BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- As voting was taking place in the German general election Sunday, attention was already turning to what coalition will rule the country. Social Democrats handing out flowers hope their party will stay in the ruling coalition. Few doubt that Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, CDU, will win most votes. So, will Merkel continue the current center right-center left "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats or will the votes suffice for a coalition with the business liberal but centrist Liberal Democrats or the FDP, a constellation Germans refer to as "Black-Yellow." At a press conference ostensibly to outline Germany's position at this week's G-20 summit Merkel apparently let the cat out of the bag. "We are in a time of crisis," she said, "and I believe we can pull out of the crisis faster with a Black-Yellow government." But some political analysts believe she would prefer to keep the Social Democrats as the junior coalition partner. Polls indicate the CDU and FDP could gain a razor thin majority to form a governing coalition. Recent polls put their combined tally at around 48 percent. That is not exactly a large majority, but it's two percent more than the left of center parties, the Social Democrats, the Green Party, and the left wing "Die Linke," who would reach about 46 percent if polls are accurate. The Liberal Democrats have been in opposition since 1998 and at a rally in Berlin, their leader Guido Westerwelle was sure his time has come. "I think the voters won't allow a coalition of the left to be in power. I think they want a conservative government and they will vote to put us in power," he said. Westerwelle is eyeing the post of foreign minister under a future Merkel government.  What's at stake in the German election » A government of CDU and FDP, conservatives and liberal would probably be more business friendly than the current grand coalition. Both the CDU and FDP want to cut taxes to further jumpstart Europe's largest economy which emerged from its deepest recession only a few months ago. But even optimistic economists believe cutting taxes will be all but impossible for a government which will inherit the largest public deficit in German history after the current government was forced to ruin in its public finances to bail out banks and industrial companies in the wake of the international financial crisis. And it appears more trouble lies ahead. "After the economic crisis we will see a social crisis," says Henrik Enderlein an economics professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Enderlein believes a coalition with the liberals would put Merkel under pressure to implement wider ranging tax breaks than she feels are sustainable. That is why some believe Merkel would not mind continuing her coalition with the Social Democrats who oppose tax cuts and call them irresponsible in a time of disastrous public deficits. The Social Democratic contender running against Merkel, Frank Walter Steinmeier, however, has all but given up any hopes of winning. "We want to prevent a "black--yellow" coalition," he keeps repeating at rallies. Confidence sounds different. Polls currently have the Social Democrats at around 26 percent of the vote, a disastrous figure for a party that in 1998 gained more than 40 percent. But the Social Democrat ranks were decimated in the seven years they ruled the country under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Many traditional left wing SPD voters felt Schroeder betrayed the powerful labor wing of the party by cutting social benefits while making it easier for companies to fire employees in times of crisis. The SPD was further hit when many loyal members splintered off and joined the left wing party die Linke which also incorporates remnants of the former communist party that rules East Germany. Now Steinmeier is trying to lead the Social Democrats out of the impasse and he realizes his real chance to stay in power would be as the junior partner to Merkel. Steinmeier would keep his post as foreign minister and many political experts in Berlin think this might be what both Merkel and Steinmeier are

What is the name of the current partner?

What arty is Merkel's preferred choice for a coalition?

What is the CDU's choice for a coalition partner?

Who is the favorite to win the election?

Answer: Social Democrats

Answer: Black-Yellow government."

Answer: Angela

Answer: Social Democrats

Answer: Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union,

Answer: Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, CDU,

Summary:
Angela Merkel's CDU are favorites to win the election .
But they will need a coalition partner to rule .
Merkel has publicly named the Liberal Democrats as her preferred choice .
But the current partner, the Social Democrats, may be the end result .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Concerns were growing Wednesday for a polar bear born last month at a German zoo after its twin died and was possibly eaten by its mother. One year ago Vera gave birth to Flocke, pictured here playing in her enclosure in April. The young polar bear died Monday, less than two weeks after it was born, Nuremberg Zoo said. The surviving twin was doing well, the zoo said, but added that it was concerned the mother may not be able to care for it properly. Zookeepers watching a video feed from the bears' enclosure said they had noticed the baby bear looking thinner and weaker. They saw the bears' mother, Vera, nudging the dead bear with her nose and observing it -- and as of Wednesday, they said, the dead bear was nowhere to be seen. "It is very, very sad," said zoo director Dag Encke. "it is unfortunately frequently the case that with twins, one of the animals doesn't survive." Zookeepers had kept their distance from Vera and her babies, watching them only on camera so as not to make the mother feel threatened. Polar bears are known to eat their young if they sense any danger or interference. "We have to worry more about the surviving young animal and take care that the polar bear with her baby is not disturbed," Encke said. "So far, Vera is caring for the surviving baby in an exemplary way." One year ago Vera gave birth to Flocke, who became an instant celebrity across Germany. Flocke's first birthday is Thursday.

What do mothers often eat if they sense danger?

What animal were German zookeepers concerned about?

How old was the cub that died on Monday?

What is the name of the zoo where the polar bears live?

Who died less than two weeks after it was born?

What do mother polar bears do to their young sometimes?

What will mother bears do if they sense danger?

Answer: Monday,

Answer: The young polar bear

Answer: their young

Answer: Monday,

Answer: One year ago

Answer: polar bear

Answer: the zoo

Answer: polar bear

Answer: less than two weeks

Answer: Nuremberg

Answer: a polar bear

Answer: Nuremberg Zoo

Answer: died Monday,

Answer: young polar bear

Answer: polar

Answer: eat

Answer: any

Answer: Nuremberg

Answer: Nuremberg

Summary:
German zookeepers concerned for baby polar bear after its twin died .
Young polar bear died Monday, less than two weeks after it was born .
Baby nowhere to be found in enclosure; mothers often eat young if sense danger .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel defeated her foreign minister Sunday to win another four-year term, according to exit polls reported by German television network NTV. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband, Joachim Sauer, vote Sunday in Berlin. NTV reported Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party received 33.7 percent of the vote, based on exit poll projections. The polls show Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's center-left Social Democrats received 23.4 percent, the network reported. "Not only are you happy, I am very happy as well," Merkel told cheering supporters at her headquarters. "We've accomplished something great. We've done it. We've reached our election goal, to retain a stable majority in Germany and a new government with a new coalition." The crowd chanted, "Angie, Angie, Angie." Steinmeier, meanwhile, conceded what he called "a bitter defeat" for the Social Democrats. "The voters have decided, and the result is a bad day," Steinmeier said in a speech to supporters. He thanked those who helped lead his campaign and those who supported him. The two parties currently are in a coalition, with Steinmeier as foreign minister. Few doubted that Merkel's party would receive the most votes. The question was what kind of coalition will be formed -- another broad centrist one, across the political divide, or a more right-leaning one. Merkel favors cutting taxes to spur growth, while Steinmeier opposes tax breaks. The country is deep in debt.  What's at stake in the German election » Voters chose members of the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, who will pick the head of government. Each German had two votes -- one for a member of parliament representing a district and another for a political party. The election Sunday followed release of a threatening videos from al Qaeda and the Taliban warning Germans not to vote for leaders who want to keep the country's troops in Afghanistan. Security was tightened at airports and train stations, and authorities on Saturday banned all flights over the Oktoberfest beer festival until it ends on October 4. The annual event attracts about 6 million people. About 62 million people were eligible to vote, out of Germany's population of 82 million. CNN's Fred Pleitgen contributed to this report.

How much of the vote did the Christian Democratic Union get?

What share of the vote did Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union get?

Who did Chancellor Angela Merkel defeat?

Answer: 33.7 percent

Answer: Steinmeier,

Answer: 33.7

Answer: 33.7 percent

Answer: Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's

Answer: Angela Merkel defeated her foreign minister

Answer: German Chancellor

Summary:
Chancellor Angela Merkel defeats her foreign minister, exit polls indicate .
"This is a bitter defeat," says challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier .
Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union got 33.7% of vote, TV reports .
Steinmeier's center-left Social Democrats received 23.4 percent, network says .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- German federal police seized two suspected terrorists from a Dutch passenger aircraft at Cologne airport Friday shortly before it was due to take off for Amsterdam, officials told CNN. The arrests were made at Cologne's airport. A 23-year-old Somali national and a 24-year-old German citizen who had been born in Mogadishu were arrested on a KLM plane at 6.55 am local time (0455 GMT), a police spokesman said. Police said "farewell" letters had been found from the men that led them to suspect they were intending to carry out terror attacks. It was not revealed where the letters were found or how long the men had been under observation. Walter Roemer, press spokesman at Cologne-Bonn airport, said that the arrests had been "very unspectacular". He said federal police boarded the plane and arrested the two suspects, "without them showing any resistance." The two had been among 40 passengers en route to Amsterdam. All those on board were asked to disembark while the suspects' luggage was identified. The plane took off for Amsterdam after a delay of one hour and 20 minutes. She said everyone was then forced to leave the plane, and there was a "baggage parade" to see whose bags belonged to whom.  Watch more details on the incident. » Amsterdam's Schipol airport Web site listed flight KL 1804, the scheduled morning flight from Cologne to Amsterdam, as having arrived at 9.17 am local time, one hour and two minutes after it was due to arrive. In September 2007, German authorities arrested three suspected militants planning what were described as "massive" attacks on American targets in Germany. German media said at the time that potential targets could have included Ramstein Air Base, the U.S. military's main installation in Germany, or the major international hub of Frankfurt Airport. Terrorism expert Sajjan Gohel told CNN the arrest showed Germany faces a major threat from extremists.  Watch Gohel explain details behind the arrests » "This was a long term operation, there was a couple of individuals that the German intelligence agency was monitoring," he said. "The feeling was that they had come back specifically with the purpose of planning and plotting a terrorist attack." CNN's Diana Magnay in Berlin contributed to this report

Which flight did police board on Friday?

