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(CNN) -- On Tuesday night's "Larry King Live," guest host Joy Behar talked about whether the Rihanna/Chris Brown case sends a dangerous message. Robin Givens told Joy Behar Tuesday night that details of domestic abuse are often the same. Among her guests were Robin Givens and Denise Brown. In an emotional interview, Behar examines how domestic abuse starts and why it's hard to stop. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity: . Guest host Joy Behar: In a "Larry King Live" exclusive, Robin Givens and Denise Brown sound the warning to one quarter of all women who will be kicked, punched, raped, even killed by partners in their life times. ... We're talking about Rihanna and Chris Brown and the allegations against him. As you've just heard, the numbers are pretty appalling. Joining me now is someone who lived it: actress, ex-wife of former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson and spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Robin Givens. Greetings. Robin Givens: Greetings. Behar: Does this Rihanna/Chris Brown [story] bring up bad memories for you? Givens: Yes, it does. Behar: Tell me how you've been feeling lately while you're watching this on television? Givens: Even sitting now, you know, here with you, it shakes you up. You know, you begin to sweat. You begin to feel sad all over. ... It's hard to sit here. Watch Givens describe living with abuse » . Behar. You were saying to me before that it's always the same story. What do you mean by that? Givens: I've spoken to women every[where]. ... Peoria, El Paso. ... And what's amazing is that I find that my story is their story; their story is my story -- down to the details. He dragged me down the hall by my hair. He pulled me out of bed by my panties. He would like to choke me. He would kick. When I wrote my book, I was somewhere talking about something. And a woman came up to me and she said I wanted you to stop talking because I felt like everybody would know that you were talking about me. Behar: Oh, boy. And it's the same progression, too, it seems? Givens: I was hit for the first time before I was married. And I did what you thought you should do, of course. You know, you don't take any phone calls. Three days, absolutely not. Absolutely not. All of a sudden, you start taking a phone calls. Behar: Softening up. Givens: Yes. And then all of a sudden, OK, let's meet and we'll talk. And then you meet and all of a sudden this person, this man that you love, that's claiming his love for you, is crying, you know? And then you're consoling them. And it just becomes, I'll never, ever, ever do it again. ... I just love you so much. It's so hard for me to handle how much I love you. And it just begins. Behar: It must have touched you a little bit, too, like here's this big heavyweight champion crying ... Givens: Yes. ... To see a man crying like that and promising and professing his love, I thought well, he must love me. ... Behar: In the fall of that year, you and Mike sat down with Barbara Walters to talk about the relationship. Here's an excerpt: . Barbara Walters, host: What's it been like, this roller coaster? Givens: It's been torture. It's been pure hell. It's been worse than anything I could possibly imagine. ... He shakes. He pushes. He swings. Sometimes I think he's trying to scare me. Behar: That is a most interesting moment in that interview, which I've seen many times. What was going on in your head during that interview? Givens: Well, I was so numb. Barbara knew what was going on in our lives and encouraged me to be honest. I wanted to be honest and thought it would help other people. ... Behar: By the way, he [Tyson] was never convicted of anything? Givens: No. ... It's interesting, though. He had done an interview somewhere. ... I don't know specifically, but [he said] the best punch he ever threw was against me and that he punched me in the head and I bounced from one wall to the other. Behar: After the interview [with Walters], though, you stayed with him. Givens: Yes. Behar: Why did you stay with him? Givens: Well, he had said that he was going to get help. And I loved him. I wanted to make it work. I was very bonded. And it's hard to be bonded and save yourself at the same time. Behar: One of the most influential women in the world used her considerable power to speak up about domestic abuse. Here's what Oprah Winfrey had to say. Winfrey: Heal yourself first. And, also, love doesn't hurt. I've been saying this to women for years, love doesn't hurt. ... And if a man hits you once, he will hit you again. ... He will hit you again. Behar: If Oprah was speaking to you, too, call the National Domestic Violence Hot Line now. The number is 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. ... Denise Brown's sister was Nicole Brown. We all know Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson's former wife. Greetings, Denise. How are you? Denise Brown: I am doing great. And I'm listening to all this information that you guys are talking about and it's amazing. It's so great to get out there. You talk about the dirty little secret. And it is. It's just that -- a dirty little secret. And then you're talking about what Oprah said -- if they hit you once, they'll hit you again. You can even go one step further, Joy, and you can say if they hit you once, they'll hit you again. And if they ever threaten to kill you, eventually one day they will. ... You know, it's the cycle of domestic violence, which is about the power and control of one human being over another -- the verbal, the emotional, the psychological abuse, you know, the chipping away at one's self-esteem. I'm sure you heard it, Robin: you know, nobody is going to want you. I'm the best thing for you. Givens: Um-hmm. Brown: And then that escalates into the physical violence, which is the hitting, the kicking, the punching, throwing up against the walls. And then, of course, [comes] the honeymoon phase. And that's the 'oh, baby, I'm so sorry. It's never going to happen again.' Givens: She's absolutely right. The woman -- every woman tells the same story. Behar: If you read the Internet now, there's some hostility toward Rihanna. They're saying she provoked Chris. What do you make of that? Givens: I don't know why that is. I mean I don't know why in our society that is, that we blame the victim. Brown: Battery treatment programs is what people need. I spoke to a gentleman, Dr. Donald Dutton. He wrote a book, "The Batterer." He said right now, it would take three years for people that are batterers to get that mindset to change. And I'm sure that's even more. And our society does not take it serious enough ... until, of course, there's a murder or there's a celebrity or something of that nature, which is really sad. Givens: The one thing I'd like to say to Rihanna, actually; as difficult as this all is, she does not have to answer to the media. She doesn't have to explain it. She has to take care of herself. Behar: Thank you all very much. Go to CNN.com/LarryKing if you have something to say about domestic abuse. If you need help, there are resources listed there for you. Don't wait. Get help now.

Robin Givens, Denise Brown talk about women and domestic violence . Givens says Mike Tyson would drag her by her hair and try to choke her . Why did Givens stay for so long? She thought her love would fix the situation . Brown says only when celebrity stories like Rihanna's come out do people care .

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(CNN) -- A New Zealand teenager has been questioned in connection with a scheme by hackers to remotely take over more than 1 million computers worldwide and use them for criminal activity, New Zealand police and the FBI said Thursday. FBI Director Robert Mueller says botnets are "the weapon of choice for cyber criminals." The FBI has identified at least 2.5 million unsuspecting computer users who have been victims of so-called "botnet" activity. Hackers install viruses, worms and other attack programs that allow them to take over the computers and use them to commit cyber crimes. Industry numbers suggest there are as many as 5 million infected computers. The FBI tracked down the teen and believes the 18-year-old, known by the cyber alias "AKILL," was the ringleader of an international botnet group know as the "A-team," responsible for infecting more than 1 million computers. Authorities seized computer equipment and questioned the teen, said New Zealand Police Detective Inspector Peter Devoy, but the person has not been identified, arrested or charged. Watch how botnet attacks occur » . Internet addresses and information furnished by the FBI led to the teenager, Devoy told CNN. "Today, botnets are the weapon of choice for cyber criminals," said FBI Director Robert Mueller in a statement. "They seek to conceal their criminal activities by using third-party computers as vehicles for their crimes." Personal computers can be compromised when users open an attachment, click on an advertisement or give personal information to a "phishing" site, or a fake site that looks legitimate. The FBI advises users to protect themselves by updating their anti-virus software, installing a firewall, using non-common passwords and avoiding suspicious e-mail attachments and advertisers' links. In 2005 the FBI launched Operation Bot Roast to combat botnet attacks, which the bureau estimates have caused $20 million in losses and theft, including one scheme that bilked a Midwest financial institution out of millions. Since June, eight people have been charged or convicted of crimes related to botnet activity. Between January and June, Symantec Corp., a leading computer security company, detected more than 5 million bot-infested personal computers carrying out at least one attack a day, according to the company's September report. That was a 17 percent decrease form the previous reporting period, according to Symantec, which said hackers appeared to be abandoning the technique because of strengthened security and law enforcement initiatives. China had the most infected computers at 29 percent, followed by the United States at 13 percent, Symantec reported. However, 43 percent of the servers used by hackers to operate the hijacked computers were located in the United States, Symantec said. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

NEW: Internet addresses and information furnished by the FBI led to the teen . FBI believes New Zealand teen was the ringleader of the "A-team" Botnet attacks cause $20 million in losses and theft, the FBI estimates . Symantec detected more than 5 million bot-infested personal computers this year .

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(CNN) -- In 1967, the Mamas & the Papas had a hit with a song that detailed, with bittersweet harmonies, the checkered history of the band. The song, written by the group's John Phillips and his wife, Michelle, was called "Creeque Alley." Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and John Phillips, here in 1998, were members of the Mamas & the Papas. If the song were to be updated today, it might have to be retitled "Creep Alley." With the claims by John's daughter, Mackenzie, that she had an incestuous relationship with her father, the story of Phillips and his group -- in music, models of California dreams and California dreamin' -- takes on a darker hue. The story was already tangled, a motley love- and drug-soaked tale of excess set to the group's distinctive four-part harmonies. Phillips left his first wife, Mackenzie's mother, Susan Adams, for 18-year-old Michelle, whom he'd met in a San Francisco club while touring in the early '60s, according to the band's biography on Allmusic.com. The band's lead male singer, Denny Doherty, later had an affair with Michelle; she was forced out of the group for a time. The fourth member, Cass Elliot, had an unrequited crush on Doherty, the biography noted. After the Mamas & the Papas' success with such singles as "California Dreamin' " and the No. 1 hit "Monday, Monday," the Phillipses bought a Bel Air mansion from which they ruled over the Los Angeles music scene. In his 1986 memoir, "Papa John," John Phillips, who died in 2001, remembered hosting parties for the Beatles when they visited town. John Phillips, the band's primary songwriter, was at least six years older than the others and did not shy from the task of addressing the group's pain and confusion in song. In such songs as "Got a Feelin'," "I Saw Her Again Last Night" and "Trip, Stumble and Fall," he cast a cold eye on the band's romantic entanglements, even as his melancholy and sometimes cutting lyrics were often belied by those sunny harmonies and Lou Adler's slick production. "One doesn't try to hold Cass and Denny and Michelle together," he said in a 1995 interview. "It's a useless task to start with. You just sort of stay out of the way and let things roll as they can." In 1968, the group split up. There was a 1971 reunion that produced the contractually obligated album "People Like Us," but the experience was "horrible," John Phillips recalled in the liner notes to the group's anthology, "The History of the Mamas and the Papas." The group members had mixed success after the breakup. Elliot, who died of a heart attack in 1974 (and not by choking on a sandwich, as urban legend has it), pursued a solo career; she had a handful of hits. Doherty and John Phillips also tried their hands at solo careers; the latter's 1970 "John, the Wolf King of L.A.," produced a minor hit and is now considered a classic but sold relatively poorly upon release. More common were the stories of trouble. Michelle and John Phillips divorced in 1970; late that year, Michelle was married to Dennis Hopper for eight days. John Phillips, who married Genevieve Waite in 1972, became increasingly immersed in drugs, says his Allmusic biography, to the point where he couldn't finish an album commissioned by the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In 1981, he was convicted of drug trafficking. By that point, daughter Mackenzie says, she was also a full-blown drug addict. "I grew up in a place where there were no rules ... which did not serve me well, and everybody, I think, knew that," she said on a reunion special for her '70s sitcom, "One Day at a Time." According to Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh's "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows," Phillips missed the 1980-81 season while in rehab for addiction issues. In her new book, "High on Arrival," she claims she had become sexually involved with her father in 1979, after he forced sex on her the night before she married a rock manager, Jeff Sessler. (Earlier that year, the house she shared with Sessler burned down, taking all her belongings with it.) According to Mackenzie Phillips, the affair with her father lasted 10 years. She told Chynna Phillips, her half-sister, about the affair in the late '90s, according to an interview with Chynna in Us magazine. "Somebody could have dropped a piano on my head, and I probably wouldn't have felt it," Chynna Phillips told the magazine. "But I knew it was true. I mean, who in their right mind would make such a claim if it wasn't true?" She says the news sent her into "a deep, deep sadness and depression for about 10 days. A part of me died when I found out." John Phillips also underwent rehab but struggled for the rest of his life. He had a liver transplant in 1992 but was photographed drinking several months later. He toured with versions of the Mamas & the Papas, some including Mackenzie. He died in 2001 of heart failure. Chynna Phillips and Mackenzie's "One Day at a Time" co-star Valerie Bertinelli have since rallied around her. But others have not. "I am stunned by Mackenzie's terrible allegations about her father," Waite, John Phillips' third wife, wrote in a statement released to "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Mackenzie Phillips appeared on the show Wednesday. "I would often complain about her overly familiar attitudes towards him, and he said it was just her way. John was a good man. ... He was incapable, no matter how drunk or drugged he was, to have sexual relations with his own child." And Mackenzie's half-brother, Tamerlane, the follower of an Indian guru, is having none of it. "My family is and always will be a decrepit bowl of dog urine compared to Nityananda of Ganeshpuri. That is how great Nityananda is," he told the New York Post's Page Six. "Worship Nityananda, not the Phillips family."

