(CNN) -- Nikolai Valuev will face Ruslan Chagaev in their much-anticipated rematch for the WBA heavyweight title in Finland on May 30. Ruslan Chagaev (left) lands a powerful left-hander during his win over Nikolai Valuev two years ago. The bout, at Helsinki's Hartwall-Arena, will be the first-ever heavyweight contest on Finnish soil, and will see a pumped-up Valuev going all out to "settle the score" against the only man to defeat him in a 51-bout career. Chagaev twice pulled out of scheduled rematches with Valuev last summer due to injury problems, prompting the WBA to vacate the title. Uzbeki southpaw Chagaev has been listed as 'champion in recess' ever since and -- as a result -- has to fight Valuev by the end of June in order to determine the undisputed champion. Valuev reclaimed the vacant belt by defeating American John Ruiz in August and defended his title against Evander Holyfield in December. "The day has come to settle the score," Valuev told a news conference. "I have been waiting for two years to make amends. Only a victory over Chagaev can put my mind at rest." Valuev bounced back with four wins on the spin following his loss to Chagaev in April 2007 but the Russian admits the only scalp that matters is that of the Uzbeki. "I know everything there is to know about Chagaev," said Valuev. "This is the fourth time I am actually preparing for a fight with him," he added, referring to the two postponed fights last year. "Now is the time to end all this confusion. There will only be one WBA heavyweight champion after May 30 -- and that will be me."

What will be the first heavyweight clash ever?

How long has this revenge contest been going on?

Answer: The bout, at Helsinki's Hartwall-Arena,

Answer: Ruslan Chagaev

Answer: May 30.

Answer: two years

Summary:
Nikolai Valuev will face Ruslan Chagaev for WBA heavyweight title next month .
The May 30 showdown will be the first-ever heavyweight clash on Finnish soil .
Valuev looking for revenge after Chagaev won their first contest two years ago .


(CNN) -- Nine Hutu tribal fighters and several Rwandan and Congolese troops were killed in fighting in eastern Congo, a United Nations spokesman said, as the two governments continued an unprecedented partnership to combat ethnic violence.

Laurent Nkunda, seen here in November 2008, was reportedly arrested last week in Rwanda.

The fighting against the Hutus in the Lubero region came a day after Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, of the rival Tutsi ethnic group, was arrested by Rwandan authorities.

U.N. spokesman Jean Paul Deitrich told CNN on Saturday that no further details about the fighting were immediately available.

Lubero is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of Goma, the regional capital.

Nkunda's arrest early Friday raised hopes for peace in the war-ravaged region. International observers hope it will lead the roughly 1,500 fighters that follow him to join with government forces.  Hear how Nkunda tried to flee capture »

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have traditionally been on different sides of the conflict in eastern Congo -- which pits ethnic Tutsis, supported by Rwanda, against Congo-backed Hutus.

The fighting is effectively an extension of the Rwandan genocide of the early 1990s, when hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were killed in ethnic battles between minority Tutsi and majority Hutu.

A United Nations report last month accused Rwanda and Congo of fighting a proxy war in the region, using the ethnic groups. It said both sides had used child soldiers, and committed executions and rape, in the conflict.

CNN's Katy Byron contributed to this report.

What groups are fighting?
What caused the fighting to begin?
Who has been arrested?
Who is fighting?
where did the fight occur
what caused the fight

Answer: Rwandan and Congolese troops

Answer: was arrested by Rwandan authorities.

Answer: Laurent Nkunda,

Answer: Hutu tribal fighters and several Rwandan and Congolese troops

Answer: eastern Congo,

Answer: rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, of the rival Tutsi ethnic group, was arrested by Rwandan authorities.

Summary:
Fighting comes day after  Rwanda arrests Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda .
Neighboring nations have been on different sides of the conflict in east Congo .
Struggle pits Tutsis, supported by Rwanda, against the Congo-backed Hutu .
The conflict is effectively an extension of the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s .


(CNN) -- Nine people were killed and 957 rescued when a ferry capsized Sunday in the Philippines, leaving crews scouring the waters for survivors, officials said. A woman and child rescued from a ferry accident off the Philippines on Sunday arrive in port. Two people remained unaccounted for from the SuperFerry 9 vessel carrying 968 people, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. It had no dangerous or hazardous cargo on board. The ferry took off from the city of General Santos and was bound for Iloilo City. Survivors and their families were moved to a nearby location, where they were getting medical help and other forms of assistance, the coast guard said. An investigation will be conducted after rescue operations are completed. It was the third major incident involving the SuperFerry 9 in the past three years. No fatalities were reported in the other incidents in 2006 and 2007. Meanwhile, a Panamanian cargo vessel sank off the central coast of the Philippines, though the 20 people on board -- 18 Filipinos and 2 South Koreans -- were rescued, the Philippine Coast Guard said. Journalist Cecilia Lazaro contributed to this report.

How many died is ferry accident in Philippines

how many incidents have been with superferry 9?

What is the name of the ferry involved in the accident

Answer: 968

Answer: Nine

Answer: three

Answer: Two

Answer: Nine

Answer: SuperFerry 9 vessel

Summary:
NEW: Nine dead, hundreds rescued as SuperFerry 9 capsizes in Philippines .
Two people are missing, according to coast guard .
Incident is third involving SuperFerry 9 in past three years .


(CNN) -- Nineteen former patients at a Denver, Colorado, hospital have tested positive for hepatitis C, federal prosecutors said Thursday as they announced new charges against a former hospital employee accused of exposing the patients to the virus. A hospital worker is accused of injecting herself and using unclean syringes for patients. Prosecutors charged Kristen Diane Parker with 21 counts of tampering with a consumer product and another 21 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by deceit or subterfuge, according to an indictment. Parker, 26, had previously faced three federal counts from earlier this month. Parker, who worked as a surgical technician at Rose Medical Center in Denver, is accused of injecting herself with syringes that held patients' pain medication Fentanyl, then replacing the pain medication in the syringes with saline, according to a statement from the office of the U.S. attorney for Colorado. In a statement to police during the investigation, Parker said, "I can't take back what I did, but I will have to live with it for the rest of my life, and so does everyone else." Parker's attorney did not return a call from CNN on Thursday. Authorities said Parker knew she had hepatitis C, a contagious liver disease. Hepatitis C can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parker believes she contracted the virus through using heroin and sharing needles with other users while she lived in New Jersey in 2008, authorities said. According to an affidavit filed by an investigator with the Food and Drug Administration, Rose Medical Center knew Parker tested positive for hepatitis C. She was counseled on how to limit her exposure to patients. Parker worked at Rose Medical Center from October 2008 to April 2009, said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney for Colorado. Parker's employment was terminated after she failed a hospital-ordered drug test, said Leslie Teegarden, spokeswoman for Rose Medical Center. The tests were ordered after co-workers reported "suspicious behavior,"  Teegarden said Thursday. Rose Medical Center contacted about 4,700 patients who may have been exposed to the virus, according to a statement on the center's Web site. Of those patients, 3,540 have been tested thus far, Teegarden said. She said the hospital plans to use tamper-resistant, pre-filled Fentanyl syringes to prevent intentional contaminations. Parker also worked at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York and Audubon Ambulatory Surgical Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Prosecutors have not charged her with any crimes related to her employment at the other two facilities. About 1,200 patients may have been exposed between May 4 and July 1 of this year, when Parker worked at Audubon, according to the center's Web site. As of last week, 545 of Audobon's former patients had been tested for the virus, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. One patient tested positive for hepatitis C, but that infection could not be linked to Parker, according to the department's Web site. Nearly 1,000 patients had been tested as of Thursday, said Audubon spokeswoman Amy Triandiflou. Details about what Parker may have done to expose Audubon patients to the virus are still sketchy, Triandiflou said. More than 2,700 patients could have been exposed at Northern Westchester Hospital, according to the hospital's Web site. The site did not indicate whether any infections had been detected. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C. If Parker is convicted and if any one of the former patients suffers serious bodily injury because of her actions, she could face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors said. If she is convicted and if any one of the former patients dies as a result of the infection, she could be sentenced to life in prison, according to prosecutors. CNN's Jim Spellman contributed to this report.

How many former patients tested positive?

how many former patients twho asested positive?

who was accused of using syringes filled with pain medication?

what city was hospital worker living in?

Answer: Nineteen

Answer: 21 counts of tampering with a consumer product and another 21 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by deceit or subterfuge,

Answer: Rose Medical Center

Answer: Nineteen

Answer: Kristen Diane Parker

Answer: Denver, Colorado,

Summary:
Denver, Colorado, hospital worker accused of exposing patients to hepatitis C .
19 former patients test positive for hepatitis C, which affects the liver .
Kristen Diane Parker accused of using syringes filled with pain medication Fentanyl .
Police say she refilled syringes meant for patients with saline solution .


(CNN) -- Nineteen political prisoners were released by the government of Myanmar over the weekend, the human rights group Amnesty International reported Tuesday.

Protesters demand democracy for Myanmar at a demonstration in New Delhi, India earlier this month.

Among those released was Ma Khin Khin Leh, who was serving a life sentence because her husband, a student activist, had helped plan a protest demonstration in Bago in July 1999, according to Amnesty International USA's Web blog

Authorities prevented the demonstration from taking place, but took the woman and her three-year-old daughter into custody after failing to find her husband, Amnesty International said.

The child was released after five days but her mom, a 33-year-old school teacher, was sentenced to life in prison.

"Even by the normally harsh standards of 'justice' meted out by Myanmar's military government, the life sentence given to Ma Khin Khin Leh was extreme," the human rights organization said.

She was designated one of Amnesty International USA's priority cases. She was released with 18 others "widely considered to be political prisoners," Amnesty International said.

Myanmar's military rulers have been widely condemned for their alleged human rights abuses.

Pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined in her home for 12 of the past 18 years. Her last house arrest began in 2003 and has been periodically renewed.

In October 2007, clashes erupted between pro-democracy demonstrators and government security forces. As many as 110 people are believed to have been killed in that crackdown, including 40 Buddhist monks.

The protests were sparked by a huge fuel price increase imposed by the military government, and quickly escalated. Myanmar's military junta said in mid-October that it had detained more than 2,900 people amid the clashes.

In September 2008, Amnesty International reported that Myanmar, also called Burma, had released seven dissidents, among them U Win Tin, a journalist and senior official in the opposition National League for Democracy who had been imprisoned for 19 years.

Number of political prisoners freed in Myanmar?

Name of the pro-democracy leader that is still confined to his home?

How many political prisoners were freed?

How long was Ma Khin Khin Leh sentenced to?

When was Ma Khin Khin Leh sentenced to life in prison?

How many prisoners were freed from Myanmar?

Where was leader Aung San Suu Kyi confined to?

Number of politicl prisoners freed in Myanmar?

Where were the school teacher and 18 other political prisoners freed from?

Who is the pro-democracy leader confined to her home in Myanmar?

Answer: because her husband, a student activist, had helped plan a protest demonstration in Bago in July 1999,

Answer: in her home

Answer: Ma Khin Khin Leh,

Answer: Nineteen

Answer: Aung San Suu Kyi

Answer: house arrest

Answer: Myanmar

Answer: life sentence

Answer: Nineteen

Answer: Ma Khin Khin Leh,

Answer: life

Answer: July 1999,

Answer: Nineteen

Answer: in her home

Answer: Nineteen

Answer: Myanmar

Answer: Aung San Suu Kyi

Answer: Aung San Suu Kyi

Answer: because her husband, a student activist, had helped plan a protest demonstration in Bago in July 1999,

Answer: Aung San Suu Kyi

Answer: Ma Khin Khin Leh,

Answer: Ma Khin Khin Leh,

Answer: Ma Khin Khin Leh,

Summary:
School teacher among 19 political prisoners freed in Myanmar, Amnesty says .
Ma Khin Khin Leh sentenced to life in 1999 after her husband planned a protest .
Myanmar's military rulers are widely condemned for alleged human rights abuses .
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi still confined to home .


(CNN) -- No budget for a new computer in this recession? It's a common malady these days. A self-admitted tech geek, Chris Pirillo is president of Lockergnome.com, a blogging network. But this doesn't mean you have to suffer along with substandard performance from your system just because it's got more dust on its cover and less hard drive space than that shiny floor model you've been drooling over at the local Fry's. Will an '09 Ford Escort outpace a '67 Mustang in a drag race? If the Mustang's been neglected and allowed to rust away in the back yard for the past decade, then...probably. If it's been babied and protected from the elements, then it's not even a fair contest. Like any machine, a well-maintained car or computer will surprise you, no matter its age. In our modern consumer culture, it's not surprising that many people are under the impression that newer always means better. Yesterday's top-shelf computer is as disposable as a Taco Bell spork, and what cost $3,000 four years ago is now surpassed by technology that didn't even exist -- for any price then -- for a comparable pittance. We're conditioned to kowtow to the expectations of obsolescence. Why settle for less, manufacturers will ask coyly, when we could have so much more -- interest-free for six months if we just sign up today? I'm here to tell you that even if you don't have the riches to get your dream setup today, you don't have to settle for less than what yesterday's perfect computer can offer. Here's a list of things that could help keep you and your machine playing nicely together for a while until you can save up enough pennies for tomorrow's offerings. It may be your software that's slow -- not your computer. Check for driver and version updates either at your computer manufacturer's Web site or through the list of software you use frequently; see if new drivers or versions are available. If you've been using the same programs for a year or two, it's likely that such updates are available, and those updates could result in noticeable performance improvement. The future of the desktop is on the Web, where there's little (if anything) for you to install to (and slow down) your system. For this reason, I recommend moving as many of your activities to the Web as possible. Many of today's Web sites are built with rich JavaScript frameworks, which enable amazing in-browser experiences for everybody. If you can, begin accessing and managing your email from the Web rather than the desktop. If you use more than one computer on a regular basis, this is likely what you're doing anyway. A lot of people I know swear by Google's Gmail (especially for its pretty good spam-filtering capabilities), but you have many options -- and most of them are free. At the risk of seeming Google-centric, I have to point out that it's even possible to manage basic documents and spreadsheets online -- once proprietary to bloated Microsoft Office products -- for free with Google Docs. And sharing the data from these applications for collaboration with friends and coworkers has never been easier. If you're still using Internet Explorer, stop! Please, stop. It's not fast -- not by today's standards. You're better off with a newer build of Firefox or possibly Google Chrome or Safari (my personal favorite). External hard drives are a good way of keeping transient data off your computer's core hard drive, which should give your operating system some extra room to do its job more efficiently. Another option takes us back to the Web -- you can often get an online backup plan that will remove your valuable data not only from that main hard drive, but also from your computer's immediate vicinity. If a calamity (whether human-created or, as insurance companies like to say, an "act of God") befalls your household, your data will be safe

What should you do if you are using internet explorer?

Answer: Internet Explorer,

Answer: driver and version updates either at your computer manufacturer's Web site or through the list of software

Answer: It may be your software that's slow

Answer: stop!

Summary:
Here's how to squeeze the most performance out of your older computer .
It may be your software that's slow, not your computer; check for updates .
Move as many of your activities, such as e-mail, to the Web as possible .
If you're still using Internet Explorer, stop! You're better off with a newer build of Firefox .


(CNN) -- No drawn butter will ever touch Fiona's tail. She's an extremely rare, seven-year-old "yellow" lobster. Fiona's colorful hue makes her a one-in-30 million rarity. Fiona belongs to Nathan Nickerson, the owner of Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar in Eastham, Massachusetts, who has been in the restaurant business for 32 years. The special lobster was caught off the coast of eastern Canada last week by a friend of Nickerson. "In 57 years in Cape Cod, I have never seen a yellow lobster and I doubt that I will ever see one again," he said Thursday. Experts say Fiona's colorful appearance makes her one in 30 million. Fiona's not really yellow, but more of a bright orange, She's not quite the red color your typical lobster looks after it's been cooked. Nickerson has plans for his new ocean-dwelling friend, but it has nothing to do with the boiling pot. He said he'll keep the 1.75-pound crustacean in a viewing tank at his restaurant, hoping to draw in a few extra customers. CNN's Samuel Gardner contributed to this story.

Where was the lobster caught?
What is special about the lobster?
What colour is the special lobster?

Answer: off the coast of eastern Canada

Answer: "yellow"

Answer: "yellow"

Summary:
Rare "yellow" lobster making waves at Massachusetts restaurant .
Fiona was caught off coast of eastern Canada, given to restaurant owner .
Her colorful appearance makes her 1 in 30 million rarity .
Owner has no cooking plans for Fiona .


(CNN) -- No longer able to fit into a booth at a restaurant and too embarrassed to ask for seatbelt extensions on an airplane, Maggie Sorrells was desperate to lose weight. Maggie Sorrells lost 300 pounds and went from wearing a size  5X or 64 in men's clothing to a size 6. The day she stepped on a hospital scale and realized she weighed 440 pounds she knew she had to do something.  Name: Maggie Sorrells Age: 32 Hometown: Franklin, Tennessee Occupation: Receptionist in doctor's office Height: 5 feet 6 inches Heaviest weight: 440 pounds Current weight: 140 pounds Pounds lost: 300 pounds  Defining moment The moment I saw that I weighed as much as I did, it scared me, and I knew I had to do something about it.    How did you finally lose the weight? Diet: Weigh Down Workshop, a faith-based weight loss program. I ate whatever I craved, but only when I was truly hungry, and then I ate a lot slower, so I could tell when to stop. Exercise: Nothing out of the ordinary, occasionally I'd go for a walk, but never because I felt like I had to. How long did it take you to lose weight? Four years with two pregnancies within the same time period. One month after I lost 300 pounds, I became pregnant for the third time with my son. How has this changed your life? Drastically, the way I eat, the way I live my life. I am able to move better. I feel better emotionally and physically. I'm just a much happier person. I love to hike and I could never go when I was big. I almost killed myself going a half-mile. My chest would hurt and I would think I was having a heart attack. Just after we had our daughter, we went hiking all day and climbed rocks. I also love the beach. I'm no longer ashamed to go to the beach or wear a bathing suit. Do you have any tips for other people who want to lose weight? Yes, don't think about how much weight you have to lose because you'll get overwhelmed and discouraged. Set small goals, like 15 pounds. There were times I wanted to give up and there were days I felt like I couldn't do this. Food was my drug. Take [weight loss] in small increments because when you lose 15 pounds you'll be excited and before you know it you'll lose 50.

who could no longer squeeze into restaurant booths?

How much did Maggie Sorrells weigh when she started the weight loss program?

How much weight did Maggie Sorrells lose?

What kind of weight loss program did Maggie Sorrells use?

Answer: 300

Answer: Maggie Sorrells

Answer: 440 pounds

Answer: 300 pounds

Answer: 300 pounds

Answer: Diet: Weigh Down Workshop, a

Summary:
Maggie Sorrells could no longer squeeze into restaurant booths at 440 pounds .
Doctors had warned her that she might not live to the age of 30 .
She shed 300 pounds following a faith-based weight loss program .


