(CNN) -- In his first inaugural address in 1953, newly elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower told the American people, "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose." This was a fitting and powerful response to the popular noninterventionism current of the 1950s from a five-star general who knew how to win a war.

The first and most important job of the president is to be commander in chief. Eisenhower knew that, as so did many of our great presidents. Today, we are in danger of losing that founding virtue.

President Obama's decision to order a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year will most likely lead to disaster. He greatly risks losing a country in which we have invested so much time, resources and, most importantly, human life. And he risks losing it to Iran, the world's largest sponsor of terrorism and our primary enemy in a serious Middle East proxy war.

"The long war in Iraq will come to an end by the end of this year," Obama said Friday. It may come to an end for our troops, but it is far from over for the people of Iraq.

Only very few of the loudest opponents of the Iraq war advocated complete withdrawal. The U.S. military commanders recommended at least 15,000 troops remain. Obama once again ignored his generals, as he did with Afghanistan, and instead pressed ahead with a politically calculated decision.

Another view: "Who lost Iraq" is the wrong question

Perhaps this will gain him praise from the far left of his base, but this will not sit well with a vast majority of the American people. More than 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war.

The American people have been impatient with the war, but they know we were successful in Iraq. To throw this all away for political expediency is irresponsible. To be tired is one thing, to be irresolute is another. The frequent refrain of Osama bin Laden was that he could always wait us out and that we would eventually show ourselves to be the weak horse, not the strong horse. And, God forbid, if we lose Iraq, it will be on the shoulders of the commander in chief.

Under Obama's plan, a mere 160 U.S. troops would stay in Iraq to guard the U.S. Embassy. That is hardly enough troops to defend our own people. For comparison, the United States has 1,234 troops in Belgium, 1,894 troops in Bahrain and 678 troops in Qatar, according to the Department of Defense's active-duty military personnel records. We risk another Saigon moment by evacuating Iraq and leaving no support behind.

On my radio show, "Morning In America," Michael Rubin, who is the American Enterprise Institute's Middle East expert and teaches our troops at the Naval Postgraduate School, said with no qualifications that he thinks we will lose Iraq because of this.

Dan Senor, senior adviser and the chief spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq in 2003-2004, told me that the president's decision shocked and perplexed him. Iraq cannot survive sectarian violence and Iranian influence on its own, he added. Baghdad will surely move closer to Tehran in our absence.

Indeed, one can already see the influence of Tehran. Two weeks ago, Iraq publicly defended the actions of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an early and telling sign that Iraq was preparing for the withdrawal of American forces. The Iranians want influence in Iraq; Obama wants out of Iraq.

The president defends his actions on the basis of his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq and former President George W. Bush's withdrawal timeline of 2011. However, just until last week, the Obama administration was negotiating the Status of Forces Agreement with Nuri al-Maliki's government with the understanding that several thousand troops would remain in Iraq -- a clear break from his campaign pledge. More importantly, total troop withdrawal was never a platform of Bush's withdrawal timetable.

We know that Tehran is

What number of troops do the generals want to remain?

How many troops U.S. generals want to remain in Iraq?

What is at risk of falling under Iran's influence?

Answer: Iranian

Answer: to order a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year

Answer: 15,000

Answer: 15,000

Answer: President Obama's

Answer: Iraq

Summary:
William Bennett: President Obama's decision on troop withdrawal from Iraq is wrong .
He says it may gain him points with his base, but risks Iraq falling under Iran's influence .
Bennett says U.S. generals wanted at least 15,000 troops to remain .


(CNN) -- In just a few short weeks, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach could wake up at his home in Englewood, New Jersey, with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi camped a few feet from his front lawn. Gadhafi may be staying in a tent on the front lawn of a New Jersey house owned by the Libyan Mission. The authoritarian ruler of Libya is rumored to be planning to stay in an air-conditioned tent on the front lawn of a house owned by the Libyan Mission when he attends the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September. Members of the predominately Orthodox Jewish Englewood community are less than enthused about a visit from a leader who has made anti-Zionist statements in the past. The recent release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber to Libya has heightened the animosity. On Monday, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, called for the U.S. Department of State to restrict Gadhafi's travel to the area around U.N. headquarters in New York City, saying in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton he "was particularly concerned by news reports indicating that [Gadhafi] plans to stay in New Jersey, where the families of many Pan Am 103 victims reside." A representative from the Libyan Mission in New York would not confirm Gadhafi will stay in Englewood, only that he is scheduled to come to New York. Gadhafi has a history of setting up his extensive tent when visiting other countries, including Russia and France. Media reports have said that his request to pitch his tent in Central Park had been denied, and the New Jersey property was a likely second choice. Boteach said he had previously been willing to approach Gadhafi's rumored visit with an open mind, but he backtracked after the Lockerbie bomber's release. "Judging by his actions, he hasn't changed one iota," Boteach said. "He loves terrorists and welcomes them as heroes and speaks with a forked tongue. As soon as he had the opportunity he lionized people who committed murderous acts. Gadhafi is a fraud. I don't want him or his security team near my home." Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes said he was not informed of plans to erect a tent on the property, and no special permissions were requested from the zoning department. Only through neighborhood residents and media coverage was he alerted to construction on the house that, according to Boteach, began around three months ago. The mayor said he was "mortified as a Jew and embarrassed as an American that a financier of terrorism is on U.S. soil. [Gadhafi] is someone who has embraced terrorism and has not changed his spots." Wildes said the Libyan Mission has "not paid a nickel" on taxes for the property, and said he would only be "willing to sit down with him if he brings a check to cover years of back taxes and overtime pay for the additional police forces needed for his stay, and apologizes to the Jewish residents and the Lockerbie victims' families of New Jersey." Boteach, in a piece posted Thursday on The Huffington Post, where he is a regular contributor, said the residence had been left "derelict and neglected" for many years until the recent construction. In opposition to Gadhafi's possible visit to Englewood, Boteach said he plans several steps, including legal action, which he said would be in response to construction workers knocking down his fence and cutting down his trees. "My plan is to sue them, extract as much money as possible and use Libyan money for planting trees instead of buying bombs," he wrote in another Huffington Post piece Monday. Boteach and Wildes also are planning a protest at the construction site on Sunday.

Who is less than enthused by Gadhafi's actions?

who was  "embarrassed as an American that a financier of terrorism is on U.S. soil"?

Where is Gadhafi planning on pitching his tent?

Answer: on the front lawn of a New Jersey house owned by the Libyan Mission.

Answer: Members of the predominately Orthodox Jewish Englewood community

Answer: "mortified as a Jew and embarrassed as an American that a financier of terrorism is on U.S. soil.

Answer: Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes

Answer: the front lawn of a house owned by the Libyan Mission

Answer: Members of the predominately Orthodox Jewish Englewood community

Answer: to be planning to stay in an air-conditioned tent on the front lawn of a house owned by the Libyan Mission

Answer: front lawn of a New Jersey house

Answer: to be planning to stay in an air-conditioned tent on the front lawn of a house owned by the Libyan Mission when he attends the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September.

Answer: Englewood community

Answer: Orthodox Jewish

Summary:
Gadhafi travels with air-conditioned tent which he stays in .
Rumored to be planning to pitch tent on front lawn of Libyan Mission house .
Members of mostly Orthodox Jewish Englewood are less than enthused .
Mayor "embarrassed as an American that a financier of terrorism is on U.S. soil"


(CNN) -- In keeping with President Obama's pledge of an administration that is "transparent and accountable," the White House has launched a site that promises to show taxpayers where their stimulus-package dollars are being spent. Visitors to Recovery.gov are greeted with a video message from President Obama. The site, Recovery.gov, allows visitors to track efforts to jump-start a teetering economy in the midst of a slumping housing market and massive job losses. It breaks down the $787 billion package by category: $288 billion for tax relief, $59 billion for health care, and so on. The site promises that more detailed spending information will be posted once federal agencies decide how they are going to allocate the money.  Learn more about where the money is going » Using graphs, charts and layman's terminology, the online portal is an example of how the tech-savvy Obama administration is taking its message to the American people. While running for president, Obama harnessed the Web's fundraising and social-networking capabilities to energize his grass-roots campaign. And the moment he was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, administration officials unveiled a sleek interactive version of Whitehouse.gov, the official White House Web site. Recovery.gov, launched within hours of Obama's signing of the stimulus bill Tuesday, continues the theme of offering information in a user-friendly format. Visitors are greeted by a brief video address from Obama. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan represents a strategic and significant investment in our country's future," the president explains. "The size and scale of this plan demand unprecedented efforts to root out waste, inefficiency and unnecessary spending. Recovery.gov will be the online portal for these efforts." The site will publish information on how the stimulus funds will be spent in a "timely, targeted and transparent manner," Obama said. Edward Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard University, said transparency has "been a watch word for good government types for years." "There is sense that taxpayers will feel a lot better about this if they actually know where their money is going," Glaeser said. "Better transparency makes evaluation much easier." Glaeser pointed out that the idea behind Recovery.gov is not entirely new. He noted that the Office of Management and Budget has for years had a site where citizens can learn the available cost-benefit information of several government programs. Clicking on "Where is Your Money Going" on the new site brings up a chart displaying key areas where the $787 billion will be distributed, including tax relief, energy, health care and infrastructure and science. Under "Accountability and Transparency," there is a statement that reads, "This is your money. You have a right to know where it's going and how it's being spent. Learn what steps we're taking to ensure you can track our progress every step of the way." Like other Obama online portals, the site encourages user interaction. The public is invited to share stories on how the Recovery Act is affecting them. Scrolling over a map of the United States reveals data on the number of jobs created and saved in each state. Those with some time on their hands can also read, in its entirety, the full text of the legislation.

