IMU cell told Pakistani interrogators that after they had kidnapped Weinstein they moved him while he was tranquilized and semi-conscious among three safe houses in Lahore. IMU members then took Weinstein to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan, a semi-autonomous region along the border with Afghanistan where al Qaeda and other militant groups are headquartered. There Weinstein was given or, more likely, sold to al Qaeda, according to the senior Pakistani official. Who was Warren Weinstein? Weinstein had spent his life helping others, working in the fields of aid and development. He held a doctorate in international law and economics from Columbia University and spoke more than half a dozen languages. After his capture, the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, demanded the end of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan and the release of terrorists held in U.S. custody in exchange for Weinstein's freedom. On September 12, 2012, Weinstein appeared in a video produced by al Qaeda's production arm in which he said that the Obama administration had shown "no interest in my case." He then appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from "one Jew to another" to intervene. The Obama administration is in the midst of a review of its hostage policy, which has been criticized by some families whose loved ones have been taken hostage by ISIS, al Qaeda or the Taliban. The key problems these families point to are lack of communication by the U.S. government about their loved ones and a lack of coordination within the government about how best to free them. The CIA, for instance, is focused on drone strikes and counterterrorism operations, while the FBI has responsibility for retrieving American hostages. Often these goals are not in alignment -- as was clearly the case with Weinstein. The CIA could have exercised more due diligence knowing that Weinstein was almost certainly being held in North Waziristan. There are some solutions for these problems. First, families should be granted security clearances by the U.S. government for the purpose of having classified information disclosed to them only about their captive loved ones. Right now, the U.S. government won't communicate much with the families about their loved ones because the relatives don't have the requisite security clearances. Should families abuse their clearances, they would no longer receive classified information about their loved ones, which is a strong incentive not to abuse them. Second, President Barack Obama should appoint a senior-level person, perhaps working in the White House on the National Security Council, to oversee the work of the CIA, FBI, State Department and the Joint Special Operations Command, which implements hostage rescues. All these organizations have key roles to play in getting American hostages home. That person must be sufficiently senior so he or she can make all the relevant agencies play well together and "de-conflict" any potential issues, such as the ones that surfaced in the Weinstein case. Third, while the U.S. government position is that it will not make concessions to terrorist groups, there is nothing in American policy to prevent another government from negotiating with terrorists to secure the release of U.S. citizens, and this should be encouraged, even if there is some quid pro quo involved. This is what happened in the case of the American journalist Peter Theo Curtis, who was captured by al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria in 2012, but was released last year after the Qatari government intervened in his case. The Qataris have had longstanding ties to the militant groups in Syria, including the al Qaeda affiliate holding Curtis, and while Qatari officials have denied paying ransom to free Curtis, it's unlikely that the journalist was freed just because the members of al Qaeda holding him were suddenly feeling like good guys. Curtis' successful release could provide a ray of hope for U.S. citizen Caitlin Coleman and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, who were captured by the Taliban in 2012 when they were traveling on a trip through Afghanistan. A senior American official told CNN they are being held by the Haqqani Network. The Pakistani government has contacts with the Haqqani Network, and the U.S. government should ratchet up the pressure on the Pakistani government to secure the couple's release. In captivity, Coleman, who was pregnant at the time she was taken hostage, had a child. The name of the child is unknown.

U.S. hostage Warren Weinstein is believed to have been accidentally killed in counter-terrorism strike . Peter Bergen: U.S. should rethink hostage policy to increase chances of freeing those held .

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Tokyo (CNN)A crowd gathers near the entrance of Tokyo's upscale Mitsukoshi Department Store, which traces its roots to a kimono shop in the late 17th century. Fitting with the store's history, the new greeter wears a traditional Japanese kimono while delivering information to the growing crowd, whose expressions vary from amusement to bewilderment. It's hard to imagine the store's founders in the late 1600's could have imagined this kind of employee. That's because the greeter is not a human -- it's a robot. Aiko Chihira is an android manufactured by Toshiba, designed to look and move like a real person. It was put on temporary display at the department store. Toshiba says Chihira has 43 motors allowing it to move, speak in sign language and even sing. The regular greeter, Ayako Seiryu, says she's not worried about a robot replacing her -- even one made to resemble a real 32-year-old woman. "Communication is important," she says. "My strength is I can actually talk to people." Chihira can't have a conversation yet, acknowledges Hitoshi Tokuda, Toshiba spokesperson. But he says the technology is evolving quickly and someday, robots like Chihira could replace humans for certain jobs. A growing number of Japanese businesses are testing out robots as a possible solution to the country's shrinking workforce. They're appearing in stores, banks and soon even hotels. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is trying out "Nao," a customer service robot that answers basic questions and is designed to speak 19 languages. The robotic polygot could prove useful serving foreign customers during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. By then, the bank hopes to have even more robots on staff. "Pepper" is a humanoid robot that "chats" with customers. A humanoid has human-like characteristics such as arms, legs and a head -- but is designed to look like a robot. Pepper first began appearing in Tokyo stores last year. Manufacturer Softbank hopes it'll eventually be a "family robot," like a sleeker version of Rosie on "The Jetsons." Meet Pepper -- the world's first emo robot . A hotel scheduled to open at Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki this summer plans to have 10 robot staff members and aims to increase that to more than 90% of hotel services operated by robots. Today's novelty could be tomorrow's necessity. Japan has an aging population that has prompted serious talks about how to incorporate robots into the nation's shrinking workforce. One group that seems willing to embrace robots are Japan's senior citizens. A survey by nursing home operator Orix Living found more seniors would feel comfortable being cared for by a robot than a foreign nurse. In a nation with a dwindling population, waning workforce, and deep resistance to immigration, it seems robots will only play a larger role in Japan's future.

Toshiba tests robotic greeter at upscale Tokyo department store . More Japanese businesses are testing out robots as possible solution to Japan's shrinking workforce .

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(CNN)Pushed to his limits, a college professor took the extreme measure of threatening to fail his entire class. In an email to his students, Irwin Horwitz accused them of "backstabbing, game playing, cheating, lying, fighting." The professor at the Texas A&M University Galveston Campus expected his missive would create some conflict, but that it could then be resolved quickly -- and quietly. Those hopes were dashed when one report by local media mushroomed into a tornado of nationwide coverage. The story went viral. Suddenly, his name was spreading on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, accompanied by the kind of strong, unvarnished opinions that you can make about people you've never met. He was a hero who taught today's entitled youth a much-needed lesson, or an egotistical nightmare of a teacher who threw a fit. One thing was certain: He, and his employer, were now thrust into a spotlight that neither had asked for. "I did what I did without any intention of seeing this in the news or seeing this on the Internet," Horwitz said. "I will stand by what I did, but I'm not career suicidal." Texas A&M says Horwitz remains an employee and that no one has asked him to stop teaching. But Horwitz, a nontenure-track professor in the maritime administration program, is afraid the notoriety will cost him this job and future jobs. Horwitz said his intent was not to be controversial, and the sharply worded email to students was not his first about the class. The day before writing to his students, Horwitz wrote a similar email to the CEO of the Texas A&M Galveston Campus and to the school's chief academic officer. "I have never in my capacity as an academic ever encountered a class as completely disgraceful, dishonest and disrespectful" as his current strategic management class, he wrote to the administrators. He accused the students of shirking responsibility, making excuses and complaining their way to better grades. He would no longer teach the course and would fail the entire class, Horwitz wrote. "The class of graduating seniors is nothing more than a circus that is anything but academic," he wrote. "But they are your problem now." It was the next day that Horwitz wrote to the students, calling the class "an embarrassment in general," and said that "I am frankly and completely disgusted." Once his words echoed in traditional and social media, the narrative -- angry prof flunks entire class -- might as well have been set in stone. The story was such a talker that even The Onion offered a parody. "I'm not looking to fail students," Horwitz said. "I don't get a bonus for failing students." "The letter sounded a little bit more definite than I wanted it to," he added. He never actually changed anyone's grade. There were some students he wasn't going to fail, he said, and some who were on the border who could have pulled themselves out. But Horwitz stands by his tough stance; there was an issue of competency and of professionalism that had to be addressed, he said. The course in question is a capstone course for a maritime administration degree and is supposed to merge what the students learned in their other business courses. "I had a large majority of people taking the capstone course who could not do a break-even analysis," the professor said. "If you cannot do a break-even analysis, then you don't deserve a bachelor's degree in business." His other complaint was about professionalism. Horwitz said students would swear at him, cheat and spread rumors about him online. This is related to their grades, he said, because dealing with people you don't like is a business skill. On online message boards, users claiming to be students in the class accused the professor of exaggerating the situation or fabricating parts of his story. One purported student called Horwitz "a little obnoxious," but said he is a good teacher and fair if you follow his rules. Should the professor have been surprised that his email went viral? The fiery language and strong allegations were likely to be news if the email went public, but maybe there is more to it. The situation hits on a popular argument on the media and Internet: What do we think of millennials? Reflecting on his most recent class, Horwitz said there is some truth to stereotypes of millennials as entitled and pampered. He mentioned the overdependence of students on cell phones and other electronics, and the power those devices have to interrupt concentration. The other factor is a failure of K-12 education, said Horwitz, who has met college students who don't know how to convert fractions to decimals. "What I'm trying to do is to give an honest assessment of their performance," he said. In a statement, Patrick Louchouarn, the vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at Texas A&M Galveston Campus, said the entire class will not be failed. "Each student will receive an individual grade based upon work completed during the semester," Louchouarn said. "The university is listening to concerns about this issue from students and faculty and will address them according to our policies." The flurry of attention is unwelcome and Horwitz fears it will affect his career in academia. But it's likely his story will have a short shelf life. People probably will forget about it and turn their attention to the next grabby headline. But he said he thinks this episode will follow him everywhere. He said he feels a public shaming of sorts. Online public shaming has become a research topic of its own. People who have been pilloried online for comments they made wonder if they will get a second chance. "This is really destroying my life," Horwitz said.

Irwin Horwitz threatens to fail his entire class . His fiery email goes viral; he now wonders if the unwanted attention will affect his career .

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(CNN)As a boat packed with hundreds of migrants capsized in Mediterranean waters, many were trapped inside behind locked doors. That's the account one survivor of the deadly shipwreck gave to investigators, according to a statement released Sunday by prosecutors in Catania, Italy. The Bangladeshi migrant's description provides new details about what may have happened aboard the ship, which sent out a distress call in the dark of night Saturday after a couple of days at sea. As rescuers approached, authorities say migrants on the boat moved to one side, hoping to be saved. Their movement caused the large, multilevel boat to capsize about 110 kilometers (almost 70 miles) north of Libya, sending the desperate crowd plunging into the sea, their chance of survival slim. The migrant, who spoke to investigators after being airlifted to a hospital in Catania, is among dozens who authorities say were saved from the sinking vessel. He told investigators there were 950 people on board -- a number prosecutors haven't verified. Maltese authorities, who are working with Italian rescuers, earlier said around 50 of 700 people on the boat had been saved. Many on lower levels of the boat were trapped inside because smugglers had locked the doors, the migrant said, according to prosecutors. The Italian Coast Guard is collecting statements from other survivors, prosecutors said. It was the latest in a series of dangerous voyages for hundreds of men, women and children who boarded the boat in Libya, hoping to make it safely to Europe. Passengers on the boat were from a number of nations, including Algeria, Egypt, Somalia, Niger, Senegal, Mali, Zambia, Bangladesh and Ghana, prosecutors said. While the shipwreck was an accident, Malta's Prime Minister slammed the human traffickers who he accused of risking people's lives by putting them on rickety ships in unpredictable waters. "Gangs of criminals are putting people on a boat, sometimes even at gunpoint," Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said. "They're putting them on the road to death, really, and nothing else." It's "genocide -- nothing less than genocide, really," Muscat told CNN. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said that the incident could be worse than an incident last week in which 400 refugees and migrants died in the Mediterranean. "Our troops, together with the Italian navy, are literally looking through the bodies to try to find someone who's still alive," Muscat said of the latest incident at sea. Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, told CNN that survivors were taken to Sicily. The Italian Coast Guard, which is leading the rescue operation, reported that at least 24 bodies had been recovered so far at the shipwreck site. Security for Libya's borders is essential to "take out these criminal gangs -- these terrorists," Muscat said. The international community "cannot continue to turn a blind eye," he added. The leader of the international nonpartisan medical organization Doctors Without Borders had strong words Sunday for the tragedy. "A mass grave is being created in the Mediterranean Sea and European policies are responsible," said the group's president, Loris De Filippi. He compared the high number of deaths to "figures from a war zone." De Filippi called on European states to immediately launch large-scale search-and-rescue operations with proactive patrolling as close as possible to Libyan shores. "Faced with thousands of desperate people fleeing wars and crises, Europe has closed borders, forcing people in search of protection to risk their lives and die at sea," he said. "This tragedy is only just beginning, but it can and should be stopped." Doctors Without Borders will begin its own rescue effort, he added, because "as a medical, humanitarian organization, we simply cannot wait any longer." French President Francois Hollande called for the European Union to help more in the rescue. If the deaths are in the hundreds, he said, the accident could be "the worst disaster in recent years in the Mediterranean." Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called an emergency Cabinet meeting in Rome. Speaking to journalists later, he defended Italy's response. "Adding 10 more vessels" to patrol the Mediterranean, Renzi said, wouldn't solve the root of why the tragedy occurred. "This has to be clear: there was not an absence (of rescue vessels) which led to the disaster. And this is the proof that if you want to eradicate the problem from the root, you have to respond in a different way. And what we're doing in the next few hours will show this." Renzi said the focus needs to be on eradicating human trafficking and that the responsibility lies with the whole world, "not just Italy and Malta." Human Rights Watch urged the EU to act quickly. "The EU is standing by with arms crossed while hundreds die off its shores," said Judith Sunderland, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "These deaths might well have been prevented if the EU had launched a genuine search-and-rescue effort." The EU released a statement Sunday saying that it planned action down the road but didn't detail any immediate plans to help with the search for the victims of this accident. "The European Commission is deeply chagrined by the tragic developments in the Mediterranean today, but also over the past days and weeks. The reality is stark and our actions must therefore be bold. These are human lives at stake, and the European Union as a whole has a moral and humanitarian obligation to act," it said. The EU is consulting member states, European agencies and international organizations to prepare what it called a European Migration Strategy, which would be adopted in middle May. It stressed the need to "address the situation at its roots." "And as long as countries of origin and transit do not take action to prevent these desperate trips, people will continue to put their lives at risk," the statement read. Many of the migrants who board ships to cross the Mediterranean are from sub-Saharan Africa, and travel for weeks just to get to the ships. They're seeking a better life, but many are exploited by the traffickers who organize the voyages. Already this year, more than 900 migrants are believed to have died while crossing the Mediterranean -- far more than during the same period in 2014, the International Organization for Migration said Friday. In one four-day period alone, more than 8,000 migrants were rescued, according to the Italian Coast Guard. On one day alone, SOS calls came in from 20 boats in distress. Roberta Metsola, a Maltese member of the European Parliament, told CNN on Sunday that countries from Northern Europe need to share the responsibility with their southern neighbors. "The people are going to continue to arrive," she said. "The desperation subsists -- there are almost a million people waiting to board boats and come to Europe to seek a better life. And that fact has to be recognized." Journalist Barbie Nadeau and CNN's Hada Messia reported from Rome; CNN's Jethro Mullen reported Hong Kong, and CNN's Ashley Fantz, Josh Levs, Catherine E. Shoichet, Jessica King and Christine Theodorou reported from Atlanta. CNN's Tina Burnside and Susanna Capelouto contributed to this report.

A survivor tells authorities that migrants were trapped behind locked doors . Rescuers say they have found scores of bodies in the waters off Libya .

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(CNN)The accidental death of a 2-year-old boy in Milwaukee on Sunday triggered a violent chain of events, eventually claiming the lives of three more people. It all started with a birthday party that little Damani Terry was attending. During the family gathering, he dashed out into the street and was struck and killed by a GMC van, according to Milwaukee police. The distraught driver, Archie Brown Jr., 40, immediately stopped and got out to tend to the boy. But it was too late, police said. Damani was dead. Damani's alarmed family came running, including his older brother, 15-year-old Rasheed Chiles, police said. That was not the end of the situation. Soon, two more people would also die: the driver and the teen were both felled by bullets fired by the same man, police said. That man, identified as Ricky Ricardo Chiles III, was located late Wednesday at a Chicago-area hotel. He committed suicide as authorities closed in with a warrant for his arrest, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn told reporters. "Chicago police and United States Marshals Service entered the hotel room, whereupon Mr. Chiles took his own life with his firearm," the police chief said Thursday. An accidental death, a fatal retaliation rips apart two families . Damani's family members had previously identified the shooting suspect as the boys' uncle. "Sunday was the worst day I ever lived in my whole entire life," Lena Tidwell, told CNN affiliate WISN. "It's a day I wish had never, never came." Tidwell is the boys' grandmother and the mother of the alleged gunman. She said she was inside eating cake and ice cream at the birthday when her life turned upside down. "I didn't know my grandbaby got hit, and then I heard people just screaming," she said. "Then I just heard gunshots, and my daughter ran in the house with the baby in her arms." The family believes the uncle targeted Brown, and Rasheed was struck by an errant bullet. "I heard he was trying to pick his brother up. He was trying to hold him and save him," a family friend, Stephanie Townsend, told CNN affiliate WITI. Earlier this week, Flynn bemoaned the apparent madness of what happened. "What did we have Sunday?" Flynn asked. "We had some clown take the law into his own hands and murder a guy who was doing what we expect good citizens to do, and oops, accidentally kill somebody else."

