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(CNN)A white police officer claims he feared for his life and is justified in killing an unarmed black man. A police chief supports the police officer, who is ultimately exonerated, and a predominantly black community seethes with rage because it knows that an injustice was done. We've seen this movie before. Spoiler Alert: Cop gets away with it. Routine stops for walking in the middle of the street or driving with a broken taillight -- these should not result in anyone's death. But time and again it ends with a black man dead in the street and the community has no recourse. This time the stage was set in North Charleston, South Carolina, a city of about 100,000 people. Walter Scott was stopped by Officer Michael Slager for a broken taillight, and within minutes Scott was dead. According to the incident report, Slager said: "Shots fired, and the subject is down. He took my Taser." His attorney at the time, David Aylor, said that Slager "felt threatened and reached for his department-issued firearm and fired his weapon." But then came the video. We watched in horror as we saw Slager shoot Scott in the back multiple times. Then we saw Slager pick up something from one location and place it near Scott's lifeless body. On Tuesday, the officer was arrested on murder charges. North Charleston police Chief Eddie Driggers told reporters, "I have watched the video, and I was sickened by what I saw." Apparently so was Slager's attorney, who announced after the video was made public that he was no longer representing the officer. After the video became public, the officials in North Charleston deftly handled the situation. However, it was an easy case. There is no plausible evidence that Slager feared for his life when Scott is seen running away. In Ferguson, the video we have in the death of Michael Brown is of press conferences with police Chief Tom Jackson, who refused to release the police officer's name, but did release a video that appeared to show Michael Brown stealing cigars. We have the video of the military weapons deployed by the police in Ferguson that were trained on its residents and the press. The world seethed. North Charleston's police force is about 80% white, with a population of 47% black and 37% white in the city. Ferguson's police force is 94% white (only three of the 53 police officers are black), and the city is 67% black and 29% white. Both North Charleston and Ferguson have police forces that are not representative of the population they serve, yet because of a video North Charleston's police force got in front of the story. I'm not sure North Charleston gets here without learning something from the mistakes of Ferguson. I have heard many commentators say the North Charleston shooting doesn't have anything to do with race. I don't buy it. I wonder how many whites in North Charleston with broken taillights get pulled over? Being pulled over for driving while black is a well-known phenomenon, which I discuss in my "Critical Race Theory" casebook. Racial profiling by Slager could have been the catalyst for Scott being pulled over in the first place. Yes, the North Charleston officials behaved differently than the officials in Ferguson. I don't think it's because race had nothing to do with it. It is that perhaps the North Charleston officials are better than those in Ferguson when it comes to racially charged situations -- especially given the instructive fallout from Brown's shooting. And, of course, the video. It remains to be seen whether Slager will be convicted of murder. Strange things can happen in a jury room. Recall how the Rodney King videotape allowed a Simi Valley, California, jury to acquit the Los Angeles police officers, but a federal jury later convicted the officers of violating King's civil rights. What a video proves can sometimes be in the eye of the beholder.

Dorothy Brown: Shooting by cop might have followed usual narrative of blaming black suspects . But video in Walter Scott's fatal shooting showed the truth, Brown says . With hindsight from Michael Brown case, North Charleston did the right thing with arrest .

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(CNN)Iran will sign a final nuclear agreement only if economic sanctions against the nation are removed on the first day of the deal's implementation, President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic republic's supreme leader, meanwhile, told state-run media outlets he is neither in favor nor against the proposed deal because it isn't final, and he's not certain it will become binding because he has "never been optimistic about negotiations with the U.S." Six world powers and Iran reached a preliminary deal last week that aims to limit Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. The United States, however, has stressed that if a final deal is reached with Iran, the removal of any sanctions will come in phases. But work on the agreement isn't finished. Negotiators from Iran and the United States, China, Germany, France, Britain and Russia have until June 30 to come up with a final deal. Khamenei said he supports the negotiators, but in several not-so-subtle shots at the United States, noted it is too soon to celebrate the proposed deal. "Everything lies in the details," Khamenei said in a Thursday address, according to Press TV. "The other side, which is known for backpedaling on its commitments, may want to corner our country when it comes to the specifics." What has been hashed out so far is no guarantee that the deal will become final, he said, and according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the leader said he can't support or oppose the deal, especially when it's possible "the other disloyal party intends to limit our country." Some have asked why Khamenei hasn't taken a position on the talks, and the reason is simple, he said, according to IRNA: "There is no need to take a position. Officials say nothing has been done yet and that nothing is binding. I am neither in favor nor against it." Any final deal must "ensure the interests and dignity of the (Iranian) nation," he said, adding he will support an agreement that "will safeguard national interests and dignity." He said he'd rather see the agreement fail than make a deal that jeopardizes Iran's interests. "What has happened so far will neither guarantee the agreement itself nor its content. It will not even guarantee completion of the negotiations. Therefore, it is meaningless to congratulate me or others about it," he said. Rouhani said his government would not surrender to bullying, sanctions and threats, according to Press TV. "We will not sign any deal unless on the very first day of its implementation all economic sanctions against Iran are lifted all at once," Rouhani said at a ceremony to mark National Nuclear Technology Day in Tehran. President Barack Obama faces an uphill battle selling the deal to a skeptical Congress, which has threatened to impose new sanctions on Iran. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist and negotiator with Iran, estimated it would take six months after a final deal is signed for the sanctions to be lifted. He told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that it was a "ballpark" figure contingent on a lot of work the Iranians will have to do beforehand. "The core nuclear provisions must be satisfied ... the provisions that give us our confidence," Moniz said. He said it's in the "hands of the Iranians" to fulfill steps such as reducing stockpiles and lowering the number of operating centrifuges. "It will depend on their ability to execute those moves," Moniz said. Asked if the Iranians were aware of that time frame during the negotiations -- before Rouhani called for the immediate lifting of sanctions -- Moniz said, "Oh, yes, for sure." The No. 3 House Republican leader said a bill to ease any sanctions does not stand much of a chance in the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate. "The sanctions that were put in place -- again, very bipartisan sanctions passed by Congress years ago that were effective -- the only way to get rid of them completely would be for Congress to vote to ease those sanctions," Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana said in a radio interview with WWL in New Orleans on Wednesday. "We haven't had that vote. I don't see that passing out of the House. I don't even think it would pass out of the Senate right now." Diplomats announced last week that they'd come up with the framework for an agreement after a marathon stretch of late-night negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland. The framework includes the easing of U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran if it takes certain steps to curb its nuclear program. Iran would reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% for 15 years and significantly scale back its number of installed centrifuges, according to the plan. In exchange, the United States and the European Union would lift sanctions that have crippled the country's economy. "It is a good deal, a deal that meets our core objectives," Obama said after it was announced April 2. "This framework would cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon." It would include strict verification measures to make sure Iran complies, he said. The United States and Iran have a long history of strained relations, which made the negotiations more significant. Just two years ago, the two countries had not talked with each other officially in nearly four decades. CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin, Christine Theodorou and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

"It is meaningless to congratulate me or others" because deal not final, Ayatollah says . President Hassan Rouhani: Iran will not surrender to bullying, sanctions . U.S. lawmaker: Bill to ease sanctions does not stand a chance in House or Senate .

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(CNN)On April 20, 2010, a final cement seal of an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico failed, causing what has been called the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and taking the lives of 11 rig workers. For 87 straight days, oil and methane gas spewed from an uncapped wellhead, 1 mile below the surface of the ocean. The federal government estimated 4.2 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf, but BP argued in court that it was much lower. A judge ruled BP was responsible for the release of 3.1 million barrels. Imagining Daddy: A rig worker's daughter and her dreams . There were dire predictions of what would follow. Environmentalists and others braced for an environmental collapse on a massive scale. Scientists continue to study environmental impacts, but five years after the spill, the long-term negative effects remain unclear and are, in many cases, highly disputed. BP, the company that caused the spill, is eager to point out it appears the Gulf of Mexico is healing itself. BP's vice president of communications, Geoff Morrell, said there is no doubt birds, fish, turtles, sub-sea vegetation and even sediment species were all affected in the immediate aftermath of the spill. Email your story ideas and tips to CNNtips@cnn.com. "There's no question about that," Morrell said. "But they have also, according to the data, bounced back and are recovering strongly." "And there is no data that suggests there are any long-term population-level impacts to any species." While BP's assessment has not been disproven, the government suggests it's too soon to make long-term conclusions about the rebounding health of the Gulf. Shortly after BP released its own five-year report that concluded the Gulf has largely recovered, the trustees of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment called BP's report "inappropriate as well as premature." The trustees, a collection of government agencies tasked with determining the extent of the damage from the Macondo spill, released a statement, saying, "We know that the environmental effects of this spill are likely to last for generations." One government official familiar with the trustee's assessment accused BP of having "cherry-picked" positive results while ignoring others, something BP denies. Most long-term scientific studies on environmental disasters take longer than the five years that have passed. Studies so far have shown a variety of negative impacts on wildlife immediately after the spill, but others show some of those species are bouncing back. Fish landings in the Gulf, the amount of fish caught by the fishing industry, have returned. Oysters are also recovering in many areas. And according to the Food and Drug Administration, tests on edible seafood show no excess hydrocarbons in the region's food supply. The spill's effects on other species are less clear. Dolphins are dying at an accelerated rate along the Gulf Coast, and even more so in Louisiana where the oil hit the hardest. But the dolphin "mortality event," as the government calls it, began months before the spill. Studies suggest the diseases dolphins suffer from in places like Barataria Bay, Louisiana, could be caused by oil exposure, but direct links to the 2010 Macondo spill have not been proven. Seaside sparrows in the Gulf are also showing signs of strain, and some studies cite oil as contributing to reductions in their overall abundance. While aerial surveys taken in 2010 suggest tens of thousands of sea turtles were exposed to oil in coastal waters, government agencies are still gathering data and have not concluded if the spill will have long-term effects on sea turtle populations. But perhaps the greatest unknown is what, if anything, millions of gallons of oil on the deep seafloor are doing to the overall environment of the Gulf itself. Oceanographers have been tracking the residue from the Macondo well as it has settled on the bottom of the ocean. Mandy Joye, an oceanographer with the University of Georgia, has used underwater robots to capture soil samples and run tests to determine just how far the oil has traveled. Her research and other studies show BP's oil is scattered in patches across more than 1,200 square miles of the seafloor. According to Joye's study the oil residue exists in thin layers in some areas of the seafloor and thick pockets in others. Joye is trying to determine how the oil deposited on the seafloor -- estimated to be about 10 million gallons -- affects the microbial community of organisms that exists in the deepwater ocean. "That stuff's not going to stay put. It's going to move around, " Joye said. She said that right now, there is just no way to tell if it will have an impact. "There's so much that we don't know," Joye said. BP doesn't accept the results of Joye's work. The company said its oil is all accounted for and only exists in two places: within a 2 kilometer area around the wellhead and in tar mats and tar balls that have yet to be cleaned up on the beach. And according to BP's Morrell, the oil and residue that remains is no longer harmful. "So much time has passed that it no longer has any toxicity and is therefore not a threat to humans or aquatic life," Morrell said. Ocean conservationist Philippe Cousteau witnessed much of the spill's aftermath in 2010, but when he returned to the Gulf to dive near an oil rig last month, he was astonished by the abundance of amberjacks, hammerhead sharks and other marine life he saw. During the same trip, however, Cousteau spotted a mother dolphin trying to revive a dead calf. It is unknown if its death had anything to do with the oil. Cousteau commended the progress community groups and restoration projects have made since the spill, but he said he believes it's far too early to say the Gulf is back and the oil is gone. "It is still in many cases in the sand, along the shoreline, in the marshes," Cousteau said, "and existing on a microscopic scale that we may not be able to see with the naked eye." CNN's David Matthews contributed to this report.

April 20 marks 5 years since the BP oil spill . At the time, there were dire predictions for the environment . Today, it is still too soon to know the long-term impact .

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(CNN)Two years ago, the storied Boston Marathon ended in terror and altered the lives of runners, spectators and those who tried to come to their rescue. Just last week, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted on 30 charges related to the bombings at the race and the dramatic violence that dragged out for days afterward. The jury will begin deliberating his punishment next week. The death penalty is on the table. Dzhokhar and his brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police, were intent on terrorizing not just Bostonians, but all Americans, prosecutors said. But the Tsarnaevs were not on the minds of most people in Boston on Wednesday. The injured victims and those who lost their lives were spoken of with reverence in somber ceremonies. Relatives of 8-year-old Martin Richard, the attack's youngest victim, and the family of Krystle Campbell stood with Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin Walsh. Bagpipes played and banners whipped in the wind on Boylston Street, the Boston Globe reported. Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu also was killed in one of the two horrific blasts that brought chaos to the competitors and spectators near the race's finish line on April 15, 2013. Who were the victims? Many bombing survivors were in the crowd for Wednesday's events, the newspaper said. They wore white, blue and yellow pins celebrating "One Boston Day," which was created to recognize acts of valor and to encourage kindness among Bostonians. Many there and those who couldn't observe the day in person tweeted their respect and memories using #BostonDay. The marathon historically happens on a Monday. This year, runners will take on the 26.2 mile challenge April 20. "I think today will always be a little emotional for me -- Marathon Monday is my favorite day of the year, and will continue to be, despite these tragedies," Boston resident Lindsey Berkowitz told CNN. "I have so much respect and support for all of the survivors, and hope the city continues to come together on this day to embrace the strength and resilience of Boston, and the love we all have for this great city." Melanie DiVasta was working just a mile from the finish line in 2013 when one of the bombs set by the Tsarnaevs exploded. Several of her friends were waiting at the finish line. They were unharmed. "It was just an overwhelming feeling of shock to start hearing about it and seeing images," DiVasta said. "You couldn't help but cry and just ask why." What's next for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? CNN's Jareen Imam contributed to this report.

Citizens gather to honor victims on One Boston Day, two years after the marathon bombings . "Today will always be a little emotional for me," one Bostonian tells CNN .

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(CNN)The arrest and death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore has sparked protests and accusations of police brutality. But it's unclear how Gray, who was arrested on a weapons charge April 12, suffered a severe spinal cord injury that led to his death seven days later. Here are the big questions surrounding this controversial case: . What we know: Gray was arrested on a weapons charge in a high-crime area of Baltimore known for drugs. He "gave up without the use of force," Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said last week. An officer apparently took his Taser out and was prepared to use it on Gray, but he never deployed it, Rodriguez said. And none of the six officers involved in the arrest described using force against the 25-year-old. Gray was placed inside a police van and was able to talk, said Rodriguez, who described Gray as upset. "And when Mr. Gray was taken out of that van, he could not talk, and he could not breathe," according to Rodriguez. Police have said Gray was not buckled in with a seat belt during the ride to a booking center. What we don't know: It's unknown what caused the spinal cord injury that led to his death a week after the arrest, and it's also unknown what, if anything, happened inside the van. What we know: Segments of cell phone video shot from two different positions appear to begin after Gray has been arrested and show officers dragging Gray, who is handcuffed, to a van. He can be heard screaming. "He was dragged a bit," said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, "but then you see him using his legs to get into the van, so he was able-bodied when he was in the van. And we know that when he was finally taken out of the van, he was unresponsive." One woman who recorded a video of the arrest said she knew Gray. "When I ran up the street and seen him, the first thing I asked him was he OK because I heard him screaming," the woman said. "He didn't never say yes or no, he just said 'I can't breathe' and just was yelling." Surveillance video recorded him conscious and talking, police said. That was at 8:54 a.m. At 9:24 a.m., police called an ambulance for Gray. Police say Gray requested medical attention, including an inhaler, and an ambulance later took him to the University of Maryland Medical Center's Shock Trauma Center. Rawlings-Blake and Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis have said the arresting officers should have asked for medical attention immediately after Gray asked for it. What we don't know: It's unknown why Gray screamed, and the cell phone video doesn't capture the entire incident, start to end. And it's unclear why police didn't call for an ambulance sooner. What we know: In the wake of Gray's death, six police officers were suspended. Their names were released last week. The suspensions are standard procedure after an "in-custody death," said Baltimore Police Department spokesman Capt. Eric Kowalczyk. It doesn't mean the officers did anything wrong or that they were the only officers involved, he said. They are: Lt. Brian Rice, 41, who joined the department in 1997; Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, who joined in 1999; Sgt. Alicia White, 30, who joined in 2010; Officer William Porter, 25, who joined in 2012; Officer Garrett Miller, 26, who joined in 2012; and Officer Edward Nero, 29, who joined in 2012. Three of the six responding officers were on bicycles when they initially approached Gray, according to Kowalczyk. Another officer joined the arrest after it was initiated, while one more drove the police van, the police spokesman said. What we don't know: The officers say they didn't use force against Gray, but that's not certain. In fact, details about what each of the officers specifically did have not been released. What we know: According to court documents CNN obtained, there were more than 20 criminal court cases in Maryland against Gray, and five of those cases were still active at the time of his death. The cases involve mostly drug-related charges, but there are charges from March for second-degree assault and destruction of property. Gray was due in court on a possession charge on April 24. He had been in and out of prison since 2009 for various drug cases, according to Maryland Department of Corrections spokesman Gerard Shields. In February 2009, he was sentenced to four years in prison for two counts of drug possession with intent to deliver. Shields said he could not determine from records what kind of drug was involved. Gray was paroled on June 30, 2011. On April 4, 2012, Gray was arrested for violating parole but he didn't go back to prison, Shields said, reasoning that whatever Gray allegedly did, it "was something minor." Gray did return to prison in May 2013 for drug possession, serving a month behind bars before his release in June. What we don't know: It's not known whether Gray's criminal past had anything to do with his arrest, or his death. What we know: Protesters have taken to the streets of Baltimore daily since two days after Gray's death, rallying around his family. On the first night, they marched to a local police station chanting "No justice! No peace!" On another occasion they marched to City Hall. The demonstrations have been peaceful on most nights, but on Monday rioters damaged buildings and destroyed police vehicles. Looters stole goods from several stores. Some groups of people intervened, keeping additional looters out of trashed businesses. The demonstrators are pushing to get answers about Gray's death and for "justice," as they define it. Similar protests were held in Ferguson, Missouri, following Michael Brown's death and in New York, after the death of Eric Garner. Other small protests have sprung up in other cities in the past week. "Mr. Gray's family deserves justice," Rawlings-Blake told CNN's Anderson Cooper last week. "And our community deserves an opportunity to heal, to get better, and to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. The mayor said that any confirmed information will be promptly relayed to the public. "I want people to understand that I have no interest in hiding information, holding back information," Rawlings-Blake said. Some protesters have called for the officers to be arrested and charged. One organizer called for Police Commissioner Anthony Batts to resign. What we don't know: There's no guarantee protesters will get the kind of definitive answers they want about how and why Gray died. What we know: Baltimore police are looking into Gray's death and are expected to have a report for prosecutors by Friday. The probe, like the suspensions of the six police officers, is standard whenever someone dies while in custody. The police's findings will go to the state's attorney's office, where prosecutors will decide whether charges should be filed. Batts said recently that a medical examiner had some initial findings, but needed to get back the results of toxicology reports, which could take weeks. Rawlings-Blake asked for an outside investigation, given the city's dark history of police misconduct. The U.S. Justice Department, which announced a collaborative reform initiative with Baltimore police in October in light of its past problems, is looking into the Gray case, a spokesman said last week. The point of that federal investigation will be to gauge whether a prosecutable civil rights violation may have occurred. What we don't know: What information that investigators, both local and federal, will turn up and when. It is also unclear if the medical examiner called in spinal experts to view the evidence, a possibility Batts raised at a news conference. What we know: Court documents allege that Baltimore Police Department Officer Garrett Miller arrested Gray after finding a switchblade in his pocket. The Gray family attorney called the allegation a "sideshow." Gray was carrying a "pocket knife of legal size," attorney William Murphy told CNN. Police never saw the knife and chased Gray only after he ran from them, the attorney said. The court documents also say that Gray "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence." "The officer noticed a knife clipped to the inside of his front right pants pocket. The defendant was arrested without force or incident," the documents say. "The knife was recovered by this officer and found to be a spring-assisted, one-hand-operated knife." Maryland law makes it illegal to "wear or carry a dangerous weapon of any kind" -- including switchblades -- "concealed on or about the person." What we don't know: It's not clear that simply having a knife is a crime, said Rawlings-Blake. "It is not necessarily probable cause to chase someone. So, we still have questions," she said. CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton, Stephanie Gallman, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Dana Ford and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.

Freddie Gray was arrested on a weapons charge April 12; he was dead seven days later . He was put in a police van after his arrest; it's unclear what happened inside the van . Gray has a criminal history but it's not known if that had anything to do with his arrest or death .

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Washington (CNN)A shooting that prompted the lockdown of the U.S. Capitol for several hours Saturday was a suicide and does not have an apparent connection to terrorism, Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said in a news conference. An unidentified male walked through a public area on the west front of the Capitol early Saturday afternoon and shot himself, Dine told reporters. Witnesses told CNN dozens of shocked onlookers watched, including some young children. The unidentified shooter had a backpack and a rolling suitcase that authorities treated as treated suspicious packages, prompting the lockdown as they were investigated, Capitol police said. The male carried a sign with a message about "social justice," authorities said. A witness, Robert Bishop, told CNN it also said something about taxing the "1%." Dine said there was "no nexus to terrorism" apparent so far in this incident. The building and the nearby Capitol Visitors Center were locked down, meaning tourists or any staff could not enter or leave the buildings. The Capitol area was crowded with tourists taking in the Cherry Blossom trees, which are in full bloom along the National Mall. Members of the Capitol police force, which responded to the scene, did not fire their weapons, Dine said. After the suspicious packages were examined, the lockdown was lifted about 3:50 p.m. ET and pedestrian traffic was allowed. Responding to the incident were the Metropolitan Police Department, which is investigating the death, as well as the FBI, Secret Service and Park Police. Many tourists at the scene were filming at the time and showed their photos and video to investigating law enforcement officers. CNN's Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

Capitol police said a male shot himself as shocked onlookers watched . The incident appears to have no connection to terrorism, police said .

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(CNN)April 27 is celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa, commemorating the country's first democratic elections in 1994 election which saw Nelson Mandela elected as president. The day is widely seen as marking the start of a free South Africa after the fall of apartheid, a system of racial segregation implemented by the white-minority government in South Africa for decades. This year's celebrations come against the backdrop of a spate of anti-immigrant attacks earlier in April in which a number of people lost their lives. Using the #FreedomDay hashtag, people across the country and beyond took to Twitter to celebrate this year's event, express their views and send out their wishes -- including the South African government. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the people of South Africa and sent out a message of hope. Many South Africans used Twitter to denounce the recent violence... ... whilst others remembered iconic South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. Freedom Day didn't go unnoticed by Google, who've changed the doodle to honor the day. Here's a selection of some of other #FreedomDay tweets.

South Africa marks 21 years since the first free election . Nation celebrates amid recent violent attack on immigrants .

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April 27 is celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa, ' s first democratic elections in 1994 . The day the start of a free South Africa year of anti - immigrant attacks people the #FreedomDay and to Twitter to celebrate Nelson Mandela .

(CNN)Geography is, in part, destiny for Italy: The country will always be a bridge between Africa and Europe, as the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean so starkly shows. A surge of refugees this year, usually transported by smugglers on overcrowded vessels, has sought to reach Europe via the Libyan coast. A boatload of 900 migrants who embarked from Libya are now feared dead in the latest sinking. Over 10,000 were rescued off the coast of Italy in the last week alone. European leaders are scrambling to deal with this emergency. There is a backstory here worthy of our attention, and it has to do with Italy's colonial past. Many of the refugees involved in recent disasters come from some of Italy's former colonies in North and East Africa, namely Eritrea (occupied from 1890-1941) and Somalia (1908-1941). As migrants, Libyans are fewer in number, but Libya (1912-1941) plays a central role in the current crisis as the main departure point for Italy. Italy's empire never rivaled that of the British and the French in scope and longevity, but those who lived in its possessions were no less affected. Indeed, the migrants traversing the Mediterranean today form part of a century-long chain of migrations, expulsions, and exiles sparked by Italy's imperial ambition and commercial interests, the post-colonial anger of African leaders, and now mass economic desperation and political strife. Long after the formal end of Italian colonialism, these Eritreans, Somalis, and Libyans have inherited the histories of influence and exploitation that shaped their home countries. It also affects the treatment of Africans who settle in Italy. Libya is an example of the long reach of Italian imperialism. Libya was for a brief period an incorporated province of Italy, on the model of French Algeria, and Libyan families still feel the devastating effects of the fascist dictatorship's persecution of those who resisted Italian occupation. Over 100,000 Libyan men, women, and children were deported to concentration camps deep in the desert in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and much of the ruling class was exiled or executed. Col. Moammar Gadhafi, who ruled from 1969 to 2011, was born during the Italian occupation of his country, and his identity as a revolutionary was shaped by the example of resistance leaders such as Omar al-Mukhtar, who was hanged by the fascists in front of 20,000 of his people in 1931. In 1970, soon after he took power, Gadhafi struck back, expelling the remaining Italian community in Libya. Some of those people had grown up entirely in Libya. They arrived in Italy for the first time, at some of the same ports receiving migrants today. This political intervention did not spell the end of Italian-Libyan commercial dealings, which grew out of colonial-era relations that had made Libya Italy's biggest oil supplier. Since 2004, Italy and Libya have been directly connected by the Greenstream natural gas pipeline, which runs below the Mediterranean, on the same axis as many migrant boats. Commercial concerns, and the cozy relationship of then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Gadhafi, also lay behind a historic 2008 Friendship Treaty between Italy and Libya, which promised infrastructure and other aid to Libya worth the equivalent of $5 billion as compensation for the damages inflicted by Italy during the decades of colonial rule. Until his death in 2011, despite deals with Italy and the European Union to control departures from his borders, Gadhafi intermittently used European fears of mass arrivals of migrants from Libya as a political weapon. Given Europe's geography, this weapon was pointed particularly at Italy, Libya's former master, and the principal target of Gadhafi's post-colonial revenge politics. Few Italians learn about this colonial history and its legacies, even though episodes of racist violence against immigrants from former Italian colonies and elsewhere are on the rise. Upon her appointment in 2013 as minister of integration, Cécile Kyenge, an Italian of Congolese origin, faced ugly racist attacks from fellow Italian politicians, including a comment that she looked like an orangutan. This climate has encouraged those who wish to rehabilitate the "heroes" of fascist imperialism. In 2012, the town of Affile built a publicly-funded memorial to General Rodolfo Graziani, known as "the butcher of Fezzan" for his brutal repression of Libyan resisters in the 1920s -- and for the massacre of Ethiopian civilians he ordered in response to a 1937 attempt on his life. This colonial history and its long-term consequences can help us understand Italians' ambivalent reactions to the emergency on their southernmost shores. Italian rescuers and activists work tirelessly and selflessly, and yet migrants who remain in Italy are often subject to racist attacks. It is ironic that the name chosen for the sea rescue operation organized by the Italian Navy in 2013 was the slogan of the fascist's dictatorship's bid to control the Mediterranean: Mare Nostrum. The program rescued more than 160,000 migrants in one year before it was discontinued due to European Union budget restrictions. It seems to reflect the conflicted attitude of the Italian government to its past aggressions: an admirable and courageous initiative -- advanced under an imperialist banner. The Italian government deserves the full support of the European Union as it responds to the current humanitarian crisis. But it also needs to address the failure of civic education about its colonial past. At 40 years old, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is of a different generation than those who have sustained a politics of selective memory that is as dangerous in its own way for migrants as the boats now capsizing in the Mediterranean. Setting a new course on this issue is in Italy's interest, now more than ever.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Italy's colonial past plays a key role in the migrant humanitarian disaster in the Mediterranean . She says African migrants still bound to histories of exploitation that shaped their home countries long after end of Italian rule .

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(CNN)Fifty years ago in Frankfurt, German prosecutors tried 22 former Nazi SS soldiers at Auschwitz in what remains the most famous Holocaust trial staged in Germany. At the time, Fritz Bauer, the German-Jewish attorney general of Hessen, expressed the simple hope that "sooner or later, one of the accused would step forward and say: 'What took place -- it was horrific, I'm sorry.' Then the entire world would exhale, as would all the survivors of those killed at Auschwitz, and the air would be cleared." Sadly, Bauer observed, "it has not been uttered, nor will it be." The refusal of perpetrators to own up to their guilt remains one of the most disappointing aspects of Holocaust trials. John Demjanjuk, whose conviction by a Munich court in 2011 established the precedent that has now made possible the trial of Oskar Gröning, remained defiantly silent during his 18-month trial, never so much as breathing a word of acknowledgment or remorse. Over the years, some defendants have acknowledged knowing of the exterminations, but have insisted that they played no role. Those who acknowledged participating in the killing insisted that they did so out of fear of life or limb. Over the years, an extraordinary research effort was dedicated to exploring the claim that SS men had engaged in extermination out of duress. The results were astonishing: Investigators and historians failed to uncover so much as a single instance in which a German officer or NCO had been executed or even severely punished for opting out of genocide. Not one. These evasions and lies were often effective, as many German trials of Holocaust perpetrators ended either in light sentences or outright acquittal. And even when a trial ended in a conviction, what was missing was any sense of moral reckoning, an acknowledgment on the part of the accused of the perversity of genocide. Fritz Bauer can now exhale. On April 21, on the opening day of his trial in Lüneburg, where he stands accused of complicity in the murder of 300,000 Jews during his service at Auschwitz, the 93-year-old Gröning faced the court and acknowledged, "It is beyond question that I am morally complicit. This moral guilt I acknowledge here, before the victims, with regret and humility." If nothing else comes from the trial, that statement alone justifies the undertaking. Of course, in acknowledging his moral complicity, Gröning fell short of confessing legal guilt. Indeed, for years he has insisted in his innocence as a matter of law, arguing, in an interview with Der Spiegel in 2005, that he had been no more than a "cog in the gears." At Auschwitz, Gröning was responsible for inspecting the luggage of deportees to the camp -- most of whom were gassed within hours of their arrival -- for banknotes that would be carefully counted and sent to Berlin. In performing this task, Gröning insists that he never engaged in cruel, murderous or sadistic acts -- a claim that we can probably accept as true. But does this relieve him of criminal liability? For decades German courts held that mere service as a concentration camp -- in the absence of evidence of a personal act of killing -- constituted no crime under German law. In 2011, the Demjanjuk conviction changed that. In convicting Demjanjuk as an accessory to the murder of 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor death camp, the Munich court concluded that death camp guards, regardless of how they had conducted themselves, had to be accessories to murder, because that was their job. It was a crucial breakthrough, because it recognized that mass killing is not a personal act of evil but an exterminatory process. When it comes to factory-like genocide, guilt is not to be measured by acts of cruelty or nastiness; guilt follows function. Convicting under that theory was the great accomplishment of the Munich court. By this standard, Gröning's truthful claim that he was no more than "a cog" constitutes an admission of guilt. This does not mean that Gröning deserves the same measure of punishment as an SS sadist. In fact, it's not clear that he deserves any punishment besides the symbolic gesture of conviction. But without the court's conviction, Gröning's important acceptance of moral guilt will remain incomplete. The significance of Gröning's trial can be measured in one final way. Many have observed that it coincides with the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. But it also coincides with an anniversary of a different sort. April 24 marks the day that millions mourn the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottomans during World War I, an event many have described as genocide. And yet the Turkish nation itself remains in denial of the mass killings that unfolded a hundred years ago. With that in mind, Gröning's trial reminds us of other mass atrocities that still await their moment of moral and legal reckoning.

Oskar Gröning is on trial over his alleged role in deaths at Auschwitz . Lawrence Douglas: Other mass atrocities still await moment of moral reckoning .

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Washington (CNN)It's the mistake that Hillary Clinton won't make again: ignoring her gender. The low-key video she released on Sunday announcing her run for the White House is filled with women -- young, old, black, white, Asian and Latina -- working in their gardens, taking care of their kids and getting ready for life in the working world. Clinton, who made herself the center of her campaign announcement in 2007, is barely in the video at all, appearing at the end as a kind of everywoman whose story and fight could be folded in with all the others. "I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president," Clinton said in the video. "Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion -- so you can do more than just get by -- you can get ahead." Clinton often says there's no better time in history to be born female than the present. She's now betting that there is no better time for her to make history as the nation's first woman president. The challenge for Clinton in breaking the "highest, hardest glass ceiling" that she described in 2008 is laying out a precise campaign vision that connects with all voters, while generating excitement and anticipation over the possibility of making history. Clinton could be helped by an improving climate for women in politics. There are historic numbers of women in Congress, and the idea of "leaning in" is a catch phrase among professional women. Meanwhile, the feminism label doesn't seem as charged as it once was -- people from Beyonce to actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are identifying as feminist. "As far as the political culture and culture in general, this is as good a time as any for a women to run for the highest office. There is a willingness now to promote pro-women messages," said Jennifer Lawless, who runs the Women & Politics Institute at American University. "People are ready for a woman president. The question is this: Are they ready for Hillary as that woman?" According to a recent Pew poll, nearly three quarters of Americans expect to see a woman president in their lifetime. But that hope splits along partisan -- not gender -- lines. Only 20% of Republican women hope to see a woman president and nearly 70% of Democratic women do. INTERACTIVE: Hillary Clinton tries again . In the run-up to her announcement and at women-centered events, Clinton sometimes strode on stage to the song "I'm Every Woman," and recalled how she juggled work and motherhood as a young lawyer. She has acknowledged a double standard for women and advised women to be tough. She has also frequently mentioned her granddaughter, Charlotte, as the reason she wants to remain in public life, a theme that will no doubt be heard on the campaign trail as she kicks off a tour in Iowa this week with small events. She made pushing for the expansion of the rights of women and girls part of her diplomatic work as secretary of state, as detailed in her book "Hard Choices." Her new campaign website is plastered with pictures of women, with Clinton, in a blue cloth coat, holding a cup of coffee listening intently to another woman as a man looks on. The emphasis on women -- and the progress of women -- as a possible underlying campaign theme is a reversal of her 2008 strategy, which stressed experience and competence over history. But the problem with that approach was that avoiding the obvious wasn't possible and didn't make for good politics. "She is the gender card. She doesn't need to play it because she embodies it. She is the woman candidate. She has shared women's experiences. Being a mom and a grandmother," said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. "She will just naturally bring it in. If she overplayed it, which she won't, it could backfire." Republicans certainly hope the gender play backfires and that voters are fatigued by the kind of identity politics that have defined the Obama years. The Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association's president, put it this way at the group's recent annual meeting: "Eight years of one demographically symbolic president is enough." Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn acknowledged that many women would like to see a female president in their lifetime but said she didn't think it would be Clinton. "There's a couple of things there. Trust, honesty -- those get in her way," Blackburn said. "As we talk about the polling that is out there, that gets in Hillary's way and she's not authentic." In 2014, Democratic candidates such as former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall proved that the "war on women" style of campaigning that worked so well in 2012 had reached its limits. Udall lost that race and picked up the nickname "Mark Uterus" along the way for his incessant focus on women's issues. And Democrats found that in states such as Texas, Kentucky and Georgia, white married women and white working class women tended to prefer Republicans. Katie Packer Gage, who has been talking to women in focus groups about Clinton's run, said that to many women, the "idea of Hillary is more popular than the reality." "She starts out having some benefits of gender because she is something different, but then starts to feel like a typical politician and gets back down to earth," said Packer Gage, who runs Burning Glass Consulting, a firm that coaches Republicans on appealing to women voters. "You do see her starting to frame her campaign as a campaign for women, but that's a narrow campaign, not a winning campaign. You aren't going to win 100% of women." Among Republicans, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina might mount a challenge to Clinton and try to neutralize some of the former first lady's strengths as the lone woman in a field dominated by men. Fiorina released a Facebook video Sunday in which she said Clinton was a "highly intelligent woman" but doesn't have a track record of accomplishment or trustworthiness. "She's not the woman for the White House," Fiorina said. And among Democrats, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb could jump in and be the champion for the white working man, a demographic that he has said is left out of the Democrat's increasingly diverse tent. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who launched his presidential campaign last week, has noted that the Clinton Foundation took money from foreign countries who oppress women, suggesting that the pro-woman framing won't be an easy sell. But Clinton will have some high-profile champions. Moments after her announcement, top Democrats rolled out endorsements, including Barbara Mikulski, the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right. "Whoopee, Hillary is off and running," she wrote in a statement. "I'm ready for Hillary. And America is ready for Hillary. She is going to break that glass ceiling once and for all." At a recent EMILY's List event before announcing her run, Clinton asked her supporters: "Don't you someday want to see a woman president?" In that particular crowd the answering was a resounding yes. But it's unlikely that the same question will make it in her campaign speeches. After all, the answer across the country is much more complicated.

Hillary Clinton could be helped by an improving climate for women in politics . Republicans hope the gender play backfires and that voters are fatigued by identity politics . The emphasis on women as a possible campaign theme is a reversal of her 2008 strategy .