(CNN) -- No major security problems were reported at Michael Jackson's public memorial service on Tuesday in Los Angeles, California, according to police. Police gather Tuesday morning in Los Angeles for Michael Jackson's public memorial. The only controversy concerned the issue of who ultimately would pay for the city's efforts to heighten security as thousands of people from around the world flooded the city to say farewell to the pop icon, who died of unknown causes on June 25. A budget crisis pushed the city to ask the public for help in paying for security at the memorial. It set up a Web site where fans can donate. The city is hoping to recoup some of the estimated $2 million to $4 million it cost to have thousands of police and firefighters on hand in case of an emergency. Matt Szabo, spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said providing security at the event was the city's "obligation" and its "No. 1 priority." But the city does need help, he said. "Nothing could tarnish this event more than having a public safety disturbance of any kind," he said. "We're working to make sure that doesn't happen. And we're asking Michael Jackson fans to help contribute." Visit the donation Web site Los Angeles faces a budget crisis and has amassed $530 million in debt. The state of California's budget deficit has climbed to $24 billion. "Even though we're the entertainment capital of the world, we're not immune to the recession," Szabo said. Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry said last week that the city would pay for the security efforts. But there remains some dispute. Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine on Monday called for AEG, the company that owns the Staples Center, to cover all costs of the memorial, arguing the public should not foot any of the bill, according to the Los Angeles Times. The city provided security downtown, where the public memorial for Jackson was held, and also at the Jackson family's private service earlier in the morning. Police said crowds outside the public memorial were not as large as they had anticipated. Between 5,000 and 15,000 people without tickets showed support for the pop star by waiting outside the Staples Center during the service, said Jim McDonnell, an assistant Los Angeles police chief. An exact count was not immediately available. Some 11,000 members of the public got free tickets to attend the memorial in the Staples Center after being chosen through a lottery. Another 6,500 were ticketed to watch it on a screen at the nearby Nokia Theater. About 1.6 million had vied for those tickets online.  See performances from the memorial » Police asked members of the public without tickets to stay home. Before the memorial began, Police Chief William Bratton said he expected a security effort not seen in decades, calling Jackson's memorial the "largest event we've planned for since the 1984 Olympics." About 3,000 police officers were on hand to ensure the Jackson events proceeded smoothly, McDonnell said. By comparison, about 2,000 officers were deployed for last month's parade and celebration at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Los Anegeles Lakers, who had won the NBA championship. By 1 p.m. local time, no police reports had been filed in relation to the event, said Richard French, a police spokesman. Police closed a several-block area outside the Staples Center and closed highway exits near downtown Los Angeles during the event. People without tickets or media passes were not allowed in that closed zone, said Earl Paysinger, an assistant police chief in Los Angeles. Helicopters flew overhead, and sheriff's deputies strolled through with bomb-sniffing dogs. But the security did not seem to affect the reflective and at times festive mood at Jackson's remembrance, according to CNN correspondents.

For what is City of LA taking donations?

How much will security cost at the event?

Where can donations be made to the city of Los Angeles?

Answer: security at the memorial.

Answer: Between 5,000 and 15,000 people

Answer: $2 million to $4 million

Answer: 11,000

Answer: Web site

Summary:
NEW: City of Los Angeles taking donations for security efforts via its Web site .
Crowds do not meet police expectations; as many as 15,000 wait outside .
Security at the event is expected to cost from $2 million to $4 million .
No police reports were filed in relation to the service, police say .


(CNN) -- No one expected them to live long. A glass tree at the University of Miami commemorates those who died from complications of HIV/AIDS. Many of their peers succumbed to unusual infections by their first or second birthdays.  They were living on borrowed time, it seemed. While their friends' parents visited schools, these kids visited their parents' graves. When their classmates planned for the future, they often thought about death. But those babies who were born with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s have defied initial expectations. With advances in medicine, the babies born with what was once thought of as a sure-fatal virus have danced at their high school proms, walked on stage to receive their diplomas and even experienced the birth of their children. "It's a battle -- not because the HIV is going to defeat us," said Quintara Lane, a 22-year-old student with long braids. "It's more of what we have to go through to take care of ourselves." Lane is part of a generation that was born with the virus. Since the mid-1990s in developed countries, antiretroviral drugs have largely prevented mothers from transmitting HIV/AIDS to their babies. A new kind of family On a warm Florida Friday, boys in high-tops and loose jeans hanging from their thighs greet one another with a nod and then a slap on the hand. They tease relentlessly. Others pay little attention, listening to music blasting through their earbuds or texting so quickly that their thumbs appear a blur on pink, sparkly phones.  See more photos. » Nearly 30 young adults and teenagers who were born with HIV/AIDS meet every week at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. "The teens are teenagers," said Ana Garcia, an adjunct assistant professor in pediatric infectious disease and immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine who helped form the group. "They just happen to have HIV. It's about fitting in, being normal, and having goals and living long enough to meet them." The group of HIV-positive teens, which calls itself the Kool Kids, formed in 1995. The youth who grew up with HIV/AIDS describe the usual complications of adolescence  --  dating, high school drama and rumors. But they also experienced broken families, medical complications and fights for acceptance. As their parents and family members died, the peer group here became a new family, Garcia said. Over an hour of joking, merciless teasing and eating Chinese food, the teens scarcely mention HIV/AIDS. It's a fellowship that silently understands one another's struggles. "We don't want to talk about HIV every day," said Eric Koumbou, 19. "If you talk about HIV and you don't have it and I do, sometimes it makes me angry or makes me sad." Even if they don't talk about it, it helps a young person with HIV who may think, "This is the end of my life. I don't know what to do," said Lane, who joined when she was 11. The older teens support the younger ones and show that HIV/AIDS doesn't consume one's life. Quintara Lane Lane was raised by her grandmother after her mother left her at the hospital. More than two decades ago, "The families frequently lacked hope," said Dr. Gwendolyn Scott, director of Pediatric Infectious Disease and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who treated the newborns. "Many times, the parents died when children were at a young age." As a child, Lane understood she had to take "vitamins" -- two dozen antiretroviral pills chopped into pieces and taken with orange juice every day. The pills made her nauseated and gave her headaches and skin rashes. Side effects of taking the medications can include gastrointestinal problems, weight gain, neuropathy and other symptoms. "I didn't want to take the medicine," Lane recalled. She lied to her grandmother about taking

What are babies with HIV in the 1980s doing?

What has curbed HIV transmission through pregnancy?

What is unique about teens living with the virus?

Answer: defied initial expectations.

Answer: babies

Answer: defied initial expectations.

Answer: babies

Answer: mothers

Answer: antiretroviral drugs

Answer: dating, high school drama and rumors.

Answer: transmitting HIV/AIDS to their babies.

Summary:
Babies born with HIV/AIDs in the 1980s defy expectations .
HIV/AIDs transmission through pregnancy has been curbed through medicine .
Teens living with virus have unique camaraderie .


(CNN) -- No one expected to find Donna Molnar alive. Donna Molnar's body temperature was 30 degrees Celsius when rescuers found her Monday. Searchers had combed the brutal backcountry of rural Ontario for the housewife from the city of Hamilton, who had left her home three days earlier in the middle of a blizzard to grocery shop. Alongside his search-and-rescue dog Ace, Ray Lau on Monday tramped through the thick, ice-covered brush of a farmer's field, not far from where Molnar's van had been found a day earlier. He kept thinking: Negative-20 winds? This is a search for a body. "Then, oh, all of a sudden, Ace bolted off," said Lau. "He stooped and looked down at the snow and just barked, barked, barked." Lau rushed to his Dutch shepherd's side. "There she was, there was Donna, her face was almost totally covered except for one eye staring back at me!" he said. "That was, 'Wow!' There was a thousand thoughts going through my head. It was over the top." With one ungloved hand near her neck, Molnar, 55, mumbled and tried to scream as Lau yelled to other rescuers. Dressed in a leather coat, sweater, slacks and winter boots, Molnar was carefully extracted from a 3-foot-deep mound of snow that had apparently helped to insulate her.  Watch how the rescuers found Molnar » Then, rescuers got their second shock. "She was lucid, and said, 'Wow. I've been here a long time!' and then she apologized and said, 'I just wanted to take a walk, I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble,' " said Staff Sgt. Mark Cox of the Hamilton Police Department, one of the leaders in the hunt. "And we're all thinking this is incredible, this is really something." "I've been doing search and rescue for seven years, and this is the wildest case I've had in finding someone alive," he said. She was rushed to a hospital and immediately sedated to begin the agonizing steps of hypothermia treatment. "I think the snow must have worked to trap her body heat, and that's what really saved her," Cox said. "This really speaks to what's possible." David Molnar is calling his wife's survival his "Christmas miracle." He wasn't able to speak with her immediately after she was taken to the hospital. But while she was under sedation, he leaned over her and whispered in her ear, "Welcome back, I love you." "My wife, you know, doesn't pump iron. She is strong physically and spiritually," he said. "When people say to me how do I explain how she survived, I said I believe God reached down and cradled her until the rescuers could find her, because there's no rational explanation." In addition to hypothermia, Donna Molnar is being treated for severe frostbite, and her recovery will take months. But his wife's condition was upgraded Wednesday from critical to serious. "That may not sound like a great thing to everyone, but to us, that is the best news we could possibly get on Christmas Eve," David Molnar said. As for Ace, he's still awaiting his reward: a T-bone steak. It's the least that can be done for a dog who, in his own way, paid it forward. "A while ago, Ace was rescued from a home where he didn't belong, and now he got to rescue someone. I can't describe the magnitude of that, what that means to me," Lau said. "He's definitely getting his steak. I'm grocery shopping right now."

Who went missing after leaving to go grocery shopping?

Answer: Donna Molnar

Answer: Donna Molnar

Answer: hypothermia

Answer: hypothermia

Answer: Donna Molnar

Answer: three days

Answer: rescuers

Answer: hypothermia

Summary:
Donna Molnar went missing after she left her home to go grocery shopping .
Housewife had been buried in snow for 72 hours when a rescue dog found her .
She's in serious condition, being treated for hypothermia, severe frostbite .
Dog, who had been rescued himself, will be rewarded with a T-bone steak .