Ricky Ricardo Chiles III was suspected in the shooting deaths of two people . Police say the chain of events started Sunday when a 2-year-old dashed out in front a vehicle and was killed . The driver of the vehicle and the boy's older brother died from gunshots .

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(CNN)Indiana's controversial religious freedom law has been in hot water lately. After a firestorm of backlash and protests, Gov. Mike Pence said on Tuesday that the state will "fix" the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, so it will not discriminate against gays and lesbians. Pence is making the right call. Promoting the false dichotomy between protecting religion versus protecting equality serves no one. Not all people who dislike the law hate religion, and not all people who like the law want to discriminate against the LGBT community. If people of good will come together, liberty and equality can both be saved. The unbelievably easy way to fix Indiana's RFRA is to add one small amendment, one easy line codifying that discrimination against the LGBT community is harmful, and that there is a compelling governmental interest in eliminating that harm. In general, it is a good thing for society to shape its laws in ways that allow people to live their lives consistent with their sincerely held religious obligations. As Americans, we value and always have valued the freedom and expression of religion. Sometimes, a law seems to impose only modest burdens on the people it affects, but in practice it actually severely burdens the religious practices of a few. In those situations, if there is no compelling governmental interest in enforcing that law in that particularly burdensome way -- and if no one else is harmed -- then religion should be granted an exemption. Shifting the burden to the government to prove that it really does need to apply this law in this particular way will not allow every person to become a law unto themselves; it simply sends the message that religion is important, and unless there are specific and compelling reasons why, people should be allowed to practice as they need. These are the reasons why the federal RFRA was passed in 1993, and why it had bipartisan support. These are wholesome American values that everyone can get behind. The problem is that we no longer live in 1993, 10 years before Lawrence v. Texas, and 20 before U.S. v. Windsor. In 1993, our sensibilities were different; there was not yet a national conversation about the need to protect the rights and dignity of members of the LGBT community. Timing matters because society changes, and now that our horizons have been broadened we cannot just keep insisting that the law was never intended to discriminate and worked just fine 22 years ago, before we realized its negative potential. Even if not a single lawmaker consciously intends the bill to be used as a shield for discrimination, we still have to take seriously Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' claim about unintended consequences. To put it simply, you have to be concerned with what the law allows a person to get away with. The concern is real. Because Indiana does not have a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the bill as drafted might allow people who were so inclined to discriminate, and simply assert that they could do so based on a religious belief. Public perceptions matter. Whether or not lawmakers think so, it certainly seems relevant to the general public that this bill was passed with important national decisions about marriage equality on the horizon and right after the ruling in Baskin v. Bogans that Indiana's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. Writing for the Seventh Circuit panel in 2014, Judge Richard Posner's rationale in the case of Baskin v. Bogan provides the obvious answer for how to fix the RFRA deficiency without changing what it is that it defends. Courts have long held that a religious exemption cannot be granted if it allows you to shift the harm to a third party, and -- as Posner explained so simply -- discrimination is harmful. RFRAs are not inherently evil. The message can be nondiscriminatory and religion can be protected. The principles of RFRA can remain unchanged; it is just the definition of harmful that evolves. A few simple words have the potential to completely change the conversation, send an important message about the value of equality, and make Indiana into a shining beacon of cooperation: the real "crossroads of America." Doing so would go a long way toward restoring its reputation as a place of great opportunity for all to live and worship and work.

Gov. Mike Pence is making the right call to fix Indiana's religious freedom law, which can be used for discrimination . Mark Goldfeder: Indiana should aim to be a shining beacon of cooperation: the real "crossroads of America"

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(CNN)The quaint town of Dunblane, Scotland, has been set abuzz by the wedding of tennis legend Andy Murray to his long-term girlfriend, Kim Sears. Saturday's event -- dubbed "the royal wedding of Scotland" -- took place at Dunblane Cathedral, with cheering crowds spilling onto the streets to support their home-grown talent. The grand slam and Olympic champion donned a traditional blue and green tartan kilt, while his bride dazzled in a vintage-style gown by British designer Jenny Packham. The people of Dunblane braved wind, rain and even snow to catch a glimpse of the happy couple, having seen Murray grow from a young boy into a British sporting legend. "Absolutely fabulous to see them today, especially Andy coming back to his hometown," said one lady in the crowd. "He's a hero. He's done something that all local boys would really strive to do. He's a superstar," added another. The couple met at the U.S. Open in 2005 and got engaged in November last year. Before the ceremony, and understandably lost for words, Murray resorted to a series of emoticons to sum up his excitement for the day. Fellow tennis veteran Rafael Nadal and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon posted their congratulatory messages on Twitter. But any plans for a honeymoon have been put on hold as the world number three returns to tournament action next week.

UK tennis star Andy Murray wed his long-term girlfriend, Kim Sears, in Dunblane, Scotland . Saturday's event has been dubbed "the royal wedding of Scotland"

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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)The flag is crude, handmade, but the message is clear -- allegiance to ISIS in Afghanistan. And the timing -- with America withdrawing, the Taliban fractured, young men disillusioned and angry -- could not be worse. A group of fighters in Afghanistan agreed to be filmed by a CNN cameraman parading their ISIS flags in a valley not far to the south of Kabul, the Afghan capital. They are the first images of their kind shot by western media inside Afghanistan. The rise of ISIS is an issue that the Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, has termed a "terrible threat." U.S. officials CNN has spoken to have voiced their concern about the potential for an ISIS presence. One U.S. military officer said the militants currently have limited capability but are trying to recruit disillusioned Taliban in several areas around the country's east and south. "There has been some very small numbers of recruitment that has happened," Colonel J B Vowell, told CNN. "You have disaffected Taliban who are losing politically and some of the younger, newer fighters are moving to that camp. It doesn't mean it's operationally better. We are concerned about it -- resources, weapons, capabilities. (But) I don't see an operational effect." In the valley, the men display their weapons, and practice high kicks. They are a little breathless at altitude, a little clumsy. They are all masked, all in military-style uniforms. Our cameraman described how locals seemed to keep their distance from them. It is often said that rivalry between the nascent ISIS presence and the Taliban, who remain the big guns in Afghanistan, is fierce enough to mean the ISIS fighters could be killed for brandishing the flag. But it is fatigue with the Taliban that appears to have provided fertile ground for their rise. One of them told CNN: "We established contacts with IS (another acronym for the group) through a friend who is in Helmand (in southern Afghanistan). "He called us, saying: 'the IS people have come to Afghanistan -- let's join them.' Then we joined them and pledged allegiance to them." Our cameraman wasn't allowed to film the satellite phones they say they use to talk to Iraq and Syria. They said they were religious students and deny any former association with the Taliban. They said that at night they go into nearby villages to try and find yet more recruits. They watch a mixture of online propaganda, old and new, on their smartphones. The fighter went on to explain that they were currently talking to the Taliban to determine whether they would work with or rival them. He added they are currently designating a new leader, after the supposed head of ISIS in Afghanistan, Abdul Rauf Khadim, was reportedly killed in a drone strike earlier in the year. For months, the Afghan government played down the threat of a looming ISIS presence in Afghanistan, yet during his recent trip to Washington, Ghani struck a different tone. "We are the front line. The terrorists neither recognize boundaries nor require passports to spread their message of hate and discord. From the west, Daesh is already sending advance guards to southern and western Afghanistan to push our vulnerabilities," he told U.S. Congress in late March, using the pejorative name used to describe the militants by many ISIS opponents in the region. There is some evidence to suggest that ISIS may already be operating in the country. A series of brutal attacks on civilian buses have baffled investigators in the past month. The first was in February, when 30 people from the Hazara ethnic group -- Shia Muslims -- were abducted from a bus near Zabul province in the south of the country. They have yet to return. Another hit three buses traveling in Wardak, central Afghanistan, killing 13 civilians including women and children. Suspicions have fallen on possible nascent ISIS cells as the Taliban have vehemently denied responsibility for the attacks. Khalil Andrabi, the police chief of Wardak told CNN of the bus attack: "I can't hundred percent say that they were IS, but their act was completely similar to what IS is doing in Syria (and) Iraq." Solid info on ISIS' whereabouts in the country is hard to come by. CNN spoke to local officials from five regions -- some emphasized the growing threat of the terror group, while others played it down. Zabul: MP Abdul Qader Qalatwal says: "People have seen foreigners from central Asian countries and Arab countries wearing black clothes and masks and having black flags in the districts of Khak Afghan and in parts of Arghandab." "Those foreigners are rich, even carrying U.S. dollars. They have weapons and vehicles. Some of them have even brought their families." Nangarhar: MP Esmatullah Shinwari says: "According to some reports, black flags have been seen in Nangarhar's Haska Mina district -- and a former Taliban local commander, Abdul Khaleq, is now claiming to be ISIS' representative in that district." Farah: Senator Haji Gul Ahmad Azimi says: "According to the reports I have received from local officials in Farah, a number of foreign fighters -- including women -- have been seen in the district of Khak Safid, wearing mostly black clothes, and some [with] the Arabic headscarf. They have good vehicles and they are rich [enough] to buy food or goods at local shops for twice the normal value." "They are said to live in the mountainous areas of the Khak Safid district in abandoned mud houses, and a month ago were rumored to be training in the area. I cannot 100% confirm they are ISIS, however." Wardak: MP Shir Wali Wardak says: "I don't think ISIS fighters from Syria and Iraq have come here to Afghanistan -- but hardcore Taliban members who have understood that the Taliban name is dying have changed the color of their flags from white to black in order to stay alive. I know that some black flags have been seen in Wardak province, raised by ex-Taliban fighters." Ghazni: Deputy Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi says: "There are ex-Taliban fighters operating under the name of ISIS in Ghazni province at the moment who have changed their flag from white to black. There have been armed clashes between newly-converted ISIS (members) and Taliban fighters ... who should be in control of certain places." CNN's Masoud Popalzai contributed to this report.

A group of fighters in Afghanistan is filmed by a CNN cameraman parading ISIS flags . U.S. official: ISIS militants have "no military capability" at present, but are trying to recruit disillusioned Taliban in several areas . Rivalry between ISIS and the Taliban in Afghanistan is fierce enough to mean the ISIS fighters could be killed for brandishing the flag .

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(CNN)When Etan Patz went missing in New York City at age 6, hardly anyone in America could help but see his face at their breakfast table. His photo's appearance on milk cartons after his May 1979 disappearance marked an era of heightened awareness of crimes against children. On Friday, more than 35 years after frenzied media coverage of his case horrified parents everywhere, a New York jury will again deliberate over a possible verdict against the man charged in his killing, Pedro Hernandez. He confessed to police three years ago. Etan Patz's parents have waited that long for justice, but some have questioned whether that is at all possible in Hernandez's case. His lawyer has said that he is mentally challenged, severely mentally ill and unable to discern whether he committed the crime or not. Hernandez told police in a taped statement that he lured Patz into a basement as the boy was on his way to a bus stop in Lower Manhattan. He said he killed the boy and threw his body away in a plastic bag. Neither the child nor his remains have ever been recovered. But Hernandez has been repeatedly diagnosed with schizophrenia and has an "IQ in the borderline-to-mild mental retardation range," his attorney Harvey Fishbein has said. Police interrogated Hernandez for 7½ hours before he confessed. "I think anyone who sees these confessions will understand that when the police were finished, Mr. Hernandez believed he had killed Etan Patz. But that doesn't mean he actually did, and that's the whole point of this case," Fishbein has said. But in November, a New York judge ruled that Hernandez's confession and his waiving of his Miranda rights were legal, making the confession admissible in court. Another man's name has also hung over the Patz case for years -- Jose Antonio Ramos, a convicted child molester acquainted with Etan's babysitter. Etan's parents, Stan and Julia Patz, sued Ramos in 2001. The boy was officially declared dead as part of that lawsuit. A judge found Ramos responsible for the boy's death and ordered him to pay the family $2 million -- money the Patz family has never received. Though Ramos was at the center of investigations for years, he has never been charged. He served a 20-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania for molesting another boy and was set to be released in 2012. He was reportedly immediately rearrested upon exiting jail in 2012 on failure to register as a sex offender. Since their young son's disappearance, the Patzes have worked to keep the case alive and to create awareness of missing children in the United States. In the early 1980s, Etan's photo appeared on milk cartons across the country, and news media focused in on the search for him and other missing children. "It awakened America," said Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. "It was the beginning of a missing children's movement." The actual number of children who were kidnapped and killed did not change -- it's always been a relatively small number -- but awareness of the cases skyrocketed, experts said. But the news industry was expanding to cable television, and sweet images of children appeared along with destroyed parents begging for their safe return. The fear rising across the nation sparked awareness and prompted change from politicians and police. In 1984, Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act, which led to the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Former President Ronald Reagan opened the center in a White House ceremony in 1984. It soon began operating a 24-hour toll-free hot line on which callers could report information about missing boys and girls. Joe Sterling and CNN's Lorenzo Ferrigno contributed to this report.

The young boy's face appeared on milk cartons all across the United States . Patz's case marked a time of heightened awareness of crimes against children . Pedro Hernandez confessed three years ago to the 1979 killing in .

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(CNN)It was like a scene out of "Make Way for Ducklings" on Tuesday on a rainy street in Washington. CNN Situation Room correspondent Brian Todd and photojournalist Khalil Abdallah were on their way to interview a legal analyst on L Street NW when they happened on a brood of baby ducks causing a stir. Abdallah reports the ducklings and their mom had crossed heavily trafficked street, and some restaurant patrons stopped on the sidewalk to corral them. A man gave up his umbrella for the cause "while the mom was going crazy." "One duckling tried to run back to the street but they caught it in time," Abdallah said. The mother duck followed the umbrella while pedestrians stopped cars on L street for them to safely cross the road. The Washington Post reports the pedestrians took the bird family to "a more enclosed grassy area" at 16th and L streets NW. (Yes, baby ducks warrant two national news stories.) "We thought it was an extraordinary situation," Todd said. "You see pigeons, you see squirrels, you see the occasional raccoon in the D.C. area, and ... you see deer ... We've never seen anything like this in the middle of town."

Bystanders stopped to rescue a lost brood of ducklings in D.C. Tuesday . CNN's Brian Todd and Khalil Abdallah paused to capture the scene .