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Tulsa, Oklahoma (CNN)The Tulsa County deputy who shot and killed a man instead of using his Taser now faces a manslaughter charge. Video shows Reserve Deputy Robert Bates announcing he is going to deploy his Taser after an undercover weapons sting on April 2, but then shooting Eric Courtney Harris in the back with a handgun. In a written statement, Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen A. Kunzweiler said Bates is charged with second-degree manslaughter involving culpable negligence. It's a felony charge that could land the volunteer deputy in prison for up to four years if he's found guilty. Scott Wood, an attorney who represents Bates, said the shooting was an "excusable homicide." "We believe the video itself proves that it was an accident of misfortune that occurred while Deputy Bates was fulfilling his duties as a reserve deputy," Wood said. "He is not guilty of second-degree manslaughter." Investigators' efforts to defend Bates and the other deputies involved in the arrest have sparked a mounting chorus of criticism online. Harris' family is demanding an independent investigation of what they call unjustified brutality. They're also questioning why the 73-year-old Bates -- the CEO of an insurance company who volunteers as a certified reserve deputy -- was on the scene in such a sensitive and high-risk sting operation. Daniel Smolen, an attorney representing the Harris family, said Bates paid big money to play a cop in his spare time. "It's absolutely mind boggling that you have a wealthy businessman who's been essentially deputized to go play like he's some outlaw, like he's just cleaning up the streets," he said. Wood said his client -- who had donated cars and video equipment to the Sheriff's Office -- had undergone all the required training and had participated in more than 100 operations with the task force he was working with the day he shot Harris. But he'd never been the main deputy in charge of arresting a suspect, Wood said, but was thrust into the situation because Harris ran from officers during the arrest. "Probably in the past four of five years since he has been working in conjunction with the task force he has been on, (there were) in excess of 100 operations or search warrants where he was placed on the outer perimeter," Wood said. "He has never been on an arrest team or been the one who is primarily responsible for the capture or the arrest of a suspect. He is there more in a support mechanism." Bates, who worked as a police officer for a year in the 1960s, had been a reserve deputy since 2008, with 300 hours of training and 1,100 hours of community policing experience, according to the Sheriff's Office. He was also a frequent contributor to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, including $2,500 to the reelection of Sheriff Stanley Glanz. Tulsa County Sheriff's Maj. Shannon Clark denied accusations that Bates had paid to play a cop, describing him as one of many volunteers in the community who have contributed to the agency. "No matter how you cut it up, Deputy Bates met all the criteria on the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training to be in the role that he was in," Clark said. After the shooting, Bates told investigators that he was "in a state of shock and disbelief" after realizing he'd fired his gun. He also said he believed there was a "strong possibility" that Harris had a gun. Wood said Monday that Bates is upset over the shooting. "Obviously he is very upset about what happened. He feels badly," he said. "The incident completely took him by surprise. He has all the requisite training. He is TASER-certified, and if you watch the video you know he was quite shocked when his gun went off." Authorities say Bates thought he pulled out his Taser but "inadvertently" fired his gun. They've painted Harris as a dangerous, possibly PCP-addled illegal gun dealer who had recently sold methamphetamine to undercover police and who fled police that day in such a way as to give the impression that he had a gun in his waistband. Though Harris was later determined to be unarmed, Sgt. Jim Clark of the Tulsa Police Department, who has been brought in to review the case, excused the behavior of Bates and an officer who is heard cursing at Harris in the video. Clark said Bates was the "victim" of something called "slip and capture," where in a high-stress situation, a person intends to do one thing and instead does something else. It's a controversial argument that drew sharp criticism online as soon as police started making it. One expert told CNN the claim amounts to "junk science." "It's not something that's supported by a testable theory. There's no peer-reviewed articles that would support this. ... It's not generally accepted by the scientific community," said Phil Stinson, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University. "So it's something that in most courts would not be admissible as evidence." Andre Harris told reporters Monday that claims his brother was violent and on PCP are false. "He was nonviolent, he was peaceful, he was loving, he was caring, and he was my brother that I'll never see again 'til I see him in heaven," Harris told reporters, accusing the sheriff's office of trying to persuade him not to hire an attorney and quickly make the case "go away." He added that the shooting of his brother, who was African-American, wasn't a racial matter. "I don't think this is a racial thing. I don't think this has anything to do with race. It might have a hint there somewhere. ... This is simply evil," Andre Harris told reporters Monday. "This is a group of people that's spent a lot of time together, spent money together. ... They've gotten real comfortable with how they do things, which when you're the law, I guess you feel like you can do things and get away with it and not get exposed. "Well, we've come to expose it. We've come to pull a mask off the evil. We've come to shine a light on the darkness." CNN's Ed Lavandera and Jason Morris reported from Tulsa. CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet reported from Atlanta. CNN's Atika Shubert, Chandler Friedman and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.

Harris family attorney says volunteer deputy was a donor who paid to play a cop . An attorney representing Reserve Deputy Robert Bates says it was an "excusable homicide" Eric Harris' brother says the shooting was "simply evil," accuses investigators of trying to cover it up .

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(CNN)For those wondering if we would ever hear from the Bluth family again, the answer would appear to be yes. "Arrested Development" executive producer Brian Grazer said the show will return for a fifth season of 17 episodes. The Hollywood mogul was interviewed on Bill Simmons' podcast recently, and let it drop that fans can expect more of the quirky comedy. Netflix had no comment for CNN when asked to verify his statements. The fourth season was streamed exclusively on Netflix in 2013, after Fox canceled the show several years before. Despite critical acclaim, the series never had big ratings, but has a devoted fan base, who often quote from the show. It was not yet known if the full cast, including Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Will Arnett, will return for the season.

Fan favorite series "Arrested Development" to return for a fifth season, according to producer . Brian Grazer claimed the show would be back in a podcast . Netflix is not commenting .

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Boston (CNN)Now the real Boston Marathon trial can begin. A federal jury's decision to convict Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of 30 charges related to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings was the most anticlimactic of anticlimaxes. The 21-year-old's lawyers admitted from the beginning that their client had participated in the horrific terrorist attack, which both scarred and strengthened this city. The outcome of this first phase may have been preordained, but nearly two years after the bombing, the trial has held Boston and the region in thrall — more so than I might have imagined. The case regularly lands on the front pages of our two daily newspapers, the Globe and the Herald, and often leads the local television newscasts. The Twitter feeds of reporters covering the trial are avidly followed. We haven't learned much new, although harrowing details about the deaths of the Tsarnaev brothers' four victims have come out. More than anything, many people find something cathartic in seeing the seemingly insolent, unrepentant Tsarnaev being brought to justice. The only issue to be decided is whether Tsarnaev should be executed. Which is why the second phase of his trial is the one that really matters. Was Tsarnaev so thoroughly under the sway of his radicalized older brother, Tamerlan, that he should be spared lethal injection? Or had this seemingly typical teenager transformed himself into a hardened jihadist who obsessed over al Qaeda propaganda such as the article "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom"? What kind of justice should Tsarnaev receive? There is no death penalty in Massachusetts, and in September 2013, according to a Globe poll, 57% of respondents supported life in prison for Tsarnaev; just 33% said he should be executed. By moving the case into federal court, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made it likely that Tsarnaev would receive the death penalty. Keep in mind that no members of the jury were deemed eligible to serve unless they stated beforehand that they were willing to consider putting Tsarnaev to death. But imagine a different scenario in which Tsarnaev had been allowed to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. He would have been denied the public stage he has been granted; although he has not testified (so far), his terrorist actions have been replayed over and over again for people to see the world over. The 2015 Boston Marathon will take place in less than two weeks, on Monday, April 20. Thousands of runners will clog the 26.2-mile route, and tens of thousands will cheer them on — as they did last year, proving to the world that we will not be intimidated. And Tsarnaev's lawyers will still be fighting for their client's life. It is a natural if disturbing reaction to events like this that it's easier to remember the names of the perpetrators than of their victims. But Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a loser and a nobody. He should be allowed to fade away into the obscurity of a maximum-security prison cell. The people who deserve to be remembered are those he and his brother killed on Marathon Day — Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lingzi Lu — and Sean Collier, the MIT police officer they executed in cold blood. It is they who should live on in our collective memories.

Dan Kennedy: After Boston Marathon bombing guilty verdict, now real trial -- the sentencing -- can begin. What justice should Tsarnaev get? He says a plea might have been better, to keep bomber out of the news and let him fade into obscurity in maximum security cell . Kennedy: The people who deserve to be remembered are victims and MIT officer who was killed .

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(CNN)A professor at Texas A&M Galveston said in an email to his strategic management students that they were a disgrace, that they lacked maturity -- and that he would fail the entire class. Irwin Horwitz, an instructional associate professor in the university's department of maritime administration, told CNN affiliate KPRC that he had finally reached a breaking point. "Enough was enough," Horwitz said. "It became apparent that they couldn't do just some of the most simple and basic things that they should've been able to do at that point." In the email to students, KPRC reported, Horwitz said: "I have seen cheating, been told by students to 'chill out,' 'get out of my space,' 'go back and teach' refuse to leave the room after being told to do so following inappropriate conduct, called a 'f*****g moron' several times by a student to my face..." Horwitz added that students spread hurtful rumors about him, his wife and colleagues, and that he felt the need for police protection in class. John Shaw, a senior at Texas A&M Galveston and student in Horwitz's class, told KPRC he was worried about the job he has lined up after graduation. "Just ridiculous, because, I mean, I had never had a problem in the class," Shaw said. "I thought I had done pretty well, done pretty well on the first test and everything else that's going on. I get an email saying I am going to get an F in the class, and just kind of -- it was overwhelming." Texas A&M Galveston is a part of the Texas A&M University System; its more than 2,000 students focus on marine and maritime studies. Patrick Louchouarn, the vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer, told KPRC that the university will not necessarily stand by the failing grades Horwitz planned to hand out. University officials said the department head will take over teaching the strategic management class. "None of them have failed until the end of the class, meaning the only reason a student would fail is because he or she hasn't performed the actual, you know, with the expectations for that particular class," Louchouarn said. University officials have not yet responded to CNN's request for comment.

A Texas A&M Galveston professor said in an email to students he would fail the entire class . University officials won't necessarily stand by failing grades, CNN affiliate KPRC reports .

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(CNN)The FBI is investigating a possible ISIS-inspired terrorist threat in the United States, law enforcement officials said Saturday. The investigation originated from intercepted chatter and other intelligence information that led officials to believe a possible plot could be in the works, the officials said. No arrests have been made. It's not clear whether the threat is real or aspirational. The exact nature of the threat couldn't be learned. One official said it focused on parts of California where officials stepped up security, a U.S. official said. The Transportation Security Administration alerted local law enforcement agencies that are responsible for external security around airports, but officials said the possible threat is not necessarily aviation-related. Some cities around the United States have increased their security as a precaution. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined Saturday to talk about specifics, but spoke about security measures in general. "Over the last few months, we have made a number of security adjustments, including enhanced screening at select overseas airports and increasing random searches of passengers and carry-on luggage on flights inbound to the U.S., reflecting an evolving threat picture," the spokesman said. He said the DHS added layers of security to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. ETSA is an online application system to screen travelers before they are allow to board an airplane or ship bound for the United States. In February, a more visible law enforcement presence was put in place at federal facilities, he said. "The department has conducted significant outreach efforts ... with state and local law enforcement partners regarding these trends and engaging in a series of meetings and events with local community leaders across the country to counter violent extremism," he said.

Officials say the investigation originated from intercepted chatter . Possible threat focused on parts of California, one says .

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(CNN)The onslaught on Houthis rebels in Yemen continued Tuesday, with the Saudi-led coalition asserting increasing control while locals fled the chaos and casualties piled up -- dozens of civilians among them. Five days after their first airstrikes, the coalition has destroyed air defense systems of the Houthis and supporters of Yemen's longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and rendered all but a fraction of air bases and stripes unusable, a Saudi source said. Saudi Arabia's navy now controls all Yemeni ports, allowing only closely watched non-military medical goods to pass its blockade, according to the source. This effort isn't over, including widespread attempts to locate and destroy Scud missiles still in the country, the source said. The Saudis appear intent on seeing it through, as evidenced by remarks from Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in Riyadh. "The Houthi militia and agents of the former president -- supported by Iran -- insist to meddle in Yemen, reshuffle the cards, rob the Yemeni will, make a coup against the constitutional legitimacy and reject all peaceful solutions," al-Faisal said, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. "We are not warmongers," he added. "But if war's drums are beaten, we are ready for them." The airstrikes -- the latest focused around Aden, Taiz and coastal cities -- come at a cost, and not just to Houthi rebel fighters. The International Red Cross said that intense fighting had brought "disturbing reports of civilian casualties," with some of the worst violence around the port city of Aden. Erich Ogoso, a spokesman with the United Nations' humanitarian agency, reported 182 dead and hundreds more wounded just between last Wednesday and Sunday. Some 75,000 people have been displaced in the past week, many health facilities shut down and food prices have skyrocketed. "Increasing hostilities have led to (the) targeting of schools, health facilities and other social infrastructure," Ogoso said. "... There are reports of damage to residential areas in different cities, and in Aden, minors have reportedly taken part in the fighting on all sides." Airstrikes that hit the Al-Mazraq camp for displaced persons near Sanaa killed at least 29 people -- women and children among them, according to aid group Doctors Without Borders. About 1,100 families live in the camp, said U.N.'s humanitarian affairs coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw. "They are," he said, "among the most vulnerable people in Yemen." Yemen has been in disarray for some time, beset by widespread poverty and insecurity. Those factors helped terror groups like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula find homes in the Arab nation, but didn't help its 26 million citizens in their quest for peace and prosperity. The instability escalated as the Houthis, a minority group long marginalized in Yemen, increasingly challenged the government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi (who in 2012 took over for Saleh, who had been in power for 33 years). The Houthis began moving into Sanaa in September, then headed into Aden earlier this month -- advancing despite intermittent (and, time and again, unsuccessful) talks aimed a peaceful political solution to the unrest. Things finally came to a head last week, with Hadi -- who claims to still be President, even though the Houthis control government institutions -- left Yemen. At roughly the same time, Saudi Arabia and its allies came in with force to support Hadi, who they say remains Yemen's legitimate leader. The burgeoning conflict threatened to open a wider rift, not just in the region but in the Muslim world. That's because the Saudis have painted the Houthis as tools of Iran's government, an accusation that also reflects the fact Saudi Arabia (and their allies in the coalition) are predominantly Sunni Muslims, while Iran and the Houthis are Shiites. The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud al-Faisal as saying Tuesday that he would not condemn Iran, but would instead test the country's intentions "by extending our hands to it as a Muslim neighbor to open a new page." If those two countries could achieve real cooperation, it could ease the pressures that are tearing Yemen apart. On the other side, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that officials in his country and Saudi Arabia can help bring about a "political solution" in Yemen, according to Iran's state-run Press TV, citing AFP. If they don't, war could inflame the entire region. "We strongly object to the military solution in Yemen," Amir-Abdollahian said, reiterating a view made by other Iranian officials. "We believe that the Saudi military attack against Yemen is a strategic mistake."

Saudi minister: "If war's drums are beaten, we are ready for them" U.N. official: At least 182 killed in the past week, including civilians .

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(CNN)In July of 2013, the oldest of Jesus relics stories rose again when Turkish archaeologists discovered a stone chest in a 1,350-year-old church that appeared to contain a piece of Jesus' cross. "We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross," said excavation team leader Gülgün Köroğlu, an art historian and archaeologist. At the time, she thought the chest served as a symbolic coffin for a holy person's relics -- ones connected to Jesus' crucifixion. And then, silence. The latest relic of the cross on which Jesus had died stalled out because, as Köroğlu later said, the box that had contained allegedly holy objects was now -- mysteriously -- empty. The latest episode of the "true cross," a powerful identifier for the faith of more than two billion people, is symbolic of the pitfalls in the hunt for Jesus relics. To say something smacks of the "true cross" can mean it's a matter of divine certainty or of utter fraud. Could fragments of the true cross of Jesus really be among us today? Could fragments of a tree survive millennia? Or are they fragments of forgery that speak to our need to believe? The true cross phenomenon begins with Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He sent his mother Saint Helena (c. 246-330 CE) to find Jesus objects in the Holy Land. When Helena traveled to Jerusalem in 326 CE the city was still suffering the destruction caused by the last Jewish War in 132-35 CE. After defeating Israel, Roman Emperor Hadrian built a pagan temple over Jesus's tomb near Calvary -- a grave insult to the new religion. Helena ordered this pagan temple torn down and began to dig beneath it to find relics related to Jesus. Her workers found three different crosses -- a discovery directly relating to the Gospels, which tell us that Jesus was crucified along with two criminals. The historian Rufinus (c. 340-410) reveals that in order to discern which cross was Jesus', Helena had a dying local woman brought to the site. The ill woman touched two of the crosses, but nothing happened. Then she touched the third -- and she recovered. The true cross of Jesus had been revealed. Helena carved it up, leaving some of it in Jerusalem and transporting a chunk to Europe where it seemingly multiplied, so much so that Protestant reformer John Calvin said: "... if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it." But was Calvin exaggerating to support his own reforms to Catholicism? How could we ever know what the true cross was made of, or looked like, since neither the Gospels -- nor the Romans -- bothered to tell us? Enter science. In 1870, French architect Charles Rohault de Fleury catalogued all known fragments of the true cross. He determined the Jesus cross weighed 165 pounds, was three or four meters high, with a cross beam two meters wide. If all these bits of the cross were cobbled together, he reckoned, they wouldn't amount to a third of the cross on which Jesus died. And based on the fragments he was allowed to examine by microscope, de Fleury concluded the true cross was made of pine wood. Later, four cross particles were also microscopically examined -- part of ten pieces of the true cross, accompanied by documentary proofs from Byzantine emperors. These fragments came from grand European churches: Santa Croce in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, and the Cathedrals of Pisa and Florence. But scientists discovered that they were all made of olive wood. So now the question became: Was the cross of Jesus made of olive wood or pine? One of the perplexing realities for archaeologists is a lack of residual wood from the massive record of Roman crucifixion. Despite the fact the Romans killed tens of thousands of people through crucifixion -- and as many as 500 a day during the siege of Jerusalem from 66-70 CE -- the only piece of evidence connected to this terrible punishment was discovered in 1968, when archaeologists found the heel bone of a crucified man with the nail still intact. In the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel Hershkovitz, who teaches anatomy and archaeology at Tel Aviv University, said that the heel bone of the crucified man was found in a Jewish burial tomb in a northern suburb of Jerusalem, near Golgotha -- the hill where the Romans crucified people. The man, whose ossuary, or burial box, identified him as Yehohanan, was in his mid 20s when he died on the cross. His good teeth and lack of heavy musculature meant that he most likely came from a wealthy family, for most crucifixion victims were far too humble to wind up in tombs --save for Jesus, who was put in one by the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea. Others buried in the same tomb as Yehohanan had connections to the Temple, so it's possible that he was killed by the Romans for some political transgression. Yehohanan was cut down from the cross with a 4.5-inch nail still in his right heel bone, and with part of a board still attached to the head of the nail. Hershkovitz believes that the relative shortness of the length of the nail reveals much about Roman crucifixion methods. "The nail was too short (to go through) two heel bones, so sure enough each foot was hammered separately to the cross." Hershkovitz is convinced that crosses were not made from olive trees because the people depended on the olive tree for food and wouldn't be slashing them down to make crosses. More importantly, for the purpose at hand, they wouldn't be suitable because of the structure of the tree itself. Olive trees don't grow tall and straight, it branches everywhere, and there are a lot of holes in the wood, making it difficult to support the nails against the weight of the victim. "The olive tree is the least appropriate tree. We have different type of local oaks that better serve the purpose." Today there are even more "true cross" fragments on display around the world: on Mount Athos, in Rome, in Brussels, in Venice, in Ghent, in Paris, in Spain, in Serbia -- and even in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, where a fragment of the true cross came along as part of the family chapel imported there and rebuilt by Theodore Boal for his French bride. If you want your own sliver of the cross on which Jesus died, eBay offers several choices -- with some having original wax seals preserving "integrity" and some having documents attesting to their authenticity. Mark Goodacre, a professor at Duke University's Department of Religion, says that this continued emphasis on the genuineness of true cross fragments is often at the expense of the cross's meaning. "The thing about the cross is you've always got to remember that it's about the person who hung there, the wood itself in the end is just the instrument of torture." 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."

The true cross phenomenon begins with Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Could fragments of a tree survive millennia? Or are they fragments of forgery that speak to our need to believe?

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(CNN)It started with neighbors and local officials digging with their hands through the rubble. As soon as a deadly earthquake stopped rattling a swath of Nepal, before the scope of the damage was calculated, the digging began. The magnitude-7.8 earthquake has killed more than 1,800 people, and the death toll is expected to rise. One witness, Joe McEnness, captured a photo of police officers in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, trying to dig survivors out of a collapsed building. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said its volunteers and staff were aiding rescue efforts and providing first aid to the injured. The Red Cross opened a blood bank in Kathmandu. Reports from Nepal indicated that hospitals were overflowing with patients and suffering from shortages. One doctor in the outskirts of Kathmandu put out a plea for engineers to come to his hospital to help back up the electricity supply. "Victims will be dying if we don't have it," Dr. Subhash Acharya tweeted. At another hospital, CNN's Manesh Shrestha saw people being turned away as doctors focused on the most dire needs, he said. He saw people lying outside with broken bones and head injuries. With communication limited, many turned to social media to ask for help locating their loved ones. Google India launched a person finder website to work as a clearinghouse for information on those who are missing and those who have been found. As of Saturday night in Nepal, Google was tracking some 1,400 records. Facebook activated Safety Check, which alerts users of any friends who are in the disaster zone. Those in the affected area can use Facebook to alert their family and friends that they are OK. The U.S. government is providing $1 million in immediate assistance, the U.S. Embassy in Nepal said. American disaster response teams are also on their way to the country, the Embassy said via Twitter. Nepal's neighbor India deployed teams to Kathmandu almost immediately. Within hours of the quake, India had sent almost 300 personnel, along with search dogs and supplies. The equipment arrived in Nepal via a series of cargo and airlift planes, including a C-130 Super Hercules, one IL-76, and two C-17 Globemasters, according to India's Ministry of Defense. Two additional helicopters were deployed from India but turned back because of bad weather, the ministry said. India said Sunday that it would dispatch 10 more aid flights to Nepal, along with 10 helicopters to assist in search-and-rescue efforts. Disaster management and medical personnel as well as mobile hospitals, food, water, blankets and medicine will be on the aid flights, Ministry of Defense spokesman Sitanshu Kar said. Pakistan announced it is sending a medical team, a 30-bed hospital and search-and-rescue experts. The Pakistani search team is specialized for rescues in natural disasters, officials said, and comes equipped with ground-penetrating radar and concrete cutters. Pakistan is sending meals, water, medicine and other supplies. China, meanwhile, announced that it will send 40 rescuers and six search dogs. Israel's military was preparing to send a team to assess the damage from the quake ahead of a humanitarian mission, the Israel Defense Forces said. Hikers around Mount Everest run for lives, treat injured . CNN's Kunal Sehgal contributed to this report.

More than 1,800 deaths reported after Nepal earthquake . Rescue efforts range from digging by hand to military deployments .

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Tehran, Iran (CNN)There is a Persian proverb that says: "A good year is determined by its spring." For many Iranians, the historic decision by Tehran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China -- to continue nuclear negotiations under a "joint comprehensive plan of action" is an indication that this year's Norouz, the Persian New Year that started on March 21, will be a superb one indeed. Although edgy hardliners may now try to play games and complain the preliminary agreement is not what they had hoped, for many people it shows excellent progress and that's what they want. It paves the way for a much broader deal by end of June that guarantees the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions and a return to the international community. As is, the stakes are high and the choice is clear for President Hassan Rouhani and his "moderate" administration. They must now be over the moon: In early 2016, there will be Legislative and Assembly of Experts elections, the latter of which elects the country's leader. This historic agreement will make sure they win both the elections. So far, Rouhani's team has done nothing to improve the living conditions of ordinary Iranians who complain they have lost half of their purchasing power in recent years. READ MORE: Will Iran's Supreme Leader drink 'poison' of peace? During his presidential campaign, he promised to do so "only" if he could seal a nuclear deal with the world powers. And now he has. A full deal ultimately represents a referendum on the Rouhani administration's foreign policy. It will definitely strengthen his hand, which he needs to stay in the game, or better yet, win the next presidential race. The good news is that people are more than happy to welcome the preliminary agreement. They had always wanted a way out of the current impasse with the rest of the world and as a reward they could keep the moderates in power for the foreseeable future. Iranians blame sanctions and the previous hardline government for the sorry state of affairs in the economy -- especially the way they so poorly handled past nuclear talks of the past -- with devastating consequences. Many believe that now there is a joint comprehensive plan of action -- the culmination of a 12-year process -- there is something to hope for. In many respects, it's a new beginning and that allows Iranians a very small degree of hope inside themselves too. Looking back, the previous government traded those expectations for international isolation and economic hardship. Despite skepticism, even the country's leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, now feels that the light at the end of the tunnel might not be a train and that the talks could end well. READ MORE: What's in the Iran nuclear deal? 7 key points . Little wonder he had urged the nation -- including the well-funded hardliners -- to support the government's overture, saying the negotiating team was trustworthy and had been doing a fine job. It was a historic gesture that represents qualified support for continued diplomacy and that could lead to a historic step forward. It places confidence and hope in the negotiating team and the P5+1 group of world powers, guaranteeing no-one in Iran will stand in the way of principled diplomatic engagement and international rapprochement. Within this context, many Iranians are jubilant. They should be. More than ever, they are confident that not striking a comprehensive deal would be a historic mistake. They are confident it is within reach and this is as it should be: A win-win deal for all. They now strongly believe the lifting of international sanctions is no longer illusive. It would resuscitate the country's ailing economy and improve their lives. At least, that's what they hope. It's early spring and people on the streets are talking about nothing but the current choice. It represents the biggest chance of rapprochement between Tehran and Washington since the Iranian revolution in 1979. After all, for many Iranians this is more than just a nuclear agreement.

Deal between Iran and six world powers has given Iranians hope, writes Ghanbar Naderi . Lifting of international sanctions a possibility, Iranians hope for better living conditions, he adds . People will likely keep President Rouhani's "moderate" government in power, Naderi writes .

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(CNN)Every morning, Sissa Abu Dahou puts on traditional male dress, known as a jalabiya, and heads into the streets of the Egyptian city of Luxor for a day of hard work. But this man of the house is actually a woman. The grandmother of two has dressed as a man for 43 years to avoid oppression and eek out a living in the conservative Muslim state. "Why did you do this mother?" her daughter asked during a recorded interview with Egyptian television network CBC. "Your father died and I was six months pregnant with you." she replied. "None of my siblings helped me. I raised you and sent you to school. Without money I could not have gotten you an education." A widow at just 21, Dahou was forced to fend for herself in Egypt's patriarchal south, where decades ago it was unheard of for women to earn their own living. Even in recent years, women make up barely 24% of Egypt's workforce, according to the World Bank. "It is considered wrong that I dressed as a man but no one can judge. Not you or anyone else. Only God can judge me," Dahou said, "People talked but I said I decided to be a man so I can take care of my small daughter." The breadwinner worked as a brick maker for just 25 piasters, the equivalent of a few cents, until she saved up enough money to buy a shoeshine kit. She found a place for her wooden box, painted with red hearts and the Egyptian flag, alongside the all-male shoe shiners of her community. "If it wasn't for my mother, I would have been on the streets" Houda, her daughter, told TV host Mona al-Shazly through tears. "Honestly I would have been in the streets. I did not find a home except with my mother. And even today my children rely on her." The years of sun and sand weathered and darkened Dahou's face and left her with a voice so deep and raspy she can easily be mistaken for a man. Her only child, Houda, eventually married and had two children of her own. Through the years the one-time housewife dreamed of owning her own business one day, a small street stand to sell snacks and cigarettes. After her interview on CBC television, the governor of Luxor province offered Dahou a kiosk and a cash advance. The maverick had one requirement- she would only agree to meet with the governor in male attire. "Even if I die, I will not take it off," Dahou said as she pulled on the male jalabiya in front of a TV camera, "When I had to dress in a woman's jalabiya when I went to Cairo I felt suffocated. No, I thank God. I don't want anyone to look at me or look at my daughter." Now the 65-year-old who earned respect as a man has gained praise as a woman. Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, crowned her as one of Egypt's ideal mothers in an official ceremony last month. "If I was really a man, I would not have done this," Dahou told her daughter, "I would have gotten remarried. I would have left you who knows where. You would have been treated without dignity or left homeless. Thank God I was able to protect you."

Sissa Abu Dahou recently was honored as one of Egypt's ideal mothers . But for 43 years she has dressed as a man so she could work in the conservative country . "People talked but I said I decided to be a man so I can take care of my small daughter," says Dahou .

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(CNN)A man charged with planning the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in India has been released on bail in Pakistan after years of detention, prompting sharp criticism from India. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a top leader of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was released early Friday from a jail in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, according to Yahya Mujahid, spokesman for Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a group with which Lakhvi is affiliated. Lakhvi was charged in Pakistan in 2009, accused of masterminding the November 2008 terror attacks that left more than 160 people dead in Mumbai, India's most populous city. Lakhvi still faces trial in the case. But an anti-terrorism court granted Lakhvi bail last year, a decision the Pakistani government said it would challenge. That challenge lasted until Thursday, when the Lahore High Court ordered his release, CNN affiliate and Pakistani outlet GEO News reported. Lakhvi posted bail totaling 2 million Pakistani rupees (more than $19,000), according to GEO News. India, Pakistan's neighbor and rival, condemned Lakhvi's bail release on Friday. The country contacted Pakistan's foreign secretary to underline "that this has reinforced the perception that Pakistan has a dual policy on dealing with terrorists, and those who have carried out attacks or are posing a threat to India are being dealt with differently," said Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs. The accusation that Pakistan might treat India differently highlights long-running tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought three wars against each other since their partition at the end of British colonial rule. Pakistan's Foreign Office responded Friday by saying, "It would not be proper to cast aspersions on Pakistan's commitment to countering terrorism at a time when Pakistan has entered a critical stage of defeating the menace of terrorism." The Foreign Office also blamed what it said was India's delay in cooperating in the case, saying it "weakened the prosecution." In the Mumbai attacks, heavily armed men stormed landmark buildings around Mumbai, including luxury hotels, the city's historic Victoria Terminus train station and a Jewish cultural center. India executed the last surviving gunman from the attacks in 2012. Other suspects were all killed during the series of attacks, which went on for three days. More about the Mumbai attacks . CNN's Harmeet Singh contributed to this report.

The terror attacks in India left more than 160 people dead . A court granted the suspect bail last year .

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(CNN)Late one night on Facebook, a girl with cystic fibrosis messaged a boy with cystic fibrosis, and both their lives were changed forever. The girl, Katie Donovan, read that the boy, Dalton Prager, was very sick. "If you ever need a friend to talk to, you can reach out to me," she wrote. "Sorry, but do I know you?" he responded. No, you don't, Katie wrote back, and told Dalton a bit about herself. Like him, she was 18, and "my breathing is pretty crappy and I see you are in the hospital. I'm sorry. I know it sucks!...But you just gotta stay strong." Messages between the two flew back and forth. They realized they were falling in love. For most other couples, the next step would be to meet in person. But for Katie and Dalton, that was complicated -- and dangerous. Cystic fibrosis patients shouldn't be near each other because they can share infections that could cripple their already fragile lungs. Dr. Michael Anstead at the University of Kentucky, Katie's pulmonologist since she was a little girl, had lectured her many times that face-to-face meetings with other CF patients were a bad idea. In their online conversations, one of the first things Dalton told Katie about himself was that he had Burkholderia cepacia, a horribly dangerous infection for people with CF. "I was like, 'Hi, I'm Dalton from Missouri and I have Burkholderia cepacia,' because it's such a big deal in the CF community," he remembers. "I left the decision about whether we should meet up completely up to her." Katie listened to her heart, even if it might hurt her lungs. She asked Dalton to come visit her in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. "I told Dalton I'd rather be happy -- like really, really happy -- for five years of my life and die sooner than be mediocre happy and live for twenty years," Katie says. "That was definitely something I had to think about, but when you have those feelings, you just know." So on August 28, 2009, Dalton drove more than six hours from St. Charles, Missouri, to Katie's hometown in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, where they'd arranged to meet at the Dairy Queen. At 7:10 pm -- they remember the time precisely -- Katie got out of her car and saw Dalton leaning against a brick wall looking cool and handsome in his sunglasses. "My heart was racing, but I just went right up to him and hugged and kissed him on the mouth without even saying hello," she remembers. "I'm usually not that kind of girl, but it just felt so right." Katie took Dalton and his mother, Renee, who'd made the trip with him, to have dinner with her and her parents, Debbie and John Donovan. Later the young couple drove around Flemingsburg, and Dalton gave her a necklace for her nineteenth birthday, which was two days before. Their health quickly deteriorated, and within months, the new husband and wife went on oxygen full time. Too ill to work, Dalton quit his job at his family's auto repair shop, and Katie quit hers as a store clerk. In August, 2014, the couple entered the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center together to wait for new lungs. Dalton's came first, and on November 17, he had his transplant. Despite his Burkholderia cepacia, which makes transplants more complicated, it was a success. "I was so thrilled. I was so happy for him," Katie says. The month after Dalton's surgery, UPMC discharged Katie -- she says they told her it would be psychologically good for her to get out for a while. When she had serious trouble breathing three days later she tried to get back into the hospital, but UPMC informed her she'd used up her supply of Medicare days and wouldn't accept her. Medicare -- the federal insurance program for the elderly and for anyone with disabilities -- wouldn't pay for another hospitalization until Katie had been out of the hospital for sixty days. But Katie was too sick to stay out of the hospital for six days, much less sixty. So Katie relied on Medicaid, public insurance that was supplied by her home state of Kentucky. She was admitted to the University of Kentucky Hospital, where she was cared for by Anstead, her beloved pulmonologist. But then, another hurdle. Anstead explained that most lung transplant centers, including the two in Kentucky, don't do transplants on patients with Burkholderia cepacia, referring them to larger centers like UPMC that have more experience with such complicated cases. Katie and Dalton, now 24 and 23, were desperate. Her doctors predicted she wouldn't live a year without new lungs. Going on her husband's private insurance wasn't an option, since Dalton is on his father's policy. In February, Anstead wrote a letter to Medicaid, pleading with them to make an exception and pay for Katie's care at UPMC, even though it was out of state. Kentucky Medicaid denied his plea, and that's when the squabbling began. In a statement to CNN, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services pointed the finger at UPMC, saying the medical center had declined to enroll as a Kentucky Medicaid provider. "Medicaid policies allow for a simplified enrollment process for out-of-state providers in such situations," wrote the spokeswoman, Gwenda Bond. "Should UPMC reverse its decision and choose to enroll as a Kentucky Medicaid provider, the Department for Medicaid Services...will be happy to expedite their application." UPMC counters that Kentucky Medicaid told them that if they want to care for Katie, they would have to sign up hundreds of their doctors to accept Kentucky Medicaid patients. While UPMC spokeswoman Wendy Zellner didn't elaborate, a hospital might be loathe to sign up for large-scale coverage of out-of-state Medicaid patients as payments under such programs are typically very low. Asking for hundreds of doctors to sign up to take Kentucky Medicaid is "an unusually restrictive approach and contrary to single-case agreements that we have signed with other state Medicaid programs," Zellner wrote. "UPMC wants to help Katie, and our physicians and staff have done everything possible to make that happen...It is up to Kentucky Medicaid to address this situation." Today, Katie waits in limbo in her hospital bed, hoping that the three parties -- Medicare, Medicaid, and UPMC -- will work things out so she can get her new lungs. "I feel like they're putting a dollar sign on my life," she says. "I don't want to die because of money. That's stupid. Nobody should have to do that." If Katie doesn't get her transplant, not only will she die, but she'll never be near her husband again because of the risk that she could give him her infection, which could be deadly for him as he's on drugs to suppress his immune system. As a result of inquiries from CNN, on Wednesday Aaron Albright, the director of the media relations group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services arranged for a caseworker to call Katie at the hospital. But it didn't go very well. Katie says the caller, who identified herself as Pat Pierorazio, was "rude, mean, and angry." "She said someone had told her to call me, and she acted like it was just a pain to have to be talking to me," she says. Katie says the Medicare representative told her she would look into her situation. In a statement, Albright with CMS wrote to CNN: "We are working quickly to fully understand this difficult and complex situation so that this patient can get the care she needs. CMS is reaching out to the state agency to find a solution as soon as possible." Caught in the middle between the hospital and insurance, Katie tries to stay strong, just as she advised her husband to do nearly six years ago in their first Facebook conversation. Skyping with Dalton helps, and raising money on their Facebook page keeps her mind busy. And she's always thinking about their "after transplant bucket list," which they keep in a safe in their house so it won't be destroyed by fire or flood. On the list: Drive through every state. Learn another language and visit a country where they speak it. Write a book together about their love story. They have simpler dreams as well. Like going grocery shopping together, or sitting side by side on the couch to watch television. And this is their biggest goal: . "I just want to make it to see our four year anniversary in July and be able to hold hands and just hug. That's all I really want -- to be able to hug my husband on our fourth anniversary," she says. Wednesday afternoon, there were signs of hope. Zeller, the UPMC spokeswoman, sent an email to CNN. "Ky Medicaid has reached out to us to talk. So stay tuned," she wrote. Katie and Dalton were glad to hear it. "I don't care what I have to do to get her lungs," Dalton said. "I will just keep trying until there's nothing left to try."