John Phillips' reputation taking hit with claims of incest by daughter Mackenzie . John Phillips, who died in 2001, lived life of excess . Mamas & Papas were leading California group of '60s, with tangled romantic links . John Phillips was heavy drug user, once convicted of drug trafficking .

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When you're a patient, you trust you're in good hands, but even the best doctor or nurse can make a mistake on you or someone you love. "Mistakes are happening every day in every hospital in the country that we're just not catching," says Dr. Albert Wu, an internist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Medical errors kill more than a quarter million people every year in the United States and injure millions. Add them all up and "you have probably the third leading cause of death" in the country, says Dr. Peter Pronovost, an anesthesiologist and critical care physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The harm is often avoidable, and there are strategies you can use to help doctors and nurses get things right. Here's a list of 10 shocking medical mistakes and ways to not become a victim: . 1. Mistake: Treating the wrong patient • Cause: Hospital staff fails to verify a patient's identity. • Consequences: Patients with similar names are confused. • Prevention: Before every procedure in the hospital, make sure the staff checks your entire name, date of birth and barcode on your wrist band. • Example case: Kerry Higuera . 2. Mistake: Surgical souvenirs • Cause: Surgical staff miscounts (or fails to count) equipment used inside a patient during an operation. • Consequences: Tools get left inside the body. • Prevention: If you have unexpected pain, fever or swelling after surgery, ask if you might have a surgical instrument inside you. • Example case: Nelson Bailey . 3. Mistake: Lost patients • Cause: Patients with dementia are sometimes prone to wandering. • Consequences: Patients may become trapped while wandering and die from hypothermia or dehydration. • Prevention: If your loved one sometimes wanders, consider a GPS tracking bracelet. • Example case: Mary Cole . 4. Mistake: Fake doctors • Cause: Con artists pretend to be doctors. • Consequences: Medical treatments backfire. Instead of getting better, patients get sicker. • Prevention: Confirm online that your physician is licensed. • Example case: Sarafina Gerling . 5. Mistake: The ER waiting game • Cause: Emergency rooms get backed up when overcrowded hospitals don't have enough beds. • Consequences: Patients get sicker while waiting for care. • Prevention: Doctors listen to other doctors, so on your way to the hospital call your physician and ask them to call the emergency room. • Example case: Malyia Jeffers . 6. Mistake: Air bubbles in blood • Cause: The hole in a patient's chest isn't sealed airtight after a chest tube is removed. • Consequences: Air bubbles get sucked into the wound and cut off blood supply to the patient's lungs, heart, kidneys and brain. Left uncorrected the patient dies. • Prevention: If you have a central line tube in you, ask how you should be positioned when the line comes out. • Example case: Blake Fought7. Mistake: Operating on the wrong body part • Cause: A patient's chart is incorrect, or a surgeon misreads it, or surgical draping obscures marks that denote the correct side of the operation. • Consequences: The surgeon cuts into the wrong side of a patient's body. • Prevention: Just before surgery, make sure you reaffirm with the nurse and the surgeon the correct body part and side of your operation. • Example case: Jesse Matlock8. Mistake: Infection infestation • Cause: Doctors and nurses don't wash their hands. • Consequences: Patients can die from infections spread by hospital workers. • Prevention: It may be uncomfortable to ask, but make sure doctors and nurses wash their hands before they touch you, even if they're wearing gloves. • Example case: Josh Nahum . 9. Mistake: Lookalike tubes • Cause: A chest tube and a feeding tube can look a lot alike. • Consequences: Medicine meant for the stomach goes into the chest. • Prevention: When you have tubes in you, ask the staff to trace every tube back to the point of origin so the right medicine goes to the right place. • Example case: Alicia Coleman . 10. Mistake: Waking up during surgery • Cause: An under-dose of anesthesia. • Consequences: The brain stays awake while the muscles stay frozen. Most patients aren't in any pain but some feel every poke, prod and cut. • Prevention: When you schedule surgery, ask your surgeon if you need to be put asleep or if a local anesthetic might work just as well. • Example case: Erin Cook . Do you have a personal story to tell about a medical mistake? Share it in the comments section below.

Expert: Medical errors kill more than 250,000 people in the United States yearly . "Mistakes are happening every day in every hospital in the country," says top doctor . There are strategies you can use to help doctors and nurses get things right .

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Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Simon Monjack's death two months ago was caused by acute pneumonia and severe anemia, according to a Los Angeles County coroner spokesman. "Just like Brittany," Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said, referring to actress Brittany Murphy, Monjack's wife, who died five months earlier. Some prescription drugs were detected in his system, but not in lethal levels, Winter said. Sharon Murphy issued a statement saying the preliminary findings should "stop the reckless innuendos that my daughter and son-in-law misused any kind of prescription medications." "It is with great relief that Simon's preliminary autopsy findings have been released, so the media speculations can stop," Murphy said. "As I was sure of, just like my daughter Brittany, there was no kind of drug overdose." One more test will be conducted, at Monjack's family's request, before a full autopsy report is released in about two weeks, Winter said. Monjack, a 39-year-old British screenwriter, was found dead at his Hollywood home May 23, according to the coroner's office. Murphy, his wife of less than three years, died in the same home last December. Murphy, 32, died from a combination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency and multiple drug intoxication, a coroner said. The drugs involved were legal and used to treat a respiratory infection, according to an autopsy. The often bubbly, free-spirited actress appeared in films such as "Clueless," "8 Mile," "Don't Say a Word" and "Girl, Interrupted." She also lent her voice to animated works, including the movie "Happy Feet" -- in which she also sang -- and a regular role on the animated TV series "King of the Hill."

NEW: Murphy's mom: "Reckless innuendos" about drugs should stop . The coroner says he found that drugs didn't play a role in the British screenwriter's death . Monjack's cause of death was the same as that of his wife, Brittany Murphy, he says . Murphy died of a combination of pneumonia and an iron deficiency, the coroner says .

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ARBIL, Iraq (CNN) -- Two United Arab Emirates based companies announced on Tuesday that they will be investing in the Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan. Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government, called the project "a significant contribution to the Iraqi economy." Four hundred and sixty one million square feet have been officially assigned to "Gas Cities LLC," a joint venture between Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, both Sharjah-based companies, to establish a new venture: "Kurdistan Gas City." Kurdistan Gas City will include industrial, residential and commercial buildings in an integrated city. The expected initial investment in basic infrastructure is estimated at $3 billion, with further foreign direct investment exceeding $40 billion during the operations phase. Work will start on the project, which is designed to promote private sector investment in a variety of gas-related industries, on September 21. Gas City is structured to hold over 20 varieties of world scale petrochemical and heavy manufacturing plants, and hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), served by state-of-the-art facilities. Mr Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said: "Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum have made a significant contribution to the Iraqi economy through their work in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq thus far, we are making significant progress in spurring on economic growth and creating opportunity for our people." Hamid Jafar, Executive Chairman of Dana Gas, explained the importance of this achievement saying: "The Kurdistan Gas City is an enormous step forward in Dana Gas' strategy across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia." The Kurdistan Gas City is projected to generate job opportunities for nearly 200,000 Iraqi citizens in infrastructure, industrial projects, support services and other business activities. This is not the first project for Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, the two companies are committed to a service agreement signed in April 2007 with the Kurdistan Regional Government to build 180 kilometers of natural gas pipeline and two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants, which are 80 percent complete. The project is on track and will start pumping 150 million cubic feet of gas per day in the coming weeks, rising to 300 million cubic feet by early 2009. Other companies from the UAE showed similar interest in Kurdistan Region "Damac Properties" one of the major private developers in the regions revealed on June 3 plans for a $16 billion residential, commercial and recreational project.

Emirati companies making significant investments in Kurdistan . Kurdistan Gas City will include industrial, residential and commercial buildings . Work will start on the project on September 21 .

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(CNN) -- The U.S. Army's official history of the Iraq war shows military chiefs made mistake after mistake in the early months of the conflict. Iraqis watch as a statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled in Baghdad in 2003. Failures to recognize the chaos engulfing the country and to send in enough troops to restore order after the 2003 invasion have long been highlighted by critics, but a new report shows the Army assessing itself. Frank opinions from officers serving in the 18 months from the start of war to Iraqi elections in January 2005 reveal there were concerns at the time, not just about assumptions made by planners but at decisions taken once U.S.-led coalition forces had control of Iraq. "I flipped," Gen. Jack Keane, then the Army's deputy chief of staff, told the historians of his reaction to a June 2003 decision to transfer control of all coalition troops away from the land forces command that had been preparing for the mission. He recounted a conversation with Gen. John Abizaid, who succeeded the invasion's architect, Gen. Tommy Franks. "I said, 'Jesus Christ, John, this is a recipe for disaster. We invested in that headquarters. We have the experience and judgment in that headquarters." Keane said it took the U.S. command between six and eight months to get the new headquarters up and running. During that time, troops in the field saw the mood of ordinary Iraqis turn against Americans and watched the insurgency take root. "By the time we got a plan together to resource everything, the insurgents had closed that window of opportunity quickly," Col. David Perkins, a brigade commander in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, told the historians. "What we started doing in September was probably a good idea to have done in April 2003." Franks, who would soon retire and be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said he ordered the transition to force the Pentagon to get leaders into the field to work with civilian occupation officials. "That is a task that John Abizaid and I very simply laid on Washington and said, 'Figure it out. Do it fast. Get me a joint headquarters in here. We have a lot of work to do and [civilian administrator of Iraq] Jerry Bremer has a lot of responsibility and he needs help,' " he recalled. The 720-page report compiled by the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, details the effects of having too few coalition troops on the ground when the reality after the fall of Baghdad was "severely out of line" with the anticipated conditions. Previous experience "should have indicated that many more troops would be needed for the post-Saddam era in Iraq," historians wrote in the report, "On Point II: Transition to a New Campaign." "The coalition's inability to prevent looting, to secure Iraq's borders and to guard the vast number of munitions dumps in the early months after Saddam's overthrow are indicative of the shortage," the study found. About 150,000 U.S. and allied troops were in Iraq after the invasion, at a time when war planners were assuming that Iraq's government would remain functional after Hussein's ouster and that there would be no mass insurgency. "These factors were in line with prewar planning for a quick turnover of power to Iraqis and a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces, leaving Iraqis to determine their own political future -- options that proved impossible to execute," the historians wrote in the report released over the weekend. "We had the wrong assumptions, and therefore, we had the wrong plan to put into play," Gen. William Wallace, who commanded the Army's V Corps during the invasion, told the authors. But some of the most critical decisions were made between May and August 2003, which some participants called a "window of opportunity that could have been exploited to produce the conditions for the quick creation of a new Iraq." Among those decisions were the frequently criticized dissolution of the Iraqi army and the order that barred former members of Hussein's Baath Party from public life as well as the change in plan over the joint headquarters.

Army history of Iraq war's first two years says U.S. was unprepared for chaos . U.S.-led coalition didn't have enough troops after Saddam Hussein's fall, report says . "This is a recipe for disaster," one general recalls saying of one decision .

