(CNN) -- He never told a lie, as the story goes. So maybe if he were alive today, President George Washington could tell a New York City library what he did with two books he checked out 221 years ago.

The two books -- weighty discourses on international relations and parliamentary debates -- were checked out on October 5, 1789.

They were due on November 2, 1789, but weren't brought back.

Since then, they've been steadily collecting a fine of a few cents each day, adding up to more than $4,000 by the New York Society Library's informal estimate.

"I'm sorry, math is not my thing at all," said Jane Goldstein, the assistant head librarian when asked to hazard a guess.

The fine at the time was 2 pence a day. Now, it's 15 cents -- "It's really gone up, hasn't it?" she quipped.

One of the librarians, Matthew Haugen, guessed the fine to be in the region of 3,000 British pounds, or about $4,577.

"He stuck with the pence concept," Goldstein said.

The library first learned of the missing books when it discovered a yellowed ledger in its basement

It listed all the people who had checked out books from the city's oldest library between July 1789 and April 1792.

Next to the works "Law of Nations" and the 12th volume of "Common Debates" was the name of the person who checked them out: "President."

At the time, New York was the capital of the United States, and the library was the only one in town.

Soon after, the capital was relocated to Philadelphia and then Washington D.C.

The New York library, a subscription library that was New York's first library open to the public, has known about the missing books since the 1930s. The matter came up again recently because the library is capturing the ledgers in digital form to preserve the records.

Library officials cross-checked the books mentioned in the ledger with the ones in their collection.

"Volume 12 (of "Common Debates") was still missing," as was the other book, Goldstein said.

The library is not so concerned about the fine as it is about each book.

"We don't know where it is," she said. "We have tried to find it and we can't," she said.

How long has the library known about the missing books?

How long as the library known about the missing books?

What library would like to track down the books?

Answer: President George Washington

Answer: since the 1930s.

Answer: two

Answer: President George Washington

Answer: two books

Answer: since the 1930s.

Answer: New York City

Summary:
George Washington has racked up a growing fine on two overdue books from NYC library .
The discourses on international relations, parliamentary debates were never returned .
New York Society Library would like to track down the books .
The library has known about the missing books since the 1930s .


(CNN) -- He was a cold, calculating, "morally depraved" man who spent the last years of his socialite and megaphilanthropist mother's life bilking her fortune to line his pockets. That's one way to see Anthony Marshall -- and it's the only way, according to the prosecutors who secured a conviction against him for grand larceny and scheming to defraud his mother, Brooke Astor. Now as the 85-year-old son prepares to be sentenced Monday for his crimes, another portrait of him has emerged -- thanks to close friends and celebrity acquaintances (including Al Roker and Whoopi Goldberg) who sent letters to the court in hopes of saving him from a lengthy prison sentence. The man prosecutors described during the trial is apparently unrecognizable to many of Marshall's friends and acquaintances. He was a loyal churchgoing man, a Purple Heart recipient wounded in Iwo Jima during World War II and a son who tried mightily but could never live up to the high ideals of his socialite mother, according to letters friends submitted to the court. And now, they say he is a frail and sickly man who has faced extreme humiliation and would essentially be given a death sentence if a judge hands down the maximum sentence allowed. It will be up to Judge A. Kirke Bartley Jr. to decide how to reconcile the two portraits of Tony Marshall. He faces a minimum 1 to 3 years, or as much as 8  to 25 years in state prison. The drastically differing views have only further heightened interest in the case, which during the trial stage was a tabloid feeding frenzy, fostering headlines such as "Bad heir day," "Mrs. Astor's disaster" and "DA's kick in the Astor." The witness list was a virtual "Who's Who" of New York's social elite -- including Henry Kissinger, Graydon Carter, Barbara Walters, Vartan Gregorian and Annette de la Renta. During the case, prosecutors and witnesses portrayed Marshall as an only son preying on his physically and mentally ill 101-year-old mother. Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann called the case "disturbing," and said the trial told the story of "how a son, an only son, would stoop so low to steal from his own mother in the sunset years of her life in order to line his own pockets and the pockets of his wife." His only goal, they said, was to selfishly tap her fortune -- money that prosecutors said Astor intended to donate to ordinary New Yorkers who needed help after she died. He was convicted of the most serious charges against him -- first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud. One of the most serious convictions involved Marshall giving himself a $1 million-a-year raise for handling his mother's affairs, Seidemann said. During trial testimony, Marshall's lawyers called no character witnesses to come to his defense. So the new letters from friends are the first attempts by those who know him to share what they believe is his true character. Whoopi Goldberg told a judge in her letter that she met Tony Marshall and his wife Charlene 10 years ago when Goldberg moved into a building on the Upper East Side with Frank Langella. Unlike other residents who turned their nose up at her, Goldberg said she became quick friends with the Marshalls. Her interactions with Tony, she wrote, gave her an insight into his relationship with his mother, and in turn taught her about how fame can affect family dynamics. "I also understand what it must be like for my own daughter to be around my fame," she wrote. "I am not comparing myself to Mrs. Astor, but I've seen how you can be dismissed as not being good enough, or hip enough, and seeing it happen to Tony made me make sure that it didn't happen to my own daughter." The humiliation and ugliness of the trial was punishment enough and a prison sentence would be unjust, friends argued in the letters. Marshall's cardiologist, Kenneth W. Franklin, also wrote to urge the judge to consider his age and health in sentencing. A

Who is asking for a compassionate sentence?

What are reasons for advocating  a lighter sentence for Marshall?

Who was convicted of bilking his mother?

Answer: close friends and celebrity acquaintances

Answer: he is a frail and sickly man who has faced extreme humiliation and would essentially be given a death

Answer: 85-year-old

Answer: 1 to 3 years,

Answer: Anthony Marshall

Summary:
Whoopi Goldberg, Al Roker among those asking for a compassionate sentence .
Tony Marshall convicted of bilking mom Brooke Astor of money before her death .
He faces a minimum 1 to 3 years, or as much as 8 to 25 years in state prison .
Friends cite Marshall's age of 85, deteriorating health, among reasons for light sentence .


(CNN) -- He was known as the Wizard of Westwood, the architect of a dynasty at UCLA that will never be equaled. But John Wooden leaves behind a legacy much larger than victories on a basketball court.

Wooden died Friday of natural causes at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He was 99. His 100th birthday would have been October 14.

Wooden's children, Nan and Jim Wooden, issued a statement asking that donations be made in his name to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or another charity of choice.

"He has been, and always will be, the guiding light for our family. The love, guidance and support he has given us will never be forgotten," the said. "Our peace of mind at this time is knowing that he has gone to be with our mother, whom he has continued to love and cherish."

Wooden had been admitted to the hosptial on May 26. Funeral services will be private, but the family said there would be a public memorial at a later date, with a reception for former players and coaches.

"There will never be another John Wooden," said UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero. "While this is a huge loss for the Bruin family, Coach Wooden's influence reaches far beyond Westwood. Coach was a tremendously significant figure.

"This loss will be felt by individuals from all parts of society. He was not only the greatest coach in the history of any sport but he was an exceptional individual that transcended the sporting world. His enduring legacy as a role model is one we should all strive to emulate."

"This is a sad day at UCLA," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "Coach Wooden's legacy transcends athletics; what he did was produce leaders."

Wooden was born on a farm in Martinsville, Indiana, in 1910 and learned to play basketball on an iron hoop that his father had forged and attached to the barn.

He went to college at Purdue, winning All-America honors three times and leading the Boilermakers to the 1932 national collegiate championship.

After marrying his high school sweetheart and life-long love Nell following his graduation, Wooden coached at the high school level and at Indiana State before being hired by UCLA in 1948. His coaching methods, like his upbringing, seemed like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting: Simple, yet elegant.

"If there's anything you could point out where I was a little different, it was the fact that i never mentioned winning," he once said.

In 27 years at UCLA, his Bruins won an unprecedented 10 national championships in 12 years, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA also captured 19 conference titles and set an NCAA record with 88 consecutive wins over four seasons, but Wooden was more proud of his players accomplishments off the court.

"I think that's the factor from which i have received the greatest satisfaction and pleasure. The fact that practically all of my players did get their degrees and practically all of them have done well in whatever their chosen profession might be," he said.

Wooden retired from UCLA in 1975, following his 10th national championship but would occasionally take in a Bruins game from the stands.

Former Cal coach Pete Newell once said, "John was a better coach at 55 than he was at 50. He was a better coach at 60 than at 55. He's a true example of a man who learned from day one to day last."

Wooden is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a coach and as a player -- one of only two men to attain that honor -- and many of the men he coached went on to stellar careers as well. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), Gail Goodrich and Bill Walton all landed in the Basketball Hall of Fame beside their college coach, while others played in the NBA or even returned to UCLA later in Wooden's footsteps.

But Wooden's legacy extended beyond his basketball expertise -- he coached leadership. He frequently recited what he termed his father's

How many consecutive games were won over four seasons?

Answer: 10

Answer: wins

Answer: UCLA

Summary:
NEW: UCLA AD: "There will never be another John Wooden"
NEW: Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" guided daily living .
Wooden's UCLA teams won 7 straight national titles from 1967 to 1973 .
Teams won 88 consecutive games over four seasons .
Coach retired in 1975 after 10th national championship .