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(CNN)Job one for newly appointed Attorney General Loretta Lynch is to create a muscular federal response to months of national unrest over controversial police killings like that of Freddie Gray, 25. Gray's death last week -- from a spinal cord injury he suffered while in police custody -- has touched off days of protests and rioting in Baltimore. Lynch's job won't be easy: As the nation's top law enforcement officer, she takes the reins of a Justice Department that has been walking a fine line between nudging local police departments in the direction of better community relations, and threatening legal action against departments where discrimination or brutality are out of control. But as events in Baltimore demonstrate, too many local departments aren't getting the message. Lynch will need to put down the carrots, pick up the stick and make clear that the Justice Department intends to crack down on police abuse by using one of its most potent weapons: the power to withhold federal funds from local departments. More about that in a moment. The first order of business will be to re-establish order in Baltimore, where the National Guard has been mobilized and a state of emergency declared. "In the days ahead, I intend to work with leaders throughout Baltimore to ensure that we can protect the security and civil rights of all residents," Lynch said within hours of being sworn in on Monday. "And I will bring the full resources of the Department of Justice to bear in protecting those under threat, investigating wrongdoing and securing an end to violence." A key part of that vow -- "investigating wrongdoing" -- must include a close look at the Baltimore Police Department, which has been the subject of bitter complaints of brutality. According to a major investigation by The Baltimore Sun published last fall, the city has paid out $5.7 million in court judgments or settlements to more than 100 people since 2011 in connection with allegations of brutality and/or violations of civil rights. "Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones -- jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles -- head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement," the Sun expose says. "And in almost every case, prosecutors or judges dismissed the charges against the victims -- if charges were filed at all." That kind of behavior helped set the stage for the riots and looting we now see. Lynch has already launched a probe of the death of Freddie Gray, and the Justice Department is also investigating the recent videotaped police killing of Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, where an officer has been arrested and charged with murder. As attorney general, Lynch has several tools with which to guide local law enforcement toward better behavior. A Justice Department program called Community Oriented Policing Services, launched in 2011, helps local departments implement best practices. The COPS program's effectiveness will surely come under question, since Baltimore was one of the eight departments participating in the voluntary program. Lynch can also apply the tougher approach of suing local departments and securing court-ordered reforms, a power conferred by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The provision was a result of the 1991 videotaped police beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles cops and the riot that ensued when the officers were acquitted. The Obama administration has sued local departments 15 times -- more than either the Clinton or Bush administrations -- and has opened 11 more investigations of departments including those in Cleveland, Miami, and Ferguson, Missouri. But even those tough remedies may not be working, according to the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on criminal justice issues. "Even where local leaders have embraced Washington's prescriptions, Justice Department officials have increasingly found themselves returning to grapple a second time with problems they thought they had fixed," writes reporter Simone Weichselbaum, noting that "recurring problems have emerged in police departments in Miami, New Orleans and New Jersey, all of which had promised to carry out major changes in response to Justice Department investigations that turned up evidence of discriminatory policing." That leaves Lynch with a final, even tougher weapon: the power, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to deny federal law enforcement dollars to departments that engage in discriminatory practices. Lynch's predecessor as attorney general, Eric Holder, generally refrained from yanking funds, although in 2013 he did deny drug forfeiture money to the sheriff's office in Alamance County, North Carolina, claiming the department was unlawfully targeting Latinos for traffic stops. The sheriff of Alamance County sued the Justice Department and the case remains unresolved -- but it underscores the fact that Lynch has the power to press local departments, legally and financially, to curb local abuses. She should invoke the power where necessary and calm cities like Baltimore as the nation heads into what could be a long, hot summer of unrest.

Errol Louis: New AG Loretta Lynch will try to get cops to improve community relations, end abusive practices . He says Baltimore case shows too many local departments not getting message . Lynch will have to apply range of tough measures to fix this, Louis says .

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(CNN)An unmanned Russian spacecraft originally bound for the International Space Station will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere after flight controllers lost contact with it, American astronaut Scott Kelly said Wednesday. The spacecraft that lost contact with flight controllers will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in about a week, Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, said Wednesday. "Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency) announced that the Progress will not be docking and will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere," Kelly said from the space station. The Progress resupply vehicle will come off its orbit and will begin its combustion in the atmosphere between May 5 and May 7, according to Roscosmos. The Progress vehicle does not present any danger to the International Space Station due to a significant difference in orbit, Roscosmos added. The Russia space agency said it is working on its next supply flight to the ISS and expects to launch a new Progress ship in the third quarter of this year. Russia lost contact with ISS Progress 59 during a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The ship is now spinning out of control, NASA said. Even if Russia hadn't lost contact with the craft, the original plan was for Progress to burn up re-entering Earth's atmosphere -- albeit with garbage rather than a full load of equipment for the space station. According to NASA information on the Progress resupply vehicle, "After the cargo is removed and before the Progress undocks, the crew refills it with trash, unneeded equipment and wastewater, which will burn up with the spacecraft when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere." The cargo spacecraft launched successfully early Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. But after it separated from the Soyuz booster rocket's third stage, Russian flight controllers were unable to confirm the health of all the spacecraft's systems, including the deployment of navigational antennae, NASA said. "The spacecraft made another pass over Russian ground stations and continued to experience telemetry problems regarding the deployment of navigational antennas and the pressurization of the manifolds in the propulsion system," the American space agency said in an update. A planned rendezvous with the ISS six hours later was initially postponed to Thursday but has now been canceled, NASA said in its latest update. "Docking has been called off for the Progress 59 spacecraft," it said. "Russian flight controllers are continuing to assess the vehicle and what the plan going forward will be. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available." Few details have been forthcoming so far from Roscosmos. According to NASA, the cargo ship is carrying more than 3 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, spare parts and scientific experiment hardware for the space station. But the hitch will not put the six ISS crew members at risk, NASA said. "The spacecraft was not carrying any supplies critical for the United States Operating Segment (USOS) of the station," a statement said. "Both the Russian and USOS segments of the station continue to operate normally and are adequately supplied well beyond the next planned resupply flight." That next flight, which will be the seventh SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the space station, is not scheduled to take off before June 19, NASA said. Meanwhile, Russian flight controllers continue their efforts to make contact with Progress 59 as it passes over Russian ground stations. NASA said Tuesday that Russian flight controllers had "confirmed that the vehicle had entered into a slow spin and have issued commands to attempt to control it." According to Russian state news agency Tass, six attempts to make contact were to be made Wednesday. The U.S. supplies on board the spacecraft include spare parts for the station's environmental control and life support system, backup spacewalk hardware and crew clothing, "all of which are replaceable," NASA said. U.S. astronaut Terry Virts, from Maryland, is the current space station commander. CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin, Suzanne Presto and Amanda Barnett contributed to this report.

Progress 59 spacecraft will re-enter Earth's atmosphere in a week, Russia space agency says . NASA: Russian flight controllers have been trying to make contact with the unmanned space freighter . Space station crew can manage without supplies carried by the spacecraft, NASA says .

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(CNN)Robert Bates says he gets it, how you might wonder how a cop could confuse a pistol for a stun gun. Bates -- the Tulsa County, Oklahoma, reserve sheriff's deputy accused of manslaughter in the death of a fleeing suspect -- told NBC's "Today" show Friday that he used to think that, too. "Believe me," he told the show in his first appearance since being charged in the April 2 death of Eric Harris, "it can happen to anyone." Harris died after Bates shot him -- accidentally, he says -- after calling out "Taser! Taser!" in a tussle captured on a police body camera. Bates told investigators that he mistook his firearm for the stun gun. How easy is it to confuse a gun for a Taser? While Bates is at the center of the maelstrom over Harris' death, he isn't the only one under scrutiny. The Oklahoma NAACP wants charges against other officers involved in Harris' death, and a state and federal investigation into the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office's treatment of minorities. The sheriff's office also finds itself fending off allegations that supervisors were told to forge Bates' training records. In his interview Friday with "Today," Bates said he had the documentation to show he had completed the necessary training required of reserve deputies. "That is absolutely the truth. I have it in writing," he told the show. And on Thursday, a sheriff's office official denied to the Tulsa World newspaper that any records had ever been forged. As an advanced reserve deputy, sheriff's office policy calls for Bates to have completed 480 hours of the field training officer program, according to the Tulsa World. Bates would also have needed firearms certification training. Officials have yet to locate records showing what training Bates completed, said Maj. Shannon Clark of the sheriff's office. But Clark did say it's possible that some training requirements may have been waived. Sheriff Stanley Glanz has the authority to waive any department policies, Clark said. "The policies within our organization are signed off by the sheriff, but there are also policies that give the sheriff the ability to waive any policy within our organization. That's part of being a sheriff's office," Clark told the newspaper. Glanz told KFAQ radio this week that officials can't find records of Bates' firearms certification. The instructor who provided that training is now a U.S. Secret Service agent, and officials haven't been able to locate training records she was supposed to have turned in, Glanz told the station. Other discrepancies have surfaced about training that Bates claims to have attended, including questions about active shooter and homicide investigation instruction. Tulsa World reporter Dylan Goforth said the paper had been told by multiple sources that Bates' records had been falsified. The newspaper has not said who allegedly asked the supervisors to falsify the training records or why. But the orders apparently started years ago, "back when (Bates) was trying to get on as a deputy," reporter Ziva Branstetter told CNN's "New Day." Bates has donated equipment to the department and was also a donor to Glanz's re-election campaign, leading to allegations he had essentially paid to be a cop. He rejected that claim in the "Today" interview as "unbelievably unfair." Bates' attorney, Clark Brewster, also has rejected the allegations of poor training or forgery as unfounded. He said those making the accusations include fired sheriff's office employees represented by the law firm that also represents Harris' family. "His training is extensive and certainly adequate," Brewster told CNN on Thursday. Bates appeared on the "Today" show with his wife, two daughters and Brewster. He seemed composed but said he was still might be in shock over what had happened. "I can tell you it stayed with me for a number of days," Bates said. "I'm not at all sure it's not still with me today. Lack of sleep, inability to concentrate, all of those plus more. You know, I still can't believe it happened." In describing the events leading up to Harris' death, Bates said he was parked several blocks away from the site where an undercover deputy was conducting a sting operation to catch Harris in the act of illegally selling a gun. Bates said he had participated in "several hundred" such operations but always in a backup role where he would come in and "clean up" after deputies, taking photos and notes. But as deputies rolled up to arrest him after the sale, Harris bolted from the vehicle and ran toward Bates' position. As deputies were trying to subdue Harris, Bates told investigators he saw an opportunity to use his stun gun to help get the suspect under control. "I yelled, 'Taser! Taser!' as required in training. The deputy below me ducked, he pulled away from it so that I could," Bates said. "The laser light is the same on each weapon. I saw the light and I squeezed the trigger," Bates told "Today." The result was not the staccato click of a well-deployed stun gun. Instead, it was a gunshot. "I shot him! I'm sorry!" Bates is heard emotionally saying on video of the incident. Bates apologized to Harris' family, who have rejected allegations he was violent and on drugs. Harris' brother, Andre Harris, said this week that he didn't think the shooting was racially motivated. Instead, he said, "This is simply evil." But Bates,who is charged with second-degree manslaughter, said he didn't mean to kill Harris. His attorney has called it an "excusable homicide." "I rate this as No. 1 on my list of things in my life that I regret," said Bates, who is free on $25,000 bail.

"I rate this as No. 1 on my list of things in my life that I regret," Robert Bates tells "Today" He says he didn't mean to kill Eric Harris and rejects claims his training records were forged . "I still can't believe it happened," Bates tells the NBC show .

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(CNN)A jury of Rolling Stone's media peers has dissected the magazine's disastrous, discredited story about rape on the campus of the University of Virginia, and the emerging consensus is that Rolling Stone's lapses and sloppy blunders amount to journalistic malpractice -- made all the worse by the magazine's head-in-the sand reaction to the thorough, devastating report released by a panel of investigators from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Rolling Stone's egregious mistakes of reporting and editing are regrettable but understandable. The magazine's decision not to fire anybody or reorganize its newsroom operation is not. Before the original story, "A Rape on Campus," was pulled from the Rolling Stone website, it registered 2.7 million hits following its publication in November -- more than any noncelebrity story in the magazine's history. An anonymous undergraduate, given the name "Jackie," told Rolling Stone writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely she had been invited to a party thrown by Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 2012 -- only to end up beaten and gang-raped by seven boys, who were allegedly coached along in the attack by the same student, a casual acquaintance, who had invited Jackie to the party. The horrific allegations sparked protests against the fraternity, a police investigation, the temporary suspension of all fraternities at the school and a nationwide debate about the prevalence of sexual violence on college campuses. But the story began to unravel almost immediately when Washington Post reporter T. Rees Shapiro took a closer look, leading Rolling Stone to back away from the story and request a review by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. That review, which is considerably longer than the original article, reveals startling lapses in basic journalistic practice. Rolling Stone writer Erdely never verified the identity of the attacker and therefore never confronted him with the allegations; she never spoke to three of Jackie's friends who allegedly talked with Jackie immediately after the attack, and she never gave the fraternity a fair chance to respond, refusing to provide specific information about what happened and when. And at every step of the way, when Jackie began acting flaky -- refusing to provide basic information needed to verify her story or vanishing for weeks at a time without returning calls from the reporter -- neither Erdely nor her editors or the magazine's fact checkers made the hard but necessary decision to hit the pause button and decline to run the story. Having worked part time as a journalism professor for a decade (including one semester at Columbia), I would agree with colleagues who call Rolling Stone's lapses the kind that would be unacceptable in a freshman classroom. I've told students for years: You should never print allegations without giving people a fair chance to respond. And you should never take a source's word about important facts without verifying the truth. (There's a reason we call it reporting and not dictation.) Most of all, I tell students, remember that you're writing about human beings, who are complicated creatures: The good guys are never all that good, and the bad guys usually aren't completely bad. People can be mistaken or deceitful, I tell young reporters, they frequently forget and often lie to themselves. That doesn't make a source useless, but it must make you extra careful. Unfortunately, the early word from Rolling Stone is that they've absorbed none of these lessons. Publisher Jann Wenner has apparently decided not to fire, demote or discipline anybody at Rolling Stone, provoking expressions of disbelief among seasoned journalists. "No one fired at Rolling Stone. Really?" wrote CNN media critic Brian Stelter. "What would Rolling Stone in its heyday write about an institution that screwed up unbelievably, damaged people's lives, but punished no one?" tweeted John Bresnahan, the Capitol bureau chief of Politico. "Rolling Stone outsources its investigation to Columbia and proceeds to do nothing in terms of individual accountability afterward? OK...," tweeted pundit Joe Concha. Worse still, the editors who committed the blunder seem unprepared to revamp their operation to prevent a repeat of the debacle, framing the error as an earnest but misguided attempt to believe the word of a sexual assault victim. "Rolling Stone's senior editors are unanimous in the belief that the story's failure does not require them to change their editorial systems," the Columbia report says. And check out this amazing conclusion from Will Dana, the managing editor who presided over the disaster. Dana told the Columbia team: "It's not like I think we need to overhaul our process, and I don't think we need to necessarily institute a lot of new ways of doing things. We just have to do what we've always done and just make sure we don't make this mistake again." That smug attitude pretty much ensures Rolling Stone's newsroom managers will commit another goof in the future. At a minimum, they should heed the wise counsel of my friend Bill Grueskin, an executive editor at Bloomberg who formerly served as dean of academic affairs at the Columbia J-school. "When doing big, investigative stories, reporters face many challenges: recalcitrant sources, complex numbers, buried records. Editors, whose labors are usually cloaked in anonymity, are spared most of those hurdles. But they face their own internal newsroom challenges, particularly when handling a potential blockbuster story," Grueskin writes. "They must keep their star reporters happy, trim verbiage that interrupts the narrative, and deal with the expectations of bosses hungry for prizes and traffic." The problem could be, says Grueskin, that Rolling Stone had too many chefs in the kitchen, instead of "a single, talented editor with an intact set of vertebrae." Until Wenner and his team learn that basic lesson -- and revamp their hiring, editing and fact-checking process accordingly -- the Rolling Stone fiasco will eventually be followed by another, one made less forgivable because we all saw it coming.

Columbia journalism school team finds major lapses in Rolling Stone's University of Virginia rape story . Errol Louis: Incredibly, the magazine isn't holding its staff accountable or changing procedures .

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(CNN)If that was a tornado, it was one monster of one. Luckily, so far it looks like no one was hurt. With tornadoes touching down near Dallas on Sunday, Ryan Shepard snapped a photo of a black cloud formation reaching down to the ground. He said it was a tornado. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it looked half a mile wide. More like a mile, said Jamie Moore, head of emergency management in Johnson County, Texas. It could have been one the National Weather Service warned about in a tweet as severe thunderstorms drenched the area, causing street flooding. "To repeat--tornadoes (yes, two) likely W and E of Rio Vista. The one to the E of Rio Vista is a large, damaging tornado," the NWS tweeted. Luckily, it tore through countryside, and there have been no reports of deaths. But surveyors had not been out to check for damage or casualties overnight because the weather was so bad, Moore said. There are reports of damage -- including many roofs ripped off -- in Rio Vista and Grandview, both outliers of Fort Worth. On social media, images circulated of flipped 18-wheelers. Tempestuous clouds created dangerous, awe-inspiring funnels and disks as a front swept through. Residents reported hail the size of softballs and posted photos as proof.

Surveyors did not check for damage or casualties overnight due to bad weather . The National Weather Service sent tweets warning of a large tornado . A resident snapped a photo of what could be a very large tornado .