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(CNN) -- Rafael Nadal will miss the U.S. Open after the reigning champion couldn't recover in time from a right wrist injury. The world No. 2 injured his wrist after Wimbledon and pulled out of the recent Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati. Due to make an announcement over the weekend about his participation at Flushing Meadows, that decision was pushed back to Monday and the Spaniard's fans were ultimately left disappointed with the outcome. "I am very sorry to announce I won't be able to play at this year's U.S. Open," the 28-year-old announced on his Facebook page. "I am sure you understand that it is a very tough moment for me since it is a tournament I love and where I have great memories from fans, the night matches, so many things. "(There is) not much more I can do right now, other than accept the situation and, as always in my case, work hard in order to be able to compete at the highest level once I am back." It's not the first time Nadal won't be able to defend a grand slam title. He also skipped Wimbledon in 2009, the year after his memorable triumph over Roger Federer at the All England Club, when his knees were the issue. Injuries have been an ever present in the 14-time grand slam winner's career, with those knees the biggest culprit. But a hamstring injury hindered Nadal at the 2011 Australian Open -- when he was on the verge of capturing a fourth consecutive grand slam titles -- and in Melbourne seven months ago, back pain meant he was unable to perform at his best in the finale versus Stan Wawrinka. His absence means Federer will be bumped up to No. 2 in the seedings, only behind Novak Djokovic. Federer has been the hottest player this summer, reaching the final in Toronto and winning Cincinnati, and without his nemesis at the U.S. Open, the Swiss' chances of landing a record-extending 18th major have now improved. Nadal is the highest profile casualty of the U.S. Open, though 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro also withdrew with a wrist injury. The tournament begins next Monday.

Rafael Nadal says he will miss the U.S. Open because of a wrist injury . It's not the first time the Spaniard will be unable to defend a grand slam title . Nadal suffered injury heartache in the year's first major, hampered by a bad back . Roger Federer will now be the tournament's second seed after Novak Djokovic .

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(CNN) -- Myanmar's Supreme Court rejected Friday an appeal by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to overturn her house arrest. A diplomat who attended the hearing and spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the appeal was unsuccessful. Suu Kyi, 64, has one final avenue for appeal to a special court in Myanmar's new capital, Naypidaw. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate's house arrest was extended by 18 months last August after an incident in which uninvited American John Yettaw stayed at her lakeside home. Myanmar's ruling military junta accused Suu Kyi of breaching the terms of her house arrest. She has been imprisoned or under house arrest for much of the past two decades, since her party the National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990. The junta has never recognized the results, but has promised to hold fresh elections this year, although no date has yet been set. Suu Kyi is disqualified from standing because she was married to a foreigner. The NLD has still to clarify whether it will participate in the vote. CNN's Dan Rivers contributed to this report.

Myanmar's Supreme Court rejects appeal by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi . Suu Kyi had sought to overturn her house arrest . Suu Kyi has one final avenue for appeal to a special court . Her house arrest was extended in August after an uninvited American stayed at her home .

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(RollingStone.com) -- Paul Reubens is dusting off his red bow-tie once more for a film revival of his iconic character Pee-wee Herman. The comedian confirmed the Judd Apatow-produced film was moving forward during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday, but wasn't able to divulge too many details just yet. TV on the Radio make Paul Reubens a race car driver for 'Happy Idiot' video . "There is going to be one," Reubens said. "And I was hoping I could make this huge announcement tonight, but it's a week away, I think, from being announced." Reubens, however, did say that production on the film would begin next February and that a director had been hired as well, though he wouldn't say who. "Steven Spielberg?" Fallon cracked. "Steven Spielberg!" Reubens gamely responded, before shaking his head no and adding: "It's called P.T." As Reubens noted, news of a new Pee-wee Herman movie, and of Apatow's involvement, has been bouncing around for the better part of three years now. The script was written by Reubens and comedian Paul Rust — whose writing credits also include "Arrested Development" and "Comedy Bang! Bang!" — though what kind of adventure the titular hero will embark on remains unknown. Own Pee-wee Herman's 'Big Adventure' bike . The Pee-wee persona originally developed in the 1970s, evolving from Reubens' early improv work with Los Angeles troupe the Groundlings. After missing the final cut for the 1980 cast of "Saturday Night Live," Reubens adapted the eccentric character for the stage with "The Pee-wee Herman Show," which gained national exposure after being filmed and released by HBO as a 1981 special. Of course, Pee-wee became a major star once he hit the big screen with 1985's Tim Burton-directed "Pee-wee's Big Adventure." The success of that bizarre comedy helped Reubens launch a TV series, the eventual cult-classic "Pee-wee's Playhouse," in 1986. A film sequel, "Big Top Pee-wee," was released in 1988, though was a critical disaster and relative commercial flop. As a sign of his character's '80s legacy, Pee-wee (not Reubens) was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1991, Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theater in Sarasota, Florida. With Pee-wee then the punchline of dirty schoolyard jokes, Reubens retired the character for most of the decade. In 2007, the actor appeared in character at Spike TV's Guy's Choice Awards, marking Pee-wee's first public appearance since 1992; then in 2011, Reubens appeared as Pee-wee in a "Saturday Night Live" segment opposite cast member Andy Samberg. See the original story at RollingStone.com. Copyright © 2011 Rolling Stone.

Paul Reubens has teased that a new Pee-wee Herman movie is in the works . He made the announcement on "The Tonight Show" Wednesday . The actor's character has recently returned to the spotlight .

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(CNN) -- He's just 15 and the world is seemingly already at his feet. Last month, Martin Odegaard became Norway's youngest international footballer in a friendly against the United Arab Emirates, provoking huge media interest and the hungry attention of Europe's top clubs. Such is the focus on the midfielder that 35 scouts from some of those teams -- including Manchester United and Liverpool of the English Premier League -- came to watch him at a recent Under-21 match. "In the beginning it was unreal and a little bit surreal that all these clubs wanted Martin, but it's strange what you can get used to," his father Hans Erik Odegaard tells CNN. "Almost every top European club has been in touch." His international debut is not Odegaard's only record-breaking feat this year. In April he became the youngest player in the history of the Tippeligaen when he made his debut for Stromsgodset in a top-flight game against Aalesund. He followed that up by scoring the fourth goal in a 4-1 win over Sarpsborg to become the youngest scorer in the Norwegian league. Former Norway international Morten Gamst Pedersen has described Odegaard's potential as "unbelievable," while manager Ronny Deila -- who gave the teen his Stromsgodset debut before joining Scottish club Celtic -- says he can "become the best in the world." Odegaard's father, a former footballer at Stromsgodset and Sandefjord, recalls the moment when he realized his son might have what it takes to play professionally. "I saw from a very early age that 'he had the feeling,' but I remember very well when I knew he'd be quite good," he said. "I was still playing and Martin must have been no more than eight. I was out on the pitch running some intervals. He was, as always, with me. When I was finished I wanted to go home, but we couldn't before he had done 50 more shots (at goal). "Then I understood he also had a talent for training and that is the most important talent you can have." "Quite good" probably doesn't do Odegaard's myriad talents justice, given he has been compared to Lionel Messi or -- closer to Scandinavia -- the legendary Denmark international Michael Laudrup, who played for Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid. "I'm sure you can compare him with many, but I don't like to do that," reflects Hans Erik. "Those players are and were so good and Martin is at the start of his career." Former Monaco chief executive Tor-Kristian Karlsen, who is Norwegian and has watched Odegaard's progress over the last few months, is a fan. "He's obviously still in the early stages of his development but his understanding of the game is very impressive," says Karlsen. "He plays in bursts, so you might not notice him for five minutes, but he has good movement and can take people on." Young, gifted and talented . Books such as Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," Geoff Colvin's "Talent is Overrated" and "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle all explore the idea that to become an expert you need to practice any skill for 10,000 hours. What's clear from Odegaard's prodigious development is that his success has been helped by a specialized training regime and his thirst to learn and practice. "I have been a regional trainer for the best boys in this area, and I checked how much they trained with the team and by themselves," says Hans Erik. "Martin is training more than double than these boys did -- at least 20 hours a week." It's not just how much he trains -- it's also the type of training he has focused on by doing everything with the ball. "The boys loved it when I joked about other teams that warmed up with running instead of using the ball," adds Hans Erik. "I always said that they should maybe do athletics." Hans Erik believes Martin has been able to cope with the demands of professional football and making his international debut at such an early age because of the work done to develop his first touch and "quick feet." "It's the pace of the game that makes the difference in adjusting to different levels," says Hans Erik. "We've used so many hours in working with his first and second touch to take off the pressure. "We have worked a lot on bringing the ball closely to his feet, so he can change direction quickly, so even if he's physically weaker than the others he doesn't get caught because he's able to get away." Family fortunes . Now 40, Hans Erik admits that, as a player, he was "a runner with a big heart and scored some goals" -- so does Martin's talent come from his mother Lene? "She played handball and sprinted," says Hans Erik, before joking: "She tells us she was fantastic, but none of us, or any others, has seen that." While Hans Erik's professional career has given him advantages in overseeing Martin's progression as a player, he admits it has given him difficulties as a father in his relationship with his son. "I was always afraid of favoring him. We were always changing captain, but he was never picked," he says. "The expectations were high on him so it happened that I sometimes yelled at him and one day another parent came to me and said that I was too hard with Martin. "Then Martin and I agreed that he should always get the feedback when we were alone in the car after the game. That was a good solution. "We've always -- and still do -- talked so much about football. His natural understanding for the game makes him a very smart player. Since he was 10 I could discuss football with him as an adult." Stay or go? Hans Erik, who has so far avoided using agents to advise on his son's career, concedes that "the level of the Norwegian league isn't as strong as many other European leagues." So what's next for the wunderkind from the port city of Drammen who has already visited Manchester United as well as German clubs Bayern Munich, Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund? Karlsen believes going to a country like the Netherlands would benefit the 15-year-old. "If he went to some other countries they might take something out of his game, by telling him to get rid of the ball," Karlsen says. "In Holland, they are not so concerned with the results." Whatever Odegaard does next, his father insists the decision will not be influenced by money. "In the end it's all about development," he says. "Nothing else matters. I'm allergic to boys who are satisfied getting into an academy or winning a first-team contract, because you haven't achieved nothing . "It's a danger when there's so much attention to him from clubs and the media. I think he has handled it very well so far and he has his feet on the ground. "When we are talking with the clubs we have just talked about sport. We're also in a position that it's not obvious that he will go abroad now." And amid all the hype and record breaking, Odegaard's father insists that his son's education will not be forgotten. "He will still, of course, go to school. I don't think it's good for any young boy just to play football and PlayStation. You need to work with your brain too and to develop as a person."

Martin Odegaard became Norway's youngest international in August . The 15-year-old made his professional debut in April . Potential is "unbelievable" according to one former Norway international . Odegaard's father Hans Erik played in the Norwegian league .

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German leaders are furious with Greece. Yet again they have to go back to their electorates asking for more billions to throw down the black hole that is the Hellenic Republic. They have now become so angry that they are even openly proposing that Greece's fiscal affairs be deferred to some European Commissioner, preferably one of a Teutonic disposition. Greek leaders, meanwhile, have seized upon this German "transgression" with glee. For it offers them a wonderful excuse to put on domestic display their patriotic fervor at a time when they are running low on legitimacy in the eyes of a battered, demoralized electorate. Beating their chests about the German threat to Greece's national sovereignty, they are hoping that the Greeks will somehow forget that it was they, their leaders, who ceded sovereignty to the so-called troika of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. This is a typical case of a shady coalition of vested interests that is disintegrating under the weight of its collective hubris. For the past 18 months, German and Greek leaders have been working together to deny the truth about three simultaneous bankruptcies: The irreversible bankruptcy of the Greek state, the effective insolvency of many Franco-German banks, and, last but not least, the unsustainability of the euro-system as we know it. To keep these truths from surfacing, German and Greek politicians, each for their own purposes, settled on gigantic loans for Greece that would act as plaster on the festering wounds of the aforementioned bankruptcies. But to get these "historic" loans through the parliaments of Berlin and Athens, they had to be portrayed as a form of humanism; as German solidarity to the Greek people. Alas, to extend such "solidarity," German lawmakers demanded subsidiarity; which is euro-speak for the recipient agreeing to a tough reform agenda, complete with strict fiscal targets. In plain language, the huge loans would only be granted if similarly lofty promises were made by the Greek government. Thus, German leaders, unwilling to confront their bankers and the fault lines developing throughout the eurozone, pretended to believe that the problem was Greece and that Greece could be "cured" by means of loans and austerity. At the same time, Greek leaders, unwilling to confront their electorate, pretended to believe that they could deliver the targets demanded by Germany. Of course, it was only a matter of time before reality caught up with both sets of leaders. Once it became abundantly clear that the targets Greece had committed to were well and truly unrealistic, the coalition between our German and Greek leaders became testy. The knives are out and, if it were not for an equilibrium of terror at the thought of a euro-system collapse, a disorderly brawl would be plain for all to see. The worst part of this sad saga is that public debate is still failing to keep track with the real issues. Instead of coming to terms with the structural imbalances within the eurozone, the Germans accuse the Greeks of incompetence, corruption and a singular failure to meet "their" targets. The Greeks, meanwhile, are replying with references to World War II and yelps of horror at the prospect of violations of national sovereignty. Neither side is willing to admit that the whole rescue package was flawed from the outset. No serious consideration is given to the plain facts: . •That the cascade of insolvencies in the eurozone should never have been treated like liquidity problems fixable by loans to the bankrupt banks and states. •That it is always a terrible idea to make large loans to an already shrinking economy conditional on further reduction in the national income from which these loans must be repaid (for this is precisely what hefty austerity measures in the middle of a recession achieve). •That Greece's agreed targets would be equivalent to my promising, perhaps under duress, to break the world 100-meter sprint record in the forthcoming London Olympics. The punishment of any big lie is its revelation. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. The preordained failure of the Greek "program" has not yet exposed our leaders' connivance. It is, instead, generating Teutonic wrath among the hard working Germans (whose living standards have been under constant pressure for a decade, and who are now told they must guarantee even more zillions for the Greek state) and unbearable Sisyphean pain for Greeks caught up in a vicious cycle (from which no amount of hard work or innovative thinking can help them escape). Something must give. If it is not our leaders' insidious lie, it will be the eurozone. It's that simple.

