Washington (CNN) -- The Pentagon is blocking public release of photos apparently depicting abuse of suspected terrorists and foreign troops in U.S. custody, and urging the Supreme Court to dismiss a lower court ruling ordering the photos to be publicly disclosed, according to court documents. Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified the high court late Friday that he was issuing an order to block the release. The photos have been at the center of a years-long lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. Congress last month gave the Obama administration specific authority to prevent any release of the 44 photos. Afterward, Gates signed a certificate of authorization, or order, to prevent the photos' release, saying their disclosure would endanger U.S. troops serving abroad. The order covers all photographs taken of people captured or detained in overseas military operations between September 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and January 22, 2009, shortly after President Obama took office. The Pentagon initially was set to release the images of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU. But Obama and the Justice Department objected to the court-ordered release, reversing an earlier executive decision. Obama had initially agreed to the release, but changed his mind after military leaders privately and intensely urged him to block it. The ACLU criticized the administration's about-face, saying it "makes a mockery" of Obama's campaign promise of greater transparency and accountability, and damages efforts to hold accountable those responsible for abusing prisoners. A homeland security appropriations bill passed October 29 by Congress and signed by the president grants the Department of Defense authority to withhold the photographs. The images were gathered as part of a military investigation into allegations that detainees held in Afghanistan and Iraq were tortured and physically abused. According to the government legal brief filed with the high court, several of the photos show "soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees." Other images described by military reports show prisoners in restrained and humiliating positions. Military investigations led to criminal charges against some of the soldiers shown in the images. The photos currently at issue are separate from those first publicly released in 2006 showing abuse of Muslim men held at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September 2008 that the photos must be released. The president later said that doing so "would pose an unacceptable risk of danger to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq." Newest Justice Sonia Sotomayor had served on that appeals court until August, but was not involved in that particular case. The high court has delayed for weeks a decision on whether it would accept the ACLU appeal on the broader issues associated with government authority to block release of potentially embarrassing and inflammatory material by the military. The justices will now probably wait to hear from the ACLU over Gates' order before deciding whether to take the case. The Senate in May voted for the Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act, which would limit the reach of the Freedom of Information Act request in this instance. The House adopted a similar provision in October. Other photos could be released under the earlier appeals court ruling. The case is Department of Defense v. ACLU (09-160). Separately, the administration also urged the high court to dismiss a pending lawsuit by several Guantanamo Bay detainees, over their claims of torture and religious discrimination. A brief was filed by the Justice Department late Friday, the same time as the separate photograph disclosure case. Four British men, all Muslims and former detainees at the military prison at the Navy base in Cuba, had sued onetime Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon officials, saying they knew of and condoned physical abuse and denial of rights guaranteed under international law. A federal appeals court had dismissed the lawsuit -- the second one filed by the men -- saying the officials had immunity from such claims. But in June 2008, the Supreme Court allowed Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their captivity in federal court, and the justices in December

Who urged the Supreme Court to dismiss ruling ordering photos'release?

Answer: authority to prevent any release of the 44 photos.

Answer: The Pentagon

Answer: physical abuse and denial of rights guaranteed under international law.

Answer: he was issuing an order to block the release.

Answer: U.S. troops serving abroad.

Answer: Supreme Court to dismiss a lower court ruling

Answer: endanger U.S. troops serving abroad.

Summary:
Documents show Pentagon urging Supreme Court to dismiss ruling ordering photos' release .
Defense secretary says showing photos would endanger U.S. troops abroad .
Obama, Justice Department have objected to release, reversing executive decision .
Separately, administration wants Gitmo detainees' suit alleging torture, discrimination dismissed .


Washington (CNN) -- The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in anticipation of President Obama's decision on the future of the eight-year-old war, a defense official said Tuesday. Obama held a lengthy meeting with top advisers Monday night and said Tuesday that he would announce plans for Afghanistan after the Thanksgiving holiday. A Defense Department official with direct knowledge of the process said there has been no final word on the president's decision. But planners have been tasked with preparing to send 34,000 additional American troops into battle with the expectation that is the number Obama is leaning toward approving, the official said. Obama ordered more than 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in March. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, reportedly has called for up to 40,000 more to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against the Taliban, the Islamic militia originally ousted by the U.S. invasion in 2001. The president has weighed several options for bolstering the American contingent, ranging from sending a few thousand troops to sending the 40,000 McChrystal requested. McChrystal was among those who took part in Monday's conference with Obama and other top advisers, which broke up at 10 p.m. Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, were among the other senior officials in the meeting. Obama said Tuesday that the deliberations have been "comprehensive and extremely useful." "It's going to be important to recognize that in order for us to succeed there, you've got to have a comprehensive strategy that includes civilian and diplomatic efforts," he said at a news conference Tuesday with visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The military has planning under way to send these units: three U.S. Army brigades, totaling about 15,000 troops; a Marine brigade with about 8,000 troops; a headquarters element of about 7,000; and between 4,000 and 5,000 support troops -- a total of approximately 34,000 troops, according to a defense official with direct knowledge of Pentagon operations. CNN reported last month that this was the preferred option within the Pentagon. The troops would be dispatched throughout Afghanistan but would be focused mainly on the southern and southeastern provinces, where much of the recent fighting has taken place. Currently, brigades from Fort Drum in upstate New York and Fort Campbell in Kentucky are among those that are next in line to deploy. About 68,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, along with about 45,000 from the NATO alliance. Two U.S. military officials said NATO countries would be asked to contribute more troops to fill the gap between the 34,000 the Pentagon expects Obama to send and the 40,000 McChrystal wanted. The request is expected to come during a December 7 meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell would not discuss specific numbers, but he said NATO would be asked for additional help. "Clearly, if the president decides to commit additional forces to Afghanistan, there would be an expectation that our allies would also commit additional forces," Morrell said. U.S.-led troops invaded Afghanistan in response to the al Qaeda terrorist network's September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The invasion overthrew the Taliban, which had allowed al Qaeda to operate from its territory, but most of the top al Qaeda and Taliban leadership escaped the onslaught. Taliban fighters have since regrouped in the mountainous region along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, battling U.S. and Afghan government forces on one side and Pakistani troops on the other. Al Qaeda's top leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, remain at large and are suspected to be hiding in the same region. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 900 Americans and nearly 600 allied troops. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday suggests that the U.S public is split over whether more troops should be sent to Afghanistan. Fifty percent of those polled said they would support such a decision, with 49 percent opposed. The poll found that 66 percent of Americans believe the war is going badly, up 11 percentage points

What will the NATO allies be asked to do?

After what holiday will the number of troops increase?

Who met with the national security team Monday?

When is the announcement on troop increases expected?

Answer: The Pentagon is making detailed plans to send about 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan

Answer: plans for Afghanistan

Answer: NATO countries would

Answer: contribute more troops

Answer: Thanksgiving

Answer: Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen

Answer: top advisers

Answer: Obama

Answer: December 7

Answer: about 34,000

Answer: more troops

Answer: plans for Afghanistan

Summary:
NEW: NATO allies will also be asked to send more troops, officials say .
Announcement on troop increase to come after Thanksgiving .
Obama met with national security team Monday night to discuss Afghanistan .
Obama wanted clarification on how, when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility .


Washington (CNN) -- The Pentagon moved closer Wednesday to its next military trial on the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the suspected ringleader of the deadly bombing of the USS Cole.

Saudi-born former millionaire Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri is charged with the 2000 bombing in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 sailors, wounded dozens and crippled the warship.

The "referral of charges" by the Defense Department Military Commissions unit sets in motion a chain of events that will lead to the appointment of a military officer as the trial judge in the case and a meeting of the judge, prosecutors and defense lawyers in coming weeks. The arraignment will take place within 30 days.

A statement from the Defense Department said the charges against al-Nashiri allege that he was in charge of planning the attack, which took place October 12, 2000.

"The convening authority referred the charges to a capital military commission, meaning that if convicted, al-Nashiri could be sentenced to death," the Defense Department statement said.

The news release also mentions charges against al-Nashiri related to an attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans in Yemen in January 2000 and an attack on a French tanker in 2002 that resulted in the death of one crew member.

One of al-Nashiri's civilian defense lawyers said his legal team was disappointed in the government action.

"We are disappointed the United States will now descend further down the path of expedient and secret justice that military commissions have come to represent," Rick Kammen said in an e-mail.

"We're not talking about a constitutionally adequate trial, and we are disappointed that the U. S. government will use the constitutionally inadequate military commissions process to seek the death penalty against Mr. al-Nashiri," Kammen wrote. He added that the decision to move forward with the case "regrettably confirms to the world that the United States intends to render second-class justice to the men imprisoned in Guantanamo."

Earlier, lawyers for al-Nashiri argued that his waterboarding and other mistreatment while in U.S. custody and delays in his case should have forced the government to drop any plans for a military trial that could end in a death sentence.

"By torturing Mr. al-Nashiri and subjecting him to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, the United States has forfeited its right to try him and certainly to kill him," the brief said. "Through the infliction of physical and psychological abuse, the government has essentially already killed the man it seized almost 10 years ago."