What does the Obama administration promise to be?

what website explains economic recovery plan?

What does the new White House website explain?

What does the administration need to continue to do?

Answer: Obama online portals, the

Answer: "transparent and accountable,"

Answer: Recovery.gov,

Answer: Office of Management and Budget

Answer: show taxpayers where their stimulus-package dollars are being spent.

Answer: show taxpayers where their stimulus-package dollars are being spent.

Answer: offering information in a user-friendly format.

Answer: "Better transparency makes evaluation much easier."

Answer: transparency has "been a watch word for good government types for years."

Summary:
New White House Web site explains economic stimulus spending .
Obama administration continues promise to be "transparent and accountable"
Recovery.gov is similar to other Obama-backed sites .
Harvard professor: "Better transparency makes evaluation much easier"


(CNN) -- In light of the botched Christmas Day airliner bombing aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, the Transportation Security Administration has announced new enhanced "guidelines" requiring airline passengers traveling from (and through) 14 different countries to undergo especially rigorous security screening before being able to fly into the United States. Under these new TSA guidelines, security screeners will conduct "full pat-down body checks" and extensive carry-on luggage checks for all passengers traveling from a country which the U.S. considers to be a "security risk." These 14 countries are: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Additionally, passengers traveling from any other foreign country may also be checked at 'random' as well. These new rules mean that "every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening," the TSA said. On its face, this clear use of ethnic, racial and religious profiling will not achieve greater security in the long term for our country. In fact, by targeting only certain passengers for additional screening, "blind spots" can be easily identified and duplicitously exploited by violent extremists wishing our country harm. Defenders of the new rules might say they're only profiling people coming from certain countries, but the fact that 13 of the 14 are Muslim countries makes clear the religious nature of the profiling. This new policy deeply undermines the Obama administration's stated commitment to civil rights, equality before the law, and a much-needed effort to rebuild U.S.-Muslim world relations since the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush. Under international law, countries including the United States that use race, color, ethnicity, religion or nationality as a proxy for criminal suspicion are in violation of international standards against racial discrimination and multiple treaties to which the U.S. is a party. These include the U.N. Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The clear alternative is for law enforcement agencies to focus on actual criminal behavior rather than solely on characteristics such as race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality. Senior international security experts have suggested, for example, that such an approach would have increased the chances that suspected shoe-bomber Richard Reid would have been stopped before he successfully boarded an airplane he intended to attack in December 2001. Among the red flags were that Reid bought a one-way ticket with cash and had no checked luggage. For years, the concept of "racial profiling" has reportedly undermined important terrorist investigations here in the United States. Most notably, these examples include the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing in which the two white male domestic terrorists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, were able to flee while officers operated on the theory that the act had been committed by "Arab terrorists" for the first 48 hours of the investigation. Similarly, during the October 2002 Washington-area sniper investigation, the African-American man and boy ultimately accused of the crime reportedly were able to pass through multiple road blocks with the alleged murder weapon in their possession, in part, because police 'profilers' theorized the crime had been committed by a white male acting alone. According to a report last summer by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rights Working Group to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination: "Both Democratic and Republican administrations [in the United States] have acknowledged that racial profiling is unconstitutional, socially corrupting and counter-productive, yet this unjustifiable practice remains a stain on American democracy and an affront to the promise of racial equality." In fact, not only do such "racial profiling" practices waste limited resources, they simply make us less safe. For example, the arrests of John Walker Lindh (a white, middle-class man better known as the 'American Taliban') and Richard Reid (a British

Who came up with the new TSA guidelines?

Answer: Transportation Security Administration

Answer: the Obama administration's stated commitment to civil rights, equality before the law, and a much-needed effort to rebuild U.S.-Muslim world relations since the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush.

Summary:
New TSA rules amount to ethnic and religious profiling, says Arsalan Iftikhar .
He says profiling will create blind spots terrorists can exploit .
Iftikhar says scrutinizing behavior is the best way to detect terrorist plots .
Policy deeply undermines Obama administration's commitment to civil rights, he says .


(CNN) -- In my mind -- and in the law -- there are two kinds of sexual harassment. The first kind is quid pro quo and easy to spot. A really detestable (usually) man gives his (usually) female subordinate employee or student an ultimatum: Put out or lose some opportunity, be it a grade, a job or a promotion.

During the "Mad Men" era, bosses got away with such, and women thought it the price of a life outside the kitchen. No more. Women no longer think this is OK. Professors even lose tenure over this clearly sexist and illegal behavior these days. We've come a long way on the road to equality on this front. Lawyers don't settle such claims for a few months' salary and a promise of silence.

No one knows right now if this is the kind of sexual harassment that Herman Cain is accused of, but I doubt it. For one thing, several others have claimed they witnessed the harassment of the women in question, and such bold threats aren't often made over the dinner table in a restaurant with observers.

But then there is the other kind of sexual harassment, the behavior that makes the workplace uncomfortable, that creates an environment that is hostile to women in general, or just to one person because of her (or his) sex, gender, race or ethnicity. Everyone agrees that workplaces ought not to differentiate between actors simply because of their sex, gender, race or ethnicity.

But beyond that, when sex and gender are involved, we often get into a "he said/she said" dialogue. For example, he believed the jokes were simply funny and created a more friendly setting; she believed they were offensive and created an us (the boys) versus them (her or her and other women) organizational climate where she was always going to be outside the loop, outside informal conversations and social networks that mattered.

Another example might be when a powerful man is attracted to one of his co-workers and simply wants to start some sort of sexual friendship, an offer he perhaps had made many times before and occasionally was accepted. But this time, the woman finds a sexual overture from a married boss intimidating and off-putting. She believes it changes forever the climate of the workplace. Even if he never threatened her status after the "invitation," she didn't believe the professional relationship would ever be the same after what she perceived to be sexual harassment.

If we look at sexual harassment in these terms, as he said/she said, we will never find a solution -- ethical, legal or moral to the problem. At this point, we have yet to create any consensus around the appropriate way to deal with sexual attraction and sexual desire in the workplace. No one can deny that workplaces are often where adults meet their life partners. In a 24/7 work environment, where else do you have to meet a spouse? And indeed, in a world where people often think of themselves as defined by "what they do," it makes sense that those who also do it are the people we have enough in common with to fall for, whether it's to fall in love, or even just in lust.

And yet, we are still in a world where the most powerful class of actors happens to be older men. We do not live in some post-feminist world, where power is yet equally shared. No one wants to anger or displease one's boss, even a little. Nor do we live in a world where the workplaces have become truly integrated by sex. In fact, the most recent research suggests that in the last decade, we've stalled at integration by sex. While women are getting more and more of the degrees, they remain in traditionally female-dominated fields, and are not moving forward in male-dominated ones.

My hypothesis for why is that heavily male-dominated occupations, including politics, are so heavily masculine in their cultures, full of sexual innuendo and -- perhaps -- the kind of sexual

She suggests rule that it's illegal for bosses to make sexual overtures to who?

What does sexual harassment cases often involve?

Barbara Risman said society hasn't reached consensus on what?

Answer: women

Answer: "he said/she said" dialogue.

Answer: around the appropriate way to deal with sexual attraction and sexual desire in the workplace.

Summary:
Barbara Risman: Society hasn't reached consensus on what's OK in workplace .
She says sexual harassment cases often involve "he said/she said" dialogue .
Risman: Men remain more powerful in workplace, so rules must be consistent .
She suggests rule that it's illegal for bosses to make sexual overtures to subordinates .


(CNN) -- In recent seasons, "Dancing With the Stars" has given exposure to such unlikely dancers as "Cheers" and Pixar favorite John Ratzenberger, magician Penn Jillette and Oscar-winning octogenarian actress Cloris Leachman. Kathy Ireland is among the contestants who will take part in the "Dancing With the Stars'" ninth season. But this year, the show is adding an even more unusual guest: A Hammer. Former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay -- known as "the Hammer" for his tough-minded tactics -- is among the contestants for the show's ninth edition, ABC announced Monday. Host Tom Bergeron and contestant Donny Osmond appeared on the network's "Good Morning America" to make the announcement. "This is the season where we have a cast that is as big as some of your family reunions," Bergeron joked to Osmond, a member of the Osmond family of entertainers. Blog: Are these really 'Stars'? Joining Osmond and DeLay will be Kelly Osbourne; former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin; models Kathy Ireland and Joanna Krupa; singers Macy Gray, Mya and Aaron Carter; actresses Melissa Joan Hart and Debi Mazar; Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin; ex-UFC fighter Chuck Liddell; snowboarder Louie Vito; and actors Mark Dacascos and Ashley Hamilton. Bergeron said this season will be a bit different as the show will have double elimination in the middle of the season. "It will be a ballroom bloodbath," Bergeron said. The new season of "Dancing With the Stars" begins September 21. Last season's winner was gymnast Shawn Johnson.

Name one other contestant scheduled to appear on this season of DWTS.

What was also scheduled for the ninth season?

What former House Majority Leader was a DWTS contestant?

What word does the host use to describe the ballroom during the double-elimination period?

Answer: Kathy Ireland

Answer: double elimination in the middle of the

Answer: Tom DeLay

Answer: Tom DeLay

Answer: Louie Vito;

Answer: Former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay

Answer: bloodbath,"

Summary:
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay among "DWTS" contestants .
Also scheduled for the ninth season: Melissa Joan Hart, snowboarder Louie Vito .
Show adding a double-elimination period: "It will be a ballroom bloodbath," host says .