German and Greek politicians are at odds over who should control Greece's budget . Greek political economist Yanis Varoufakis says both are guilty of failing to grasp the real problem . Varoufakis says both countries mislead voters in agreeing an unsustainable rescue package for Greece .

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(CNN) -- The ever-expanding outbreak of life-threatening fungal meningitis in back pain patients linked to steroid injections prepared by a compounding pharmacy, which so far has sickened at least 214 people and killed 15 in 15 states, is a public health catastrophe. What is particularly tragic for those who have been sickened or killed by the tainted drug and for their loved ones is that this situation was completely avoidable. Since federal laws were enacted in 1938 and 1962 giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to ensure that all brand name and generic drugs were both safe and effective, compounding pharmacies have traditionally filled a very narrow health care niche in which they prepared, in response to physicians' prescriptions, individually tailored preparations of drugs for patients having unique medical needs that could not be met by a commercially available standard drug manufactured by a pharmaceutical company. While the FDA has long considered the compounding of drugs to be subject to FDA regulations, the agency has recognized the important health care role for such compounded medications. Therefore, it has used "enforcement discretion" to allow compounding pharmacies to produce these drugs without complying with FDA regulations, generally deferring regulatory oversight to state pharmacy boards. News: What is a compounding pharmacy? However over the past two decades, many so-called compounding pharmacies began large-scale production of drugs and moved from the traditionally narrow role filled by such pharmacies into a realm that clearly involved drug manufacturing and distribution of standardized drugs. In many cases, the drugs have been sold in multiple states, thus involving interstate commerce. The steroid medication linked to the current fungal meningitis outbreak was produced and widely distributed by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, one of many compounding pharmacies across the country that has crossed the line between traditional compounding and large-scale drug production. The injectable steroid medication produced at the center was never approved by the FDA and was not manufactured in accordance with the FDA's rigorous manufacturing standards designed to ensure that drugs are sterile and uncontaminated with such germs as bacteria or fungi before being sold and distributed. As a result, as many as 14,000 patients in 23 states were exposed to potentially contaminated steroids and need to be monitored for signs of fungal meningitis or other infections. Many people rightly are asking how the disastrous outbreak could happen in the United States and who is to blame. While numerous probes and investigations are just getting under way and litigation targeting the producer of the tainted drug and health care providers who used it will certainly take years to resolve, blame for this disaster will undoubtedly rest with many parties. Among them are the compounding pharmacy that produced the contaminated steroid drugs, health care facilities and providers who chose to use a dangerous drug lacking approval by the FDA and evidence that the products were sterile, trade associations and professional groups representing compounding pharmacies that have vigorously resisted federal regulatory oversight of their members, state and federal regulators, and Congress. A key player at the federal level deserving a significant amount of blame is the FDA. Loud alarm bells were sounded on December 4, 2006, when the FDA issued warning letters to the New England Compounding Center and four other compounding pharmacies, directing them to stop producing standardized versions of medications that, according to the agency, were being "marketed for general distribution rather than responding to the unique medical needs of individual patients." the center was cited for violations of FDA regulations in marketing four different drugs, including repackaged doses of the cancer drug Avastin into syringes for treatment of macular degeneration. News: Injectable drugs from Mass. facility suspect . Clearly, the FDA considered the center and the other compounding pharmacies to be engaged in drug manufacturing. The pharmacies, like any other drug manufacturer, were therefore subject to the safety and effectiveness standards required for approval of new drugs, as well as the rigorous manufacturing standards designed to ensure that drugs are sterile and uncontaminated with such germs as bacteria or fungi before being sold and distributed. However, following its warning letter, the FDA subsequently dropped the ball and failed to take the actions necessary to ensure the center adhered to these drug standards, which are essential for protecting the health of patients. For whatever reason, whether inattentiveness or lack of compliance and legal resources, by not aggressively enforcing the regulations related to large-scale drug manufacturing and interstate commerce, the FDA allowed the company to shift its wide-scale manufacturing and interstate distribution operation to injectable steroids. On Thursday, the FDA attempted to deflect criticism for its failures by asserting that it lacked authority to take action earlier. This flies in the face of the agency's long-stated position that it had legal authority over such activities and its prior enforcement activities against the New England center and multiple other compounding pharmacies. While no one wants to be viewed as being responsible for a preventable public health catastrophe, American citizens should express their outrage and demand that all parties responsible for this tragedy -- including the FDA -- be held accountable. Otherwise history will repeat itself. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Carome.

Michael Carome: The current deadly meningitis outbreak was completely avoidable . The outbreak has sickened at least 214 people and killed 15 across 15 states . The FDA allows compounding pharmacies to produce drugs without regulation, he says . Americans should demand that all responsible parties be held accountable, Carome says .

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(CNN) -- Chester Nez, the former Marine and last of the original 29 Navajo code talkers, passed away June 4 at age 93. When an elder dies in Indian country -- especially someone as revered and decorated as Nez, the World War II veteran -- we, Native Americans, feel it, all of us, regardless of tribe or nation. We are also reminded that, not long ago, in the 19th and 20th centuries, Native American culture, including our languages, was considered a threat to U.S. national security. Then, the government worked in collusion with Christian institutions to stamp out Native American languages, including Navajo. "A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one," Capt. Richard Pratt famously read from a paper at an 1892 convention. "In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." Pratt was the founder of the Indian boarding schools, institutions charged with turning the "red Indian" into the "noble savage." Native Americans: We're not your mascots . Chester Nez attended one of these schools as a child, and was punished when he spoke Navajo. One can't help but think that, had it not been for the resilience of the Navajo people and their resistance to these early oppressive American policies, it's quite possible that World War II could have ended differently. Without the use of the Navajo language that was once discouraged by American policy, the U.S. military could have lost a distinct advantage over its enemy. Nez's death is a reminder that America's strength lies in its diversity. Native Americans, who have not always been included in the American story, should be remembered and honored for their contributions. Before the arrival of the Europeans, there were between 300 and 500 unique languages spoken throughout what is now the United States and Canada. Today, there are fewer than 200, and that number will continue to decrease if North American indigenous language revitalization efforts aren't considered paramount to the continuity of Native American communities by the United States. Opinion: NFL may throw flag on N-word, but what about the 'R-word'? Recently, a neighbor and I were discussing Native American languages. He was curious why more Native American elders "don't just pass on the language to the next generation." I told him that many of said elders still suffer from the trauma they experienced in the Christian boarding school system, and remembered what Ruby Left Hand Bull told me recently. "They'd pierce your tongue if you spoke your language!" my elder recalled. "Or they'd make you stand in front of the classroom and they'd tell you to stick your tongue out and then they'd whip it with a wooden ruler, just for speaking our language." Ruby knew our Lakota language growing up, she said, and very well. But she has lost it, she said. She understands it, but it's all but left her, courtesy of the boarding schools. I told my neighbor, who said he was a third-generation Italian-American, that his people's language could die in New York, but there is no threat that it will become an extinct language any time soon. "There are more Italians speaking Italian every day right across the Atlantic," I said. "You could board a plane or hop a ship today and travel to your home country and hear your people's language reverberating off Italian walls. We, Native Americans, don't share in that luxury. This is it. This is our home country. Our languages are invariably on the brink of extinction, especially since we are 1% of the population. So when a Native American language dies, it's forever gone." Our elders tell us that when a language dies, so, too, does the culture. But all is not lost. There are various campaigns to revitalize Native American languages. The state of Colorado, for example, passed a law stating that Native Americans who speak their language can teach it to students for credit at secondary schools under the category "World Languages." Maybe one day all Native Americans will, again, be fluent speakers of their language -- just like Chester Nez, the warrior. Indeed, the world would be a richer place for it. My hope is that when President Barack Obama visits with our Native American leaders this month at Standing Rock, North Dakota, he will be reminded of the significant contributions of Native American peoples like Chester Nez. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Simon Moya-Smith.

Simon Moya-Smith: The death of original code talker Chester Nez is a significant cultural loss . Nez attended boarding schools that discouraged the use of his Navajo language . Author: Native American elders say when a language dies, so does the culture . Without the use of the Navajo language, the U.S. military could have lost a war, author says .

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A safe distance from Nairobi's Westgate Mall, several Kenyans stare through a stand of trees at the site of one of the nation's worst terrorist attacks. The opulent mall has proudly stood for six years -- like a glittering city within a city in the popular enclave of Westlands, about 15 miles from slums where residents struggle daily to survive. But Saturday's attack by Al-Shabaab terrorists has left dozens dead, turning the 350,000 square foot, five-story shopping complex into a symbol of a very different kind. Related story: Kenya mall shooting enters fourth day . Among the onlookers Tuesday gathered at a cordoned off area near the scene of the attack, cab driver Benjamin Kamau said he doesn't feel safe anymore. The tragedy has shaken him. It will take a long time to return to any sense of safety or normalcy. Westgate Mall has made its name as a place to see and be seen -- where shoppers sipped frozen yogurt, caught a movie and shopped for the latest fashions amid an extravagant waterfall and casino. For the nation's wealthy, it was a taste of the West in their own backyard: 80 stores including Samsung, Nike and Adidas -- lined its pristine, peach colored marble hallways. For Kenya's expatriate community, the mall was a taste of familiarity in a land far from home. Related story: Kenya tourism suffers another blow . Now, pools of blood have smeared once shiny floors. Coffee shops that were once filled with lively chatter have been littered with half-empty latte cups left by shoppers trying to escape with their lives. On the day of the attack, my cousin, Charles Mugo, and his two daughters, ages 6 and 3, found themselves with about 40 other shoppers in the mall parking garage. They'd just returned from a grocery store to pick up food for the family dog, Muthaka, when gunmen stormed in, AK-47 rifles blazing. Mugo came face-to-face with one of the terrorists, a lanky, 6-foot man, wearing a black scarf-like cloth on his head and magazines of ammunition around his waist. "Just like Rambo does in the movies," Mugo recalls. "We're not here to rob you, we're here to kill you," the gunman announced to the crowd. "You've been killing our women and children in Somalia." When the gunmen demanded to know if they were Muslim, Mugo hesitated just long enough for the attackers to turn their attention to a man nearby. The man stared at them blankly when one attacker tested him by asking who the Prophet Muhammad's mother was. They shot at him -- the bullet ripping through his coat -- but leaving him unharmed. The interaction lasted long enough for Mugo to push his two girls under a parked car, and for him to stoop low behind it. They waited, and waited. "Girls, did you pray today?" he whispered. "I've prayed five times already," the older daughter told him. "I don't want to die today." Ninety minutes passed. By then, the gunshots did not sound as close. They felt confident enough to make a run for safety. "Westgate bad, blood," the younger daughter told me later. She showed me scratches on her face from laying flat on the ground. "I ran, ran, ran." Eventually, the Mugos escaped unharmed. Kenyans and foreigners died in attacks scattered across the complex. It was the deadliest terror attack in Kenya since al Qaeda blew up the U.S. Embassy there in 1998, killing 213 people. Terrorism experts say the attack bears eerie similarities to the 2008 siege of a hotel in Mumbai, India -- another upscale target with Western appeal. Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group that attacked the hotel for more than three days, killing 166 people. Related story: Could Kenya mall shooting happen elsewhere? The Nairobi attack targeted non-Muslims at a stylish mall. "This is a soft target. It's in a high profile area," said CNN military analyst retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona. "There's going to be a lot of foreigners there, a lot of wealthy there. This is -- this was well-planned and well-thought out." CNN national security analyst Fran Townsend said, "There is no sort of hard perimeter by which you could screen for security purposes, and so it's difficult to protect." The tragedy has changed many who've been touched by it. Four days after the attack, Mugo is still trying to sort out his feelings. "You have to take time to let it sink in. I think I'm still in shock," he said. "All I keep thinking of was what if they were different scenarios. What if I had parked at a different place. What if I had not gone to that mall. At the time, all I kept thinking was I just couldn't let these girls die." Outside the mall, the Kenyans keep watch. From a distance. Kamau, the taxi driver, shakes his head. "I won't be going back in there. Never, ever, ever." Related story: Attack 'fits the new al Qaeda playbook'

Terrorist attack changes Kenyans' view of glamorous mall . Some residents wonder if they can ever revisit Westgate Mall's upscale stores . Al-Shabaab terrorists stormed Nairobi's fanciest mall Saturday, killing dozens . Survivors reveal how they escaped death in the mall's parking garage .