Katie and Dalton met as patients dealing with cystic fibrosis . Two years later, they were married . Dalton received a lung transplant, but Katie is still waiting .

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Tokyo (CNN)It's a bird -- It's a plane -- It's an insanely fast Japanese bullet train. A Japan Railway maglev train hit 603 kilometers per hour (374 miles per hour) on an experimental track in Yamanashi Tuesday, setting a decisive new world record. A spokesperson said the train spent 10.8 seconds traveling above 600 kilometers per hour, during which it covered 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles). That's nearly 20 football fields in the time it took you to read the last two sentences. Takeo Ookanda, who runs an exhibition center next to the test track, said witnesses erupted with excitement and applause when the new record was set. "I was moved just like many other visitors here today," he told CNN. "This maglev project... (increases) the hope that Japan can have a good growth again in the future." The train broke its own record from last Thursday, when it ran at 590 kilometers per hour (366 miles per hour) on a test track. That beat the old record of 581 kilometers per hour (361 miles per hour), which was set in 2003 during another Japanese maglev test. Right now, China operates the world's fastest commercial maglev, which has hit 431 kilometers per hour (268 miles per hour) on a route through Shanghai. By contrast, the fastest train in the United States, Amtrak's Acela Express, is only capable of 241 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), though it usually plods along at half that speed. Unlike traditional trains, maglev trains work by using magnets to push the train away from the tracks and drive the train forward. Japan's maglevs don't use metal tracks — instead, they float nearly 10 cm (4 inches) above special guideways, allowing for frictionless movement. Japan Railways has been testing their train to figure out the best operational speed for a planned route between Tokyo and Nagoya, scheduled to begin service in 2027. That trip can take nearly 5 hours by car. But in the future, a maglev train could finish the journey in 40 minutes. READ MORE: The future of transportation will blow your hair back . CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki contributed reporting.

Japanese maglev train sets new speed record: 603 kilometers per hour . The train is planned to begin service in 2027 .

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(CNN)Lois Lilienstein, co-star of "Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show" — the Canadian preschool show that ran on Nickelodeon during the early 1990s — has died, aged 78. Her son, David Lilienstein, told CBC News that his mother died in Toronto on Wednesday night from a rare form of cancer first diagnosed last October. "She knew it was happening, she was at peace with it, and she died very peacefully and not in pain," he told the Canadian broadcaster. Liz Smith at 92 . Lilienstein was born in Chicago in 1936 and moved to Toronto in 1996 with her son and her husband, Ernest. She joined Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison to launch their singing trio in 1978. The TV show "Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show" ran on CBC in Canada from 1984 to 1989, before continuing in reruns on Nickelodeon stateside until 1995. The 30 most popular film producers in Hollywood . Sally Catto, general manager, programming at CBC Television, paid tribute to Lilienstein for her contribution to Canadian kids TV. "Sharon, Lois and Bram got their start at CBC back in the '80s with the Elephant Show, and they went on to become icons to children all across North America through various programs and specials. Lois will be fondly remembered by her many friends at CBC," Catto told The Hollywood Reporter. 'Ghostbusters' budget cut . The Canadian variety show was best known for songs like "Skinnamarink" and "Peanut Butter." Lilienstein left the Sharon, Lois & Bram performance trio in 2000. ©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.

Beloved children's performer Lois Lilienstein has died . She was a member of CBC and Nickelodeon TV stars Sharon, Lois and Bram . CNN independently confirmed with Sharon and Bram's manager that Lilienstein passed away at 78 of a a rare cancer .

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Vidarbha, India (CNN)Yogita Kanhaiya is expecting a baby soon. She already has a two-year-old son. Her husband, Moreshwor, a cotton farmer, won't be around to see his children grown up. He committed suicide early in the pregnancy. Eight years back, Yogita's father-in-law, also a cotton farmer, took his own life. "He was in so much debt," 25-year-old Yogita said of her late husband. "He wasn't getting any money from cotton. He chose death over distress." It's a familiar story in families across Western India's cotton production belt, where, a cotton lobbyist group claims, one cotton farmer commits suicide every eight hours. "We get reports of two to three farmer suicides every day," said Kishor Tiwari, leader of the farmers advocacy group, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS). Vidarbha, in the eastern region of the state of Maharashtra, is known as the epicenter of the suicide crisis. According to VJAS data, some 2,900 farmers from the area have taken their lives since 2013; more than 500 have died since the start of this year. There are a number of reasons for the hopelessness among Vidarbha farmers. Unseasonal rain and hail destroyed many crops earlier this year. But they've also had to contend with the flipside: a plentiful harvest in 2014 drove prices down while production costs rose, leaving many farmers either lacking income or burdened with debt from loans taken out to help keep them afloat. Last year was a record year for cotton production, resulting in a glut of cotton on the world market. India produced 40 million bales of the fiber in 2013/14 crop year, and is the second largest global cotton grower, after China. The record surplus of cotton in the global market pushed down prices hurting farmers, particularly in Vidarbha, which is becoming increasingly reliant on cotton. "Our land mostly supports only two crops: cotton and soybean. But for the past few years, soybean yield has consistently been decreasing. So we mostly depend on cotton," said Murali Dhidkar, a local cotton farmer. He said in the past year, cotton prices had halved. "I'm getting around 50 dollars per quintal. Just a year ago it was 100 dollars. I've never seen such a low price. The costs of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds are increasing but the cotton price is falling down." He points out the dismal condition of debt-ridden farmers like himself in Vidarbha, many of whom are forced to take out loans or give up farming. "Government officials do not come to the village and listen to our plight. Just a few days ago, my neighbor burnt himself alive," Dhidkar said. Tiwari, from the farmers advocacy group, said many farmers in Vidarbha had lost hope that the situation would improve. "It is an epidemic. How many more farmers need to commit suicide before the government steps in to find a solution to this problem?" More than 50% of India's population is involved in the agricultural and allied sector, which contributes 18% of the country's GDP. Government data shows 11,772 farmers committed suicide in 2013 across India. That is 44 deaths every day. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the amount of compensation paid for damaged crops, and lowered the threshold for farmers to claim payouts. However, that failed to appease farmers who are angry about the government's Land Acquisition Bill, which critics say makes it easier for the government to seize farmers' land. Modi's ruling BJP Party said the old rules were unnecessarily restrictive and the new bill is needed to spur investment and smooth the way for growth. The government is expected to reintroduce the new land bill when parliament reopens this week. On Sunday, thousands of farmers gathered in Delhi at a rally led by opposition Congress party to protest against the bill. Waving flags, they blasted Modi government's policies as "pro-industrialist and anti-farmer." Tiwari, of the farmer's advocacy group, said the government needs to do more to stop the wave of suicides across the country. He said Modi's push to open bank accounts for every Indian household, neglected to address the major concern in farming households of falling incomes. "Prime Minister Modi boasts about India rising, but he is not willing to talk about India dying," Tiwari said. He says, for a start, the government should guarantee a better market price for cotton and waive farmers' overdue debt. Divisional Commissioner of the Vidarbha region, Dnyaneshwar Rajurkar said the state government is aware of the situation and is planning to roll out relief programs to help local cotton farmers. The plans include halving bank loan interest rates and waiving loans from private money lenders. Rajurkar said the government is also planning to deploy doctors to counsel farmers in distress. Just days away from her baby's birth, Kanhaiya said she worries about how she's going to feed her family. "I have to pay the loan back both to bank and private money lenders. I have no clue how I will pay the debt. Once the baby is born, I will look for work. I will have to do labor jobs all my life to pay the loan," she said, despair in her voice. "I did receive compensation from the local state government after my husband's death. But it is very minimal. That does nothing to solve the grave problem I am in."

Vidarbha, the eastern region of the state of Maharashtra, is known as the epicenter of the suicide crisis . Farmers are becoming burdened with debt due to falling prices but rising costs .

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Nairobi (CNN)An elite police commando unit waited hours for transport from Nairobi, Kenya, to Garissa, where Al-Shabaab terrorists had taken over a university on April 2, according to one of the commandos who participated in the response operation. The commando asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals and because he was not authorized to speak. Al-Shabaab slaughtered 147 people at the school. Of the fatalities, 142 were students at the university, and the rest were security forces and campus security. At 7:00 a.m. local time, the response team was told to assemble for a mission to Garissa, the police commando told CNN. At 8:00 a.m., he said, the team was told there were no police aircraft available to take them. A reserve team was then sent by road, while the main commando team waited in Nairobi for air transport, he said. Once told aircraft would be available, it took the commando team nearly two hours to travel the roughly 22 miles (35 kilometers) to the airport because of the heavy traffic, the commando source said. But Kenya's Police Air Wing Chief Col. Rogers Mbithi denied that his unit caused any delay in the response to the university attack. Mbithi told CNN two fixed wing aircraft were ready and waiting for the commandos 45 minutes before the police commandos were ready to depart around 12:30 p.m. local time. Government names Kenya attack mastermind . Mbithi conceded that one of the two aircraft ultimately used to transport the commandos to Garissa left Nairobi at 7:30 a.m. to fly to Mombasa on a scheduled flight, hours after the Garissa terror attack began. That plane picked up the chief's daughter-in-law and two children, and returned to Nairobi at its scheduled time of 11:39 a.m., Mbithi said. The first aircraft carrying police commandos eventually departed for Garissa at 12:30 p.m., followed by a second aircraft about 10 minutes later, Mbithi said. Inside college dorm's scene of slaughter . After arriving in Garissa by plane, the commando team rehearsed the assault on the university compound for about two-and-a-half hours, the commando source told CNN. The police assault to retake the university compound began around 5 p.m. and lasted about 15 minutes. One commando was killed in the assault. All four Al-Shabaab attackers were killed. Another law enforcement source told CNN that by 7:00 a.m. the Al-Shabaab terrorists had already killed most of the students, saying: "It was never a hostage situation." The problems plaguing Kenya's security efforts . Other Kenyan officials have previously defended the response to the university attack. Manoah Esipisu, a spokesman for Kenya's President and deputy president, told CNN last week that in emergency situations there is always criticism regarding whether governments reacted as fast as they could have or should have. "With the benefit of hindsight, you can always say things could have been done better," he said. Kenyan authorities saved a lot of students and "got the job done," he said. Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed told CNN the response was sufficient and denied reports that it was the elite rapid response team alone that brought an end to the situation. "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. Lillian Leposo reported in Nairobi. Lonzo Cook reported in Atlanta. CNN's Jethro Mullen also contributed to this report.

Commando says air transport was delayed for hours as Al-Shabaab forces slaughtered students . On April 2, 147 were killed at a university in Garissa, Kenya, most were students .

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(CNN)The world's biggest and most powerful physics experiment is taking place as you read this. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator and the largest machine in the world, is ready for action following a two-year shutdown. After problems that delayed the restart in March, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) completed final tests, enabling the first beams to start circulating Sunday inside the LHC's 17 mile (27 km) ring. "Operating accelerators for the benefit of the physics community is what CERN's here for," CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer said on the organization's website. "Today, CERN's heart beats once more to the rhythm of the LHC." The LHC generates up to 600 million particles per second, with a beam circulating for 10 hours, traveling more than 6 billion miles (more than 10 billion kilometers) -- the distance from Earth to Neptune and back again. At near light-speed, a proton in the LHC makes 11,245 circuits per second. It took thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians decades to devise and build the particle accelerator, housed in a tunnel between Lake Geneva and the Jura mountain range. The purpose of the lengthy project is to recreate the conditions that existed moments after the "Big Bang" -- the scientific theory said to explain the creation of the universe. By replicating the energy density and temperature, scientists hope to uncover how the universe evolved. Our current, limited, knowledge is based on what's called The Standard Model of particle physics. "But we know that this model is not complete," Dr. Mike Lamont, operations group leader at the LHC, told CNN in March. The burning questions that remain include the origin of mass and why some particles are very heavy, while others have no mass at all; a unified description of all the fundamental forces such as gravity; and uncovering dark matter and dark energy, since visible matter accounts for only 4 percent of the universe. The LHC could also question the idea that the universe is only made of matter, despite the theory that antimatter must have been produced in the same amounts at the time of the Big Bang. CERN says the energies achievable by the LHC have only ever been found in nature. The machine alone costs approximately three billion euros (about $3.3 billion), paid for by member countries of CERN and contributions by non-member nations. The organization also asserts that its guidelines for the protection of the environment and personnel comply with standards set by Swiss and French laws and a European Council Directive. Scientists and physics enthusiasts will be waiting with bated breath as the LHC ventures into the great unknown. "After two years of effort, the LHC is in great shape," said CERN Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frédérick Bordry. "But the most important step is still to come when we increase the energy of the beams to new record levels." Peter Shadbolt contributed to this report.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) begins again after a two-year shutdown . The restart was delayed in March .

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Washington (CNN)An Iranian military observation aircraft flew within 50 yards of an armed U.S. Navy helicopter over the Persian Gulf this month, sparking concern that top Iranian commanders might not be in full control of local forces, CNN has learned. The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, troubled U.S. military officials because the unsafe maneuver could have triggered a serious incident. It also surprised U.S. commanders because in recent months Iranian forces have conducted exercises and operations in the region in a professional manner, one U.S. military official told CNN. "We think this might have been locally ordered," the official said. The incident took place as the U.S. and other world powers meet with Iran in Switzerland to negotiate a deal limiting Tehran's nuclear program. At the same time, Iran has been active in supporting proxies in several hotspots in the Persian Gulf and neighboring regions. The Navy MH-60R armed helicopter was flying from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson on a routine patrol in international airspace, the official said. An unarmed Iranian observation Y-12 aircraft approached. The Iranian aircraft made two passes at the helicopter, coming within 50 yards, before the helicopter moved off, according to the official. The official said the helicopter deliberately broke off and flew away in a 'predictable' manner so the Iranians could not misinterpret any U.S. intentions. The Navy helicopter was in radio contact with the ship during the encounter, but there was no contact between the two aircraft and no shots were fired. The Navy crew took photos of the incident but the military is not releasing them. The U.S. administration is considering a potential demarche protest against Iran, the official said. CNN has reached out to Iranian officials but has not received a response. This type of Iranian observation aircraft generally operates over the Gulf several times a month. But after the recent incident, U.S. naval intelligence did not see it again for two weeks, leading to the conclusion that the incident may have been ordered by a local commander who was then reprimanded by higher-ups. The Pentagon has noted for the last several years that most encounters with the Iranian military at sea or in air are conducted professionally, but that some missions run by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces have been too aggressive against U.S. forces in the area. The U.S. military's concern has been that one of these incidents could escalate into a military encounter. This incident "might have been buffoonery" the official said, but there is always a risk from such actions. The incident comes as the Navy patrols the Gulf of Aden to watch for Iranian ships the U.S. believes are trying to bring weapons to resupply the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Navy would share such intelligence with Saudi Arabia, a second U.S. official told CNN.

Iranian plane came within 50 yards of U.S. Navy Sea Hawk copter . Navy copter was on patrol in international airspace . U.S. official think Iranian plane may have been under orders of local commander .

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(CNN)It didn't seem like a fair fight. On one side were hulking football players and pro wrestlers, competing as teams of two to eat as many pounds of steak as they could, combined, in one hour. On another was a lone 124-pound mother of four. And sure enough, in the end, Sunday's contest at Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, wasn't even close. Molly Schuyler scarfed down three 72-ounce steaks, three baked potatoes, three side salads, three rolls and three shrimp cocktails -- far outpacing her heftier rivals. That's more than 13 pounds of steak, not counting the sides. And she did it all in 20 minutes, setting a record in the process. "We've been doing this contest since 1960, and in all that time we've never had anybody come in to actually eat that many steaks at one time," Bobby Lee, who co-owns the Big Texan, told CNN affiliate KVII. "So this is a first for us, and after 55 years of it, it's a big deal." In fairness, Schuyler isn't your typical 124-pound person. The Nebraska native, 35, is a professional on the competitive-eating circuit and once gobbled 363 chicken wings in 30 minutes. Wearing shades and a black hoodie, Schuyler beat four other teams on Sunday, including pairs of football players and pro wrestlers and two married competitive eaters. She also broke her own Big Texan record of two 72-ounce steaks and sides, set last year, when she bested previous record-holder Joey "Jaws" Chestnut. The landmark Big Texan restaurant offers its "72-ounce Challenge" daily to anyone who can eat the massive steak, plus fixings, in under an hour. Those who can't do so must pay $72 for the meal. Schuyler, who now lives in Sacramento, California, won $5,000 for her efforts. Her feat will be submitted to Guinness World Records. But mostly, she just seemed pleased to enjoy a hearty meal on the house. "It's free, so I'm pretty happy about that," she told KVII. "Otherwise it would have cost me about 300 bucks."

Molly Schuyler scarfed down three 72-ounce steaks Sunday in Amarillo, Texas . The Sacramento woman, 35, is a professional on the competitive-eating circuit .

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(CNN)It came a day early. Baltimore investigators handed their files on Freddie Gray's death over to prosecutors Thursday, but the public shouldn't expect much. It's largely a procedural step, and given the overtures from Baltimore officials, the state's attorney's decision on whether to file charges against the six officers involved in the arrest will not be immediate. No reports will be made public, police Commissioner Anthony Batts said, echoing an assertion he made last week that even after the prosecutors receive the files, the task force assigned to Gray's death will continue investigating. "That is just us sitting down, providing all the data we have. We will continue to follow the evidence wherever it goes," Batts said. The Gray family's legal team had no expectations otherwise. "I hate to say this, but I think if people are waiting for answers or charges to come," attorney Mary Koch said this week, "I don't think that's going to happen based on the way the process works, and I think that the government officials need to advise people of how the process honestly works and to lower their expectations about what's going to happen." Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake seemed reluctant to do so during a Thursday interview with CNN. Pressed several times on whether answers would be forthcoming, the mayor seemed to dance around the question. Handing over the report represents "an inflection point," she said at first, before explaining that it also marks a "continuation in a process toward justice." She went on to reiterate a point officials have made several times, that releasing information hastily could jeopardize the probe and any possible prosecution. Asked again if it was fair for people to assume they would not get answers immediately, she said Baltimore officials had a "duty to protect the justice process." Prodded on whether the public should expect her or Batts to announce findings, she said she didn't want to "seek justice for optics" and explained she had spoken to schools, clergy and community leaders about what to expect. Finally, asked flat out if people should expect an end to the saga when the report was handed over, she replied: "Well, it can't be the end. There's been no charges. There's been no trial. It cannot be the end." The family understands the process and was warned at the outset to be patient, Koch said Thursday. "We've told the family from the beginning that answers were not going to come quickly and that the investigation needed to be full and complete, ... and hopefully what will happen is the correct people are charged, those charged are prosecuted and that prosecution sticks," she said. Perhaps lost amid the chaos that has descended on Baltimore is that there is not one, but two investigations, seeking to determine how Gray suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody. The mayhem since Gray's April 19 death a week after his arrest -- the looting, vandalism, blazes, attacks on police and firefighters, marauding criminals stoking the havoc -- has overtaken, or at least outweighed, updates about the investigations. Newly appointed Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the FBI "will continue our careful and deliberate examination of the facts in the coming days and weeks." Because of the Baltimore police's history, the Justice Department has been working with the force since October as part of a reform initiative that will assess "policies, training and operations as they relate to use of force and interactions with citizens." Rawlings-Blake requested that the Justice Department take a look at the police department, The Baltimore Sun reported, saying her request came on the heels of the newspaper's report that the city had paid almost $6 million in judgments and settlements in 102 police misconduct civil suits since 2011. Overwhelmingly, The Sun reported, the people involved in the incidents that sparked the lawsuits were cleared of criminal charges. Asked during her Thursday interview why no police officers have yet been charged in Gray's case -- given that if the case involved civilians instead of officers there would ostensibly be probable cause for arrests -- Rawlings-Blake, an attorney by trade, said the question amounted to speculation and cited her efforts to reform the Baltimore Police Department and repair the community's mistrust in police. "Quite likely, but it could be the same situation, and at the end of the day, it's about this case and making sure we're getting this case right. It has nothing to do with speculation about any other cases out there. This family wants justice. They don't want us to sit here and speculate about what could've have happened if it was a private citizen that did it," she said. Rawlings-Blake and police officials have repeatedly promised answers and accountability. "We welcome outside review," police spokesman Capt. Eric Kowalczyk has said. "We want to be open. We want to be transparent. We owe it to the city, and we owe it to the Gray family to find out exactly what happened." According to police, officers encountered Gray on April 12 and he "fled unprovoked." Three officers gave chase, apprehended Gray and carried him -- screaming, his legs dangling listlessly -- to a police transport van. Once at the police station, officers requested an ambulance, which took Gray to the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center, where he died a week later. An autopsy report indicated Gray died of a spinal injury, but Batts has said that the medical examiner was still awaiting a toxicology report and a spinal expert's analysis before issuing his final report. So far, six officers involved in the arrest have been suspended with pay: Sgt. Alicia White, 30; Officer William Porter, 25; Officer Garrett Miller, 26; Officer Edward Nero, 29; Lt. Brian Rice, 41; and Officer Caesar Goodson, 45. Five of them have given statements to investigators, Batts said. Releasing the officers' names is standard procedure after an in-custody death and in no way implicates wrongdoing, Kowalczyk said. Though the investigation is not yet complete, Batts said last week there are at least two indications that officers involved in Gray's arrest did not follow protocol. "We know he was not buckled in the transport wagon, as he should've been. No excuses for that, period," he said. "We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times." That Gray wasn't buckled has raised speculation that he was injured during what's known as a "rough ride" or "nickel ride," in which officers place a handcuffed suspect in a police van and drive recklessly so as to toss the suspect around. Asked if Gray could have incurred his injuries via a rough ride or outside of the van, Batts said there is "potential" that both could be true. Baltimore police have established a task force of 30 investigators -- including members of the force investigation unit and homicide detectives -- to look into Gray's death, Batts said. They've conducted dozens of interviews, canvassed the region on foot seeking witnesses and procured video from closed-circuit television cameras. Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis, who is overseeing the task force as the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Bureau, said last week that the evidence suggested the transport van carrying Gray made three stops before delivering him to the police station. But on Thursday, he said a privately owned camera had captured evidence of a fourth stop. Rice and two other officers on bikes were the first to see Gray, Davis said last week. Two officers remained on their bikes and one gave chase on foot, pursuing Gray for about one-fifth of a mile, he said. "That's where the apprehension of Freddie Gray occurred, and quite frankly, that's exactly where Freddie Gray should have received medical attention, and he did not," Davis said last week. The paddy wagon carrying Gray traveled about one block before stopping, and Gray was removed from the van and placed in leg irons, Davis said last week. On Thursday, Davis revealed that the van stopped again, about a mile from where police placed shackles on Gray. He did not elaborate on that stop. From there, according to the narrative Davis provided last week, the van then traveled about half a mile before stopping again "to deal with Mr. Gray, and the facts of that interaction are under investigation," he said. It was at that stop, Batts added, that officers lifted Gray off the floor and placed him on a seat in the transport van. Gray requested a medic during that stop, he said. The van then traveled to another incident, about a mile away and just a few hundred feet from where Gray was first spotted and chased. There, a second prisoner was placed in the van, which headed back to the police department's Western District building, about a mile away, the deputy commissioner said. It was only then that an ambulance was called and Gray was taken to the hospital. "It's complex," Davis said of the probe. "It involves a minutiae of details. It requires our full talents, our full time, and we're going to get this right." CNN's Chris Cuomo contributed to this report.

Prosecutors get investigative report a day early, but don't expect immediate word on charges . Attorney general: We're continuing "careful and deliberate examination of the facts" Gray family was told "answers were not going to come quickly," and that's fine, attorney says .

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(CNN)It's a girls' universe. On Wednesday, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. and Mattel announced a partnership to launch DC Super Hero Girls, featuring familiar superheroes and supervillains as "relatable teens," according to a press release. (Like CNN, DC and Warner Bros. are units of Time Warner.) The characters involved include Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, among others. Though initial reaction on social media appeared favorable -- "My daughter will be a big fan I think," wrote NerdGallagher -- praise wasn't universal. "Just let us into the old universes!" tweeted Kathleen E. Kennedy. And Jenna Busch, writing for Legion of Leia, was concerned the initiative was another way of keeping girls separate. "Targeting them as 'for girls only' is just another way to be exclusive," she wrote. "Look, I appreciate the effort, but drawing yet another line between men and women is not the way to go. So, where are you going to put these products in Target? On the pink side of the toy section or the blue side?" DC Super Hero Girls is aimed at girls ages 6-12 and will include online content, toys, books and TV specials. Mattel is the toy licensee and Random House Books for Young Readers will publish books based on the franchise. The first elements will roll out in the fall.

DC, partners introduce DC Super Hero Girls, intended for girls 6-12 . Reaction mostly favorable -- but some caveats .

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(CNN)She could stand on a strand of human hair, with room to spare. The microscopic polymer statue by South African sculptor Jonty Hurwitz, entitled Trust, measured just 1/100th of a centimeter and had been called the "smallest sculpture ever made." But the world's tiniest woman suddenly disappeared to an unknown location, likely never to be seen again. While she was being photographed through an electron microscope -- the only way to view the minute creation -- Trust vanished, with only a smudged fingerprint left behind by her photographer as a clue. After an hour long search, Hurwitz and the photographer gave in: "It was horror. I remember saying to him: 'You just destroyed or lost the smallest human form that was ever created in history,' said Hurwitz to CNN Ones to Watch. "It was gone." But was it, really? Hurwitz is an entrepreneur-turned-artist who has applied the same tech wizardry to sculpture that he put into coding a finance site valued at over $500 million. The 45-year-old's "Nano-sculptures" are made from a mysterious resin -- "a big scientific secret", says Hurwitz -- and created through a process called "two-photon lithography." Hurwitz works with a team of nanotechnology engineers at Karlsruhe University, who focus beams of ultraviolet light to "zap" solid the liquid resin, one 3D pixel at a time. The resulting sculptures -- he has also created a statue depicting the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche -- can lie on an ant's head. Put one into the eye of a needle, and it will barely occupy one corner. The "Nano" project is just one of Hurwitz' science-inspired sculptural experiments. Another one explores the properties of the mathematical constant Pi, presenting an indecipherable, "anamorphic" physical sculpture, whose hidden form becomes clear only when reflected in a cylindrical mirror. And he hints that a forthcoming project will also be influenced by his love of the natural world, but will sit at the opposite end of the scale to his nano-models. Hurwitz, who first made his name as the UK-based co-founder of controversial "payday" loans business Wonga, says he makes visual art with a team, as in traditionally collaborative art forms, such as cinema. He discusses accumulating collaborators as an aggressive start-up accumulates new talent: . "I spent a huge amount of time scouring the world for amazing achievements of humanity and contact these people to work with them. For me the creation of an artwork these days is analogous to the creation of a film: for each piece there may 20 people involved, each one brilliant in their field." Hurwitz makes no secret of his desire to bring together contemporary science and art -- delighting in the fact that his nano-scale and 3D printed pieces depend on cutting edge technology, and would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago. Online, fans response has been overwhelming, he says, and the internet has become his exhibition space. It provides an "epic scale" that brick-and-mortar galleries can't match, he says, and estimates 13 million people have seen his sculptures since they hit the web in November last year. "I love the buzz. I love the buzz when I launch a piece on the Internet and on Google Analytics, you suddenly see society engaging... millions and millions of people engaging." "You put a few images on the internet and just watch society consume, engage and think. With comments and blogs and people saying 'It's not art' and people working out the science behind it and people complaining... I just love that buzz! I love influencing society." There's also another side -- what Hurwitz calls "the traditional side of the geeky art world" -- accusing him of being just an engineer rather than an artist. But he's unapologetic: . "A lot of the artistic expression that I bring to the world represents the absolute current moment in human development. Whether it's 3D printing, technology or science, I love to represent the now." Hurwitz says the creation of the physical artwork is "just the beginning of its lifecycle." So what about the missing woman, whose lifecycle has tragically been cut short? She came back to life during the filming of CNN Ones to Watch (in the video above) -- Trust v.2, her new name, has taken the absent dancer's place. Even still, there are some who think neither dancer was ever there. Invisible to the naked eye, how can we trust this sculpture ever existed beyond the computer screen? For Hurwitz, this mystery gets right to the heart of nano-scale's appeal: . "You've got this 'emperor's new clothes' element to this end of the scale spectrum, because you look at these nano-sculptures and there's nothing there, there's an element of me going: 'this sculpture... believe me, it's there.' "At that scale, the sculpture doesn't really exist, or our perception doesn't allow us to perceive its existence. "In a way, it challenges the whole idea of contemporary art, by asking: 'Hang on, a piece of art you can't really see, is it really a piece of art?'"

London-based artist Jonty Hurwitz creates sculptures that are smaller than a human hair . They're made using ultraviolet light and resin, and then photographed with an electron microscope .

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(CNN)We might never truly comprehend what drove co-pilot Andreas Lubitz to crash Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps on March 24, killing everyone on board. The latest report shows that he sped up the descent of the plane to its doom. It's terrifying. As the investigation unfolds, we will learn more about to what extent Lubitz kept his mental illness secret, or how much help he sought. How much did his battle with depression affect his fitness to fly? Should he have walked away from his job? Should his doctors have sounded alarm bells? His case raises larger and important issues about people who are burdened with mental illness and the pressure of its stigma. Too often and for too long, people with mental illness have been regarded by others around them as disasters waiting to happen. When we don't distinguish between people with a mental illness who are dangerous to society and those who are a danger to no one, we reinforce a pernicious idea that's both bad for society and bad for those with mental illness. Some people feel a need to keep their mental illness a secret while others decline to seek help. That's why in our public and more private discourse, people with mental illness and the rest of society must talk about mental illness in a way that doesn't drive some into the darkness. We need to understand this malady as an illness and not a personal failing. And we have to recognize that "mental illness" is a broad category encompassing many different challenges that affect people in a variety of ways. People with mental illness are no more violent than the rest of the population and with proper treatment, many can recover and live healthy, productive lives. We must encourage them to open up, and when they do, we must listen to them and take their cries for help seriously. It wasn't that long ago that a diagnosis of cancer was a tightly-kept secret that many victims of the deadly malady kept from family members, friends and especially employers. But that changed dramatically over the years as people with cancer, their family members and caregivers came together to educate and change public opinion about the disease. Similarly, and with the courageous example of Michael J. Fox, we've seen perceptions about Parkinson's disease change for the better, as people learn more about what it is and isn't. Time to talk about depression . That's the kind of transformation we need around perceptions of mental illness through a better-informed public discussion. We have to put policies in place that encourage more openness without the severe repercussions people with mental illness fear. That includes enforcing and even strengthening the kind of protections we already have in place (through laws and regulations like the Americans for Disabilities Act) for individuals who disclose their disability. We also need to address the dilemma health care providers often face when they feel that strict patient privacy requirements inhibit them from alerting others to behaviors that could pose a public risk. It's a difficult balance. Sooner rather than later, policy leaders need to explore a way to provide greater flexibility in patient privacy regulations to enable health care providers to identify seriously ill persons who could potentially pose a harm to innocent people. At the same time, we must reassure those who forthrightly reveal their struggles with mental illness that they can still carry on their lives in ways that will be valuable to their communities, families and employers. That can start with urging employers not to dismiss anyone who discloses his or her mental illness and to retrain them for other appropriate positions. If companies ban them from the workforce or from other roles in society, we will just be shifting the problem elsewhere and perpetuating the stigma that dangerously drives them underground. We won't pretend that this is an easy problem to solve. But, awful as Germanwings Flight 9525 tragedy was, the case may galvanize a discussion and reexamination that is long overdue. We need to build awareness and support for those who suffer from mental illness.

Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot who crashed the Germanwings flight, battled with depression . Jay Ruderman and Jo Ann Simons: Society must talk about mental illness to help people cope with it better .

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Boston (CNN)Guilty across the board. But will he face death? After deliberating for 11½ hours, jurors found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on Wednesday of all 30 counts he faced in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. Seventeen of the 30 counts were capital charges, meaning he is eligible for the death penalty. The trial will next move into a penalty phase, where the jury will hear testimony and arguments from both sides and ultimately be tasked with deciding whether Tsarnaev, 21, will be executed. A look at all of the charges . Jurors will be asked to weigh aggravating factors such as the heinousness of his crimes against mitigating factors such as his family and mental health history, as well as his relative youth. Tsarnaev was 19 at the time of the bombing. The start date of the penalty phase has not yet been set. 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," Tsarnaev's defense attorney Judy Clarke conceded as the trial opened, but many say the defense strategy always had been to focus on persuading the jury to spare Tsarnaev's life. Tsarnaev lawyer keeps hated criminals off death row . Clarke tried to convince 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. After the verdict, CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said Clarke now faces an uphill battle. "Because No. 1, he (Tsarnaev) is almost functioning as an officer of a military organization attacking the United States -- the claim of course that he's an Islamic radical and that this is almost an army-like attack on civilians. "And the second thing -- it was so well planned and so callously planned so that civilians would die, so that children would be maimed. And all of this, she has to get around and convince the jury he's not worthy of the death penalty. "Boy, she's climbing the Mount Everest of death penalty cases in this case," Callan said about Clarke. Survivors react to the verdict . Ann O'Neill reported from Boston. Dana Ford reported from Atlanta.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is found guilty on all 30 charges he faced . Seventeen counts were capital charges, meaning he is eligible for the death penalty .

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New Delhi, India (CNN)Police have arrested four employees of a popular Indian ethnic-wear chain after a minister spotted a security camera overlooking the changing room of one of its stores. Federal education minister Smriti Irani was visiting a FabIndia outlet in the tourist resort state of Goa on Friday when she discovered a surveillance camera pointed at the changing room, police said. Four employees of the store have been arrested, but its manager -- herself a woman -- was still at large Saturday, said Goa police superintendent Kartik Kashyap. State authorities launched their investigation right after Irani levied her accusation. They found an overhead camera that the minister had spotted and determined that it was indeed able to take photos of customers using the store's changing room, according to Kashyap. After the incident, authorities sealed off the store and summoned six top officials from FabIndia, he said. The arrested staff have been charged with voyeurism and breach of privacy, according to the police. If convicted, they could spend up to three years in jail, Kashyap said. Officials from FabIndia -- which sells ethnic garments, fabrics and other products -- are heading to Goa to work with investigators, according to the company. "FabIndia is deeply concerned and shocked at this allegation," the company said in a statement. "We are in the process of investigating this internally and will be cooperating fully with the police."

Federal education minister Smriti Irani visited a FabIndia store in Goa, saw cameras . Authorities discovered the cameras could capture photos from the store's changing room . The four store workers arrested could spend 3 years each in prison if convicted .

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(CNN)It's only June, but 2015 may be remembered as the year the term "transgender" fully entered mainstream consciousness. In January, President Obama condemned the persecution of "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," becoming the first president to utter the word in a State of the Union address. "Transparent," about an aging father who begins living as a woman, won two top awards at the Golden Globes, while transgender actress Laverne Cox of "Orange is the New Black" -- who made the cover of Time magazine last year -- was just cast in a new CBS drama. The May issue of Vogue has a photo spread with transgender model Andreja Pejic, who said on Instagram this week that she "was told by various people many times over that the chances of me ending up on these pages were slim to none." A transgender character had a recurring storyline on the just-wrapped final season of "Glee," while transgender activist and YouTube star Jazz Jennings will star in a reality show debuting on TLC this summer. And then there's Bruce Jenner, whose physical appearance has become more feminine in recent months as the Olympic hero turned reality TV star underwent a very public gender transition. Jenner ended months of speculation in an interview that aired April 24 on "20/20" with Diane Sawyer. "Are you a woman?" Sawyer asked. "Yes," Jenner replied. Now comes the new issue of Vanity Fair, with Jenner on the cover in makeup and a skimpy dress, along with a new name: Caitlyn. It's more obvious than ever that transgender people, long relegated to society's shadows, are finally stepping into the light. "We are at a social inflection point on transgender issues," says Riki Wilchins, a former transgender activist and author of three books on queer theory, who believes all the attention could have a positive impact. "Civil rights for minorities come in fits and starts. We're on an upswing now." Opinion: Why we need to listen to Bruce Jenner's story . Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity -- their internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman -- differs from what's typically associated with their sex at birth. Some transgender people alter their bodies through hormones and or surgery, although many don't. A 2011 study estimated that 700,000 American adults, or roughly 0.3% of the population, identified themselves as transgender. For decades, trans people, as many transgender people like to be called, rarely saw themselves represented in popular culture. But recent years have brought the "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Chaz Bono; filmmaker Lana Wachowski, formerly known as Larry Wachowski, a co-director of "The Matrix"; Jared Leto's Oscar-winning role in "Dallas Buyers Club"; and of course, "Orange is the New Black," whose cast is a mix of ethnicities and sexualities. Now, between "Transparent" and other shows, recognition from Obama and tabloid headlines about Jenner, the national conversation around gender identity appears to have reached a new level. All this makes transgender advocates cautiously optimistic. Hayden Mora, deputy chief of staff at the Human Rights Campaign and a transgender man, remains hopeful that the growing number of transgender faces beaming weekly into America's living rooms can only have a positive effect. "I believe that the more people who know transgender people, the more they will understand, accept and support us," Mora says. "That happens only if they acknowledge our humanity, and not treat us like tabloid fodder." The transgender life: What to know, say and understand . Still, activists agree there's a long way to go before transgender people stop facing discrimination or worse. For relatives and friends who are used to seeing someone as male or female, gender changes can be hard to accept. Transgender people have long been misunderstood and persecuted -- as recently as 2012, the American Psychiatric Association classified them as having a mental "disorder." A recent report by the Human Rights Campaign found that transgender people in the United States are more likely to face discrimination from employers and the effects of unemployment and poverty. Many also are denied services from safety-net providers such as emergency shelters. A poll last year found that 59% of Americans believe transgender students should use the bathroom of their birth gender. In December, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that transgender people will receive federal protection from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But violence against trans people -- especially transgender women of color -- remains a national plague. According to recent statistics from the Human Rights Campaign, at least 13 transgender women were slain last year in the United States and at least seven have already been killed this year. Of those 20 victims, all but one were black or Latina. "We are definitely in a critical moment for the trans movement. Over the last year we have ... seen an increase in visibility that was unimaginable even just a few years ago," said Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. "At the same time it is clear that visibility is not enough." In one case that made national headlines, a transgender Ohio teen committed suicide in late December after her parents refused to acknowledge her wish to live as a girl. "Transgender people are still subject to profound discrimination and violence," said Wilchins. "Greater acceptance is really needed, and long overdue." When your young daughter says 'I'm a boy' So what impact will Bruce Jenner's story have on all this? Gender-rights activists are reluctant to speculate. Some fear the media firestorm around Jenner, fueled by ties to the camera-loving Kardashian clan, trivializes what is a wrenching personal journey for many people. "You want to wish Bruce the best. But at the same time, you wish it wasn't being played out for reality-TV entertainment," said Wilchins, the gender-rights advocate. "Yes, it's great that we're educating people. But we're talking about a civil rights issue that keeps getting recast as entertainment." As a much-hyped TV event, the Jenner interview gave millions of viewers their first exposure to gender-identity questions and put a sympathetic human face on an issue that remains perplexing to many people. But it could also trigger a backlash, some say. Amy Stone, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, fears Jenner could provoke those who already are averse to gay or transgender people. Such people "tend to use these moments to frighten the general public, relying on fears about trans women in bathrooms or locker rooms," said Stone, author of numerous books about queer politics and culture. "Usually these moments tap into pre-existing panics about gender or sexuality, not necessarily spawning new ones."