(CNN) -- In staging their Fourth of July fireworks show, authorities in Ocean City, Maryland, have faced challenges in recent years from Mother Nature. Fireworks light up the sky over Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the city's 2008 Fourth of July festivities. In 2005, thick fog veiled the celebration. Spectators couldn't see the detailed patterns and colors of the fiery blasts -- they only saw the clouds and haze get brighter. Thunderstorms erupted the next two years, delaying the show in 2006 and then forcing its cancellation in 2007. That year, storms brought winds that were just too strong. "We start taking a hard look at the direction and speed of the wind when it gets to 15 or more knots [about 17 mph]," said Ocean City Fire Marshal Sam Villani. "At 20 knots, we consult the shooters ... to see if our perimeter is safe for the crowds. Twenty-knot [23 mph] sustained winds would probably be our cutoff." As millions gather across the United States on Saturday to celebrate America's birthday with fireworks displays, fire officials will be watching weather forecasts and preparing to make sure revelers are as safe as possible. They often start by banning spectators from a safety zone, or perimeter, around the launch site to protect them from drifting embers that can get as hot as 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. For that reason, fireworks launches over harbors, rivers and other bodies of water can often be larger in scale. "For a venue like New York Harbor, it is common for [launch] barges to be located on the water, well away from land," said Guy Colonna, division manager with the National Fire Protection Agency. "Even if the winds increase, it's possible...[for] the safety of the display not to be compromised." Fireworks shows originating on land have stricter standards for the size of the perimeter, depending on wind speed, because spectators are generally closer to the explosives, Colonna said. Strong winds can make safety trickier. According to the Boston Globe, hundreds of people at a 2005 Fourth of July fireworks show in Canton, Massachusetts were accidentally showered with glowing embers when winds shifted about 10 minutes after the event began. High winds can even cancel a fireworks celebration. Rain, however, will not necessarily stop a show, said Philip Butler of Fireworks by Grucci, a Long Island, New York-based fireworks production company that has choreographed shows for presidential inaugurations and the Olympics. Fireworks don't extinguish in the rain, and as long as operators "keep the powder dry," they will explode, Butler said. Moisture can cause them to change colors, though. "A brilliant blue may appear as a royal blue," he said. Weather challenges are nothing new for Grucci. In preparing for a large show in Dubai, the production company once faced 105-degree heat and a sandstorm. "They told us to simply kneel down and cover our heads with our capes and ride it out," Butler said. Ideal conditions for fireworks are calm winds, comfortable temperatures and clear night skies, Butler said. "When the sky is black and clear, it's like a painter's canvas for us." Some commonly asked questions about fireworks: Do fireworks still work when it snows? Yes. For many New Year's Eve celebrations in cold-weather states, it's often snowing during fireworks shows. Fireworks production companies say the snow acts as a prism, reflecting and shifting the colors. What's the biggest danger that spectators face from fireworks? Statistics show the vast majority of fireworks-related injuries are caused by over-the-counter fireworks instead of burning debris from public fireworks celebrations. The risk of fireworks injury is 2½ times higher for children than for the general population, according to the National Fire Protection Agency. The biggest culprit? Sparklers. The National Fire Protection Agency advises against using your own fireworks. "Leave it to the professionals." For a Fourth of July weather forecast for your area, visit CNN.com/weather

What will change Fireworks?
What did high winds cause?
What did the weather affect?
what has a firework company said
What can cancel firework celebrations?
what is affecting fireworks

Answer: Moisture

Answer: cancel a fireworks celebration.

Answer: Fourth of July fireworks show,

Answer: will not necessarily stop a show,

Answer: High winds

Answer: direction and speed of the wind

Summary:
High winds and rainstorms can pose serious challenges to fireworks shows .
Severe weather affected fireworks three of past four years in Ocean City, Maryland .
Winds can cancel a fireworks celebration, although light rain often will not .
One fireworks company weathered a sandstorm before a show in Dubai .


(CNN) -- In style and substance, Barack Obama is looking like he could be a different president than the candidate voters got to know during the campaign. Barack Obama has taken on a more somber tone as he prepares to take office. His message of changing the country has been replaced by one of repairing the country as he inherits crises that demand immediate action. "I want to be realistic here," Obama said in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "Not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace that we had hoped." During the campaign, Obama stressed fixing the economy as one of his top priorities, but his recent language has taken on an urgent tone. Obama painted a dire picture of the economy last week, warning that if Congress does not take "dramatic action" on his economic aid package as soon as possible, the nation would face devastating long-term consequences. "For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied. And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse," he said. It's a far cry from what voters heard from Obama the Democratic candidate, who inspired roaring crowds of thousands by telling them, "This is our moment. This is our time." But with the economy in a recession and people afraid for their financial future, Obama's soaring campaign rhetoric has given way to grim reality. And as if the economic crisis weren't enough, Obama has an international crisis awaiting him as well. The president-elect said Sunday that the suffering on both sides of Gaza's borders has led him to ramp up his commitment to working for a peace deal in the Middle East. These urgent items on Obama's agenda are forcing his team to reconsider some campaign pledges. Just as soon as he went from presidential hopeful to president-elect, Obama warned the nation of tough times ahead and lowered expectations that he would be the one to solve it all.  Watch more on the expectations for Obama » "We know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century," he said on the night of his election victory. "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," he said. He told voters that change couldn't happen without them, "without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice." He reiterated that same message this weekend, explaining what it's going to take to reform the government. "Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game," Obama told ABC. iReport.com: What should Obama do first? Some of the pledges Obama might have to rethink include his proposal to give some homeowners a 10 percent tax credit, an idea that has little support in Congress. During the campaign, Obama also told voters, "I don't believe in running up debt for the next generation." But just last week, he acknowledged that the cost of the economic recovery plan he is pushing would be "considerable" and would "certainly add to the budget deficit in the short term." Obama has not put a price tag on his stimulus package, but observers have estimated it would cost in the neighborhood of $800 billion. Obama also has proposed repealing the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, but now it's more likely that the president-elect will delay any tax increases on the wealthy until 2011, when the tax cuts expire. Some of the maneuvering is aimed

What has happened to Obama's tone as he prepares for office?

What did Obama say about his campaign promises?

What has the President-elect's tone become?

Answer: somber

Answer: "Not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace that we had hoped."

Answer: "Everybody

Answer: taken on a more somber

Answer: "Not everything that we talked

Answer: more somber

Answer: fixing the economy

Summary:
Obama says not all of his campaign promises will happen at pace he wanted .
President-elect's tone has become more somber as he prepares to take office .
Obama says, "Everybody is going to have to give" to get things back on track .
President-elect's priority is getting his economic recovery package passed .


(CNN) -- In tests for teacher Tom Farber's high school class, students can demonstrate their mastery of calculus and find out where to get braces or even a haircut. Calculus teacher Tom Farber is selling ad space on tests to defray printing costs. Squeezed by classroom budget cuts, the Rancho Bernardo High School teacher is selling ads on his exams to cover the costs of printing them. "It raises money for the teachers and it's amusing for the kids, so it seems like a win-win," said Luke Shaw, 18, a student at the suburban San Diego, California, school. Parents and administrators also praise Farber, 47, for his creative classroom funding, but he doesn't want it to become the norm. "My intention is, [selling ads] is a stopgap measure," said Farber. "I don't want to be doing this year after year." Instead, he says, government must do more to help educators provide what students need. Farber started letting parents and local businesses sponsor tests this fall after learning budget cuts would limit his in-school printing allowance -- tracked by the school's copy machines -- to $316 for the year. The cost of printing quizzes and tests for his 167 students will easily be more than $500, he said. That meant Farber, whose courses prepare students for the Advanced Placement exam, would have to give fewer or shorter tests, or find money. Farber, who says 90 percent of his students got a 5 -- the top score -- on AP exams last year, said skimping wasn't an option. "It has to be a certain quality, or they won't be ready," he said. So Farber, who says he'd never asked for money from parents in his 18 years of high school teaching, pitched the ad idea to parents at a September back-to-school night. For checks made to the math department -- $10 a quiz, $20 a test or $30 for a final exam -- they could insert an inspirational quote -- their own or someone else's -- or a business advertisement at the bottom of the first page.  Watch how teacher came up with ad idea » Of the seven to run so far -- one per test or quiz -- five were quotes, and two were ads from local businesses connected to the parents or someone close. "Brace yourself for a great semester! Braces by Henry, Stephen P. Henry D.M.D.," read one of the ads in small type at the bottom of a quiz's first page. Farber said orders took off after recent media reports. He's collected more than $300, and he believes he'll top $1,000, with some ad buyers paying more than required. All amounts beyond his shortfall will cover colleagues' printing costs, he said. Farber said students and parents have gotten a kick out of the sponsorships. Student Scott Robison, 18, said: "I liked it because all the teachers complain about budget cuts, and he did something about it. It hasn't hurt in any way." Luke Shaw's father, Jay Shaw, said he wants to sponsor a test next semester. And while Jay Shaw praised Farber's idea, "It's just sad it came to the point where he needs to do that," he said. Farber said he doesn't want quiz ads "to become the standard." "What I'm doing now is ... dealing with the economic situation and making sure kids get what they need," Farber said. "Teachers shouldn't have to scrounge for funding. To me, this is what our government is for, to provide necessities, and that's why we pay taxes." But California's budget crisis has forced Farber's school district, Poway Unified, to cut costs, district Superintendent Don Phillips said. The California Federation of Teachers says the state cut more than $4 billion in education spending this year. Phillips said that when the district sought to chop $

what California calculus teacher had budget for classroom?