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(CNN)For Frank Clegg Leatherworks, "made in America" is not a seasonal trend or marketing slogan meant to evoke classic workwear looks or to drive sales of limited edition brand collaborations. It's simply the way Ian and Andrew Clegg's father has done business since 1970 in Fall River, Massachusetts. It has not always been easy. Frank Clegg resisted the urge to outsource production overseas even as clients disappeared and margins shrunk. In the 1990s they started making bags for other labels to stay afloat. As the Cleggs tell it, staying in Massachusetts was the only way to ensure survival, by standing out for maintaining quality control of their products. But will consumers see it that way beyond next season? How can brands like Frank Clegg that are in it for the long haul convince the Target generation that one of their leather satchels is worth the triple-digit investment? Ian Clegg pondered this sentiment aloud to a group of people gathered in a Brooklyn showroom on a rainy Saturday night in December for a panel discussion on the future of American apparel manufacturing. His family business trains and employs skilled leather craftsmen, paying them a living wage to make quality bags and accessories, he said. "In order to keep that going we can't let it be a trend," he told the group of entrepreneurs, small-business owners and fashion enthusiasts. "How do we keep it going without it being a trend?" The question comes at a time when shopping small and local are attractive buzzwords for a generation of consumers that claims to be disillusioned with corporate America. Whether they'll pony up the extra cash for a handbag whose makers claim will last longer than their fast-fashion equivalents is another matter — a reality that the Cleggs and other business owners in attendance seemed to be aware of. The discussion occurred during a pop-up market called Northern Grade, which features American-made goods with a contemporary feel. The first Northern Grade launched in 2010 as a menswear market in Minneapolis, expanding to other cities amid growing demand for classic looks inspired by American heritage brands. People travel hundreds of miles for the markets, which tend to attract style-conscious men (and women) willing to pay a premium for waxed cotton jackets, selvedge jeans or Oxford cloth shirts made in the United States. Northern Grade is one of several new markets trying to reach this consumer, building on the success of its predecessor, the Pop-Up Flea, which has also expanded to new cities worldwide since its first show in 2009 in New York. December's Northern Grade was the first to exclusively feature American-made products for women in an attempt to reach a demographic historically known to favor fast fashion over high-dollar investment pieces from new or emerging brands. The brands (and price tags) at Northern Grade's markets for men and women are not for everyone, said market co-founder Katherine McMillan. They're trying to reach consumers searching for quality in an item, shoppers "who appreciate the details and bigger picture when buying an item," she said. "There will always be the people who buy a shirt at H&M that's made fast and costs less than a shirt made in the U.S. by a smaller brand," she said. "I'm hoping the quality shopper wins out in the long run." The Americana boom in menswear has led to greater demand for tomboy-inspired looks for women the past few seasons. So-called "boyfriend"-style button-up shirts and jeans are mainstays in stores like Madewell and J. Crew, and just about everyone from Valentino and Alexander Wang to Opening Ceremony has incorporated elements of casual and formal menswear into their runway looks. Menswear's influence was apparent in many of the brands at Northern Grade, not by coincidence. Stephanie Beard, founder of Austin-based brand esby, said working in menswear inspired her to start her own line for women. "I was really envious of how classic menswear was, but it was not cut for my body," she said. "I felt like there was a market for quality womenswear because I couldn't find it when I was looking for it." With the help of Kickstarter, she launched her first line in February with the goal of using quality fabrics, even if they can't be found in the United States. All the fabrics she uses in her collections are imported except for the knitted canvas of some shirts. The sewing and pattern-making happens in New Orleans before items are shipped to a wash house in New Jersey and back to Austin to be sold or shipped. "Staying in the United States was always the plan," she said. "I want to be hands-on and I can't fly out of the country for each season to oversee production." For some, made in America is a lifestyle choice, said panelist Katharine Keegan, founder of style blog "That Kind of Woman." It has crossover appeal to those who identify as conscious consumers and claim to care about where their clothes come from. These shoppers consider the "made in USA" label synonymous with fair labor practices and supporting small businesses. "Made in USA is about knowing the people behind product," she said. "It's a lifestyle, it's being part of a bigger cause." The past few years have seen the launch of a handful of e-retailers and online-first brands dedicated to supply chain transparency and knowing your brand. Information about provenance, materials and brand story are prominent features on new sites such as ZADY, Everlane, and Of a Kind. Not all brands featured on Of a Kind — which showcases limited runs of goods from emerging designers — manufacture in the United States, said Erica Cerulo. But each brand is vetted so Of a Kind can provide customers with an honest answer. "Our customers want transparency about where things come from. That matters more to them than whether it's made in the USA," she said. Besides, she said, everything made in United Sates is not created equally, just like all "made in China" merchandise isn't the same. "It's about finding brands you trust," Cerulo said. People in the audience said they would love to support these brands if they could afford them. By the end of the discussion, educating consumers had emerged as one way to sell them on the value of the goods. That's why markets like Northern Grade exist, McMillan said: so consumers can meet designers in person. "The biggest issue, which we are always thinking about, is how much it costs," she said. "I'm hoping that the way organic and local food prices have come down a little, the items we sell at Northern Grade can become more attainable to the masses. "When you are paying for normal and fair wages for a person, the price of the item goes up. Here's hoping demand brings it down eventually."

Small, U.S.-based clothing makers are eager to attract consumers accustomed to "fast fashion" but wanting more . Pop-up markets like Northern Grade bring together small-business owners and conscientious shoppers . Information about provenance, materials and brand story are prominent features on shopping sites tailored to these consumers .

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(EW.com) -- The bad news: Emmy-award winning comedian John Oliver is leaving "The Daily Show," where he's been serving as a correspondent since 2006. The good news: He'll be moving to HBO for a brand-new topical comedy series, slated to launch in 2014. The show will air weekly on Sunday nights. Oliver caught the cable giant's eye this summer, when he spent two months filling in for "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. "We weren't otherwise searching for another weekly talk show, but when we saw John Oliver handling host duties on The Daily Show, we knew that his singular perspective and distinct voice belonged on HBO," said HBO Programming president Michael Lombardo said in a statement. "We are extremely excited that John has agreed to make HBO his home." "I'm incredibly excited to be joining HBO, especially as I presume this means I get free HBO now," Oliver added. "I want to thank Comedy Central, and everyone at The Daily Show for the best seven and a half years of my life. But most of all, I'd like to thank Jon Stewart. He taught me everything I know. In fact, if I fail in the future, it's entirely his fault." See the original story at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Oliver has been a correspondent on "The Daily Show" since 2006 . His new HBO comedy series is slated for 2014 . This summer he filled in for "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart .

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(CNN) -- The ideal of childhood, and the protection of its innocence, is a central pillar of both our morality and our legal code. There is, therefore, little that shocks and outrages us more than crimes by adults against children. Unfortunately, we have much to be shocked and outraged about. There have, for example, been a number of recent pedophile criminal cases inside the Catholic church and at universities like Pennsylvania University. And in the Congo, the crimes against children by the warlord Joseph Kony triggered KONY 2012 -- an online crusade made up of mostly children against Kony's abuse of children. What is KONY 2012? The last couple of weeks have brought us two more disturbingly high-profile criminal cases against children. First there was the failed attempt by the medieval Pakistani Taliban to kill the 14-year-old education activist and BBC blogger Malala Yousufzai. And now there are the lurid accusations against the BBC celebrity Jimmy Savile, who is alleged to have sexually abused children. These grotesque crimes may have been separated by several decades and by thousands of miles, but they have one thing in common. Both the Pakistani Taliban and Jimmy Savile sought to destroy the innocence of youth. Savile is accused of treating children as if they had adult bodies and sexual appetites, while the Taliban attempt to murder Malala Yousufzai was driven by their rejection of the idea of education for girls and thus, in a sense, of the very idea of childhood itself. But Malala, who is now recovering from the assassination attempt at an English hospital, shares our modern conception of childhood. "I have the right of education," she told CNN. "I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk. I have the right to go to market. I have the right to speak up." What Malala is claiming is the right to an autonomous childhood, the right to transform herself from an innocent child to a knowing adult -- and to be let alone by the adult world in this journey. This right is mirrored by the experience of Jimmy Savile's alleged victims, whose innocent childhoods were ruined by their exposure to his criminal adult appetites. A Taliban spokesman said of the attack on Malala: "She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area. She was openly propagating it. Let this be a lesson." The Taliban, with their rejection of the very idea of childhood, are of course wrong. But the Malala case does indeed offer us a "lesson." Yes, we should all be horrified by this appalling crime against a 14-year-old Pakistani girl from the Swat Valley, but I fear that, in our idealization of childhood and in our acute sensitivity to the innocence of brave young girls like Malala, we are ourselves vulnerable to transforming children into celebrity martyrs -- modern day versions of Joan of Arc. This happened with KONY 2012, a movement akin, as I wrote earlier this year, to a children's crusade. And Malala, who was nominated for the 2011 International Children's Peace Prize, is herself in danger of becoming a symbol of injustice exploited by everyone from UNICEF to Madonna and CNN itself. So how did this happen? Unfortunately, Malala was allowed, by her family, by many Pakistanis and by the media to become a spokesman against the Taliban. The well-meaning BBC is partially to blame here, for giving her a highly visible blog that would inevitably attract Taliban ire. Malala's equally well-meaning father holds some responsibility too, for allowing his daughter to become so vulnerable -- as does the world's media for transforming the teenager into a global celebrity. Our ideal of childhood is rooted in allowing children to being let alone by the adult world to develop themselves. We need adults to fight their political battles -- to have prosecuted Jimmy Savile, to hunt down Joseph Kony, to fight the Pakistan Taliban. Let's remember that children are, in every sense, innocent and thus shouldn't be encouraged to become the foot soldiers in the battle against their own exploitation. The story of Malala Yousufzai should be seen as both an inspiration and a warning. CNN is currently encouraging its readers to send messages to Malala. My message to her is twofold. Firstly, I dearly hope that you recover quickly from your wounds. And secondly, once you recover, I hope you'll be able to go back to the privacy of your childhood, to simply being Malala rather than a global celebrity whose image is owned by other people. (The BBC addressed its connection with Malala Yousufzai on its blog called The Editors, and you can read it by following the link here). The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Keen.