(CNN) -- He was not able to fulfill his childhood dream of being a pilot, but Ghanaian scientist Dr. Ave Kludze has arguably gone one better: developing and flying spacecrafts for NASA. The moon, Mars and beyond: All are in the sights of Dr. Ave Kludze. The 43-year-old didn't enter orbit when controlling a NASA rocket to launch the Calipso environmental satellite in 2006, instead piloting it from the control center on the ground. Nevertheless from growing up in Ghana to being an astronautical engineer and strategist for NASA, he has had a similarly stratospheric rise to the top. Growing up in Accra, Kludze was fascinated by science and how things worked. "I was a very curious kid and I always questioned lots of things, and most of my friends I grew up with, they knew that. And my parents, they were a little bit concerned because sometimes I would take apart a lot of things they would not want me to touch," he told CNN. When he realized he could not become a pilot because of his eyesight he channeled his energies into studying engineering, moving to the U.S. to complete a course in electrical engineering at Rutgers University. On graduating Kludze initially planned to return to Ghana to develop solar technologies, but then NASA came calling in 1995. "I never did dream of working for NASA. I admired what they did, but it never did cross my mind. I did not see how a kid like me could work for NASA," he said. He commanded his first spacecraft from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and has gone on to develop an extra-vehicular infra-red camera as well as other projects for the space agency. While he didn't return to Ghana as he originally planned, he still believes that his work -- and NASA's -- has had some benefits to his native country and more down-to-earth lives. "Well, NASA has done a lot for Africans. Maybe Africans they no know that. They have cell phones, glasses, anti-scratch and all those things. We have portable water system that NASA has developed for Africa. They're using it," he said. "And one thing people often forget, NASA doesn't only develop space technology, we also develop aeronautical technology. So when the planes they fly and other flying objects, NASA's technology has been involved in that." Kludze is also keen to pass on the message that for young Africans, the sky is the limit in terms of what they do with their lives. "I've learned that being given the freedom to think and think openly helps bring in new ideas. So in community, like in an African communities, I think younger generations and both the old and the young should freely share ideas and break those old barriers. "So I believe that with some determination and some hard work most of the younger generation can get whatever they want to. They can even go into space, they can do anything."

Where did this strategist go to school at?

Did he want to work for NASA as a child?

Answer: U.S.

Answer: 1995.

Answer: young Africans,

Answer: Ghana

Answer: Dr. Ave Kludze.

Answer: Rutgers University.

Answer: Ave Kludze

Answer: never

Answer: Ghana

Summary:
American-Ghanaian engineer is one of NASA's top strategists .
Grew up in Accra before studying in U.S.; joined NASA in 1995 .
Has remotely piloted space craft; believes other Africans can follow in his footsteps .


(CNN) -- He's been decorated with awards and called one of the world's most influential people. He's addressed packed auditoriums and waved to crowds who line streets just to catch a passing glimpse of him. He's shaken the hands of countless global dignitaries and earned a fan base following on Facebook that might rival that of Hollywood stars.

He is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the 74-year-old spiritual leader of Tibet and the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, based in Dharamsala, India. And though he describes himself, according to his Web site, as "a simple Buddhist monk," the love so many Americans and others have for him has, no doubt, bestowed on him iconic status -- whether he sees it that way or not.

"I'd love to be in his presence. I'd love to be in an audience where he speaks," said Jerilee Auclair, 55, of Vancouver, Washington, who has yet to have that pleasure. "I yearn for it. I watch his schedule to see if/when he'll be in my area. ... I love what he stands for. His inner peace inspires me to find mine, daily."

She's far from alone in her admiration.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday, the same day the Dalai Lama visited the White House, showed that 56 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of him, putting him "in the same neighborhood as other major religious figures," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Favorable ratings for the pope, at 59 percent, and Billy Graham, at 57 percent, are virtually identical."

Not bad for a guy who lives on the opposite side of the globe, is entrenched in a decades-old political and cultural struggle many don't understand, and lives according to a tradition few Americans follow. Less than 1 percent of Americans identify themselves as Buddhist, with less than 0.3 percent of those being Tibetan Buddhist, according to The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

But what he represents resonates with Americans who may need a figure like the Dalai Lama to look to, said Ganden Thurman, executive director of New York City's Tibet House, an organization dedicated to preserving Tibetan culture and civilization.

"He stands for achieving peace by way of peace, and since Gandhi and Martin Luther King aren't around, he's a placeholder for that kind of position," he said. "He says he's a 'simple monk,' but that's wishful thinking. He's a monk that's been saddled with the responsibility of shouldering the hopes and dreams of millions of Tibetan people. ... He's doing the best he can with that, and frankly, these are the kind of people we admire."

Not that Thurman, 42, always treated the Dalai Lama with this kind of reverence. His father, Robert Thurman, co-founded the Tibet House, is an Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies professor at Columbia University and holds the first endowed chair in Buddhist studies in the West, according to the university's online biography. The older Thurman, who also happens to be the father of actress Uma Thurman, was a personal student of the Dalai Lama, and it was through this relationship that his son first met the spiritual leader.

"My earliest memory of meeting him, I was around 4. I was a pretty rambunctious 4-year-old," he said with a laugh, guessing that he probably jumped on His Holiness and grabbed at the man's glasses. "Diplomatic protocol wasn't high on my list of priorities."

Tenzin Tethong has known the Dalai Lama since he was a child. He worked in the exile government and served as the spiritual leader's representative in New York and Washington during the 1970s and 1980s. Now the president of The Dalai Lama Foundation, a Redwood City, California, organization that promotes peace, Tethong said he organized the Tibetan leader's first visit to the United States in 1979, 20 years after he had gone into exile

He recalled not being

Who filled the symbolic placeholder left by Gandhi and MLK?

Who does 56 percent of Americans view him favorably?

What percentage of Americans view him favorably?

Answer: Dalai Lama,

Answer: Dalai Lama,

Answer: Dalai Lama,

Answer: Dalai Lama,

Answer: His inner peace

Answer: 56 percent

Summary:
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, has broad base of fans in America .
His sense of peace inspires; 56 percent of Americans view him favorably, poll shows .
He fills symbolic placeholder left by Gandhi and MLK, Tibet House executive says .
Buddhism helps him avoid trappings of fame, by not allowing ego to take over .


(CNN) -- He's been described as the Richard Branson of Asian airlines. And he certainly knows a thing or two about building a brand. Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia, spoke to CNN's Andrew Stevens in The Boardroom. In just five years, Tony Fernandes has built Air Asia from a bankrupt local carrier to the region's biggest budget airline -- 18 million passengers will fly the airline this year. CNN's Andrew Stevens talked to Fernandes in Macau to find out why, at the age of 37, he would leave a comfortable job in the music industry to start a new business in the cut-throat, not to mention high risk, aviation industry. Fernandes: Well there's a fine line between brilliance and stupidity, so the second point in a statement that Richard Branson's made is how to become a millionaire, start with a billion and start an airline. Now I was the other way around, I didn't have a billion. So I think that was one of the things, that I didn't have a lot to lose. And I thought I was young enough. I got tired of the corporate life, I got tired of corporate politics. And I saw a business opportunity. Everyone likes to fly. And I think the key number that got me going was only six percent of Malaysians flew. I started looking at the prices of tickets, and to travel from one part of Malaysia to another it was almost someone's one month salary. So that drove me. But I didn't want to be there, you know, at 55, and say I should've done it. Life is about risks, life is about not being afraid to fail. Stevens: But at the time, airlines were going into bankruptcy, oil prices were going through the roof, people were too scared to fly globally, didn't you think, "oh my god I've made the worse decision of my life?" Fernandes: No, I knew Malaysians very well. You put a price low enough, they'd risk their lives. I think also when you start a business the most important thing is does the market want it. And I knew the market wanted it. If that's there, everything is surmountable because people power is strong. Stevens: You like to pluck people from all different walks of life, from all different professions. How do you meld them all together? What's the philosophy underlying this? Fernandes: Well I think, first is that everyone plays a part. There is no hierarchy. Everyone is valuable. I make all my senior management carry bags and things so they appreciate that. Stevens: Do they? Fernandes: Oh yes, they do. Some try to shirk their duties, but it's very hard when they see the CEO doing it -- they have to do it. The second is that everyone's got ability, it's how you bring the best out of them. And that's a very motivating thing. If you see someone who's carrying a bag suddenly flying a plane. That's a very powerful motivator. You can do all the theory and books and promise people the world but when they see it in reality, boy that's a powerful thing to see. Stevens: When Air Asia started, you were known to go down, roll up your sleeves, and really get in with your staff at all levels, do you still have time to do that? Fernandes: I have less time, but I still do it. I think it's fundamental to running my company, because, unless you get down to the floor and see what's happening, you won't make effective decisions. I do it for two reasons. One is, to see what's going on, and to make sure if I'm making the right decisions. And the second thing is, I still want to discover these raw diamonds. Stevens: What's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given? Fernandes: Focus and discipline.

Which airline did Tony Fernandes turn into the biggest budget airline?

Answer: region's biggest budget airline

Answer: CEO of Air Asia,

Answer: Tony Fernandes,

Answer: Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia,

Answer: Andrew Stevens

Answer: region's biggest budget airline

Answer: Air Asia,

Answer: CEO of Air Asia,

Answer: region's biggest budget airline

Answer: Air Asia

Answer: CEO of Air Asia,

Summary:
Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia, talks to CNN's Andrew Stevens .
He turned Air Asia into the region's biggest budget airline .
Fernandes is known for joining in with staff at all levels .