Al-Nashiri's legal team, comprising military and civilian lawyers, made the arguments to the "convening authority" of the military court, retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald. The commission was brought into existence by President George W. Bush and overhauled by President Barack Obama.

In legal papers obtained by CNN, al-Nashiri's lawyers presented details of their client's treatment, saying that, in addition to subjecting their client to waterboarding, his questioners revved a power drill by his ear and chambered a round in a handgun, all while he was naked and hooded.

"The government has admitted to waterboarding Mr. al-Nashiri and subjecting him to verbal and physical threats to his life and threats to the safety of his family," the brief says. "Both set of acts constitute torture."

If it goes to trial, the case will be the first full prosecution under the military commission system. It is seen as the latest fine-tuning of the system before the military commission moves ahead with prosecution of other terrorist suspects, especially the four men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks.

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a news release restating its "concerns about the inherent unfairness of the military commissions."

"Unlike federal courts, military commissions have unfairly lax rules for allowing evidence, except when it comes to torture -- the commissions may admit coerced testimony, while evidence of the torture that produced it can be censored," said Denny LeBoeuf, director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project.

This latest step for the Guantanamo

What is the first step in the military commission process?

Who is criticizing the decision to use a military commission?

What vessel is the man suspected of attacking?

Answer: "referral of charges"

Answer: the deadly bombing of the USS Cole.

Answer: Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri

Answer: Rick Kammen

Answer: USS Cole.

Summary:
The man suspect of being behind the attack on the USS Cole will go on trial .
The formal "referral of charges" is the first step in the military commission process .
His attorneys and the ACLU criticize the decision to use a military commission .


Washington (CNN) -- The State Department condemned Iran's persecution of religious minorities on Friday following the Iranian authorities' detention of Baha'is and Christians in recent months.

Iranian authorities have detained more than 45 Baha'is in the last four months, and as many as 60 Baha'is are imprisoned in Iran on the basis of their religion beliefs, the State Department said.

Iranians have also recently detained more than a dozen Christians, according to the State Department.

"The United States is increasingly concerned about the Iran's ongoing persecution of Baha'is and other religious minority communities," said Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary for public affairs, in a statement on Friday.

The State Department's condemnation comes a day after it released a human rights report on Iran that blasted the country's government for abusing religious minorities, among other criticisms.

"Government rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shia religious groups, most notably for Baha'is, as well as for Sunni Muslims, evangelical Christians, and members of the Jewish community," Thursday's report said.

Iran is an Islamic Republic where Shia Islam is the state religion.

The Iranian government did not respond directly to the State Department on Thursday or Friday. However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the West on Friday for ignoring religious principles like monotheism.

At a meeting with Iranian intellectuals, "the president stressed that [many] efforts should be made to ... promote justice and support [a] campaign against oppressors and help monotheism flourish," Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

Thursday's State Department report said that Iran's government prevents Baha'is from gathering in homes to worship and bans Baha'is from public schools, universities, the social pension system and government leadership posts unless they conceal their faith.

"The government repeatedly pressured Baha'is to recant their religious beliefs in exchange for relief from mistreatment," the report said.

All seven members of Iran's Baha'i national leadership body, who were arrested in 2008, remained in prison at the end of 2009, according to the report.

The Baha'i faith was founded in Iran in the 19th century. Today, Baha'is are the country's largest religious minority, with 300,000 members, according to the official Baha'i Web site.

Thursday's State Department report also accused the Iranian government of destroying a Sufi library and religious hall in Isfahan; demolishing several Sunni mosques; and requiring evangelical Christian groups to submit congregation membership lists to the government.

The report was part of a broader State Department release of human rights reports on 194 countries.

What is the State Department concerned for?

What does President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decries West for?

What is the concern of the State Department?

What is the State Department concerned about?

Answer: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Answer: Iran's ongoing persecution of Baha'is and other religious minority communities,"

Answer: ignoring religious principles like monotheism.

Answer: religious minorities

Answer: about the Iran's ongoing persecution of Baha'is and other religious minority communities,"

Answer: Iran's ongoing persecution of Baha'is and other religious minority communities,"

Answer: Iranian President

Summary:
State Department concerned over Iran's ongoing persecution of Baha'is, Christians .
U.S. report claims Iranian government creates "threatening atmosphere" for religious groups .
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decries West for ignoring monotheism .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court appeared ready to give government regulators the continuing authority to regulate profanity and sexual content on broadcast television after a lively hour of arguments Tuesday.

The justices and lawyers all stayed polite, not actually using any obscene words, preferring the legally acceptable "f-bomb" or "s-word" to describe the controversial content at issue in the high-stakes free speech dispute.

The court will decide whether the Federal Communications Commission may constitutionally enforce its policies on "fleeting expletives" and scenes of nudity on television programs, both live and scripted. The agency had imposed hefty fines on broadcasters.

In many televised instances, "one cannot tell what is indecent and what isn't" said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "It's the appearance of arbitrariness about how the FCC is defining indecency in concrete situations," she added.

But with so many programming choices on broadcast, cable and satellite TV, "All the government is asking for is a few (broadcast) channels where you can say -- they are not going to hear the s-word, the f-word. They are not going to see nudity," Chief Justice John Roberts said.

The court's ruling, which will come in a few months, could establish important First Amendment guidelines over explicit content on the airwaves.

The Justice Department had filed an appeal, and helpfully provided the justices with a DVD of a 2003 episode of the now-canceled "NYPD Blue" on ABC in which a naked woman was shown. The content of that program is central to the ongoing legal dispute. Lawyer Seth Waxman representing ABC said the FCC's tough action against the network was "a shot out of the blue."

A federal appeals court last year for a second time struck down the government policies, concluding they were vague and inconsistently applied. Pending fines against the broadcasters were dismissed. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all parties in the case.

Controversial words and images have been aired in scripted and unscripted instances on all the major over-the-air networks in the past eight years, dating back to when the FCC began considering a stronger, no-tolerance policy.

The policy became known as the Golden Globes Rule, for singer Bono's 2003 acceptance speech at the live awards show on NBC, where he uttered the phrase "really, really, f---ing brilliant."

The commission specifically cited celebrities Cher and Nicole Richie for potty-mouth language in the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards, which aired live on Fox. Richie, in an apparent scripted moment said, "Have you ever tried to get cow s--t out of a Prada purse? It's not so f---ing simple."

Justice Stephen Breyer dryly noted the language from the two women "seems to be naturally part of their vocabulary." That drew laughter in the courtroom.

The CBS complaint involved dirty language on "The Early Show," a news and interview program.

The high court two years ago ruled in favor of the FCC on the issue of "fleeting expletives," concluding federal regulators have the authority to clamp down on broadcast TV networks airing isolated cases of profanity.

The court, however, refused at the time to decide whether the commission's policy violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, ruling only on the agency's enforcement power. The justices ordered the free-speech aspect to be reviewed again by a New York-based federal appeals court, which subsequently ruled in favor of the broadcasters.

The Justice Department, in its new appeal, lumped both the expletives and nudity cases together, saying the court should decide the free speech questions as one.

Explicit language is heard with greater, albeit varying, frequency on cable television, the Internet, and satellite radio, which do not use public airwaves. But the federal government is charged with responding to viewer complaints of "indecent" language and images on broadcast television and radio, which is subject to greater regulation.

That is especially relevant during daytime and early evening hours,

what does court said whether the FCC can limit what?

Answer: is indecent and

Answer: is indecent and

Answer: scenes of nudity

Answer: is indecent and

Summary:
NEW: Justice Scalia: "The government is entitled to insist upon a ... modicum of decency"
The court looks at whether the FCC can limit expletives and nudity on broadcast TV .
Sometimes it's hard to tell "what is indecent and what isn't," Justice Ginsburg says .
The FCC just wants a few channels free of such material, Chief Justice Roberts says .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court declined to intervene Monday in a dispute over a public school's refusal to allow an instrument-only version of "Ave Maria" at a graduation ceremony. Officials feared the piece would be an endorsement of religion in that limited public forum.

Without comment, the justices rejected the appeal of Kathryn Nurre, who was a high school senior in Everett, Washington, in 2006. By tradition, graduating members of the school's wind ensemble could choose a piece from their repertoire to play at the June ceremony. They chose an arrangement of Franz Biebl's well-known "Ave Maria," which had been performed previously in choir recitals.

School district officials said they feared complaints similar to those that followed the previous year's choir performance of a vocal piece that included references to God, heaven and angels. "Ave Maria" was banned even though the performance would have contained no lyrics.

The school district told principals to approve only musical selections that were "purely secular in nature."

Nurre and others sued, saying their free speech rights were being violated, and said their choice of the piece was made on purely artistic, not religious, grounds. They also cited previous examples where a limited use of religious imagery in a public setting was considered acceptable. Such examples are Ten Commandments monuments in city parks and opening legislative sessions with a prayer.

Justice Samuel Alito publicly dissented with the high court's rejection of the appeal.