How much money did Faber expect to raise?

Answer: Tom Farber

Answer: budget

Answer: Rancho Bernardo High School

Answer: parents and local businesses

Answer: Tom Farber

Answer: $1,000,

Summary:
California calculus teacher had budget for classroom supplies cut .
Parents or businesses can sponsor exams with small ad on first page .
Teacher Tom Farber expects to raise $1,000 with ads this school year .
Farber, education officials hope stopgap measure doesn't become the norm .


(CNN) -- In the Hezbollah militia strongholds in southern Beirut and south Lebanon, they set off fireworks and fired guns in the air. In the northern Israeli city of Haifa, people waved Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

But when Egypt's vice president read President Hosni Mubarak's resignation statement Friday, patrons watching TV in Tavelino Cafe in Amman, Jordan, suddenly turned quiet.

The cafe's Egyptian manager "clearly is not happy about the news," said CNN iReporter Johnny Colt. "Just last night, the man spoke to me at length about Egypt and why Mubarak needed to stay until September. When I asked him how he felt about the Mubarak news, my new friend suddenly told me he cannot speak English and that I should use my computer to find English news."

Such was the disparity of opinions that could be heard in the Middle East about the events unfolding in Egypt on Friday. So, too, were the responses from world leaders and political organizations -- some of whom ascribed starkly different reasons for the historic significance of the moment.

To British Prime Minister David Cameron, Mubarak's departure was an important first step for a nation yearning for democracy.

"Today has been a remarkable day," Cameron said, "particularly for those people in Tahrir Square and elsewhere, who have spoken out so bravely and so peacefully for change in their country."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Egypt's "historic moment" and paid tribute to Mubarak's decision to resign. He called for steps leading to free elections and reforms and urged Egyptians "to continue their non-violent march to freedom."

For the government of Iran, Egypt's political earthquake meant something entirely different.

"A new Middle East is taking shape, not the Mideast the West had planned for but one which has been created based on Islamic awakening," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast in an interview with state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency called it "joyful coincidence" that Egypt's revolution culminated on the 32nd anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution victory.

Elsewhere in the region, political groups, some of which are hostile to Israel and the West, were quick to attach the success of the Egyptian revolt to their own aspirations.

Mohammed Al-Qubati, a spokesman for Yemen's biggest opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties, said "the map of the Arab nations will change as a result of the revolution."

"Mubarak's fall," Al-Qubati said, "proves that oppression and use of force cannot add life to the current regimes, and time for change has come."

The Joint Meeting Parties is primarily a coalition of Islamists and Socialists.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called Mubarak's ouster "a victory for the Palestinian people."

Hamas, said Zuhri, "calls on the new Egyptian leadership to lift the siege of Gaza and to open the Rafah crossing and assure the free movement between Egypt and Palestine and to start the development construction process of Gaza."

Zuhri's remarks reflected the sentiments of Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza and the West Bank. In Gaza, revelers spilled into the streets, honked car horns and fired guns in celebration.

Israel's two major TV channels carried the announcement of Mubarak's departure live, with images from Cairo's Tahrir Square supplemented by their political and Arab affairs commentators debating what the development means for Israel.

The headline on the website of Israel's largest newspaper, Yedioth Aronoth, read, "Mubarak Quits -- Masses Elated."

The Israeli government said little about the fall of Mubarak.

The Anti-Defamation League in New York issued a statement expressing concern about how the political transformation of Egypt will affect Israel and "what role the Muslim Brotherhood will play in the transition and beyond."

In Lebanon, public reaction appeared muted. Diners in small cafes watched Arab satellite coverage of the Egyptian street celebrations. For some, it brought back nostalgic memories of the 2005 uprising that kicked the Syrians out of Lebanon.

However,

WHat did Palestinians do to celebrate the event?

Answer: "to continue their non-violent march to freedom."

Answer: President Hosni Mubarak's resignation statement

Answer: Hezbollah militia

Answer: revelers spilled into the streets, honked car horns and fired guns

Summary:
NEW: Turkish prime minister urges Egyptian army to show "common sense and restraint"
Iranian TV calls revolution's date a "joyful coincidence"
TVs in Middle East cafes tune to Egyptian revolution .
Palestinians in Gaza fire guns in celebration .


(CNN) -- In the Land of the Rising Sun, the fiscal year is setting in a sea of red. Mount Fuji glows red in the sunset, much like the year-end results of Japanese manufacturers. Electronics makers Hitachi and NEC Corp., and carmaker Nissan all ended the year with a loss. Japan's largest electronics maker, Hitachi lost $8 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, with consolidated revenues down 11 percent from last year. It was the largest loss ever recorded by a Japanese manufacturer, according to Shinko Research Institute. NEC Corporation lost $3 billion in the past fiscal year, down nearly 11.5 percent from last year. Meanwhile, Nissan lost $2.3 billion for the year Declines in the automobile, semiconductor and industrial equipment industries especially hurt Hitachi, as well as write-downs of securities due to the sharp declines in global stock exchanges.  Watch more about Japanese stock values » Hitachi said it will cut unprofitable business lines, reduce staff and eliminate factories in Japan and overseas, but gave no specifics. Japanese firms have been hit hard by the credit crisis, which has driven up the value of the yen -- driving up the export cost of products to markets like the US, where consumers are spending less on durable goods such as automobiles and electronic products.

who had the  biggest ever loss for Japanese manufacturer

Answer: Hitachi

Answer: Japan's largest electronics maker,

Answer: Electronics makers Hitachi and NEC Corp., and carmaker Nissan all ended the year with a loss.

Answer: Japan's

Answer: credit crisis,

Answer: $2.3 billion for the year

Answer: $8 billion

Summary:
Hitachi's annual loss of $8 billion biggest ever for Japanese manufacturer .
NEC Corp. loses $3 billion; Nissan $2.3 billion .
Japanese manufacturers hurt by strong yen, soft overseas sales .


(CNN) -- In the age of digital audio, what does good old-fashioned radio still have to offer? Teca Lima, the voice of RadarCultura, consults the Web site before talking into the mic. Plenty, according to the creators of RadarCultura, a community-based Web site and a daily three-hour AM radio program broadcast from Brazil's São Paulo. "Radio is 'now,'" says 22-year-old Brazilian André Avorio, who implemented the Web site. "[Radio] is generally quick and live. This adds a special dynamic to the medium. Moreover, it is still one of the most popular means of mass communication in Brazil. Combining it with the power of the Internet can result in many new possibilities." RadarCultura is an experimental project of the Padre Anchieta Foundation to promote public participation in audio-visual programming, eventually aiming to fuse its radio, television and Web programs into a single interactive, real-time platform. Like many online music sites, RadarCultura is always looking for new music and emerging talents, but its primary focus is to preserve the memory of the Brazilian repertoire by resurfacing classic, forgotten or unknown songs. The Padre Anchieta Foundation also happens to boast the biggest archive of Brazilian music in Brazil, including more than 15,000 songs dating from the 1920's to the present. "Making it easy to search through the vast archive of songs was an important feature since version one of the Web site," says Avorio. Producer Alceu Maynard observes two types of RadarCultura members: "There are people who listen to the show because they are fans of Brazilian music. There are others who like to produce the content on our site -- they collaborate actively with suggestions, playlists and all aspects of programming." Meanwhile, RadarCultura team members Alceu, speaker Teca Lima and project manager Lia Rangel are busy podcasting interviews, moderating conversations, blogging, twittering and keeping the site relevant. Old media gets new blood True to its non-visual origin, RadarCultura's Web site is strictly text-based, with icons that link to votes and streaming audio. And true to its Web-based platform, the site has adopted, and adapted, all Net-native systems for its daily operations. The site itself runs on the free Drupal content-management system, which allows content to rank and flow according to input and feedback from the site's online community. Members who wish to contribute their own audio material to RadarCultura's archive must either podcast it themselves first, or else they may upload it to the U.S.-based Archive.org to clear it of online rights. Given the quantity of music aired from the ever-expanding repertoire, copyright issues are the most common pretext to negotiation, most notably with ECAD, a privately owned civil society for the collection and distribution of copyright managed by 10 Brazilian music associations. Online, however, RadarCultura distributes the entirety of its streaming content under a Creative Commons license. The team has also been experimenting with the free CoveritLive software to enable live blogging, chatting and Twittering among audience, presenters and guests during its online coverage of radio and TV events, including the popular Roda Vivo TV show. RadarCultura's first live event coverage in February 2008 was of Campus Party Brasil, a seven-day tech-fest that saw people camping out in tents with broadband cables while sharing ideas and technological innovations. In April 2008, RadarCultura struck again with its live coverage of Virada Cultural, Brazil's largest cultural event, including art performances and exhibits in the streets of São Paulo during 24 continuous hours, attracting some 4 million people. "I came up with the idea of inviting the audience to report directly from the streets using their mobile phones," says Avorio. "A telephone system was installed, and the calls from the participants were automatically recorded. Our non-stop production team listened to every recording as they arrived and not only immediately published them online but geo-localized them on an interactive map of São Paulo. "It was RadarCultura's first truly collaborative coverage, as the

what is the program about
what is the community website
Length of RadarCultura radio program?
What does foundation boast?
How long is radio program?
What is the type of music played?

