Washington (CNN) -- If criminal suspects fail to invoke their right to remain silent, they have waived that right, a divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The high court upheld the murder conviction of a man who did not verbally assert his right to remain silent during his police interrogation. In a 5-4 ruling, the court said a suspect must explicitly tell officers he or she is asserting that right, known as Miranda rights.

The famous constitutional "right to remain silent" and the "right to talk to a lawyer before answering any questions" are among the well-known warnings all criminal suspects must be given upon arrest. The conservative court has generally been supportive in recent years, when police challenges to Miranda rights have been raised.

"A suspect who has received and understood the Miranda warnings, and has not invoked his Miranda rights, waives the right to remain silent by making an uncoerced statement to police," said Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court.

Van Chester Thompkins was convicted of a January 10, 2000, murder outside a shopping mall in Southfield, Michigan. He fled the scene, but was as arrested about a year later in Ohio.

Local police began what turned out to be a three-hour interrogation, with Thompkins at first forced to read aloud part of a copy of "constitutional rights" derived from the original Miranda case that went before the Supreme Court in 1966. The five rights included the warning "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," and "the right to decide at any time before or during questioning to use your right to remain silent."

Thompkins refused to sign the form and there was strong disagreement over whether he verbally confirmed he understood them. He remained mostly silent during questioning, but later implicated himself in the shooting. He was later convicted of first-degree murder and other offenses.

The court majority sided with the police's version of the events.

"Thompkins did not say that he wanted to remain silent or that he did not want to talk to police," Kennedy concluded. "Had he made either of these simple, unambiguous statements, he would have invoked his 'right to cut off questioning.' Here he did neither, so he did not invoke his right to remain silent."

Kennedy's views were supported by Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

A federal appeals court in Cincinnati agreed with Thompkins his confession should be thrown out, but the high court reversed that decision.

In a sharp dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the court's ruling a "major retreat" from protections against self-incrimination guaranteed by the original Miranda ruling.

"Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent -- which counterintuitively requires them to speak," she said. "At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so. Those results, in my view, find no basis in Miranda or our subsequent cases and are inconsistent with the fair-trial principles on which those precedents are grounded."

Sotomayor said the Thompkins ruling "turns Miranda upside down." Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer backed her conclusions.

Thompkins had implicated himself after police asked if he believed in God. After replying yes, officers then asked, "Do you pray to God to forgive you for shooting that boy down?" asking about victim Samuel Morris. The court transcript said Thompkins replied "Yes," and turned away, but later refused to make a written confession.

The case is Berghuis v. Thompkins (08-1470).

Answer: that right,

Summary:
Court: Suspects who don't explicitly invoke right to remain silent have waived it .
Upholds murder conviction in Michigan case .
In sharp dissent, Sotomayor says ruling is a 'major retreat' from self-incrimination protections .


Washington (CNN) -- If the government does not take drastic steps, another deepwater oil spill like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico could devastate the coastal areas of the United States, an oversight commission warned Tuesday in a long-awaited report to the president.

More research, funding and oversight are needed to help prevent another disaster, concluded the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

"As drilling pushes into ever deeper and riskier waters where more of America's oil lies, only systemic reforms of both government and industry will prevent a similar, future disaster," said William K. Reilly, the commission co-chairman.

Halliburton criticized the report's conclusions, saying the commission selectively omitted information it submitted.

The disaster "was almost the inevitable result of years of industry and government complacency and lack of attention to safety," Reilly said. The disaster led to the worst maritime oil spill in U.S. history.

That was "indisputably the case" with BP; Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig; and Halliburton, which installed a cement casing for drill operations, he said. It also was the case with the government agency charged with regulating offshore drilling, Reilly said.

The report, "Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling," proposed "comprehensive" government and industry actions "to overhaul the U.S. approach to drilling safety and greatly reduce the chances of a similar, large-scale disaster in the future."

Over the past 20 years "we became lulled into a sense of inevitable success," which masked the heightened risk in deepwater drilling, said the commission's co-chair, former Sen. Bob Graham.

Advances in science, both in drilling offshore safely and in containing a spill, are vastly inadequate and must be improved, Graham said.

The commission faulted the government for passivity, saying regulators were outmatched, underfunded and had conflicting responsibilities that kept them from effective oversight.

They called for a new regulatory office headed by a scientist with a fixed term that would be created under the Interior Department. The position would be designed to remain more immune to industry pressures than current oversight agencies.

Since the spill, there have already been reforms and new rules requiring companies to strengthen safety practices and modernize equipment, said Kendra Barkoff, deputy communications director for the Interior Department.

"Over the last eight months, the Department of Interior has undertaken an aggressive overhaul of the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing offshore oil and gas operations, increasing safety and ensuring oil and gas development is conducted responsibly," she said.

The commission, convened by the president this summer, cited a systemic failure in the oil industry, blaming all three companies -- BP, Transocean and Halliburton -- involved in constructing the Deepwater Horizon rig.

"The industry needs to pick up its own game," said Reilly, who said the industry was already considering the commission's charge that it form a self-policing "safety institute."

Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann criticized the report's conclusions, saying the commission "selectively omitted information provided to it by Halliburton in response to its numerous inquiries."

Mann specifically noted what she described as a mischaracterization of the February and April foam stability tests related to the cement pumped at the deepwater well, according to a company statement Tuesday.

Transocean spokesperson Samantha Cohen blamed BP for the incident, lauding the Transocean crew who "took appropriate actions to gain control of the well."

She added that "it would be premature to draw final conclusions at this juncture," according to a written statement.

In contrast, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said his organization commends "the oil spill commission for its thorough and thoughtful examination of the worst environmental disaster in our nation's history."

"This report is very timely, following a severe Alaskan pipeline leak this past week that reinforced the need for us to take a hard look at safety standards and our nation's addiction to oil," he said in a written statement.

To help fund some recommendations, the commission

What happened to the governement regulators?

Answer: outmatched,

Answer: the commission selectively omitted information it submitted.

Answer: outmatched, underfunded and had conflicting responsibilities

Answer: criticized the report's conclusions, saying the commission selectively omitted information it submitted.

Answer: a systemic failure in the oil industry,

Summary:
NEW: Halliburton says the report unfairly criticizes them .
Government regulators were outmatched and underfunded, report says .
Years of industry and government complacency is cited .


Washington (CNN) -- If you're on your way to some of the nation's airports this holiday season and have a feeling there are fewer people schlepping their suitcases and looking for long-term parking spaces, it's not your imagination. The estimate for the upcoming winter holiday travel period predicts there will be fewer fliers than a year ago.

A projected 43.3 million air travelers will fly on U.S. carriers for both domestic and international routes during a 21-day period, according to Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines. That's a 1% drop from the same period last year which translates to about 20,000 fewer travelers on average per day.

However, travelers will not find that translates into more leg room once they board planes. On the busiest days, flights will be filled to at least 85% capacity, according to the forecast.

"Passengers still should expect to see full flights as many airlines have reduced capacity to match the decline in travel and increased cost of operations. Capacity reduction is one of the steps the industry is taking to preserve profitability," said A4A Chief Economist John Heimlich.

Lingering economic concerns, higher energy prices and less disposable income have all contributed to the slight decrease this winter, officials said.

The large weather system currently blasting parts of the West and Midwest is making driving through the southern Rockies dangerous but forecasters say to this point, it has not had a major impact on large airline hubs. However, forecasters are watching it closely.

"All hands are on deck and ready to go," said Tom Hendricks, A4A senior vice president for Safety, Security and Operations.

In the event winter weather causes problems, the FAA may open up Defense Department airspace not regularly available to commercial flights on an as-needed basis to help ease congestion.

Daily passenger volumes are expected to range from 1.6 million to 2.3 million during the holiday.

The busiest days are expected to be between December 21 through December 23, December 26 through December 30 and then January 2 and 3 as travelers fly home.

The airline organization recommends passengers check airline websites before they leave for the airport, pack gifts unwrapped to lessen security delays and review carry-on rules for liquids, gels and aerosols.

On the busiest days, flights will be filled to at least what capacity?

What percentage of a drop is that from the same period last year?

How many air travellers will fly on U.S. carriers?

To what capacity are the flights filled on busy days?

What percentage reduction is there in U.S carrier air travellers?

A projected 43.3 million air travelers will fly on what?

Answer: 85%

Answer: 1%

Answer: 43.3 million

Answer: 85%

Answer: 1%

Answer: U.S. carriers

Summary:
A projected 43.3 million air travelers will fly on U.S. carriers .
That's a 1% drop from the same period last year .
On the busiest days, flights will be filled to at least 85% capacity .


Washington (CNN) -- In Latin America, Cuba stands out as one of the most effective deployers of soft power. Rather than exporting revolution, Cuba today exports doctors -- with more than 30,000 Cuban doctors working in more than 100 underdeveloped countries around the world.

Cuba has become a marquee provider of catastrophe-related medical assistance around the world, particularly after tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes -- and no doubt will send large contingents of medical personnel to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in coming days and weeks.

Moving beyond the still active Cold War stasis in U.S.-Cuba relations is an Obama administration foreign policy priority, and the devastation in Haiti provides a platform not only to provide relief for a nearby nation in desperate circumstances, but also to build confidence between Cuban and American authorities in a potential collaboration of effort in a third country.

