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LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gains access to a reported £20 million ($41.1 million) fortune as he turns 18 on Monday, but he insists the money won't cast a spell on him. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" To the disappointment of gossip columnists around the world, the young actor says he has no plans to fritter his cash away on fast cars, drink and celebrity parties. "I don't plan to be one of those people who, as soon as they turn 18, suddenly buy themselves a massive sports car collection or something similar," he told an Australian interviewer earlier this month. "I don't think I'll be particularly extravagant. "The things I like buying are things that cost about 10 pounds -- books and CDs and DVDs." At 18, Radcliffe will be able to gamble in a casino, buy a drink in a pub or see the horror film "Hostel: Part II," currently six places below his number one movie on the UK box office chart. Details of how he'll mark his landmark birthday are under wraps. His agent and publicist had no comment on his plans. "I'll definitely have some sort of party," he said in an interview. "Hopefully none of you will be reading about it." Radcliffe's earnings from the first five Potter films have been held in a trust fund which he has not been able to touch. Despite his growing fame and riches, the actor says he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground. "People are always looking to say 'kid star goes off the rails,'" he told reporters last month. "But I try very hard not to go that way because it would be too easy for them." His latest outing as the boy wizard in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is breaking records on both sides of the Atlantic and he will reprise the role in the last two films. Watch I-Reporter give her review of Potter's latest » . There is life beyond Potter, however. The Londoner has filmed a TV movie called "My Boy Jack," about author Rudyard Kipling and his son, due for release later this year. He will also appear in "December Boys," an Australian film about four boys who escape an orphanage. Earlier this year, he made his stage debut playing a tortured teenager in Peter Shaffer's "Equus." Meanwhile, he is braced for even closer media scrutiny now that he's legally an adult: "I just think I'm going to be more sort of fair game," he told Reuters. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe turns 18 on monday. the young actor says he has no plans to fritter his cash away. details of how he'll mark his landmark birthday are under wraps. | Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gets £20M fortune as he turns 18 Monday .
Young actor says he has no plans to fritter his cash away .
Radcliffe's earnings from first five Potter films have been held in trust fund . | 42c027e4ff9730fbb3de84c1af0d2c506e41c3e4 |
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. Here, Soledad O'Brien takes users inside a jail where many of the inmates are mentally ill. An inmate housed on the "forgotten floor," where many mentally ill inmates are housed in Miami before trial. MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The ninth floor of the Miami-Dade pretrial detention facility is dubbed the "forgotten floor." Here, inmates with the most severe mental illnesses are incarcerated until they're ready to appear in court. Most often, they face drug charges or charges of assaulting an officer --charges that Judge Steven Leifman says are usually "avoidable felonies." He says the arrests often result from confrontations with police. Mentally ill people often won't do what they're told when police arrive on the scene -- confrontation seems to exacerbate their illness and they become more paranoid, delusional, and less likely to follow directions, according to Leifman. So, they end up on the ninth floor severely mentally disturbed, but not getting any real help because they're in jail. We toured the jail with Leifman. He is well known in Miami as an advocate for justice and the mentally ill. Even though we were not exactly welcomed with open arms by the guards, we were given permission to shoot videotape and tour the floor. Go inside the 'forgotten floor' » . At first, it's hard to determine where the people are. The prisoners are wearing sleeveless robes. Imagine cutting holes for arms and feet in a heavy wool sleeping bag -- that's kind of what they look like. They're designed to keep the mentally ill patients from injuring themselves. That's also why they have no shoes, laces or mattresses. Leifman says about one-third of all people in Miami-Dade county jails are mentally ill. So, he says, the sheer volume is overwhelming the system, and the result is what we see on the ninth floor. Of course, it is a jail, so it's not supposed to be warm and comforting, but the lights glare, the cells are tiny and it's loud. We see two, sometimes three men -- sometimes in the robes, sometimes naked, lying or sitting in their cells. "I am the son of the president. You need to get me out of here!" one man shouts at me. He is absolutely serious, convinced that help is on the way -- if only he could reach the White House. Leifman tells me that these prisoner-patients will often circulate through the system, occasionally stabilizing in a mental hospital, only to return to jail to face their charges. It's brutally unjust, in his mind, and he has become a strong advocate for changing things in Miami. Over a meal later, we talk about how things got this way for mental patients. Leifman says 200 years ago people were considered "lunatics" and they were locked up in jails even if they had no charges against them. They were just considered unfit to be in society. Over the years, he says, there was some public outcry, and the mentally ill were moved out of jails and into hospitals. But Leifman says many of these mental hospitals were so horrible they were shut down. Where did the patients go? Nowhere. The streets. They became, in many cases, the homeless, he says. They never got treatment. Leifman says in 1955 there were more than half a million people in state mental hospitals, and today that number has been reduced 90 percent, and 40,000 to 50,000 people are in mental hospitals. The judge says he's working to change this. Starting in 2008, many inmates who would otherwise have been brought to the "forgotten floor" will instead be sent to a new mental health facility -- the first step on a journey toward long-term treatment, not just punishment. Leifman says it's not the complete answer, but it's a start. Leifman says the best part is that it's a win-win solution. The patients win, the families are relieved, and the state saves money by simply not cycling these prisoners through again and again. And, for Leifman, justice is served. E-mail to a friend . | judge says one-third of all people in Miami-dade jails are mentally ill. mentally ill inmates often housed on the "forgotten floor" judge says many will be sent to new mental health facility. | Mentally ill inmates in Miami are housed on the "forgotten floor"
Judge Steven Leifman says most are there as a result of "avoidable felonies"
While CNN tours facility, patient shouts: "I am the son of the president"
Leifman says the system is unjust and he's fighting for change . | ee8871b15c50d0db17b0179a6d2beab35065f1e9 |
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- Drivers who were on the Minneapolis bridge when it collapsed told harrowing tales of survival. "The whole bridge from one side of the Mississippi to the other just completely gave way, fell all the way down," survivor Gary Babineau told CNN. "I probably had a 30-, 35-foot free fall. And there's cars in the water, there's cars on fire. The whole bridge is down." He said his back was injured but he determined he could move around. "I realized there was a school bus right next to me, and me and a couple of other guys went over and started lifting the kids off the bridge. They were yelling, screaming, bleeding. I think there were some broken bones." Watch a driver describe his narrow escape » . At home when he heard about the disaster, Dr. John Hink, an emergency room physician, jumped into his car and rushed to the scene in 15 minutes. He arrived at the south side of the bridge, stood on the riverbank and saw dozens of people lying dazed on an expansive deck. They were in the middle of the Mississippi River, which was churning fast, and he had no way of getting to them. He went to the north side, where there was easier access to people. Ambulances were also having a hard time driving down to the river to get closer to the scene. Working feverishly, volunteers, EMTs and other officials managed to get 55 people into ambulances in less than two hours. Occasionally, a pickup truck with a medic inside would drive to get an injured person and bring him back up even ground, Hink told CNN. The rescue effort was controlled and organized, he said; the opposite of the lightning-quick collapse. "I could see the whole bridge as it was going down, as it was falling," Babineau said. "It just gave a rumble real quick, and it all just gave way, and it just fell completely, all the way to the ground. And there was dust everywhere and it was just like everyone has been saying: It was just like out of the movies." Babineau said the rear of his pickup truck was dangling over the edge of a broken-off section of the bridge. He said several vehicles slid past him into the water. "I stayed in my car for one or two seconds. I saw a couple cars fall," he said. "So I stayed in my car until the cars quit falling for a second, then I got out real quick, ran in front of my truck -- because behind my truck was just a hole -- and I helped a woman off of the bridge with me. "I just wanted off the bridge, and then I ran over to the school bus. I started grabbing kids and handing them down. It was just complete chaos." He said most of the children were crying or screaming. He and other rescuers set them on the ground and told them to run to the river bank, but a few needed to be carried because of their injuries. See rescuers clamber over rubble » . Babineau said he had no rescue training. "I just knew what I had to do at the moment." Melissa Hughes, 32, of Minneapolis, told The Associated Press that she was driving home when the western edge of the bridge collapsed under her. "You know that free-fall feeling? I felt that twice," Hughes said. A pickup landed on top of her car, but she was not hurt. "I had no idea there was a vehicle on my car," she told AP. "It's really very surreal." Babineau told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "On the way down, I thought I was dead. I literally thought I was dead. "My truck was completely face down, pointed toward the ground, and my truck got ripped in half. It was folded in half, and I can't believe I'm alive." See and hear eyewitness accounts » . Bernie Toivonen told CNN's "American Morning" that his vehicle was on a part of the bridge that ended up tilted at a 45-degree angle. "I knew the deck was going down, there was no question about it, and I thought I was going to die," he said. After the bridge settled and his car remained upright, "I just put in park, turned the key off and said, 'Oh, I'm alive,' " he said. E-mail to a friend . | new: "i literally thought I was dead," driver says. new: "there's cars in the water, there's cars on fire," survivor says. new: rescuers managed to get 55 people into ambulances in less than two hours. new: "it was just like out of the movies," doctor says. | NEW: "I thought I was going to die," driver says .
Man says pickup truck was folded in half; he just has cut on face .
Driver: "I probably had a 30-, 35-foot free fall"
Minnesota bridge collapsed during rush hour Wednesday . | 06352019a19ae31e527f37f7571c6dd7f0c5da37 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Doctors removed five small polyps from President Bush's colon on Saturday, and "none appeared worrisome," a White House spokesman said. The polyps were removed and sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for routine microscopic examination, spokesman Scott Stanzel said. Results are expected in two to three days. All were small, less than a centimeter [half an inch] in diameter, he said. Bush is in good humor, Stanzel said, and will resume his activities at Camp David. During the procedure Vice President Dick Cheney assumed presidential power. Bush reclaimed presidential power at 9:21 a.m. after about two hours. Doctors used "monitored anesthesia care," Stanzel said, so the president was asleep, but not as deeply unconscious as with a true general anesthetic. He spoke to first lady Laura Bush -- who is in Midland, Texas, celebrating her mother's birthday -- before and after the procedure, Stanzel said. Afterward, the president played with his Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, Stanzel said. He planned to have lunch at Camp David and have briefings with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, and planned to take a bicycle ride Saturday afternoon. Cheney, meanwhile, spent the morning at his home on Maryland's eastern shore, reading and playing with his dogs, Stanzel said. Nothing occurred that required him to take official action as president before Bush reclaimed presidential power. The procedure was supervised by Dr. Richard Tubb, Bush's physician, and conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, the White House said. Bush's last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, White House spokesman Tony Snow said. The president's doctor had recommended a repeat procedure in about five years. A colonoscopy is the most sensitive test for colon cancer, rectal cancer and polyps, small clumps of cells that can become cancerous, according to the Mayo Clinic. Small polyps may be removed during the procedure. Snow said on Friday that Bush had polyps removed during colonoscopies before becoming president. Snow himself is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer that began in his colon and spread to his liver. Watch Snow talk about Bush's procedure and his own colon cancer » . "The president wants to encourage everybody to use surveillance," Snow said. The American Cancer Society recommends that people without high risk factors or symptoms begin getting screened for signs of colorectal cancer at age 50. E-mail to a friend . | new: president bush is in good humor, spokesman says. new: vice president takes over as president after procedure. new: president's last colonoscopy was in 2002, and no abnormalities were found. new: results expected in two to three days. | Five small polyps found during procedure; "none worrisome," spokesman says .
President reclaims powers transferred to vice president .
Bush undergoes routine colonoscopy at Camp David . | 24521a2abb2e1f5e34e6824e0f9e56904a2b0e88 |
(CNN) -- The National Football League has indefinitely suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick without pay, officials with the league said Friday. NFL star Michael Vick is set to appear in court Monday. A judge will have the final say on a plea deal. Earlier, Vick admitted to participating in a dogfighting ring as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Virginia. "Your admitted conduct was not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible. Your team, the NFL, and NFL fans have all been hurt by your actions," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a letter to Vick. Goodell said he would review the status of the suspension after the legal proceedings are over. In papers filed Friday with a federal court in Virginia, Vick also admitted that he and two co-conspirators killed dogs that did not fight well. Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Vick's admissions describe actions that are "incomprehensible and unacceptable." The suspension makes "a strong statement that conduct which tarnishes the good reputation of the NFL will not be tolerated," he said in a statement. Watch what led to Vick's suspension » . Goodell said the Falcons could "assert any claims or remedies" to recover $22 million of Vick's signing bonus from the 10-year, $130 million contract he signed in 2004, according to The Associated Press. Vick said he would plead guilty to one count of "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture" in a plea agreement filed at U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia. The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, "full restitution, a special assessment and 3 years of supervised release," the plea deal said. Federal prosecutors agreed to ask for the low end of the sentencing guidelines. "The defendant will plead guilty because the defendant is in fact guilty of the charged offense," the plea agreement said. In an additional summary of facts, signed by Vick and filed with the agreement, Vick admitted buying pit bulls and the property used for training and fighting the dogs, but the statement said he did not bet on the fights or receive any of the money won. "Most of the 'Bad Newz Kennels' operations and gambling monies were provided by Vick," the official summary of facts said. Gambling wins were generally split among co-conspirators Tony Taylor, Quanis Phillips and sometimes Purnell Peace, it continued. "Vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights. Vick did not receive any of the proceeds from the purses that were won by 'Bad Newz Kennels.' " Vick also agreed that "collective efforts" by him and two others caused the deaths of at least six dogs. Around April, Vick, Peace and Phillips tested some dogs in fighting sessions at Vick's property in Virginia, the statement said. "Peace, Phillips and Vick agreed to the killing of approximately 6-8 dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road and all of those dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning. "Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts of Peace, Phillips and Vick," the summary said. Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Phillips, 28, of Atlanta, Georgia; and Taylor, 34, of Hampton, Virginia, already have accepted agreements to plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences. Vick, 27, is scheduled to appear Monday in court, where he is expected to plead guilty before a judge. See a timeline of the case against Vick » . The judge in the case will have the final say over the plea agreement. The federal case against Vick focused on the interstate conspiracy, but Vick's admission that he was involved in the killing of dogs could lead to local charges, according to CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. "It sometimes happens -- not often -- that the state will follow a federal prosecution by charging its own crimes for exactly the same behavior," Toobin said Friday. "The risk for Vick is, if he makes admissions in his federal guilty plea, the state of Virginia could say, 'Hey, look, you admitted violating Virginia state law as well. We're going to introduce that against you and charge you in our court.' " In the plea deal, Vick agreed to cooperate with investigators and provide all information he may have on any criminal activity and to testify if necessary. Vick also agreed to turn over any documents he has and to submit to polygraph tests. Vick agreed to "make restitution for the full amount of the costs associated" with the dogs that are being held by the government. "Such costs may include, but are not limited to, all costs associated with the care of the dogs involved in that case, including if necessary, the long-term care and/or the humane euthanasia of some or all of those animals." Prosecutors, with the support of animal rights activists, have asked for permission to euthanize the dogs. But the dogs could serve as important evidence in the cases against Vick and his admitted co-conspirators. Judge Henry E. Hudson issued an order Thursday telling the U.S. Marshals Service to "arrest and seize the defendant property, and use discretion and whatever means appropriate to protect and maintain said defendant property." Both the judge's order and Vick's filing refer to "approximately" 53 pit bull dogs. After Vick's indictment last month, Goodell ordered the quarterback not to report to the Falcons training camp, and the league is reviewing the case. Blank told the NFL Network on Monday he could not speculate on Vick's future as a Falcon, at least not until he had seen "a statement of facts" in the case. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mike Phelan contributed to this report. | new: "conduct which tarnishes the good reputation of the NFL will not be tolerated," owner says. new: "vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights," plea deal says. new: co-conspirators killed at least 6 dogs that did not fight well, plea agreement says. new: "vick did not receive any of the proceeds from the purses," plea agreement says. | NEW: NFL chief, Atlanta Falcons owner critical of Michael Vick's conduct .
NFL suspends Falcons quarterback indefinitely without pay .
Vick admits funding dogfighting operation but says he did not gamble .
Vick due in federal court Monday; future in NFL remains uncertain . | 7fe70cc8b12fab2d0a258fababf7d9c6b5e1262a |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Dressed in a Superman shirt, 5-year-old Youssif held his sister's hand Friday, seemingly unaware that millions of people across the world have been touched by his story. Nearby, his parents talked about the new future and hope they have for their boy -- and the potential for recovery from his severe burns. Youssif holds his sister's hand Friday. He's wearing a facial mask often used to help burn victims. It's the best birthday present the Iraqi family could ever have imagined for their boy: Youssif turns 6 next Friday. "I was so happy I didn't know what to do with myself," his mother, Zainab, told CNN, a broad smile across her face. "I didn't think the reaction would be this big." His father said he was on the roof of his house when CNN called him with the news about the outpouring of support for his son. "We just want to thank everyone who has come forward," he said. "We knew there was kindness out there." Like his wife, he couldn't stop smiling. He talked about how he tried in vain to get help for his son in Baghdad, leaving "no stone unturned" on a mission to help his boy. There were many trips to the Ministry of Health. He says he even put in a request to Iraq's parliament for help. The family eventually told CNN their story -- that Youssif was grabbed by masked men outside their home on January 15, doused in gasoline and set on fire. Simply by coming forward, his parents put themselves in incredible danger. No one has been arrested or held accountable in Youssif's case. Watch CNN's Arwa Damon describe 'truly phenomenal' outpouring » . Shortly after Youssif's story aired Wednesday, the Children's Burn Foundation -- a nonprofit organization based in Sherman Oaks, California, that provides support for burn victims locally, nationally and internationally -- agreed to pay for the transportation for Youssif and his family to come to the United States and to set up a fund for donations. You can make a donation at the foundation's site by clicking here. There's a drop-down menu under the "general donation" area that is marked "Youssif's fund." The foundation says it will cover all medical costs -- from surgeries for Youssif to housing costs to any social rehabilitation that might be needed for him. Surgeries will be performed by Dr. Peter Grossman, a plastic surgeon with the affiliated Grossman Burn Center who is donating his services for Youssif's cause. Officials are still trying to get the appropriate visas for the family's travels. "We are prepared to have them come here, set them up in a housing situation, provide support for them and begin treatment," said Barbara Friedman, executive director of the Children's Burn Foundation. "We expect that the treatment will be from between six months to a year with many surgeries." She added, "He will be getting the absolute best care that's available." Youssif's parents said they know it's going to be a lengthy and difficult process and that adjusting to their stay in America may not be easy. But none of that matters -- getting help for their boy is first and foremost. "I will do anything for Youssif," his father said, pulling his son closer to him. "Our child is everything." His mother tried to coax Youssif to talk to us on this day. But he didn't want to; his mother says he's shy outside of their home. The biggest obstacle now is getting the visas to leave, and the serious security risks they face every day and hour they remain in Iraq. But this family -- which saw the very worst in humanity on that January day -- has new hope in the world. That is partly due to the tens of thousands of CNN.com users who were so moved by the story and wanted to act. CNN Iraqi staff central to bringing this story together were also overwhelmed with the generosity coming from people outside of their border. In a nation that largely feels abandoned by the rest of the world, it was a refreshing realization. E-mail to a friend . CNN.com senior producer Wayne Drash contributed to this report in Atlanta. | "i was so happy i didn't know what to do with myself," youssif's mother says. "we just want to thank everyone who has come forward," father tells CNN. children's burn foundation will pay for transportation, set up housing, treatment. foundation expects treatment will take six months to a year. | Parents beam with pride, can't stop from smiling from outpouring of support .
Mom: "I was so happy I didn't know what to do"
Burn center in U.S. has offered to provide treatment for reconstructive surgeries .
Dad says, "Anything for Youssif" | a1ebb8bb4d370a1fdf28769206d572be60642d70 |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The women are too afraid and ashamed to show their faces or have their real names used. They have been driven to sell their bodies to put food on the table for their children -- for as little as $8 a day. Suha, 37, is a mother of three. She says her husband thinks she is cleaning houses when she leaves home. "People shouldn't criticize women, or talk badly about them," says 37-year-old Suha as she adjusts the light colored scarf she wears these days to avoid extremists who insist women cover themselves. "They all say we have lost our way, but they never ask why we had to take this path." A mother of three, she wears light makeup, a gold pendant of Iraq around her neck, and an unexpected air of elegance about her. "I don't have money to take my kid to the doctor. I have to do anything that I can to preserve my child, because I am a mother," she says, explaining why she prostitutes herself. Anger and frustration rise in her voice as she speaks. "No matter what else I may be, no matter how off the path I may be, I am a mother!" Watch a woman describe turning to prostitution to "save my child" » . Her clasped hands clench and unclench nervously. Suha's husband thinks that she is cleaning houses when she goes away. So does Karima's family. "At the start I was cleaning homes, but I wasn't making much. No matter how hard I worked it just wasn't enough," she says. Karima, clad in all black, adds, "My husband died of lung cancer nine months ago and left me with nothing." She has five children, ages 8 to 17. Her eldest son could work, but she's too afraid for his life to let him go into the streets, preferring to sacrifice herself than risk her child. She was solicited the first time when she was cleaning an office. "They took advantage of me," she says softly. "At first I rejected it, but then I realized I have to do it." Both Suha and Karima have clients that call them a couple times a week. Other women resort to trips to the market to find potential clients. Or they flag down vehicles. Prostitution is a choice more and more Iraqi women are making just to survive. "It's increasing," Suha says. "I found this 'thing' through my friend, and I have another friend in the same predicament as mine. Because of the circumstance, she is forced to do such things." Violence, increased cost of living, and lack of any sort of government aid leave women like these with few other options, according to humanitarian workers. "At this point there is a population of women who have to sell their bodies in order to keep their children alive," says Yanar Mohammed, head and founder of the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq. "It's a taboo that no one is speaking about." She adds, "There is a huge population of women who were the victims of war who had to sell their bodies, their souls and they lost it all. It crushes us to see them, but we have to work on it and that's why we started our team of women activists." Her team pounds the streets of Baghdad looking for these victims often too humiliated to come forward. "Most of the women that we find at hospitals [who] have tried to commit suicide" have been involved in prostitution, said Basma Rahim, a member of Mohammed's team. The team's aim is to compile information on specific cases and present it to Iraq's political parties -- to have them, as Mohammed puts it, "come tell us what [they] are ... going to do about this." Rahim tells the heartbreaking story of one woman they found who lives in a room with three of her children: "She has sex while her three children are in the room, but she makes them stand in separate corners." According to Rahim and Mohammed, most of the women they encounter say they are driven to prostitution by a desperate desire for survival in the dangerously violent and unforgiving circumstances in Iraq. "They took this path but they are not pleased," Rahim says. Karima says when she sees her children with food on the table, she is able to convince herself that it's worth it. "Everything is for the children. They are the beauty in life and, without them, we cannot live." But she says, "I would never allow my daughter to do this. I would rather marry her off at 13 than have her go through this." Karima's last happy memory is of her late husband, when they were a family and able to shoulder the hardships of life in today's Iraq together. Suha says as a young girl she dreamed of being a doctor, with her mom boasting about her potential in that career. Life couldn't have taken her further from that dream. "It's not like we were born into this, nor was it ever in my blood," she says. What she does for her family to survive now eats away at her. "I lay on my pillow and my brain is spinning, and it all comes back to me as if I am watching a movie." E-mail to a friend . | prostitution is a choice more and more Iraqi women are making just to survive. violence, increased cost of living, lack of government aid leave them with few options. "it's a taboo that no one is speaking about," says organization for women's freedom. | Aid workers: Violence, increased cost of living drive women to prostitution .
Group is working to raise awareness of the problem with Iraq's political leaders .
Two Iraqi mothers tell CNN they turned to prostitution to help feed their children .
"Everything is for the children," one woman says . | 7c0e61ac829a3b3b653e2e3e7536cc4881d1f264 |
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- A key rebel commander and fugitive from a U.S. drug trafficking indictment was killed over the weekend in an air attack on a guerrilla encampment, the Colombian military said Monday. Alleged cocaine trafficker and FARC rebel Tomas Medina Caracas in an Interpol photo. Tomas Medina Caracas, known popularly as "El Negro Acacio," was a member of the high command of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia and, according to Colombian and U.S. officials, helped manage the group's extensive cocaine trafficking network. He had been in the cross-hairs of the U.S. Justice Department since 2002. He was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and manufacturing and distributing cocaine within Colombia to fund the FARC's 42-year insurgency against the government. U.S. officials alleged Medina Caracas managed the rebel group's sales of cocaine to international drug traffickers, who in turn smuggled it into the United States. He was also indicted in the United States along with two other FARC commanders in November 2002 on charges of conspiring to kidnap two U.S. oil workers from neighboring Venezuela in 1997 and holding one of them for nine months until a $1 million ransom was paid. Officials said the army's Rapid Response Force, backed by elements of the Colombian Air Force, tracked Medina Caracas down at a FARC camp in the jungle in the south of the country. "After a bombardment, the troops occupied the camp, and they've found 14 dead rebels so far, along with rifles, pistols, communications equipment and ... four GPS systems," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said at a news conference. "The death of 'El Negro Acacio' was confirmed by various sources, including members of FARC itself." Medina Caracas commanded FARC's 16th Front in the southern departments of Vichada and Guainia. Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, FARC is Colombia's oldest, largest, most capable and best-equipped Marxist rebel group, according to the U.S. Department of State. E-mail to a friend . Journalist Fernando Ramos contributed to this report. | key rebel commander killed over the weekend in an air attack on a guerrilla camp. Tomas Medina Caracas was member of high command of rebel group. he was indicted in the united states in 2002 on drug trafficking charges. | Tomas Medina Caracas was a fugitive from a U.S. drug trafficking indictment .
"El Negro Acacio" allegedly helped manage extensive cocaine network .
U.S. Justice Department indicted him in 2002 .
Colombian military: He was killed in an attack on a guerrilla encampment . | f0d73bdab711763e745cdc75850861c9018f235d |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- White House press secretary Tony Snow, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, will step down from his post September 14 and be replaced by deputy press secretary Dana Perino, the White House announced Friday. White House press secretary Tony Snow will step down from his post on September 14. President Bush told reporters Friday that he will "sadly accept" Snow's resignation. Flanked by Snow and Perino in the White House press room, the president spoke warmly of his departing press secretary. "It's been a joy to watch him spar with you," Bush told reporters. Watch the announcement about Snow leaving » . Bush said he was certain of two things in regard to Snow. "He'll battle cancer and win," Bush said, "and he'll be a solid contributor to society." Turning to Snow, the president then said: "I love you, and I wish you all the best." Snow, speaking after Bush at the start of the daily White House news conference, said he was leaving to earn more money. He took a big pay cut, he said, when he left his previous jobs as anchor and political analyst for Fox News. According to The Washington Post, Snow makes $168,000 as the White House spokesman. His family took out a loan when he started the job, "and that loan is now gone." "This job has really been a dream for me, a blast. I've had an enormous amount of fun and satisfaction," Snow said. He said he would continue to speak out on issues, and would do "some radio, some TV, but I don't anticipate full-time anchor duties." Snow said he's received great satisfaction from talking to people about his illness. Snow's cancer was diagnosed for the first time in February 2005. His colon was removed, and after six months of treatment, doctors said the cancer was in remission. Perino announced March 27 that Snow's cancer had recurred, and that doctors had removed a growth from his abdomen the day before. Sources told CNN two weeks ago that Snow was planning to leave his job, possibly as early as September. Bush tapped Snow to replace Scott McClellan in April 2006. Snow had been an anchor for "Fox News Sunday" and a political analyst for the Fox News Channel, which he joined in 1996. He also hosted "The Tony Snow Show" on Fox News Radio. On Thursday, Snow told CNN his health is improving, citing two medical tests this month that found the cancer has not spread. "The tumors are stable -- they are not growing," Snow said of the results from an MRI and a CAT scan. "And there are no new growths. The health is good." The press secretary, whose hair has turned gray during chemotherapy treatment, said his black hair is expected to grow back in about a month. "I'm also putting on weight again," he said after returning from a 10-day vacation. "I actually feel very good about" the health situation. Snow said on Friday he was to see his oncologist, and they will decide on some minor forms of chemotherapy to start as maintenance treatment. E-mail to a friend . | new: president bush says he will "sadly accept" snow's resignation. new: snow says he'll continue to speak out on issues. new: he will be replaced by deputy press secretary. snow is undergoing treatment for cancer. | President Bush says Tony Snow "will battle cancer and win" Job of press secretary "has been a dream for me," Snow says Snow leaving on September 14, will be succeeded by Dana Perino . | 5e22bbfc7232418b8d2dd646b952e404df5bd048 |
(CNN) -- Police and FBI agents are investigating the discovery of an empty rocket launcher tube on the front lawn of a Jersey City, New Jersey, home, FBI spokesman Sean Quinn said. Niranjan Desai discovered the 20-year-old AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher tube, a one-time-use device, lying on her lawn Friday morning, police said. The launcher has been turned over to U.S. Army officials at the 754th Ordnance Company, an explosive ordnance disposal unit, at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Army officials said. The launcher "is no longer operable and not considered to be a hazard to public safety," police said, adding there was no indication the launcher had been fired recently. Army officials said they could not determine if the launcher had been fired, but indicated they should know once they find out where it came from. The nearest military base, Fort Dix, is more than 70 miles from Jersey City. The Joint Terrorism Task Force division of the FBI and Jersey City police are investigating the origin of the rocket launcher and the circumstance that led to its appearance on residential property. "Al Qaeda doesn't leave a rocket launcher on the lawn of middle-aged ladies," said Paul Cruickshank of New York University Law School's Center on Law and Security. A neighbor, Joe Quinn, said the object lying on Desai's lawn looked military, was brown, had a handle and strap, and "both ends were open, like you could shoot something with it." Quinn also said the device had a picture of a soldier on it and was 3 to 4 feet long. An Army official said the device is basically a shoulder-fired, direct-fire weapon used against ground targets -- a modern-day bazooka -- and it is not wire-guided. According to the Web site Globalsecurity.org, a loaded M136 AT4 anti-tank weapon has a 40-inch-long fiberglass-wrapped tube and weighs just 4 pounds. Its 84 millimeter shaped-charge missile can penetrate 14 inches of armor from a maximum of 985 feet. It is used once and discarded. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Carol Cratty, Dugald McConnell, and Mike Mount contributed to this report. | empty rocket launcher tube found on front lawn of a Jersey city, new jersey, home. police and FBI agents are investigating the origin of the rocket launcher. the 20-year-old AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher tube has been turned over to the army. | Empty anti-tank weapon turns up in front of New Jersey home .
Device handed over to Army ordnance disposal unit .
Weapon not capable of being reloaded, experts say . | 613d6311ec2c1985bd44707d1796d275452fe156 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As he awaits a crucial progress report on Iraq, President Bush will try to put a twist on comparisons of the war to Vietnam by invoking the historical lessons of that conflict to argue against pulling out. President Bush pauses Tuesday during a news conference at the North American Leaders summit in Canada. On Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, Bush will tell members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that "then, as now, people argued that the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end," according to speech excerpts released Tuesday by the White House. "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush will say. "Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president will say. The president will also make the argument that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today's terrorists by compromising U.S. credibility, citing a quote from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the American people would rise against the Iraq war the same way they rose against the war in Vietnam, according to the excerpts. "Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently," Bush will say. On Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "President Bush's attempt to compare the war in Iraq to past military conflicts in East Asia ignores the fundamental difference between the two. Our nation was misled by the Bush Administration in an effort to gain support for the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, leading to one of the worst foreign policy blunders in our history. "While the President continues to stay-the-course with his failed strategy in Iraq, paid for by the taxpayers, American lives are being lost and there is still no political solution within the Iraqi government. It is time to change direction in Iraq, and Congress will again work to do so in the fall." The White House is billing the speech, along with another address next week to the American Legion, as an effort to "provide broader context" for the debate over the upcoming Iraq progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad. President Bush has frequently asked lawmakers -- and the American people -- to withhold judgment on his troop "surge" in Iraq until the report comes out in September. Watch Bush criticize the Iraqi government » . It is being closely watched on Capitol Hill, particularly by Republicans nervous about the political fallout from an increasingly unpopular war. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he would wait for the report before deciding when a drawdown of the 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq might begin. Bush's speeches Wednesday and next week are the latest in a series of attempts by the White House to try to reframe the debate over Iraq, as public support for the war continues to sag. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans -- 64 percent -- now oppose the Iraq war, and 72 percent say that even if Petraeus reports progress, it won't change their opinion. The poll also found a great deal of skepticism about the report; 53 percent said they do not trust Petraeus to give an accurate assessment of the situation in Iraq. In addition to his analogy to Vietnam, Bush in Wednesday's speech will invoke other historical comparisons from Asia, including the U.S. defeat and occupation of Japan after World War II and the Korean War in the 1950s, according to the excerpts. "In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, many thought it naive to help the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Then, as now, the critics argued that some people were simply not fit for freedom," Bush will say. "Today, in defiance of the critics, Japan ... stands as one of the world's great free societies." Speaking about the Korean War, Bush will note that at the time "critics argued that the war was futile, that we never should have sent our troops in, or that America's intervention was divisive here at home." "While it is true that the Korean War had its share of challenges, America never broke its word," Bush will say. "Without America's intervention during the war, and our willingness to stick with the South Koreans after the war, millions of South Koreans would now be living under a brutal and repressive regime." E-mail to a friend . | president bush to give speech to veterans of foreign war on wednesday. in speech, he will say withdrawal from vietnam emboldened terrorists. speech is latest attempt by white house to try to reframe debate over war. | President Bush to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Wednesday .
Bush to say that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today's terrorists .
Speech will be latest White House attempt to try to reframe the debate over Iraq . | 017d27d00eb43678c15cb4a8dd4723a035323219 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A chronology of bombings and attempted bomb attacks in the mainland UK since the 1970s: . Police close off streets around Haymarket, in London's busy theater district. June 29, 2007: Police defuse a bomb consisting of 200 liters of fuel, gas cylinders and nails found in an abandoned car in Haymarket, central London. A second car packed with gas and nails was later found to have been parked just a few hundred yards from the first, before it was towed away by traffic wardens in the early hours of Friday for violating parking restrictions. Police say two vehicles clearly linked. July 21, 2005: Two weeks after the deadly 7/7 bombings, four men are alleged to have attempted to carry out a second wave of attacks against London's transport network at three London underground stations and aboard a bus. But their alleged rucksack bombs fail to explode. July 7, 2005: Four suicide bombers detonate themselves aboard three underground trains and a bus in a morning rush hour attack against London's transport network, killing 52 people and injuring around 700 more. Al Qaeda claims responsibility in a video statement. August 2004: Anti-terrorist police disrupt a plot by Islamic militants to blow up targets including the Ministry of Sound nightclub and the Bluewater shopping center in southeast England using explosives packed into limousines and large vehicles. Seven men are convicted in May 2007 and sentenced to up to 26 years in prison. March 2001: A car bomb explodes outside the BBC's London headquarters, wounding one man. Police blame the Real IRA, a republican splinter group opposed to the IRA's cease fire. April 1999: Three people die when a nail bomb explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub in London's gay district -- the third in a spate of series of nail bomb attacks also targeting immigrant areas of the city that left dozens injured. A 23-year-old self-declared "Nazi", David Copeland, is sentenced to six life terms. June 1996: A massive IRA bomb explodes in a shopping center in central Manchester, injuring more than 200 people. February 1996: Two people die as IRA terrorists detonate a bomb in London's Docklands area, causing damage estimated at around $170m and ending the group's 17-month cease fire. April 1993: An IRA truck bomb devastates part of London's financial district, killing one and wounding 44. March 1993: Two boys aged three and 12 are killed and dozens are injured by two bombs left in litter bins in Warrington, northern England. The IRA admits planting the bombs. April 1992: A huge IRA car bomb in London's financial district kills three people and wounds 91. February 1991: IRA terrorists launch a mortar attack at Prime Minister John Major's Downing Street offices. No-one is injured. September 1989: Eleven people die and 22 are wounded when an IRA bomb explodes at a Royal Marine music school in Deal, southern England. December 1988: A Pan Am airliner explodes over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 259 aboard and 11 people on the ground. Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, convicted of the attack in 2001, was this week granted the right to mount a fresh appeal. (Read about Lockerbie bomber) October 1984: Five people die in an IRA bomb attack on a hotel in Brighton, southern England, where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet are staying for the Conservative Party's annual conference. December 1983: An IRA bomb at London's Harrods department store kills six people. July 1982: Two IRA bomb attacks on soldiers in London's parks kill 11 people and wound 50. October-November 1974: A wave of IRA bombs in British pubs in Birmingham and Guildford kill 28 people and wound more than 200. February 1974: A coach carrying soldiers and families in northern England is bombed by the IRA, killing 12 and wounding 14. E-mail to a friend . | a second car packed with gas and nails was later found to have been parked nearby. police say two vehicles clearly linked. a bomb in central London killed 12 people in 1974. | Two cars loaded with gasoline and nails found abandoned in London Friday .
52 people killed on July 7, 2005 after bombs exploded on London bus, trains .
British capital wracked by violence by the IRA for years . | 85f55a3e0dd672857aaaaa80954934a57b7a2fbf |
BREMEN, Germany -- Carlos Alberto, who scored in FC Porto's Champions League final victory against Monaco in 2004, has joined Bundesliga club Werder Bremen for a club record fee of 7.8 million euros ($10.7 million). Carlos Alberto enjoyed success at FC Porto under Jose Mourinho. "I'm here to win titles with Werder," the 22-year-old said after his first training session with his new club. "I like Bremen and would only have wanted to come here." Carlos Alberto started his career with Fluminense, and helped them to lift the Campeonato Carioca in 2002. In January 2004 he moved on to FC Porto, who were coached by José Mourinho, and the club won the Portuguese title as well as the Champions League. Early in 2005, he moved to Corinthians, where he impressed as they won the Brasileirão,but in 2006 Corinthians had a poor season and Carlos Alberto found himself at odds with manager, Emerson Leão. Their poor relationship came to a climax at a Copa Sul-Americana game against Club Atlético Lanús, and Carlos Alberto declared that he would not play for Corinthians again while Leão remained as manager. Since January this year he has been on loan with his first club Fluminense. Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart said on Sunday that they would sign a loan agreement with Real Zaragoza on Monday for Ewerthon, the third top Brazilian player to join the German league in three days. A VfB spokesman said Ewerthon, who played in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund from 2001 to 2005, was expected to join the club for their pre-season training in Austria on Monday. On Friday, Ailton returned to Germany where he was the league's top scorer in 2004, signing a one-year deal with Duisburg on a transfer from Red Star Belgrade. E-mail to a friend . | Carlos Alberto joins german club werder for club record fee of $7.8 million. the 22-year-old scored in FC Porto's Champions League final win in 2004. he has been on loan at his first club, fluminense, since January this year. | Werder Bremen pay a club record $10.7 million for Carlos Alberto .
The Brazilian midfielder won the Champions League with FC Porto in 2004 .