Answer: promote public participation in audio-visual programming, eventually aiming to fuse its radio, television and Web

Answer: RadarCultura,

Answer: three-hour

Answer: the biggest archive of Brazilian music in Brazil,

Answer: three-hour

Answer: Brazilian

Summary:
RadarCultura is a daily 3-hour radio program and community Web site .
Its father foundation boasts the biggest archive of Brazilian music in Brazil .
Web site invites members to create playlists, vote on, suggest music for air .
RadarCultura also covers live culture and technology events .


(CNN) -- In the black market of prison life, cell phones have become perhaps the hottest commodity. Now, Texas is among a growing number of state governments going after them. Hundreds of contraband cell phones were found behind bars or in transit to Texas inmates in 2008. Tiny, easy to hide and an unmonitored link for convicts to the outside world, cell phones are valuable contraband, fetching a greater asking price from convicts than some shipments of illegal drugs. John Moriarty, inspector general for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said that one phone can fetch as much as $2,000. "It takes one crooked prison worker to populate a whole prison unit with them," he said. More than 1,200 wireless phones sit in law enforcement evidence rooms, all found behind bars or in transit to Texas inmates in 2008. Moriarty is the investigator and bloodhound the state of Texas uses to trail the illegal traffic. "These are not stupid people," he said of the coordinated efforts to slip phones into the prison and hide them. "There are a lot of hands in between and they all want a piece of the action." Accomplices on the outside vary from family members, to friends to fellow criminals who buy or steal the phones and charge them with minutes. The contraband is then moved through an elaborate series of drop points and usually ferried into the walls of a prison by a guard or trustee -- an escape engineered in reverse. Finding the dirty prison employee is often the key. "Some of these guys make next to nothing, so you can see how easy it could be to corrupt them," Moriarty said. State Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and the chair of the state senate's Criminal Justice Committee, became an ally of Moriarty's after one phone call in October. He picked up a phone slip from his secretary and called the number on it -- only to realize he had returned a call to a death row inmate's cell phone. The inmate, he said, was Richard Tabler -- a convicted double murderer who was sharing a wireless phone with nine other inmates. "At first I thought it was a hoax," said Whitmire, who said he called the state justice board and "read them the riot act." Whitmire is one of the sponsors of a bill in the Texas Legislature that would crack down on convicts caught with phones and allow prison systems to monitor and detect cell signals. It's en route to Gov. Rick Perry's desk after clearing both houses of the legislature this week. Other efforts are under way at both the state and federal level. In January, U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, introduced legislation that would let prisons jam cell-phone signals within their walls. Last month, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley asked the federal government for permission to do so in his state. Prison officials in Arizona are training dogs to sniff out cell phones.

What are sniffer dogs in Texas prisons looking for?

Answer: to sniff out cell phones.

Answer: sniff out cell phones.

Answer: that would crack down on convicts caught with phones and allow prison systems to monitor and detect cell signals.

Answer: convicts caught with phones

Answer: sniff out cell phones.

Answer: cell phones

Answer: state

Summary:
Texas is among a growing number of states going after contraband cell phones .
Savvy inmates, outside accomplices, corrupt guards make problem a thorny one .
Bill cracking down on contraband phones clears Texas Legislature .
Other states training dogs to sniff out phones, seeking feds' help in jamming signals .


(CNN) -- In the early morning hours Saturday, surviving remnants of a NASA satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere over a remote stretch of the southern Pacific Ocean, the U.S. space agency said Tuesday.

Nick Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris, said on the agency's website that the re-entry point was in the general vicinity of Christmas Island, south of Indonesia.

"It's unlikely that anyone actually observed the re-entry," Johnson said, adding that NASA has yet to receive any reports of a sighting from airplanes, ships or island inhabitants in the region.

A NASA statement on the website, labeled the final status report on the falling satellite, said it entered the atmosphere at 0400 GMT Saturday, midnight on the U.S. East Coast, over "a broad, remote ocean area in the Southern Hemisphere."

The exact coordinates cited by NASA were 14.1 degrees south latitude and 189.8 degrees east longitude (170.2 west longitude).

According to the statement, debris would have landed 300 to 800 miles northeast of the re-entry point.

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite was launched in 1991 on a space shuttle mission and ceased its scientific life in 2005, the NASA statement said.

It broke into pieces during re-entry, NASA said, with 26 chunks weighing a total of 1,200 pounds considered likely to reach the Earth's surface.

According to NASA, space debris the size of the satellite's components re-enters the atmosphere about once a year.

What have they not received any reports of?

What number of pieces were expected to survive re entry?

Answer: surviving remnants of a NASA satellite

Answer: a sighting from airplanes, ships or island inhabitants in the region.

Answer: NASA

Answer: over a remote stretch of the southern Pacific Ocean,

Answer: 26

Answer: 26

Answer: the general vicinity of Christmas Island, south of Indonesia.

Answer: yet to receive

Summary:
NASA has not received any reports of people seeing the falling debris .
The satellite debris entered the atmosphere between Australia and Africa .
About 26 pieces, some weighing hundreds of pounds, were expected to survive re-entry .


(CNN) -- In the lead up to every New Year's Eve the inevitable question of how to celebrate arises. For most, waterfronts become the focal point of the celebrations.

It's hard not to see why with the amazing firework displays looking even more dazzling reflected in the water.

So jump in a boat or head to the foreshore for our the top 10 places to countdown to 2012.

River Seine, Paris

See Paris, the 'City of Light', be lit with fireworks while cruising down the River Seine on the last day of the year. The Eiffel Tower is the centerpiece for the festivities and from some parts of the river you can get a magnificent uninterrupted view of the famous structure.

Sydney Harbor

Sydney prides itself on holding what it claims to be the most spectacular New Year's Eve celebrations in the world. Thousands of boats anchor in the harbor and millions of people hit the foreshore to witness the firework display with the 'Sydney Opera House' and Harbor Bridge used as the backdrop.

The shores of Kiribati, Pacific Ocean

Leave your worries and the rest of the world behind in 2011 in this tiny Pacific nation. Kiribati is the first place in the world to ring in 2012. Kiribati prides itself on being the first nation to celebrate the New Year, even changing the name of one of its islands before 2000 to Millennium Island to mark the fact it would be the first country to enter the third millennium.

Niagara Falls, Ontario

This is no ordinary waterfront, but with the spectacular backdrop of the Niagara Falls, it's hard to go past Queen Victoria Park in Ontario. The freezing weather does not deter the tens of thousands of people who hit the park to count down to the New Year. Revelers can listen to live music while watching an amazing fireworks display over the world famous waterfall.

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janerio

Brazilians are renowned for their outstanding parties and New Year's Eve is no different. It is one of the greatest celebrations in the South American nation, second only to the Carnival. Millions hit the sands of the famous Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro to watch the firework display over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bosporus, Istanbul

Celebrate 2012 across two continents on the Bosporus in Istanbul -- the strait that divides Europe and Asia. A fireworks display lights up the Bosporus Bridge while beautiful mosques and other ancient Turkish are illuminated, giving those on the water a stunning view.

Koh Phangan Beach, Thailand

If you want to escape the cold on New Year's Eve then there is no better place to do it than on the beach in Thailand. Koh Phangan is home to Thailand's famous moon parties and on New Year's Eve the celebrations continue. The beach is packed mostly with tourists keen to party well into New Year's Day.

Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong

The vast harbor is lit up when the clock strikes 12 in Hong Kong. Fireworks are set off from the buildings which line the foreshore, using the high-rises as a part of the lighting show and giving the audience a dazzling display.

River Thames, London

If you're willing to brave the chilly winds, a cruise on the River Thames will provide spectacular views. Watch the fireworks with London's iconic new and old buildings in the background such as Big Ben, Westminster and the London Eye.

Victoria and Albert Waterfront, Cape Town

The fantastic sound of African drums beat out at this New Year's celebration in Cape Town. Revelers enjoy a warm summer's evening on the water here, with firework displays and street performers for those onshore.

What are waterfronts used for?
What will people watch?
Where are many NYE celebrations?
Where will they need to brave the cold?
Who goes to beaches?

Answer: focal point of the celebrations.

Answer: amazing firework displays

Answer: waterfronts

Answer: River Thames, London

Answer: tourists

Summary:
Waterfronts across the world are the focal point for many NYE celebrations .
Revelers will need to brave the cold to watch fireworks on the River Seine and Thames .
Party goers who prefer the warmer weather can head to the beaches in Brazil and Thailand .


(CNN) -- In the midst of a swirl of rumors about Herman Cain, a woman who accuses him of sexual harassment holds a news conference. Her attorney, Gloria Allred, employs her studied grimace as Sharon Bialek tells of an encounter 14 years ago that, if true, constitutes an unreported sexual assault. At his own press conference the next day, candidate Cain issues a heated denial, having earlier hinted at a willingness to take a lie detector test.

How would the court system, America's formal arbiter of truth, evaluate the competing claims?

The courts would refuse to even consider them. In the legal world, courts scrupulously enforce statutes of limitations on accusations of improper or criminal conduct. The rules exist because it is unfair to force the accused to defend against a charge of ancient vintage. Witness memories and evidence have grown stale and the courts believe that evidence is best evaluated and most reliable when it is fresh.

The rare exceptions to this rule almost always involve the abuse of children and particularly heinous crimes like murder. The law provides no sanctuary for women who seek to resurrect sexual harassment claims from as distant as 14 years in the past.

But Herman Cain now exists in the realm of politics and not the courtroom. Cain must find a way to prove his innocence to a skeptical public regarding a suspiciously large number of claims for which the statute of limitations has long since expired. Unfortunately, finding a path to the truth of sex harassment charges can often be a perilous journey.