"When a public school purports to allow students to express themselves, it must respect the students' free speech rights," he said. "School administrators may not behave like puppet masters who create the illusion that students are engaging in personal expression when in fact the school administration is pulling the strings."

The high court declined to explore whether those attending a graduation ceremony constituted a "captive audience" that might feel forced to hear a religious message with which they may disagree.

The case is Nurre v. Whitehead (09-671).

In other Supreme Court action:

• The justices agreed to decide whether a district attorney's office can be held liable after a former death row inmate in Louisiana said prosecutors withheld key evidence leading to his conviction.

At issue is a federal law that can place the burden on the state with a "failure to train" standard when one of its prosecutors unconstitutionally withholds exculpatory evidence from a criminal defendant. Then-New Orleans-area District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. claimed his office should not be held fully responsible after one of his staff attorneys violated long-standing, accepted procedures on handling evidence in criminal trials.

The defendant, John Thompson, was freed from state prison after 18 years behind bars for the murder of a hotel executive. He came within weeks of execution before being granted a new trial. He was then acquitted in 2003 and won a $14 million judgment against the state.

Oral arguments in the appeal will be heard in the fall. The case is Connick v. Thompson (09-571).

• In another case, current and former Chinese Muslim detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, lost another round at the high court. The justices are staying out of the latest dispute about the prisoners' demand of a 30-day notice before any proposed transfer from the detention center.

The men, known as Uyghurs, wanted advance notice of which country they were being sent to, fearing they could be sent to a place where they would be tortured, imprisoned or harassed about their religious beliefs.

The U.S. government, which says the prisoners are no longer considered "enemy combatants" or a national security threat, reiterated they would not be sent to places where they might face torture or continued imprisonment. Many of the Uyghurs released so far have been sent to the Pacific nation of Palau, with others going to Bermuda or Albania.

The justices had previously agreed to hear the Uyghurs' broader constitutional claims over their years-long detention, but the case was tossed out as moot, since most of the men have been freed or are in the process

What does the court do?
what was being violated?
What did the school district disallow?
What did the court do?
What did the senior sue for?

Answer: declined to intervene

Answer: free speech rights

Answer: an instrument-only version of "Ave Maria" at a graduation ceremony.

Answer: declined to intervene

Answer: their free speech rights were being violated,

Summary:
In 2006, school district disallowed instrument-only version of well-known song .
District cited complaints about performance of other piece that included religious references .
High school senior and others sued, saying free speech rights were being violated .
Court rejects appeal without comment; Samuel Alito publicly dissents .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court for the third time this year has stopped the pending capital punishment of a Texas inmate, giving lawyers for the man more time to file their appeals.

The justices on Tuesday issued an order granting a stay of execution for Cleve Foster, about 2 1/2 hours before his scheduled lethal injection. The Gulf War veteran was convicted along with another man of the 2002 murder of Nyanuer "Mary" Pal, a Sudanese immigrant he met at a Fort Worth bar.

The court indicated it would need more time to rule on the inmate's claims of prior ineffective assistance of counsel, and related claims of innocence of the murder.

This is the third time Foster, 47, has been granted a high court reprieve. His previous scheduled execution was stopped in January and April, once after he had already been given his last meal.

His April procedure was to be the state's first execution using a new sedative, the first in the lethal drug cocktail. A nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental forced corrections officials to announce they would use pentobarbital, a barbiturate that has alternately been used to put animals to sleep. Foster's lawyers had challenged that change, saying Texas foisted the new protocols so late, with little time for legal or medical review.

The state has since executed several inmates with the new drug mixture, without noted complications.

Foster has blamed his co-conspirator for the murder. His lawyers in their Supreme Court appeal presented letters from three fellow inmates who said co-defendant Sheldon Ward told them he acted alone in Pal's murder. The state countered Ward's statements to a psychologist implicating Foster as the mastermind behind the killing. They also said DNA from both men were found in the victim.

Texas has a planned lethal injection Wednesday. Lawrence Brewer, 44, was one of two white men convicted in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., an African-American. That widely reported crime led to national movement to step up prosecutions and penalties for hate crimes.

Brewer has no pending appeals. It would be the 11th execution this year in Texas, the most active death-penalty state.

The current case is Foster v. Texas (11-6427).

What does the court need more time to rule on?

Answer: 2002

Answer: murder of Nyanuer "Mary" Pal,

Answer: inmate's claims of prior ineffective assistance of counsel, and related claims of innocence of the murder.

Answer: stay of execution

Answer: lethal injection.

Summary:
Court grants Cleve Foster his third stay of execution .
The order came just 2 1/2 hours before the scheduled lethal injection .
He was scheduled to die for the 2002 murder of a Sudanese woman .
Court said it needed more time to rule on his claims of ineffective counsel .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution late Wednesday for a condemned Texas inmate who is requesting DNA testing of evidence in his case.

The order was handed down less than an hour before Henry "Hank" Skinner, 47, was scheduled to be executed by injection for the New Year's Eve 1993 killings of his live-in girlfriend and her two sons.

The Supreme Court granted the temporary stay while it considers whether to take up Skinner's broader appeal. It was not immediately clear when the court might consider the case, but there was no indication a decision would be made before Thursday.

Skinner's attorneys maintain that DNA testing of the evidence could establish his innocence and determine the real killer.

"This action suggests that the court believes there are important issues that require closer examination," defense attorney Robert Owen said of the temporary stay. "We remain hopeful that the court will agree to hear Mr. Skinner's case and ultimately allow him the chance to prove his innocence through DNA testing."

Skinner heard the news while he was eating what was to be his last meal, according to Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

He expressed relief and surprise, saying, "I had made up my mind I was going to die" and "I feel like I really won today," according to Lyons.

Skinner said he is "eager to get the DNA testing so I can prove my innocence and get the hell out of here," according to Lyons.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has received more than 8,000 letters from Skinner's advocates urging a stay, according to the Innocence Project and Change.org, whose members and supporters have sent the letters through their Web sites.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis and state Rep. Elliott Naishtat were among those who have called for a reprieve.

"It has come to my attention that there are numerous problems with Mr. Skinner's case that raise serious questions regarding the fairness of his trial and whether or not he is guilty," Ellis wrote in a letter to Perry on Tuesday.

Word about the case has spread as far as France, where demonstrations were planned Wednesday at the U.S. Embassy in Paris by supporters of Skinner's French wife, Sandrine Ageorges.

Since Skinner's conviction in 1995, he "has tirelessly pursued access to the untested physical evidence," according to court documents filed with the Supreme Court in February.

That evidence includes vaginal swabs and fingernail clippings from Skinner's then-girlfriend Twila Busby, hairs found in her hand and two knives found at the scene, along with a dish towel and a windbreaker jacket, according to the filing.

Skinner has never denied being in the home when Busby and her sons -- Elwin Caler, 22, and Randy Busby, 20, -- were killed. However, he maintains he was incapacitated because of the "extreme quantities of alcohol and codeine" that he had consumed earlier that evening, according to the documents.

Prosecutors maintain forensic evidence gathered at the scene and witness statements point to Skinner. A female friend of Skinner's who lived four blocks away testified at Skinner's trial that he walked to her trailer and told her that he may have kicked Twila Busby to death, although evidence did not show she had been kicked. The neighbor has since recanted parts of her testimony.

Authorities followed a blood trail from the crime scene to the female friend's trailer and found Skinner in the closet, authorities said. He was "wearing heavily blood-stained jeans and socks and bearing a gash on the palm of his right hand," according to the Texas attorney general's summary of the case.

In addition, authorities said cuts on Skinner's hand came from the knife used to stab the men. Skinner said he cut it on glass. Some DNA testing was done, which implicated Skinner, but not on the items he now wants tested.

"DNA testing showed that blood on the shirt Skinner was wearing at the time of his arrest was Twila's blood, and blood on Skinner's jeans was a mixture of

who issued the stay of execution?
what could establish innocence?
what did the supreme court issue
what was skinner convicted of?
who is to be executed
who is being executed?
where was his girlfriend murdered?

Answer: Supreme Court

Answer: DNA testing of the evidence

Answer: a temporary stay of execution

Answer: killings of his live-in girlfriend and her two sons.

Answer: Henry "Hank" Skinner,

Answer: Henry "Hank" Skinner,

Answer: in the home

Summary:
U.S. Supreme Court issues stay of execution for Henry "Hank" Skinner .
Skinner, 47, was to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday .
He was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her two sons in 1993 in Pampa, Texas .
Skinner's attorneys say DNA testing of the evidence could establish his innocence .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has again indefinitely blocked plans to disseminate video of an important federal court case involving same-sex marriage in California.

The justices in an unsigned order Wednesday prevented any distribution of the live video stream outside the San Francisco, California, courthouse where the case is being heard, and any real-time or delayed posting on the Internet.

In a trial that began Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco will decide whether the state's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage is constitutional. California voters approved the measure in November 2008, prompting an appeal by several homosexual couples.