Since January he has been on loan with his first club, Fluminense . | 77d7c8cf2a9432e395d629371a12790c563c19f7 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney will serve as acting president briefly Saturday while President Bush is anesthetized for a routine colonoscopy, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday. Bush is scheduled to have the medical procedure, expected to take about 2 1/2 hours, at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, Snow said. Bush's last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said. The president's doctor had recommended a repeat procedure in about five years. The procedure will be supervised by Dr. Richard Tubb and conducted by a multidisciplinary team from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, Snow said. A colonoscopy is the most sensitive test for colon cancer, rectal cancer and polyps, small clumps of cells that can become cancerous, according to the Mayo Clinic. Small polyps may be removed during the procedure. Snow said that was the case when Bush had colonoscopies before becoming president. Snow himself is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer that began in his colon and spread to his liver. Snow told reporters he had a chemo session scheduled later Friday. Watch Snow talk about Bush's procedure and his own colon cancer » . "The president wants to encourage everybody to use surveillance," Snow said. The American Cancer Society recommends that people without high-risk factors or symptoms begin getting screened for signs of colorectal cancer at age 50. E-mail to a friend . | Bush scheduled to have procedure at presidential retreat in Maryland. colonoscopy is most sensitive test for colon cancer, rectal cancer and polyps. small polyps may be removed during the procedure, snow says. | President Bush will have a routine colonoscopy Saturday .
While he's anesthetized, his powers will be transferred to the vice president .
Bush had last colonoscopy in 2002, which found no problems . | 35f0e33de7923036a97ac245d899f990bda5e242 |
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook the San Francisco area Friday at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake left about 2,000 customers without power, said David Eisenhower, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Light. Under the USGS classification, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake is considered "light," which it says usually causes minimal damage. "We had quite a spike in calls, mostly calls of inquiry, none of any injury, none of any damage that was reported," said Capt. Al Casciato of the San Francisco police. "It was fairly mild." Watch police describe concerned calls immediately after the quake » . The quake was centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland, at a depth of 3.6 miles, the USGS said. Oakland is just east of San Francisco, across San Francisco Bay. An Oakland police dispatcher told CNN the quake set off alarms at people's homes. The shaking lasted about 50 seconds, said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. According to the USGS, magnitude 4.2 quakes are felt indoors and may break dishes and windows and overturn unstable objects. Pendulum clocks may stop. E-mail to a friend . | new: about 2,000 customers without power. earthquake struck at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. et) quake was centered two miles east-northeast of Oakland. | 2,000 customers without electricity, power company says .
Magnitude 4.2 quake set off home alarms, says Oakland police dispatcher .
"It was fairly mild," police say, no immediate reports of injuries, damage .
It was centered two miles east-northeast of Oakland, about 3.6 miles deep . | 2ad31cae96512af5105b9b23f9b681dc732b2605 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There is "no remaining hope" of finding six men trapped for almost a month in a Utah coal mine alive, a federal official said Saturday. Isaac Arellano holds a candle and sings during a fundraiser for miners Tuesday in Price, Utah. "Over the past 25 days, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has exhausted all known options in our attempt to reach the six miners," Richard Stickler, head of the agency, said in a statement. "The thoughts and prayers of the dedicated professionals at MSHA are with the families." Sympathy for the failed efforts also came Saturday from the White House. "Last night, a difficult decision was made to end the search," President Bush said in a statement. "Laura and I are deeply saddened by this tragedy and continue to pray for the families of these men." Labor Secretary Elaine Chao called the ordeal "heartbreaking." "The grueling around-the-clock rescue operation that claimed three lives and injured six others has also taken a tremendous toll on the many brave rescuers and the local community, and our thoughts and prayers are with them all," Chao said in a statement. After drilling seven holes into mine tunnels from the mountaintop above, there has been no sign of the miners -- and microphones have picked up no sound from the men. See a timeline of rescue efforts » . Tests showed underground oxygen levels were too low to sustain human life. "We basically told the families that at this point in time we've run out of options," Stickler said at a news conference late Friday. "We've consulted with the people that we have here, we've consulted with the technical support in Pittsburgh and we've consulted with private consultants in terms of where we can go," he said. "And basically, through all the information we've gleaned over the past nearly four weeks in terms of the conditions we found, in terms of the air readings we found down there and ... everything else, we just don't know where else we can put a hole to get any other information." See photos of the rescue mission » . There were no public statements Saturday from Bob Murray, president and CEO of Murray Mining, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine, who was the outspoken face of the rescue operation for the first three weeks, then largely disappeared from public view. Federal officials became the spokesmen. No one from Murray Mining was present at Friday's news conference. "They are done. It's finished," the attorney for the families said, according to the Saturday edition of The Salt Lake Tribune. "It's a hard and bitter pill for our families, and there were quite a few tears shed," the newspaper quotes Colin King as saying. The men were trapped during a collapse on August 6, and it is not known whether they survived the cave-in. Efforts to reach them were suspended 10 days later when two rescuers and a federal mining official were killed, and six people were injured in a second collapse as they tried to tunnel horizontally toward the area where the men had been working. Murray said last week that the search effort would stop if no signs of life were found at the sixth hole. Under pressure from the families, however, he agreed to try one more time. Families wanted officials to drill a hole large enough to send down a rescue capsule. The effort to lower the robotic device down a seventh hole had been called "a long shot" by an official. MSHA's Stickler said that hole was drilled into the Crandall Canyon Mine on Thursday, but there were problems with a robotic camera that teams were trying to lower into it. Work resumed Friday, this time at the fourth hole, but the camera could only descend about 7 feet, he said. "Basically, what it saw was really not that much. There was quite a bit of mud in there, water coming down the hole. It really couldn't go any farther than seven feet," he said of the latest try. In addition, the roof was sagging. "The families asked many, many questions and we answered them all the best we could, basically coming to the conclusion that we had run out of options." Murray said last Saturday he has already filed paperwork with federal regulators to permanently close and seal the Crandall Canyon mine. "I will never come back to that evil mountain," he said. Friends and family have identified the six missing miners as Luis Hernandez, Manuel Sanchez, Kerry Allred, Carlos Payan, Brandon Phillips and Don Erickson. E-mail to a friend . | new: president bush says he and wife "deeply saddened" by the tragedy. new: labor secretary: "grueling around-the-clock rescue operation" seven holes drilled into mine tunnels from mountaintop haven't yielded any sign of men. two rescuers, a federal mining official were killed in second collapse 10 days later. | NEW: President Bush says he and first lady are deeply saddened by the tragedy .
Mine Safety and Health Administration chief: We've run out of options.
The six men have been trapped underground since August 6 .
Seven bore holes drilled into the mountain have found no signs of life . | 0d43b97000ff852282c89d8d105e41495c0ee9bd |
(CNN) -- At least 14 people were killed and 60 others wounded Thursday when a bomb ripped through a crowd waiting to see Algeria's president in Batna, east of the capital of Algiers, the Algerie Presse Service reported. A wounded person gets first aid shortly after Thursday's attack in Batna, Algeria. The explosion occurred at 5 p.m. about 20 meters (65 feet) from a mosque in Batna, a town about 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Algiers, security officials in Batna told the state-run news agency. The bomb went off 15 minutes before the expected arrival of President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika. It wasn't clear if the bomb was caused by a suicide bomber or if it was planted, the officials said. Later Thursday, Algeria's Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said "a suspect person who was among the crowd attempted to go beyond the security cordon," but the person escaped "immediately after the bomb exploded," the press service reported. Bouteflika made his visit to Batna as planned, adding a stop at a hospital to visit the wounded before he returned to the capital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Algeria faces a continuing Islamic insurgency, according to the CIA. In July, 33 people were killed in apparent suicide bombings in Algiers that were claimed by an al Qaeda-affiliated group. Bouteflika said terrorist acts have nothing in common with the noble values of Islam, the press service reported. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report. | bomb ripped through a crowd waiting to see Algeria's president in batna. explosion occurred at 5 p.m. about 20 meters (65 feet) from a mosque. it wasn't clear if the bomb was caused by a suicide bomber or if it was planted. | Bomb victims waiting for presidential visit .
Blast went off 15 minutes before president's arrival .
Algeria faces Islamic insurgency .
Al Qaeda-affiliated group claimed July attacks . | bf0cd4ccacd4fe045995338f4c44d9cf18000226 |
(CNN) -- Football superstar, celebrity, fashion icon, multimillion-dollar heartthrob. Now, David Beckham is headed for the Hollywood Hills as he takes his game to U.S. Major League Soccer. CNN looks at how Bekham fulfilled his dream of playing for Manchester United, and his time playing for England. The world's famous footballer has begun a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy team, and on Friday Beckham will meet the press and reveal his new shirt number. This week, we take an in depth look at the life and times of Beckham, as CNN's very own "Becks," Becky Anderson, sets out to examine what makes the man tick -- as footballer, fashion icon and global phenomenon. It's a long way from the streets of east London to the Hollywood Hills and Becky charts Beckham's incredible rise to football stardom, a journey that has seen his skills grace the greatest stages in world soccer. She goes in pursuit of the current hottest property on the sports/celebrity circuit in the U.S. and along the way explores exactly what's behind the man with the golden boot. CNN will look back at the life of Beckham, the wonderfully talented youngster who fulfilled his dream of playing for Manchester United, his marriage to pop star Victoria, and the trials and tribulations of playing for England. We'll look at the highs (scoring against Greece), the lows (being sent off during the World Cup), the Man. U departure for the Galacticos of Madrid -- and now the Home Depot stadium in L.A. We'll ask how Beckham and his family will adapt to life in Los Angeles -- the people, the places to see and be seen and the celebrity endorsement. Beckham is no stranger to exposure. He has teamed with Reggie Bush in an Adidas commercial, is the face of Motorola, is the face on a PlayStation game and doesn't need fashion tips as he has his own international clothing line. But what does the star couple need to do to become an accepted part of Tinseltown's glitterati? The road to major league football in the U.S.A. is a well-worn route for some of the world's greatest players. We talk to some of the former greats who came before him and examine what impact these overseas stars had on U.S. soccer and look at what is different now. We also get a rare glimpse inside the David Beckham academy in L.A, find out what drives the kids and who are their heroes. The perception that in the U.S.A. soccer is a "game for girls" after the teenage years is changing. More and more young kids are choosing the European game over the traditional U.S. sports. E-mail to a friend . | David Beckham has signed a five-year contract with the los angeles galaxy. the footballer has been a global phenomenon since his debut in 1997. this week, CNN takes an in depth look at the life and times of the man with the golden boot. | Beckham has agreed to a five-year contract with Los Angeles Galaxy .
New contract took effect July 1, 2007 .
Former English captain to meet press, unveil new shirt number Friday .
CNN to look at Beckham as footballer, fashion icon and global phenomenon . | 2f43e9dfaa43ffbddbce339a8b6403ddce43b38a |
(CNN) -- A virus found in healthy Australian honey bees may be playing a role in the collapse of honey bee colonies across the United States, researchers reported Thursday. Honey bees walk on a moveable comb hive at the Bee Research Laboratory, in Beltsville, Maryland. Colony collapse disorder has killed millions of bees -- up to 90 percent of colonies in some U.S. beekeeping operations -- imperiling the crops largely dependent upon bees for pollination, such as oranges, blueberries, apples and almonds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says honey bees are responsible for pollinating $15 billion worth of crops each year in the United States. More than 90 fruits and vegetables worldwide depend on them for pollination. Signs of colony collapse disorder were first reported in the United States in 2004, the same year American beekeepers started importing bees from Australia. The disorder is marked by hives left with a queen, a few newly hatched adults and plenty of food, but the worker bees responsible for pollination gone. The virus identified in the healthy Australian bees is Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) -- named that because it was discovered by Hebrew University researchers. Although worker bees in colony collapse disorder vanish, bees infected with IAPV die close to the hive, after developing shivering wings and paralysis. For some reason, the Australian bees seem to be resistant to IAPV and do not come down with symptoms. Scientists used genetic analyses of bees collected over the past three years and found that IAPV was present in bees that had come from colony collapse disorder hives 96 percent of the time. But the study released Thursday on the Science Express Web site, operated by the journal Science, cautioned that collapse disorder is likely caused by several factors. "This research give us a very good lead to follow, but we do not believe IAPV is acting alone," said Jeffery S. Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory and a co-author of the study. "Other stressors on the colony are likely involved." This could explain why bees in Australia may be resistant to colony collapse. "There are no cases ... in Australia at all," entomologist Dave Britton of the Australian Museum told the Sydney Morning Herald last month. "It is a Northern Hemisphere phenomenon." Bee ecology expert and University of Florida professor Jamie Ellis said earlier this year that genetic weakness bred into bees over time, pathogens spread by parasites and the effects of pesticides and pollutants might be other factors. Researchers also say varroa mites affect all hives on the U.S. mainland but are not found in Australia. University of Georgia bee researcher Keith S. Delaplane said Thursday the study offers a warning -- and hope. "One nagging problem has been a general inability to treat or vaccinate bees against viruses of any kind," said Delaplane, who has been trying to breed bees resistant to the varroa mite. "But in the case of IAPV, there is evidence that some bees carry genetic resistance to the disorder. This is yet one more argument for beekeepers to use honey bee stocks that are genetically disease- and pest-resistant." Bee researchers will now look for stresses that may combine to kill bees. "The next step is to ascertain whether IAPV, alone or in concert with other factors, can induce CCD [colony collapse disorder] in healthy bees," said Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Besides the Columbia and USDA researchers, others involved in the study released Thursday include researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the University of Arizona and 454 Life Sciences. E-mail to a friend . | colony collapse disorder has killed millions of bees in the u.s. the virus was discovered by Hebrew university researchers. bees infected with the virus die close to the hive, after developing paralysis. | Colony collapse disorder has killed millions of bees .
Scientists suspect a virus may combine with other factors to collapse colonies .
Disorder first cropped up in 2004, as bees were imported from Australia .
$15 billion in U.S. crops each year dependent on bees for pollination . | eb68bc51ed4fc727a1af058192a3fef0916c91e7 |
LONDON, England -- Savers at a leading UK mortgage bank lined up for a second day to empty their accounts Saturday, a day after the lender was bailed out by the Bank of England after heavily slashing profit forecasts. Fearful customers line up to withdraw cash from a Northern Rock branch in southeast London on Friday. Long lines formed before counters opened at the Northern Rock building society, one of the UK's top five lenders, as worried customers ignored reassurances from the bank and the government. Customers are believed to have already withdrawn about £1 billion ($2 billion) since the bank's woes were revealed, prompting speculation that the global credit crunch made raising funds through commercial borrowing difficult. Shares in Northern Rock dropped up to 30 percent in Friday trading, with problems spilling over the European banking sector . The British Bankers' Association has urged customers to "calm down," according to the UK Press Association. It said: "Northern Rock is a sound and safe bank and there is absolutely no reason for either mortgage customers or savers to worry." Meanwhile, finance minister Alistair Darling said the Bank of England had stepped in "to create a stable banking system". He said: "People can use their accounts in the usual way, they can carry on making their mortgage payments in the usual way. Northern Rock will be able to carry on its business." Northern Rock chief executive Adam Applegarth said yesterday that the bank had yet to draw on the emergency cash, which he called "a backdrop in case we need to use it", according to PA. E-mail to a friend . | long lines formed before counters opened at the northern rock building society. customers believed to have already withdrawn about £1 billion ($2 billion) bba urges customers to "calm down" and continue to make mortgage payments. | Savers at leading UK mortgage bank lined up to empty their accounts .
Northern Rock was bailed out by the Bank of England a day earlier .
Reassurances that banks was safe have gone unheeded by many . | ad021a7924ee57491cee8576499ac196b1afeb23 |
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Former football star O.J. Simpson will be held without bail after his arrest on robbery and assault charges, police announced late Sunday. Police released this mug shot of O.J. Simpson after his arrest. Simpson is accused of having directed several other men in an alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia in a room at a Las Vegas hotel room. Las Vegas authorities said they have no information leading them to believe Simpson was carrying a firearm during the alleged incident at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino. Police said Simpson and other men burst into the room and walked out with the memorabilia, including some that was unrelated to Simpson, police said. "We don't believe that anyone was roughed up, but there were firearms involved," Lt. Clint Nichols told reporters. Nichols said the firearms were pointed at the victims. A reporter asked Nichols: Was "O.J. was the boss in that room?" Nichols responded, "That is what we believe, yes." Watch Simpson transferred Sunday in handcuffs » . The alleged victims were identified as Bruce Fromong, a sports memorabilia collector who described the incident as "a home invasion-type robbery," and Alfred Beardsley, who has been quoted by celebrity Web site TMZ.com as saying that Simpson later apologized to him and told him he regretted the incident. Acting on a tip, police met over the weekend at McCarran International Airport with 46-year-old Walter Alexander, of Mesa, Arizona, who told them about the alleged robbery and validated the tipster's information, Capt. James Dillon told reporters. Alexander was arrested Saturday night on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon. He was released on his own recognizance and returned to Mesa either Saturday night or early Sunday morning, Dillon said. In addition, investigators are seeking four other men they believe accompanied Simpson into the hotel room, Nichols said. Nichols said, "There is a social relationship between the individuals that we identified and O.J. Simpson." Though Simpson is not accused of having brandished a gun himself, two firearms that police said were used were recovered early Sunday in one of three searches. Investigators would would not divulge where the weapons were found. Nichols dismissed an initial report that the men may have been off-duty police. "There is no truth to that whatsoever," he said. "That came as a result of some language that was used when the individuals burst into the room that led our victims to believe that they may have been police." Simpson, 60, has acknowledged taking some items that belonged to him, but he has denied that any weapons were involved. "Whether the property belonged to Mr. Simpson or not is still in debate," Nichols said. "We are still in the process of sorting that out." Nichols also said that some of the property taken had Simpson's signature. But "there was some other property taken as well," he said. "I believe there were some Joe Montana cleats and some signed baseballs and other stuff." The latest charges against Simpson mean he faces the prospect of another prosecution, more than a decade after the June 1994 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. Simpson was acquitted of murder the following year. The trial riveted much of the United States. But in 1997, a jury found him liable for the deaths in a civil case brought by the Goldman family. Simpson was ordered to pay the families a total of $33.5 million for the deaths . Goldman had gone to Nicole Simpson's Los Angeles home to return a pair of glasses the day of the slayings. Goldman's sister, Kim Goldman, said she wasn't surprised by the robbery allegations, since Simpson "thinks he can do no wrong." "He's capable of stabbing people to death, so I think robbery is nothing surprising," she said. "Normal, logical, civil-minded, law-abiding people don't storm a room with guns demanding stuff back." Fromong had testified on Simpson's behalf in the civil case, telling the court that prices for Simpson memorabilia had dropped substantially since the 1995 verdict. His testimony was part of the defense's contention that Simpson could not afford to pay the Goldmans. Simpson recently wrote a book originally titled "If I Did It" and had planned to publish it himself, but a public outcry led to the cancellation of his book deal. A bankruptcy judge subsequently awarded the Goldmans the rights to the book in light of their inability to collect the wrongful death award. The Goldmans retitled the book, "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer." That book just hit bookstores. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Ted Rowlands contributed to this report. | new: police: "we don't believe that anyone was roughed up," but there were firearms. new: "whether the property belonged to Mr. Simpson or not is still in debate," police say. police: robbery suspects burst into room at hotel, took sports memorabilia. alleged victims identified as collector, TMz.com spokesman. | No bail for ex-NFL star accused of directing men in alleged armed robbery .
Simpson faces charges of robbery, assault, burglary and conspiracy .
Alleged robbery involved sports-related items, police say .
Simpson arrested Sunday in Las Vegas, but he says items were his . | 9d7fc7fd9ffbfecb1c458b9929fa02e6c3538368 |
LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigeria's television survival show has been suspended after a contestant drowned in preparation for the program, said Dutch brewer Heineken's local unit which is sponsoring the show. Anthony Ogadje, 25, and nine other contestants had gone to Shere Hills Lake in Nigeria's hilly Plateau State to prepare for the "Gulder Ultimate Search," which sets a variety of physical challenges for participants. A statement from Nigerian Breweries on Monday said Ogadje died suddenly and he was thought to have drowned. "All attempts to revive him by the attendant medical team and the lifeguards, including his fellow contestants, failed," said Nigerian Breweries, which is majority-owned by the Dutch giant. Broadcasting had been due to start on Thursday. In the show, the weakest contestants are evicted one by one until a winner emerges. The prize money is a big attraction in a country where most people live in extreme poverty and benefit little from Nigeria's oil wealth. The winner was to get 5 million naira (about $39,000) in cash, a four-wheel drive jeep and another 500,000 naira (about $3,900) to buy clothes. The winner could also have expected to become an instant celebrity, attracting sponsorship deals. The Ultimate Search, which started in 2004, gets high ratings. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | a contestant drowned in preparation for a tv survival show in Nigeria. the show, "the ultimate search," sets a variety of physical challenges for participants. broadcasting had been due to start on Thursday. | Anthony Ogadje, 25, reportedly drowned in Shere Hills Lake .
He was preparing for the show, "Gulder Ultimate Search"
Dutch brewer Heineken's local unit sponsors the program . | 30cb674030b01014d2c87b92f09152857e249631 |
(CNN) -- A former government contract employee was indicted on charges of stealing restricted nuclear energy-related materials and putting the United States at risk, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. Sources say the classified materials were taken from the East Tennessee Technology Park. Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, of Roane County, Tennessee, appeared in federal court in Knoxville on Thursday. Oakley was briefly detained for questioning in the case in January, when authorities first learned of the alleged plot to divulge the materials, government sources told CNN. He voluntarily surrendered Thursday at an FBI field office in Knoxville, the sources said. Oakley is a former employee of Bechtel Jacobs, the Department of Energy's prime environmental management contractor at the East Tennessee Technology Park, prosecutors said. The indictment states that Oakley, "having possession of, access to and having been entrusted with sections of 'barriers' and associated hardware used for uranium enrichment through the process of gaseous diffusion ... having reason to believe that such data would be utilized to injure the United States and secure an advantage to a foreign nation, did communicate, transmit and disclose such data to another person." The transfer took place January 26, the indictment alleges. Oakley is also charged with converting the material and "restricted data" to his own use. He began doing so on about October 17, 2006, and continued through January, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the materials involved have been examined by scientists and posed no threat to people who may have come into contact with them. Oakley's attorney, Herb Moncier, said outside court Thursday that Oakley's job was to break rods "into little pieces" and throw them away. Moncier said Oakley had a security clearance, but Moncier did not believe it was a high-level clearance. The government alleges that in January, Oakley attempted to sell the "pieces of scrap" to someone he thought was a French agent -- but in reality was an undercover FBI agent, Moncier said. He said he questions whether those broken pieces would be considered an "appliance" under the law. "Mr. Oakley has cooperated fully for the last six months," said Moncier, who added that he had traveled to Washington for work on the case. Each count carries a possible sentence upon conviction of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. "While none of the stolen equipment was ever transmitted to a foreign government or terrorist organization, the facts of this case demonstrate the importance of safeguarding our nuclear technology and pursuing aggressive prosecution against those who attempt to breach the safeguards and put that technology in the wrong hands," Kenneth Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security, said in the Justice Department statement. One government source said the materials involved are not the "crown jewels," but they should not have been taken from the facility. A "barrier" is used to filter uranium during the enrichment process, according to nuclear energy officials, but a significant number of barriers are needed to do that job. Sources told CNN that federal authorities have been following Oakley and investigating the case for at least six months, after he allegedly tried to sell the classified material. Oakley, described as a low-level employee, apparently did not make contact with any foreign government and is not a foreign agent of any kind, an official familiar with the case said. A government official with with knowledge of the case said that when authorities learned of Oakley's alleged intentions six months ago, the FBI and Department of Energy launched a joint investigation. The FBI then developed a sting operation, government officials familiar with the case said, and authorities intervened before there could be any involvement of a foreign country. East Tennessee Technology Park is an area of the DOE's Oak Ridge reservation "where we are currently decontaminating and decommissioning buildings that were last used in 1985," Gerald Boyd, manager of the DOE's Oak Ridge site office, said Thursday. "When they were in use, now over 20 years ago, some of the buildings at ETTP housed facilities used for the enrichment of uranium." Boyd said the technology park and the reservation "are protected by multiple layers of security systems and detection programs, both visible and unseen, meant to identify rogue employees attempting to abuse their access and position." In this case, a review of security procedures showed that the system worked and "successfully identified the individual in question," he said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Terry Frieden and Kelli Arena contributed to this report. | new: source says materials involved are not the "crown jewels" of the facility. new: source says they should not have been taken from the facility. 67-year-old Roy Lynn oakley appears in federal court in tennessee. oakley is a former employee of the department of energy's prime contractor. | NEW: Indictment: Man tried to pass nuclear filters to foreign agent .
NEW: Roy Lynn Oakley appears in court in Tennessee after surrendering .
NEW: Facility's role is to break down decommissioned equipment .
NEW: Lawyer: Oakley's job was to break machine parts into pieces, pitch them . | d41dc7fc05273a37f0aceaf4f3e35a187f12653e |
LONDON, England -- Chelsea are waiting on the fitness of John Terry ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match with Valencia, but Frank Lampard has been ruled out. John Terry tries out his protective mask during training for Chelsea on Tuesday. Center-back Terry suffered a broken cheekbone during Saturday's 0-0 draw with Fulham, and Chelsea manager Avram Grant will see how he fares during training on Tuesday before making a decision on his availability. Terry trained at Valencia's Mestalla stadium with a face mask on after surgery on Sunday. "John Terry wants to play which is very good. Now we need to wait for training and then we will speak with the medical department and decide," said Grant. Grant has confirmed that Lampard will definitely sit the game out though as the midfielder continues to recover from his thigh injury. Midfielder Michael Essien, who scored a last-minute winner for Chelsea to knock Valencia out of last season's Champions League, has also been battling a leg injury but he took part in training on Tuesday and is expected to play. E-mail to a friend . | Chelsea are waiting on the fitness of center-back John Terry ahead of match with Valencia. manager avram grant will see how he fares during training on Tuesday. midfielder Frank lampard has been ruled out of the match with a thigh injury. | Chelsea are still waiting on the fitness of England captain John Terry .
Terry trained in a face mask ahead of the Champions League tie in Valencia .
The central defender underwent surgery on a broken cheekbone on Sunday . | fbc6a4d0697b2a3e8b549dcb1f80a8ce7bf47e34 |
HONG KONG, China (Reuters) -- Paul Lee got his liver from an executed Chinese prisoner; Karam in Egypt bought a kidney for his sister for $5,300; in Istanbul Hakan is holding out for $30,700 for one of his kidneys. Doctors in Pakistan have been arrested for abducting people, drugging them and stealing their kidneys. They are not so unusual: a dire shortage of donated organs in rich countries is sending foreigners with end-stage illnesses to poorer places like China, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Colombia and the Philippines to buy a new lease of life. Lee, a 53-year-old chief subway technician in Hong Kong, was diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2005 but doctors denied him a transplant because they feared the tumor would spread. A friend told him about a transplant hospital in China's north eastern Tianjin city and he signed up for a place. That April, he paid 260,000 yuan ($34,380) for a transplant -- surgery that saved his life. "The hospital has connections with a lot of prisons," Lee told Reuters. "Mine came from an executed prisoner from Heilongjiang. I thank the donor deeply." The World Health Organization estimates that 21,000 liver transplants are carried out annually, but medical experts put annual worldwide demand at at least 90,000. Demand for kidneys also exceeds supply, and that has given rise to organ trafficking and a black market for rich people and "transplant tourists" who travel to poor countries to buy body parts from people with few other routes to a better living. A donor in South Africa receives $700 for a kidney compared with $30,000 in the United States. A lack of transparency and little protection for donors has spurred calls by international bodies to crack down on, or at least regulate, the trade. But even where the trade is banned, laws are often muddled or laced with loopholes, which are sometimes defended by vested interests. And the unregulated route is much less complicated for the recipient. Any transplant procedure involving a living donor carries risks for the donor -- especially for liver transplants which involve removing part of the donor's liver. The complications can include bleeding, infection, even death. In the transplant trade, the recipient need not worry about, for example, exposing a living relative to that risk. "It is cheaper and your next of kin is not taking the risk and you don't have to care for someone you don't know. Once you pay, it is discarded in a way, it is dispensable," said Luc Noel, a Geneva-based coordinator for Clinical Procedures at the World Health Organization. China recently banned the sale of human organs and restricted transplants for foreigners, saying it must first meet demand at home for 2 million organs a year. Only 20,000 transplants are carried out in China each year. Of these, 3,000 are liver transplants and 95 percent of them use livers from dead donors. China defended its use of organs from executed prisoners, saying consent was obtained from convicts or their families. A transplant operation using the liver of a dead donor costs around $33,000 in China. "What is important is the transparency, it has to be open to scrutiny ... if China makes its current system open to scrutiny and very transparent, that would do good," said the WHO's Noel. In Asia, a cultural obsession with keeping the body of the deceased intact has stymied public organ donation programs. Excluding China, Asia has fewer than 200 livers donated by people ahead of their death each year, said Lo Chung-man, professor of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at the University of Hong Kong. Pakistan, where trade in human organs is not illegal, is turning into a "kidney bazaar", said the chief executive of Pakistan's Kidney Foundation, Jaffar Naqvi. There are no confirmed figures for the number of foreigners coming to the country for new kidneys but Naqvi said there were 13 centers in Lahore alone which reported more than 2,000 transplants last year from bought kidneys. Patients, mostly from Europe, Saudi Arabia and India, pay about 500,000 rupees ($8,500) for a new kidney, he said. Donors are paid $300 to $1,000 and often get no medical care after the surgery. There is no consent in some cases. In May police arrested nine people, four of them doctors, for abducting people, drugging them and stealing their kidneys for transplant operations. In the pipeline is a draft law aimed at banning the trade, but a powerful lobby bent on preserving it is trying to ensure it allows kidney donations for a non-relative, with no payment. Such a clause allowing "altruistic" organ donations will ensure the trade continues with secret payment to donors, Naqvi said. Stories of people selling their organs, especially kidneys, are not uncommon in Egypt, where more than 30 percent of a population of more than 73 million people live below the poverty line. Karam, who asked to be identified only by his first name because organ trading is illegal, said it took him only 15 days to secure a kidney for his sister who was suffering from kidney failure. He said a doctor found him a man willing to sell his kidney for 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($5,300). "The fees of the doctor were 5,000 pounds. Both his money and the fees of the hospital were deducted from the money the 'donor' received," said Karam. He said doctors usually help in finding people willing to sell their organs from their patients' lists. Abdel-Kader Hegazy, head of the disciplinary committee at the Doctors' Union, said Egyptian law lacks clear punishment for those involved in illegal transplants, making it easy for doctors to repeat the offence. "The law says it is illegal to trade in organs but does not specify the punishment. We at the union suspended many doctors and closed their practices, but they have appealed before courts and won their licenses back," he told Reuters. "It is an annoying and a regrettable situation. Well-known doctors and professors are doing this. They are rich people but they do it because they have no moral values." The union has been pushing for legislation to regulate organ transplants, with a draft bill including heavy fines and a prison sentence for those involved and a ban on transplants between people of different nationalities. But the draft law has been languishing in parliament for several years because of differences between doctors and senior Muslim religious leaders on whether Islam allows organ transplants in the case of clinical deaths. In Turkey, students, unemployed young men and struggling fathers post adverts on the Internet selling their kidneys, listing their drinking and smoking habits and blood type. These would-be donors say they have had enquiries from Germany, Israel and Turkey with asking prices going up to 50,000 lira ($38,760). Hakan, a 27-year-old security guard in Istanbul with two young children who also requested only his first name be published, told Reuters he received five or six offers from Turkey and Germany, offering 10,000-15,000 lira ($11,600), but he's holding out for 40,000 lira. "Of course it's frightening but there's nothing else to be done," he said, adding he hadn't told his wife as he knew she would object. "I'm doing it because of my family, if I was alone it wouldn't matter. I've got two children ... there's nothing else I can do for them." E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | organ shortage in rich countries is sending foreigners to poorer countries. "transplant tourists" travel to poor countries to buy body parts. lack of transparency and little protection for donors has spurred calls. | Organ shortage in rich states has created a trade from poorer countries .
"Transplant tourists" travel to poor countries to buy organs from the desperate .
Pakistan, where trade in human organs is legal, is turning into a "kidney bazaar"
Patients pay $8,500 for a new kidney, while donors are paid just $300 to $1,000 . | 0753a471e6908c35bcbc2daa37e21f3a8443b590 |
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- "To insure or not to insure?" It isn't Shakespeare, but it is the dramatic question Hollywood filmmakers are asking about Lindsay Lohan following her legal troubles this week. Lindsay Lohan may still get work after her legal problems are settled, but the cost will be high. It is an important question, too, because whether companies insure Lohan's future movies may determine whether she will quickly fall off Hollywood's A-list. But Lohan fans have little to fear because no actor is uninsurable, say underwriting experts. While some producers may balk at conditions for hiring problematic stars, experts say that unless an actor is serving time in prison, even the most volatile can be covered -- albeit at a high cost. "For a price, anything can be done, although an insurance carrier can make things so unpalatable that at times the makers of the film just won't be interested," said Ross Miller, partner with insurance brokerage D.R. Reiff & Associates Inc. Lohan's arrest this week in Los Angeles on suspicion of drunken driving and cocaine possession has left Hollywood wondering if the actress, who shot to fame as a child in Disney films like "The Parent Trap," is too risky to cast in a film. Timeline: Lindsay Lohan's troubles » . It remains to be seen whether her latest relapse and brush with the law will cost her a role in "Poor Things," a film produced by and starring Oscar-winner Shirley MacLaine. See a gallery of Lohan's films » . A statement was expected early next week on whether the movie, already delayed this spring due to an earlier rehab stint by Lohan, will proceed with or without her. Insurance experts say the industry has long dealt with similar situations, although they may seem more frequent with the recent heavy media scrutiny of Lohan and fellow troubled party girls Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. "I don't think it (a problematic artist) is any more of an issue," said Wendy Diaz, entertainment underwriting director at Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., the leading film underwriter. "It's pretty standard year to year." But Diaz did say the terms for covering Lohan would likely be "serious at this point." She said Fireman's Fund, in such a case, would likely put in higher deductibles, or ask the star to put their salary into escrow to pay for any losses if production was disrupted. Last July, a producer on Lohan's last film, "Georgia Rule," scolded her publicly for repeatedly showing up late on the set, costing the movie's makers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Brian Kingman, a managing director with entertainment insurance broker Aon/Albert G. Ruben said covering situations like Lohan's required a lot of calculation and risk management. Insurance rates for errant actors can range anywhere from 1 percent to 3 percent of a movie's production budget, which can range from $5 million to $100 million or more, he said. "Filmmakers fall in love with certain actors for certain roles and my job is to find risk-takers to take on the risk," Kingman said. He said actors were always required to undergo a medical exam before getting insurance. In certain circumstances, drug screening is conducted and actors are required to provide blood and urine samples. In cases of known drug abuse, "minders" are sometimes required on set to keep an eye on the actor. Kingman said he had even helped craft policies for actors in the event they risked the possibility of incarceration. "I have been successful in finding and creating incarceration coverage for certain actors on probation which can be revoked if they break certain rules," he said, citing the case of Robert Downey Jr., another high-profile star with a history of legal, drug and alcohol problems. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | hollywood filmmakers are asking whether to insure actress Lindsay lohan. experts say no actor is uninsurable, unless they are serving time in prison. a statement is expected early next week on whether the movie will proceed with or without her. | Because of troubles, Lindsay Lohan likely difficult to insure .
Lohan supposed to appear in Shirley MacLaine film "Poor Things"
Insurance rates may cost 1 to 3 percent of film's production budget . | 08450c1bc03472825196be1acb02ac0e13bef939 |
ROME. Italy -- Italy and Roma striker Francesco Totti has threatened to quit the Italian Players Association, in a row over the starting date of the next Serie A season. Roma striker Totti has complained that the Italian players are never listened to. The row began last month, when the Italian Football League, which is run by the presidents of clubs in the country's top two divisions, voted to start the season on August 26. In doing so, they ignored a request by Italy coach Roberto Donadoni to play the first round of matches midway through the month, to give his players time to gain match-fitness ahead of Euro 2008 qualifiers against France and Ukraine in early September. "I'm ready to leave the Italian Players Association. We are the principal actors, but also the people who are never listened to," Totti was quoted as saying in Italian football magazine Dieci. "This is the moment in which we must make our voice heard. We wanted to start on August 19, to have an extra week's rest at Christmas and allow the national team to come into the big matches in September better prepared. "Those who decided (on August 26) didn't care at all about Donadoni's needs." Serie A is one of the last major European leagues to start next season. The opening round of English Premier League matches is scheduled to start on August 11, while the French Ligue 1 will kick off on August 4. E-mail to a friend . | row over the starting date of the next Serie a season has reached a boiling point. Serie a is one of the last major european leagues to start next season. italy striker Francesco Totti has threatened to quit the italian players association. | Francesco Totti threatens to quit the Italian Players' Association .
The Italy and Roma striker is upset over the early start to the new season .
He says: We are the principal actors, but ... are never listened to." | 7fa8d9beca50155fd3d71a9087a4311ce321c34b |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Allegations that Blackwater USA -- whose operations were suspended after 20 Iraqi civilians were shot to death last weekend -- was "in any way associated or complicit in unlawful arms activities are baseless," the company asserted Saturday. Blackwater employees patrol Baghdad by air in a February 2005 photograph. Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that employees of Blackwater illegally purchased weapons and sold them in Iraq, according to U.S. government sources. A U.S. government official has said the U.S. attorney's office in Raleigh, North Carolina, is in the early stages of an investigation that focuses on individual company employees, and not the firm. Blackwater, which is based in Moyock, North Carolina, is a security firm hired by the State Department to guard U.S. staff in Iraq. "The company has no knowledge of any employee improperly exporting weapons," the Blackwater statement said. "When it was uncovered internally that two employees were stealing from the company, Blackwater immediately fired them and invited the ATF to conduct a thorough investigation." Watch a report on Blackwater's response to the allegations » . The first public hint that an investigation was under way came earlier this week in a statement from State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard after he was accused of blocking fraud investigations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Krongard said the State Department has been cooperating with the prosecutors in the Blackwater probe. "In particular, I made one of my best investigators available to help assistant U.S. attorneys in North Carolina in their investigation into alleged smuggling of weapons into Iraq by a contractor," Krongard's statement said. Blackwater resumed normal security operations in Iraq on Friday, the State Department said, after a brief hiatus following the lethal incident last Sunday. The Iraqi government was outraged by the shootings and disputes the U.S. and Blackwater's claim that the guards were responding to an attack. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Elise Labott and Kelli Arena contributed to this report. | blackwater: "the company has no knowledge of any employee improperly exporting weapons" federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that employees illegally purchased weapons. blackwater was suspended after 20 civilians were shot to death last weekend. the company's operations were suspended after the incident in baghdad. | Two employees bought, sold weapons on their own, company says .
Company fired workers, turned them in to ATF, says source .
Feds investigating claims Blackwater employees made illegal arms deals .