Where was the flight when police boarded?

What did police say were found from the men?

What items did police find from the men?

Answer: KL 1804,

Answer: Dutch passenger

Answer: 23-year-old

Answer: "farewell"

Answer: Cologne airport

Answer: Cologne-Bonn airport,

Answer: two

Answer: "farewell"

Answer: "farewell"

Answer: KL 1804,

Answer: German citizen

Answer: "farewell" letters

Answer: A 23-year-old Somali national

Answer: 23-year-old

Answer: "farewell" letters

Answer: "farewell" letters

Answer: the plane

Answer: two suspected terrorists

Answer: two

Answer: KL 1804,

Answer: "farewell"

Answer: at Cologne airport

Answer: Amsterdam,

Summary:
Police board KLM flight in Cologne early Friday to arrest suspects .
Two suspects said to be Somali man, 23 and German born in Somalia, 24 .
Police say "farewell" letters found from the men .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- German investigators Thursday acknowledged "credible information" indicating that one of the world's most wanted Nazi war criminals died almost 20 years ago in Egypt. The former the hotel in Cairo where Heim spent his final days. The announcement from the Baden-Wuerttemberg State Criminal Investigations Office came a day after German public broadcaster ZDF reported similar findings about Aribert Heim, wanted since 1962. ZDF said research it conducted with the New York Times showed that Heim died in Cairo in 1992 of intestinal cancer. Witness accounts and documents, including a passport, prove that Heim lived under the false name of Tarek Farid Hussein, ZDF said. CNN spoke to Heim's son, Ruediger Heim, who said his father fled Germany to Egypt via France, Spain and Morocco. Ruediger Heim told CNN he visited his father in Cairo several times, including in the final weeks of his life when the terminal cancer was discovered. The German investigators said they were was checking the new information. "This information has not yet been verified due to time constraints," the office said in a statement. But German authorities said they already had hints that Heim was living and working in Egypt. The office said it received information in 1965 and 1967 indicating Heim was working in the country, but Egyptian authorities at the time, acting on a German request, did not find any conclusive evidence. "Our main goal now is, in cooperation with the Egyptian authorities, (to) identify the remains of Aribert Heim," the office said. The chief Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff, said the news about Heim's death, if true, is deeply disappointing. "I personally feel a tremendous sense of disappointment that he escaped justice," Zuroff told CNN. But he emphasized that he had not seen the evidence that Heim was dead. "There is no body and no grave, so we can't do a DNA test," he said, adding that "there are people who have a vested interest in convincing us that he is no longer alive." He said he expects to see the documentary evidence of Heim's death on Thursday. Heim would be 94 years old if he were still alive. Zuroff described Heim as "the most wanted Nazi war criminal," and said the Simon Wiesenthal Center was about to raise the reward for information about him from €315,000 ($405,000) to €1 million ($1.3 million) when it heard the reports of his death. During World War II Heim was a doctor at the Mauthausen concentration camp, where he was known to inmates as "Dr. Death" for performing often-fatal experiments on prisoners. After the war, he was initially cleared of wrongdoing, but in 1962 German authorities issued an arrest warrant for him. CNN Berlin Bureau Chief Frederik Pleitgen contributed to this report

What was Heim's fake name while living in Cairo?

What was Aribert Heim's nicknamed by the prisoners?

Answer: in 1992

Answer: "Dr. Death"

Answer: one of the world's most wanted Nazi war criminals died almost 20 years ago in Egypt.

Answer: Heim

Answer: research it conducted with the New York Times showed that Heim died in Cairo in 1992 of intestinal cancer. Witness accounts and documents, including a passport, prove that Heim lived under the false name of Tarek Farid Hussein,

Answer: Tarek Farid Hussein,

Answer: Heim

Answer: Tarek Farid Hussein,

Answer: Aribert Heim,

Answer: almost 20 years ago

Answer: Tarek Farid Hussein,

Answer: "Dr. Death"

Summary:
German broadcaster reports Nazi hiding in Egypt died in 1992 .
Aribert Heim known to inmates as "Dr. Death" performed experiments on prisoners .
ZDF reports he lived lived in Cairo as Tarek Farid Hussein; died of cancer .
Nazi hunter groups says it expects to see documentary evidence Thursday .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- German investigators raided the Frankfurt offices of KFW bank Wednesday in an investigation into a payment of more than $400 million made in error to failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Investigators from Germany's Federal Criminal Office and the state prosecutor's office conducted the raid and searches at Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (Credit Agency for Reconstruction), or KFW, spokesman Wolfram Schweickhardt said.

The government-owned KFW bank group transferred €319 million ($412 million) to Lehman Brothers on September 15, after the U.S. bank filed for bankruptcy, the state prosecutor's office in Frankfurt said in a statement.

Authorities are investigating KFW board members and bosses on suspicion of embezzlement, the prosecutor's office said.

They want to know whether KFW officials were criminally negligent by failing to prevent the money transfer despite knowing about Lehman's liquidity problems and the impending international banking crisis.

"We are fully cooperating with the authorities and will provide them any documents they wish to see," Schweickhardt said.

Schweickhardt said the money was transferred to Lehman on the morning of Monday, September 15, as part of a long-standing two-part transaction that had been in motion since July. The transaction was among about 1,000 automated transactions set up for that morning -- a normal volume for the agency, he said.

Although "people had discussed over the weekend the fact that Lehman Brothers was in trouble, no one thought to check the actual transfers in the system," Schweickhardt said.

The mistake was spotted only a couple of hours later and the agency's chief executive was informed, he said. The following Thursday, the company suspended three directors; they were fired on September 29, he said.

The firing of the three directors was widely reported in Germany, with the tabloid Bild showing a picture of them with the headline, "Germany's dumbest bankers." News headlines have since referred to KFW as "Germany's dumbest bank."

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen contributed to this report.

for what reason were the offices raided?

Answer: €319 million ($412 million)

Answer: investigation into a payment of more than $400 million made in error to failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Answer: KFW

Answer: an investigation into a payment of more than $400 million made in error to failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Answer: Frankfurt

Answer: €319 million ($412 million)

Summary:
Investigators raid KFW bank offices over payments made to Lehman Brothers .
KFW transferred $412M to Lehman after the U.S. bank filed for bankruptcy .
Authorities investigate board members, bosses on suspicion of embezzlement .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Germany's richest woman has said a former lover has threatened to release pictures of them together if she does not pay him millions of euros (dollars), according to her spokesman.

Susanne Klatten holds a 12.5-percent stake in BMW.

Susanne Klatten's spokesman Joerg Appelhans told CNN Tuesday that the BMW heiress alerted police in January this year that she was the victim of fraud and blackmail by a man he identified as Mr. S.

Appelhans said the man had been threatening since autumn 2007 to release pictures of their "meetings" together.

Klatten "came to the conclusion that the relationship with Mr. S. was of a solely criminal nature," Appelhans said. Some German media reports say Klatten is one of four rich German women who have been preyed on by the same gang.

"His goal was from the beginning to con her and to blackmail her into giving him money. She rigorously notified authorities even in light of the uncomfortable public repercussions this would have for her. The ensuing criminal investigation led to the arrest of the perpetrator," Appelhans added.

"The blackmailing with pictures of the meetings they had began in the fall of 2007. First, the blackmailer demanded a loan of several million euros. Later, he attempted to solicit a much larger sum."

Anton Winkler, from the Munich state prosecutor's office, confirmed that an investigation has been opened and that a man called Helg Scarbi was arrested in January and is in custody in Munich. He declined to give further details.

Rome daily La Repubblica, quoting documents German investigators sent to Italian prosecutors, has reported that the suspect allegedly tried to obtain â‚¬40 million ($51 million) from Klatten, according to The Associated Press.

Klatten, the daughter of the late BMW chief Herbert Quandt, holds a 12.5-percent stake in the German carmaker and a 51.1-percent share of chemical company Altana.

In 2007 Forbes magazine listed her as the world's 68th richest person, with a personal fortune of $9.6 billion.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen contributed to this report.

Who does the Munich state prosecutor say was arrested in January?

Who is being blackmailed for millions of euros?

What was the name of the man who was arrested?

What company is Germany's richest woman associated with?

Answer: Susanne Klatten

Answer: Susanne Klatten

Answer: Susanne Klatten

Answer: Helg Scarbi

Answer: confirmed that an investigation has been opened and that a man called Helg Scarbi was arrested

Answer: ($51 million)

Answer: Susanne Klatten

Answer: of them together if she

Answer: Susanne Klatten

Answer: January

Answer: Helg Scarbi

Answer: BMW.