As part of a pilot program, the judge had agreed to allow video of the trial to be sent live to other rooms within the courthouse and to five other federal courthouses, and to be posted several hours later on the popular video site YouTube.com.

Opponents of same-sex marriage had asked the Supreme Court to intervene, saying witness testimony could be affected if cameras were present. It is extremely rare for a federal trial to be televised to the broader public.

The Supreme Court's latest order allows distribution only to designated "overflow" rooms in the San Francisco courthouse, where people who want to view the trial but are unable to fit into the courtroom can watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television.

A majority of Supreme Court justices concluded expanded broadcast should not permitted because, they wrote, "It appears the courts below did not follow the appropriate procedures set forth in federal law before changing their rules to allow such broadcasting."

There has been much internal debate in federal courts around the country about the televised experiment, with several judges and administrators privately expressing concern that it could eventually lead to the entire judiciary being televised, including the Supreme Court.

In dissent to the ruling, Justice Stephen Breyer and three liberal colleagues complained the public would be deprived of watching "a nonjury civil case of great public interest to five other federal courthouses located in Seattle [Washington], Pasadena [California], Portland [Oregon], San Francisco [California], and Brooklyn [New York]." He was supported by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens and Sonia Sotomayor.

Breyer said the Supreme Court traditionally has stayed out of what he called another court's administrative discretion on such matters, saying, "I believe this court should adhere to its institutional competence, its historical practice, and its governing precedent -- all of which counsel against the issuance of this stay."

The case is Hollingsworth v. Perry (09A648).

How many members of the court dissented?

who led the members of the court dissent

What was the Supreme Court opinion on the matter ?

Where will videos of the trial be posted?

Answer: Justice Stephen Breyer and three liberal colleagues

Answer: Justice Stephen Breyer

Answer: expanded broadcast should not permitted

Answer: YouTube.com.

Answer: allow video of the trial

Summary:
Lower court had OK'd posting videos of trial on Internet .
Supreme Court says no, but cameras can send trial to overflow rooms .
Four members of court dissent, led by Justice Stephen Breyer .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has decided that the family of a slain professional wrestling personality can continue its lawsuit against Hustler magazine, a case that tested privacy concerns and the competing right to publish "newsworthy" material.

The justices without comment Monday turned aside an appeal from the publishers of the men's magazine, which featured old nude photos of Nancy Benoit, who was killed nearly three years ago by her husband and fellow wrestling superstar Chris Benoit. The couple's young son also was slain in the family's Georgia home.

The order is a victory for the estate of Nancy Benoit, which is seeking damages from Hustler.

At issue was whether the constitutional right of privacy indirectly referenced in the 14th Amendment trumps the First Amendment protections of the media and publishers in this "right-of-publicity" dispute.

The original lawsuit was brought by Maureen Toffoloni, whose daughter, Nancy Benoit, had posed nude for a photographer more than two decades ago. Toffoloni claims that her daughter, who was also known by the wrestling moniker Woman, had asked immediately after the shoot to have the photos and video destroyed and believed that photographer Mark Samansky had done so.

He later sold stills from the video to Hustler, a men's magazine founded by Larry Flynt that publishes racy material. The photos were published in the March 2008 issue.

The murders had occurred the previous summer. At the center of the crimes was Chris Benoit, a Canadian-born athlete who worked for several professional wrestling circuits, including the popular World Wrestling Entertainment. In 2000, he married Nancy Sullivan, a Florida native who had become a well-known wrestling manager after her time in the ring. Their son, Daniel, was born earlier that year.

Police say the crimes occurred over a three-day period in June 2007 at the Atlanta-area home of the Benoits. Investigators concluded that Chris Benoit first bound his 43-year-old wife and strangled her. The 7-year-old boy was then drugged and strangled. The man then committed suicide by hanging himself with a weight machine. No formal motive was ever established.

CNN reported at the time that doctors found testosterone, painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs in the body of 40-year-old Chris Benoit, according to Georgia's chief medical examiner. Performance-enhancing anabolic steroids were later found in the home.

Weeks after the killings, a study of Chris Benoit's brain showed damage from "prior repetitive injury." His father, Michael Benoit, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that a series of concussions from his high-flying moves in the ring were in part to blame.

Georgia has a law similar to many states' recognizing the right to privacy against "the appropriation of another's name and likeness ... without consent and for the financial gain of the appropriator." That would include "a private citizen, entertainer, or a public figure who is not a public official" like a legislator.

The state's high court ruled against Hustler magazine in June, finding that a "brief biography" of Nancy Benoit and her murder accompanying the nude photos did not represent a "newsworthy article."

"The photographs published by [Flynt] neither relate to the incident of public concern conceptually [the murders] nor correspond with the time period during which Benoit was rendered, against her will, the subject of public scrutiny," the state court wrote. "Were we to hold otherwise, [Flynt] would be free to publish any nude photograph of almost anyone without their permission, simply because the fact they were caught nude on camera strikes someone as 'newsworthy.' Surely that debases the very concept of a right to privacy."

The state justices said "crude though the concept may seem," Nancy Benoit's mother is now entitled to control such images "in order to maximize the economic benefit to be derived from her daughter's posthumous fame." Such power is known legally as the "right of publicity."

Flynt and the photographer, Samansky, later filed the appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court and had the support

who turns aside appeal over Nancy Benoit nude photos?

Answer: Nancy Benoit,

Answer: an appeal from the publishers of the men's magazine,

Answer: Hustler magazine,

Answer: The justices

Answer: "right-of-publicity"

Answer: old nude photos of Nancy Benoit,

Answer: Hustler

Answer: appeal from the publishers of the men's magazine, which featured old nude photos of Nancy Benoit,

Summary:
Supreme Court turns aside appeal over Nancy Benoit nude photos .
Hustler published pictures months after Benoit's husband killed her, son, himself .
Nancy Benoit's mother sued, saying daughter thought materials destroyed .
Case centers on rights of media, privacy .


Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has refused a lower court's unusual request to decide whether a shocking 45-year-old civil rights crime can be prosecuted decades later. The justices Monday dismissed an appeal involving James Ford Seale, convicted in the 1964 kidnapping of two teenagers whose bodies were found in a backwater area of the Mississippi River. The reputed former Ku Klux Klan member had long been suspected in the crime, but it was officially unsolved until Seale was indicted in 2007, and later convicted. He is serving three life sentences. The move by the high court not to get involved keeps in place Seale's original indictment, but does not resolve the larger question of whether similar cases can be prosecuted. The issue could have enormous implications for several dozen "cold cases" involving racially motivated crimes dating back to the 1950s. Seale had appealed his conviction, claiming the statute of limitations had expired five years after the crime. The confusion arises over the fact that kidnapping could be considered a capital offense in 1964, and thus had no time limit for a prosecution. The high court in 1968 eliminated the federal death penalty for that crime, and Congress four years later changed the law to reflect that ruling. But lawmakers 15 years ago reinstated kidnapping as death penalty-eligible. So the justices were being asked to decide when the statute of limitations kicked in, if ever. Justice John Paul Stevens, supported by his conservative colleague Justice Antonin Scalia, thought the court should get involved. "I see no benefit and significant cost to postponing the question's resolution," Stevens wrote in dissent. "A prompt answer from this court will expedite the termination of this litigation and determine whether other similar cases may be prosecuted." Seale, a former sheriff's deputy, was convicted in June 2007 of kidnapping and conspiracy in the disappearances of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, both 19. Federal officials had initially trumpeted reopening the Seale case. "Today's indictment is one example of the FBI's strong and ongoing commitment to re-examining and investigating unsolved civil rights era murders and other crimes," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said in January 2007. "Under our Cold Case Initiative, we will continue to identify and pursue these cases of racially motivated violence to ensure justice is served wherever possible." Seale was not tried for murder, but prosecutors alleged that he and fellow Klansmen conspired to abduct, beat and murder Dee and Moore in May 1964. An indictment accused Seale and his cohorts of picking up the two men hitchhiking and driving them into the Homochitto National Forest in Franklin County, Mississippi, where the teenagers were beaten and interrogated at gunpoint. Dee and Moore were then bound with duct tape and weighted down by an engine block and railroad rail. They were still alive when they were thrown into the Old Mississippi River, where they drowned, according to the FBI. Their decomposed bodies were found two months later during a search for three other missing civil rights workers that would later be known as the Mississippi Burning case. Seale and another man, Charles Edwards, were arrested in the slayings in 1964, but were released on bond and never tried. The FBI turned the case over to local authorities, and the investigation was dropped after a justice of the peace said witnesses had refused to testify. The case was revived in 2007 when Moore's brother -- during a visit to Franklin County to help research the case for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary -- discovered Seale was still alive. Thomas Moore told CNN in January 2007 that he gave the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi FBI files on the case, which he had obtained from a Mississippi reporter. U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton helped form a task force that led to Seale's indictment. Seale was the only person convicted in the Moore and Dee murders, the Justice Department said. Since then, other notable cold cases from the civil rights era also have gone to trial. In 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter for his role in the Mississippi Burning case. Adding to the unusual nature of the Seale case is

In what year was the man convincted of a kidnapping?