Blackwater in spotlight after shootings last weekend that killed 20 Iraqis . | 414a5b8ecbe189d2767c75b839775a1dcafaf4d3 |
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Youssif, the 5-year-old burned Iraqi boy, rounded the corner at Universal Studios when suddenly the little boy hero met his favorite superhero. Youssif has always been a huge Spider-Man fan. Meeting him was "my favorite thing," he said. Spider-Man was right smack dab in front of him, riding a four-wheeler amid a convoy of other superheroes. The legendary climber of buildings and fighter of evil dismounted, walked over to Youssif and introduced himself. Spidey then gave the boy from a far-away land a gentle hug, embracing him in his iconic blue and red tights. He showed Youssif a few tricks, like how to shoot a web from his wrist. Only this time, no web was spun. "All right Youssif!" Spider-Man said after the boy mimicked his wrist movement. Other superheroes crowded around to get a closer look. Even the Green Goblin stopped his villainous ways to tell the boy hi. Youssif remained unfazed. He didn't take a liking to Spider-Man's nemesis. Spidey was just too cool. "It was my favorite thing," the boy said later. "I want to see him again." He then felt compelled to add: "I know it's not the real Spider-Man." This was the day of dreams when the boy's nightmares were, at least temporarily, forgotten. He met SpongeBob, Lassie and a 3-year-old orangutan named Archie. The hairy, brownish-red primate took to the boy, grabbing his hand and holding it. Even when Youssif pulled away, Archie would inch his hand back toward the boy's and then snatch it. See Youssif enjoy being a boy again » . The boy giggled inside a play area where sponge-like balls shot out of toy guns. It was a far different artillery than what he was used to seeing in central Baghdad, as recently as a week ago. He squealed with delight and raced around the room collecting as many balls as he could. He rode a tram through the back stages at Universal Studios. At one point, the car shook. Fire and smoke filled the air, debris cascaded down and a big rig skidded toward the vehicle. The boy and his family survived the pretend earthquake unscathed. "Even I was scared," the dad said. "Well, I wasn't," Youssif replied. The father and mother grinned from ear to ear throughout the day. Youssif pushed his 14-month-old sister, Ayaa, in a stroller. "Did you even need to ask us if we were interested in coming here?" Youssif's father said in amazement. "Other than my wedding day, this is the happiest day of my life," he said. Just a day earlier, the mother and father talked about their journey out of Iraq and to the United States. They also discussed that day nine months ago when masked men grabbed their son outside the family home, doused him in gas and set him on fire. His mother heard her boy screaming from inside. The father sought help for his boy across Baghdad, but no one listened. He remembers his son's two months of hospitalization. The doctors didn't use anesthetics. He could hear his boy's piercing screams from the other side of the hospital. Watch Youssif meet his doctor and play with his little sister » . The father knew that speaking to CNN would put his family's lives in jeopardy. The possibility of being killed was better than seeing his son suffer, he said. "Anything for Youssif," he said. "We had to do it." They described a life of utter chaos in Baghdad. Neighbors had recently given birth to a baby girl. Shortly afterward, the father was kidnapped and killed. Then, there was the time when some girls wore tanktops and jeans. They were snatched off the street by gunmen. The stories can be even more gruesome. The couple said they had heard reports that a young girl was kidnapped and beheaded --and her killers sewed a dog's head on the corpse and delivered it to her family's doorstep. "These are just some of the stories," said Youssif's mother, Zainab. Under Saddam Hussein, there was more security and stability, they said. There was running water and electricity most of the time. But still life was tough under the dictator, like the time when Zainab's uncle disappeared and was never heard from again after he read a "religious book," she said. Sitting in the parking lot of a Target in suburban Los Angeles, Youssif's father watched as husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, parents and their children, came and went. Some held hands. Others smiled and laughed. "Iraq finished," he said in what few English words he knows. He elaborated in Arabic: His homeland won't be enjoying such freedoms anytime soon. It's just not possible. Too much violence. Too many killings. His two children have only seen war. But this week, the family has seen a much different side of America -- an outpouring of generosity and a peaceful nation at home. "It's been a dream," the father said. He used to do a lot of volunteer work back in Baghdad. "Maybe that's why I'm being helped now," the father said. At Universal Studios, he looked out across the valley below. The sun glistened off treetops and buildings. It was a picturesque sight fit for a Hollywood movie. "Good America, good America," he said in English. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Arwa Damon contributed to this report. | youssif, 5, was set on fire outside his home in baghdad nine months ago. his parents fled to the u.s. and are now living in california. youssif's father: "this is the happiest day of my life" | Boy on meeting Spider-Man: "It was my favorite thing"
Youssif also met SpongeBob, Lassie and an orangutan at Universal Studios .
Dad: "Other than my wedding day, this is the happiest day of my life" | cac7a712935380d74410a7cba8d406235d51249a |
(CNN) -- A Marine convicted for his role in the death of an Iraqi civilian was sentenced Friday to a reduction in rank and will be discharged. Cpl. Trent D. Thomas was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit several offenses -- including murder, larceny, housebreaking, kidnapping, and making false official statements -- for his involvement in the April 2006 death in Hamdaniya, Iraq. Thomas will be demoted to the rank of entry-level private and will receive a bad-conduct discharge. The 25-year-old was among seven Marines and a Navy medic who were charged in connection with the death of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52. The Marines accused in the case were members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. They reported at the time that Awad planned to detonate a roadside bomb targeting their patrol. But several residents of Hamdaniya, including relatives of the victim, gave a different account, prompting a criminal investigation. Prosecutors accuse the group's squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, of dragging Awad from his home, shooting him in the street and then making it look like he had planned to ambush American troops. Hutchins has pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and other charges in the case. He faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Thomas changed his plea from guilty to not guilty in February, arguing that he had merely followed orders. He told his attorneys that after reviewing the evidence against him, he realized "that what happened overseas happened as a result of obedience to orders, and he hasn't done anything wrong," defense attorney Victor Kelley said. Thomas said in January, shortly after entering his guilty plea, that he was "truly sorry" for his role in the killing. He could have been sentenced to life in prison under his original plea. E-mail to a friend . | Cpl. Trent D. Thomas was found guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy. he will be demoted to the rank of entry-level private and will receive a bad-conduct discharge. the 25-year-old was among seven marines charged in connection with the death. | Cpl. Trent D. Thomas found guilty this week of conspiracy to commit murder .
Marine gets rank of private, will be discharged for role in death of Iraqi civilian .
Group's leader awaits trial on murder and conspiracy charges . | e9093ca0a82f2aba28cd2762942c04177cfbb000 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Prince Harry led tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales on the 10th anniversary of her death, describing her as "the best mother in the world" in a speech at a memorial service. Here is his speech in full: . William and I can separate life into two parts. There were those years when we were blessed with the physical presence beside us of both our mother and father. Princes Harry and William greet guests at a thanksgiving service in memory of their mother. And then there are the 10 years since our mother's death. When she was alive, we completely took for granted her unrivaled love of life, laughter, fun and folly. She was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. She will always be remembered for her amazing public work. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world. We would say that, wouldn't we. But we miss her. She kissed us last thing at night. Her beaming smile greeted us from school. She laughed hysterically and uncontrollably when sharing something silly she might have said or done that day. She encouraged us when we were nervous or unsure. She -- like our father -- was determined to provide us with a stable and secure childhood. To lose a parent so suddenly at such a young age, as others have experienced, is indescribably shocking and sad. It was an event which changed our lives forever, as it must have done for everyone who lost someone that night. But what is far more important to us now, and into the future, is that we remember our mother as she would have wished to be remembered as she was: fun-loving, generous, down-to-earth, entirely genuine. We both think of her every day. We speak about her and laugh together at all the memories. Put simply, she made us, and so many other people, happy. May this be the way that she is remembered. Prince William's reading from St Paul's letter to the Ephesians: . I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of His glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. Thanks be to God. The Bishop of London's speech: . "Who's cheating?" The scene is an old people's home. Two residents are playing Beggar My Neighbor. Enter the Princess. The question from the royal visitor is unexpected but everyone laughs. Afterwards they comment on her large eyes and what life she brought into the room. One tiny incident, characteristic of countless other occasions in the Princess's public life in which she found the right word or the right gesture to bring cheer and comfort. Everyone here will have their own memories. I remember meeting Princess Diana for the very first time early in 1981 to discuss details of the wedding service in St Paul's. Even Archbishop's Chaplains have their share of proper diffidence and I was nervous entering the presence. It must have been a bewildering time for the Princess as well, but even then, at the age of 20, her capacity for empathy and her very strong intuitive power ensured that any tension soon evaporated. Prince Harry has spoken movingly and justly, as few others have the right to do, about the Princess as a mother. I want to dwell for a moment on her public work, its cost and its meaning. After her marriage, the Princess joined her natural gifts of beauty, empathy and powerful intuition with that extraordinary charge which association with the Royal Family generates. Led by our Queen and other members of the Royal Family, our constitution has developed in response to the challenges of the past century. There is a properly political sphere in which the monarch may counsel but doesn't intrude, but there is another sphere, vital to any sense of national unity and creativity, a sphere in which communities must be celebrated, common values articulated and the transcendent source of those values honored. We tend to be suspicious of public figures who wrap themselves in divinity and claim that their will is God's will, but if no-one can articulate in an un-ignorable way in the public realm the creative energy of the love that we see in Christ, the human face of God, then we shall find ourselves inhabiting a maimed and diminished society. And at a time when people are suspicious of rhetoric, the monarchy communicates by symbol and by simple speech, and the Princess brought her own gifts to this work. She was still only 26 in 1987 when she shook the hand of a patient at the opening of the Middlesex Hospital's Aids ward. It was the first in the UK and it is very hard now to credit the degree of fear and prejudice which surrounded Aids in the '80s. Those familiar with the field have no doubt that the Princess played a significant part in overcoming a harmful and even a cruel taboo in a gesture which was not choreographed but sprung from a deep identification with those who were vulnerable and on the margin. And she had a similar impact in the USA. An editorial in the New York Times in 1989 admitted ruefully that it had taken a foreign, and even a royal, dignitary to draw attention to a major public health concern in the US. Her work in the very last year of her life for the victims of landmines also caught the popular imagination internationally and certainly accelerated the adoption of the Ottawa Convention, banning the use of a weapon which disproportionately kills and maims women and children. She proved the eloquence of embrace and of touch which, of course, have been used by royal healers throughout the centuries. And as she said, in her words, "the biggest disease today is not leprosy or TB but the feeling of being unwanted". She sought out places of suffering, because they are so very often places of truth where the masks have been removed, and she was not afraid to be with the dying and to comfort them in an unsentimental way. Bill Deedes accompanied her on some of her visits. His response to the cynics was typically robust. He said: "She was one who sought above all to help vulnerable people in society and who did it so well. She was good at this because she herself was vulnerable. She knew the feeling. She didn't set out to be a saint." The role brought great power but, like any member of the Royal Family, she also experienced the weight of expectation and the intensity of the scrutiny. Honoring but managing the role and not allowing it to take over one's personal humanity is a desperately difficult task. As we have heard from Prince Harry, his mother Diana did all that she could to prepare her sons for the work which lies ahead. She confessed to receiving a very great deal from some of those whose lives she touched. She said of John, a young Greek suffering from cystic fibrosis: "He showed no sign of anger, no trace of bitterness but touched us all with an aura of optimism and hope for the future such that I have never before encountered." The love of Christ described in the lesson read by Prince William contains the essence of the spiritual life. Princess Diana recognized this quality of life in many of those, like John, whose lives she touched. It was a mystery which resonated deeply with her and for which she reached out. And the mystery is this - the more you go beyond yourself, the more you will become your true self; the more you lose yourself in loving and serving others, the more you will find yourself; the more you keep company with those who suffer, the more you will be healed. This is the knowledge which passes all understanding. This is certain and has been proved experimentally in the life of all the saints. It's easy to lose the real person in the image, to insist that all is darkness or all is light. Still, 10 years after her tragic death, there are regular reports of "fury" at this or that incident, and the Princess's memory is used for scoring points. Let it end here. Let this service mark the point at which we let her rest in peace and dwell on her memory with thanksgiving and compassion. Let us also, echoing the words of Prince Harry, look to the future and pray, in the words of St Paul, for all those who serve our country as members of the Royal Family and most especially for the sons who were so precious to her: . "I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power with all the saints to grasp what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ and to know this love which surpasses knowledge that you might be filled with the fullness of God." Amen. E-mail to a friend . | prince Harry led tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales, on 10th anniversary of her death. he described her as "the best mother in the world" in a speech at a memorial service. he says he and wife kate "can separate life into two parts" | Prince Harry describes Princess Diana as "the best mother in the world"
He asks for her to be remembered as "fun-loving, generous, down-to-earth, entirely genuine"
Bishop of London praises her humanitarian work .
He says that disputes about her death should "end here" | 55a6aabd120f0b18297f7efe22452f9b3aca0d8d |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's declaration that France had to prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear program was not conventional diplomatic behavior. But then Kouchner was never expected to be a soft-soaper on the diplomatic scene. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has a reputation for challenging convention and authority. A surprise appointment from the Socialist ranks to Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government, the founder of Medicins Sans Frontiers has always challenged convention and authority. The former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once called Kouchner 'an unguided missile' and the man himself has been known to declare: "To change the law you sometimes have to break the law". He was in his youth one of the leaders of the students revolt in France in May 1968. Kouchner is a humanitarian as well as a patriot, with a strong commitment to human rights. Unusually for a man of the Left, he supported the US-led intervention in Iraq (while criticizing the aftermath). But he did so on the grounds of Saddam Hussein's denial of human rights, not his possible possession of weapons of mass destruction. His and President Sarkozy's concern for human rights lies behind their eagerness to join Gordon Brown's Britain in a new push for action in Darfur. Bernard Kouchner did not come to his position with any of former President Chirac's instinctive distrust of the United States. Washington, which has been critical of some European states for their weakness in confronting Teheran, will have been delighted by his 'get serious' warning to Teheran. But the plain-speaking Kouchner is unlikely to be deterred by fears of upsetting the White House when he has criticisms to make of US policy. How much should be made of his words on Iran remains unclear at this stage. They were scarcely on the same scale as President Chirac's threat when he was still in office to retaliate with nuclear strikes against any state found to be responsible for a large-scale terrorist attack on France. But they are all of a piece with France's new high-profile style under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Kouchner, for example, became the first French Foreign Minister to visit Iraq since 1988, insisting that there could only be a political solution to the country's problems, not a military one, and offering France's services as a mediator and 'honest broker' between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. On Iran he is, in a way, merely echoing the words of his President who declared in a speech last month that a nuclear-armed Iran would be 'unacceptable' and describing the stand-off over its nuclear program as 'undoubtedly the most serious crisis before us today'. Certainly Mr Kouchner is making clear that France no longer takes the view once expressed by President Chirac that a nuclear-armed Iran might be inevitable . In continuing to ratchet up the rhetoric over that threat and to underline the West's resolution on Iran's nuclear enrichment program Mr Kouchner is supplementing his president's warnings. Neither is saying that military intervention against Iran is imminent or inevitable. Neither has yet confirmed that France would be part of any such military action. But both are stressing the risks which are piling up as a result of Teheran's brinkmanship. Perhaps the strongest lesson though from Mr Kouchner's intervention is his underlining that the new administration in France is not a knee-jerk anti-American one -- and that France is in the business of reclaiming a role at the top diplomatic tables. E-mail to a friend . | french foreign minister says he has to prepare for the possibility of war with Iran. he is a humanitarian and a patriot, with a strong commitment to human rights. he was first french foreign minister to visit Iraq since 1988. | French FM Kouchner has told France to prepare for possibility of war with Iran .
Was a surprise appointment to Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government .
Also the first French Foreign Minister to visit Iraq since 1988 .
Founder of Medicins Sans Frontiers, also French student leader in May 1968 . | 06bc2f0272d033b123e9eebbb221c62d7d51c283 |
1. "Für Elise" Bob Dylan wrote "It Ain't Me, Babe" for Joan Baez. Written by: Ludwig van Beethoven . Written for: Some girl probably not named Elise. In fact, as far as most historians can tell, Beethoven didn't even know an Elise. Instead, the song was originally titled "Bagatelle in A minor" based on some handwritten notation a Beethoven researcher claimed to have seen on a now-lost copy of the sheet music. Further complicating things, Beethoven had hideous handwriting -- to the point that some scholars speculate the song was actually written "for Therese," as in Therese Malfatti, one of several women who turned down a marriage proposal from the notoriously lovesick maestro. 2. "Philadelphia Freedom" Written by: Elton John & Bernie Taupin . Written for: Billie Jean King, as a thank-you for a tracksuit she gave Elton. And what a tracksuit it must have been! The 1975 song remains one of the most popular disco hits ever, leaving thousands of Hustle enthusiasts wondering just what Billie Jean King had to do with Philadelphia, anyway. Turns out, the song was a reference to King's pro tennis team, The Philadelphia Freedoms. Prior to 1968, tennis players were all considered "amateurs" and weren't eligible to receive prize money. So, if you didn't have the wealth to support yourself, you couldn't play. Billie Jean King fought against those constraints, ultimately founding Professional World Team Tennis in 1974 and turning tennis into a paid league sport. 3. "Lola" Written by: The Kinks' Ray Davies . Written for: A transvestite. But the question is, which one? According to Rolling Stone, "Lola" was inspired by Candy Darling, a member of Andy Warhol's entourage, whom Ray Davies briefly (and cluelessly) dated. If that's the case, then "Lola" is just another notch on Darling's song belt -- she's also referred to in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side." ("Candy came from out on the Island/ In the backroom she was everybody's darlin'.") But, in the Kinks' official biography, Davies tells a different story. He says "Lola" was written after the band's manager spent a very drunken night dancing with a woman whose five o'clock shadow was apparently obvious to everyone but him. 4. "867-5309/Jenny" Written by: Jim Keller (of Tommy Tutone) and Alex Call . Written for: Unknown, as the songwriters apparently make up a different story about its inspiration every time they're asked. While the woman continues to remain a mystery, however, the phone number is all too real. In fact, it's been wreaking havoc ever since 1982 and the passage of time hasn't quelled of the number of crank calls. In 1999, Brown University freshman roommates Nina Clemente and Jahanaz Mirza found that out the hard way, when the school adopted an 867 exchange number for its on-campus phone system. Immediately, the girls' innocuous Room No. 5309 became a magnet for every drunk college kid with a 1980s fetish. Other unfortunate phone customers have fought back with creative and profitable solutions, like the holder of 212-867-5309, who put his phone number up for auction on eBay in 2004. Bids approached $100,000 before eBay pulled the item at the request of Verizon, the number's actual owner. 5. "Oh, Carol" Written by: Neil Sedaka . Written for: Carole King, naturally. Sedaka and King actually dated briefly in high school -- a romance Sedaka was able to successfully milk with "Oh, Carol," a then top-10 (if now somewhat forgettable) 1959 pop song. However, the real success of "Oh, Carol" came a few months later, when it inspired King to write a rebuttal entitled "Oh, Neil." At the time, King and her husband, Gerry Goffin, were fledgling songwriters in need of a hit tune. "Oh, Neil" wasn't that, but it did pay off. After Sedaka gave a tape of the song to his boss, King and Goffin landed jobs at the legendary Brill Building pop music factory, where the duo went on to write chart-toppers like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and "The Loco-Motion." 6. "It Ain't Me, Babe" Written by: Bob Dylan . Written for: Joan Baez, though it clearly wasn't the nicest gift Dylan could have given her. The two met in 1961, when Baez was an up-and-coming folk singer and Dylan was a nobody from Minnesota. Desperate to make his break in the music biz, Dylan worked like crazy to get Baez's attention. He eventually ended up going on tour with her, which is how he first became famous, and also how the two began dating. For a while, they seemed like the golden couple, but things soon went downhill. During a European concert tour together in early 1965, they had a huge fight and parted ways. That May, Dylan was holed up in a hotel after being hospitalized with a virus, and Baez, hoping to remain friends, decided to bring him flowers. Sadly, that's how she found out that her ex was already dating someone else. That someone else was Sara Lownds, whom Dylan married a mere six months later. 7. "Our House" Written by: Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) Written for: Joni Mitchell. In December 1968, Nash and Mitchell moved into a cozy little house in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles. Though commonly left out of the hippy pantheon, Laurel Canyon was sort of a commune-home away from commune-home for San Francisco society -- not just CSN&Y, but also Jim Morrison, the Eagles, Frank Zappa, and more. "Our House" was directly inspired by a lazy Sunday in the Nash/Mitchell household. The couple went out to brunch, hit an antiques store, and then returned to find the house just a bit chilly, at which point Nash literally "lit a fire," while Mitchell "placed the flowers in the vase that she bought that day." No, really. The whole tableau seemed so ridiculously domestic to Nash that he immediately sat down and spent the rest of the day writing about it. E-mail to a friend . | "867-5309/jenny" was written for a transvestite, according to the Kinks' official biography. "oh, lord" was written for a sex-offender, according to a tv show host. the number has been a nuisance since 1982. | Several famous songs written by men for a woman .
Beethoven's "Für Elise" may have been written "for Therese"
Songwriters make up stories about who is behind "867-5309/Jenny" | 17e43e8e7d2bbbb237df78537d108c3fa917d9fb |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A wide-open presidential race and a willingness by candidates, interest groups, unions and corporations to buy TV time will lead to historic spending for political and issue-advocacy advertising in the 2008 election cycle, an analysis shows. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has spent the most on TV advertising so far among presidential contenders. The cost to try to influence the 2008 election could exceed $3 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on political television advertising. This is nearly twice as much than what was spent in 2004 when political and issue-advocacy television advertising rang in at $1.7 billion. In 2006, $2.3 billion was spent on political and issue-advocacy TV commercials. Just about every candidate running for an office from dogcatcher to president is spending the money, said Evan Tracey, CMAG's chief operating officer. The costs to produce a TV commercial are no longer prohibitive for local and state candidates, who are turning more and more to the airwaves to reach voters. See how spending breaks down for this year » . And interest groups have spent $6.2 million on TV ads so far this year for state and local ballot measures. On the national level, the cost of issue-advocacy television ad spending was $270 million in the first nine months of this year. Subjects ranged from the Iraq war to telecommunications reform. Television ads on health care alone total $60 million. CMAG estimates more than $3 million of the $270 million spent to air issue-advocacy ads this year has gone for commercials in states and districts that are likely to have competitive House and Senate races in 2008. Tracey said he thinks this is just the beginning of interest groups "pivoting from legislative advocacy mode to political mode." "What we expect to see between now and the end of the primaries, and through the general election, is groups will take a more aggressive stance on their advertising and actually target candidates," he said. With 17 Democratic and Republican candidates running for president, CMAG predicts that more than $800 million will be spent on TV ads in the battle for the White House. Up to now, the political commercials have been largely focused on the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Voters in some of the 20-plus states holding nominating contests on February 5 will start seeing ads in the coming months. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads all candidates in TV spending, having aired his commercials more than 11,000 times this year at a cost of nearly $8.6 million. This is a record for the number of airings at this point in a presidential election cycle. Watch how Romney is way ahead in ad spending » . In contrast, one of Romney's chief rivals for the GOP nomination, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has spent nothing on television ads, but Giuliani leads in the national polls and is within striking distance of the lead in several state surveys. Giuliani enjoys widespread national name recognition, while Romney does not. In the race for the Democratic nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has spent more than $2.3 million on television commercials, while New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has spent $1 million less and leads in both national and early state polls. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has probably benefited the most in the Democratic contest from the $2 million he has invested in his television commercials. Richardson's humorous TV ads effectively stated his experience as a lawmaker, diplomat and executive, and positioned him as a solid second-tier candidate. Romney used his $8.6 million in television ads to introduce himself as a social and fiscal conservative to Republican voters. These voters might otherwise not know much about him other than that he was the governor of the traditionally liberal Massachusetts. Romney is leading polls in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Further evidence of how Romney's television commercials have helped is in South Carolina. An American Research Group poll of South Carolina Republicans in August showed Romney registering at 9 percent with these influential primary voters. A month later, and with $350,000 worth of commercials aired in the two weeks leading up to the next poll, Romney was up 17 percentage points. Romney's latest ad began airing Friday in Iowa, and in it he vows to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, to boost the military by 100,000 people, to strengthen U.S. intelligence capabilities and to monitor calls into the U.S. from al Qaeda. All of these issues should play well with conservatives who participate in the Iowa caucuses. While only a handful of Democratic candidates and Romney have used the airwaves until now, Tracey said he expects this to change. "Before the end of October, I suspect all the frontrunner candidates will be on the air," Tracey said. "As we get closer to primary day, the frontrunners will be joined by all the candidates in the race who are taking their last, best shot." In the fight for Congress, CMAG predicts that as much as $639 million could be spent on television advertising. Democrats control the House and Senate. Tracey noted that CMAG's 2008 election cycle forecast does not take into account unforeseen events such as former Florida Rep. Mark Foley's House page scandal or the September 11 terrorist attacks. "Politics is completely beholden to events," he said. "Events will ultimately determine how much is spent, where and when." What television advertising challenges do candidates and interest groups face in the coming months? "Chances are, just as what happened in 2006, voters will be numb after watching hundred and hundreds of ads," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. "The sheer number of ads probably dilutes their importance. After a while, the ads just become lots of chatter and an ad will have to be really good to cut through the noise." E-mail to a friend . | political and issue-advocacy ads could cost more than $3 billion in 2008. former governor of massachusetts has spent $8.6 million on ads so far. interest groups have spent $6.2 million on ads so far this year. | Amount almost double what was spent in 2004 election cycle .
Lower TV production costs help more candidates advertise .
Mitt Romney leads presidential candidates in TV spending .
Advertisers face challenge of cutting through clutter of ads, analyst says . | ddcdeb9bdd19fa23f9495c85d48eeee910f33102 |
PHUKET, Thailand (CNN) -- Relatives of the 89 people killed in Sunday's plane crash in Phuket continued to arrive in the Thai resort town on Tuesday to try to identify their loved ones' remains. A Buddhist monk blesses the wreckage of One-Two-Go airline's MD-82 jet at Phuket airport on Tuesday. Most of those killed were foreign nationals, and about 36 of the bodies still have yet to be identified, according to Thailand's state-run Thai News Agency (TNA). All of the unidentified victims were foreign nationals, it reported. The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok said that five Americans were among those killed when the One-Two-Go jet crashed in bad weather as it landed at Phuket's airport on Sunday. U.S. officials had previously confirmed that four Americans died in the crash, and one survived. Eight British nationals are believed to have died, according to Foreign Secretary David Miliband. He said three were still in hospital, with one in a critical condition. Thailand's Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said that of the 41 survivors who remain hospitalized, 38 were in stable condition and three in critical condition, according to TNA. Flight 269 was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members when it left Bangkok for Phuket on Sunday afternoon. Nationalities of the survivors include British, American, Swedish, Iranian, Austrian, Australian, Thai, German, Irish, Italian, Israeli and Dutch, authorities said. Watch a survivor recall the fiery horror » . One man who arrived in Phuket on Tuesday from Paris described a frustrating process of trying to communicate with Thai officials in his effort to locate the remains of his brother. For some families, DNA testing may be the only way to positively identify their relatives. Meanwhile, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim leaders gathered outside Phuket's airport on Tuesday to remember those killed. The investigation into what caused the crash continues, but the strong winds and rain are a suspected factor. U.S. officials are aiding in the investigation because the aircraft -- a Boeing MD-82 -- was manufactured in the United States. One air traffic controller at Phuket airport said pilots were warned of possible wind shear, which is dramatic changes in wind speed and direction. Airport officials said that the wind at the time of the crash was 17 kilometers an hour (11 miles an hour) with stronger gusts, but no planes were delayed or diverted because of the weather conditions. The decision to land was the pilot's alone, according to Phuket's airport manager. "Air traffic control would give weather information to pilot and warning information but the final decision is dependent on the pilot," Pornchai Eua-Aree said. One-Two-Go officials would not speculate on what may have happened, saying they will wait for the findings of the investigation. But they did say their aircraft were regularly checked and maintained, and denied some media reports that questioned whether the discount airline employed more inexperienced pilots for lower salaries. One-Two-Go is one of about 40 low-cost airlines operating in Asia, and the industry will be watching closely for the results of the investigation into the crash. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Andrew Stevens contributed to this report . | relatives of 89 people killed in plane crash in Phuket continue to arrive in town. about 36 of bodies still have yet to be identified, according to state media. u.s. officials say five americans among those killed when jet crashed in bad weather. strong winds and rain are suspected to have been a factor in the crash. | Relatives of the 89 people killed in Thai air crash are still arriving in Phuket .
About 36 of the bodies have yet to be identified, according to Thai authorities .
U.S. Embassy in Bangkok confirms that five Americans were among the dead .
The investigation into what caused Sunday's crash is still continuing . | ee0ba7928d8987f2cb21c9a2012a76730f77de45 |
(CNN) -- Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose new documentary "Sicko" takes on America's health care system, faced off Tuesday with CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Michael Moore and CNN's Sanjay Gupta argued Tuesday about Gupta's report on Moore's film "Sicko" Moore criticized a report Gupta did on CNN Monday on "Sicko." "He said the facts were fudged," Moore said, referring to Gupta, on CNN's "Larry King Live." "That's a lie. None of the facts are fudged." Moore and Gupta shouted and argued over data Gupta used and data Moore used. Moore said his staffers backed up the film's facts to Gupta before the report aired and that Gupta aired it knowing his facts were wrong. Gupta disputed that. Watch Moore, Gupta make their points » . "We try and look for some of the best sources we can possibly find," he said. "Michael has a lot of different numbers. ... You're sort of cherry-picking data from different reports." Both agreed, however, on the basic premise of "Sicko": Problems abound in America's health-care system and need to be fixed. "I thought it was a good movie, and I wanted to say that," Gupta said. "I think it strikes at the irrefutable fact -- it's broken. We get it." He praised Moore for raising awareness of the issue. However, Gupta said he was concerned that the movie -- which notes that other developed nations such as France and Canada have universal health care --suggests that health care in those countries is free. While patients may not pay for services at the doctor's office, they do pay high taxes to fund such a system, something Gupta said he was concerned that "Sicko" audiences might not realize. Moore responded by saying Americans pay more in copays, deductibles and insurance premiums. "We [America] have a system built on profit," the moviemaker said. He asked Gupta if the current system, which requires him to receive approval from an insurance company before performing some procedures, is cumbersome to him. "It's a shameful system, especially when I'm dealing with some of my patients," Gupta said. But he questioned Moore's apparent solution -- putting health care in the hands of the Bush administration, which Moore fiercely criticized in the past, particularly in his film "Fahrenheit 9/11." "The government actually used to do things right," Moore said in response. "The problem is who we put in power." Moore has adamantly opposed the war in Iraq and said the government should reprioritize -- a position he took many years before skepticism of the war's success abounded in Washington. "I am sorry we've taken so much time trying to correct [Gupta's] facts here tonight instead of talking about the real issue" -- the ailing health care system, Moore said. E-mail to a friend . | "sicko" criticizes CNN report on health care system, says it's fudged. report's author says he backed up film's facts to reporter. doctor says film shows "irrefutable fact" that system is broken. | Moore criticized a report Gupta did on CNN Monday on "Sicko"
Gupta's report questions some of the movie's numbers and solutions .
Gupta: "I thought it was a good movie, and I wanted to say that" | 554fd99f28ae12472c5d99ef6383bb184744c25a |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some Democrats appear to be wavering on a highly contentious House resolution labeling Turkey's treatment of Armenians in World War I as genocide. A KC-135 tanker lands at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey in 2003. Turkey, a longtime U.S. ally and NATO partner, was incensed by the resolution calling the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide and threatened to block access to Incirlik Air Base after the resolution passed a House committee vote. The base, in southern Turkey near Syria, is a major resupply center for U.S. operations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Mideast and Asia. The Pentagon is preparing to set up new supply routes for troops in Iraq if Turkey cuts off U.S. access to the strategically important Incirlik, military officials said Tuesday. Ankara acknowledges the killings of Armenians during World War I but vehemently objects to the "genocide" label. The House Foreign Affairs Committee last week adopted the nonbinding resolution. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would bring the measure to a vote of the full House sometime next month. But the Bush administration urged Congress to drop the issue, and some leading Democrats urged Pelosi not to bring it to the floor. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer signaled Tuesday that the vote might be put off. "I said I thought we would bring this up prior to us leaving here," said Hoyer of Maryland. "I have not changed on that, although I would be less than candid to say that there are a number of people who are revisiting their own positions. We will have to determine where everybody is." Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced his opposition to the resolution last week. And Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida and John Tanner of Tennessee, both members of the U.S. House delegation to NATO, urged Pelosi to reconsider in a letter released Tuesday. "More than half of the cargo flown into Iraq and Afghanistan comes through Incirlik Air Base, and this base would be a key component of any plans for redeployment of our troops in the future," they wrote. Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pentagon planners are looking at "a broad range of options" to keep food, fuel and ammunition flowing to U.S. troops in Iraq if Turkey blocks Incirlik. "We're confident that we'll find ways to do that," Ham told reporters at the Pentagon. "There's likely to be some increased cost and some other implications for that, and obviously we'd prefer to maintain the access that we have." Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed lawmakers' concerns last week. "About 70 percent of all air cargo going into Iraq goes through Turkey. ... About a third of the fuel that they consume goes through Turkey or comes from Turkey," Gates said. He also said that 95 percent of the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protective vehicles, or MRAPs, being deployed in Iraq are flown through Turkey. The vehicles are built to withstand roadside bombs. See Incirlik's key location » . The U.S. military issued a "warning order" a few days ago to ensure that alternative air crews, planes, fuel and routes are lined up if Turkey stops or restricts U.S. access to Incirlik, a source said. Jordan and Kuwait are among the alternatives the United States is considering. Some fear pursuit of the resolution would also embolden the Turks to attack Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq which could further complicate Iraqi stability, U.S. officials said. Incirlik offers 10,000- and 9,000-foot runways and 57 hardened aircraft shelters, according Globalsecurity.org, a source of background information about military issues. Globalsecurity said Incirlik has become a hub for cargo shipments to Iraq, taking over for Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany because it is closer to Iraq, reducing the strain on troops and aircraft. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Barbara Starr and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report. | House committee adopted resolution calling killing of Armenians genocide. incirlik air base is major resupply center for u.s. operations in mideast, asia. some fear pursuit of resolution would embolden the Turks to attack kurdish rebels. | NEW: Majority Leader says a number of Dems are "revisiting their own positions"
Turkey is upset about World War I "genocide" resolution in Congress .
House resolution calls killing of Armenians "genocide"
Incirlik Air Base is key point for U.S. military supply of Iraq mission . | 9e141ebc1c06d483bf85f4e5c8b3c7bc2d00ea2f |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Twelve-year-old Mohammed Rasoul, his right leg severed below the knee, maneuvers on crutches over the dirt and loose stones through the Falluja graveyard. Mohammed Rasoul sitting with his mother, Jinan Khalifa, eagerly awaits his trip to the United States. Row after row of headstones stand as the deadly reminder of the tragedy the city went through as insurgents battled for control of the city. Mohammed stops at his cousin's grave. "I feel an ache when I think of her. Every time I remember her, I cry," he told CNN at a visit to the grave a few months ago. As he spoke, he poured water on a tree he planted next to it. The headstone reads: "Martyr 643, the child Hajer Ismael Khalil, 13 October 2006." Clutching her photograph, Mohammed says, "My cousin died on the scene. I still remember her screams." The same explosion cost him his leg and his childhood. "A car came out of nowhere. My cousin was playing with her friend," he says. "I remember [the car] was green. It detonated." Watch Mohammed tell his story » . His mother, Jinan Khalifa, remembers that day all too well. She was in the kitchen when she heard a deafening explosion. "There was shattered glass from the windows falling all over us. I went outside and saw my son covered in blood from head to toe," she says. Her son endured 11 operations before doctors amputated his leg below the knee. Khalifa says her son put forward a tough face, but when he finally went back home the shock hit him. "That's where his personality started to change. He stopped laughing," she says. "It was tearing me up," Mohammed says "It was hard for me to watch others play. And I couldn't, I couldn't walk, it agitated me." CNN first broadcast his story in May where it caught the attention of an American charity, the Global Medical Relief Fund, which offered to help. "I cannot put my feelings into words," Khalifa says. "An entire book would not be enough. They gave my son his hope back. The America we knew was one that came, bombed, harmed. But when this organization came forward, we saw another face of America." The Global Medical Relief Fund, a small charity based in New York that helps children of war and natural disasters, has arranged for surgery and treatment at the Shriners Children Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elissa Montanti, the founder and director of the organization, says she was inspired to act when she first heard of Mohammed's tragic story. "I said, 'Oh, please, let me help this boy.' " Mohammed will arrive in the United States on Thursday afternoon. He will be fitted for a prosthetic leg in coming weeks and examined to see if he needs additional surgery. Montanti said her organization has a list of other young Iraqi children in need of help. "The word needs to get out." Asked how it makes her feel to help Mohammed, she says, "It makes me cry with joy." Mohammed, too, is ecstatic. "I didn't think this act of human kindness would be presented to me," he says. "I didn't have hope in Iraq -- hope that I would ever get my hope back. I didn't have a future." He adds, "I want to go to America and meet this person that gave me my future back." When he comes back home, he wants to help rebuild Falluja, starting with his school, which was bombed during the 2004 Falluja offensive. "I will never leave school and, God willing, I will continue my education and become an architect and build all the schools," he says, standing on his crutches. But first, he says, he wants to walk to water the tree he planted next to his cousin's grave. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Wayne Drash contributed to this report from Atlanta. | "i didn't have hope in Iraq," says 12-year-old Mohammed. his leg was severed in 2004 during insurgent offensive in falluja. charity has arranged for surgery, treatment at a hospital in the u.s. | Boy, 12, lost leg to car bombing in Iraq; cousin was killed by blast .
He is now heading to the United States to get a prosthetic leg .
Boy: "I want to ... meet this person that gave me my future back"
Charity director says helping the boy makes her "cry with joy" | c9160e2f5ce386dabb10517e7a5c0933c01a9546 |
NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) -- India has elected its first female president, official results show, in what supporters are calling a boost for the rights of millions of downtrodden women, despite a bitter campaign marked by scandal. Pratibha Patil, 72, is India's first elected female president. Pratibha Patil, the ruling coalition's 72-year-old nominee for the mainly ceremonial post, easily beat opposition-backed challenger and vice president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, in a vote by the national parliament and state politicians. "This a victory of the people," Patil told reporters after official results were announced Saturday. "I am grateful to the people of India and the men and women of India and this is a victory for the principles which our Indian people uphold." Patil won about two thirds of the electoral college votes. There had never been any doubt she would win, given support from the ruling coalition. The governor of the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, she emerged on the national stage when the Congress-led coalition and its communist allies failed to agree on a joint candidate. "This is a very special moment for us women, and men of course, in our country because for the first time we have a woman being elected president of India," Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful politician, said. Supporters hoped Patil's candidacy would help bring issues that plague women in India, like dowry-related violence, into the public spotlight. A woman is murdered, raped or abused every three minutes on average in India. Her presidency also reflects the growing power of some women in India, where an increasing number are taking part in the workforce and in schools and hold senior positions in corporations. After the results, Patil supporters took to the streets, singing and dancing as others lit fire crackers and beat large brass drums. India has had a number of female icons in the past -- most famously Sonia Gandhi's mother-in-law, Indira, who was one of the world's first female prime ministers in 1966. But hope Patil's presidency would spark only positive talk about women's influence in India evaporated when it emerged the bank for women she helped established was closed in 2003 because of bad debts and amid accusations of financial irregularities. The employees' union has taken Patil and others to court, claiming loans meant for poor women were instead given to her brother and other relatives and not returned. She was also accused of trying to shield her brother in a murder inquiry. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has dismissed accusations against her as "mud-slinging", said on Saturday her victory was "a vote against the politics of divisiveness". "All the allegations against me are motivated and have already been answered," Patil said in a statement last week. Her campaign was marked by other mishaps as well. She managed to offend many minority Muslims, and anger some historians, by saying Indian women first veiled their heads as protection against 16th century Muslim invaders. Then she dismayed modern India by claiming she had experienced a "divine premonition" that she was destined for higher office from a long dead spiritual guru. Critics also dug up a comment she was said to have made as Maharashtra's health minister in 1975, saying people with hereditary diseases should be sterilized. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | supporters call victory for rights of millions of downtrodden women. despite bitter campaign, patil easily wins mainly ceremonial post. dowry-related violence kills an average of three women every three minutes in india. | India elects first female president, official results show Saturday .