(CNN) -- No one, especially not one of Mexico's top law enforcement officials, denies that killings by drug cartels have reached record levels. Mexican police carry a body after a clash with gangs that left 21 dead in the state of Chihuahua on February 10. But Monte Alejandro Rubido Garcia, executive secretary for the National System for Public Safety, has an explanation. "Mexico all of a sudden stopped being a drug-transit country and became a drug-consuming country," Rubido told CNN on Thursday. That means gangs that once shipped drugs into the United States are now fighting each other to sell the drugs at home, he said. Their fights center on territory -- who gets to sell what and where. "The only way to settle their differences is through violence," Rubido said. "They're fighting block by block in a very violent way." The result is a brutal onslaught that resulted in about 5,400 deaths last year, more than double the 2,477 tallied in 2007. Many analysts say Mexico is on track to set a record again this year. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the situation in Mexico a "civil war" on a national TV program a few weeks ago. Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, terms it "a sickening vertigo into chaos and plunder." The violence also is a result of the Mexican government's stepped-up fight against the drug cartels. President Felipe Calderon's administration has spent more money and confiscated more drugs than any previous one, Rubido said. "Every time the state strikes a blow against them, their reaction is more violence," Rubido said of the drug cartels. A United Nations report released this week notes that the "government of Mexico faces violent opposition by drug cartels to its attempts to fight organized crime and drug trafficking," adding that "drug cartels have responded with unprecedented violence." Much of this violence, Rubido said, is carried out in "high-impact" fashion, aiming to get attention and demoralize the cartels' enemies. For example, decapitations have become common. But decapitation often is not the cause of death. "They're first killed with a shot, then decapitated for maximum visual impact," the law enforcement official said. "They're trying to make the state go into reverse." That will not happen, Rubido vowed. "The only way to fight this is like we're doing in Mexico." He listed three fronts in the conflict: a frontal assault on the gangs; prevention campaigns against drug use; and a common strategy and tactics among Mexico 1,660 police agencies. It's a tough battle, he admits, especially since the use of cocaine in Mexico has doubled in the past four years. Cocaine traffickers, Rubido said, have been looking for new markets and have targeted Europe and Mexico.  Watch how the violence is affecting the United States » The U.N. report released this week notes that "despite concrete measures adopted by the government, drug abuse remains high in Mexico, especially among school-age children and young people." The war on drugs in Mexico is made even more difficult by rampant corruption, the report says. "There is so much money involved in the drug trade, there is so much fear involved in the drug trade, that no institution can survive unaffected," said Birns. Says Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy center: "This has really revealed just how corrupt Mexican officeholders are, how many people in key positions in the anti-drug war have been taking money from narcotraffickers." In one recent instance, Noe Ramirez Mandujano, who was the nation's top anti-drug official from 2006 until August 2008, was arrested on charges that he accepted $450,000 a month in bribes from drug traffickers while in office. There have been other similar arrests of high-ranking officials for taking bribes from drug traffickers. "There's no way the public treasury

What did the government step up its fight against?

Answer: "They're first killed with a shot, then decapitated for maximum visual impact,"

Answer: the drug cartels.

Answer: "Mexico

Answer: Mexican government's stepped-up fight against the drug cartels.

Summary:
Official says drugs being used more inside Mexico, leading to turf wars .
Rubido: "They're fighting block by block in a very violent way"
Violence also result of government's stepped-up fight against cartels, official says .
Official says decriminalizing drugs may lessen violence but increase social damage .


(CNN) -- Nobel laureate Norman E. Borlaug, an agricultural scientist who helped develop disease-resistant wheat used to fight famine in poor countries, died Saturday. He was 95. Norman Borlaug received a Congressional Gold Medal from then President George W. Bush on July 17, 2007. Borlaug died from cancer complications in Dallas, Texas, a spokeswoman for Texas A&M University said. A 1970 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Borlaug was a distinguished professor of international agriculture at the university. Borlaug started at Texas A&M in 1984, after working as a scientist in a program that introduced scientific techniques for preventing famine in Mexico, according to the university. Until recently, he traveled worldwide working for improvements in agricultural science and food policy, said Kathleen Phillips, a university spokeswoman. Borlaug was known as a champion of high-yield crop varieties, and other science and agricultural innovations to help fight hunger in developing nations. iReport.com: Tour Borlaug's boyhood farm "We all eat at least three times a day in privileged nations, and yet we take food for granted," Borlaug said recently in an interview posted on the university's Web site. "There has been great progress, and food is more equitably distributed. But hunger is a commonplace, and famine appears all too often." He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2006, according to the university's Web site. The agriculture institute at the university was named after him in 2006. Borlaug also created the World Food Prize, which recognized the work of scientists and humanitarians who have helped fight world hunger through advanced agriculture, the university said. A memorial service will be held at the university at a later date.

What appears too often?
What was he awarded in 1970?
What was the cause of Borlaug's death?
What did Borlaug die of?
Borlaug was what age when he died?
WHat did he help to develope?
What was his contribution to?

Answer: famine

Answer: Nobel Peace Prize,

Answer: cancer complications

Answer: cancer complications

Answer: He was 95.

Answer: wheat

Answer: fight famine in poor countries,

Summary:
Borlaug died at the age of 95 from complications caused by cancer .
In 1970, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to science .
Helped develop disease-resistant wheat, worked to ease world food shortages .
Borlaug: "There has been great progress.. but famine appears all too often"


(CNN) -- Norman Ollestad remembers the tree limb. The book's jacket features a picture of a 1-year-old Norman clinging to his father's back on a surfboard. He was 11 years old, riding in a Cessna in a blizzard through California's San Gabriel Mountains in 1979, on his way to pick up a trophy he won in a skiing competition. "The gray clouds were just pressing against the windows; it didn't even seem like we were moving," he recalls. "Then, there's a limb reaching out of that fog and disappearing. Then another one and another one. "Then realizing we were in the trees." The plane crash that followed killed his father and the pilot and badly wounded his father's girlfriend, who with young Norman was tossed violently onto the top of an 8,600-foot mountain in the freezing, February chill. "I felt three thuds. The third one must have knocked me cold," says Ollestad, now 41. "I remember feeling those thuds in my spine -- a clear memory of that. Then I woke up who knows how long after." The ensuing nine-hour, life-or-death descent -- in the end, he was the only survivor -- is the topic of "Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival."  Watch the press conference that followed his survival » But the book is about more than a plane crash, namely his relationship with an adrenaline-junkie father who basked in the wild life of Malibu in the 1970s and relentlessly pushed his "Boy Wonder" to excel from the ski slopes of northern California to the crashing surf off the Mexican coast. "It's actually 100 percent about my relationship with my father," Ollestad said. "That relationship was present on the mountain with me, even though he was dead." Released this month, the book already has been picked up by Warner Bros. [a sister company of CNN] for a feature film and has earned critical acclaim, including comparisons to John Krakauer's 1997 nonfiction best-seller "Into Thin Air." "An engrossing story of adventure, survival and psychological exploration," wrote the journal Kirkus Reviews. In the book, Ollestad cuts back and forth between the crash and journey down the mountain and the years leading up to that moment. Included are memories of life in Malibu, where he grew up the son of divorced parents in a cottage on the beach. There are surfers and skate rats, musicians and nudists and memories of smoking weed and spying on his neighbors' most intimate moments. But mostly there's his father, Norman Ollestad Sr., an athlete, actor, lawyer, musician and former FBI agent. From the age of 3, Norman was groomed for competitive "extreme sports" by his father and pushed to be the best. The book's jacket features a picture of a 1-year-old Norman clinging to his father's back as he steers a surfboard atop the waves of California's Topanga State Beach. He acknowledges that many times, when his father was cooking up a new adventure for the two of them, he would rather have been "riding my bike or eating chocolate cake." "[At first] a lot of people are, 'Wow .. I had a lot of trouble with some of the stuff your dad was doing,' " says Ollestad, who studied creative writing at UCLA and attended UCLA's film school. "But then it turned out that a lot of that stuff was really beautiful." And he believes it saved his life. The skiing made him aware of how steep the mountain's slope was and what it would take to get down it without falling. The skiing and surfing gave him control of his body and awareness of the exact movements required to work his way out of the descent's most treacherous spots. "Some of it was sort of eerily, specifically perfect for the situation," he says. "Forty-five degree pitch, blizzard with ice, well,

Norman Ollestad was how old when the plane he was in crashed

What is the book "Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival about?

What's the name of Norman Ollestad's book?

Answer: 1979,

Answer: badly wounded his father's girlfriend, who with young Norman was tossed violently onto the top of an 8,600-foot mountain

Answer: life-or-death descent

Answer: the Storm: A Memoir of Survival."

Answer: 11 years

Answer: more than a plane crash, namely his relationship with an adrenaline-junkie father who basked in the wild life of Malibu in the 1970s and relentlessly pushed his "Boy Wonder" to excel from the ski slopes of northern California to the crashing surf off the Mexican coast.

Answer: Norman

Answer: "Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival."

Summary:
Norman Ollestad was 11 years old when the plane he was in crashed .
Ollestad's father died and Ollestad climbed down the mountain for nine hours .
Experience is present in book "Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival"
Book also chronicles Ollestad's relationship with his father .