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(CNN)Ahmed Farouq didn't have the prestige of fellow al Qaeda figure Osama bin Laden, the influence of Anwar al-Awlaki, or the notoriety of Adam Gadahn. Still, he was a big deal. That's the assessment of multiple sources on a man who may not have been well-known in the West, but nonetheless had a special role in the terrorist group. Farouq -- an American -- died in a U.S. counterterrorism airstrike in January, according to the White House. Two al Qaeda hostages, Warren Weinstein of the United States and Giovanni Lo Porto from Italy, were killed in the same strike, while Gadahn died in another U.S. operation that month. Before that, Farouq was the deputy emir of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, a branch of the Islamist extremist group that formed in recent years. The branch made its presence known in September 2014, when militants infiltrated Pakistan's navy and tried to hijack one of its ships, according to the SITE Institute, which monitors terror groups. The group's spokesman, Usama Mahmoud, on Twitter compared the Pakistani naval officers involved in the attempted hijacking to Nidal Hasan, SITE reported. Hasan is the U.S. Army psychiatrist sentenced to death for killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. Osama Mehmood, a spokesman for al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, said that Farouq and another top figure, Qari Abdullah Mansur, were killed in a January 15 drone strike in Pakistan's Shawal Valley. They were senior al Qaeda leaders, according to Mehmood. American mouthpiece for al Qaeda killed . CNN's Sophia Saifi contributed to this report.

Ahmed Farouq was a leader in al Qaeda's India branch . He was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism airstrike in January . Like Adam Gadahn, Farouq was American and part of al Qaeda .

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(CNN)In 2001, the Taliban wiped out 1700 years of history in a matter of seconds, by blowing up ancient Buddha statues in central Afghanistan with dynamite. They proceeded to do so after an attempt at bringing down the 175-foot tall sculptures with anti-aircraft artillery had failed. Sadly, the event was just the first in a series of atrocities that have robbed the world of some of its most prized cultural heritage. But historical architecture is also under threat from calamities which might well escape our control, such as earthquakes and climate change. The thought of losing a piece of our collective history is a bleak one. But if loss can't be avoided, technology can lend a hand. Now CyArk, a non-profit company founded by an Iraqi-born engineer, is using groundbreaking laser scanning to ensure that -- at the very least -- incredibly accurate digital versions of the world's treasures will stay with us forever. Ben Kacyra was born in Mosul, Iraq, in 1940. He moved to the United States in 1964, and in the 1990s he was instrumental in the design of the first portable laser scanner. He founded CyArk, a company that specializes in digital preservation of threatened ancient and historical architecture, in 2003. "Two events happened that really influenced me and my wife," he told CNN's Nick Glass, "The Taliban blew up the Buddhas and an earthquake happened in Bam, in Iran. "It demolished a whole mud city. So we looked at each other and we said, you know, sometimes you can't prevent an earthquake, obviously, and it's very expensive to go back and rebuild, but if it had been scanned, our children and grandchildren would get the opportunity to come back and learn the history of that place." Since then, Kacyra has been doing exactly that: in a 2011 TED talk he explained his quest to preserve our "collective treasure", and he has a plan to scan 500 World Heritage sites in five years. So far, the list of completed scans includes Ancient Thebes, Chichen Itza, Fort Laramie, Mesa Verde, Mount Rushmore, Petra, Pompeii, Rapa Nui, the Sydney Opera House, Tikal, and his native Mosul. The idea is not just to protect endangered structures, but to offer free educational access to the digital recreations of important monuments via the web. "We have that data, and if something -- God forbid -- happens to these, the data is there," says Kacyra. In fact, current events have already caught up with the project: the Royal Tombs of Kasubi, in Uganda, were destroyed in 2010 by suspected arson. CyArk had mapped them a year earlier, and that could lead to the reconstruction of what was lost. "I'm constantly looking at what's happening in Iraq and Syria. "I'm so glad that we had already started and developed the tools that allowed us to go and be proactive to capture some of these things before these very unfortunate events." To scan the surroundings, CyArk uses a portable, eye-safe laser device based on a technology called Lidar -- a portmanteau of the words light and radar. It accurately maps a physical area much like a radar, but using lasers instead of radio waves. "We have a very powerful laser that sends a beam of light pulsing 50,000 times per second," explains Kacyra, "which means that it's collecting 50,000 points of everything that's in front it as it pulses up and down and in a circular fashion, generating the geometry of everything that's in the space around it." In other words, "We gave the world a 3D laser scanner that has revolutionized how reality is captured." Although its focus is in providing open access to cultural heritage, CyArk is also attracting interest for alternative uses of the technology. "We are discovering applications way beyond what we had anticipated," says Kacyra. "For example, the Highway Patrol wants to use it in accident reconstruction on the road or in crime scene investigations. Where did the bullets go, trajectories and all that - this gives you the entire thing in minutes and then you can do all the analysis work." Not even Hollywood is immune from the allure of laser scanning. "Imagine it going all the way to art, the movies, movie sets. My wife got really excited about the first use in the movie field." Before founding CyArk, Kacyra had developed a similar technology called Cyrax, which he then subsequently sold. This technology was first used during the production of the 1997 sci-fi cult movie Starship Troopers, to scan an underground cave. "They found out it was going to cost too much money to measure the cave so they could model it, something like half a million dollars and six weeks. "They had heard about our scanning system so we went there. I think we did it for 20,000 dollars, and in a day or two, and it got used in a movie for the first time. "It's ubiquitous now in the movie industry for virtual sets."

A company called CyArk specializes in digital preservation of threatened ancient and historical architecture . Founded by an Iraqi-born engineer, it plans to preserve 500 World Heritage sites within five years .

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Marseille, France (CNN)Investigators have collected all the main evidence from the site where Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed, a French national police official told CNN on Saturday. Investigators are not expected to return to the crash site, said Capt. Yves Naffrechoux of the High Mountain Gendarmerie. The plane crashed March 24 in rugged terrain of the Alps about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the town of Seyne-les-Alpes. "All the police investigators have left the (Germanwings) crash site," he said. "There is only a private security company ensuring security around the crash site so that no one can go there." The security firm will guard the site until the remaining debris is collected and taken to secure locations for further analysis, if necessary, he said. The flight data recorder, or "black box," was found Thursday by a member of the recovery team. The cockpit voice recorder was found days after the crash. In addition, out of more than 2,000 DNA samples collected from the crash site, lab workers have isolated 150 DNA profiles, said Brice Robin, Marseilles prosecutor. The crash killed all 150 people on board. Brice Robin, Marseilles prosecutor, said authorities have found 470 personnel effects at the site. That number includes 40 cell phones, though all those were badly damaged. Robin cast doubt that any useful information could be retrieved from those phones, given their condition. Authorities say the flight's co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, locked the captain out of the cockpit and engineered the plane's demise. Initial tests on the flight data recorder show that Lubitz purposely used the controls to speed up the plane's descent, according to the French air accident investigation agency, the BEA. It also has emerged that Lubitz had battled depression years before he took the controls of Flight 9525 and that he had concealed from his employer recent medical leave notes saying he was unfit for work. Calls for crash avoidance technology . CNN's Margot Haddad reported from Marseille, and Greg Botelho wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.

"All the police investigators have left the (Germanwings) crash site," a police official says . Private security company is ensuring no one goes on the site, official says . Authorities say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane, killing all 150 on board .

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Boston (CNN)When the bomb went off, Steve Woolfenden thought he was still standing. That was because, as he lay on the ground, he was still holding the handles of his son's stroller. He pulled back the stroller's cover and saw that his son, Leo, 3, was conscious but bleeding from the left side of his head. Woolfenden checked Leo for other injuries and thought, "Let's get out of here." That was before he noticed his Achilles tendon, which resembled transparent tape covered in blood, and his left tibia protruding from his boot. The boot was next to his left stump, he testified before a federal jury Thursday, the third day in which survivors and family members of those killed in the Boston Marathon bombing shared their stories -- often gruesome and heartbreaking -- in the sentencing phase for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The prosecution rested Thursday afternoon after attempting to convince jurors that Tsarnaev was cold-hearted and remorseless. The defense, led by famed death penalty opponent Judy Clarke, is expected to try to soften that portrayal by calling witnesses to explain Tsarnaev's difficult upbringing. Clarke will begin those efforts Monday. A group of Tsarnaev's relatives arrived at Boston's Logan International Airport on Thursday, CNN affiliate WHDH reported, but it's not clear if they plan to testify. The jury must decide whether the 21-year-old, who has been found guilty of perpetrating the attack with his now-deceased brother, will die for his crimes or spend his life in prison. Woolfenden, a biomedical researcher for the Novartis Institutes, recalled using his belt as a tourniquet on his leg and trying to comfort Leo. The boy cried, "Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!" he testified. Amid the stench of "burning hair, blood, sulfur," a good Samaritan emerged. He gave Woolfenden another tourniquet and rushed Leo to safety. "I was completely terrified because I didn't know if I was ever going to see my son again. There was blood all over the sidewalk, all around me," he said. Dr. David King, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, spent 14 years in the U.S. Army as a combat surgeon and served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. He has treated and operated on hundreds of troops injured by improvised explosive devices, he testified, and what he saw in Boston that day wasn't much different from the carnage he witnessed in war zones. "I arrived just as the first wave of casualties had shown up," he said. "I looked across the patients and I knew immediately, without anyone having to tell me, exactly what the wounding mechanism was." Heather Abbott had no such experience, so when one of the two bombs exploded, sending her through the doors of a restaurant and into a "puddle of chaos and blood and glass," her instinct was to run. But she couldn't. Her foot felt like it was on fire, she testified. Two women helped her as she overheard someone saying a Hail Mary. She called for her husband. He picked her up and carried her out of the restaurant. "I saw blood pouring out of my foot," she said. She finally got to a hospital, and after three attempts to save her foot, which was missing its entire heel, a doctor told her she had a decision: She could keep her leg and risk a life of excruciating pain or have it amputated below the knee. She chose the latter. "It was probably the hardest decision I've had to make," she testified. Another marathon attendee rendered an amputee by the Tsarnaev brothers' attack, Marc Fucarile, recounted the two bombs going off. "I stepped back, and the next thing I remember was looking up at the sky," he testified, adding that he remembered "a lot of yelling, a lot of screaming, people crying out for tourniquets." A nurse was sitting on his chest, and someone said, "Oh, s***, he's on fire!" He tried to undo his belt and got a third-degree burn because the buckle was so hot. A firefighter would later tell Fucarile that he handed his own right leg to the firefighter. He doesn't remember that. In addition to treating him for severe burns over much of his body, doctors had to cut off a bone and stretch muscle over the stub so that a prosthetic would fit. He still gets blisters. "So where the prosthetic attaches on your butt, it rubs and breaks down and creates open wounds," he said. And though his left leg survived, it was severely burned, his calf muscle was blown off and his heel was shattered, he said. He hopes to save the left leg, he testified, but it's likely that it will have to be amputated above the knee. He takes more than 70 pills -- 24 pills in morning, 22 in afternoon, 26 at night -- to cope with his injuries, he said. One of the most dramatic points in Thursday's testimony involved the death of young Martin Richard. The prosecution showed close-up video of the 8-year-old, who was only 3½ feet from one of the bombs, according to the FBI's re-creation of the crime scene. His parents, Bill and Denise, are opposed to Tsarnaev receiving the death penalty and did not participate in the penalty phase, though Bill Richard did testify during the guilt phase. Dr. King told the court that Martin was especially vulnerable to the blast because he was so small and close to the ground, meaning the shrapnel more easily reached his head and torso. It's highly unlikely the boy died instantly, King said. Explaining that Martin died of rapid blood loss, King testified, "Receptors are generally not responsive to cutting. If you happen to be awake and someone cuts your bowel or liver, it generally does not hurt. What hurts is the stretching and twisting. ... Intestines were pulled and twisted; that would have caused visceral type pain." Woolfenden, the biomedical researcher, recalled seeing Martin and his mother shortly after the good Samaritan took Woolfenden's son, Leo, to safety. "I saw Martin's face, and I could see a boy that looked like he was fatally injured," he said, . Martin's hair was singed, his eyes had rolled back into his head and his mouth was agape. As for Martin's torso, "I saw an immense amount of blood. I was really, really terrified," Woolfenden said. He recalled Denise Richard pleading with her son, saying, "please" and "Martin" over and over. Woolfenden placed his hand on Denise Richard's back, he said. She turned to ask Woolfenden if he was OK. He said he was, and she turned her attention back to Martin. But no response came. According to testimony, Martin's aorta was nearly severed and he was eviscerated by shrapnel from the blast. He bled to death on the sidewalk, and the last thing he probably felt was excruciating pain from the force of the blast twisting his internal organs. CNN's Patrick Cornell contributed to this report.

Tsarnaev family members arrive in Boston, but it's not clear if they'll testify . A woman testifies that she had to choose whether to keep her leg; some other victims had no choice . Starting Monday, the defense is expected to call witnesses to explain Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's difficult upbringing .

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Catania, Sicily (CNN)We are at the beginning of a massive and mounting crisis with no solution in sight. Perhaps that's incorrect. The migrant crisis that has suddenly drawn hundreds of journalists to Sicily has been brewing for years, but in the past 10 days, with as many as 1,600 deaths in the Mediterranean, suddenly minds are focused -- for now. Almost exactly four years ago, in Libya, I caught, perhaps, a glimpse of what was to come. It was late at night in the besieged city of Misrata. Hundreds of African migrants were caught between the Libyan civil war (back then some optimistically called it a "revolution") and the deep blue sea. They had come to Misrata from Ghana, Nigeria and elsewhere, hoping to board rickety boats to cross the sea to Europe. They had been pinned down under sporadic shelling from government forces, but weren't welcome by the rebels who controlled the city. They appealed to us to help them escape. We could do nothing, but they may have eventually found their way out when the fighting subsided. The fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime, which we reporters covered so avidly, was followed by chaos, which we in the news media largely neglected, focused as we journalists were on the next catastrophe, the Syrian civil war. In that chaos, the business of human trafficking has boomed. And now that boom in human misery is coming in waves to the shores of Italy. The focus today is on those lost at sea. Aware of the tragedy underway, however, Italians are alarmed at the prospect that this year alone as many as a million migrants could arrive in Europe, according to one European Union official. That is certainly the case in the Sicilian port of Catania, where many migrants arrive. The city's mayor, Enzo Bianco, insists city residents bear no ill will toward the migrants, but says Catania, and Sicily cannot absorb the ever-growing numbers. The rest of Europe must help carry the burden. "If something serious isn't done," he warns, "dramas like these will be repeated. This problem will not be resolved by hiding our heads in the sand." Increasingly, some Italians are losing their patience. Two northern regions, Veneto and Valle d'Aosta, have declared they will no longer accept new migrants. The rightist Lega Nord has made opposition to new migrants a pillar of its party program. Others, however, insist Italy must keep its doors open. In Catania port, I spoke with Grazia Giurato, who had joined a small protest in solidarity with the migrants. "Many years ago, our grandparents emigrated," she recalled. "Let's keep that in mind." Indeed, in tougher times, millions of impoverished Italians left their homeland to settle in the Americas and Australia. They, too, like the migrants from Africa and the Middle East, were fleeing grinding poverty and war. And they, too, experienced the kind of prejudice and resentment in lands their descendants now proudly call home. That's the long view, perhaps. But now, today, Italians are grappling to deal with the consequences of an array of old and new ills, ranging from failing states and failing economies to endemic corruption, hopeless poverty, oppression and injustice that no one state or group of states can solve without a gargantuan, expensive and politically daunting effort. And while this crisis has been brewing for years, it is now truly upon us.

Hundreds of desperate migrants have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean in recent says . And Italians are alarmed that this year as many as a million migrants could arrive in Europe .

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(CNN)Beer and ice cream. It doesn't exactly spring to mind when you think of classic food pairings -- old friends such as bacon and eggs or steak and cabernet. But Colorado's New Belgium Brewery and the folks at Ben & Jerry's are teaming up on a beer inspired by ice cream -- salted caramel brownie ice cream, to be precise. "At this time I can confirm that Ben & Jerry's and New Belgium are collaborating to raise awareness around issues we are passionate about, and that the results will be delicious," New Belgium's Director of Sustainability, Jenn Vervier, said in a statement. Both companies have a history of social activism, and the new project will be no different, they say. Their release doesn't say what the campaign will be all about, but Ben & Jerry's Senior Global Marketing Manager Jay Curley promises it will be "impactful." "We're big fans of New Belgium Brewery, their values, and their fun culture, and of course their beer," he said. "We're excited for the campaign we've developed together." The companies will announce the details later this year, and the beer is set to hit shelves in the fall. New Belgium and Ben & Jerry's are both what are called "B Corporations," a certification issued by the private non-profit B Labs to companies that meet its social, environmental, accountability and transparency standards. New Belgium supports sustainable agriculture, climate change and other initiatives, while Ben & Jerry's -- now a subsidiary of global conglomerate Unilever -- stays true to its hippie roots with support for environmental initiatives, fair trade efforts, marriage equality and more. Last month, Ben & Jerry's cofounder Ben Cohen said he'd be open to the idea of a marijuana-infused ice cream someday, news that set pot fans ablaze. But sadly for beer fans, there's no talk of a beer-flavored ice cream. Not yet anyway.