Pratibha Patil's supporters are calling victory a boost for women's rights .
Bitter election campaign was marked by scandal .
72-year-old Patil was the ruling coalition's nominee for mainly ceremonial post . | d256aee1a47eb5b489dee6fb72ab7f7d1483a37f |
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- More than 100 homes in an upscale San Diego community were evacuated after a landslide about 60 yards wide pulled the earth from beneath a three-lane road and some of the multimillion-dollar homes that adorn it. Gina Yarbrough sent this picture of the road that collapsed in Wednesday's landslide. Mayor Jerry Sanders declared a state of emergency, asking California and the federal government to help the La Jolla community recover from the Wednesday landslide. As of Thursday morning, he had already received offers of aid from legislators, the governor's office and the White House, he said. Officials warned for at least two weeks that the ground was shifting beneath the hillside community along Soledad Mountain Road. Holes were drilled into the unsettled hillside to investigate the cause and magnitude of the shift, which earlier ruptured a water line, and according to some media reports, began cracking Soledad Mountain Road in July. On Wednesday, a 20-foot-deep chasm opened beneath the road and homes. Holli Weld told San Diego's KGTV that she was walking her son to preschool when the street collapsed. Watch a resident recall how he had to grab his dogs and run » . "The street was sinking before our eyes," she said. Authorities told KGTV that most residents were at work and only seven people were in their homes when the landslide occurred. Evacuated homeowner Russell Moore told CNN he remembers hearing the earth "groan" in what he called a "slow avalanche." "The asphalt that should be under my feet was 8 feet in the air," Moore said. "We watched the trees snapping and cracking and more boulders come down to our feet and we were witnessing this move." See photos of the hole the landslide left in La Jolla » . At least 111 homes were evacuated, but Sanders said residents would be allowed to return to 75 of those houses by early Thursday morning. Several homes were damaged and at least one was destroyed, according to media reports. Nine homes are "red tagged," meaning no one is allowed to enter them, and 27 more are "yellow tagged," which means residents can return for necessities, but cannot stay, Sanders said. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the landslide downed power lines and caused a minor gas leak. More than 2,400 customers were briefly left without electricity, but most residents had their power restored by Thursday, KGTV reported. The Red Cross opened a shelter at La Jolla High School. Deputy city engineer Robert Hawk told the Union-Tribune that the hillside has slowly been slipping for years because the soil is unstable. Landslide incidents in the neighborhood date back to the 1960s, Hawk told the newspaper. Pat Abbott, a retired geological sciences professor at San Diego State University, told the Union-Tribune that Mount Soledad is made up of weak layers of rock and that the culprit in the landslide is nature. "Gravity pulling on the incline is pulling down masses of earth and those masses of earth have houses on top of them," Abbott told the paper. "It's a geologically bad site and should not have been built on to begin with." E-mail to a friend . | new: mayor declares state of emergency for upscale san diego community. new: residents allowed to return to 75 of 111 evacuated homes early Thursday. landslide downed power lines, caused a minor gas leak, newspaper reports. mayor says he's already received offers of aid from legislators, white house. | San Diego mayor declares state of emergency; White House, governor offer aid .
Officials were investigating the shifting earth in the area for weeks .
Residents can return to 75 of the 111 evacuated homes Thursday, mayor says .
"We watched the trees snapping and cracking," says one evacuated resident . | 2fff2bc541ef34a6647dfa2e4294cdcc187e47b9 |
ABECHE, Chad (CNN) -- Most of the 103 children that a French charity attempted to take to France from Chad for adoption are neither Sudanese nor orphans, three international aid agencies reported on Thursday. Hundreds of women protest child trafficking and shout anti-French slogans Wednesday in Abeche, Chad. Six members of Zoe's Ark were arrested last week as they tried to put the children on a plane to France, where the charity said host families were waiting to take the children in. Three French journalists, a seven-member Spanish flight crew and one Belgian were also arrested. Representatives of the journalists and flight crew said they were unaware of problems with Zoe's Ark and thought they were on a humanitarian mission. Chadian President Idriss Deby hopes the journalists and the flight crew will be freed, his chief of staff, Mahamat Hissene, said Thursday. The president would legally be able to intervene in the case if it is transferred from a judge in the eastern city of Abeche, where the children were taken, to a judge in N'Djamena, the capital, Hissene said. The transfer will take place Monday, according to media reports. The International Red Cross Committee, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF said most of the children were living with their families before Zoe's Ark took them. The charity said the children were Sudanese orphans that it was trying to rescue from a war-torn nation. The agencies said most of the children also probably come from Chadian villages along Chad's border with Sudan. The children have been living in an orphanage in Abeche while authorities and aid agencies try to determine their identities. Watch a report on whether the children are orphans » . Chadian authorities immediately accused the charity of kidnapping the children and concealing their identities. Chad's interior minister said Zoe's Ark dressed the children in bandages and fake intravenous drips to make them look like refugees who needed medical help. The charity workers and journalists have been charged with kidnapping and extortion and could face 20 years of hard labor if convicted. The Spaniards and Belgian are charged with complicity. The Spanish flight crew is innocent and should be released, a company executive said Thursday. "We thought we were doing a humanitarian transport," said Antoni Cajal, sales director of Spain's Gir Jet charter firm. "If an NGO [nongovernmental organization] has done something wrong, it's impossible for us to know." Spain's Foreign Ministry has publicly expressed its disagreement with the charges and has dispatched top diplomats to Chad to try to win the group's release. Over the weekend, the captain appealed urgently to be rescued, fearing the crew could be harmed or killed, Cajal said. But the four women and three men are in good condition in custody, Cajal said, based on his conversations with a Spanish consular official who came from Cameroon to Chad and has been able to visit them. The detention is the first problem of its kind for the company, which hopes government negotiations can resolve the issue, Cajal said. On its Web site, Zoe's Ark describes itself as a nonprofit organization based in Paris that sends teams of physicians, nurses, firefighters and other specialists to care for children in war zones and place them with families in France, who then apply for asylum on their behalf. The Red Cross, UNHCR and UNICEF said the 21 girls and 82 boys range in age from about 1 year to about 10, and they are healthy. The agencies said they have been interviewing the children individually to determine their backgrounds. "So far, the interviews carried out with the children -- some of whom could not provide any information due to their young age -- led to the preliminary conclusion that probably 85 come from Chadian villages near the cities of Adre and Tine along the Chadian-Sudanese border," the agencies said. "Ninety-one children said they had been living with their family, consisting of at least one adult they considered to be their parent," the agencies said, adding that interviews with the remaining 12 children were ongoing. The agencies called their investigation painstaking and challenging because of the number of children, their youth and the situation in the region. Other French charities earlier had questioned whether Zoe's Ark could legally arrange adoption of children from Darfur, and contacted French authorities, according to French newspapers and The Associated Press. French authorities have reacted angrily to the Zoe's Ark trip, calling the group's actions "illegal and irresponsible." The French Foreign Ministry has said the dispute will not affect France's participation in a European peacekeeping force due to be deployed along the border between Chad and Sudan. In response to the dispute in Chad, the Republic of Congo said late Wednesday it was suspending all international adoptions, The Associated Press reported. Reporters Without Borders said it will work for the release of the three journalists arrested in Chad. The organization said photographers Marc Garmirian of the Capa news agency and Jean-Daniel Guillou of the Synchro X agency were on assignment for their news organizations and were not part of the charity's efforts. The third journalist, Marie-Agnes Peleran of the TV station France 3 Miditerranee, was traveling with the group in a personal capacity, though she carried a camera from her station, Reporters Without Borders said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Al Goodman contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | new: president could intervene if case is transferred to a different judge. new: journalists, flight crew said they thought they were on a humanitarian mission. six members of charity arrested as they tried to take 103 children to france. charity says children were Sudanese orphans it was trying to rescue. | NEW: Chadian president wants journalists, flight crew released .
Red Cross, UNICEF, UNHCR interview children that charity tried to fly out of Chad .
Most are not from Sudan and have families, agencies say .
Six members of Zoe's Ark, 11 others under arrest in Chad . | 677375a4c69e81ab623af7c06a6b0a8d03d6350e |
(CNN) -- Explorer Dennis Schmitt found an island nearly two years ago near Greenland. Fishermen pass by Greenland's Ilulissat fjord in this September 2004 picture. Such a discovery would usually elicit curiosity, even wonder perhaps, but it evoked mixed feelings for the explorer. The island was once thought to be a peninsula attached to Greenland by an ice shelf or a glacier. But such a large amount of ice melted, it revealed the distinct island. "I very quickly realized two things," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper during a visit to the island earlier this year. "One [was] that this was going to be significant because it was going to be an example of climate change." "The other thing was that it meant it was really happening. It wasn't a joke. It wasn't just statistics. It was really happening." He calls his discovery Warming Island. Many climatologists and scientists say arctic ice melt and other changes in the Earth's climate are the result of an increase in the world's temperature, a trend widely called global warming. Many global warming experts say the phenomenon, if unchecked, is capable of altering the world's climate and geography. In the worst-case scenario, experts say oceans could rise to overwhelming and catastrophic levels, flooding cities and altering seashores. Other scientists and observers, a minority compared to those who believe the warming trend is something ominous, say it is simply the latest shift in the cyclical patterns of a planet's life. Most of the scientific community believes that some warming is occurring across the globe and through some layers of the atmosphere. But why it is occurring and what that means for the future is scientifically and politically contentious. The Earth's temperature averages about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (about 16 degrees Celsius). The average surface temperature has warmed one degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) during the last century, according to the National Research Council. The temperatures were relatively unchanged from 1880 to 1910, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They rose till about 1945, cooled until about 1975 and have risen steadily to present day. There are several possible reasons for the warming, scientists say. A change in the Earth's orbit or the intensity of the sun's radiation could change, triggering warming or cooling. The reason most cited -- by scientists and scientific organizations -- for the current warming trend is an increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases, which are in the atmosphere naturally and help keep the planet's temperature at a comfortable level. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, for instance, has increased by 35 percent since the dawn of the industrial age, according to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, commonly referred to as the IPCC. The presence of methane is now 151 percent above pre-industrial levels, but the rate of increase has slowed in recent decades, according to the EPA. Meanwhile, nitrous oxide increased by about 18 percent during the past 200 years. Many scientists and experts who have studied global warming believe the increase is primarily the result of human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, emissions from vehicles and the clearing of forests. "For the last 30 years, there's no way there's anything natural that can explain it," Stephen Schneider, a professor of environmental studies at Stanford University in California, said. "A vast bulk of the knowledgeable and honest community ... will say the science is settled and humans are at least a majority of the reason behind the warming," he added. Many scientific organizations share Schneider's view, ranging from the national academies of the countries that comprise the G8 to the National Research Council, the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. But there are those who do not share his view, and among the skeptics is Richard Lindzen, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We've suddenly taken to reading tea leaves," he said. "When we saw cooling from 1940 to 1970, we were proclaiming global cooling. Since then, there's been a few tenths of global warming, so we're proclaiming global warming." He believes the current warming trend is the result of natural variability, where a planet goes through phases of warming and cooling and the human contribution to it is minimal. "The Earth is always getting colder and warmer," he said. "It's always changing. In fact, this is true of any fluid-covered planet." Asked about glacial melt, which many observers point to as evidence of global warming, Lindzen said the way glaciers change and move are phenomena largely unexplained. "We don't know why, but it's perfectly clear that glaciers change even though the temperature is cooling at the place that they've occurred," he said. "What we're doing is cherry picking any event that occurs and then saying that's occurring due to global warming." Yet, for Schneider, it is a cause for concern and alarm. "We're already in serious melt, nobody can explain it. The models don't predict it," he said. "We don't know what's going on up there. All we know is that we could be triggering something really nasty." The greatest point of contention is the possible implications for future political and economic policies for the world's nations. The IPCC in February 2007 projected that if carbon dioxide levels doubled relative to pre-industrial levels, temperatures could rise between 3.6 to 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 4.5 degrees Celsius) by 2100. The lower end of the range could cause more intense hurricanes, droughts, wildfires and flooding, Schneider said. The higher end could lead to the catastrophes commonly associated with the visions of Hollywood filmmakers. Uncertainties, however, plague such forecasts, which are based on computer simulations and models. The models contemplate factors associated with how the atmosphere, oceans and continents interact, all natural elements that have unpredictability intrinsic to them. "Exactly how much it's going to warm up, we don't know," Schneider said. "That it's going to warm up? I'd bet anything on that." E-mail to a friend . | many climatologists and scientists say warming is occurring across the globe. the average surface temperature has warmed one degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) some scientists say increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases is to blame. others say warming is simply the result of natural variability. | Earth has warmed one degree in past 100 years .
Majority of scientists say greenhouse gases are causing temperatures to rise .
Some critics say planets often in periods of warming or cooling . | 33530f97118cc905b05cb920671492c7bfdf3a3b |
MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- An enraged crowd dragged the body of an Ethiopian soldier through the streets of Somalia's capital Thursday after gun battles with Islamic insurgents killed 19 people, witnesses reported. In a brutal echo of a 1993 battle involving Somali militias in which the bodies of U.S. troops were dragged through the streets, crowds Thursday shouted "God is great" as they pulled the bruised, bullet-riddled corpse through a dusty Mogadishu neighborhood. The body was bound hand and foot with wire and wrapped in a sheet of plastic when insurgents pulled it out of a car and left it with the crowd in the northern Mogadishu neighborhood of Suqa Holaha, witnesses reported. Nine Ethiopians are reportedly part of the 19 dead. Another battle broke out on the city's south side Thursday morning between Ethiopian troops and insurgents armed with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The fighting drove hundreds more people from their homes, on top of the tens of thousands aid agencies say have fled in recent weeks. "Ethiopians will launch violent attacks on us, for some of their comrades have been killed today," said Rahma Nor Omar, an elderly woman in the capital. "They will be like wounded animals." Witnesses put the death toll from the day's clashes at 19, including Ethiopian troops, insurgents and civilians. Ethiopian troops arrived in Somalia in December 2006 to help a weak Somali government drive the Islamic Courts Union out of Mogadishu and restore a U.N.-backed transitional government after a decade and a half of near-anarchy. The Islamists responded by launching an insurgency against Somali government and Ethiopian troops that has lasted nearly a year. The United States accused the ICU of harboring suspected al Qaeda figures, including three men wanted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and raised no objections to Ethiopian presence in Somalia. Washington has long been concerned that Somalia could turn into a safe haven for terrorists, but ICU leaders denied harboring al Qaeda suspects. E-mail to a friend . | crowds dragged the body of an Ethiopian soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. witnesses say 19 people were killed in gun battles with Islamic insurgents. the fighting has driven hundreds of thousands from their homes. | Ethiopian soldier dragged after battle with Islamic insurgents killed 19 people .
The body was bound hand and foot with wire and wrapped in a sheet of plastic .
Incident recalls 1993 dragging of U.S. soldier through streets of Mogadishu .
Washington is concerned Somalia could turn into a safe haven for terrorists . | 3c19a753303ae0d67b3ae28e070c0f4157ffc52d |
BOLINGBROOK, Illinois (CNN) -- The disappearance of a suburban Chicago police sergeant's wife is now being treated as a potential homicide, and her husband is a suspect, authorities said Friday. Stacy Peterson, 23, has been missing from her suburban Chicago home since October 28. In another development, a judge signed an order to exhume the body of Drew Peterson's third wife, who was found drowned in a bathtub in 2004, said Will County State Attorney James Glasgow. Peterson, 53, said he last spoke to 23-year-old Stacy Peterson -- his fourth wife -- the night of October 28. Drew Peterson initially told the media he believed his wife ran off with another man, but he hasn't repeated that accusation. CNN has been unable to contact Drew Peterson for comment. The couple have been married four years and have two children, who have been interviewed for the investigation, Glasgow said. Drew Peterson also has older children from a previous marriage. Investigators have twice searched the couple's home and vehicles, and removed several items, including computers, said Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich. Drew Peterson allowed a limited search on the night his wife was reported missing, but investigators were not allowed to look throughout the entire house and were given access to only one of the vehicles at that time, Dobrich said. "Early on, we looked at this as a missing persons case, but also believed strongly ... it was strongly starting to look at Drew Peterson as being a person of interest," Dobrich said. "I would say that right now, Drew Peterson has gone from being a person of interest to being a suspect." New information turned up during the investigation also raised questions about the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, which was ruled an accident by a coroner's jury, Glasgow said. "There are strong indications that it was a homicide," he said. "That's why we are doing the exhumation, because there are tests that need to be done that weren't done during the first autopsy." Watch why authorities want to exhume the body » . Glasgow cited abrasions on Savio's body and a gash on her head that could not be readily explained. "Our main thrust is to determine whether or not it was a homicide, and as we do that, we will see if there is any evidence that implicates anyone," he said. Glasgow, who was not state attorney at the time of Savio's death, said he reviewed the case file before deciding to reopen the case. "With 29 years of experience, there was no doubt in my mind it wasn't an accident," he said. "That was clear." In 2002, Savio was charged once with battery and once with domestic battery against her husband, but was found not guilty at trial, Glasgow said. Another time, she tried to bring domestic battery charges against Peterson, but no charges were ever filed. Savio's sister, Sue Doman, said Savio expressed fear of Drew Peterson. "She told me all the time, 'He's gonna kill me. It's gonna look like an accident,' " Doman said. Doman said she didn't believe her sister could have died in the way the investigation concluded. "I don't understand accidental drowning. You just don't drown in the bathtub, especially a small whirlpool. You just don't do that," she said. Meanwhile, friends and family of Stacy Peterson said she expressed concerns about her husband. A friend, Steve Cesare, has told CNN he received e-mail from her describing her relationship as abusive. The woman's aunt, Candace Aikin, of El Monte, California, said Stacy Peterson confided in her that there were problems during a visit to the Peterson home in suburban Chicago last month. "She said that she was afraid because he was following her around 24/7, even inside the house," Aikin said. "He was very obsessed and stalking her, even inside her house. She was very, very full of stress and just not happy in her marriage at all," Aikin said. E-mail to a friend . | new: judge signs order to exhume body of police sergeant's third wife. new: authorities say there are "strong indications" death was homicide. new: police have interviewed two of the couple's children. police sergeant's wife, 23, has been missing since last month. | NEW: Judge signs order to exhume the body of Drew Peterson's third wife .
Peterson has said he believed his fourth wife left him for another man .
Police: Case shifts from a missing persons search to a potential homicide .
Friends and family: Stacy Peterson expressed concerns about her husband . | 9313988d26672c576f08e130c895edf20d8aa626 |
QUEBEC, Canada -- Third seed Julia Vakulenko will face comeback queen Lindsay Davenport in her first WTA Tour final at the Bell Challenge on Sunday. Julia Vakulenko will seek her first victory on the WTA Tour at the Bell Challenge in Quebec. The Ukrainian battled through with a 6-1 4-6 7-5 victory over American qualifier Julie Ditty in the semifinals. The 24-year-old, who reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, had previously twice lost at the last-four stage this year in Las Vegas and Berlin. She reached a career high of 33rd in the world rankings back in May, but is now 36th. "Sometimes you play your best and win easy, but sometimes you don't play your best and really have to fight hard," said Vakulenko, who squandered points for 5-3 leads in both the second and third sets. "I'm just going to try my best -- I've never played her and I'm looking forward to it." Former world No. 1 Davenport is seeking her second win in three tournaments since returning from a one-year hiatus to have a baby. The 31-year-old, who is unseeded after accepting a wild-card to enter the Canadian tournament for the first time, also had to battle to beat Russian second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 in the semifinals. The three-time Grand Slam winner has surged back up the rankings from 234th to 126th after winning her comeback tournament in Bali and then reaching the last four in Beijing. The American has now beaten Zvonareva in all six encounters between the two players. "I played well in the first set and had some chances early in the second set, but I didn't quite capitalize on them. I was able to come back but at 4-4 and 5-5 I just didn't return well enough," Davenport said. "I was happy I was able to regroup in the third set. Physically I feel good. There are lots of positives I can take from it, especially beating a really good player and now being in the final. "I want to be the one on the offensive and not the defensive, and that's what I'm going to try to do. "I was trying to watch the first semifinal and see if that helped, but I play so much differently than Julie Ditty that it was hard to get anything from it." E-mail to a friend . | third seed Julia vakulenko will face comeback queen Lindsay Davenport in final. vakulenko beat american qualifier Julie Ditty 6-1 4-6 7-5 in semifinals at bell challenge. former world no. 1 Davenport seeking second win in three tournaments since returning. | Julia Vakulenko has reached her first final on the WTA Tour at Bell Challenge .
The Ukrainian third seed will face Lindsay Davenport after beating Julie Ditty .
Former world No. 1 Davenport defeated Russian second seed Vera Zvonareva . | 72f4a6670ec7ec915c83d58bb0ebf152b1605bb6 |
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Hours after declaring a state of emergency Saturday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ordered troops to take a television station's equipment and put a popular opposition leader under house arrest. President Pervez Musharraf explains his actions in a televised address Saturday. Musharraf also suspended the constitution and dismissed the Pakistan Supreme Court's chief justice for the second time. On Sunday, police arrested the Javed Hashmi, the acting president of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's opposition party was arrested, along with 10 aides, The Associated Press reported. Hashimi was arrested when he stepped outside his house in the central city of Multan, AP reported. The country is at a critical and dangerous juncture -- threatened by rising tensions and spreading terrorism, Musharraf said in a televised address to the nation after declaring martial law. As Pakistani police patrolled the streets of the capital, Islamabad, Musharraf said his actions were "for the good of Pakistan." Watch Musharraf's speech » . There was quick condemnation from within and outside his country. The Supreme Court declared the state of emergency illegal, claiming Musharraf -- who also is Pakistan's military chief -- had no power to suspend the constitution, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry said. Shortly afterward, government troops came to Chaudhry's office and told him the president had dismissed him from his job. Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar was quickly appointed to replace him, according to state television. It was the second time Chaudhry was removed from his post. His ousting by Musharraf in March prompted massive protests, and he was later reinstated. See a timeline of upheaval in Pakistan » . Musharraf complained in his speech that the media -- which he made independent -- have not been supportive, but have reported "negative" news. Early Sunday, two dozen policemen raided the offices of AAJ-TV in Islamabad, saying they had orders to take the station's equipment. The government also issued a directive warning the media that any criticism of the president or prime minister would be punishable by three years in jail and a fine of up to $70,000, said Talat Hussain, director of news and current affairs for AAJ. Watch a former Pakistani P.M. call the developments in his country 'disturbing' » . U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- who is in Turkey for a conference with Iraq and neighboring nations -- said The United States doesn't support any extra-constitutional measures taken by Musharraf. "The situation is just unfolding," Rice said. "But anything that takes Pakistan off the democratic path, off the path of civilian rule is a step backward, and it's highly regrettable." A senior Pakistani official said the emergency declaration will be "short-lived," and will be followed by an interim government. Martial law is only a way to restore law and order, he said. Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, agreed. "I can assure you, he will move on the part of democracy that is promised ... and you will see that happen shortly." Musharraf was re-elected president in October, but the election is not yet legally official, because the Supreme Court is hearing constitutional challenges to Musharraf's eligibility filed by the opposition. Under the constitution, Musharraf couldn't run for another term while serving both as president and military leader. The court allowed the election to go ahead, however, saying it would decide the issue later. Some speculated that the declaration of emergency is tied to rumors the court was planning to rule against Musharraf. Musharraf has said repeatedly he will step down as military leader before the next term begins on November 15 and has promised to hold parliamentary elections by January 15. Meanwhile, popular opposition leader Imran Khan said early Sunday that police surrounded his house in Lahore, barged in and told him he was under house arrest. Musharraf also had Khan placed under house arrest during a government crackdown in March 2006. Asked about Musharraf's actions Saturday, Khan said, "We are going to oppose this in every way." "None of us accept ... this whole drama about emergency." Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto -- who arrived in Karachi Saturday from Dubai, where she had gone to visit her family -- described a "wave of disappointment" at Musharraf's actions. Watch crowds surround Bhutto upon her arrival » . Bhutto -- who returned to Pakistan last month after several years in exile -- wants to lift her Pakistan People's Party to victory in January's parliamentary election in the hope she can have a third term as prime minister. The nation's political atmosphere has been tense for months, with Pakistani leaders in August considering a state of emergency because of the growing security threats in the country's lawless tribal regions. But Musharraf, influenced in part by Rice, held off on the move. Watch a report on the volatile situation in Pakistan » . Musharraf, who led the 1999 coup as Pakistan's army chief, has seen his power erode since the failed effort to oust Chaudhry. His administration is also struggling to contain a surge in Islamic militancy. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | new: president Musharraf orders troops to take tv station's equipment, arrests opposition leader. new: u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice says emergency is "highly regrettable" new: president says he's taking "a step backward" from democracy. u.s. says it doesn't support any extra-constitutional measures by president. | NEW: President Musharraf orders troops to take a television station's equipment .
Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan says he's under house arrest .
President Musharraf says his actions are for the good of the country .
White House calls Musharraf's emergency declaration "disappointing" | b73f50e29d5b2943eb315643bef8ee4e09f5605b |
(CNN) -- The chief operating officer of the National Children's Museum was arrested Tuesday and is charged with distributing child pornography over the Internet, authorities said. Robert A. Singer is accused of sending images depicting child pornography to people he believed to be a 12-year-old girl and her 33-year-old mother, according to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia of the Southern District of New York. In reality he was communicating with an undercover detective for the New York Police Department. Some of the pornographic images were sent from Singer's computer at the museum, according to an affidavit filed in support of the charges by a special agent who investigates child pornography and child exploitation for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The Washington museum posted a message on its Web site saying officials there are "horrified" by news of Singer's arrest. They reported that he has been suspended from his post, effective immediately, and is barred from the property. Singer, 49, was arrested at his home in Falls Church, Virginia, by federal agents, according to the prosecutors' statement. Authorities allege he engaged in several instant messaging "chats" and e-mail communications with the undercover detective, posing as the woman and her daughter, from August to September. He is charged with five counts of distributing child pornography in interstate commerce. If convicted on each count, he would face a sentence of up to 140 years in prison -- up to 20 years for the first count and up to 40 years for each additional count, prosecutors said. Singer allegedly initiated contact with the undercover detective, posing as the mother, in an America On Line chat room called "Cuties." The chat room attracts people who "are known to trade in pornographic images, including child pornography," according to an affidavit filed in the case by a special agent who investigates child pornography and child exploitation for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "On five separate occasions in August 2007, Singer sent several images of child pornography over the Internet to the mother and the daughter, including images depicting sexual acts between minors and adults and images depicting known victims of child exploitation," prosecutors said. In his communications with the supposed daughter, Singer pretended to be a 15-year-old boy, authorities said. In August 2007, he sent her two images featuring child pornography, according to the affidavit, with the instruction, "just delete it when you are done." A search of Singer's AOL account activity showed that from July to September, he sent about 80 images featuring child pornography to people including the detective, authorities said in the statement. Also, the search revealed that he had received about 10 images and one video depicting child pornography. Singer was expected to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge later Tuesday. He is identified in the complaint as a spokesman for the National Children's Museum, but a spokeswoman who asked not to be identified said he was promoted to chief operating officer within the past few months. He has been employed by the museum for four years, she said. In a written statement, the museum said it was notified by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE of Singer's arrest. "We are horrified by the charges," the statement said. "This news is deeply upsetting to the National Children's Museum family." "As its essence, the National Children's Museum is about enriching the lives of children," the statement said. "We are educators, child advocates and parents. Anyone who does anything that might endanger the welfare of a child has no place here. Harming children is against everything we stand for as an organization and as individuals." The museum, formerly known as the Capital Children's Museum, has been closed to the public since 2004, and operates from administrative offices, the statement said. A new facility is being built and is scheduled to open in 2012. E-mail to a friend . | new: the museum says it is "horrified" by the charges. the museum's chief operating officer is charged with distributing child pornography. he allegedly communicated with an undercover detective posing as the mother. he is expected to appear before a magistrate judge later Tuesday. | Robert A. Singer is accused of e-mailing child porn to 12-year-old girl .
12-year-old girl was actually undercover New York City detective .
Singer was identified in court document as National Children's Museum spokesman .
Washington museum officials say they are "horrified" by the charges . | f9689fb9656132e1c6d186851563f2b968643791 |
(CNN) -- With his hands and feet shackled and his face obscured by his long hair, Chester Arthur Stiles made his initial court appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday morning on charges stemming from the videotaped rape of a 2-year-old girl. Chester Stiles appears Wednesday in a Las Vegas, Nevada, courtroom. Stiles, 37, was taken into custody Monday night after a Henderson, Nevada, police officer pulled over the white Buick Century he was driving. Prosecutors added a couple more charges before Wednesday's hearing, bringing the total to 23 felony counts, including a charge of lewdness with a minor, sexual assault and the use of a child in the production of pornography, according to a statement issued by the Clark County, Nevada, court. One of the lewdness charges stems from a 2004 incident, while the others are related to the videotape, the court said. Judge Deborah Lippis set November 19 as the date for the preliminary hearing. After the hearing, Stiles' court-appointed attorney said his client was overwhelmed by the public opinion in the case. "I think he's a little out of it," public defender Jeff Banks said. Jerry T. Donohue, the attorney for the girl's mother, told CNN that the child on the videotape was younger than 3 when the abuse occurred. The girl, who is now 7, was found last month after a nationwide search. The girl's mother said on "The Dr. Phil Show" Wednesday that she was "relieved" about Stiles' arrest, although it would have been "better if they found him dead." The woman said she will testify against Stiles if the case goes to court. She told Phil McGraw that her daughter remembers nothing about the videotaped assault and that she recently had a conversation with the girl about inappropriate touching. She said her daughter told her that if someone touched her inappropriately, the girl would scream and tell her mother. But, she told McGraw, "I don't trust anybody now." Although she is in a relationship with a man her daughter calls "Dad," she said, "I don't feel comfortable leaving her with him, nor with anybody else. ... I just cry and blame it on myself." Eight-and-a-half months pregnant, she said the incident has placed a lot of strain on her. Asked if she would rather not have known about the assault, she said, "Yes, I could have lived without knowing it." A former girlfriend of Stiles' said that, before the arrest, she lived in fear after going to police to identify the suspect after seeing enhanced photos from the videotape on the local news. "I've had my share of nightmares," Elaine Thomas told CNN's Nancy Grace. Thomas said she screamed when she recognized the photos on television and had no choice but to contact police about the man she had thought was a "weapons enthusiast" with only a minor criminal record. Watch Thomas say how she felt when she saw the photos » . "How could I not tell them who that man was? That little girl suffered unimaginable things, and I knew for a fact it was him," Thomas said. Another former girlfriend of Stiles', Tina Allen, said this month she thinks she is the reason Stiles came in contact with the girl and is "mortified" by the allegations against him. "He said he'd been in the Navy and, you know, I was looking for a strong guy to represent to my sons what I thought they needed to be," Allen said. Allen said she took Stiles to a crowded apartment where her son and daughter lived. Also living in the apartment were a family friend and her daughter, the alleged assault victim. Todd Allen, Tina Allen's son, said he recognized his old apartment from scenes in the video. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Ed Payne and Ted Rowlands contributed to this report. | new: mother says she will testify against suspect if case goes to court. new: "i just cry and blame it on myself," mother says. Chester Arthur Stiles is accused of raping a 2-year-old girl. police say he was driving a white buick century when he was stopped. | NEW: Accused pedophile Chester Arthur Stiles gets additional charges .
NEW: "I think he's a little out of it," his attorney says .
Suspect's ex-girlfriend: "I've had my share of nightmares"
Stiles, 37, arrested following a routine traffic stop . | 63831b842812b1a3d05b04904a10d160fe7ad2af |
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South African fast bowler Dale Steyn took a career-best five for 34 as the Proteas took a tight grip on the first test against New Zealand in Johannesburg. Steyn's career-best 5-34 was his fourth five-wicket haul in 14 tests. New Zealand were bowled out for 118 in reply to South Africa's 226 and the home side piled on the agony by reaching 179 for two in their second innings. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis shared an unbeaten stand of 159 as South Africa stretched their lead to 287. South Africa's bowlers excelled to bring their side back into the game after their disappointing first innings. They snapped up five wickets in the morning session when the Kiwis could only muster 56 runs. Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming made 40 but the next best score was new cap Ross Taylor's 15. Fleming was struck on the right forearm by Steyn and did not field during the afternoon. Coach John Bracewell said he had gone for precautionary X-rays but there was only bruising. New Zealand, 41 for two overnight, lost nightwatchman Shane Bond, bowled by a Steyn yorker, before Makhaya Ntini claimed the crucial wicket of Fleming, who was well caught by AB de Villiers diving to his left at third slip. Scott Styris and Taylor scraped 19 runs in 10 overs before more wickets tumbled. Steyn's figures bettered his previous best of five for 47 against the same opponents at Centurion two seasons ago. It was his fourth five-wicket haul in 14 tests. Ntini took three for 47 and Kallis two for 11. South Africa made an uncertain start to their second innings with openers Herschelle Gibbs and captain Graeme Smith out cheaply, but Amla and Kallis blunted the attack and then took charge. They batted together for 205 minutes, Amla facing 230 balls and hitting 13 boundaries in his 85 while Kallis hit 12 fours off 122 deliveries in reaching 76. The Kiwis were left to regret Brendon McCullum's failure to hold a chance from Amla off Shane Bond, when the batsman had only scored two. "The ball was hard and new and we were trying to get momentum. It cost us a lot," said coach John Bracewell. E-mail to a friend . | south africa fast bowler Dale Steyn takes career-best five for 34 in first test. the proteas reach 179 for two in their second innings to extend lead to 287. former new zealand captain Stephen Fleming struck on the right forearm by Steyn. | South Africa lead New Zealand by 287 with 8 wickets standing in the 1st test .
The Proteas reach 179-2 in their second innings after the Kiwis are 118 all out .
South African paceman Dale Steyn takes a career-best 5-34. | 05688bac0e46542be65a6df240428a6f26c86fd0 |
(Real Simple) -- Here are five great ways to enjoy your summer. Lazing in a hammock is one of the best ways to spend a summer evening. Best way to cut jeans into shorts -- What better way to declare the start of summer? The key to cutting off jeans is not to go too short too soon. Slip on the jeans and mark the desired length on one leg with chalk. "Take them off, fold the leg at the mark, and iron the fold," says Caroline Calvin, creative director of Levi's. "Then cut just under the crease with fabric scissors. Lay the short jean leg on top of the other side and cut to evenly match." Repeat as needed to get the length you want. Ninety-degree days? Bring 'em on! The best way to catch fireflies -- How? With womanly wiles: "Fireflies blink to attract a mate," explains naturalist Lynn Havsall, director of programs at the George B. Dorr Museum of Natural History, in Bar Harbor, Maine. "Males fly around while females sit in trees, in shrubs, or on the ground. So find a female and watch her blinking pattern. Then imitate the pattern with a pen flashlight and the males will come to you." ]A plus: The bugs move slowly, so they're easy to trap in a jar. Punch some holes in the lid and add a little grass and a piece of fruit for moisture. Admire your pretty night-lights till bedtime, then let them go. The best way to run on the beach -- Who needs a treadmill when you have miles of shoreline? Running on the beach can get you into great shape. Take it from lifeguard Benjamin Guss, 25, of Del Mar, California, who recently qualified to compete in this year's Iron Man triathlon (yes, that means swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and then running a marathon -- consecutively) in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Beware, shoeless Joes. If you choose to run barefoot, keep your workouts brief at first to allow tender soles to build up calluses. "You can get blisters, even burns, from hot, soft sand," says Guss. "I like to run barefoot, but for more than a couple miles, I wear shoes." Know your sand. "In soft sand, one mile is like two," says Guss. You may work foot and leg muscles you don't always use, so start slowly. And hard sand can be as tough on your legs as the road, so wear running sneakers. Pick the right time to run. "My favorite time is in the evening," says Guss. "The wind dies down, and the sand isn't that hot." To work harder, fill small bags with sand to use as hand weights. The best way to get in and out of a hammock -- Everyone looks good lazing in a hammock -- it's getting in and out that's tricky. To make it less so, try these tips from Penny Waugh, a buyer for http://www.hammocks.com/. • Position your backside toward the hammock's center and tilt back until you reach a 45-degree angle, with the hammock parallel to your rear. • Gently sit back into the hammock and let it level out. • Swing your legs up and stretch them out. • Lie back. Loll. Sigh contentedly. For a graceful exit, sit upright and swing your legs off, anchoring your feet on the ground. Then push with your behind, gathering momentum to stand. "It's tricky, since there's nothing to hold on to," says Waugh. "But it's good for the glutes." The best way to tie espadrilles -- Apply this lace-up logic from Meghan Cleary, author of "The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say About You." • Slide your foot fully into the shoe and plant it firmly on the floor. • Cross and tie the laces once behind the ankle, then bring them forward, cross and tie again, and continue up the leg, depending on how long the laces are. The calf is the maximum height -- any higher and you'll look like a gladiator. • Each time you cross and tie, secure the laces slightly tighter than is comfortable, since they will loosen a bit when you walk. Just don't cut off your circulation. • For a streamlined leg, make the final tie in the back. Create a more whimsical look by putting the final tie in front with a small bow. E-mail to a friend . Get a FREE TRIAL issue of Real Simple - CLICK HERE ! Copyright 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved. | the best way to catch fireflies is to imitate their blinking pattern. apply lace-up logic to espadrilles to get them to stay on. if you're a runner, wear shoes for more than a couple miles. | Real Simple tips can add up to great summer .
Best way to catch fireflies starts with easiest to catch .
Tip on how not to look like a gladiator when wearing espadrilles .
