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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government says it has banned all organized visits to Saddam Hussein's grave amid concern over support for the late dictator's former party.
An Iraqi poet, left, gives a recital while children carry pictures of Saddam Hussein over his grave.
A Cabinet statement on Monday said it had directed authorities in Salaheddin province and the Education Ministry to "take all necessary measures" to prevent such outings.
The former dictator, along with his two sons and other relatives, is buried in his hometown of al-Ouja near Tikrit in Salaheddin north of Baghdad. And, Hussein supporters and schoolchildren have made visits there on the late dictator's birthday and hanging date.
There have been videos on sites such as YouTube of people at the site.
One video shows schoolchildren at the grave in December; they carried banners at Hussein's grave that said "We won't forget you father" and they read pro-Hussein poetry.
The government move was made after a recent visit by schoolchildren to the grave, but no reason was given for the decision.
However, the move reflects the concern of Iraq's government over the presence of the Baath Party in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's political movement.
The party and its symbols have been banned in Iraq.
On Saturday, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters that while there can be government reconciliation with individual Baathists who have not committed crimes such as killing Iraqis, there can never be national reconciliation with the party itself.
Salaheddin Gov. Mutasher Hussein Alaiwi, said he had not received any official directives yet, but said he would implement Cabinet orders when he receives them.
The governor said that would apply to organized group visits, but they would not stop individual ones.
A resident of al-Ouja told CNN the government had no right to stop visitors from going to their former president's tomb.
"Even if they put police and army outside the door, they will not stop us from visiting our president, our leader and our father," said Mohammed al- Nasiri.
Hussein was executed in 2006 after an Iraqi court sentenced him to death for crimes against humanity.
|
110e336a768d485fbf79b6c717fd3ff9
|
where was the former dictator buried
|
[
"in his hometown of al-Ouja near Tikrit in Salaheddin north of Baghdad."
] |
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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Investigators are looking into whether employees at the Los Angeles County coroner's office illegally leaked information about Michael Jackson's death probe to the news media, according to a sheriff's spokesman.
Police stand outside the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office when Michael Jackson's body was there in June.
Vivid descriptions of Jackson's corpse, which was in the coroner's custody for an autopsy, were published by tabloid newspapers in the days after his death.
The Los Angeles County Supervisors office on Friday asked the sheriff to conduct a "preliminary inquiry," which will determine whether there is enough evidence to launch a full investigation, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman.
Whitmore did not provide details on what prompted the request.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as saying his office called the sheriff's department after reports that coroner's employees not involved in the Jackson death probe had viewed his death certificate in the office database.
Ridley-Thomas has not responded to CNN requests for comment.
The coroner's office is investigating the cause of Jackson's June 25 death. It has been waiting on toxicology lab results, but a final autopsy report is expected as soon as next week, a coroner's spokesman has said.
Los Angeles police are also investigating the death. Detectives traveled to Houston, Texas, this week to search the medical office of Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal doctor.
CNN's Sonya Hamasaki contributed to this report
|
04d1a4e4cf8043e2a9ecf9c9192594fb
|
What is the date of Michael Jackson's death?
|
[
"June 25"
] |
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|
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- A federal judge ordered 10 municipal police officers arrested Saturday in connection with the slayings of 12 off-duty federal agents in southwestern Mexico, the attorney general's office said.
The recent spate of violence was sparked by the arrest of high-ranking drug cartel member Arnoldo Rueda Medina.
The federal officers' bodies were found Tuesday on a remote highway in Michoacan state, where at least 18 federal agents and two soldiers have been killed since July 11 due to drug-related violence.
Video from the scene showed three signs, known as narcomensajes, or narcomessages, left by the killers. They all stated the same thing: "So that you come for another. We will be waiting for you here."
The officers arrested Saturday are on the police force in the city of Arteaga.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose home state is Michoacan, responded to the violence by dispatching 1,000 federal police officers to the area. The infusion, which more than tripled the number of federal police officers patrolling Michoacan, angered Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy Rangel. He called it an occupation and said he had not been consulted.
Authorities said Wednesday they were searching for the governor's half-brother, who they say is a top-ranking member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel. The cartel is blamed for most of the recent violence in the state. The governor's brother, Julio Cesar Godoy Toscano, was elected July 5 to the lower house of Congress.
The governor has publicly urged his brother to surrender. There were no reports of his apprehension as of late Saturday.
The sudden spike in violence followed the arrest July 11 of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, described as a high-ranking member of La Familia.
La Familia members attacked the federal police station in Morelia to try to gain freedom for Rueda shortly after his arrest, authorities said. When that failed, cartel members attacked federal police installations in at least a half-dozen Michoacan cities.
Under Mexican law, the officers arrested Saturday will be held for 40 days while officials determine whether to formally charge them.
|
a9f6ef6087814d8c8ebcc74e8569c003
|
Who were arrested?
|
[
"10 municipal police officers"
] |
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(Oprah.com) -- When Chicagoan Tammy Jo Long visited Savannah, Georgia, ten years ago, she was delighted by its fountain-filled parks, corner cafés -- and grand architecture.
Long had always been a design aficionado, but the Italianate and Victorian homes she encountered in Savannah became "an obsession," she says. "I saw a mansion with enormous cornices and cast-iron window surrounds, and I was hooked." So hooked, in fact, that she decided to buy a second home there, closing the deal on her next visit.
Oprah.com: What's Your Design Style?
Her learning curve:
Long was determined to restore her new house to its original glory. Though she'd remodeled a few kitchens and bathrooms over the years, a historically accurate renovation that did justice to the Savannah architecture she loved was daunting.
Oprah.com: 5 things a professional organizer wants you to know
But the all-nighters spent poring over floor plans and scouring eBay for doorknobs paid off: Every detail of the home -- from the crown moldings to the brass finger pulls -- is as it was in the 1800s. Yearning to share her handiwork, Long turned the home into a vacation rental. Soon, enchanted out-of-towners were eagerly booking their stays.
Oprah.com: ingenious ways to decorate small spaces
Her business model:
In 2003 Long quit her job in sales and bought and restored four more homes, traveling between Savannah and Chicago (where she and her ex-husband share custody of their 9-year-old son). "Some of the properties had been vacant for 20 years," Long says. "They had rats you could put a saddle on."
Oprah.com: 5 savvy storage solutions from stylish women
They're now certified landmarks -- with 14-foot ceilings, elaborate plaster medallions, and sweeping staircases -- and can be experienced firsthand through Luxury Living Savannah, Long's vacation rental company. As much as she adores re-creating these relics, Long loves sharing them even more. "People get to stay in a piece of history," she says. "Women get to be Scarlett O'Hara for the weekend. I take great pleasure in that."
Oprah.com: 8 people who turned their dreams into reality
Subscribe to O, The Oprah Magazine for up to 75% off the newsstand price. That's like getting 18 issues FREE.
Subscribe now!
TM & © 2011 Harpo Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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0df4ca29948c4831a6acfe38d43392e9
|
What is available for rent?
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[
"the home"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- -- Federal officials have fined Exxon Mobil more than $6 million after it violated a three-year-old agreement to decrease air pollution at four of its refineries.
Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, Texas, is one of four that the EPA said had high sulfur emissions.
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that the oil giant agreed to pay $6.1 million after Environmental Protection Agency officials determined the company had not sufficiently reduced sulfur emissions in its refineries in Baytown and Beaumont, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Torrance, California.
Exxon Mobil had paid a $7.7 million fine in its original 2005 agreement with the government and promised to install new emissions controls at the refineries.
The petroleum company said after the latest settlement its refineries now meet the required EPA standards on sulfur emissions.
The company's role in environmental pollution has been in the spotlight ever since the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska, the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
This past summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the company to pay $507 million in punitive damages from the incident, down from an original $2.5 billion judgment.
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4d7d8172b4d34e70b99517167fd5fdb3
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Company that says the refineries meet EPA standards?
|
[
"Exxon Mobil"
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Pandora, the music-streaming service that's a soundtrack for many a desk-bound music lover, rolled out a slate of changes Wednesday, even as a host of up-and-comers are emerging in the online music space.
"New Pandora," according to a post on the music service's blog, is "more responsive, easier to use, and better integrated with the friends and music lovers in your life."
"For the last two months we've been gradually rolling a preview of the new site out to our listeners, taking their feedback, fixing bugs and making improvements here and there," Tom Conrad, Pandora's founder, said in the post. "With all those little fixes and refinements in place, today we're rolling out the new site for everyone."
Among the new features on the site, which uses what creators call the "Music Genome Project" to predict users' tastes based on the songs they've already liked, are:
-- Simplified station creation
-- A bigger focus on social interaction. Enhanced user profiles let friends "like" or comment on what they've been listening to and share songs or stations with friends on Pandora as well as on Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites.
-- More information about the song that's playing and its artist -- including lyrics and detailed biographies.
-- Removing the 40-hour per month listening cap to let users listen for as long as they want for free. (An "abuse prevention limit" of 320 hours a month still exists, so if you plan to listen for more than 13 entire days, watch out).
The social changes will roll out to users over the next few days, according to the blog post. Users may edit what others can see using Pandora's privacy settings page.
The changes also place ads more prominently on Pandora's pages. As of July, Pandora had 100 million registered users and 36 million monthly active users.
Eric Mac of PCWorld gave the Pandora overhaul high marks.
"The new design certainly feels a lot less 2005," he wrote. "It has a clearer, more intuitive user interface that includes a large control bar at the top of the screen with the familiar play, next track, thumbs up, and thumbs down buttons. Loading times do seem faster, although not always instantaneous as promised."
The overhaul comes as sites like Spotify and turntable.fm have emerged as hot new commodities in the increasingly crowded online music space.
And Facebook is expected to unveil a free music service as early as Thursday -- potentially leveraging its massive user base as an audience.
|
1f04c48a194e4524adb51cdcf07c70ac
|
Who is rolling out an overhaul?
|
[
"Pandora,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(Mashable) -- Social payments are taking a giant leap forward. PayPal has unveiled a Facebook app that lets you send money to friends.
The app, simply titled Send Money, is just as straightforward as its name. You have the choice to send either an ecard with money or just money with no card. You select a card, choose a friend to send it to and then select how much money to send.
"The PayPal and Facebook infrastructure have now merged," PayPal's Anuj Nayar says. "This is another way to personalize the act of giving money."
While there are several ways to pay with PayPal via Facebook (Payvment comes to mind), this is the first app to enable peer-to-peer payments via Facebook and PayPal. And because it's a peer-to-peer transaction, there is no transaction fee, though PayPal's regular limits and international fees still apply.
"Sending money, person to person, is free," PayPal Senior Product Marketing Manager JB Coutinho said. "If it's funded by a PayPal balance or linked to a bank account, it's free."
And while the primary aspect of the Send Money app is its enablement of transactions across the world's largest social network, the ecard aspect is being emphasized as well. PayPal was quick to point out that more than 500 million ecards are sent every year, and that's why PayPal is offering dozens of choices for everything from birthdays to congratulations.
We can see the app really taking off. Users who see on Facebook that it's a friend's birthday can quickly fire up the app and send a card and some cash within a few minutes. The app is just as useful for things like lottery pools and reimbursing friends for lunch. It's a big step toward making social payments a reality.
If you want to learn more about the PayPal Send Money Facebook App, we've created a simple walkthrough of the payment process. Check it out in this gallery, and let us know what you think of the app in the comments.
See the original article on Mashable.com
© 2011 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.
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e82b4e1cbf384d34a9efa3bb9417a371
|
What is it that can be sent?
|
[
"Money,"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Development threatens to engulf Civil War battlefields, a preservationist group said as it released its annual list of endangered battle sites on Wednesday.
Civil War reenactors fire a cannon at the Gettysburg, Pennsylavnia, battlefield in 2003.
"In town after town, the irreplaceable battlefields that define those communities are being marred forever," said James Lighthizer, the head of the Civil War Preservation Trust.
"As we approach the sesquicentennial of the bloodiest conflict in our nation's history, we need to be more aware than ever of the importance of preserving these sacred places for generations to come."
The group says it has helped save more than 25,000 acres of Civil War battlefields in 18 states.
Topping the 2009 list of endangered battlefields is Monocacy, Maryland, where the Preservation Trust wants to prevent a trash-processing facility with a 350-foot smokestack from being built nearby.
In Virginia, the group is fighting to keep a Wal-Mart Supercenter from going up on the edge of the Wilderness Battlefield, which also is on this year's list. On that site, 160,000 Union and Confederate troops fought a two-day battle in 1864.
"These hallowed battlegrounds should be national shrines, monuments to American valor, determination and courage," actor Richard Dreyfuss said in prepared remarks. "Once these irreplaceable treasures are gone, they're gone forever." Dreyfuss has been involved in a pair of Civil War documentaries.
Rounding out the group's Top 10 list of endangered battlefields are:
|
ef93a33d43ec485d9349cfd37e3f82df
|
What might be built near a Maryland battlefield?
|
[
"Wal-Mart Supercenter"
] |
NewsQA
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- London commuters crammed onto buses, scrambled for taxis, cycled or simply walked on Wednesday as a strike by Tube workers shut down most of the subway network.
Commuters queue for packed buses in London on Wednesday morning.
The strike began Tuesday at 7 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) but the first full effects were felt during Wednesday's morning commute. The strike was set to last for 48 hours with a normal service resuming Friday morning, according to Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city's transportation network.
The RMT trade union called the strike after talks with management over pay, job cuts, and disciplinary issues broke down.
"RMT doesn't resort to industrial action lightly," General Secretary Bob Crow said in a statement. "The fact is that Tube workers have been driven into walking out today."
Transport Commissioner Peter Hardy said the talks had been making progress on all issues and he urged the RMT to return to the table.
"The RMT leadership says we were close to a deal," Hardy said in a statement. "If that is the case, then they should call off the strike, return to talks ... and resolve this issue without any more disruption to Londoners."
TfL was running extra buses and free shuttle services across the River Thames during the strike. Electronic travel cards used for the TfL network were temporarily being allowed on all train lines in greater London, it said.
While most services on the Tube were shut because of the strike, one line -- the Northern line -- was running normally and five others were running on a reduced schedule, TfL said.
"It's been really good," a girl on Oxford Street told CNN about her commute. "The Northern line is running perfectly."
Still, some bus services were packed with commuters who normally ride the underground trains or who failed to find a taxi.
"I think we'd all like to strike for more money, but unfortunately we can't," said one woman at Oxford Circus, where the Tube is closed.
Others hit the pavement and walked.
"It's OK -- quite refreshing," said a man on Regent Street. He said he had just walked from Liverpool Street Station, a train station as well as a Tube stop that is more than 2.5 miles away.
The RMT represents about half of the 20,000 employees on the Tube, a TfL spokeswoman said. Other unions including Unite and TSSA represent the rest, she said, and were not on strike.
|
36252bf0e8b24cde9c821b01b370f4fe
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what was the strike over
|
[
"pay, job cuts, and disciplinary issues"
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- Three runners died Sunday during the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon in Detroit, Michigan, police told CNN.
An EMT vehicle is at the scene Sunday in Detroit after three runners collapsed at a marathon.
All three deaths occurred between 9 and 9:20 a.m. ET, Second Deputy Chief John Roach said.
A man in his 60s fell and hit his head, Roach said. The cause of the fall was unknown. The man was transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Two other men, ages 36 and 26, also collapsed during the race and were pronounced dead at the hospital, Roach said.
All three collapsed near the end of the race, he said. Witnesses describe scene »
The weather at the time was overcast, Roach said, with temperatures in the low 40s.
CNN's Chuck Johnston contributed to this report.
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5a4e373f89434f03a90e3df2d725ee75
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At what time-span did the death occur?
|
[
"occurred between 9 and 9:20 a.m. ET,"
] |
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(CNN) -- A female graduate student at Virginia Tech was killed Wednesday night when a man she knew attacked her with a knife and decapitated her, a school spokesman said.
Virginia Tech police Chief Wendell Flinchum talks about the first slaying on campus since the 2007 shootings.
Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said Thursday that Xin Yang's killing was the first on the campus since April 16, 2007, when a shooter killed 32 people before turning a gun on himself.
Yang, 22, from Beijing, China, was killed at the Au Bon Pain restaurant in the Graduate Life Center at around 7 p.m., school spokesman Larry Hincker said in a written statement.
Campus police took Haiyang Zhu, 25, into custody at the scene. The Ningbo, China, native has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail at a local jail, Hincker said.
Zhu did not say anything to the arresting officers, said campus police Chief Wendell Flinchum.
"There was blood on him," Flinchum said. The young woman and the suspect "were not seen arguing, or anything of that nature," he added, citing witness statements.
Authorities said the two students knew each other. "Based on emergency contact records maintained by the university, it is known that Zhu and Yang knew each other," Hincker said. No other details were provided.
The young woman arrived at the university two weeks ago to begin studies in accounting, he said in the statement.
Zhu is a graduate student pursuing a doctorate in agricultural and applied economics. He began studies at Virginia Tech in fall 2008, Hincker said.
"Our hearts go out to the victim and her family," President Charles W. Steger said in a letter to the campus community.
"An act of violence like this one brings back memories of the April 16 tragedy and I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught."
Authorities say on April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and professors before killing himself.
|
2c3fd3342bd84fab9d218dfac1a563d9
|
who was the victum
|
[
"Xin Yang's"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Around 1,000 people accused of being witches in Gambia have been locked up in secret detention centers and forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, according to human rights organization Amnesty International.
Amnesty claims Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, pictured in 2006, invited "witch doctors" to the West African nation.
At least two people have died after drinking the liquid while many more have suffered serious kidney problems. Others suffered injuries as a result of being severely beaten, Amnesty said Wednesday as it called on authorities to "put an immediate stop to the witch-hunting campaign."
Amnesty claimed Gambian President Yahya Jammeh had invited "witch doctors" -- believed to be from neighboring Guinea -- to the West African nation following the death of his aunt.
Jammeh, a former soldier who has ruled Gambia since leading a military coup in 1994, is reported to believe that witchcraft was involved in her death, according to Amnesty.
CNN contacted State House, the presidential residence in the Gambian capital, Banjul, but no-one was available to comment. "I have no information," a woman told CNN.
Victims and their relatives tell Amnesty that "witch doctors" accompanied by police, soldiers and security forces have been visiting villages and seizing people accused of being witches by force and at gunpoint.
Members of Jammeh's personal guard, known as "green boys," are also alleged to have taken part in the campaign.
In the most recent incident on March 9, 300 people from the village of Sintet were forced to go to a farm owned by Jammehk, Amnesty said.
One of those seized said he had been held for five days and forced to drink "dirty water" containing poisonous herbs which caused instant diarrhoea and vomiting.
"I experienced and witnessed such abuse and humiliation. I cannot believe that this type of treatment is taking place in Gambia. It is from the dark ages," the victim told Amnesty.
Hundreds of Gambians have also fled to neighboring Senegal following attacks on their villages, according to Amnesty.
It also said it was concerned that a prominent opposition lawmaker, Halifa Sallah, who was arrested earlier this month after investigating the witchcraft claims for a newspaper, could be at risk of being tortured while in custody.