New Belgium Brewery will make a beer inspired by Ben & Jerry's ice cream . It will be called "Salted Caramel Brownie"

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(CNN)The shootings' main similarity is that the officer was white and the victim was black and unarmed. Outside of that, the highly publicized police shootings in Ferguson and North Charleston bear only mild resemblance. So what's changed between the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August, and that of Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, last weekend? And did the backlash and publicity of the Ferguson shooting influence the handling of the North Charleston incident? It's tough to say for sure, but here are some of the stark differences in the cases, the lessons learned by both police and the public, and concrete changes that could help mend tensions in the future. Ferguson: Officer Darren Wilson said he shot Brown after the two struggled over Wilson's gun, and witnesses to the shooting had different accounts -- often conflicting -- of where Wilson was, where Brown was and whether Brown was surrendering or charging the officer. North Charleston: Though it's unclear what happened in the moments before a bystander began recording the incident on his phone, it's 100% clear from the video that Scott was not posing a threat to Officer Michael Slager when the policeman opened fire on Scott as he ran away. Takeaway: Where Brown's killing was a breeding ground for speculation -- with a stark divide between those who said Wilson was justified and those who said Brown was senselessly slain -- no such debate has emerged in the Scott shooting. It would be tough to extrapolate for certain, but it's possible that the clear-cut imagery of an officer shooting a fleeing man in the back resulted in the prompt charges against the officer, and that quick reaction by authorities in South Carolina after the video surfaced headed off the sort of violence that repeatedly unfolded in Ferguson as the process of determining Wilson's fate dragged on for months. Ferguson: Black residents outnumber whites in the St. Louis suburb by more than a 2-to-1 ratio, yet at the time of Brown's shooting, there were only three black officers on the city's 53-member force, and there was only one African-American member of the six-member City Council. (Two more African-Americans were voted in during this week's city's elections.) North Charleston: It's closer to an even split here, with census data from 2010 showing the city is 47% black and 42% white. The makeup of the city's police department is unclear, though it's been widely reported that 2007 federal figures indicated it was about 80% black. Three of the 10 City Council members are black. Takeaway: The ratio of white and black officers on the North Charleston Police Department appears to more closely mirror the makeup of its population than does the Ferguson Police Department, but both are considerably off. As for the city councils, the latest election in Ferguson makes its governing body more representative than North Charleston's. But before you place too much emphasis on the percentages, there are other variables to consider, like policing methods, as CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill pointed out. Changing the racial makeup of a department alone won't do the trick if officers aren't taught the best practices. "Black people didn't march and fight and struggle to have black officers kill us and black officers beat us and black officers harass us," he said. "I want police officers who are capable of doing the job properly. We need community-based policing if we're going to believe that police are the proper force to be in our neighborhoods." Ferguson: There was no bystander video of Michael Brown's death -- no concrete evidence to support or refute different witness claims about what had transpired. North Charleston: It's unlikely Slager would have been fired and charged with murder so quickly if not for video shot by witness Feidin Santana. Even North Charleston's police chief said he was disgusted by the footage of Scott's shooting. Not only does the video show Slager firing eight shots at Scott as he's running away, it also shows him placing a dark-colored object next to Scott's lifeless body. That could be significant, because Slager initially said Scott had taken his Taser and he feared for his life. But if investigators determine the object dropped next to Scott's body was actually the Taser, Slager could be accused of planting evidence. The takeaway: Ferguson resident Alexis Templeton said what happened in her city helped people across the country to feel empowered to stand up for themselves. The video of the North Charleston shooting, she said, is vital. "If there is no video, folks don't believe it because it sounds so asinine that something like this would ever happen in this country," she said. "But with a video, you can't say it's not happening." Ferguson: The largely peaceful protests in Ferguson were marred by looting, arson and even shootings. Violence erupted again in November after Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, wasn't indicted. And even after Ferguson's police chief resigned last month, two officers were shot during a protest at the Ferguson Police Department. North Charleston: After Scott was killed in South Carolina over the weekend, protests in North Charleston have been peaceful so far. The takeaway: Some Ferguson residents say what happened in their city is playing a role in the way North Charleston is handling its own tragedy. Lee Smith, who recently made an unsuccessful bid for a Ferguson City Council seat, said he was glad to see authorities in South Carolina charge Slager with murder. "I am hopeful that their motives are right and not just based on the fact that they are trying to avoid the same types of issues that came down in Ferguson," Smith said. Ferguson: It took Ferguson police six days to publicly identify Wilson as the officer who shot Brown, and in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, then-police chief Thomas Jackson decided not to visit Brown's family. And rather than charge Wilson and let a grand jury decide whether the charges had merit -- as many civil rights advocates wanted -- the prosecutor in the case instead made the unorthodox choice of presenting both sides himself and letting the grand jury decide whether to charge the officer. North Charleston: Slager was identified by authorities and charged with murder on Tuesday, two days after Santana shared his video with Scott's family. Mayor Keith Summey denounced the shooting and said Slager made a "bad decision." Both Summey and the police chief also visited Scott's family. "When you're wrong, you're wrong," he said. "And if you make a bad decision -- don't care if you're behind the shield or just a citizen on the street -- you have to live by that decision." The takeaway: Former Ferguson Mayor Brian Fletcher said the city has influenced others. "I think these situations are given much more scrutiny now," said Fletcher, who won a seat on Ferguson's city council this week. "They have seen what has happened here in Ferguson. Every mayor and city council is very cautious in what they say and what they do." Ferguson: After Brown's death in August, many asked why Wilson didn't have a body camera. The shooting spurred a nationwide debate over whether officers should wear cameras on their lapels. Three months later, President Barack Obama pledged $263 million to procure body cameras and training for up to 50,000 police officers. North Charleston: Slager also was not wearing a body camera when he killed Scott. But after the shooting, the mayor said the city was ordering an additional 150 body cameras "so every officer on the street" in the city will have one. That's in addition to 101 body cameras already ordered, Summey said. The takeaway: Not everyone agrees that all officers should wear body cameras. Some police unions have scoffed at the idea, and the American Civil Liberties Union has cited privacy concerns. They're also expensive. Several camera models cost at least $500 each, and storing all that footage can cost as much as $20,000 a year. But National Urban League President Marc Morial said more body cameras will help protect not just the public, but also police. "I think if officers know that their actions are being recorded on a consistent basis, it's going to protect good officers who do the right thing," Morial said. "But it's also going to ferret out, if you will, bad actions by bad officers." CNN's Moni Basu, Gregory Wallace and Wolf Blitzer contributed to the report.

Protests in South Carolina have been calm compared to the violence in Ferguson . North Charleston's mayor says hundreds of body cameras will be on officers . It took six days for Ferguson police to identify Darren Wilson, who was not wearing a camera .

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(CNN)Five years ago, Rebecca Francis posed for a photo while lying next to a dead giraffe. This week, she got threatened for her action. The trouble started Monday, when comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted the photo with a question. "What must've happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal & then lie next to it smiling?" Gervais wrote. In the past three days, his tweet has been retweeted almost 30,000 times. A number of people insulted and threatened Francis in response to the giraffe photo and others featuring her. On the website rebeccafrancis.com, there are photos of Francis with other animals, including a lion, which other Twitterers responded to. Francis, who has appeared on the NBC Sports Network outdoor lifestyle show "Eye of the Hunter" and was the subject of an interview with Hunting Life in late March, responded in a statement to HuntingLife.com on Tuesday, which was posted on its Facebook page. The death came about, she said, because she was asked by others on an African hunt to "preserve" him for the local people. "(The locals) showed me this beautiful old bull giraffe that was wandering all alone. He had been kicked out of the herd by a younger and stronger bull. He was past his breeding years and very close to death," she said. "They asked me if I would preserve this giraffe by providing all the locals with food and other means of survival. ... I chose to honor his life by providing others with his uses and I do not regret it for one second. (The locals) did not waste a single part of him. I am grateful to be a part of something so good." According to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, there are about 80,000 giraffes in Africa, a decline of 60,000 in the past 15 years. On a website called rebeccafrancis.com, where the photo is posted, Francis describes herself as a longtime outdoors enthusiast and a fan of bow-hunting. "I prefer bowhunting, and the animals I have taken with a bow include: a 10 1/2 ft. brown bear, black bear, shiras moose, alaskan moose, dall sheep, stone sheep, desert bighorn ram, rocky mountain bighorn ram, mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, mountain goat, antelope, arapawa ram, kudu, zebra, black wildebeest, giraffe, springbuck, blesbuck, lynx, badger, and squirrel," she writes. "I have also taken many of the same species and more with a rifle." She has achieved the "Full Curl of North American sheep" with a bow, according to the Hunting Life interview, and hopes to achieve the "Super 10." The latter, according to liveoutdoors.com, "entails the taking of one animal from the ten basic North American species: bears, cats, deer, elk, caribou, moose, bison/muskox, goat, antelope and sheep." Tom Opre, the producer and co-host of "Eye of the Hunter," says she won the first season of "Extreme Huntress," an online offshoot of "Eye," and co-hosted a handful of "Eye" episodes. The rebeccafrancis.com website was apparently last updated in 2013, though it makes mention of a 2015 TV series called "Sheep Shape" on the Sportsman Channel. CNN has reached out to Francis for comment.

Rebecca Francis' photo with a giraffe was shared by Ricky Gervais . Francis was threatened on Twitter for the picture . Francis, a hunter, said the giraffe was "close to death" and became food for locals .

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(CNN)Just before writing this column, I reached into the depths of my wallet, and in between the pilot licenses, I slid out a postage stamp-size certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. The certificate documents my successful completion of the DC Special Flight Rules Area, or SFRA, online course. The online course verifies that I am knowledgeable to fly a plane under visual flight rules into the most highly restricted U.S. airspace in the country. Although a "no-fly zone" over the White House has long existed, the SFRA airspace was developed to protect the Washington area further after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The size of the SFRA airspace is designed to be large enough to give our defense forces enough time to determine if a threat exists from an aircraft entering it, an opportunity to identify the threat, and if necessary, to divert or eliminate it. An airspeed restriction begins at a 60-mile radius from the center of Reagan National Airport. At the 30-mile radius, all aircraft must file a flight plan that identifies itself to air traffic control via a specific four-digit transponder code (a transponder is an electronic communication device that identifies a specific airplane on an air traffic controller's display screen to indicate authorization for the flight). Aircraft must enter the SFRA through specific flight "gates" that are displayed on a standard aviation map. Aircraft on instrument flight rule flight plans, which include all airline operations, are not required to comply with SFRA restrictions. Air traffic control assumes the responsibility for the appropriate routing. As a matter of standard procedure, flights using an instrument flight rule flight plan have specific clearances with specific transponder codes, so the authorization for transit through the SFRA airspace is already built into the system. Why do I carry the certificate as an airline pilot? I have had occasion to fly my own little airplane through the airspace on a visual flight rule flight plan. Pilot who landed gyrocopter blogged about why . Noncompliance with the airspace requirements, or worse, no communication at all, carries some serious federal penalties, which could include the suspension or revocation of your pilot license. Being at the wrong end of an F-16 missile is also a possible penalty. So how does a flying machine that looks like a sophisticated lawn chair with helicopter blades invade such highly restricted airspace, as happened Wednesday, when a postal carrier from Florida landed a single-person aircraft on Capitol grounds? Well, I'm making an assumption based on the video footage, but it appears that this aircraft is classified by the FAA as a gyrocopter. A gyrocopter cannot quite launch straight up into the air in the manner of a typical helicopter; it requires a short ground run for takeoff. And most gyrocopters are kit-built aircraft. It also appears that this particular gyrocopter may weigh just under 255 pounds, which classifies it as an ultralight aircraft in FAA parlance. Why is weight significant? Below that weight, a license for the pilot or a license for the aircraft is not required. In addition, to remain in the classification, the maximum designed airspeed can't exceed 55 knots. Lawmaker looking into gyrocopter landing as pilot goes to court . A facility tracking the movement of this particular gyrocopter on radar would witness a speed probably attainable by the average Canadian goose. And the radar reflection on a piece of machinery of that diminutive size is most likely very limited. If it was actually tracked on a radar screen, the target may have appeared to be a flock of birds. How much damage could this aircraft have inflicted had it been intended for nefarious purposes? Well, if it had been crashed into a building, I feel confident that the building would have been triumphant. If the intent had been to carry some sort of destructive device, the weapon would have had to be relatively small. The engine is not designed to carry more than one pilot. And lack of carry-on space is a definite issue. Not that a review of airspace security measures isn't in order, but I wouldn't be concerned that this event will become the next threat epidemic. As an airline pilot, I can say I am relatively confident that our nation's capital is secure from gyrocopter attacks orchestrated by misguided lunatics.

Les Abend: How did gyrocopter fly on to Capitol grounds when FAA, defense forces keep tight rein on airspace? He says gyrocopter may be lightweight and slow enough that it evaded radar . He says it's unlikely such a flight could pose a serious danger .

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Los Angeles (CNN)Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight was ordered Thursday to stand trial for murder and other charges stemming from a deadly hit-and-run confrontation on the movie set of the biopic "Straight Outta Compton" earlier this year. In addition to that ruling, Judge Ronald Coen also lowered Knight's bail to $10 million from $25 million, a figure that defense lawyers called excessive. The judge also dismissed one of the two counts of hit-and-run against Knight. In all, Knight will stand trial on one count of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of hit-and-run, the judge ruled after holding a two-day preliminary hearing this week that ended Thursday. Knight, 49, faces up to life in prison if convicted. Knight suffers diabetes and blot clots, and the case has clearly strained him: He collapsed in court last month after learning of the $25 million bail and he was taken to the hospital for treatment. Knight was in court Thursday. At the end of hearing, he turned around and looked at his family in the gallery, and he smiled to his fiancee as deputies led him handcuffed out of the courtroom. In a press conference after the hearing, fiancee Toi Kelly said regarding Knight's health that he is "doing much better." The judge dismissed the other hit-and-run count because California law says no more than one charge of hit-and-run should be brought against a defendant when the same weapon, in this case the vehicle Knight was driving, is used against several people. Knight is accused of running over two men, killing one of them, during an argument. Killed was Terry Carter, 55. The survivor is Cle Sloan, 51, who in testimony this week declined to identify Knight as his attacker because Sloan doesn't want to be a "snitch" who sends Knight to prison, according to CNN affiliates KABC and KTLA. Prosecutors offered Sloan immunity, but he still refused to testify against Knight on Monday, the affiliates reported. The deadly incident happened on January 29, after a flare-up on the set of the biopic "Straight Outta Compton," a film about the highly influential and controversial rap group N.W.A. The alleged argument spilled over to the parking lot of Tam's Burgers in Compton. At the time, Knight was out on bail in a separate robbery case. The hit-and-run was captured on videotape and allegedly shows Knight inside a red truck. In the video, the truck pulls into the entrance of the Compton restaurant, and he is then approached by Sloan, who was working security on the site. The two men appear to talk for a few moments, with Knight still in his vehicle. Suddenly, the vehicle backs up, knocking Sloan to the ground. While still in reverse, the truck moves out of range of the security camera. The vehicle is then seen zooming forward, back into camera range, running over Sloan a second time, and then running over a second man, Carter, a former rap music label owner. Carter later died. In closing arguments prior to the judge's ruling, Knight's attorney Matthew Fletcher argued that Knight was the victim. Knight was only defending himself against Sloan, whom the defense attorney accused of possessing a gun at the time. "Mr. Sloan is the initial and consistent aggressor," Knight's attorney argued. "There's no intent to kill, there's an intent to survive." "Even without a gun, we know Mr. Sloan was brave enough to attack in broad daylight," the defense attorney said. Fletcher added that Knight's defense was to stand his ground. Sloan "needed immunity because he was the actual aggressor," Fletcher said. "He is the person who got Terry (Carter) killed." Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes argued, however, told the judge that Knight was engaged in "mutual combat situation" where he used his car as deadly weapon. If Knight "ever had the right of self-defense, the moment he backed-up and Mr. Sloan was ran-over, he lost the right of self-defense," Barnes said. "There was pre-mediation and intent when he (Knight) ran over him a second time." Knight is scheduled to be arraigned on April 30. The incident is the latest run-in with the law for Knight, who founded the wildly successful Death Row Records in 1991 and signed artists such as Snoop Doggy Dogg (now known as Snoop Lion) and Tupac Shakur. Knight was driving the car in which Shakur was a passenger when the rapper was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996. Shortly afterward, Knight spent several years in prison for violating parole on assault and weapons convictions. That prison time -- along with Shakur's death, feuds between Knight and a number of rappers, and desertions by Dr. Dre, Snoop and others -- contributed to the label's bankruptcy in 2006. In August, Knight and two other people were shot while inside a celebrity-filled Sunset Strip party hosted by singer Chris Brown on the eve of the MTV Video Music Awards.

Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight will be tried for murder in a videotaped hit-and-run . His bail is reduced to $10 million from $25 million . A judge dismisses one of four charges against Knight .

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(CNN)Have Mercy! Lifetime has its follow-up to its "Unauthorized Saved By the Bell" TV movie: the network is now taking on Full House. The female-skewing cable network has greenlit "The Unauthorized Full House Story" (working title), The Hollywood Reporter has learned. In the same vein as its "Saved By the Bell" pic, Lifetime's Full House Story will look at the rise of the cast — including John Stamos, Bob Saget and the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen — and explore the pressure they faced to balance idyllic family life on the show with the more complicated reality of their own lives outside the series. Additionally, it will look at the warm bond that grew between the cast as the show became one of America's most beloved family sitcoms. Casting will begin immediately. An air date for the "Full House" tell-all has yet to be determined. See more Broadcast TV's Returning Shows 2015-16 . Ron McGee, who penned the "Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story," will write the "Full House" take. The telepic will be produced by the Bell team of Front Street Pictures and Ringaling Productions, with Harvey Kahn and Stephen Bulka also on board to exec produce. For Lifetime, the news comes after its two-hour Bell take fizzled on Labor Day 2014. Despite tons of build-up and excitement from diehard fans of the original comedy series, the Bell take drew only 1.6 million total viewers, with 1.1 million viewers among the 18-49 and 25-54 demographics. That pic was based on former star Dustin Diamond's Behind the Bell 2009 tell-all, with Dylan Everett starring as Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Sam Kindseth as Diamond. Full House aired on ABC from 1987 to 1995. Netflix this month revived the beloved family comedy as "Fuller House," with original stars Candace Cameron-Bure (D.J.), her on-screen sister, Jodie Sweetin (Stephanie), and best friend Andrea Barber (Kimmy), in a 13-episode follow-up series. From its start as an unassuming family comedy in 1987 to its eventual wildly popular 192-episode run, "Full House" was "the little sitcom that could." It made huge stars of its cast — from Bob Saget and Dave Coulier, who were grinding away on the standup circuit, to John Stamos breaking hearts on General Hospital, and the Olsen twins. See the original story at The Hollywood Reporter's website. ©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.

The network has reportedly greenlit the tell-all . Lifetime previously did an unauthorized movie on "Saved by the Bell"

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Marietta, Georgia (CNN)The little-known star of this week's No. 1 car chase movie, "Furious 7" isn't a car. It's an airplane. Film producers hired a Lockheed C-130 Hercules to fly five cars 12,000 feet high, open a cargo door at the rear of the plane and parachute them out in a spectacular free-fall stunt. Geronimo! Happy 60th birthday to the Hercules -- the oldest continuously produced family of military planes in history. Lockheed has been making these airplanes longer than the legendary B-52 bomber and the famous U2 spy jet. Unlike those planes, the C-130 has never become a household name. The fact that "Furious 7" producers chose a plane that was designed in the 1950s tells you a little something about the success of the Hercules. The film makes it appear as if another plane -- a C-17 Globemaster III -- drops the cars. But in real life, it took a Hercules to pull it off. Shooting the scene posed unique logistical challenges, said stunt coordinator Jack Gill in a featurette video about the mission. "You start throwing all those cars out together -- you've got to figure out spacing. And these things drop very fast," Gill said. Jeremiah Beaudin of International Air Response co-piloted the stunt. "We have to be very precise in our headings and our altitudes," he says in the video. The Hercules is big. It's tough. It's versatile. It refuels helicopters in flight. It can fly a small military force and its heavy equipment around the world -- and land on short, unfinished airstrips. At Lockheed's Marietta, Georgia, factory in 1955, the governor of Georgia christened the first production C-130A by smashing a bottle of Chattahoochee River water across its nose. The plane then proceeded to take off from nearby Dobbins Air Force Base. On Tuesday, exactly 60 years later, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal recreated the ceremony -- christening a brand new Super Hercules during a birthday party of sorts for Lockheed executives and military dignitaries. "I'm told that the 2,500th version of this aircraft is now on the (assembly) line inside this building," Deal said. "It transports, it becomes a war airplane as necessary and it is recognized as the true workhorse." Inside the plane's cockpit, Lockheed test pilot Steve Knoblock said he's done a lot of air-drop testing while flying C-130s. "We've dropped some crazy things out," Knoblock said. "Air dropping a car out of an airplane is easy. Whatever we can fit inside the (cargo) hold, we can drop." Several factors come into play for a pilot making a drop, Knoblock said, including payload weight, wind speed and timing. "We have to give time for the car to clear the airplane, let the parachutes deploy, and then actually open," he said. One tricky decision involves how high the plane drops its cargo. "There's a trade off -- between dropping it low and being more accurate ... and dropping it high where you have a little more safety in how it will land." Knoblock also explained how the C-130's robust landing gear helps the plane survive difficult landing conditions. "The pilot gets to decide how hard the touchdown's going to be," he said. "Sometimes to get his performance, he needs to really let it crunch on the ground. But the airplane can handle it." Meanwhile, in the back of the plane, Lockheed loadmaster Lucky Madsen showed off the plane's new reversible deck, which makes it easier to switch the floor from a flat surface ... to a floor with rollers embedded in it. The rollers make it easier to move cargo around and launch it out the back of the airplane. The legacy surrounding the Hercules has been built by 60 years of successful missions, including: . In 1989, a flight crew aboard a Hercules named Teal 57 was credited with saving the crew of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunter airplane. While flying through Hurricane Hugo, the NOAA plane lost an engine and suffered damage to a second engine. Teal 57 happened to be nearby and located a safe place for the NOAA plane to escape the eye of the deadly Category 5 storm. Everyone returned safely to base. In 2012, Israeli Brig. Gen. Joshua Shani revealed how he flew a Hercules on a successful hostage rescue mission to Entebbe, Uganda. Four C-130s helped rescue passengers from a hijacked Air France flight in 1976. "At some places that were particularly dangerous, we flew at an altitude of 35 feet," to evade radar. "Trust me, this is scary!" he told idfblog.com. During the military build up to 2003's U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a Hercules test dropped the biggest conventional weapon in the Pentagon's arsenal -- a so-called MOAB -- known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs." A C-130 ejected the 21,000-pound bomb out its rear cargo door high above Florida's Eglin Air Force Base. The bomb fell to earth and detonated in a spectacular fire ball. In the past, the Air Force attached small solid-fuel rocket engines to some C-130s. The added power allowed steep takeoffs on super short runways. The Hercules wasn't designed to land on aircraft carriers. They're too short. Nonetheless, a Hercules did it -- during a test in 1963. That's how amazing this plane is. But nothing lasts forever, and the C-130 is no different. The Air Force has been developing a so-called "super short takeoff and landing aircraft" that might replace the Hercules after 2020. The Air Force Research Laboratory calls it Speed Agile. The proposed four-engine aircraft would be able to transport super heavy loads across oceans and to arrive and depart on short, improvised airfields. Pentagon planners apparently are hoping to create a Hercules-inspired success story that will extend into the latter half of the 21st century.

The type of plane used for a jaw-dropping stunt in "Furious 7" is 60 years old . Lockheed's C-130 Hercules is the longest continuously produced military plane in history . C-130 factory in Georgia celebrates the flight of the first C-130 production model .

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Havana, Cuba (CNN)All eyes are going to be on the new kid finally allowed to play and the big kid who for so long wanted nothing to do with him -- Cuba and the United States in the same diplomatic playground. Cuba pulled off a diplomatic coup by marshaling the support of other regional countries to insist on their attendance at the Summit of the Americas. And for the first time since 1962, the U.S. has not blocked Cuba's attempt to join. Now it's time to see how they play and who they play with -- especially Venezuela, which often falls out with Washington for crushing dissent at home and supplying Havana with billions of dollars in oil. Cuba is trying to re-establish itself at the two-day summit in Panama, arriving with more than 100 government officials, diplomats, small business people and artists. But Cuba's attempts to rebrand itself as an open, diverse society stumbled Wednesday when government supporters and anti-Castro supporters brawled in the streets of Panama. Video of the incident showed Cuban government officials exchanging punches and insults with dissidents until Panamanian police in riot gear broke up the melee. With the historic thawing in relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Washington now has urgent business to discuss with Havana. "We have really big issues with the Cubans that do need to be solved," said Ambassador Vicki Huddleston, who served as the chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. She added "The Cubans are typical of their negotiating style. You think it's going to be easy because we have said 'We are going to have good relations with you' and they say, 'That's not exciting for us and it is for you.' So they are hard negotiators as they always have been." The forum could provide the opportunity to push forward an agreement to re-establish formal relations and re-open embassies after nearly four months of negotiations. While President Barack Obama is not scheduled to meet Cuban leader Raul Castro, U.S. officials said there will be opportunities for "interaction" between the two leaders. The first time the two heads of state met was in 2013 at Nelson Mandela's funeral. Their brief handshake captured the world's attention and lit up social media. Few people then knew that the two countries were secretly involved in negotiations to thaw five decades of deadlocked Cold War-era relations. Obama had said he had hoped a U.S. Embassy would reopen in Havana before the summit, but Cuban officials have said they cannot imagine a full restoration of diplomatic ties until Cuba is removed from the U.S. State Department list of countries that support terrorism. "It would be difficult to explain that diplomatic relations have been resumed while Cuba has been unjustly listed as a state sponsor of international terrorism," said Josefina Vidal, the general director of U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry and lead negotiator in the talks. Cuba was added to the list in 1982, which includes Syria, Iran and Sudan. The designation carries financial sanctions which Cuban officials say further damages their already ailing economy. The State Department has sent a recommendation to the White House that Cuba be removed, paving the way for the White House to announce its intent to de-list Cuba as early as this week, two administration officials told CNN. Removal from the list "does not relate to whether or not we agree with everything a country does or whether we agree with its political system, or its foreign policy," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "It's a very practical review as to whether or not a government is sponsoring terrorism." Rhodes also dialed backed rhetoric on Venezuela, saying the country did not pose a national security threat to the United States, despite a recent declaration to that effect. The designation was meant to allow officials to target seven allegedly corrupt Venezuelan officials, but it ignited a firestorm, particularly in Cuba, which has close ties to Venezuela. Deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was a friend and admirer of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Chavez's successor Nicolas Maduro continues to send Cuba tens of thousands of barrels of oil each day, despite his country's own economic turmoil. In exchange, Cuba sends doctors, military advisers and sports trainers to Venezuela. In Cuba's state-run media, criticism of U.S. policy towards Venezuela has overshadowed the improvement in U.S.-Cuba relations. In March, Fidel Castro published a letter criticizing the U.S.' "brutal plans towards" Venezuela and the Cuban government promised "unconditional aid" to help defend against American threats. Its remains to be seen how much Cuba will risk its warming relations with the United States to back up ally Venezuela. But apparently there is little doubt among the Cuban people on what their government should do. A poll of 1,200 Cubans released on Wednesday found that 97% of the people surveyed by Miami-based polling firm Bendixen & Amandi on behalf of The Washington Post and Univision Noticias/Fusion supported improved U.S.-Cuban relations.

Cuba pulled off a diplomatic coup by gaining attendance at Summit of the Americas . First time since 1962, the U.S. has not blocked Cuba's attempt to join . Cuba is trying to re-establish itself at the two-day summit in Panama .

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(CNN)Richard Dysart, the award-winning stage actor who gained fame playing law firm leader Leland McKenzie on "L.A. Law," has died. He was 86. He died of cancer at his home in Santa Monica, California, according to his wife, Kathryn Jacobi Dysart. For decades, Dysart was a noted TV and film character actor, and stage star, winning a Drama Desk award for playing coach in Jason Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "That Championship Season." But it was as McKenzie, the occasionally crusty paterfamilias on "L.A. Law," that he's likely best remembered. 'L.A. Law': Sex, crime and the 'Venus Butterfly' McKenzie usually took a back seat to the younger, more glamorous characters on "Law," a Steven Bochco-created legal show that owed much to his previous hit, "Hill Street Blues." The employees of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak included Harry Hamlin's smooth-talking Michael Kuzak, Corbin Bernsen's skirt-chasing divorce attorney Arnie Becker and Michele Greene's idealistic Abby Perkins. There was as much time devoted to bedroom activities as there was legal issues while the show bravely took on such topics as AIDS, child molestation and capital punishment. But McKenzie was the one who kept them in check while still encouraging their better instincts. (Alan Rachins' Douglas Brackman was the business guy.) He was also involved in one of the show's most surprising plot twists: a romantic affair with a rival, Rosalind Shays (Diana Muldaur), who met with one of TV's most shocking deaths -- plunging down an elevator shaft. Dysart appeared in every episode of the show, which ran from 1986 to 1994. After "L.A. Law" ended, Dysart took few roles, though he did return for an "L.A. Law" reunion movie in 2002. Dysart's other credits include 1971's "The Hospital," 1975's "The Day of the Locust," 1979's "Being There," John Carpenter's 1982 version of "The Thing," 1985's "The Falcon and the Snowman" and 1987's "Mask." He is survived by Jacobi Dysart, his wife of nearly three decades, a son and two grandchildren. CNN's Rachel Wells contributed to this story.

The died of cancer at his home in Santa Monica, California . He usually took a back seat to the younger, more glamorous characters on the show .

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(CNN)Donald Sterling's racist remarks cost him an NBA team last year. But now it's his former female companion who has lost big. A Los Angeles judge has ordered V. Stiviano to pay back more than $2.6 million in gifts after Sterling's wife sued her. In the lawsuit, Rochelle "Shelly" Sterling accused Stiviano of targeting extremely wealthy older men. She claimed Donald Sterling used the couple's money to buy Stiviano a Ferrari, two Bentleys and a Range Rover, and that he helped her get a $1.8 million duplex. Who is V. Stiviano? Stiviano countered that there was nothing wrong with Donald Sterling giving her gifts and that she never took advantage of the former Los Angeles Clippers owner, who made much of his fortune in real estate. Shelly Sterling was thrilled with the court decision Tuesday, her lawyer told CNN affiliate KABC. "This is a victory for the Sterling family in recovering the $2,630,000 that Donald lavished on a conniving mistress," attorney Pierce O'Donnell said in a statement. "It also sets a precedent that the injured spouse can recover damages from the recipient of these ill-begotten gifts." Stiviano's gifts from Donald Sterling didn't just include uber-expensive items like luxury cars. According to the Los Angeles Times, the list also includes a $391 Easter bunny costume, a $299 two-speed blender and a $12 lace thong. Donald Sterling's downfall came after an audio recording surfaced of the octogenarian arguing with Stiviano. In the tape, Sterling chastises Stiviano for posting pictures on social media of her posing with African-Americans, including basketball legend Magic Johnson. "In your lousy f**ing Instagrams, you don't have to have yourself with -- walking with black people," Sterling said in the audio first posted by TMZ. He also tells Stiviano not to bring Johnson to Clippers games and not to post photos with the Hall of Famer so Sterling's friends can see. "Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don't put (Magic) on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me," Sterling said. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the league, fined him $2.5 million and pushed through a charge to terminate all of his ownership rights in the franchise. Fact check: Donald Sterling's claims vs. reality . CNN's Dottie Evans contributed to this report.

V. Stiviano must pay back $2.6 million in gifts from Donald Sterling . Sterling's wife claimed the ex-Clippers used the couple's money for the gifts . The items included a Ferrari, two Bentleys and a Range Rover .

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(CNN)Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has been hospitalized in Southern California. Paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department were called to her home around 2:30 p.m. PT (5:30 p.m. ET) Tuesday on the report of a medical emergency, spokesman Robert Hinojosa said. "Joni was found unconscious in her home (Tuesday) afternoon. She regained consciousness on the ambulance ride to an L.A. area hospital," according to her official website. "She is currently in intensive care undergoing tests and is awake and in good spirits. More updates to come as we hear them. Light a candle and sing a song, let's all send good wishes her way." Some of Mitchell's best-known songs are "Big Yellow Taxi," "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris," but she has penned hits for other artists too. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young scored with her anthem "Woodstock," about the 1969 landmark music festival. Judy Collins registered a Top 10 hit in 1967 with Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." Mitchell, 71, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Mitchell is best know for her hits "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Free Man in Paris" Paramedics came to her Los Angeles home on Tuesday afternoon .