There is a graceful way to get in and out of a hammock . | 5ba0d22ccba29ac8a3c77da069165d6016f5a214 |
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- In the sunbathed schoolyard of the Shmisani Institute for Girls in Amman, Jordan, principal Sanaa Abu Harb makes an announcement over the speaker system. Iraqi students at the Shmisani school in Amman gather around a teacher. One in 5 students there is Iraqi. "All Iraqi girls come outside now. All Iraqi girls. Iraqi girls only!" she repeats several times, making sure the message is clear and waving away Jordanian pupils attracted by the commotion. Dozens of girls in green apron-like uniforms pour out into the courtyard and cluster on the top level of a stone staircase overlooking a concrete playground. Harb wants the CNN crew to see how many Iraqi refugee girls her school is accommodating. This school year, she says, 145 students are Iraqi -- roughly 20 percent of the students at this state-funded institution -- with another 40 Iraqi children on a waiting list. Watch Iraqi girls describe a long way from home » . The reason behind the jump in the number of Iraqis at the school is a new government policy: For the first time since the start of the Iraq war, Jordan is allowing all Iraqi children -- regardless of refugee status -- to enroll in state-funded schools. Simply, this means that even illegal refugees with no paperwork can send their kids to school with no questions asked. The move is cementing a massive population shift in the Middle East. More than 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the violence in their homeland, most of them seeking refuge in neighboring Jordan and Syria, according to humanitarian officials. Jordanian Minister of Education Khalid Touqan says he expects Jordan to accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi students this year. That's more than double the number of Iraqi children enrolled in public school two years ago. Harb, on the front line of the phenomenon, says the influx is putting a strain on her school. Even with some U.N. and U.S. aid to Jordan, there's still not enough money. "We need more teachers here, more resources, more buildings, more chairs for all Iraqi students and our students," she says. In a nearby neighborhood, in the study room of the Ahmed Toukan School for Boys, a handful of Iraqi kids talk of their experience living far from home. Seated at a rectangular table covered with a red and white tablecloth, the boys tell stories of horror and displacement. Eighteen-year-old Qutaiba lost five immediate family members before moving to Jordan to try to live a normal life. Matter-of-factly and with a straight-ahead stare, he repeats the number: "Five members." Most of the boys and young men from Iraq have missed several years of school -- up to a four-year educational gap that will delay not only their high school graduation, but also their entry into the workforce. All say, though, that they feel lucky to have gotten out, even if the violence in their country means always having to be on the move, ready to live far from home and away from loved ones. "It's not strange for me to be in the middle of people I don't know," says eleventh grader Ziad Tarek Al Shamsi. "I had friends in Iraq when I was small, I left them. In America, I left them. I came here, I left them." He pauses: "But you have to miss your country." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates up to 250,000 school-age Iraqi children are in Jordan. Many of them are enrolled in private institutions. But as families run out of money they had when they left Iraq, they turn to public schools. Even so, more than a month into the new academic year, fewer Iraqi families than first anticipated enrolled their kids in schools this year. According to the charity Save the Children, 21,000 Iraqi children have so far enrolled in Jordanian classrooms. As a result, the government extended the deadline for student applications and cut down on the required paperwork for Iraqi families. The lower registration numbers were attributed in part to illegal refugees' fears of being identified through their children's school records. Regardless of what the final number will be this year, the population shift in the Middle East is, according to UNHCR head Antonio Guterres, the largest urban refugee situation in the world. Iraqi families are changing the social fabric of Jordanian society. About 10 percent of Jordan's population is now made up of Iraqi refugees -- the estimates range from 500,000 to 750,000 of them. The schoolchildren are living examples of how the Iraq war may permanently change the Middle East. "Iraqi children will be incorporated and integrated within our mainstream line of education," says Touqan, the education minister. "We will not run a parallel system of education." E-mail to a friend . | Jordan is allowing all Iraqi children, regardless of refugee status, to attend school. government: 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi students this year. u.n.: up to 250,000 school-age Iraqi children in Jordan; many in private institutions. many of the children have missed several years of school. | Jordan opens school doors to all Iraqi children, regardless of refugee status .
Principal says her school is 20 percent Iraqi this year .
Education minister: Iraqi kids will be incorporated into "mainstream" life .
One student says he lost five family members in Iraq . | 9f63d6256158d260c426a9336d19b760d9bc5a48 |
(CNN) -- After weeks of controversy over Michael Mukasey's views on waterboarding, the Senate late Thursday approved the former judge's nomination for attorney general by a 53-40 vote. Waterboarding threatened to derail the approval of President Bush's nominee to lead the Justice Department. President Bush nominated Mukasey to replace longtime ally Alberto Gonzales, who resigned in September. The nomination had been considered at risk after a number of Democratic senators opposed Mukasey because of questions that arose from his views on the terror interrogation technique known as waterboarding and the president's power to order electronic surveillance. Mukasey, a former federal judge in New York, told senators he considers waterboarding "repugnant," but he could not categorically say whether the technique amounts to torture, which U.S. and international law bans. Waterboarding is a technique that involves restraining a suspect and pouring water on him to produce the sensation of drowning. Mukasey's confirmation was all but assured last week when two key Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee -- Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Chuck Schumer of New York -- said they would vote in favor of Mukasey despite the controversy. "The Department of Justice, once the crown jewel among government institutions, is adrift and rudderless," Schumer said Tuesday -- the same day the committee voted 11-8 to send Mukasey's nomination to the Senate floor. "It desperately needs a strong and independent leader at the helm to set it back on course and I believe Judge Mukasey is that person." Schumer said that in a meeting Friday the nominee said that Congress would be within its rights to pass a law that bans waterboarding across all government agencies and that the president "would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore" it. Schumer said he believed Mukasey would be more likely to find waterboarding illegal than an interim attorney general. "Indeed, his written answers to our notices have demonstrated more openness to ending the practices we abhor than either of this president's previous attorney general nominees have." But Mukasey's pledge to enforce such a law rang hollow with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, the Judiciary Committee's chairman. "Some have sought to find comfort in Judge Mukasey's personal assurance that he would enforce a future, new law against waterboarding if this Congress were to pass one," Leahy said Tuesday. "Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of this president." However, the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said he believed Mukasey would enforce a law banning waterboarding. "He could have said a lot of things which would have given me more assurances," Specter said earlier. "But he is intelligent; he's really learned in the law. He's strong, ethical, honest beyond any question. He's not an intimate of the president." A majority of Americans consider waterboarding a form of torture, but some of those say it's OK for the U.S. government to use the technique, according to a poll released Tuesday. Asked whether they think waterboarding is a form of torture, more than two-thirds of respondents, or 69 percent, said yes; 29 percent said no. Asked whether they think the U.S. government should be allowed to use the procedure to try to get information from suspected terrorists, 58 percent said no; 40 percent said yes. The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. telephone poll of 1,024 American adults was carried out over the weekend and had a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. E-mail to a friend . | new: mukasey's nomination for attorney general approved by 53-40 vote. new: he could not say whether waterboarding amounts to torture, which is banned. new: he says he would enforce law banning waterboarding. poll: most americans consider waterboarding a form of torture. | President Bush nominated Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales .
Mukasey is a former federal chief judge in New York .
Some Democratic senators opposed nominee due to views on waterboarding .
Human rights groups consider waterboarding a form of torture . | fb6516de631cade629b797e8f40f377523c4aa0e |
ORME, Tennessee (CNN) -- The drought in the Southeastern United States means more than just brown lawns to the folks in Orme, Tennessee. Water flows from their taps for just three hours each evening. A 1961 firetruck loads up with water from a hydrant in Alabama to haul back to Orme, Tennessee. The mountain spring that supplies water to the town usually dries up at the end of summer, but just for a few days. This year it dried up early, on August 1, and hasn't revived, leaving the town's 145 residents high and dry and relying on water trucked in from the next state. Every day at 6 p.m., Orme Mayor Tony Reames turns a big valve to release water from the town's tank. When he turns the crank again at 9 p.m., taps in the town run dry. "When they cut it back on we jump for joy," Orme resident Debbie Cash said. "And then you only have it for three hours." Three hours to do all the laundry, bathing, dishwashing and animal watering that has to be done. Watch how Cash copes » . The old mining town could be the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the region. Just 150 miles to the southeast, the 4.5 million people who live in and around Atlanta, Georgia, are nervously watching water levels go down at their major reservoir. The drought has highlighted an ongoing struggle between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over rights to water from the Chattahoochee River. "All of these people that are on the river systems better take note, because once your streams and tributaries to the river start drying up, the river isn't far behind," Reames said. See photos of a Atlanta's shrinking Lake Lanier reservoir » . Volunteers take turns three days a week driving a tanker truck or Orme's diesel-belching 1961 fire truck to a hydrant near Bridgeport, Alabama, 2½ miles down the road. Making several round trips, they haul about 25,000 gallons of water back to Orme each day. Bridgeport, which gets its water from the Tennessee River, doesn't charge its neighbor. Stevenson and New Hope, Alabama, also help out, occasionally bringing trucks full of water to the hydrant, where it's transferred to the Orme trucks. See where Orme has to go for water » . But things are looking up in Orme. A pipeline from Bridgeport is nearly complete, built with the help of a $378,000 grant from the federal government. "With this new water coming in, then we'll have it made," Cash said. "Now we won't have to worry about it no more." In addition, an Austin, Texas, company called H2O Guard is planning to donate water-saving sink aerators, shower heads and toilet valves to everyone in Orme on November 17, company spokesman Robert Easter said. "We think we're going to get another 90 gallons' savings per day per household," Easter said. "That'll make that little water tower in that town go from three hours to four hours without any change in anyone's habits." Reames said residents have found creative ways to conserve, flushing toilets with condensation water from air conditioners and undrinkable water from swimming pools that were filled early in the summer. It's a lesson for everyone. "Cherish the water you got and be kind of careful with it," Cash said, "because you never know if you will be out of water." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Jim Kavanagh contributed to this report. | orme, tennessee, gets water from a spring that hasn't dried up. volunteers haul 25,000 gallons of water back to town each day. town could be the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the region. | Orme, Tennessee, has running water from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Town's spring ran dry in midst of Southeast drought .
Donated water is trucked in from Alabama .
Completion of pipeline will solve problem for good . | 0a71f063b78184b4ca2ffee3c642d48dc27ef91b |
(CNN) -- China has suspended exports of the Aqua Dots toys contaminated with a chemical that can convert to a powerful "date rape" drug, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday. The toys have caused some children who swallowed the craft toys to vomit and lose consciousness. China suspended exports of the Aqua Dots toys that contain a chemical that converts into a "date rape" drug. The agency said that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has ordered an investigation by quality control agencies and will release results as soon as they are available. The AQSIQ did not reveal the name of the toys' producer, Xinhua said. U.S. safety officials voluntarily recalled about 4.2 million of the Chinese-made toys Wednesday. Scientists have found the highly popular holiday toy contains a chemical that, once metabolized, converts into the toxic "date rape" drug GHB (gamma-hydroxy butyrate), Scott Wolfson, a spokesman with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), told CNN. "Children who swallow the beads can become comatose, develop respiratory depression or have seizures," a CPSC statement warned. The arts-and-craft beads, which have been selling since April at major U.S. retail stores under the name "Aqua Dots," have also been distributed in Australia under the name "Bindeez Beads." The Bindeez toys were recalled Tuesday by Melbourne-based Moose Enterprise Pty. Ltd. after three children in Australia swallowed large quantities of the beads and were hospitalized. "I was so frightened because I thought she wasn't going to make it," Heather Lehane told CNN affiliate Network 7 of her 10-year-old daughter, Charlotte, who was hospitalized in Australia after ingesting some of the beads. In the United States, the Washington-based safety commission said it has in recent days received two reports detailing the severe effects of the digested beads, which are part of a craft kit aimed at kids 4 years and older. The CPSC said a boy nearly 2 years old "swallowed several dozen beads. He became dizzy and vomited several times before slipping into a comatose state for a period of time." The commission said the toddler was hospitalized and has since "fully recovered." The second incident involved a child who vomited, fell into a coma and was hospitalized for five days. It was not immediately clear whether the child had made a full recovery. Toronto-based toy distributor Spin Master Ltd. stopped shipping the Aqua Dots toys and asked retailers to pull them off their shelves, where they were previously sold for $17 to $30. Anyone with Aqua Dots at home should return the product to the company, CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said. The toy had been named toy of the year in Australia and recently crested Wal-Mart's list of top 12 Christmas toys. Wal-Mart on Thursday listed the toys on its Web site as "out of stock online" and had removed them from their top toy list as well. This latest recall is part of a larger batch of recalls of Chinese-made toys that have swept across the country. Last month alone, U.S. government safety officials and retailers voluntarily recalled at least 69,000 Chinese-made toys over concerns of excessive amounts of lead paint, which can cause hazardous lead poisoning. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Janine Brady, Jason Carroll, Laura Dolan, Julie O'Neill and Leslie Wiggins contributed to this report. | state-run news agency: china suspends exports of the aqua dots toys. toys contain chemical that converts to a powerful "date rape" drug. children who swallow the beads can become comatose, CPSC says. | State-run news agency: China orders an investigation by quality control agencies .
Children who swallow the beads can become comatose or have seizures .
Toys are sold as Aqua Dots in the U.S., as Bindeez Beads in Australia .
Three children were hospitalized in Australia after swallowing large quantities . | 700e0d133d2f5c2e65960aae7bffa66bb62c0df4 |
(CNN) -- Tens of thousands of Congolese refugees fled camps Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo as rebel troops attacked government forces in the area, the U.N. refugee agency said. Refugees move along a road Tuesday in Mugunga, near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A press release from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it didn't appear rebels had targeted the camps, but it reported some were looted after camp residents, classified as internally displaced persons, fled. Roads to Goma, about 10 miles from the camps, were crowded with refugees and local residents fleeing the fighting, the UNHCR reported. Torrential rain made the movement even more difficult. "The main road toward Sake was crowded with people; we had difficulties getting through," UNHCR field safety adviser Pierre Nazroo was quoted as saying in the agency's release. "Internally displaced people are moving from site to site, direction Goma." UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said, "They have been living in extremely difficult conditions anyway. Now they have nothing but what they can carry." Redmond added, "These are people in poor health; they are soaking wet because of the torrential downpours. They need shelter, they need water, they need a lot of assistance so we're going to have to move quickly to get that help to them because a lot of them are already in a weakened state." While the Congolese government accused troops under rebel general Laurent Nkunda of staging the attack, a Nkunda spokesman denied the allegation, according to a report from the Integrated Regional Information Networks, a U.N.-affiliated news service. The spokesman, Bwambale Kakolele, said Rwandan Hutu rebels who also operate in the area were behind the attack, that report said. A spokesman for the U.N. military mission in the Congo said it was uncertain which group attacked the Congo army outpost near the village of Kishangazi, according to the U.N.-affiliated news service. "We think it could have been insurgents close to Nkunda who attacked, but we cannot rule out the [Rwandan rebels]," spokesman Col. Pierre Cherayron was quoted as saying. The UNHCR identified the affected camps as Mugunga I, Mugunga II, Lac Vert and Bulengo, saying about 28,000 had abandoned the first three camps and about 2,000 had left Bulengo. The UNHCR said 375,000 Congolese in North Kivu province have been forced from their homes in the past year. In the past two months alone, 160,000 have fled their homes amid the fighting between renegade troops and government forces, the agency said. North Kivu is in eastern Congo near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda. Congolese President Joseph Kabila has tried to gain a cease-fire with the rebels in the area under Nkunda, but fighting continues as hard-liners among the rebels and in the government have blocked reconciliation efforts, according to the International Crisis Group, an nongovernmental organization looking for solutions to conflicts. E-mail to a friend . | refugees flee camps in drc as rebel troops attack government forces. roads to goma crowded with refugees, local residents fleeing fighting. rebels accused by government of staging attack; rebel spokesman denies allegation. 375,000 Congolese forced from homes in past year, agency says. | NEW: Congo rebels blame Rwandan Hutus for attack, report says .
Internally displaced Congolese flee as rebels attack government troops .
Torrential rain makes refugee movement difficult .
U.N. refugee agency: Some 375,000 have been forced from homes in past year . | 180642a2ddfce93ceaf3ee3ec4779400fe67ae1e |
(LiveWire) -- Voluble Gary Vaynerchuk, 31, the host of "Wine Library TV," an online video show, has been known to lick rocks, suck leather and eat dirt while on camera, all to illustrate the unique properties of wine. "Wine Library TV" host Gary Vaynerchuk discusses four spooky wine varieties for Halloween show. Of a "wild and gamey" red from Rioja, Spain, Vaynerchuk says, "Hit a deer on the road. Throw a bunch of cherries on it. Take out your knife, cut the deer. Bite it. That's the flavor profile." That kind of attitude appeals to people who are mystified by the arcane lexicon of traditional wine journals or turned off by what they perceive as elitist barriers. Across the Internet, budding wine geeks are discovering a burgeoning number of Web sites, blogs, bulletin boards and other outlets that preach the gospel of the grape in terms they can understand. About 40,000 Internet viewers -- many of them 20-somethings -- have a daily appointment with "Wine Library TV." The low-budget video blog is produced five days a week from a nondescript office in the three-level wine retail operation that Vaynerchuk's family owns in Springfield, New Jersey. Vaynerchuk has a discerning nose and palate, and he doesn't dumb down his subject. Yet he stuffs his patter with sports and pop-culture references -- and the kind of language a Wine Spectator critic would be unlikely to employ. The mission of wine sites like "Wine Library TV," say several of the people behind these new outlets, is to demystify wine (and in some cases, sell it, too). Using the language, attitude and new media that appeal to a young, tech-savvy generation, they advocate trusting one's own palate rather than obeying powerful wine critics. Some of the sites also provide opportunities for average wine drinkers to share their opinions. One site, SavorEachGlass.com, declares its dedication to "exploring the spirit of wine for a new generation," with reviews, online journals and essays that explain the finer points of winemaking -- all with attitude. "The (wine) establishment is about ratings and 'reputation,'" says the site's founder, Tynan Szvetecz, 29. "It's about collecting the 'good' stuff as defined by someone else's palate and tastes. That bores a younger generation." "We're not afraid to be smartasses," he continues. "We make fun of ourselves, old-world wine makers, new-world wine makers, and anyone else we can get our hands on." In the U.S., interest in wine is exploding. While consumption has leveled out in traditional wine-producing countries such as France, Italy and Spain, especially among young people, it has trended upwards in the U.S. for 15 straight years. The U.S. is projected to overtake No. 2 Italy by the end of 2007, according to the annual report The U.S. Wine Market: Impact Databank Review and Forecast a leading industry trade publication. Many of the new converts to wine are the so-called Millennials, the under-30 age group coveted by beverage marketers and so comfortable online that they're also called iGen, or the Internet Generation. One of the wine Web sites targeting a younger demographic is VineSugar.com, which features a blog called "Wine Burps." "We love wine but hate the elitism," writes founder, Ryan O'Donnell. "After all, it's just grape juice." With rants about wine tasting fees, a feature spotlighting "wine hotties" working at California wineries, as well as interactive maps that plot and rate wineries, VineSugar.com leaves little doubt about its target audience. CellarTracker.com, an online wine community, appeals to more established wine collectors. The site provides free software -- designed by Eric LeVine, a fortuitously named former Microsoft software developer -- that allows wine enthusiasts to create an online inventory of their wines. The 39,000 users (who count 6 million bottles in their virtual cellars) post reviews of their wines and access scores and other data via PDAs and cell phones. Community tasting notes shed light on how cellar-worthy wines are evolving, helping others decide when to crack open a treasured bottle. Corkd.com, another online community of wine fans, already had 40,000 users when Vaynerchuk purchased the site last year. The free service allows users to catalog and review wines. Instead of having "friends" as on Facebook, members identify "drinking buddies" and check out what they're drinking. In the growing presence of wine fans on the Internet -- newbies as well as connoisseurs -- Vaynerchuk sees a movement. "They're part of forums, they meet up (offline)," he says. "It's about bringing people together. It's all that's right about wine." Vaynerchuk should know. The 300-plus shows he has taped in the past two years have developed a cult following of online fans, who call themselves "Vayniacs," share wine tips and obsess about their hero on the site's forum. On a recent rainy afternoon, Vaynerchuk barreled, unrehearsed and unscripted, through a 20-minute show in a single take. He wrapped up Wine Library TV episode No. 337 with what has become his signature line. "You, with a little bit of me, we're changing the wine world, aren't we?" E-mail to a friend . LifeWire provides original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers. Neil Edward Schlecht is a freelance writer based in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the author of more than a dozen travel guides. | wine Web sites aim to demystify wine and sell it. one site makes fun of wineries, "old-world" winemakers. another lets wine enthusiasts create online inventory of their wines. wine geeks say they're not afraid to be smartasses. | "Wine Library TV" Internet show has about 40,000 regular viewers .
Show takes irreverent look at wine business .
Wine consumption has risen in United States for last 15 years . | 3e868fbad714ceab14a41fa9dd5d8a40204f2199 |
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- In the sunbathed schoolyard of the Shmisani Institute for Girls in Amman, Jordan, principal Sanaa Abu Harb makes an announcement over the speaker system. Iraqi students at the Shmisani school in Amman gather around a teacher. One in 5 students there is Iraqi. "All Iraqi girls come outside now. All Iraqi girls. Iraqi girls only!" she repeats several times, making sure the message is clear and waving away Jordanian pupils attracted by the commotion. Dozens of girls in green apron-like uniforms pour out into the courtyard and cluster on the top level of a stone staircase overlooking a concrete playground. Harb wants the CNN crew to see how many Iraqi refugee girls her school is accommodating. This school year, she says, 145 students are Iraqi -- roughly 20 percent of the students at this state-funded institution -- with another 40 Iraqi children on a waiting list. Watch Iraqi girls describe a long way from home » . The reason behind the jump in the number of Iraqis at the school is a new government policy: For the first time since the start of the Iraq war, Jordan is allowing all Iraqi children -- regardless of refugee status -- to enroll in state-funded schools. Simply, this means that even illegal refugees with no paperwork can send their kids to school with no questions asked. The move is cementing a massive population shift in the Middle East. More than 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the violence in their homeland, most of them seeking refuge in neighboring Jordan and Syria, according to humanitarian officials. Jordanian Minister of Education Khalid Touqan says he expects Jordan to accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi students this year. That's more than double the number of Iraqi children enrolled in public school two years ago. Harb, on the front line of the phenomenon, says the influx is putting a strain on her school. Even with some U.N. and U.S. aid to Jordan, there's still not enough money. "We need more teachers here, more resources, more buildings, more chairs for all Iraqi students and our students," she says. In a nearby neighborhood, in the study room of the Ahmed Toukan School for Boys, a handful of Iraqi kids talk of their experience living far from home. Seated at a rectangular table covered with a red and white tablecloth, the boys tell stories of horror and displacement. Eighteen-year-old Qutaiba lost five immediate family members before moving to Jordan to try to live a normal life. Matter-of-factly and with a straight-ahead stare, he repeats the number: "Five members." Most of the boys and young men from Iraq have missed several years of school -- up to a four-year educational gap that will delay not only their high school graduation, but also their entry into the workforce. All say, though, that they feel lucky to have gotten out, even if the violence in their country means always having to be on the move, ready to live far from home and away from loved ones. "It's not strange for me to be in the middle of people I don't know," says eleventh grader Ziad Tarek Al Shamsi. "I had friends in Iraq when I was small, I left them. In America, I left them. I came here, I left them." He pauses: "But you have to miss your country." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates up to 250,000 school-age Iraqi children are in Jordan. Many of them are enrolled in private institutions. But as families run out of money they had when they left Iraq, they turn to public schools. Even so, more than a month into the new academic year, fewer Iraqi families than first anticipated enrolled their kids in schools this year. According to the charity Save the Children, 21,000 Iraqi children have so far enrolled in Jordanian classrooms. As a result, the government extended the deadline for student applications and cut down on the required paperwork for Iraqi families. The lower registration numbers were attributed in part to illegal refugees' fears of being identified through their children's school records. Regardless of what the final number will be this year, the population shift in the Middle East is, according to UNHCR head Antonio Guterres, the largest urban refugee situation in the world. Iraqi families are changing the social fabric of Jordanian society. About 10 percent of Jordan's population is now made up of Iraqi refugees -- the estimates range from 500,000 to 750,000 of them. The schoolchildren are living examples of how the Iraq war may permanently change the Middle East. "Iraqi children will be incorporated and integrated within our mainstream line of education," says Touqan, the education minister. "We will not run a parallel system of education." E-mail to a friend . | Jordan is allowing all Iraqi children, regardless of refugee status, to attend school. government: 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqi students this year. u.n.: up to 250,000 school-age Iraqi children in Jordan; many in private institutions. many of the children have missed several years of school. | Jordan opens school doors to all Iraqi children, regardless of refugee status .
Principal says her school is 20 percent Iraqi this year .
Education minister: Iraqi kids will be incorporated into "mainstream" life .
One student says he lost five family members in Iraq . | 8b0a818edcbbefb79dd40a19b08119f6848083db |
PATUAKHALI, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Survivors of a storm that killed more than 3,000 people in the impoverished nation of Bangladesh grieved and buried their loved ones Monday as they waited for aid to arrive. Villagers grieve in Patargata, around 125 miles south of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, Monday. The number of dead killed from Cyclone Sidr -- now at 3,114 -- is expected to rise yet further as the South Asian nation continues to assess the damage. The Bangladesh Red Crescent fears the death toll could be 5,000 -- perhaps even reaching as high as 10,000. In the fishing village of Galachipa, in Patuakhali district, Dhalan Mridha was grieving for family members who died in the cyclone after ignoring an alert issued by authorities. "Nothing is going to happen. That was our first thought and we went to bed. Just before midnight the winds came like hundreds of demons. Our small hut was swept away like a piece of paper, and we all ran for shelter," Mridha, a 45-year-old farm worker, told The Associated Press. On the way to a shelter, Mridha lost contact with his wife, mother and two children. The next morning he found their bodies. The Category 4 cyclone raked Bangladesh's southwest coast on Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 241 km/h (150 mph), destroying fishermen's hamlets and villages. Thousands are still missing, while an estimated 280,000 others are unable to return to their homes which were wiped out by the storm. Many grieving families are now burying loved ones in single graves as no male members are available to dig them. Most houses in the region are made of flimsy materials such as bamboo and corrugated iron, and had no chance of withstanding the storm's powerful winds. In addition, the storm-struck area is criss-crossed by a huge river delta which surged as Sidr pushed through, wiping out many villages and littering the river's shores with debris. Watch as people are left to fend for themselves » . Low-lying Bangladesh is already prone to flooding which has wiped out the country's rice production -- a major food staple for the impoverished country. Improved warning systems and shelters have kept the number of deaths far lower than the disastrous cyclones in the region of 1970 and 1991, when the tolls were in the hundreds of thousands. Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed visited the devastated region Sunday, handing out some aid to the crowds of people before members of the international media. It was seen largely a token effort as hundreds were left empty-handed and furious. Security officials struggled to hold back the crowd. See dramatic photos of storm survivors » . Sidr has already ruined Bangladesh's rice harvest, but the international community is rallying to make sure the country does not suffer as acutely as it has in the past. Nearly a million people died after massive floods wiped out the country's rice production in 1974. International aid organizations promised initial packages of $25 million during a meeting with Bangladesh agencies Monday, the U.N.'s World Food Program said. The United States has offered more than $2 million as an initial contribution for emergency relief, and sent two U.S. Navy carriers to help in recovery operations. In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is airlifting in relief supplies and an 18-person Department of Defense medical team is in Bangladesh helping the estimated 15,000 injured by the storm. Bangladesh's government held an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday to assess the disaster and discuss recovery issues, Bangladeshi government spokesman Fahim Munaim told CNN. Officials fear the scope of the destruction may be much more extensive since there are remote areas where conditions cannot yet be determined. Munaim said nearly a third of Bangladesh's 64 districts were affected by the cyclone, most of those along the southern coast. The Bangladeshi military is working to provide shelter for the many people who have been displaced. International aid groups -- including Save the Children, World Vision, and the Red Crescent, which already have offices in Bangladesh -- are deploying resources to the cyclone-stricken region but -- like the government -- they have found it nearly impossible to reach the more remote areas to assess conditions. Roads to remote areas are either blocked by massive trees fallen by the storm, or so severely damaged that it is impossible for vehicles to use. Clearing could take weeks in the remote areas because it must be done by hand -- there are no chainsaws and modern machinery to speed up the process. Along the broken road that leads into Kolapara, the body of an 8-year-old girl called Rummie was carefully carried away for burial. Overwhelmed with sadness, her mother Khadija was steadied by a relative. "I am feeling too much pain in my heart," she said. "I have lost my daughter, so I am a victim of the cyclone as well." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Dan Rivers contributed to this report. | new: death toll from cyclone sidr expected to rise further. new: many families bury loved ones in single graves as no male members available. cyclone wreaks havoc on rice harvest, destroying villages, towns. u.n. says $25 million in aid, 18-person ddo medical team in country. | Survivors of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh waiting for aid to arrive .
Red Crescent Society official says deaths could rise to 5,000-10,000 .
Bangladeshi president distributes aid; angry survivors go empty-handed .
Thousands remain missing; estimated 280,000 homeless . | ceb7a288ac1ad604a17bc25c5978fcc87b1a4446 |
GLASGOW, Scotland -- World champions Italy clinched qualification for Euro 2008 after goals in the first and last minutes gave them a pulsating 2-1 victory at Hampden Park -- killing off Scotland's hopes of reaching the finals. Luca Toni celebrates his early goal as Italy won 2-1 in Scotland to clinch qualification from Group B. Luca Toni shot Italy in front but Scotland recovered to dominate and Barry Ferguson bundled home a 65th-minute leveller. However, Christian Panucci headed an injury-time winner after a controversial decision to award Italy a free-kick. The result also means France have sealed qualification, along with Italy, from Group B without playing a game. In a match played in torrential rain, Italy enjoyed the best possible start by taking the lead after just 70 seconds. Gianluca Zambrotta spotted Antonio Di Natale unmarked in the box, and picked him out with a throw-in as Scotland were caught napping. Di Natale swept the ball into the path of Toni who delicately flicked into the top left corner from six meters out. The home side almost conceded a second goal 60 seconds later. This time, Toni turned provider and his cut-back was met by Mauro Camoranesi who fired over from close-range. Toni then shrugged off two challenges before drawing a decent save from Craig Gordon with a well-struck effort that the goalkeeper did well to block at the near post. At the other end, Scotland were denied the opportunity to haul themselves back into the match when a thunderous drive from Lee McCulloch appeared to be handled by Zambrotta inside the area but penalty claims were ignored. Spurred on by a sense of injustice, the hosts cranked up the pressure on their visitors. Ferguson fired over from a James McFadden corner, before Alan Hutton nodded agonisingly wide of the upright following another perfect delivery from the Everton man. Scotland then produced some wonderful passing football, which culminated in a tight-angled drive from Ferguson, but Gianluigi Buffon dived low to smother. Then came another scare for the home side. Gordon was forced to pull a save out of the top drawer to deny a point-blank effort from Massimo Ambrosini, before Di Natale rifled the rebound into the back of the net. The assistant referee raised his flag for offside but television replays suggested the official may have called it wrong. Only last-gasp defending from the Italians prevented the Scots from grabbing a morale-boosting leveller on the stroke of half-time. David Weir rose above everyone else in a packed box to meet Ferguson's corner and his header appeared to be heading for the top corner before Andrea Pirlo somehow managed to nod off the line. A free-kick in a dangerous area provided Italy with the chance to start the second half as emphatically as they had started the first when Paul Hartley hauled down Camoranesi just outside the box. Pirlo seized on the chance and looped the ball over the wall but, despite a reputation as a dead-ball specialist, his effort was easily dealt with by Gordon. Instead, it was Scotland who found the back of the net as Hampden erupted with 65 minutes gone. McFadden's free-kick deflected into the path of McCulloch in front of goal. He was denied by Buffon, but the rebound fell kindly to Ferguson and the captain gratefully rifled home from close-range. With just over 15 minutes to go, Scott Brown was withdrawn for Kenny Miller as Scotland went for broke. The Derby striker quickly began to cause the Italians problems and delivered a wonderful diagonal cross to the feet of McFadden but he fired wide when it looked easier score. Scotland's impossible dream ended in the cruellest possible way when Italy snatched a last minute goal to secure their own qualification for Euro 2008. Hutton appeared to be barged over in front of the corner flag but the referee inexplicably awarded the free-kick the other way and Panucci rose to meet Pirlo's cross and nod home the winner. Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said: "We knew it was going to be a physical match given the atmosphere. "But through their character and desire, the lads were fantastic. They worked so hard, they deserve this. Qualifying for Euro 2008 is amazing. It's something positive after all that happened last week (the death of the Lazio fan)." Captain Fabio Cannavaro: "This was a victory won with the heart. It was difficult to play in this stadium, with that atmosphere it was like a cauldron. "We played really well and managed to win. We showed once again that we are a strong and compact team and when we need to win we do everything to show that we are the world champions. "In Italy we play a high level of football, we've won the Champions League and the World Cup but unfortunately at this moment we are being noticed for something else." E-mail to a friend . | Luca Toni puts it 1-0 up before Barry Ferguson levels for italy. Mauro Camoranesi fires over from close range after a sloppy tackle. Christian panucci heads home an injury-time winner after a controversial free-kick. | Italy win 2-1 in Scotland to secure their qualification for the Euro 2008 finals .
The result means Scotland cannot qualify and will now finish third in Group B .
France will also be reaching the Euro 2008 finals after the result in Glasgow . | a228e744966fe03eca515b971329acacf9feabb2 |
(CNN) -- Authorities in Azerbaijan recently uncovered a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Baku, prompting the facility to close its doors to the public Monday, Azerbaijan and U.S. officials told CNN. The Bibi Heybat Mosque, just outside the capital Baku. As a precaution, Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday "following security concerns nearby," Britain's Foreign Office said. The terror plot was unraveled after a weekend raid outside Baku that netted several suspected members of the radical group, two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified and a spokesman for Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry told CNN. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack stressed that the details "are still unfolding," and the threat "may or may not be" linked to the Saturday raid. "There were some specific and credible threat information concerning the embassy and plans by militants to in some way do harm to individuals in and around the U.S. Embassy there," McCormack said, noting that no specific individuals were targeted. Several days ago, an Azerbaijani army officer who had connections to a radical Islamic group seized four assault rifles, a machine gun and 20 hand grenades from his military unit and hid them in the outskirts of Baku, the ministry spokesman and U.S. officials said. Government security forces tracked down the group and arrested several members during a sweep on Saturday in the village of Mastaga, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Baku, the spokesman said. One suspected member of the militant group resisted arrest and was killed in the sweep, the spokesman said. Several others are still at large, he added. He said the terror plot also targeted Azerbaijani government buildings. The U.S. Embassy in Baku issued a warden message warning Americans in Azerbaijan to take precautions. "While there is no information at this time that other American or Western interests in Azerbaijan are being targeted, the U.S. Embassy encourages Americans to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to bolster their own personal security," it said. Azerbaijan is a former Soviet republic that borders the Caspian Sea, and lies just north of Iran. McCormack said U.S. authorities are working closely with their counterparts in Baku and will determine when normal embassy operations will resume. He said he expects the embassy to limit its operations on Tuesday, as well. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Igor Malakhov in Moscow, Zain Verjee in Washington and Roger Clark in London contributed to this report . | authorities uncover a radical Islamic terror plot against the u.s. embassy in Baku. the embassy closes its doors to the public on Monday. Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday. | Authorities uncover a radical Islamic terror plot against the U.S. embassy in Baku .
The United States has reduced its embassy's operations .
Britain also shut its embassy in Baku to the public on Monday . | c44238ec87e7fc40ab7fe6e724cfcbf301e01216 |
PARIS, France -- World number three Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Paris Masters after being trounced in his opening match by veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro on Wednesday. Fabrice Santoro returns the ball during his shock second-round victory against Novak Djokovic. The 34-year-old Santoro, who beat world No. 5 Andy Roddick at the Lyon Grand Prix last week, again rose to the occasion in front of his home fans as he stormed to a 6-3 6-2 second-round victory against the Serb. It was the first time the two players had met, with Djokovic making his first outing since losing to David Nalbandian in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters two weeks ago. Djokovic, like the American Roddick, has already qualified for the season-ending Masters Cup and will now have extra time to prepare for the event in Shanghai starting next month. The 20-year-old said he was struggling following dental surgery to remove two wisdom teeth. "I couldn't give my 100 percent, not even 30 percent of my possibilities," Djokobvic said. "He deserved to win. I'm still on medications. I didn't practise for a whole week, I only started practising two days ago. Physically, I'm not feeling at all good." The result is a boost for rising British star Andy Murray, who earlier kept alive his hopes of an unexpected place at the Masters Cup by winning his first match in Paris and was expected to face Djokovic. The 20-year-old, who has missed three months this season due to a wrist injury, beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to progress into the third round. The 15th seed is seeking to overtake Tommy Haas, who holds the eighth and final place ahead of the showpiece event in Shanghai. Murray, who trails the German by just three points, has not beaten Djokovic in three meetings so far but he has never played his unseeded next opponent Santoro. Ninth seed Haas, who has struggled with illness and injury this year, will play Djokovic's compatriot Janko Tipsarevic in the second round. Murray, who won his second title this year at the St Petersburg Open last Sunday, made a confident start against Nieminen and showed little sign of the stiff back he suffered after a minor car crash on Monday. He held his serve to love against a player who was beaten in the final of the Swiss Indoors event by Roger Federer last weekend, but then struggled for his best form as the first set went to a tiebreak. The Scot was broken just one point after having a winner overturned following an on-court appeal, but he leveled immediately and then broke Nieminen again to win a third successive game before serving out for victory. Defending champin and fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko, one of six players to have already qualified for Shanghai, beat Argentina's Juan Del Potro 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 in his opening match on Wednesday. The Russian, fined for "lack of effort" after his defeat by Croatian qualifier Marian Cilic in St Petersburg, will next face Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in round three after Baghdatis shocked 13th seed Ivan Ljubicic. Ivo Karlovic broke Roger Federer's serve for the first time in his life, but the top seed and world number one progressed in a late match on Wednesday. Croatian Karlovic, the tallest man in tennis at 2.08 metres, went down 6-4 4-6 6-3 as Federer played for the first time at the Bercy event since 2003. Federer had gone 67 service games over four previous matches without a loss before Karlovic ended his duck to claim their second set. But the Swiss top seed got straight back in harness, breaking to start the final set and rolling ahead against a man he had just beaten days earlier in the Basel semifinals. World numbet two Rafael Nadal also reached the third round after thrashing Italy's Filippo Volandri 6-3 6-1. The Spaniard will next play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who won by the same scoreline against 16th seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. E-mail to a friend . | world number three Novak Djokovic crashes out of the Paris Masters. the serb is beaten in his opening match by veteran frenchman Fabrice Santoro. rising star Andy Murray wins his first match in paris to move into third round. | World No. 3 Novak Djokovic beaten in the second round of the Paris Masters .
The Serb, who had a first-round bye, lost 6-3 6-2 to veteran Fabrice Santoro .