Summary:
Germany's richest woman says she is being blackmailed for millions of euros .
BMW heiress says man threatening to release pictures of their "meetings"
Munich state prosecutor says man was arrested in January .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Jeffrey Jamaleldine took a bullet to his chin that blew out much of his jaw and nearly killed him while deployed in Iraq last year. The sacrifice is just part of his job, he says, and he'd go back to Iraq in a second if asked. Jeffrey Jamaleldine left Germany for college in America. In 2006, he joined the U.S. Army. That is something that troubles his family, especially his father. Jamaleldine served in the U.S. Army as a German citizen, one of an estimated 20,500 "green-card warriors" in the military. Last month, Jamaleldine was awarded U.S. citizenship, but he's keeping his German passport. Bashir Jamaleldine says his son is fighting an unjust war for an America that went too far when it invaded Iraq five years ago -- a sentiment shared by the majority of Germans. He wishes his son would get back to his "German roots." "It would satisfy me more. Why he's more American than a German, I don't know," he says. Of his son's time in Iraq, the father says, "He went there to receive this bullet. If he would not have gone there, he wouldn't have been wounded; he wouldn't be in the hospital; he wouldn't be treated by a doctor. He would be living in peace with his family." Shaking his head with his son at his side, he adds, "He is more American than German." Jeffrey Jamaleldine, a 31-year-old U.S. Army scout who proudly wears a Stetson hat and spurs on his boots, laughs. He says he and his dad have had countless arguments over his decision to join the U.S. military, but the two never budge from their positions.  See his shattered jaw and debate with his dad » "He hears what I'm saying, but there's just no coming through," he says. The father came to Germany from Africa years ago. He says his son should be devoting his energy to fighting hunger and poverty in Africa, not fighting in Iraq. The son agrees with his father on one thing: His love for America is unwavering. Jeffrey Jamaleldine moved to the United States to go to college in Missouri at the age of 18 and immediately fell in love with the United States and its culture. "You can go from rags to riches there. People still believe in that. It is not something that has gotten lost," he says. And when the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, happened, he felt it was time for him to do something. "A small group of people [terrorists] -- I felt -- had a big influence on our way of life and that literally pissed me off," he says. By accident, he says he found out that with his green card, he could join the U.S. military. And in 2006, he did just that. Read why a "green-card" Marine would die for America Last year, he paid a heavy price for his patriotism. Pinned down in a firefight with insurgents in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, Jamaleldine was shot in the face. "I felt like I got hit by Mike Tyson," he says, pointing to a two-inch long scar on his left cheek. The left side his jaw was shattered and now doctors at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany are reconstructing his facial bones. "Part of the projectile is still stuck in the right cheekbone," Dr. Edward Vanisky says. "But if it doesn't cause you any problems, we'll just leave it in there." While many Americans would consider Jamaleldine a hero, most in his home country don't. Germans largely oppose the Iraq war. The criticism doesn't bother him.  Watch why a German would fight for U.S. » He says even after getting wounded on the battlefield, he would go fight for America again if ordered back to Iraq. "I still don't want to die,

Answer: Jeffrey Jamaleldine

Answer: in Missouri

Answer: Jamaleldine

Answer: "You can go from rags to riches

Answer: U.S. Army scout

Answer: Why he's more American than a German,

Summary:
Soldier was one of more than 20,000 "green-card warriors"
Jeffrey Jamaleldine's dad wonders why his son is more "American than German"
Jamaleldine went to college in the U.S. and fell in love with the American dream .
"You can go from rags to riches there. People still believe in that," he says .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Madame Tussauds says it will repair the wax figure of Adolf Hitler beheaded by a visitor over the weekend and return it to its Berlin exhibition space as soon as possible. A wax likeness of Adolf Hitler sits in Berlin's Madame Tussaud's wax museum before Saturday's attack. German police said that a 41-year-old man entered the exhibit shortly after the museum doors opened Saturday and "made for the Hitler figure," scuffling with a guard and the manager before tearing the head off the life-size statue. A police spokesman confirmed to CNN that the man was a former policeman, having spent three years in police training between 1984 and 1987. He did not finish that police training, for personal reasons. The man was released from police custody late afternoon on Saturday.  Watch a museum official describe the attack » Despite the incident, Madame Tussauds officials said they will show the waxwork of Adolf Hitler in the exhibition again. In a statement the Museum said: "Madame Tussauds is non-political and makes no comment or value-judgement either on the persons who are exhibited in the Museum or on what they have done during their lifetime. "Figures are chosen for their popularity or for their influence on the path of history -- for better or for worse. Adolf Hitler stands for a decisive part of Berlin's history, which cannot be denied." Saturday was the opening day of the Berlin branch of the famous Madame Tussauds wax museum. The presence of the waxwork, which depicted the Nazi dictator sitting at his desk in his bunker shortly before he committed suicide in 1945, in the new museum led to criticism in German media over recent weeks. But the museum's defenders argued Hitler's role in German history must not be ignored. Hitler was shown with a sullen expression, his head slightly down, and one hand on the desk. Berlin is the eighth wax museum for London-based Madame Tussauds, known for its lifelike waxworks depicting famous people including celebrities, politicians, sports stars, artists, and scientists. Famous Germans included in the exhibits are Chancellor Angela Merkel, scientist Albert Einstein, composer Johann Sebastian Bach, and tennis champion Boris Becker. CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report.

What was the subject of the waxwork?
What age was the man in question?

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Answer: 41-year-old

Summary:
Hitler waxwork damaged by a man in Berlin's Madame Tussauds to be repaired .
Museum: "Hitler stands for decisive part of Berlin's history, which cannot be denied"
41-year-old said he wanted to protest the figure being included among exhibits .
Police said man being investigated for causing damages and injury to a guard .


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Six Italian men were shot dead in the German city of Duisburg on Wednesday in an execution-style killing linked to a mafia feud. Police remove a body from the scene. Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the shootings appeared to be linked to a feud between two mafia clans in the southern region of Calabria, home to the 'Ndrangheta organized crime group. Here are some key facts about the group: ORIGINS: -- The Calabrian "Honored Society", known as "'Ndrangheta", in the Calabria region of south Italy is the equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia. -- 'Ndrangheta began as a defense network for impoverished rural peasants against aristocratic landlords. Members emigrated to Canada and the United States, and were discovered running an intimidation scheme in Pennsylvania mining towns in 1906. HOW DOES IT WORK? -- They are known as "The Honored Society", Fibbia or Calabrian mafia. Instead of the pyramid structure of bosses used by other mafia, The 'Ndrangheta" uses families based on blood relationships, inter-marriages, or being a Godfather. Each group is named after their village, or after the family leader. TWENTIETH CENTURY EXPANSION: -- When Calabria began the process of industrialization and urbanization in the late 20th century, the 'Ndrangheta became interested in drug trafficking, weapons sales and public works and construction. THE PRESENT: -- In 2004, authorities uncovered an international drugs trafficking network involving gangs in South America, Australia, and Europe. Drugs from Colombia were destined for countries such as Greece and Bulgaria. -- Italian officials estimated at the time that 80 percent of Europe's cocaine had arrived from Colombia via Gioia Tauro's docks in Reggio Calabria. -- Italian anti-organized crime agencies have estimated that the 'NDrangheta earns about $30 billion annually, mostly from illegal drugs, but also from ostensibly legal businesses such as construction, restaurants and supermarkets. -- There are believed to be about 100 'Ndrangheta families in Calabria, who have become more successful than their Sicilian counterparts because their family ties are closer. E-mail to a friend

Were the six Italians from the same family?

Were the six shot involved in organized crime?

Answer: men were shot dead

Answer: shot dead

Answer: Duisburg

Answer: the shootings appeared to be linked to a feud between two mafia clans

Answer: Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the shootings appeared to be linked to a feud between two mafia clans

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


BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- U.S. officials urged American citizens in Germany to keep a low profile and remain wary of their surroundings after the terrorist organization al Qaeda posted a video message threatening attacks in the country. German special police patrol in Berlin last month during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu. A State Department travel alert, issued Wednesday, remains in effect until November 11 -- two weeks after Germany holds its federal elections on Sunday. Al Qaeda posted its video threat on the Internet on September 18, vowing attacks if the elections do not come out the way it wants. The same day, the German government reacted to the video by raising its own alert level and heightening security. The British Foreign Office has also issued an advisory to its citizens living and traveling to Germany. The State Department travel alert asks Americans to keep abreast of news reports and consider the security procedures in place when they visit public places or pick hotels and restaurants. Germany's interior ministry said earlier this month that the country has noted an increase in threats by al Qaeda and other Islamist groups since the beginning of the year. In the nearly 26-minute video statement, a man identified as Bekay Harrach, using the pseudonym Abu Talha and speaking in German, said that, if the September 27 elections vote into power parties that do not pledge to pull German troops from Afghanistan, there will be a "rude awakening." The speaker called on Muslims living in Germany to stay away from public life during the first two weeks after the elections, implying that any attacks would take place then. The speaker repeatedly criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also criticized Merkel's rivals, the Social Democrats, but offered the possibility of a "peace offer." "If the German people vote for peace, then the Mujahedeen will choose peace with Germany as well," he said. "And with the withdrawal of the last German soldier from Afghanistan, the last Mujahed will also leave Germany. Al Qaeda gives you their word."

What did Al Qaeda terror group post online?

What group has been posting video threats?

What was the message from Al Qaeda video?

What does Germany's interior ministry report increase in?

What are U.S. officials urging their citizens in Germany?

What have officials urged citizens in Germany to do?

who urges their citizens in Germany to keep low profile and be wary?

who posted a video message threatening attacks in Germany?

Answer: German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Answer: a video message threatening attacks in the country.

Answer: al Qaeda

Answer: vowing attacks if the elections do not come out the way it wants.