What did appeals court ask the high court?

Answer: 1964

Answer: a shocking 45-year-old civil rights crime can be prosecuted decades later.

Answer: Seale

Answer: an appeal involving James Ford Seale, convicted in the 1964 kidnapping of two teenagers

Answer: James Ford Seale,

Summary:
Appeals court asked high court if a civil rights crime can be prosecuted decades later .
Justices dismissed appeal involving man convicted in 1964 kidnapping of two teens .
James Ford Seale appealed conviction in case, saying statute of limitations had expired .
Indictment stands, but question of whether similar cases can be prosecuted is unanswered .


Washington (CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration Tuesday said it is launching a "full review" of an incident in which the agency posted on the Internet a sensitive manual outlining screening procedures for law enforcement officers, diplomats, prisoners, federal air marshals and others. In a statement Tuesday night, the TSA sought to minimize the impact of the unintentional release -- calling the document "outdated," "unclassified" and unimplemented -- while saying that it took the incident "very seriously," and "took swift action" when it was discovered. Congressional critics, meanwhile, lambasted the agency and called for an independent investigation. "Undoubtedly, this raises potential security concerns across our transportation system," House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, wrote in a letter to TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, called the release of the information "shocking" and reckless. "This manual provides a road map to those who would do us harm," she said. At issue is a 93-page manual giving instruction to airport screeners on how to screen individuals. It also gives details on how screening is conducted and the limitations of X-ray machines. The TSA posted the manual on a Federal Business Opportunities Web site that provides information for government contractors and redacted sensitive parts. But the redacted information was not properly protected, and the information was restored by people familiar with the computer program. The TSA said the posted manual -- dated May 28, 2008, with an implementation date of June 30, 2008 -- was never implemented and has been revised six times, although it did not elaborate on the extent of the revisions. "While the document does demonstrate the complexities of checkpoint security, it does not contain information related to the specifics of everyday checkpoint screening procedures," the TSA said Tuesday. "The traveling public should be assured that appropriate measures have been put in place to ensure the continued implementation of a strong security screening program," it said. The TSA said it removed the report as soon as it learned of the problem. But it was too late. The full, un-redacted version of the report appeared on at least one Web site on Sunday, and was even more widely distributed on Tuesday.

What did congressional critics call for?

Answer: "outdated," "unclassified" and unimplemented

Answer: "outdated," "unclassified"

Answer: sensitive parts.

Answer: a sensitive manual outlining screening procedures for law enforcement officers, diplomats, prisoners, federal air marshals and others.

Answer: an independent investigation.

Summary:
TSA said posted document is "outdated," "unclassified" and unimplemented .
Congressional critics called for independent investigation .
TSA posted the manual and redacted sensitive parts .
Redacted information was not properly protected, information was restored .


Washington (CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration is upgrading security clearances for 10,000 of its airport personnel, giving them access to "secret" intelligence to help them better detect threats and stop terrorists, the agency said Friday.

To date, the agency has granted access to secret-level classified information to 744 front-line supervisors, managers and behavior-detection officers. It now hopes to be able to give that clearance to all 10,000 supervisory personnel in the next two years, it said.

The change does not involve airport screeners, the people responsible for inspecting people and luggage at airport checkpoints.

"It's a natural progression," TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne said. "It's the next step in professionalizing our work force. What this will do is give them a leg up and a little more detail than what they're getting in the [current] briefing."

The change will empower the employees and make sure they have up-to-date and accurate information about intelligence threats, she said.

The majority of the agency's headquarters managers already have secret- or higher-level clearances for classified information.

James Carafano, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said it is a good idea to increase the number of aviation security officials with access to intelligence.

The move could decrease the chance that information will be leaked because employees who are given clearance are trained to treat the information appropriately, he said.

Officers also must undergo additional background checks before receiving the upgraded status, the agency said.

The Transportation Security Administration said personnel granted security clearances are educated about their responsibility to protect classified information, sign a non-disclosure agreement and take annual refresher training.

Under the federal government's system of classifying information, "secret" clearance is above "restricted" and "confidential" but below "top secret."

Randall Larsen, director of the Institute for Homeland Security, was enthusiastic about the expanded base of people with access to "secret" intelligence, saying it is particularly needed by behavior detection officers, who look for travelers exhibiting unusual behavior.

"Just think, if we had pulled that Christmas bomber aside and spoken to him for just a few minutes, he would have never gotten on that plane," Larsen said.

But support for the move isn't universal.

"Our members are screaming because the problem is, as it always has been, that [airline pilots] are being left behind," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "I'd much rather have the critical information get to the flight crews" and flight attendants, he said.

Mackett said airport security personnel "see passengers for several seconds, and yet they're not sharing [information] with air crews who see them for several hours."

He also said the TSA has "a very high turnover rate" compared with that of flight crews, so sensitive information will migrate away from the government.

Mike Karn, security chairman for the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association, agreed that flight crews should receive "secret" information, saying terrorists have proved that they can still get on aircraft.

"You have to strengthen them all the way up to that last line of defense," Karn said.

What does not apply
What does the TSA want access to?
Who does the change not apply to?
What does TSA say

Answer: airport screeners, the people responsible for inspecting people and luggage at airport

Answer: "secret" intelligence

Answer: airport screeners,

Answer: "It's a natural progression,"

Summary:
TSA says access to "secret" intelligence will help them better detect threats .
Change does not apply to airport security screeners .
New clearances will be above "confidential" but below "top secret"


Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Army on Wednesday will report that while the number of suicides in the active-duty force declined in 2010, the number of suicides in the Army Reserve and National Guard increased, a senior Army official said.

The increase in Reserve and National Guard suicides is among troops who are in the United States and not activated for duty. The senior Army official said more than half of those troops were never deployed to a war zone.

The official said one possible explanation for the increase in suicides is economic pressure and rising unemployment, but he emphasized that the Army simply does not have answers.

The official noted that for Guard and Reserve personnel who live as civilians back in their communities, the Army is not able to provide the same type of suicide awareness and prevention programs that are available to active-duty personnel.

The decline in active-duty suicides, even though slight, may be initial evidence that those awareness and prevention programs are helping, the official said.

What is the reason for the increase given ?

Answer: the Army

Answer: 2010,

Answer: not

Answer: active-duty force declined in 2010, the number of suicides in the Army Reserve and National Guard increased,

Answer: economic pressure and rising unemployment,

Answer: number of suicides

Answer: Wednesday

Answer: Wednesday

Summary:
Report on suicides is to be released Wednesday, senior Army official says .
Active-duty suicides declined in 2010, but rose among Reserve, National Guard .
Increase was among stateside troops, most of whom were never in a war zone .
Army doesn't have any answers for the discrepancy, official says .


Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate on Monday opened what is expected to be a lengthy and rancorous debate on a sweeping bill to overhaul the nation's health care system. In statements laced with heated and conflicting rhetoric, Senate Democrats and Republicans outlined opposing positions on the 2,074-page Democratic measure that would provide health insurance to an additional 31 million people at a cost of almost $850 billion. Democrats led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada framed the debate as historic and said the bill would provide vital health insurance for almost all Americans, hold down spiraling costs that threaten the U.S. economy and instill needed reforms to ensure the long-term solvency of the government-run Medicare health program for senior citizens. "In the greatest country on Earth, no American should die simply because they don't have health insurance," said Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, one of the bill's architects, while Reid said the bill "saves money, saves lives and saves Medicare." Republicans countered that the bill was too big, too expensive and would cause more harm than good. Sen. John McCain of Arizona called it a "sham" and a "2,074-page monstrosity full of measures that would impair the abilities, particularly of our senior citizens, to keep the benefits they've been promised." McCain immediately proposed sending the bill back to committee to remove all provisions intended to bring down the costs of Medicare. He cited proposed cuts to Medicare, including $118 billion in subsidies provided to private insurers for Medicare Advantage -- an enhanced benefits program for senior citizens. "There is no math, old or new, that gets you to no change in the benefits they have under Medicare Advantage and yet cuts $120 billion," McCain said. A vote on McCain's proposal was likely on Tuesday. The House has passed its version of a health care bill, and if the Senate passes its bill, the two measures would be merged by a congressional conference committee. Both chambers then would have to approve the revised bill before it could go to President Obama's desk. On Monday, debate quickly bogged down in Republican procedural objections, causing Reid to lament: "This is not a good way to start this debate." Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming challenged a motion by Reid that he said would unfairly cut off the proposal of amendments, including McCain's planned Republican amendment to prevent cuts to Medicare. While Reid's motion failed, Enzi labeled it a stunt. So far, Republicans unanimously oppose the health care bill. The Senate voted 60-39 to launch debate on the measure, overcoming a Republican filibuster through support from every member of the Democratic caucus. Reid also will need 60 votes to eventually close the debate, and his ability to secure that support remains uncertain. The debate will feature amendments intended to delete or change controversial provisions, including creation of a government-run public health insurance option to compete against private insurers, tax increases and provisions intended to prevent federal tax dollars from paying for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's life. For the most part, battle lines are clearly drawn. Liberal-minded senators such as Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who sits with the Democratic caucus, favor a public option as the best way to force competition on private insurers to bring down costs, while fiscally conservative Democrats such as Nebraska's Ben Nelson are concerned about the cost and scope of a government-run alternative. Nelson has said he would join a Republican filibuster against closing debate on the bill if it retains the current public option provision, which allows states to opt out of a national plan. Another Democratic caucus member, independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, says he also will prevent a final vote if the bill contains any form of public option. On the Republican side, none of the 40 senators supports a public option, but one -- moderate Olympia Snowe of Maine -- has discussed a trigger mechanism that would automatically bring a public option if thresholds for expanded coverage and lower costs go unmet. The trigger idea is considered the lone chance

A senator of which US state protested proposal over amendments to bill?

