TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you are given news articles and you need to generate a highlight, i.e., a short summary, with a maximum length of 10 lines.
PROBLEM: Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- A history of slipshod inspections is at least partly to blame for the disaster that destroyed the drill rig Deepwater Horizon and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history, a former Interior Department official says. Bobby Maxwell worked for 22 years as an auditor and audit supervisor for the Minerals Management Service, and he said the disaster would not have happened if inspectors had done their jobs. But he said a "culture of corruption" enveloped the agency, "and it permeated the whole agency, both the revenue and the inspection side." The Minerals Management Service, a division of the Interior Department, is the primary federal agency that conducts safety inspections and collects revenue on the more than 3,500 oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Before leaving the agency in 2006, he supervised more than 100 auditors, who dig through oil company documents to make sure the federal government is getting all the royalties it's owed. He won an award from his bosses at the Interior Department. And although not an engineer by training, he spent a great deal of time on offshore rigs, many times working alongside Minerals Management Service inspectors. But he said that the agency was badly flawed and that investigators looking into the explosion that killed 11 workers aboard the rig in April should be asking questions about how those inspections were conducted. "What types of inspections? Who did them? Did they give them any waivers? Was the equipment adequate? Did they think they needed a second blowout preventer? Did they demand BP put it in? MMS is responsible for that, too," he said. As an auditor, Maxwell said, he was flown to offshore oil rigs routinely, sometimes in the company of Minerals Management Service inspectors. He says that when he was present, agency inspectors he saw were doing little real work. "It seemed like a formal process they would go through," he said. "We showed up on the rig. They had a checklist they would run through quickly, check things off, say things like 'Hi, Joe. Hi, John. See you at this weekend's fishing tournament.' " In May, an inspector general's report on the Minerals Management Service office in Lake Charles, Louisiana, sharply criticized a "widespread" culture of taking gifts from industry officials before 2007. Many of the inspectors joined the agency from the industry and had relationships with people in the business that originated "well before they took their jobs with industry or government," the report states. Inspectors got paid meals and tickets to sporting events from companies they monitored; let oil and gas company workers fill out their inspection forms in pencil, with the inspectors writing over those entries in ink before turning them in; and in 2008, one conducted inspections of four offshore platforms while negotiating a job with the company that operated them, the report found. And a 2008 inspector general's report found that regulators in the agency's Denver, Colorado, office received improper gifts from energy industry representatives and engaged in illegal drug use and inappropriate sexual relations with them. Maxwell worked out of the Denver office during that period and traveled to the Gulf region frequently. He is now in the fifth year of a whistleblower lawsuit he filed against the Kerr-McGee Oil Co., claiming that the firm cheated the Interior Department and the U.S. Treasury out of tens of millions of dollars in revenue from the company's oil concessions in the Gulf. The company, which has since been acquired by Anadarko Petroleum, denies the accusations. A federal judge in Denver is hearing that lawsuit, and should he win, Maxwell will stand to gain about $6 million in whistleblower fees. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has publicly criticized some Minerals Management Service inspectors, saying they had a "cozy relationship" with oil company executives and workers. He has announced plans to split the agency into separate energy development, enforcement and revenue collection divisions, saying they have conflicting missions. In a statement issued to CNN, the Interior Department says that real change -- "systemic and not cosmetic" -- is coming to the service. Salazar "is well aware that we need to clean up the troubled agency," the department said. But Maxwell said that even if the agency is split up, it won't make much of a real difference. "You still have the same people," he said. "If you had people issues with the corruption and jobs not being done, you still have the same people in the name of a new agency. So those people may not be changing what they are doing. Therefore, you have the old agency with the new name, with the same corruption." Maxwell says he decided to speak out because he was "tired of seeing us not being able to do the job we were hired to do." He says he is both angry and heartbroken over the damage done to the marshlands, the water and to the economy of the Gulf states, especially Louisiana. "The only way to potentially change it is to stand up and be recognized and tell what was happening," he said.

SOLUTION: Bobby Maxwell spent 22 years at Minerals Management Service .
Maxwell, who routinely visited offshore rigs, says inspectors did little real work .
He described agency as "a culture of corruption" during his tenure .