(CNN) -- He's gone from being a backup dancer to the biggest thing in Asian pop culture, an actor and singer who has sold millions of albums. The 27-year-old South Korean has even faced down U.S. comedian Steven Colbert in a spoof dance-off. The comedy skit came about after Rain placed higher than him in Time Magazine's 2008 online poll of the 100 Most Influential People. As well as a sense of humor and dance moves that shook Colbert out of his satirical posture to praise, Rain is also known as one of the hardest working men in the entertainment business. Rain, real name Jung Ji-hoon,  broke into the notoriously tough world of South Korean show business with JYP Entertainment when he was just 18 years old. He made his first mark in Hollywood last year with a role in "Speed Racer" appearing alongside Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox. As a singer with five albums to his name, he's faced thousands of screaming fans at concerts across the world, and recently he faced your questions. Watch the show and find out what makes Rain tick.

Where is former backup dancer appearing now?

Answer: questions.

Answer: alongside Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox.

Answer: Rain

Answer: South Korean

Answer: Rain, real name Jung Ji-hoon,

Answer: Rain,

Answer: "Speed Racer"

Answer: 27-year-old

Summary:
Korean pop culture sensation will be on Talk Asia later this month .
27-year-old has gone from backup dancer to appearing in Hollywood films .
Rain will be appearing with answers to your questions .


(CNN) -- He's the man who helped make "Slumdog Millionaire" an international hit, scoring the soundtrack of the Oscar winning film. Despite his performance at the Oscars ceremony and being caught up in all the glitz and adulation, Rahman is a reluctant star. Feeling like a millionaire: AR Rahman picked up two Oscar's for best original song and best score. He's worked on films since he was a teenager, taking over the role of family breadwinner after his father died and followed in his footsteps as a composer. While he had stints writing advertising jingles in India, composing for films has been his life's work so far, yet from his studio in Chennai he admitted to CNN he didn't want to score films. "I kept saying next year I'll quit, next year I'll quit. And finally because I was sucked into it more and more, now I have the Oscars" he said. His Oscar performance and acceptance speech was one of the most memorable at this year's awards. "I thought if I get it I'll be quiet, if I don't get it I'll be quiet, so I was training my mind not to get over-emotional. So when I first got it I didn't feel it at all, it was like a rehearsal for me. When I finished my performance then I felt at ease and then I became very philosophical as you know, and I chose love over hate and all this stuff," he told CNN. Feted by many in media, his hit "Jai ho" was covered by the Pussy Cat Dolls, but the softly spoken Rahman doesn't find it hard to remain grounded. Rahman runs a music school in Chennai, the KM Music Conservatory that keeps him motivated and reminds him that music has a potency that can transform lives. "Music can do so many things. I have my foundation, I have my music school. I have people teaching, kids are learning, so I take this as an advantage, the popularity and taking that and putting it into good things, which motivated me to work harder," he said. As well as working on more Hindi films, Hollywood beckons, if only for a new experience. There have also been rumors he may score the next James Bond film. "I have a couple of offers from Hollywood. Pure American movies which I thought for the heck of it let's do it and a couple of other surprises that you'll know very soon if it works out. Big surprises I think," he said.

Who compose the sountrack for 'Slumdog Millionaire' ?

At what age did the composer begin work?

What is one of the soundtracks that he scored?

What is the location of the music school run by the composer?

Answer: Rahman

Answer: AR Rahman picked up two

Answer: teenager,

Answer: Chennai,

Answer: "Slumdog Millionaire"

Answer: Chennai,

Answer: Chennai,

Summary:
Oscar-winning composer scored the soundtrack for 'Slumdog Millionaire'
Began work as a 13-year-old to support family after his father died .
Will continue to score films in India and Hollywood; runs music school in Chennai .


(CNN) -- Health care reform should mean all Americans can get coverage while allowing doctors to heal patients instead of being bureaucrats, President Obama told the American Medical Association on Monday. The AMA agrees with Obama on the need for health care reform but not how to go about it. In a speech to the 158th annual meeting of the doctors' advocacy organization, Obama called an overhaul of the ailing health care system the most important issue for the nation's long-term economic stability. He acknowledged the concerns of doctors that reforms could bring a government-heavy system that would dictate how patients get treated and how much physicians get paid. But he called such thinking wrong. Obama urged all players -- doctors, patients, insurance companies, drug companies and the government -- to contribute to a workable system that would provide coverage for the 46 million uninsured Americans while reducing costs and increasing efficiency. "You did not enter this profession to be bean-counters and paper-pushers," Obama said to a standing ovation at the conference in Chicago, Illinois. "You entered this profession to be healers, and that's what our health care system should let you be." Obama has made health care reform a top priority of his young administration, and Congress will consider at least three proposals in coming weeks to address an issue that deeply divides Democrats and Republicans.  Watch Sen. John McCain discuss health care reform » The AMA represents a powerful constituency of U.S. physicians, and its support is considered important in getting a bill through Congress. Dr. J. James Rohack, president-elect of the AMA, welcomed Obama's speech for acknowledging the challenges facing doctors, including excessive bureaucracy, the threat of malpractice lawsuits and medical students' debt burdens. The president's 50-minute speech detailed the problems of the U.S. health care system and presented his plans for confronting them. He blamed some of the spiraling costs on a reimbursement system that he said pays for the number of tests and services provided, regardless of what is needed. "It is a model that rewards the quantity of care rather than the quality of care; that pushes you, the doctor, to see more and more patients even if you can't spend much time with each; and gives you every incentive to order that extra MRI or EKG, even if it's not truly necessary," Obama said. "It is a model that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession -- a calling -- to a business." He also cited unnecessary tests and procedures as part of a "defensive" medicine culture created in part by the risk of medical malpractice lawsuits. To loud applause, he said ending unnecessary procedures could require restrictions on malpractice liability to protect doctors. "I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards, which I personally believe can be unfair to people who've been wrongfully harmed, but I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, how to let doctors focus on practicing medicine, how to encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines," Obama said.  Watch the Health and Human Services chief talk about the administration's plan » Rohack called for a "safe harbor" for doctors to determine treatment, warning that "unless we have protection in a courtroom for not ordering a test, we're going to order that additional test." Obama's speech advocated an end to health care insurance providers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, with an emotional reference to his mother's battle against cancer amid concerns of whether her treatment would be covered. "Changing the current approach to pre-existing conditions is the least we can do -- for my mother and every other mother, father, son and daughter who has suffered under this practice, who've been paying premiums and don't get care," he said to another ovation. Any health care bill must include measures to modernize record-keeping with an electronic system that reduces paperwork and increases efficiency, and to emphasize preventive treatment to reduce overall illness and chronic conditions that sap the health care system,

What did the AMA agree the nation needs?

Who called for insurers to stop denying coverage?

What type of conditions does the president want insurers to stop denying coverage for?

Who called for malpractice protection for doctors?

Answer: Obama

Answer: health care reform

Answer: "unless we have protection in a courtroom for not ordering a test, we're going to order that additional test."

Answer: Obama

Answer: pre-existing

Answer: Rohack

Summary:
NEW: AMA official welcomes speech, calls for malpractice protection for doctors .
President calls for insurers to stop denying coverage for pre-existing conditions .
He also wants modernized record-keeping, cut in paperwork, increased efficiency .
AMA agrees nation needs health care reform, is unsure about public option plan .


(CNN) -- Health officials say the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu, is likely to cause more illnesses and deaths in the United States, even though much of the initial anxiety has eased. A researcher investigates swine flu at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported higher levels of flu activity than the average for mid-May and an unusual number of outbreaks in schools. Some clinics reported high numbers of respiratory diseases more commonly seen during the peak of flu season. "We do think that the way the virus is spreading in the U.S., we are not out of the woods, and the disease is continuing," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health program at the CDC in a news conference this week. In the United States, six deaths have been linked to the swine flu, although it's unclear whether these were caused by the virus or pre-existing conditions. Nationwide, at least 5,123 cases of H1N1 flu have been reported, although the actual number of people affected may be higher. New data released by the CDC Tuesday showed that the majority of the 30 patients who were hospitalized with H1N1 in California had other medical conditions, such as chronic heart and lung disease, suppressed immune system, diabetes, and obesity. None of the patients died. They had fevers, coughs, vomiting and shortness of breath, according to the CDC report that examined the patients. Six of them were admitted to the intensive care unit and four required mechanical ventilation.  See an explanation of H1N1 flu » Five of them were pregnant -- two of the fetuses did not survive. Earlier this month, Judy Dominguez Trunnell became the first U.S. resident to die from complications of the H1N1 flu. Her daughter was delivered via emergency Caesarean section. Dominguez Trunnell felt body aches and numbing in the left side of her face and went to the hospital, her husband, Steven Trunnell, told CNN's Larry King.  Watch the interview. » Trunnell has filed a wrongful death claim against Smithfield Foods, a pork and meat producer, alleging that the company's actions may have contributed to the virus' creation. "She was a healthy, pregnant woman who was eight months pregnant until she contracted the virus," he said. "She became acutely ill, but she was never diagnosed with any major medical complications of any kind." Health officials have said repeatedly since the outbreak's beginning that the virus cannot be contracted from eating pork. Pregnancy increases the risk of certain medical problems and creating complications from the flu, Schuchat said. "There is some immunosuppression that occurs during pregnancy," she said. "There maybe also a role of the mechanical effect of pregnancy in decreasing the lung capacity that maybe you're not easily able to handle lung infection or respiratory problems." Early steps toward an H1N1 vaccine are being taken. The process could take between five and six months from the time the virus appeared to when the vaccine would be available to the public, officials have said. Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman, said the agency has sent H1N1 strains to roughly seven labs around the world to use in the first steps of  vaccine development. The CDC expects to get the viruses back from the institutions by the end of the month and "if we do go in the direction of producing a vaccine, we could see the production of pilot lots, and clinical trials, beginning as soon as late June." Though the initial surveillance of the California cases indicates that most healthy patients recovered and were discharged after short hospital stays,  those with other medical conditions had greater complications. "Our best estimate right now is that the fatality [with the H1N1] is likely a little bit higher than seasonal influenza, but not necessarily substantially higher," Schuchat said. The seasonal flu kills 36,000 people every year. While people of all ages get the seasonal flu, its complications more severely affect older people or those with weakened immune systems.

what did CDC report
What conditions had patients?
what does data show
What CDC reported?