Halifa, a former presidential candidate, heads the People's Democratic Organization of Independence and Socialism and is minority leader in Gambia's national assembly.
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fc9aa9c8eb024ee696148b51d899f753
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what is the campaign
|
[
"\"put an immediate stop to the witch-hunting campaign.\""
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Fight police misconduct with a cell phone, the NAACP says.
The century-old civil rights organization has launched an online reporting system that lets users upload cell phone images of alleged police abuses.
The Rapid Report System also lets users send text messages and e-mails about alleged misconduct.
"We know that most of police officers around the nation are excellent public servants. But the few who violate people's rights are often not held accountable," said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. "Research has shown that there are many barriers to reporting incidents of police misconduct, including intimidation at police departments and a lack of trust in the integrity of the system, among other reasons. This breakdown leads to an absence of public safety and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities of color."
The NAACP unveiled the online system Monday at its national convention in New York City. Users can post images from their cell phones or online.
Cell phone footage has repeatedly helped spotlight alleged police misconduct in recent years. The fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Oakland, California, on New Year's Day made headlines and spread across the Internet partly because of cell phone video.
The killing sparked large protests in Oakland and led to a murder charge against the transit officer.
|
e027cca9a5544b20bc802abdb47928c8
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What did NAACP unveil?
|
[
"the online system"
] |
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- An oil painting was returned Tuesday to the estate of a Jewish art dealer who was forced to consign the painting and other artwork under Nazi Germany before fleeing the country.
"Portrait of a Musician Playing a Bagpipe" was done in 1632 by an unknown artist.
The painting, "Portrait of a Musician Playing a Bagpipe," was done in 1632 by an unknown painter from the Northern Netherlandish school, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in southern New York.
It was owned by Max Stern, an art dealer who had a gallery in Dusseldorf, Germany, until 1937, when the Nazis' Reich Chamber for Fine Arts ordered him to liquidate the gallery and its inventory, the statement said.
Stern, who died in 1987, left no heirs. He and his wife had founded the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, which directly benefits Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, according to a statement from U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The painting was returned Tuesday -- Holocaust Remembrance Day -- to Clarence Epstein of Concordia University on behalf of the executors of the estate, said Lou Martinez of the immigration agency.
It was returned in a ceremony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, he said.
The painting had been owned by Philip Mould Ltd., a London, England, gallery, when Lawrence Steigrad, a New York art dealer, bought it in 2008, the New York attorney's office said.
Neither had any idea of the painting's past. Philip Mould Ltd. had purchased the painting the year before from Lempertz Auction House. The same auction house sold the painting in 1937 after Stern was forced to liquidate, without receiving any proceeds from the sale, the New York attorney's office said.
Immigration agents used information from a Holocaust claims office in the New York state Banking Department to look into Steigrad's gallery.
The art dealer "confirmed the painting was in his possession." and he eventually allowed agents to seize the painting, the attorney's office said.
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0873f06e740246f9bda5cfe791ab1a74
|
When did Stern die?
|
[
"1987,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- At least two bombs were dropped near the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan, resulting in an undetermined number of casualties, the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.
"We are very concerned that these bombs were dropped in an area where there are thousands of refugees who have gathered after fleeing the violence in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"It is essential that both parties immediately take all steps to protect civilian lives."
In Washington, the office of the White House press secretary said in a statement that the United States "strongly condemns the aerial bombardment by the Sudan Armed Forces of the town of Yida," where more than 20,000 refugees who have fled conflict in the Sudanese state of Southern Kordofan are living.
The Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile State and Nuba Mountain regions straddle Sudan and South Sudan's geographical and political lines. Although these territories are geographically part of Sudan, its population has faced "exclusion, marginalization and discriminatory practices that have resulted in their opposition to the Sudanese government," according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"This bombing of civilians and humanitarian workers is an outrageous act, and those responsible must be held accountable for their actions," the statement said.
The attack follows other bombardments by the Sudan Armed Forces on November 8 near the border that increase the potential for confrontation between Sudan and South Sudan, it said.
"The United States demands the Government of Sudan halt aerial bombardments immediately," the statement said. "We urge the Government of South Sudan to exercise restraint in responding to this provocation to prevent further escalation of hostilities."
It called for a resumption of negotiations by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North.
President H.E. Saliva Kiir Mayardit has said he will not support armed opposition forces fighting against the government of Sudan, the South Sudan government website said.
Kiir said Sudan was threatening the sovereignty of South Sudan "through military invasion."
Liberation army members have clashed with the military of South Sudan, which separated from Sudan and became independent in July. Led by former officers of the southern army that fought neighboring Sudan in a 22-year civil war, the militias have taken up arms against their former comrades and become a challenge for the world's newest nation.
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e94ca558659e470aa19321d3ee1ff662
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what did the south sudan president accuse
|
[
"was threatening the sovereignty of"
] |
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Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Relations between Cambodia and Thailand took a further turn for the worse Tuesday, after ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Phnom Penh to begin his new job there.
Thaksin arrived in Cambodia Tuesday to begin his first day as an economic adviser, a move that has infuriated Thailand.
In response to the relationship with Thaksin, Thailand has suspended its cooperation with Cambodia, a Thai government official said Tuesday.
Thailand has also suspended a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia, an agreement that governs an overlapping waterway between the two countries, said Panitan Wattanayakorn, a Thai government spokesman.
Thai officials also plan to send out an extradition request to Cambodia for Thaksin, the spokesman said.
The actions are the latest moves in worsening relations between the southeast Asian countries that were sparked by Cambodia's hiring of Thaksin.
Last week, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia and, in response, Cambodia pulled its top diplomat to Thailand.
Cambodian officials said Thaksin arrived Tuesday and had a welcome luncheon with Prime Minister Hun Sen and the two were expected to have a friendly dinner later.
Cambodia had not received extradition papers from Thailand, government spokesman Phay Siphan said.
Thaksin, a billionaire businessman who served two terms as prime minister, was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006. Thaksin fled Bangkok last year while facing trial on corruption charges that he said were politically motivated.
Though he has fled the country, he remains a controversial figure in Thailand, and there have been violent clashes in the country between pro and anti-Thaksin groups.
CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this report.
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e60961337e9c4dd294a92a03997785dd
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When did Thaksin fee Thailand?
|
[
"last year"
] |
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|
Atlanta (CNN) -- A number of states, including Georgia, already are putting things in place to opt out of the controversial No Child Left Behind Law, following President Barrack Obama's announcement Friday that states can now apply for waivers.
The law, passed in 2001, requires, among other things, that public schools meet targets designed to make all students proficient in math and reading by 2014 or face penalties. The administration will begin reviewing applications to waive some of the demands the law places on states, Obama said Friday.
Top education officials in Georgia said Friday that it should be up to each individual state to decide how best to evaluate student performance in the classroom. Following the president's announcement, Georgia State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge described his state's alternative to closing the achievement gap.
The College and Career Ready Performance Index, "lets states determine how they approach the guiding principles," Barge said Friday. Georgia is one of a handful of states, including Kentucky, Delaware, and Wisconsin that have expressed interest in waivers seeking flexibility from No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Barge and U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) personally delivered Georgia's request for a waiver to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Tuesday.
Barge said the waiver will give schools more flexibility. "It will not be a matter of the entire accountability label hinging on a single test," he said.
Under the administration's new guidelines, states will be encouraged to devise standards of accountability that do not treat all schools the same.
"The purpose is not to give states and districts a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools at the local level," Obama said in a statement.
In order to gain approval for waivers, states must present the U.S. Department of Education with credible alternative plans to measure performance.
Georgia's proposal focuses on several indicators to measure student performance, including reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies, offering an index that will vary based on grade level.
"With NCLB, science and social studies teachers were not measured to determine adequate yearly progress," Georgia Department of Education Communications Director Matt Cardoza said. "Many times, those teachers would feel their subjects were not as important. Now, there are multiple indicators, including science and social studies."
States that do not apply for waivers will still be expected to meet the guidelines set out by No Child Left Behind. States may submit official applications for waivers by mid-November. Waivers could be granted in early 2010.
CNN's Lesa Jansen contributed to this report
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eaee873e99ea489d9e9159aec63c782b
|
Who announces state waivers?
|
[
"President Barrack Obama's"
] |
NewsQA
|
(PEOPLE.com) -- There's another Brady in the bunch.
Gisele Bündchen and husband Tom Brady welcomed a baby boy on Tuesday night.
Brady announced the news to reporters Wednesday after People.com reported the story. The football star called his son's birth "a wonderful experience in my life." He also told reporters happily, "I didn't get much sleep last night," USA Today reports.
Bündchen, 29, and New England Patriots quarterback Brady, 32, were married in a private ceremony in February in Los Angeles. In April, they held a follow-up wedding for friends and family at Bündchen's Costa Rican estate.
The child is the first for the Brazilian supermodel. Brady has a 2-year-old son, Jack, with actress Bridget Moynahan.
Brady had said earlier this month that he was aware of the baby's gender, but that Bündchen preferred not to know.
"I wanted to find out and she didn't, so she said, 'Go ahead,'" he explained. "It will be a surprise for her."
Reps could not be reached for comment.
PEOPLE.com's Peter Mikelbank contributed to this report.
© 2010 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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ae6601aed8ae44b591db085281ab0380
|
When did the couple get married?
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[
"February"
] |
NewsQA
|
(PEOPLE.com) -- K.D. Lang and her girlfriend are calling it quits.
Lang, 50, filed legal documents to end her domestic partnership with Jamie Price, who's been her partner for nearly nine years.
Lang filed for dissolution of domestic partnership, citing irreconcilable differences, according to the papers filed on December 28 and obtained by PEOPLE. A rep for Lang did not respond to request for comment.
The couple met through their mutual Buddhist teacher, according to New York Magazine.
News of the longtime musician's filing was first reported by TMZ.
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
|
ca4ab97a6ea54170b7cbe3b3c44e6861
|
What did Lang do?
|
[
"filed for dissolution of domestic partnership,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Legendary Austrian skier Hermann Maier has ended his illustrious career at the age of 36 despite having recovered from knee surgery.
Hermann Maier is known for his spectacular all-action style -- and crashes -- on the piste.
The two-time Olympic champion, winner of three world titles and four World Cup overall crowns, has fought back to full fitness after his operation at the end of March, but decided he was ready to bow out after a 13-season career.
"I have decided that I will draw a line and end my career as a ski racer as of today," Maier told reporters in Vienna on Tuesday.
"My big goal was to get back in shape physically, and I have achieved exactly that.
"With regard to my future life, my health was paramount for me and that's why I'm calling it quits now."
Maier, who won gold in the super-G and giant slalom events at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, is known for his spectacular crashes on the piste -- and he overcame a near-fatal motorcycle accident in August 2001 which ruled him out of skiing for a year.
He bounced back to win a World Cup event two weeks after his return in January 2003, and the next year reclaimed his super-G and overall World Cup titles.
Nicknamed "The Herminator" for his physical, all-action style, Maier is the second-most successful male skier after Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark with 54 World Cup race victories to his name.
He won two world titles in super-G and downhill at Vail, Colorado in 1999, and claimed gold in the giant slalom in Bormio, Italy in 2005.
|
d1bcf61cdd1c48c8804ec2bcdfaad12a
|
How many times was he an Olympic champion?
|
[
"two-time"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- World No. 2 Dinara Safina has been forced to pull out of next week's Dubai Tennis Championships due to her ongoing back problems.
The Russian announced on her Web site that she had been suffering from the injury since last year.
"Unfortunately, I will not be able to play the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this year because of the back injury that's been bothering me since the end of last season," the 23-year-old said.
"I wish the tournament the best of success on its 10th anniversary and hope to be back next year, as it's one of my favorite events."
Safina lost her No. 1 ranking for the second time after retiring hurt during her first match at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Qatar in October, and revealed then that she had been struggling with the problem for three months.
Forced to withdraw from her scheduled opening event of 2010, the Brisbane International, Safina was then beaten by compatriot Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals in Sydney.
She had to retire in the fourth round of the Australian Open in the first set of her clash with another Russian, Maria Kirilenko.
Dubai organizers expect the rest of the world's top-10 players to play, including Australian Open winner Serena Williams and her sister Venus, the defending champion.
World No. 1 Serena pulled out of this week's Paris Indoor Open due to a leg injury, leaving Dementieva as the highest-ranked player.
The world No. 7, last year's runner-up to Amelie Mauresmo, has a first-round bye and will begin her title bid against Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic or fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who meet on Tuesday.
In Monday's action, eighth seed Elena Vesnina crushed Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru 6-1 6-4
Hungary's Agnes Szavay walked into the second round when Olga Govortsova of Belarus retired hurt while trailing 6-3 1-0, and will face third seed Yanina Wickmayer in the second round if the Belgian beats Croatian wildcard Petra Martic.
Defending champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia is top seed for this week's other WTA Tour event, the Pattaya Open in Thailand.
|
42fb93d85044461c93cf3774e48a8209
|
Who has been forced to pull out of next week's Dubai Tennis Championships?
|
[
"Dinara Safina"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A group claiming to be the Indonesian arm of the al Qaeda terrorist network is purportedly taking responsibility for a pair of deadly bombs that exploded within minutes of each other at two luxury hotels in Jakarta.
The JW Marriott in Jakarta, Indonesia, which was bombed July 17, is guarded Wednesday.
The July 17 blasts at Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed nine people, including at least two presumed suicide bombers, and wounded more than 50.
On Wednesday, Noordin M. Top -- the suspected leader of a small splinter group of the militant Jemaah Islamiyah, which has ties to al Qaeda -- purportedly issued statements claiming responsibility for the attacks on behalf of "al Qaeda in Indonesia." Top purportedly signed the statements posted on radical Islamist Web sites as the head of al Qaeda in Indonesia.
CNN could not independently authenticate the statements.
One of the statements says the Ritz-Carlton attack was carried out by "one of our mujahedeen warriors against the American lackeys and stooges visiting the hotel."
"God has given us a blessing for us to find a way to attack the biggest hotel that America owns in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta -- the Ritz-Carlton, where security was very tight making it very difficult to initiate the attack that we did," the statement says.
The statement mentions members of Britain's Manchester United soccer team, which had been scheduled to check into the Ritz-Carlton on July 19 but canceled its trip after the bombing.
"Those players are Christians and therefore do not deserve Muslims' money and respect," the statement says.
The other statement addressed the Marriott attack. It claims that the target in that bombing was Americans with ties to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, known as Kadin.
Police say a third bomb had been planted in an 18th floor room of the Marriott two days before the other two bombs exploded. The unexploded bomb -- which was timed to detonate on the upper floor before the first blast tore through the Marriott's lobby area at 7:47 a.m. -- was found and defused, police said.
|
ce7944a9c3f74f42b55e77674f1a4531
|
How many were killed
|
[
"nine people,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Charges of bribery against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton by Nigeria's anti-corruption police may be dropped after an agreement to pay a $250 million fine.
"Discussions focus on the possibility of a plea bargain arrangement," said Femi Babafemi, a spokesman for Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
"Allowing the company and former officials to pay heavy fines in lieu of prosecution ... they would pay $120 million as fines and $130 million from bad money stored in Switzerland from the original deal -- so $250 million in total."
This month, the commission charged Cheney -- who ran Halliburton in the 1990s -- and nine others with "conspiracy and distribution of gratification to public officials."
The investigation is part of a long-running case involving Halliburton and a subsidiary firm, Kellogg, Brown and Root, over alleged bribes paid to Nigerian officials to secure $6 billion worth of contracts for a liquefied natural gas project in the Niger Delta.
The bribes are said to have amounted to $180 million between 1994 and 2004.
The firm pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges in the United States last year and paid a $402 million criminal fine, the U.S. Justice Department said. KBR and Halliburton also paid $177 million to settle civil complaints related to the bribery, the Justice Department said.
Investigations in Nigeria, however, have been ongoing, and there are allegations that the bribes went all the way to the top, to aides, officials and possibly then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Many observers in Nigeria regard the move as a publicity stunt by the commission ahead of national elections in April and as a symbolic effort to display resolve against government corruption.
The agency has had limited success in getting successful prosecutions and hasn't charged any high-profile people since its top commissioner was removed from the body in 2007.
Cheney's atttorney has said that there is no reason to suspect that his client is guilty.
"This matter involves the activities of an international four-company joint venture (which included KBR, then a subsidiary of Halliburton) well over a decade ago," Terrence O'Connell said.
"The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated that joint venture extensively and found no suggestion of any impropriety by Dick Cheney in his role of CEO of Halliburton."
The latest discussions on reaching a settlement ended this weekend in London, Babafemi said.
The arrangement is now waiting for Nigeria's Minister of of Justice to officially agree to the deal, a decision that is expected by the end of the week.
|
e63a5343808b456cb594d6641f77d15a
|
What favors were the bribes in return for?
|
[
"gas project"
] |
NewsQA
|
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A dilapidated building collapsed in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people who had defied orders to vacate the structure, a police spokesman told CNN.
Rescue workers clear away debris after a building collapsed Wednesday in Mumbai, India.
Another 26 people were injured and hospitalized, the spokesman said. Mumbai city officials had told residents living in the old building to leave it because of structural concerns.
The chief minister of Maharashtra state, Vilasrao Deshmukh, visited the building hours after the collapse to pay his respects to the victims.
Last July, another building collapse in Mumbai -- formerly Bombay -- killed 26 people.
|
1f4ac7b83947465fb2c651f94969e5a5
|
How many people were injured?
|
[
"26"
] |
NewsQA
|
Ercis, Turkey (CNN) -- The death toll from the massive earthquake that shook eastern Turkey over the weekend rose to 535 Thursday, up from 471 the day before, but crews have been able to rescue 185 people alive from the rubble, Turkish officials said.
In addition, about 2,300 people were injured by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Sunday, according to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Relief Agency.
Meanwhile, crews rescued 18-year-old Imdat Padak alive from the rubble of an apartment building in Ercis almost 100 hours after the earthquake, the semi-official Anatolian new agency reported.
After teams from Azerbaijan retrieved him, Padak was taken to a hospital for initial treatment, and then was airlifted by helicopter to Van.
Padak appeared not to have any significant trauma, but was suffering dehydration. He is reported to be a student from the village of Kiziloren and was taking courses while preparing for university entrance exams.
Earlier in the week, crews pulled a 2-week-old baby, Azra Karaduman, alive from the debris.
The developments came as there were reports of a moderate earthquake in the country's south.
A 5.2 earthquake hit about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the center of Sunday's quake, near the border with Iraq, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
There were no immediate reports of damage from the latest quake.
Padak was the latest of several people found alive in the rubble days after Sunday's quake. On Wednesday rescuers pulled two people from collapsed buildings.
Britain has pledged emergency tents for more than 5,500 people whose homes were destroyed, Home Secretary Theresa May said during a visit to Turkey Thursday.
CNN's Diana Magnay, Yesim Comert and Michael Martinez contributed to this story
|
dd8bd1e34cc742bf97048f223153b0b0
|
How many people were rescued?
|
[
"185"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborn twins have been published for the first time after a magazine bidding war which news agencies claim topped $14 million.