Olympic hero Bruce Jenner appears on Vanity Fair cover as "Caitlyn" Transgender people in the United States are riding an unprecedented wave of visibility . Shows such as "Transparent," "Orange is the New Black" have raised awareness .

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(CNN)A grand jury in Dallas County, Texas, has decided not to indict two officers in the fatal shooting of Jason Harrison, a schizophrenic man whose mother had called police for help getting him to the hospital. "This particular case was reported out as a 'no bill,' from the grand jury," said Cristal Retana, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. The grand jury's decision not to indict means Officers John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins won't face criminal prosecution in the case. But the officers are still facing a wrongful death lawsuit from Harrison's family. The incident occurred in June, and Harrison's family filed a lawsuit in November. The release of video from one of the officer's body cameras put the shooting back in the headlines last month. In it, Harrison's mother answers the door for police and nonchalantly walks outside. "Oh, he's just off the chain," she says. "You can hear him, talking about chopping up people." It was a fairly routine occurrence for her to call the police for assistance with her son. An officer asks who she's talking about, and she replies, "My son, bipolar, schizo," as Jason Harrison appears in the doorway behind her. He is twiddling a screwdriver between his fingers. One of the two officers called to the scene tells Harrison to drop the tool, a command the officers repeat at least four times as Harrison's mom screams, "Jay! Jay! Jay!" Within five seconds of that first command, the 39-year-old schizophrenic man is shot five times -- including twice in the back as he crashes headlong into the home's garage door, just a few feet from his mother. Video from one officer's body camera fades to black as Harrison's mother wails, "Oh, they killed my son! Oh, they killed my son!" The officers continue to tell Harrison to drop the weapon. The Harrison family's lawsuit against Rogers and Hutchins says they should have used nonlethal means of defusing the situation instead of choosing to engage "in unlawful vicious attacks" when they and the department were aware of Harrison's condition. The suit also claims the officers violated Harrison's civil rights. The officers, however, said in affidavits that they were forced to shoot an armed man who they deemed dangerous after he failed to comply with repeated orders to drop a screwdriver. CNN's Matthew Stucker and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

Police in Dallas shot and killed Jason Harrison last year . A grand jury has decided not to indict the officers . The officers are still facing a civil lawsuit filed by Harrison's family .

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(CNN)Chinese police have arrested more than 133,000 people and seized 43.3 tons of illegal narcotics during a six-month anti-drug campaign, the country's Ministry of Public Security has announced. Authorities also handled 115,000 drug-related crimes -- such as robbery -- and 606,000 cases of drug use during the nationwide campaign to "ban drugs in hundreds of cities," Liu Yuejin, Assistant Minister of Public Security, said Wednesday. The figures were nearly double the same period a year earlier, while the amount of narcotics seized was up by 44.9%, according to the ministry. Liu said drug trafficking groups have "suffered a heavy blow" and drug users have been "forcefully regulated." However, the police also paid a price, Liu said, in quotes carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency. Nine police officers died and another 657 were wounded in the mission, with 76 severely wounded. The ministry rewarded 60 units and 100 people. Liu said China's drug-related problems were still severe, with online drug trafficking an increasing problem. He said the ministry had launched a three-month online campaign starting in April targeting people engaged in drug-related Internet crimes. Over the past nine months, a string of movie and television stars, film directors and pop singers have been arrested and charged over drug related incidents, including Jaycee Chan, son of kung fu movie star Jackie Chan, who was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to six months in prison by a Beijing court. In August last year, dozens of management agencies representing actors and singers signed an agreement with Beijing authorities banning drug use from the entertainment industry and pledging to sack any artists who broke the law.

Police arrest 133,000 people and seize 43.3 tons of narcotics in a six-month period . China launches a new online campaign to crack down on online drug crimes . Celebrities have been embroiled in the nation's intensifying anti-drug campaign .

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Aden, Yemen (CNN)It didn't look like much, but we'd been told it was typical of the kind of craft ferrying the route between Djibouti and Aden. Better, everyone advised, to be low key, even if low key meant faded lights and three water pumps chugging at all times. The wooden vessel was called Mecca — after the holy city. We were told we'd be at the port in Aden by the next morning, but as the hours ticked by it soon became apparent that that was wildly optimistic. Morning came and we were still only halfway there. We'd been given a secure route, charted for us by the Djiboutian Coast Guard. It meant hugging the coastline, trying to stay as much as possible out of the deeper water in the middle of the Gulf of Aden where the world's navies seemed to be squaring off. It was almost double the distance of the direct route. Add to that a strong current -- and stomach-churning seas -- and it felt like we would spend an eternity on board. After our second sunset, we were finally close enough for my phone to ping with a Yemeni welcome message. However, we couldn't risk arriving at night; even getting too close to shore would risk being mistaken for a re-supply vessel and potentially taking a Saudi hit. The captain slowed the boat to a crawl so the remaining miles would stretch until daybreak. Finally, morning came. It was time to go into town to see what life was like for the people of Aden. We weren't really sure what to expect but we did know we couldn't stay for long. From the moment we stepped through the gates of the port, we were met by noise and desperation, shoving and shouting. "Where are you going?" "I'll pay, I'll pay" "Are you here to take the Americans?" I shouted back that we'd return soon. We had just five hours on the ground and we needed to visit the hospital, the shuttered markets, the frontlines. There was so much we needed to see. The crowds clustered around our camera lens, asking "Why?" "Why is this happening?" "Why hasn't it stopped?" It felt like no time had passed before we were told we had to go. The shelling had begun. We'd been hearing pops of sniper fire all day but now we could hear rounds of automatic weapons and they were getting louder. As we arrived back at port, we found we weren't leaving alone. After waiting at port, praying a passing ship would dock, ours had become an unexpected lifeline for some of the families caught in the fighting. The Harbor-Master asked if we could take 60 refugees. It didn't feel like the answer could be anything but yes. What we didn't realize until it was too late was that the refugees were being charged $300 a person: An "exit fee." Those who didn't have the money were pushed back behind the wrought iron gates of the port. Those that did shared our day-and-a-half trip home. As the shores of Djibouti grew closer, you could see the uncertainty begin to take over. Many of them had come from comfortable lives, before the war shattered them. They had left homes that once hummed with air conditioners and televisions. Would the camps have TVs, they asked. No, they wouldn't, I said. What I didn't say was that they'd be lucky to have electricity. But woven amid the uncertainty was the relief of escape. Some of the refugees took over our ship's galley -- the kitchen. They'd found a former chef amongst their number who commandeered the store cupboard, sending out a pick and mix of heaped trays. We got tuna spaghetti and more Turkish coffee than our cameraman Byron could possibly drink. Because we'd brought refugees back with us, we were asked by the Djibouti Coast Guard to dock in the country's north, in Obok, so they could be given the proper status while they wait to see what happens back home. The immigration officials were -- understandably -- a little bemused by our presence amongst a boatload of people fleeing Yemen, but to their credit they decided the important thing was that these families were now safe. From there Djibouti Port was just a few hours away, hours that stretched into infinity for the families ringing my phone to check that their loved ones had made it into harbor. Over the last few hours, people had shyly come up to ask if they could borrow our phone to tell their families they were safe. Now a deluge of anxious parents, siblings and partners flooded my ear, asking how it could possibly be that we weren't yet on dry land. But eventually we were, and as we watched the Djiboutian officials unload what remained of people's belongings onto shore, it was a reminder that these were the lucky ones. Thousands more are still waiting back in Yemen, hoping they too will reach a safe port.

CNN's Nima Elbagir describes the boat journey from Djbouti to Aden . Vessel returned with 60 refugees desperate to flee fighting in Yemen .

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(CNN)Much of the world has been stunned by the huge increase of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean this year, increasing the number of deaths at sea by a factor of 30 compared to the same time last year. Almost all the deaths have occurred in the perilous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy. The flows of migrants across the Mediterranean are unlikely to stop -- Italian authorities estimate that up to 200,000 migrants in Libya are waiting to cross, following 170,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in Italy last year. These flows reflect a significant increase in the number of refugees and internally displaced people across the world, with a total estimate of 51.2 million people. The latest sinking has triggered some action in the European Union, which has unveiled a new ten-point action plan. The plan includes both deterrent mechanisms, such as efforts to capture and destroy vessels being used by smugglers and a rapid return system, but also an expansion of search-and-rescue programs and a proposed new voluntary resettlement scheme, though it is reported that this may only provide 5,000 spaces. But some EU critics called for much tougher action to deter asylum seekers from making the risky journey. In a column published in the UK's Sun newspaper just hours before the sinking, Katie Hopkins declared: "It's time to get Australian. Bring on the gunships, force migrants back to their shores and burn the boats." Since then, Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has also suggested that Europe adopt a tougher approach, saying, "The only way you can stop the deaths is to stop the people smuggling trade. The only way you can stop the deaths is in fact to stop the boats... That's why it is so urgent that the countries of Europe adopt very strong policies that will end the people smuggling trade across the Mediterranean." So what would it mean if the EU did "get Australian" in its approach to asylum seekers? And could Australia's current policy be used as a global solution, or at least one for asylum seekers trying to cross the Mediterranean? There were dramatic changes in Australia's immigration policy in 2013, in the final months of the Labor government, led by Kevin Rudd, which have been followed up and taken further by the current Liberal National coalition government, led by Abbott. In 2013, with bipartisan support of those two major parties, mainland Australia was legally "excised" from the migration zone. It was done so that anyone arriving without a visa by boat would not be processed in Australia. All people who seek to enter Australia by sea, under the Asylum Legacy Act, are no longer entitled to enter or stay in Australia while their refugee claims are processed. Instead, they can be transported to detention facilities in Papua New Guinea or Nauru. Alternatively, under a recent agreement, they can also agree to move to Cambodia. Beyond this, the Abbott government has also returned some boats to Indonesia without processing asylum seeker claims and, in two instances, to Sri Lanka following a very brief teleconference interview with the asylum seekers on board. That process was widely condemned by human rights advocates, given ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. That shift in policy under successive Labor and now the Liberal National governments in Australia has been chiefly designed as a deterrent: or, to use Tony Abbott's slogan, to "stop the boats". So has it worked? First, the numbers. If your sole criteria for success is the number of boats arriving in Australia each year, then "no advantage" (meaning no asylum in Australia) and "stop the boats" (including the turning back of boats in international waters) has worked. In 2013, the Australian government reported that 300 boats with approximately 20,000 people on board arrived; in 2014, there were 0. The current government has argued that its objective was to end the people smuggling trade -- and this required secrecy concerning the extent of its operations and turn-backs. So we do not know how many boats tried to enter Australian waters with asylum seekers. It also appears that no asylum seekers drowned in Australian waters during the 2013-2014 period. Abbott explained the tactic of secrecy and turn-back in the following statement: "We are in a fierce contest with these people smugglers. And if we were at war, we wouldn't be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves." If we accept that these responses have worked, the question for Australia's government is whether it is sustainable, and whether it alleviating the flow of asylum seekers in the larger Asia Pacific region. In sum, if this policy had to end due to its financial cost, has this policy been a "solution"? The later years of the Howard administration saw both policy and budget departures from 2001's "Pacific Solution," which first introduced the excision zones and temporary protection visas as deterrents to asylum seekers. The Rudd government abandoned temporary protection visas altogether but retained the excision zones; this occurred in a period of heightened regional instability, leading to an increase of asylum seekers under the Rudd era. The earlier Howard years of deterrence did not provide long-term solutions regarding the regional flow of asylum seekers. At present, in the greater South-East Asian region, we may see potential regional pressures finding a way to Australian shores. The drowning of asylum seekers who sought passage via people smugglers appear to have increased, in particular, in the Bay of Bengal. At the same time, the number of asylum seekers attempting to flee within the Asia Pacific region has increased; they are just not making it to Australia yet. On cost alone, it is hard to see Australia's approach to asylum seekers working or being affordable in Europe. For Australia, these short-term solutions have been extraordinarily expensive. A 2014 report by the Guardian estimated that the Australian government may have spent as much as A$10 billion ($7.72 billion) on its detention policies since mid-2007-- and that each person in offshore detention costs the government as much as A$440,000 ($343,000). For comparison, we estimate that a similar model to respond to the 170,000 refugees and migrants who arrived last year in Italy would cost A$75 billion ($58.5 billion). The Australian government's ability to "stop the boats" -- or at least keep asylum seekers offshore -- depends on a number of factors, including tolerance from Indonesia, significant spending devoted to asylum deterrence and weathering international condemnation for violating the human rights of asylum seekers. The consequences of a policy of no asylum and no refuge in Australia for those who arrived by boat from July 2013 has been asylum seekers placed in situations where they are vulnerable to abuse, as we saw with the death of an Iranian refugee in the Regional Processing Center on Manus Island and sexual and physical assault of asylum seekers held at the Regional Processing Center in Nauru. The Australian government's interception of asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat, and then their relocation to Nauru or Papua New Guinea (or perhaps Cambodia), does not remove or absolve the human rights obligations that Australia has to these populations. The operation to stop and return the boats, called "Operation Sovereign Borders" has been politically tumultuous for Australia's relationship with Indonesia. Returning boats to international waters potentially violates Australia's obligation to international maritime law; push-backs to Indonesian waters violates Indonesia's sovereignty and has placed people at great risk. In 2013 and 2014, the Australian government sought the Sri Lankan government's assistance to intercept those attempting to flee, and receive those who had already fled the country, at a time when that government was under investigation by the UN Human Rights Council for war crimes and crimes against humanity. As the situation in Europe illustrates, just because people are not making it to your shoreline to seek asylum does not mean people stop attempting asylum. In the short term, the "stop the boats" approach appears to be working for the Australian government. It is questionable whether this policy is financially or politically sustainable in the long term. It certainly has not ended people smuggling or people's attempts to seek asylum in the wider Asia-Pacific region. Nando Sigona argues that the recent tragedy in Italy is not just about how to manage search and rescue operations, but requires consistent and long-term engagement with the root causes of refugee flows. This is a message that both the European Union and Australia should heed. Italy is a good example of the failure of trying to stop asylum seekers with deterrence. The Italian government ended its Mare Nostrum search and rescue program last autumn, which was effective but was also costing the Italian government €9.5 million per month. It was replaced by a much smaller European Union-run program, Operation Triton, which has a smaller patrol area and a budget of less than a third that of Mare Nostrum. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has noted that this new program is totally inadequate and "more geared to border control and policing the seas than to saving lives". In Italy, both Mare Nostrum and Operation Triton were stemming an inevitable tide given the political instability in North Africa. The migrants currently in Libya are in a perilous limbo, with a growing civil war having displaced more than 400,000 Libyans and with Human Rights Watch noting that the conflict and collapse of government authority has "eliminated any semblance of law and order from large parts of Libya." Second, such policies have significant legal implications. The Australian High Court has ruled that these policies are legal as long as they take place outside of Australia's migration zone, an area that today includes all of Australian territory for the purposes of boat arrivals. By contrast, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2012 that efforts by the Italian government to return migrants intercepted at sea to Libya violated its legal obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights because the migrants "were under the continuous and exclusive de jure and de facto control of the Italian authorities." This suggests that similar practices to Australia's would be illegal under the European Convention. Copyright 2015 The Conversation. Some rights reserved.

The European Union is trying to stop thousands of migrants from drowning at sea . Migrants risk their lives by paying people smugglers to get them to Europe . Australia has successfully stopped the flow of migrant boats to its waters .

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(CNN)A naturalized U.S. citizen pleaded not guilty in Ohio Friday to federal charges of providing material support to terrorists and lying to the FBI. Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, 23, of Columbus, allegedly traveled to Syria for training and wanted to return home to kill Americans -- particularly U.S. soldiers, execution style, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. Mohamud was remanded into custody on Friday. "I am confident in the system working fairly and (in) our client getting a vigorous and aggressive defense," said his lawyer, Sam Shamansky. Mohamud told someone that he wanted to target U.S. armed forces, police officers or other people in uniform, the indictment alleges, adding that "Mohamud's plan was to attack a military facility, and his backup plan was to attack a prison." "Mohamud talked about doing something big in the United States. He wanted to go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style," it says. Mohamud allegedly said he was happy that his brother, Aden, died fighting for al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda's largest affiliate in Syria. Mohamud told someone he planned to join Aden in death soon, the indictment says. He became a U.S. citizen in February 2014 and submitted a U.S. passport application days later, according to the indictment. Mohamud traveled to Syria in April 2014 "for the purpose of training and fighting with terrorists," prosecutors said in a news release. To get there, Mohamud bought a one-way ticket to Greece with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey, the Department of Justice said. He skipped the connecting flight "and instead completed pre-arranged plans to travel to Syria." Once there, he trained in shooting weapons, breaking into homes, using explosives and hand-to-hand combat, prosecutors said. Mohamud "also stated that, after completing this training, he was instructed by a cleric in the organization to return to the United States and commit an act of terrorism." CNN's John Newsome contributed to this story.

Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud pleads not guilty to charges of providing material support to terrorists and lying to the FBI . The Columbus, Ohio, resident became a U.S. citizen in February 2014 . In April 2014, he went to Syria for terrorism training, prosecutors say in a news release .

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(CNN)Duckie's still got moves. On Tuesday night's "Late Late Show" on CBS, actor Jon Cryer reprised the character's record-store dance to Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness," right down to the wall-dancing, the counter-bashing and, of course, the trademark white shoes. In the original scene, one of the best-loved bits from the 1986 John Hughes film, Cryer dances around a record store, lip-syncing the song as he tries to win the affection of Molly Ringwald's Andie. In Tuesday's recreation, he dances in tandem with host James Corden, who tweeted that he'd "fulfilled a childhood dream" by re-creating the scene with Cryer -- who turned 50 on Thursday. "I watched that 'Try a Little Tenderness' dance routine so many times, the tape on the VHS wore out," Corden said on the show. Like Cryer, who has most recently appeared on "Two and a Half Men," many of the film's original fans are well into middle age. But still some may have squealed like teenagers when they saw the routine.

Jon Cryer revives "Pretty in Pink's" Duckie dance routine for "The Late Late Show" Host James Corden tweets that the bit "fulfilled a childhood dream"

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Panama City, Panama (CNN)Ending a decades-long standstill in U.S.-Cuba relations, President Barack Obama met for an hour Saturday with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, the first time the two nations' top leaders have sat down for substantive talks in more than 50 years. The meeting in a small conference room on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas came as the two countries work to end the Cold War enmity that had led to a total freeze of diplomatic ties. And while both leaders proclaimed progress had been made, a key stumbling block -- Cuba's place on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terror -- remained unresolved. "This is obviously an historic meeting," Obama said at the beginning of his session with Castro, claiming that decades of strain had done little to benefit either Cubans or citizens of the United States. "It was time for us to try something new," he said. ‎"We are now in a position to move on a path toward the future." Castro, who earlier in the day said he trusted Obama, acknowledged there would be difficult stumbling blocks as his nation works to repair ties with the United States. But he said those differences could be surmounted. "We are willing to discuss everything, but we need to be patient, very patient," Castro said. "We might disagree on something today on which we could agree tomorrow." Speaking to reporters after his session with Castro, Obama said the meeting was "candid and fruitful" and could prove to be a "turning point" in his push to defrost ties with Cuba. But he said he hadn't yet decided whether to remove Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terror, an outcome that had previously been expected during the summit. The State Department provided Obama with a review of the terror status this week. "I want to make sure I have a chance to read it, study it before we announce publicly what the policy outcome is going to be," Obama said. "But in terms of the overall direction of Cuba policy, I think there is a strong majority both in the United States and in Cuba that says our ability to engage, to open up commerce and travel and people to people exchanges is ultimately going to be good for Cuban people." On Friday night, Obama and Castro greeted each other courteously amid an explosion of camera flashes, shaking hands before dining at the inaugural session of the conference. The two sat at the same table but not directly next to one another. Before Obama arrived in Panama on Wednesday, he spoke with Castro by phone, laying the groundwork for what will become a new era of relations between the neighboring countries. "The Cold War has been over for a long time," Obama said during opening remarks at the summit Saturday. "I'm not interested in having battles, frankly, that began before I was born." That exhortation, however, seemed to be lost on Castro himself, who expanded what was meant to be a six-minute speech into a 50-minute address lecturing leaders on Cuba's revolution and giving a litany of perceived grievances to Cuba over the past 50 years. But he distinguished Obama from past American presidents, saying he respected Obama's move toward reconciliation. "In my opinion, President Obama in an honest man," Castro said through an interpreter. "I admire him, and I think his behavior has a lot to do with his humble background." A U.S. administration official said Castro's long list of grievances was expected, despite the move toward diplomatic ties. "(What's) unique and new is what he said about the president," the official said of Castro's praise for Obama. Obama announced in December that he was seeking to renew diplomatic relations with Cuba after half a century of strife, including eventually opening embassies in Washington and Havana. Obama set to test engagement doctrine with Cuba in Panama . His meeting with Castro on Saturday isn't being billed as a formal bilateral session, but Obama's aides are still characterizing the event as the highest-level engagement with the Cuban government since then-Vice President Richard Nixon met with Fidel Castro in 1959. "We're in new territory here," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said Friday. "The reason we're here is because the President strongly believes that an approach that was focused entirely on isolation, focused entirely on seeking to cut off the Cuban people from the United States of America had failed." The overtures to Cuba have not been universally popular in the United States; some lawmakers were irate that Obama was seeking to engage what they regard as a corrupt government. "A recommendation to remove Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism would represent another significant misstep in a misguided policy," Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat who used to the chair the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in a statement last week. In Latin America, however, Obama was receiving a warm welcome after announcing he was seeking to engage Havana in talks over reopening embassies and removing barriers to commerce and travel. 9 things you wanted to ask about the Cuban embargo . He noted to applause during a session Friday that this was the first summit with Cuba in attendance. And he's cast the decision to reopen the U.S. relationship with Cuba as beneficial to the entire hemisphere, which has also embraced his immigration executive action. But even as Obama landed in Panama, the longstanding gulfs between the two countries' governments were on display. Dissidents opposed to Castro's regime were violently accosted this week by supporters of the Cuban government, a scuffle the White House said was unacceptable. "As we move toward the process of normalization, we'll have our differences, government to government, with Cuba on many issues -- just as we differ at times with other nations within the Americas, just as we differ with our closest allies," Obama said at a meeting of civil society leaders Friday. "There's nothing wrong with that." "But I'm here to say that when we do speak out, we're going to do so because the United States of America does believe, and will always stand for, a certain set of universal values," he said. The long history between the U.S. and Cuba . Obama closed out his time in Panama with a news conference where he covered topics ranging from Hillary Clinton's expected presidential announcement to his framework deal with Iran on its nuclear program. The President had pointed criticism for Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. Earlier this week, McCain accused Secretary of State John Kerry of intentionally mischaracterizing what the sides had agreed to in the Iran nuclear deal. "John Kerry is delusional," McCain said on the Hugh Hewitt show, a conservative talk radio program, adding that the view from the Supreme Leader of Iran of the provisions agreed to "is probably right," rather than what the United States maintains are the agreed provisions. While discussing the Iran agreement Saturday, Obama brought up those remarks without being asked. "When I hear someone like Sen. McCain recently suggest that our secretary of state, John Kerry, who served in the United States Senate, (is) a Vietnam veteran, who's provided exemplary service to this nation, is somehow less trustworthy of the interpretation of what's in a political agreement than the Supreme Leader of Iran, that's an indication of the degree to which partisanship has crossed all boundaries," he said at the news conference. After the President's remarks, McCain tweeted "So Pres. Obama goes to #Panama, meets with Castro and attacks me - I'm sure Raul is pleased." As for his 2008 Democratic rival, Obama said, "If she decides to run, if she makes an announcement, she's going to have some strong messages to deliver," he said.

"The Cold War has been over for a long time," President Obama says . The thaw in ties has dominated discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Panama . The top leaders from the United States and Cuba haven't met for substantive talks in more than 50 years .

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(CNN)Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, women have been barred from attending most sports events involving men. But the situation appears set to improve in the coming months after a top Iranian sports official said that the ban will be lifted for some events. A plan to allow "women and families" to enter sports stadiums will come into effect in the next year, Deputy Sports Minister Abdolhamid Ahmadi said Saturday, according to state-run media. But it isn't clear exactly which games women will be able to attend. According to the state-run Press TV, Ahmadi said the restrictions would be lifted for indoor sports events. The rules won't change for all matches because some sports are mainly related to men and "families are not interested in attending" them, Press TV cited him as saying. Iranian authorities imposed the ban on women attending men's sports events after the revolution, deeming that mixed crowds watching games together was un-Islamic. During the ensuing decades, the crowds at soccer games, Iran's most popular sport, have been all male. Iranian women were briefly permitted to attend volleyball matches under the moderate President Mohammad Khatami, but the ban was reinstated in 2005 after the more hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power. The Iranian government has come under pressure from international sports officials over the restrictions. FIFA President Sepp Blatter called on Iran last month to end its "intolerable" ban on women attending soccer matches, saying the situation "cannot continue." Iran had been in the running to host the 2019 edition of soccer's Asian Cup, but the tournament was awarded to the United Arab Emirates. The ban on women attending matches was widely seen as a major impediment to Iran's chances of securing the event. The ban came under the spotlight at the Asian Cup in Australia earlier this year, when thousands of female Iranian fans watched their soccer team without restriction. During the match against Iraq, activists called for the ban to end and unfurled a banner showing the face of Ghoncheh Ghavami, a British-Iranian woman detained in Iran last year while trying to watch a volleyball match. Iranian officials have denied that Ghavami was arrested for attending the volleyball game, saying she was taken into custody for "anti-Iran activities." The news agency Reuters reported that she was recently pardoned by the Court of Appeal. CNN's Annie Ramos contributed to this report.

Iranian sports official: The ban will be lifted for some events in the coming year . But he says "families are not interested in attending" some sports matches .

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(The Hollywood Reporter)Oscar-winning rapper-turned-actor Common has closed a deal to join the cast of "Suicide Squad," Warner Bros.' all-star action movie featuring DC Entertainment super-villains. David Ayer is directing the feature, which already boasts actors Jared Leto as the Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Also in the lineup are Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Viola David, Adam Beach, Ike Barinholtz, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Scott Eastwood. There will also possibly be cameos of Jesse Eisenberg who plays Lex Luthor and Ben Affleck as Batman in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," who are rumored to appear as Warners builds its own cinematic universe. Hollywood Reporter: 'Suicide Squad' is 'Dirty Dozen' with supervillains . The story tells of imprisoned villains recruited by a government agency to perform covert operations. Details for Common's role have not been revealed. Warners had no comment on the deal. The movie is in production in Toronto. Common is currently on screen with Warners' Liam Neeson thriller "Run All Night" and was part of the cast for acclaimed civil rights movie "Selma." For the latter he won an Oscar for best original song, which he shared with John Legend. He is due to shoot Relativity's "Hunter Killer" with Gerard Butler in July. Hollywood Reporter: What happens when 'Star Wars' is just a war film? He is repped by CAA and Myman Greenspan. Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are both units of Time Warner, as is CNN. ©2015 The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.

Common joins "Suicide Squad" cast, which already includes Will Smith, Jared Leto . Film is about supervillains who team up .

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New Delhi (CNN)An Indian software pioneer and nine others have been sentenced to seven years in jail for their role in what has been dubbed India's biggest corporate scandal in memory, police said. Ramalinga Raju, the former chairman of software services exporter Satyam Computers Services, was also fined $804,000, R.K. Gaur, a spokesman for India's Central Bureau of Investigation, told CNN. In 2009, Satyam Computers Services was at the center of a massive $1.6 billion fraud case after its then-chairman Raju admitted inflating profits with fictitious assets and nonexistent cash. Investigators say losses to investors resulting from the company's book manipulation were much higher. A special court convicted Raju and nine other people of cheating, criminal conspiracy, breach of public trust and other charges, said the Central Bureau of Investigation, which looked into the case. In the media, the case has been compared to the 2001 Enron Corp. scandal, in which a Houston energy company's earnings had been overstated by several hundred million dollars. When the scam made headlines, Satyam, which means "truth" in Sanskrit, was India's fourth-largest software services provider. It was serving almost 700 companies, including 185 Fortune 500 companies, and generated more than half of its revenue from the United States. The company had about 53,000 employees and operated in 65 countries. After Raju's shock disclosures six years ago, the Indian government fired Satyam's board. In a subsequent state-backed auction, the company was bought by Tech Mahindra, part of the country's Mahindra Group. A heavyweight of the nation's software industry, Raju, 60, has been in jail for the past 32 months. He had founded Satyam in 1987. His company made giant strides as the outsourcing business grew in India in the 1990s.

Satyam Computers Services was at the center of a massive $1.6 billion fraud case in 2009 . The software services exporter's chairman, Ramalinga Raju, admitted inflating profits . Satyam had been India's fourth-largest software services provider .

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(CNN)The complete skeleton of a camel thought to to have been used by Ottoman troops besieging Vienna in the 17th century has been found beneath a cellar in Austria. The remains were uncovered by archaeologists from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni), exploring the construction site for a shopping center in the city of Tulln in 2006-2007. "The partly excavated skeleton was at first suspected to be a large horse or cattle," archaeozoologist Alfred Galik said. "But one look at the cervical vertebrae, the lower jaw and the metacarpal bones immediately revealed that this was a camel." In their research, published in the journal "PLOS ONE," the archaeologists said Ottoman troops had besieged the area around Tulln in 1683 as they tried to reach Vienna, but that Tulln itself had never been conquered. The Ottoman Army had a "camelry," using camels for transportation and to ride, they said. Despite their city not falling, Tulln inhabitants and the Ottomans were in contact, with historic documents referring to the invading army's peaceful surrender of two prisoners of war, the researchers said. But they said it would be impossible to say how it got into the city. "Its appearance might be linked to an exchange of local people with the troops or the Ottoman army simply left it behind. Apparently, the citizens took it inside the town, where they probably kept and displayed it as an 'exotic animal,'" they said. "It seems quite conceivable that being not familiar with behavioral and feeding habits, the scarcity of food in wartimes, people did not keep it for long." While other camel bones have been found in Central Europe, the researchers said this was unique. "It is the first complete camel skeleton found in Central Europe and Central European territories under the control of the Ottoman Empire, apart from the complete skeleton of a dromedary recovered from the sediments of the Theodosius harbor on the European part of Istanbul." DNA analysis on the Tulln skeleton confirmed that it had been one of a hybrid species of camel, specifically a "Tulu," the offspring of dromedary female and a male with Bactrian DNA. "The two species are able to interbreed, which results in larger, more powerful and efficient hybrid offspring," researchers said. "The camel specimen from Tulln is the first archaeozoologically and genetically confirmed evidence of a Tulu hybrid camel." The camel was also believed to have been castrated to make it easier to handle. The Austrians' unfamiliarity with such a beast may have led to the skeleton's preservation. As opposed to the Ottoman troops -- who would likely have eaten the camel's flesh -- the residents of Tulln apparently buried the camel whole. "The dismemberment of the carcasses certainly is a reason for the scarce preservation of camel finds in general and is indicated by bones with butchering marks in particular. However, the citizens buried this camel in a typical post-mortal position, and together with rubbish in the remnants of a cellar that was leveled," researchers said. In their report, the researchers said the camel was found on the site of what had been an old tavern called "Auf der Rossmuhle." "The backfill of the cellar yielded masses of domestic refuse like animal bones and ceramics (e.g. plates, pans and flagons), pieces of a tiled stove and enameled pipe bowls which date the filling in the early modern period," they said. A coin dating from 1643-1715 and a medicine bottle from a chemist's operating from 1628-1665 helped the team date the site. Flooding and plagues affected Tulln in the 17th century and many buildings were demolished, they said. "Two building plots got new owners at the end of the century around the 1690, certainly the time when the cellar was backfilled, offering enough space to bury such a big cadaver in the center of the town," their report explains. "The skeleton remained there for more than 300 years to raise questions in the future."

Archaeologists have found the skeleton of a camel below a cellar in an Austrian village . They believe the camel was from the 17th century Osmanic-Habsburg war . Ottoman troops used camels as troops during the conflict .

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(CNN)Pop star Taylor Swift, who has built an intense bond with her fans by sharing personal details of her life, revealed some sobering news Thursday: Her mother has cancer. The singer did not divulge the nature or severity of the cancer, saying "I'd like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private." Andrea Swift, 57, who years ago quit her job as a mutual fund marketing executive to raise Swift and Swift's younger brother, Austin, has joined her famous daughter on tour and in several of her videos. In a post on Tumblr, the blogging platform, Swift said that for Christmas last year, she asked her mom to get screened for potential health issues, "just to ease some worries of mine." Her mother felt "perfectly fine" but went to the doctor for tests anyway "just to get me and my brother off her case" about it. "The results came in, and I'm saddened to tell you that my mom has been diagnosed with cancer. I'd like to keep the details of her condition and treatment plans private, but she wanted you to know," Swift added. #PrayForMamaSwift was a trending hashtag Thursday on Twitter, where Swift's legions of fans offered prayers and messages of support. Within an hour and a half, Swift's tweet about her mom had been retweeted more than 21,000 times. Many fans shared "there's something in your eyes that says we can beat this," a lyric from Swift's 2008 song "Change." Swift also urged her fans to make sure their parents get screened for cancer and other potential health problems. "She wanted you to know because your parents may be too busy juggling everything they've got going on to go to the doctor, and maybe you reminding them to go get checked for cancer could possibly lead to an early diagnosis and an easier battle ..." she wrote. "Or peace of mind in knowing that they're healthy and there's nothing to worry about." Swift, 25, added that "usually when things happen to me, I process them and then write music about how I feel, and you hear it much later. This is something my family and I thought you should know about now. "Thank you for caring about my family so much that she would want me to share this information with you. I hope and pray that you never get news like this." Andrea Swift and Swift's father, Scott Kingsley Swift, live in Nashville, Tennessee, in a mansion bought by their daughter in 2011 for $2.5 million.

Pop star Taylor Swift revealed Thursday that her mom has cancer . The nature and severity of Andrea Swift's cancer have not been divulged .