Top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal win opening matches at Bercy . | fff32094b00f3780cc98fe43bd98aace4b851281 |
(InStyle) -- After years in the bronze age, when sun-kissed cheeks and gloss reigned supreme, fall's return to glamour means that lipstick is making a major comeback. Lipstick outsold gloss by $76 million last year, and beauty companies are racing to launch new formulas that are more wearable than ever. So pucker up. We'll show you how to apply lipstick perfectly, along with the most flattering shades for day and night. For foolproof application, stick with sheer, subdued shades in the morning and save deep, bold colors (which require more time and precision) for night. Daytime equation . 1. Condition and protect with a balm that contains sunscreen, like Softlips Raspberry with Green Tea SPF 20. "Dab some on immediately after getting out of the shower, when your lips are still a little moist," suggests Hollywood pro Kara Yoshimoto Bua. The smoother your lips, the more perfect your lipstick will look. 2. Choose a soft shade such as rose or nude that you can apply straight from the tube. A hydrating formula ensures a smooth coat of color. Try Neutrogena Moistureshine Soothing Lipsheers in Fresh Rose. 3. Blot, reapply and blot again to remove excess oils and create a stain, says Bua. "The color looks more natural and lasts longer." Instead of tissues, use lint-free blotting papers, like Boscia Fresh Blotting Linens ($10). Nighttime equation . 1. Exfoliate before applying a bold hue like red or burgundy. Sally Hansen Gentle Peel for Rough Lips ($10; at drugstores) uses fruit enzymes to remove dry patches. 2. Create a base with a gel-based primer that fills in fine lines around the mouth and helps lipstick go on more smoothly. One to try: Olay Regenerist lip treatment ($19; at drugstores). 3. Define the borders of your mouth with a pencil to prevent color from bleeding, says Robin Fredriksz, who gave Barrymore her deep fuchsia lip. To avoid an unnaturally dark outline, use a shade that's lighter than your lipstick, like Revlon Colorstay lip liner in Plum ($8; at drugstores). 4. Brush on color for more control. Try: Shu Uemura Kolinsky Portable Extra lipbrush ($35) with Isadora Perfect Moisture lipstick in Bordeaux Red ($11). Makeup artists' favorites . Just like us, cosmetics pros use the same lipsticks again and again. From the just right daytime rose to the classic evening red, here are some of their all-time go-to picks for day and night. Carmindy's neutral picks for day are designed to "enhance your natural lip color." For night she recommends dark berry or true red for all skin tones. Her clients: Heidi Klum and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Day shades: Benefit Silky Finish in Candy Store, $16; Givenchy Rouge Interdit in Secret Pink, $26. Night colors: Nars in Scarlet Empress, $23; Revlon Super Lustrous in Love That Red, $8; at drugstores. AJ Crimson likes a subtle pink or sheer beige for all skin tones during the day. For night he recommends bright red for fair complexions and a deep purple for darker ones. His clients: Missy Elliot and Amerie. Day shades: Chanel Rouge Hydrabase in Pink Sugar, $25; Laura Mercier in Candy Pink, ($22). Night colors: Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Royal Red, $7; at drugstores; MAC in Cyber, ($14). Melissa Silver uses fuchsia on cool skin tones and peachy nude on warm ones for day. For night, she says, "anyone can wear plum or sheer red." Her clients: Renée Zellweger and Cindy Crawford. Day shades: Clinique Colour Surge Butter Shine in Fresh Watermelon, $14; Lancôme Le Rouge Absolu in Nectariche, $25. Night colors: MAC in Spice It Up!, $14; Sonia Kashuk in Sheer Cherry Blossom, $8. E-mail to a friend . Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved. | fall's return to glamour means that lipstick is making a major comeback. lipstick outsold gloss by $76 million last year. for foolproof application, stick with sheer, subdued shades in the morning. | Gloss taking backseat to bold colors in lipsticks .
Exfoliate lips before applying a bold hue .
Melissa Silver: "Anyone can wear plum or sheer red" at night .
AJ Crimson likes subtle pink or sheer beige for all skin tones for day . | 373ef5be1d84b8c4905193e569e0cf8a7ead3d03 |
(InStyle.com) -- A hit TV show. An Emmy. A summer blockbuster. A new company. A wedding! Katherine Heigl has every reason to smile for our camera. A star -- and a trio of gorgeous looks -- is born. The Ingénue: "This is my favorite look of the three just because it's sexy but not overtly so," Heigl says. "I like simple hair and makeup." There has been a self-tanning mishap . As Katherine Heigl crosses the parking lot of the sandwich shop at the Roosevelt Golf Course at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, she walks stiffly, holding her arms away from her like a paper doll and apologizing profusely for running 10 minutes late. Earlier, she'd sprayed her entire body with self-tanner, which refused to dry. She resorted to having her fiancé, musician Josh Kelley, take a blow-dryer to her (didn't work). So here she is, in a strapless, ankle-length Juicy Couture sundress (donned to accommodate the residual stickiness), fanning herself and wondering how mottled the tan will be when (or if) the lotion ever sets. Not that one bum experience could turn her off beauty products. "I love everything new," says Heigl, 28, who, in addition to being nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actress on "Grey's Anatomy," just started a production company at Fox. "When I was in Rhode Island filming this summer, I went to Sephora for the first time. It was like my holy mecca." She recently had her bathroom vanity renovated with a high counter to make more room for the large drawers below that hold her well-organized loot. Then there's her deal with Coty to be the face of Nautica's new women's fragrance in January. Considering this fondness for all things beauty -- as well as Heigl's impressive acting range -- she plays TV dramedy as deftly as cinematic romantic comedy, as in the mega-hit "Knocked Up" and next year's 27 Dresses -- it seems natural for her to be In Style's first ever triple-cover girl. These three looks take her from girl-next-door to red-carpet knockout to pixie-coiffed vamp. The star, whom pals call Katie (and Hollywood calls the Next Big Thing), popped out her retainer to talk about makeup, breakouts and what boys like. KATHERINE HEIGL: I'm so sorry, I have to take out my Invisalign before I eat. IN STYLE: Who knew you wore them? I guess that's the point of Invisalign. KH: I got them because of this wonky tooth. I was like, OK, I can't take it. It's awesome because every two weeks you switch to a new retainer. Pretty much the perfect way to describe Invisalign is Netflix for your teeth. IS: Right -- the things we do for beauty. So, how did you like being transformed into three such different looks? KH: It was fun. I was working with such great hair and makeup people. And to have these professionals turning you into someone else is pretty neat. IS: Do you ever go without makeup? KH: There was a time when I would. Now that I get followed by photographers, I'm really paranoid about it. I do not want to be the "Look What This Celebrity Looks Like Without Makeup" picture. I'm clearly vain, and I don't need that. Plus, I like products. IS: How often do you go through your drawers and purge? KH: Often, because people send me a lot of stuff now, which is exciting. I love getting those boxes. [Into the tape recorder:] Send me a box of makeup, Stila! When that happens, I feel like I have to clean out and give stuff to my sister, mom and friends because there comes a point of gluttony that I can't accept. IS: How do you think you express your personality through style? KH: I'm a big hair-up person. Last night at work they put my hair in two French braids to keep it flat under the scrub cap. I thought it looked cute and that I could pull it off after I'd slept on it. And ... no. So I thought I could recreate it myself ... no again. As far as clothing style goes, I fluctuate almost as much as I do with beauty products. I like to shop for sweaters -- maybe it's the New Englander in me. I'm building a house in the mountains in Utah, so I tell myself I'm "preparing" for that. I like sweaters -- they're like scrubs -- you don't have to suck it in or worry about the bloat. IS: Do you know how you want your hair and makeup at your wedding? KH: I have an idea, but it's so dependent on the dress, and I haven't gotten there yet. My sister is getting married too, so we looked for dresses together. After about five stores I was like, "I'm done." Everyone says, "You just know when you put that dress on." My sister found the right dress just like that. So I know it can happen. But it's grueling. IS: Wait, so your mom has two daughters getting married within months? KH: My poor mother is probably like, "Why, God? Why?" But I hired a planner. I want the day to be spectacular, but mostly I want it to be fun. And I don't want to freak out or stress. IS: Does your fiancé have any particular opinions about your look? KH: Josh wouldn't mind if my hair was brown, if it was still long -- that's such a boy thing. IS: Would you ever wear a wig out? KH: I'd contemplate it, but I don't know if I actually have the courage to pull it off. I once wore a long hair-extension ponytail, and someone asked me if it was real, like I was one of those dolls when we were little, and the hair just cranks out. IS: How would you describe your skin? KH: My skin is sensitive, so everything bothers it. And I'm the jerk who keeps switching products and making it worse. IS: How do you treat a breakout? KH: I got a great product at Ona Spa called Sebuspot. I've tried so many that were disappointments, but maybe I stand too close to the mirror examining my pores. If I backed up, things might look fine. IS: What do you always carry in your bag? KH: Powder, because I get shiny. And lip balm, either the Smith's Rosebud Salve or C.O. Bigelow's Mentha Lip Shine in Black Cherry Soda from Bath & Body Works. It's shiny with a little shimmer and tastes so good. IS: An In Style.com reader wants to know how you maintain a healthy body image in Hollywood. KH: I train with Harley Pasternak. I love him with my whole soul and follow his 5-Factor diet. I first said, "I'm never going to be -- nor do I want to be -- an uber-athletic girl." It's just not me and I don't have that kind of discipline. He said, "I just want you to be healthy." A lot of what we focus on is posture. I slump into myself when I get stressed. If I were going to play an action hero, I'd have to get that look. But I'd never maintain it. For me it's never about achieving a look that's impossible. E-mail to a friend . Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved. | "grey's anatomy" star Katherine Heigl talks about her three favorite looks. the actress says she's always been a fan of makeup. she says she has a hard time letting go of a bad hair day. | "Grey's Anatomy" actress Katherine Heigl has own production company .
Star of hit movie Knocked Up" is getting married .
Doesn't go without makeup for fear of ugly photographs .
Says shopping for wedding dress is "grueling" | f372b28e3d1f74d60aa8ee29d7bdd49a6e7f9779 |
(Mental Floss) -- 1. The SPAM® Museum . SPAM marks its 70th anniversary in 2007 which is also the Chinese Year of the Pig. If the on-site "wall of SPAM" is any indication, a tour through the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota, is guaranteed fun for the whole canned-pork-loving family. SPAM's parent company, Hormel Foods, opened the establishment in 2001 to the tune of almost 5,000 cans of SPAM. One of the main attractions is a scale model of a SPAM plant, where visitors can don white coats and hairnets while pretending to produce America's favorite tinned meat. 2. National Museum of Funeral History . It's pretty hard to argue with the motto "Any Day Above Ground is a Good One." So goes the backhanded optimism of the National Museum of Funeral History, a Houston facility that opened in 1992. Visitors are treated to exhibits that include a Civil War embalming display and a replica of a turn-of-the-century casket factory. In addition, the museum boasts an exhibit of "fantasy coffins" designed by Ghanaian artist Kane Quaye. These moribund masterpieces include a casket shaped like a chicken, a Mercedes-Benz, a shallot, and an outboard motor. According to Quaye, his creations are based on the dreams and last wishes of his clients, which -- let's be honest -- really makes you wonder about the guy buried in the shallot. 3. The Hobo Museum . If you're bumming around but looking for a good time, be sure to take a load off in Britt, Iowa, at The Hobo Museum, which details the history and culture of tramps. Bear in mind, though, that the museum kind of, well, slacks on hours and is only open to the public during the annual Hobo Convention. Luckily, tours can be arranged by appointment any time of year. Of course, if you're interested in the Hobo Convention, lodging is available all over the area, but it's a safe bet that most of your compatriots will be resting their floppy hats at the "hobo jungle," located by the railroad tracks. Both the event and the museum are operated by the Hobo Foundation, which --incidentally -- also oversees the nearby Hobo Cemetery, where those who have "caught the westbound" are laid to rest. 4. The Mütter Museum . Originally, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia erected the Mütter Museum as a creative way to inform medical students and practicing physicians about some of the more unusual medical phenomena. (You know, babies with two heads, that sort of thing.) But today, it primarily serves as a popular spot for anyone interested in the grotesque. There, you'll find the world's largest colon, removed from a man who died -- not surprisingly -- of constipation. Also on display: an OB-GYN instrument collection, thousands of fluid-preserved anatomical and pathological specimens, and a large wall dedicated entirely to swallowed objects. 5. The Barnum Museum . What better way to honor "Greatest Show on Earth" founder P.T. Barnum than with a mediocre museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut? Some visitors will appreciate the museum's ridiculously detailed miniature model of a five-ring circus. But only circus freaks (and by that we mean "enthusiasts") will get a kick out of seeing a stale piece of cake from the wedding of Barnum's 40-inch-tall sidekick, General Tom Thumb. 6. The Conspiracy Museum . There's more than one theory about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, so why not have more than one museum devoted to it as well? Most JFK buffs are familiar with the Sixth Floor Museum housed in the former Texas School Book Depository, which recounts all those boring "mainstream" details of the late president's life leading up to his death at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald. But just down the street, the Conspiracy Museum offers fodder for those less apt to buy into The Man's propaganda. For the most part, the museum specializes in showings of the Zapruder film and explanations of contrary assassination theories, including other gunmen on the grassy knoll and possible mafia involvement. 7. The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices . Take two trips to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices and call us when you've lost all faith in the medical profession. Thanks to curator Bob McCoy (who recently donated the collection to the Science Museum of Minnesota), those in search of history's quack science can find what they're looking for in the St. Paul tourist attraction, whether it's a collection of 19th-century phrenology machines or some 1970s breast enlargers. If you make the trip, be sure to check out the 1930s McGregor Rejuvenator. This clever device required patrons to enclose their bodies, sans head, in a large tube where they were pounded with magnetic and radio waves in attempts to reverse the aging process. 8. Cook's Natural Science Museum . What began as a training facility for Cook's Pest Control exterminators blossomed into one of the few museums in the country willing to tell the tale of the pest. At Cook's Natural Science Museum in Decatur, Alabama, visitors can learn everything they ever wanted to know about rats, cockroaches, mice, spiders, and termites ... all for free. And while most people would rather step on the live specimens than learn about them, museum exhibits such as the crowd-pleasing Pest of the Month keep reeling in patrons. 9. Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum . So, what do you get when you combine the loneliness of a pet cemetery with the creepy flair of vaudeville? The Vent Haven Ventriloquist Museum, of course -- where dummies go to die. The Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, museum was the brainchild of the late William Shakespeare Berger, who founded the site as a home for retired wooden puppets. In fact, he collected figures from some of the country's most famous ventriloquist acts. And with more than 700 dummies stacked from floor to ceiling, you're bound to feel like you're stuck inside a 1970s horror flick -- albeit a really good one. But sadly, when Berger gave the tour, you could totally tell his mouth was moving. 10. The Trash Museum . Mom wasn't kidding when she said one man's trash is another man's treasure. At the Trash Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) turns garbage into 6,500 square feet of pure recycling entertainment! T . our the Temple of Trash or visit the old-fashioned town dump. And for your recycler-in-training, head across the state to the Children's Garbage Museum, where you can take an educational stroll through the giant compost pile, get a glimpse of the 1-ton Trash-o-saurus, or enjoy the company of resident compost worms. E-mail to a friend . For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved. | the SPAM® Museum in Austin, Minnesota, is guaranteed fun for the whole canned-pork-loving family. the san francisco bay museum features a large, working model of a SPAM plant. the san francisco bay museum of art features a large, working model of a san francisco bay. | If you build it, the tourists will come to your museum .
Museums for hobos, medical oddities and trash .
Kentucky museum is where dummies go to die . | fbcaa7519e9ff82193afbaed67d8706f2350125f |
PARIS, France (CNN) -- Interpol on Monday took the unprecendented step of making a global appeal for help to identify a man from digitally reconstructed photos taken from the Internet that it said showed him sexually abusing underage boys. This moving image shows how police used software to unscramble the image. (Source: Interpol) The man's face was disguised by digital alteration, but the images were capable of being restored, according to a bulletin from Interpol -- the international police agency based in Lyon, France. Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said the pictures have been on the the Internet for several years, but investigators have been unable to determine the man's identity or nationality. "We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public's help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens," Noble said. He said there is "very good reason to believe that he travels the world in order to sexually abuse and exploit vulnerable children." Interpol has determined the photos were taken in Vietnam and Cambodia. "The decision to make public this man's picture was not one which was taken lightly," said Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's Trafficking in Human Beings Unit. The suspect's photo and more information can be seen online at Interpol's Web site. E-mail to a friend . | man's face was disguised by digital alteration, but images were restored. pictures have been on the the Internet for several years, but no one knows his identity. interpol: "there is very good reason to believe he travels the world" | Man posted photos on the Internet of himself sexually abusing underage boys .
Computer experts managed to undo digital masking to reveal the man .
Man abused 12 boys in Vietnam and Cambodia . | 5ebd041d89a2ba41b387c30293f0657eef746910 |
Reuters is a global information company providing material tailored for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. Its information is trusted and drives decision making across the globe. In October 1851 Paul Julius Reuter, a German-born immigrant, opened an office in the City of London which transmitted stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable. 18 months earlier he had used pigeons to fly stock prices between Aachen and Brussels, a service which operated for a year until the gap in the telegraph link was closed. Reuters, as the agency soon became known, eventually extended its service to other European countries. It also expanded the content to include general and economic news from all around the world. In 1865 Reuters was first in Europe with news of President Lincoln's assassination in the United States. As overland telegraph and undersea cable facilities developed, the business expanded beyond Europe to include the Far East in 1872 and South America in 1874. In 1883 Reuters began to use a "column printer" to transmit messages electrically to London newspapers and in 1923 pioneered the use of radio to transmit news internationally. In 1927 it brought in the teleprinter to distribute news to London newspapers. Today Reuters has over 16,900 staff in over 94 countries across the globe, and is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, with 196 bureaux serving approximately 131 countries. In 2006 Reuters filed over two and a half million news items, including 656,500 alerts, from 209 countries around the world, published in 18 languages. Although Reuters is best known as the world's largest international multimedia news agency, more than 90% of its revenue derives from its financial services business. Some 370,000 financial market professionals working in the equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, money, commodities and energy markets around the world use Reuters products. The company supplies news -- text, graphics, video and pictures -- to media organizations across the globe. It also provides news to businesses outside the financial services sector, as well as direct to consumers. E-mail to a friend . | Reuters is a global information company providing material tailored for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. in 1851 Reuters opened an office in the city of London which transmitted stock market quotations between London and Paris via the new Calais-Dover cable. today Reuters has over 16,900 staff in over 94 countries across the globe and is the world's largest international multimedia news agency. | Reuters was founded in 1851 by Julius Reuter, transmitting market quotations .
The company was first in Europe with news of President Lincoln's assassination .
Today Reuters has 196 bureaux serving approximately 131 countries. | ac4ae79796d05506dabe4380c24f7dd423e09965 |
(CNN) -- Six of the seven college students killed in a massive house fire Sunday morning in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, attended the University of South Carolina, a university official said Sunday. "This is a very sad day for the University of South Carolina family," Dennis A. Pruitt, the vice president for student affairs, told reporters. The seventh fatality is believed to be a Clemson University student, he said. The six survivors -- who were treated and released from Brunswick Community Hospital -- are also USC students, he said. Pruitt said the bodies were being sent to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for identification. Watch home video showing the house in flames » . "It is difficult to ascertain exactly who was in the house and who was not," Pruitt said, explaining that several area houses were filled with college students visiting for the weekend. Newspaper deliveryman Tim Burns was aghast when he first saw the inferno early Sunday morning. He tried to approach the door but the flames were too intense, he told the Associated Press. "When I was going up to the entryway, you could hear the windows above me explode," Burns said. "When I knew the flames had taken over, I don't think I've ever felt as helpless in my life." The USC students were affiliated with the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Pruitt said, although he stressed that the weekend was not an official Greek function. "It just so happens, as on many university campuses, that certain sororities and certain fraternities hang around together," he said. One person described as "unaccounted for" was later confirmed dead, Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith told CNN. "We suffered a terrible tragedy at Ocean Isle this morning," Smith said in a news conference. "Nothing like this has ever happened at Ocean Isle Beach, and we hope it never will again." She said officials had not yet contacted all the victims' families, and that they were not yet releasing their names. The mayor said one of the 13 people in the house was related to the house's owner. Smith said the house was fully "engulfed" in flames around 7 a.m. when the fire department arrived on the scene, about five minutes after the fire department was notified. She said the house had working smoke detectors, AP reported. Officials are investigating the cause of the fire, Smith said. "We ran down the street to get away," Nick Cain told the AP. The University of North Carolina student was staying at a house about 100 feet away. Some of his friends had met several people staying at the house that burned down. "The ash and the smoke were coming down on us. We were just trying to get away," Cain told the AP. Ocean Isle Beach is a popular resort destination along the southern coast of North Carolina. The 7-mile-long island's year-round population is about 425, while the summer season population is about 25,000, according to the town's Web site. E-mail to a friend . | new: six of seven dead in house fire attended university of south Carolina. new: bodies being sent to north carolina for identification. mayor: one of 13 people in house was related to house's owner. house had working smoke detectors, mayor says. | Six of seven dead in fire were University of South Carolina students .
Official: Six treated at hospital and released were also USC students .
Mayor Debbie Smith said one of 13 at house is related to owner of house .
Victims' names not being released until families are notified . | 62827a1a377491d88adcbac25ecf14a64b5f997b |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attacks are down 75 percent in recent months in a perilous stretch of neighborhoods in northeastern Baghdad, prompting a U.S. military officer to proclaim Monday that security there is "dramatically improving." Concerned citizens have helped troops improve security in parts of Baghdad, a military official says. People line the streets, cars congest them, trash collectors and other city workers have returned, local leaders are holding community meetings again and "markets have come back like gangbusters," said Army Col. Don Farris, commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. He added that the largely Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq presence has been "crushed" since the beginning of May. However, there are still dangers, most notably the threats posed by Iranian-backed Shiite militants, Farris said. Speaking to Pentagon reporters via video link from Baghdad, Farris cited several factors he said contributed to the improving security situation. Among them is the "surge," the additional U.S. troops deployed earlier this year. Watch how old rivalries have been posing problems » . Also helping improve the security situation are the cease-fire by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army and the development of a program that employs "concerned local citizens" to assist U.S. and Iraqi forces, Farris said. Some of those citizens are members of local Sunni "awakening councils," comprised of former militants -- often armed -- who create neighborhood watch groups to root out the insurgent elements in an area. Especially in the last six weeks, Farris said, civic and religious leaders have seen outsiders operating in the area and troops have made arrests, two Iranian operatives among them . "From my foxhole, in our sector, it is working," he said of the improving security in the area. "I can only speak to what I see in my sector and I am encouraged." Farris' sector -- which includes the Sunni-dominated district of Adhamiya and Sadr City, the Shiite slum where militants have demonstrated a strong presence -- has seen a "remarkable turnaround," he said. Many of the communities in his area have been wracked with sectarian warfare and terrorized by insurgents and death squads. Despite improvements in the security situation, Farris warned that "we still have a lot of work to do" because there doesn't appear to be any sign that Shiite extremists with links to Iran are halting their activities. Farris said troops also are still finding explosively formed penetrators, which are often delivered or manufactured by Iran. Nine such bombs were found in late October, he said. There are intelligence reports indicating weapons and money are still flowing into Sadr City, he said. There are also problems returning refugees and displaced people to their homes in the area, Farris said, because "essential services" like water and electricity are not yet up to snuff. Though a "trickle" of families has returned home and many are asking when they can return, Farris said he believes residents will return en masse only when basic services are in better shape. Paul Folmsbee, a State Department provincial reconstruction team leader, said at the same news conference that his personnel was handling development issues involving law, governance, economic development and essential services. Farris' Monday remarks echo a string of similar assertions made by U.S. and Iraqi military officials over recent weeks. The military officials say they are seeing signs of Sunni-Shiite reconciliation. At a press conference earlier Monday in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Ed Cardon, deputy commander for support of Multi-National Division-Center, discussed a "definite period of progress" in his region on the southern Baghdad outskirts. E-mail to a friend . | new: "markets have come back like gangbusters," army official says. new: cease-fire by radical Shiite cleric's mehdi army helping. new: intelligence reports indicate weapons and money still flowing into area. new: u.s., iraqi officials see signs of sunni-shiite reconciliation. | Official: Streets bustling, workers returning, markets "back like gangbusters"
Troop surge, citizens groups, Mehdi Army cease-fire all help security situation .
Iranian weapons, fighters still posing problems in northeastern Baghdad .
Commander says more families will return when basic services fully restored . | d42463e1093a92ec4dbd20edd8f4bf3306f00f3f |
(CNN) -- Officials are searching for the driver of a white truck seen on Santiago Canyon Road on Sunday, near the time the Santiago fire started, Orange County authorities said Friday. Chief Chip Prather holds a photo of a white truck similar to the one seen on Santiago Canyon Road. "These people are not suspects at this time," Orange County Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather said. "They are persons of interest who were seen near the fire in a vehicle like this." The vehicle is a white, 1998 to 2004 Ford F150 pickup with chrome tubular running boards. Prather said the information came from a lead called into the investigation's tip line. A $250,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the blaze. Watch how residents feel about arsonist » . The Santiago fire, now 27,000 acres and still burning, was deliberately set, officials said Thursday. Several mandatory evacuations remain in place for the Santiago fire, which has destroyed 14 homes and various other structures. Late Friday afternoon, the blaze moved into Silverado Canyon, authorities said. Sheriff's deputies were evacuating residents in the fire's path. Watch the Santiago flames rage » . Authorities also suspect arson in the Rosa fire in San Diego County, which burned more than 400 acres before being fully contained. There was no information on the investigation. Elsewhere, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed arson charges Friday against a 41-year-old Sun Valley man who witnesses said set a fire in the West Hills neighborhood and walked away. Catalino Pineda is one of five people who have been arrested in arson investigations this week, but none of them has been linked to the major wildfires raging across Southern California. Pineda was arrested Wednesday after witnesses said they saw him lighting a fire on a hillside, police said. The fire was quickly extinguished. The witnesses followed Pineda to a nearby restaurant and called police, who arrested him. Pineda was expected to be arraigned in Van Nuys Superior Court Friday, Deputy District Attorney Steven Frankland said. He is charged with one count of arson of a structure or forest. Pineda is being held on $75,000 bail and faces up to six years in prison if convicted. In San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, John Rund, of Hesperia, was arrested Wednesday on arson charges after a witness reported seeing him in brush near the starting point of a fire Tuesday, the sheriff's department said. That fire was quickly put out by passers-by. Investigators are trying to determine if Rund, 48, may have ties to other wildfires. He is being held on $750,000 bail. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office on Thursday filed arson charges against Anthony Riperti, 47, of Redlands. A statement from the office did not say when or where Riperti is accused of setting a fire. He is being held on $250,000 bail. In San Diego County, the sheriff's department this week arrested an adult and a juvenile allegedly seen by an anonymous tipster starting a fire in Vista in the northern part of the county. In a written statement, the sheriff's department identified the adult as Gorgonio Nava. The Vista fire Department extinguished the blaze before it grew out of control, the statement said. Investigators have determined that the Grass Valley fire in San Bernardino County was not caused by arson, and a preliminary investigation into the cause of the 11,675-acre Slide fire seems to indicate arson was not a factor, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beaver said. More than 1,600 homes have been destroyed in the past week by Southern California wildfires. E-mail to a friend . | new: $250,000 reward offered for information leading to arrest of arsonists. new: authorities suspect arson in the Rosa fire in san diego county. new: authorities also arrest man who witnesses say set fire in west hills neighborhood. new: fire has destroyed 14 homes, destroyed other structures. | NEW: White truck seen on Santiago Canyon Road near time fire started .
Charges filed against man who allegedly set small fire and walked off .
Catalino Pineda one of five arrested in arson investigations this week .
Arson investigations continue across multiple California counties . | 4b0eda92463958cce8c6b2537db39088e1254552 |
(CNN) -- The partnership started as a single shop on Oxford Street in London, opened in 1864 by John Lewis. Today the partnership is an organization with bases throughout the UK, with supermarkets and department stores, employing approximately 67,100 people. All 67,100 permanent staff are Partners who own 26 John Lewis department stores, 183 Waitrose supermarkets, an online and catalogue business, John Lewis Direct a direct services company - Greenbee, three production units and a farm. Every Partner receives the same scale of bonus, based on a fixed percentage of their annual wage. The bonus for 2006 was 18% equivalent to 9 weeks pay, which was rolled out for every employee. Chairman Sir Stuart Hampson retired at the end of March 2007, his successor is Charlie Mayfield. Hampson's salary for January 26, 2006 to January 26, 2007 was $1.66 million which included the partnership bonus of $250,000. John Lewis' consolidated revenue for the last financial year was $11.4 billion. E-mail to a friend . | the partnership started as a single shop on Oxford street in 1864 by john lewis. today the partnership employs approximately 67,100 people. every Partner receives the same scale of bonus, based on a fixed percentage of their annual wage. | John Lewis Partnership began as a shop on London's Oxford street in 1864 .
All 67,100 employees are partners in the organization and own shares . | e117408ad19cc69e15b1e21b9ae54f10c07223ce |
(CNN) -- The company was founded in 1985 by seven communications industry veterans -- Franklin Antonio, Adelia Coffman, Andrew Cohen, Klein Gilhousen, Irwin Jacobs, Andrew Viterbi and Harvey White. One of Qualcomm's first products was OmniTRACS, introduced in 1988, which is currently the largest satellite-based commercial mobile system for the transportation industry. Today, Qualcomm's patent portfolio includes approximately 6,100 United States patents and patent applications for CDMA and related technologies. More than 130 telecommunications equipment manufacturers worldwide have licensed QUALCOMM's essential CDMA patents. Qualcomm is among the members of the S&P 500 Index, Fortune 500, and a winner of the U.S. Department of Labor's" Secretary of Labor's Opportunity Award." The company has been listed among Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" for nine years in a row and the magazine's list of" Most Admired Companies." Qualcomm's Annual revenue for 2006 was $7.53 billion, with a net income of $2.47 billion. E-mail to a friend . | Qualcomm was founded in 1985 by seven communications industry veterans. the company has a patent portfolio of approximately 6,100 u.s. patents. the company has been listed among Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" | The company has become a huge name in communications in just 20 years .
Qualcomm has a portfolio of approximately 6,100 U.S. patents .
Fortune lists the company as one of the 100 best places to work in the U.S. | 3c5b68b58c34853baa534d1265ec7fde00d4eb4e |
(CNN) -- A girl who was shown on a videotape being sexually assaulted in Las Vegas has been found and is safe, officials in Nye County, Nevada, said Friday. Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, is being sought as a suspect, police say. "We have found the child, Madison. She's safe. The detectives say she is in good condition," Nye County Sheriff Tony De Meo said. The girl, now 7, was shown in a sex video made four years ago, Detective David Boruchowitz said at a news conference Friday night. She was found Friday with family in Las Vegas after thousands of tips poured in, thanks to an appeal by police to the news media to show the girl's picture. CNN and other news organizations did so until the child was found, when De Meo asked them to stop showing the picture. "The mother has cooperated with us," De Meo said. "We believe that the mother was not aware of anything that went on with this young girl," he said. "It was very sad for her to find this out." A former Las Vegas animal trainer, Chester Arthur Stiles, 37, a resident of Pahrump, Nevada, has been identified as a suspect and is being sought in the case, De Meo said. Pahrump is about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. Watch what's known about Stiles » . Stiles was a distant friend of the girl's family, De Meo said. Someone close to Stiles has told investigators that Stiles is a "survivalist type" and always carries a weapon, Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett said. De Meo addressed Stiles directly: "Turn yourself in to your local law enforcement agency," he said. "Understand this: Law enforcement not only has a long arm, but a long memory. You will not be forgotten by members of this agency or any other law enforcement agency." The FBI is also seeking Stiles on state charges of sexual assault and lewdness with a minor under the age of 14 in a separate matter, De Meo said. Police, who had called Stiles a person of interest, began calling him a suspect late Friday. There appeared to be physical similarities between Stiles and the man in the videotape, De Meo said. "Nothing that I have seen in my career comes close to what this girl has gone through. Whoever this person is is a predator that, as far as I'm concerned, belongs in custody and, if successfully prosecuted, in jail for as long as the law allows," De Meo said earlier. Detectives said the child showed little emotion during the rapes, indicating she may have been brutalized before. Nevadan Darren Tuck recently gave police the videotape, saying he found it in the desert, De Meo said. Police said the tape was in his possession at least since May before he handed it over to authorities. He is being sought on a parole violation for failure to pay child support, but police -- who want to question him further -- have been unable to locate him. Tuck, who also allegedly showed the tape to others before giving it to police, faces a possible 10-years-to-life sentence for exhibiting pornography and another one to six years for possession of child pornography, De Meo said. Harry Kuehn, Tuck's attorney, said this week on CNN's "Nancy Grace" that Tuck was "racked by indecision" about what to do with the tape once he realized what it was. Asked why, Kuehn said, "He's explained that to us, and at this point, we're not going to share that, because it goes to the defense of the matter." "You have to consider what kind of concerns my client had; He's previously dealt with the sheriff's office in Nye County; it was previously unsatisfactory," the attorney said. E-mail to a friend . | new: police identify suspect as former animal trainer. new: "the mother has cooperated with us," sheriff says. girl, now 7, was shown in a sex video made four years ago. police: girl showed little emotion during the rapes, indicating she may have been brutalized. | Stiles described as "survivalist type" who carries a weapon .
Mother has cooperated with police, sheriff says .
Girl on tape, now 7, found safe with family .
Tape shows man sexually abusing the girl 4 years ago . | 6c3d2feed04c75063d182103f0585c45da9aaa1b |
(Mental Floss) -- They say a lot of artistic expression is motivated by self-loathing. But not for these folks! Long before the Material Girl ordered papa to stop preaching, these six puffed-up virtuosos knew darn well how to strike a pose. Alfred Hitchcock didn't leave people in suspense about how he felt about actors. Here's to the creative types who managed to raise egotism to an art form. Alfred Hitchcock . Hitchcock was, without question, one of the towering geniuses of cinema. And, like many greats, he wasn't exactly the best collaborator. Hitchcock was particularly trying for screenwriters, who felt he never properly credited them for their work. But he was notoriously hard on actors. He was once quoted as saying, "Actors are cattle" -- a quip that stirred up a huge outcry (actors can be so touchy). In response, he issued this correction: "I have been misquoted. What I really said is, 'Actors should be treated as cattle.'" Although it began accidentally (when he was short an actor for the film "The Lodger"), Hitchcock soon made it his egotistical trademark to appear in his own films, amassing a total of 37 cameos throughout his career. Ayn Rand . The egotist's egotist, author Ayn Rand (born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum) is the patron saint of Thinking You're Better Than Everybody Else. Her most famous novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, are massive dramatizations of Objectivism, her self-spun Oscar-the-Grouch philosophy for success. Objectivism champions ego and accomplishment, shuns all religion as folly, and condemns any form of charity or altruism as counterproductive to society. Rand's novels often focus on protagonists (invariably men) who are shunned by others because of their genius, but then persevere over the foolishness of morons to prove said genius and emerge triumphant. Not surprisingly, she saw humility as a weakness and regarded laughing at yourself as "spitting in your own face." So, just how much did Rand believe in her own philosophy? Let's just say a lot. With signature modesty, she ranked herself as the philosophical equal of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Orson Welles . When you create a cinematic masterpiece such as "Citizen Kane" at the ripe old age of 25, you're bound to get a big head. But Welles was convinced of his own importance much earlier than that. In fact, "Citizen Kane" might have been sparked by nothing more than a bruised ego. After all, it's said he devised the film as a withering exposé of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst because Hearst slighted Welles at a dinner party. Of course, after the unparalleled success of "Citizen Kane," Welles's arrogant side didn't get any less subtle. Do yourself a favor: Track down a recording of Welles' outtakes for a TV commercial for frozen peas. You'll hear everything you need to know about the filmmaker's oversized ego. A classic quote goes: "In the depths of your ignorance, what is it you want?" Frank Lloyd Wright . As the brains behind the Robie House, Fallingwater, Taliesin West, the Guggenheim, and countless other design benchmarks, Frank Lloyd Wright is arguably the genius of 20th-century architecture. And, boy, did he know it! Wright was notorious for believing he was superior to mere mortals. In fact, the architectural egomaniac frequently acted as though the rules -- even those of geography and climate -- did not apply to him. But when you're Wright, you're right. In 1935, department store magnate Stanley Marcus (of Neiman-Marcus fame) commissioned the architect to design his Dallas home, but the project quickly went sour. Wright's avant-garde floor plan included "sleeping porches" that required his client to sleep outdoors year-round. In addition, Marcus' small bedroom "cubicles" came equipped with almost no closet space. When Stanley respectfully explained that (a) temperatures during summer nights in Dallas often exceed 80 degrees and (b) a high-fashion tastemaker might need bigger closets, Wright threw a series of tantrums. Fortunately for the voyeur in us all, said tantrums usually took place in letter form. Preserved and occasionally displayed at the Dallas Museum of Art, they make for delicious reading. Salvador Dalí . "Every morning when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being Salvador Dalí." Yup, he actually said that. Everything about the legendary Surrealist painter (he of the melting clocks) -- from his whacked-out paintings to his curled-up mustache -- was designed to shock, destroy convention, cause scandal, and stir controversy. Criticized for choosing to live under General Franco's fascist government in Spain, Dalí defended his position by stating that he didn't care about others so long as he could be king. Not exactly a man of the people. If he wasn't getting enough attention, he was known to walk the streets of New York City clanging a hand bell. Of course, this is also the guy who once said, "The thought of not being recognized [is] unbearable." Need another telling quote? "At the age of 6 years, I wanted to be a chef. At the age of 7, I wanted to be Napoleon. My ambitions have continued to grow at the same rate ever since." Apparently, so did his ego. Al Jolson . Plenty of performers this side of Gallagher have been labeled "the world's greatest entertainer." But Al Jolson really, really believed it. The vaudeville singer, actor, dancer, and comedian was born Asa Yoelson in Seredzius, Lithuania, in what was then part of Imperial Russia. As a performer, he was known for hijacking the action in the middle of shows, ad-libbing, or just stopping to talk to the audience. During a 1911 performance of the critically hated "Paris is a Paradise for Coons" (title not edited for political correctness), Jolson stopped and asked the audience if they'd rather hear him sing than see the rest of the play. The crowd roared with applause, and Jolson ditched the whole program and took over. From that moment on, no one else could share the stage with him. Unlike some of the egomaniacs on this list, however, Jolson can be forgiven somewhat for his arrogance. According to most contemporary accounts, he actually was the greatest in the world. But, despite the enormity of his contributions to stage and screen, Jolson's legacy has become a political hot potato because of his use of stage blackface (considered highly offensive now, but pretty common at the time). E-mail to a friend . For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved. | egotistical creative types include ayn Rand, orson welles, frank l. wright. elvis presley was a self-proclaimed "spiritual savant" ronald reagan was a "spiritual savant" who loved to scream. | Frank Lloyd Wright wanted store magnate to sleep on porch .
Salvador Dalí's stated ambitions were bigger than Napoleon's .
Ayn Rand: Laughing at yourself same as "spitting in your own face" | 4fa1c0bd7f86368d7ae7730d95ff7e73dc9172da |
PARIS, France -- AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaka has been named European player of the year, lifting France Football's Ballon d'Or award. Kaka has already claimed all of the game's major prizes. His success comes two years after his fellow countryman, Barcelona's Ronaldinho, claimed the award . The 25-year-old Kaka was a major factor in AC Milan's triumphant Champions League campaign. The runner-up was Manchester United's Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo with Barcelona's Argentinian midfielder Lionel Messi finishing third. "This is very special for me - it culminates an astonishing year for me," Kaka said. "It's the top prize around and the only way to win something like this is to play for a team like AC Milan. It's great to be part of a team that wins." At 25 years old, he has already won all the game's major prizes, individually and collectively. He was part of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning squad, although he was limited to just 19 minutes as a substitute against Costa Rica. He was top scorer in last season's Champions League, helping Milan to avenge their loss to Liverpool in the 2005 final. He won the Italian domestic title in his first season at Milan having joined from Brazilians Sao Paulo for$ 8.5 million, a sum that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi then described as peanuts. E-mail to a friend . | AC Milan's midfielder Kaka named european player of the year. the 25-year-old wins the award for the second year running. fellow countryman, barcelona's Ronaldinho, claimed the award in 2004. | Brazilian Kaka is named European player of the year .