Today, most professionals structure their interactions with employees of the opposite sex carefully to avoid even the hint of sexual impropriety. Glass-walled office suites are the norm, insuring that employee relationships remain open to public view. The world of "Mad Men's" Don Draper and his blatantly sexual overtures to female employees is mostly a thing of the past. Today's sexual harassment is far more subtle.

Although legitimate claims deserve compensation, the sex harassment litigation story has a seedy underside. False complaints are sometimes rewarded with generous monetary awards and then hidden from public view with confidentiality agreements and sealing orders.

Employment lawyers are accustomed to meeting with CEO clients who are initially defiant and determined to resist a false claim of sexual harassment. They want their reputations and integrity preserved. But when a high-ranking executive is involved, the company rumor vine begins to grow. Depositions are taken. Employees are pulled out of the workplace to back one side or the other. Sterling reputations begin to bleed under the slash of a thousand paper cuts.

And of course, the litigation process is expensive for the company. Knowing this, experienced lawyers often urge even the innocent accused executive to agree to mediate claims informally and avoid the possibility of a very public and very embarrassing federal lawsuit. Legitimate victims are also urged to settle rather than risk losing at trial.

Once mediation begins, the parties are told that public humiliation and legal costs can be avoided with a quiet, confidential settlement. Both plaintiff and defendant are simultaneously silenced by the agreement's penalty provisions. The truth of the claims will never be tested in any public forum.

That is, unless the accused decides to run for public office. Then it appears the art of the leak can undermine the solidity of even the most carefully drafted of confidentiality agreements.

Herman Cain said he never consented to the mediation process. The National Restaurant Association, through its board, might have negotiated its own deal with the two women who made allegations of sexual misconduct against Cain to avoid bad publicity and legal costs. Businesses will often "settle and seal" the case rather than endure the expense and embarrassment of defending even a falsely accused chief executive.

Based on the sketchy reported accounts, the initial case against Cain might have been paper-thin. There is no assertion of overt sexual contact between him and the female employees in question. The website Politico, which broke the story, refers to witness accounts of episodes of conversations filled with "innuendo" and of "physical gestures that were not overtly sexual" but which made female employees feel uncomfortable.

No one who has followed Cain

what claims are often settled out of court?

Answer: would refuse to even consider them.

Answer: Herman Cain,

Answer: sexual harassment

Answer: Sharon Bialek

Summary:
Paul Callan: The women accusing Cain relate encounters from years ago .
The courts wouldn't hear these cases because of statute of limitations, he writes .
Harassment claims, true and false, often settled out of court to avoid bad publicity .
Callan: Cain might win in court, but in politics, what matters is public judgment .


(CNN) -- In the pre-dawn darkness Saturday, long after her parents and brother were asleep, Atefeh Yazdi lay in bed cradling the house phone and her cell phone in her hands. Atefeh Yazdi visits with her grandfather, Dr. Ebrahim Yazdi, during his trip to America last year. The only light was from a television tuned to the latest news from Iran, and her laptop displaying her Facebook page in hope of any updates on what was happening halfway around the world. "I kind of felt I was more there when I couldn't see the rest of the room, just the TV and the Facebook," the 28-year-old Iranian-American told CNN by telephone from her home in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Repeated calls to relatives in Tehran only got the "annoying" Farsi-language error message. She recounted the thoughts running through her brain all night: "Are they going to really shoot people? What's going to happen? Is this going to turn into massive killing and violence?" In Houston, Texas, Reza Soltani said the anxiety of waiting and wondering was like endless pacing at a hospital during a loved one's operation. "It feels like the operation started last week and it hasn't ended," Soltani, 28, told CNN by telephone. "I'm worried. I'm hoping it will be good but I'm worried it will get very ugly." The jumble of emotions -- fear, hope, anxiety, frustration -- were reality for millions of Iranian-Americans trying to find out if Iranian authorities would crush protests over last week's election. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the overwhelming victor in voting that opposition groups called rigged. No independent monitors were permitted for the election. A threatening statement Friday by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei increased fears of bloodshed. Iranian authorities have cut off traditional communications such as cell phone connections, and also banned foreign news outlets from covering the protests. Thousands of protesters took to the streets Saturday, even though the demonstrations were banned and police confronted them with clubs, tear gas and water cannons. The uncertainty and unrest strikes close to home for Yazdi, whose grandfather -- a longtime politician in Iran -- was arrested from his hospital bed this week. He's been returned to the hospital, she said, but she doesn't know if he'll be arrested again or what will happen to other relatives. "It's very exhausting," Yazdi said. "I have this feeling I want to be there. I want to book the next flight. I want to be with the people. I don't care about the risks involved." Her parents, who left Iran in the 1970s before the Islamic Revolution, say such talk is foolish, she said. They are as worried as she is, but fear returning now would bring too much risk. "There's a generation gap, a culture gap," she explained. It runs deep, defining her life as an American-born citizen of both Iran and the United States, who refers to Iranians as "my people." "Being born and raised in America, where I was able to voice my opinion, do what I want, say what I wanted, I'm culturally confused," Yazdi said. "I'm not completely American the right way, and I'm not completely Iranian the right way." Soltani also mentioned the generation gap among Iranian-Americans, but he described it as more political. His parents' generation lost everything in the revolution, and will only consider returning when the revolutionary regime has been toppled, he said. Older Iranian-Americans in the United States "actually boycotted the election, saying if you vote you're just legitimizing the government," Soltani said. "We sacrificed everything for you guys, and now you're going to the other team," is how Soltani characterized their attitude. "They think the system needs to go completely," he said. "All they care is for the system to collapse. They think if the system

culture gap exists between who?
Who is waiting for news?
What did the woman say?
Where did the events take place?

Answer: Iranian-Americans,

Answer: Atefeh Yazdi

Answer: "I kind of felt I was more there when I couldn't see the rest of the room, just the TV and the Facebook,"

Answer: Iran,

Summary:
Pair describe fear and anxiety as they wait for news .
They believe Iran will be changed forever by the week's events.
Culture gap exists between older, younger Iranian-Americans, woman says .


(CNN) -- In the second such incident in three days, fighter jets escorted a diverted commercial flight on Friday after an unruly passenger caused alarm onboard. The military sent up two F-16s in response to reports of an unruly passenger aboard AirTran Flight 39, the North American Aerospace Defense Command  said in a statement. The passenger had become belligerent and refused to leave the restroom, airline spokesman Tad Hutcheson told CNN on Friday. The passenger appeared to be intoxicated, he said. The flight, bound for San Francisco, California, left Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:48 a.m. ET, according to AirTran's Web site. NORAD dispatched the fighters at 1:44 p.m. ET, escorting the aircraft to a safe emergency landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officials said. The passenger was detained there and FBI agents from Denver, Colorado, were called to question passengers, Hutcheson said. The other passengers were scheduled to continue their trip at 4:30 p.m. ET, he said. On Wednesday, NORAD escorted a Hawaii-bound plane back to its origination city of Portland, Oregon, after a passenger gave a flight attendant a note that was interpreted as being threatening, the federal complaint and supporting affidavit said Friday. The passenger, Joseph Hedlund Johnson, 56, told the FBI he hadn't intended to scare anyone with the note, which began, "I thought I was going to die," and referenced the television show "Gilligan's Island."

What did the airline spokesman say the passenger was?

Where was the Atlanta to San Francisco flight diverted to?

Where did fighters escort the jet back to?

Atlanta-to-San Francisco flight was diverted to what area?

The unruly passenger was aboard what flight?

Answer: belligerent

Answer: The passenger

Answer: Colorado Springs, Colorado,

Answer: the restroom,

Answer: Colorado Springs, Colorado,

Answer: Colorado Springs, Colorado,

Answer: The passenger appeared to be intoxicated,

Answer: AirTran

Summary:
NORAD: Two F-16s dispatched Friday on reports of unruly passenger aboard AirTran flight .
Passenger was belligerent, wouldn't leave bathroom, airline spokesman says .
Atlanta-to-San Francisco flight was diverted to Colorado Springs, Colorado .
Fighters escorted jet bound for Hawaii back to Oregon on Wednesday in similar scenario .


(CNN) -- In the shadows of Mount Redoubt, Alaskans are calmly waiting for the volcano to erupt -- an event that could occur at any time. Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano spews ash and steam during an eruption in 1989. "The level of seismic activity" has "increased markedly" in recent days at the 10,197-foot peak located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, the state's most populous city, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. "We don't have a crystal ball," said Peter Cervelli, a research geophysicist with the observatory, which is aggressively monitoring the volcano. But "we expect based on the past behavior of this volcano that this activity is going to culminate in an eruption." The activity has consisted "of a combination of discrete, relatively small earthquakes and periods of more continuous volcanic tremor," Cervelli said. Scientists raised the alert status Sunday to a "watch" level, the second-highest, based on seismic activity detected January 23. PopSci.com: Predicting eruptions The "watch" status means the "volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, time frame uncertain, or eruption is under way but poses limited hazards," according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Maureen Burke, 29, a coffee shop manager in Anchorage, said she remembers the last eruption and isn't too worried this time. PopSci.com: Prehistoric explosions wiped out ocean life -- and created petroleum She said living in Alaska and being close to nature, residents just laugh such events off, dealing with them as they come. Falling ash is a potential problem. The best way to protect yourself from the harmful showers of ash is to wear a mask, Missy Moore, 33, said. As an administrator and supervisor of Starbright Early Learning Center in Anchorage, Moore said, "it's really not anything to worry about just yet." PopSci.com: Google Earth environment guide If Mount Redoubt covers nearby cities with ash, Moore said the school will adhere to the public school district's guidelines. "If the [public] school district closes schools, our school closes too. The city of Anchorage advises citizens to stay indoors," Moore said. "The ash can get into your engines and mess up your car." Shana Medcoff, 17, a barista in Kenai, about 50 miles from the volcano, said residents are encouraged to buy air filters for their cars. PopSci.com: Spying on a hostile landscape Mount Redoubt last erupted nearly 20 years ago, in December 1989, and that lasted until April 1990. Geologists think there could be an eruption "similar to or smaller than the one that occurred in 1989-90."  Learn more about Redoubt and its history » That eruption spread ash in Kenai and Anchorage, where it disrupted air traffic operations. Cervelli said the ash plumes caused engine failure on a jet. "It's not the closest volcano to Anchorage," Cervelli said, but "it has the potential to disrupt air traffic at Anchorage." The 1989-90 volcano also spurred volcanic mudflows, or lahars, that flowed east down the Drift River. The ash fall was seen as far away as Fairbanks and the Yukon Territory border. The observatory has set up a Web camera near the summit of the volcano and another within Cook Inlet. It plans to do continuous visual surveillance, measure gas output and analyze satellite and weather-radar data.