Many great American voices -- from Brent Scowcroft and George Shultz to Jackson Browne and Bill Richardson -- have said that the U.S. embargo on Cuba makes no sense as foreign policy, that the right of Americans to travel anywhere in the world should not be suspended in the case of Cuba, and that Cuba's exports of doctors rather than arms should be more than enough reason to strike Cuba off of America's state sponsors of terror watch list.

But change in a relationship as charged and historically toxic as between Fidel Castro's Cuba and 11 U.S. presidents will take narratives to move.

One such narrative could evolve from tying American resource coordination and financial support in a regional multilateral effort with other Latin American nations -- particularly Cuba's deep bench of natural disaster-experienced medical corps.

After Hurricane Katrina pounded New Orleans and southern Mississippi, Castro offered relief support from a 1,600-person medical team called the Henry Reeves Brigade, named after an American doctor who fought in Cuba's war of independence. The U.S. predictably turned down the offer in September 2005.

Shortly after, in October 2005, the Reeves Brigade was dispatched to help provide much-needed medical relief after the devastating Kashmir earthquake that tore through the Himalayan mountain region along Pakistan and Kashmir. The United States and Europe each sent teams of doctors to Pakistan, each with one base camp deployed for a month. The Cubans deployed seven major base camps and 30 field hospitals in the fundamentalist Islamic region of Pakistan, a nation with which Cuba did not have diplomatic relations at the time. Today, the Cubans and Pakistanis have embassies in each other's capitals.

Bruno Rodriguez, the new foreign minister of Cuba, who was then the deputy, headed the mission and lived in Pakistan's rugged mountains for that full year.

The Cuban medical teams reportedly worked constructively and positively with personnel from the U.S. and Europe -- and this kind of collaboration, even if informal, could be the kind of confidence-building narrative to move U.S.-Cuba relations out of the gridlock they have been in for decades.

As a step in the direction of pushing reset in this relationship, on Friday the White House announced that Cuba will allow US aircraft into its airspace for medical evacuations. The United States could take another step and offer to airlift Cuban doctors to Haiti.

Haiti is in trouble today -- the 7.0 earthquake devastating the capital city of Port-au-Prince and highlighting what was already a human development disaster. The UN Development Program's offices have been destroyed, with hundreds unaccounted for. Notwithstanding any casualties among its own citizens in Haiti, Cuba has 408 doctors providing services there.

Now is the time for the U.S., Cuba and other major Latin American nations to throw their weight into stopping a worse human tragedy in Haiti than already exists -- and to potentially unite American and Cuban soft power efforts in a way that creates greater positives for Haiti and for longer-term, 21st century U.S.-Cuba relations.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Steve Clemons.

Whos says Cuba has exported medical help?

What has Cuba done for those in disaster?

What opportunity was for US and Cuba to work together?

Answer: Washington (CNN)

Answer: September 2005.

Answer: catastrophe-related medical assistance

Answer: to build confidence between Cuban

Summary:
Steve Clemons says Cuba has exported medical help for nations grappling with disasters .
He says the United States refused Cuban aid during the Katrina rescue operation .
The Haiti quake is an opportunity for U.S. and Cuba to work together, he says .


Washington (CNN) -- In a major blow to the Republican leadership, the U.S. House on Wednesday defeated a temporary spending measure that would have required spending cuts to offset additional money for federal disaster relief efforts.

The vote was 195-230, with 48 Republicans joining all but a handful of minority Democrats in opposing the short-term spending plan that would keep the government funded for seven weeks after the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

After the result, House Republican leaders met in Speaker John Boehner's office to decide if they would revise the measure and hold another vote on Thursday. Options under consideration included removing or changing the spending offsets opposed by Democrats, or reducing the total amount of spending to appease conservative Republicans.

At issue was a short-term bill to fund government agencies through November 18 that would allocate fewer resources to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers for disaster response than the Democratic-led Senate approved last week.

Additional funds are needed because of recent major floods from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee along the East Coast, and wildfires in Texas that required emergency responses exceeding the amount the agencies have left in their coffers to support recovery and rebuilding efforts.

The House measure included a total of $3.6 billion in disaster relief money -- $1 billion in emergency funds available when the bill is enacted and another $2.6 billion to be budgeted for those federal response agencies for the 2012 fiscal year that begins October 1.

In addition, House Republican leaders are insisting that the $1 billion in immediate disaster funding be offset with $1.5 billion in cuts to a loan program that helps automakers retool their operations to make more fuel-efficient cars.

Democrats objected to cutting spending for disaster funding, calling it unprecedented and politicizing emergency relief for Americans. Conservative Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, argued that the nation's expanding deficits require as much spending restraint as possible.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama asked Congress for a total of $5.1 billion in additional disaster aid --- $500 million of which was for immediate relief.

Last week, the Senate bill that passed with bipartisan support included $6.9 billion for FEMA and other federal agencies for immediate disaster relief and for relief in 2012. The Senate version required no spending offsets.

The impasse could leave the government without funding after September 30 if Congress fails to authorize further spending, which would cause a partial shutdown. Cantor, however, said no shutdown would occur.

"Suffice it to say there's not going to be a shutdown," Cantor told reporters. "I think everybody needs to relax. We're trying to affect change in a way that we spend taxpayer dollars - that's what this whole thing is about. No one is denying anyone disaster aid if they need it, and we're trying to be responsible and to do the right thing."

Meanwhile, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said his party would support the measure if the offset provision was removed.

"They put something in that was clearly, we think, a job killer," Hoyer said of the offset that would eliminate the loan program for manufacturing fuel-efficient vehicles. During floor debate on the measure, Hoyer and other Democrats complained that any kind of offset would be unprecedented for emergency funding to help Americans in need.

"Even if they had the best offset in the world, I still think it's wrong" to require equivalent spending cuts when getting money to disaster victims, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California.

To Hoyer, the defeat of the GOP measure "says that we are continuing to struggle to do things in a bipartisan fashion."

If House Republicans "expect our votes, they have to work with us," he said. "They can't just give us something and say ... their way or the highway."

-- CNN's Ted Barrett, Deirdre Walsh, Kate Bolduan and Tom Cohen contributed to this report.

What was the final vote for the spending measure?

Answer: House Republican leaders

Answer: 195-230,

Answer: 48

Answer: 195-230,

Answer: 48

Answer: a temporary spending measure that would have required spending cuts to offset additional money for federal disaster relief efforts.

Answer: 48

Answer: his party would support the measure if the offset provision was removed.

Summary:
NEW: Remove the offset and Democrats will support it, Rep. Hoyer says .
NEW: House Republican leaders consider revising the measure .
The short-term spending measure falls on a 195-230 vote .
48 Republicans join Democrats in opposing it .


Washington (CNN) -- In a move that could improve security and keep airport lines moving, the Transportation Security Administration early next year will begin testing machines that match a traveler's boarding pass with his or her government-issued ID, while verifying that both documents are authentic.

The machines will assist the TSA "travel document checkers," who now conduct checks assisted only by ultraviolet flashlights and magnifying loupes.

In 2006, an Indiana University doctoral student created a website allowing people to create fake boarding passes to demonstrate how a known terrorist on the "No Fly" list could use a fake boarding pass to get past a checkpoint. Once on the other side, the terrorist could use a real boarding pass acquired under an alias to board a plane.

And in June, a Nigerian man was arrested after he flew across the country allegedly with a false boarding pass. Authorities said they found several other phony boarding passes in his luggage.

The new technology would authenticate government-issued IDs by comparing written information on the card with information encoded in the ID's bar codes, magnetic strip or computer chip. It would also match the ID to the boarding pass.

The system will alert screeners if either document does not pass validation. If the issue is easily rectifiable, such as misspelling of the passenger's name, the TSA may allow the person to proceed. If not immediately resolved, the passenger will be directed to a TSA supervisor.

"This technology will help facilitate risk-based security, while making the process more effective and efficient," TSA Administrator John S. Pistole said.

The TSA has awarded contracts of $79 million each to three companies: BAE Systems Information Solutions, NCR Government Systems and Trans Digital Technologies, LLC. Each company will provide 10 machines for testing at U.S. airports. The TSA has not disclosed which airports will get the machines.

In August, the TSA's chief privacy officer issued a report saying the machines have minimal privacy implications because only a limited amount of personal information is collected by the machines and because this information "is deleted after use."

A TSA spokeswoman said earlier versions of the technology were tested at two Washington-area airports in 2009.

What kind of machines will the TSA test?

Who will test machines that match boarding passes with IDs?

Answer: "travel document checkers,"

Answer: early next year

Answer: which airports will get the machines.

Answer: risk-based security,

Answer: Transportation

Answer: Security Administration

Summary:
The TSA will test machines that match a boarding pass with the passenger's ID .
The TSA has not disclosed which airport will get the test machines .
The machines will be tested starting early in 2012 .
The machines could improve security and traffic flow in airports .