PROBLEM: (CNN) -- For centuries, Timbuktu has existed in the Western imagination as a byword for the most exotic, far-flung place conceivable. Situated on the southern edge of the Sahara, it acquired a near-mythical status in distant countries for its fabled inaccessibility, and for the accounts of the dazzling material and intellectual wealth to be found there. Intrigued visitors continue to be drawn by the treasures that survive from the city's medieval golden age as an important academic, religious and mercantile center -- its great earthen mosques, and hundreds of thousands of scholarly manuscripts held in public and private collections. The city, today part of present-day Mali and known as the "city of 333 saints" for the Sufi imams, sheiks and scholars buried there, was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. But there are fears this carefully preserved legacy could be under threat from groups of armed rebels who have overrun the ancient city this month, in the vacuum left by retreating Malian government forces. Irina Bokova, the director general of UNESCO, has called on the groups to respect and protect the city's heritage. "Timbuktu's outstanding earthen architectural wonders that are the great mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, must be safeguarded," she said. "Along with the site's 16 cemeteries and mausolea, they are essential to the preservation of the identity of the people of Mali and of our universal heritage." Timbuktu, which has a population of about 50,000, is held by at least two rival groups who have been involved in a northern uprising against Mali's government, headquartered in the southern capital of Bamako. One is Ansar Dine, a Salafist Islamist group that seeks to impose Sharia law. The other, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), has been fighting for an independent homeland for the nomadic Tuareg people in the country's north, and earlier this month unilaterally proclaimed independence for the region they call Azawad. Read also: Rwanda genocide survivors cycle towards London 2012 . Following the overthrow of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi, many Tuareg who had been fighting for Gadhafi's forces reportedly returned to northern Mali, bringing their weapons with them. Last month, a Tuareg uprising triggered a military coup against Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure by officers dissatisfied with the government's efforts to put down the insurrection. But in the disorder following the coup, the rebels seized large areas of the north. Martin van Vliet, a researcher at the African Studies Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, said that while Timbuktu was no longer a city of vital economic or military importance, it stood out as an important prize for the rebels due to its symbolic significance. "The group that controls Timbuktu controls the symbolic capital of the entire region, because it's that well-known across the world. If you control that city, it will be known." Historically, Timbuktu's legend began to spread throughout the medieval world when the Emperor of Mali made his pilgrimage to Mecca through Cairo in 1324, and dazzled those he encountered with the gold his party carried. Early in the 16th century, reports of the city on the sand -- then part of the Songhay Empire -- filtered back to Europe through the Moorish diplomat and writer Leo Africanus, adding to the city's near-mythical status as an African El Dorado. Becoming the first European to reach the city subsequently became an obsession for Western explorers, many of whom perished in the desert sands. In 1824, the Geographical Society of Paris even offered a reward for the first European to accomplish the feat. Two years later, however, the person to do so met with disaster. Scottish explorer Gordon Laing survived an attack by Tuareg nomads en route to Timbuktu, only to discover on arrival that its wealth had greatly diminished since its heyday. Laing stayed a month in the city, then was murdered two days after leaving. During its golden age, Timbuktu was a thriving desert trading town at the heart of important trade routes for gold and salt, and a major intellectual and spiritual center, which played a key role in the spread of Islam in Africa. Islamic scholars traveled great distances to study in the city's university, which had 25,000 students during its zenith, and was comprised of three mosques. Read also: Sculpting peace in Mozambique . Constructed from mud bricks and wood in the distinctive Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, the Sankore, Sidi Yahia and Djingarei-ber mosques have been maintained and remain major attractions in the city today. The latter, Timbuktu's oldest, was built in the early 14th century, while the Sankore, during its heyday, was said to have the largest collection of books in Africa since the Library of Alexandria of antiquity. "Timbuktu in the 14th to the 16th century was an important university city where many manuscripts referring to knowledge of astronomy, economy, religion, mathematics, physics, and medicine were produced," said Lazare Eloundou, chief of the Africa unit for UNESCO's World Heritage Center. Comprising the other significant component of Timbuktu's heritage legacy, this immense trove of scholarly manuscripts -- estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands -- remains in the city in state and private collections. For generations, local families have protected the fragile manuscripts, some of which date from the 13th century, from invaders. Fearing that those responsible for the current unrest could loot or destroy the treasures, librarians and curators are making efforts to hide the texts or smuggle them out of the city to safety. While there have been reports that offices of local libraries have been looted by the gunmen, no significant losses of the documents have yet been reported, according to Eloundou. "We are still concerned by what could happen there in case there is a fight -- we're concerned about the risk of damage," said Eloundou. "We also don't know what the reaction of the Islamist groups will be with regard to the manuscripts." He said the city's heritage was vastly important to locals -- as a source of cultural pride, but also of income. Even if the city's treasures survived unscathed, they stood to lose out from the uprising as it could plunge the region into isolation once again. In addition, an estimated 200,000 people have been displaced by the uprising in the wider region. "The fact this part of the country has been taken by the Tuareg rebellion and Islamist groups does not allow any more tourists to visit, and the communities depend a lot on the tourism revenue," he said. "This is really going to affect their lives."