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(CNN)All Elizabeth Sedway wanted was to leave paradise and head home. But she couldn't. Why? Because, according to her, she has cancer. That's what she said in a video posted to Facebook that shows her group packing up from their Alaska Airlines plane as it sat at the gate in Hawaii. "You're taking me off the airplane because I don't have a doctor's note saying I can fly," a woman is heard saying. "All these people are waiting, and I'm being removed as if I'm a criminal or contagious, because I have cancer and no note to fly." Sedway did eventually get on a flight back to San Jose, California, although she didn't get home until late Tuesday night. And she got an apology. "We regret the inconvenience Ms. Sedway experienced ... and are very sorry for how the situation was handled," Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said. "... While our employee had the customer's well-being in mind, the situation could have been handled differently." Her cancer fight notwithstanding, Sedway was in Hawaii in time to celebrate her 14th wedding anniversary. Still, on Monday, she was on a plane to head east. Then, according to her Facebook post, an airline employee who saw Sedway seated in the handicapped section asked her how she was doing. The second time she inquired, Sedway wrote that she responded by saying she sometimes felt weak. That was followed by a call to a doctor, then her removal from the plane. Egan, the Alaska Airlines spokeswoman, acknowledged that the carrier's policy when someone has a medical issue is to call MedLink, a group of ER nurses and doctors. The idea, she explained, is that "it is better to address medical issues or concerns on the ground rather than in the air, especially on flights to or from Hawaii" -- which in that case would last five-plus hours over open ocean. The decision to pull Sedway from the flight was done with "the customer's well-being" in mind, according to Egan. Still, that doesn't mean it was the right decision. Alaska Airlines since apologized to Sedway "for the disruption this has caused," in addition to refunding her family's tickets and paying for their overnight accommodations." Even though she was stuck in Hawaii, Sedway made clear on Facebook that this was a real "disruption." "Because of this, I will miss my chemotherapy, my children will miss school and my husband will miss important meetings," she said.

Elizabeth Sedway posted to video to Facebook showing her removal from a plane . She was forced off a flight in Hawaii and told she couldn't head home to California . Alaska Airlines later apologized, saying it could have handled the situation differently .

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(CNN)Roseanne Barr revealed earlier this week that she is going blind. In an interview with The Daily Beast, the 62-year-old comic talked about her struggle with macular degeneration and glaucoma — two eye diseases that get progressively worse over time and can steal vision. Barr's doctors haven't provided a timeline, but her symptoms are worsening: "My vision is closing in now," she said. "I just try and enjoy vision as much as possible. Y'know, living it up." Related: 9 worst eye care mistakes you're making . Macular degeneration is a breakdown of the part of the retina that allows us to see fine details in the center of vision; while glaucoma damages the nerve that connects the retina to the brain, and is often caused by fluid build-up and pressure in the eyes. (Barr said in the interview that she helps relieve the pressure by using marijuana, which is known to temporarily lower pressure inside the eye.) "It's somewhat unusual that Roseanne Bar has both, but not unheard of," explains ophthalmologist Steven A. Shanbom, MD, of Shanbom Eye Specialists in Berkley, Mich. Though there are some controllable risk factors, certain people are genetically predisposed to these diseases, so Barr may simply be prone to both. "Certainly it's sad. The combination of the two is terrible. Macular degeneration takes away her central vision, and glaucoma is taking away her peripheral vision," Dr. Shanbom adds. (He is not treating Roseanne Barr, and does not know the specifics of her case.) The risk for both diseases goes up for everyone after age 60, with some people, especially African Americans, at higher risk in their 40s. That's why the American Academy of Opthalmology recommends getting a baseline eye exam when you turn the big 4-0, even if you have perfect vision. In the early stages, you can have either condition, but have no symptoms at all. Things like a family history or high blood pressure, or issues within the eye (like having a thinner cornea, for example) might lead your MD to prescribe drops that can reduce your chances of developing glaucoma by about half. Related: 10 natural ways to lower blood pressure . There is no cure for either disease. But like those eyedrops, there are treatments that may delay the progression of early-stage glaucoma (from other drugs to surgery), and therapies that might halt further vision loss in advanced cases of macular degeneration (including an implantable telescope). The future looks brighter however: An animal study published this month suggests that an injection of stem cells into the eye might slow or even reverse the effects of early-stage macular degeneration. There are also simple things you can start doing right now to ward off these diseases. Here, five ways to protect your peepers. Slip on your shades—even when it's cloudy . Sun exposure can up the risk for glaucoma and macular degeneration, as well as cataracts (clouding of the lenses). Make sure your sunglasses offer 99% to 100% UV protection. Sporting a pair that doesn't filter UV light is more dangerous than wearing no shades at all, because the dark lenses cause your pupils to dilate and allow in more harmful rays. Schedule in a regular walk . Studies indicate that aerobic exercise can reduce the eye pressure that leads to glaucoma, and may improve blood flow to the retina and optic nerve. According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, all you need to do is raise your pulse 20% to 25% (which could mean a brisk walk) for 20 minutes, a minimum of four times a week. Related: 9 tweaks that make walking workouts more effective . Eat your greens . Spinach, kale, and other leafy greens are packed with lutein and zeaxanthin—antioxidants that lower your risk of developing macular degeneration (and cataracts too), research shows. Another good source: egg yolks. Snack on almonds, citrus, and berries . Almonds are loaded with vitamin E (a handful provides about half your daily dose), which slows macular degeneration; while citrus fruit and berries are filled with vitamin C, which cuts your odds of developing the disease. Avoid cigarette smoke . While smoking is bad news for many parts of your body, you may not have considered eyes to be one of them. However, smoking doubles your risk of macular degeneration. Avoiding cigs can not only protect your lungs and heart, it can protect your peepers too.

Barr has macular degeneration and glaucoma, eye diseases that get progressively worse and can steal vision . The risk for both diseases goes up for everyone after age 60 . Sun exposure can up the risk for glaucoma and macular degeneration .

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(CNN)This week, Hillary Clinton surprised the world yet again — not with the official launch of her campaign but for the unconventional way she did it. She sure pushed the envelope. With her video, new logo and road trip, she opened a long communications campaign not only to "rebrand" herself but to completely reframe who she is, what she stands for and how she intends to run. We'll find out over the next year and a half whether it will work. Many in the press and on late-night television scratched their heads this week; others were scathing. Ruth Marcus -- a columnist for the Washington Post -- dismissed her launch video as a "relentlessly, insultingly vapid" effort of "demographic box-checking." Jon Stewart lampooned it as a "State Farm commercial gone viral" and also "boring as s---." Since the media will likely be the stand-in primary opponent for Hillary, their belief in her authenticity is a critical factor in whether she can reframe herself in voter's eyes. But from a marketing perspective, her launch may have been much more successful than critics think. The YouTube announcement video took on the central strategic challenge for the campaign and candidate: To flip Clinton's message from self-absorbed "I" to empathetic "we." While critics may sneer, it is hard to deny that the image it projects of Hillary is more confident, fresher, simpler and forward-looking, with even a bit of the upstart feel of two of the most successful product launch companies, Nike and Apple. Clinton's team may have begun to create an empathetic relationship with voters that has eluded her in the past, most crucially when she lost the nomination fight to Barack Obama in 2008. In marketing terms, rebranding is a strategy to bring a new name, term, symbol or design to an established brand with the aim of developing a new identity in the minds of consumers. Reframing is a strategy that goes further: it seeks to change how a consumer (or voter) emotionally experiences an established brand. A rebrand may change how you think about a brand; a reframe may change how you feel about it. In the Apple case, the company at one time fell on its face when it unveiled the original Macintosh; some thought the company was headed for oblivion. But when Steve Jobs returned as CEO, he went back to the drawing board and soon unveiled the iPod, which not only changed the way consumers thought about Apple, but how they experienced it. Not only a rebrand -- but a reframe. Take Hillary's road trip to Iowa in the van nicknamed Scooby. The press lampooned her, but I would bet that for many others, her unscripted and anonymous stop at Chipotle reinforced the "everyday Americans" campaign theme. Hillary stood in line to order, an everyday customer among everyday people at an everyday fast-food chain. Also introduced last week was what will come to be the single most-ubiquitous element of her campaign: Clinton's new and controversial campaign logo. It is a brilliant, iconic expression of the emotional connection she wants people to have with her, her message and her movement. In fact, her logo is all about movement. Simple, confident, high tech and shorthand to a much younger set of voters, the bold red arrow moving left to right in front of the strong blue H says it all: You are the important ones. I'm here to support you with everything I've got. Let me help you move forward. Taken together, all the pieces of Clinton's announcement -- as well as the unconventional media she used to deliver them -- bring her back on stage not as a leader from yesterday but, surprisingly, as one for the future. Coincidentally, the way Marco Rubio announced his run for the Republican nomination most likely amplified the impact of Clinton's reframing. For all his posturing about being the new generation, Rubio followed to a "T" the most traditional script for announcing a candidacy: traditional stage and podium, dark suit, bright tie, wife and kids on camera, a live speech, all about himself, timed for the evening news. Rubio's logo, the signature of his image, drew immediate criticism for being amateurish and unconsidered, even leaving Alaska and Hawaii off the map of America. In stark contrast, Hillary showed the confidence and finesse to buck tradition on every front. It was Hillary who pulled the ultimate jiu-jitsu. There are those, of course, who will be alienated, if not disgusted, by the way her campaign has unfurled such a sophisticated marketing plan. In a day when voters are yearning for authenticity, how do we know this is the real Hillary or a candidate in a mask? Fair question. But for better or worse, mass marketing has become the staple of presidential campaigns -- that's where most campaign dollars go. Both sides know how to play, sometimes brilliantly. Remember the Reagan advertisements of 1984, proclaiming "Morning in America"? What we know is that over time, voters see a lot of unscripted moments of a candidate where the real character comes through. And if they spot hypocrisy between ads and the candidate, that campaign will get into trouble fast. That's why the key to Hillary Clinton's success in reframing her message and movement will be consistency. She must not only take the essence of a humble, empathic relationship with voters and integrate it into all elements of her communication, she must also live it every day. Otherwise there will be messaging "schizophrenia," the solid start with flashes of brilliance will peter out and she'll be facing the same voter perceptions that doomed her race in 2008. In the meantime, one can imagine Clinton getting a huge, satisfying belly laugh out of the early returns on her efforts.

Martha Pease: Hillary Clinton got her presidential bid launched by reframing who she is, what she's about . She says Clinton took a low-key, unconventional approach, unlike Marco Rubio's standard announcement .

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(CNN)The boy who asked a church to help him find a forever parent finally has one. Desperate for a home in 2013, Davion Navar Henry Only dressed up in a suit and borrowed a Bible from the boys home where he lived. Then he headed to a St. Petersburg, Florida, church to make a plea for his own adoption. Now 16 years old, he had lived his entire life in foster care, bouncing from one home to another. The older he got, the less likely it was that he would be adopted. But the Tampa Bay Times documented his journey, and a video of his plea went viral. Thousands of calls came into his agency, and a minster's family in Ohio asked him to come live with them. But he got into a fight with one of their sons, and they sent him back to Florida. Forever wasn't forever in that case. And to the people who asked what went wrong, his social worker had the answer. "That boy spent his whole life in the system, that's what went wrong," Connie Going told the Tampa Bay Times. Photo helps gets teen adopted . For a year, he went through four more foster homes and wouldn't speak about what happened in Ohio. Finally, he reached out to Going, the woman who had been there for him since he was 7. Only had repeatedly asked her to adopt him, but she didn't think that she could be enough for him. She already had three children, ages 21, 17 and 14. But something changed in that latest call, and she knew she would finally say yes. So did her three children. Going rented a larger house, and Only moved into the home after his new mom passed the home study. His official adoption date is April 22. "I guess I always thought of you as my mom," Only told her before Christmas. "Only now I get to call you that for real, right?"

Davion Only took to the pulpit to find a forever home . After some setbacks, his family is set to make it official in April .

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(CNN)So, you'd like a "Full House" reunion and spinoff? You got it, dude! Co-star John Stamos announced Monday night on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" that Netflix has ordered up a reunion special, followed by a spinoff series called "Fuller House." The show will feature Candace Cameron Bure, who played eldest daughter D.J. Tanner in the original series -- which aired from 1987 to 1995 -- as the recently widowed mother of three boys. "It's sort of a role reversal, and we turn the house over to her," Stamos told Kimmel. Jodie Sweetin, who played Stephanie Tanner in the original series, and Andrea Barber, who portrayed D.J.'s best friend Kimmy Gibbler, will both return for the new series, Netflix said. Stamos will produce and guest star. Talks with co-starsBob Saget, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Dave Coulier and Lori Loughlin are ongoing, Netflix said. The show will be available next year, Netflix said. "As big fans of the original Full House, we are thrilled to be able to introduce Fuller House's new narrative to existing fans worldwide, who grew up on the original, as well as a new generation of global viewers that have grown up with the Tanners in syndication," Netflix Vice President of Original Content Cindy Holland said in a statement. The show starts with Tanner -- now named Tanner-Fuller (get it ... Fuller?) -- pregnant, recently widowed and living in San Francisco. Her younger sister Stephanie -- now an aspiring musician -- and her lifelong best friend and fellow single mom, Kimmy, move in to help her care for her two boys and the new baby. On Monday, Barber tweeted Cameron Bure to ask whether she was ready to resume their onscreen friendship. "We never stopped," Cameron Bure tweeted back. Fans were over the moon at the news.

Show will return with a one-hour special, followed by spinoff, star John Stamos says . He announced the show Monday night on "Jimmy Kimmel Live"

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Sao Paulo, Brazil (CNN)Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians are taking to the streets in protests across the country, lashing out against President Dilma Rousseff as she struggles with an economic downturn and a massive bribery scandal. The demonstrators have called for the President to be impeached. On the other side Rousseff's base is holding rallies in her support. There are a number of issues at play. One of the biggest: an investigation into a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme at the state-run oil company Petrobras. Petrobras was long considered the corporate jewel in Brazil's crown, one of the biggest companies in the world by market capitalization. But last year, investigators launched a sweeping investigation. According to suspects-turned-witnesses, construction companies paid bribes to executives at Petrobras as well as politicians to secure lucrative contracts. Most of the politicians accused in the investigation belong to the President's Workers Party and its allies. During many of the years that the alleged corruption took place, Rousseff was the chairwoman of Petrobras. There hasn't been any evidence she was involved with the scheme, and her supporters say the position is merely a figurehead. Rousseff has defended Brazilians' right to protest and acknowledged the need to clean up corruption at Petrobras -- but denied any prior knowledge of it. But Brazilians are still outraged. Rousseff won re-election with just over 50% of valid votes in October, but her approval rating plummeted to 13% after the protests last month. Compounding the frustration is the economy, which is expected to contract this year. Inflation is stubbornly high, and the currency has lost more than 20% of its value against the dollar this year alone. Both sides are. The country was already sharply divided during presidential elections in October. Roughly half of the voting population didn't vote for Rousseff, and many of those same people joined protests immediately after elections. Rousseff's supporters like to characterize the protesters as Brazilian elite and right-wingers, and some small groups do carry signs calling for a military intervention to oust the President. But with the Petrobras scandal growing and the economy sinking, the protests have gotten bigger and broader, with many demonstrators saying they initially voted for Rousseff. Protesters say Rousseff should be impeached for failing to halt the corruption at Petrobras. On the other hand, labor unions, social activists and groups such as the Landless Workers Movement who support the government have organized their own marches. The demonstrations are meant as a show of force for democracy, with participants saying the President was democratically elected and cannot be impeached. But participation has not been consistently strong. The President has said Petrobras should be cleaned up. Has she done anything about it? She says she's given prosecutors and the Federal Police free rein to investigate the Petrobas scandal. Some of her allies who have been implicated in the investigation think Rousseff should do more to protect them. This scandal has been known publicly for at least a year, and during Rousseff's election campaign, she said she would root out corruption. The Brazilian economy was booming for the good part of a decade, bolstered by voracious demand for its commodities from China. But with China's economy cooling, Brazil has failed to find a successful alternative to promote growth and shore up investor confidence. Now, with the President's approval rating abysmally low, it will be difficult to implement the savings needed to get the economy back on track. Rousseff has appointed a market-friendly economy minister, Joaquim Levy, to try and fix the country's fiscal problems. But in the current political crisis, he hasn't been able to make much progress.

Protesters angry over bribery scandal involving state-run oil company Petrobras . Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff also is struggling with an economic downturn .

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(CNN)Kayahan, one of Turkey's best-loved singers and songwriters, died of cancer Friday at the age of 66. He had performed most recently in Istanbul on Valentine's Day. The performer, who was also an accomplished guitarist, was first diagnosed with cancer in 1990, the year he competed in the Eurovision Song Contest, and the year before he released the album that ignited his career. The cancer returned in 2005 and then again in 2014, Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu Agency reported. He died Friday in a hospital in Istanbul, five days after his 66th birthday. "We are in grief over losing Kayahan, who contributed to Turkish music with countless compositions and marked a generation with his songs," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu tweeted. The singer, whose full name was Kayahan Acar, was born in Izmir province, in western Turkey on March 29, 1949. He grew up in Ankara, Turkey's capital, before moving to Istanbul. In 1990, he competed in the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 17th. The following year he released an album titled "I Made a Vow," which catapulted him to prominence. Though he recorded nearly 20 albums, that one would remain his most popular. His final album was released in 2007. Other artists recorded his material throughout his career. Videos available online show a vibrant performer with a thick shock of dark hair as he accompanies himself on guitar and croons in a clear tenor. Kayahan was best known for his love songs. More recent videos show a frailer performer, seated and without a guitar, but still clearly glorying in the joy of singing a song.

Kayahan wrote some of Turkey's best-loved pop songs . The singer was first diagnosed with cancer in 1990 . He most recently performed in February in Istanbul .

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(CNN)They were huddled in the back of a tugboat. Some were without shoes. Their coats and jackets, still wet, were piled up in a huge container behind them. The 117 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, arrived in the port of Augusta, Sicily, around 1p.m. Tuesday, after being picked up by the tugboat off the coast of Libya. The two boats they had been in were barely seaworthy, the tug's Montenegrin captain told me. The discarded coats, he said, would be thrown away. We had flown to Sicily from Rome following news that as many as 400 migrants had been lost at sea. The tragedy adds to the mounting death toll among those fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. So far this year as many as 900 have lost their lives. Last year at least 3,200 died making the journey. Since 2000, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), almost 22,000 people have died fleeing across the Mediterranean. Thousands may have died, but even more have succeeded in making the treacherous journey. This small group in Augusta were among nearly 10,000 migrants who have arrived on Italian shores since the weekend, according to the Italian Coast Guard. With the onset of spring and calmer seas, it appears that the flow of migrants is not relenting. The group, which included 31 women, was composed mostly of Nigerians and Gambians. As they filed off the boat, representatives of the Italian Red Cross did a quick visual inspection, checking for fever, scabies, any sign of illness. One woman, they discovered, was two months pregnant. Timothy, in his mid-20s from Nigeria, told me he left his home nine months ago. He paid human traffickers in Tripoli 1,000 Libyan dinars, more than $700, for the voyage. For him, it's a fortune. I asked 28-year-old Jibril, from Gambia, why he had left his home. "It's not like in Europe," he told me. "After 20, 25 years, you have to make a future for yourself. But in Gambia, I couldn't. My family, they don't have nothing. They are poor people." Mercy, from Kano in northern Nigeria, seemed shell-shocked. In a faint voice she told me she had left Kano because her family feared she that would be taken by Boko Haram. "I was scared," 25-year-old Al-Haji from Gambia told me about the journey from Libya. "I was taking a big risk. Either I enter Europe or I die." Another man, from Liberia, told me he had lived and worked in Libya for 15 years, but was terrified at the prospect of ISIS gaining even more territory. An Egyptian translator working for the Italian police told me they had information that a large group of Syrians were gathered in a Tripoli warehouse, and were expected to make the journey to Italy in the coming days. It seems that all the victims of the multiple tragedies and woes of Africa and the Middle East -- grinding poverty, war and the rise of ISIS -- are washing up on the shores of Italy. The wars, unrest, upheaval, misery and injustice I've covered over the last 20 years, in Syria, in Libya, in West Africa and elsewhere, seem to be coming together to remind those who have enjoyed Europe's relative peace and prosperity that no man is an island. The small group of migrants in Augusta has been taken in by the Italian authorities. They've been fed, clothed, received medical treatment, and will be taken to migrant camp in northern Italy. Most will then try move further north, to countries like France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, where economic opportunities are better than in austerity-wracked Italy. Others will stay in Italy, trying to eke out a living in the twilight economy as street vendors and beggars. And as they settle in, somehow or other, more and more will come to Italy's shores.

Migrants rescued in Augusta, Italy tell CNN why they fled . They were packed onto two barely seaworthy boats, tug captain said .

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(CNN)Here's a pop quiz: What's better for America's status in the world? A) Being a global leader in innovation, job creation, education, social mobility, literacy and child health. B) Being a global leader in imprisoning the highest number of human beings -- its own citizens. It's an obvious answer. But the unfortunate reality is that the United States leads the world in incarceration, not education. Our country has shown time and again a nearly unlimited capacity to reinvent itself and move closer to the ideals on which our society was founded. Yet we have emerged as the global leader in a race that no nation would want to even be a contender in. While our country is home to only 5% of the world's total population, we are home to 25% of the world's prison population. And nearly three fourths of this population is comprised of nonviolent offenders. At the same time, we are losing the increasingly important race to educate our citizens. Where the United States was once ranked first in high school graduation rates, we now rank 23rd in high school completion among 30 of the world's most developed nations. Where we were once the driving force of the global economy, we now rank fifth in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index. Key metrics in this index include the quality of a nation's primary, secondary and higher education systems. Instead of empowering the next generation of American artists, scientists, engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs, our country has chosen to devote a massive amount of resources, time and energy to locking people up. By imprisoning individuals, we also burden families, condemn generations to cycles of poverty and breed economic inequality. In the 1980s and 1990s, Congress chose to adopt laws that drastically changed the way our country handled nonviolent drug crimes. Since then, the American prison population has increased by nearly 800% over the past 30 years. Over 2.7 million American children have a parent who is incarcerated, and 10 million American children at one time in their lives had a parent in prison. Americans of color are disproportionately burdened by the failures of our justice system. There are more black men in prison or under state or federal supervision today than there were enslaved in 1850. And while African Americans make up only 13.6% of the total U.S. population, they make up a whopping 40.2% of the U.S. prison population. The sad reality is that in today's America, prisoners are never truly free from the burdens of our criminal justice system. A report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research concluded that once released from prison, an ex-offender's prospects for obtaining employment statistically decreased. The report estimated that, in 2008, ex-offender employment losses cost our economy the equivalent of 1.5 to 1.7 million workers, or $57 billion to $65 billion annually. It's therefore no surprise that American prisons have become revolving doors, with two out of every three former offenders rearrested within three years of their release. The millions of wives, sisters, husbands, daughters, sons, friends and the people they love who have been incarcerated are burdened disproportionately by an outdated, archaic and overly punitive system. These millions of Americans have the ability to advance our country, our economy and our global competitiveness. They just need to be given the opportunity. American taxpayers aren't free from the burdens of our criminal justice system either. In addition to the billions lost in jobs and productivity, Americans spend over a quarter of a trillion dollars each year to keep millions of nonviolent, low-level offenders imprisoned. The price tag is truly staggering. It costs on average $29,000 a year to house one inmate at the federal level. In contrast, our country spends a little over $11,000 dollars a year per elementary school student. Imagine the good we could do if we could re-appropriate those tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and economic losses away from imprisonment and toward investment in our children's future. We must start to deconstruct the perverse order of our priorities and build a more just society by making needed changes at the federal level. We must examine the way our criminal justice system works -- or rather, doesn't -- and take the necessary actions to change it. Fortunately, there is already a road map for successfully addressing these problems. We know reforms will work because they already are in states across the country. In both blue states such as New Jersey and Connecticut and red states such as Texas and Georgia, state and local officials have developed and instituted sweeping reforms that have reduced their prison populations and crime rates. They are succeeding by focusing their efforts on areas where the criminal justice system most needs reform. We should follow their example on the federal level. First, we should pass legislation that promotes "front end" reform, such as ending mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent drug crimes. Secondly, we should pass legislation that enacts "behind the wall" reforms, such as eradicating the cruel practice of juvenile solitary confinement. And thirdly, we should enact "back end" reforms with legislation that assists in sealing criminal records and removing barriers to employment for nonviolent formerly incarcerated people. As we reform our criminal justice system at the national level, we will alter the cycles of poverty and recidivism that plague too many American communities and start to develop virtuous cycles of excellence. Instead of putting resources toward juvenile detention centers, we can put resources toward afterschool programs that have proved to help keep kids out of the juvenile justice system and in school. Instead of losing valuable contributors to our economy because of their status as ex-offenders, we can develop apprenticeship and training programs that improve worker skills and jump start our economy. Instead of asking American taxpayers to pay for warehousing people who commit nonviolent, low-level, crimes, we can make sure that students of all ages have access to math, science and technology schooling that will help them excel in the workforce and as productive members of society. Let's devote our resources to empowering our citizens, not imprisoning them. Let's choose to raise our expectations as a country, and let's meet them.

Cory Booker: The unfortunate reality is that the United States leads the world in incarceration, not education . At the same time, we are losing the increasingly important race to educate our citizens .

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Washington (CNN)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the deal six world powers struck to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions, saying he sees better options than "this bad deal or war." "I think there's a third alternative, and that is standing firm, ratcheting up the pressure until you get a better deal," Netanyahu told CNN's Jim Acosta Sunday on "State of the Union." His comments come as Democrats and Republicans spar over the framework announced last week to lift Western sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country dropping from 19,000 to 5,060 active centrifuges, limiting its highly enriched uranium, and increasing inspections. President Barack Obama endorsed the deal, saying it was better than the alternatives. But GOP contenders for the party's 2016 presidential nomination lambasted it, saying it gave Iran too much flexibility. On Sunday, the sparring continued. One Senate Democrat said Netanyahu needs to "contain himself." And a top Republican said almost any of Obama's successors as president "could do better." Netanyahu's most recent argument against the Iran nuclear deal was similar to the one he'd made in a March trip to Washington, when he addressed a joint session of Congress -- fueling a Republican push to have the deal sent to Congress before it's implemented. "It does not roll back Iran's nuclear program. It keeps a vast nuclear infrastructure in place. Not a single centrifuge is destroyed. Not a single nuclear facility is shut down, including the underground facilities that they built illicitly. Thousands of centrifuges will keep spinning, enriching uranium," Netanyahu said Sunday. "That's a very bad deal. " Netanyahu said Iran is a country of "congenital cheating" and that it can't be trusted to abide by the terms of the deal, which lasts 10 years with some provisions extending well beyond that. He said his opposition has little to do with his frosty relationship with Obama. "I think that we can have a legitimate difference of opinion on this, because I think Iran has shown to be completely distrustful," Netanyahu said. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, meanwhile, said she wishes Netanyahu "would contain himself." The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said negotiators working on the deal -- from Iran and the United States, as well as Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- are "on the cusp of something that can be workable." "It's a framework. It has to be wrapped into a final agreement. There still can be some changes," Feinstein said. "But I don't think it's helpful for Israel to come out and oppose this one opportunity to change a major dynamic -- which is downhill, a downhill dynamic in this part of the world." Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz defended the deal in an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, saying it would extend from two months to one year the "breakout" time period -- the length of time it would take Iran to build a nuclear bomb. He said it also allows for the "almost instantaneous recognition of any attempt to evade the deal." "We have blocked all of these pathways to a bomb," he said. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said on "Face the Nation" that the best option for the United States is to keep current sanctions in place for two more years and then have a "new crack at it with a new president that doesn't have the baggage of Obama." And he said the alternatives to Obama on both sides -- with the exception of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who's called for a less active U.S. role overseas -- would likely strike a better deal. "Hillary Clinton would do better. I think everybody on our side, except, maybe, Rand Paul, could do better," Graham said.

Netanyahu says third option is "standing firm" to get a better deal . Political sparring continues in U.S. over the deal with Iran .

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(CNN)As Nepal grapples with an earthquake that has killed more than 3,400 people, Ronen Ziv worries about someone he has never met. His unborn baby is due this week in Kathmandu. He had tickets to travel to Nepal for his child's birth from a surrogate mother, but now he has no choice but to wait in his native Israel for news. "It's terrifying," Ziv said. "I can tell you I didn't get much sleep ... all my thoughts and all my prayers are for the surrogate mother and the unborn child." Nepal is a popular place for Israeli couples to have surrogate children. Ziv's first child, a 15-month-old daughter, was born to a surrogate mother in Nepal. Ziv and his partner, Tom, traveled to Nepal for the birth. They were planning on making the trip once again, but the earthquake forced them to change their plans. Companies that help arrange surrogate pregnancies estimate 25 couples are now in Kathmandu with newborn surrogate children, while 10 to 15 surrogate mothers are due to give birth in the coming weeks. The country is also a popular spot for Israeli travelers. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates there are about 600 to 700 Israelis in Nepal. Israel Defense Forces is sending 260 emergency responders to Nepal, including search-and-rescue teams. The group is also bringing almost 100 tons of medical aid supplies. Ziv says his baby is in a breech position, requiring a cesarean section. In the current chaos of Kathmandu, he worries his surrogate mother, Nafisa Shaje, will not get the proper medical attention required for a safe and healthy birth. Ziv would prefer Shaje fly to Israel, where hospitals can provide the needed medical help. But with only days left until the baby is due, Ziv said putting Shaje on a plane might not be possible. "If anything else happens, it could very quickly go to absolute catastrophe," Ziv says. Hospitals in Nepal have been flooded with injured quake victims. Some have been turned away so doctors can tend to the most severely injured. Cila Tamir, Ziv's attorney, has been working with the Ministry of the Interior to try to bring Shaje to Israel. "She has no place to deliver. No conditions," Tamir said. "Everything is ruined there, and I'm sure that the hospital doesn't function normally because of the casualties and the injuries."

Nepal is a popular place for Israeli couples to have surrogate children . An estimated 10 to 15 surrogate mothers are due to give birth soon in Kathmandu .

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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a group of protesters in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing 17 people and wounding dozens more, police said. An Afghan lawmaker taking part in the protests in the city of Khost was among the 64 people wounded, said Faizullah Ghairat, the provincial police chief. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied his group was responsible for the attack. No other organization has so far claimed responsibility. Humayoon Humayoon, an Afghan member of parliament for Khost province, and the other protesters were on their way to join a larger rally against the provincial governor, according to Zahir Jan, an eyewitness. The suicide attack hit the group around 10 a.m. local time, police said. CNN's Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul, and Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.

An Afghan lawmaker is among 64 people wounded in the attack, police say . Taliban spokesman denies his group was responsible for the attack .

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(CNN)Saudi Arabia has executed a second Indonesian maid despite protests from Jakarta, which is itself facing fierce criticism for its failure to heed calls for clemency for a number of foreigners on death row. The Indonesian government summoned the Saudi ambassador to the foreign ministry on Thursday after learning that 37-year-old Karni Bt. Medi Tarsim had been beheaded, without official warning. Karni was sentenced to death in March 2013 for killing her employer's four-year-old child. She was the second Indonesian domestic worker executed by the Saudis this week, following the death of Siti Zaenab Bt. Duhri Rupa on Tuesday -- the execution again carried out with Indonesian officials receiving no prior warning. "That is our main issue. It's not that suddenly there was an execution. We didn't know when it would take place. Still, we took over a hundred steps to try to free (Siti) from execution," said Arrmanatha Nasir, spokesman for Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Siti, 47, was convicted of killing her employer's wife in 1999, but the death penalty was delayed until the youngest of the victim's sons reached puberty and was old enough to consider requesting her pardon. He didn't. Rights groups say they suspect Siti was mentally ill and cast aspersions on claims she had confessed to the crime. Amnesty International also said reports suggested she had been abused while working in the victim's home. "Imposing the death penalty and executing someone with a suspected mental illness smacks of a basic lack of humanity," said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International. In a statement, the Indonesian government said the protection of its citizens abroad was a "priority" and listed the attempts it had made to help Siti, including providing legal aid, writing letters to the Saudi King and "continuous efforts... to ask for forgiveness from the family." Indonesia said in many cases its efforts had worked. From July 2011 to the end of March this year, it said it had "successfully freed" 238 of its citizens from the death penalty. One of those was Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad who was sentenced to death in 2011 after reportedly admitting to killing her 70-year-old employer and stealing $10,000. Satinah claimed she acted in self-dense. Days before her scheduled execution, the Indonesian government stepped in with so-called "blood money" of 7 million Saudi riyals -- at the time worth about $1.8 million. Satinah was spared. Indonesia's efforts to save its own citizens does not sit well with advocates who are seeking the same mercy for foreigners languishing on Indonesia's death row. Two of the most high profile cases are Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Australians convicted of attempting to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. Friday marks the 10-year anniversary of their arrest with seven other people -- members of the so-called "Bali Nine" -- who are currently serving lengthy sentences in Indonesian prisons. As the alleged ringleaders, Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death, and denied clemency from President Jokowi Widodo, a decision being challenged through the country's Constitutional Court. "If Indonesia wants to effectively protect Indonesians from the death penalty abroad, Indonesia should also abolish the death penalty here," said Todung Mulya Lubis, one of the men's lawyers. Chan, 31, and Sukumaran -- who also turns 34 on Friday -- are currently incarcerated on Nusakambangan Island in preparation for their execution but no date has been set. Human Rights Watch called on Widodo to suspend all planned executions in Indonesia -- as the previous government did between 2008 and 2013. No executions were carried out in 2014, but earlier this year, six people -- including five foreigners -- faced the firing squad. "The executions of two Indonesian citizens in Saudi Arabia in a single week should be a turning point on the subject of death penalty in Indonesia," said Andreas Harsono, the Indonesian researcher for Human Rights Watch. "Please stop the lecture of sovereignty. It is so old fashioned." Before news of the second execution emerged on Thursday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a press briefing to denounce the Saudi action. When asked whether Jakarta's complaints smacked of hypocrisy, given the country's refusal to spare foreigners on death row, spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said: "If you read our constitution, it is the job, the role of the government to protect its citizens, right? So it's not a double standard." "On the issue of death penalty, we can have a long debate whether it is against human rights or it is morally wrong or right. That's a whole other discussion, that's a whole other argument, but what we're saying now here is we are implementing our laws and we are adhering to our constitution that we have to protect our citizens abroad."

Indonesia protests executions, says didn't receive formal warnings . Both women had worked as domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia before being convicted of murder .

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Washington (CNN)Washington was rocked late Thursday by shootings -- one at the gates of the U.S. Census Bureau's headquarters and another in a popular area packed with restaurant patrons. The shootings were connected, authorities said. They began with what authorities believe was a domestic kidnapping incident, according to D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier. The suspect's vehicle was spotted outside the Census Bureau, which is in Suitland, Maryland. A guard apparently approached the vehicle and saw two people arguing. That guard was then shot at least once in the upper body, said Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady. The guard was in extremely critical condition, according to Brady. The police chief said the suspect then fled the scene. Officers picked up the chase, and the suspect fired gunshots at multiple locations, Lanier said. The chase ended in a crash on Washington's busy H Street. A shootout ensues, Lanier said. An officer and the suspect were wounded, according to the police chief. Both were conscious and talking when they left the scene. "Right now, we have every reason to believe that the car that we have in this last incident here is the same car involved and the same person involved in the kidnapping," she said. Lanier told reporters the kidnapping victim was located and is in good condition. She did not identify the suspect, nor the guard, nor the officer who were injured. Steve Brusk reported from Washington. Dana Ford wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Greg Botelho also contributed to this report.

Authorities believe the two shootings are connected . A suspect leads police on a wild chase, firing at multiple locations . A Census Bureau guard is in critical condition, a fire official says .