Who is making the proceduarl objections?

Answer: overhaul the nation's health care system.

Answer: Arizona

Answer: Sen. John McCain

Answer: Republican

Answer: too big, too expensive

Answer: health program for senior citizens.

Summary:
Process quickly gets caught up in procedural objections from GOP .
Wyoming senator protests proposal over amendments to bill .
Republicans, Democrats continue to square off over Medicare .
House has already passed health care bill that differs with Senate bill .


Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government announced Monday that it has eased the requirements for orphaned children from Haiti to enter the United States on a temporary basis.

The move is being made to ensure they get needed care after last week's earthquake in Haiti, said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who made the announcement in coordination with the U.S. Department of State.

"We are committed to doing everything we can to help reunite families in Haiti during this very difficult time," said Napolitano in a news release. "While we remain focused on family reunification in Haiti, authorizing the use of humanitarian parole for orphans who are eligible for adoption in the United States will allow them to receive the care they need here."

Napolitano can grant humanitarian parole into the United States to bring otherwise inadmissible individuals into the country for urgent humanitarian reasons or other emergencies.

The State Department said earlier Monday it is working with DHS and the Haitian government to process nearly 300 cases of Americans who are waiting to adopt Haitian children.

Of those, 200 cases are being accelerated. Twenty-four of those children, whose cases "were at the very end of the process" before the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti nearly a week ago, have departed Haiti and joined their new families after the embassy expedited processing for immigrant visas, said Michele Bond, deputy assistant secretary for American citizen services.

Department officials said Sunday that 150 children had already left Haiti, but corrected that number Monday.

Officials are reviewing every case individually to see where they are in the process, what actions have been taken in the case and whether the case can be accelerated, Bond said. The department said it will be announcing an adoption plan with travel specifics shortly.

If an American adoption case was early in the process, there is no guarantee of an accelerated adoption, Bond said. Examples of being early in the process would be if prospective parents have not been properly vetted; have not been matched with a specific child; or have been matched with a child but the Haitian government is still attempting to prove absolutely the child is an orphan.

The State Department is working with DHS to examine the documents in each case and show some flexibility, but this also requires the agreement of the Haitian government, she said.

"It's important to remember that the best interests of the child are at the heart of all this," Bond said. "We want them to be well cared-for."

Families with active adoption cases will be contacted by the department, she said. If a family is in the process of adopting from Haiti and wants information, family members can send an e-mail to askci@state.gov. They will be contacted and told what documents are needed, she said.

Prospective families need to know, however, that officials are getting thousands of inquiries. On Sunday, the department received 300 inquiries related to 16 cases, she said. So multiple calls may not be the most efficient way for prospective families to get news about their child.

Are you in Haiti and safe? Share your story, photos with CNN iReport

Before last Tuesday's quake, Haiti was home to about 380,000 orphans, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. Many of them may be homeless now, since a number of orphanages are reported to have been among the buildings that were destroyed in the earthquake.

The family status of many children may not yet be known, so adoption is not the first solution, Bond said. The focus is on getting the children aid and reuniting them with their families, she said.

That total is expected to grow once the dead and missing from last Tuesday's disaster have been accounted for.

Some children who lost parents in the quake or were separated from parents are being relocated to the Dominican Republic, a child advocacy group said.

iReport: Haitians are looking for loved ones

About 50 orphaned and abandoned children will arrive in the border town of Jimani on Wednesday, Kids Alive International said. The efforts, coordinated with the governments of both countries, will eventually

How many adoption cases have been speeded up?

What prompted the acceleration of adoption cases?

Who is the Department of Homeland chief?

All together, how many kids joined new families from Haiti?

Answer: 200

Answer: last week's earthquake in Haiti,

Answer: 150

Answer: Janet Napolitano,

Answer: Twenty-four

Summary:
U.S. authorizing "humanitarian parole" for eligible orphans, says Department of Homeland chief .
200 adoption cases are being accelerated in wake of last week's quake .
Twenty-four kids have departed Haiti and joined new families, official says .
Focus in Haiti remains on getting children aid, reuniting them with their families .


Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government is not fully guarding against the contamination of meat by traces of antibiotics, pesticides or heavy metals, a new report warns.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspector general said federal agencies have failed to set limits on many potentially harmful chemical residues, which "has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce."

When it comes to pesticide traces, only one type is tested for, according to the report. There are also no set limits for some heavy metals, like copper.

In 2008, Mexican authorities turned away an American shipment of beef, because it did not meet Mexico's limits when tested for copper traces. But the very same rejected meat could be sold in the United States, since no limit has been set, the analysis says.

That example shows "the government has fallen down on the job here," said Tony Corbo of the consumer advocacy group Food and Water Watch.

"Some of the residues that the inspector general cited could be carcinogenic, as they accumulate over a period of time in the body," he said.

The study focused on contamination by chemical residues, rather than bacteria. While bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella can cause an illness that is acute but brief, chemical residues are more like to build up over time, and no amount of cooking will destroy them.

The USDA pledged to "swiftly implement the corrective actions" recommended by the inspector, which including testing for more kinds of residue and setting limits on how much of each substance is allowable. A department spokesman pointed out that this kind of fix, which is expected to require coordination with the FDA and the EPA, was one of the main reasons President Obama created a Food Safety Working Group last year.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said in a statement, "We fully support the critical role of the federal government in ensuring beef safety."

"While the U.S. beef supply is extraordinarily safe by any nation's standards," it added, "the beef industry is constantly looking for ways to improve the systems that ensure the safest product possible for our consumers."

The study, first reported by USA Today, also says that when cattle test positive for residue, it is difficult to track back where it came from because it often passes through several buyers and sellers.

The American Meat Institute said that problem "underscores the need to implement comprehensive livestock traceback procedures," with a national animal identification system.

CNN's Brian Todd contributed to this report.

other than bacteria, what is being studied?

are there set limits in the US for some heavy metals in beef?

What country has no set limits for heavy metals?

in what country is there  no set limits for some heavy metals in beef?

Answer: chemical residues,

Answer: contamination by chemical residues,

Answer: no

Answer: federal agencies

Answer: U.S.

Answer: contamination by chemical residues,

Answer: set limits on many potentially harmful chemical residues,

Answer: U.S.

Summary:
Official: Federal agencies fail to set limits on potentially harmful chemical residues .
In U.S., there are no set limits for some heavy metals, like copper, in beef .
Study focused on contamination by chemical residues, rather than bacteria .


Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. military is gearing up for a possible influx of Haitians fleeing their earthquake-stricken country at an Army facility not widely known for its humanitarian missions: Guantanamo Bay.

Soldiers at the base have set up tents, beds and toilets, awaiting possible orders from the secretary of defense to proceed, according to Maj. Diana Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay.

"There's no indication of any mass migration from Haiti," Haynie stressed. "We have not been told to conduct migrant operations."

But the base is getting ready "as a prudent measure," Haynie said, since "it takes some time to set things up."

Guantanamo Bay is about 200 miles from Haiti.

Currently, military personnel at the base are helping the earthquake relief effort by shipping bottled water and food from its warehouse.

In addition, Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said the Navy has set up a "logistics field," an area to support bigger ships in the region. The military can now use that as a "lily pad" to fly supplies from ships docked at Guantanamo over to Haiti, he said.

"Guantanamo Bay proves its value as a strategic hub for the movement of supplies and personnel to the affected areas in Haiti," Haynie said.

As part of the precautionary measures to prepare for possible refugees, the Army has erected 100 tents, each holding 10 beds, according to Haynie. Toilet facilities are nearby. If needed, hundreds more tents are stored in Guantanamo Bay and can be erected, she said.

The refugees would be put on the leeward side of the island, more than 2 miles from some 200 detainees being held on the other side, Haynie said. The refugees would not mix with the detainees.

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay is responsible for planning for any kind of Caribbean mass immigration, according to Haynie.

In the early 1990s, thousands of Haitian refugees took shelter on the island, she said.

Who would be placed more than 2 miles from detainees?

Answer: refugees

Answer: Guantanamo Bay.

Answer: Soldiers

Answer: Guantanamo Bay.