Answer: higher levels of flu activity than the average for mid-May and an unusual number of outbreaks in schools.

Answer: chronic heart and lung disease, suppressed immune system, diabetes, and obesity.

Answer: showed that the majority of the 30 patients who were hospitalized with H1N1 in California had other medical conditions, such as chronic heart and lung disease, suppressed immune system, diabetes, and obesity.

Answer: higher levels of flu activity than the average for mid-May

Summary:
CDC reported higher levels of flu activity than the average for mid-May .
Health officials warn disease is likely to continue and contribute to more deaths .
Initial data shows hospitalized patients had underlying medical conditions .


(CNN) -- Heavy rain that began pounding California on Tuesday threatened to unleash dangerous floods and mudslides, especially in areas ravaged by wildfires. Residents of La Canada Flintridge, California, fill sandbags to prepare heavy rains in the fire-affected area. "Very heavy rain is likely over the Sierra Nevada and foothills from later today through Wednesday morning as a strong and very moist Pacific storm moves into the region," the National Weather Service said. Up to 8 inches of rain could fall in areas above 4,000 feet, it said. Forecasters described it as the first major storm of the season. The Santa Cruz County Office of Emergency Services issued a mandatory evacuation order for 60 homes in a section of Davenport, an unincorporated community north of Santa Cruz along the state's central coast. The San Lorenzo Valley high school, middle school, and elementary schools are closed, the county said. Many roads were flooding in Santa Cruz County, emergency management officials said. The area burned in the summer's Lockheed fire, increasing the chances of mudslides in the current storm. Wind gusts above 50 mph were reported from automated observation sites at high elevations, and rainfall was heavy over the Santa Cruz Mountains, the weather service said. Gusty winds were reported in the San Francisco Bay Area, but heavy rain there was expected to end by early evening. "Although it has been very dry for a lengthy period of time, excessive amounts of rain of this magnitude may produce flooding in locations that normally do not flood during an early autumn rainfall," the weather service said. California's Emergency Management Agency was conducting conference calls with the National Weather Service to stay abreast of the latest reports, spokesman Greg Renick said. The agency had advised other agencies to make emergency preparations, he said. Sandbags have been positioned at vulnerable locations. "We have activated the state Operations Center in Sacramento and also activated the centers in Los Alamitos and Oakland," Renick said. One major area of concern is the land burned by the Station wildfire in August and September, forecasters said. That 160,000-acre fire destroyed about 80 homes in Los Angeles County. "The heavy rain will create favorable conditions for mud and rock slides over burn scars," said the weather service, which issued numerous flood watches and warnings. Forecasters said debris flows also were possible in or near areas burned by blazes such as the Big Meadows Fire in Yosemite National Park, the Power Fire in Tulare County and the fire in San Bernardino National Forest.

What part of the USA could the storm hit?

The storm is expected to dump how much rain?

Answer: Sierra Nevada and foothills

Answer: Sierra Nevada and foothills

Answer: heavy rain

Answer: Santa Cruz

Answer: California

Answer: a section of Davenport,

Answer: 8 inches

Summary:
Evacuations ordered, schools closed near Santa Cruz .
Storm is expected to dump as much as 8 inches of rain .
Storm could hit parts of Southern California that the Station wildfire burned .
Residents filled sandbags to prepare for flooding .


(CNN) -- Heavy snow in northern and central China has killed 21 people since Monday, the country's Ministry of Civil Affairs said Friday, according to state-run media. Xinhua news agency said the ministry did not provide the causes of the deaths, except to note that two school canteens had collapsed in Hebei and Henan provinces since Wednesday, killing four children. The snow began to fall Monday on northern and central Chinese provinces, including Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Hubei and Shaanxi, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xinhua reported. More than 9,000 buildings have collapsed since then, Xinhua said. Citing the ministry, it said the snow has caused an estimated 4.5 billion yuan (nearly $660 million) in damages. The ministry said about 159,000 people have been evacuated from their homes or stranded vehicles, Xinhua reported. Civil Affairs Minister Li Xueju has ordered local authorities to provide food, water and clothing to those who are still stranded, "and to make proper arrangements for people who lost their homes in the snow to get through the winter," Xinhua reported. It said the Civil Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Finance have allocated 20 million yuan (about $3 million) from their central budgets to Shanxi and Hebei provinces to help move those affected by the snow and to help them build houses. Heavy snow has also fallen on Beijing, but no deaths have been reported there, Xinhua said.

what Civil Affairs ministry says 159,000 people evacuated from?

Answer: Monday

Answer: 159,000

Answer: Monday

Answer: 159,000

Answer: More than 9,000

Answer: their homes or stranded vehicles,

Summary:
The snow began to fall Monday on northern and central Chinese provinces .
Xinhua: More than 9,000 buildings have collapsed since Monday .
Xinhua: Civil Affairs ministry says 159,000 people evacuated from homes, vehicles .


(CNN) -- Heavy snow pummeled much of the East Coast on Wednesday, battering states for the second time in a week and forcing many people to stay home from school and jobs.

Several cities had record snowfalls.

The storm canceled or delayed flights in several cities, kept federal workers home for a third straight day in Washington, and taxed local government budgets as cities and counties scrambled to pay for snow removal, overtime, salt, supplies and equipment.

In Washington, the snow was falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour at one point in the afternoon, CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said. Forecasters predicted that Washington winds would gust to 50 mph overnight.

A blizzard warning was to be in effect in the Washington area until 7 p.m., the National Weather Service said. Blowing snow caused such poor visibility at midday that snowplows temporarily parked by the side of the road, authorities said.

Forecasters predicted that the storm would dump a total of 8 to 10 inches inside the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495), with higher amounts to the north.

Watch the forecast on the storm's trek

"Even if you're in a SUV, it's difficult to get around," Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said. "You can't see the Capitol dome through the snow," even standing a few yards away.

Share your winter weather photos, videos

Government buildings were eerily quiet. The Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service buildings were shut. No one answered the door at the Justice Department, though the attorney general's office said work was still being done at key counterterrorism offices.

The U.S. Postal Service said it was experiencing delays in processing mail.

Subway service was expected to be limited Thursday to underground stations, and bus service was expected to be suspended on Thursday.

Federal agencies were to be closed Thursday, too, and non-emergency employees were to be granted the day off.

This winter already has become the snowiest on record for Washington and its suburbs, as well as Baltimore, Maryland, and Wilmington, Delaware, the National Weather Service said. It's also on pace to become the snowiest season on record in other cities, including Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Blizzard warnings also were in effect Wednesday for Asheville, North Carolina; Newark and Atlantic City, New Jersey; Baltimore, Maryland; Dover, Delaware; New York and nearby Long Island; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Under a blizzard warning, the following conditions are expected to be seen for three hours or longer: wind speeds of 35 mph or more and considerable falling and/or blowing of snow with visibility near zero (less than one-fourth mile), the weather service said.

In Atlantic City, the landmark Boardwalk -- lined with shops, restaurants and casinos -- remained open despite the snow.

New York was to be under a blizzard warning until 6 a.m. Thursday, but the snow was expected to stop falling late Wednesday night. Forecasters predicted wind gusts up to 50 mph and predicted the city will have received 12 to 20 inches of snow by the time the storm ends.

In Pennsylvania, all of Interstates 76, 78, 83, 176, 476 and 676, as well as state road 581, were closed Wednesday because of blizzard conditions, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said on its Web site. Part of I-81 was closed, it said.

Interstate 80 near Clearfield, Pennsylvania, was shut after two pileups -- one involving 17 cars and the other involving seven cars, said Rich Kirkpatrick from the state's Department of Transportation. One person died and another person was seriously injured, police said.

Philadelphia was under a blizzard warning until midnight, and could have as much as 20 inches of snow by the time it stops, forecasters said.

In Boston, Massachusetts, snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches an hour were expected along the Interstate 95 corridor into the evening. A winter storm warning was in effect until 1 a.m. Thursday, with final snow totals of 5 to 10 inches, the weather service said.

Thousands of

Many Interstate highways closed in which state ?

Who said this winter is snowiest on record for several cities?

Where are many Interstate highways closed?

Answer: Asheville, North Carolina; Newark

Answer: Pennsylvania,

Answer: National Weather Service

Answer: Pennsylvania,

Summary:
NEW: Many Interstate highways closed in Pennsylvania .
Two main Washington airports aren't set to reopen until Thursday morning .
Washington area, New York, Philadelphia under blizzard warning .
This winter is snowiest on record for several cities, National Weather Service says .


(CNN) -- Heidi Klum knows that modeling is a young woman's game. In the latest issue of InStyle magazine, the supermodel claims that models, like food, spoil after a certain age.

"Models have a sell-by date," the 36-year old Klum said in the interview.

The mother of four -- who recently changed her last name to Samuel for her husband, the singer known as "Seal" -- also said that there are certain jobs she just doesn't do anymore.

"Like the young, sexy, cute things for teenagers, or even 25-year-old girls. I go in a different bracket now," Klum said.