Hola! magazine, the Spanish sister publication to Hello!, has also published images of the Jolie-Pitt twins.
Hello! magazine, which won international rights to the images, and People magazine, which took U.S. rights, published the photographs in their latest editions, which hit newsstands Monday.
The two publications, which have previously secured image rights to the couple's elder children, are believed to have shared the costs, The Associated Press reported over the weekend. The agency quoted an unnamed source, not authorized to speak about the deal, as saying the pictures had fetched $14 million.
The images show the couple, newborns Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline and the rest of the Jolie-Pitt family -- Maddox, 7, Pax, 4, Zahara, 3, and Shiloh, 2.
The twins were born by Cesarian section at the Lenval hospital in the French Riviera resort of Nice on July 12.
Hello! magazine, which heralds its coverage as the "biggest exclusive of the year," devotes 17 pages of coverage to the twins' arrival.
In an interview published in the magazine, Jolie says: "Wanting a big family is one of the things that brought Brad and I together."
Pitt adds: "When Ange and I were told we were having twins we burst into hysterics... We didn't see this one coming." Watch why the photos went for so much money »
Larry Hackett, the managing editor of People said that it was "thrilled" to have carried the images. People, like CNN, is owned by Time Warner.
Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images, which organized the photo shoot, said that all the proceeds would go toward the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which earlier this year donated $1 million to help children in Iraq.
|
f137d7784d63492cb68f7e6dd2409cb7
|
when did twins birth
|
[
"July 12."
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A juvenile court in Ghana has sentenced two teenage girls from Great Britain to nine months in jail for trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country, Ghana's national news agency said Wednesday.
The girls were stopped by customs officials at Accra trying to smuggle drugs back to Britain.
The 16-year-olds will not have to serve the full sentence because they have already spent more than six months in jail, a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
Fair Trials International, a UK-based group that provided legal assistance to the pair, said in a statement Wednesday that it will decide in the coming days whether to appeal. The girls faced a maximum sentence of three years but are expected to be released on April 18, the group said.
For now, the girls are housed in a correctional home for girls in the country's capital, Accra.
Ghanaian police arrested the teenagers as they were readying to board a British Airways flight back to London last July.
When officials searched their laptop bags as part of departure formalities, they found about 6 kg (13 lbs) of cocaine, the Ghana News Agency and British media reports said.
Authorities in Ghana said a man paid the girls 6,000 pounds (about $11,700) to fly to Ghana to retrieve the laptop bags containing the drugs from two of his associates, the news agency added.
Those men have not been caught.
Fair Trials called the girls "pawns in a larger operation.
"It is deeply unfortunate that they, and not the men who lured them to Ghana, are bearing the consequences," said the group's chief executive, Catherine Wolthuizen.
Ghana and other West African countries have become a transit point for drugs headed to Europe. The girls were arrested in a joint Britain-Ghana drug detection operation, the United Kingdom's customs agency said Wednesday. E-mail to a friend
|
451fe85babcc4c1994bc5d7a7c97bf55
|
Where was the duo arrested?
|
[
"Accra"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The crew of an Italian ship seized by pirates on Monday was freed Tuesday thanks to an operation by U.S. and British troops working with the Italian military, the Italian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Eleven pirates who hijacked the Montecristo surrendered to the troops operating under NATO's Operation Ocean Shield, the ministry said in a statement.
All crew members are safe, the ministry said.
They barricaded themselves in the engine room after throwing a message overboard in a bottle and putting up a cardboard sign to let rescuers know where they were.
They were able to retain control of the ship's steering, even though the pirates destroyed the ship's communications equipment, a NATO officer said.
The USS De Wert was the first ship to arrive on the scene, and monitored the hijacked vessel until the British ship HMS Fort Victoria arrived with a boarding team, Lt. Gwenn Laine of NATO told CNN.
The pirates threw their weapons into the sea as the boarding team closed in, and stood on deck to surrender once they boarded, Laine said.
He praised the crew for following "best maritime practices," saying that by barricading themselves in a safe place they probably avoided violence.
The pirates are in NATO custody, said Laine, who works with the alliance's Operation Ocean Shield.
The captain sent a message Monday indicating that the vessel had been attacked by a ship with five armed people on board, the D'Alesio Group said in a statement.
The captain immediately activated security procedures, the statement said.
The ship was about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of the Somali coast at the time.
The crew includes 23 people from Italy, Ukraine, and India, the D'Alesio Group said.
Their rescue came shortly after Italy said it would start putting military guards on ships traversing the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa is signing an agreement Tuesday with the confederation of Italian shipowners to put military guards on board vessels in the area of the Indian Ocean at risk from Somali pirates, his ministry told CNN.
Both NATO and the European Union have naval missions dedicated to protecting ships in the region, but hijackings remain common.
As of late September there were some 400 hostages held by Somali pirates, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
There have been 24 successful hijackings this year to date and 194 incidents. The number of incidents is up from last year, but the number of successful hijackings down, according to the IMB.
CNN's Richard Allen Greene, Chris Lawrence, Claudia Rebaza, Gisella Deputato, Laura Perez Maestro and David McKenzie contributed to this report.
|
4a3fa6faedf84bd3b3a03e64c296f1c7
|
where did the message go
|
[
"overboard"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Just after 7 a.m. Tuesday in the fifth district of Kabul, Afghanistan, a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying Afghan police and civilians.
Afghan I-Reporter S. Samimi sent this photo of a bus struck by a suicide bomber on Tuesday.
At least 10 people were killed, including four children. I-Reporter S. Samimi was in his car on his way to work, only 100 meters from where the blast went off.
He jumped from his car, unsure of what had happened. Samimi asked people around him what was going on. Finally, the truth dawned on him.
Samimi, 23, grabbed his camera and made his way to the site of the attack.
He said it was difficult taking pictures because his whole body was shaking. It was the first suicide bombing he had ever witnessed.
Hands and limbs were scattered about the ground. Within minutes a crowd of hundreds had gathered around the bus, some of them family members of victims.
"People were screaming and crying," Samimi said. "The situation was so bad. So tragic. I am so sad about it."
Samimi said security guards were quickly on the scene and ordered him to stop taking pictures. He said at that point he was ready to leave.
Samimi, who works as a secretary, said he was too shaken to concentrate on the job. "I couldn't work well, because my condition was so bad after having seen a scene like that for the first time. It was so tragic."
He said he returned home to learn that one of his neighbors, a policeman, had been killed in the bombing. "I saw his family screaming and crying over his death," he said.
He talked about the bombing with his family. "They were so sad when they heard about what had happened and when they saw my pictures. People in the neighborhood are still crying."
Samimi explained why he sent his photographs to CNN.
"The world should see what's happened in Afghanistan. The situation is not good in Afghanistan at the moment." E-mail to a friend
|
94e4f562192744d18b7b882edc1585dd
|
What day did a a suicide bomber struck a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan ?
|
[
"Tuesday"
] |
NewsQA
|
Washington (CNN) -- President Obama paid tribute Friday to seven CIA officers killed in Afghanistan in December, calling them "American patriots who loved their country and gave their lives to defend it."
Obama delivered the remarks during a memorial service at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The service was closed to the media to protect the identities of undercover officers in attendance. A transcript of Obama's speech was provided to members of the press.
"There are no words that can ease the ache in your hearts," Obama told families, friends and co-workers of the seven officers. "But to their colleagues and all who served with them -- those here today, those still recovering, those watching around the world, I say: Let their sacrifice be a summons. To carry on their work. To complete this mission. To win this war and to keep our country safe."
A suicide bomber killed the CIA officers and contractors, as well as a Jordanian intelligence official, on December 30 at a U.S. base in Khost, in southeastern Afghanistan.
The bomber was within seconds of being searched by security contractors when he detonated his explosives, a former intelligence official with knowledge of the incident said in January.
Two of those killed were contractors with private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, a former intelligence official said. The CIA considers contractors to be officers.
Former CIA official Robert Richer called the bombing the greatest loss of life for the agency since the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed eight agents.
"These remarkable men and women are the story of America," CIA Director Leon Panetta said at Friday's service, according to the transcript. "They are the heart and soul of this great country. Their devotion to duty is the foundation of our country."
U.S. and Jordanian officials say the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, had been recruited as a counterterrorism intelligence agent, despite concerns over his extremist views, and was being used in the hunt for a senior al Qaeda figure.
The suicide bombing was "a huge blow, symbolically and tactically," because it eliminated so many CIA officers, who can take years to become ingrained in the region, said Reva Bhalla, director of analysis for Stratfor, an international intelligence company. In addition, she said, the attack showed the ability of the Taliban to penetrate perhaps the most difficult of targets: a CIA base.
But Panetta issued a strong statement at the service Friday, assuring those in attendance that "we will carry this fight to the enemy."
"Our resolve is unbroken, our energy undiminished and our dedication to each other and to our nation unshakable," Panetta said.
|
76a69b4811344bb3a58498a60fda2a7f
|
How many CIA officers were killed December 30?
|
[
"seven"
] |
NewsQA
|
Vancouver, British Columbia (CNN) -- Thousands of Canadians turned the streets of Vancouver into rivers of red on Sunday in jubilant celebration of the country's Olympic gold-medal win in men's ice hockey.
Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime, with national hero Sidney Crosby scoring the winning goal in the hard-fought game.
The win capped off a historic Winter Olympics for the host nation just hours before the closing ceremonies. The country took home a record 14 gold medals -- the most in Winter Olympics history.
Fans spilled out of the exits at Canada Hockey Place after the medal ceremony, "clanging cowbells and screaming like madmen," according to Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn.
"I'll remember this day for the rest of my life as will all Canadians who are here tonight," one fan at a Vancouver viewing told CNN affiliate CTV in Canada.
Watch fans celebrate in a sea of red and white
Police told liquor stores in Vancouver to close early at 2 p.m. -- about an hour before the game ended -- ahead of the celebrations. Lines of people were seen at one store 30 minutes before the game even started.
In Toronto, officials were forced to close down streets due to swelling masses of revelers waving Canadian flags and standing shoulder-to-shoulder in some of the city's main intersections, video showed. And in downtown Vancouver, people swamped the city's main Robson Square.
Strangers high-fived each other in the street and fans were seen jumping onto cars, hugging each other, singing the country's national anthem and chanting "Ole!" and "This is our game."
The celebrations were the culmination of a Winter Games that got off to a rocky start, with warmer-than-usual weather that forced delays in some early contests, and the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run hours before the opening ceremony.
The feeling of celebration and resiliency was being carried into the night's closing ceremonies. Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette -- whose mother died of a heart attack just days before her bronze-medal-winning performances -- was set to carry the nation's flag before thousands in attendance at BC Place.
CNN's Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
|
db282efdb5ee4ace90808e6b43ab50ff
|
What do Canadians celebrate?
|
[
"Olympic gold-medal win in men's ice hockey."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- World number three Rafael Nadal of Spain survived a three-set battle to reach the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 tournament at Indian Wells as second seed Novak Djokovic crashed out on Wednesday night.
Nadal is starting to recover his best form after his injury problems of last year, but the giant Isner posed a continuous threat when he leveled at one set it looked ominous.
But Spanish ace Nadal kept battling and got a lucky break in the fourth game of the decider as his U.S opponent's return hit the net cord and bounced back on his side of the net to fall down a break.
It gave Nadal a decisive break and he held on for victory in the fourth round match.
Nadal, who won the Indian Wells title last year and in 2007, is the lone survivor among former champions of the tournament:
Top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland went out to Marcos Baghdatis in the third round while Serbian ace Djokovic of Serbia joined him on the sidelines with a 7-5 6-3 defeat to Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in their last 16 match.
27th-seeded Baghdatis could not repeat his heroics against Federer as eh slipped to a 7-5 0-6 6-4 loss to Spanish 18th seed Tommy Robredo.
Home hopes were kept alive by Andy Roddick who advanced to the last eight with as a 7-6 6-4 win over Austrian Jurgen Melzer, while fourth seed Andy Murray was detained on court for only 38 minutes as his fourth round opponent unseeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro retired with a left ankle injury.
"He seemed like he was moving okay," Murray told the official ATP Tour Web site.
"At the start we had some pretty good points. But then it seemed like it came on pretty suddenly. He said he had done it yesterday, and if you have a bad ankle sprain, it's obviously very difficult to move,"
Murray next plays Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling, who reached the quarterfinals in California for the first time after beating ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-3 6-4.
|
b2cb0e2866f246ba834f0a158458b932
|
Who beats Novak Djokovic?
|
[
"Rafael Nadal"
] |
NewsQA
|
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has been making the the rounds of major industrial facilities in the country's north, state-run media reported Thursday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il meets people at a library in the country's north.
It was the second time in as many days that state media reported Kim's activities.
State media reported Wednesday that Kim had visited a steel company and expressed "great satisfaction" with workers' efforts.
The steel factory tour generated no pictures, but his stops at a library and an electronics research facility in Jagang Province the day before did.
Kim was shown bundled up in a parka with matching thick gloves. He was also wearing a fur hat and his signature dark sunglasses. The photos showed Kim engaged in conversation and active.
South Korean media noted it was the first time since Kim reappeared in public October 4 -- after a hiatus of nearly 60 days -- that his activities have been reported two days in a row.
Kim's disappearance during that period raised speculation about the North Korean leader's health.
South Korean analysts said they believe the new reports are an attempt by the North Korean leadership to show Kim is healthy and in control.
Last week, Francois-Xavier Roux, a French neurosurgeon at Saint-Anne Hospital in Paris, told a French newspaper that Kim had suffered a stroke, but is now better. The doctor said he last treated Kim in late October.
The North has denied its leader was ever ill and state media has issued a series of reports portraying Kim as healthy and active.
|
7f306ce07fe4437bbd2c38735d83e2aa
|
What is the name of the leader?
|
[
"Kim Jong-Il"
] |
NewsQA
|
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong-koo escaped a prison sentence for embezzlement after a South Korean court ruled Thursday to instead impose a suspended five year sentence, according to a company spokesman.
Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-Koo, center, leaves the High Court after his trial in Seoul in June.
In February, the 68-year-old executive was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of embezzling money from the South Korean conglomerate. He appealed that verdict and on Thursday the company said Chung will now only be required to undertake community service.
Chung was accused of funneling $106 million in company money into a slush fund to seek favors from the government and with breach of trust for incurring more than $300 million in damages to the company.
Hyundai is the world's sixth-largest automaker and a pillar of South Korea's economy.
Chung spent two months in jail after his arrest last April before being released on $1 million bail. He admitted using affiliated companies to set up slush funds, but said he knew no details of the arrangements. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Eunice Yoon contributed to this report.
|
cb7c216c0b6d40f182882afcbadae2fc
|
What fund did Chung place money in?
|
[
"slush"
] |
NewsQA
|
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Typhoon Melor roared into central Japan on Thursday, leaving two people dead and lashing the region with heavy rain and gusty winds.
Utility poles lie buckled in the wake of Typhoon Melor.
The storm stayed west of Tokyo, but still caused enough trouble to shut down trains for a time and snarl commuter traffic. Numerous flights were canceled and delayed at the city's two major airports.
In western and northern Japan, Melor tore roofs off homes, downed power lines and flooded roads.
The storm contributed to the deaths of a 54-year-old newspaper delivery man in Wakayama, who ran into a fallen tree, and a 69-year-old man from Saitama, who was crushed by a tree.
By late Thursday, Melor had weakened to a tropical storm and was heading out to sea.
-- CNN's Kyung Lah contributed to this report.
|
9c4c1f6a40944022acd90c33ef02a2de
|
The storm's victims were killed how?
|
[
"crushed by a tree."
] |
NewsQA
|
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- A British couple convicted for having sex on a public beach in Dubai will not face jail after a judge suspended their prison sentences, their lawyer said Tuesday.
File image of one of the co-accused -- Vince Acors -- arriving at court in Dubai in September.
The couple, Michelle Palmer and Vincent Acors, had faced a three-month sentence, but they were freed on bail in October pending an appeal.
Hassan Mattar, one of their lawyers, said he was trying to get permission for Palmer -- who worked in Dubai -- to stay in the United Arab Emirates, and for Acors to travel back to Britain. Acors had been on a business trip to Dubai when he was arrested.
The United Arab Emirates, where Dubai is located, is home to thousands of expatriates and is among the most moderate Gulf states. Still, the oil-rich kingdom adheres to certain Islamic rules.
Palmer and Acors were arrested on a public beach shortly after midnight on July 5. Police charged them with illicit relations, public indecency, and public intoxication. A court found them guilty in October and fined them 1,000 dirhams ($367) for the charge of public indecency.
Both denied they had intercourse. And during the trial, Mattar argued that the public prosecutor failed to produce corroborative evidence against his clients on the first two charges, though he said both tested positive for liquor.
More than a million British visitors traveled to the UAE in 2006, and more than 100,000 British nationals live there, according to the British Foreign Office.
The country is in the midst of a building boom to position itself as one of the world's premier tourist destinations.
It is already home to the world's largest mall, the world's largest tower, and -- despite being in the Middle East -- the largest indoor snow park in the world.
-- CNN's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
|
ef429389a57c48869916c12ed7d191be
|
when were the pair arrested?
|
[
"shortly after midnight on July 5."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- An explosion destroyed a home in suburban Pittsburgh on Wednesday, killing an elderly man and severely injuring his grandchild, authorities said.
A house exploded Wednesday, killng one person and injuring a second, in the Pennsylvania borough of Plum.
The explosion was reported about 1:30 p.m. on Mardi Gras Drive in Plum Borough, about 15 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Several neighboring homes were damaged, fire officials said.
Richard Leith, 64, was babysitting his grandchild in the home, according to John J. Smith, an investigator with the Allegheny County medical examiner's office. Both were transported to local hospitals, though Leith died later in the afternoon.
The condition of the child, who was treated at Children's Hospital, was unknown, Smith said. Leith's autopsy would be conducted on Thursday, he added.
It is unclear what caused the explosion.
Dave Heiser, a neighbor, told CNN that he was home when he heard the explosion. "I thought my house blew up. My windows were blown out. I went outside and debris was falling from the sky," he said. Watch the neighbor describe hearing the blast »
He said he ran three houses down and saw a woman running with a little girl and screaming.
"The little girl was apparently in the house when the explosion happened and was blown outside," Heiser said. "That house was leveled to the ground. There is nothing left."
Several families who were displaced by the explosion were directed to Red Cross officials to make arrangements for shelter Wednesday night, authorities said. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Ninette Sosa contributed to this report.
|
c80ba7ada4b348e1a213a8cb77af0864
|
What happened at 1:30pm?
|
[
"A house exploded"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A third minute goal from Gonzalo Higuain gave Real Madrid a 1-0 victory over Valencia, coach Juande Ramos' first Primera Liga win since taking charge of the Spanish champions.
Gonzalo Higuain is congratulated after scoring Real Madrid's only goal against Valencia.
The win ended Madrid's run of three straight league defeats and moved them up to 29 points, nine behind leaders Barcelona -- who visit Villarreal on Sunday.