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(CNN)Panic. Tears. Fear. All those feelings and more permeated cities, villages and camps around Nepal on Saturday, after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck around midday. Hours later, after a wave of relentless aftershocks, many people still were too scared to go back inside any buildings. Others crowded around rubble, including men and women racing to rescue those trapped. And then there are the hundreds already confirmed dead, not to mention the hundreds more who suffered injuries. Below are some accounts from witnesses in the mountainous Asian nation, in their own words. Fast Facts: Earthquakes . Anderson, an American who was in Nepal for trekking and meditation, was in his hotel room when the quake struck. "I went outside five minutes after the major tremors stopped. I went to a parking lot nearby for one hour or so, then walked down the main road," he said. He took a series of photos on the main road between Thamal and Durbar Squares, that he shared via CNN iReport. Kumar posted a photo of people in his neighborhood sheltering in a makeshift tent after the quake. He sent updates via Twitter about what he was seeing in the Lalitpur District of Kathmandu. "It's getting dark, no power and no water supply in Lalitpur area, but people are helping each other with food and other items . "Almost everyone staying outside home...Hard time for small kids & older people . "People are very worried & are planning to stay out on the street overnight, but they lack sufficient food & water." Joshi is a UNICEF communication officer who was on the ground at the time of the quake. "The shake was like nothing I have experienced in my 57 years. It was strong and it shook for a long time." Old monuments and temples fell, Joshi wrote of his experience. There were fears that other buildings would collapse. "When I went out in the evening, I saw many people preparing to camp out in the main open parade ground in the middle of the street. Relatives were crying in the main government hospital where the dead were being lined up in front of the hospital building. "My family is traumatised. We are 5 generations living under one roof -- from a 100 year old grandmother to my 16 month old granddaughter. Strong aftershocks are keeping most of us up!" "Some of the historical sites are completely devastated. "Most of the people -- a lot of the people -- are walking through the city. They're confused and scared. A lot of people are crying. "They're out with their pets and their families and a lot of locals are volunteering in rescue operations. "In several parts of Kathmandu, a lot of people seem trapped under the rubble. Locals are trying to rescue these people because they can still hear them." Are you in Nepal or have loved ones affected? Please share with us if you are in a safe place. "We are scared and waiting for the tremors to end. We are all sitting outside because there is more news of another quake. "There is no power and families are listening to the FM radio inside their cars. News of multiple building collapses. "I've seen many cracked walls and roads and buildings. "The Dharahara was packed with people a while ago. There are police everywhere trying to move rubble to make space on the roads for ambulances. Everyone is very scared. " "I see many cracked buildings and people are panicked and all running down to the streets. "The main landmark in Kathmandu is a spire, Dharahara, and it has fallen down, it is about 140 feet high in the center city. "Another aftershock is hitting now, it is really strong. "Airplanes are circling now overhead and helicopters are flying and not clear if the airport is open. We hear it is damaged." How are earthquakes measured? "Many historic buildings have collapsed in the city. "In all my years I have never seen such a big earthquake here. "There are sometimes small shaking, sometimes bigger but this is the worst and my home has been cracked and it is a relatively strong house." "Around where I am, people are in open spaces. There have been several aftershocks, I think they're all waiting, hoping they know what to do. "You can see glass walls, portions of buildings and cracks in the building. People are confused. they're staying out in the open." Can wild animals help us predict earthquakes? CNN's Mariano Castillo, Henry Hanks and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

Massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Nepal near its capital, Kathmandu . As the death toll rises, witnesses describe devastation and panic .

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(CNN)A couple in their 20s, who led a youth ministry, and their baby boy were driving underneath a highway overpass in Bonney Lake, a Seattle suburb, when other motorists heard the crackle of a pending collapse. Concrete from a construction project crashed onto the family's car, killing Josh and Vanessa Ellis and their 8-month-old son, Hudson, authorities said. "The damage was so severe it was impossible to tell how many victims were in the vehicle. The only thing we had was we could tell there was one victim," said Officer Todd Green of Bonney Lake Police Department, according to CNN affiliate KOMO. It took nine hours Monday for crews to remove enough debris to discover the death toll on Angeline Road underneath State Route 410, authorities said. Authorities continued their investigation Tuesday, but initial findings were that there was an ongoing construction project on the highway and a side jersey barrier "came loose and fell onto the roadway," Green told the station. "When it fell off the overpass, it landed square on the roof of the vehicle," Green added. Josh and Vanessa Ellis were youth pastors at the EastPointe Foursquare Church in Puyallup, near Bonney Lake, the church said. The couple earlier wrote a short autobiography on the church website: "We love to laugh. We are passionate about seeing young people discover the love and grace that Jesus abundantly pours out on them. "We get really excited about good coffee, quality time with friends and Seattle welcoming an NBA basketball team back to our city," the couple wrote. "We love drive-in movies, frozen yogurt, dates to IKEA and trips to the beach." Lead Pastor James Ludlow said his church was reeling. "We are stunned! Shocked! Wounded, broken and dismayed. But we know one thing for sure ... they are in glory in the loving arms of our King Jesus!" Ludlow said on the church's Facebook page. Motorist Dawn Nelson was driving behind the Ellis' vehicle. "I was just a second or two behind him," Nelson told KOMO. "I could hear the three crunch sounds and then it just came down." Neighbors recounted a violent collapse. "I thought a semi had come down the guardrail here in front," neighbor Katie Vance told the station. She felt the crash inside her home. "It was a metal sound and a very heavy sound ... it was through your feet - like a guttural. It shook the whole house," she told the affiliate. CNN's Amanda Watts contributed to this story.

Josh and Vanessa Ellis, a couple in their 20s, were youth pastors in a suburban Seattle church . They and their 8-month-old son, Hudson, are killed when a highway barrier falls on their car . "We are stunned! Shocked!" the church's lead pastor writes on Facebook .

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(CNN)Suspected Boko Haram militants this week attacked civilians inside Cameroon for the first time in a month, killing at least 16 villagers, a military spokesman told CNN Saturday. Six attackers were killed by Cameroonian forces, said Maj. Nlate Eballe, an operations officer with a special military unit set up to fight Boko Haram. The attackers came Thursday "in the hundreds ... torched Dia village in the Far North Region," he said. Dia is a village that borders Lake Chad and has been identified as a recruiting ground for Boko Haram. Regional Gov. Mijiyawa Bakary said the insurgents have been attacking border villages in Cameroon in search of supplies. Cameroonian troops retook cattle that was stolen by the attackers in Dia, Eballe said. The last attack in Cameroon by the Nigeria-based militants was March 10, when the assailants struck the locality of Kerawa-Mafa in a failed attempt to overrun a military base. Boko Haram, whose name translates as "Western education is sin," has been waging a years-long campaign of terror aimed at instituting its extreme version of Sharia law in Nigeria. Boko Haram's tactics have intensified in recent years, from battling Nigerian government soldiers to acts disproportionately affecting civilians -- such as raids on villages, mass kidnappings, assassinations, market bombings and attacks on churches and unaffiliated mosques. Much of this violence has taken place in Nigeria, but neighboring countries -- Cameroon included -- have also been hit increasingly hard. Journalist Ngala Killian Chimtom in Yaounde, Cameroon, contributed to this report.

Six Boko Haram militants were killed, military spokesman says . Hundreds were involved in the raid on a village in far north . Boko Haram is based in Nigeria but has attacked across the border of several neighbors .

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(CNN)Over the last few years, we've been close to eradicating worldwide polio without full success. However, a new medical technology, an easily applied microneedle patch, could be the key to that goal. The biggest challenge standing in the way of eradicating polio has involved the operational logistics of getting the vaccine to people who need it, especially in difficult areas plagued by violence or poverty. The microneedle patch, which resembles a small, round adhesive bandage, could bring polio vaccines to the doorsteps of the people that need it. By applying it to the skin and pushing down, the vaccine is delivered in a matter of minutes. Rather than requiring highly trained medics, minimally trained personnel could go from door to door, quickly administering the vaccine. It's been 60 years since a mass inoculation of Jonas Salk's vaccine began with school children in April, 1955 that caused polio cases in the United States to drop by almost 90% over the course of two years. The vaccine was eagerly awaited because, according to the CDC, about 35,000 people annually became disabled because of polio in the U.S. in the 1940s and '50s. In 1938, Roosevelt founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, an organization known today as the March of Dimes Foundation, to fight polio. The organization funded the two vaccines -- one created by Salk and another by Albert Sabin -- that would lead to the protection of most of the world against polio. Salk's vaccine, developed in the 1950s, involved injecting a virus that was "killed," while Sabin's vaccine -- which he worked on in the 1960s and which was administered orally -- contained a weakened version of polio. The Sabin vaccine actually helped boost immunity in communities beyond the individual because people shed the weakened virus in their feces. It came to replace the Salk vaccine in many places between 1963 and 1999, according to the Smithsonian. But the injected "killed" virus version is what's given in the United States today because of the rare instances of people developing polio from the oral vaccine. Most people with polio have no symptoms; minor symptoms such as limb pain, fatigue and nausea affect about 4% to 8% of patients, according to the CDC. Fewer than 1% of cases lead to patients becoming permanently paralyzed, usually in the legs. Between 5% and 10% of paralyzed patients die when their respiratory muscles become paralyzed, too. Human beings have been living with polio for thousands of years, Dr. Stephen Cochi, a polio specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said. There's evidence from ancient Egypt that paralytic polio existed there and even infected royalty. But it wasn't described clinically until 1789. The United States saw its first polio outbreak in 1894 in Vermont, with 132 cases, according to the Smithsonian. As the population became more urbanized in the early 20th century, more outbreaks occurred. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted the disease at age 39 in 1921. Although no cure was developed, a device called an iron lung was invented to help people with the disease breathe. The patient would lie on a bed inside a cylindrical tank, and the machine helped some people become able to breathe again on their own. This device cost about $1,500 in the 1930s -- about what a home would cost then, according to the Smithsonian. That is, until the vaccine came on the scene. Polio was declared eradicated in the United States in 1979. But the vaccination effort doesn't stop. "In the U.S., where there's no problem anymore, we still want to have the population protected," said Michael Katz, senior advisor and interim medical director of the March of Dimes. Children should receive four doses of inactivated polio vaccine, delivered as an injection, at ages 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years, according to the CDC. Most American adults were vaccinated as children and don't need another dose. But people may need additional protection if they are traveling to high-risk countries, handle poliovirus specimens in a laboratory or have close contact with a person who has polio. Polio primarily spreads from person to person -- through coughing and sneezing -- or through fecal contamination. The particles are large enough that the risk of contracting polio in the air is momentary, and on a surface like a desk or a chair, it can last an hour or two. But in sewage, it can last for weeks or even months. Polio is the next likely candidate for disease eradication, Cochi said. The only infectious disease that humans have eradicated is smallpox. Like polio, it was a viral disease spread from person to person and would infect everyone in the absence of vaccination. And there's no non-human animal in nature that hosts these viruses, making it easier to eradicate than a disease that animals carry, too (although at least 100,000 monkeys were killed in the development of polio vaccines in the mid-20th century, according to the Smithsonian). A big difference, though, is that smallpox has obvious characteristic symptoms: fever and rash. Most people with polio have no symptoms at all, or very mild symptoms. On average, one out of 200 patients experiences paralysis. For polio, tremendous progress is being made, with 95% of children being reached for the most part, Oliver Rosenbauer, spokesman for polio efforts at the WHO, said. But there are still districts where only 75% to 80% of children are covered, which allows the virus to continue circulating in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. "The virus keeps getting increasingly restricted," Rosenbauer said. "We're not there, but I think the trend is good." Perhaps microneedles could be the key to finally eradicate worldwide polio.

Salk's vaccine began with inoculating school children in April, 1955 . Polio was declared eradicated in the U.S. in 1979, but still exists in other countries . A new microneedle patch is easily used by minimally trained personnel .

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Washington (CNN)As the Missouri National Guard prepared to deploy to help quell riots in Ferguson, Missouri, that raged sporadically last year, the guard used highly militarized words such as "enemy forces" and "adversaries" to refer to protesters, according to documents obtained by CNN. The guard came to Ferguson to support law enforcement officers, whom many community leaders and civil rights activists accused of using excessive force and inflaming an already tense situation in protests that flared sporadically from August through the end of the year. The National Guard's language, contained in internal mission briefings obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, is intensifying the concerns of some who objected to the police officers' actions in putting down riots. They broke out after the August 9 shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by city police officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson in the case. "It's disturbing when you have what amounts to American soldiers viewing American citizens somehow as the enemy," said Antonio French, an alderman in St. Louis. The documents obtained by CNN also detail that the Missouri National Guard was concerned about perceptions of its deployment, with superiors later telling troops to stop using heavily militarized language to describe protesters. And the communications show them calibrating the timing of their deployment in November -- in anticipation of the St. Louis County grand jury's decision on whether to indict Wilson -- to try to ensure that their presence didn't further dial up tensions, though several community members voiced concern that they were not deployed quickly enough. "We are deliberately constraining mobilization timelines to the last couple days to minimize backlash from calling up the NG early," Col. David Boyle, Army chief of staff at the Missouri National Guard, informed his officers in a Nov. 18 email. "We have coordinated for lower profile, less confrontation likely mission sets to emphasize support roles and minimize public militarization perception." Additionally, some in the National Guard seemed worried the language in the mission briefings could be problematic. Days before the announcement of the grand jury's decision, an email from Boyle warned of potential consequences from using language that could be "construed as potentially inflammatory." Two days after that, notification was sent to commanding officers stating that "all reference of 'enemy' were changed to state 'criminal elements'." Still, National Guard spokesman Capt. Quinn defended the militarized language as standard for the planning process ahead of deployment. In an email to CNN, he said the documents used in the Ferguson mission briefings were "a generic military planning format utilized in a wide range of military missions, so the term 'enemy forces' would be better understood as 'potential threats.' Often in Guard operations, threats would include inclement weather, heat, failing levees, etc." In further comments emailed to CNN late Friday, after the initial version of this article appeared, Quinn insisted that "while the term 'enemy forces' appears in a handful of early drafts of the operations order it was also clear that as soon as leadership saw the language, they correctly identified it as being inappropriate for this type of mission" and claimed that the language was changed "well ahead of the grand jury's decision." But internal communications from as early as Aug. 14 through Nov. 18, when the directive was issued to change the inflammatory language, show numerous uses of the terms that were sent to a large number of National Guard commanders and leadership. Though the National Guard's actions throughout the fall did not elicit the type of complaints that were directed at the police, some in Ferguson were displeased that the guardsman didn't do more to act against looters and vandals. Ferguson Mayor James Knowles criticized the guard at a November 25 news conference, saying that "unfortunately, as the unrest grew and further assistance was needed, the National Guard was not deployed in enough time to save all our businesses." Quinn, in his comments to CNN, responded that it would not have been part of the National Guard's mission to confront those destroying businesses. Rather, the force would have stood guard at sites of unrest while law enforcement officers entered looted businesses and arrested suspects. The documents reveal that the Missouri guard was especially concerned that "adversaries" might use phone apps and police scanners to expose operational security. "Counterintelligence operations are directed at supporting an information campaign. Their audience does not require the information to be accurate and is easily swayed," one document read. A document titled "Operation Show-Me Protection II," which outlines the Missouri National Guard's mission in Ferguson, listed players on the ground deemed "Friendly Forces" and "Enemy Forces." Among groups characterized as hate groups were the KKK, the RgB Black Rebels and the New Black Panther Party, but also "General Protesters." The document read: "Protesters have historically used Molotov cocktails, rocks, and other debris to throw at police. Several small arms fire incidents have occurred. Some elements may utilize militants [sic] tactics taught by USPER RgB Black Rebels." A communication specifying the types of gear and dangers the soldiers were likely to face warned that, "rioters likely have constructed home-made protection like goggles, gas masks, and plywood shields. Further, select individuals may have bullet proof vests and may carry firearms." It further noted that, "a possible method of attack is the use of Molotov cocktails against personnel and equipment. Also the possibility exists of the use of arson for destruction and disruption of the power grid through targeted attack." In addition to analyzing the threat general protesters could pose to soldiers, the National Guard also briefed its commanders on their intelligence capabilities so they could "deny adversaries the ability to identify Missouri National Guard vulnerabilities upon which threat forces may exploit, causing embarrassment, or harm to the MONG," the mission set states. "Adversaries are most likely to possess human intelligence (HUMINT), open source intelligence (OSINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), technical intelligence (TECHINT), and counterintelligence capabilities," states Appendix 3, which outlines Operations Security. But the ways the National Guard lists for how this information can be obtained are nothing more than open records, social media, and listening on conversations being carries out in public by civil authorities or law enforcement. "Overseas deployments are all about predictability," Col. David Boyle of the Missouri National Guard warned in an email on August 25 in the wake of protests just two weeks after the death of Michael Brown. "DSCA (defense in support of civil authorities) is not, it is all about rapid expansion and contraction to fit quickly shifting support requirements." CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated details about the St. Louis County grand jury's decision on whether to indict Wilson.