(InStyle: See highlights of the Klum issue)

The German-born model entered a different bracket of current and former models in 2004 when she became an entrepreneur with the television series "Project Runway." Klum signed on as host, judge and executive producer of the reality show, in which up-and-coming fashion designers compete for the chance to receive money to launch their own fashion line.

In 2009 Forbes magazine estimated Klum's income at $16 million.

The new season of "Project Runway" kicks off Season 7 on Lifetime network on Thursday. In March Klum and fellow judge designer Michael Kors will be starring in their own "Project Runway" video game, in which players can design fashion lines, choose their models, strut down the catwalk, and strike a pose in a photo shoot.

InStyle's February issue hits newsstands on Friday, January 15.

When does the latest season of "Project Runway" begin?

Answer: "Project Runway."

Answer: Klum

Answer: Thursday.

Summary:
Heidi Klum recognizes that modeling is mainly for younger people .
Klum has diversified her image -- notably by hosting "Project Runway"
Latest season of the fashion design competition begins Thursday .


(CNN) -- Heightening its warnings as anticipated anti-government protests approach, Iran's government says it will arrest protesters and hold them until April if they disrupt state-sanctioned marches to commemorate the overthrow of the Shah of Iran.

Iran is this week celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, culminating on February 11 -- a day that marked the end of the country's Western-backed monarchy and the start of an Islamic republic. A coalition of Iranian reformist groups is urging opponents of the regime to stage non-violent protests on Thursday, on the official anniversary of the Shah's ouster.

The so-called Green Movement has been protesting for social justice, freedom and democracy in demonstrations throughout the country since the disputed June president election.

Those arrested for causing "instability," disrupting public order and carrying "extremist signs" linked to the Green Movement will be jailed until at least April 9, the end of the Persian holiday, of Norooz, according to government-run Fars news agency.

The holiday marks the start of spring.

"Given the security plans that the police have taken into consideration for tomorrow's glorious marches; these ceremonies will be held in complete security and calm," Fars quoted an unidentified, informed source as saying Wednesday. "But if some try to misuse the vast participation and presence of the people; the police will deal with them firmly and resolutely."

Anti-government demonstrations began after the disputed June 12 presidential vote, which re-elected hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over main opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi.

Police arrested 4,000 people in the post-election crackdown. At least seven people were killed and hundreds were arrested, witnesses said, as they took to the streets of December 27 during the Shiite Muslim holy period of Ashura.

The Iranian government has denied that its security forces killed anyone and has blamed reformists for the violence.

On Tuesday, an Iranian court sentenced one person to death and eight others to prison for their parts in anti-government demonstrations in December, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The nine defendants were tried last week over their roles in protests during Ashura, Fars said, quoting the Tehran judiciary's public relations office.

There are now 10 people sentenced to death and awaiting appeal in connection with the protests.

Two men have been executed for participating in anti-government demonstrations, but a lawyer for one of them told CNN her client was already in jail when the protests broke out.

who is celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution?

Reformist groups are urging opponents of the regime to what?

who is urging opponents of the regime to stage non-violent protests?

Answer: Iran

Answer: protesters

Answer: stage non-violent protests

Answer: anti-government

Answer: protests

Answer: the overthrow of the Shah of Iran.

Answer: A coalition of Iranian reformist groups

Summary:
Protesters to be arrested and held until April if they disrupt state-sanctioned marches .
Iran is this week celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution .
Marches are to commemorate the overthrow of the Shah of Iran .
Reformist groups are urging opponents of the regime to stage non-violent protests .


(CNN) -- Hemant Karkare, Mumbai's slain terror chief, was a shrewd and unflappable investigator whose death is a blow to a police force that has difficult work ahead, his colleagues said this week. Hemant Karkare, left, was killed by gunmen in Mumbai shortly after this video was taken Wednesday. According to accounts in Indian newspapers, Karkare, 54, was credited with solving many crimes and did his job apolitically and with the utmost integrity. "The state Anti-Terrorism Squad has lost a daredevil officer in Hemant Karkare," Peter Lobo, chief inspector of the Anti-Terror Squad in Pune, told The Times of India on Thursday. Karkare, head of Maharashtra state's Anti-Terrorism Squad, was heading home Wednesday when he learned gunmen were attacking the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai, Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil told The Hindu newspaper. Karkare later got word the situation at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was more serious. The terror chief and two other officers -- armed with automatic weapons -- jumped in a jeep and rushed to take on the terrorists, The Hindu reported.  Watch how victims are coping with the attack » Footage from CNN's sister network, CNN-IBN, showed Karkare donning a helmet and putting a bulletproof vest over his light blue shirt as uniformed police officers with firearms and walkie-talkies surrounded him.  Watch Karkare's funeral » It would be the last video taken of Karkare before terrorists shot him three times in the chest near Cama hospital, the site of another Wednesday attack in Mumbai. "Though a workaholic, he was a soft-spoken officer. ATS has received a severe blow because of the untimely death of Karkare," Lobo told The Times of India before departing Pune to pay his respects to Karkare. Karkare joined the Indian Police Services in 1982. He became head of Maharashtra's Anti-Terror Squad in January after he returned from Austria, where he served seven years in the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency. The post in Austria was testament to his acumen as a police officer, a colleague told The Times of India. "Due to his excellent ability to handle things, he was posted to the Research and Analysis Wing in Austria. He was like family to me,'' said Bipin Gopalakrishna, who joined the force with Karkare in 1982. According to CNN-IBN, Karkare was credited with solving bombing cases in Thane, Vashi and Panvel and played a key role in cracking the case of the September 29 blast in Malegaon, which reportedly killed six people. He also uncovered several radical Hindu groups operating in Maharashtra, according to media reports. Karkare came under intense political pressure while investigating the Malegaon bombing, and it was widely reported that he warned officers in his command against succumbing to pressure to doctor evidence. "We should do our job and it is for the court to decide," Karkare was quoted in several media outlets as saying.  Watch officials speculate on who may be responsible for this week's attacks » "He was simply superb. He could handle any difficult situation boldly and with a cool mind," Aurangabad Police Commissioner Thakur Deepaksinh Gaur told The Times of India. Gaur told the paper he had worked with Karkare in Aurangabad and Nanded. Added another Indian Police Services officer: "His death is a huge loss to our force and society." When not on the clock, Karkare was known to enjoy sculpting and could often be found whittling driftwood, The Indian Express reported. He also enjoyed music and dabbled in palm reading, former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan told The Hindu. "We used to put him in one of the stalls as an Indian palmist during the annual charity fair organized by the Indian ambassador and he was big hit with the crowd," said Sreenivasan, who worked with Karkare in Vienna for five years. Sreenivasan told The Hindu that Karkare -- who had strong credentials in fighting terrorism, corruption and money laundering -- could have earned a post at a U.N. agency in Vienna, but chose instead to return home to serve India.

What was Karkare doing when he was shot?

What was Karkare doing when he heard of the attacks?

Who was shot while responding to the attacks?

Who heard of attacks while heading home?

Where was Karkare going when he heard of the attacks?

Where was Hemant Karkare going when he heard about the attacks?

Answer: jumped in a jeep and rushed to take on the terrorists,

Answer: heading home

Answer: shrewd and unflappable investigator

Answer: Karkare

Answer: Karkare, head of Maharashtra state's Anti-Terrorism Squad,

Answer: three

Answer: heading home

Answer: heading home

Summary:
Official tells paper Hemant Karkare was on his way home when he heard of attacks .
Reports: Karkare was shot three times in chest responding to Mumbai attacks .
Colleagues describe terror chief as "workaholic" with utmost integrity .
Karkare had interest in woodworking, music, palm reading, reports say .


(CNN) -- Henry Joseph Madden was a good student and track team member in high school, but he had a secret: He sometimes wore his mother's pantyhose and underwear under his clothes. Dr. Jennifer Madden, a family physician, began her transition to being female at age 48. "I really wanted to be a girl so bad, and that was one way for me to satisfy those feelings," Madden said. "I always felt like someone was looking over my shoulder." The desire to be female never went away. At age 48, Madden confessed these feelings to a doctor, and started seeing a gender therapist who suggested Madden was transgendered. Through reconstructive surgeries, electrolysis, laser procedures and voice lessons, Henry Joseph became Jennifer Elizabeth, known as Jenny. She is a practicing family physician in Nashua, New Hampshire.  Watch Jenny's story » Chastity Bono, child of performer Cher and the late entertainer and politician Sonny Bono, announced Thursday the beginning of a transition from female to a male. While still relatively rare -- one advocate estimates that 0.25 to 0.5 percent of the American population is transgendered -- the idea of changing gender identity has become more widespread in recent years. The term "LGBT" (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) is more commonly recognized, and transgendered people have been portrayed in the 1999 film "Boys Don't Cry" as well as the 2002 book "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. Many people who have transitioned, including Madden, say they knew they had been born into the wrong gender from childhood. As early as age 3, Dr. Julie Praus, born male, didn't understand why her father wanted to play catch. As a boy, Praus learned how to fish and hunt, but enjoyed collecting Depression-era glassware vases. Praus, 48, a psychiatrist in Brattleboro, Vermont, started living as a woman in March 2008. "I get up every morning and say, 'Wow, I can actually look at myself in the mirror,' because I've never been able to do that in my life, because what would stare back at me was not me," Praus said. iReport.com: Share your story of gender change Doctors speculate that there is a biological foundation to gender identity, but no one has determined what in the biological makeup determines that gender. The interactions between personality and culture also contribute to identity, said Chris Kraft, clinical director at the Johns Hopkins Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit. The process of changing genders For people who want a gender change on a biological level, the first step is therapy, experts say. Dr. Gary Alter, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, said patients don't come to him until they've been in therapy, a process that can take as much as a year. A therapist then gives a physician approval to start the patient on hormone treatment. At that point, the patient may or may not start living as the chosen sex, Alter said. Females seeking to transition into males may elect to have their breasts removed via surgery. With testosterone, they will grow hair on their face and chest after about two years. Read one man's female-to-male advice to Chaz Bono A higher percentage of males transitioning to females will go forward with genital surgery than females going to males, Alter said. Surgical methods for creating a penis -- which range from making one out of the clitoris to using the skin from the forearms -- are "not perfect," and many patients are happy with just chest surgery, he said. Genital surgeries for creating female genitalia are better, he said. Alter's method is to make a clitoris out of the head of the penis, and make space for a vagina. Facing the rest of the world It is rare for people to undergo a gender transition and then want to reverse it, especially when surgery is involved, experts say. Some say changing genders is one of the best things they've done, like Jamison Green, 60, author of "Becoming a

What is the estimated percentage of transgendered Americans?