With captain Raul Gonzalez only on the bench befcause of the flu, Higuain played alone in attack, and he soon made his mark with the early goal -- the Argentine collecting Arjen Robben's pass to fire home his 11th goal of the season.
Valencia almost fell two goals behind in the 16th minute when Rafael van der Vaart struck the post with a curling drive.
Higuain had a chance to double Madrid's tally in the second-half, but his close-range shot struck the bar.
The visitors' hopes were effectively ended when captain Carlos Marchena was sent off after picking up his second yellow card, for a foul on Robben.
The defeat, only Valencia's second of the season after also going down to Barcelona, leaves them on 30 points, just one above Madrid.
|
8aa733fa43b14877bc8e517ff8bb93bc
|
Who did Valencia send off?
|
[
"Carlos Marchena"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Almost 33,000 acres of the Everglades National Park were burning Sunday, fire officials said, the latest in a series of wildfires that have scorched parts of Florida in May.
Smoke obscures the flames Sunday in the Everglades National Park.
The smoke cast a haze over parts of South Florida, including Miami, prompting a dense smoke advisory from the National Weather Service.
The fire, which threatened private property as well as an endangered bird, started Friday, the Southern Area InterAgency Management Blue Team said.
By Sunday morning it was 20 percent contained, and fire crews were working to restrict it to the park while protecting the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, a federally protected species whose only habitat is in the Everglades. Watch the Everglades fire spread »
Windy conditions Sunday morning pushed the fire into the corner of the park closest to Miami, fire officials said.
About 200 personnel battled the blaze in southern Florida Saturday night, but more crews were expected to join them Sunday.
It is the latest wildfire to scorch Florida. More than 12,000 acres burned in the "Brevard Complex" fire near Palm Bay, on Florida's Atlantic Coast just south of Daytona Beach. That series of fires is about 75 percent contained and is expected to be fully contained on Tuesday, the National Interagency Fire Center said Sunday. Learn how wildfires spread »
Last week, Florida authorities charged a suspect, Brian Crowder, with arson in connection with some of the fires in Palm Bay. Watch the suspect's 'perp walk' »
The Brevard County fires have destroyed about 22 homes and structures, and damaged another 160 homes. Damage totals more than $9 million, officials said.
A 19,000-acre fire near Clewiston, Florida, on the south end of Lake Okeechobee, is about 50 percent contained, the fire center said Sunday.
And a 1,300-acre fire north of Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle was 80 percent contained by Sunday, it said.
Last week, U.S. Navy officials said a Navy jet sparked a 257-acre forest fire in the Ocala National Forest in the north-central part of the state. The jet had missed a target on a practice bombing run, the officials said.
|
975b980ad6044664b69f51869b7f6807
|
What animal does the fire threaten?
|
[
"Cape Sable seaside sparrow,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Police have arrested a 33-year-old man accused of killing his brother and five other people, including two children, at a Memphis, Tennessee, home.
Jessie L. Dotson, who was recently released after serving 14 years in prison for murder, was captured Friday night.
He faces six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Cecil Dotson, his 30-year-old brother; Hollis Seals, 33; Shindri Roberson, 20; Marissa Rene Williams, 26; and two children, said Memphis Director of Police Larry A. Godwin at a news conference Saturday.
Dotson will also be charged with the attempted murder of three other children -- ages 7, 4 and 10 months -- who received stab wounds and blunt force trauma, Godwin said.
Dotson's brother Cecil was the father of all the children, The Associated Press reported. Those who survived the attack were under police custody at a hospital, according to the AP.
The March 2 killings followed an argument between Jessie and Cecil Dotson, Godwin said.
Jessie Dotson shot his brother dead and went on to kill the others to try to cover up the crime, he said.
"[Dotson] thought everyone in the home was dead," Godwin said. "But as we all know, by the grace of God, three children had survived."
Prosecutors said they are considering seeking the death penalty against Dotson. E-mail to a friend
|
61e5563598224d80b5ff9319cb504c7f
|
Who was recently released from prison?
|
[
"Jessie L. Dotson,"
] |
NewsQA
|
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Tariq Aziz, a top lieutenant of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, remained hospitalized at a U.S. military hospital Sunday after falling ill in prison, the U.S. command in Iraq reported.
He was taken to the hospital Thursday, though no details of his ailment were released. But 1st Lt. Elizabeth Feste, a U.S. military spokeswoman, told CNN his condition was improving and he was being closely monitored.
Aziz was one of the best-known faces of Hussein's government, serving as deputy prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and as foreign minister for part of that time. In March 2009, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in connection with the 1992 executions of 42 merchants.
He was captured by U.S. forces in April 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Hussein.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
|
8436dcd15f6f44d48e6e6b1554709fa7
|
were there any details of ailments?
|
[
"no"
] |
NewsQA
|
BARCELONA, England -- Ronaldinho has been recalled to the Barcelona squad for Tuesday's Champions League match against Rangers in Glasgow.
Ronaldinho was dropped from the Barcelona squad on Saturday for returning late from international duty.
The Brazilian was omitted from the squad that lost 3-1 to Villarreal on Saturday after returning late from international duty, but he has been named in an 18-man party for the trip to Scotland.
Barca will be without Deco for that match though, after the Portuguese suffered a thigh injury against Villarreal that will keep him sidelined for around five weeks.
Also missing are Samuel Eto'o, Yaya Toure, Gianluca Zambrotta, Edmilson and Rafael Marquez as the Catalans travel to Scotland in a battle between the two sides with 100 per cent records in Group E.
Barcelona squad: Valdes, Jorquera; Puyol, Thuram, Sylvinho, Oleguer, Abidal, Milito; Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi, Giovani, Crosas; Henry, Ezquerro, Gudjohnsen, Bojan. E-mail to a friend
|
5c16ab0c5c944540b5fd46018fca8ad1
|
Who was dropped from the squad that lost Villarreal on Saturday?
|
[
"Ronaldinho"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Switzerland defender Philippe Senderos is in talks to leave Arsenal and join English Premier League rivals Everton, according to the Liverpool-based side.
Philippe Senderos is seeking to leave Arsenal to keep his World Cup hopes alive.
The 24-year-old has been out of favor with the London club for the past year or so, and spent last season on loan with Italy's AC Milan.
The center-back made only 15 appearances in his injury-hit stint with the Rossoneri, and returned to Arsenal where he has a year left on his contract.
Everton chairman Bill Kenwright confirmed that talks were underway, but said that no deal had been done despite an earlier claim by the Swiss Football Federation.
"We have been negotiating with Arsenal for the transfer of Philippe. Nothing has been concluded yet but talks are on going," Kenwright told Everton's official Web site on Tuesday.
Everton face the possible departure of England defender Joleon Lescott, the subject of two bids from big-spending EPL rivals Manchester City. Transfer gossip: City to bid again for Lescott.
Manager David Moyes has rejected both offers and is determined to keep the player, who has been ruled out of recent pre-season friendly action due to a hip injury picked up on the tour of the United States.
Moyes needs cover for injured center-back Phil Jagielka, who is not expected to return to action until November.
The Swiss Football Federation had said on its official Web site on Monday that Senderos had agreed to join Everton because he needed regular first-team action ahead of next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.
Switzerland are level on points with Greece at the top of Group Two after six of 10 games, with the winner qualifying directly and the runner-up hoping to go into one of the four play-offs.
Senderos joined Arsenal in the summer of 2003 from Swiss club Servette, and established himself in the first team alongside Kolo Toure when regular Sol Campbell was injured.
However, he missed the 2006 Champions League final defeat by Barcelona due to his own injury, with England defender Campbell returning in his place to score the opening goal of the 2-1 reverse.
Senderos missed the start of the 2006-07 season after suffering a shoulder problem at the World Cup finals, and subsequently struggled to break back into the Arsenal team.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has a wealth of central defensive resources despite selling Toure to City last month, having brought in Belgium international Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax in June.
William Gallas, Johan Djourou, Mikael Silvestre and Alex Song are also competing for first-team places.
|
71423f070e0d48f5b1faf3e345996a95
|
Who did Senderos spend an injury-hit loan spell with?
|
[
"Italy's AC Milan."
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Muddy but unhurt, three University of Texas students emerged from a cramped cave complex in Austin, Texas, after a day-long search Sunday.
A rescuer at the entrance to Airman's Cave in Austin, Texas, Sunday.
Lt. Matt Cox, an Austin Fire Department spokesman, said the students -- two women and one man -- were reported missing early Sunday after a trip into Airman's Cave, about four miles south of the university's campus.
They were found about halfway down the 12,000-foot-long cave, which has few spaces big enough for an adult to stand upright and is explored primarily by experienced spelunkers.
The students were located shortly before 5 p.m. (6 p.m. ET), about 30 hours after they entered.
Their names were not released Sunday night.
A friend called 911 to report them missing at 5 a.m. The group had told friends to call 911 if they were not back by midnight Sunday, according to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
Earlier reports that four students were in the cave were incorrect, Cox said.
Authorities did not know Sunday evening why the students were in the cave for so long.
But Cox said it would have been easy even for experienced cavers to get lost in Airman's, which he compared to the roots of a tree.
"There are so many ways to go," he said. E-mail to a friend
|
58a0a8afc757451880f0004dae88bdbb
|
What city are the students from?
|
[
"Austin,"
] |
NewsQA
|
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- A rebel group that has been attacking oil pipelines in southern Nigeria claimed responsibility on Monday for another strike and said it killed 11 government soldiers in fighting that followed the sabotage.
A fire burns following an attack on a pipeline in Nigeria in December 2006.
The Nigerian military confirmed an attack on an oil pipeline and an explosion, but called the claim that 11 soldiers were killed a "lie" and "pure propaganda."
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, issued a statement saying it "successfully sabotaged another major trunk pipeline" belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company in the country's Rivers State.
"Minutes after the sabotage, our fighters encountered a military gunboat which opened fire blindly on the advance guard. We flanked them in a counter-attack and killed in close combat all the drunken soldiers numbering eleven, collecting their weapons, ammunitions and bullet-proof vests before using dynamite to sink the gunboat with its dead occupants," MEND said.
MEND also said they found two "traumatized, adolescent girls" who were gang-raped by Nigerian soldiers. "They were dropped off in the neighboring village by our men who have since returned safely to camp," the statement said.
The military had no immediate response to that claim.
Analysts say that one reason for record high gas prices in the United States is a spate of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States.
Exxon and Shell are two of several companies that had been extracting two million barrels of oil a day in Nigeria. Yet rebel attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have cut overall production by roughly 10 percent -- meaning 200,000 fewer barrels of oil on some days.
The rebel group hopes to secure a greater share of oil wealth for people in the Niger Delta, where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
MEND has bombed pipelines and kidnapped hundreds of foreign oil workers, typically releasing them unharmed, sometimes after receiving a ransom payment.
The Nigerian government has proposed a peace summit to find a solution to the region's problems, but an immediate resolution does not appear in sight.
|
c9812f488b4f4e3b9e4cdaa1b94fb08a
|
what Group says?
|
[
"\"successfully sabotaged another major trunk pipeline\""
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Minutes after Bill Clinton's doctor divulged that the former president underwent a stenting procedure to restore blood flow through a coronary artery, CNN's Larry King made a similar announcement.
"A month ago, maybe five weeks ago, I had the same procedure at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles that Bill Clinton had today," the 76-year-old talk show host told viewers of his program, "Larry King Live."
King noted that he suffered a heart attack in February 1987 and underwent a quintuple bypass five months later. He described his experience with heart disease in his 1989 book, "Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack."
Recently, he said Thursday, he began feeling symptoms that turned out to have been related to his heart.
"I felt some strange feelings in my shoulder, where I had the original heart attack," said King. He said he went to the hospital and underwent the procedure a few days later. Stents are tiny balloons that are threaded into a patient's heart vessels where they are inflated, pushing plaque against the vessel wall and increasing blood flow.
"I did it on a Monday morning, was out on Tuesday and back here on 'Larry King Live' on Tuesday night," King said.
"So I can report to the waiting public that I never felt better. They got it open, they put the stents in. I share a bond with the former president and I feel very good. I only didn't make it public because I just like to keep things private. But I feel terrific," he said.
|
8a8f21aaef62496d80dd253a46c2d84c
|
what kind of procedure did he get?
|
[
"stenting"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Freed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi thanked friends and family Tuesday for their support during her ordeal in an Iranian prison, and said she plans to spend the next few days relaxing.
Roxana Saberi smiles ouside her home in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday.
"I am, of course, very happy to be free and to be with my parents again," a smiling Saberi, 32, told reporters.
Saberi, who was dressed in a black tunic and a blue headscarf, said she was only now learning of a global support campaign on her behalf.
"I want to thank all the people all over the world, who, whether they knew me or not, helped me and my family during this period," she said. "I don't have any specific plans for the moment. I just want to be with my parents and my friends and to relax."
Reza Saberi, her father, said they plan to leave Iran soon.
Saberi was convicted last month on espionage charges in a one-day trial that was closed to the public. She was sentenced to eight years in prison after being accused of spying for the United States.
A judge changed Saberi's sentence during an appeal hearing Monday. The court agreed with her lawyers that, because Iran is not at war with the United States, Saberi cannot be punished for cooperating with agents of a hostile nation, according to Saberi's spokesman, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.
Her sentence was changed to a two-year jail term, suspended for five years, Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported.
Saberi was detained in January after initially being accused of buying a bottle of wine and working as a journalist without proper accreditation, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group. She was soon charged with espionage.
Saberi went on a hunger strike while imprisoned, but her father said she has since put on some weight.
|
5b2f8a4b6cba414e8fc9172e73b92e99
|
Who was convicted last month on espionage charges ?
|
[
"Saberi"
] |
NewsQA
|
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Two barrels filled with explosives washed up on beaches in Israel on Monday, according to Israeli authorities.
Authorities disposed of both without injury.
Islamic Jihad, the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades issued a leaflet in Gaza claiming responsibility for sending three explosive devices to Ashkelon and Ashdod.
A large barrel filled with explosives was found on a beach in the Ashkelon area Monday morning. The beach was closed.
Policemen and bomb disposal experts neutralized the explosives, according to police spokesman Miki Rosenfeld.
A second barrel filled with explosives was discovered later in the day on the shore of the city of Ashdod.
Authorities conducted a controlled explosion on the second barrel. Police were combing the beaches, and nearby areas were closed to the public. Authorities have not discussed a third device.
The Israel Defense Forces, in a statement Monday, said several Palestinian groups had claimed responsibility January 29 for a maritime terrorist attack after the detonation of two sea-born explosive devices about two kilometers (1.24 miles) off the coast of Gaza.
Hamas, the movement controlling Gaza, has been vowing retaliation since one of the founding members of its military wing, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, died last week in Dubai.
Al-Mabhouh's brother, Fayek al-Mabhouh, said that preliminary results of Hamas' investigation of the death showed his brother was killed by electrocution and strangulation with a piece of cloth.
Hamas officials accused Israel of assassinating Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Israeli officials have not responded to those charges.
|
9a17250ce36144f198ba832369854827
|
Who claimed responsibility for the barrels?
|
[
"Islamic Jihad, the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades"
] |
NewsQA
|
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Members of a Russian doomsday cult barricaded themselves in a cave to wait out the end of the world as the cult's leader underwent psychiatric exams Thursday, Russian media reported.
The cult, which calls itself the "true Russian Orthodox Church," believes the world will end in May.
The cult leader is in police custody awaiting proceedings on charges that he set up an organization "whose activity is associated with violence on citizens and instigation to refuse to perform their civil duties," according to the state-funded Itar-Tass news agency.
Four children are among 29 cult members holed up in a ravine in Russia's Penza region, where they apparently dug a cave.
One of the children in the cave is 18 months old, reported Itar-Tass. Temperatures in the cave are below 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius), the Russian news agency reported.
The cult members have refused law enforcement requests to come out or release the children, and they have threatened to commit suicide if police resort to force, according to Russian state television.
The cult, which calls itself the "true Russian Orthodox Church," believes the end of the world will come in May 2008.
Prosecutors announced Thursday they are opening criminal proceedings against the cult's leader, Father Pyotr Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov, 43, is "under the supervision of investigators," Olig Troshin, a Penza prosecutor, told Itar-Tass.
A law enforcement source in Penza told the Russian news agency Interfax that Kuznetsov "is being examined by psychiatrists."
Several clergymen, police officers and agents of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations are outside the cave.
"It is obviously some kind of insanity," Mitropolitan Kirill, a high-ranking Russian Orthodox Church official, told Russian television. "It is perhaps even a medical case. A very dangerous phenomena is happening in Russia's religious life."
He added, "What we're seeing in Penza right now is a most vivid example of what could happen to a country, to a society, if this society is deprived of proper religious education." E-mail to a friend
CNN's Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this report.
|
944b347a11184d1084a13c55ca1f8373
|
Who were holed up in the cave?
|
[
"29 cult members"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A bus hopped a highway median and crashed into a pickup truck before being broadsided by an 18-wheeler, Arkansas police said, killing the pickup driver and two bus riders.
Two passengers were found dead inside the bus, said Arkansas State Police.
Forty people were hurt in Sunday night's crash, which shut down a 13-mile stretch of Interstate-40 east of Forrest City, Arkansas, said state police spokesman Bill Sadler.
The bus was westbound en route from Chicago, Illinois, to Dallas, Texas.
The driver of the pickup truck -- identified as 30-year-old Danny Okurily of Hot Springs, Arkansas -- died at the scene of the accident, Sadler said. Bus driver Felix Tapia, 28, of Brownsville, Texas, and tractor-trailer driver David Rice, 45, of Mars Hill, North Carolina, suffered minor injuries, according to The Associated Press.
Two passengers were also found dead inside the bus, he said. Their names were not released because authorities have not yet notified relatives, Sadler said.
Several dozen injured passengers were taken to hospitals in Forrest City, Memphis and West Memphis, said police.
The bus, which listed 44 passengers on its manifest, was owned and operated by the Tornado Bus Line, which is based in Dallas, Texas, Sadler said.
The crash happened just after 10 p.m. CT about 10 miles east of Forrest City and about 40 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, Sadler said. E-mail to a friend
|
c3019f89aa4c48bc8278c8b3e9463b87
|
Where was the 3-vehicle crash?
|
[
"Interstate-40 east of Forrest City, Arkansas,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The first person ever convicted in Idaho of knowingly spreading the HIV virus is facing new charges for the same offense, authorities said Thursday.
An Ada County, Idaho, grand jury on Tuesday returned an indictment charging Kerry Thomas, 45, with seven counts of knowingly transferring the HIV virus, Jean Fisher, Ada County deputy prosecutor, told CNN.
In 1990, Thomas was charged with four counts of HIV transmission and two counts of statutory rape, Fisher said. As part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty only to the rape charges.
According to Fisher, Thomas received a 12-year sentence and had to serve three years before being eligible for parole. He was later granted early release.
In 1996, however, Thomas was again charged with one count of HIV transmission, and a jury convicted him, Fisher said. He received a 15-year sentence with a seven-year minimum.
Now out on parole, Thomas faces possible life in prison on the new charges because prosecutors are seeking his designation as a "persistent violator."