The ideal of childhood is a central pillar of both our morality and our legal code, Keen says . Keen: Last few weeks brought two more high-profile criminal cases against children . Unfortunately, Malala was allowed to become a spokesman against the Taliban, he says . Our ideal of childhood is rooted in allowing children to develop themselves, Keen says .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- I have a confession. As a music style, heavy metal has completely passed me by. I don't understand it. I'm not even sure I want to. "Bring your daughter to the slaughter," bellows Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson. Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to listen to anyone even suggesting I do that? Outside The Crobar in London's Soho our intrepid reporter tries out her rock moves. While the thought of spending the evening head banging leaves me longing for an expensive glass of merlot, slightly fruity, and perhaps a long sit down, I can't escape the feeling that I'm somehow missing out. As a child of the 70s, how could I have missed the birth of a wildly popular new music genre right in the next decade? Even at the end of the 80s, when Iron Maiden was releasing its "First Ten Years" compilation of greatest hits, I would have been sixteen (or thereabouts), the perfect age to fall for the charms of a long-haired, rebellious rocker in tight leather pants. You'd think. There's only one thing for it -- a crash course in all things metal with the man who knows, self-confessed metalhead Malcolm Dome, who also presents the chart show for 24-hour UK rock and metal radio station TotalRock. I meet him at the TotalRock studios in Central London. The stairs are scuffed. It smells of stale sweat. I'm pleased to see Malcolm is wearing the traditional heavy metal attire of black T-shirt and black jeans. Obviously I'm going to have to go and buy a T-shirt, perhaps one with a skull on it. "You can wear anything you want," Malcolm assures me. "You'd probably be surprised how many heavy metal fans there are who have very high-powered business jobs -- even members of parliament who are into metal. They can't go around dressed as I'm necessarily dressed now all the time because it doesn't fit into their jobs." Fortunately for Malcolm, his job as heavy metal journalist and broadcaster almost requires him to look the part. He's been involved in the scene since the late 1960s, when he fell for a young heavy metal group called Black Sabbath. His main allegiance later shifted to Led Zeppelin, but when it comes to music styles he's not fussy. "I've got eclectic tastes," he says. "I'm happy to listen to Frank Sinatra, listen to AC-DC, to all sorts." Finally, we've found some common ground. If there's anyone who can convince me of the joys of heavy metal, it's someone who also appreciates the soothing, melodic tones of Sinatra. I've heard someone compare heavy metal to pantomime, I say. Surely that can't be true? "It's absolutely panto," Malcolm enthuses, adding "Sammy Goldwyn said that any film should start with a climax and build it from there. And that's what metal does. It starts with a big, big stage show and builds it from there. Of course it's panto. It's 'he's behind you', it's the whole larger than life character, it's circus, it's frivolity." He hastens to add that a lot of time and effort goes into staging the shows, and from that perspective, it's completely serious. The problem with heavy metal, Malcolm says, is that the mainstream media misrepresented it for years. "Every time the mainstream media used to cover it in the 70s and 80s, it was done from the point of view that 'this is weird, we don't understand it, we're going to go away not understanding it but we're going to present it to you anyway,'" he says. Heavy metal was painted as the dark preserve of working class men who wore denim and leather and were, for the most part, sexist. That's even before you take into account accusations of devil worship and Satanism leveled at the genre by Christian activists in the 80s. "You can understand people actually seeing what was being presented to them thinking 'I don't get it and I don't want to get it,'" Malcolm says. Now many more people "get it." Some 30,000 people listen to TotalRock each week, many of them women. "It's ended up being I think a music that attracts if not fifty percent female fans then certainly a very big minority. The fact is metal has never tried to exclude women." So what of lyrics like "bring your daughter to the slaughter"? "'Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter' was actually written for a movie," Malcolm explains, "One of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. However, it is not about killing people. Slaughter was a metaphor for the party. So it was actually a fun representation. Metal has never openly espoused violence towards anybody." It should be stated here that there are varying degrees of heavy metal, from the hair metal of carefully-coifured Jon Bon Jovi to the black art of New York doom metal band Unearthly Trance. "What makes Unearthly Trance so heavy is that they literally make your bowels rumble," Malcolm says. "They are so intense. But it's also hypnotic. And strangely soothing," he adds. Dozens of sub-categories of metal have evolved to include black metal, stoner metal, thrash metal, power metal, goth metal, death metal and grind core, to name a few. What binds them all is a fierce dedication to the style of music and an admirable loyalty to their chosen bands. There seems to be none of the fickleness associated with the pop world where young performers are routinely thrown on the scrapheap after a few hits -- or flops. As Malcolm says, it's not unusual for bands to have a career that spans decades. Iron Maiden has been going for almost 30 years. Black Sabbath for even longer. So is there any age when heavy metal fans should retire gracefully from the scene? "Absolutely not, no, no, no," Malcolm says, looking slightly shocked. "If you love it and enjoy it why should you have give it up because you reach a certain age? Definitely not. Metal is ageless." It's not too late for me then. What a relief.

Malcolm Dome of TotalRock conveys the joys of metal to the unconverted . Heavy metal concerts likened to panto, "it's circus, it's frivolity," Dome says . Metal 'uniform' of black t-shirt, jeans and leather apparently unnecessary . Metalheads display fierce loyalty to their bands, unlike fickle world of pop .

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(CNN) -- If you want to salute, race or flirt with other drivers in Nevada, you could soon be out of luck with some cars. That's because on Monday, Nevada became the first to approve a license for "autonomous vehicles" -- in other words, cars that cruise, twist and turn without the need for a driver -- on its roads. The license goes to Google, the Silicon Valley technology giant known more for its search engine and e-mail service that nonetheless has been known to dive into other big ideas such as space elevators to Internet-enabled glasses. In a 2010 post on Google's official blog, engineer and Google X founder Sebastian Thrun said that the self-driving vehicle project aims "to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use." He noted that the "automated cars use video cameras, radio sensors and a laser range finder to 'see' other traffic, as well as detailed maps ... to navigate the road ahead." There is no driver needed, though one is typically in the front seat ready to take control if need be. Earlier this spring, Google said it had "safely completed over 200,000 miles of computer-led driving." Monday marked a new milestone for the project, when Nevada issued a special license after demonstrations on state freeways, state highways, in Carson City neighborhoods and on Las Vegas' landmark Las Vegas Strip, the state's Department of Motor Vehicles said in a news release. The new plate is red and features the infinity symbol and the letters AU, for autonomous vehicle. All such cars on the road are "test" vehicles for now, though the state signaled it intends to be "at the forefront of autonomous vehicle development." "I felt using the infinity symbol was the best way to represent the 'car of the future,' " state DMV Director Bruce Breslow said. "When there comes a time that vehicle manufactures market autonomous vehicles to the public, that infinity symbol will appear on a green license plate." Google was the first company to apply to test its self-driving system in Nevada, the state said, while indicating that "other auto manufacturers have indicated their desire to test and develop" such technology in the state.

Nevada approves a license for "autonomous vehicles" that drive themselves . Google will test out its self-driving technology in the state; other companies may follow . The company says its cars have driven 200,000 miles solo without accidents . Nevada's new red license plate feature an infinity symbol .

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(CNN) -- Matt Sandusky stood in solidarity with his adoptive father, Jerry Sandusky, while a grand jury investigated multiple allegations of child rape against the former Penn State assistant football coach. Matt Sandusky told the grand jury nothing inappropriate had ever happened to him. And he sat with the rest of the family early in Jerry Sandusky's recent trial. But last week brought a bombshell that shook the proceedings: Matt Sandusky, 33, was now willing to testify that the man he first met through the Second Mile charity repeatedly molested him while he was a child, according to Matt Sandusky's lawyers. The revelation kept Jerry Sandusky from taking the stand in his own defense. Sandusky's son fits pattern of other alleged victims . Portions of a 29-minute interview police had with Matt Sandusky during the middle of the trial were broadcast Tuesday on NBC, which obtained the audiotape. Jurors never heard the tape. Detectives asked Matt Sandusky why he was now willing to cooperate. "I mean for my family so that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is," Matt Sandusky said. "And just to right the wrong, honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying." In the police interview, Matt Sandusky said that he was molested between the ages of 8 and 15, that he tried to escape from the Sandusky home and once attempted suicide. "I know that I really wanted to die at that point and time," he said, according to the audio obtained by NBC News. Matt Sandusky, a foster child formally adopted at 18, also described Jerry Sandusky rubbing, hugging and showering with him. "If you were pretending you were asleep and if you were touched or rubbed in some way you could just act like you were rolling over in your sleep, so that you could change positions," said Matt Sandusky. The defendant would sometimes rub near and against his genitals, he told police. The potential witness said he could not recall penetration or oral sex. It was only days before the commonwealth rested, and after some alleged victims had testified, according to Matt Sandusky's lawyers, that he told them he was abused and wanted to cooperate with prosecutors. The younger Sandusky's willingness to testify as a rebuttal witness created a dilemma for Jerry Sandusky's defense team. They wanted their client to testify after the jury heard damning testimony from eight alleged victims, but they decided it against it. Attorney: Sandusky to appeal child sex abuse convictions . "To put Jerry on the stand and have Matt come in and testify against him it would destroy any chance of an acquittal," co-defense counsel Joe Amendola told reporters Friday night after his client was convicted of 45 of 48 sexual abuse charges against him. Amendola said that Jerry Sandusky, 68, denied ever having inappropriate contact with Matt. By not putting Jerry Sandusky on the stand, the defense ensured that Matt Sandusky would not testify. The younger Sandusky's attorneys, Justine Andronici and Andrew Shubin, released a statement about the recording. "This tape demonstrates Matt's tremendous courage and strength as he begins to disclose that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused him when he was a child," they said. "Although the tape was released without Matt's knowledge or permission, it illustrates that he made the difficult decision to come forward and tell the painful truth to investigators despite extraordinary pressure to support his father." The audiotape's leak was the main subject of a meeting hastily called Tuesday by trial Judge John Cleland and attended by prosecutors, defense attorneys and even the judge who has overseen the grand jury that's investigated the Sandusky case, a source with knowledge of the meeting told CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti. No one at the meeting took responsibility for sharing the tape with the media, the source told CNN. Jerry Sandusky's defense team was asked to turn over its copy of the tape, but it will remain available to them. Cleland ordered that any discovery turned over to the defense in the Sandusky case be sealed unless it was put into evidence at trial. He also said defense attorneys shall give a sworn statement within 10 days as to what materials they received and who they have given it to. The judge is trying to protect the current investigation and the privacy of the victims and witnesses. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys, who have vowed an appeal, would comment on Tuesday's meeting. Matt Sandusky's grand jury testimony remains a secret. Amendola said months ago he was not concerned about what the man said before the grand jury. Karl Rominger, another defense attorney, had a jailhouse visit with Jerry Sandusky on Monday. "I'm innocent," said Jerry Sandusky, in answer to questions CNN's Candiotti asked of him through his lawyer. "I didn't do it," he said, according to Rominger. Sex abusers prey on kids' trust, thrive on shame and fear, experts say . Rominger says Sandusky was bothered he didn't get to testify. But Jerry Sandusky doesn't regret his decision, according to his lawyer. Sandusky, who was allowed Monday to call his wife, Dottie, is not allowed visitors until a psychiatric examination is completed that also will determine whether he remains on suicide watch, according to Rominger. "Some of the guards are friendly and will talk with him. Others don't talk to him at all," according to Rominger. Sandusky is allowed out of the small cell -- which features a toilet, sink and bed -- once a day to take a shower. "He's come up with exercises to keep active," his lawyer told CNN. "Enough to work up a sweat." InSession's Jessica Thill contributed to this report.

NBC News obtains audiotape of police interview with Matt Sandusky . Matt Sandusky was willing to be rebuttal witness in trial of his adoptive father . Jerry Sandusky decided not to testify in his own defense . Now convicted, he remains under suicide watch at jail .