Answer: Soldiers at the base

Answer: set up tents, beds and toilets,

Summary:
Soldiers at the base have set up tents, beds and toilets .
Refugees would be placed more than 2 miles from detainees .
No current indication of a "mass migration" from Haiti .


Washington (CNN) -- The United States and Russia say they will be unable to reach a deal on an arms control treaty by the end of the year to replace their existing one, which expired this month.

Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. delegation -- led by Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller -- had returned for a recess from the START negotiations in Geneva.

Talks are expected to resume in mid-January with new proposals.

"The team has gone through an intensive period of negotiations with their Russian counterparts over more than two months," Crowley said. "Our goal remains to conclude a solid treaty for the president's signature as soon as possible."

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, commonly known as START, expired on December 5 but the leaders agreed to honor its spirit until a new treaty could be negotiated to replace it.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who met last week in Copenhagen, Denmark, had hoped to sign an agreement by the end of the year.

A statement on the Russian Foreign Ministry's Web site said, "Preparation of the new treaty is practically complete" but "a few problems have to be overcome in order to finalize the treaty and submit it to [the] presidents of Russia and the United States. This will be done very soon."

"Having resolved most issues discussed in recent months, delegations arrived at corresponding positions," the statement said. "The Russian side would like to emphasize the talks have been constructive and business-like. It reflects partnership and mutual respect which characterize the current stage in the relations between Russia and the United States."

Crowley also cited a few "hurdles" to an agreement, including the complexity of the weapons systems, agreement on the numbers of warhead reductions, and verification. But he said the two sides hope to finalize a deal to replace START when they meet next month.

"Clearly, over the course of these two months, we have made dramatic progress," he said. "There are still issues that we continue to work through, so there's still more work to be done. But I think we remain confident that, given good faith and the ongoing efforts of both sides, that this will get done."

When did START expire?
Which countries are in talks?
When are talks expected to resume?

Answer: this month.

Answer: United States

Answer: mid-January

Summary:
Talks are expected to resume in mid-January with new proposals .
1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired on December 5 .
Leaders agreed to honor START until a replacement treaty could be negotiated .
U.S. and Russian presidents had hoped a new agreement could be ready this year .


Washington (CNN) -- The United States has committed an additional million dollars to fight child trafficking in Haiti in the wake of last month's earthquake, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Word of the action came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chaired the Obama administration's first meeting of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Clinton, speaking in the meeting, called trafficking in people "one of the most important human rights issues we deal with." Yearly meetings of the task force were mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, passed 10 years ago.

Before the earthquake, the United States provided $500,000 for programs to protect children in Haiti from trafficking. The additional million is being shifted from other programs, officials said.

In a briefing at the State Department, Ambassador Louis CdeBaca of the department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons told reporters that traffickers take advantage of vulnerabilities resulting from race, class, migratory status and displacement from natural disasters.

On Haiti, he said, "we are hearing anecdotal evidence from UNICEF" about trafficking of children but there are no firm figures on it.

"We are hearing about men coming into the camps offering food and water to girls to come with them in trucks," he said, adding that "we don't have hard evidence" on this.

Before the earthquake, he said, there were 300,000 "restaveks," children given up by their families for domestic servitude, in Haiti. Another 3,000 were estimated to have been taken to the Dominican Republic.

He added that according to estimates by the International Labour Organization, 12.3 million people worldwide are "laboring in bondage." Other estimates, he said, put that number at 27 million, although there is no independent confirmation.

More than half of them, as much as 60 percent, are females, he said. Nine million to 10 million are forced laborers, and 2 million to 3 million are in sexual slavery, he added.

How much did the U.S. provide to protect Haitian children from trafficking?

How many people are laboring in bondage?

How many people does The International Labour Organization report are 'laboring in bondage'?

Who has anecdotal evidence about the trafficking of Haitian children?

who has anecdotal evidence of the trafficking of Haitian children?

Who has anecdotal evidence about the trafficking?

Answer: million dollars

Answer: additional million

Answer: $500,000

Answer: 12.3 million

Answer: 12.3 million

Answer: UNICEF"

Answer: UNICEF"

Answer: UNICEF"

Summary:
Before the earthquake, the U.S. provided $500,000 for to protect Haitian children from trafficking .
UNICEF has anecdotal evidence about the trafficking of Haitian children .
The International Labour Organization reports 12.3 million people are 'laboring in bondage'


Washington (CNN) -- The United States will be looking for nations around the world to get tougher on Iran in the wake of the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.

The official said that although Iran is under multiple sanctions, many countries are not enforcing the restrictions, and sometimes if they have problems with Iran, they don't speak out publicly.

The official said the United States is going to be looking for countries to enforce existing sanctions, implement new ones and cut ties with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, to basically match what the United States has already done.

To make the case, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior officials in the department are going to be placing calls to leaders and foreign ministers, U.N. Security Council members and others with influence on Iran, the official said.

The official said the United States is looking for what Clinton calls a "chorus of international condemnation" of Iran.

A senior administration official, asked if there will be sanctions on more individuals related to this particular plot, responded, "We've done what we think is the network here."

Asked what actions the United States would take next, the official said, "We are continuing to look for additional ways to apply financial sanctions on Iran. We are very much in the business of increasing pressure on Iran through sanctions so Iran understands they have a clear choice to be made between coming to the table seriously (and) meaningfully, and facing further isolation and sanction.

"We're continuing on that course."

Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns plans brief the diplomatic corps Wednesday at the State Department on the alleged Iran plot, a second senior department official said Tuesday.

The official described it as an "informational briefing" and said that Burns will explain the details of how it went down, how the Obama administration handled it and the need to hold Iran accountable.

A third senior State Department official told CNN that the briefing will also try to allay any concerns that were raised in diplomats by word of an assassination plot against an ambassador in Washington. The official said the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security is working with the Secret Service and "taking all appropriate measures" to protect foreign diplomats and diplomatic facilities.

Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir has always had his own State Department Diplomatic Security detail, as have previous Saudi ambassadors.

Who will be looking for countries to do more on Iranian sanctions?

where is The diplomatic corps is to be briefed?

What did the senior State Department official say?

Answer: The United States

Answer: at the State Department

Answer: looking for countries to enforce existing sanctions,

Answer: nations around the world to get tougher on

Answer: the diplomatic corps

Answer: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior officials in the department

Summary:
The U.S. will be looking for countries to do more on Iranian sanctions, a top official says .
Secretary of State Clinton and others will be making calls, the senior State official says .
The diplomatic corps is to be briefed, another senior State Department official says .


Washington (CNN) -- The White House on Friday began releasing the names of visitors as part of a Barack Obama campaign promise to run a more transparent administration. Last month, Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, said records of White House visitors would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis beginning in December. "We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside it," he said. "Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process." As part of that initiative, he offered to look back at records from before the announcement. Eisen said Friday that 110 disclosure requests from September have been processed, yielding nearly 500 visitor records that have been posted on the White House Web site. Since the release covers only those records that are at least 90 days old, the first records cover January 20 to July 31. "This first release is only the latest in a series of unprecedented steps by the president to increase openness in government," Eisen said. Given that up to 100,000 people visit the White House each month, the names published Friday included people with some very familiar names -- including William Ayers, Michael Jordan, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright and R. Kelly -- that did not belong to their more famous counterparts, he said. "The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House," Eisen said. The names can be seen at www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/disclosures/visitor-records

What will be available starting in december?

How many people visit the White House each month?

How many people will visit White House each month?

Up to how many people visit the White House each month?

Thousands of people visit what landmark each month?

Answer: records of White House visitors

Answer: up to 100,000

Answer: 100,000

Answer: 100,000

Answer: the White House

Answer: a more transparent administration.

Answer: to run a more transparent administration.

Summary:
During his campaign, Barack Obama promised to run a more transparent administration .
Records of visitors will be available on an ongoing basis beginning in December .
Up to 100,000 people visit the White House each month .


Washington (CNN) -- The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration gingerly answered questions Thursday about whether new full-body imaging machines will detect concealed explosives like that allegedly placed in the underwear of the Christmas Day bomber.

The deployment of 150 of those machines in front-line use at 11 U.S. airports is to be announced Friday by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, TSA officials say.

"Would this machine have detected a bomb on that person?" Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, asked Gale Rossides, the agency's acting administrator.

"Without going into the specifics of that because of the ongoing criminal investigation, I can tell you that the experience we've had both in the labs and in our [field tests], our officers are identifying objects on the body that are comparable to what that threat was," Rossides said.

"Every time?" Rogers asked.

"Our officers are doing a very good job," Rossides answered.

"Every time?" Rogers pressed.

"I'd have to get back to you, but you know we have very, very good measures in place for evaluating our officers," she said.

After several unrelated questions, Rogers asked one more question about the machine's capabilities.

"Is this machine the end-all?" he asked.

"This machine gives us an increased detection capability that is significantly greater than what we have at the checkpoint today," she said, adding that her agency is "driving the manufacturers" to improve the technology.

Rossides testified that the full-body imagers -- which see through clothes, producing a ghostly image of a traveler's body -- will not reveal objects hidden in body cavities. But she said imagers are better at detecting concealed items than a pat down.