The National Guard's language worries those who objected to the tactics used in quelling riots . The language is contained in internal mission briefings .

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(CNN)"Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me," Jesus tells the rich man in one of his best-known parables. It was a mantra he invoked repeatedly: the poor were blessed, and it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it was for the well-to-do to enter paradise. Meanwhile, Jesus told his Twelve Apostles to leave their day jobs and follow him on an itinerant mission with few prospects of success and no visible means of support. So how did this wandering band of first-century evangelists support themselves? Clearly, money was a concern, and not just as an impediment to salvation. In the New Testament, money gets 37 mentions, while "gold" gets 38 citations, "silver" merits 20, and "copper" four. "Coin" comes up eight times, and "purse" and "denarii" -- the Roman currency -- get half a dozen mentions each for a total of 119 currency referrals. Perhaps the most relevant reference is also one of the most charged passages in the New Testament: . As the Gospel of John tells it, six days before Passover, Jesus was in Bethany at the house of his friend Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. A woman named Mary takes a jar of costly perfumed oil and anoints the feet of the reclining Jesus. She dries his feet with her hair, an irresistible image for artists and dramatists. Judas Iscariot objected to the act. "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" Judas asks. Though 300 denarii was the annual wage of a laborer, Jesus told Judas to leave her alone, and foreshadowing his fate, said the anointing would be useful for his burial, and besides, "you always have the poor with you" -- but Jesus would not always be there. What that passage makes clear is that the Jesus community had a common purse because they needed money to survive. So how much? "I imagine the ministry functioned at a subsistence level," Rabbi Joshua Garroway, a professor of Early Christianity and the Second Commonwealth at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. Jesus and his disciples walked, wore what they had, slept outside or in stayed in friends' homes. They ate what they caught or what others shared. "I venture to guess that begging and hospitality will have sufficed to meet the basic needs of Jesus and the companions with whom he traveled," Garroway said. Garroway said that it was possible, even likely, that Jesus and his followers received donations from supporters, and possibly substantial ones from some of the rich people who were drawn to his ministry despite -- or perhaps because of -- his preaching on the perils of wealth. The Gospel of Luke gives us a glimpse of how Jesus' ministry functioned on a practical level: . "Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources." So, according to Luke, women whom Jesus had healed in turn provided for him out of their "resources," with Mary Magdalene and Joanna capturing our attention -- one by virtue of her husband, and the other, by her stature in the story of Jesus. Joanna was an upper-class woman married to a man who was intelligent and capable enough to manage the complicated household of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, the violent and ambitious head of Judea. As part of this volatile but powerful household, Joanna would be uniquely positioned to help Jesus with her resources, being both wealthy and having palace connections. She attends to him during his life, and, the Gospels tell us, after his death, as one of the trio of women who go to his tomb and find it empty. With her on that morning is Mary Magdalene, also identified as -- among other things -- a financial supporter of Jesus. Mary likely came from the prosperous town of Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee. As home to a thriving fishing industry, as well as dye and textile works, Mary could well have come from an affluent family -- or have been a successful business woman herself. Mary Magdalene was free to travel the country with Jesus and his disciples, so was unlikely to have a husband and children waiting for her at home, and in "Finding Jesus" we examine the Gnostic gospel of Mary Magdalene and explore the argument that Jesus was, in fact, her husband. She may have simply been an independent woman with her own resources who found a compelling message, and messenger. Not only was Mary Magdalene one of Jesus' most devoted followers, who stuck with him all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem, from the ministry to the cross and the tomb, but also she provided for him from her own means, said Mark Goodacre, a professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University. When the Gospels speak of her "ministering" to Jesus, they are explaining that she was one of the key figures in Jesus' everyday mission, Goodacre continues. Along with other women like Joanna and Susanna, she was one of those who made his mission viable. Along with these women, men like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both men of stature and wealth, may have chipped in to help fund Jesus' ministry. The Gospels reveal that both these men were rich, and supported Jesus -- indeed, it was Joseph who removed Jesus from the cross on Good Friday, anointing his body with the help of Nicodemus, and placing him in the tomb that Joseph had reserved for himself. After the resurrection on that first Easter Sunday, the movement Jesus started grew exponentially, and the church's relationship to money grew more complicated as the needs became greater. Michael McKinley is co-author, with David Gibson, of "Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery.: Six Holy Objects That Tell the Remarkable Story of the Gospels."

Some of Jesus' most important financial backers were women, historians say. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, both men of stature and wealth, chipped in to help fund Jesus' ministry.

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(CNN)The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday said it is ordering Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to pay a record $1.6 billion penalty for unsafe operation of its gas transmission system, including the pipeline rupture that killed eight people in San Bruno in September 2010. Most of the penalty amounts to forced spending on improving pipeline safety. Of the $1.6 billion, $850 million will go to "gas transmission pipeline safety infrastructure improvements," the commission said. Another $50 million will go toward "other remedies to enhance pipeline safety," according to the commission. "PG&E failed to uphold the public's trust," commission President Michael Picker said. "The CPUC failed to keep vigilant. Lives were lost. Numerous people were injured. Homes were destroyed. We must do everything we can to ensure that nothing like this happens again." The company's chief executive officer said in a written statement that PG&E is working to become the safest energy company in the United States. "Since the 2010 explosion of our natural gas transmission pipeline in San Bruno, we have worked hard to do the right thing for the victims, their families and the community of San Bruno," Tony Earley said. "We are deeply sorry for this tragic event, and we have dedicated ourselves to re-earning the trust of our customers and the communities we serve. The lessons of this tragic event will not be forgotten." On September 9, 2010, a section of PG&E pipeline exploded in San Bruno, killing eight people and injuring more than 50 others. The blast destroyed 37 homes. PG&E said it has paid more than $500 million in claims to the victims and victims' families in San Bruno, which is just south of San Francisco. The company also said it has already replaced more than 800 miles of pipe, installed new gas leak technology and implemented nine of 12 recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board. According to its website, PG&E has 5.4 million electric customers and 4.3 million natural gas customers. The Los Angeles Times reported the previous record penalty was a $146 million penalty against Southern California Edison Company in 2008 for falsifying customer and worker safety data. CNN's Jason Hanna contributed to this report.

The penalty is more than 10 times the previous record, according to a newspaper report . Utility commission to force Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to make infrastructure improvements . Company apologizes for explosion that killed 8, says it is using lessons learned to improve safety .

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(CNN)At least 54 people have died and 15 others are missing after a Russian fishing vessel sank off the Kamchatka Peninsula, according to Russia's state-run Tass news agency. More than 60 people were rescued Thursday from the chilly waters in Russia's Far East. The Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler -- a commercial fishing vessel -- was carrying 132 people, the ministry said. Of the people on board, 78 were Russians. The 54 others were foreign nationals from Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania and Vanuatu, according to the news agency, with the majority coming from Myanmar. More than 20 fishing vessels are searching for the 15 people still thought to be missing, Tass said. The shipwreck was swift, with the trawler going down in the Sea of Okhotsk within 15 minutes of getting into difficulties, the news agency reported. The most likely cause of the shipwreck was collision with an obstacle which damaged the hull, the official spokesman of Russia's Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, is quoted as saying. The trawler is also thought to have keeled over as a result of hauling some 80 tons of fish on to the deck, the chairman of the emergencies commission in the Kamchatka region, Sergey Khabarov, told Tass.

Fishing vessels are searching for 15 people still thought to be missing . There were 132 people on board the ship, 78 of them Russians, Tass news agency says . The rest were foreign nationals from Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania and Vanuatu, it says .

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(CNN)China's cybercensors have long used a "Great Firewall" to block its citizens from reading critical articles from Western news websites or consuming other content it disapproves of. But it's no longer enough for them, says a study published Friday. They've developed a new IT weapon and have attacked servers outside their borders, including in the United States. The study's authors have named it the "Great Cannon," and it operates in plain sight. Going on the attack so visibly and handily within another country's borders will probably draw international ire, the study's authors say, and Beijing may have counted on that. "This is a powerful attack capability, and we are curious about the risk and benefit analysis that led the Chinese government to reveal it with this highly visible denial of service attack," said researcher John Scott-Railton. The reason Chinese censors are taking that risk: Free-speech cyberactivists have found ways to get around the Great Firewall and give Chinese readers greater access to the West's free press. Enter the "Great Cannon." It blasts targeted Web servers with massive distributed denial of service attacks, and it uses the Web browsers of unsuspecting Web surfers to do it. The Cannon wrecked two online services with DDoS attacks in March, say the researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, the International Computer Science Institute, the University of California-Berkeley and Princeton University. Many of the researchers focus on the abuse of information technology to undermine civil liberties and human rights. And they are afraid this new cyberweapon could easily be used for an array of powerful attacks beyond what they've already observed. "A modest technical change could turn the Great Cannon into a malware delivery device for infecting the computer of a target individual anywhere in the world who visits a Chinese server," Scott-Railton said. This might include all emails headed in and out of China, he said. "The device could replace genuine attachments with malicious files, for example." One of the Great Cannon's targets that the researchers studied was an obvious one -- Greatfire.org, run by Chinese expats bent on fighting Beijing's censorship. They monitor Chinese citizens' access to international news sites such as German news service Deutsche Welle or The Tibet Post. But the other target may seem odd at first glance. GitHub is a popular Silicon Valley hosting service used by programmers who want to share code with each other. The two attacks were connected, however, the study says. GreatFire.org hosted two GitHub repositories that contained computer code allowing Chinese readers to get around the Great Firewall and read The New York Times in Chinese. Critical articles from the Times are a particular fly in the ointment for Beijing, and China has turned away at least three of the paper's reporters in short succession, according to a U.S. congressional commission on China. GitHub said it thought the attackers were trying to coerce it into taking content offline. GreatFire.org says it suspects the attack may have been in response to a Wall Street Journal article on its struggle to circumvent Chinese censors. Both services suspected China was behind their attacks and used the Great Firewall to carry it out, according to statements and media reports. By triggering attacks and analyzing them, the researchers concluded that Beijing has developed a tool distinctly different from the Great Firewall. They are confident it is also in China and say it is technically similar to the Great Firewall. The firewall, in a manner of speaking, stands aside and watches all digital traffic going in and out of China, the researchers say. If it sees requests going out into the world for content it doesn't want citizens to see, the researchers say, it discreetly injects forged messages to the foreign server and the Chinese user's computer to make them stop communicating. The user might see an HTTP 403 reply -- "Sorry, you're not authorized to see this page." Not only does the Great Firewall monitor tons of traffic, but its systems have to do a lot of processing to discern what to block and what not, so it's work-intensive. The Great Cannon takes on a much lighter load, because it doesn't care about all that traffic. Instead, it targets traffic between a handful of Web addresses. But it uses Web traffic unrelated to its targets to build its attack against them. Users going to Baidu, one of China's most prolific Web services and most successful Internet companies, can become unknowing proxy warriors against the Great Cannon's targets, the study says. In the overwhelming number of cases, when traffic came into China from the outside world, the Great Cannon let it through to Baidu's advertising servers. But in a tiny fraction of the cases the researchers observed, it picked out computers it wanted to use in the attack, and sent bad code back to the user's browser. "The malicious script enlisted the requesting user as an unwitting participant in the DDoS attack against GreatFire.org and Github," the authors wrote. Their browsers mercilessly fired requests at both sites and paralyzed them. "At the time of writing they number 2.6 billion requests per hour," GreatFire.org wrote during an outage in March. "Websites are not equipped to handle that kind of volume so they usually 'break' and go offline." GitHub said the March incident was the biggest DDoS attack in its history. Back then, the programmers noticed that there were unique aspects about the attack. "These include every vector we've seen in previous attacks as well as some sophisticated new techniques that use the web browsers of unsuspecting, uninvolved people to flood github.com with high levels of traffic," they wrote. Baidu denies any involvement in the attacks and says its internal security has remained intact, the researchers said. But government cybercensors' monitoring of traffic to and from Baidu's servers could hurt its reputation as a major player in international commerce. Fully encrypting Web traffic should help to defend against the Great Cannon, Scott-Railton said. Chinese President Xi Jinping is a Communist Party hardliner, and since he took office in November 2012, Chinese citizens have felt the grip tightening again on freedoms they thought they had gained, journalists and activists say. Xi and the Politburo "are responding to new threats by falling back on repressive tactics" rather than "experimenting with more liberal policies," think tank Freedom House wrote in an analysis. And repression has particularly targeted grass-roots activists, online opinion leaders and ordinary citizens on the Internet. Xi also has a reputation for eyeing Western values with suspicion and considering American IT companies, such as Intel and Google, partners of the U.S. government. "Deployment of the GC (Great Cannon) may also reflect a desire to counter what the Chinese government perceives as U.S. hegemony in cyberspace," the researchers write. The authors say the United States and Great Britain already have methods for intercepting unencrypted traffic and launching attacks.

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Tikrit, Iraq (CNN)ISIS is gone, but the fear remains. As Iraqi forces, aided by Shiite militiamen, took control Wednesday of the northern city of Tikrit, they found vehicles laden with explosives and buildings that might be booby-trapped. CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon, who was in Tikrit on Tuesday, saw a large mechanical digger packed with explosives that Iraqi forces had to disarm. The troops, she said, were cautious when they entered buildings in case they were wired to explode. Plumes of smoke rose from burning buildings in the background. Near former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces compound -- Tikrit is Hussein's birthplace -- the CNN team also saw a destroyed truck with a large machine gun mounted on the back. Iraqi forces said they had fired an RPG at the truck, killing three ISIS fighters. ISIS was ejected from the palaces compound in fierce fighting, they said, adding that there may still be booby traps. Federal police said they dismantled hundreds of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) Wednesday. CNN heard at least 16 explosions, some very loud, which police said were controlled. The potential booby traps were political as well as physical. Officials are concerned about the behavior of the conquerors, particularly the Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen who helped Iraqi troops. Officials fear the militiamen might take "scorched earth" reprisals for the reported massacre of Shiite air force cadets by ISIS fighters in Tikrit last year. Much of the population of Tikrit is, like ISIS, Sunni Muslim. And officials fear that reprisals by Shiite militias against the Sunni population could stoke local anger, jeopardizing the government's ability to hold onto Tikrit and pull the country together. Sectarian resentment helped fuel the rise of ISIS in the first place. 'Where are our sons?' demand families of soldiers captured by ISIS . Still, the liberation of Tikrit from the terrorist group, which is also known as ISIL and calls itself the Islamic State, represented a significant victory for the Iraqi government, which had tried -- and failed -- to retake the city many times before. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived Wednesday to claim the victory, which took place a year after the city was first attacked by ISIS. Al-Abadi, who is also Iraq's top military commander, had announced the previous evening on Iraqiya TV that the city was under the control of Iraqi forces. Iraqi forces continued to clean out pockets of resistance Wednesday, said Interior Minister Mohammed al-Ghabban, who was also in the city. But he said the Iraqi government would be in full control shortly. "The enemy has been defeated, and it has lost all its capabilities," al-Ghabban said. "In the coming hours, the battle will end." Iraqi security said that the few ISIS militants left in the city are hiding inside houses hoping to escape in the dark. ISIS' nine-month dominion over Tikrit was marked by brutality. In addition to the reported massacre of the 1,500-plus air force cadets at Camp Speicher in June, ISIS is believed to have buried victims in mass graves and to have destroyed an Assyrian church that had graced Tikrit since the eighth century. The push into Tikrit came days after U.S.-led airstrikes targeted ISIS bases around the city. Al-Abadi said those tactics would now be replicated in other areas. Brett McGurk, the U.S. deputy special presidential envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, tweeted that the coalition's airstrikes had destroyed numerous ISIS shelters. "We will continue to support courageous Iraqi forces operating under Iraqi command as they work to reclaim their territory from #ISIL," McGurk tweeted. The key to victory in Tikrit this time, the Prime Minister said, was surprise. But help from the coalition of Shiite militiamen and volunteers also played a part. The militia members, estimated to number around 20,000, are backed by Iran. The offensive marked the first open participation of Iranian advisers on the front lines in Iraq. The victory in Tikrit sets the stage for Iraqi forces to take back an even bigger prize -- Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. A U.S. official said in February that up to 25,000 Iraqi troops plan to return to Mosul in April or May in an effort to retake the city. Don Melvin wrote this report in London. Arwa Damon and Hamdi Alkhshali reported from Tikrit and Jomana Karadsheh from Baghdad.

Tikrit is under the control of Iraqi forces, Iraqi Prime Minister says . ISIS departs, leaving city strewn with booby traps, explosive-filled vehicles . Officials hope to avoid Shia reprisals for ISIS slaughter of air force recruits .

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