Washington (CNN) -- In the Army you live by the Warrior Ethos, which states, "I will always place the mission first. I will never quit. I will never accept defeat. I will never leave a fallen comrade behind." I am alive today because my helicopter crew lived by these words. When our aircraft was shot down in November 2004, the injuries I sustained were devastating. The amount of blood I had lost in a matter of minutes was so vast that my crew thought I was dead. They could have left me in that dusty field in Iraq, but they didn't. Instead, they stood their ground in the face of approaching enemy, risked their lives, and carried me to safety. They did this regardless of whether I was dead or alive, because the American warrior does not leave a fallen comrade behind. My crew and all the men and women in the U.S. armed forces know what it means to be a part of something greater than themselves. They are America's finest sons and daughters, and we made a promise to care for them after they serve. It is our job in the Department of Veterans Affairs to make sure that promise is kept. We at VA stand at a historic time with great opportunities to further our mission in caring for the nation's 23.4 million veterans and their families. With the largest one-year percentage increase in VA's budget in over three decades, President Obama has made it very clear that serving our nation's veterans is a top priority in his administration. He wants to increase funding for VA by $25 billion above our current baseline over the next five years. He launched a new initiative to expand eligibility for veterans' health care to as many as 500,000 Priority Group 8 Veterans who were previously denied care. And he wants us to invest in better technology to deliver services and benefits to veterans with the quality and efficiency they deserve. As commander in chief, President Obama has charged Secretary Eric Shinseki and all of VA's leadership with a new mission: to transform VA into a 21st-century organization. Secretary Shinseki has begun to do just that by making VA a more veteran-centered, results-oriented and forward-looking department. It will be a different organization from the one that exists today. It will be accessible, responsive and transparent. To achieve the president's vision, we must leverage new technologies to serve the various demographics and needs of today's veterans, while also renewing our commitment to the older generation of veterans. These technologies will carry us well into the 21st century as we maintain our mission to serve our nation's veterans for the rest of their lives. Tonight, 131,000 veterans will sleep on the streets of our cities. These are the same men and women who allowed us to have the opportunities to go to school, get a job and buy a home. We are all dishonored anytime a veteran is forced to sleep on the streets, and President Obama, Secretary Shinseki and the VA leadership team will not stand for this. Within the next five years, we aim to eliminate veteran homelessness by providing grants to community-based organizations assisting homeless veterans and by attacking all the areas that often lead to homelessness. Our veterans deserve better, and we are determined to provide them the best care and most timely benefits possible to end homelessness in their ranks. We will improve medical care to minority veterans, including female veterans, who are enrolling in VA at historic rates. We will also improve access to VA for veterans who live in rural areas. All our veterans deserve the best care possible regardless of race, gender or where they live. And we are working with the Department of Defense to build a fully interoperable electronic records system that will provide each member of our military with a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record. For VA, this will revolutionize our claims process by making it faster with higher-quality decisions and with fewer errors. Five years from now, we intend to make VA the provider

Who said Goal is to have zero veterans homeless in five years?

Answer: He wants to increase funding for VA by $25 billion

Answer: President Obama

Summary:
American warrior doesn't leave a fallen comrade behind, VA official says .
L. Tammy Duckworth: VA funding increase will improve care and benefits .
Goal is to have zero veterans homeless in five years, Duckworth says .
Duckworth: Electronic records system will speed claims and reduce errors .


Washington (CNN) -- In the largest alleged BP oil spill-related scam uncovered to date, federal authorities on Thursday charged two Floridians with taking $340,000 in funds intended for victims of last year's environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Justice Department officials said Joseph Harvey, 51, and Anja Kannell, 41, of Delray Beach, Florida, appeared in federal court in Miami on Thursday to face indictments for mail fraud, wire fraud and aggressive identity theft. Prosecutors said the defendants claimed the money from a $20 billion fund set up to help legitimate victims of the spill recover lost income.

Justice officials said they have brought charges in at least 30 cases in which individuals tried to recover funds to which they were not entitled. This was the biggest case yet, according to the Justice Department.

Harvey and Kannell are accused of filing phony claims using 34 assumed identities of actual Florida residents.

These claims were complete with names and Social Security numbers, though they had fictitious addresses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Officials say the defendants instructed that all the funds be sent to an account they controlled in Texas.

A magistrate judge on Thursday ordered Harvey and Kannell to remain in custody, pending further court proceedings next week.

The charges carry 10-, 15- and 20-year prison sentences upon conviction.

What figure are they alleged to have claimed?

They allegedly asssumed how many identities?

Prosecutors say the two claimed how much money intended for victims of the Gulf spill?

Answer: $340,000

Answer: Delray Beach, Florida,

Answer: Anja Kannell,

Answer: Joseph Harvey, 51, and Anja Kannell, 41,

Answer: two Floridians with taking $340,000 in funds intended for victims of last year's environmental disaster

Answer: 34

Answer: $340,000

Summary:
Joseph Harvey, 51, and Anja Kannell, 41, appear in federal court .
They allegedly assumed 34 false identities to file oil-spill claims .
Prosecutors say the two claimed $340,000 intended for victims of the Gulf spill .


Washington (CNN) -- In the tight circle that surrounds President Obama, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is in the inner bubble. He's the 3 a.m. wake-up call when North Korea fires a test missile, or when the Nobel committee picks the president for the top award. "Trust me, it is a job I would gladly give to anybody who would volunteer," Gibbs said. Or would he? After all, he's an adviser, a friend and a mouthpiece for the administration with more access than recent press secretaries. "I can walk in and ask him a question at any given time, pick up the phone and talk to him about anything at any given time. I think [that] makes my job easier," Gibbs said in an exclusive interview with CNN. The president and the press secretary first connected in 2004 when Obama was a virtual unknown outside of Chicago, Illinois, and was campaigning for the U.S. Senate. They clicked and grew close, leading Obama to tell the Wall Street Journal in a 2008 interview, "Robert is the guy I want in the foxhole with me during incoming fire. If I'm wrong, he challenges me. He's not intimidated by me." Gibbs chuckled while recalling the comment and quipped, "That is when we called him 'Senator' or by his first name." While challenging Obama when he was on a campaign bus is much different than pushing back in the Oval Office, Gibbs insists that Obama still seeks opposing opinions and dislikes an atmosphere where everyone tells him he's right. Ten months into his job in the White House, Gibbs, who grew up in Auburn, Alabama, says he's finally starting to get more comfortable, even though he admits that the 24/7 pace "is certainly a challenge. It can wear you down." Especially when it comes to the daily main event. Gibbs briefs the White House press corps, usually for about 45 minutes. He rarely shows up on time, but he's always ready to spar. The mouthpiece for the president often uses humor or sarcasm to deflect a tough question. In one exchange about the tit for tat over cable chatter and radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Gibbs uttered, "I'll plead guilty to counterproductivity." In another about managing the message, Gibbs said, "Is there any evidence currently going on that I'm controlling the press? Poorly, I might add!" Is this an effective strategy to handle the media? "You tell me," Gibbs said. "Look, there's no doubt that using a little humor to get out of a series of bad questions isn't an altogether bad technique." Watch Gibbs talk about his job Especially since he's involved in a daily high-wire act, as he calls it. The cameras are always rolling. A bad day for the White House spokesman usually means a bad day for the administration. "My father likes reminding me he always thought my mouth would get me into sizable trouble, which it can on any given day," Gibbs said. Before starting his job, Gibbs studied former press secretaries and sought out their advice. He still relies on their guidance "fairly frequently," he said. For example, Gibbs revealed that just last week he reached out to former Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry to get "feedback on a question that was sort of nagging me a little bit." When probed on what that question was, Gibbs replied, "I'm not going to get into that, but good try." Even with the major policy issues the White House is juggling, from Afghanistan to health care to the economy, Gibbs says he's still having fun. "If you didn't enjoy the job that I have, it would be the worst job in all of Washington," he said. What he doesn't like, he said, is the fact that he's now a celebrity. "People that I don't know recognize you walking down the street.

Who has praised Gibbs' willingness to challenge him?

What is Gibbs known for when deflecting tough questions from the media?

Who says he can walk in or call Obama any time?

Who  says he can walk in or call Obama any time he has a question?

Gibbs known for using what to deflect tough questions from media?

Answer: Obama

Answer: Robert

Answer: uses humor or sarcasm to deflect a

Answer: White House spokesman Robert

Answer: "Trust me, it is a job I would gladly give to anybody who would volunteer,"

Answer: Gibbs

Answer: President Obama,

Answer: White House spokesman Robert

Answer: humor or sarcasm

Summary:
White House spokesman has more access to president than recent predecessors .
Robert Gibbs says he can walk in or call Obama any time he has a question .
Obama has praised Gibbs' willingness to challenge him, tell him he's wrong .
Gibbs known for using humor to deflect tough questions from media .


Washington (CNN) -- In the wake of the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner, most Americans remain confident the Obama administration can protect the country from terrorism, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday also indicates the vast majority of Americans believe that full-body scanners should be used in airports across the country.

Nearly two-thirds of people questioned in the poll said they have a moderate or great deal of confidence in the administration to protect the public from future terrorist attacks, up 2 percentage points from August. Thirty-five percent said they have not much or no confidence, down 1 percentage point from August.

Read the full poll results (PDF)

A number of Republicans have criticized President Obama over his handling of the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan. But according to the survey, 57 percent approve of the way Obama has responded, while 39 percent disapprove of how he handled the situation.

"Only a third of Republicans have a positive view of Obama on this matter, but the key for the administration is the 55 percent of independents who approve of how the president responded to the incident on Christmas Day," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director.

The poll also indicates no increase in overall concern about terrorism.

"In October, about a third said they were worried that a family member would become a victim of terrorism, and that number is unchanged in the wake of the attempted attack in December," Holland said.