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(CNN) -- America's economy has the potential to transform lives like no other force on Earth, but too often in recent years we have seen Washington act as an anchor. And while CEOs and presidents may generate the business headlines, an over-involved federal government hurts employees and those looking for jobs across the entire spectrum. As someone who grew up in poverty, watching his single mother work 16-hour days to provide as much as she possibly could for us, I have lived the power of the American Dream. With help from my mom and my mentor, I learned that I didn't have to be an entertainer or an athlete to achieve my goals; I could think my way out of poverty. I realized the power of education, and the incredible opportunities provided by free markets. Sen. Cory Booker: Finishing our nation's unfinished business . My fear is that too many folks these days aren't given the chance to see the greatness that resides within them. Over the past 50 years, we've seen the War on Poverty struggle in its core mission -- to help lift folks up. It's time for a change, so I have introduced my Opportunity Agenda. A significant part of my Opportunity Agenda is focused on job-training efforts. There are 4 million open jobs across the country right now -- jobs that are unfilled because of a skills gap in the work force. This in spite of the fact there are 35 federal work-force development programs. My SKILLS Act, which the House has already passed thanks to the efforts of Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, would cut through the bureaucratic maze and mountains of red tape that hinder these programs. We'll create one Workforce Investment Fund, cutting waste and duplication out while ensuring more dollars are used for their actual purpose -- job training. President Barack Obama signaled that Vice President Joe Biden would be looking at job-training programs this year -- I eagerly await their call to discuss my proposal. I am also working on a proposal to create opportunity zones across America to tie some of the tax dollars coming out of our low-income communities to the community itself in order to rebuild infrastructure and lift those areas up. In my time on county council in Charleston County, this concept was referred to as Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, and I see great potential in this concept at the federal level. It is not enough to simply rebuild, or as some would call it gentrify, our tougher neighborhoods -- we have to provide the opportunity to the folks living there already to take part in a brighter future. Population shifting isn't fixing the problem, it is simply moving it somewhere else. So instead of overtaxing and overregulating, I see a future where the government cuts out waste and duplication, and gives all Americans the chance to realize their full potential. As I travel throughout South Carolina, be it speaking with a local chamber of commerce, or a group of pastors, or working at a burrito store for a morning (verdict: my own skills with a broom could stand some polishing), my constituents are very clear: They don't want a handout, just a hand up. It isn't the federal government's responsibility to guarantee outcomes. It is, however, our responsibility to make sure that a better future is possible if people want it. Opportunity knocks for all of us at some point. My hope is that Washington doesn't get in the way of folks answering. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sen. Tim Scott.

Sen. Tim Scott: The War on Poverty has struggled to fulfill its mission . Scott is working on a proposal to create opportunity zones across America . Scott: Instead of overregulating, government should cut out waste, duplication . Scott: It isn't the federal government's responsibility to guarantee outcomes .

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(CNN) -- Rescuers were scheduled to resume their search Friday morning for survivors of a ferry that sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, killing 60 people and leaving more than 80 people unaccounted for, the Red Cross said. As night fell Thursday, crews halted their search until the next morning, the Red Cross said. The vessel with about 290 people aboard -- including 31 children -- capsized near Zanzibar on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the agency's office in Tanzania. About 145 people have been found alive, and rescue operations are ongoing, said Raymond Kanyambo, a spokesman for the agency. Rescuers search for bodies after Indian ferry disaster . Authorities intensified efforts Thursday by using army helicopters, government troops and boats. Strong winds and rough waves, which officials blame for the capsizing, complicated ongoing rescue efforts, he said. Ferries in the region often carry passengers not included in the manifest, making it hard to pinpoint the exact number of people aboard. The ferry was traveling between the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean archipelago popular with tourists for its pristine sandy beaches. Bangladesh ferry death toll rises to more than 100 . Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania. The capsizing Wednesday is the latest such disaster in the popular tourist destination of Zanzibar in less than a year. More than 200 people perished when a crowded ferry traveling between two islands of Zanzibar sank in September. In that incident, the ferry had a capacity of about 600 passengers, but was carrying more than 1,000 people, officials said at the time. Tanzanian authorities charged five men with negligence in the September capsizing, including the owner of the ferry and the captain. See video footage of September's incident . Journalist Farouq Karim contributed to this report from Zanzibar. CNN's Karen Smith, Said Samira, Faith Karimi and Michael Martinez also contributed.

NEW: Death toll rises to 60, with more than 80 people still unaccounted for . Rescuers pluck 145 people from the choppy waters, Red Cross says . The vessel had about 290 people aboard -- including 31 children, it says . Ferries in the region often carry passengers not included in the manifest .

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Undocumented immigrant students in California will be able to receive state-funded financial aid in 2013 to attend college, under a new law signed Saturday by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law allows top students who are on a path to citizenship to apply and receive the state aid, the governor said. About 2,500 students are projected to receive Cal Grants totaling $14.5 million, according to the California Department of Finance. That averages out to $5,800 per student. The funding amounts to 1% of the overall $1.4 billion Cal Grant program, officials said. The new law, AB 131, is one of two pieces of legislation known as the California Dream Act and will become effective January 1, 2013, officials said. "Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking," Brown said in a statement from Sacramento. "The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us." Currently, illegal immigrant students in California must pay resident tuition rates if they graduated from a state high school and are actively seeking to legalize their immigration status, officials said. The other half of the California Dream Act was signed into law by Brown in July and allows undocumented immigrant students to receive privately funded scholarships administered at public universities and community colleges. That law, called AB 130, was needed because the University of California and California State University systems avoided giving the private scholarships to their undocumented students, citing vagueness in laws, said the legislative aide to California Dream Act's author, state Assemblyman Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). Cedillo called Saturday's signing "historic" and path-breaking for the United States -- coming at a time when many states such as Alabama and Arizona are passing aggressive laws targeting undocumented immigrants. Some of those laws are being challenged in court. "The signing of now both parts of the California Dream Act will send a message across the country that California is prepared to lead the country with a positive and productive vision for how we approach challenging issues related to immigration," Cedillo said in a statement. "Today, Ana and Maria Gomez, Jaime Kim, David Cho, Pedro Ramirez -- and thousands of other students who are some of the best and brightest in California -- have been told by our governor and legislative leaders that you are welcome here, that you have something to contribute, that you can be proud of what you have accomplished and that your talents and ambition will not go to waste," Cedillo said. Under AB 131, undocumented immigrant students will be eligible for state Board of Governors fee waivers, student aid programs administered by a college or university, and the state aid Cal Grants program for state universities, community colleges, and qualifying independent and career colleges or technical schools in California, according to Cedillo. The California Dream Act differs from a proposed federal bill called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors -- or DREAM -- Act, which would create a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children under the age of 16 and have lived in the United States for at least five years, obtained a high school or General Education Development diploma, and demonstrated "good moral character," according to a White House fact sheet.

The funding amounts to 1% of the overall $1.4 billion Cal Grant program, officials said . The students will be at the top of their class and on a path to citizenship . The new law, effective in 2013, is half of the California Dream Act . The other half was approved in July, allowing private scholarships for similar students .

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London, England (CNN) -- Forty years ago London's docklands were an industrial wasteland. The shipping companies had moved to deeper waters, factories were left abandoned and poverty was rife. It's hard to believe that in just a few weeks the very same East End docks will be transformed into a St Tropez-style luxury marina worthy of the world's A-list celebrities. The mega-rich and their superyachts are set to descend on the regenerated Docklands for front row seats to the 2012 London Olympics. And high-end companies are keen to ensure no expense is spared when catering to their every whim. The exclusive experience will include helicopter transfers, speedboat taxis, a specially-constructed beach and even pontoons with private jacuzzis. Watch: The exclusive world of superyachts . "It will be a mini Monaco," Benjamin Sutton from concierge service MGMT told CNN. "In terms of location you can't get any better. We're opposite the Excel Center which will be hosting the gymnastics, basketball, wrestling. We're 5 minutes walk from the Thames Cable Car to the O2 Arena in Greenwich. And the Olympic Stadium is a 10 minute drive away. "We have preferential tickets to first class events like track and field. We tailor the package around the individual qualms of the client. Pretty much whatever they'd expect we can offer." The high-end service comes with a price tag to match. Berths are roughly £60 ($90) a meter per day, with a 70-meter superyacht setting you back a whopping £58,000 ($90,000) for two weeks of the Games. Celebs set sail . Among the wealthy expected at Wood Wharf, Canary Wharf, St Katharine Docks and Royal Victoria Dock in east London are Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich. The oligarch's superyacht Eclipse - believed to boast two helicopter pads, 20 jet skis, two swimming pools, hot tubs, a dance floor and a cinema - was previously chartered by music star couple Beyoncé, 30, and Jay-Z, 42. "There is a rumor that George Clooney will also be arriving," Benjamin revealed. Though he was quick to add: "But we can't reveal for sure who is going to be there. Privacy is very important." Watch: Designing superyachts . And when the superyacht owners come out to play, nearby restaurant and club Waterside House will be offering them the exclusive, high-end entertainment they've come to expect. A £1,000 membership will get you into the club's Black Card lounge for the duration of the Games. It includes access to a specially built 60 meter beach and nightclub where DJ Fatboy Slim is expected to perform. "It means by definition that the rest of the marquee is also extremely exclusive." Waterside House founder and director Ali Warburton told CNN. "These are very, very high-end clientele. We've got Olympic contestants, oligarchs, ambassadors, celebrities and CEOs of some of the largest companies in the world. "Superyacht owners are all over it. They're all billionaires and there's only a certain amount of time they can spend on their boat." London's docklands: From wasteland to luxury . It's a dramatic transformation for an area which in the 1970s had become a deserted wasteland. In fact, the grim image of a ruined city was the perfect setting for Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Vietnam war film Full Metal Jacket. The docklands had originally secured London's reputation as a great trading city and by the 1930s was the busiest port in the world. But with the emergence of bigger cargo ships in the 1960s, the shipping industry was forced to move to deep-water ports just outside London in Essex. By 1980 most of London's docks were obsolete. And it wasn't until the London Docklands Development Corporation redeveloped the site in the late 1980s -- including the financial hub of Canary Wharf -- that the docklands was reborn. Watch: The new home of sailing? The Olympic makeover is the latest development for this historic East End heartland -- one which Benjamin predicts could give it a lasting reputation. "This is an Olympic-themed platform to launch London as a future destination for superyachts," he said. "All these boats that used to go to the Med will now see London as a great place to stop off; a new launching pad for Europe."

London's docklands to be transformed into St. Tropez-style marina for Olympics . The East End heartland has been transformed from wasteland to luxury destination . Superyacht owners George Clooney and Roman Abramovich rumored to stay . London set to be new "launching pad to Europe" for superyacht owners .

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Hong Kong, with its glittering skyscrapers and luxury malls, is home to some of the world's richest people but new government figures show that a fifth of its population lives in poverty. About 1.3 million people, or 19.6%, of the population were deemed to be living below the poverty line in 2012, according to the Hong Kong Povery Situation Report 2012 released on the weekend. It is the first time the city's government has set a poverty threshold, which stands at 50% of median household income before tax or welfare benefits. "That poverty line marks an important milestone in our effort to alleviate poverty in Hong Kong," Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong's secretary for Labour and Welfare told CNN on Monday. "We want to build a more caring, compassionate and inclusive society here." Cheung said that Hong Kong's leader, Leung Chun-ying, would announce a package of measures early next year to help those struggling to make ends meet. "We want to really tackle the problem of intergenerational poverty, social upward mobility is very important, promote employment and promote self-reliance," said Cheung. Leung, who took office in the former British colony last year, has pledged to narrow the city's gap between rich and poor, which is at a record high. Although part of China, Hong Kong has its own government and legal system. The city's Gini coefficient, which measures income equality, stood at 0.537 in 2011, the latest year that government figures are available, up from 0.533 in 2006. A reading above 0.4 suggests potential for social unrest. If welfare benefits such as social security assistance and old age allowance were included, Hong Kong's poverty rate would fall to 15.2% or 1.018 million people, the government's Commission on Poverty said. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief secretary for administration and chairman of the commission, said that the poverty line had limitations because household assets are not taken into account and this may overstate the number of people living in poverty. The 2012 poverty line for one-person households was set at a monthly income of 3,600 Hong Kong dollars ($464); 7,700 Hong Kong dollars ($993) for a two-person household, 11,500 Hong Kong dollars ($1,483) for a three-person household and 14,300 Hong Kong dollars ($1,844) for a four-person household.

A fifth of Hong Kong's population lives below official poverty line . First time government has set a benchmark . Gap between rich and poor is widening . Government set to announce new measures to help poor .