What did scientists raise the alert level to?

What does a "watch" alert level mean, in terms of severity of alerts?

Miles southwest that Mount Redoubt is from Anchorage, Alaska?

What alert level did the scientists raise the alert?

Answer: 10,197-foot

Answer: Mount Redoubt

Answer: "watch"

Answer: raised the alert status Sunday to a "watch" level,

Answer: December 1989,

Answer: the second-highest,

Answer: 100

Answer: "watch"

Answer: 100 miles southwest of Anchorage,

Summary:
NEW: Scientists raise alert level to "watch," the second highest state of alert .
The 10,200-foot Mount Redoubt is about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska .
Volcano last erupted in December 1989 .
Eruption could spawn huge mudflows, disrupt flights with ash .


(CNN) -- In the wake of a multi-state outbreak of listeriosis linked to bacteria-tainted cantaloupe, authorities assured the public that cantaloupe grown in places other than Colorado's Jensen Farms is safe.

But if in doubt about a fruit's origin, they said, it's best to throw it out.

The outbreak -- blamed on the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes -- was first reported September 12. As of Wednesday, it had grown to 72 cases in 18 states and had killed 13 people, officials with the Centers for Disease Control said. The number of cases is expected to rise, as it can take one to three weeks for a person who ingests the bacteria to show symptoms.

All of the tainted cantaloupes were grown at Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado, although they were shipped to 17 states -- Illinois, Wyoming, Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

"It's important to know that if you know the cantaloupe that you have is not Jensen Farms, then it's OK to eat," CDC Director Tom Frieden told reporters during a conference call Wednesday. "But if you're in doubt, then throw it out."

The recalled cantaloupes may bear a green-and-white sticker that says, "Product of USA-Frontera Produce-Colorado Fresh-Rocky Ford-Cantaloupe," or a gray, yellow and green sticker that says, "Jensen Farms-Sweet Rocky Fords."

But not all cantaloupes may have a sticker, Frieden said. Consumers are urged to ask the supermarket or supplier if they know where the cantaloupes came from. If the cantaloupe's origins remain unconfirmed, it should be disposed of, he said.

However, the likelihood of tainted cantaloupes in the nation's food supply is decreasing, thanks to the fruit's short shelf life -- about two weeks, officials said. The recalled cantaloupes were shipped from July 29 through September 10, "so we really are nearing the end of the shelf life of the product in addition to its recalled product," Sherri McGarry, a senior adviser with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), told reporters.

The recall itself should be removing the cantaloupes from shelves, she said, but the shelf life means the tainted cantaloupes will not be edible much longer. "But consumers do have their own practices so we need to be cognizant some folks may hold that a little bit longer than we might expect," she said.

If consumers do have a cantaloupe from Jensen Farms, authorities recommend they don't try to wash off the bacteria. "We want you to throw that product away," McGarry said.

The fruits should be disposed of in a closed plastic bag and placed in a sealed trash can, to prevent people or animals from eating them, the CDC said.

Refrigeration will not kill the Listeria bacteria, which can grow even at low temperatures, officials said. And the longer a contaminated food is stored in the refrigerator, the more opportunity the bacteria has to grow.

"It is very important that consumers clean their refrigerators and other food preparation surfaces" in order to minimize risk, the FDA says on its website. After washing refrigerators, cutting boards and countertops, the agency recommends sanitizing them with a solution of one tablespoon chlorine bleach per gallon of hot water and drying them with a paper towel or cloth that has not been previously used.

Jensen Farms has now ended its cantaloupe harvest for the season, so no new contaminated fruit will be entering the market, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said Wednesday.

Although Jensen Farms does produce other products, there is no concern for any other product from the company, McGarry said.

Listeriosis causes fever, muscle aches, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. It rarely is a serious concern for healthy children and adults, the CDC said, but can be dangerous for older adults or those with weakened immune systems. It can be treated with antibiotics.

The source of the outbreak -- the

what should you do if you have any doubt

If there is any doubt about a cantaloupe's origin, what do officials say should be done with it?

Health officials say the only contaminated fruit is from where?

If consumers don't know where a melon came from, they can do what

wher is the  only contaminated fruit from

Answer: throw it out.

Answer: throw

Answer: Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado,

Answer: throw it out.

Answer: Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado,

Answer: ask the supermarket or supplier if they know where the cantaloupes came from.

Answer: Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado,

Summary:
Health officials say the only contaminated fruit is from Jensen Farms .
If consumers don't know where a melon came from, they can ask the store .
If there is any doubt about a cantaloupe's origin, it should be thrown out, officials say .
Consumers should not try to wash off the bacteria .


(CNN) -- In the wake of the tragic shootings at Columbine High School, some schools across the country turned themselves into near-fortresses. Kindergarden students huddle beneath desks in a lockdown drill. Such drills have become common. They installed metal detectors and security cameras, banned backpacks, required students to carry IDs and posted police in the hallways -- all in the name of keeping students safe. Now, 10 years after those highly publicized shootings in which two young men killed 13 people and themselves, school security has taken another dramatic turn. Some of the noticeable security measures remain, but experts say the country is exploring a new way to protect kids from in-school violence: administrators now want to foster school communities that essentially can protect themselves with or without the high-tech gear. "The first and best line of defense is always a well-trained, highly alert staff and student body," said Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, an Ohio-based firm specializing in school security. "The No. 1 way we find out about weapons in schools is not from a piece of equipment [such as a metal detector] but from a kid who comes forward and reports it to an adult that he or she trusts."  See how many homicides have occurred in schools since 1992 » The Obama administration plans to create secure schools indirectly, by improving overall education, getting kids more involved in their studies and strengthening school communities, said William Modzeleski, a high-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Education who handles school security. The trend is reflected in security funding, some of which comes from federal grants. Allocations for the Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools program were cut by a third between 1999 and 2008, to about $294.8 million last year. And a program that has put about 6,300 police officers in public schools since Columbine was scrapped by the U.S. Department of Justice after 2005, according to Corey Ray, a spokesman for the department. Ray said he's hopeful President Obama's stimulus package will put more police officers in schools. They act as law enforcement officers as well as counselors and mentors to students, he said. Meanwhile, money for a school counseling grant program has increased since Columbine, with $52 million set aside for this fiscal year, compared to $20 million in 2000, the first year the program was funded, according to budget numbers compiled for CNN by the Department of Education. So while there's more money available for counseling, there's still been a steady decline in federal spending for other aspects of school security. Some critics say a lack of available funding for high-tech security upgrades may be behind the shift toward less-costly and more indirect violence prevention measures. "Right now, the economic situation is affecting [school security funding]. Particularly the technology components of security are going to suffer because there's just not going to be the money to do these kinds of things," said Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "We're in the process of laying off teachers and staff." Trump, the security consultant in Ohio, said schools have lost their focus on security since Columbine. But he added that many effective security programs cost little or no money -- only the time it takes to train teachers and students how to spot potential problems and how to react if a shooting were to occur. While metal detectors may not be the best tools to prevent school shootings, they still can be useful in some crime-ridden school districts and, along with security cameras, should not be abandoned entirely, Modzeleski said. Some evidence suggests strong school communities -- where kids feel like they can come forward with problems -- can prevent violent crime. A 2008 Secret Service report found that in more than 80 percent of instances of school violence, at least one person, usually a fellow student or peer, had knowledge of the attackers' plans. If people who suspect a problem feel comfortable enough in school to tell a teacher or a

By what percentage has funding for school security dropped?

Answer: a third

Answer: school communities that essentially can protect themselves with or without the high-tech gear.

Answer: metal detectors and security cameras,

Summary:
10 years after Columbine, schools are taking a new look at security .
Immediately after the shootings, schools added cameras and metal detectors .
Now they're trying to foster safer and better school communities .
Meanwhile, overall funding for school security has dropped by about a third .


(CNN) -- In their attacks on the food stamp program, some Republican presidential candidates are leaving a deeply misleading impression of the nation's leading anti-hunger program. No one aspires to enroll, but for those who must, it is an essential lifeline that addresses one of the harshest impacts of poverty and unemployment -- hunger.

The food stamp program, now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides about 46 million Americans in about 22 million low-income households with debit cards to buy food each month. Participants include families with adults who work in low-wage jobs, unemployed workers and people on fixed incomes, such as Social Security. About three-fourths of SNAP recipients live in households with children; more than one-quarter live in households with seniors or people with disabilities.