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(CNN)Italians have a saying: "Too much of something cripples it." We're overcrowded with so many frescoed churches, medieval castles and Roman ruins that we simply don't know what to do with them, let alone care for a proper upkeep. We've turned blind to their value and beauty. There are nearly 5,000 "gems" scattered across the country, ranging from museums to archaeological areas and monuments. Italy boasts the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world -- 50, several of which risk crumbling to the ground due to neglect and lack of public resources. And there are another 42,000 that are at the mercy of mudslides, floods and natural calamities. The UNESCO-listed Basilica of Assisi, where St. Frances' tomb lies, is just the last of a series of national shames. Its frescoed walls by Renaissance masters including Giotto risk falling down and are badly in need of a restyle. In a desperate move the monks have launched a crowdfunding project to raise 500,000 euros. We're talking of one of the biggest pilgrimage sites in the world -- not to mention its artistic value. I remember once an American colleague asking me: "But what does Italy do with its immense cultural heritage"? Good question. If other nations had half as much of what we boast, they'd make a much better job with it. Paradoxically, if we had just the Coliseum or Venice it would be easier. But we don't and trouble is Italy doesn't know how to exploit this treasure. Take the British Museum's successful exhibition on Pompeii in 2013: we have the real site in our backyard but the British made the best of it worldwide while the real Pompeii was -- and still is -- making global headlines just because of its frequent collapses. Or, worse, Italy couldn't care less to promote its assets. As a travel writer I have the misfortune of dealing with tourist offices almost on a daily basis and it's a battle: many are reluctant to give information and have no good photos of places. I find myself almost begging them, when it should be the other way round. The true but sad thing is that restyling in Italy is mainly thanks to private funds and sponsors. Crowdfunding has already saved Bologna's San Luca Portico. The Coliseum is getting a makeover thanks to shoe brand Todd's, while a few visionary businessmen are rescuing crumbling villages by turning them into luxury resorts. Yet it's not just a matter of scarce public resources or austerity-driven measures. It's also about not having a sense of artistic and cultural attachment, the care to cherish a country's valuable monuments. And that's because Italians have always lacked a sense of national belonging: Italy, despite its millenary history, is one of the world's most modern states, unified in 1861. Patriot Massimo D'Azeglio once said: "Now that we've made Italy, we need to make Italians." Tough job indeed, and we're still a long way to go. There's also wide-spread approach that tends to limit restyling in general. Heritage authorities are in love with the Romantic ideal "of decadent ruins": better leave the monument or site as it is, even allow it to rot, rather than recover it and "destroy its original beauty." Each time new subway works bring to light an unknown Roman theatre or necropoli, it all freezes - the public works and the artistic upkeep. Preservation is equal to negligence and oblivion. But that's a blind approach. There's so much Italy could do with what it has, that it could live off tourism. Symbola Foundation estimates that culture and art, if well exploited, could generate a turnover of 214 billion euros a year, amounting to 15.3% of GDP. Another thorny issue is having a cheap culture. Entrance tickets to the Coliseum, Italy's top site that each year lures more than 6 million tourists, cost a maximum of 12 euros. Matera's rock crypts are 5 euros. Not to mention churches featuring Michelangelo's works, which are free to enter. The first time I visited Westminster Abbey in London, and St. Patrick's church in Dublin, I was shocked to find out I had to pay to get in. And it was quite expensive, too. One could argue that Italy does well to open for free the Lord's doors, but probably in some "critical" cases a minimum cost to enter wouldn't hurt. The country's mindset needs to change, too. Monuments and works of art are not dead, but living things that deserve to be sexed-up once in a while. If we don't have enough space to showcase all of them or the money for their maintenance, why not give them over to other countries to run? Or sell them to rich businessmen? Similar options make state authorities' hair stand on end: they stress art belongs to the Italian people and should remain in public hands -- even if it's inaccessible and unenjoyable. Yet is it better to have a public ruin or a private, thriving multimedia museum? The Uffizi Galleries' secret cellars are stacked with 2,500 forgotten masterpieces, which could be leased out to privates. Curators fear the artworks could get damaged if moved. But cobwebs and dust can do no harm, right? Our sunny piazzas, bridges and frescoed castles should be regularly rented out for lavish ceremonies and weddings of billionaires couples or for major company events that would bring millions of euros to cities' coffers. And who cares if for one single evening residents are unable to park their car in front of their palazzo? There are also 6,000 abandoned medieval "ghost towns" that could be recovered or sold to revamp local economy. The state should also speed up the process of putting up for auction hundreds of artistic sites and historical buildings to privates and international investors who get to run them for 50 years. Since the project launch in 2012 so far just two restyles have worked out, one being a Renaissance villa in Florence turned into a deluxe spa resort. Fine, Rome wasn't built in a day. But it could crumble in an hour.

Italy boasts the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world . Italy doesn't know how to exploit treasures, and appears not to care about them, writes Silvia Marchetti .

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(CNN)The world's seventh-largest economy is heading toward collapse. An economic powerhouse conservatively valued at $24 trillion, one that annually churns out the equivalent of $2.5 trillion, is under assault. However, I am not referring to one of the G8 economies, but to the "super economy" of the ocean. It's one that for far too long has been ignored and taken for granted -- and it is going downhill fast. The health and wealth of the ocean are assessed in a WWF report released Thursday, Reviving the Ocean Economy. The report is the result of a hard economic analysis performed by The Boston Consulting Group built on a foundation of the latest ocean science provided by the Global Change Institute of the University of Queensland. True, the enormity of the ocean can complicate any single appraisal. But it is still important to try to understand its value if global leaders are ever going to sustain it for future generations. The fact is that the ocean feeds us, employs us, offers protection and plays a direct role in the lives and livelihoods of people throughout the world. The ocean also provides intangible but essential services to humanity, such as climate regulation and oxygen production, that are difficult to put in monetary terms. And while we all may look at the ocean from different perspectives, no one can escape the fact that it is a shared resource that provides for each and every one of us. A figure that may get lost in the headlines generated by our report is perhaps most telling: Seventy percent of the ocean's overall economic value relies on its continued health. Ocean assets like fisheries, coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses that produce goods and services rivaling the world's top 10 economies will lose their value if we continue to over-exploit and outright destroy them. That may seem like a far-off possibility to some, but it is a future foretold by the many details in this report. For example, 90 percent of the world's fish stocks are either fully exploited or over-exploited. And that is not all. By 2050 -- only a few decades from now -- it is possible that the ocean could lose its coral reefs, which have already been halved in the last few decades. This isn't just a concern for dive enthusiasts, but to the hundreds of millions of people that rely on ocean resources for their daily meals and their weekly paychecks. The ocean is truly too big to fail. The loss of the ocean's critical habitats and species would have a devastating ripple effect on global food security and economies that no government bailout could salvage. Fortunately, our report identifies actions that would revive the ocean economy, three of which are critical this year. First, the international community must rally around a set of sustainable development goals that clearly reflect the link between the environment -- including the ocean -- and human well-being. Also, negotiators meeting in Paris later this year must agree on an ambitious global climate deal that sets us on the path to avert the worst impacts of climate change. And finally, leaders must commit to conserving increasing amounts of coastal and marine areas over the course of the next 15 years. The economic case for why the ocean is so critical to livelihoods around the world is clear, and we will not be able to plead ignorance if we collectively preside over the collapse of the ocean economy. Reviving the Ocean Economy is dedicated to helping us avoid that outcome, but it will require political vision and courage among policymakers. All this said, and as terrifying as it is that the deterioration of the ocean's health has been its fastest in millions of years, there is actually some (potential) good news: If we act swiftly and with determination, marine resources can recover -- and recover quickly. Many local examples -- from the Mediterranean to the Mozambique Channel, from the Fiji archipelago to the Arctic -- show us that conservation, restoration and sustainable-use approaches mean the ocean, and the people who depend on it, can both prosper. Ultimately, the ocean bridges continents, connects cultures and offers equal opportunity inspiration and we should therefore work together in support of this vital shared resource. But if we are to have any chance of avoiding the point of no return, we must find ways of reaching genuine global commitments on sustainable development and climate. After all, it's far better to avoid an economic collapse than be forced to scramble to pick up the pieces.

Ocean economic powerhouse valued at $24 trillion: WWF report . Marco Lambertini: Ocean plays direct role in livelihoods across globe .

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(CNN)Iran's President on Friday hailed the proposed international deal on his country's nuclear program, vowing that Iran will stick to its promises and -- assuming other countries live up to their end of the bargain -- become a more active, engaged player in world affairs. "Some think that we should either fight ... or we should surrender to other powers," President Hassan Rouhani said. "However, we believe none of that. There is a third path. We can cooperate with the world." Rouhani said his government kept its word to Iranians when negotiating the framework deal, which was agreed upon Thursday and sets parameters for talks that could lead to a comprehensive deal by a June 30 deadline. Chief among them is that Iran would keep at least some centrifuges and no longer face international sanctions. He thanked Iranians for their patience and for "resisting" by standing up for the country's rights. As to the rest of the world, the Iranian President said he thinks most now realize that Iran "is pursuing peaceful objectives." That means trying to develop nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons, as many feared. That fear, combined with distrust of Iran's leaders, spurred the sanctions and the Middle Eastern nation's isolation. "We do not lie," Rouhani said, vowing that Iran will be true to its word, "provided the other parties will implement their own promises." What Iranians think of the deal . Those promises include reducing Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% for 15 years and significantly scaling back its number of installed centrifuges. Still, while it will be shrunken and centralized, Iran's nuclear program won't go away. What should happen -- assuming there's a common view that Tehran is doing as required -- is that countries will end their sanctions. That was non-negotiable for Iran, with Rouhani saying the deal shows his government's commitment to removing a major "obstacle ... for business" by addressing the world's worries about its nuclear program. "We need economic productivity, employment for the youth and development of non-oil products," he said. "Thus our people can witness better things for their welfare." It won't be easy, of course, to get Iran and the P5+1 -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- on the same page regarding the nitty-gritty details of any final agreement, if there is one. After all, it took two extra days past a self-imposed deadline for the parties to reach a framework deal. What's in the deal? 7 key points . That agreement followed about a decade of often failed negotiations and deep-rooted acrimony, particularly between Iran and the United States. Those tensions haven't disappeared, nor is there any guarantee that talks won't fall apart again over the next three months. Even as he applauded what he called a "good deal," President Barack Obama pointed out Thursday that "if Iran cheats, the world will know it." His government is also being pressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who blasted the agreement Friday as posing a "grave danger" by legitimizing Iran's nuclear program and making it easier for Iran to develop nuclear weapons. On the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has acknowledged that "mutual mistrust" has long plagued talks. He notes Iran still has "serious differences with the United States," even after Thursday's agreement. Still, Rouhani expressed hopes Friday the nuclear negotiations will change that by further opening up Iran to the rest of world, including long-standing adversaries. "We do shake hands with them. ... Even those countries we have tensions with, we would like an end to the animosity," he said. "Cooperation and interaction would be in the interest of everyone." Netanyahu: Iran must recognize Israel's right to exist .

Iranian President says a nuclear deal would remove a major obstacle for business . "We can cooperate with the world," President Hassan Rouhani insists . He says, "We do not lie," and Iran will abide by its promises on nuclear deal .

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(CNN)Imprisoned soldier Chelsea Manning can now communicate with the world -- in 140 characters or less. Manning, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking thousands of classified documents, appears to have joined Twitter this week. In a series of tweets, the prisoner formerly known as Bradley Manning said she will be using a voice phone to dictate her tweets to communications firm Fitzgibbon Media, which will post them on her behalf. She is not allowed Internet access in prison, according to The Guardian. "It will be hard, but I don't want this Twitter feed to be a one-way street/conversation," Manning posted to her nearly 26,000-plus followers. Manning was sentenced in 2013, and in August of that year, she said she wanted to transition to a female. The Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, where she is serving her sentence, has authorized hormone therapy for her treatment. Manning said she suffers from gender dysphoria. Her lawyers describe it as "the medical diagnosis given to individuals whose gender identity -- their innate sense of being male or female -- differs from the sex they were assigned at birth, causing clinically significant distress." Last year, a Kansas judge granted her request to be formally known as Chelsea Elizabeth Manning. The former Army intelligence analyst was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks in what has been described as the largest leak of classified material in U.S. history. She was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act. Manning has written opinion pieces for The New York Times and The Guardian from prison.

Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking thousands of classified documents . She says she will be using a voice phone to dictate her tweets .

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(CNN)The Dark Knight returns... again. "The Dark Knight Returns," published in 1986, is widely credited for resurrecting Batman in pop culture, something we've seen referenced in everything from 1989's "Batman" to the "Dark Knight" trilogy and the upcoming "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice." Now popular comic book writer Frank Miller is returning to his best-known story. DC Comics (a Time Warner company, like CNN) announced Friday the final chapter in his "The Dark Knight Returns" trilogy, in the form of "The Dark Knight III: The Master Race" ("The Dark Knight Strikes Again" was released in 2001). This third chapter in the grim saga will be released sometime in the fall. "Batman remains my favorite comic book hero and a sequel to Dark Knight is going to be daunting," said Miller in a press release, "but we'll do our best." Miller will be joined by acclaimed artist Brian Azzarello.

Classic comic book "The Dark Knight Returns" is getting a second sequel . Legendary comics writer Frank Miller is returning to the story that made him famous .

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returns Batman in " Batman " to the " Dark Knight " comic book writer Frank Miller is . DC Comics the final chapter in his " The Dark Knight Returns " trilogy will be fall .

(CNN)Hip-hop star Nelly has been arrested on drug charges in Tennessee after a state trooper pulled over the private bus in which he was traveling, authorities said. The 40-year-old rapper from St. Louis, who shot to fame 15 years ago with the track "Country Grammar," has been charged with felony possession of drugs, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security said. The state trooper stopped the bus carrying Nelly and five other people on Interstate 40 in Putnam County on Saturday because it wasn't displaying U.S. Department of Transportation and International Fuel Tax Association stickers, according to Tennessee authorities. The trooper was about to conduct an inspection of the bus, a Prevost motor coach, when he "noticed an odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle," authorities said in a statement. Two troopers then searched the bus, finding "five colored crystal-type rocks that tested positive for methamphetamine, as well as a small amount of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia," the statement said. The search also turned up several handguns and 100 small Ziploc bags, which the statement said are commonly used for selling drugs. The guns included a gold-plated .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol, a .45-caliber Taurus pistol and a .500 Smith & Wesson magnum. Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes, was taken to the Putnam County Jail along with another passenger. He later posted bond and left the jail, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said. CNN couldn't immediately reach Nelly's representatives for comment Saturday. CNN's Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.

State troopers say they found methamphetamine and marijuana on a bus carrying Nelly and five others . Nelly has been charged with felony possession of drugs .

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(CNN)He was known as the American mouthpiece of al Qaeda, speaking against his native country on behalf of a terrorist organization that's devoted blood and resources to attacking it. But not anymore. The White House announced Thursday that Adam Gadahn, 36, was killed in January in a U.S. government counterterrorism operation. Neither he nor Ahmed Farouq -- another U.S. citizen and al Qaeda operative who died in what the White House said was "likely a separate" operation -- was specifically targeted, according to the statement. Warren Weinstein, a U.S. citizen who was abducted by al Qaeda in Pakistan in 2011, died along with another hostage, Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, in the attack that killed Farouq, according to the White House. White House: U.S. hostage killed in strike on al Qaeda . While he wasn't one of al Qaeda's top leaders, Gadahn was one of its most prominent members, given his many statements on behalf of the organization. Also known as Azzam the American, he was born in 1978. His parents changed their name from Pearlman to Gadahn after their marriage. He grew up on a farm in rural California and at age 18 moved in with his paternal grandparents, who were Jewish. He converted to Islam in 1995 and left the United States for Pakistan three years later. His father said Gadahn last contacted the family in 2002. A former al Qaeda member who later grew disillusioned with the group told CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank that he was tasked with greeting Gadahn at Peshawar airport in September 1998. Gadahn, who'd just just turned 20, had taken flights from the United States to London, then on to Karachi and Peshawar. The former operative planned to take Gadahn to a pizzeria after he landed, before accompanying him by bus to al Qaeda's encampments in Afghanistan. But Gadahn told him he'd been longing for some Afghan food, so they went to an Afghan restaurant instead before setting out on the road. The former operative said that after Gadahn joined al Qaeda, he was known as Abu Suhayb. In the years after 9/11, Gadahn rose through the ranks in the tribal areas of Pakistan, becoming its chief official English-language propagandist. He emerged in the mid-2000s on al Qaeda videos, including ones threatening attacks on Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia. At first he was disguised. Sometimes he spoke in English, but in other videos he spoke in Arabic. He urged Muslims to target American, Western and Jewish interests with hopes of toppling the regime in Pakistan, according to SITE, a group that monitors terrorists and terror activity online. A federal grand jury in California indicted Gadahn in 2006 for treason and material support to al Qaeda, charges related to his alleged involvement in terrorist activities that included "providing aid and comfort" and other services to al Qaeda, the FBI said. He was among the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists." In 2007, he appeared on another al Qaeda video in which he warned America to end its involvement in the affairs of predominantly Muslim countries. "Your failure to heed our demands ... means that you and your people will ... experience things which will make you forget about the horrors of September 11, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech," he said, the last reference being to the mass shooting at the Virginia university in 2007. In separate videos over the years, he criticized President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, whom he called "a devious, evasive and serpentine American president with a Muslim name." He also addressed his Jewish ancestry and tore up his U.S. passport on camera. Gadahn appeared in videos commemorating the 9/11 attacks, some which included al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. He urged Muslims in the United States to stage their own lone-wolf attacks. "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms," he said. "You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?" In other videos, he called Nidal Hasan, the Army officer sentenced to death in the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, "the ideal role model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes," and praised the 2012 killing of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya. His final video was posted online in September 2014 by al Qaeda media wing al Sahab. He called for Muslims to work to overthrow governments in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Cruickshank said Gadahn had begun to play an increasingly prominent institutional role inside al Qaeda. Among the documents recovered from Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad after bin Laden's death was a 2011 letter from Gadahn making recommendations for al Qaeda's media strategy. Gadahn was married to a Muslim woman from Afghanistan and reportedly had at least one child. CNN's Steve Almasy contributed to this report.

In his final known video, Adam Gadahn called for governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to be overthrown . He was raised in California and said he was of Jewish ancestry . He converted to Islam in 1995, left U.S. in 1998 and joined al Qaeda, becoming a spokesman .

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(CNN)One Israeli citizen was killed and another injured in what police are calling a suspected terror attack Wednesday night near Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a 37-year-old Arab motorist from East Jerusalem struck two people standing at a bus stop in the French Hill section of the city. One victim, identified by police as Shalom Yohai Cherki, 26, died at the hospital. A 20-year-old woman remains in serious condition, according to Rosenfeld. The driver has been arrested and is under investigation by the General Security Services. "From the investigation and first findings, there is a strong suspicion that we're talking about a terror attack," Rosenfeld said. Amid the ongoing investigation, a magistrate court has issued a gag order on details of the incident.

Incident occurred Wednesday night near Hebrew University in Jerusalem, police say . One victim, a 26-year-old man, has died; a 20-year-old woman is in serious condition . The suspect is a 37-year-old Arab from East Jerusalem, Israeli police say .

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(CNN)Laying down tracks for their debut album in the recording studio in Los Angeles, Iman Hashi, 25 and her sister Siham, 27 could not be further from their hometown of Mogadishu. The sisters were born in the Somali capital but were forced to flee after war broke out in 1991. Along with their parents, the girls relocated to Canada as refugees where during their teens they discovered a passion for music. Heading south to LA by way of Atlanta, the singing sisters with a bold flair for fashion are now embarking on a musical journey, gearing up to unleash their Afro-pop sound to the world. CNN's African Voices caught up with the sister act -- known collectively as Faarrow (combining the translation of their names into English -- Iman means "Faith" and Siham means "Arrow") to talk about music, aspirations and Somalia. CNN: Hi guys, thanks for chatting with me today. What are some of your musical influences? Iman: We love Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie -- stuff my mom would listen to and play -- and the Spice Girls. We used to die for the Spice Girls. I love new artists now but I don't know if it's a nostalgia, but I remember ... my mom used to pump whatever -- Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. CNN: You are working on your debut album now -- how's that been? Siham: We've been working with Elijah Kelley -- he's actually an actor. He was in "Hairspray," "The Butler," and most recently he was in the George Lucas animation, "Strange Magic." That's what he's more known for but his first passion is music. He's an incredible producer, writer and singer. I just felt like he was always the missing piece. He brought everything together. CNN: So now that you've found your "missing piece," how would you describe your sound? Siham: Our music before was experimenting with Afrobeat sounds but now it's more of a fusion (of what) we are inspired by. It's pop with undertones of hip hop and rhythmic African percussion. It's a fusion of everything. CNN: And do you guys write the songs as well? Siham: The entire album was pretty much (written and produced) by me, my sister and Elijah. And when we signed we already had a lot of those songs already done. Warner Brothers Records is really great in that way that they already loved what we were doing and let us do our own thing. CNN: What are you listening to right now? Siham: Oh my God, there's so many! Iman: Sia with "Chandelier." Siham: I really love this new song -- I don't know if Iman is going to agree with me -- but his name's LunchMoney Lewis, it's called Bills; I love it. CNN: As well as your music, you both work with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) -- how did you start your humanitarian work? Iman: Ever since we were kids we wanted to help Somalia, we always talked about it. But we were like "what can we physically do?" We were doing some research and we called our mom and she said 'You know you still have family over there. There's a refugee camp in Kenya and your great uncle and his kids live in a refugee camp.' And we did some research about Dadaab refugee camp, it's a massive camp that has taken in Sudanese refugees, Somali refugees, Rwandan refugees -- pretty much anywhere there was a conflict. Everybody fled to Dadaab. In the beginning (it was) pure advocacy talking about it on Twitter and Facebook. CNN: But then you decided to "up your game" as it were... Iman: Yes, then we started a non-profit and we'd do small benefit concerts in Toronto and in San Diego -- wherever there was a big Somali community we would do outreach but all we had was our singing, working with UNHCR in a capacity as a spokesperson. We headlined World Refugee Day at the Kennedy Center, as well as the Nansen Awards twice in Geneva. We felt like this platform of singing -- the bigger it gets, the more we can do. Siham: We obviously love fashion so we wanted to do our own socially conscious brand so we've been making these bracelets and necklaces called "Wish Creatively." Wish stands for "Women Internationally Selling Hope." We wanted to do a socially conscious brand where we sell these bracelets where it goes back to projects in Kenya or Somalia with women providing them with a sustainable income. CNN: So what's next for you two? Siham: We're actually in the mixing process right now. We still have a few (tracks) to finish up but the majority of the album is pretty much done. We want to turn it in as soon as possible so they can put together a rollout plan and get ready for the first single to drop. Iman: I don't feel like we ever lost that feeling like we're creative spokespersons for our generation as well as for Somalia. I feel like now because we followed our dreams it's like 'they're not just refugees anymore.' We don't have to become doctors so we can one day give back to Somalia and help rebuild -- it's such a beautiful dream but not ours. In our culture, anything creative is not really respected or appreciated. But I feel like now but even with our new deal we're still trucking along. I feel like we inspire people. Read this: Nigerian soul singer Nneka is back! Read this: Angelique Kidjo takes no prisoners . More from African Voices .

Somali sisters, Iman and Siham Hashi, make up Faarrow . A fusion of hip-hop, world pop and Afrobeats, they are currently finishing debut album .

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(CNN)A Delaware father is in stable condition and improving as his two boys remain in critical condition after they became sick -- perhaps from pesticide exposure, federal officials say -- during a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Steve Esmond, his teenage sons and the teens' mother fell ill more than two weeks ago in St. John, where they were renting a villa at the Sirenusa resort. The family has confidence in their medical professionals and is hopeful for a full recovery, according to a statement released Monday from the family's attorney, James Maron. The teens' mother, Theresa Devine, was treated at a hospital and released, and is in occupational therapy, Maron said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that the presence of a pesticide at the rented villa in St. John may have caused the illnesses, which were reported to the EPA on March 20. Paramedics were called to the villa, which the family was renting. Esmond was found unconscious; the boys and their mother were having seizures, Maron said. The lawyer did not say who called the paramedics. Elias Rodriguez, an EPA spokesman, said the agency's preliminary test results "do show that there was a presence of methyl bromide in the unit where the family was staying." Exposure to methyl bromide can result in serious health effects, including central nervous system and respiratory system damage, according to the EPA. The use of the pesticide is restricted in the United States because of its acute toxicity. It's not allowed to be used indoors. Only certified professionals are permitted to use it in certain agricultural settings. For example, the pesticide is injected into the soil of some U.S. strawberry fields, said Judith Enck, an EPA regional administrator. "We trust that the strawberry producers are making sure that there's not excess pesticide residue on strawberries," Enck said. "You definitely want to wash them really good. "This is a pesticide that's been around for a long time, and ironically because of its impact and damage to the ozone layer, it's being phased out because of the air impacts of this fumigant," Enck added. Field workers at a Connecticut nursery were poisoned by the chemical in 1990, according to the Journal of Industrial Medicine. In 2011, warehouse workers in California fell ill after exposed to grapes imported from Chile fumigated with methyl bromide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, said many parts of the world banned the chemical, a neurotoxin. The agent is to be used only outdoors. The chemical is also odorless and colorless, Gupta said. "It's not something that you would have any warning of," Gupta said. The chemical is often mixed with tear gas so people can be aware of its presence, he added. The EPA said it is working with local government agencies to investigate whether the family was made ill after a fumigation at the resort on March 18 and whether any environmental regulations or laws were violated. Enck, the EPA regional administrator, said paramedics were called early on March 20. Sea Glass Vacations, which acts as a rental agent for several units at Sirenusa, said the unit directly below the one where the family stayed was recently treated for pests, but that the family's unit was not treated. The company said it licensed an outside company, Terminix, for the pest control services. On Monday, it ended its contract with Terminix. In an email to CNN before the termination, a spokesman for Terminix wrote that the company is "committed to performing all work ... in a manner that is safe for our customers, employees, the public and the environment" and is "looking into this matter internally, and cooperating with authorities." The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated a criminal investigation. "Many questions remain why an odorless pesticide of this level of toxicity could be manufactured, distributed and applied in a residential area resulting in this family's injuries," Maron said. The attorney added: "The family is confident that the responsible parties will be brought to justice and held accountable." CNN's Rob Frehse, Jean Casarez, Sara Ganim, Jason Hanna, Laura Ly and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

Chemical damages ozone and is being phased out, though it's used in strawberry fields, EPA says . A Delaware family becomes ill at a resort in the U.S. Virgin Islands . Preliminary EPA results find methyl bromide was present in the unit where they stayed .

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(CNN)What do Walmart, Target, and now the Koch Brothers have in common with the American Civil Liberties Union, ColorOfChange.org, and the Center for American Progress? All of them are adopting or advocating for hiring practices that open up work opportunities for people with convictions and leverage untapped potential in the labor market. Koch Industries' recent announcement that it will "ban the box" -- i.e., remove from its job applications the check-box that asks about convictions -- is a big step forward in the movement to break down barriers to employment for job-seekers with records. "Ban the box" doesn't prohibit background checks, it only postpones them until later in the hiring process. It's one item on a menu of fair-chance hiring reforms intended to ensure that job applicants are evaluated on their skills and qualifications first, rather than judged solely on past mistakes. These policies help reduce recidivism by making employment accessible to job-seekers who need a second chance, and they help break down the stigma of an arrest or conviction record. Two generations of the war on drugs, zero tolerance, and aggressive policing have left 70 million adults with arrest or conviction records that undermine their ability to be considered for jobs, even as the job market has grown steadily. Millions of people are being left behind, and it's taking a toll on our economy: The reduced economic output of people with records cost our economy $57-$65 billion in 2008 alone. These criminal justice policies disproportionately impact African-Americans, who are incarcerated at a rate six times that of whites. The Department of Justice's recent investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, for example, shows the extent to which racism is perpetuated through police departments and the court system. That systemic racial disparity is then repeated throughout the economy, and the community is put at a severe disadvantage in the job market long after individuals have served their time. That's one reason the African-American unemployment rate is persistently twice that of whites. In a job market where employers that didn't previously do background checks now make them a routine part of hiring, qualified job-seekers are being screened out of the applicant pools for more and more jobs. Nearly one in three adults in America has an arrest or conviction history that will show up on a routine background check. Companies like Koch, Walmart, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond recognize that this is a huge source of untapped talent, and that's why they've already banned the box on their job applications. These policies are also gaining traction with politicians across the political spectrum. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently signed executive orders removing the conviction question from initial applications for state employment. So far, 16 states and more than 100 cities and counties have adopted fair-chance hiring policies. Six of those states and the District of Columbia, plus 25 cities and counties, have applied their policies to government contractors or private employers as well. The Obama administration took an important step toward fairer and smarter federal hiring practices last year when it issued an executive order prohibiting contractors from discriminating against LGBT individuals. Banning the box and other common-sense hiring reforms would build on that progress and on the successful work of governors and the corporate sector. The administration should ensure that the federal government does not continue to erect unfair and unnecessary barriers to employment of people with records. Already, more than 200 organizations and prominent individuals have publicly urged the Obama administration to take these practical steps. If Koch Industries -- a major federal contractor -- can ban the box, there's no reason why other federal contractors cannot. Now it's time for President Obama to lead the way and embrace fair-chance hiring of people with records.

Koch Brothers removing checkbox on criminal records from job applications . Authors: Major companies are recognizing that those with criminal pasts can be productive workers .

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(CNN)Sunday's announcement that Corinthian Colleges Inc. would shut down all of its remaining 28 campuses is a positive development in a long struggle to hold for-profit colleges accountable. Corinthian, which once enrolled more than 70,000 students, is one of the worst of the "predator colleges" -- schools that offer dubious degrees, saddle students with high amounts of debt and gobble up tens of billions of dollars in federal money every year. Many of these schools are for-profit career colleges that operate mostly online. It's no wonder that Corinthian is doing this after the U.S. Department of Education curtailed its access to federal student aid last summer. There are about 1.3 million students enrolled in for-profit colleges, many of which have questionable track records, and their students need help transitioning into legitimate postsecondary schools. With Uncle Sam's student loan debt sheet topping $1 trillion, we literally can't afford to continue funding for-profit colleges -- which reportedly get 86% of their funding from federal student loan money. For those not familiar with the for-profit college fiasco, here's the whole story in one telling statistic: While for-profit colleges enroll only 13% of the nation's college students, such colleges account for nearly half of all student loan defaults, according to Department of Education statistics. For comparison's sake, the default rate of for-profit college students is worse than the default rate of the worst subprime borrowers during the financial crisis. How do these colleges operate? It's deviously simple: Convince low-income students into borrowing tens of thousands of dollars through easy federal student loans, keep costs low through online classes and part-time professors, and watch the money roll in. The aggressive tactics of these colleges boggle the mind. Recruiters are told to make 100 phone calls and leave 100 messages a day, according to a ProPublica investigation. I can personally attest to the aggressive tactics. My phone number was accidentally placed on a call list for a for-profit college recently, and I received so many calls per day that I had to ask my wireless carrier to block the phone number. Stopping the exploitation of students isn't easy. The for-profit college business is a multibillion-dollar industry. The CEOs of these companies make millions of dollars a year, employ an army of lobbyists and donate money to both political parties. But the past two months brought a new twist to the crisis. Hundreds of graduates of the now-defunct Corinthian joined a "debt strike," publicly declaring their refusal to pay back their loans. In response, Education Department Secretary Arne Duncan signaled a willingness to forgive loans of Corinthian graduates who have crushing debt and no job prospects. Now that Corinthian is finally shutting down, we must finish the job. The remaining for-profit colleges should be closed. Any student not gainfully employed or transferred to a reputable college within three years should be considered a victim, and their debts should be forgiven. Yes, "victim" is the right word. If these degrees actually helped people get jobs, we should be celebrating them. But according to a jaw-dropping report by the Education Department, the average graduate of an online for-profit college makes less than a high school dropout. Not the equivalent of a high school dropout. Less than a high school dropout. The real-life misery caused by predatory colleges is painful to hear about. One Corinthian graduate has $37,000 in debt for his computer science degree, but he can't even get a job at Best Buy, according to Slate. Another graduate, $33,000 in debt, has a medical assisting degree, but she gave up on finding employment in her field. She waits tables now, The Chronicle of Higher Education says. I can already hear your next question. If for-profit colleges are this terrible, are they at least cheaper? No. In fact, their cost is reportedly around 60% higher than a comparable degree from a public college. What's even more frustrating is that we've known about the shenanigans of these predator colleges for years. A 2011 report by the Government Accountability Office found widespread rule breaking by the largest for-profit colleges -- everything from accepting fictitious high-school diplomas to encouraging plagiarism and cheating. In one example, an undercover federal investigator posing as a student was told by a professor, "It's not hard to get a 100% on the second try; just jot down the correct answers and take the quiz again," according to The New York Times. In 2013, Career Education Corp. paid $10 million to settle charges by the state of New York regarding phony job-placement claims. All told, no fewer than 36 state attorneys general were investigating for-profit colleges in 2014. After selling off 95 of its campuses last year, Corinthian said on Sunday that it tried unsuccessfully to sell the remaining 28 campuses, blaming the failure on "federal and state regulators seeking to impose financial penalties and conditions" on potential buyers. You can't hide your bad behavior forever, and the questionable practices of many for-profit colleges are starting to catch up with them. Enrollment at the University of Phoenix -- the largest for-profit college in the United States -- has fallen by half, to about 213,000. We laid the smackdown on predatory lenders during the financial crisis, and it's time to do the same thing with for-profit colleges. To keep predator colleges from wrecking our faith in the college degree -- still the best pathway to a middle-class life -- we need to act now. For-profit colleges have flunked their final exam. Now it's up to their rich benefactor, Uncle Sam, to make sure they don't go back to school in the fall. Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article said the San Diego campus of the University of Phoenix had been banned from enrolling military veterans last year; that issue has been resolved.

David Wheeler: Corinthian, considered a "predator" school, will shut down campuses . Wheeler: Students of for-profit colleges are hapless victims; their debts should be forgiven .

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(CNN)Just as mimeograph machines and photocopiers were in their day, online activity -- blogs, YouTube channels, even social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter -- have fully emerged as the alternative to traditional mainstream media. It is not just the low cost of posting online that attracts dissidence, though that in itself is liberating. It is the lack of access to traditional print and broadcast media in authoritarian countries that is really the driving force leading disaffected voices to post online. It is not unique to Asia, but it might seem more pronounced if you live there. Going online has become the path of least resistance if you want to make yourself heard. But it still brings resistance, some of it legal, some of it deadly. Let's look at the legal angle first. Amos Yee, the teenage video blogger who was arrested and held pending bail Sunday in Singapore, drew international attention for his anti-Lee Kuan Yew harangue. But jailing critics is not usually the government's first choice in Singapore. It is part of Lee Kuan Yew's legacy that the government's use of the courts to bring libel and defamation cases, usually carrying heavy financial penalties, is the preferred method of silencing discomfiting online voices. His father has reportedly apologized for his son's behavior, but the younger Yee could face up to three years in jail. Yee is not unique. Another dissident blogger in Singapore, Roy Ngerng, continues to suffer financial and legal pressure, including the loss of his job, because of a blog post that allegedly accused the city-state's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, of corruption. Ngerng's concern is with the lack of transparency in the management of the Central Provident Fund, the government's compulsory pension program. Yee and Ngerng are two of many. The Committee To Protect Journalists' file on Singapore going back to 2000 has a long string of similar cases, some against politicians, others against citizens simply frustrated with their government. But it is not just Singapore where Internet activity comes under fire: On Monday in Malaysia, with much less of the international attention heaped on Amos Yee, five editors and executives from The Malaysian Insider were arrested over the site's March 25 report claiming that a senior council of royal rulers and state governors, known as the Conference of Rulers, had rejected a proposal to amend federal law to allow for the introduction of hudud, or punishments meted out under Islamic law. In deeply Muslim Malaysia, questions of Islamic faith are a third-rail issue, as is revealing government decisions before they are announced. By far the biggest jailer of journalists in the world is China, where a majority of the 44 people behind bars at the end of 2014 were bloggers, most of them Uighur or Tibetan activists who straddle the line between journalism and activism. But in second place in Asia is Vietnam, where CPJ's most recent prison census showed Vietnam holding 16 reporters behind bars as of December 1. Add one more in late December, Nguyen Dinh Ngoc, a prominent blogger who was arrested for "law-violating" after police searched his home in southern Ho Chi Minh City on December 27, and two more in January, Nguyen Quang Lap and Hong Le Tho, arrested on anti-state charges of "abusing democratic freedoms" and you can see the pattern. Because the print and broadcast media are so totally government controlled, mainstream journalists seldom go to jail any more in Vietnam. Only two investigative print reporters remain behind bars in Vietnam, their cases dating back to 2012 and 2013. Both were accused of accepting bribes for dialing back critical news coverage. The list could go on, but the reality is that, as CPJ wrote in 2013, across Asia "governments have curtailed Internet freedoms through increasingly restrictive practices, including prohibitive laws, heightened surveillance and censorship, and threats of imprisonment on various national security-related offenses." That is still the policy path being followed by most countries in Asia, and it does not look like it will be changing any time soon. Jailing journalists is one thing, but watching them being killed and doing little or nothing about it is another. Since 1992, 11% of journalists killed have died for their work online. Because our 1992 start date really precedes the full advent of the Internet, that proportion can be expected to grow. While most bloggers have not been the targets of murderers, Bangladesh has recently become the exception. On Monday, Washiqur Rahman Babu was the second blogger to be hacked to death in public in Bangladesh in the past five weeks. Blogger Avijit Roy and his wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonna, were attacked by assailants wielding sharp weapons while the couple was visiting Dhaka. Roy, a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was killed and his wife was critically injured. Both Rahman and Roy had written critically on Islamic matters. The blogger death toll gets higher in Bangladesh if you go back a year or two, and religious beliefs are always involved, and the killings almost always carried out with near perfect impunity. In January 2013, blogger Asif Mohiuddin, who wrote critical commentary on religion, Islamist groups, free speech, and human rights, barely survived after he was stabbed by Islamists. In February 2013, blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who had written about Islamic fundamentalism and Islamist groups, was hacked to death by members of an Islamist militant group, according to police investigations. Later in 2013, Islamist groups called for the execution of bloggers they said had committed blasphemy. While arrests were made after those murders, there have been no convictions. The bottom line: Online journalists, operating outside the restraints of mainstream media, have become the most vulnerable targets for governments and independent actors. Where there is the restrictive rule of law, journalists are vulnerable to the anger of officialdom. Where the rule of law is weak, they are vulnerable to the attacks of killers who seldom, if ever, answer to the rule of law.

Going online has become the path of least resistance if you want to make yourself heard . But where there is the restrictive rule of law, journalists are vulnerable to the anger of officialdom . From China to Malaysia, journalists and bloggers have been jailed -- even killed .