"Today, we do not do a full-body pat down that goes into the sensitive parts of the body where that [Christmas Day bomb] was secreted," Rossides said.

On Friday, Napolitano will announce the first deployment of whole-body imagers as a standard part of checkpoint equipment. Though 40 machines have been deployed at 19 airports nationwide in field tests, Friday's announcement will mark the official beginning of the program, TSA officials said.

The new machines will be deployed this weekend in Boston, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois, the agency said Wednesday. It will reveal the remaining airports Friday.

The 150 new machines were purchased last fall with federal stimulus money. The agency hopes to deploy nearly 500 units by the end of the year.

Under existing protocols, full-body scans are optional at airport checkpoints. Travelers who decline the scans are funneled to a location where they may be given a pat-down and subjected to other tests, such as swabs that can detect minute traces of explosives on hands or luggage.

The TSA said most passengers prefer a body scan to a pat-down. But others have objected to the body scans, calling them electronic strip searches.

Rossides testified that the machines will not significantly slow the passenger screening process, saying it will be done at the same time as the carry-on baggage screening.

The agency has spent years testing whole body imagers. Plans to deploy them this year were given added urgency after the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who was accused of attempted to detonate an explosive sewn into his underwear aboard a flight December 25.

what is Homeland security chief going to announce?

what are they using to detect concealed explosives?

how many sich imagers is the agency hoping to deploy?

Answer: full-body imaging machines

Answer: The deployment of 150 of those machines in front-line use at 11 U.S. airports

Answer: The deployment of 150 of those machines in front-line use at 11 U.S. airports

Answer: full-body imaging machines

Answer: not significantly slow the passenger screening process,

Answer: 500

Summary:
Homeland security chief to announce deployment of 150 machines .
Acting TSA head questioned about their ability to detect concealed explosives .
Agency hopes to deploy 500 such imagers by end of year .


Washington (CNN) -- The aging veterans gingerly walk from the plane in the nation's capital. Some get pushed in wheelchairs. A brass band strikes up World War II era tunes. Strangers rise to their feet and clap their hands. "Why are they doing this?" says Frank Bales, 86, a co-pilot on a B-24 during World War II. "I feel as humbled as a mouse." Walter Victor was overwhelmed as he made his way through the crowd. "The chills came over me. Very seldom do you see something like that," says the 92-year-old army veteran. These World War II veterans have traveled here to visit the National World War II Memorial, which honors the 16 million U.S. armed forces who served and the more than 400,000 who died in battle. The vets made the trip thanks to a former employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A physician's assistant at the VA in Springfield, Ohio, Earl Morse was struck by the WWII vets he treated and how few made the journey to see the memorial that honors them. "They dedicated the WWII memorial in May of 2004, 60 years after the war had ended. That was a cause of celebration in my clinic. All of the veterans wanted to see it but they were in poor health or didn't have the means to visit it." "Reality set in," Morse says, "they were never going to see their memorial." Morse was determined to change that, because he so admired the quiet grit and heroism of the unassuming men he treated every day. He took his cause to a local air club. "I stood before 150 pilots and told them I was going to start flying WWII veterans to Washington. I said if you want to help me, the WWII veteran doesn't pay a penny. You'll have to rent an airplane and cover all the travel costs." "Honor Flight" took to the skies in May of 2005. Six planes flew 12 veterans. The next month, eight planes flew 16 veterans. Today, it operates like a volunteer airline, with 86 hubs in 33 states. Instead of renting small planes, they charter Boeing jets, thanks to donations that keep the planes in the sky. So far, more than 30,000 veterans have experienced a visit to the memorial, courtesy of Honor Flight. "Witnessing their emotions is what fuels our cause. When you see WWII veterans break down in tears because they had no idea how much this nation reveres, cherishes and loves them for what they've done, it really overwhelms them," Morse says. In the days and weeks before each Honor Flight, an army of ground volunteers coordinates every detail of each trip -- from the buses that pick them up to the meals they eat. Shortly after Bales and his group arrived in Washington this day, they were taken by bus to the memorial. Many said they were stunned by its size and scope. Inscriptions carved in granite recognize specific battles that were fought in Europe and across the Pacific. A wall of stars marks the high price of freedom. They paused to remember the 448,000 who died in the war -- and their fellow survivors who didn't live to see this moment. "Each of those stars represents 100 men and women who died in WWII, and I realized that my division has almost 39 stars on that wall," said Tom Rone, 85, who stormed the bullet-ridden beaches on Guadalcanal as a platoon sergeant with the Marines. Morse says the trip often provides closure for the vets who visit. Many veterans open up at the memorial and speak in detail for the first time about what they went through. "I've had exchanges with veterans that are jaw dropping," Morse says. "You can't fathom what it's like to have experienced what they went through fighting for their lives." The same "Honor Flight" that transported the veterans to Washington returns them back home, landing just 12 hours after it took off. The elderly warriors seem

How many vets has Honor Flight taken to D.C.?

How many vets has Honor Flight taken to the memorial in D.C.?

What is the name of the program that takes WWII vets to see memorial in Washington?

Answer: May of 2005.

Answer: "Honor Flight"

Answer: more than 30,000

Answer: 30,000 veterans

Answer: 30,000

Answer: 30,000

Answer: "I feel as humbled as a mouse."

Answer: "Honor Flight"

Answer: "Honor Flight"

Answer: "Honor Flight"

Answer: more than 30,000 veterans

Summary:
Program called Honor Flight takes WWII vets to see memorial in Washington .
Honor Flight has taken 30,000 vets to D.C. since it began in 2005 .
"I've had exchanges with veterans that are jaw dropping," founder says .
WW II vet on the trip: "I feel as humbled as a mouse"


Washington (CNN) -- The chairman of the Republican Party and a leading GOP senator called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to give up his post Sunday, following the publication of remarks he made about President Obama's race in 2008.

A new book quotes Reid, D-Nevada, as saying privately in 2008 that Obama could be successful as a black candidate in part because of his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

The remarks were "embarrassing and racially insensitive," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, head of the GOP's Senate campaign arm, in a statement to CNN.

GOP Chairman Michael Steele, on NBC's "Meet the Press," said: "Racism and racist conversations have no place today in America."

Steele also was on the defensive for a remark he made last week that members of both parties have called a racial slur. In an interview with Fox News, Steele used the phrase "honest injun."

The Congressional Black Caucus has accepted Reid's apology and is dismissing calls for him to step down as majority leader.

Rep. Barbara Lee, chairwoman of the caucus, issued the following statement: "I have had an opportunity to speak with Senator Reid and he apologized for his unfortunate remarks concerning the president, and he understands the gravity of such remarks. There are too many issues like the economy, job creation and energy for these regrettable comments to distract us from the work that must be done on behalf of the American people."

Democrats also rejected the calls for Reid's dismissal. Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, chairman of the Democratic Party, said "the case is closed" following Reid's round of apologies.

Douglas Wilder of Virginia, who 20 years ago became the nation's first elected African-American governor, also rejected calls for Reid's ouster.

"I think that what Reid was giving was a personal opinion, which wasn't affecting the laws or the operation of the dispensation of justice in our country," Wilder told CNN's "State of the Union."

But he said he believes the incident "illustrates the need for more open discussion about race."

Reid's office made clear he has no plans to step down.

Democrats rejected the calls for Reid's dismissal, and Reid's office made clear he has no plans to step down.

"Sen. Reid will stay in his position as majority leader and will run for re-election," his spokesman said.

"As the leader in the fight to pass the Voting Rights Act and legislation banning hate crimes, Sen. Reid has a long record of addressing issues that are important to the African-American community. His Republican critics who are looking to politicize the issue can't say the same."

Reid's controversial quote is in the book "Game Change," due in stores Monday. The authors write that "Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination."

In a statement to CNN, Reid said, "I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words."

"I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments. I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama's legislative agenda," Reid said.

In his defense, he pointed to his efforts to integrate the Las Vegas strip and the gaming industry, among other legislation favored by African-American voters.

"I have worked hard to advance issues important to the African-American community," he said.

And the senate leader called Obama on Saturday afternoon to apologize for the remarks. In a statement issued after the call, Obama said, "As far as I am concerned, the book is closed."

"Harry Reid called me today and apologized for an unfortunate comment reported today," the president said. "

What does Congressional Black Caucus reject?

What does GOP chair say about the Senate majority leader's language?

Congressional Black Caucus rejects calls for?

Answer: saying privately in 2008 that Obama could be successful as a black candidate in part because of his "light-skinned" appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

Answer: calls for Reid's dismissal.

Answer: "embarrassing and racially insensitive,"

Answer: him to step down as majority leader.

Summary:
NEW: Congressional Black Caucus rejects calls for Reid to step down .
Michael Steele calls for Reid to step down, accuses Dems of "double standard"
GOP chair says Senate majority leader's language "harkens back to the 1950s and '60s"
New book quotes Reid discussing "light-skinned" Obama's lack of "Negro dialect"