SNAP reduces poverty while providing people with much-needed help to buy food. The program kept more than 5 million people out of poverty in 2010 and lessened the severity of poverty for millions of others, under a measure of poverty that counts SNAP benefits as income.

SNAP is also highly efficient, with one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program. In 2010, only 3 percent of payments went to ineligible households or to eligible households in excessive amounts. Payment accuracy has been improving in the past few years, despite a large increase in SNAP enrollment.

While some have attributed that enrollment increase to Obama administration policies -- Newt Gingrich has termed President Barack Obama the "food stamp president" -- in reality it has two main causes that have little to do with this administration.

Millions of people hit by the recession a few years ago became eligible for SNAP. Today's large SNAP caseloads mostly reflect the extraordinarily deep and prolonged recession and the weak recovery that has followed. Long-term unemployment hit record levels in 2010 and has remained extremely high. Today, 43% of all unemployed workers have been out of work for more than half a year; the previous post-World War II high was 26% in 1983.

Workers who are unemployed for a long time are more likely to deplete their assets, exhaust unemployment insurance and turn to SNAP for help. It is one of the few safety net programs available to them. In most states, other programs -- such as cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and state General Assistance programs -- have not responded effectively to the rising need brought on by the economy.

More than one in five workers who had been unemployed for over six months received SNAP in 2010, according to Congress's Joint Economic Committee.

The increase in enrollment is also because it's easier for eligible families to participate. Federal and state officials as well as Congress, with leadership from both parties, have worked throughout the last decade to simplify SNAP procedures so that the program can reach more eligible households, particularly working families and senior citizens. These efforts are paying off: The share of eligible individuals who participated in SNAP rose from 65% in 2007 to 72% in 2009, the most recent year for which we have the data.

The recent growth in SNAP enrollment and spending because of the sluggish economy is temporary. One of SNAP's great strengths is its ability to respond, quickly and automatically, to changes in the economy: Enrollment grows during downturns but contracts during periods of economic growth.

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that SNAP spending will fall in the coming years as the economy recovers more robustly and the temporary benefit increases of the 2009 Recovery Act expire. By 2021, SNAP is expected to return nearly to pre-recession levels as a share of the economy.

Over the long term, SNAP is not growing faster than the economy. So it is not contributing to the nation's long-term fiscal problems.

A weak economy has swelled the numbers of unemployed workers and poor families. That's a serious problem that our policymakers need to address. In the meantime, SNAP helps protect the most vulnerable from very difficult circumstances.

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The opinions expressed in this

what percent of funds go to ineligible people

what is a lifeline for millions of people?

Answer: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),

Answer: 3

Answer: anti-hunger program.

Answer: 3 percent

Summary:
Stacy Dean: Criticism aside, food stamp program is a lifeline for 46 million people .
Dean: Program is highly efficient; only 3% of funds went to ineligible people .
Numbers of recipients growing because of weak recovery and joblessness, she says .
Number of recipients will go down as jobs increase, she says, but the need is high now .


(CNN) -- In these eco-conscious times, there are few areas of life that have not been touched by the drive to go green, and golf is no exception. Justin Timberlake has been an advocate of eco-golf at his course in Tennessee. The trend for environmentally friendly golf is rocketing with celebrities such as Justin Timberlake taking up the cause in unveiling one of the world's top eco-golf courses earlier this year. His club, the Mirimichi Golf Course in Tennessee is the first in the country to be designated as a certified Audubon International Classic Sanctuary, re-using 80 percent of the energy it produces. Next month Stockholm will host one of the largest meetings of American and European golf clubs to decide how the game can become more environmentally and socially responsible. Living Golf looks at a selection of some of the best eco-equipment making our greens even greener. The recyclable golf ball: Every club player will be familiar with the age-old problem of losing golf balls -- but what happens to the collection of wayward balls once the search is over? Dixon Golf are asking for their customers to recycle their balls. It is estimated 300 million golf balls are discarded in the United States alone, every year -- that is enough balls to create a solid line from Los Angeles to London and back. Dixon Golf are encouraging golfers to recycle their lost and found by offering a dollar for each ball that is returned to their recycling centers throughout the US and in over 15 countries worldwide. "We're getting the word out there. We don't have the advertising revenue of [bigger] companies but the more people know, the more they chose our eco-friendly balls. "We're also developing our first prototype putter made entirely from recycled crushed golf balls," said company owner Mike Carey. The solar-powered cart: Ever felt like your golf cart could do with that extra bit of oomph? Well, SolarDrive sun-powered, solar-paneled golf cart could be the answer. The SolarDrive sun-powered car - an energy solution for the future? By recharging itself throughout the day, the cart can work in drizzly and damp conditions -- which could be good news for golf lovers in rain-soaked Britain and sun-baked Abu Dhabi alike. The design has proved so popular that golf clubs such as the Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course in Hong Kong and Sebonack Golf Club in the United States have recently converted entire fleets to use the power of the sun. General Manager at Sebonack Mark Hissey says it has been a great move for the club: "First, it's a wonderful idea and second they look fantastic. Plus they're financially better for us to run, saving us over two-thirds on our electrical costs." Large-scale gated communities in the UEA are also reportedly keen to use the carts as a more environmentally-friendly alternatives to gas-run vehicles. The biodegradable tee: A littered tee box may be a thing of the past with the biodegradable golf tee. Manufacturers XT-1 believe they are saving over 100, 000 trees with their nifty corn based tee. The manufacturers of the XT-1 claim it will biodegrade within three months. Unlike wooden tees which take up to two years to degrade, XT-1s take just two to three months by way of an interesting eco-system. Once the tee comes in contact with the soil, the corn-based product is attacked by incredibly small microbes (or micro-bugs) that eat away at the tee to corrode the core. A slightly unusual method perhaps but an effective one, as sales in the last few years have soared. Manager Alan Berry told CNN: "We're gaining interest all over the world -- Australia, the Middle-East, Europe and the States. Our sales figures speak for themselves."

Who has developed a biodegradable golf tee?

What can SolarDrive use to power golf carts?

Answer: Manufacturers XT-1

Answer: Dixon

Answer: the sun.

Answer: SolarDrive sun-powered, solar-paneled

Answer: Dixon Golf

Summary:
New developments in golf show that the sport has a drive to go green .
Dixon Golf aim to recycle some of 300 million discarded balls in the U.S.
SolarDrive can convert golf carts so they can run off the power of the sun .
XT-1 have developed a golf tee that can biodegrade in just three months .


(CNN) -- In trendy neighborhoods of Tokyo customers are lining up for vitamin injections that promise to improve health and beauty. These intravenous vitamin "drips" are part of the latest quick-fix, health fad catching on in Japan: the IV cafe. Each drip pack contains saline solution and specific vitamins and minerals to target a particular health ailment or beauty concern. "I used to take vitamin supplements, but changed to the IV drip because I feel the effects more quickly," a 20-something woman at the Tenteki 10 Café told CNN. She said she receives specific injections to get better skin, burn fat and boost her energy. There are 10 different varieties to choose from at Tenteki. The "orange" variety touts anti-aging properties, loaded with antioxidants. The "placenta pack" is said to help rejuvenate and ease muscle stiffness. Prices range from $20 to $30 per injection, and nurses see about 30 to 40 people each day. Their most common patients are Japanese businessmen who work in the same office building. "I see a lot of businessmen who say they don't have time to sleep. They can't take a break from working and get the vitamin drip for an extra kick of energy," a Tenteki nurse told CNN. "Blue" is the most requested vitamin pack among these men: a concoction of B1 and vitamin E that claims to offer relief from exhaustion. Registered nurses and doctors administer the drips at Tenteki, but there's no conclusive medical evidence to back up the health claims. Many nutritionists actually caution against using injectable vitamin supplements because the quantities are not regulated. "More is not necessarily better...some vitamins and minerals can be toxic in high doses," particularly the fat-soluble ones which the body stores like Vitamins A, D, E and K, explained Claire Williamson, Nutrition Scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation. In Europe and the United States vitamin shots are popular among celebrities with hectic lifestyles and little time to sleep, particularly vitamin B 12. Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and singer Robbie Williams have both confirmed they've used the shots as part of their diets to maintain stamina during tours. Dermatological injections of Vitamin C are also popular among women hoping to keep their skin looking young. Former supermodel Cindy Crawford has admitted using such injections to keep her skin firm and wrinkle-free. According to Williamson, it does not matter if supplements are injected into the vein or into the skin. "At the end of the day it will go into the blood stream," she said. Most of these nutrients we can get sufficient from foods, nutrients tend to be better absorbed by the body if they are consumed in foods."

What does celebrities and businessmen take for fatigue?

what Vitamin injections are popular among celebrities?

In which country are intravenous vitamin boosts very popular?

Where are intravenous vitamin boosts the latest fad?

Who are vitamin injections popular among?

Answer: B 12.

Answer: celebrities

Answer: a particular health ailment or beauty concern.

Answer: particular health ailment or beauty concern.

Answer: intravenous vitamin "drips"

Answer: B 12.

Answer: Japan:

Answer: against using injectable vitamin supplements

Answer: a particular health ailment or beauty concern.

Answer: using injectable vitamin supplements

Answer: customers are lining up for vitamin injections that promise

Answer: Japan:

Answer: intravenous vitamin "drips"

Answer: Tokyo customers are lining up for

Answer: improve health and beauty.

Answer: Tokyo customers

Summary:
Intravenous vitamin boosts are the latest health fad in Japan .
Vitamin injections target specific health aliments and beauty concerns .
Nutritionists warn of vitamin overdose from high quantities of supplements .
Vitamin injections are popular among celebrities and businessmen for fatigue .