SOLUTION: In medieval times, Timbuktu, in present-day Mali, was an important intellectual center .
Known for its great mosques and trove of manuscripts, the city has world-heritage status .
Islamist and Tuareg rebels have occupied the city in recent weeks .
UNESCO fears the important site could be destroyed or looted by rebels .

PROBLEM: (CNN) -- Monday, the official first day of winter, airlines were scrambling to accommodate passengers affected by the cancellation of hundreds of flights after a monster weekend winter storm blanketed a swath of the East Coast. Charlene Fisk, a filmmaker from Atlanta, Georgia, tried her best not to lose it at Hartsfield International Airport on Monday at 4:30 a.m. when she found out she wouldn't be getting home to upstate New York anytime soon. Her US Airways connecting flight had been canceled, so she was placed on another flight to Philadelphia, which was then canceled. She's going to have to fly to Chicago on Monday evening, hopefully stay the night with friends and then hop on a standby flight to Syracuse. Her family will have to drive about an hour from their home to pick her up. "Passengers are talking about renting cars together and just driving home," Fisk said. US Airways is picking up the tab to fly Fisk to Chicago. And while some airlines are offering refunds, a spokesman for Delta Air Lines said the company is providing weather waivers that allow passengers to reschedule without a penalty if they were scheduled to travel before Christmas. Another strong winter system will be developing by Tuesday in the Rockies. The system will take a track through the central Plains, Midwest, and into the western Great Lakes. Winter storm and blizzard watches are already in effect for the Central Plains for Tuesday night through Thursday. Severe weather also will be possible from Dallas and Houston, Texas, to Little Rock, Arkansas, and New Orleans, Louisiana. On Monday, CNN correspondent Susan Candiotti was taking her first day of vacation when she began a chaotic journey from Newark, New Jersey. Already with boarding pass in hand, she spent nearly two hours in three different lines because agents were unsure which line passengers should be in, she said. Another agent eventually told Candiotti and others to go directly to TSA security where they got in another line. A different Continental agent then lead them to an upper floor to check their bags. Then, they were sent back to security and she made it to her  8:45 a.m. flight gate with 10 minutes to spare only to learn that the flight had been postponed until around 11 a.m., when it eventually took off for Columbus, Ohio. Her final destination is northern Kentucky which she'll eventually reach once her sister picks her up in Ohio and drives her home. "My experience today was nothing compared to many people we interviewed (on Sunday) who stood in line for three or four hours," Candiotti said. "One student trying to get to Denver had to spend two sleepless nights at the airport. So, my delay pales by comparison." Washington's Dulles and Reagan National airports saw snowfall of 18 inches and 16.4 inches respectively on Sunday, the highest one-day totals ever for December. Alison Young posted on her Facebook page that she's glad her brother finally made it to Omaha, Nebraska. He arrived at 3 a.m. central time on Monday. He began his journey at 7 a.m. Sunday at Reagan National, had to scramble to find a flight out of Dulles, went through Denver and then made it home. "Can't wait to attempt my own trek home Tuesday," Young joked. American Airlines said it would add extra flights, use bigger planes where possible and reflow passengers to other flights. Passengers who were affected can switch flights with no change fees through Thursday, said Charley Wilson, airline spokesman. Continental Airlines said though flights are extremely full because of the Christmas season, staffers are working on a "case-by-case basis" to ensure passengers get home for the holidays. Passengers can also get a refund or change their flights for free at Continental's Web site or through the 800 number, said spokeswoman Mary Clark. Areas from the Mid-Atlantic through the Northeast set snowfall records this weekend. Record snow blanketed some areas Sunday, including 23 inches in Bethesda, Maryland, and 24 inches in Medford, New Jersey. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received 23.2 inches -- its second-highest snowfall ever in a single event. Two people were killed in weather-related crashes, the Virginia State Police said Sunday, and "there are two additional deaths that are likely related to the winter storm." The storm, known as a nor'easter, blanketed the mid-Atlantic region and the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor. Meanwhile, western North Carolina residents were digging out from the powerful storm. In Washington, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said the storm is "perhaps the biggest we've seen in several years." "We are going to throw everything we have at it to keep the District open for business on this busy pre-holiday weekend," Fenty said when he announced the snow emergency. But, he also urged residents to stay put in their homes. "We urge everyone if you don't have to go anywhere, wait. We should have a lot of streets ready to go by rush hour Monday. And, hopefully, all of it done between Monday and Wednesday." Nine people were taken to a hospital after a bus and a city snow plow collided, a D.C. fire official said. The injuries were not considered serious.

SOLUTION:
Monster weekend winter storm blankets a swath of the East Coast .
Atlanta passenger put on two canceled flights, must hopscotch home .
Stranded in NY: "You sort of crumble once, get it over with and then put on a smile"
At least four deaths have been linked to the winter storm, officials say .