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(CNN)Greenpeace activists have climbed aboard a Shell oil rig to protest the company's plans to drill in the Arctic near Alaska. The six protesters used ropes and harnesses Monday to scale the huge platform in the Pacific Ocean, tweeting images of their daunting climb as they went. "We made it! We're on Shell's platform. And we're not alone," wrote Aliyah Field, an American activist taking part in the protest. "Everyone can help turn this into a platform for people power!" The rig, the Polar Pioneer, is on its way to the Arctic via Seattle. The environmental activists caught up with it about 750 miles northwest of Hawaii, Greenpeace said. They plan to occupy the underside of the rig's main deck and say they have enough supplies to stay there for several days. Shell didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment late Monday. But company spokeswoman Kelly Op De Weegh told Agence France-Presse that the boarding was illegal and jeopardized the safety of the activists and the crew. Greenpeace is furious over a decision last week by U.S. authorities to lift the suspensions on leases to drill for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea, which lies between northern Alaska and Russia. Shell and several other oil companies bought exploration leases for the sea in 2008. The U.S. government's decision "means that in 100 days, Shell could begin drilling in the Alaskan Arctic," Greenpeace said. Federal agencies still have to review and approve companies' plans before exploratory drilling can start. Shell's work in the Arctic has suffered some setbacks in the past, including a drilling barge that ran aground off southern Alaska on December 31, 2012. Greenpeace has repeatedly used the occupation of drilling-related vessels to bring attention to its cause. One group of its activists was detained for months by Russian authorities in 2013. In the current episode, the activists pursued the Polar Pioneer, which Shell is leasing from Transocean, as it traveled thousands of miles aboard a transport vessel from Malaysia, Greenpeace said. Besides the American protester Field, the activists come from Australia, Austria, Germany, New Zealand and Sweden. The U.S. Coast Guard wasn't immediately available for comment late Monday on the incident. CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

Six protesters scale the Polar Pioneer, hundreds of miles northwest of Hawaii . Greenpeace opposes Shell's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic .

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(CNN)Just kill it already. That was the sentiment of many "Vampire Diaries" fans on Tuesday after star Nina Dobrev announced she will be leaving the CW show at the end of this season. "I always knew I wanted Elena's story to be a six season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime," she posted on her social media accounts after a "goodbye party" at Lake Lanier outside Atlanta, where the show is filmed. "I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger. I got kidnapped, killed, resurrected, tortured, cursed, body-snatched, was dead and undead, and there's still so much more to come before the season finale in May." And while that may be true, fans were feeling a little jilted. Many chastised the show's producers, some even Dobrev herself, for allowing the show to go on to a seventh season this fall after she departs. Many were upset that Dobrev's departure could sink hopes of seeing a satisfying denouement to the relationship between Dobrev's character, Elena Gilbert, and love interest vampire Damon Salvatore. Fans called the couple "Delena." "I feel angry, sad, depressed, numb but most of all I feel like part of me died along with Nina leaving TVD. Nothing will be the same again," Twitter user iDamonAndElena posted. Producer Julie Plec issued a statement supporting Dobrev's decision. "Nina is excited to spread her wings, get some rest, travel the world and also take it by storm, and we support her a thousand-fold," she said in the statement, according to media accounts. "We will miss Nina and the four hundred characters she played, but we look forward to the insane and exciting challenge of continuing to tell stories of our Salvatore Brothers and our much-loved and gifted ensemble." No thanks, some fans said. Dobrev seemed to anticipate the pain, urging fans to hold on through the show's finale next month. "If you think you know what's coming, you don't," she said.

"Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev announces she's leaving the show . "Nothing will be the same again," fans say .

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(CNN)A fiery sunset greeted people in Washington Sunday. The deep reddish color caught Seattle native Tim Durkan's eye. He photographed a handful of aerial shots of the sunset warming the city's skyline and shared them on CNN iReport. The stunning sunsets were the result of raging wildfires in parts of Siberia. "The dramatic sunsets began showing up over the weekend and had Seattle locals wondering where the amber-colored haze was originating from," Durken said. The fires were started in southeastern Siberia, by farmers burning grass in their fields. But on April 14, it is believed that the flames quickly grew out of control because of strong winds and spread throughout the region, according to CNN affiliate KOMO-TV. As a result, the fires have destroyed dozens of villages in the region. Rescue crews were able to put out the flames. However, the lingering smoke from the widespread fires were picked up by atmospheric winds. The winds carried the smoke from Siberia across the Pacific Ocean and brought it to the Pacific Northwest. Parts of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are seeing the results of the smoke, wind and solar light combination. The reason people are seeing an intense red sunset is a result of smoke particles filtering out the shorter wavelength colors from the sunlight like greens, blues, yellows and purples, KOMO-TV said. That means colors like red and orange are able to penetrate the air unfiltered. The colors are especially intense during sunrises and sunsets because there is more atmosphere for the light to travel through to get to a person's eye. As the smoke starts to dissipate, air quality will get better and these fiery sunsets will lose their reddish hue.

Smoke from massive fires in Siberia created fiery sunsets in the Pacific Northwest . Atmospheric winds carried smoke from the wildfires across the Pacific Ocean . Smoke particles altered wavelengths from the sun, creating a more intense color .

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(CNN)This time, it's official: Russia expects North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to visit Moscow next month for World War II anniversary celebrations. North Korean representatives have confirmed that Kim will be in the Russian capital for May 9 Victory Day celebrations, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Wednesday, according to Russian state-run news agency Tass. This would mark Kim's first official foreign trip since inheriting the leadership of North Korea in late 2011. Kim will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the May visit, Tass reported. Kim's trip has been anticipated since late December, when Russian state media reported that Moscow had extended an invitation to Pyongyang. Last month, a Russian official speaking on condition of anonymity told CNN that the invitation was accepted. But Wednesday's Tass report is the first public confirmation attached to a named official. This year's Victory Day marks the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Russia has said it has invited more than 60 world leaders to the celebrations. Kim expected to visit Moscow as North Korea, Russia foster warmer relations . CNN's Madison Park and Alla Eshchenko contributed to this report.

A Russian presidential aide says Kim will be in Moscow for May 9 Victory Day celebrations, news agency reports . This Victory Day marks the 70 years since the Soviet victory over Germany in World War II .

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Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan (CNN)The children laugh and shriek, as some of them seem to always have the capacity to do no matter how depressing the circumstances. Their bright clothes provide splashes of color against the otherwise drab monotone white of the endless rows of tents. A small group plays with rocks, replacements for the toys they left behind when they fled, while others clamber through a jagged tear in the wire fence surrounding the refugee camp. The Shariya refugee camp opened around six months ago, made up of some 4,000 tents and counting. Thousands of Yazidis now call this corner of Iraqi Kurdistan home, about 18 miles (30 kilometers) from one of the front lines with ISIS, where one can hear the occasional reverberation in the distance of what we are told are airstrikes. The vast majority of the camp's occupants are from the town of Sinjar, which is near the border with Syrian Kurdistan, and fled the ISIS assault there back in August. But not everyone escaped. ISIS took thousands of Yazidis captive. The fighters separated the young women and girls, some as young as 8 years old, to be sold as slaves, for their "masters" to use as concubines. Men faced a choice: Convert to Islam or be shot. Mahmoud was out running errands when ISIS fighters arrived, taking his wife, Ahlam, their three children -- the youngest of which was just a month old -- and his elderly parents. "They took our phones, jewelry, money," Ahlam recalls. "They had guns. They forced us at gunpoint into big trailer trucks." They were taken to a school turned prison in Tal Afar. From there, the family was moved from village to village -- and at one stage taken to Mosul. "They wrote everyone's name down and they asked where we want to work, in the fields, as cleaners or as herders," she says. Ahlam and her family chose to herd goats. They were then taken to a Shia village whose residents had fled, where they were part of a group of around 40 living in one house. In the home, Ahlam found a cell phone left behind by its former occupants and called her husband. "I said we are alive but we are prisoners." Ahlam's husband, who up until that moment had lost the will to live, thinking his family was dead, says he cried out of happiness despite his pain. Ahlam would call when she could, briefly, after midnight, hiding under her bedcovers. If she was caught with a phone, she would be killed. The village itself was a massive prison, its entrances guarded by ISIS fighters. She recalls that two men, in their late 40s or 50s, tried to escape. When they were caught, their bones were broken, their bodies tied to the back of a truck and then driven through the streets. The Yazidi captives were forced to watch the gruesome spectacle. The men's corpses were then tossed into a ditch and an order given not to bury them. One night, some of the Yazidi men risked their lives to toss dirt onto the bodies, to give those slain what dignity they could. Ahlam tells us that about a week before we met, ISIS fighters came by and took away her in-laws and the other elderly people living in the house. "We didn't know where they were taking them, we thought we would be next," she remembers. So she and the rest of the group realized that they had to try to flee. "We decided that either we survive or we don't." They left at midnight. Ahlam cradled the baby, as her two other children, ages 3 and 4 years old, clutched at her clothes. She prayed the baby wouldn't cry, that the children could keep walking. They knew the general direction to take, but not the exact route, and they could only hope it was toward freedom. "When the sun started to come up, I thought that's it, we are going to get caught," Ahlam says. "And what am I going to do with the kids? I can't carry all three of them and run." Luckily, Ahlam never had to answer that impossible question. The group made it into Iraqi Kurdistan. The couple can't put into words their emotions when they were reunited. Mahmoud, gently caressing his daughter's palm, says he could hardly believe that the woman whose stunning eyes and gentle words he had fallen in love with, and their three children, were by his side again. It had been eight agonizing months. But their joy was tainted by fear for Mahmoud's parents. A few days after Mahmoud and Ahlam were reunited, ISIS released 217 captives. No one is disclosing exactly why. Among them were 60 children, a handful of men and women, and the rest were elderly -- including Mahmoud's parents. "We didn't know if they were going to slaughter us or what they were going to do with us," Mahmoud's father says. "They moved us around a lot, and at one stage we stayed in in one place for three days." But Ahlam's parents are still with ISIS. Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi member of Iraq's parliament, speculates that the Yazidis ISIS released are individuals they were struggling to care for. Dakhil is part of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's delegation to the United States this week. She will be addressing the United Nations -- pleading for more international support for Iraq and more airstrikes to help defeat ISIS -- and she will address the plight of the Yazidis. "We sometimes say that we wish we had been massacred. This would be better than being kidnapped and raped. We prefer death now over the fate of what is happening to these girls and women," Dakhil says. "It is now on the government and on the international community to focus on this. How to get these captives back. It's inconceivable that in the 21st century, something like this is happening as if we were living in the Stone Age." Ahlam says she was spared because she was breastfeeding and she had young children, which, we're told, makes her impure and therefore unable to be used as a sex slave. For Ahlam, what she went through was not the hardest part of her ordeal. It's the moment when the ISIS fighters began taking away the girls and young women. She's haunted by their screams, the image of them being dragged away sobbing and screaming.

The Shariya refugee camp opened around six months ago, made up of 4,000 tents and counting . The vast majority of the camp's occupants are from the town of Sinjar and fled an ISIS assault . But Ahlam, her children and their grandparents were taken captive .

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(CNN)Even in the horror of Syria's civil war, there are few places that showcase the scale of the destruction -- and the senselessness of the loss of life -- more than the Yarmouk camp on the outskirts of Damascus. Set up as a refugee camp for Palestinians in the 1950s, it slowly evolved into a neighborhood over the years, but since 2012 it has been engulfed in the Syrian conflict. Two weeks ago ISIS fighters stormed Yarmouk, and that made life for those still inside even worse than it was before. The Syrian government responded by unleashing a bombing and shelling campaign on the area, residents told CNN, including barrel bombs that flattened many of the buildings already scarred by the three-year-long conflict. Death comes day and night. "I looked up and saw dust," one resident said. "I opened the door and started walking outside and started shouting to the neighbors. One told me 'I am wounded,' another one didn't answer me at all. That second one -- may god have mercy on his soul -- he was martyred." While the battle for Yarmouk is very typical of Syria's civil war, the conflict here is unique. Most of those fighting on all sides are Palestinians. Pro-government factions besiege the area from the outside, cutting off supplies and aid most of the time. The inside is held by anti-regime groups, some of which are Islamists. The situation in Yarmouk was thrust in to the headlines on April 1 when ISIS fighters stormed the rebel-held area and unleashed a campaign of violence and killings. Since then, a local activist tells CNN, ISIS has withdrawn to another area and left the al Qaedalinked group Jabhat al-Nusra in charge of the district. 'The deepest circle of hell': Terrified Yarmouk residents describe ISIS raid . But this is only the most recent in a deadly urban war that is slowly grinding down Yarmouk's buildings and people. Of the more than 100,000 that used to live there, only about 18,000 remain, according to UNRWA, the U.N. agency tasked with aiding Palestinians. I have been to Yarmouk on various occasions, and the picture has always been the same. Pro-government factions surrounded the area and there was house-to house combat, mostly at night. A lot of destruction, very little territorial gain for either side, all of it taking a horrifying toll on the civilians trapped in the middle. "We have no food or water," one resident said, standing amid the ruins of Yarmouk's houses. "They should open a route so we can eat and drink and they can deliver assistance and food. We have nothing. What can we do?" But international aid groups can do very little. There are few occasions where aid is allowed into Yarmouk, or where civilians are allowed out. UNRWA can only care for those who do manage to escape. U.N. official to visit besieged refugee camp . The agency, along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, runs several shelters for displaced people in government-controlled areas near the camp. Pierre Krahenbuhl, the Commissioner General for UNRWA, recently visited some of them and acknowledged that far too little help was reaching those who need it most. "We have to call on the world and call on all the actors in the world who can influence the situation to mobilize," Krahenbuhl said. "But much more has to be done to respect the civilians and to make sure that they are safe inside the camp." But of course those still inside are by no means safe -- subjected to shelling, bombing and street combat on top of being thirsty, hungry and in need of medication. But one thing that has not been broken is the residents' self-respect and pride. "This is Yarmouk camp and we are not leaving our homes," one man said. "Whatever happens, if they keep hitting us with barrel bombs we will die." An elderly woman recalled her life as a Palestinian refugee. "I fled Palestine when I was seven years old," she said. "But I will not leave the Yarmouk camp even if I am 75 or 76 years old. Yarmouk camp is equal to my soul. I built it with my bare hands. I carried its stones on my head from a village and laid the foundation to my home. Block by block I carried them on my head." But despite their defiance, there's seemingly nothing that can be done to prevent Yarmouk from being reduced to rubble. This is a war of attrition, two sides fighting for inches in tough combat without seeing that they are wrecking the prize they claim to be fighting for. Desperation for Palestinians trapped in Syrian refugee camp .

ISIS raided Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus on April 1 . 18,000 Palestinian refugees remain in the camp, cut off from vital aid . One defiant elderly resident told CNN: "I will not leave the Yarmouk camp even if I am 75 or 76 years old"

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(CNN)Are we alone in the cosmos? Or might there be intelligent life elsewhere? Last week, NASA scientists discussed in very concrete terms the steps to discovering life elsewhere in the universe over the next decade or two. This year is the 20th anniversary of the discovery of a planet around a star like our own sun, 51 Pegasi. Since then, ground-based surveys and NASA's Kepler satellite have discovered nearly 2,000 confirmed "exoplanets," and thousands more candidates await confirmation. Many of these planetary systems are quite unlike our own solar system. Some have large planets like Jupiter that orbit their stars far closer than Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system. But smaller rocky planets like Earth, though harder to find, appear to be even more abundant. Life on Earth developed in its oceans about a billion years after the planet formed. That suggests that rocky planets with liquid water on their surfaces might also have developed primitive forms of life. Life as we know it is carbon-based and requires liquid water. Astronomers define the "habitable zone" around a star as the region within which liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. Any closer to the star, the water will boil into vapor; any farther and the water freezes into ice. Extrapolating from discoveries to date, astronomers estimate there are perhaps 40 billion Earth-like, habitable-zone planets in our Milky Way galaxy alone. Of course, there is a difference between single-celled organisms -- which developed 3.8 billion years ago and remained the most sophisticated form of life for another billion years or so -- and mammals, which appeared about 200 million years ago. And then the humans, who have existed for only 200,000 years. Intelligent life that can communicate via radio waves with other intelligent life is less than 100 years old here on Earth. So while planets that develop simple forms of life may be a dime a dozen, the number that have sentient beings with whom to converse -- even assuming they evolved as humans did, with ears and spoken language, or eyes and written language -- is likely to be tiny. And life that can use radio waves has existed on Earth for only 0.000002% of the planet's history -- 100 years out of 4.5 billion. If the half dozen or so rocky, Earth-like exoplanets now known are similar, the odds of discovering humanlike life on them are about the same as, well, winning your state lottery with one ticket. Of course, if there are 40 billion Earth-like planets out there, the odds improve quite a bit. If they all have histories like the Earth's, there might be 1,000 planets in the Milky Way that could support communicative beings. But before you start composing your first letter to an alien, think about this: The chance that those beings evolved on exactly the same time scale is minuscule. Another planet's 100 years of brilliance might have occurred a billion years ago, or it might happen a billion years in the future. A lot depends on how long communication capabilities last. Civilizations that can build huge telescopes and broadcast stations also have the technology to destroy their planet. So the duration of the Communication Age on a planet could be short. Not to mention: The average light-travel-time to such a planet could be tens of thousands of years, so unless humans evolve to be ageless, we're not exchanging IMs with aliens anytime soon. If advanced civilizations can maintain their capabilities for millions of years or more, the chances of communicating with them are not negligible. But in that case, they are likely to be far more sophisticated than we are (since they developed the capability far earlier than we did) -- so if they wanted us to know they exist, wouldn't they simply tell us? The SETI project has been listening for such broadcasts for more than 30 years in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Probably the most likely form of life on exoplanets is far more primitive. Astronomers have found signatures of organic molecules, the building blocks of life, in the interstellar material that permeates the space between stars in our galaxy. Possible signatures of living organisms on distant exoplanets include an oxygen-rich atmosphere, such as that created by the first bacteria on Earth, or perhaps methane or carbon dioxide. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, to be launched in 2018, will look for evidence of life in the atmospheres of rocky, habitable exoplanets. NASA's rovers have shown that Mars was once much more habitable. It had fresh-water lakes and streams of water running along its surface. Some water still remains, and there may yet be life discovered on Mars. New missions plan to look at Europa and Ganymede, moons of Jupiter that have liquid water below their icy surfaces. Life elsewhere in the universe, and even elsewhere in our own Milky Way galaxy, is practically inevitable. Signs of life on exoplanets orbiting nearby stars will probably be discovered in the coming decades with advanced telescopes. But the chance of talking to those little green men will probably have to wait for another few hundred million years.

NASA scientists discuss steps to discover life elsewhere in the universe over the next two decades . Meg Urry: Life elsewhere in the universe, and even elsewhere in our own Milky Way galaxy, is practically inevitable . But the chances that we can communicate with that life are slim, she writes .

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(CNN)Han and Chewie are back. An ESPN reporter went on a regrettable rant. And we all taxed our brains trying to deduce the date of Cheryl's damn birthday. Here are pop culture's most talked-about stories of the week. Producers of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" unveiled a nearly two-minute trailer for the upcoming movie, arriving in December. When Harrison Ford shows up with Chewbacca at the end, you can almost hear the Internet's collective squeals. A logic problem from a Singapore math test somehow spread across the Web, leaving millions trying to figure out the hypothetical birthday of someone named Cheryl. We're guessing that most of us cheated and peeked at the answer. Who retires at age 34? Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who walked what she says was her last fashion-show runway this week in her native Brazil. She'll still keep modeling, though -- and hanging out with her husband, who is apparently a football player of some kind. Oh, Britt McHenry. We all hate having our car towed. But for someone who's on air at ESPN, you don't seem to understand how to behave on camera. Speaking of McHenry, a new book by Jon Ronson explores how social media may go too far in encouraging haters to shame people who make public missteps. Ronson told CNN, "It's so corrosive to create that kind of society." The first set of female quintuplets in the world since 1969 was born in Houston, Texas. Just imagine how fun it'll be for their parents 16 years from now when they all start dating. Fire department, I need you now . Singer Hillary Scott of country band Lady Antebellum had to vacate her tour bus when it caught fire outside of Dallas. Most of her stuff was burned, but her Bible survived. To infinity and beyond . Famed physicist Stephen Hawking, known for his sense of humor, partnered with the silly lads of Monty Python to recreate the "Galaxy Song" from their 1983 film "The Meaning of Life." Duckie dances! Remember Duckie from "Pretty in Pink?" Of course you do. Actor Jon Cryer charmed fans on CBS's "Late Late Show" by reprising his character's record-store dance to Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness," right down to the wall-dancing and counter-bashing.

Here's a roundup of the week's trending pop-culture stories . They include a new "Star Wars" trailer and an ill-advised, on-camera rant .

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(CNN)When Les Moonves sits down at a restaurant in Hollywood, it's usually the waiter's lucky night. As the president and CEO of CBS Corp., which includes Showtime, Moonves runs a powerful television network in a town where nearly every waiter also wants to be an actor. But when he walked into Craig's in West Hollywood last year, those roles were reversed. This time, Moonves' waiter, Gabriel Salvador, was the one serving up a mouthwatering opportunity that had nothing to do with the shrimp diavolo. Instead, he was offering Moonves an "in" to the most coveted match-up in boxing: Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. "Moonves' love of boxing, our love of boxing -- that gave me the confidence to say to him 'Give me a chance,'" said Salvador, an actor who has appeared in "Bones" and "Blue Bloods." "I said 'I can help you make this fight happen,' and he looked at me like, 'Okay, I'm listening.'" That's when Salvador told Moonves his son trained at the Hollywood gym owned by Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, and that he would put in a good word for Moonves. At that point, Salvador told CNN, he was driven more by his passion to see the fight happen than any real connection to Roach. But he got Roach's phone number from his son, Elijah, who was skeptical of his father's plan. Everybody had already tried, his son said. But Salvador made the call and gained an audience in Roach. "I said, 'Listen, I can help you make this fight happen,'" Salvador said in an interview with CNN. Salvador helped set up a meeting between Moonves, Roach and himself at Scarpetta in Beverly Hills that he says began with a discussion about the legacy of boxing. "Mr. Moonves said to me, 'If this fight happens, you're going to be sitting there,'" said Salvador. Salvador's role ended after that dinner. What followed was a series of meetings between Moonves and both sides that eventually ended the stalemate keeping Pacquiao and Mayweather from entering the same ring. The May 2 fight -- on the pay-per-view services of Showtime and HBO -- is expected to gross as much as $600 million. With that kind of money, and a smattering of media buzz around Salvador's story, inevitable questions circulated over what, if any, reward he should get, given the epic nature of the fight. When asked to comment, Pacquiao's team downplayed Salvador's role. "For him giving Les my phone number I don't think he deserves a finder's fee," Roach told CNN. Promoter Bob Arum said Salvador "got his 10 minutes of fame," though he called Salvador "a really nice guy." Salvador insists he is not seeking money, and a CBS spokesman confirmed his role in the initial meeting. "My reward will be sitting at the fight," Salvador said. Moonves made good on that promise -- Salvador will be ringside on Saturday night. "It's about taking a chance," Salvador said. "It's about putting people in touch with each other and being able to sit back and say, 'Wow, I planted that seed.'"

Gabriel Salvador set up an initial meeting between a TV exec and Manny Pacquiao's trainer . Salvador is an actor and waiter at Craig's restaurant in Los Angeles .

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(CNN)A 32-year-old Massachusetts man is facing murder charges, authorities said Wednesday, four days after another man's remains were found in a duffel bag. The Middlesex District Attorney's Office said that Carlos Colina, 32, will be arraigned the morning of April 14 for murder in connection with the remains discovered Saturday in Cambridge. Earlier this week, Colina was arraigned on charges of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and improper disposal of a body. A Middlesex County judge then revoked bail for Colina in another case he's involved in, for alleged assault and battery. The victim in that case is different from the one whose remains were found in recent days. Police were notified Saturday morning about a suspicious item along a walkway in Cambridge. Officers arrived at the scene, opened a duffel bag and found human remains. After that discovery, police say, a surveillance video led them to an apartment building, where more body parts were discovered in a common area. That location is near the Cambridge Police Department headquarters. The remains at both locations belonged to the same victim, identified Monday as Jonathan Camilien, 26. Camilien and Colina knew each other, according to authorities. "This was a gruesome discovery," District Attorney Marian Ryan said. CNN's Kevin Conlon contributed to this report.

Prosecutor: Carlos Colina, 32, will be arraigned on the murder charge next week . He's already been arraigned for alleged assault and battery, improper disposal of a body . Body parts were found in a duffel bag and a common area of an apartment building .

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(CNN)Kanye West has settled a lawsuit with a paparazzi photographer he assaulted -- and the two have shaken on it. The photographer, Daniel Ramos, had filed the civil suit against West after the hip-hop star attacked him and tried to wrestle his camera from him in July 2013 at Los Angeles International Airport. West pleaded no contest last year to a misdemeanor count of battery over the scuffle. A judge sentenced him to two years' probation, as well as anger management sessions and community service. Ramos and his lawyer, Gloria Allred, sought general and punitive damages in the civil suit, saying that West had interfered with the photographer's rights to pursue a lawful occupation. The case had been set for trial next week, but Allred issued a statement Tuesday night saying Ramos' side had filed a dismissal "because the case was settled to the satisfaction of the parties." She didn't disclose the details of the settlement other than saying that "one important aspect of it was an apology by Kanye West to our client, Daniel Ramos." Her statement included a picture of West and Ramos shaking hands, which she said happened after the apology. The original incident was caught on video, including the following exchange. "Kanye! Kanye! Talk to me, Kanye!" Ramos shouts outside a terminal at the Los Angeles airport on the night of July 19, 2013. "What's' going on? Why can't we talk to you? I mean, why?" he asks as West moves through a group of paparazzi. "Now come on, Kanye, I don't want to fight with you," he says as West advances toward him. "I told you, don't talk to me, right," West says. "You're trying to get me in trouble so I step off and have to pay you like $250,000." West is then seen rushing the photographer and attempting to wrestle his camera from his hands. West retreats after about 15 seconds of scuffling with the photographer. "We believe that this case sent an important message," Allred said. "Celebrities are not above the law, and they have no right to physically attack someone simply because they were asked a question." Beverly Hills Police investigated an incident in January 2014 in which West was accused of assaulting a man at a Beverly Hills chiropractor's office. West avoided criminal charges by reaching a civil settlement with the man. Kanye West apologizes to Beck, Bruno Mars . CNN's Sonya Hamasaki contributed to this report.

The rapper assaulted the photographer at Los Angeles International Airport in 2013 . West apologized as part of the settlement, the photographer's lawyer says .

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(CNN)Was it politics or something else? No one is sure, but the headstone of Hillary Clinton's father, Hugh Rodham, was found tipped over this week, just a couple of days after she announced her run for the White House. "It was just laying down just right like that, boom," Paul McGloin told CNN affiliate WNEP. "I pass here five, six times a day because I live two blocks from here and when I looked I couldn't believe it, to see that it was tipped over." McGloin said he's tended to the grave site at the Washburn Street Cemetery in Scranton, Pennsylvania, since Rodham was buried there in 1993. Police are investigating, but no other headstones were knocked over. Police Chief Carl Graziano told The Scranton Times-Tribune that he suspects vandalism. "I'm not sure how else it would have fallen over," he said. Still, police will look into the possibility that it was weather-related. Funeral director Neil Regan also said vandalism is the most-likely cause, not the weather. "The more I thought about it, there were no serious winds or weather events," he said. "Paul McGloin told me he had driven by here 8 o'clock (Monday) morning and the stone was in place." McGloin believes it's no coincidence that it happened within days of Clinton announcing her second presidential bid. "And all of a sudden the headstone is tipped over, two days later," he said. "As long as I`ve been coming here, the headstone has been pretty secure around the base of it." CNN's Greg Morrison contributed to this report .

Hugh Rodham's tombstone is found tipped over in Scranton, Pennsylvania . It was reported two days after Hillary Clinton announced her presidential bid .

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(CNN)President Barack Obama tied himself to the mast of a nuclear deal with Iran even before he became the Democratic candidate for president. Reaching a good, solid agreement with Iran is a worthy, desirable goal. But the process has unfolded under the destructive influence of political considerations, weakening America's hand and strengthening Iran. Obama's political standing and his historic legacy in foreign policy are so deeply intertwined with reaching an accord with Iran that if the deal ultimately collapses, he may fear that historians will conclude that his legacy in global affairs collapsed with it. There is a reason one gets the feeling that it is the United States and not Iran that is the more eager, even desperate, side in these talks, even though Iran is the country whose economy was sent into a deep chill by international sanctions; the country whose only significant export, oil, lost more than half of its value in recent months. The reason is that Obama has a huge political stake in these negotiations. The President may insist that the United States will choose no deal over a bad deal, but few people truly believe he has a credible Plan B. Few believe it, particularly in the Middle East and notably among America's Arab friends, who hold the view that Iran is running circles around the United States and outplayed Obama. As the writer David Rothkopf aptly put it, "Iran is having a great Obama administration." That's a belief that has already started shaking up the region. Saudi Arabia has said that it will pursue nuclear weapons if it believes Iran has not been stopped, and there is little doubt that other countries among Iran's Muslim rivals will do the same. In fact, the notion that Obama is not handling the Iranian threat effectively is contributing to a new war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and other Arabs are trying to push back against gains by Iran's allies. We can trace it all back to the Democratic primaries in 2007, when then-Sen. Obama said he would meet Iran's leaders "without preconditions," leading his rival, Hillary Clinton, to call the idea "Irresponsible and frankly naive." As the years of his presidency unfolded, and the Middle East started coming apart, finding a deal with Iran started to look like the one major foreign policy achievement Obama might leave behind. The political imperative started to intrude in strategic considerations on an issue that is of transcendent importance to world peace. The framework agreement announced on Thursday came two days after Obama's March 31 deadline. The U.S.-imposed deadline served only to pressure the United States, and the French ambassador very publicly decried as a "bad tactic." That bad tactic was a political move, a push to produce some sort of result, however vague, to protect the talks from critics. Again, a solid agreement that ensures Iran will not produce nuclear weapons would be a most welcome development. But the agreement so far does not look promising. It certainly shows the final outcome will differ greatly from what Obama had vowed. In a presidential debate in 2012, Obama described a crystal clear goal for negotiations. "The deal we'll accept is they end their nuclear program. It's very straightforward." Nobody is talking about Iran ending its nuclear program. Not even close. Iran will be allowed to keep one-third of its more than 6,000 centrifuges. That's not a small symbolic number. And it does not appear as though any of its nuclear facilities will be dismantled, although Fordow will contain no nuclear materials. Iran has insisted all along that its nuclear program has only civilian uses. The fact is that Iran has a well-established record of lying and concealing the elements of its nuclear program to U.N. inspectors. And the U.N. agency chief says that has not stopped. A couple of weeks ago, with days left until the negotiating deadline, U.N. nuclear chief Yukiya Amano said Iran is still stonewalling. "We are still not in a position to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is [for a] peaceful purpose," he warned. The negotiations' starting point is that Iran would like to have the bomb and the international community wants to delay that as much as possible -- and preferably, forever. The world only learned about Iran's secret facilities at Arak and Natanz after dissidents raised the alarm. Iran, we have learned repeatedly, is very good at lying to international inspectors. It is well-established that it has had something to hide about its nuclear program. It is well-established that many of Iran's neighbors don't trust it and are anxious about the U.S.-led international dealings with Iran. It is well-established that Iran has engaged in international terrorism and in destabilizing the region. It is also clear that it took harsh international sanctions and a collapse in oil prices to bring Iran to the negotiating table. It was Iran that had the most to lose from a failure of talks. But political considerations turned the United States into the supplicant. The framework agreement starts lifting those indispensable sanctions much too soon. Nuclear enrichment will continue, although at a lower level. Iran officially, legally, becomes a nuclear threshold state, with the capability to make the final dash to a bomb within a "breakout" period of one year, the time when presumably inspectors would discover violation and allow the rest of the world to act. Even the Fordow facility, conveniently inside a fortified bunker in a mountain, will remain in existence, though "converted" to a nuclear "research facility" And without nuclear material on site. International sanctions lifting will begin almost immediately. Its nuclear infrastructure will remain largely in place, even if operating at a reduced pace, giving Iran much of what it wanted. With Iranian forces gaining ground in Arab lands and Iranian commanders declaring the destruction of Israel "nonnegotiable" and threatening Saudi Arabia, this deal does not look reassuring. Obama is right that a diplomatic solution is the most desirable option. But the deal so far looks like (another) win for Iran. It introduces enough restrictions that it could give the President the political cover he wants, but it does not do enough to make the world safe from nuclear proliferation and more potentially catastrophic instability in the Middle East.

Frida Ghitis: President Barack Obama is right to want a deal, but this one gives Iran too much . She says the framework agreement starts lifting Iran sanctions much too soon .

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Washington (CNN)One former employee of the private Blackwater Worldwide security company was sentenced Monday to life in prison and three others to 30 years each behind bars for their roles in a 2007 mass shooting in Baghdad that left 17 people dead. A federal jury convicted the four in October after a lengthy trial that saw some 30 witnesses travel from Iraq to testify against the security contractors. Prosecutors accused the men of illegally unleashed "powerful sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers on innocent men, women and children." Senior U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Blackwater sniper Nicholas Slatten to a term of life in prison, mandatory for his first-degree murder conviction. Blackwater workers Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were sentenced to 30 year each, plus one day. Slough was convicted of 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 17 counts of attempted manslaughter and a firearms offense. The jury convicted Liberty of eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, 12 counts of attempted manslaughter and a firearms offense. Heard was found guilty of six counts of voluntary manslaughter, 11 counts of attempted manslaughter and a firearms offense. According to prosecutors, the four were among seven Blackwater employees who opened fire in the Nusoor Square traffic circle in Baghdad, killing 17 people. An FBI investigation found 14 of the deaths unjustified, according to rules of engagement for private security contractors in Iraq. Slatten was accused of firing the first shots. Survivors of shooting tell FBI their stories in 2007 . Blackwater said its convoy came under attack, and defense attorneys said in court that witness accounts were fabricated. But witnesses testified that the contractors opened fire without provocation. "It was horror," said Hasan Jaber, an attorney who was driving to work when he was shot three times. "People running out of their cars were being shot at. ... Anything that moved in Nusoor Square was shot. Women, children, young people, they shot everyone." Among the dead were two boys, 9 and 11, a doctor, a used car salesman, a truck driver, a businessman, an Iraqi soldier, a gardener, a taxi driver and an aspiring doctor taking his mother to an appointment, according to prosecutors. The parents and brothers of the 9-year-old victim were present in court during the sentencing hearing and spoke. Ali Razzaq's father looked at the defendants and yelled in broken English: "If I kill anyone in his family, what he do?! Today, we will see who will win, the law or Blackwater," he said. "Blackwater killed my son." Dad in 2007: Blackwater blew up son's and wife's 'skulls' The defense presented character witnesses, family members and former colleagues who testified to the defendants' capacity to work under fire and willingness to help others. Each defendant also gave a closing statement. Slatten addressed the court last, taking the opportunity to declare his innocence. Lamberth rejected his argument. The judge said that the punishments reflected the seriousness of the crimes. He said that the U.S. government "should be commended for finding and exposing the truth of what happened." Blackwater incident witness in 2007: 'It was hell' A few gasps were heard in the courtroom, and some crying. The case was initially dismissed in 2008 after a judge found the Justice Department withheld key evidence and violated the rights of the contractors. A federal appeals court reversed the ruling, paving the way for the two-month trial that ended in convictions for the four. Another contractor, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty in 2008 to voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter and testified for the government. He has not yet been sentenced. Blackwater lost its $1 billion contract with the State Department to protect American diplomatic personnel in 2009, after the Iraqi government refused to renew the company's operating license. The company was later renamed and sold, and now operates as ACADEMI, providing protection services and training. 2007 congressional report: Blackwater most often shoots first . Wesley Bruer reported in Washington. Michael Pearson reported and wrote in Atlanta.

Blackwater sniper Nicholas Slatten is sentenced to life in prison, mandatory for his first-degree murder conviction . Three others get 30 years plus one day in the 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 dead .