Answer: threats by al Qaeda and other Islamist groups

Answer: German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Answer: keep a low profile and

Answer: Angela Merkel

Answer: remain wary of their surroundings

Answer: keep a low profile and

Answer: U.S. officials

Answer: Al Qaeda

Answer: attacks in the country.

Summary:
Al Qaeda terror group posts video message threatening attacks in Germany .
U.S. officials urge their citizens in Germany to keep low profile and be wary .
Germany's interior ministry report increase in threats by al Qaeda this year .
Message criticizes Chancellor Merkel over wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .


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

Who are Schalke now in second position with?

When will Bayern Munich play Stuttgart to all but clinch the title?

Answer: 3-3

Answer: Schalke

Answer: Kevin Kuranyi

Answer: joint second

Answer: Kevin Kuranyi

Answer: Stuttgart

Answer: Bayern Munich

Answer: joint second

Answer: Sunday

Answer: Schalke

Answer: Sunday.

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


BETHESDA, Maryland (CNN) -- Josh Winston is a self-described problem solver. From his spacious office on the seventh floor of a high-rise building in Bethesda, Maryland, he fills out tax returns and keeps the books balanced for a number of his accounting clients. Josh Winston stands outside the 1983 RV he was converting to run on vegetable oil. "Everything on the left always equals everything on the right. For math-oriented people and musicians like me, that's very satisfying," he says. Four years ago, Winston was watching a late-night news program and saw a segment about converting diesel vehicles to run on alternative fuels. That night, Winston was hooked. He ordered a conversion kit for $900 and proceeded to convert a truck to run on used vegetable oil -- just to see if he could. Soon after, he converted his 1998 Jetta and affixed a sticker to the rear bumper that said, "This vehicle runs on straight vegetable oil." "For a single bumper sticker, I was surprised at how many people stopped me and said, 'Hey, how do you do that?' " Before taking on his first conversion, he hadn't worked on a car since his 1978 Plymouth Volare -- which he drove in college. By Winston's estimate, there are fewer than 10,000 vehicles on the road that have undergone these diesel conversions. Now, he sells and installs his own kits -- and he's the only person in the Washington, D.C., area to offer the service. Though his side business, named "Feed My Wheels dot com," has only converted a handful of vehicles, he recently took on his largest project by far -- a 1983 Itasca RV. "There's a lot of trial and error," says Winston.  Watch the "problem solver" at work » Over the course of two days, Winston ran into many a problem. First, the batteries kept dying. Later, there was an issue with the alternator. By the end of Day 2, as Winston was preparing to fill a 40-gallon veggie-oil tank in the RV with recycled oil from a Chinese food restaurant, a neighbor watching him tipped over an 80-gallon holding tank, spilling tens of gallons of brown, smelly oil down his street. "It's OK," Winston quipped, "earthworms love this stuff." After nearly 50 hours of cutting and reattaching hoses, Winston managed to get the RV running and successfully switched over to the vegetable oil tank. He claims that veggie-oil emissions are about half of those of petroleum-based diesel fuel. "If you're emitting half the carbon dioxide that our neighbor is, that means one of two things: Either your neighbor can drive twice as much, or you're having a significant positive impact on the environment," Winston says. "In some small way, we're contributing to saving the environment. It's going to save a glacier somewhere."

What was this converter's largest project?

Answer: a 1983 Itasca RV.

Answer: vegetable oil.

Answer: a 1983 Itasca RV.

Answer: a Chinese food restaurant,

Answer: fills out tax returns and keeps the books balanced

Summary:
"Problem solver" converts vehicles to run on vegetable oil, not diesel .
A 1983 RV recently became this converter's largest project .
Recycled vegetable oil for RV came from Chinese food restaurant .
Small steps can add up: "It's going to save a glacier somewhere"


BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- Hundreds of Christians packed the Church of the Nativity on Thursday for a midnight Mass in what is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

A worshipper touches a star at the point where tradition says Jesus Christ was born in the Church of Nativity.

The standing-room-only service included singing and organ music.

There were also large crowds outside the church, one of the most sacred places in Christianity.

So many people had flocked to the area this Christmas season that there were no rooms left at the inns and hotels in Bethlehem.

Some took this as a sign that tourism in Bethlehem was on the upswing.

Christmas is the one time of year when the West Bank's small, shrinking Christian communities show everyone else that they are still there.

Before the midnight Mass, Palestinian scout groups representing Christians throughout the West Bank did as they always do on this day -- they marched, banging their drums loudly and, in a way, trying to make a point.  Watch Bethlehem's Christmas celebrations »

The drumbeat has been heard by more and more people, locals say, as tourism has skyrocketed this year.

"This year, tourism is much better than last year -- we reached 1,250,000," said Victor Batarseh, the mayor of Bethlehem. "All our hotels are full around Christmastime. We have 30,000 tourists coming in."

Tourists in record numbers were on hand this year, braving an unusually cold, gray and windy day to watch the parade of drums and holiday songs.

"It's kind of neat to see it in the Middle East, and they're playing Christmas carols and the songs we know," said one American tourist.

"I'm loving it, it's just been an incredible atmosphere and just a wonderful learning experience," said another.

The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem also came to the birthplace of Jesus, as he does every Christmas Eve, allowed through normally tightly shut gates by Israeli troops.

The heavy security is a testament to ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

"My Christmas wish is that we will have real peace, based on justice and freedom," said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian parliament member. "My Christmas wish is that the justice that Jesus Christ gave his life for will happen sometime in his birthplace in Palestine."

CNN's Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

Where is Jesus thought to have been born?

Answer: Church of the Nativity

Answer: packed the Church of the Nativity

Answer: the Church of the Nativity

Answer: outside the church,

Answer: BETHLEHEM,

Answer: the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Answer: in what is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Answer: thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Summary:
Hundreds of Christians pack Church of the Nativity Thursday for midnight Mass .
The church is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ .
Large crowds gathered outside the church -- one of Christianity's most sacred places .


BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- Hundreds of Christians packed the Church of the Nativity on Thursday for a midnight Mass in what is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ. A worshipper touches a star at the point where tradition says Jesus Christ was born in the Church of Nativity. The standing-room-only service included singing and organ music. There were also large crowds outside the church, one of the most sacred places in Christianity. So many people had flocked to the area this Christmas season that there were no rooms left at the inns and hotels in Bethlehem. Some took this as a sign that tourism in Bethlehem was on the upswing. Christmas is the one time of year when the West Bank's small, shrinking Christian communities show everyone else that they are still there. Before the midnight Mass, Palestinian scout groups representing Christians throughout the West Bank did as they always do on this day -- they marched, banging their drums loudly and, in a way, trying to make a point.  Watch Bethlehem's Christmas celebrations » The drumbeat has been heard by more and more people, locals say, as tourism has skyrocketed this year. "This year, tourism is much better than last year -- we reached 1,250,000," said Victor Batarseh, the mayor of Bethlehem. "All our hotels are full around Christmastime. We have 30,000 tourists coming in." Tourists in record numbers were on hand this year, braving an unusually cold, gray and windy day to watch the parade of drums and holiday songs. "It's kind of neat to see it in the Middle East, and they're playing Christmas carols and the songs we know," said one American tourist. "I'm loving it, it's just been an incredible atmosphere and just a wonderful learning experience," said another. The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem also came to the birthplace of Jesus, as he does every Christmas Eve, allowed through normally tightly shut gates by Israeli troops. The heavy security is a testament to ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. "My Christmas wish is that we will have real peace, based on justice and freedom," said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian parliament member. "My Christmas wish is that the justice that Jesus Christ gave his life for will happen sometime in his birthplace in Palestine." CNN's Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

when did Hundreds of Christians pack Church of the Nativity

Answer: to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Answer: Church of the Nativity

Answer: Thursday

Answer: Thursday

Answer: packed the Church of the Nativity

Answer: large crowds

Summary:
Hundreds of Christians pack Church of the Nativity Thursday for midnight Mass .
The church is thought to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ .
Large crowds gathered outside the church -- one of Christianity's most sacred places .