It was not immediately known whether Thomas was in custody Thursday. He was not listed online among the inmates in the Ada County Jail.
Asked why Thomas would continue to spread the virus, which causes AIDS, Fisher said, "That's the $64,000 question, for a person who has been to prison twice."
|
e9bab2814438417f9fdbbcbd9ac6dfc4
|
What could he face?
|
[
"possible life in prison"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The European Union has launched a fact-finding mission to determine the causes of the August war between Georgia and Russia, an EU spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Heidi Tagliavini, a Swiss dipomat, will head the investigation into what started the Georgian conflict.
The eight-month inquiry will examine the facts of the conflict in regard to international law, humanitarian issues and human rights, said the spokeswoman, who did not give her name because she was not allowed to speak publicly. Investigators will also assess the basis for all accusations made regarding the conflict, the spokeswoman said.
Heidi Tagliavini, a Swiss diplomat and former United Nations special representative for Georgia, will head the mission, the spokeswoman said.
The mission began its work Monday and was due to finish July 31, 2009, ending with a report to the EU, the U.N. and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the spokeswoman said.
Georgia launched a campaign against South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist territory, on August 7. The following day, Russian tanks, troops and armored vehicles poured into South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian territory, Abkhazia, advancing into Georgian cities outside the rebel regions.
The two sides blamed each other for starting the conflict and have made accusations of ethnic cleansing.
Moscow has since recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent regions.
|
2d89af3b5b074540b60e53ab0414bf70
|
Who blame each other for starting the conflict?
|
[
"Georgia and Russia,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Home favorite Rafael Nadal was watched by a galaxy of football stars as he reached the third round of the Madrid Open with a straight sets win over Ukrainian qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov on Wednesday.
Real Madrid stars past and present Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul and Zinedine Zidane were courtside at the Caja Magica to see the world number three battle to a 6-4 6-3 win.
The second seed, who did not have things all his own way against Dolgopolov, will now face giant U.S. star John Isner, who struggled past Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 1-6 7-6 6-3.
Nadal is playing on home clay in his final tournament before the French Open where he hopes to regain the title, won last year by Roger Federer and claim his fifth grand slam triumph at Roland Garros.
Earlier, world number five Andy Roddick's preparations for the second grand slam of the year suffered a setback as he was forced to pull out of his match against Spain's Feliciano Lopez with a nasty stomach bug.
"I got here, and then on Sunday night through Monday evening I was up with a stomach virus. I was up for 24 hours vomiting, sweating, the whole deal, " Roddick told the official ATP Tour Web site.
Roddick has not played since winning the Miami Masters last month and said the illness had come at just the wrong time.
"It's very bad timing. I would've taken this virus any time in the last five weeks instead of now, but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes," he said.
"Playing well in Paris isn't totally out of the question, it's just going to be a little tough," he added.
In the evening session, Britain's Andy Murray, seeded third showed improved form on clay with a 6-3 6-3 win over Juan Ignacio Chela, his fourth straight win over the Argentine.
"I was pleased with the win," said Murray. "I served well and was able to move him around the court."
Meanwhile, Munich Open winner Mikhail Youzhny made an early exit to Latvian Ernest Gulbis 7-6 6-4 and 15th seed Stanislas Wawrinka set up a third-round showdown with world number one and Swiss compatriot Roger Federer after beating Leonardo Mayer, who was down 6-4 4-2 when he retired.
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93a69e5e86054da08d6942c0a673af78
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who was playing
|
[
"Rafael Nadal"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- John Daly dazzled the galleries at the Italian Open with his garish clothing but stayed in contention for the title after a second successive 69 in Turin.
Daly rolls a putt during his second round of 69 at the Italian Open.
Sporting a lime green top with a pair of psychedelic trousers, Daly was looking to improve on his tie for 31st in the Spanish Open.
The two-time major champion is playing on the European Tour after being handed a six-month ban in the United States after a series of lurid headlines.
But clearly showing the benefits of losing 20kg after having a gastric band fitted, Daly has shown glimpses of his best form.
"Yesterday could have been really low, but today could have been really high," he told the official European Tour Web site www.europeantour.com.
"I didn't hit it that great and one-putted the first five greens."
Daly was partnering home hope and 2007 champion Francesco Molinari and while struggled early on, the Italian packed an eagle and two birdies into his first four holes to go joint leader.
But he then slipped back to five-under as he matched Daly with a 69.
Daniel Vancsik of Argentina was setting the pace on the second day after carding a six-under 65 for a halfway total of nine-under 133.
Daly, who had not played for four months before teeing up in Spain, will look to continue his improved form in lucrative upcoming events.
It was confirmed on Friday that he is to extend his stay by playing in the European Open at the London Club from May 28-31.
It will be a first appearance in the tournament by the "Wild Thing" who is promoting a new range of clothing to match his more slimline figure.
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d7d4e52888cb4f848a30c2524483b320
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What tour is he playing on?
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[
"Italian Open"
] |
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|
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Florence Henderson, "The Brady Bunch" mom, may be one of America's best-loved mothers.
Florence Henderson is often asked for hugs by complete strangers.
As Henderson travels the United States with her one-woman road show, "All the Lives of Me," fans respond as if they grew up in her 1970s TV family.
"Every day, I'm asked 'Can I have a hug?' " Henderson said. "And I do. I hug a lot of people."
And on Mother's Day every year, her mailbox fills with cards from people she doesn't know but who think of her as Mom.
"I get mail from all over the world, 122 countries," she said.
Henderson is using her fame as the iconic TV mother to help other moms who suffer from "lackus appreciatus," which she says is "a condition caused by years of under-appreciation and neglect" of mothers by their kids.
Her role as spokeswoman for the "Center for Lackus Appreciatus Prevention" is part of a tongue-in-cheek campaign sponsored by Kodak to promote an online service where Mother's Day cards can be sent for free.
A video posted on YouTube points to the Mom-a-thon.com Web site, which aims to close the "appreciation deficit" between what your mom does for you and what you do for your mom.
Although just five seasons of "The Brady Bunch" were produced, starting in the fall of 1969, children still grow up with the Bradys in syndication.
"It's never been off the air in the United States," she said.
Henderson said she sometimes encounters mothers who tell her "You know, I really didn't like you when my kids were small, because they preferred you to me."
She knows the power of her motherly voice, using it to make a reporter feel special with a scolding: "Don't play ball in the house!"
For a moment, the interviewer feels like a Brady.
|
ae1b6426ef5b4b1a8d913c3db8012dfb
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What is Florence Henderson touring with?
|
[
"her one-woman road show, \"All the Lives of Me,\""
] |
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|
(PEOPLE.com) -- Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber squeezed in some very public displays of affection at a hockey game in Canada on Saturday night, but just one day earlier, they made a decidedly more private outing to a local animal shelter -- and quietly adopted a dog.
Winnipeg animal rescue D'Arcy's A.R.C. got a surprise visit from the young lovebirds, who stopped by for some canine therapy.
"They spent a lot of time with the puppies," the rescue's chief executive officer, D'Arcy Johnston, tells PEOPLE. "I was told that [Gomez] was missing the dogs that she has at home."
Gomez, who is currently on tour and performed in Winnipeg over the weekend, owns five rescue dogs and has advocated publicly on behalf of animal rescue. During the hour she and Bieber spent at the shelter, they zeroed in on a 10-week-old husky mix and fell in love -- puppy love, that is.
"I wasn't expecting her to adopt a dog while she was on tour and has a busy schedule," Johnston says. Gomez went through the standard screening process and was able to leave with the puppy, which she named Baylor, that day.
"Baylor probably would have had a bad life or a very short life," Johnston says. "But he got rescued and brought to our shelter and is now going to live a very good life."
See the full article at PEOPLE.com.
© 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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f21c3a8f4e7445499ff888d05c32d934
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Who got canine therapy
|
[
"Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber"
] |
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|
(CNN) -- Rutgers University has suspended a sorority after police charged six of its members in a hazing investigation.
The North Carolina-based headquarters of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority also suspended the chapter at Rutgers, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
That means the sorority has ceased to be officially recognized and can accept no new recruits while the investigation is under way.
Police have charged six sorority members with aggravated hazing, which a police spokesman Friday called a possible "indictable offense."
Rutgers Police Lt. Richard Dinan said the six women were taken to the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility, and bail was set at $1,500 for each. At least four of the woman have posted bail, he said.
He declined to give details of the alleged hazing, but said one woman sought medical attention for non-life-threatening injuries.
Dinan told The Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark Wednesday that there were at least three victims, but police may identify more victims and more suspects. He said four sorority members were arrested Tuesday and two more on Wednesday.
He said the hazing occurred at a university student apartment building, but he declined to give the location. The hazing began about the middle of January and went on for eight days, he said.
Dinan also told the newspaper that the alleged victims were "unofficial pledges" because the alleged hazing did not occur during the university's recognized pledge period. Sigma Gamma Rho is a recognized sorority, but it does not have a sorority house in New Brunswick, Dinan said.
The police officer said five of the undergraduates charged were from New Jersey: Vanessa Adegbite, 21, of Jersey City; Joana Bernard, 21, of West Orange; Kesha Cheron, 20, of Newark; Shawna Ebanks, 21, of East Orange; and Marie Charles, 21, of West Orange. Llana Warner, 20, is from New York City.
E. J. Miranda, a spokesman for Rutgers, said a student and her parents reported the alleged hazing to the university administration Tuesday.
According to the university's statement, "After receiving this information, university officials contacted the police." Miranda said he didn't know whether the sorority had had similar reports before.
According to Rutgers, the university "strictly prohibits all forms of hazing. Under the Code of Student Conduct, a student found to have engaged in hazing may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including expulsion."
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0c842e99df6a4176b4319cd89d1bc22a
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What sorority is suspected of hazing?
|
[
"Sigma Gamma Rho"
] |
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|
(EW.com) -- Huge news for "American Chopper" fans: Jesse James is returning to the network that made him famous to compete head-to-head against the Teutuls on "American Chopper."
Marking his first appearance on Discovery Chanel in five years, the former "Monster Garage" star will guest star on "Chopper" across two nights in December. Not only that, but "American Chopper" is going live for the first time -- pitting James, Paul Teutul, Senior and Paul Teutul Jr. in a bike-building battle at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
The face-off airs December 5 and 6 at 9 p.m. both nights. The first night is the regularly scheduled "American Chopper." You'll see Senior, Junior and James building the bikes, and viewers will vote for their favorite. The second night is a live show from Las Vegas where the winning bike will be revealed.
For "Chopper" fans, this is the stuff of online message-board wish fulfillment. Jesse James' documentary "Motorcycle Mania" helped launch the whole cable reality motorcycle craze back in 2000, whereas relative later-comer "American Chopper" helped bring the genre to a greater level in popularity. James then left Discovery and went on to other ventures, including his short-lived Spike TV series "Jesse James is a Dead Man" (and drawing international headlines for his divorce from Sandra Bullock).
Though James and the Teutuls respective motorcycle garage shows overlapped during James' years at Discovery ("Monster Garage" ran from 2002-06; "Chopper" has aired since 2003), this event marks the first time the combustible personalities have gone head-to-head on one of the programs.
See the full article at EW.com.
CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly
© 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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c8bbd8d5a7d9496288efc89dfe9711d9
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What is going live for the first time?
|
[
"\"American Chopper\""
] |
NewsQA
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(CNN) -- An outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has prompted neighboring Angola to close its border with that country, Angola's state news agency reported Tuesday.
Angolan Health Minister Jose Van-Dunem announced the "suspension of migratory movements" at the country's north-eastern border Sunday, the Angop news agency reported.
The World Health Organization reports 41 suspected cases of the deadly fever in Congo since November 27. Thirteen people have died, and 183 cases are under observation. Two people are being held in quarantine.
The handling of dead monkeys may be the source of the outbreak, the WHO suspects, according to Angop.
Diosdado Nsue-Micawg, the WHO representative in the Angolan capital of Luanda, said the health agency does not know the source of the virus, but fears that hunters and women who visit the forest might have been in contact with infected monkeys.
The outbreak is centered in the western Kassi province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been reporting intermittent cases of the disease since 1976, according to Angop.
|
51d36fed780a4a87ac2ffbfbb8a220c4
|
which country has reported cases of ebola
|
[
"Democratic Republic of Congo"
] |
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|
Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Four American teenagers, all children of U.S. military personnel, have been arrested on charges of attempted murder after a woman was knocked off her motorbike with rope strung across two poles, Japanese police said.
The four suspects -- two 15-year-old boys, a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man -- were taken into custody on Saturday, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said.
They are accused of causing a severe head injury to a 23-year-old restaurant employee by stringing a rope between poles across a road.
U.S. Forces Japan was informed of the August incident in late October, a public information officer said. There was no clear explanation for the delay in the handover of the suspects to police, other than it involved rules between Washington and Tokyo covering U.S. forces and their dependents in Japan.
The U.S. military presence and its impact on Japanese residents have been a thorny issue over the years.
Most recently, residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa, where the U.S. maintains a large military presence, have blamed American troops for crime and noise.
In 2008, a 14-year-old Okinawa girl alleged that a Marine had raped her. The prosecutor released the Marine after the girl decided not to pursue charges. In 1995, a 12-year-old girl was gang-raped by three servicemen. A Japanese court convicted all three men.
Both incidents caused a furor in Japan. Then-Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda called the 2008 incident "unforgivable ... It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grave case."
It is unclear what, if any, role the military can take in the case. The 1960 Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and Japan gives Japan jurisdiction over "the members of the United States armed forces, the civilian component, and their dependents" in cases of offenses committed in Japan and punishable under Japanese law.
The agreement also says the United States must cooperate in investigating such offenses.
CNN's Kyung Lah and Yoko Wakatsuki contributed to this report.
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a3264249917f462c8b3758d76493723e
|
what are they suspected for
|
[
"attempted murder"
] |
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|
(CNN) -- The Marine husband of a slain Fort Bragg soldier was charged with murder Monday and another Marine was charged with aiding the crime, a local police chief said.
Fayetteville, North Carolina, police released this undated photo of 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc.
Authorities have been searching for the missing soldier, Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc, 24, since a fire torched her North Carolina apartment on July 10.
Marine Cpl. John Wimunc and fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Alden were initially charged with arson, but after police interviews Wimunc was charged with first-degree murder, said Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine.
Alden was charged with felony accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, Bergamine said.
Both were taken to Cumberland County's jail and held without bond, he said.
Earlier, a witness found a charred body in woods, but Detective Jeff Locklear told reporters that police were still awaiting a positive identification from the medical examiner and could not say for certain it was Holley Wimunc.
The lieutenant's father released a statement about the death Monday in which he said his daughter was a nurse at a military hospital and had two children.
"It is with profound sadness that our family just received the news from authorities that our beloved daughter Holley is dead," Wimunc's father said in a statement released to CNN affiliate WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"Since last Thursday's shocking news about Holley's burned apartment and her missing person status, our family through the country has nonetheless been holding on to a thin thread of hope that she would be found alive."
Military officials said both Marines were stationed at Camp Lejeune, which is about two hours away from Wimunc's Fayetteville home.
Joe Lenczyk -- resident agent-in-charge for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- said Wimunc and her husband were estranged and lived apart.
Wimunc is the second female soldier from Fort Bragg to die under suspicious circumstances in recent weeks.
Spc. Megan Lynn Touma, 23, was seven months pregnant at the time of her death in June, authorities said. Investigators say they are treating that death as a homicide.
Camp Lejeune also has had a suspicious death of a female soldier this year. Twenty-year-old pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach's charred body was found January in the back yard of another Marine stationed at the base.
That suspect, U.S. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, was captured in April in Mexico.
|
f1ab85cefe9b4466a40c53c36fa90bfc
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What has the husband been charged with?
|
[
"murder"
] |
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|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security and FBI have issued security bulletins to raise awareness regarding "terrorist interest" in attacking sports and entertainment venues as well as luxury hotels.
The bulletins, which were sent to law enforcement Monday, said that authorities did not know of any credible or specific terrorist plots to attack U.S. stadiums, arenas or luxury hotels.
However, it said that terrorist groups such as al Qaeda view crowded stadiums and arenas as potential targets. It said hotels are also attractive targets for terrorists.
The Department of Homeland Security said it released the notes to assist law enforcement partners as they go about their daily duties.
"While DHS and FBI have no information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack, we believe it is prudent to raise the security awareness of our local law enforcement partners regarding the targets and tactics of previous terrorist activity," the department said.
The bulletins did not mention the recent arrest of three men in connection with what the Justice Department has said was a plot to detonate bombs in the United States. The men are charged with lying to federal agents during the probe of the alleged plot.
The bulletin on stadiums and arenas said that previous attacks against crowd gatherings have included improvised explosive devices and car bombs, "tactics that are also applicable to many stadiums and arenas. ...
"Detained terrorists have also discussed the use of aircraft and chemical weapons to attack stadiums and arenas. "
It said the al Qaeda training manual lists " 'blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality and sin ... and attacking vital economic centers' as a key objective."
The bulletins on luxury hotels said analysis of previous attacks abroad and thwarted plots showed that terrorists have used paramilitary and "small unit" tactics, explosives, improvised explosive devices and car bombs.
It said hotel owners can protect their properties by installing fencing or walls around the buildings and populated areas; implementing random screening of people and their possessions; and training security staff.
|
5f49fe4f86fd4362a8216d96768b10e0
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what agencies are involved
|
[
"The Department of Homeland Security and FBI"
] |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The number of stray and abandoned dogs in the United Kingdom jumped by 11 percent in the past year -- the biggest surge in a decade -- possibly because of the financial crisis, a British dog charity said Wednesday.
A dog looks through the door of its kennel at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London.
Dogs Trust said local authorities picked up 107,228 stray and abandoned dogs from British streets in the past year.
It called on the government to make microchipping compulsory for all dogs to help reunite owners with pets, whether lost or abandoned.
"The latest stray dog survey is very disappointing," said Clarissa Baldwin, chief executive of Dogs Trust. "Even more tragically is the number of dogs that are being put down, which has gone up from 7,000 to just below 10,000, a very worrying trend." Has recession hit your pet? Send us your thoughts
The 11 percent rise is the highest yearly increase since recordkeeping began in 1997, Dogs Trust said.
The rise may be due to the financial crisis, Dogs Trust said. Some households tighten their belts by giving up the dog.
Another possible reason for the jump: England and Wales last year changed the law to make local councils, not police, responsible for taking in stray dogs, Dogs Trust said.
Cash-strapped councils might lack resources to pick up or temporarily shelter dogs.
"You've got a lot of latchkey dogs that are just left to wander the streets," said Natalie Dexter, who works at the education center at Dogs Trust. "Their homes aren't secure, gardens aren't secure, and so they're just left to wander around."
Local authorities handle an average of 12 dogs each hour, Dogs Trust said. Only five are reunited with their owners -- a number that could increase if more dogs were microchipped, Dogs Trust said.
A microchip is an electronic device, coated in plastic, that is the size of a grain of rice. It is implanted just under a dog's skin, beneath its shoulder blades, which causes no harm to the animal and cannot be felt, veterinarians and campaigners say.