(CNN) -- North Carolina State University women's basketball coach Kay Yow, who won more than 700 games in nearly four decades of coaching, died Saturday after a long struggle with breast cancer, the university said. North Carolina State University's Kay Yow, in 1996, was one of only six coaches to amass 700 wins. She was 66. Yow, who was in her 38th season as a coach, had amassed numerous awards, including inductions into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. In her 34 years on the sidelines for the Wolfpack, her teams won four Atlantic Coast Conference titles, averaged 20 wins a season, appeared in 20 of 27 NCAA tournaments and reached the Final Four in 1998. She was one of only six coaches in the women's game to win at least 700 games, the university said. She also coached the 1988 women's Olympic basketball team to a gold medal in Seoul, South Korea. Yow was beloved by her players, colleagues and fans, and in 2007, N.C. State christened the court in Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum in her name. Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, Yow had been active in efforts to raise awareness and money to battle the disease, which forced her to miss two games during the 2004-05 season and another 16 in the 2006-07 season, the university said. She helped establish the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, which raised money for the cause. About three weeks ago, Yow announced that she was stepping away from coaching duties for the remainder of the 2008-09 season, after missing four straight games because of an extremely low energy level. "Stepping away from coaching is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make," Yow said January 6, according to N.C. State. "Even though I don't feel well enough to coach, I'm hopeful to feel well enough to attend some ACC games and show my support for the team as well as N.C. State University," she added. Yow was born in 1942 in Gibsonville, North Carolina, about 16 miles outside Greensboro. She began coaching at local high schools in 1964 before Elon University hired her. N.C. State hired her in 1975. "It has been an honor and a privilege to work with Coach Yow for the last 15 seasons. I suddenly find myself grasping to retain everything she has ever said and ever taught me," interim head coach Stephanie Glance said, according to the university. The team's game against Wake Forest University, which was scheduled for Monday, has been postponed until February 10 in Winston-Salem, the university said.

What medal did Yow win at the 1988 Olympics?

What year did Yow coach the Olympic team?

Answer: 66.

Answer: gold

Answer: four

Answer: four

Answer: 1996,

Answer: Kay Yow,

Summary:
Women's basketball coach dies at 66 after struggle with breast cancer .
Yow's North Carolina State teams won 4 ACC titles, reached Final Four .
Yow coached the 1988 women's Olympic basketball team to a gold medal in Seoul .
Yow helped establish the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund .


(CNN) -- North Korea accused the United States and South Korea of sending spy planes on about 200 missions near the isolated communist nation ahead of a North Korea rocket launch scheduled for early April.

Pyongyang claims reconnaissance aircraft, including the high-altitude U-2 spy plane, have flown spy missions.

"The U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet military warmongers perpetrated intensive aerial espionage against the DPRK (North Korea) in March by massively mobilizing strategic and tactical reconnaissance planes with various missions," a military source said, according to a report from North Korea's state-run news service, KCNA, on Tuesday.

Pyongyang said the United States committed 110 cases of "aerial espionage and the South Korean puppet forces at least 80 cases," during March, KCNA reported. The source said the missions utilized six types of reconnaissance aircraft, including the high-altitude U-2 spy plane.

"The U.S. imperialist warmongers had better bear in mind that ... spy planes perpetrating espionage against the DPRK are within the range of its strikes."

The Pentagon was not immediately available to comment on the story.

The North Korean government says it will launch a commercial satellite atop a rocket sometime between April 4 and April 8. Satellite imagery taken on Sunday appears to show a rocket at the Musudan-ri launch site in northeastern North Korea.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday there is little doubt that the planned rocket launch is designed to bolster North Korea's military capability.

He also indicated that the U.S. military could be prepared to shoot down a North Korean missile if the rogue regime develops the capability to reach Hawaii or the western continental United States in a future launch.  Watch analysis of Pyongyang's planned rocket launch »

Both the United States and Japan have mobilized missile defense systems ahead of the launch.

North Korea has threatened to start a war if Japan were to shoot down its rocket. Tokyo said the move is aimed at shooting down any debris from the launch that might fall into Japanese territory.

U.S. Navy ships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles have been moved to the Sea of Japan, a Navy spokesman said.

The United States generally has a number of ships equipped with powerful Aegis radar in the Sea of Japan because of North Korean threats to launch rockets. The ships are designed to track and, if needed, shoot down ballistic missiles.

The United States has no plans to shoot down the North Korean rocket, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week, but will raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang carries out a launch.

When is the rocket launch scheduled for?

Answer: North Korea rocket

Answer: North Korea

Answer: early April.

Answer: spy planes perpetrating espionage against the DPRK

Answer: North Korea

Summary:
North Korea claims it detected about 200 spy plane missions near it .
Claim comes ahead of North Korea's launch of a rocket scheduled for early April .
Pyongyang warned that spy planes are within the range of its strikes .
U.S. has little doubt rocket launch is designed to bolster N. Korea's military capability .


(CNN) -- North Korea has completed preparations for launching what it says is "an experimental communications satellite," the reclusive nation's state news agency reported early Saturday. A satellite image shows a rocket sitting on its launch pad in northeast North Korea. "The satellite will be launched soon," KCNA reported. How "soon" was anyone's guess. On Friday, President Obama reiterated that the United States strongly opposes any such launch. "We have made it very clear to the North Koreans that their missile launch is provocative, it puts enormous strains on the Six-Party Talks and that they should stop the launch," Obama said while on a stop in France. Obama warned that the United States will join with its allies to take "appropriate steps" to let North Korea know it can't violate United Nations rules and get away with it. Western nations fear that North Korea plans a ballistic missile test rather than a satellite launch, but the administration's special envoy to the Six-Party Talks, Stephen Bosworth, said it didn't matter if the North Koreans were trying to put a satellite in space or testing a ballistic missile that could threaten Japan or the United States. "Whether it is a satellite launch or a missile launch, in our judgment makes no difference. It is a provocative act," Bosworth said. Bosworth said the United States stands ready, in the event of a launch, to participate in U.N. deliberations on new sanctions against North Korea. A commentary carried by KCNA recently blasted critics for opposing its plans. "This is nothing but a groundless outcry of the political philistines ignorant of any legality of the study of space for peaceful purposes," the commentary said. The U.S. Navy is monitoring the expected launch with at least four ships in the region around the Korean Peninsula and northern Japan, according to U.S. military officials. The ships -- three destroyers and one cruiser -- are capable of tracking and shooting down ballistic missiles using powerful Aegis radar systems aboard each vessel. Two ships are in the Sea of Japan, the USS Curtis Wilbur and the USS Stethem, both guided-missile destroyers. Two other ships are on the Pacific Ocean side of Japan to monitor the missile if it flies over that nation. Those ships are the USS Shiloh, a guided-missile cruiser and the USS Fitzgerald, another guided-missile destroyer, the officials said. All four U.S. ships are working with Japanese naval ships in the same region that are also equipped with Aegis radar.  Watch report on launch preparations » U.S. military officials say Pyongyang seems to still be on track to launch the missile as early as Saturday, but one official told CNN that winds strong enough to delay a launch are predicted for Saturday in the area of the launch site, in northeastern North Korea.

For what reasons might the launch be delayed?

What type of satellite does North Korea say it will launch?

Answer: President Obama

Answer: winds strong enough to delay a

Answer: Korea

Answer: satellite,"

Answer: winds

Answer: satellite,"

Answer: United States

Summary:
N. Korea says rocket containing "communications satellite" is ready for launch .
U.S. military officials anticipating Saturday launch, but windy weather could delay it .
Obama: U.S. opposes any such launch, which puts "strain" on Six-Party Talks .
Aegis-equipped U.S., Japanese naval ships are monitoring in Sea of Japan, Pacific .


(CNN) -- North Korea on Monday proposed replacing the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War with a formal peace treaty, a step it said would pave the way for breaking the international impasse over its nuclear program.

But the communist state said international sanctions imposed after a series of nuclear weapons and missile tests should be lifted before it returns to the negotiating table, a suggestion the United States quickly dismissed.

The cease-fire that ended the three-year Korean War never led to a permanent peace treaty, leaving the North Korean-South Korean border the world's most heavily militarized frontier.

In a statement carried by the official news agency KCNA, North Korea said that a final settlement of the conflict is "essential" to talks aimed at persuading it to dismantle its nuclear program.

"When the parties are in the state of war where they level guns at each other, distrust in the other party can never be wiped out, and the talks themselves can never make smooth progress, much less realizing the denuclearization," it said. "Without settling such [an] essential and fundamental issue as war and peace, no agreement can escape from frustration and failure as now."

Pyongyang has refused to return to the talks, which also involve the United States, Russia, China, South Korea and Japan, insisting that it wants to talk directly with the U.S. government. But Washington says it will not lift sanctions or normalize relations with the North until it takes irreversible steps toward dismantling its nuclear program.

"We're not going to pay North Korea for coming back to the six-party process," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday.

Who refused to normalize relations until the program is dismantled?

What does Pyongyang want before talks continue?

Who wants sanctions off the table before talks continue?

Answer: ended the Korean War

Answer: Washington

Answer: directly with the U.S. government.

Answer: 1953

Answer: armistice

Answer: 1953

Answer: will not lift sanctions or normalize relations with the North until it takes irreversible steps toward dismantling its nuclear program.

Answer: Korea

Summary:
Armistice ended Korean War in 1953; North suggests replacing with treaty .
It suggests that such a move would ease return to nuclear talks .
Pyongyang wants sanctions off table before talks continue .
Washington has refused to normalize relations until program dismantled .