BEVERLY HILLS, California (CNN) -- Here's what happens when you go to interview Aretha Franklin: Her publicist will e-mail the cell phone number of her security man to your BlackBerry. Once you reach the lobby of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, you call the cell phone. Someone will come down to get you and bring you up to her suite, where you'll be greeted by Carlton, her longtime makeup artist. Aretha Franklin was voted the No. 1 singer of all time in a Rolling Stone survey. Then you look around, and you notice Aretha -- the Queen of Soul and recipient of 18 Grammys -- is quietly padding around the room in jeans, a turquoise T-shirt and flip-flops. She'll offer you "a seat and Cokes" -- then proceed to shoot the breeze, while you and your camera crew invade her room to set up for the interview. Then it hits you. You may be an Aretha Franklin groupie, but Aretha is a groupie of CNN. She loves to talk politics, and she's up-to-the-minute in terms of information. President-elect Barack Obama is her man. After seeing his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, she invited him to be her honored guest at an event in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan. He couldn't come, but she's been a loyal supporter since then. She'll sing at his inauguration in January. In the meantime, Rolling Stone magazine, in a poll of music industry heavyweights, just named her the No. 1 singer of all time. And there's her new holiday album, "This Christmas, Aretha." In a career that's spanned more than 50 years, it's the first seasonal CD she's ever made. Aretha helps us set the stage for Santa (eggnog optional). Aretha Franklin: The snow is lightly falling -- you get the picture -- you're by the fireside with your sweetie, and no Aretha! There's no Aretha in the music! What's going on?! So I had to do an album. CNN: You've been wanting to do a holiday album for a long time. Franklin: For many years, I've wanted to do one, and I've always mentioned it to the chieftains, and they would say things like, "Oh well. Christmas albums don't sell," and things like that. But that's not the point. Christmas albums are important. The music is important. The season is important. CNN: On "This Christmas, Aretha," there are some traditional songs and some more contemporary tunes. Franklin: We did "Silent Night," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "14 Angels" -- which comes from the classic "Hansel and Gretel," the opera. What else did we do? "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway and "Christmas Ain't Christmas (Without The One You Love)" by the O'Jays. Those two are my favorites. They're the first two records that are going to play in the Franklin household every Christmas. CNN: What was Christmas like for you growing up? Franklin: Christmases past, my sister, Carolyn, and I -- we'd been waiting for Santa all night. Nothing! Where is this man? And we're looking all up in the sky all night long, until I guess about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. Finally, we just fell out. We couldn't take it anymore. [We'd wake up in the morning and] come downstairs, and everything was under the tree! We couldn't believe it! Where did these things come from? You know, we just couldn't believe it. CNN: Did you believe in Santa Claus for a long time? Franklin: For a while, I did. And then I started getting the idea that it wasn't Santa -- it was Dad. CNN: What's Christmas like now? Do you cook, or do you have

What did Franklin think of doing a Christmas album?

Answer: are important. The music is important. The season is important.

Answer: "This Christmas, Aretha."

Answer: seasonal CD

Answer: Barack Obama

Answer: "This Christmas, Aretha."

Summary:
Aretha Franklin's new holiday album is "This Christmas, Aretha"
Franklin had never done a Christmas album, thought it was about time .
Famed singer will be performing at Barack Obama's inauguration .


BIG SUR, California (CNN) -- Thousands of people living in Paradise are fleeing their small northern California town Wednesday as wildfires charge into the area, officials said. A fire captain looks at the fire burning in southern Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday. More than half the town's 26,000 residents have been evacuated as firefighters struggled to battle growing wildfires in the area, authorities said. Residents of the nearby town of Concow had already been told to leave their homes. As of 10 a.m. about 14,000 people had been evacuated from Paradise, said Chuck Rough, director of the emergency operations center in the town. "We don't have much containment," said Rough, who said thick smoke in the area had made it impossible to fight the fire by air Tuesday. "Today we are holding our breath literally and figuratively." The blaze -- one of several in Butte County -- has already torched 40 homes. It's just one of the 1,780 wildfires that have scorched more than 614,000 acres in the state in the last few weeks. Most of the fires have been caused by lightning strikes. There were still 323 active fires Wednesday that were being battled by about 20,000 federal, state and local firefighters, authorities said. The fires near Paradise, which is about 90 miles north of Sacramento, California, threatened thousands of homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. Residents streamed to shelters in the area, some not knowing if their homes had been destroyed, said Jeannine Olson, a volunteer nurse at Neighborhood Church in the nearby city of Chico. Olson said the church shelter was filled to capacity with about 150 people, and 20 more were living in their cars in the church parking lot. "People are a little scared and are wondering what is going on," she said. "But people here are trying to handle this the best they can." Wind gusts of more than 40 mph pushed the fire dangerously close to many residential communities in the area, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant.  Watch TV crew driven into fire » "We were lucky that the winds did not pick up last night as it was predicted," he said. "But there are still some immediate threats."  Watch what's left of burned home in Big Sur » Conditions seemed to be getting a little bit better in the fight against a wildfire near the central California coastal community of Big Sur. iReport.com: Share your photos, videos of the fires The mandatory evacuations in that area had been downgraded to an advisory Tuesday, according to local and federal fire officials. But the Basin Complex Fire was only 27 percent contained Wednesday, according to federal fire authorities. It has torched more than 86,700 acres, and containment is not expected until the end of the month.  Watch why fires could be related to global warming » The nearby Indians Fire, in the Ventana Wilderness, was 97 percent contained after burning more than 81,000 acres, the U.S. Forest Service said. Further south, in coastal Santa Barbara County, the Gap Fire, which has burned 9,710 acres, was 55 percent contained, the Forest Service said.

What percentage of Paradise residents had to evacuate?

what makes task harder for firefighters?

Answer: More than half

Answer: Thousands of people

Answer: 40 homes.

Answer: Paradise,

Answer: 40

Answer: BIG SUR, California

Answer: wildfires

Answer: Santa Barbara, California,

Answer: thick smoke in the area

Summary:
NEW: Half of Paradise's 26,000 residents have been forced to evacuate .
NEW: The blaze has torched 40 homes in the area, officials say .
Wind gusts, high temperatures make task harder for firefighters .
More than 614,000 acres have burned in California in past few weeks .


BIHAR, India (CNN) -- Extreme flooding has displaced millions of people on either side of the India-Nepal border after a river burst its banks, authorities said Thursday. People walk along a flooded railway track in Madhepura, India. In India's northeastern state of Bihar, almost 3 million people have been affected by the worst flooding in decades, and more than 100,000 people have been displaced in southeastern Nepal after the breach last week. The Saptakoshi River in Nepal is the same one that flooded neighboring India's poorest state, although the Indians call it the Kosi River. In some stretches, it is three miles (5 km) wide. Nepalese Home Secretary Umesh Mainali said that of those displaced in Nepal, "more than 40,000 are living in government run camps." Many victims are taking shelter in schools and colleges. Residents were forced from their homes after an aged and damaged embankment on the river burst August 18 in Nepal. Water flowed so forcefully through the breach that it actually changed the course of the river, which now flows 75 miles (120 km) east of its original bed. Bad weather and washed-out roads -- including the region's main highway -- have hampered relief efforts, officials said. The heavy rains have also made repairing the breach difficult. Nepalese and Indian teams have been working separately to try to stem the flow of water, Mainali said. State-run Nepal Television reported Thursday that many Indian citizens are coming through the open border because of the availability of food and shelter. The Indian government said that about 50 people have been killed, revising the figure down from 87 deaths reported Wednesday. The Disaster Management Department in Bihar released a death toll of 12, an increase of two since Wednesday. There was no immediate explanation for the variance in numbers. "Flood is understatement," Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said. "It's a disaster."  Watch how India is struggling to cope » Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, flew over the four most flooded districts of Supaul, Saharsa, Araria and Madhepura, the news agency Press Trust of India reported. Singh announced immediate aid of about $238 million and promised the delivery of 125,000 metric tons of grain to the region. CNN's Sara Sidner traveled by boat Thursday with some of the soldiers and called the mayhem "enormous." "We have seen panic, we've seen sorrow, we've seen despair. ... Hundreds of people screamed to us from rooftops as we floated by." The soldiers were trying to pull people to safety, Sidner said, "but there are simply too many people to rescue and too few boats to do so. People were literally screaming, waving, running with suitcases in water trying to get to us." The Home Ministry said that nearly 153,000 people have been evacuated, and 31,000 are staying in 155 relief camps. About 228,000 homes have been damaged. There was no number provided Thursday on the number of homes destroyed. Madhepura district, where 1 million people live in 378 villages, is the worst hit, officials said. There are 900,000 residents in Supaul and 250,000 in Araria. More than 2.7 million people in 1,600 villages have been affected, thousands of them marooned on thin strips of dry land peeking out from cloudy brown waters of the swollen Kosi River. With heavy rainfall forecast for the next two days, officials worry that the situation will get much worse. Indians call it the River of Sorrow. Every summer, from June to September, the relentless monsoon rains cause the Kosi to overflow, bringing untold misery. This year, though, it swallowed entire villages in areas unaccustomed to water that deep -- with the worst flooding in 80 years in the landlocked rural state. Government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and good Samaritans have begun doing what they can: using motorboats to rescue stranded residents, for example, or dropping thousands of food packets from the sky.  Watch as boats deliver supplies, provide rescue » The scale of

How many in India are affected by flooding?

Where is the worst flooding for decades?

How far does the river now flow from its course?

Answer: 3 million people

Answer: India's northeastern state of Bihar,

Answer: almost 3 million people

Answer: 75

Answer: $238 million

Answer: 75 miles (120 km)

Answer: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,

Answer: 3 million

Summary:
India and Nepal battle worst flooding for decades .
India says 3 million affected in northeast; Nepal says 100,000 displaced .
River burst bank and now flows 75 miles east of its original course .
Indian prime minister tours area and announces $238 million aid package .


BILOXI, Mississippi (CNN)  -- It's been almost three years since Hurricane Katrina cut a merciless path of destruction across the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 people and displacing tens of thousands more.

Cameron Sinclair on site in Biloxi, Mississippi -- one of many rebuilding projects that Architecture for Humanity is overseeing.

The coastal resort of Biloxi was among the hardest hit; hurricane-force winds leveled homes, stripped branches from trees and created a trail of devastation that rendered the popular Casino town virtually uninhabitable.

Three years on, homes are still being rebuilt to house people who were forced to seek shelter wherever they could. For some, that's meant spending years living in cramped conditions in caravans until they could afford to rebuild.

Cameron Sinclair, Co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, is leading a project to rehouse residents of Biloxi affected by the storm. On July 9, he'll be taking part in a Principal Voices debate on Design for Good: How can clever design conserve precious resources and lead to a greener way of life?