The microchip carries the owner's information, which can be updated. The information can be read by a scanner that works through a radio frequency.
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940d916be1c64c08a4d4679e7545e91a
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What did the charity urge the government to do?
|
[
"make microchipping compulsory for all dogs"
] |
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Staten Island Ferry lost power and hit a pier Wednesday at full speed, resulting in one serious injury and nine minor injuries, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
The New York Fire Department estimates that 750 to 800 passengers were aboard the Staten Island Ferry.
Coast Guard boats were on the scene, the St. George Terminal on the north shore of Staten Island.
The Coast Guard spokesman compared the ferry's loss of power as it neared the pier to a car losing its brakes.
The hard landing occurred at 7:10 p.m., according to the Coast Guard. The New York Fire Department estimated that 750 to 800 passengers were aboard. The impact did not send any passengers overboard, the spokesman said.
Emergency responders were transferring the injured to Staten Island's Richmond University Medical Center.
Representatives for the Staten Island Ferry did not respond to calls for comment.
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95877fb94f654b419cfe74f9a8523047
|
What happened to people?
|
[
"A Staten Island Ferry lost power and hit a pier"
] |
NewsQA
|
SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- An outbreak of flu at Washington State University showed few signs of slowing down as more students continued to report symptoms suspected of being from the H1N1 virus, school officials said Wednesday.
WSU Web page gives information, advice to students who suspect they may have H1N1 virus.
About 2,500 students have come down with possible cases of H1N1 since classes began August 24, said James Tinney, WSU director of media relations.
He added, "It takes about three to four days to get over the virus, so many of the people who have had it are already feeling better and are back in class."
On Wednesday, 169 new suspected cases of the virus, also known as swine flu, were reported among the nearly 18,000 students that make up the school's Pullman, Washington campus, according to a university news release.
The university said while it is no longer testing sick students to confirm H1N1, it is following guidelines from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the local health department by "treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1."
Students who contact the school health services department complaining of symptoms of swine flu are urged to stay at home and drink fluids. None of the suspected H1N1 cases have required hospitalization so far, said a university news release. Watch report on what to look for with H1N1 »
Despite the high number of possible cases, media director Tinney said the students and faculty are not alarmed.
"The symptoms are fairly mild; some people have said milder than a regular case of the flu. I don't see people walking around the campus wearing masks," he said. Read about H1N1 facts »
But Tinney said officials were surprised that the long Labor Day weekend, when most students left campus, did not do more to interrupt the virus' spread.
"I guess we are an early test case of how this virus will spread over the population," Tinney said.
|
65ebbf4513a7421e9bd34802d3ac5dad
|
Is the outbreak of flu at Washington State University completely under control?
|
[
"few signs of slowing"
] |
NewsQA
|
New York (CNN) -- The son of actor Michael Douglas apologized to a federal judge before being sentenced to a five-year prison term Tuesday, promising to follow "the true right path" when released.
Cameron Douglas, 31, pleaded guilty to distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine in January.
"I apologize to the court for my decisions and actions that put me in front of you today," Douglas said in a trembling voice. He added, "I have developed, in my mind, the idea that I want to take the right path, the true right path."
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman rebuffed pleas by defense lawyers for a more lenient sentencing, telling the spectators that prison may be Douglas' "last chance."
Cameron Douglas is the son of the two-time Academy Award winner and his first wife, Diandra Luker, both of whom attended the sentencing. As Cameron Douglas spoke, his mother was crying and his father appeared to be fighting back tears.
Douglas, who was arrested in July 2009 at a Manhattan nightclub, asked Berman "for opportunity to be a role model to my younger brothers and sisters."
"I believe, your honor, things will be different this time," he added. If given a second chance, he said, "I will never squander that opportunity."
Berman acknowledged that numerous letters sent on the defendant's behalf by celebrities and others, but said some of the letters implied that he should not make an example of Douglas because he is the son of a famous actor.
"None acknowledged appropriately the numerous impacts to victims of society for dealing drugs," the judge said.
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90e7dac1a5994b93a0b5c282e82f3202
|
who pleaded guilty?
|
[
"Cameron Douglas,"
] |
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|
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani forces in the last month foiled a planned attack on the parliament building, the intelligence agency and other federal institutions, the country's interior minister told CNN Sunday.
Pakistan's parliament building was one target of a planned attack, an official says.
In the last four weeks, authorities arrested three men with suicide vests who were plotting to carry out the attacks, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Malik would not say exactly when the men were caught.
Pakistan is in the midst of an intense military offensive against Taliban militants. The militants are suspected of launching attacks inside Pakistan and in neighboring Afghanistan from their haven in the mountainous tribal region along the northwestern border.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber in volatile northwestern Pakistan killed at three people and wounded 15 others, police said.
The bombing rocked the Pakistani city of Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province.
The incident took place when police approached a man acting suspiciously. The man ran away, police chased him and a gunfight ensued. The man ran out of bullets and blew himself up.
Two women and seven children were among the injured. Remains of the alleged attacker were found, police said. Five houses were destroyed.
The incident follows a car bombing on Saturday in Peshawar that killed two people, including the spokesman for an extremist group called Ansar ul Islam. Two suspects are in custody.
Malik said Sunday the government's anti-Taliban operations will continue during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month considered to be a time of peace.
Militants in North Waziristan, part of the tribal region, have said they will observe a unilateral ceasefire throughout the month.
"There will not be a ceasefire during Ramadan. We are not interested in a ceasefire," Malik said. "They haven't kept their commitment in the past. We will continue targeted actions against the Taliban."
Malik also said the Taliban killed the father-in-law of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and several other relatives, accusing them of leaking information about his whereabouts.
Pakistan and U.S. officials contend Mehsud was killed in an August 5 drone attack in Waziristan at his father-in-law's house.
The Taliban claims Mehsud is alive but ill.
|
8508db3745124eccbc2fd2a44fcfdeec
|
What happened to the suicide bomber?
|
[
"The man ran away, police chased him and a gunfight ensued. The man ran out of bullets and blew himself up."
] |
NewsQA
|
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Letters containing white powder were mailed to 16 U.S. embassies across Europe, according to the State Department on Wednesday.
Emergency services surround U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain.
The substance has proved to be harmless in 15 locations with results still pending for the final embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood said.
He said the list of U.S. embassies where the powder was received includes Berlin, Germany; Bern, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; Bucharest, Romania; Copenhagen, Denmark; Dublin, Ireland; Luxembourg; Madrid, Spain; Oslo, Norway; Paris, France; Reykjavik, Iceland; Riga, Latvia; Rome, Italy; Stockholm, Sweden; Tallinn, Estonia; and The Hague.
An envelope, containing what testing revealed to be white flour, prompted the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to close the staff entrance on Wednesday, a U.S. embassy official told CNN.
Mail at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid is received near the front entrance and was closed amid security concerns, he said, though most employees remained at work.
"We know where the package is coming from," the official said, but declined to elaborate. The official spoke on coindition on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
He described the incident as "very serious" but went on to say there is probably "more commotion" outside the embassy, where local media reported police and ambulances had gathered.
A similar letter was mailed to the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen on Tuesday, embassy spokeswoman Melissa Ford said Wednesday. She said the contents of that envelope "still aren't in," contrary to Wood's statement.
"It usually takes more than 24 hours (for the cultures), so perhaps we'll know later today or early tomorrow," Ford told CNN.
CNN's Elise Labott and Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report.
|
a4e9dd0f520e4d2ea502d6e547536dee
|
What was the powder/
|
[
"white flour,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir landed in Qatar on Sunday for an Arab League summit, a move that could put him at risk of arrest on war crimes charges leveled by a U.N. tribunal.
Omar al-Bashir is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over allaged war crimes in Darfur.
Al-Bashir met with Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, after arriving in Doha, Qatar's capital.
Earlier this weekend, al-Thani criticized the timing of the arrest warrant issued in early March by the International Criminal Court, arguing it has undercut his government's efforts to resolve the long-running conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
"We believe that peace and justice should go hand in hand to settle the conflict in Darfur, or for that matter, any other conflict," al-Thani told Arab League foreign ministers Saturday in remarks carried by the Qatar News Agency. "But we also believe that justice cannot be reached in the absence of peace."
The March 4 arrest warrant is the first issued for a sitting head of state by the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, based at The Hague in the Netherlands. But the ICC has no arrest powers of its own, and depends on its 106 member states to take suspects into custody. Qatar is not a member of the tribunal.
Sudan refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the ICC, and has made no efforts to hand over two other officials indicted by the court. Al-Bashir has called the charges an attempt by Western powers to recolonize Sudan.
The court accuses al-Bashir of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in his government's campaign against rebels in Darfur, in western Sudan.
The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been forced to flee their homes because of the conflict.
Qatar had been mediating talks between Sudanese officials and representatives of one of the rebel factions, who signed a confidence-building agreement in February.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.
|
52ab6610387b4719a32a4cbaf04854e4
|
What does the move put him at risk for?
|
[
"arrest on war crimes charges"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The 54 men and 14 boys rescued after being found chained this week at an Islamic religious school in Pakistan have been reunited with their families or placed in shelters, authorities said.
The group was discovered in an underground room with heavy chains linking them together.
The school, Al-Arabiya Aloom Jamia Masjid Zikirya, which also was a drug rehab clinic, is in Sohrab Goth, a suburb of Gadap in Karachi.
All 14 boys were returned to their families, senior police official Ahsanullah Marwat told CNN.
Of the adults, 47 had been released to their families, and seven were handed over to a shelter for the homeless, he said.
Three people who worked at the facility were arrested, but the four men who ran the place were still at large, Marwat said.
Officials said the facility was part madrassa and part drug-rehab facility, and the captives were chained at night apparently to prevent their escape.
"The operation was successful, and we plan on continuing our work to ensure that places like this are shut down," Marwat said.
Many of the captives told police their families sent them there because they were recovering drug addicts. During the day, they worked and did religious studies.
But the future of the rescued children was unclear.
One woman told a local television station that she was willing to pay the police to keep her troublesome child. She said she would rather have the facility remain open, regardless of how it treated the children.
Many others, however, said they were in shock and disbelief over the allegations.
One man complained he was deep in debt after paying the school a large amount of money to board his son.
|
820428023da54e1dafb28428da9d9fa3
|
Where the captives rescued?
|
[
"school in Pakistan"
] |
NewsQA
|
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose re-election last month led to massive protests, on Tuesday called the balloting "the most free election anywhere in the world."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected last month, setting off days of protests.
"It was a great event," he said in a nationally televised address.
The election, which opponents charge was rigged, was followed by street demonstrations and civil unrest that led to the deaths of at least 20 protesters and the arrest of more than 1,000, according to Iranian state-run media.
The numbers of casualties and arrests could not be independently verified by CNN because the Iranian government banned coverage by international journalists.
The president, who said voter turnout was 85 percent, said opponents "did not provide even one piece of document regarding irregularities or vote fraud."
Without specifically mentioning the post-election violence, Ahmadinejad said criticism of government "is the key to the success of a nation."
Everyone has criticisms, he said. "I have my own."
But he accused the "arrogant powers" and "enemies" of Iran of interfering in his country's affairs, including the post-election situation. Some Iranians collaborated with enemies, the president said.
Ahmadinejad also said Tuesday he believes the government should be "substantially" reorganized. Although he didn't elaborate, he said the areas of employment, housing, development and civil rights were high on the agenda.
"[We] need to create newer capacities and prepare ourselves for this new period," he said, apparently referring to his upcoming second term in office.
"With this election, we have entered a new era ... in domestic spheres and on an international level," he added. He called it "an era of solidarity."
"The government is at the service of the entire people," Ahmadinejad said. "Things will be done in a better way, more effective way, so we can reach higher aspirations."
He said experts have been invited to help the government achieve progress.
|
eef5b78ffaef45d19f990aa60e601e79
|
What does the president say about government criticism?
|
[
"\"is the key to the success of a nation.\""
] |
NewsQA
|
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Authorities arrested a man accused of secretly taping ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews in the nude and posting the videos on the Internet, the FBI said Friday.
ESPN reporter Erin Andrews claims someone videotaped her while she was nude and posted video online.
Authorities arrested 48-year-old Michael David Barrett at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Friday. Barrett faces a charge of interstate stalking, the FBI said.
Barrett is accused of taping Andrews while she was nude in two hotel rooms. He then made eight videos that he posted on the Internet, the FBI said.
Barrett allegedly filmed seven of the eight videos at a hotel room in Nashville, Tennessee, in September 2008. FBI agents said they found evidence that a peephole to the door of Andrews' hotel room had been altered.
The FBI learned that Barrett checked into the same hotel at that time and asked for a room adjacent to Andrews using his home address to register for the room.
According to a criminal complaint, Barrett tried to sell the videos to celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com. Employees at the Web site also helped in the investigation providing Barrett's information to Andrews' attorney.
Andrews works as a sideline reporter traveling around the country covering college football games.
Barrett will have his first court appearance in Chicago at 10 a.m. (11 a.m. ET) Saturday, authorities said.
The maximum penalty for the charge of interstate stalking is five years in federal prison, the FBI said.
CNN's Greg Morrison contributed to this report.
|
0fa59258ac0b4361850d33b2663bdeae
|
Who is accusing on Chicago man?
|
[
"Erin Andrews"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has been accused of "physical and verbal aggression" towards a journalist after Sunday's 1-1 Serie A draw at Atalanta.
The Italian Sport Union of Journalists (USSI) condemned Mourinho's alleged actions against Corriere dello Sport's Andrea Ramazzotti.
A statement from the USSI urged Inter president Massimo Moratti, and the country's governing sporting bodies to investigate.
It read: "The physical and verbal aggression of Inter coach Jose Mourinho towards our colleague Andrea Ramazzotti marks one of the lowest and alarming moments in the relations between football and sporting press.
"Mourinho was already cited, prior to the Champions League game with Rubin Kazan, for his uneducated and disrespectful tone that he used towards certain colleagues.
"This aggression marks an irresponsible and unacceptable escalation. USSI expresses not only its indignation, but a strong concern for gestures and the unspeakable behavior that only increases tensions and controversies.
"It asks president Moratti to intervene energetically so that a member of his club (Mourinho) adapts to the great tradition of civility of the club and of the Moratti family.
"It asks as well of the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) that the sporting justice panel intervenes to examine the behavior of Mourinho for eventual sanctions."
Mourinho watched Sunday's game from the stands as he served a one-match touchline ban.
Reports in Italy have claimed a heated argument took place between Mourinho and Ramazzotti outside the team bus.
Mourinho has not commented on the incident but Moratti told the club's official Web site: "For the moment I don't want to comment as I still don't have all the facts, but I'm sorry.
"I will talk to the head of the union to find out what he means by energetic action."
|
07c200bb9d1e4931a15fce102cdbfe61
|
What is the Inter coach accused of?
|
[
"\"physical and verbal aggression\""
] |
NewsQA
|
Moscow (CNN) -- Ireland's expulsion of a Russian diplomat over spying allegations is "clearly an unfriendly step that will not go unanswered," Russia's deputy foreign minister said Wednesday, according to a report.
Vladimir Titov's remarks were reported by the state-run RIA-Novosti news agency. The ministry press office told CNN it was not aware of the comment and could not elaborate.
Ireland on Tuesday rebuked Russia for "completely unacceptable" behavior and expelled a diplomat after an investigation found that the Russian intelligence services had forged Irish passports, the government said.
An investigation by the Garda Siochana police force found the Russian intelligence services made "false documents based on the acquisition of details of six genuine passports belonging to Irish citizens," and effectively stole the identities of six Irish people, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The probe -- launched after last year's discovery of a Russian espionage operation in the United States -- found "an entirely persuasive picture" of such activities, the statement said.
The department's secretary general met with the Russian ambassador and informed him that it is "not the behavior the government would expect from a country with which we have friendly relations," the statement said.
"The ambassador was also told that the accreditation of a named member of his staff with diplomatic status is to be terminated. ... The individual in question has been asked to leave this jurisdiction by a specified date."
The statement added, "It is hoped that it will be possible to move on from this disturbing incident and to develop further the relationship between Ireland and the Russian Federation which is fundamentally strong and which has significant potential."
CNN's Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this report.
|
fc7b877fcc164b3f93f620a37b420b6c
|
When was investigation launched?
|
[
"last year's"
] |
NewsQA
|
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- The British Foreign Office has warned its nationals -- traveling to or living in the United Arab Emirates -- about the increased threat of a terrorist attack.
In 2006 over one million Britons visited the United Arab Emirates, according to the UK Foreign office.
The alert, posted on its Web site, urged Britons in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom to be vigilant -- especially in public places -- because of a "high threat of terrorism."
The UAE is among the most moderate Gulf states and is home to thousands of expatriates.
"We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," the Foreign Office statement read.
"Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests."
By Monday, the U.S. State Department had not issued any warnings about the UAE.
The UAE, slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Maine, is in the midst of a building boom to position itself as one of the world's premier tourist destinations. It is already home to the world's largest mall, the world's largest tower, and -- despite being in the Middle East -- boasts the largest indoor snow park in the world.
According to the British Foreign Office, more than a million British visitors traveled to the UAE in 2006, while over 100,000 British nationals live there.
The country is an ally in the United States' "war on terror," and its ports host more U.S. Navy ships than any port outside the U.S., according to the U.S. State Department.
Two of the attackers who took part in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington came from the UAE. And it was among a handful of countries that recognized the fundamentalist Taliban regime before the September 11 attacks.
|
b7c635d0e634400bb7e5d966036c0c40
|
When do they think this will happen?
|
[
"at any time,"
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A wicked opportunity is brewing at Wookey Hole Caves in western England.
Aspiring witches audition for the job Tuesday at Wookey Hole Caves in England.
Applicants are flocking to the town of Wells in Somerset Tuesday in the hopes of being selected as the caves' new resident witch.
With the promise of £50,000 ($82,000) per year, and a spacious cave to boot, more than 2,000 candidates are stashing their wart remover and grabbing their broomsticks to persuade a panel of judges to choose them.
The winner will portray the notorious witch that is said to have haunted the caves in the Dark Ages. The witch lived in the cave with goats until an abbot threw holy water on her, turning her to stone, legend says.
Locals say her frozen figure can still be seen in the caves today.
Legend has it that the witch cursed crops, caused disease and soured milk in the area, audition organizers say.
Today, the caves at Wookey Hole are part of a tourist attraction with rides, a circus, theme parks and restaurants. The company that runs it, Wookey Hole Ltd., pays the witch's salary on a year-long contract.
The would-be witches have one minute to perform for the panel Tuesday, employing their best cackle and whatever props they can carry, organizers say.
The position won't necessarily go to a woman; male and transgender witches are also invited to apply. Applicants are told they must, however, be knowledgeable in the history of witchcraft, be willing to travel, sleep overnight in caves, and cannot be allergic to cats.
Organizers say they've had applications from men, women and 230 mothers-in-law.
|
04e3745a757c403aa18d1ebff8bf8018
|
Apart from money, what else is promised
|
[
"spacious cave to boot,"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It was the annual revving of the engines Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial as thousands of motorcyclists converged on Washington to honor those who have served the country.