What is the percentage of transgender Americans?

What do doctors speculate as the reason for gender identity?

What surgery do people undergo and then rarely want to reverse?

What proportion of the American population is transgendered?

Biological foundation is an influence to what?

what do people rarely do when they have the surgery?

Who speculates that there is a biological foundation to gender identity?

What do people undergo and want to reverse it?

What percent of the American population is transgendered?

Answer: that there is a biological foundation to gender identity,

Answer: a gender transition and then want to reverse it,

Answer: 0.25 to 0.5 percent

Answer: 0.25 to 0.5 percent

Answer: biological foundation to

Answer: gender transition

Answer: 0.25 to 0.5 percent

Answer: gender identity,

Answer: to undergo a gender transition and then want to reverse it,

Answer: Doctors

Answer: gender transition

Answer: 0.25 to 0.5

Summary:
Estimate: 0.25 to 0.5 percent of the American population is transgendered .
Doctors speculate that there is a biological foundation to gender identity .
People rarely undergo gender-reassignment surgery and then want to reverse it .


(CNN) -- Henry Olszewski was stoked in 2008 when he, along with millions of Americans, drafted New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to his fantasy football team. Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury last year sparked an idea at Intermarket Insurance. About eight minutes into the season, a 220-pound safety was blocked into Brady's knee, tearing two of the quarterback's ligaments. Brady's season ended, as did Olszewski's. "That Monday, [Olszewski] came in the office, and he was bummed out," said Anthony Giaccone, president of Intermarket Insurance. "He asked, 'Why can't we buy insurance for fantasy team players?' " Thus spawned the brainchild for Fantasy Sports Insurance, which guarantees that NFL players won't miss a certain number of games. FSI will reimburse a fantasy player's entry fee if they do. It's one of a blitz of bizarre businesses cropping up in the $800 million industry of turning quarterback stats to greenbacks, said Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.  See fantasy football's top 10 prospects » Charchian is familiar with the wellspring of offbeat companies fueled by the fantasy football craze; he owns LeagueSafe, which stores league entry fees in a bank until it issues a payout to the winner at season's end. Other specialty businesses, he said, range from the obvious, such as trophy companies, to the esoteric, such as fantasy dispute resolution. You read the last one correctly. Web sites like fantasydispute.com and sportsjudge.com offer to mitigate fretful fantasy feuds. Think there was collusion in a trade or your league commissioner is playing favorites? Write up your dispute and send it to one of the sites. For $15, a lawyer will settle your quibble. For the uninitiated: Fantasy football players generally "draft" NFL quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and team defenses and use their statistics each week to score points in head-to-head matchups. Countless variations have proliferated, as have magazines and Web sites beholden only to fantasy players. Sort the top picks by position at SI.com The NFL has introduced the RedZone Channel, which flips between games where a team is on the verge of scoring, CBSsports.com has launched a live Web show called "Fantasy Football Today," and cable's FX is scheduled to air a sitcom based on a fantasy football league this year. The stakes have skyrocketed as well. The World Championship of Football offers a $300,000 top prize. The Fantasy Football Open Championship's is $1 million. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that a group of well-heeled financiers has a 10-team league with a $100,000 entry fee. A June study by the research company Ipsos says three in 20 American men (and one in 20 women) play some fantasy sport. "It takes the fans of one sports team and makes them interested in every game that's happening," said Jason Kint, senior vice president and general manager for CBSsports.com. "It's a welcome escape, as much of sports is right now." Not all fans are enamored, however. ESPN's Colin Cowherd explained his aversion on his radio show last month, saying fantasy football was too time-consuming and, in his experience, for "total nerds and geeks." "I'm a gambler, lived in Vegas. My friends are gamblers. We don't play fantasy football," he said. "We're busy. We have jobs. We have careers. We have lives. We don't have time for three-hour draft parties and an hour or two on the computer every week to update our fullback situation." But more than 22 million Americans and Canadians do, Charchian said, and the economic downturn doesn't seem to be sacking the industry. "It's hard to get out. It's enmeshed in your social circle," he explained. Also, with most leagues costing less than $10 a week and with the average player spending nine hours weekly researching and tweaking his or her

What was the spin off from magazines, web sites and TV shows?

Answer: Fantasy football

Answer: to mitigate fretful fantasy feuds.

Answer: $800

Answer: sportsjudge.com

Answer: $1 million.

Answer: $300,000

Summary:
Magazines, Web sites, TV shows spin off $800 million fantasy football industry .
Two sites offer real lawyers to settle fantasy-sports disputes for $15 each .
Experts: Game provides cheap entertainment, "welcome escape" from hard times .
Prizes include $1 million, trophies made of Carpathian elm, Swarovski crystal .


(CNN) -- Here are so-called "Oinkers" of the year, listed in the "2010 Congressional Pig Book Summary," which was released on Wednesday by the nonpartisan group Citizens Against Government Waste.

• The Dunder-head Mifflin Award (from the fictional paper company of the sitcom "The Office") -- Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania, and Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pennsylvania, for $200,000 for design and construction of a small business incubator and multipurpose center in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

• Thad the Impaler Award  -- Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi, for $490 million in pork, including $200,000 for the Washington National Opera for set design, installation and performing arts at libraries and schools, and $500,000 for the University of Southern Mississippi for cannabis eradication.

Other awards:

• The Hal Bent on Earmarking Award -- Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, R-Kentucky, for $10 million for the National Institute for Hometown Security.

• The Little Engine That Couldn't Award -- $465 million for the Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine.

• The Narcissist Award -- Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, for $7.3 million to continue the Harkin Grant program and to Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, for $7 million for the Robert C. Byrd Institute of Advanced Flexible Manufacturing Systems.

Watchdog group: Congressional pork getting leaner

• The Steak Through the Heart of Taxpayers Award -- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, for $693,000 for beef improvement research.

• The Sapping the Taxpayers Award -- $4.8 million for wood utilization research in 11 states requested by 13 senators and 10 representatives.

• The Jekyll and Hyde Award -- Rep. Leonard Lance, R-New Jersey, for his ever-changing stance on earmarks. He first signed a no-earmark pledge, then received $21 million in earmarks, then supported the Republican earmark moratorium.

• The Kick in the Asp Award -- Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, for $500,000 for control and interdiction of brown tree snakes in Guam.

• The Plane Waste Award -- Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, and Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas, for $3.5 million for the National Institute for Aviation Research.

• The Do You Want Fries with That Award -- $2.6 million in potato research in four states requested by five senators and five representatives.

• The Putting on the Pork Award -- Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-New York, for $400,000 for restoration and renovation of the historic Ritz Theater in Newburgh, New York.

• The Lights! Camera! Earmark! Award -- Rep. Diane Watson, D-California, for $100,000 for career exploration and training for at-risk youths for jobs in filmmaking at the Duke Media Foundation in Hollywood.

• The An Earmark Grows in Brooklyn Award -- Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-New York, for $400,000 for construction and renovation for safety improvements at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Who were co-winners of The Narcissist Award?

Answer: Sen. Robert Byrd,

Answer: wood utilization research

Answer: Sen. Robert Byrd,

Answer: $2.6 million in potato research in four states

Answer: The Sapping the Taxpayers Award

Answer: potato research

Answer: Sen. Tom Harkin,

Summary:
Democrats Tom Harkin and Robert Byrd were co-winners of The Narcissist Award .
Three Kansas Republicans were cited for $3.5 million in pork for an aviation research .
$4.8 million went to wood utilization research in 11 states, requested by 23 lawmakers .
Potato research in four states, requested by 10 lawmakers, cost $2.6 million .


(CNN) -- Here's a 21st-century art object if ever there was one: a Japanese film by a French-Vietnamese writer-director based on a 1987 international best-seller named after a 1965 Beatles' song about Scandinavian pine.

Well, that's not all the song is about.

According to John Lennon, it was conceived as a deliberately opaque reference to an extramarital flirtation (he didn't want his wife to know about it) that went nowhere. The narrator sleeps in the bath, then torches the place in the morning.

Tran Anh Hung's lovely but overly languorous film of the acclaimed Haruki Murakami novel catches at the sexual longing and consternation that both the book and Lennon's song evoke: the tantalizing co-mingling of desire, mixed signals and cross purposes that can derail a tentative relationship.