CNN caught up with Cameron Sinclair in Biloxi and started by asking him what the difference is between design and design for good?

Cameron Sinclair: Design is about creating spaces for people to enjoy and of course, creating moments where you elevate the spirit, but design for good is figuring out a program that not only creates better spaces, but creates jobs, creates new industry and really kind of raises the conversation about how we rebuild.

CNN: How many countries are you working in and what are you doing?

CS: We are currently in about 26 countries and we have around about 4000 volunteer architects and designers globally. We are working on a whole range of projects whether it be bringing health services into remote Nepal or working on a chocolate factory in the Amazon which is actually a conservation project, or doing low income housing in Cape town, South Africa, so we're pretty global in our reach.

CNN: You have worked all over the world, Iran, Africa, and Asia. When you think of people's living conditions, are you surprised that Americans don't realize how tough people have it in their own country? Have you seen things in the U.S., for example, that are worse than in so-called developing countries?

CS: Yeah, I mean people find it kind of shocking when I talk about this. You know, there are places in rural America, especially in places like the reservations, we've done a lot of work with Hopi and Navajo and we're about to start work with the Iroquois where I look at the housing stock and it is far worse then I've seen in somewhere like South Africa or you know, in Ghana.

You know, Americans are unbelievably open, welcoming and helpful, they donate to everybody. But quite often we don't look at the reality of our own lives. The fact that we have a crumbling school system, that our healthcare in this country is just diabolical, the support for nurses and teachers is just out of control and I look at all these facilities that are happening in the U.S. and I begin to question. This is supposed to be the most powerful place in the world but we can't build a decent school for our kids so you know there is a reality check that needs to happen.

CNN: When you look at the big picture of the problems the world is facing, what solutions can you see that cities and their designs can offer when it comes to global issues such as global warming?

CS: What worries me the most is you have all these global issues that are out there, whether its lack of education or lack of healthcare or climate change, and people think they are separate compartmentalized issues, but they're all interweaved so that when we're working on structures, we're thinking about how can we make the building energy efficient. How can we make the design open, allowing access to everybody so that you're hitting on all these things.

We're working in neighborhoods where sustainability is a matter of life

How many countries does architecture for humanity operate

Who is taking part in Principles Voices?

When is Cameron Sinclair taking part in Principles Voices

Answer: Katrina

Answer: projects that Architecture for Humanity is overseeing.

Answer: debate on Design for Good:

Answer: 26

Answer: Cameron Sinclair,

Answer: Architecture for Humanity

Answer: Architecture for Humanity,

Answer: July 9,

Answer: U.S. Gulf Coast,

Summary:
Cameron Sinclair is taking part in Principles Voices debate on July 9 .
Sinclair helping rebuild Biloxi three years after it was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina .
Architecture for Humanity operates in 26 countries and has about 4000 volunteers .


BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN)  -- Detroit, Michigan, is often thought of as the automaker capital of the country, but increasingly, foreign auto plants are heading south, to a region known for more than its charm.

Toyota's plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, is as big as 156 football fields.

Almost every foreign auto factory that's opened since the '90s has sprouted below the Mason-Dixon Line. Two of the three auto plants under construction also are in the South.

Plants typically establish their roots in what is known as the auto corridor -- a roughly 200-mile-wide stretch that runs from Michigan to Alabama.

"The northern end is more heavily dominated by the traditional Detroit-base assemblers and their supplier base, and then the foreign automakers and their supplier base tend to pull a little further south," said Thomas Klier, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago who specializes in the auto industry.  Check out auto plants across the corridor »

So what's behind the South's charm? It has a lot to do with the people, experts say.

"If you don't have people, you don't have economic development," said Michael Randle, president and publisher of Southern Business & Development. "People drive economic development and that's why the South has gone from being dirt poor 50 years ago to leading this country's economy."

The South's population is growing much faster than the Midwest, which is home to the Big Three: Chrysler, Ford and GM. Between 2000 and 2030, the South's population is expected to increase by about 43 percent, while less than 10 percent growth is expected in the Midwest, according the U.S. Census Bureau.  See how the United States is expected to grow »

But it's not just the quantity of the people that matters. The quality of the work force was a big factor in Toyota's recent decision to build a plant near Tupelo, Mississippi, according Dennis Cuneo, formerly Toyota's senior vice president and now an adviser to the company.  Watch how Toyota hopefuls are already preparing for jobs »

Northern Mississippi has been hit hard by the closing of furniture factories, leaving highly skilled workers looking for jobs. Those workers have the mentality the automobile makers want, Randle said. If it's broken, they are going to fix it, he said.

The automotive industry provides a much-needed bridge, connecting a labor pool that wants to work with an economy in need of a boost, Randle said.

And the plants bring in far more than their initial investment. The Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, for example, announced it would double its production just three years after it opened. Honda had a $450 million expansion in Lincoln, Alabama, that added another 2,000 jobs. For each job created inside an auto plant, experts estimate as many as six to eight are created in businesses outside.  Hear a worker describe how an auto plant changed his life »

Local leaders know how valuable the industry is -- worth enough to offer to foreign companies hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives -- including tax abatements, site preparation and employee training.

While companies remain mum on the topic, those local leaders have a big edge on the North: They are fighting to bring jobs to workers who aren't unionized, unlike much of the Big Three's workforce.

Unions increase overall costs at plants, Randle said, explaining that the foreign automakers are drawn to the South where unionization is not mandatory and where workers have resisted calls to join voluntarily. If a plant is unionized in the North, everyone must join.

No foreign assembly plants are unionized except for a few joint-ventures: the ones that started as projects between domestic and foreign companies.

"That's not a coincidence," Klier said. "That suggests pretty strongly that that does affect the location decision."

With all of these benefits playing in its favor, the South -- with its low operating costs -- has become the go-to place for this international industry

which is the population growing much faster?

The South's population is growing much faster than where?

What area of the US is growing faster in terms of population than the Midwest?

Answer: South's

Answer: the Midwest,

Answer: South's

Summary:
Almost every foreign auto plant that's opened since the '90s is in the South .
South's population is growing much faster than the Midwest .
South provides manufacturing workforce .
No foreign auto assembly plants are unionized .


BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) -- If Russell Jackson has his way, any child who needs medical care but lacks the transportation to get there will have a safe and reliable alternative. Russell Jackson started Kid One, which has ferried thousands of children to medical appointments. "We found that there were 80,000-plus children in Alabama living in a home with no car," Jackson says. "And in the rural areas, there are no cabs, there are no buses, there are no trains. ... Millions of children in our country every day have no access to medical care when they need to reach it." Jackson is so determined that in 1997 he gave up his career as an Alabama firefighter, moved in with friends and dug into his retirement account to start Kid One Transport, a nonprofit organization that provides rides for needy children in his home state. In 11 years, Kid One's fleet of vans has ferried more than 16,000 kids to and from scheduled medical-related appointments all over Alabama.  Watch Jackson describe the need for medical transportation in rural Alabama » Jackson never anticipated he would leave the fire department to head up a nonprofit organization. After all, firefighting was the culmination of a lifelong dream. "What little boy doesn't want to be a firefighter?" Jackson says, laughing. But an emergency call to his department in March 1992 changed everything. Jackson was dispatched to help an unresponsive 2-year-old who had accidentally hanged himself in the family car while trying to retrieve a toy. "We did everything that we could to try to revive that young child," he says. The 2-year-old died despite their efforts. "I took it pretty tough," Jackson remembers. "It's not that I had not been exposed to tragedies before, but this one hit me differently." At the advice of a counselor, Jackson started volunteer work to help him process his grief. A friend suggested Jackson volunteer in the small rural town of Sayre, Alabama. Jackson was stunned by what he saw just 25 minutes from his home. "When I drove into the community, it was a world of its own. It was a lot of homes that were deplorable. And that's really the only way I can explain them," he says. Jackson says he was instantly ashamed by his own comfortable lifestyle.  Watch Jackson describe the "turning point" that led to Kids One Transport » "All it took was the one visit," he recalls, "and I knew I really wanted to come out and work with these folks, hand in hand, and do whatever I could to help make life a little bit easier for them." When social workers told him about the neighborhood children who had no way to travel to and from appointments for chemotherapy, physical therapy and even for regular checkups, Jackson started driving them there himself. Before long this one-man operation grew into a 13-van team covering 30 counties. Though Jackson recently stepped down from a daily role in the organization he founded, he says the best part of his work has been meeting the families and witnessing firsthand so many medical transformations. There were some who learned to speak, another who learned to walk, and others who recovered from life-threatening illnesses -- even when doctors were less than hopeful.  Watch a child who relies on Kid One to get to medical appointments » "I saw so many lives changed, so many determined children and parents who wanted to beat the odds that were against them," Jackson says. He says he believes that getting them to the care they needed made the difference. "We're that missing part of the puzzle that is preventing so many people from reaching what we'd consider as world-class medicine. ... To know that they beat it all because of a simple ride," he adds. "That has definitely been worth every bit of founding Kid One Transport."

What did Russell Jackson quit his job to do?

How many children has Kid One ferried to and from medical-related appointments?

Who started a nonprofit to help homes without cars?

How many children in Alabama live in car-less households?

Where are the children living in homes without a car?

How many children in Alabama live in homes without a car?