Members of Rolling Thunder ride into Washington on Sunday.
Riders from Rolling Thunder, a group created to bring attention to soldiers listed as POW or MIA, rolled into the nation's capital, greeting crowds of supporters who lined the streets.
"It's a great tribute to people that have sacrificed everything, including their life," said rider Mick Smith.
He and fellow Vietnam veteran Juan Cruz rode their motorcycles from Pennsylvania.
"It's a brotherhood that we have, veterans of the foreign wars," Cruz said. "The camaraderie is so perfect that we don't need anything else. We forget about our problems."
Lyn Seidler was among the spectators who lined the motorcycle route in the hot and humid weather to greet the bikers as they passed over the Arlington Memorial Bridge into Washington.
"The servicemen made a sacrifice," Seidler said. For her, cheering on Rolling Thunder was a way to help celebrate troops, "and to say thank you," she said.
After completing their rides, the bikers gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
"I'm here today to honor our veterans, our fallen veterans, to help the living by supporting the dead," Cruz said.
The Defense Department says there are more than 88,000 soldiers still listed as missing in action from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined.
-CNN's Lauren Pratapas contributed to this report
|
704c12dc26334d4abd9bec9956c1a558
|
How many soldiers listed as missing in action?
|
[
"more than 88,000"
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Two men accused of failed car bomb attacks in London and a car bombing at Glasgow International Airport last year went on trial Thursday.
Mohammed Asha, a doctor, is accused of conspiracy to murder and cause explosions.
Bilal Abdulla and Mohammed Asha, both doctors, are charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. Their trial at London's Woolwich Crown Court is expected to last up to 12 weeks.
The case stems from the discovery in June 2007 of two explosives-filled Mercedes sedans in central London. One of the cars was parked across the street from a packed nightclub near Piccadilly Circus and the other was towed from an underground car park at Hyde Park.
An ambulance crew notified police about the first car after they saw smoke coming from it. The second car was towed for a parking offense but drew suspicion because it smelled of gasoline.
Officials said both cars cars were filled with fuel, gas canisters, and nails. Police managed to defuse them.
The following day, with attention still focused on the averted attacks in the capital, a Jeep sped through the barriers outside Glasgow International Airport and slammed head on into the terminal. The Jeep, filled with propane gas, burst into flames and created a fireball.
The driver and passenger jumped out of the car. One set himself on fire and later died in the hospital; the other was identified as Abdulla, an Iraqi doctor who had been practicing medicine in Scotland.
Later that day, police arrested Asha as he was driving with his wife on a highway in Cheshire, England. Police said Asha, a doctor of Palestinian descent who grew up in Jordan, conspired with Abdulla to carry out the explosions.
The incidents happened just days after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office.
A third man charged in the case, Sabeel Ahmed, pleaded guilty in April to failing to disclose information about an act of terrorism. He was ordered to be deported to India.
|
00954e9b80a9487783a5b78eff6fc2bd
|
What profession were the men?
|
[
"both doctors,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A pilot who parachuted from his disabled Marine Corps jet last year said he was horrified to see it smash into a California home, newly released documents say.
A firefighter walks past as flames rise from the wreckage of a military jet crash in California.
Marine Corps Lt. Dan Neubauer's statements, describing the December crash that killed four family members in a San Diego home, were released Tuesday by military officials.
The four-page document details in technical terms several attempts Neubauer made to keep his crippled F/A-18D from crashing. When it became apparent that the plane was going down, Neubauer parachuted out.
"I looked down to see where my plane had crashed and saw that it had gone right into a house. I screamed in horror when I realized what had just happened," Neubauer said in the document.
Neubauer landed in the backyard of another home and was not injured. The pilot had been trying to reach the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when he started having problems with his fighter jet. See satellite photo of crash site »
The jet crashed into Dong Yun Yoon's house, killing his wife, his two young children and his mother-in-law. An unoccupied house was also destroyed.
Days after the incident, Yoon said he did not blame the pilot.
"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," Yoon said. "I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could."
|
026745a832ee44e58d5bd9b3cea56745
|
How many children were killed?
|
[
"two"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A 19-year-old girl whose hospitalization exposed a shocking Austrian incest case has woken from her coma, a development that could shed new light on what occurred in the basement were she was held captive for decades.
Fritzl initially confessed to raping his daughter and having seven children with her.
Doctors placed Kerstin Fritzl in an artificial coma in April after she emerged for the first time from the cellar where she was held captive from birth by her father Josef.
Kerstin, along with six other children, was born from Josef Fritzl's incestuous relationship with his daughter Elisabeth, now 43, whom he raped repeatedly during the 24 years she was imprisoned beneath his home.
Police say Fritzl, 73, has confessed to holding his Elisabeth captive and fathering seven children, six of whom survived.
Kerstin was admitted to hospital in Amstetten, west of Vienna, in an unconscious state after Elisabeth persuaded Fritzl that she needed medical attention. Suspicious medics alerted police, who opened an investigation.
Detectives began investigating the case after hospital officials started inquiring about the girl's family history.
Kerstin and two of her brothers, aged 18 and 5, had spent their entire lives trapped in the cellar with their mother, never seeing daylight, a television their only contact with the outside world.
Another three children Fritzl fathered with Elisabeth were taken to live above ground with Fritzl and his wife, who says she had no idea that her daughter was being held captive. A seventh child died shortly after birth.
Elisabeth and her children have been treated at a secure medical unit since their release.
Officials at hospital in Amstetten, Austria, did not release any more information about Kerstin Fritzl's condition. A news conference on the case is scheduled for Wednesday.
|
81375661c5b348a282f4108a7e750249
|
Where did she spend her life?
|
[
"basement"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- German Bundesliga side Schalke have announced Huub Stevens as the replacement for recently-departed coach Ralf Rangnick, on the same day that former Danish international Michael Laudrup left his role as coach of Spanish club Real Mallorca.
Rangnick, 53, guided Schalke to the semifinals of the European Champions League last season but left the Veltins Arena earlier this month, citing fatigue as his reason for leaving the club.
Dutchman Stevens, 57, previously spent six years as Schalke coach between 1996 and 2002, guiding the Gelsenkirchen outfit to a UEFA Cup triumph against Italian giants Inter Milan in 1997.
Stevens, who has also had spells in charge of Hertha Berlin, Hamburg and PSV Eindhoven, has signed a two-year deal.
"Huub Stevens, who coached the Royal Blues from 1996 to 2002, has returned to his former stomping ground with immediate effect," read a statement on the club's official website. "Stevens has put pen to paper on a contract to 30 June 2013."
Schalke currently sit fifth in Germany's top division, having won four and lost three of their opening seven matches.
As Schalke appointed a new coach, Laudrup ended his one-year tenure in charge of Mallorca.
Laudrup, who represented Denmark on 104 occasions, announced his decision to leave the club at a press conference on Tuesday.
The former Spartak Moscow coach made the decision due to his relationship with club owner Lorenzo Serra Ferrer becoming damaged beyond repair.
"This situation cannot continue like this," Laudrup, 47, said. "From now on, Mallorca will be whatever it is Serra Ferrer wants."
Laudrup guided Mallorca to a 17th-place finish last season as the one-time Copa del Rey winners avoided relegation by just one point.
The club sold star midfielder Jonathan de Guzman to Spanish rivals Villarreal in August and Laudrup saw his assistant Erik Larsen sacked on Monday.
"Yesterday one of my assistants was fired," he said. "Once again, it is very difficult -- if not impossible -- to find the peace required to work here.
"The team is hurt by this situation. What we need is calm and I cannot go home every night, angry, disappointed. I have a family."
Laudrup's final game in charge was a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday, and his former charges travel to Osasuna on Saturday.
|
7c84c51a18674dd2b56c46e854e19340
|
Who has returned to Schalke?
|
[
"Huub Stevens"
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain is prepared to send more troops to Afghanistan, the head of the British Army said in an interview published Friday.
Britain currently has 8,300 troops in Afghanistan.
Richard Dannatt, the chief of the general staff, did not say how many troops he would be prepared to deploy. Britain currently has 8,300 troops in Afghanistan.
Dannatt told The Times newspaper that elements of the 12th Mechanized Brigade had been "earmarked for Afghanistan." He said there are no plans to send the whole brigade of 4,000 troops.
"If we're asked for more and we say we can, it's not going to be 4,000 -- it's going to be something in between" that and the current troop level, Dannatt told the Times. The Ministry of Defense confirmed his remark.
British defense sources told The Times that a rise of 1,700 to 2,000 was "the uppermost ceiling."
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce a new strategy for Afghanistan on Friday that includes sending another 4,000 troops to the country with hundreds of civilian specialists, senior administration officials told CNN.
The troops -- which are in addition to the 17,000 that the president announced earlier would be sent to Afghanistan -- will be charged with training and building the Afghan Army and police force. The plans include doubling the Army's ranks to 135,000 and the police force to 80,000 by 2011, the officials said.
Military officials told CNN earlier that the Afghan government had requested the additional troops.
|
568cd1e826db4c43adb67a9d78409794
|
who is ready to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan?
|
[
"Britain"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Staffers at a federal prison in central Florida fired shots to break up a large-scale fight that sent eight inmates to hospital emergency rooms Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Eight inmates were injured Sunday in a fight at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Florida, officials said.
Authorities did not say what led to the fight at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County.
A statement from the prison said one inmate suffered a gunshot wound, but did not say whether the person was struck by a prison staff member's bullet.
The other seven were "stabbing/shooting victims," said a spokesman for Orlando Regional Medical Center, where the inmates were taken. The hospital did not elaborate.
No prison staffers were seriously hurt in the incident, which the FBI is investigating, said Charles Ratledge, spokesman for the prison.
The fight broke out in the recreation yard of the United States Penitentiary No. 2, a high-security facility, about 2:20 p.m.
The Coleman complex consists of four institutions. The other three facilities -- another U.S. penitentiary, a medium-security and a low-security facility -- were not affected, said Bureau of Prison spokeswoman Traci Billingsley.
"The inmates ignored staff orders to stop their assaultive behavior, and shots were fired by institution staff to prevent possible loss of life," Ratledge said.
Five medical evacuation helicopters -- three from the hospital -- landed at the prison and transported the injured inmates on the 15- to 20-minute flight to Orlando Regional, hospital spokesman Joe Brown said.
The prison complex is in near Coleman in Sumter County, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando, Florida.
The community was never endangered by the fight, U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said.
CNN's Nick Valencia, Susan Candiotti and Terry Frieden contributed to this report.
|
9afb0815650f4d8ca60fac2e4a277cf5
|
What number of inmates were wounded?
|
[
"eight"
] |
NewsQA
|
MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- A moderately strong earthquake rocked Mexico City on Friday afternoon, shaking the earth in the sprawling capital.
People in Mexico City stream into the street as a magnitude 5.7 earthquake hits.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 5.7, and placed the epicenter near the city of Puebla, about 85 miles southeast of Mexico City. It hit at 2:24 p.m. local time.
The Mexican seismological service measured the quake at 5.9.
People in the city reported the earth and buildings shaking. Thousands of panicked people streamed into the streets as stopped cars snarled traffic. Parts of the city were without electricity Friday afternoon but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Earthquakes are a frightening experience for the 20 million residents of Mexico City, where thousands of people perished in a massive quake in 1985. The city, built on volcanic ash and clay, is particularly vulnerable to temblors.
Aldo Pontecorvo of the humanitarian agency World Vision said the shaking lasted about 20 seconds. It came out of nowhere and "without any warning," said Pontecorvo, who said he was in his office when the quake struck.
Earlier this month, a moderate earthquake was measured off the coast of Mexico's western Baja California peninsula.
|
a6b51bcd04d04f23911b92a770758306
|
How many did the 1985 Mexico City quake kill?
|
[
"thousands of people perished in a massive"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- The owner of a Philadelphia art store was arrested Tuesday and charged with smuggling and conspiracy for illegally importing and selling African elephant ivory, according to the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Federal agents seized approximately 1 ton of ivory from Victor Gordon's African art store -- one of the largest government seizures of ivory on record.
Gordon, 68, is also allegedly in violation of the Lacey Act, which aims to fight against the trafficking of wildlife, fish and plants that have been obtained illegally, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Gordon allegedly paid a co-conspirator to travel to Africa to buy raw elephant ivory, according to the 10-count felony indictment against him. He provided his co-conspirators with pictures of ivory carvings and asked that the ivory be designed by African carvers according to his designs, court documents said. Gordon also asked that the ivory be dyed to give it an antique, older look.
He illegally imported the ivory through John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, a statement from the U.S. attorney said.
Ivory usually comes from the tusks of elephants. A high demand for ivory led to a staggering decline in the African elephant population in the 1970s and 1980s, but the killing of elephants for their tusks remains a serious problem, even after laws and international treaties were put in place to prohibit the practice. The U.S. Endangered Species Act names the African elephant as a threatened species.
"The amount of the elephant ivory allegedly plundered in this case is staggering and highlights the seriousness of the charged crimes," said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. "We all have a responsibility to protect endangered species, both for their sake and for the sake of our own future generations."
Poaching and illegally selling ivory is serious issue in West and Central Africa, where the ivory in the Gordon case came from, the U.S. attorney's statement said.
If he is convicted of the charges against him, Gordon could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
|
d5c5243567784fa494d4e69a276f9198
|
who faces 20 years in prison if convicted?
|
[
"Gordon"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Torrential rains and flooding since June have affected 600,000 people in 16 West African nations, the United Nations reported Tuesday.
People walk in the flooded streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, last week.
The worst hit have been Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana and Niger, said Yvon Edoumou, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. So far, 159 people have died, he said. Sierra Leone has also been hard hit, according to the U.N.
Edoumou said removing water from flooded areas is a top priority, but powerful pumps are in short supply.
"Some people refused to leave their homes so they are living in floodwaters," he said.
The United Nations has not yet received reports of waterborne diseases, but Edoumou said a real threat exists of diarrhea or, worse, cholera.
The U.N. World Food Programme said Tuesday it has begun distributing food to tens of thousands of homeless flood victims.
WFP has set a goal of feeding 177,500 people, mainly in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where 150,000 people have been affected and key infrastructure -- including a central hospital, schools, bridges and roads -- has been damaged.
The flooding in Burkina Faso is the worst in 90 years, WFP said.
Many of those in Ouagadougou most needing help were already receiving aid from WFP, but those rations were lost in the floodwaters, the U.N. reported.
"It is always the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most from floods like these as their few remaining assets are swept away, leaving them hungry and destitute," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said.
Roads and buildings have been ruined from Mauritania to Niger, the U.N. reported. In Agadez, Niger, a town about 458 miles (738 km) north of the capital, Niamey, close to 988 acres (400 hectares) of vegetable crops and hundreds of livestock were washed away.
Herve Ludovic de Lys, head of OCHA in West Africa, said natural disasters have a lasting effect that unravels years of progress against poverty.
"The situation is very worrying," he said in an OCHA statement issued Tuesday.
The rainy season in West Africa begins in June and continues through late September. In 2007, 300 people died and 800,000 were affected by the storms.
This year, fears abound that more heavy rain will fall in already waterlogged areas.
Despite the misery, Edoumou said the rains are a mixed blessing for countries dependent on agriculture. The harvest this year will be more bountiful, he said.
|
6fd57b90e1f5484b8ae71e1e1c53a58c
|
how many died?
|
[
"159"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Sweden's parliament on Wednesday approved same-sex marriage legislation, according to the parliament's Web site.
Previously, two people of the same sex could register their partnership, but with this vote, sex will no longer matter when two people want to get married.
The new "sex-neutral" law will take effect on May 1.
Couples who already had a registered partnership can now either stay in that union or transform it into a marriage if they wish, the Web site said.
The "yes" votes numbered 261, while 22 members of parliament voted "no" and 16 chose not to vote.
The Christian Democrats was the only party opposed to the new law.
"Unfortunately this is not an April Fool's Day joke, this is reality," Yvonne Andersson, member of the Swedish parliament for the Christian Democrats, wrote on the party's Web site following the vote.
The party had instead proposed a law that would remove the word "marriage" from Swedish law and replace it with a legally binding union between two persons, thus separating it from the Christian ceremony that the church conducts.
Asa Regner, secretary general of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, told CNN that Wednesday's vote meant a very important change in Swedish law.
"This was the last area where same sex couples were treated differently," she said.
|
0b230472002c4c1c9042581c16a1295b
|
What groups dissented?
|
[
"Christian Democrats"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- Farrah Fawcett, the actress known worldwide for her beauty and her role on "Charlie's Angels," is reportedly seriously ill and may be close to death after a long battle with cancer.
Farrah Fawcett, seen here in 2004, is featured in a documentary about her fight with cancer.
A documentary, which airs Friday night on NBC, will feature an intimate look at her life since being diagnosed with the disease.
On Thursday, Larry King talked with Candy Spelling, a close friend of Fawcett. Her husband, the late Aaron Spelling, produced "Charlie's Angels." Spelling talks about her relationship with Fawcett and why she believes she did the documentary.
The following is an edited version of the interview.
Larry King: Did you first meet Farrah in connection with getting that part?
Candy Spelling: Yes. Actually, she did a lot of small, little parts in the movies for Aaron starting around 1973. So it's been, my God, 36, 37 years since I, you know, first met her. Watch Candy Spelling talk about her friendship with Farrah Fawcett »
King: So you knew her well during all that time?
Spelling: Yes.
King: Did you know about her getting picked to be on "Charlie's Angels?"
Spelling: I remember. She did some small roles. I think the one that Aaron really decided he was really going to use her was this American beauty pageant and, also, it was like "Murder on Flight 502." He did the 90-minute versions.
King: Movie of the week?
Spelling: Right. Movie of the weeks.
King: When did you know she had cancer?
Spelling: I found out about a year -- when I first heard, I don't know if it was a year or two years ago when we first heard, and I contacted her. I hadn't talked to her in a while. She said, "I'm going to be all right, Candy. Everything is going to be all right."
King: Why do you think, Candy, she did the documentary?
Spelling: I think that she wanted to give other people courage that, you know, are fighting this kind of thing. I know how, you know, devastating the press, you know, was with Aaron when he had cancer. And it's just so difficult. And I mean, you know, it's hard to have a private life at that point.
King: Why do the tabloids get so tough on someone in such pain?
Spelling: It's news. It's kind of a sad thing. I'm always so sorry to see it. But, you know, people believe what they see, and a lot of times, we don't know how true it really is.
|
913bb85e16ae401fb30473e40217d833
|
Who talked about the "Angel" her late husband made famous?
|
[
"Candy Spelling:"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHAKIE COUNTY, Wyoming (CNN) -- Federal agents have apprehended accused child molester Edward Eugene Harper, who was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, an FBI official said Thursday.
Edward Eugene Harper is believed to have lived a nomadic lifestyle since fleeing Mississippi.
Harper, 63, is accused of molesting two girls, ages 3 and 8, in his neighborhood in Hernando, Mississippi, more than a decade ago, the FBI said.