The AC Milan player is chosen ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester Utd .
Argentine Lionel Messi of Barcelona finishes third . | 282f1910bd57e50d4401c695ebe75b817de68548 |
(CNN) -- BUPA is an international health and care company with bases on three continents and more than eight million customers. BUPA began as The British United Provident Association in 1947 to preserve freedom of choice in health care. It believed that with a National Health Service being introduced a year later, there would still be a need for a complimentary service enabling people from all walks of life to afford the benefits of choice in where, when and by whom they were treated. Led by the growing public demand for health care and a lack of quality private accommodation BUPA initiated the Nuffield Homes Charitable Trust - later renamed Nuffield Hospitals. BUPA's biggest and original business is health insurance in the UK, both for individuals and corporations that want to look after the health of their employees. More than half of the UK's top companies are BUPA customers. The company's UK care homes offer specialist care to residents who include the elderly, the mentally ill, young people with physical or learning disabilities and people with conditions such as Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. BUPA is a leading healthcare company in the UK, Spain, Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malta and Saudi Arabia. BUPA International supplies health cover to expatriates in over 180 countries. Sanitas, the BUPA business in Spain, has one million insured customers who have access to a network of 18,000 medical professionals and 450 medical centres. E-mail to a friend . | BUPA began as the British united provident association in 1947. it was founded to preserve freedom of choice in health care. the company's care homes offer specialist care to residents who include the elderly, the mentally ill, young people with physical or learning disabilities. | BUPA was founded in 1947 in response to plans to establish the NHS .
The company's biggest base is in the UK but has customers in three continents .
BUPA care homes cater for a number of conditions, including Parkinson's . | af2d712599be471d1ba0b91fa18c347220ca595d |
(CNN) -- The owner of a North Carolina beach house where seven college students died in a weekend fire said Monday that his family's "lives were just changed forever" by the tragedy. Chip Auman said his 18-year-old daughter survived the fire but was hospitalized and in stable condition because of complications from smoke inhalation. "The thought of losing a child is unimaginable to me, and as a father my heart goes out to the families that lost a loved one in this situation," he said. Auman said the situation was "hard to fathom." "There's just no words to describe what we've been going through," he said, asking for prayers for survivors and the families of those who died. "We're numb, we're confused, we're heartbroken." Two college campuses mourned Monday. Six University of South Carolina students and a Clemson University student died in the fire early Sunday morning in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. Six other South Carolina students were able to get out of the house in time. The six were treated and released from nearby Brunswick Community Hospital, but Auman's daughter was hospitalized again in Hartsville, South Carolina. Authorities from the state Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation into the cause of the fire. Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith said the house was "engulfed" in flames when the fire department arrived on the scene, about five minutes after being notified. The flames shot into the sky and ultimately left little more than portions of the framing. Fire officials do not believe foul play was involved. Watch a neighbor's video, fears of fast-burning fire » . Dennis A. Pruitt, the vice president for student affairs for the University of South Carolina, said investigators have said it would be Tuesday or Wednesday before the identities of the victims are confirmed publicly. It could be as much as a month until investigators know the cause of the fire, Pruitt said. The university did not cancel classes on Monday, but Pruitt said arrangements had been made for those who need to go home or stay out of class at the 28,000-student campus. Pruitt said meetings had been held Sunday with members of Delta Delta Delta sorority and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. The South Carolina students were affiliated with those houses, he said, although he stressed that the weekend was not an official Greek function. He also said counselors and ministers were available to help students deal with the loss of their classmates. The university president, Dr. Andrew Sorenson, contacted the families of those who died in the fire to express the condolences and support of the university community. Jay Laura, student president of the USC chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said the campus would pull together after the tragedy. "If any place can come together to help in the healing process and the aftermath of an event like this, it is South Carolina," Laura said at a Monday afternoon press conference. Fire survivor Tripp Wylie, a 20-year-old South Carolina sophomore, said he jumped out of a third-story window into a canal to escape the flames and was unable to get back in to help his friends. "I could see a buddy of mine off to the left who had gotten out. He was just yelling at me to jump and stuff," Wylie told CNN affiliate WYFF. "The smoke was pouring out, couldn't really breathe, so I had to make a quick decision. [I] just kind of leaned out the window and luckily I jumped far enough to make it into the canal." Neighbors flocked to see the fire as firefighters battled and ultimately got the blaze under control. See the scenes of devastation » . George Smith, who lives across the street from the house, said he heard sirens between 6:30 and 7 a.m. and went outside to see "the whole sky lit up." "The whole house was completely engulfed in flames, up to about 20 feet," he said. "I have never seen [a fire] move so fast." George Smith said the house's occupants were "partying in there yesterday and into the night." After about 10:30 p.m. Saturday they quieted down, he said. Linda Sing said she was walking her dog when she saw the fiery destruction. She noted that firefighters had saved an adjacent house by spraying it down with water. "We knew there were people in there, but we hoped and prayed they'd gotten out," Sing said. "This is the worst thing I've ever seen. We've had hurricanes, but this is worse." Ocean Isle Beach is a popular resort destination along North Carolina's southern coast. The year-round population of the 7-mile-long island is about 425, but it swells to about 25,000 during the summer season, according to the town's Web site. E-mail to a friend . | new: father of student who died says his family's lives were changed forever. new: "we're numb, we're confused, we're heartbroken," he says. new: university of south carolina cancels classes; students stay home. fire engulfed house early sunday, causing extensive damage. | "Heartbroken" house owner's daughter among six survivors hospitalized .
One survivor jumped out of a third-story window into a canal to escape .
University of South Carolina mourns deaths of six students . | e3dd06d326c8d53722bdc5c8428e29c68a60d0d5 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The head of Britain's intelligence services has warned that children as young as 15 are becoming involved in terrorist-related activity. Jonathan Evans, the chief of MI5, also said that at least 2,000 people in Britain pose a threat to the country's security because of their support for al Qaeda-inspired terrorism. "As I speak, terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country. They are radicalising, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism," he told a gathering of newspaper editors in Manchester. Evans said the figure of 2,000 -- an increase of 400 since November 2006 -- only included those the intelligence services knew about and that the actual number could be double. He said there had been 200 terrorist convictions in Britain since the September 11 attacks. The MI5 head added that over recent years much of the command and inspiration for attack planning in the UK had come from al Qaeda's remaining core leadership in the tribal areas of Pakistan. However, he said in the last 12 months terrorist plots on British soil were increasingly inspired by al Qaeda cadres in other countries, including in Iraq and East Africa. "There is no doubt now that al Qaeda in Iraq aspires to promote terrorist attacks outside Iraq. There is no doubt that there is training activity and terrorist planning in East Africa -- particularly in Somalia -- which is focused on the UK," he told the Society of Editors meeting. According to Evans, there had been "no decrease" in the number of Russian covert intelligence officers operating in Britain since the end of the Cold War. He said that resources that could be devoted to counter-terrorism were instead being used to protect Britain against spying by Russia, China and others. "A number of countries continue to devote considerable time and energy trying to steal our sensitive technology on civilian and military projects and trying to obtain political and economic intelligence at our expense," he said. E-mail to a friend . | MI5 chief Jonathan Evans says at least 2,000 people in Britain pose a threat to security. Evans: terrorists are "radicalizing, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people" he said there had been 200 terrorist convictions in Britain since the 9/11 attacks. | UK intel chief says children as young as 15 involved in terrorist-related activity .
Jonathan Evans: At least 2,000 people in Britain who pose threat to security .
MI5 chief said the actual number could be double that . | 493fa8c40d1bc26ed1d25633c779b13bc33efdba |
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- You must know what's really driving the immigration debate. It's the culture, stupid. Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Some opponents of immigration, even the legal kind, fear changes in local culture. Immigration restrictionists -- and by that, I mean those who want to limit all immigration, even the legal kind -- like to pretend they're so high-minded. Yet they can't help themselves. They always take the low road and harken back to the nativism that greeted earlier waves of immigrants. The restrictionists insist that what bothers them are merely practical concerns: that our borders aren't secure, that so many immigrants are coming into the country illegally, and that the new arrivals are burdening schools and draining social services once they get here. Really? If that's the extent of it, then why does the conversation quickly turn to the impact -- both real and perceived -- that immigrants have on American culture through everything from taco trucks to Spanish-language billboards. That seems to be the issue in North Dakota, where, according to a recent article in USA Today, towns facing tough economic times are nonetheless resisting a cultural transfusion that could save them. In Cooperstown, the locals opposed efforts to bring in a hog plant and a dairy, because those kind of dirty and hard jobs are likely to attract ... guess who? American kids who work at Starbucks? Nope. The article quotes Orville Tranby, a local community leader in Cooperstown, who says that some residents have told him "face to face" that such facilities might attract Hispanic immigrants who could change the local culture. You'll find the same fear in Lewisburg, Tennessee. Not long ago, an employee at a local library came up with the radical idea of a bilingual story time where children could hear tales read to them in Spanish. Townspeople wanted no part of that. They demanded that all books purchased by the library, or even donated, be in English-only. These stories are ridiculous, but they're also helpful. They illustrate what some people are really concerned about with immigration, and it goes well beyond words like "legal" or "illegal." It's the perception that the country is becoming more Hispanic, that Spanish is replacing English, that Hispanic immigrants are weakening American identity, and that Main Street is turning into Little Mexico. A leader of the vigilante Minuteman movement moronically called it the "colonization" of the United States. This sort of rhetoric is all about fear -- that those who thrive in the dominant culture are losing their primacy, that the mainstream is being polluted by foreigners, and that our children are going to live in a world where they're going to have to work a lot harder to keep up. It conjures up the alarm bells that Benjamin Franklin set off about German immigrants in the late 18th century, who he insisted could never adopt the culture of the English, but would "swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours." It popped up in the mid-19th century amid worries that Chinese immigrants were "unassimilable," which led to Congress approving the explicitly-named Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. And it helped welcome the 20th century when Massachusetts Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge warned that immigrants (read: the Irish) were diluting "the quality of (U.S.) citizenship" and others complained that Italian immigrants were uneducated, low skilled, apt to send all their money to their home country and prone to criminal activity. Where have we heard that before? And when will we hear it again? After all, Hispanics may be the latest group to find themselves in a culture war with nativists. But they won't be the last. Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune and a nationally syndicated columnist. You can read his column here. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. E-mail to a friend . | ruben navarette: opponents of immigration fear changes in local culture. navarette: some fear that the country is becoming more Hispanic. he says the real issue is the perception that immigrants weaken american identity. navarette: if we want to keep our culture, we need to change our attitudes. | Navarrette: Opponents see Hispanic immigrants as weakening U.S. identity .
One town demanded all library books be in English, Navarrette says .
Hispanics the latest to find themselves at center of culture war . | 56d7d67bb0fc32ee71cc006b915244776d883661 |
ROME, Italy -- Mauro Camoranesi scored with 13 minutes left to earn Juventus a 1-1 home draw with Serie A leaders Inter Milan on Sunday. Julio Cruz is mobbed by team-mates after giving Inter the lead in their 1-1 draw at Juventus. Camoranesi picked up a headed knock-down from substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta before seeing his shot deflect off defender Walter Samuel to leave goalkeeper Julio Cesar helpless. Inter took a first-half lead when Argentine striker Julio Cruz broke Juve's offside trap and latched onto Brazilian midfielder Cesar's through ball before firing past Gianluigi Buffon. The result means Inter retain their unbeaten record this season, despite injury problems that saw the likes of Patrick Vieira, Francesco Toldo, Marco Materazzi and Dejan Stankovic ruled out. The defending champions are now two points clear of Fiorentina at the top of the table, with Roma a point further behind and Juventus in fourth place. Earlier in the day, Roma missed out on the chance to close the gap on Inter when a late collapse saw them throw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Empoli. First half goals from French winger Ludovic Giuly and Matteo Brighi had put the visiting Romans in charge and for more than an hour they looked set to cruise to victory. But with 23 minutes remaining Ighli Vannucchi reduced the deficit and Sebastian Giovinco snatched an injury time equaliser to deny Luciano Spaletti's injury-depleted team. Siena snatched a share of the spoils from Parma in a 2-2 draw as Daniele Galloppa scored in the last minute while Napoli needed an injury time goal from striker Ezequiel Lavezzi to deny rock-bottom Reggina their first win of the season, forcing them to settle for a 1-1 draw in the south. E-mail to a friend . | Mauro camoranesi scores with 13 minutes left to earn Juventus 1-1 draw at inter. argentine striker Julio Cruz gave inter the lead after breaking offside trap. defending champions now two points clear of Serie a leaders fiorentina. | A Mauro Camoranesi goal earns Juventus a 1-1 draw with leaders Inter Milan .
Argentine striker Julio Cruz had given injury-hit Inter the lead in the first half .
The result maintains Inter's unbeaten record and moves them two points clear . | 2b08ee205946dc0bb6ffe0db654cbbba1199eb28 |
(CNN) -- One Australian soldier, three civilians and Taliban militants were killed early Friday during heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan, according to information from Australian and NATO officials. Four Australian troops have now died in the conflict in Afghanistan. The incident occurred in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province, where Taliban militants killed an Australian commando, the Australian Defence Ministry said. The 26-year-old commando -- Pvt. Luke Worsley of Sydney -- served with the Special Operations Task Group. This is the fourth Australian troop to die in the Afghan conflict. "The action in which Private Worsley died only concluded in the last few hours and was characterized by heavy, close quarter fighting. The SOTG was conducting an operation to clear an identified Taliban bomb making facility in Uruzgan province, when the soldier was hit by small arms fire," Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said "a significant number of Taliban insurgents were killed or captured as part of the operation. Taliban insurgents initiated the firefight which lasted several hours." Gen. Carlos Branco, ISAF spokesman, said it is not known how the civilians, two women and a child, died. "However, we do know that the insurgents fired upon ISAF soldiers from the compound in which the Afghan civilians (two women and one child) were found after the fight. ISAF makes all effort to prevent losses of innocent civilian lives." E-mail to a friend . | one soldier, three civilians and Taliban militants killed in southern Afghanistan. incident occurred in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province. this is the fourth australian troop to die in the Afghan conflict. | Taliban militants kill Australian commando in southern Afghanistan .
He was shot during operation to clear Taliban bomb making facility in Uruzgan .
This is the fourth Australian soldier to die in the conflict in Afghanistan .
Several militants killed and a coalition troop injured in other fighting in southeast . | 782c4bdaee73189103d2e05748717b3ea0e89e5d |
HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- An 18-year-old authorities say shot eight people inside his high school in southern Finland, before turning the gun on himself, has died, police said. An image from a video posted on YouTube by "Sturmgeist89." The shooting appeared to have been planned out in graphic videos posted on Internet file-sharing site YouTube. At a news conference this afternoon, police confirmed the dead numbered two girls, five boys and the school's headmistress at Jokela High in Tuusula, a quiet town around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Helsinki. Ten other people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The shooter, whom police identified as Pekka Eric Auvinen, died at Toolo Hospital, authorities said. Police said he took his own life. It was the first school shooting in Finland since 1989, when a 14-year-old student shot and killed two others in the coastal town of Rauma, the Finnish news agency STT reported. Police said Auvinen is from Tuusula and who acted alone. He had no previous criminal record and had never threatened anyone from the school before, they added. Auvinen published a manifesto online demanding war on the "weak-minded masses" and pledged to die for his cause. Watch Auvinen fire weapons in video from his Web page » . YouTube appeared to have removed 89 videos linked to his account, many of them featuring Nazi imagery, shortly after the incident. Finnish media reported someone posted a message two weeks ago on the Web site, warning of a bloodbath at the school. A video posted earlier Wednesday, by "Sturmgeist89," was titled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007." "Sturmgeist89" identified himself as Auvinen, and said he chose the name "Sturmgeist" because it means "storm spirit" in German. The video showed a picture of the school, which then disintegrated to reveal two images of Auvinen against a red background, pointing a gun at the screen. The clip is accompanied by the song "Stray Bullet" from rock band KMFDM. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the students behind the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, also cited that group's lyrics. Another short video clip, called "Just Testing My Gun," showed Auvinen loading and cocking a handgun. He fired and hit several pieces of fruit in a wooded area; the camera then showed a close-up of the destroyed fruit, and then a full-screen shot of him again. He waved at the camera and then walked out of view. The site indicated that the youth appeared to be fascinated with killing. As well as video footage of the Columbine school shootings, it also included clips of the 1993 Waco siege in the United States, the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo, and bombs falling on Baghdad during the 2003 invasion. Many showed victims being wheeled away or people running for their lives. Throughout all of this, the single word "DIE" constantly flashed across the screen. Other video clips included Nazi-war-criminal footage. In the rambling text posted on the site, Auvinen said that he is "a cynical existentialist, anti-human humanist, anti-social social-Darwinist, realistic idealist and god-like atheist. "I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," he wrote. "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection." The police said at this afternoon's press conference that they had been fired at when they arrived at the school at 11.45 p.m. local time (9.45 a.m. GMT). They described the scene as chaotic, with some of the 460 students, ranging in age from 12 to 18, breaking windows in an attempt to escape. When the police's special SWAT unit entered the high school they found the gunman unconscious and in critical condition in the lower lobby of the building with a gunshot wound to his head. Police assume he tried to take his own life as no officers fired at him. Several bodies were also found in the same location, where the shooting is believed to have begun, they added. They could not confirm comments by some students that Auvinen was firing through doors. Police also said that the gun Auvinen used, which was fully licensed, had been purchased less than a month ago on October 19. The legal age limit to own a gun in Finland is 18, which Auvinen passed in June of this year. He had a recommendation from a shooting club when he obtained the gun, police added, and practised sharp-shooting as a hobby at a shooting range. Finland, which enjoys a strong tradition of hunting, has a high proportion of gun ownership, with two million firearms owned in a nation of only five million. The Associated Press reported comments from Kim Kiuru, one of the school's teachers, on radio station YLE. Kiuru described how the headmistress used the public address system around noon to tell pupils to stay in classrooms. He said he locked his classroom door, then waited in the corridor for more news. "After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun in his hand through the doors towards me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction, " Kiuru said. The agency reported Kiuru as saying that he saw a woman's body as he fled the school, before telling his pupils to leave the building through the windows. E-mail to a friend . Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | police say pekka auvinen, 18, shot eight people at school before turning gun on himself. auvinen posted videos on YouTube showing graphic violence. police say he was a cynical existentialist, anti-human humanist. auvinen killed himself, police say; he was 18 years old. | NEW: Teen gunman is dead, Finnish police say .
Eight people, including headmistress, shot at Finnish school, say police .
Firearm bought legally last month, shooting began in school's lower lobby .
Shooting appeared to have been planned in series of YouTube videos . | 87385fb51ac9eaf76e8421723c94410f724750fc |
LONDON, England -- France coach Raymond Domenech has again omitted striker David Trezeguet from his squad for this month's friendly against Morocco and the Euro 2008 qualifier against the Ukraine. Happier times: David Trezeguet celebrates after scoring for Juventus against Torino. Trezeguet has scored scored 10 goals in 11 Serie A matches for Juventus this season -- including two hat-tricks -- but has failed to win his way back into the 24-man party. The 29-year-old, who last played for France in the 1-0 home defeat by Scotland in September, was furious after being dropped for the games against Lithuania and the Faroe Islands. He played no part as Domenech's team overtook the Scots at the top of Group B with comfortable victories last month. The coach said: "David is having a great start to the season with Juventus, but he's in competition for a place. If we qualify, the Euro 2008 will be in eight months. A lot of things can happen in between. "I hope David will help Juventus win the Italian league title and that he will be at the Euro 2008 with us, and that he will find his form again for France." Domenech has again included young Lyon forward Hatem Ben Arfa, who made his debut as a substitute against the Faroes and scored the final goal in a 6-0 victory. Ben Arfa is joined in the squad by club-mate Karim Benzema, while Bolton's Nicholas Anelka is also among the forwards named despite still recovering from an injury. Captain Patrick Vieira is ruled out due to injury, but the Inter Milan midfielder will join up with the squad anyway. "A player of Patrick's dimension is going to be missed, but we just have to accept it and get on with it. Pat should be coming to see us because he's a leader, and he's the captain," Domenech added. France face the Moroccans on November 16 and then travel to the Ukraine on November 21. Domenech's team will qualify for the finals if Italy beat Scotland at Hampden on November 17. If the Glasgow game ends in a draw, France will need at least a point in Kiev to book their ticket. France squad: Goalkeepers: M Landreau (Paris St Germain), S Frey (Fiorentina), U Rame (Bordeaux). Defenders: E Abidal (Barcelona, P Evra (Manchester United), W Gallas (Arsenal), B Sagna (Arsenal), L Thuram (Barcelona), S Squillaci (Lyon), F Clerc (Lyon). Midfielders: A Diarra (Bordeaux), L Diarra (Arsenal), M Flamini (Arsenal), C Makelele (Chelsea), J Rothen (PSG), J Toulalan (Lyon), S Nasri (Marseille). Strikers: N Anelka (Bolton), H Ben Arfa (Lyon), K Benzema (Lyon), S Govou (Lyon), T Henry (Barcelona), F Malouda (Chelsea), F Ribery (Bayern Munich). E-mail to a friend . | striker David Trezeguet is omitted from the squad for the friendly against Morocco. the 29-year-old has scored 10 goals in 11 Serie A matches for Juventus this season. he was dropped for the games against Lithuania and the faroe islands. | David Trezeguet omitted from France squad to play Morocco and the Ukraine .
The Juventus striker last played for his country in the 1-0 defeat by Scotland .
He was dropped for the wins against Lithuania and the Faroe Islands . | 20528eb48341b50c0083fcf5a9d114b39040e5c1 |
(CNN) -- Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs tried to hang himself earlier this year while he was in jail awaiting trial, according to court documents unsealed by a Utah judge on Tuesday. Sect leader Warren Jeffs arrives in court to hear the verdict against him September 25 in St. George, Utah. Jeffs, the leader and so-called prophet of the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is now awaiting sentencing after being convicted on two counts of being an accomplice to rape. The documents, released by Fifth District Judge James Shumate at the request of the media, also indicate that Jeffs confessed to "immorality" with a "sister" and a daughter more than 30 years ago. Among the documents is a competency report on Jeffs completed in April, in which social worker Eric Nielsen wrote that throughout the month of January, Jeffs refused food and drink and developed ulcers on his knees from kneeling in prayer for hours. On January 28, the report said, he attempted to hang himself in his cell. In the days following the suicide attempt, while he was on suicide watch, Jeffs on separate occasions threw himself against the wall and banged his head on the wall. Jail transcripts show that Jeffs' suicide attempt came three days after a visit with his brother, Nephi, in which he said, "I am not the prophet. I never was the prophet, and I have been deceived by the powers of evil ... I ask for everyone's forgiveness." Jeffs also told his brother: "Farewell forever." The day before that, Jeffs told a follower in a phone conversation that he was "covered with immorality with a sister and a daughter when I was younger." In the FLDS, members call adult women "sister," and Jeffs' meaning was unclear. Jeffs' defense attorneys, who argued against the release of the documents, said in a motion opposing the unsealing of the statements that Jeffs recanted them the following month. Defense attorneys claim Jeffs' medical condition influenced his state of mind when the statements were made. They presented Shumate with a letter from another Jeffs attorney, arguing that the statements' release could influence an Arizona jury when Jeffs stands trial in that state. Jeffs, 51, was convicted in September of being an accomplice to rape. He was accused of using his religious influence over his followers to coerce a 14-year-old girl into marriage to her 19-year-old cousin. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison when he is sentenced November 20. The FLDS -- which is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church -- is based in the side-by-side border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. Jeffs, a former school headmaster, is the son of the sect's previous president and "prophet," Rulon Jeffs, who died in 2002. Jeffs was on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list when he was arrested in August 2006 outside Las Vegas, Nevada. Critics say that inside the FLDS, marriages are arranged for girls as young as 13, and competition for brides may be reduced by exiling male teens and young men. If male followers are excommunicated, critics claim, wives and children can be reassigned. During Jeffs' trial, defense attorneys claimed authorities were persecuting Jeffs because of his religious beliefs, including practicing polygamy as the way to heaven. If Jeffs disavowed being the prophet of the FLDS, it could cause upheaval within the secretive sect. However, two of his followers who spoke to CNN -- although FLDS members usually do not talk to reporters -- said they do not believe he made the statements. "He is a perfectly priestly man," said a woman who identified herself as Cathy. "He is a man of God, and we will always love him. Once a prophet, always a prophet." Her husband, Patrick, told CNN, "It's hogwash. I don't believe it ... I will always consider him my prophet." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Gary Tuchman contributed to this report. | polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs tried to hang himself in jail awaiting trial. court documents say he confessed to "immorality" with a "sister" and a daughter. he was convicted in september of being an accomplice to rape. his defense attorneys say his medical condition influenced his state of mind. | Documents say after suicide attempt, Jeffs repeatedly banged head on cell wall .
Transcripts say Jeffs confessed to "immorality," said he is not "the prophet"
Jeffs' attorneys say he has recanted statements .
Jeffs due to be sentenced November 20 on accomplice to rape charge . | 412630c97420afb50e5278d3406e0cf4b08d0b77 |
SHANGHAI, China -- Championship leader Lewis Hamilton spun out of the Chinese Grand Prix to send the world title race to a cliffhanger finale in Brazil on October 21. A disconsolate Lewis Hamilton leaves his car after spinning into the gravel trap in Shanghai. Rookie Hamilton can still clinch the crown with third place in the closing race, but saw his 12-point lead cut to four by McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso in Shanghai. The Spaniard finished second behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who also kept his title hopes alive by moving within seven points of Hamilton. The young Briton started the race in pole position and at one stage led Raikkonen by more than eight seconds as he again showed superb skills in the wet conditions. However, the 22-year-old stayed out on the drying track too long in his wet tires, which deteriorated at an alarming rate to let Finland's Raikkonen take the lead. And when Hamilton -- who won in Japan last week to give himself the chance of clinching the title this weekend -- finally headed toward the pit lane, he spun out onto the gravel to end his chances with 25 laps to go. Raikkonen and Alonso both switched to dry tires on the 32nd of the 56 laps, with the Finn going on to win by by 9.8 seconds for his fifth victory this season -- one more than both Hamilton and Alonso. Raikkone's team-mate Felipe Massa was third, while fourth place was claimed by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Vettel, who was last week reprimanded for causing an accident in Japan behind the safety car while Hamilton was cleared of any wrongdoing. Britain's Jenson Button was fifth in a Honda ahead of Vettel's team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, while Germany's Nick Heidfeld was seventh for BMW Sauber and David Coulthard of Scotland took the final point for Red Bull. Hamilton was still confident he could bounce back after suffering his first retirement of the season. "I'm sorry for the team but I can still do it, don't worry," he said. "When I got out of the car I was just gutted because it was my first mistake all year, and to do it on the way into the pits was not something I usually do. "You cannot go through life without making mistakes. But I am over it and we look forward to Brazil. The team will be working hard to make sure the car is quick enough there, and we still have points in the bag. "We were having a great race and we didn't know if it was going to rain or not. The tyres were getting worse and worse and you could almost see the canvas underneath. When I came into the pits it was like ice, I couldn't do anything about it." McLaren boss Ron Dennis refused to blame his driver or his team for the spin-off. "It's too extreme to say anyone made a mistake in this. It has been a very competitive season between our drivers and it will go on for another Grand Prix," Dennis said. "I don't think we did anything dramatically wrong and neither did Lewis. But the circuit was considerably drier than the pit lane entrance. That's what made the difference. "It was easy to say that we could have stopped earlier, but would it have made a difference? All the top teams -- Ferrari and ourselves -- were trying to get through the rain and straight onto a dry tire." Alonso, who qualified for the race in fourth, is seeking to become the third driver to win three world titles. "The result was good today and the eight points are a help for sure," he said. "I think the championship will still be very difficult because I know it will not be easy to take four points from Lewis. "I need something dramatic if I want to win. With a normal race it will be impossible." Raikkonen added: "We are back in the championship and it will be interesting in the final race. "Hopefully the car is good and it will be a battle all weekend. It is not just up to us though, we saw today that anything can happen, but we are back in the championship." E-mail to a friend . | championship leader Lewis Hamilton spins out of the Chinese grand prix. british driver's 12-point lead cut to four points by team-mate Fernando Alonso. he finishes second behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who moves within seven points of Hamilton. | Lewis Hamilton fails to clinch world title after spinning out of the Chinese GP .
Briton's lead cut to four points by McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso .
Alonso finished second in Shanghai behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen . | dcd60a85e1e17ec0163a925c9412d480fd08072f |
(CNN) -- As part of an effort to share the best practices of modern business among organizations across the globe, CNN is talking to some of the world's top executives. In line with this, CNN will be hosting three events looking at modern strategies in today's business arena. The first of these master classes will be based at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai and will be aired November 10 and 11. One of the guests at the event will be Howard Schultz, chairman of the international coffee shop chain Starbucks. He will be part of a live discussion at the master class and will take questions that you, the CNN audience, put to him. As the head of a coffee empire that now boasts over 12,000 stores and recorded revenues in 2006 of $7.8 billion, Schultz is well equipped to tackle questions on the best ways to succeed in today's business world. The CNN Boardroom Master classes will take place in the homes of the world's largest stock markets -- Shanghai, New York and London. It airs on November10 at 2115 and November 11 at 0115 & 1615 HKT. E-mail to a friend . | CNN will host three events looking at modern strategies in today's business arena. the first of these master classes will be based at the china Europe international business school in Shanghai. one of the guests at the event will be Howard Schultz, chairman of the international coffee shop chain Starbucks. | CNN will host three Boardroom Master Classes with business experts .
The first event will feature Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz .
Schultz will take e-mail and video questions from the CNN audience . | 805644d370fae7b0492174c54c00e86eff742735 |
(CNN) -- This week MME speaks to the man charged with boosting growth in the Kingdom of Bahrain: Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa. Sheikh Mohammed is concerned the nuclear dispute with Iran is deterring potential investors . As chief executive of the Economic Development Board, one of Sheikh Mohammed's main tasks is to ensure Bahrain stays ahead of its competitors. The government's pushing ahead with economic reforms to reduce the Kingdom's dependence on oil. But with crude prices near $100 a barrel, John Defterios asked whether the appetite for change had diminished. SM: The reforms are being done for aspirational reasons rather than necessity, so we are trying to enter the post-oil area because we want to. And therefore, because of this aspirational aspect, trying to get to as opposed to people pushing us somewhere we don't want to go. JD: How do you redefine Bahrain's role? Traditionally it's been a financial center, but you have Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai even Abu Dhabi emerging in financial services. How you redefine it to sustain a lead? SM: The rising tide lifts a lot of places and as the region is booming and growing, financial services are growing throughout the region. Bahrain's strengths have been and will continue to be its human capital, the people that have led the financial sector and the long standing regulations that have been established in Bahrain. JD: Strategically and a geopolitical question here: the Crown Prince came out and declared what Iran's intentions really are -- in his view -- for a nuclear policy, and called for greater diplomacy right ahead of a visit by the President of Iran to the country. What's the motivation here? SM: We feel that the distraction caused by the Iranian nuclear issue is holding investment back in the region as a whole, and increasing the security threat of the region. Nobody is debating the right to peaceful nuclear power, but we all have that need and we all need a peaceful resolution to this. JD: Historically, Iran has even made claims against Bahrain, what do you do now moving forward now? Do you bring Russia, China, the United States and the European Union closer together, in terms of where we should be going in the future? SM: We've resolved our historical issue with Iran, and we are well beyond that, but going forward... This is such a important issue affecting security worldwide, that we feel it is important and at a level high enough that we need all powers involved because it does affect everybody. JD: Can the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) become much tighter as an organization to have a voice in that process; as opposed to speaking from the sidelines and hoping that the major powers move forward? SM: Absolutely, I mean, the GCC is speaking with a unified voice. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came out with a proposal for providing nuclear fuel from an independent authority; this was completely backed from the GCC. We are all moving forward and are willing to play a beneficial role to resolve this issue. Meet the Sheikh: . Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa is chief executive of the Economic Development Board, the organization responsible for stimulating and supporting growth of the Bahraini economy. He was appointed in June 2005, following 10 years working directly for His Highness Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defense Force and Chairman of the Economic Development Board. From 1995 to 1999, he was director of the Crown Prince's office. In 1999, he was appointed head of the court and also deputy head of the Crown Prince's International Scholarship Program. During this time, Sheikh Mohammed was heavily involved with the Crown Prince's initiatives to liberalize the telecommunications sector and with labor market and economic reforms. A keen motor sports enthusiast, Sheikh Mohammed was deputy board chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit and is a former vice president of the Bahrain Motor Club, now known as the Bahrain Motor Federation. Sheikh Mohammed, who is married with two sons and one daughter, was born on April 14, 1969. In 1992, he received a bachelor's degree in economic theory from the American University, Washington DC. Two years later, he received a post-graduate diploma in business studies from the London School of Economics. (source: Bahrain Economic Development Board) E-mail to a friend . | sheikh Mohammed bin isa al-khalifa is chief executive of the economic development board. he is concerned the nuclear dispute with Iran is deterring potential investors. the kingdom is pushing ahead with economic reforms to reduce its dependence on oil. | Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa steers Bahrain's economic growth .
Says Bahrain's strength is its "human capital" in the finance sector .
Calls on world to unite to resolve nuclear dispute with Iran . | 3aa0ef8cac31a60076c43a9484792b59372edb64 |
ALGIERS, Algeria (CNN) -- Rescuers are sifting through the rubble of the United Nations headquarters in Algiers hoping to find survivors after a powerful bomb ripped off the building's facade and leveled nearby U.N. offices. Rescuers and bomb experts search for survivors in the rubble of a destroyed building. It was one of two suspected car bombs that struck Algiers within 10 minutes of each other. The death toll is unclear: the official government count is at least 26, but hospital sources in Algiers told CNN affiliate BFM-TV that 76 people were killed in the two blasts. A statement from the United Nations said 45 people were reported killed. Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni blamed a militant Islamic group with ties to al Qaeda for the attacks, which also targeted a building housing Algeria's Constitutional Council and Supreme Court. In a posting on an Islamist Web site, the group al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility. CNN could not immediately corroborate that claim, but the Web site is known to carry messages, claims and videos from al Qaeda and other militant groups. In the posting, the bombers were identified as Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Othman and Abdel Rahman Abu Abdel Nasser al-Asimi. It said two trucks were filled with "no less than 800 kg (1,763 pounds) of explosives." The group called the operation "another successful conquest and a second epic that the knights of faith have dictated with their blood, defending the wounded Islamic nation and in defiance to the Crusaders and their agents, the slaves of America and the sons of France." At least 10 U.N. staffers were among those killed, according to U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe. The offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees -- located across the street from the U.N. headquarters -- were leveled by a blast that struck about 9:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday. "Our offices are basically destroyed now, nothing works," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said from its Geneva headquarters. Watch his full interview . He said rescuers are working into the night trying to get to the trapped U.N. workers. "It's a very serious situation still with the U.N. in Algiers," he said. In a strongly worded statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned what he called "an abjectly cowardly strike against civilian officials serving humanity's highest ideals under the U.N. banner." "The perpetrators of these crimes will not escape the strongest possible condemnation -- and ultimate punishment -- by Algerian authorities and the international community," Ban said in the written statement. He said he has sent senior advisers and other top U.N. officials to head to Algiers to assist in the investigation and rescue effort. Most of those killed in the coordinated attacks were victims of the first suspected car bombing near the Constitutional Council -- which oversees elections -- and Supreme Court in the Algiers neighborhood of Ben Aknoun, according to the state-run Algeria Press Agency. That blast struck a bus outside the targeted building, killing many of those on board, the news agency reported. One man said he heard the first blast then the second exploded in front of him. "I saw the trees falling and the glass shattering in front of me. I had to run away from the car," he said. Zerhouni said the attack was the work of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), the same group that took responsibility for an attack in April in downtown Algiers that killed 33 people. That group also uses the name al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb after merging with al Qaeda earlier this year. It abandoned small-scale attacks in favor of headline-grabbing blasts after it joined with al Qaeda. CNN International Security Correspondent Paula Newton said the merger combined the expertise of Algerian guerrillas with the operational ability of al Qaeda in North Africa, enabling the group to penetrate the usually extensive security in high-profile areas of Algiers. She said the group's goal is to destabilize countries like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, which it sees as enemies of the Islamic state. Zerhouni said police interrogations of GSPC members arrested in the wake of the April attack revealed that Algeria's Constitutional Council and Supreme Court were on a list of GSPC targets. Algeria, which has a population of 33 million, is still recovering from more than a decade of violence that began after the military government called a halt to elections which an Islamist party was poised to win. Tens of thousands of people died in the unrest. Although the country has remained relatively peaceful, recent terrorist attacks have raised fears of a slide back to violence. E-mail to a friend . | new: algeria blames militant Islamic group with ties to al Qaeda for attack. new: al Qaeda Islamic maghreb claims responsibility on an Islamist Web site. new: algeria's interior minister says the group is behind the attacks. the blasts hit the same area where the constitutional council and supreme court are. | Two bombs explode in Algerian capital near government and U.N. buildings .
Algeria blames group linked to al Qaeda .
Official death toll is 26, but some sources say as high as 76 .
U.N. officials say five of its staff killed and 14 missing . | 4cf51ce9372dff8ff7f44f098eab1c1d7569af7a |
MADRID, Spain -- Lionel Messi scored for the sixth game in a row as Barcelona defeated big-spending Atletico Madrid 3-0 to stay in touch with Primera Liga leaders Real Madrid. Messi (left) is congratulated by Ronaldinho after scoring again in Barcelona's 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid. Barcelona had thumped Atletico 6-0 on their own ground last season and the visitors were out for revenge -- but conceded twice in four minutes. After 15 minutes, Italian goalkeeper Christian Abbiati let a routine Messi cross slip out of his hands and Deco rolled home into the empty net. Four minutes later Messi played a great one-two with Ronaldinho and rifled a shot past Abbiati for his sixth goal of the season and Xavi added a third late on. "It was a deserved victory against a rival that we have had problems with in the past," explained Barca coach Frank Rijkaard. "We scored twice in quick succession and then we controlled the match using aggression and with the team attacking and defending as a unit." "Conceding two early goals inside four minutes is not easy to turn around especially against Barcelona," admitted Atletico coach Javier Aguirre. It was Barcelona's fourth straight league win but they still trail Real Madrid by two points after the champions beat Recreativo Huleva 2-0. Dutch international Ruud van Nistelrooy, the league's top-scorer last season, scored on 72 minutes before Gonzalo Higuain netted in the final minute to keep Real at the summit. Luck deserted them when Wesley Sneijder hit the post but Van Nistelrooy scored in the final quarter hour before Higuain struck to keep them two points clear at the top. Real have made their best start since 1991 but coach Bernd Schuster's rotation policy has been questioned with the German chopping and changing his team. "It was an important victory because it is the final match before we go away on international duty," said Dutch winger Arjen Robben. "We are now top for the next two weeks and can build on that when we return." Villarreal, now four points behind Real, lost for only the second time in 15 matches with a 3-2 reverse against Osasuna. Sevilla, third last season, are in a crisis after losing their fourth league game in a row with a goal from Riki handing Deportivo La Coruna a surprise 1-0 win. Sevilla have just six points from their first six matches and are 13 points behind Real. Levante's Abel Resino became the first Spanish league coach to be sacked this season, after their 3-0 home loss to Real Zaragoza. . The 47-year-old Resino, a former goalkeeper at Atletico Madrid, joined Levante in January as a replacement for Juan Ramon Lopez Caro. The Valencia-based club are bottom of the table with only a point from seven matches. E-mail to a friend . | Lionel messi scores six goals in a row as barcelona defeat atletico 3-0. the win keeps barca two points behind leaders real madrid after 2-0 win. villarreal lose for only the second time in 15 matches with 3-2 defeat at home to Osasuna. | Lionel Messi scores for the sixth game in a row as Barca defeat Atletico 3-0 .