Answer: start Kid One Transport, a nonprofit organization that provides rides for needy children in

Answer: more than 16,000

Answer: Russell Jackson

Answer: Russell Jackson

Answer: Kid One's fleet of vans

Answer: 80,000-plus

Answer: Alabama

Answer: to medical appointments.

Answer: 80,000-plus

Summary:
More than 80,000 children in Alabama reportedly live in homes without a car .
Fireman Russell Jackson quit his job to start a nonprofit to help fill that gap .
Kid One has ferried 16,000 children to and from medical-related appointments .


BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- Erin Sheehan is one of the almost 28,000 students making the bittersweet return to the Virginia Tech campus for fall classes, a journey she was afforded only because of some quick thinking in April. Students return to the Virginia Tech campus Monday for the first day of fall classes. When Seung-Hui Cho stormed into Sheehan's German class that horrifying Monday morning -- firing off indiscriminate rounds of gunfire that killed the German teacher and four of Sheehan's classmates -- Sheehan hit the deck and played dead. "He went around the room shooting everyone," she said. Cho's April 16 rampage through Norris Hall left 29 students and faculty dead. The mentally disturbed Cho also killed two others and himself in the mass shooting, the worst in modern U.S. history. Though she is heading back to class, Sheehan is admittedly still shaken. Four months after the tragedy, Sheehan is haunted by memories of the massacre, and she still jumps when she hears a loud noise in her Virginia Tech dorm room. Regardless, she is prepared to move on. "When classes started again in the spring I didn't come back," Sheehan said. "It was just too hard to do then, but now I'm ready." The campus was buzzing over the weekend. Parents and students crowded the sidewalks, toting boxes and furniture into the dorms, including West Ambler Johnston, where the first two victims were killed. Norris Hall, meanwhile, has been refurbished and will no longer host classes. Virginia Tech has discreetly beefed up security since the tragedy. Locks that operate from the inside have been placed on classroom doors. Dormitory entrances are secured 24 hours a day. Students can sign up for emergency text messages from the university. Despite the precautions, not everything has gone as smoothly as planned. On the eve of the students' return to classes, 23 people fell ill from a carbon monoxide leak in an apartment building near campus. Five Virginia Tech students were hospitalized, police and hospital officials said. Blacksburg Police said a valve on a water heater that was malfunctioning is believed to be the cause of the incident. Police said the valve was stuck in the open position, causing a constant burn-off of fuel and creating carbon monoxide that was not ventilating. Kirsten Halik and Kristin Julia, both 19, were upgraded from critical to serious condition Monday and Elizabeth Burgin, Carolyn Dorman, and Nichole Howarth, all 19 -- are conscious and alert, according to hospital officials. Burgin, Dorman, and Howarth were upgraded from serious to good condition, hospital officials said, after they received treatment in a hyperbaric chamber on Sunday and Monday. The chamber pushes pressurized oxygen into the tissues and blood. Meanwhile, the university dedicated a permanent memorial to the victims and their families -- a semicircle of 32 engraved stones bearing each victim's name. One student said she wanted to attend the ceremony until she woke up at the Collegiate Suites apartment building feeling nauseous, The Washington Post reported. Spirits are high, however, said professor Nikki Giovanni, and students and faculty are ready to move past the tragedy.  Watch Giovanni applaud the university's new security measures » "The Hokies' spirit is alive and well. I think that we're very excited that classes are starting -- that we're moving into a new year," she said. Perhaps indicative of that resilience is the size of the incoming freshman class. According to a university news release, the university accepted deposits from 5,215 freshmen this year. That is more than its enrollment target of 5,000 and about 30 more deposits than the university received from incoming freshmen last year, the news release said. "Virginia Tech took a big hit, but I think that we have embraced each other. We have been embraced on this planet," Giovanni said, explaining that the Virginia Tech community has received greetings "from every country on Earth and it's been a wonderful thing." Students concur they are ready for the new school year. Playing Frisbee with friends at a

What did the student do so as not to be shot?

What is the number of students sick from carbon monoxide?

In what way did the student avoid being shot?

Answer: Sheehan hit the deck and played dead.

Answer: Norris Hall,

Answer: 23

Answer: a carbon monoxide

Answer: 29

Answer: Sheehan

Answer: played dead.

Answer: 29

Summary:
Student says she avoided being shot during massacre by playing dead .
No classes will be held in Norris Hall, where 29 of the victims were killed .
Professor: "I think that we're very excited that classes are starting"
Carbon monoxide leak leaves 23 sick but some students getting better .


BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- Erin Sheehan was a freshman last year when Seung-Hui Cho peeked through the door of her German class. The next hour of her life would become a struggle for survival.

Erin Sheehan played dead while the Virginia Tech shooter went on a rampage. "I still have trouble sleeping."

"The gunman entered my room. He shot my German teacher and then proceeded to shoot the students in the classroom pretty thoroughly," she said.

Sheehan was only one of four students in the room not to get shot. She jumped on the floor and remained quiet while Cho went on his rampage. "I thought if I played dead then he hopefully would think I was already hit."

She listened as the killer left her Norris Hall classroom to attack another room. She and the other survivors barricaded the door to keep Cho from coming back. "I tried to use a podium at the front of the classroom to block the door, because the gunman was shoving at the door and started firing through the door. We didn't think we were going to be able to hold it," she said.  Watch Sheehan remember a day of horror Â»

Sheehan is now a sophomore at Virginia Tech. Like so many on campus, April 16, 2007, marks the worst day of her life, when Cho killed 32 students and professors in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

Sheehan recently accompanied CNN to what is known as the Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Prevail Archive -- an office space on the edge of campus where mementoes sent from across the world are temporarily warehoused. The university is cataloging and documenting every item it can save in order to create a permanent collection as well as an online archive that the public can access.  Take a tour of the archive Â»

Teddy bears, an American flag from the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, painted eggs, the hood of a race car, condolence posters signed by Koreans and a letter from President Bush are housed there. Thousands of other letters are also kept in the archive.

"This is making me feel super bad. Because a lot of people died at Blacksburg. I love VT," wrote one young child.

Walking through the archive for the first time, Sheehan was overcome with emotion. She stopped and held a picture of all the victims, pointing out her slain German teacher and another classmate. "I believe this is Nicole White, she sat right next to me. And I think I would credit her with taking bullets for me," she said in a muted tone.  Watch letters to Virginia Tech Â»

Of the entire archive, she added, "I don't ever remember seeing it all together like this before. I think it is really remarkable that so many people cared to reach out to us like this."

Tamara Kennelly is the archivist at Virginia Tech. She's responsible for documenting how everyone beyond the campus dealt with the tragedy, when the world was joined by four words: "We are all Hokies."

"People at other places have really identified with us and felt all of this with us," she said. "I think it's very heartening, it's very moving to me."  Watch a Tech student describe surviving four shots Â»

They've received just about anything, from condolences books from funeral homes to messages from prisons to letters from elementary students.

"There are always people who really have their own story to tell or a powerful way of putting it. And when you find those letters, they stay with you -- all day, all week," said Amy Vilelle, the manuscript archivist. "There are a few that I will not ever forget reading."

Some are very personal, like a pair of goggles from a lab partner. "Mike may you rest in peace. You will forever be remembered as my favorite lab partner. We'll be missing you," it says on the goggles.

Fighting back tears, Kennelly said, "This job is very

Flags from what country are among the items?

Who said that they will not ever forget reading some of the things?

Answer: across the world

Answer: remarkable that so many people cared to reach out to us like this."

Answer: office space on the edge of campus

Answer: U.S.

Answer: Erin Sheehan

Answer: an office space on the edge of campus

Answer: mementoes sent from across the world

Answer: Teddy bears, an American flag from the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, painted eggs, the hood of a race car, condolence posters signed by Koreans and a letter from President Bush are housed there.

Answer: the Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Prevail Archive -- an office space on the edge of campus

Answer: Teddy bears, an American flag from the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, painted eggs, the hood of a race car, condolence posters signed by Koreans and a letter from President Bush are housed there.

Summary:
Thousands of items sent from around globe are housed on Tech campus .
Items range from letters from kids to an American flag from Afghanistan .
"It is really remarkable that so many people cared to reach out to us," survivor says .
Archivist: "There are a few that I will not ever forget reading"


BOCA RATON, Florida (CNN) -- Edgar and Nina Otto say they had no idea how their four-legged clone would react to them. But last week, after waiting several months, the yellow Labrador puppy bounded off an airplane at Miami International Airport, right into their arms. Lancelot Encore is his name, or Lancy for short.

Nina and Edgar Otto say their cloned puppy crosses his paws like the original dog did.

The puppy Lancy looks and acts just like Lancelot, their first Lab, who died a year ago, say the Ottos. That's not surprising, because Lancy is Lancelot's clone.

"We just got him because we wanted to have Lancelot more than just the 11½ years," Nina Otto said.

The Ottos submitted the winning bid of $155,000 at an auction with a San Francisco biotech company that had Lancelot cloned in South Korea.  Watch Lancy at home with the Ottos »

"Did I ever think that I was going to spend $150K on a dog? No," Edgar Otto said, adding, "This is a really sweet dog, and ... we're very happy that we did it."

Edgar Otto is the son of Edward Otto, a co-founder of NASCAR. So money was really not an issue for this family.

They got the idea five years ago and had a sample of Lancelot's DNA extracted and banked when they heard that cloning was possible.

So far, the Ottos say Lancy is eerily similar to Lancelot. They say Lancy walks just like Lancelot and crosses his paws like him, too.