"The public seems to react calmly to individual incidents, possibly because most Americans believe that the government cannot prevent every single terrorist plot from occurring."

Six in 10 said terrorists always will find a way to launch an attack, no matter what the government does, he added -- identical to the number who felt that way during the Bush administration.

The poll indicates a majority, 57 percent, think suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab should be tried in military court and not a civilian criminal court. Forty-two percent back handling the case in civilian court.

According to the survey, Americans also are split on whether heads should roll as a result of the attempted bombing of the airliner. Forty-six percent questioned feel that top officials in the federal agencies responsible for handling the issue of terrorism should be fired, while 51 percent said no.

The poll indicates that nearly eight in 10 believe full-body scanners should be used in U.S. airports, while 15 percent said they would refuse to go through one of the machines if asked to do so.

"Most Americans don't see full-body scanners as a health risk, and more than seven in 10 say they would be unconcerned if asked to go through one at an airport," Holland said.

"Women in particular seem to prefer the idea of a full-body scanner to being frisked by a security guard, even when the question makes clear that the guard doing the manual pat-down would also be a woman."

The CNN/Opinion Research poll was conducted Friday through Sunday, with 1,021 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

What happened to the jet on Christmas Day?

What do the majority say should be used in airports?

What did the poll indicate about the overall concern about terrorism?

What fraction of people have moderate or a great deal of confidence in the president's handling of terrorism?

What do most people say should be used in airports?

Answer: attempt

Answer: full-body scanners

Answer: no increase

Answer: Nearly two-thirds of

Answer: full-body scanners

Summary:
Nearly two-thirds have moderate or great deal of confidence in president's handling of terrorism .
Majority in survey say full-body scanners should be used in airports .
Poll indicates no increase in overall concern about terrorism .
Findings come after Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. jet .


Washington (CNN) -- In the wake of the suicide bombing at Forward Operating Base Chapman, new security guidance has gone out to U.S. bases across Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said. The December 30 suicide attack killed seven CIA officers and contractors, along with a Jordanian military officer who was the attacker's handler. Former CIA official Robert Richer called it the greatest loss of life for the agency since the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed eight agents. A U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN on Wednesday the attack was believed to have come on orders from "the highest levels" of al Qaeda. Bruce Reidel, a former CIA officer who has advised President Obama on al Qaeda, said the attack showed the capacity of terrorists to strike at U.S. targets remained "very significant." "It's a very, very sophisticated operation," Reidel said. "It must have taken a long time to plan and to set up." In response, U.S. military officials said they were changing procedures. "Suffice it to say that after any serious incident we evaluate the circumstances, think through the threat implications given our current practices and disseminate guidance to the field if adjustments are necessary," a senior military official said. The official would not describe the new security procedures because "we don't broadcast the specific changes we've made to security postures or our intelligence procedures." A second U.S. military official said the guidance is meant to adjust procedures as quickly as possible on a large scale. "We don't want just the military intelligence guys looking out for specific things. We need MPs and ground forces to be aware," the official said. The official said the security guidance is meant to be disseminated to as wide a group as possible, while more specific guidance on intelligence operations is kept to a much more limited, restricted distribution. The officials had not seen specific guidance on handling sources, but both noted only one week has passed since the incident, and the investigation may not have progressed far enough to produce formal recommendations in that area. One official said the intelligence officers on the ground now know enough details to "self-correct" procedures. According to sources, the Jordanian suicide bomber was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a one-time militant who then appeared to be helping the United States. Al-Balawi was offering information on the possible whereabouts of Ayman al Zawahiri, the deputy to Osama bin Laden, the sources said, and was picked up outside the base and driven into it without being checked. The sources said al-Balawi detonated the bomb shortly after arriving. The attack shed light on the role of Jordan as a previously covert partner in the U.S. hunt for bin Laden and Zawahiri. "The Jordanian intelligence service is the best intelligence service in the Middle East and South Asia, bar none," Reidel said. "They are far more effective in working against jihadist groups like al Qaeda in Iraq like the al Qaeda core in Pakistan than any other intelligence service." CNN's Barbara Starr and Pam Benson contributed to this report.

What has gone out to American bases in Afghanistan?

After what does the military evaluate its circumstances?

Where was attack believed to have come from?

Answer: U.S. bases across Afghanistan,

Answer: new security

Answer: "Suffice it to

Answer: "the highest levels" of al Qaeda.

Answer: adjust procedures as quickly as possible on a large scale.

Answer: any serious incident

Answer: highest levels" of al Qaeda.

Summary:
Senior official: "After any serious incident we evaluate the circumstances"
New security guidance has gone out to U.S. bases across Afghanistan, official says .
Intelligence official: Attack believed to come from "the highest levels" of al Qaeda .
Guidance meant to adjust procedures quickly on a large scale, official says .


Washington (CNN) -- Increased fighting in Afghanistan has caused a drop in morale among U.S. soldiers while the reduction in combat in Iraq has bolstered morale, according to a new U.S. Army report released Friday. The report summarizes two surveys of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan taken earlier this year. New statistics from the Army also show suicides are up in the entire service. Produced every two years by the Army's Mental Health Advisory Team, this latest report comes just over a week after a U.S. soldier went on a shooting rampage at a U.S. Army base in Texas and possibly just days or weeks from an announcement from the Obama administration to send more troops to Afghanistan, where fighting has gotten more intense in recent months. Authorities have not determined a motive for the shooting. The suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan but had told his family that he wanted to get out of the military. "Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to face stress from multiple deployments into combat but report being more prepared for the stresses of deployments," Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army Surgeon General told reporters Friday. Not surprisingly, the report showed that soldiers with multiple deployments, three or four tours of duty to Iraq or Afghanistan, had much lower morale and more mental health problems than those soldiers who have one or two combat deployments. Increased time at home, however, resulted in improved morale among troops sent back to the field. The updated survey of soldiers in Afghanistan found post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression in soldiers at the same levels of the survey in 2007, but still about double that of the 2005 survey results: 21.4 percent in 2009, 23.4 percent for 2007 and 10.4 percent in 2005, according to the report. In Iraq, where the survey has been done every year, lower numbers were attributed to the decrease in combat action there. The 2009 numbers showed 13.3 percent of soldiers suffering from mental health problems, compared to 18.8 percent in 2007 and 22 percent in 2006. Army officials said that with the push of more than 20,000 additional troops into the Afghan theater of battle over the last few months, there have been fewer mental health professionals in the field to help. Army officials said the ration was about one mental health professional for every 1,120 soldiers. To combat the falling morale and lack of mental health professionals in the field, Army officials said the service needs to more than double the number of mental health providers and hopes to have at least 65 more of those providers in the field by December, making the ratio one for every 700 soldiers. The mental health assessment teams also conducted interviews with soldiers and found a drop in unit morale in Afghanistan to about half of what it was in 2007 and 2005, when about 10 percent surveyed gave top ratings to unit morale. In 2009, that number was 5.7 percent. The report also showed soldiers are seeing more difficulty at home with an increasing number reporting they are getting or considering getting divorced, according to the report. The overall report was based on almost 4,000 soldiers who filled out anonymous surveys in Iraq and Afghanistan between December 2008 and June 2009. In Iraq, 2,400 soldiers were randomly selected and the results were studied by a mental health assessment team in the combat zone. About 1,500 troops in Afghanistan took the survey, Army officials said. The survey was different from previous years when all types of soldiers were surveyed together. The 2009 survey questioned combat troops and support troops separately, though Army officials said there were few differences in the results. On Friday, the Army also released its latest suicide statistics. They show an increase in the number over this time last year. The Army reported 133 suspected suicides as of October; there were 115 as of October 2008. Of the 133, 90 have been confirmed, and 43 are pending confirmation, according to an Army press release. Last year the Army totaled 140 suicides in its ranks, the highest the service has recorded. "Stigma continues to be one of the most difficult challenges we confront," said Brig

How many surveys of soldiers were summarized in the report?

What type of providers does the army hope to increase the number of in the field?

Answer: summarizes two surveys of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan taken earlier this year. New statistics from the Army also show suicides are up in the entire service.

Answer: two

Answer: in Iraq and Afghanistan

Answer: mental health

Summary:
Report summarizes 2 surveys of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan taken this year .
Results attributed to increased fighting in Afghanistan, less in Iraq .
Army hopes to increase number of mental health providers in the field .


Washington (CNN) -- International arms dealer Viktor Bout has been indicted by federal authorities on a series of new charges, including counts of illegally purchasing U.S. cargo planes to ferry weapons to warring parties and regimes in Africa and the Middle East.

The new indictment, announced in New York and Washington Wednesday, comes as the United States steps up efforts to extradite Bout to New York from Thailand, where he has been jailed since 2008.

The indictment charges Bout, a Russian native, and his alleged American co-conspirator, Richard Chichakli, with the illegal purchase of a Boeing 727 and a Boeing 737 and with money laundering and wire fraud. Chichakli remains at large, authorities said.

The Justice Department said Bout has been an international weapons trafficker since the 1990s, carrying out a massive weapons trafficking business by assembling a fleet of cargo planes to transport weapons to parts of Africa, the Middle East and South America.

"The arms that Bout has sold or brokered have fueled conflicts and supported regimes in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan," the Justice Department said.