(CNN) -- North Korea on Thursday launched a scathing personal attack on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, raising comparisons with previous colorful comments about the West by the communist regime. Bush: "A chicken soaked in the rain," according to a North Korean Cabinet newspaper. At a meeting of southeast Asian nations in Phuket, Thailand, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted Clinton for what he called a "spate of vulgar remarks unbecoming for her position everywhere she went since she was sworn in," according to the state-run KCNA news agency. The spokesman called Clinton "by no means intelligent" and a "funny lady." "Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping," the statement said. In no particular order, here are some of the most outspoken comments of recent years: In October 2001, North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun said U.S. President George W. Bush was "an incompetent and rude president who is senseless and ignorant as he does not know even elementary diplomatic etiquette and lacks diplomatic ability." In March 2002, after Bush bracketed the communist state of Kim Jong-il with Iran and pre-war Iraq as being part of an "axis of evil," the North shot back and called the United States an "empire of evil," KCNA reported. In May 2005, North Korea described Bush as "a hooligan bereft of any personality as a human being, to say nothing of stature as president of a country. He is a half-baked man in terms of morality and a philistine whom we can never deal with." In December 2008 after an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at Bush at a news conference in Baghdad the North's cabinet newspaper said in an article that Bush looked like "a chicken soaked in the rain," according to Reuters.com. In April 2004, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman described U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney as a "mentally deranged person steeped in the inveterate enmity towards the system" in the North. In May 2003, the North said Cheney "is hated as the most cruel monster and blood-thirsty beast as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood." In May 2004, the North branded the Grand National Party of South Party a "vegetable assembly" and a "modern brand Nazi party." In November 2003, after U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld described North Korea as an "evil country" and an "evil regime," KCNA shot back, describing him as a "political dwarf, human scum or hysteric. His hands are stained with the blood shed by so many people. He is, indeed, a human butcher and fascist tyrant who puts an ogre to shame." In May 2005, after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the North as an "outpost of tyranny," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman described Rice as "no more than an official of the most tyrannical dictatorial state in the world. Such woman bereft of any political logic is not the one to be dealt with by us." In May 2009, North Korean newspapers said Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso was "greedy for power" and "incompetent in politics." According to KCNA, they described him as "nothing but a political charlatan who does not know where to stand, a mere puppet and a guy with a poor knowledge of history."

Who did the Foreign Ministry describe as "mentally deranged"?

what paper called the president incompetant

Does the Foreign Ministry consider Dick Cheney to be mentally competent?

What is the name of Hillary Clinton's job in the government?

Whom did N. Korea launch a personal attack on?

Answer: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney

Answer: "A chicken soaked in the rain,"

Answer: Rodong Sinmun

Answer: "mentally deranged person

Answer: Korea

Answer: U.S. Secretary of State

Answer: Clinton,

Summary:
N. Korea launches personal attack on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton .
Raises comparisons with previous comments about West by communist regime .
Paper described U.S. President Bush as "incompetent and rude president"
Foreign Ministry said Dick Cheney was a "mentally deranged person"


(CNN) -- North Korea vowed Wednesday that it "will take every necessary measure to protect its sovereignty" in the midst of 12-day U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises. South Korean soldiers move into a building during a joint military exercise with U.S. troops in Pocheon Tuesday. "These war exercises were kicked off by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet war-like forces across South Korea at a time when the inter-Korean relations have reached the worst phase and the situation has grown so tense that a war may break out (at) any moment due to the reckless policy of confrontation pursued by the South Korean conservative authorities," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said. Referring to "war maneuvers" and "nuclear war exercises," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said they were "designed to mount a preemptive attack on the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) in terms of their scale and contents from A to Z," according to KCNA. South Korea has defended the joint exercises. "We have said several times that the U.S.-South Korean military exercises are annual defensive exercises," said Kim Ho-nyun, a Unification Ministry spokesman, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Monday. "We again urge North Korea to maintain the agreed stance of mutual respect and to stop its verbal attacks and actions that are raising tensions on the Korean peninsula," he said. Tensions have ramped up in recent days, as North Korea threatened retaliation in the event of an interception of its "satellite" launch. U.S. and South Korean officials have said that North Korea appears to be preparing to test-fire its long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, under the guise of launching a satellite into space. The missile is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers), which -- if true -- could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii. On Saturday U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth said he wanted dialogue with North Korea, but he also spoke against North Korea's move to go forward with a launch, saying it would be "ill-advised."

Retaliation is threatened in the event of what?

The North Korean Foreign Ministry calls exercises what?

What does the ministry refer to US-South Korean as?

Answer: of an interception of its "satellite" launch.

Answer: to test-fire its long-range missile,

Answer: annual defensive exercises,"

Answer: "war maneuvers"

Answer: puppet war-like forces

Answer: "war maneuvers" and "nuclear war exercises,"

Answer: annual defensive exercises,"

Summary:
N. Korean Foreign Ministry refers to U.S.-South Korean "nuclear war exercises"
South Korea calls exercises "annual defensive exercises," Yonhap reports .
North Korea threatens retaliation in event "satellite" launch is intercepted .
U.S., South Korea say North Korea appears to be prepping missile test firing .


(CNN) -- North Korea's apparent cooperation with nations seeking to end its nuclear weapons ambitions -- six years after a deal collapsed and two years after testing a bomb -- may lead to questions about why it would play ball now. Some signs show North Korean leader Kim Jong Il does intend to drop his nuclear weapon program, experts say. One school of thought: The communist nation, in desperate economic straits, has long been willing to drop its program for better relations with the United States. But mistakes on both sides interfered, according to Jim Walsh, a national security analyst. North Korea could be trying to achieve survival through deceit, intending to keep its nuclear weapons as blackmail for better treatment, analysts suggest. But those making a case for North Korea's sincerity, Walsh said, would say it must "do the things economically that [it needs] to do to avoid collapse." "Having nuclear weapons when the regime is collapsing won't do them much good," said Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. North Korea, following a 2007 agreement with five nations including the U.S., handed over a declaration of its nuclear program on Thursday. The nation also took steps to disable a reactor that officials acknowledge helped extract plutonium to build nuclear weapons. On Friday, it destroyed the reactor's cooling tower -- significant because the tower would take a year or longer to rebuild.  Watch the tower being demolished. » After North Korea's declaration, President Bush said Thursday that he intends to move North Korea from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. Down the line, North Korea would receive economic and energy assistance if the U.S. and other nations agree it is complying with other efforts to dismantle its nuclear program. North Korea has been heavily sanctioned in the past because of its nuclear program. Stephen Hadley, the U.S. national security adviser, told reporters Thursday that the terror list was one incentive for North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions. "I think it is important to them not to be on a list that says 'enemies' and not to be on a list that says 'supporters of terror,'" Hadley said. Walsh said North Korea has been weakened by sanctions and its lack of arable land, leading to a population unable to feed itself. "It can't grow enough food," Walsh said. "And they've got to attract foreign investors." He said North Korea was better off in the days of the Soviet Union, when it had an ample amount of communist nations with which to trade. But the Soviet Union collapsed, and many other nations turned away from communism, leaving North Korea increasingly isolated. "Geostrategically, North Korea was growing weaker, and everyone around them was growing stronger," Walsh said. In 1994, North Korea pledged to the U.S. that it would freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for international aid, including help building two power-producing nuclear reactors. By 2000, however, North Korea was complaining that not all the aid was coming as promised. In 2002, the U.S. accused North Korea of working on a secret nuclear weapons program, and the U.S. said North Korea admitted doing so. Countries including the U.S. halted oil supplies, and North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon in 2006. Walsh said both sides haven't fully lived up to previous agreements. The U.S., he said, promised normalized trade at one point but didn't follow through. Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' international security program, said North Korea has been "remarkably consistent" regarding its reactions to U.S. positions. "When we've engaged them directly, they have responded. And when we have reduced our commitment, to our engagement ... they have responded negatively," Wolfsthal said. Wolfsthal said China -- which provides oil and food aid to North Korea -- has been instrumental in getting North Korea to cooperate. "China has gone from

What are North Korea's negotiations driven by?

Answer: could be trying to achieve survival through deceit,

Answer: Some signs show North Korean leader Kim Jong Il does intend to drop his nuclear weapon program,

Answer: has been instrumental in getting North Korea to cooperate.

Answer: desperate economic straits,

Answer: drop his nuclear weapon program,

Summary:
North Korea's negotiations driven by economic need, desire for survival, experts say .
China, embarrassed by nuclear test, has prodded North Korea, expert says .
Deceit possible, experts say, but nation's best interest is to be on West's good side .


(CNN) -- North Korea's state-run news agency said Thursday that the country has sent a letter to the United Nations announcing that "reprocessing of spent fuel rods is at its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponized." The Yongbyon nuclear facility, home of North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea can also now enter the final stage of uranium enrichment, it said in the letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council, according to state-run KCNA. When enriched to a high degree, uranium can be used as weapons-grade material. Plutonium can be used in atomic bombs. Despite stating in the letter that they "totally reject" a Security Council resolution in June that demanded that the country no longer pursue nuclear weapons, the North Koreans said they are "prepared for both dialogue and sanctions," KCNA reported. The government also warned, "If some permanent members of the UNSC wish to put sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue," according to KCNA. The news comes on the heels of the Obama administration's latest attempt to restart stalled nuclear negotiations with the reclusive state. In the coming days, U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth and the director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs, Sung Kim, will meet with officials representing China, Japan, South Korea and Russia -- all countries partnering with the United States in talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea quit the talks in April after the U.N. Security Council censured Pyongyang for a long-range rocket test that month. In the letter Thursday, Pyongyang stated that it "never objected to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and of the world itself. What we objected to is the structure of the six way talks which had been used to violate outrageously the DPRK's sovereignty and its right to peaceful development." Tensions had eased somewhat in recent weeks on the Korean peninsula, giving hope to the resumption of nuclear talks with the North. In August, North and South Korea agreed to resume cross-border tourism, ease border controls and facilitate cross-border family reunions, signaling a warming in relations that had been tense for most of the year. Cross-border traffic between North and South Korea returned to normal Tuesday, after eight months of restrictions by the North. Recent meetings between Korean officials are in stark contrast to the tense public statements the nations made about each other earlier this year. Tensions between the two were heightened in July when North Korea launched seven short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan. The launches came after North Korea conducted a nuclear test on May 25 and threatened the United States and South Korean ships near its territorial waters. The two Koreas have officially remained in conflict since the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953, which ended in a truce, but no formal peace treaty was signed.