The FBI said it received a telephone tip in June at the Denver office regarding Harper, and brought a SWAT team and a hostage negotiation team to apprehend him in rural Wyoming on Thursday.
He surrendered without incident, the FBI said, and later admitted his identity to agents.
Harper was living in a 1979 truck with a camper top in the southern portion of Washakie County's Big Horn Mountains, the FBI said.
He is believed to have lived a nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place and earning a living by doing odd jobs and herding sheep, the FBI said in a statement.
He was indicted in April 1994 with conspiracy to commit sexual battery, fondling a child and sexual battery.
He failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing and a state warrant was issued for his arrest in October 1994. He was later charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, a federal offense. The FBI added him to its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list last year.
Before living in Mississippi, Harper had been a ranch hand, working with cattle and sheep in Montana and Wyoming, the FBI said in its release on Harper last year. He has also worked as a truck driver, the agency said.
According to the FBI, Harper subscribed to "sovereign citizen" ideology and claimed to be a member of the Montana Freemen, a group that rejected the authority of the U.S. government. The group became famous for an 81-day standoff with federal agents in Montana in 1996.
But after the arrest and conviction of many of its members, the group essentially disintegrated, according to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"As far as I know," they don't exist, he said. "Most of them went to prison and there was nothing left."
|
b039f0c89b7b470983bfae46e80078b2
|
Who was fondling a child?
|
[
"Edward Eugene Harper"
] |
NewsQA
|
Florence's best buys tend to be leather goods, designer wear and food.
Roberto Cavalli's Florence store, just one of the city's many high-end boutiques
If money is no object, head to Via Tornabuoni, Florence's answer to 5th Avenue, and snap up Prada, Gucci, and local-born designers Cavalli, Ferragamo and Pucci.
If your budget doesn't stretch that far, head south to the city outskirts by car or taxi to the designer outlets where you can pick up luxury goods from Dolce and Gabbana and more at bargain prices (www.outlet-firenze.com.)
For hand-made cashmere or silk-lined leather gloves, try Madora ( Via Guicciardini 1/R; +39 055 239 6526). Some people travel all the way to Florence just to shop here.
If you have ever admired Sting's suits, you can buy one of your own from Piero and Franco Cisternino (Via del Purgatorio 22/R; +39 055 280 118) who make men's suits to measure.
One of the most beautiful shops in Florence is an ancient herbal pharmacy or apothecary, Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella (Via della Scala 16; +39 055 216 276), set in a 13th-century frescoed chapel. Its world renowned products include pomegranate perfume, orange blossom water and carnation milk soap.
Italians have typically been late adopters of vintage fashion but Elio Ferraro (Via del Parione 47/R; +39 055 290 425; www.elioferraro.com) was ahead of the game. A visit to his gallery/shop will unearth vintage Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and Chanel from the 1930s onwards.
......................
Florence City Guide:
Where to stay | What to see | Where to be seen | Where to eat | Where to shop
......................
Do you agree with our Florence picks? Send us your comments and suggestions in the "Sound Off" box below and we'll print the best.
|
ace3b462fa1b41a196551b3cb8b44f72
|
What products are in Florence?
|
[
"leather goods, designer wear and food."
] |
NewsQA
|
CRANWELL, England (CNN) -- Britain's oldest man and the oldest living veteran of World War I was celebrating his 112th birthday Friday with a party and a fly-past at an air force base.
Henry Allingham at a 90th anniversary celebration of the Royal Air Force this year.
Henry Allingham is the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service, which he joined in 1915. He saw action at the Battle of Jutland off Denmark the following year, according to the Ministry of Defense.
Allingham is also the last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force, which was created in 1918, nine months before the end of the war. He left the service a year later, the defense ministry said.
Friday's events were happening at the Royal Air Force base in Cranwell, England, about 120 miles north of London. Friends of his at the base said Allingham, who arrived in a wheelchair, was looking "fresh."
After a birthday lunch, aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, an aerial display team, planned to fly overhead, the base said. Members of the Falcons Parachute Display Team then planned to drop in and present Allingham with a birthday card from the chief of Britain's air staff.
Allingham is Britain's oldest man and the oldest surviving member of the armed forces, according to Guinness World Records.
The former aircraft engineer still travels and makes public appearances at military events and commemorations.
In July, Allingham had a private audience with Queen Elizabeth and attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. In November, he laid a wreath in St. Omer, France -- where he was stationed during the war -- to celebrate Armistice Day, the end of World War I.
Allingham said last year that he remains active to emphasize the importance of remembering the conflict.
"I don't do these things because I enjoy doing them but to keep the memory alive of all my comrades who fought and died in the First World War," he told the Ministry of Defense.
|
5e5c4965317040068d67565efe8c8709
|
What is the name of the man?
|
[
"Henry Allingham"
] |
NewsQA
|
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Six Haitian orphans, seized by national authorities last week as they prepared to journey to the United States, will be able to leave the earthquake-devastated country Wednesday.
The U.S. Embassy retained custody of the children Tuesday and they were handed over to three American women who have been trying to escort them out.
The women had attempted to leave Saturday when angry Haitians demanded to see their paperwork. Police suspected that a key document the women were carrying -- a permission signed by Haiti's prime minister -- was a fake, something the women and U.S. officials deny.
There is no chance the paperwork is fake, said Sarah Thacker, one of the three women. Thacker, from Minnesota, was in Haiti to bring home her newly adopted son.
Police did not arrest the women, but temporarily placed the children under government custody at a local orphanage.
The women said Tuesday that they had been given permission to take the children to the United States. The women were staying with the children at a friend's house in Port-au-Prince.
Full coverage of Haiti earthquake
The incident came nearly a month after the arrest of 10 U.S. missionaries accused of trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country without proper paperwork. Eight of them have been released on bail and have returned to the United States.
The question of Haitian children being removed from the country illegally came to the foreground after a magnitude-7.0 earthquake devastated parts of the country on January 12. Authorities feared that children left on their own -- because their parents died or they were separated from them -- would be targeted by child traffickers.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has backed Thacker's efforts.
"They have filled out all the paperwork," she said. "This is a legitimate orphanage that has brought other children to America. And I feel like these little babies are just caught up in this international dispute, and it's just not fair."
CNN's Gary Tuchman and Ismael Estrada contributed to this report.
|
135e4e9e629345f4b4c8f25a6de4bd50
|
What's their nationality?
|
[
"Haitian"
] |
NewsQA
|
Atlanta (CNN) -- A number of states, including Georgia, already are putting things in place to opt out of the controversial No Child Left Behind Law, following President Barrack Obama's announcement Friday that states can now apply for waivers.
The law, passed in 2001, requires, among other things, that public schools meet targets designed to make all students proficient in math and reading by 2014 or face penalties. The administration will begin reviewing applications to waive some of the demands the law places on states, Obama said Friday.
Top education officials in Georgia said Friday that it should be up to each individual state to decide how best to evaluate student performance in the classroom. Following the president's announcement, Georgia State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge described his state's alternative to closing the achievement gap.
The College and Career Ready Performance Index, "lets states determine how they approach the guiding principles," Barge said Friday. Georgia is one of a handful of states, including Kentucky, Delaware, and Wisconsin that have expressed interest in waivers seeking flexibility from No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Barge and U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) personally delivered Georgia's request for a waiver to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Tuesday.
Barge said the waiver will give schools more flexibility. "It will not be a matter of the entire accountability label hinging on a single test," he said.
Under the administration's new guidelines, states will be encouraged to devise standards of accountability that do not treat all schools the same.
"The purpose is not to give states and districts a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools at the local level," Obama said in a statement.
In order to gain approval for waivers, states must present the U.S. Department of Education with credible alternative plans to measure performance.
Georgia's proposal focuses on several indicators to measure student performance, including reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies, offering an index that will vary based on grade level.
"With NCLB, science and social studies teachers were not measured to determine adequate yearly progress," Georgia Department of Education Communications Director Matt Cardoza said. "Many times, those teachers would feel their subjects were not as important. Now, there are multiple indicators, including science and social studies."
States that do not apply for waivers will still be expected to meet the guidelines set out by No Child Left Behind. States may submit official applications for waivers by mid-November. Waivers could be granted in early 2010.
CNN's Lesa Jansen contributed to this report
|
cb9ab1298f0141729fe92ee6e89eb63e
|
What did Obama announce?
|
[
"states can now apply for waivers."
] |
NewsQA
|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British police are reviewing the death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, 40 years after the hard-living rocker was found dead in a swimming pool.
An autographed photo of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones who was found dead in July 1969
Police in Sussex, in southern England, have confirmed they are examining documents given to them by an investigative journalist who has been researching events surrounding Jones' death.
Scott Jones, who is not related to the musician, has spent four years reviewing the evidence and speaking to key witnesses in the case.
In an article published in the Daily Mail in November 2008, Jones wrote, "I'm convinced Brian Jones' death was not fully investigated. The only question that remains is why?"
Brian Jones' body was found in the swimming pool after a party at his home in Cotchford Farm, East Sussex in July 1969. He was 27.
An inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure, despite post mortem results showing he had not taken illegal drugs and had only consumed the alcoholic equivalent of three and a half pints of beer.
One of the most popular conspiracy theories that followed was that Jones was murdered by his builder, Frank Thorogood.
The theory gained credence after Thorogood allegedly confessed to the killing before his death in 1993. The storyline formed the basis of the 2005 film "Stoned."
Sussex police told CNN they could not say how long it would take to review the new material, nor whether it could lead to a full investigation.
There have been repeated calls for closer examination of the case since Jones' death, which came just three weeks after he left the Rolling Stones.
His drinking and drug-taking had taken a toll on his health and the band, and in 1969 Jones announced he was leaving.
In a statement he said, "I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting."
Last year, Scott Jones published an article containing contents of an interview he conducted with one of the people present at Jones' home on the night of his death.
In the article, published in the Daily Mail, Jones' said Janet Lawson, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones tour manager Tom Keylock, gave him a version of events that contradicted her official police statement.
She is reported to have called her original statement, "a pack of lies... total rubbish."
Lawson's revised version of events is among the documents Jones has supplied to Sussex police. It is also believed to include previously unseen files released by the Public Records Office.
Lawson died of cancer soon after telling Scott Jones her new sworn testimony.
|
1448cf64ad8e4148b1e9e722da5c89d0
|
Where did his death take place?
|
[
"home in Cotchford Farm, East Sussex"
] |
NewsQA
|
Kennedy Space Center, Florida (CNN) -- The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off Friday afternoon on its final planned mission.
The shuttle blasted off under bright sunny skies at 2:20 p.m.
The six astronauts on board plan to deliver an integrated cargo carrier and a Russian-built mini-research module to the international space station. They also plan to bring a "set of batteries for the station's truss and dish antenna, along with other replacement parts," NASA says.
In addition to the mission that got under way Friday afternoon, NASA has plans for two space shuttle missions before the program ends.
This Just In: The (maybe) final flight of Atlantis
Atlantis has flown more than 115 million miles in almost 25 years, NASA says. It was the first orbiter to dock with the Russian space station, Mir.
"Atlantis has a history of being the shuttle that did the most international things," said Emily Nelson, lead space station flight director for the mission.
"It's the orbiter that the Russians have known best, because it's one that came to their space station most often, and it's one that we used to deliver a module for them in the past."
Atlantis also carried into orbit the Magellan spacecraft, which went on to map 98 percent of the planet Venus. It also sent the Galileo spacecraft on its way to collect data about Jupiter and its moons for eight years.
|
7ae94d2ab4c74b619747fc59f2ea58f9
|
When is the liftoff?
|
[
"Friday afternoon"
] |
NewsQA
|
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The first official indication that a family service for Michael Jackson will be held at Forest Lawn Cemetery came from a Los Angeles police official Sunday.
A memorial poster for Michael Jackson is displayed outside Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Forest Lawn officials were working with the Jackson family on their plans, which were part of "a package" of events Tuesday, said Jim McDonnell, assistant chief of staff of the Los Angeles Police Department.
His comments, however, did not answer questions about where or when Jackson would be buried.
While there are five Forest Lawn cemeteries in the Los Angeles area, a long line of media trucks and crews have been parked at the gate of the Hollywood Hills facility for several days in anticipation of Jackson's possible interment there.
The family of the singer, who died June 25, has given no public statement on the planning. However, brother Jermaine Jackson told CNN on Thursday that a private service would be held Tuesday morning.
A public memorial for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles is set to start at 10 a.m. PT Tuesday. McDonnell said police do not expect a Jackson motorcade to take place on Tuesday.
An official with AEG Live, the concert promoter handling the public memorial plans, said there would be no funeral processional.
About 1.6 million fans registered for a chance at fewer than 9,000 pairs of tickets to the memorial service, organizers said.
Registration ended at 6 p.m. Saturday. The 8,750 registrants picked in a random drawing were to receive an e-mail Sunday after 11 a.m. PT, AEG Live said.
Tickets will be handed to the winning registrants Monday outside the Staples Center, said Tim Leiweke, president of AEG Live.
Ticketholders will also have wristbands to match their tickets, a precaution against people "trying to take advantage" of the system, he said.
|
596782195a5647379118486708182c72
|
Where will the public memorial be held?
|
[
"at the Staples Center in Los Angeles"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- A diamond unearthed in the southern African nation of Lesotho could yield one of the largest and highest quality round polished diamonds, according to a statement Monday from company that found it.
A mining company unearthed this 478-carat diamond in the southern African nation of Lesotho.
Experts in Antwerp, Belgium who analyzed the 478-carat stone determined it to be of the highest color grading available for a white diamond, said a statement from Gem Diamonds Ltd., the company that found the stone.
"What makes it more remarkable is the color and quality of this stone," said diamond consultant Neil Buxton.
"It's a D color, which is the highest possible graded color you can get, and we believe there is a chance -- a very good chance -- of getting a 100-carat plus" round stone with the highest color and clarity rankings.
The company said such a stone would "to the best of our knowledge" be "the first one in history." Watch more on the diamond »
The diamond, which was found in September, ranks as the 20th largest rough diamond ever found, but is not the biggest ever taken from the Letseng Mine, which is co-owned by Gem Diamonds Ltd. and the Kingdom of Lesotho, a country of 2.1 million that is surrounded by South Africa.
Two bigger stones -- 603 and 493 carats -- were found in the mine in 2006 and 2007, respectively, the company said. A 601-carat diamond was mined there in 1960, it said.
|
dce75810ae7b4f9cb324f52e296c0b71
|
What could the diamond yield?
|
[
"and highest quality round polished"
] |
NewsQA
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Paul Gillmor of Ohio was found dead in his townhouse in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday, leadership aides for both the Republican and Democratic parties said.
Rep. Paul Gillmor was first elected to Congress in 1988.
Gillmor, a Republican, was 68. The leadership aides did not say how Gillmor died.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told fellow congressmen on the floor of the House that their colleague died "suddenly overnight."
"He was a good friend to all of us," said a somber Boehner. "He's going to be missed by us all."
A tribute to Gillmor will be held in the House later Wednesday afternoon, Boehner said. Watch Boehner tell colleagues of death »
Gillmor, the deputy minority whip, was in his 10th term in the House, representing the 5th Congressional District in the northwest part of the Buckeye state.
He was a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit.
Gillmor also served on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored-Enterprises and the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
He was elected to Congress in 1988, after serving in the Ohio State Senate for 22 years, where he was elected Republican leader five times.
Gillmor was born Feb. 1, 1939, in Tiffin, Ohio. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
In 2006, Roll Call -- a Capitol Hill newspaper -- listed him as the 43rd richest member of Congress, with an estimated net worth of $6.16 million. He formerly ran a financial services company.
Gillmor was also a U.S. Air Force veteran -- where he attained the rank of captain -- and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1986. He served in the Vietnam War in 1965 and 1966.
He was married to Karen Gillmor, vice chairman of the State Employment Relations Board in Ohio and a former state senator.
Their family includes two daughters, Linda and Julie, and three sons, Paul and twins Connor and Adam. E-mail to a friend
|
d5b48a99f4dc48b49d082cc8151f3939
|
when was he found
|
[
"Wednesday,"
] |
NewsQA
|
(CNN) -- This month, Just Imagine focused on the future of nature and the ways in which it can inspire solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing humanity today.
A digital representation of the human genome.
Yet as scientists gain a greater understanding of biological processes, they're also learning how to manipulate them, including the very essence of what makes us human -- our DNA.
Biotechnology advances are already helping scientists find groundbreaking ways to create personalized medicine, detect illnesses and eradicate disease.
And this, according to futurist Ray Kurzweil, is only the beginning. In the future, humans will be able to reverse the aging process, replace dying organs with younger ones grown from an individual's own DNA and even genetically engineer unborn children, he said.
But some, like the UK-based group Human Genetics Alert, worry the ability to reprogram our biochemistry could lead mankind into unknown territory with dangerous ramifications for the future, including genetic discrimination and even a redefinition of what it means to be human.
We want to hear your views. To what extent should we be able to alter our genetic makeup? Should there be a limit? And how should it be determined exactly what that limit is?
Post your comments in the Sound Off box below. We'll publish the best.
|
e1f3358e39a7442b94eac7ab17b593ee
|
What did the Human Genetics Alert say it could lead to?
|
[
"unknown territory with dangerous ramifications"
] |
NewsQA
|
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Toiling in what is the opium capital of the world, farmers in southern Afghanistan are swapping out their poppy plants for wheat crops.
A farmer harvests wheat in a field on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, last summer.
The farmers are participating in programs sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is offering seeds, fertilizers and improved irrigation to the region in an effort to stop poppy crops and, ultimately, the production of opium and heroin.
Observers have noticed a significant decline in the opium trade in Afghanistan, with the number of poppy-free provinces increasing from 13 in 2007 to 18 in 2008, according to a U.N. report released last year.
Opium cultivation in the country, which has 34 provinces, dropped by about 20 percent in a year, the U.N. reported in August.
"It's a challenge to deliver assistance in a war zone -- you can hear fighter jets flying above us right now," said Rory Donohoe, a USAID development officer.
"At the end of the day, what we found is successful is that we work in areas that we can work," he told CNN in a recent interview in Helmand province.
"We come to places like this demonstration farm where Afghans can come here to a safe environment, get training, pick up seeds and fertilizer, then go back to districts of their own." Watch Afghans speak about the change in their farming practices »
Many of Afghanistan's northern and eastern provinces have already benefited from USAID alternative farming programs, which have doled out more than $22 million to nearly 210,000 Afghans to build or repair 435 miles (700 kilometers) of roads and some 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers) of irrigation and drainage canals.
Giving Afghan farmers improved access to markets and improved irrigation is successfully weaning them away from poppy production, according to officials at USAID.
Over the years, opium and heroin -- both derivatives of the poppy -- have served as a major source of revenue for the insurgency, most notably the Taliban movement that once ruled Afghanistan.
"If you can just help the people of Afghanistan in this way, the fighting will go away," said Abdul Qadir, a farmer in Lashkar Gah.
"The Taliban and other enemies of the country will also disappear."
|
7e801497674b4ad3b88012c3f8b1e135
|
Who is offering seeds?
|
[
"U.S. Agency for International Development,"
] |
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