Bout "allegedly made a career of arming bloody conflicts and supporting rogue regimes across multiple continents, even using the U.S. banking system to secretly finance a private fleet of aircraft," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

The superseding indictments were returned by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. The previous indictment of Bout centered on his alleged efforts to send millions of dollars worth of weapons to arm guerrilla fighters in Colombia.

Thai courts to date have balked at extraditing Bout to the United States on the basis of the original charges.

"The United States has apprised Thai authorities of the new charges against Bout ... and will continue to work closely with them on this matter," the Justice Department statement said. "The United States is also coordinating with Interpol to locate and arrest Chichakli."

Tuesday, a Thai court rejected a request by Bout to be released on bond.

Where is the location of Bout's jail?
where is bout from?
Where did he transport the planes to?
Was the purchase of the 727 legal?
who has been trying to extradite bout?
What was Bout accused of?
What has the U.S. been trying to do?
Where did Bout spend his time in jail?

Answer: Thailand,

Answer: a Russian native,

Answer: Africa, the Middle East and South America.

Answer: illegal

Answer: United States

Answer: illegally purchasing U.S. cargo planes to ferry weapons to warring parties and regimes in Africa and the Middle East.

Answer: extradite Bout to New York from Thailand,

Answer: Thailand,

Summary:
Bout accused of buying planes to transport weapons to Africa, Mideast .
Bout, a Russian, has been in jail in Thailand since 2008 .
U.S. has been trying to extradite him, hopes latest charges will help .
American Richard Chichakli also accused of illegal purchase of Boeing 727, Boeing 737 .


Washington (CNN) -- It was my first chance to spend some quality time at dinner with First Lady Michelle Obama, so I decided to do what my pal Ali Velshi would probably do in the same situation: get her hooked on Twitter.

I was sitting with the first lady and Jay Leno at the head table for Saturday night's White House Correspondents Association Dinner because I'm a member of the association's board, a front-row seat to the slew of celebrities who walked up to gawk at Mrs. Obama and the president, who was a few seats from me.

Teen sensation Justin Beiber, famous-for-being-famous Kim Kardashian, comedian Chevy Chase and actor Morgan Freeman all walked up to the rope line separating the head table from the rest of the ballroom to send the first couple a shout-out.

I was snapping pics of the celebrity parade on my iPhone and posting them to my Twitter account, @edhenrycnn, during dessert, just a few minutes before the president and Leno would take their turns at telling some jokes.

Leno, a social media skeptic, finally turned to me with squinted eyes and said in a conspiratorial tone, "Are you tweeting right now?"

I confessed to Leno that I was, sparking Mrs. Obama to ask me whether journalists find value in social media or whether it's mostly trivial. I said I find it helpful to get feedback, good and bad, from people who follow my tweets.

When Mrs. Obama mentioned that she had never tweeted, I noted that the president had sent out his first tweet a few months ago from a Red Cross account to promote relief to Haiti and wondered aloud: "Why don't you send out your first tweet on my iPhone?"

The first lady laughed and said her press staff wouldn't be happy if she went rogue like that. Besides, she said, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs would have to sign off first.

Noting that Gibbs was sitting at the other end of the head table, I stood and told the first lady I'd ask him.

To my surprise, Gibbs instantly told me it was a fun idea, on one condition: I had to first send out a tweet saying he had endorsed it, so that colleagues on Mrs. Obama's staff were not blindsided.

I typed out a tweet saying, "i am trying to coax First Lady to do her first ever tweet. Gibbs @presssec just gave his blessing."

Then I walked back to Mrs. Obama to tell her the good news. But she told me good-naturedly, "Gibbs did not say that; you're lying!" I assured the first lady I would not tell her a fib, which prompted Leno to jump to his feet to say he'd go get Gibbs to sort this out once and for all.

A laughing Gibbs came over and advised the first lady it would be a harmless exercise, but she was skeptical until the commander in chief finally weighed in.

Hearing the light-hearted argument playing out a few seats down, the president asked, "What's going on?"

The first lady explained her dilemma, but the president waved his hand as if to say "no big deal" and told her to go for it.

I handed the first lady my iPhone, but it quickly became apparent that she had very little experiences with this smartphone. Like many people, she said, "How do you type on this?"

Gibbs, who was looking over our shoulders, suggested that I type it out, so I told Mrs. Obama to start dictating the note. I started my typing "from flotus," as in "first lady of the United States."

She joked about the pressure of coming up with something interesting to say. She started simply with how she was at the dinner and dictated, "this is officially my first Twitter" and added her thoughts about the comedy acts about to perform.

I knew Mrs. Obama should have called it her first "tweet," but I didn't want to be in

What did Henry encourage Mrs. Obama to do?

Answer: White House Correspondents Association Dinner

Answer: the first lady and Jay Leno

Answer: to

Answer: whether journalists find value in social media or whether it's mostly trivial.

Summary:
CNN's Ed Henry sat at main table with Jay Leno, Obamas at dinner .
Mrs. Obama asks if journalists find value in social media or if it's mostly trivial .
Henry encourages first lady to tweet from his phone, gets permission from Gibbs .
"Flotus" tweet is picked up by other users .


Washington (CNN) -- It's the oldest trick in the political playbook: Call together a "summit" of fancy people so you'll appear to be focused on work that must get done. Thursday, the White House convened CEOs from  companies such as Boeing, AT&T, Comcast and Dow Corning, top leaders of the United Steelworkers, United Food and Commercial Workers, American Federation of Teachers unions, Ivy League academics and a few small-business representatives to brainstorm how the country might generate much-needed jobs. A schmooze-fest is nice, but the hard work of putting America back to work will be done by entrepreneurs, not the leaders of the biggest companies in the nation and the heads of big unions. The mom-and-pop shops, garage start-ups and small businesses across the country will put Americans back on the payroll. According to the Census Bureau, nearly all net job creation in the U.S. since 1980 has been generated by firms operating less than five years. This means that our job generators are likely not on the White House guest list. They are home working long hours to meet payrolls on tight deadlines and scraping by with limited resources. While others can advocate for the merits of entrepreneurship, and will hopefully do so, our job creators are strangely left out. Innovators from Oregon to Tennessee are the ones who will generate new jobs. Commerce Department data show that small companies represent 99.1 percent of all employer firms (a firm is an aggregation of all establishments owned by a parent company, even in multiple locations.). They pay nearly 45 percent of U.S. private payroll and have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the past decade. A few start-ups from the last century may be familiar: Disney, Burger King, Fed-Ex, CNN and Microsoft all started during a period of economic downturn. Today, each of these companies employs thousands of people in the U.S. and abroad. Recent research shows that more than half of the 2009 Fortune 500 companies were launched during a recession or bear market. In 2002, when the tech bubble burst, I graduated from business school just a few miles from Google. The start-up was a mysterious algorithm-based business, little known and lesser understood. Today, Google employs 20,000 people worldwide. So the question is how can we foster the next Google? Policy-makers can't predict breakthrough technologies, but they can create an environment that will encourage innovation. How to start? First, provide further access to capital. Last week, two Small Business Administration stimulus provisions that helped to get millions of dollars to small-business owners ran out of funding. The provisions, passed as part of the Recovery Act, raised the maximum guarantee on SBA loans to 90 percent and reduced or eliminated fees associated with the loans, making it more attractive for banks to lend during the downturn. Access to capital is the lifeblood of small businesses. We must renew these provisions and provide even greater access to credit. Helping fledgling companies grow fuels the economy from the bottom up. Second, welcome immigrants who are job generators. We are a country of immigrants, and yet in recent years, we have made it incredibly difficult for immigrants to launch companies in the U.S. Why not create a new visa for entrepreneurs? Increasingly venture capitalists, angel investors and innovators are advocating a "start-up visa" offered to immigrant entrepreneurs who want to start a company in the United States. In 2008, nearly 40 percent of technology company founders were foreign-born; 52 percent of Silicon Valley company founders were foreign-born, including the founders of Google, Yahoo, eBay and Intel, to name a few. Why chase these innovators away when we need jobs and should be hanging an "innovators wanted" sign on our front door? Third, match funds for early investors. Early investors need incentives to put money behind companies that will create U.S. jobs. We have channeled billions of dollars to preserve "too big to fail" institutions. Why not make federal matching dollars available to catalyze smart

What should funds target?
What should the government do?

Answer: for early investors.

Answer: welcome immigrants who are job generators.

Summary:
Amy M. Wilkinson says Obama's summit had mostly CEOs, union reps, academics .
But, she says, most job creation in the U.S. since 1980 has been from start-up firms .
Wilkinson: Government funds and policies should target entrepreneurs .


Washington (CNN) -- Jennifer Tonge is not a lunatic. She is a member of the British House of Lords, appointed to that eminent body in 2005 after a career in politics and medicine.

On February 11, she was asked a question by www.thejc.com, the online version of Britain's Jewish Chronicle.

Tonge serves as patron of an online journal based in Gaza, the Palestine Telegraph. The previous week, the Palestine Telegraph accused the Israeli medical teams doing humanitarian work in Haiti of harvesting organs from earthquake victims. TheJC.com asked Tonge for comment. Tonge first commended the Israeli teams for their work in Haiti. She then added these words:

"To prevent allegations such as these -- which have already been posted on YouTube -- going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti."

The YouTube video to which Tonge refers can be seen here. It's the work of a solo crank, and hardly seems to require an "independent inquiry" to refute.