Tran (who also wrote the screenplay) follows Murakami's slender plotline with respect bordering on devotion, but fails to find a correlative to the complex, overlapping perspectives that allow the novel to live in both the present and the past -- to enter into the mindset of adolescent angst, and to contemplate it from afar. Instead the film flails between too many lengthy, numb exchanges and a handful of spectacular but histrionic set pieces.

Toru Watanabe (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is a freshman at Tokyo University in the late 1960s. He's largely impervious to the political upheaval going on around him, still struggling to come to terms with the sudden suicide of his best friend, Kizuki, on his 17th birthday. In their grief, Watanabe and Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi of "Babel"), spend many hours consoling each other, and on her 20th birthday they finally sleep together. The next day, Naoko quits school and retires to a sanatorium, leaving the confused Watanabe to muddle his way through classes.

While he and Naoko correspond in long, intimate letters, Watanabe takes up with another girl (or should I say, she takes up with him?). Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) is as self-confident and assertive as Naoko is vulnerable and timid. Watanabe, meanwhile, is a distinctly passive and bewildered protagonist, unsure of what he wants or what his obligations might be to the broken, suicidal Naoko.

The performances are credible enough, but neither the passive, vacillating Watanabe nor the neurotic, grief-stricken Naoko are easy figures to identify with, and it's hard to understand why so many women keep throwing themselves at Matsuyama's clay feet. Only Mizuhara's assertive Midori offers any energy, and she's sidelined for much of the movie.

While the movie has moments to savor and artistry to spare, these elements don't cohere into a satisfying whole. Tran doesn't speak Japanese, but in other respects he's well-suited to Murakami's world. A Vietnamese brought up and educated in France, best known for "The Scent of Green Papaya" and "The Vertical Ray of the Sun," Tran is a cinematic aesthete, very much attuned to melancholy and introspection. "Norwegian Wood" features a tumescent score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and stunning cinematography by the Taiwanese Mark Lee Ping-bin ("In the Mood for Love").

It's so gorgeous to look at that spectators are in danger of swooning in their seats. It's rather irritating that the characters prefer to wallow in misery than admire the natural beauty all around them -- including each other, of course. And that's the trouble. The film feels like a fetish object; almost a series of screen prints, it's a beautiful illustration of the text, but somehow the text itself is lost in translation.

the protagonist is described as passive and what?

Answer: Murakami's

Answer: Murakami's

Answer: the movie

Answer: writer-director

Answer: bewildered

Answer: Watanabe,

Summary:
Critic: Director follows Haruki Murakami's slender plot with respect bordering on devotion .
Protagonist is passive and bewildered, unsure of what he wants, Tom Charity says .
He says movie has moments to savor, but these elements don't cohere into satisfying whole .


(CNN) -- Herman Cain claims that brainwashing explains why so few blacks support conservative Republicans such as himself. He is wrong. The thinking, sentiments, and policy preferences he supports give good cause for rejecting him.

In his new campaign manifesto, "This is Herman Cain: My Journey to the White House," the candidate states repeatedly and without qualification that "Our Founding Fathers did their job ... a great job." He makes no mention of the blacks who fled George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson during the Revolutionary War in search of their freedom, or the Constitution's protection of slavery, or that the initial Constitution forbade Congress from prohibiting American participation in the international slave trade for 20 years and indeed made that provision unamendable.

Cain evinces no recognition of the Founding Fathers' role in erecting a cruel pigmentocracy that continues to poison virtually every aspect of American political, social and cultural life. This is not an abstruse or academic matter. The president nominates federal judges. An important theory of constitutional interpretation vying for ascendancy is originalism: the notion that the Constitution should be read as originally understood by its framers. Justice Clarence Thomas is the most militant originalist on the Supreme Court. A President Cain would seek to fill the federal judiciary with more Clarence Thomases -- a prospect that most blacks rightly view with dread.

Asked about his impressions of the Occupy Wall Street dissidents, Cain declared: "Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself " -- a statement that overlooks the desperation with which millions, a disproportionate number of whom are black, strive to stave off impoverishment and unemployment. Later, when Cain perceived the impolitic character of his comment, he tried to minimize it, asserting that he was only referring to the protesters and not to the impoverished or unemployed in general. That attempt at damage control rings false, however, especially in light of his further comment: "It is not a person's fault if they succeeded, it is a person's fault if they failed."

Largely located on the lower rungs of the American socioeconomic ladder, most black Americans appreciate sources of opportunity and power that Cain despises: unions, governmental support for the needy, a robust, government-supported full-employment policy, the public provision of health care. His worry, remarkably, is that America is too egalitarian. His signature policy -- the 9-9-9 tax reform proposal -- would institute a regressive consumption tax nationally and starve Social Security and Medicare. It would redistribute income upward. No wonder blacks overwhelmingly repudiate him and his tea party allies.

Cain also recently declared: "I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way." If there were any doubts before that he was bereft of the knowledge and sensibility required of a significant political figure, much less president, then this egregious statement should remove them.

A library full of careful, rigorous studies shows clearly that invidious racial discrimination and, perhaps even more consequentially, the perpetuation of disabilities inflicted by racial mistreatment in the past hurt blacks and other people of color in a broad array of domains: from commercial transactions like buying a car or purchasing a home, to dealing with police, to electoral politics, to wellness and life expectancy.

Race still matters. Not only are people of color discriminated against with frequency. Not only are the accumulated burdens of past discrimination permitted to prey upon new generations even in the absence of racial malevolence (complacency is deadly too). But studies also show that the darker you are, the more likely you are to face wrongful indifference or cruel mistreatment. (Take a peek at the illuminating article by Jennifer Hochschild and Vesla Weaver, "The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order," in the December 2007 edition of Social Forces.)

Of course, there has been remarkable, positive change in American racial attitudes. But recall the miserable baseline against which we mark that progress. In 1958, the Gallup Organization asked whether Americans would be willing to vote for a qualified black presidential candidate nominated by their

What does cain say to blame yourself for

Answer: claims that brainwashing explains why so few blacks support conservative Republicans

Answer: If you don't have a job and you're not rich,

Answer: the 9-9-9 tax reform proposal

Summary:
Randall Kennedy: Cain lauds founding fathers, ignoring the fact they protected slavery .
Kennedy: Cain says blame yourself if you're jobless and dismisses documented racism .
Cain would cut Social Security and Medicare, he says, and redistribute income upward .
Kennedy writes that Cain's policies are anti-black and blacks reject him for that .


(CNN) -- Hidden under a quaint resort 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, lies a treasure trove of potential energy that's free and available 24/7. "Imagineer" Bernie Karl and his wife, Connie, own Chena Hot Springs Resort near Fairbanks, Alaska. Alaskan entrepreneur Bernie Karl has pioneered modern technology to tap into one of Earth's oldest energy resources: hot water. Karl, 56, likes to call himself an "imagineer." Using imagination to fuel his engineering ambitions, this tenacious thinker and self-starter has figured out a way to generate electricity using water that's the temperature of a cup of coffee -- about 165 degrees Fahrenheit. "There's more opportunity now than there has ever been in the history of man, but we have to reinvent ourselves," Karl said. Karl was determined to reinvent the way he consumed energy after he and his wife, Connie, purchased the Chena Hot Springs Resort from the state of Alaska in 1998. "After we purchased the hot spring, I couldn't believe it, the swimming pool and the hot spring were being heated by diesel fuel, 1,000 gallons every month!" Karl said. To slash costs and to use resources that were right under his nose, Karl invented a portable geothermal power plant. In a little more than three years, Karl and his wife have severed the facility's dependence on diesel fuel and have saved $625,000, he said. Karl's partnered with the Department of Energy to fund half of a $1.4 million exploration project to find and characterize the geothermal resources at Chena Hot Springs. "It's a model for what you can do," said Karl. Karl developed his tenacity from growing up as the sixth child of 16 siblings on a farm outside of Peoria, Illinois. He said his parents taught him hard work, how to recycle his clothes and shoes, and how to compost food and farm wastes. In the late 1970s, Karl was active in gold mining in Alaska's Central District, and he established the state's largest recycling facility in 1984, he said. Many of  his ideas stem from finding alternative ways to use and reuse resources he already has at his fingertips. After acquiring the 400-acre resort, Karl began trapping water from the underground hot springs, which produce enough power to heat the facility's greenhouses year-round. Most recently, Karl has turned his invention into a separate business by contracting with Peppermill hotel and casino in Reno, Nevada, to build a similar system there. His portable geothermal generator units cost from $350,000 to $375,000, each with the potential to generate enough power for 250 average American homes per year. 'Hot taps' His energy-generating machine lies on a flatbed truck and can be hooked up to oil and gas wells or other heat-emitting sources to generate electricity. Karl adds a branch connection to an oil or gas pipeline, and the process begins when he "hot taps" into waste water coming through the pipes. The hot water enters the tubes of an evaporator encased in a common refrigerant found in many air conditioning systems. As the hot water passes through the evaporator, it begins to boil the refrigerant in the casing surrounding the tubes. The heat given off by the boiling refrigerant then causes an attached turbine to spin, which jump-starts a generator, producing electrical power. Next, cooling water enters from another source, recondensing the vapor refrigerant into a liquid. A pump pushes the liquid refrigerant back to the evaporator, so the cycle can start again. The difference in temperatures drives the entire "binary system." This setup works exactly the opposite of a refrigerator. "Chena Hot Springs is home to the lowest-temperature geothermal resource to be used for commercial power production in the world," Karl said. "Oil companies don't drill wells for water, but they have some 5,000 kilowatts of geothermal power at their disposal in unused oil wells. Let's pick the low-hanging fruit and use the wells

Who makes electricity with water the temperature of a cup of coffee?