"I only was hoping to get the essence of Lancelot back," Nina said. "I know I've gotten that. Anything else is icing on the cake."

But is it the same dog?

"It's as close as you can get," Edgar said.

The Ottos have nine other dogs, as well as cats, birds and sheep, all living on a spectacular 12-acre spread in Boca Raton, Florida.

"This dog was immediately accepted by the nine dogs," Edgar Otto said. "There was no baring of teeth, not ever a single growl. So, the pack accepted him."

Four customers who also placed winning bids in an auction by BioArts International will have their dogs cloned, and those pets will be delivered in the coming months.

BioArts is collaborating with South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation to produce the dog clones. Cloning dogs is considered difficult because of their complicated reproductive physiology, but the procedure has been perfected in South Korea, according to industry experts.

In Lancy's case, his DNA was placed inside an egg from a South Korean dog and implanted in an Irish setter in South Korea. About two months later, 1.3-pound Lancy was born in a single litter birth.

BioArts says it's an expensive process and the company is still analyzing whether pet cloning can be a viable, profitable business.

"I would love to see more families be able to have this experience," said Lou Hawthorne, the BioArts CEO.

"But due to the complexity and cost of the process, availability is going to be limited for the foreseeable future," he said.

Lancy is a robust 17-pounder today, and quite healthy according to the Ottos. He romps around their yard like any puppy would. But, the Ottos say, he's taken a particular fondness to a bush planted at the spot where his original, Lancelot, died last year.

"This is the only guy that's gone to that bush, and he started burrowing in the bush," Edgar Otto said.

"I don't know what to make of that, but we have nine dogs and let them play everyday out here, and this guy just hung out there," he said.

But this story is not without its critics. The Ottos can do whatever they want with their money, but "a shelter dog just lost out on a great chance of having a home," said Cherie Wachter of

Who did Edgar and Nina Otto pay to clone?

What does the cloned puppy do like the original?

Answer: yellow Labrador

Answer: dogs, as well as cats, birds and sheep,

Answer: Labrador puppy

Answer: cloned puppy

Answer: $155,000

Answer: crosses his paws

Summary:
Edgar and Nina Otto paid $150,000 to clone their late dog using stored DNA .
Californian and South Korean companies collaborate on the cloning .
Cloned puppy eerily walks like original and crosses paws like him .
Couple owns nine other dogs as well as cats, birds, and sheep .


BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN)  -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe enjoys one of the highest popularity ratings of any leader in South America, so much that his supporters are pushing for a third presidential term for him.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has not said whether he would be willing to run for a third term.

But the constitution would have to be changed to allow that, and recent global issues have even some supporters questioning whether Uribe should be allowed to seek that extra time in office.

"When the president was first re-elected in 2006, the economy was thriving, and the president benefited from its success," said Carlos Lemoine, a political consultant. "Now, the economy is in a very different situation."

Five million Colombians might disagree.

They have signed petitions asking for a constitutional referendum that would grant Uribe the chance to run again. That could happen in 2010 or, if he sat out a term, in 2014.

The nation's Congress is debating the referendum, and not all lawmakers are convinced it's a good idea.

"Another re-election is not good for Colombia, because it would concentrate the power of government on the president," said David Luna, a member of Colombia's Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of Congress.

Added representative German Olano, "In 2001, voters agreed Alvaro Uribe was the most qualified person for the job. But, like any other democracy, there are plenty of capable people for the job. And those people should get their chance."

The third-term argument in Colombia mirrors to a large degree the situation in rival Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez announced last month that he will press for a constitutional amendment to enable him to seek re-election in order to govern until 2021.

Observers say the efforts to expand presidential terms reflect a historical shift in South America.

"Historically, those countries did not have re-election. The president could serve one term, and that was it," said Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, an independent research and information organization.

"There would be military coups, with the military ousting one civilian ruler to put in another civilian ruler. Then in the 1970s, the coups changed. The military seized power and held it and didn't turn authority over to civilians. So one country after another revised their constitutions to allow standing for re-election," Birns said.

"We now have a situation where ruling parties want to stay in power, but for different reasons. In the case of Colombia and Uribe, it is law and order. For Chavez in Venezuela, it is extending his vision, getting more time to institutionalize that vision," Birns said.

In Colombia, there is also talk of "vision" among congressional supporters of a third term for Uribe.

"I believe President Uribe's success requires us to consider the [constitutional] referendum and grant it, so that we can continue his vision of long-term stability," Chamber of Representatives member Nicolas Uribe said.

But former Colombian President Andres Pastrana believes that it is time for a change, and changing the constitution to allow for a third term is not the change he means.

"I think that changing the constitution for someone's personal gain is against our democratic principles, and it would be a grave mistake for this country," he said.

That is a risk that supporters of the referendum are willing to take.

"It is not going to weaken our democracy," supporter Luis Guillermo Giraldo said.

"Just look at Margaret Thatcher, who governed for 11 years, or Tony Blair for 10," he said, referring to two former British prime ministers.

As the debate goes on in Colombia, Uribe is not saying whether he wants another term in office.

And opponents are arguing that it would not be worth spending an estimated $57 million on a referendum to find out whether he should even be allowed to be a candidate.

What do supporters of Uribe want to give?

What position does Alvaro Uribe currently have?

Number of Colombians that signed the petitions?

Who do supporters want to give a chance to continue his vision?

Answer: signed petitions

Answer: third presidential term for him.

Answer: Five million

Answer: Colombian President

Answer: Five million

Answer: petitions

Answer: a constitutional referendum that would grant Uribe the chance to run again.

Answer: Alvaro Uribe

Answer: a constitutional referendum that would grant Uribe the chance to run again.

Summary:
5 million Colombians signed petitions seeking constitutional referendum .
Some say others deserve chance to run for president .
Supporters speak of giving Alvaro Uribe a chance to continue "vision"


BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN)  -- Colombian officials are blaming the FARC guerrilla group for a car bombing late Sunday at a police station in Cali that killed two people and wounded at least 14.

Residents check out a destroyed police building after a car bombing Sunday night in Cali, Colombia.

It was the second bombing in Colombia attributed to the Marxist guerrilla group in less than a week. An explosion at a Blockbuster video rental store in an upscale Bogota neighborhood Tuesday killed two and wounded more than 20.

The suspect in Sunday night's attack was killed in a shootout with police after the explosion, Cali Mayor Jorge Ivan Ospina said Monday, hours after convening a special security meeting in the middle of the night.

"Although the explosive device only had moderate impact," Ospina said on the Cali government Web site, "we should not forget we are at war and the FARC has been committing terrorist acts in Bogota, Neiva, Cali and other cities in the country. That's why we cannot let our guard down, since they take advantage of Sundays and city centers, where control is more difficult."

The explosion came just hours after the rebel group released four hostages in what many interpreted as a gesture to reach a peace accord with the government. Two officials also are slated to be released this week.

FARC, which is the Spanish acronym for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is the largest and oldest revolutionary group in the nation and has been at war with the government for more than 40 years.

According to Ospina, a blue and red Renault 12 Break pickup crashed into the police headquarters in Cali at 10:38 p.m. and then exploded. The driver tried to flee but was felled by two shots from uniformed police and died a few hours later at a hospital, the mayor said.

The explosion caused damage in a two-block area, the Cali news Web site Semana.com said.

Five of the 14 wounded were minors, Ospina said, citing emergency director Laureano Quintero. The injured are suffering from fractures and other wounds not considered life-threatening, he said.

Cali's health minister, Alejandro Varela, said earlier 32 were wounded, including a pregnant woman who was in good condition. Others complained of hearing problems.

The mayor's office said the previous higher tally could be a result of people not wounded in the bombing but seeking medical attention to receive government help.

Three police were wounded, including a major with a broken arm and an officer who had to have three fingers amputated on his left hand, said the police chief, Gustavo Adolfo Ricaurte Tapia.

The bombing caused a temporary power outage, which made security more difficult for officials, said the news Web site Burladero.com.

It was the fourth bombing in Cali in less than 42 months, Semana.com said.

The latest bombing took place about five blocks from the Palace of Justice, which was blasted by a car bomb in August, killing four and wounding 26. Police buildings were bombed in April 2007 and August 2006. The earlier blast killed five and wounded 17, Semana.com said.

Security analysts say FARC has about 9,000 to 12,000 armed guerillas and several thousand supporters, mostly in rural areas. The guerrilla group was established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party.

The guerrillas operate mostly in Colombia but have carried out extortion, kidnappings and other activities in Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador, according to the Federation of American Scientists Intelligence Resource Program.

Authorities said Sunday night's bomb contained 90 kilograms (198 pounds) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel, a commonly used explosive, Semana.com said.

By comparison, the bomb that Timothy McVeigh used in the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, contained more than 2,800 kilos (6,200 pounds) of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel.

Where was the video rental store that was attacked?

How many were killed in the car bombing?

Answer: four

Answer: an upscale Bogota neighborhood

Answer: car bombing

Answer: two people

Answer: the FARC guerrilla

Answer: the FARC guerrilla group

Answer: Jorge Ivan Ospina

Answer: at least 14.

Answer: two people

Summary:
Car bombing at police station in Cali, Colombia, kills two people, wounds at least 14 .
FARC rebels also blamed for last week's bombing at video rental store in Bogota .
Suspect in Cali attack dies in shootout with police after blast, mayor says .
Cali explosion comes hours after FARC releases four hostages .