The statement to TheJC.com was not Lady Tonge's first entry into Middle East analysis. She has expressed herself often on the subject of Israel and Israel's supporters, and in vivid terms. In a speech to a meeting during her Liberal Democratic Party's annual conference in 2006, Tonge declared: "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the Western world, its financial grips. I think they've probably got a grip on our party."

(That grip was not too tight to prevent Tonge's party from collectively denouncing Israel for attacking Hezbollah after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.)

On February 14, Lady Tonge was removed from her position as health critic for the Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Lords. But Tonge's comments did not originate in the ether. They could be footnoted to a respectable newspaper in Sweden.

In the summer of 2009, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published a story about a recent mass indictment in New Jersey. On July 23, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey announced the arrest of 44 people for a range of criminal enterprises involving bank fraud, rigging of bids on public projects, trafficking in counterfeit goods, etc. The accused represented the gorgeous mosaic of New Jersey politics, with last names like "Suarez," "Catrillo," "Cardwell," and "Khalil." Some of the names were Jewish.

One of the Jewish names, Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, was accused of the lurid crime of trafficking in the purchase and sale of human organs. Rosenbaum was said to have offered sums of $10,000 to entice poor people in Israel and Eastern Europe to sell kidneys to him, which he would then remarket for $160,000 to transplant patients in the United States.

Aftonbladet transformed this story of illegal commerce into a story of Jewish predation. The paper gave space to a freelance writer -- Donald Bostrom -- to charge that the Israeli army regularly harvested organs from the bodies of slain Palestinians.

After briefly acknowledging that the vast majority of the world's illegally harvested organs come from China, Pakistan, and the Philippines, Bostrom then hurled this astounding charge:

"Palestinians also harbor strong suspicions that young men have been seized, and made to serve as organ reserve, just as in China and Pakistan, before being killed."

Jewish vampirism is an ancient fantasy, dating back to the Middle Ages. Yet it remains current in the contemporary Middle East. A Syrian film company created a multipart TV drama out of the story in 2003. The drama was broadcast worldwide on Hezbollah's al-Manar satellite network. Iranian state TV broadcast a drama in 2004 in which the plot turns on an Israeli plan to steal Palestinian children's eyes.

It's a winding road from medieval folktales to Hezbollah TV to the New Jersey mob to a Swedish daily to the British House of Lords.

But it's a road traveled by more and more people. On February 11, Tel Aviv's Reut Institute presented a paper to the Israeli cabinet warning of "delegitimization" aimed at the Jewish state. As reported by

Answer: Jennifer Tonge

Summary:
David Frum says Israel is facing a delegitimization campaign .
He says some critics engage in wild charges without any foundation .
Frum says he defended Andrew Sullivan against charges of anti-Semitism .
But he says in other cases, hatred of Israel and of Jews go hand-in-hand .


Washington (CNN) -- John Hinckley Jr.'s relationships with women and his difficulties becoming part of a community away from a government mental hospital were spotlighted Thursday during a hearing to discuss whether the man who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan will eventually be allowed to live as an outpatient.

An official at St. Elizabeths Hospital, where Hinckley, 56, has lived for decades after being found not guilty by reason of insanity, said Hinckley had been engaged to a former patient he met at the hospital. She was identified only as "Miss CB," but the engagement recently ended.

Dr. Tyler Jones, the facility's director of psychiatry, said Hinckley had given the woman "multiple rings."

Jones said Hinckley had told him he'd explained to CB he planned to spend more time visiting his mother's home in Virginia and would be spending less time with her. As a result of that conversation, "she's withdrawn the physical affection that they shared," Jones said.

Federal prosecutor Colleen Kennedy also questioned Jones about Hinckley's past relationship with a patient identified as "Miss X." Kennedy said Hinckley had difficulty communicating with the woman because she was so psychotic, but he pursued the relationship because she was physically affectionate.

Jones described Hinckley's actions as "poor judgment" motivated by his "desire for affection."

According to Jones, another doctor told Hinckley the relationship was ill-advised and eventually Hinckley ended it.

Hinckley has been spending 10 days a month visiting his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he works part time as a volunteer in the library at Eastern State Hospital, a mental health facility. Doctors have been encouraging him to make friends in Williamsburg and build a new life.

Jones said Hinckley has had some difficulties. In one instance, he followed a suggestion to go to a singles group, but that did not turn out well. "He was asked to leave," said Jones, because one participant was very uncomfortable with his presence.

Since Hinckley likes music and plays the guitar, one of his doctors suggested he go play for hospice patients. But Jones said Hinckley never went because the hospice was worried there might be negative publicity if the presidential assailant played there.

Another possible avenue for meeting people also has not panned out. Jones said Hinckley, when in Williamsburg, had not been interested in going to a gym or participating in certain sports like golf or tennis, either because of arthritis or because he finds the activities unappealing.

The doctor said Hinckley's "treatment team" wants him to spend more time in Williamsburg and thinks he'll be able to fit into the community much better.

A clinical psychologist from St. Elizabeths who has met with Hinckley five times conceded he's been unable to form relationships in that small city so far, aside from those with family members. "He had not made a friend in Wiliamsburg," said Katherine Murphy.

She stressed that Hinckley is an introvert and not the type to quickly make a lot of friends."He's just not someone who goes and out and meets people or is a social butterfly."

But Murphy said Hinckley seems to have coped adequately when rejected in social situations and is "not showing signs of isolation." Murphy was involved in a psychological risk assessment of Hinckley. Both she and Dr. Jones said Hinckley represents a low risk of engaging in violence if granted permission to spend more time away from his mental hospital.

A multiple-day hearing began Wednesday to discuss St. Elizabeths' recommendation that Hinckley be granted a series of eight longer visits ranging from 17 to 24 days. That plan also proposes that eventually the hospital would have the authority to let him live as a full-time outpatient.

Prosecutors oppose the plan, saying they are concerned Hinckley is still potentially a danger. In opening arguments Tuesday, prosecutor Sarah Chasson said the court should not allow Hinckley to be released "to protect public safety."

Chasson said Secret Service agents will testify they kept an eye on Hinckley in Williamsburg during the short periods of time earlier this year when he was allowed free time on his own. According

For what reason was he found not guilty?

Answer: Hinckley had given the woman "multiple rings."

Answer: Hinckley

Answer: Hinckley

Answer: of insanity,

Answer: Hinckley had given the woman "multiple rings."

Summary:
Hinckley until recently was engaged to a former patient, a doctor says .
He had tried a singles group but "was asked to leave," the doctor says .
His "treatment team" wants him to spend more time in Williamsburg, the doctor says .
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of President Reagan .


Washington (CNN) -- John Kerry got Swift-boated. Jimmy Carter had his re-election chances decimated in the Iranian desert. Then there was Michael Dukakis and that tank photo.

It is a tradition of presidential politics in recent decades that Democrats get accused of being soft and inexperienced on military and foreign policy issues, and Barack Obama was no different in 2008.

However, a string of foreign policy successes -- including the killings of terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, and now the toppling of the Gadhafi regime in Libya without the loss of any U.S. service members -- have made Obama seemingly invulnerable to the quadrennial Republican attack line.

The question is whether it will matter a year from now, when voters decide if he should get a second term.

To analysts interviewed Monday, the president's policies and actions during almost three years in power have helped him shed the knee-jerk, anti-war reputation affixed to Democrats since the Vietnam era.

They cite increased drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, including the one that killed the U.S.-born al-Awlaki, as well as the Special Forces mission that raided a compound in Pakistan housing bin Laden.

"Those actions demonstrate a degree of toughness that insulates him from the charge of being soft on defense," said Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.

However, voter dissatisfaction with 9% unemployment and crawling economic recovery is likely to overwhelm any benefit the president gets from foreign policy successes, said David Gergen, a CNN senior political analyst.

According to Gergen, the association of Democrats with liberal pacifism dates back decades.

In the middle of the 20th century, he noted, Democrats were the party of international engagement willing to "bear any burden" to defend the nation and its interests, as President John F. Kennedy put it at his 1961 inaugural address.

Then the Vietnam War deeply divided the country, with Democrats becoming inextricably linked to the fervent anti-war movement by nominating liberal South Dakota Sen. George McGovern for president in 1972, according to Gergen.

In subsequent decades, the perception persisted of Democrats as liberals who were soft on communism and unwilling to use military force.

In 1980, the failure of a military mission in Iran ordered by Carter to rescue 52 Americans held hostage since the revolution the previous year cemented his image as a weak leader.

Crashed helicopters in the desert became the foreign policy symbol of a presidency that helped orchestrate the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. Carter then was defeated by Ronald Reagan in the presidential election that year.

Eight years later. Dukakis saw his campaign against then-Vice President George H.W. Bush undermined in part by a photo that sought to prop up his military credentials by showing him riding a tank. However, the image of Dukakis in what appeared to be an over-large military helmet with his name affixed to the front, his tie and business shirt visible beneath military outer garb, instead prompted ridicule.

The "soft on war" legacy for Democrats continued in 2004, when Kerry came under fierce, privately funded attacks that accused him of falsifying his account of a battle that earned him a Silver Star as a Swift boat operator, as well as making false claims about misconduct by other U.S. forces in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The campaign against Kerry coined the phrase "swift-boating" in reference to an acute, partisan and not necessarily truthful political attack. It also turned what should have been a benefit for Kerry -- his war record compared to the non-service in Vietnam by Republican incumbent George W. Bush -- into a controversial issue. Kerry lost the election.