Answer: has figured out a way to generate electricity using water that's the temperature of a cup of coffee

Answer: geothermal generator

Answer: portable geothermal power plant.

Answer: $625,000,

Answer: Bernie Karl

Answer: $625,000,

Answer: Peoria, Illinois.

Summary:
Resort owner makes electricity with water the temperature of a cup of coffee .
Alaskan entrepreneur goes from diesel to geothermal, saving $625K in 3 years .
He invented portable geothermal generator that he says can power 250 homes .
MIT: Most of U.S. can be transformed into a huge geothermal power zone .


(CNN) -- High school athletic director Brian Bordainick felt like he'd been shot when he learned the crushing news about his "9th Ward Field of Dreams" project. Coach Shyrone Carey, left, and athletic director Brian Bordainick are rebuilding a once-dominant football team. Architects who had agreed to help the Katrina battered Carver High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, win an NFL grant to build a $2 million stadium were pulling out -- the weekend before a Monday deadline. The firm apologized, Bordainick said, but it would not be able to provide a design proposal for the facility, which was critical to winning the $200,000 grant. "I've never been shot, but I imagine it felt something similar to that," said Bordainick, recalling that day in December 2008. To make matters worse, swarms of news media were gathering at the school to interview the 23-year-old boy wonder -- the self-described "youngest high school athletic director in Louisiana" -- who was leading an effort to bring Carver's athletic program back from near death. "I sucked it up, did the story ... and when they left, I picked up the phone book and started calling architects in the city."  Watch update on New Orleans' schools after Katrina » In an amazing moment of serendipity and opportunity, an entrepreneur friend of Bordainick's happened to be at a party and cornered a partner in one of the city's top architectural firms. The friend called Bordainick and -- before handing the architect the phone -- told Bordainick: "You've got 30 seconds to give your best elevator spiel you've ever given." The architect was Steve Dumez, design director for Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, who agreed to help, despite Bordainick's preposterous plea. Watch Bordainick tell his story "The one-day turnaround came as a bit of a shock," Dumez said. "What was crazy about it was trying to pull together an entire design proposal -- and that's just something that doesn't happen in 24 hours." Usually such design proposals require as long as a month to complete. "How could you not get sucked into such an amazing story?" asked Dumez's partner, Mark Ripple, a 30-year veteran New Orleans architect. "There really isn't a good outlet in the area where kids can develop skills and self-esteem and all the things that come with a healthy recreation program." The next day, the firm organized a small army of construction companies, civil engineers and architects who offered their support. "We got the satellite images and the renderings done in 8 hours," Bordainick said. The proposal worked. In March the school learned it had won the NFL grant. Nike also has backed the project -- donating $100,000 and joining thousands of individuals who have offered $1.5 million in pledges, cash and services so far. All this during one of the nation's worst-ever economies. Bordainick credits much of the fundraising success to a network of e-mailers who started with a Web site created by a Web-developer-turned-Carver teacher. He crafted an e-mail touting his "passion for building character through sports," and "creating something from nothing" while working with "people crazy enough to believe that they have the power to create change." "I made it a goal to just e-mail a couple hundred people a day," he said. "I was teaching and calling people during my lunch break, and trying to get other people to make calls during their lunch break, and e-mailing people and doing all these things to get the word out about what we're doing and what we're trying to accomplish." The proposed stadium -- which would host football, track, soccer and lacrosse -- is just one facet of Carver's struggle to regain its former self four years after the ravages of Katrina. A perennial football powerhouse, the team re-formed after Bordainick arrived at Carter in 2007, his first year in the Teach for America program.

What high school was hit hard by Katrina?

Answer: Carver

Answer: Brian Bordainick

Summary:
High school hit hard by Katrina aims to build $2 million sports field with donations .
Four years after storm, all 530 students attend classes in FEMA trailers .
23-year-old athletic director leads fundraising campaign -- much of which is online .
Supporters: Facility will help students develop pride, discipline for successful life .


(CNN) -- High winds and heavy seas capsized a boat filled with African migrants heading for Europe off the coast of Libya Monday -- with more than 200 feared dead, the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland, said Tuesday.

A group of 227 migrants sits on a fishing vessel in Malta last month after arriving from Somalia.

Jemini Pandya, IOM spokeswoman, said a boat carrying 250 people capsized north of the Libyan coast, with at least 20 confirmed dead and 23 rescued. Another boat with around 350 migrants was rescued.

She said the rescued migrants were taken to two centers in the Libyan city of Tripoli. They included Egyptians, Somalis, Ghanians, Nigerians, Tunisians, Eritreans, Algerians, and Moroccans.

There were also passengers from Asia -- Bangladeshis, Syrians, Indians, and Pakistanis, she said. She said there may be two other vessels in the Mediterranean carrying migrants.

The initial reports that two vessels capsized proved to be incorrect, Pandya said.  Watch as migrants are feared drowned »

The vessels departed Sunday and were heading to southern Europe, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported Monday.

The migrants were believed to be headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa, where 37,000 landed last year, according to IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy, who said many African migrants converge on Libya en route to Europe.

Italian coast guards said an Italian tugboat working for an offshore oil companies in the Libyan seas picked up 350 people on Sunday and carried them to Libya with the help of the Italian military.

The U.N. refugee agency, aware of the reports, said they came at the "beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean."

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said details remain sketchy about what happened, but one boat among several vessels leaving Libya for Italy went down and hundreds are reported missing. It said the mishap occurred near the Libyan coast. It said some Egyptian nationals were rescued and bodies were recovered and that those aboard included Africans from the northern and the sub-Saharan regions.

High Commissioner Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that the tragedy reflects the desperation of people to escape poverty and persecution.

"This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives," the U.N. agency said.

Where were the migrants believed to be heading?

How many people were dead when boat capsized in Libya?

who were heading for Italian island of Lampedusa?

What amount of migrants were among the boat?

Answer: boat carrying 250 people

Answer: Europe

Answer: 20 confirmed

Answer: 23

Answer: African migrants

Answer: 350

Answer: the coast of Libya

Summary:
Hundreds feared dead after boat carrying African migrants capsized off Libya .
Another boat with around 350 migrants was rescued.
Migrants were believed to be heading for Italian island of Lampedusa .
U.N.: Marks "beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean"


(CNN) -- Higher temperatures are bringing some relief to the Southeast and should remain in place despite stormy weather expected for the coming weekend, weather forecasters said Tuesday.

After the stretch of unusually cold weather that gripped the region, severe storms will affect the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and most of Florida on Friday evening and Saturday, the National Weather Service said. Cold Arctic air will remain to the north.

In Atlanta, Georgia -- where ice from a snowfall last week remains on the ground in some places and weekend temperatures didn't climb out of the 20s -- forecasters predicted a daytime high of 37 degrees Tuesday after a high of 44 on Monday. A gradual warming is predicted through Friday, when the high could reach 58. But overnight lows aren't expected to edge above freezing until Friday night.

Several Florida cities have had early morning record lows in the past two days, the weather service said.

"Temperatures over the weekend and early Monday morning plunged to levels not seen in 20 years over south Florida in the wake of the arctic cold front which blasted through the region early Saturday," it said.

"Temperatures remained at or below 50 degrees for more than 48 consecutive hours, finally rising above 50 during the late morning to midday hours Monday. Although no records are kept of consecutive number of hours at or below 50 degrees, it is likely that this streak is among the longest on record."

Key West, which has weather records dating to 1873, recorded its second-lowest temperature of 42 degrees Monday at 4:55 a.m. Its record low was 41 degrees, set January 13, 1981, and January 12, 1886.

In northern Florida, Tuesday's high was expected to reach 54 degrees in the state capital, Tallahassee, and temperatures were forecast to increase during the week. Early morning readings Wednesday will be in the high 20s, the weather service said. That is far better than the low of 16 degrees in the city early Monday.

The cold weather has damaged Florida's citrus crops, which can't tolerate prolonged temperatures of 28 degrees or below. Florida produces three-quarters of the United States' orange crop.

Some groves in the northern part of the growing area suffered substantial frost damage Saturday night and Sunday morning, Andrew Meadows, spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual, said Monday. It will take about five weeks to quantify the losses, he said.

But the frigid air was welcome to peach growers in central Texas.

According to Jamey Vogel, who owns Vogel Orchard in Stonewall, Texas, just east of Fredericksburg, "Peach trees need chilling hours, which are hours below 45 degrees, and we have been getting a lot of those this year."

"We absolutely welcome it," he told CNN affiliate KXAN in Austin. He said he has 9,500 peach trees in his 90-acre family orchard. The trees, which are dormant this time of year, need cold, wet weather to produce a crop.

Share your cold weather stories, photos

On the West Coast, a storm was rolling into the area between Seattle and San Francisco, with the brunt heading into Northern California, according to CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano.

Two to 3 inches of snow was possible in the Sierras, forecasters said.

What part of the country will see a temperature rise and storms this week?

What city in Georgia is warming predicted through friday

What will be the weather according to the forecasters ?

What is the predicted high for Tallahassee?

Answer: Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and most of Florida

Answer: Southeast

Answer: Atlanta,

Answer: A gradual warming is predicted through Friday,

Answer: 54 degrees

Answer: Southeast

Summary:
Southeast should see higher temperatures this week, storms this weekend, forecasters say .
In Atlanta, Georgia, warming is predicted through Friday, when high could reach 58 .
In Florida, Tuesday's high was expected to reach 54 in Tallahassee, the state capital .
On West Coast, a storm was rolling into the area between Seattle and San Francisco .