What country reports reprocessing of spent fuel rods in final phase?

When enriched to a high degree, what can be used as weapons-grade material?

What does Letter says  N. Korea rejects?

What country  rejected U.N. demand it stop pursuing nuclear weapons?

Answer: North Korea

Answer: "reprocessing of spent fuel rods is at its final phase and extracted plutonium is being weaponized."

Answer: uranium

Answer: a Security Council resolution in June

Answer: North Korea

Answer: weapons-grade material.

Summary:
North's media reports N. Korea reprocessing of spent fuel rods in final phase .
When enriched to a high degree, uranium can be used as weapons-grade material .
State-run news agency reports country had informed the United Nations by letter .
Letter says N. Korea rejects U.N. demand it stop pursuing nuclear weapons .


(CNN) -- North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong Il died over the weekend, is the least democratic nation on Earth, according to a newly released report by a British analysis and intelligence firm.

The Democracy Index 2011, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, listed Norway as the most democratic nation in the world.

The top 10 spots in this year's index were occupied mostly by European countries. Following Norway were: Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Finland and the Netherlands.

Read the full report

The United States ranked 19th, down two spots from the 2010 listing. The United States' 2011 ranking is below Canada (8th) and the United Kingdom (18th).

The United States also ranked below the Czech Republic (16th), a former Soviet communist satellite that did not become a democracy until 1989, and the South American nation of Uruguay (17th), a former right-wing dictatorship that did not return to democracy until 1984.

The Economist Intelligence Unit analysis, released this month, concluded that democracy deteriorated in 48 countries, improved in 41 and stayed the same in 78. In most regions, the report said, the level of democracy was lower in 2011 than the previous year.

"2011 was an exceptionally turbulent year, characterized by sovereign debt crises and weak political leadership in the developed world, dramatic political change and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa and rising social unrest," said Laza Kekic, the report's lead author.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, how government functions, political participation by the public, and political culture. The analysts measured the level of democracy in 165 nations and two territories, "which account for almost the entire population of the world," the Economist Intelligence Unit said in a release.

Using a scale of 0 to 10, countries were placed in one of four categories: full democracies (8-10), flawed democracies (6 to 7.9), hybrid regimes (4 to 5.9) and authoritarian regimes (0 to 3.9).

Norway, the top-ranked nation, had a score of 9.8. The Scandinavian nation also ranked No. 1 in 2010 with an identical score.

North Korea, ranked No. 167, had a score of 1.08. The Asian nation also ranked last in 2010, with the same score.

The United States had a score of 8.11, slightly lower than last year's 8.18.

"U.S. democracy has been adversely affected by a deepening of the polarization of the political scene and political brinkmanship and paralysis," the Economist Intelligence Unit concluded.

The analysts noted that the United States and the United Kingdom lag behind many other full democracies for some of the same reasons.

"There has been a rise in protest movements," the report states. "Problems in the functioning of government have become more prominent."

Among other findings in the report:

-- Slightly more than half the world's population lives in some type of democracy, although only 11% enjoy a "full democracy."

-- More than one-third of the globe's population lives under authoritarian rule.

-- Nearly half the nations on the planet are considered democracies: 25 "full" and 53 "flawed."

-- There were 37 "hybrid regimes" and 52 "authoritarian regimes."

-- Violence, drug trafficking and other crime in Latin America continue to hinder democracy.

-- Eastern Europe continued to suffer a decline in democracy, with 12 nations worse than the previous year.

-- Western Europe also had a decline in democracy, with seven nations deteriorating and none improving. Some of that deterioration was due to financial problems plaguing the eurozone. Five of the countries that lost points in the rankings belong to the eurozone: Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ireland.

-- Eight countries had a listing change from one type of government to another in 2011. Four were upgraded and four were downgraded.

-- Countries that deteriorated were: Portugal

Which nation was listed as the most democratic?

Answer: (8th)

Answer: (18th).

Answer: 19th,

Answer: (8th)

Answer: The Democracy Index 2011,

Answer: the most democratic nation in the world.

Answer: Norway

Answer: 19th,

Answer: The United States

Summary:
Norway is listed as the most democratic nation in the British report .
The United States ranks 19th, down two spots from 2010 .
Canada is eighth and the United Kingdom is 18th .


(CNN) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has added his brother-in-law to a military board in a move analysts say paves the way for an heir, according to South Korea's state-sponsored Yonhap news agency.

Kim Jong-il has named his brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek to a top military board.

The addition of his kin to the powerful National Defense Commission also solidifies his standing, Yonhap said.

Kim was reappointed Thursday as chairman of the military board in his first major public appearance since a reported stroke in August. His brother-in-law, Jang Song Thaek, is considered his right-hand man, according to Yonhap.

Jang, who has been married to Kim's sister since 1972, currently serves as a director of the Workers' Party, Yonhap said.

"Kim wants to keep the military in check and secure loyalty to both the military and the party," Cha Doo-hyeogn, a North Korea expert, told Yonhap.

Kim also increased the number of members in the military agency to 13, from eight, Yonhap said.

"Overall, the power of the National Defense Commission was strengthened," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman, Kim Ho-nyoun, told Yonhap in a briefing.

There were no other major changes in the new parliament, which signifies that Kim, 67, is prepared to maintain the status quo as he readies someone to take over from him, analysts told Yonhap.

Kim's recent health problems and long absence from public functions have prompted speculation on whether he is ready to groom an heir to the world's only communist dynasty. But the secretive nation shields its internal affairs from international scrutiny.

Analysts told Yonhap that Jang may serve as caretaker for Kim's successor, who will possibly be one of his three sons.

what did kim do
what did analysts say?
what do analysts say
what is jang song to kim

Answer: added his brother-in-law to a military board

Answer: paves the way for an heir,

Answer: paves the way for an heir,

Answer: brother-in-law

Summary:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il added his brother-in-law to a military board .
Analysts say move paves the way for an heir to be named .
Jang Song Thaek is considered to be Kim's right-hand man .


(CNN) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has added his brother-in-law to a military board in a move analysts say paves the way for an heir, according to South Korea's state-sponsored Yonhap news agency. Kim Jong-il has named his brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek to a top military board. The addition of his kin to the powerful National Defense Commission also solidifies his standing, Yonhap said. Kim was reappointed Thursday as chairman of the military board in his first major public appearance since a reported stroke in August. His brother-in-law, Jang Song Thaek, is considered his right-hand man, according to Yonhap. Jang, who has been married to Kim's sister since 1972, currently serves as a director of the Workers' Party, Yonhap said. "Kim wants to keep the military in check and secure loyalty to both the military and the party," Cha Doo-hyeogn, a North Korea expert, told Yonhap. Kim also increased the number of members in the military agency to 13, from eight, Yonhap said. "Overall, the power of the National Defense Commission was strengthened," Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman, Kim Ho-nyoun, told Yonhap in a briefing. There were no other major changes in the new parliament, which signifies that Kim, 67, is prepared to maintain the status quo as he readies someone to take over from him, analysts told Yonhap. Kim's recent health problems and long absence from public functions have prompted speculation on whether he is ready to groom an heir to the world's only communist dynasty. But the secretive nation shields its internal affairs from international scrutiny. Analysts told Yonhap that Jang may serve as caretaker for Kim's successor, who will possibly be one of his three sons.

Who is considered to be Kim's right-hand man?

Answer: brother-in-law, Jang Song Thaek,

Answer: an heir,

Answer: Jang Song Thaek,

Answer: Kim Jong-il

Summary:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il added his brother-in-law to a military board .
Analysts say move paves the way for an heir to be named .
Jang Song Thaek is considered to be Kim's right-hand man .


(CNN) -- Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen has been stripped of his Olympic showjumping bronze medal -- and banned for our-and-a-half months by the International Equestrian Federation -- after his horse tested positive for a banned substance at the Beijing Games.

Hansen was Norway's highest-scoring rider as the nation finished third in the Olympic team showjumping.

The 29-year-old Hansen was the best performer in a four-rider Norway team which won bronze under a scoring system where the top three count.

Without his scores, his teammates -- Morten Djupvik, Stein Endresen, and Geir Gulliksen -- drop out of medal contention.

The fourth-placed Switzerland team of Steve Guerdat, Christina Liebherr, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer will now be awarded the bronze medals by the International Olympic Committee.

The United States won gold, beating Canada in a jumpoff in Hong Kong, where the equestrian events were staged last August.

Hansen's horse, Camiro, tested positive for capsaicin, a banned pain relieving medication. He was provisionally suspended and did not complete the individual jumping competition.

However, he is free to return to competition on January 3 as his suspension was backdated.

"It is each person's duty to ensure that no prohibited substance is present in his or her horse's body during an event," said the FEI.

Although the drug can be used out-of-competition as a legal medication, it is also classed as a doping substance if used to inflame a horse's legs. This is done to encourage horses to jump higher because striking an obstacle becomes more painful.

Hansen is the fourth rider disqualified and suspended in cases involving capsaicin: Germany's Christian Ahlmann was suspended for four months, Brazil's Bernardo Alves for three-and-a-half months, and Irish rider Denis Lynch got a three-month ban.

Where was Hansen's horse tested for banned substance?

Answer: United States

Answer: horse

Answer: The fourth-placed Switzerland team

Answer: Beijing Games.

Answer: stripped of his Olympic showjumping bronze medal

Answer: The fourth-placed Switzerland team of Steve Guerdat, Christina Liebherr, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer

Summary:
Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen is stripped of his Olympic showjumping gold .
Hansen's horse horse tested positive for banned substance at Beijing Games .
The fourth-placed Switzerland team have now been promoted to third position .