Real Madrid stay top of the Primera Liga table after defeating Recreativo 2-0 .
Sevilla's crisis continues as they lose their four league match in succession . | ea06fd0b25cb9793397a51de73fd83f91b4323fa |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- There are some circuits that are cornerstones of the Formula 1 calendar: the Monacos and Silverstones whose every twist and turn are known intimately by the drivers and engineers. Then there are the newer circuits -- Malaysia and Bahrain, for instance -- but even these have become familiar to the drivers and their backroom boffins. Fuji Speedway employees pose behind a scale model of the new circuit and in front of an overhead view. Next week they have something completely new to contend with: a track that has yet to see a single F1 team put in a single lap. The Japan Grand Prix is to return to the Fuji Speedway, a circuit that hasn't seen an F1 race since 1977 (though now with a substantially different track layout). The Fuji circuit will be familiar to fans of classic arcade games. The old Fuji Speedway was the setting for the 1982 arcade game Pole Position (released by Namco in Japan and Atari in the rest of the world). The most notable aspect of the circuit is the vision of Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain, looming in the distance. Though the move to this picturesque location is not without its controversies. The Suzuka track -- which had held Japanese Grands Prix between 1987 and 2006 -- had been popular with drivers and fans alike, but for this year and the next the Japanese Grand Prix will be held at Fuji. However an announcement by Formula One Management (FOM) this month revealed that Suzuka will return to the calendar for 2009 -- on the condition that the circuit makes some approved modifications -- with the location of the Japanese Grand Prix alternating yearly between Fuji and Suzuka after that. Behind the scenes is a political battleground -- both circuits are owned by car manufacturers with F1 connections -- Honda owns Suzuka, Toyota owns Fuji. Toyota is a relative newcomer to F1 but, having this year surpassed General Motors as the world's number one automobile manufacturer, and reputedly having the best funded team in the paddock (a position that hasn't been reflected in sporting success), it is not without clout. The redesign of the Fuji track was carried out by Hermann Tilke in 2003. Tilke, a German architect redesigned a number of F1 circuits in the 1990s and has since designed many new grand prix tracks including Malaysia, Istanbul, Bahrain and Shanghai, and the tracks for 2008's debut grands prix in Singapore and Valencia. So how do F1 teams prepare for a new circuit such as Fuji without data from previous races to fall back on? The answer lies with computer simulation. Computer-aided design (CAD) is as much a part of the design of a circuit these days as it is a part of the design of the high-tech cars. Every bend, every straight and every camber is fastidiously analyzed on screen before an ounce of dirt is shifted on the ground itself. Despite never having raced on the circuit, the teams have been testing their cars on a virtual Fuji Speedway for some time. BMW Sauber's simulation experts received CAD data from the Japanese race organizers late last year. And when their cars arrive at Fuji for testing next week, their race set-up should be close to optimum. The circuit was analyzed and broken up into between 500 and 800 segments. The radius of each individual segment was measured, allowing the engineers to exactly calculate the optimum racing line (the route around the circuit that covers the shortest possible distance). Then the effects of factors such as gradients and inclines were calculated. The slightest change in angle of a gradient can have significant effects on the downforce and aerodynamic profile of a car. "In order to avoid losing precious time during the race weekend, we need to have as accurate as possible a picture of downforce levels, gearbox ratios and brake specification in advance," says Willy Rampf, Technical Director of the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Dieter Glass, Chief Race and Test Engineer with Toyota F1 explains: . "You start to determine what downforce level gives the best lap time on the new circuit. Once you know that, you look into which gear ratios suit the track with the given level of downforce, before you get into more detailed simulations of different set-up solutions. "Getting a bit closer to the weekend, you start running race simulations in order to predict the optimum race strategy. This prediction takes into account estimates of relevant characteristics of the new track, like the degradation of the two Bridgestone tire compounds and the effect the fuel has on lap time. If you have more fuel in the car, this affects your lap time, but we can accurately predict how much time is lost with every extra kilogram of fuel carried." One peculiarity of the Fuji circuit is the exceptionally long main straight, which at 1.475 km (0.916 miles) will allow for higher-than average-straight line speeds but, after the straight the track is relatively twisty. The teams have to find a balance between getting the most speed into the straight, and the best grip decelerating into the bends. "You have some very slow corners which require good mechanical grip," says Glass, "and as always you want good grip in general, but you have to balance that with the long straight, where you need low enough downforce to get a level of drag which allows you to have a good top speed." The testing may be virtual, but the teams hope that these virtual figures are a hair's breadth away from real world eventualities: . "Our aim is to ensure that the lap times and top speed calculated using the simulation software do not vary by more than one percent from the actual values," says Rampf. Not that everything can be predicted: "I think we are quite accurate but the ultimate response to that is very difficult to say for sure because it very much depends on what happens in the race," continues Glass. "Many incidents can happen, which then have a positive or an adverse affect on strategy." E-mail to a friend . | the japanese grand prix will return to the Fuji speedway in okinawa next week. the circuit has not seen an F1 race since 1977, but has been redesigned by a german. the new circuit will be familiar to fans of classic arcade games like pole position. the new circuit will be a test track for the teams who will be testing their cars. | Re-designed Fuji Speedway to host its first Japanese Grand Prix since 1977 .
Suzuka to alternate with Fuji from 2009 .
Computer models used to prepare teams for the unfamiliar circuit . | a150e93fa52eaba281aae9eabe28b3ee4155f296 |
NYON, Switzerland -- Celtic have been fined $50,800 by UEFA and AC Milan's Dida has been banned for two matches after the incident which saw a pitch-invading supporter approach the Brazilian goalkeeper in last week's Champions League match at Celtic Park. Dida's theatrical over-reaction has resulted in UEFA suspending him for two matches. The incident occurred when the Scottish side beat Milan 2-1 in Glasgow. A fan ran onto the field in the 90th minute, soon after the home side scored their winning goal, and made what appeared to be minimal contact with Dida. The Milan goalkeeper turned to chase the supporter before dropping to the ground. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and replaced. Dida's theatrical over-reaction has cost him severely -- but Celtic may choose not to complain about their own punishment, with half of their fine suspended for two years. UEFA did have the power to change the result of the match, although that was always unlikely. UEFA's control and disciplinary body found Celtic guilty of charges of "lack of organisation and improper conduct of supporters", while Dida was found to have breached UEFA's "principles of loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship". Milan have pledged to appeal against the punishment, which as it stands means he will miss the club's Champions League games against Shakhtar Donetsk. "It's a suspension that is absolutely excessive," said Milan lawyer Leandro Cantamessa. "It seems to us a very, very unbalanced sentence. It turns Dida into the protagonist of the incident, whereas the protagonist was someone else, and that's not right from a logical point of view." Celtic acted swiftly to punish the 27-year-old supporter, who turned himself in and has since admitted a breach of the peace in court and will be sentenced next month. The club banned the fan for life from all their matches, home and away. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said: "As a club we feel this penalty is proportionate to the incident in question and a fair outcome." E-mail to a friend . | AC milan's dida banned for two matches after pitch invasion incident. dida chased down a fan who approached the goalkeeper during Celtic's 2-1 win. Celtic fined $50,800 by UEFA and suspended the goalkeeper for two matches. | AC Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Dida is suspended by UEFA for two matches .
Dida was banned for his over-reacting to being touched by a Celtic supporter .
Celtic have been fined $50,800 for allowing the fan to run onto the field of play . | a0a84718168357049273f6e65133fd06e67cd6d2 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is blasting Congressional Democrats for not sending a bill that would fund veterans' care programs to the president's desk by Veterans Day. The White House's Dana Perino accused Democrats of holding veterans care funding hostage. "There's absolutely no reason that the veterans' bill could not have been signed by the president today, except for the political games that the Democrats decided to play with it," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Sunday in Crawford, Texas. Congressional Democrats had attached legislation funding veterans programs to a $150.7 billion bill that also funded a number of domestic priorities, including health, labor and education. Democrats also added $3.7 billion to what the president budgeted for veterans programs. The labor-health-education bill would increase funding by more than $10 billion over last year's funding for those programs. The president has threatened to veto the bill because of the added spending. The House passed a health-labor-education bill 269-142 last week with the veterans funding attached, but the Senate later voted to strip out the veterans funding and send the health-labor-education bill to the president. Perino accused the Democrats of "trying to hold hostage our veterans to extra domestic spending or increases in taxes." "The president wants clean legislation, a clean bill to fund the veterans," Perino said. On Saturday, the Democratic congressional leadership sent a letter to President Bush saying they welcomed a dialogue on spending, sayings disagreements over funding levels "have never been so great that we cannot reach agreement on a spending plan that meets the needs of the American people." "Key to this dialogue, however, is some willingness on your part to actually find common ground," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said in the letter. The leadership said last year's Congress, which was still under Republican control, had never passed a separate bill funding veterans programs. Congress also sent to the president legislation that would fund veterans care at the levels requested by the president through December 14, the leadership said. The current funding level "is still below the $3.9 billion extra that we passed," said Nadeam Elshami, spokesman Pelosi. "We are committed to getting the extra funding that the Congress already voted on the president's desk for his signature." The leadership blamed Republican members of Congress for stalling the funding for the veterans programs by blocking its inclusion in the larger spending bill. Perino, though, said the Democrats could still send a separate bill to the president funding the veterans program that passed both chambers of Congress. "The Democrats decided not to send the president this bill," Perino said. "That has to be laid at their feet." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report. | white house accuses democrats of holding veterans care funding hostage. veterans funding was attached to a $150.7 billion spending bill. president threatened to veto the bill because of the added spending. | White House accuses Democrats of holding hostage funding for veterans care .
Funding was attached to large health-labor-education bill .
White House says it wants a clean bill that only funds veterans programs .
Democrats call on White House to engage in a dialogue on spending levels . | b5833a27ee69d7540435e3c70af040c2b743f541 |
(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 . | three university of tex students emerge from cave complex in Austin, Texas. two women and one man reported missing early Sunday after trip into cave. 12,000-foot-long cave complex has few spaces big enough for adult to stand upright. | Three Austin cave explorers are safe and are out of the cave, officials said .
The University of Texas students went into Airman's Cave Saturday .
The 12,000 foot long cave complex has tight twists and turns .
Unclear exactly how the students lost their way, but cave is complex, official said . | 98dbba54da2a05bb04320aa0e4fb05fba3d75b63 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. first lady Laura Bush -- in a rare foray into foreign policy -- called on Myanmar's military junta to "step aside," give up the "terror campaigns" against its people and allow for a democratic Myanmar in a commentary published in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. U.S. first lady Laura Bush said the junta "should step aside to make way for a unified Burma." "Gen. Than Shwe and his deputies are a friendless regime," Bush said. "They should step aside to make way for a unified Burma [Myanmar] governed by legitimate leaders. "The rest of the armed forces should not fear this transition -- there is room for a professional military in a democratic Burma," Bush said, in keeping with the U.S. policy of still using Myanmar's former name. In Wednesday's commentary, Bush called on Myanmar's military leaders to release Aun Sung Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders so they can meet with and plan for a transition to democracy. "Meanwhile, the world watches -- and waits," Bush warns. "We know that Gen. Than Shwe and his deputies have the advantage of violent force. But Ms. Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders have moral legitimacy, the support of the Burmese people and the support of the world. "The regime's position grows weaker by the day. The generals' choice is clear: The time for a free Burma is now." The humanitarian rights situation in Myanmar has been a cause for the first lady in the past few months as the crisis there worsened. Myanmar state media has reported that 2,000 people were detained during the demonstrations and the crackdown against them -- under an emergency law imposed on September 25 banning assembly of more than five people -- and that 700 of those people have been released. The official death toll from Myanmar's leadership is at 10, but there are reports that hundreds were killed and thousands arrested in the wake of the demonstrations that peaked late September, which were led by Myanmar's Buddhist monks. On Tuesday morning, Bush received a phone call from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to update her on the efforts of his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari. A representative of the secretary general said the call was a follow-up to a conversation they had weeks ago. Gambari met last week with the military junta leadership as well as with Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Yangon. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters that Laura Bush and her husband's administration believe that there is a "need to start preparing for transition" for Myanmar. "We believe it is very important that progress be made and prisoners be released and conditions for Aun Sung Suu Kyi be improved [so] that she can prepare for participation for negotiations for a transition," he said. E-mail to a friend . | first lady: junta should step aside to allow for a democratic Myanmar. she calls on military leaders to release aun sung suu kyi, other opposition leaders. she says junta has the advantage of violent force. | Laura Bush calls on Myanmar junta to "step aside," allow for a democracy .
Military leaders must give up the "terror campaigns" against its people, she says .
Junta should release Aun Sung Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders, she says .
Her rare foray into foreign policy was published in the Wall Street Journal . | 4a30d8e9ba08a56c1d503d719525113545c414e3 |
NEW ALBANY, Indiana (CNN) -- President Bush vetoed a $600 billion spending bill Tuesday, accusing Democratic leaders of wasting money and plotting tax increases, then took his budget fight with Congress on the road. Congress should cut spending "and send me a responsible measure that I can sign into law," President Bush said. "The majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far, it's acting like a teenager with a new credit card," he said in a speech in New Albany, Indiana. The bill -- which Bush said was laden with $10 billion in "pork" -- would have funded the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. It also would have funded projects such as a prison museum, a sailing school and a program to teach Portuguese. "Congress needs to cut out that pork, reduce the spending and send me a responsible measure that I can sign into law," the president said. Watch a report on the veto » . While polls show Bush's popularity remains at near-record lows, Congress ranks even lower as a whole. The president has taken numerous opportunities to mock the spending habits of the Democratic leadership and force confrontations over the appropriations bills needed to fund the government for the 2008 budget year, which began October 1. The bill Bush vetoed Tuesday includes about $150 billion to run those departments and more than $450 billion in mandatory spending on Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health care programs for the elderly and poor, according to the House Appropriations Committee. The committee's chairman, Rep. David Obey, called Bush's veto "not responsible and not credible." "This is a bipartisan bill supported by over 50 Republicans," Obey, D-Wisconsin, said in a statement issued after the veto. "There has been virtually no criticism of its contents. It is clear the only reason the president vetoed this bill is pure politics." Bush said Democrats are supporting $22 billion in additional spending beyond his budget proposals this year and $205 billion over five years -- money he said would ultimately be raised by tax increases. "When the bill for all that spending comes due, Congress is going to turn to the working people, to the small-business owners and the entrepreneurs," he said. Tuesday's veto is the fifth cast since Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. Congress has overridden one of those, voting last week to authorize $23 billion in water projects nationwide over the president's objections. Democrats will schedule another override vote this week, an aide to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. But Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, said Bush's GOP allies are confident they will be able to sustain the veto. Bush signed a $470 billion Pentagon spending bill that covers the Defense Department's normal operations, but Democrats split $50 billion in spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan off into a "bridge fund" to which they plan to attach demands for Bush to withdraw U.S. combat troops. The measure sets up another confrontation with the White House. Bush also demanded Congress reform the alternative minimum tax -- a measure originally aimed at preventing the wealthy from evading taxes, but one that increasingly affects middle-class earners -- without raising additional revenue. He said a plan proposed by Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to eliminate the tax was unacceptable. "Preventing a tax increase in one area should not be an excuse for raising taxes in other areas," he said. "Congress should eliminate the tax increases in the bill and send the AMT relief to my desk as soon as possible." The elimination of the tax would cause an estimated $800 billion to be lost over 10 years. To replace that, Rangel's bill would add a 4 percent surtax on individual incomes over $100,000, after deductions, and close corporate tax loopholes. The bill also would cut rates for many individual and corporate taxpayers. Republicans have already started calling it "the mother of all tax increases." "With all the other pressures on our economy, raising taxes is one of the most unwise things Congress could possibly do," Bush said. Bush acknowledged the difficulties Americans face from high fuel prices, a "challenged" housing market and "uncertainty" in financial markets stemming from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market -- "but as we have seen in recent years, this economy is resilient, and that's important for the American people to understand." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report. | new: veto is fifth veto by democrats since they took control of congress in 2006. new: veto is "not responsible and not credible," house committee chairman says. new: veto also calls for reform of alternative minimum tax. | Bush says most of Congress "acting like a teenager with a new credit card"
Bill would have funded agencies, but also a prison museum, sailing school .
House panel chairman: Bush's veto "not responsible and not credible"
Democrats to schedule override vote, but Bush GOP allies confident about veto . | c3acabb0c18cc7615eb3796406500fba1b148d3d |
PARIS, France -- France lock Sebastien Chabal has been cited for a dangerous tackle on England's Simon Shaw during Saturday's World Cup semifinal in Paris. Simon Shaw offloads despite being tackled by Raphael Ibanez, left, and Sebastien Chabal. The Sale Sharks forward will face a disciplinary hearing on Monday after his tackle on opposite second-rower Shaw was noted by citing commissioner Dennis Wheelahan. Chabal started the match on the substitutes' bench, but was brought on in the 26th minute to replace the injured Fabien Pelous during hosts France's 14-9 defeat. If he is suspended, then Chabal will miss Friday's third and fourth-place play-off match at the Parc des Princes. Meanwhile, France coach Bernard Laporte said that the defeat was tougher to take than England's 24-7 win in the 2003 semifinals. "In 2003, they were better then us. In fact they were better than everyone," said Laporte, who is leaving his role to take up the post of junior sports minister in the French government. "They were like the New Zealand of this tournament - the favorite, except they went all the way. This time it's harder because yesterday it was 50-50." Meanwhile, England -- seeking to become the first nation to defend the World Cup title -- revealed that star kicker Jonny Wilkinson again had problems with the match balls during the semifinal. The fly-half, who voiced his concerns after struggling with the boot against Australia, rejected a ball before kicking a vital three-pointer against France. "We didn't say it last week but a non-match ball got onto the field in Marseille which Jonny kicked," director of rugby Rob Andrew said. "He didn't think about it while he was kicking it. "The match balls are marked, numbered one to six. Last night they had 'World Cup semi-final England vs France' written on them. On match night, Jonny was vigilant when kicking for goal that they were actually match balls he was kicking. "The practice balls lose pressure and shape. The whole issue last week, the organizers accepted all six match balls should be used by both sides on the Thursday before game." E-mail to a friend . | Sebastien Chabal cited for dangerous tackle on second-rower Simon Shaw. sale sharks forward will face disciplinary hearing on monday. Chabal will miss third and fourth-place play-off match at Parc des princes. | France lock Sebastien Chabal cited for a dangerous tackle on Simon Shaw .
Chabal faces disciplinary hearing on Monday after incident against England .
Sale forward will miss the third and fourth-place play-off is he is suspended . | 1c1acc74329fe61636f900df9dbcef5ed695e5c9 |
DENVER, Colorado -- A Colorado man terrorized by threats after testifying against his daughter's abusive boyfriend says he has spent $10,000 on a security system, hired a bodyguard for his son's wedding and never leaves home without a .45-caliber handgun strapped to his chest. Keith Reynolds was convicted for witness intimidation after threatening witnesses in his domestic assault case. The man, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case, says the state did nothing to protect him after the 1999 conviction of Keith Reynolds for domestic abuse -- even after prosecutors told him a hit had been put on his family. A report in the Denver Post pointed out major problems protecting witnesses in the state of Colorado. Paul Logli, chairman of National District Attorneys Association, told Congress this year that witness intimidation has become "almost epidemic," according to the Denver Post. When asked if prosecutors had made the family aware of Colorado's witness protection program, the witness in the Reynolds case said, "All they told us was maybe we should move." "I'm pretty sure I told one of them -- either him or his wife -- about the program. I can't remember if I gave them all the details." the prosecutor assigned to the case, who didn't want to be named, told CNN. After Reynolds' conviction, the witness and his wife saw strange cars parked outside their home. They received phone calls during which the only sound on the other end of the line was a gun being cocked. The couple received a death threat from Reynolds himself through the mail. Watch witness describe fear of being targeted » . Reynolds was then sentenced to ten years in a maximum security prison for witness intimidation. However, it is likely he'll be released within five years. No national statistics on crimes against witnesses exist, and minimal research has been conducted on the subject. The latest National Institute of Justice survey on record -- conducted more than a decade ago -- shows that more than half of big city prosecutors consider witness intimidation a major problem. Colorado has $50,000 allocated to its witness protection budget. In contrast, the city of Denver spent almost $100,000 on landscaping last year. The state, on average, spends about $1,000 per witness. That figure supposedly includes moving expenses, rent, and furniture. The federal program spends in excess of $40 million per year on witness protection. One possible reason for the disparity is that witnesses in state cases do not get new identities, as do federal witnesses. "It's not designed to be a long-term relocation at the public's expense; it's a way to ensure the immediate safety of the witnesses," according to Peter Weir, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Colorado's witness protection program is a "joke," according to The Rev. Leon Kelly, founder and executive director of the Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives. Kelly says the state doesn't provide enough incentive for witnesses to come forward. More than a decade ago, a young man named Darryl Givens asked Kelly for advice while deciding whether to testify in a murder case or face prison. Givens chose to testify. A few months later, he was shot twice in the head by men he considered friends. That day continues to haunt Kelly. Rhonda Fields says failures in the witness protection program may have contributed to her son's murder. Javad Fields was a college graduate who was engaged to be married. He had plans to move east when a Fourth of July barbecue in 2004 in changed all that. He witnessed the murder of his best friend and subsequently testified against three men suspected in the killing. Javad Fields and his fiancee were gunned down while driving along a suburban street in Aurora, Colorado. The couple, both 22, died instantly. Rhonda Fields says her son was never told about a witness protection program. She confronted prosecutors after his murder. Fields told CNN, "I asked them what happened. Why weren't any measures taken to safeguard his life? And I was told he never asked for any protection." Javad's mother does not think it was her son's responsibility to ask for protection. "I think it's the authorities' responsibility to notify witnesses of the dangers that are involved with being a witness," she said. Field's case illustrates glaring weaknesses in the witness protection program. Prosecutors filed an order for protection requesting Javad Fields' personal information be kept secret, but it wasn't signed by a judge until one year later, after defense lawyers had already given the suspects Fields' personal information, along with crucial trial documents. "I felt like the DA's office used my son to win their case but did not take the proper measures to safeguard his life," Rhonda Fields told CNN. District Attorney Carol Chambers maintains the program has improved. She says a notice about witness protection is now attached to every subpoena, ensuring witnesses are aware of their options. That didn't start, however, until two years after Javad Fields was killed. E-mail to a friend . | witness says he's spent $10,000 on security system, hired bodyguard for son's wedding. witness says prosecutors told him "maybe we should move" after domestic abuse conviction. national institute of justice survey: witness intimidation is "almost epidemic" | Some witnesses say Colorado does nothing to protect them .
One witness spent over 10,000 dollars on security after being terrorized .
Community activist says Colorado's witness protection program is "a joke" | f70a7abb6c5b0ef383ea12a4d9ca046a5bd854e5 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Previously unseen footage of Diana, Princess of Wales, taken just hours before she was killed in a car crash, has been shown to the jury at the inquest into her death. The footage showed Diana and Dodi step into an elevator at the Ritz Hotel. Images taken from a security camera at the Ritz Hotel in Paris show the 36-year-old smiling as she and her lover Dodi Fayed step into an elevator and later walk out of the hotel. Further footage shows Fayed visiting a jeweler's shop, images that could lend support to claims that he was buying an engagement ring. Earlier, a British coroner at the inquest said tt may never be known for certain whether Princess Diana was pregnant when she died in the Paris car crash. Lord Justice Scott Baker told the jury at the inquest into the deaths of the princess and her lover Dodi Fayed that scientific evidence might be unable to demonstrate "one way or the other" whether she was in the early stages of pregnancy. But he said they would hear "intimate" details of her personal life. Watch footage of Diana's last hours » . Baker told the 11 members of the jury -- six women and five men -- Diana may have been on the contraceptive pill and that evidence she was poised to get engaged to Dodi on the night she died was contradictory. On Tuesday the judge, who is acting as coroner in the case, told the jury that a famous image taken in summer 1997 showing Diana wearing a swimsuit could not be proof she was pregnant with Dodi's child as she had not started a relationship with him at that stage. The jury is set to hear "scene setting" evidence, including CCTV and a tourist video. The inquest to establish cause of death is expected to be a six-month process. Fayed's father, Mohammed Al Fayed, has contended from the start that Diana and his son were murdered because the royal family "could not accept that an Egyptian Muslim could eventually be step-father to the future king of England," referring to Diana's son Prince William. "I'm hoping for justice," Al Fayed said outside court. "At last, we're going to have a jury from ordinary people and I hope to reach the decision which I believe that my son and Princess Diana have been murdered by the royal family." Baker told the jury of Al Fayed's allegations, but again reminded them that they were responsible for deciding the facts of the case, but not to assign blame or guilt. "You have to decide four important, but limited factual questions: who the deceased were, when they came by their deaths, where they came by their deaths and how they came by their deaths," Baker said, according to inquest transcripts. "The first three questions are unlikely to give rise to any difficulty. The fourth is a rather wider question and is directed towards the means by which they died." Diana, 36, and 42-year-old Dodi Fayed were killed on August 31, 1997 when the Mercedes-Benz they were traveling in hit a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. They were being pursued at the time by the paparazzi after leaving the Ritz Hotel. Driver Henri Paul, who was also killed, was drunk and driving at high speed. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the sole survivor. Next week, the jury is scheduled to travel to Paris to see the crash site, along the River Seine. They are also expected to hear testimony from the paparazzi who were present after the accident. In its evidence section, the Web site for the inquest has posted previously unpublished pictures taken by paparazzi of the limo before and immediately after the accident. One is a closeup -- looking into the front of the vehicle -- that shows Diana, Fayed, Paul and Rees-Jones minutes before the crash. E-mail to a friend . | footage shows princess of wales smiling as she and lover dodi fayed step into elevator. further footage shows fayed visiting a jeweler's shop, images that could support claims. coroner tells jury scientific evidence might not prove Diana was pregnant. inquest to establish cause of death expected to be a six-month process. | NEW: Jury shown new footage of Diana taken hours before her death .
Diana and Dodi Fayed inquest jury to hear "scene setting" evidence .
On Tuesday coroner outlined controversial claims, published new images .
Court will make final decision on what happened in car crash 10 years ago . | a3dd38ec7bc9d7e8423b96d8fd0641a2a5d5c984 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republicans reacted with surprise and recrimination Sunday to blistering criticism of the Iraq war from former coalition commander retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. Lawmakers lashed back at retired Gen. Ricardo Sanchez on Sunday after he criticized the war effort. On Friday, Sanchez, who was coalition commander in 2003 and 2004, called the Iraq war "a nightmare with no end in sight." He said the Bush administration, the State Department and Congress all share blame. Speaking with military reporters in Virginia, Sanchez also said such dereliction of duty by a military officer would mean immediate dismissal or court martial, but the politicians have not been held accountable. "I'm astounded, really," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on CNN's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer on Sunday. Graham, who recently returned from Baghdad, said he and GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain had visited Sanchez several times in 2003 and 2004. "Every time we talked to Gen. Sanchez, we got pushback -- we have enough troops; Guard and reserves aren't being strained," Graham said. He added that Sanchez's own record in Iraq is blemished: Abu Ghraib "got out of control under his watch. The war in general got out of control under his watch." But Graham said that "finally," with the commitment of nearly 30,000 additional U.S. troops since January, "We are getting it right." Sanchez told reporters that American political leaders have cost American lives on the battlefield with their "lust for power." Sanchez said it had been his duty to obey orders and not object publicly while on active duty, but that he has an obligation to speak out now that he has retired. "While the politicians espouse a rhetoric designed to preserve their reputations and their political power, our soldiers die," he said. That brought a tart response from McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I wish that he had given us the benefit of that knowledge at the time," McCain told CBS's "Face the Nation." He said Sanchez should have spoken out at the time -- or resigned -- but "unfortunately, that doesn't happen very often." One of the reasons few speak out, he said, is evidenced by what happened to former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, McCain said. Shinseki was sidelined after telling Congress that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to occupy Iraq. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, told ABC's "This Week" that Sanchez is simply wrong. "My definition of winning is a stable country and an ally in the war on terror," he said. "I think we're making significant progress toward that end." But, he added, "I think the central government in Iraq has been an embarrassment. They've not been able to produce any of the kind of political compromises that we had hoped for." Graham said he hopes the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will "step up to the plate and do something meaningful by the end of the year." If that does not happen, he said, "it will be incumbent upon us, as a nation, to devise a new political strategy to find a way forward or create a stable Iraq." That brought a blistering response from Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser under President Carter. "What is this? This is a colony," he said. "That's the heart and essence of the difficulties we encounter." Even those Iraqis who were happy to see Saddam Hussein toppled from power more than four years ago are not happy with the continuing U.S. presence, Brzezinski said. Though some countries are willing to go along with the United States, "No one in the world really supports our policy in Iraq," he said. In his Friday speech, Sanchez added that the "surge" of U.S. troops into Iraq represents "a desperate attempt by the administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war." National Security Council spokeswoman Kate Starr did not address the comment. Instead, she said, "We appreciate his service to the country. As Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker said, there's more work to be done but progress is being made in Iraq. And that's what we're focused on now." Gen. David Petraeus is the U.S. top commander in Iraq. Ryan Crocker is the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. E-mail to a friend . | retired lt. gen. Ricardo Sanchez criticizes war effort, politicians. "i'm astounded, really," says sen. Lindsey Graham. senators say they are "getting it right" | Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham: "I am astounded" by comments .
Sanchez, a retired former coalition commander in Iraq, called war "nightmare"
Republican Sen. John McCain wishes Sanchez would have spoken up earlier .
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said Sanchez is simply wrong . | 654c6b29b96d2a5a818d91400c20f838b0e8b6df |
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) -- The acrimony from the Republican campaign trail carried over quickly into the CNN/YouTube GOP presidential debate Wednesday. The debate marked the first time the candidates had faced off on the same stage in over a month. With five weeks to go until the first contest of the 2008 nominating season, the Republican candidates engaged in a free-for-all, trying to differentiate their views on immigration, the Iraq war, abortion, gun control and even whether they believed every word in the Bible was true. Unlike previous debates in which the candidates focused most of their attacks on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Wednesday night's attacks were launched at each other. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney traded jabs over illegal immigration, something they have been arguing about on the trail for the past month. Romney attacked Giuliani's record, saying that as mayor, he promoted illegal immigration. And Giuliani shot back, accusing Romney of having a "sanctuary mansion" at his own home. Watch the debate format produce raw moments » . "In his case, there were six sanctuary cities. He did nothing about them. There was a sanctuary mansion -- at his own home, illegal immigrants were being employed," Giuliani said. Romney denied Giuliani's allegation, and the two raised their voices as they tried to talk over each other. In his quest to appeal to the hard-line immigration wing of the party, Romney also turned some of his fire on the same topic toward former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has been rising in the polls. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who has anchored his candidacy on securing the borders and cracking down on illegal immigration, seemed delighted with the give and take, saying the other candidates were trying to "out-Tancredo" him. Huckabee drew one of the night's largest cheers when he said that one of the agencies he would abolish to control federal spending was the Internal Revenue Service. "Most people in this country are more afraid of an audit than they are of a mugging, and there's a reason why," he said. Sen. John McCain, freshly back from a visit to Iraq over Thanksgiving and the most hawkish of the candidates, and Rep. Ron Paul, the most anti-war of the candidates, tangled on two occasions over the Iraq war. Did YouTubers get their questions answered? » . Asked which government programs they would cut, Paul said bringing the troops home from Iraq would save "a trillion dollars." McCain said: "It's that kind of isolationism that caused World War II," which drew some hoots from the crowd. Watch McCain, Paul spar on Iraq » . Paul replied: "The real question you have to ask is why do I get the most money from active duty officers and military personnel?" A retired brigadier general, Keith Kerr, who is gay, asked candidates if they thought U.S. military personnel were professional enough to work with gay and lesbian troops. CNN later learned that a June media release from the campaign of Democratic front-runner Clinton listed Kerr as a member of its steering committee for gay and lesbian supporters. Watch Kerr deny that the Clinton campaign influenced his question » . David Bohrman, CNN senior vice president and executive producer of the debate, said, "We regret this incident. CNN would not have used the general's question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate." Political Ticker . Kerr told CNN after the debate that he has not worked for the Clinton campaign and was representing no one other than himself. Kerr also said he is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay and lesbian Republican grass-roots organization. Prior to the debate, CNN had verified Kerr's military background and that he had not contributed money to any presidential candidate. In a section of the debate about gun ownership rights, three of the GOP presidential hopefuls said they do not own guns: McCain, Giuliani and Romney. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quipped, "I own a couple of guns -- but I'm not going to tell you what they are or where they are." Watch the candidates address gun control » . The debate turned personal when a viewer, holding the Bible, asked: "Do you believe every word of this book? And I mean specifically, this book that I am holding in my hand." Huckabee, a Baptist minister, said, "Sure, I believe the Bible is exactly what it is." Giuliani said he believes the Bible, but not "literally true in every respect." After that, Romney stammered a bit when moderator Anderson Cooper asked him if he believed every word. Watch the candidates get personal about the Bible » . "Yeah, the Bible is the word of God. ... I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God," Romney said. When asked about abortion, Romney said he was wrong in favoring a woman's right to choose -- his position when he was elected governor of Massachusetts. "If people in this country are looking for someone who's never made a mistake on a policy issue and is not willing to admit they're ever wrong, they're going to have to find somebody else. On abortion, I was wrong," he said. His remarks came in response to the 30-second video produced for the debate by Thompson's campaign, which included a clip of Romney expressing support for Roe vs. Wade during a 1994 debate against Sen. Ted Kennedy. When asked what women and doctors should be charged with if abortion was to become illegal, Paul said it was not an issue for the president or the federal government. "We don't need a federal abortion police, that's the last thing we need," Paul said. He added that the issue should be left to the states and courts and not federal authorities. On the issues of taxes, Thompson said he'd "never met a tax he liked." "I've got a tax-cut bill on the table. But I don't do pledges to anybody but the American people," he said. His response was met by a "Go, Fred, go!" from a member of the audience. On the issue of trade with China, Rep. Duncan Hunter said China is "cheating on trade ... and it's in the interest of the United States to stop China's cheating. Buy American this Christmas season -- that might keep your neighbor from losing his job." The candidates fielded video questions submitted by the public via the YouTube Web site, just as Democratic White House candidates did in July. The debate was the first time the GOP candidates had faced off on the same stage in over a month. CNN's political team viewed nearly 5,000 videos for the GOP debate -- about 2,000 more than they saw for the Democrats' debate. E-mail to a friend . | new: sen. john mccain says he's "not going to be a senate candidate" new: sen. ted cruz says he's "not a senate candidate" new: sen. rick perry says he's "not a senate candidate" new: sen. john mccain says he's "not a senate candidate" | YouTube questions address taxes, the Bible, abortion, gun control .
Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee spar over immigration .
McCain challenges Paul over suggestion to bring troops home from Iraq .
Nearly 5,000 videos for the GOP debate; 2,000 more than Democratic debate . | 764d9ce99a1e3f79d95fbc4b68adbce14e7f8bcd |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- None of the 1,000-plus Iraqi detainees freed in recent weeks have broken a pledge not to return to the insurgency, according to the Marine general who oversees the U.S. detention centers in Iraq. A U.S. military panel reviews a detainee's case at Camp Cropper near Baghdad. Speaking in Arabic, Maj. Gen. Doug Stone on Wednesday reassured Iraqis about how the 25,000 detainees -- mostly Sunnis -- are treated after being taken into custody on suspicion of involvement in the insurgency. Stone described the detention system as "open and transparent," saying it makes the detainees better citizens and helps break the cycle of violence and poverty in the country. Stone said detainees get free medical care equal to what he gets as a general, food and water made to Islamic standards, educational opportunities, jobs skills and contact with families. The U.S. detention centers -- at Camp Bucca near the southern port city of Basra and in Camp Cropper near Baghdad -- are political sore points for Sunnis, who make up 83 percent of the detainees held. The main Sunni political coalition -- the Iraqi Accord Front -- cited the centers as one reason for quitting the government during the summer. Last month, the U.S.-led coalition launched Operation Lion's Paw in which between 50 and 70 detainees would be released daily during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan after taking a pledge not to rejoin the insurgency against the Shiite-led government. "This pledge is an Iraqi pledge, a pledge before an Iraqi judge, frequently with a family member present," Stone said. "I am pleased to tell you that in the more 1,000 that have gone through this program and taken the pledge, not one has returned to threaten Iraqi or coalition forces." Stone said the releases would continue at the same pace beyond Ramadan. Stone's description seems a far cry from the Abu Ghraib prison operated by the U.S. military in the first years after the invasion. That prison was closed down and razed in the wake of an international scandal over prisoner abuse. "There are no secrets that go on in detention," Stone said. "Our facilities are open to inspection by any agency that we in the federal government believe is credible. These agencies are welcomed because they are windows for the world." See what life's like inside Camp Cropper's walls » . By the time of their release, "detainees grow in terms of working in an inter-sectarian environment," he said. Each detainee has a chance to take classes up to a sixth-grade level, and high school classes are being planned, Stone said. About one-third -- or 8,000 -- are in school, with 7,000 having passed the fifth-grade level, he said. The 860 detainees who are 17 or younger are all in school, Stone said. The average stay for a detainee is 300 days, but some have been detained for two years or longer, he said. A review board interviews detainees to decide if they are a threat to security, he said. If they are deemed not to be, they are offered freedom in exchange for taking the pledge. Only 280 detainees are foreigners, mostly from Syria, Egypt, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, he said. Other developments . | detainees get free medical care, education, jobs skills, general says. u.s.-led coalition launched operation lion'spaw to release detainees during ramadan. about one-third -- or 8,000 -- are in school, with 7,000 having passed fifth-grade level. | More than 1,000 freed detainees reportedly keep pledge not to rejoin insurgency .
U.S. general tries to reassure Sunnis that detainees face no abuse .
More than 80 percent of detainees are Sunnis .
U.S. airstrike kills 13 suspected terrorists west of Baghdad . | f16446db34e2861f0450dfa34d8cdda541ab7b19 |