For Obama, what was perhaps his greatest foreign policy triumph -- the covert mission to send U.S. special forces into Pakistan after bin Laden -- came close to the kind of failure that plagued Carter's rescue mission 31 years earlier.

One of the U.S. helicopters involved became disabled, forcing a change in how the mission was carried out. This time, though, the U.S. forces were able to infiltrate bin Laden's compound, kill

Foreign policy wins fortify the president against what?

What may trump foreign policy successes?

Answer: the quadrennial Republican attack line.

Answer: voter dissatisfaction with 9% unemployment and crawling economic recovery

Summary:
Foreign policy wins fortify the president against Vietnam-era criticism of Democrats .
Analyst: President Obama is tougher than Jimmy Carter was .
Domestic woes may trump foreign policy successes, however .


Washington (CNN) -- Just one in 10 Latino high school dropouts earns a high school equivalency degree, compared with two in 10 African-American dropouts and three in 10 white dropouts, the Pew Hispanic Center said Thursday.

The equivalency degree, called the General Educational Development (GED) credential, "is widely regarded as the best 'second chance' pathway to college, vocational training and military service for adults who do not graduate from high school," the center said on its website.

Latinos also have a much higher high school drop-out rate than blacks or whites. About 41 percent of Latinos 20 and older in the United States do not have a regular high school diploma, compared with 23 percent of black adults and 14 percent of white adults, Pew said.

Among Latinos, Pew noted, significant differences exist between those who were born in another country and those born in the United States. About 52 percent of foreign-born Latino adults are high school dropouts, compared with 25 percent of the native born, Pew said.

Among Latino dropouts, about 21 percent of those born in the United States have a GED, compared with 5 percent of those born abroad, the research center said.

A greater percentage of U.S.-born Latinos obtain GEDs because they are more aware of the opportunities available to them, said Richard Fry, the Pew Hispanic Center researcher who compiled the report.

"For the foreign-born, it takes them a little bit of time to learn about the GED," Fry told CNN. "It takes a little bit of time to figure things out."

Fry said he obtained the information by performing an analysis of newly available educational attainment data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey. That Census Bureau survey was the first to differentiate between those who graduated from high school and those who obtained a GED, Fry said. Previous surveys had lumped both categories together.

The Pew analysis also found that in 2008, Latino adults with a GED had a higher unemployment rate than those with a high school diploma -- 9 percent versus 7 percent. However, the report said, Latino full-time, full-year workers with a GED had about the same mean annual earnings ($33,504) as full-time, full-year Latino workers with a high school diploma ($32,972).

The Pew Hispanic Center is a nonpartisan research organization that does not take positions on policy issues.

Release of the report comes amid heightened tensions over a recent Arizona law that requires immigrants to carry their registration documents at all times and allows police to question individuals' immigration status in the process of enforcing any other law or ordinance.

Opponents have called for an Arizona tourism boycott and the measure has drawn criticism from Mexico and several Latin American nations.

Fry said timing of the report's release was coincidental.

"There's nothing magical about it," he said. "The report's been done for about a week or so and it was time to get it out the door."

CNN's Arthur Brice contributed to this report.

What is the Latino high school dropout rate?

Is there a difference in drop-out rate between Latinos born in the U.S. and those born abroad?

Answer: Pew Hispanic Center

Answer: Pew Hispanic Center

Answer: exist between those who were born in another country and those born in the United States. About 52 percent of foreign-born Latino adults are high school dropouts, compared

Answer: 41 percent

Answer: with 25 percent of the native

Summary:
At 41 percent, Latinos have higher high school dropout rate than blacks, whites, study finds .
Study finds differences between Latinos born in United States and those born abroad .
For foreign-born Latinos, "it takes a little bit of time to figure things out," researcher says .
Pew Hispanic Center, which conducted study, says report's timing unrelated to Arizona law .


Washington (CNN) -- Justice Antonin Scalia is a conservative in thought, but not in personality. A new biography of the colorful Supreme Court jurist paints a complete picture of his enormous ongoing influence on the law and society. "American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia" (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) offers the first comprehensive look at the first Italian-American on the high court, and the rhetorical battles he has waged on the court and off. CNN spoke with Joan Biskupic, the book's author, who also is a reporter for USA Today. Biskupic has covered the high court for two decades, holds a law degree from Georgetown University and has also written a biography of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. CNN: Justice Scalia has a certain public image in the minds of many Americans. You've known him for years and interviewed him several times for this book. Is he the same in private? Biskupic: He's a lot more of himself in private. He actually is very confrontational behind the scenes, just as he is in public. He's very defiant. But he also can be quite funny, quite casual, generous and decent. His best friend on the bench is Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg [a low-key, liberal justice but, like Scalia, a native New Yorker who loves opera]. He's many things. He's very consistent on the law, but he's a lot of things in terms of his personality. CNN: He has told me that one of the happiest times in his career was in the executive branch, where he said that's where the action was, instead of serving on the bench. Biskupic: Remember what it was like working in the [Department of Justice's] Office of Legal Counsel in the post-Watergate era [in the Nixon and Ford administrations]. It was an exciting job for him, there was a lot of tension, and conflicts with the legislative branch. He really thrived on that. At a time when many Republican lawyers were trying to get out of the Nixon administration, as Watergate was moving to a climax, he was trying to move up and be promoted. He sparred with Democratic lawmakers, and was trying to exert executive privilege claims, when that was a dirty word in the wake of Watergate. CNN: Growing up, you describe "Nino" -- as his friends and family call him -- as something of a golden child. Biskupic: I'd always known he was an only child, who, interestingly, later went on to have nine children, but I didn't know he was the only offspring of his generation from two immigrant Italian families. For his parents and his aunts and uncles, he was the center of their universe, but it put a burden on him to perform, to be this special child. I found the conflicts in terms of being a product of two different families continue to reveal himself. The father was quite cerebral, was a professor, always had his nose in a book, he didn't abide any kind of silliness. And his mother's side was much more flamboyant. You had these contrasting families, and, as I write in the book, he learned to deal with conflict and tension early on in his life, and went on to readily generate it as an adult. CNN: Many conservatives worship Scalia, and yet you suggest his influence has not had as far-reaching an effect inside the high court as many believe it to be. How do his colleagues view him? Biskupic: I talked to his colleagues about where he's at. Justice [John Paul] Stevens says he is committed -- some of his impact made a huge difference, some of it unfortunate. Stevens, the senior liberal, has dueled with Justice Scalia dozens of times, from Bush v. Gore [the 2000 presidential election dispute] to recent dilemmas testing the Guantanamo detainees. Justice Ginsburg, his closest friend on the court, sees his influence beyond the marble walls, and that's the way I've been mostly viewing him

What does the biography look at?
What was the biography a look into?
What does author describe Scalia as?
What did the author describe?

Answer: the first Italian-American on the high court, and the rhetorical battles he has waged on the court and off.

Answer: at the first Italian-American on the high court, and the rhetorical battles he has waged on the court and off.

Answer: conservative in thought, but not in personality.

Answer: "American Original: The Life

Summary:
Biography looks at conservative, confrontational jurist's influence on law, society .
Author describes Scalia as a product of contrasting families who has thrived on conflict .
She says Scalia's best friend on court is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a low-key, liberal justice .
Author says she wanted a book that would demystify Scalia, make people understand him .


Washington (CNN) -- Latino voters strongly support President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party, despite dissatisfaction with the administration's deportation policies, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The results are good news for Obama and Democrats for next year's election, as Hispanics are the fastest-growing population group in the country and comprise a major voting bloc.

According to the survey, Latino registered voters favor Obama over Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney or Texas Gov. Rick Perry by margin of more than 2-to-1.

The results are similar to the presidential election in 2008, when Obama got 67% of the Latino vote compared with 31% for Republican candidate Sen. John McCain.

Hispanic voters have traditionally identified with the Democratic Party, and the Pew survey's results showed that connection continues. It said two-thirds of Hispanic registered voters identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party, while 20% felt that way about the Republican Party.

"It is interesting that among Latino voters, the voters who are registered, there is a lot of support for the Democrats, but also for Barack Obama," Mark Hugo Lopez, executive director of the Pew Hispanic Center, said in an interview with CNN.

The survey of 1,200 Hispanic adults was conducted in English and Spanish from November 9 through December 7, and has a margin of error of 3.6%.

While showing strong Latino support for Obama and Democrats, the survey also showed Hispanics dislike immigration policies of the Obama administration, which increased deportations to 395,000 in 2009 and 387,000 in 2010.

According to the Pew survey, 59% of Latino respondents disapproved of the administration's handling of deportations, while 27% approved.

At the same time, the survey found that less than half of the Hispanic respondents -- 41% -- knew that more deportations were occurring under the Obama administration than the Bush administration that preceded it.

A strong majority -- 77% -- of Latino respondents who were aware of the increased deportations under Obama disapproved of his administration's policy, while just over half of those unaware of the increase also expressed disapproval.

Hispanics accounted for 97% of deportees in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

More than 90% of Latino respondents in the survey support the DREAM Act, a Democratic measure pushed by Obama that provides a pathway to legal residency for children of illegal immigrants who attend college or serve in the military. Republicans have blocked passage of the measure in Congress.