(CNN) -- Norwegian violinist, Alexander Rybak, 23, won the Eurovision Song Contest with an upbeat ballad that got the most votes in the history of one of the world's most watched television shows. Alexander Rybak of Norway performs during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday in Moscow, Russia. On Saturday night Rybak beat out contestants from 42 countries, with singers from Iceland and Azerbaijan taking distant second and third places. The boyish Rybak -- who performed a self-composed tune, "Fairytale," with some deft dance steps and a smile plastered on his face -- won with 387 points, the most in the contest's 53-year history, organizers said. It was the third time Norway has won the competition. Although the classically-trained Rybak grew up outside the Norwegian capital, Oslo, he was born in Belarus. A television audience estimated at more than 100 million people watch the show. In years past, winners have parlayed their victory in varying degrees of success -- most notably the Swedish quartet ABBA, which won with "Waterloo" in 1974 and became one of the most successful pop groups of the 1970s. In the Eurovision Song Contest, which began in 1956, each participating European nation submits one singer or group who then perform a specially-written song. Telephone votes as well as judges from each country decided the winner this year. This year the contest was televised from a packed stadium in Moscow, Russia. Earlier police arrested dozens of gay and lesbian rights activists who were planning a rally to coincide with the contest. The protesters wanted to draw attention to what they call widespread discrimination of gays in Russia.  Watch what's different about this year's gay rights protests »

How many people are estimated to watch the show?

how many people  are  estimated to watch the show?

Answer: more than 100 million

Answer: ABBA,

Answer: dozens of gay and lesbian rights activists

Answer: 387

Answer: 387

Answer: 1974

Answer: 100 million

Answer: violinist, Alexander Rybak,

Summary:
Rybak wins with 387 points, the most in the contest's 53-year history, organizers say .
More than 100 million people are estimated to watch the show .
Swedish quartet ABBA won with "Waterloo" in 1974 .
Police arrest dozens of gay and lesbian rights activists planning rally during contest .


(CNN) -- Not every travel adventure involves tracking wild animals or hanging off a mountain. Some feats of endurance come in the form of festivals, and Munich's Oktoberfest is no exception. This annual beer-soaked event is under way now, but a visit to the charming Bavarian town of Munich is a treat year-round.

Whether you're visiting in winter or in summer, there is sure to be plenty to do. Read on for tips in each season:

Take in the scenery when it's cold

CNN's Emma Lacey-Bordeaux shares her tips for cold-weather explorations:

I arrived in Munich by train. The warm bright interiors of the train car and the boisterous passengers sharply contrasted with the increasingly snowy exterior as we left northern Italy, crossed the Alps and arrived in the neat metropolis.

After spending four months studying in the incredibly beautiful yet utterly perplexing city of Venice, Italy, Munich stood out first and foremost for its order. Trains take you where you need to go, they run on time and the buildings all look like they could stand forever in their neat, thoughtful lines

Walking, biking or taking public transport allows visitors to take in the interesting architecture of the city. The city exhibits modern platzes, or squares, with glass buildings, impressive monuments and historic buildings galore.

Share your photos and tips for Munich

Enjoy the Hofgarten, a lovely yet strangely haunting garden in the middle of the city replete with ornate buildings and statues. As is the case with many landmarks and buildings in this charming city, the garden was first constructed in the 17th century, then destroyed during World War II and rebuilt much the same. Around town, you'll notice some buildings with facades painted on to approximate a style lost in the war.

Across town, pay a visit to Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. The main building was designed by Friedrich von Gärtner, an important architect from the mid 19th century, and features large beautiful halls. Plus a visit to a college area always pays off in good, cheap food options.

Munich has a festival for every season. October boasts the übertraditional Oktoberfest, the summer months have outdoor concerts and Christmas carnivals fill the winter months.

Keep these tips in mind if you go for the holiday markets: Rule No. 1, bundle up! The icy wind here comes off the mountains and will chill you to the core. Luckily, every outdoor Christmas market, or Christkindlmarkt, sells a variety of hot beverages including hot mulled wine or Glühwein.

Don't be surprised when vendors hand you a beautiful ceramic mug full of wine. But don't walk away with the mug; you're just renting it. Return it after drinking and move on to the next market for more shopping and sipping.

At the markets you'll find all manner of gifts and knickknacks from the classically Bavarian items to more modern crafts. The Tollwood Festival stands out as one of the largest in town. It also boasts musical and theatrical performances and a large variety of food from around the world. The No. 1 rule with these markets: pace yourself -- these warm oases in a cold season are all over town.

Should market hopping make you ill, Munich has a very modern and well-run health care system. Perhaps I succumbed to the cold weather, the festival food or the bug that I heard was going around town, but whatever the reason, my host and I both found ourselves sick to the point of dehydration. After a quick train ride we arrived at an emergency room and were seen by a doctor almost immediately.

The visit to a lovely doctor who spoke perfect English was a mere 35 Euro, including intravenous fluids. Afterward, I walked across the street, prescriptions in hand, shelled out 15 more Euro and felt right as rain. I never once showed ID or an insurance card. Getting sick should not rank high on your travel list, but if illness falls, fear not!

Get outdoors and soak up the sun in summer

Read on for some warm-weather finds from CNN's Emily Smith

What is advised to do in the cooler months?

what should you do in Munich in the cooler months?

what should you do in Munich in the warmer months?

Answer: year-round.

Answer: Take in the scenery when it's cold

Answer: Christmas carnivals

Answer: Oktoberfest

Answer: outdoor concerts

Summary:
Munich is great during Oktoberfest, but it's also wonderful year-round .
In the cooler months, enjoy the beautiful scenery and browse holiday markets .
When it's warm, check out a beer garden and make time for some fun in the sun .
Have you been to Munich? Share your story with CNN iReport .


(CNN) -- Not only is Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi the first woman to hold a ministerial post in the United Arab Emirates, the first female minister of economy in the Gulf, and the first to start a Middle Eastern BB marketplace, but she's also the first minister - anywhere in the world - to launch her own perfume line.

Member of Sharjah royal family and one of Forbes' 100 most powerful women, Sheikha Lubna took the post of minister for economy and planning of United Arab Emirates in 2004.

Her background is in IT and before the government appointment worked at the Dubai Ports Authority where she gained the "Distinguished Government Employee Award" in 1999 for developing a documentation system that reduced cargo turnaround from one hour to ten minutes.

In 2000, Sheikha Lubna founded Tejari, the first Middle Eastern business-to-business marketplace. As a result of Tejari (Arabic for commerce) 70 percent of Dubai's government purchases are made online, while only 30 percent of bureaucrats were web-literate before its launch.

One of the cornerstones of Sheikha Lubna's work has been to allow for foreign ownership, so when John Defterios met up with her, he began by asking her about her upcoming strategy.

Sheikha Lubna: We are looking with scrutiny at the companies a lot at the moment and we have several sectors. We will evaluate each sector, from the service side, finance, accounting. And any sector that we believe we need further development in terms of economic growth, then we will focus on that: on increasing the acquisition or the ownership of the foreign company.

Defterios: If you look at the Middle East, specifically within this Gulf region, it's quite a radical change to open up specific sectors to majority foreign ownership. Is this society in the region ready for this move?

Sheikha Lubna: Interestingly, the United Arab Emirates is host to 80 percent of its population coming from outside. We host 200 nationalities, so for us, the contribution to the economy has already started over 15 years ago with the existence of the expatriate community. So in many ways I think the openness is only a natural path: it's an organic path to continue the openness that exists.

Foreign direct investment is not your own wealth. When you have your own wealth, you have a tendency to be complacent sometimes, because it's your money and you may not think you need to actually strengthen your infrastructure.

However, if you look at foreign direct investment, it mandates you to be much more transparent, you have to be very diligent about your work, and it also creates new knowledge coming into the country and you can create more development through employment.

Defterios: It's interesting, you read the front line of the DP World, P&O acquisition and the furor it created in the United States particularly within Congress. What are the lessons, not just from the UAE perspective, but the lessons learned from both sides during that whole process?

Sheikha Lubna: First of all, I think it is important to understand, in this global world, there is a circulation of funds and there is excess of wealth that has to go somewhere. Liquidity of markets sometimes means you invest internally or you invest abroad. We've learned a lesson being in the oil crises earlier that you need to diversify your money and look into investment abroad. And we've seen this where the UAE invests in the Far East, Australia, Asia as well as in Europe and the United States.

What's more important to understand is that if you're going to lock up your interest in terms of selling either because of protectionism or a particular idea in your mind that I don't want to sell to this particular organization versus another, there are other places.

Defterios: That's not a veiled message your saying, that's pretty forthright this comment.

Sheikha Lubna: But it's a message to all of us. If today I lock up my investment opportunity here, money will not come to me, money will go somewhere else. When I have investment coming from abroad, it

What did she say was the "natural path " ?

What did she say about openness to foreign ownership?

Who was the first female minister in the United Arab Emirates?

What would cause "lock up" of countries?

Who was the first female prime minister of the United Arab Emirates?

Who was the firdt female minister in UAE?

Answer: openness

Answer: We are looking with scrutiny at the companies a lot at the moment and we have several sectors. We will evaluate each sector, from the service side, finance, accounting. And any sector that we believe we need further development in terms of economic growth, then we will focus on that: on increasing the acquisition or the

Answer: Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi

Answer: protectionism or a particular idea in your mind that I don't want to sell to this particular organization versus another,

Answer: openness

Answer: Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi

Answer: Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi

Summary:
Sheikha Lubna was first female minister in the United Arab Emirates .
Openness to foreign ownership is the "natural path", she says .
If countries "lock up" interest due to protectionism there are other places to go .