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(CNN)It's a good thing -- a lucky thing -- that a bystander had the courage and presence of mind to record the shocking video that shows a white police officer, Michael Slager, gunning down and killing an apparently unarmed black man named Walter Scott after a traffic stop in North Charleston, South Carolina. And the resulting national wave of revulsion and indignation -- along with the prompt arrest of Slager on murder charges -- is a welcome and appropriate response. But the event raises broad, troubling questions about how often such incidents take place without the benefit of a third-party recording. It's not supposed to be a mystery: More than 20 years ago, Congress approved a law, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, signed by President Bill Clinton, that requires the federal Justice Department to collect data on deaths caused by police. The law has never truly been implemented, leaving us with patchy information about particular episodes rather than a comprehensive sense of how race and policing play out in America. "What happened here today doesn't happen all the time. What if there was no video? What if there was no witness -- or hero, as I call him -- to come forward?" said L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Scott's family. "As you can see, the initial (police) reports stated something totally different." That's putting it mildly. In early police statements -- issued before the video came to light -- Slager reportedly said that Scott attacked him, that he fired only after a scuffle and that cops made medical efforts to revive Scott. The video makes hash of those claims, and likely contributed to Slager's swift arrest and pending murder charges. "When you're wrong, you're wrong," said North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey. That leaves Slager to face murder charges that could land him on death row -- and the rest of us to face a disturbing reality. I'm all for having police use body cameras, although they are not a magic cure for preventing or stopping the excessive use of force. But the much bigger problem is that we simply don't know when and where police killings take place, or whether they cluster in particular cities or states. And that means we don't know for certain whether unjustified or excessive force correlates with particular forms of officer training or detectable underlying racial bias. We don't even know the role played by officers operating under stressful conditions or while dealing with mental or physical illness. These vital questions aren't supposed to be a mystery. According to Section 210402 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, "The Attorney General shall, through appropriate means, acquire data about the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers. ... The Attorney General shall publish an annual summary of the data acquired under this section." That section of the law has effectively been ignored, beyond a first attempt at a comprehensive report published in 1996. By 2001, a New York Times article noted that when it comes to police uses of deadly force, "No comprehensive accounting for all of the nation's 17,000 police department exists." There are multiple reasons the law has been ignored. Collecting information from the nation's thousands of jurisdictions -- the myriad villages, counties and cities -- is a tough, expensive assignment. The job is even harder because many police departments, reluctant to air their dirty laundry, fail to distinguish between justified and unjustified killings on the reasonable grounds that it's up to the courts to rule on whether an officer has committed brutality -- something that's often established only after years of court proceedings. These hurdles could be overcome by a determined effort from Washington, but Congress has failed to press the Justice Department to demand the data and comply with the 1994 law. A weak substitute called the Death in Custody Reporting Act was passed in 2000 and renewed in 2014, but it is a voluntary reporting program intended to coax information out of local departments. Some of the data gap has been filled by media organizations -- and what they have discovered only underscores the need for muscular, mandatory enforcement of the data-gathering law. In 2011, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published an extensive investigation of police killings in and around Las Vegas and found 378 shootings over a 20-year period, 142 of which were fatal. In no case was an officer convicted or even fired because of an on-duty shooting. In South Carolina last month, The State newspaper published an examination of 209 instances in which officers shot at suspects, and found that only a handful of officers were charged, and none found guilty. "In South Carolina, it remains exceedingly rare for an officer to be found at fault criminally for shooting at someone," the Columbia newspaper concluded. A group of activists has created a website called MappingPoliceViolence.org that flags cases of police killings; its estimate that at least 304 black people were killed by police in 2014 may stand as the best guess we have about the dimensions of a national problem. But we shouldn't be guessing. As the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorialized in 2011: "How many lives might be saved if taxpayers everywhere were better informed about police shootings? How can they know about a potential local problem without information? ... Police already track everything from domestic violence to child abuse to murder, and police routinely lobby state and federal lawmakers to put new crimes into statute. The budgetary impact of adding another reporting category to local police forces would be minuscule. The social impact of such an addition, however, would be huge." That common-sense observation is being echoed by the Obama administration -- specifically, the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, created in December in response to widespread protests following the police killings of unarmed black men including Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The recently released interim report of the task force calls, one more time, for the Justice Department to collect comprehensive data from local departments. But it will take more pressure -- from activists, victims' families, members of Congress and President Barack Obama himself -- to demand an end to the stonewalling of information. It's long past time we got to the truth of how many more killings like Walter Scott's are happening without a video to set the record straight.

Errol Louis: By chance a bystander video caught South Carolina officer shooting apparently unarmed black man . Federal law on reporting of such shootings goes unenforced -- how many instances do we never hear about? he asks . Louis: It's long past time for officials to tell the truth -- even when there's no video .

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(CNN)It's not easy being the Pope. Not only does he shepherd nearly 1 billion Catholic souls, he also leads a small but morally significant state with envoys and interests in nearly every country. As scholars like to say, the Vatican has walked the line between spiritual and worldly concerns for centuries. Sometimes, as when St. John Paul II stood up to Communist Poland, the church's moral and political clout have combined to pack a powerful punch. At other times, popes have to make a hard choice: Adopt the sharp tongue of a prophet or the discretion of a diplomat? This Sunday in Rome, Pope Francis faced just such a dilemma. First, the back story: . One hundred years ago, more than 1 million Armenians (some estimates run as high as 1.5 million) died at the hand of the Turks. Many of the victims were part of a branch of Christianity closely aligned with Catholicism. A slew of historians and at least 20 countries call the killings a "genocide." (A U.S. resolution to do the same has languished in Congress.) Turkish officials disagree, arguing that the deaths, while unfortunate, were part of a long-running war that witnessed casualties on all sides. For their part, previous popes had finessed the genocide question. John Paul II used the "g" word in 2001, but didn't dare speak it out loud. Instead, it was tucked into a document signed by the former pontiff and the head of the Armenian church, after they had celebrated Mass together. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called the killings "a great evil" and "terrible persecution" in a speech 2006, but avoided labeling them genocide. (Benedict found other ways to tick off the Turks, initially opposing their entry into the European Union.) As Pope Francis prepared to celebrate a special Mass Sunday to commemorate a century since the slaughter, Vatican watchers were divided about whether he would use the word "genocide." He did, but in a roundabout way, by quoting John Paul's document. "In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies," Francis said. "The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century,' struck your own Armenian people." The middle phrase comes directly from the document issued 14 years ago by John Paul. In citing his predecessor, Francis highlighted one of the Vatican's chiefest concerns, especially on matters of moral import: continuity. Whether holding the line against artificial birth control, declining to ordain female priests or dealing with diplomatic tensions, it sometimes seems as if the church considers inconsistency the most unforgivable of sins. "The Vatican and the papacy love continuity," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Vatican analyst for National Catholic Reporter. If Francis had not called the Armenian killings a genocide, particularly at such a high-profile event -- the audience included Armenia's President -- it might have been interpreted as a change in church policy, Reese said. At the same time, Francis didn't want to anger the Turks more than necessary, especially since they have become a key ally against the persecution of Christians by ISIS in the Middle East, which the Pope alluded to in his speech on Sunday. "The fact that he quoted John Paul is a sign that he's downplaying it," Reese said of the Armenian murders. "He's telling people: There's nothing new here." New or not, Turkey was not happy. The nation recalled its Vatican ambassador for "consultations" just hours after Francis' comments, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Turkey also promptly summoned his counterpart, the Vatican's ambassador, for a meeting, Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported. In a tweet Sunday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the Pope's use of the word "unacceptable" and "out of touch with both historical facts and legal basis." "Religious authorities are not places through which hatred and animosity are fueled by unfounded allegations," the tweet reads. "Hatred" and "animosity" are not words often used to describe Pope Francis. Because he often shines a sympathetic face on the world, emphasizing mercy over judgment, it's easy to miss the bluntness Francis brings to the bully pulpit. On matters of doctrine and diplomacy, he may be carrying on Catholic traditions, but in his willingness to engage in geopolitics and the tone that engagement often takes, this pope is decidedly different. He has helped broker a backroom detente between the United States and Cuba, and invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders for an unprecedented prayer service at the Vatican (after annoying some Israelis with an impromptu prayer at the wall that separates the West Bank from Jerusalem.) But Francis has also suggested that force may be justified to stop ISIS' slaughter of Christians, warned of the "Mexicanization" of Argentina and said that satirists who insult religion should expect a retaliatory punch. On Monday, the Pope addressed a roomful of priests at morning Mass. He must have heard the hubbub about his "genocide" remark, but he encouraged his charges to speak frankly, without fear, and to bear the courage of their convictions, just as the early apostles had. "We cannot keep silent about what we have seen and heard," Francis said. CNN's Gul Tuysuz and Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.

Previous popes had finessed the question of whether the killing of 1.5 million Armenians was genocide. Because he often shines such a smiley face on the world, it can be easy to forget the bluntness Francis sometimes brings to the bully pulpit .

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(CNN)Pope Francis risked Turkish anger on Sunday by using the word "genocide" to refer to the mass killings of Armenians a century ago under the Ottoman Empire. "In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies," the Pope said at a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacres. "The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th century,' struck your own Armenian people," he said, referencing a 2001 declaration by Pope John Paul II and the head of the Armenian church. His use of the term genocide -- even though he was quoting from the declaration -- upset Turkey. The nation recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for "consultations" just hours after Francis' comments, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Earlier, Turkey summoned the ambassador from the Vatican for a meeting, Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported. Turkey's former ambassador to the Vatican, Kenan Gursoy, told CNN in a telephone interview that while it is the first time Turkey has summoned its ambassador home from the Vatican, "This does not mean that our diplomatic ties with the Vatican are over." "Since this is a situation that we do not approve of, as a first reaction, (the ambassador) is summoned to get consultation," Gursoy said, adding that the Pope's use of the word "genocide" was "a one-sided evaluation." In a tweet Sunday on his official account, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the Pope's use of the word "unacceptable" and "out of touch with both historical facts and legal basis." "Religious offices are not places through which hatred and animosity are fueled by unfounded allegations," the tweet reads. This consternation over the use of the word 'genocide' occurs regularly. And Armenians are equally upset, when Turkey protests it. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian rebuked Turkey. "We are in a situation in which Turkey speaks a different language from the rest of the international community and it seems that it doesn't understand that it is speaking a different language," he said to Italian News Agency Adnkronos. "During these past days there have been several international organizations that adopt resolutions or issue statements that recognize the Armenian genocide and that appeal to Turkey to make this step," he said. "The Pope's statement are in this context of universal value. When Turkey is able to understand this, it will be able to understand what the International community and big personalities (or better translations 'leaders') are saying." Armenian groups and many scholars say that Turks planned and carried out genocide, starting in 1915, when more than a million ethnic Armenians were massacred in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey officially denies that a genocide took place, saying hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died in intercommunal violence around the bloody battlefields of World War I. The Armenian government and influential Armenian diaspora groups have urged countries around the world to formally label the 1915 events as genocide. Turkey has responded with pressure of its own against such moves. Pope Francis said Sunday that "Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks" were also killed in the bloodshed a century ago. He said Nazism and Stalinism were responsible for the other two "massive and unprecedented tragedies" of the past century. CNN's Gul Tuysuz in Turkey, Nimet Kirac and Karen Smith in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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(CNN)Five Americans who were monitored for three weeks at an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital after being exposed to Ebola in West Africa have been released, a Nebraska Medicine spokesman said in an email Wednesday. One of the five had a heart-related issue on Saturday and has been discharged but hasn't left the area, Taylor Wilson wrote. The others have already gone home. They were exposed to Ebola in Sierra Leone in March, but none developed the deadly virus. They are clinicians for Partners in Health, a Boston-based aid group. They all had contact with a colleague who was diagnosed with the disease and is being treated at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. As of Monday, that health care worker is in fair condition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has said the last of 17 patients who were being monitored are expected to be released by Thursday. More than 10,000 people have died in a West African epidemic of Ebola that dates to December 2013, according to the World Health Organization. Almost all the deaths have been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

17 Americans were exposed to the Ebola virus while in Sierra Leone in March . Another person was diagnosed with the disease and taken to hospital in Maryland . National Institutes of Health says the patient is in fair condition after weeks of treatment .

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(CNN)Eleven channels associated with the French-language global television network TV5Monde went black late Wednesday due to an "extremely powerful cyberattack," the network's director said. In addition to its 11 channels, TV5Monde also temporarily lost control of its social media outlets and its websites, director Yves Bigot said in a video message posted later on Facebook. On a mobile site, which was still active, the network said it was "hacked by an Islamist group." ISIS logos and markings could be seen on some TV5Monde social media accounts. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility by ISIS or any other group. The outage began around 10 p.m. Paris time (4 p.m. ET), and network teams were still working to restore service more than five hours later. According to France's Ministry of Culture and Communications, TV5Monde offers round-the-clock entertainment, news and culturing programming in French that reaches 260 million homes worldwide. It functions under a partnership that consists of the governments of France, Canada and Switzerland, as well as the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Other networks that provide content to TV5Monde include CNN affiliates France 2 and France 3, France 24 and Radio France International.

TV5Monde went black late Wednesday and was still out hours later . The network blames an "Islamist group"; there's no claim of responsibility .

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Boston (CNN)Adrianne Haslet-Davis and her husband, Adam Davis, were standing near the finish line on the day of the Boston Marathon bombing. Her feet were sore from wearing 4.5-inch heels. Still, they walked to Boylston Street to watch the runners. "We were so in love and happy together," she told a federal jury Wednesday. It was the second day the Boston jury heard a procession of heartbreaking loss -- the survivors and families of those killed when twin bombs planted by the pair of brothers named Tsarnaev exploded near the finish line. The jury must decide whether bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, should live or die for what he has done. Haslet-Davis and Davis, who had just returned from a tour in Afghanistan with the Air Force, were steps away from the explosion near the Forum restaurant. She recalled the force of the blast that killed three people and injured over 200 that April day in 2013. She knew right away it was a terrorist attack. Screams and heavy smoke filled the air. She couldn't hear her own screams. She thought she was dead. When her husband, who also was injured, lifted her leg, he too let out a scream. She said she thought he was in shock. She rolled over onto her stomach and crawled over broken glass, shredding her arms. She dragged herself to the Forum. "I saw all five of my toes, but I saw a lot of blood," she said. "I didn't see my ankle." A ballroom dancer, Haslet-Davis' left leg would later be amputated below the knee. Inside the Forum, Haslet-Davis begged for whiskey. "I just wanted the pain to go away. I only begged for the whiskey when I thought I was going to die." When someone removed Adam's shoe, an artery was spurting blood. His face got whiter and whiter, she said. His eye rolled back. She thought he was dead. At a hospital, she called her parents on her cellphone. She told them she was in a terrorist attack. "I don't think I have a left foot anymore," she told her father. "I'm in really bad shape and I really need to talk to you because this might be it." Her father told her he was driving and it was illegal to pull over. "I don't care if it's illegal. I need to talk to you because these might be our last words. I said I was in a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon and Adam is dead and this might be it for me." Haslet-Davis told the jury that, at the Forum, her husband kept telling her he was sorry. "That was all he could say. That he loved me. He was so sorry." Her husband, she said, has since "bravely admitted himself into a mental facility at the VA hospital." After her testimony, Haslet-Davis walked slowly off the stand. She appeared to glare at Tsarnaev, who did not look at her. Earlier this week, prosecutors showed jurors an image of Tsarnaev taken when he was in a holding cell. It was dated July 10, 2013 -- the day of his arraignment on charges he deliberately set off the deadly bombs. He glares into the camera defiantly, his middle finger raised in a gesture that Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadine Pellegrini said showed a young man who was "unconcerned, unrepentant and unchanged." On Wednesday, Tsarnaev's lawyer, Miriam Conrad, sought to discredit the use of the image. She suggested the gesture had been presented to the jury out of context. On cross-examination of a deputy U.S. marshal, Conrad showed the jury security footage from which the image was taken. In it, Tsarnaev is seen looking into the camera touching his hair. Moments before, he has two fingers up, forming what Conrad called a "V sign," before raising his middle finger. Gary Olivera, a deputy U.S. Marshal for 14 years, admitted that the camera was encased in a reflective surface and Tsarnaev could have been using it as a mirror. "A lot of times people do that to get our attention," Olivera said. Also Wednesday, Jinyan Zhao told the jury about her niece, Lingzi Lu, a "beautiful nerd" and graduate student at Boston University who was killed in the bombing. Lingzi Lu was originally from China but was buried in Boston. "How she died, and why she died, it just felt like she is part of Boston, part of city," her aunt said. "The thinking is she should just be here." The family, Zhao said, put a music box and some books in her casket. Her mother put a bracelet on her wrist and touched her hand. Later, her mother described her beautiful hand. Zhao recalled what Lu's mother said to her: " 'No matter what I don't want to believe it is her hand.' " The brother and stepfather of Sean Collier also took the stand Wednesday. Collier was the MIT police officer who was shot in his patrol car, another victim of the Tsarnaev brothers as they tried to evade capture. Sean Collier always wanted to be a cop, said his brother. He was a child who viewed life in terms of right and wrong. Either you did it or you didn't. "We thought it was typical little boy stuff, but he never grew out of it," Andrew Collier told the jury. "Sean was always the one to spill the beans," said Joe Rodgers, 59, who married Collier's mother, Kelly, in 1993. "He was a cop from an early age." On a Thursday night in April 2013, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier lay bleeding in his patrol car after being ambushed and shot in the head. His car door was open, and his foot was lodged between the gas and brake pedals. The officer who found Collier testified at trial that he had wounds to the temple, neck and head. He was bleeding out as officers tried to revive him. Collier would become the fourth victim of the Tsarnaev brothers. The night still feels like a dream for Rodgers. "He had a hole in the middle of his head," Rodgers said. "He was shot to pieces. He was just laying there. My wife was touching him, and his blood was coming up in her hands." Prosecution shows what it calls Tsarnaev's defiant message to U.S. Prosecutors said the brothers killed Collier because they wanted his gun. But their efforts to take it were thwarted by a safety holster. Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a chase and gunbattle with police that began with reports of an "officer down" at MIT. Less than two weeks after Tsarneav was found guilty on every count, the jury deciding his punishment is hearing about the lasting impact of his deeds. Earlier, MIT Police Chief John DiFava told the jury that he hired Collier, who fit in "perfectly" because of his policing style and engaging personality. The MIT police, who are designated as special officers by the Massachusetts State Police, patrol the sprawling campus in Cambridge. "The atmosphere of the department changed since April 18, 2013," he said. "There is sadness and a sense of loss. I think that it will be there for as long as that generation of officers remains. It was remarkable the amount of support we got from the community, but Sean's death hangs like a weight." DiFava has come to question whether he wants to continue on the force. "Policing is the only thing I've done in my life, and I've always tried to be good at what I do," he said. "I lost one of my own. I have children at home and I've always thought I would have been very, very proud for them to wear the uniform. Now I'm not so sure." Rodgers said it took his wife, Kelly, months to gain the strength to climb out of bed after losing her son. Saturday was the second anniversary of the bombing. She cried all weekend. "She was very strong," he said. "She was a happy person. She was a good mother. Since Sean's death, she's very scared of anything that might happen to any of the other children." Kelly became pregnant with Sean after losing a baby that lived for a day or two, Rodgers said. His birth lifted her out of depression. "He was special," he said, adding that Sean is now buried alongside the baby. Rodgers said he still feels beat down two years later. "There's something missing," he said. "Thanksgiving and Christmas will never be the same." Collier's brother Andrew said, "Even when we're having fun, there's always a cloud over us. I miss Sean. I miss everything about him." The prosecution is expected to rest Friday, according to an official with insight into the prosecutor's plans. Poll: 53% say Tsarnaev should face death penalty . Ann O'Neill and Aaron Cooper reported from Boston, Ray Sanchez wrote in New York.

Jurors in sentencing phase in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial hear of loss . Victims testify about the impact of the bombing on their lives .

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(CNN)Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk!," featuring Bruno Mars, is the longest-leading Billboard Hot 100 of the 2010s, ruling the chart for a 13th week. It's also just the 10th single in the Hot 100's entire history to spend at least 13 weeks at No. 1. Plus, newcomer Natalie La Rose reaches the top 10 with her debut hit "Somebody," featuring Jeremih. As we do each Wednesday, let's run down all the songs in the top 10, and a bit beyond, on the sales/airplay/streaming-based Hot 100 (dated April 11). "Funk," released on RCA Records, passes Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," featuring T.I. and Pharrell to take sole possession of the Hot 100's longest command this decade. Here's an updated look at the hits to lead for the most weeks since the beginning of 2010: . Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1 . 13 (to date), "Uptown Funk!," Ronson feat. Mars, Jan. 17, 2015 . 12, "Blurred Lines," Robin Thicke feat. T.I. + Pharrell, June 22, 2013 . 10, "Happy," Pharrell Williams, March 8, 2014 . 10, "We Found Love," Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris, Nov. 12, 2011 . "Funk" also becomes one of an elite 10 singles ever to top the Hot 100 for at least 13 weeks, dating to the chart's Aug. 4, 1958 launch: . Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1 . 16, "One Sweet Day," Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men, Dec. 2, 1995 . 14, "I Gotta Feeling," The Black Eyed Peas, July 11, 2009 . 14, "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey, June 4, 2005 . 14, "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight," Elton John, Oct. 11, 1997 . 14, "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)," Los Del Rio, Aug. 3, 1996 . 14, "I'll Make Love to You," Boyz II Men, Aug. 27, 1994 . 14, "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston, Nov. 28, 1992 . 13 (to date), "Uptown Funk!," Ronson feat. Mars, Jan. 17, 2015 . 13, "The Boy Is Mine," Brandy & Monica, June 6, 1998 . 13, "End of the Road," Boyz II Men, Aug. 15, 1992 . Ask Billboard: Will 'Uptown Funk!' be the Hot 100's No. 1 Song of 2015? With "Funk" now just three weeks from potentially tying "One Sweet Day" for the record, and four weeks from possibly claiming it all to itself, can it rewrite Hot 100 history? It's too early to forecast charts a month away, but "Funk" still sports strong leads in all main Hot 100 metrics. "Funk" logs a 13th week atop the Digital Songs chart with 165,000 downloads sold (down 12 percent) in the week ending March 29, according to Nielsen Music. That's a record-tying feat: "Funk!" matches Flo Rida's 2007-08 hit "Low," featuring T-Pain, for the most weeks a title has spent at No. 1 on Digital Songs. "Funk" also leads Streaming Songs (16.2 million U.S. streams, down 15 percent) for an 11th week. On Radio Songs, "Funk" reigns for a 10th week with 166 million in all-format audience (down 4 percent). It's the first song to reach double-digit weeks at No. 1 on Radio Songs since "Blurred Lines" led for 11. Ask Billboard: Will 'Uptown Funk!' Be the Hot 100's No. 1 Song of 2015? "Funk," thus, leads the Hot 100 and its three main component charts (Digital Songs, Radio Songs and Streaming Songs) simultaneously for a record-extending ninth week (nonconsecutively). Perhaps helping the chances that "Funk" can remain at No. 1 on the Hot 100, at least for another week: while it's down by 11 percent in overall activity, the No. 2 song (for a third week), Maroon 5's "Sugar," decreases by 3 percent, while Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud," at No. 3 (for a third week, after peaking at No. 2 for eight weeks), is off by 2 percent. And, the lead of "Funk" over those songs is still significant: they each boast approximately two-thirds of the Hot 100 points of "Funk" this week. Could either "Sugar" or "Loud" rebound to challenge "Funk" further on the Hot 100? Could another song in the top 10 topple it? Or, is it a song just building, or not even yet released, that will take over? Again, it's too soon to tell. We know only that a song will eventually dethrone the uncommonly overarching smash that "Funk" has become. (At least we think one will ...) Chart Highlights: Taylor Swift's 'Style' hits No. 1 on adult pop songs . Meanwhile, "Sugar" takes over at No. 1 on the subscription services-based On-Demand Songs chart, despite a 10 percent drop to 4.1 million streams. ("Funk" falls to No. 3 on the list after 11 weeks at No. 1.) "Sugar" holds at No. 2 on Digital Songs (143,000, down 8 percent); rises 4-2 on Radio Songs (133 million, up 3 percent); and keeps at No. 4 on Streaming Songs (9.5 million, down 4 percent). Below Sheeran, Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do" holds at No. 4 on the Hot 100 after reaching No. 3. The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack single dips 3-4 on Digital Songs (114,000, down 14 percent) and stays at No. 5 on Radio Songs (118 million, up 8 percent) and Streaming Songs (9 million, up 9 percent). From the same hit movie, The Weeknd's "Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)" reaches the Hot 100's top five (6-5), adding top Airplay Gainer honors for a second week. On Radio Songs, it pushes 9-6 with a 23 percent gain to 86 million. "Earned" (a possible contender for No. 1 on the Hot 100 ...) holds at No. 6 on both Streaming Songs (8.9 million, up 24 percent) and Digital Songs (107,000, up 4 percent). The sultry track also takes over at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Chart Highlights: Taylor Swift's 'Style' Hits No. 1 on Adult Pop Songs . Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen" rises 8-6 on the Hot 100, while spending a second week at No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs; Taylor Swift's "Style" ranks at No. 7 on the Hot 100 for a third week after reaching No. 6 (and, as previously reported, reaches No. 1 on the Adult Pop Songs airplay chart); Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney's "FourFiveSeconds" drops 5-8 on the Hot 100 after climbing to No. 4 (and departs the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs summit after seven weeks); and Flo Rida climbs 10-9 with "G.D.F.R.," featuring Sage the Gemini and Lookas. The rapper's new EP, My House, arrives Tuesday (April 7). One song is new to the Hot 100's top 10: La Rose's "Somebody," featuring Jeremih (13-10). The Dutch singer's debut hit lifts 10-8 on Radio Songs (73 million, up 9 percent); backtracks 13-14 on Digital Songs, but with a 7 percent gain to 68,000; and zooms 31-19 on Streaming Songs (4.3 million, up 5 percent). The track tops the Rhythmic Songs airplay chart for a second week. (Jeremih scores his fourth Hot 100 top 10, and first in a featured role.) La Rose is adjacent to her friend, and mentor, Flo Rida, on the Hot 100. After she had introduced herself to him at a party, they soon began working together, and she started touring with him. They created "Somebody," based on Whitney Houston's 1987 Hot 100 No. 1 "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," as La Rose is a "huge fan of '80s music," as she told Billboard. She's currently recording her debut EP. Just beyond the Hot 100's top 10, Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance" pushes 15-12, and is the new No. 1 on the Hot Rock Songs chart, while Jason Derulo's "Want to Want Me" bounds 27-17. And, Rihanna roars in at No. 23 with "B**** Better Have My Money," the chart's highest debut, powered largely by its No. 5 debut on Digital Songs (108,000 sold since its digital retail arrival on March 26). More details on action below the top 10 in the weekly "Hot 100 Chart Moves" column to post on Friday (April 3). See the original story at Billboard.com. ©2015 Billboard. All Rights Reserved.

The song rules the chart for 13th week . It passes Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" Song three weeks from potentially tying "One Sweet Day" for record .

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Rome (CNN)A destination for the destitute, Sicily is the "promised land" for thousands of migrants and refugees making the desperate journey from North Africa to Europe's Mediterranean coast. More than 10,000 people have arrived from Libya since last weekend alone, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Stories of death at sea and unimaginable suffering are nothing new in the waters between North Africa and Italy; boat people have been arriving on Italy's islands for more than a decade. But what makes the current influx different is the increase in numbers and the absence of control from the ports of embarkation, specifically those in Libya, because when Moammar Gadhafi was in control, he also controlled the flow of migrant ships. In 2008, the-then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Gadhafi signed an historic friendship agreement in which Italy promised to invest $5 billion in Libyan infrastructure and Gadhafi promised to close what he described as a "spigot" of migrants. During a three-day state visit to Italy in August 2010, he famously threatened to "turn Europe black" if Libya did not enjoy cordial relations with the European Union. After the agreement, Gadhafi kept his promise and the number of arrivals drastically decreased. For a time, almost all migrant arrivals came from Tunisia, just 70 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa. Because Italy sent most of those migrants who did not qualify for political asylum back to Tunisia, the flow eventually tapered off. And once a new Tunisian government was in place, after the Arab Spring, Italy signed an accord with Tunisia in which they promised to help patrol Tunisia's ports. But after Gadhafi was overthrown, the flow of migrants from Libya exploded again: the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Rome told CNN that more than 140,000 migrants arrived from the North Africa coast in 2011. In October 2013, after a tragic boat accident off the coast of Lampedusa in which 349 people -- including an infant still attached to its mother by the umbilical cord -- died, trapped like sardines in their smugglers' boat as it sank, Italy decided it had to act. In November of 2013, the Italian Navy launched a €9M-a-month search-and-rescue program called Mare Nostrum, in which Italian naval ships patrolled the seas to rescue migrants. In just one year, the program rescued more than 160,000 migrants, according to the Italian Navy. Due to budget constraints and criticism from the European Union that the program itself was encouraging migrants to head across the Mediterranean, the mission ended in October 2014. By the end of the year, more than 174,000 people had been rescued in Italy; an estimated 3,072 people died making the journey, according to the IOM. In November last year, the European Union's border control, Frontex, started its own mission -- Triton -- with a budget of less than a third that of Mare Nostrum. Frontex has no vessels or surveillance equipment of its own, so has to rely on European member states to lend them ships; a ship from Iceland, at the far north of the continent, is currently involved in Frontex's operations off southern Europe. When Italy ended Mare Nostrum, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warned that some European governments were making "keeping foreigners out a higher priority than upholding asylum standards." "This is a mistake, and precisely the wrong reaction for an era in which record numbers of people are fleeing wars," Guterres told a UNHCR policy meeting. "Security and immigration management are concerns for any country, but policies must be designed in a way that human lives do not end up becoming collateral damage." Once migrants arrive in Italy, they are supposed to be processed for political asylum and monitored until it is granted or denied, but Italy has been sanctioned by the European Union for not fingerprinting new arrivals. By law, Italy has to take care of the arrivals, but many have no intention of staying in the country, and few of the reception centers are gated, meaning migrants can come and go as they please. And with no physical border controls between Italy and other European countries, they can then disperse across the continent. Moutassem Yazbek, 27, an IT specialist who worked for six years in Dubai, arrived in Sicily in December on board a smuggler's boat. He told CNN he was never fingerprinted in Italy, and eventually made it to Germany where he is studying to learn the language and find work. He says the human trafficking network is a finely-oiled machine that fills a growing need. "I would have done anything to get here," Yazbek said. "It was worth the risk, the bad treatment and the fear. Hard as that may be to believe, it is a better life."

Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees risk the perilous journey across the Mediterranean every year . Many make the trip in dangerous boats owned by people smugglers; thousands have died along the way in recent years .

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(CNN)No identification, no Social Security card and only a box to live on. John Helinski was homeless and nameless for three years. Suddenly, he's set to buy his own place and collect a nice pension. Helinski hit it big thanks to the Social Security Administration, and a big-hearted cop and a case worker determined to untangle major bureaucracy. Charles Inman could not bear to see his 62-year-old ward land back on the street, he told CNN affiliate WFTS. The shelter where the case worker works set Helinski up with a bunk and a locker. But getting him into the system was hard, because Helinski's ID and Social Security cards had been stolen. "He needed to have an identification, but we couldn't get an identification without a birth certificate," Inman said. A hassle all by itself, except that Helinski was foreign born -- in Poland, as an American citizen. "We first had to figure out that we needed a consular record of foreign birth or something like that," said Tampa police Officer Dan McDonald, who pitched in to help Helinski. With those papers squared away, he and Inman got Helinski a driver's license and a Social Security card. Then, Helinski remembered that he used to have an account with a certain Landmark Bank. "Then it became Bank of America," he said. The account was still there, and the Social Security Administration hadn't forgotten about him. It had kept paying Helinski benefits for years, and they had stacked up high. Now Helinski is thinking of buying his own four walls. And he'll have monthly benefits to live on. "I guess I'm exhilarated, excited, you know," he said. McDonald said he and Inman were stunned. "We weren't quite sure what to say."

John Helinski's ID and Social Security cards had been stolen . His case worker and a cop had to get foreign ID papers to get him a driver's license . Then Helinski remembered a bank account he used to have .

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(CNN)In Russia's tightly-managed democracy, where being an opposition politician can seriously damage your health, chances to question the country's leader are rare. President Vladimir Putin cuts an isolated figure, closely guarded behind the walls of the Kremlin, traveling to-and-fro by helicopter or high-speed motorcade. His almost daily appearances on state television often show him in formal meetings with subordinates, or visiting dignitaries. Interaction with ordinary Russians is usually carefully controlled and fleeting. That is why this annual Q&A session -- in which Putin will spend hours fielding questions from the general public on live television -- is such a widely anticipated event which provokes such excitement. It is direct access to the Russian leader, or at least as direct as most Russians will ever get. In recent years, sitting in a shiny studio surrounded by a hand-picked audience of soldiers, doctors, teachers, factory workers and so on, Putin has held forth on subjects from parenting to food prices, to relations with America. Last year he spoke for three hours and 55 minutes. In 2013, it was a record-breaking 4 hours and 47 minutes. Organizers say this year, public interest is especially strong. At one call center in Moscow, where the public are encouraged to pitch their Putin questions, officials say more than 200,000 questions were submitted in the first hour after lines opened. The Kremlin says they will have to sift through well over 1.7 million emails, video messages and texts to decide who gets to ask what on the big day. A few would-be questions released ahead of the event give us a flavor of what's on Russia's mind. One man, who identifies himself as Vitaly from the Leningrad region, asks: "Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin's middle name), why are prices going up in the shops but wages are staying the same?" Sanctions and Russia's deep economic crisis, which saw the value of the Russian currency, the ruble, plunge in value by 50% against the dollar, is set to be a major a theme. So too is foreign policy. With Moscow at odds with the West over Ukraine, some of the released questions show how concerned ordinary Russians are about their country's place in the world. One unidentified schoolgirl asks: "Is there a threat to Russia's interests from the United States and Europe? And will there be a new Iron Curtain?" It's not just Russian schoolchildren who want to hear Putin's answer. Critics of the Kremlin, of course, slam this entire event as Russia's imitation of democracy in action. It's hard to imagine a truly critical question, they say, getting aired on national television here. In fact, its best not to look at this event as an opportunity for Russians to question their leader at all. Instead, it is more like a highly produced, highly choreographed chance for their leader to speak to them, and to the world. Sometimes, the Kremlin likes to throw in a nasty surprise, too. Last year saw NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, granted asylum in Russia, address Putin by videolink. Who knows who may pop up this time.

Putin to spend hours fielding questions from the general public on live television . Sanctions and Russia's deep economic crisis likely to be a major theme . Critics of the Kremlin slam event as Russia's imitation of democracy in action .

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(CNN)Recently, Robert Kennedy Jr. was in Sacramento, California, to campaign against Senate Bill 227, which makes it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinations. In his remarks at an anti-vaccination movie screening, he decided to compare "vaccine-induced" autism to the Holocaust. He said, "They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone," Kennedy said. "This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country." A few days later, he apologized to people who were outraged on behalf of the memory of the Holocaust. To many, it's sacrilege to compare any lesser issue to the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis. In a statement, Kennedy said, "I want to apologize to all whom I offended by my use of the word to describe the autism epidemic. I employed the term during an impromptu speech as I struggled to find an expression to convey the catastrophic tragedy of autism, which has now destroyed the lives of over 20 million children and shattered their families." Robert Kennedy Jr. has apologized for the wrong things. First and foremost, vaccines do not cause autism. The two have nothing to do with each other. Second, he seems to think people with autism are "gone," their lives "destroyed" and their families "shattered." Autism is not a death sentence. People with autism are not missing or destroyed. They are everywhere, trying to live their lives in a society that too often demeans them as subhuman, missing or worthless. Kennedy's rhetoric is a problem, even beyond the fraudulent basis for his claims about vaccines. People who believe autism is an environmental disease try to cure kids with quack treatments like giving them bleach-based enemas. Others, believing autism functions as a death sentence, even kill their children. I am worried about the effect of having such a powerful, high-profile member of our political class endorse this demeaning depiction of life with autism. I reached out to a number of autistic activists for comment. Ari Ne'eman, president of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, wrote, "Robert Kennedy Jr, who has engaged with autism only to spread lies, misinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric, has never meaningfully engaged in efforts to improve the lives of autistic Americans. While his father, uncle and many others in the Kennedy-Shriver family championed the rights of people with disabilities, he has instead cast his lot with those who use pseudo-science to question our humanity." These are harsh words, but try to see the situation through Ne'eman's eyes. Not only is Kennedy perpetuating a discredited theory, but he's also suggesting that it's better to let your children get preventable and sometimes fatal diseases than risk becoming autistic. The usual response to people like Ne'eman is that he is "high functioning," but what of the burden to families who are struggling to care for less able individuals? Henry Frost, an autistic teenager and writer, is devastated by this focus on burden. Last year, he wrote a post to other autistic children: "Know you are not a burden or trouble for being. You are a person who has every right to be. A family that is saying love but saying you are so hard so wrong for not being as they wanted. The family is wrong. Not You." Meanwhile, Amy Sequenzia, an autistic activist and blogger, wrote, "I am very disabled, have most of the usual not autism but co-occurring conditions, seizures almost every day, but am happy, proud and accomplished, with the human supports I have. That's what is missing. Acceptance." As children, Sequenzia and Frost might well have been just the kinds of people labeled as "gone," by Kennedy. Clearly, both are very much present. The solution lies in understanding autism and related conditions as part of human diversity. Michael S. Monje Jr., an autistic writer and editor with Autonomous Press, wrote, "The neurodiversity movement is a direct counter to this kind of attitude. It is a way for autistic people, as well as anyone else who experiences the world differently due to their neurology, to assert that these natural divergences in human development are just that -- natural. The fact that they are largely unsupported by our society as it is currently configured does not make them in any way less natural, less worthy, or less beautiful than other ways of being in the world." I wish Kennedy realized how much his apology demeaned people with intellectual disabilities, even as he defended the sacred status of the Holocaust. There is, though, one story from the Holocaust that he might do well to consider. The first group the Nazis systematically exterminated, in the infamous Action T4, were people with intellectual and other kinds of disabilities. Thousands of children, adolescents and adults were sent to gas chambers, laying the groundwork for the later, larger scale acts of genocide. Underlying Action T4 was the belief that people with disabilities were devoid of value. We fight those beliefs by celebrating neurodiversity, not by fearmongering. Kennedy owes a lot of people another apology.

David Perry: Robert Kennedy Jr. compared autism to the Holocaust, wrongly tied it to vaccines . He says it's sad such a prominent Kennedy demeans people with autism .

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