In the interview with CNN, the Pew Hispanic Center's Lopez said that the most important issues for Hispanic registered voters were jobs, education and health care -- the same as in past years.

CNN's Catherine Shoichet contributed to this report.

what are the main issues for hispanic respondents

what group supported obama for strong problems

what group sruveyed diaspprove of increased deportations

did latinos disapprove of increased deportations?

What level is hispanic support for President Obama?

Answer: jobs, education and health care

Answer: President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party,

Answer: Latino voters

Answer: Latino respondents

Answer: the administration's deportation policies,

Answer: disapproved of the administration's handling of

Answer: 67%

Answer: jobs, education and health care

Summary:
Hispanic support for President Obama is strong over possible Republican opponents .
Latinos surveyed disapprove of increased deportations under the Obama administration .
The main issues for Hispanic respondents are jobs, education and health care .


Washington (CNN) -- Law enforcement officers arrested 22 people Friday in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, as part of an effort to shut down so-called pill mills distributing illegal prescription drugs.

Those arrested include five doctors and two pharmacists, federal officials said.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the latest busts send "a clear message that in Florida, which has long been an epicenter for the illegal use and distribution of prescription drugs, the days of easily acquiring these drugs from corrupt doctors and pharmacists are numbered."

The arrests were made as part of Operation Pill Nation II. Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Michele Leonhart said the operation is part of a strategy to end "Florida's role as an epicenter for rogue pain clinics in the United States."

In addition to Friday's arrests, federal and local law enforcement officers also executed six search warrants in the Tampa area and served orders to a doctor and a pharmacy, immediately revoking their authority to dispense or prescribe controlled substances such as pain medication, according to U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill. Forty-nine other arrests were made earlier in the operation.

Asked whether the crackdown could hamper the ability of people with legitimate needs for pain medicine to get it, Leonhart said, "a legitimate patient going to a legitimate doctor has no problem."

Leonhart noted the ease of distinguishing real caregivers from pill mills, which run a "cash and carry" business and do not examine patients before prescribing drugs.

Operation Pill Nation I began in South Florida in February. Forty-seven people have been arrested so far in the region, including 17 doctors and five clinic owners, according to federal officials. Seventy doctors and six pharmacies there have lost their ability to dispense controlled substances. In addition, more than $18.9 million in cash and other assets have been seized.

Friday's arrests come as the DEA prepares to hold its third Prescription Drug Take Back on Saturday as part of its nationwide efforts to stop the abuse of prescription drugs. Five thousand DEA collection sites will be sprinkled around the country where people can dispose of drugs that may have expired or are unwanted. The DEA said two earlier collection drives brought in more than 309 tons of drugs.

when Federal officials want to shut down clinics distributing prescription drugs illegally?

who  want to shut down clinics distributing prescription drugs illegally?

who calls Florida "an epicenter for rogue pain clinics"?

Answer: Friday

Answer: distributing illegal prescription drugs.

Answer: five doctors and two pharmacists,

Answer: Law enforcement officers

Answer: Michele Leonhart

Answer: distributing illegal prescription drugs.

Summary:
Five doctors and two pharmacists are among those arrested .
Federal officials want to shut down clinics distributing prescription drugs illegally .
DEA administrator calls Florida "an epicenter for rogue pain clinics"


Washington (CNN) -- Legendary performers mingled with Washington heavyweights as the 32nd annual Kennedy Center Honors paid tribute to five people on Sunday night.

"On a day like this, I remember, I'm the president, but he's 'The Boss,'" President Obama said as he saluted Bruce Springsteen. The singer and songwriter was honored for his lifetime of contributions to the performing arts, as were writer, composer, actor, director and producer Mel Brooks; pianist and composer Dave Brubeck; opera singer Grace Bumbry; and actor, director and producer Robert De Niro.

Notables such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, broadcaster Barbara Walters and television personality Jon Stewart helped fete the performers.

Describing the honorees, the Kennedy Center said: "With his hilarious movies and musicals, Mel Brooks has created comedic gems that will keep us laughing for years to come. Dave Brubeck's genius has dazzled us for six decades and has helped to define an American art form. Grace Bumbry helped to break the color barrier on her way to one of the most illustrious operatic careers in the 20th century.

"One of America's greatest cinematic actors, Robert De Niro has demonstrated a legendary commitment to his characters and has co-founded one of the world's major film festivals. With his gritty and honest songs that speak to the everyman, Bruce Springsteen has always had his finger on the pulse of America."

The honorees are selected by the Kennedy Center's Board of Trustees based on contributions to American culture, through dance, music, opera, theater, movies or television.

This year's celebration is to be shown in a two-hour special on CBS on December 29.

who was honoured
Who was honored that day ?
Dave Brubeck is what?
What is Mel brooks job ?
Who were among those honored?
who was saluting honorees

Answer: Bruce Springsteen.

Answer: Bruce Springsteen.

Answer: pianist and composer

Answer: writer, composer, actor, director and producer

Answer: Bruce Springsteen.

Answer: President Obama

Summary:
Among those honored: Actor Robert de Niro, singer Bruce Springsteen .
Writer/actor/director Mel Brooks, jazz great Dave Brubeck, opera singer Grace Bumbry also on list .
President Obama, TV personality Jon Stewart among those saluting honorees .


Washington (CNN) -- Lithuania's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected a report from lawmakers saying the country had hosted secret CIA prisons as part of the "war on terror."

"There are neither facts nor information that secret CIA detention centers existed in Lithuania," the ministry said in a statement, contradicting Amnesty International statements a day earlier based on a report by Lithuanian lawmakers.

"It has neither concluded that the territory of Lithuania was used to transfer persons under suspicion of terrorism nor that such persons had been brought in or transported from the territory of Lithuania," the Foreign Ministry said of the parliamentary report.

Amnesty International said a day earlier that the former Soviet republic, now a NATO member, had become the first country to admit it hosted secret CIA detention centers for terror suspects.

The tiny country on the Baltic Sea contained two "black sites," the group said -- the first holding a single prisoner in 2002. In 2004, a former riding school outside the capital, Vilnius, was converted to hold up to eight detainees, according to the Lithuanian parliamentary report, Amnesty International said.

The Bush administration came under fierce criticism for the alleged practice of "extraordinary rendition" -- capturing suspected terrorists in one country, moving them to another country without proper legal protections, and using "enhanced interrogation techniques" on them.

Opponents of the practice say the interrogations amounted to torture.

Former CIA agent Bob Ayers explained Tuesday how it worked.

"There were flights coming in from the battlefields and Iraq or Afghanistan. There were flights that were coming in from other nation-states which were not at war but we were collaborating with -- for example, Egypt or Jordan -- where suspected terrorists were picked up and brought to the interrogation centers where they were interrogated," he said.

"And then the information gained from those interrogations was then shared among the participating nations."

The Obama administration says it no longer operates black sites, but has not formally ended the process of extraordinary rendition.

A CIA spokesman declined to confirm or deny the Lithuanian lawmakers' report.

"The agency's terrorist detention program is over, and the CIA has not commented publicly on where facilities associated with that effort may or may not have been," said Paul Gimigliano of the CIA Office of Public Affairs. He added that the allegation that Lithuania hosted black sites was "not new."

Amnesty International said it was not important whether the allegation was new or not.

"Confirmation of the existence of a secret prison in Lithuania marks a modern low point for human rights protection in Europe," said Julia Hall, Amnesty International's expert on counterterrorism in Europe.

"But the Lithuanian inquiry signals a turning point in the quest for the truth about what role European states played in helping the United States in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Other European governments should take note and commit to full investigations of similar serious allegations."

Other European states, like Poland and Romania, have also been accused by human rights groups -- and even the European Parliament and the Council of Europe -- of housing secret CIA prisons and colluding in extraordinary renditions. Lithuania's parliamentary report may put more pressure on other states to come clean.

But there are lingering doubts about aspects of the report by the Lithuanian parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense.

It accuses the Lithuanian security services of providing the CIA with the facilities without the knowledge of the country's political leadership.

Analysts say that seems unlikely.

"To think that any national government would have foreign aircraft flying into its airspace, people being taken from aircraft and moved to control facilities somewhere within their sovereign territories -- and neither the central government, police, customs or air traffic control, no one knew anything about this except for the head of the security service ... that's just not believable," said Ayers, the former CIA officer.

It would be a violation of Lithuanian law if true, Amnesty pointed out.

"The Lithuanian government should have known what its own agencies were doing and is ultimately responsible for the

What report was denied by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry?

What does Lithuanian Foreign Ministry deny?

What did Lithuanian lawmakers report on Tuesday?

What does the Amnesty International reprt show?

Answer: the country had hosted secret CIA prisons as part of the "war on terror."

Answer: the country had hosted secret CIA prisons as part of the "war on terror."

Answer: "There are neither facts nor information that secret CIA detention centers existed in Lithuania,"

Answer: country had hosted secret CIA prisons as part of the "war on terror."

Answer: declined to confirm or deny

Answer: the country had hosted secret CIA prisons as part of the "war on terror."

Answer: prisons

Summary:
Lithuanian lawmakers reported Tuesday the country hosted CIA "black sites," group says .
Amnesty International says report shows Lithuania took part in "extraordinary rendition"
Lithuanian Foreign Ministry denies the report in Wednesday statement .
CIA spokesman refuses to confirm or deny, says "terrorist detention program is over"