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(CNN) -- Rem Koolhaas revolutionizes city landscapes with distinctive and cutting-edge buildings. Seattle's Central Library is one of Rem Koolhaas' recent builds. Responsible for the iconic CCTV headquarters in Beijing the Dutch architect was named one of "The World's Most Influential People" by Time magazine. Similar to the man himself, his buildings are not afraid to make a statement. "We felt it was very important for an entity like CCTV to make its presence felt... To generate a space and to define a space, that is the main thing," he told CNN at the opening of his "Transformer" building in Seoul, South Korea. Koolhaas admits that the current economic climate is not particularly favorable to big and bold architectural plans, but from adversity comes creativity. "Definitely there were a number of projects that we worked on put on hold, but on the other hand certain things were also accelerated because the price of construction is getting so cheap." Despite these new parameters he remains optimistic that his profession will continue to invent and be relevant, "because it means kind of smaller, but more complex and kind of interesting things, kind of related to, not necessarily with commerce, but more connected to culture and to the social world." His buildings have attracted worldwide fame and given Koolhaas himself a form of semi-celebrity status. Yet Koolhaas still feels a sense of unease being labeled a "Starchitect." "I think it's a name that is actually degrading to the vast majority of people it is applied to. And it really is a kind of political term that for certain clients is important because they use star architects. My hope is that through the current complexity that title will exit discretely and disappear," he said. He believes that by being able to respond to different demands architecture is evolving into something new. "It is not possible to live in this age if you don't have a sense of many contradictory forces," he said. "Each building has to be beautiful, but cheap and fast, but it lasts forever. That is already an incredible battery of seemingly contradictory demands. So yes, I'm definitely perhaps contradictory person, but I operate in very contradictory times."

Dutch architect is creative force behind landmark buildings across the world . Beijing's CCTV building and Seattle's Central Library are two bold examples . Koolhaas embraces contradictions in a project and creative-commercial tensions .

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Hong Kong (CNN) -- China has removed 162,629 "phantom staff" from government payrolls, as Beijing presses on with a campaign against official corruption and misuse of public money, state media reported. Hebei province in central China was the worst offender, with 55,793 officials found to be getting paid even though they never worked, followed by Sichuan and Henan, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. No "phantom employees" were found in Shanghai and Tibet, the report added. President Xi Jinping has made rooting out corruption a top priority since taking power amid widespread suspicion that government officials use their position for personal gain. The People's Daily also said that 114,418 official vehicles had been scrapped out of a total of 119,846. China has promised to phase out the use of government vehicles by the end of 2015, except for those used for emergencies and law enforcement. The news reports did not shed light on how employees could receive a paycheck without showing up for work, but Hong Kong-based commentator Frank Ching said it was not unheard of for senior Chinese officials to employ friends and family members.

China says it has removed 162,629 "phantom staff" from provincial government payrolls . Beijing has launched a campaign against official corruption and misuse of public money . 114,418 official vehicles have also been scrapped as China's president roots out graft.

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Cairo (CNN) -- Egyptian police trying to clamp down on demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak early this year were told to use tear gas, but not automatic weapons or live ammunition, a senior Egyptian police official testified Monday at Mubarak's trial. General Hussein Saeed Mohamed Mursi was one of several senior police officials due to testify Monday. During his testimony, prosecutors attempted to cast doubt on Mursi's credibility, as he was in charge of communication between police forces on the ground. According to testimony, police were ordered to use police vehicles to disperse protesters, Egyptian state television reported. The judge was forced to halt proceedings several times due to chaos in the courtroom, according to Egyptian state TV. Confrontations between Mubarak's lawyers and the prosecution caused the chaos, victims' lawyer Amir Salim said on television. The bickering started when Mubarak's lawyers raised a picture of the deposed president, infuriating the victims' lawyers, the station said. Mubarak is charged with ordering the killing of protesters to quash the uprising in February that brought about an end to his 30-year rule. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted. Outside the courtroom, clashes broke out between police and families of those killed in the uprising that led to Mubarak's ouster. At least 22 people were arrested and 26 people were injured -- 14 police officers and 12 protesters -- according to the Interior Ministry and the Health Ministry. "The policemen are beating us to please their commanding officers," said Amal Eid, sister of a teenager allegedly killed by police on January 29. "They don't care about us or why we are even here. Nothing has changed." Another man, Mohamed Yaseen, tried unsuccessfully to push his way inside court. "There is no real revolution without bearing arms," he shouted. The clashes began when the families of those killed tried to push their way into Cairo's police academy, the site of the trial. Police used batons to beat them back. The family members, in turn, threw rocks and guard railings at the officers. Police chased the protesters and family members, beating some and arresting others. After the melee, riot police circled the entrance of the court and cut off access. A similar scene played out in August during a court appearance by Mubarak. The trial resumed after a nearly three-week recess ordered by Judge Ahmed Refaat in part to give officials time to review evidence in the case. Mubarak was wheeled into court on a gurney, flanked by nurses. It was his third appearance before Refaat, who ordered the trial closed in August -- a ruling partially imposed to protect potential witnesses. Egyptians got a glimpse of an ailing Mubarak during pre-trial hearings in August when he was wheeled into court on a hospital gurney and put in an iron cage -- a standard procedure in Egyptian criminal trials. Former Interior Minister Habib El Adly, a member of Mubarak's inner circle, is being tried alongside the former president on similar charges. Attorneys for El Adly petitioned the judge Monday to separate the cases. About 840 people died and more than 6,000 were wounded in the 18 days of uprising that toppled Mubarak, according to Amnesty International. In addition to accusations of ordering the killing of protesters, Mubarak faces corruption charges. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Also expected to appear Monday with Mubarak were his two sons, Alaa and Gamal. The two face corruption charges. They also have pleaded not guilty. The elder Mubarak is the first leader since this year's Arab Spring revolts to face a judge. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was tried in absentia after he was deposed in January and fled to Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Cairo's district courts have indicated they are considering filing individual charges against Mubarak for every person killed by his forces in the uprising. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

Official: Police were told to use tear gas, not live ammunition or automatic weapons . The judge repeatedly clears the court due to bickering between lawyers, state TV says . Major clashes break out between police and protesters . Hosni Mubarak faces a possible death penalty if convicted .

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(CNN) -- This week in iReport, we're looking at one of the hottest topics of discussion lately: President Obama's decision to send more troops into Afghanistan. iReporters had a lot to say about this issue, but that's not all. iReporters showed us long lines all around the U.S. for Black Friday, and one shared the story of survivors still suffering 25 years after a major industrial accident in India. Finally, a giant condom was unfurled in observance of World AIDS Day. Obama's Afghanistan plan -- iReporters certainly weren't at a loss for words when it came to President Obama's recent decision to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. Some believed that he was right in listening to his generals and doing exactly that. Others said that it was time for the troops to come home. No matter how iReporters felt about the issue, it was certainly a spirited debate. Chemical disaster -- We looked at powerful international stories this week. One video commemorated the 25th anniversary of a chemical gas disaster in Bhopal, India. On December 3, 1984, 40 tons of poisonous chemicals escaped a Union Carbide chemical plant. iReporter Joel Gershon told us people are still suffering health problems from the tragedy, and he interviewed people who remember the accident and are feeling its effects. World AIDS Day -- We also saw something a bit offbeat, but with a serious message. Gert Ungerer shared the story of a giant canvas "condom" placed over a lighthouse on the northern coast of South Africa to bring awareness of World AIDS Day. The region has felt the serious effects of AIDS. Ungerer's video outlined how the condom structure was put up and how it looks in daylight. Camping out for Black Friday -- Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, signals the start of the holiday shopping season, when people rush stores at the crack of dawn in hopes of scoring some major deals. We received photos and videos of lines and crowded stores all over the United States. Dedicated shoppers brought blankets and tents to make the wait more bearable, and some people waited for days to get the best sales. iReporter Asa Thibodaux visited a Best Buy in Maple Grove, Minnesota, to talk to some of the shoppers in line. You may be surprised at what they planned to buy.

iReporters weighed in on President Obama's Afghanistan plan . Effects of a major industrial disaster were still being felt 25 years later . Shoppers camped out to take advantage of Black Friday . Tell your stories at CNN iReport .

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(CNN) -- It seems that now someone called "Barack Hussein Obama" can be pulled aside and patted down merely because of his name. But while our president has the benefit of Air Force One, millions of us with a "funny name" (Muslim and otherwise) do not. Like me. I've consistently faced "random" selections for extra screening at the airport after I decided to wear the hijab, or Muslim head covering. I've been told to take my head scarf off or have my head probed while the passengers in front of me offered pitying smiles as they rushed to their flights. One time, the woman in front of me had a hairdo that could pose more of a security threat than any head scarf could. Muslim women wear the hijab as a symbol of modesty, to be judged not by their appearance. The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed that people would be judged for "the content of their character." However, the Transportation Security Administration is judging me and other Muslims by the way we look. The TSA uses the hijab to profile Muslim women, and passengers can now expect a full-body pat-down, an appallingly invasive "enhanced pat-down search that could include the chest and groin, or a planned "mind-scan" that would track people's reaction to terrorist symbols. What's next, palm reading? At an airport with a full body scanner, I can have the image of my body displayed before a stranger -- virtual nudity. Do they seriously have a blank check on our bodies? Of course I care about profiling partly because I'm affected. But does one have to face this issue to feel that it's wrong? After all, it is difficult to imagine ourselves in other people's shoes when we don't have to. It's hard for me too. Especially over the past month, I've been shocked at the comments about my faith, and the sometimes-prejudiced support for racial profiling. Radio host Mike Gallagher said, "There should be a separate line to scrutinize anybody with the name Abdul or Ahmed or Mohammed." Sorry Paula Abdul and Muhammad Ali, or anyone with the world's most common name, Muhammad. For people who aren't affected by racial profiling at airports, imagine this: The TSA implements a new rule to counter drunken driving, which kills over 13,000 Americans every year. People who are not Muslim have to go through a Breathalyzer test before they can enter their vehicle. Muslims don't drink alcohol and are, therefore, exempt. Ridiculous? I agree. I know that what I am going through is just the tip of the iceberg of racial profiling in our country. Thirty-two million Americans report that they have been the victims of racial profiling. Racial profiling violates the U.S. Constitution, is ineffective and trickles down to the workplace, schools and elsewhere. You also run into problems when you justify profiling nearly one in every four people in the world. There are Muslims of every possible race, making profiling practically futile. Fareed Zakaria said it best: "When you're trying to find a needle in a haystack, adding hay does not help you." Putting ethical and pragmatic reasons aside, it's hard to justify not caring. Even if racial profiling doesn't affect us, it affects our friends, family members, co-workers, doctors, television personalities -- the list goes on. There are some people who don't know Muslims and are numb to realizing the effects of profiling. Therein lies the problem. According to the Pew Research Center, people who know Muslims are less likely to have negative views of them. Co-existence is a dismal possibility unless people go to the source to find out about Islam, not skewed Web sites. And Muslims, here's something to think about: If your knowledge of Islam came from common stereotypes, wouldn't you also be misinformed about the faith and its followers? The Quran says, "[God has] made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another (49:13)." So get to know your fellow Americans. There are some Americans who think Muslims are terrorists and some Muslims who think that other Americans are willfully ignorant. Neither group deserves such a label. Psychologist Henri Tajfel, who was a Holocaust survivor, explained how we isolate ourselves into an "in-group" and facilitate discrimination of an "out-group." Religious profiling boxes Muslims into a category separate from Americans. We can't accept that distinction. Let's all think outside of the box. It's essential for U.S. security that airport screening be done. But we need to stop the inflation of procedures that make our society more afraid and less secure. The TSA needs to stop and evaluate methods that are more effective, less invasive, and don't discriminate based on religion or race. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nafees A. Syed.

Nafees Syed: Millions face extra screenings at airports for having "funny names" Syed says she has been singled out for extra screening because of Muslim head covering . She writes that racial profiling violates the U.S. Constitution and is ineffective . Syed: We need to know one another and stop procedures that make us more afraid .

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This is the second part of a two part series on the best used luxury cars. (AOL Autos) -- Recently, Consumer Reports magazine issued its list of best and worst used cars, and divvied them up by price range. The Porsche 911 has several versions, but all have been annointed with the "supercar" appellation. Using CR's recommendations as a guideline, here is a list of some of the best used luxury cars currently on the market in the $30,000+ price range: . 2007 Acura MDX . The newer MDX is classified as a crossover SUV, but it's a deluxe version. It was all-new in '07, and was built on a proper platform -- as opposed to being adapated from the Accord passenger-car platform. It also came in three flavors: Base, Technology and Sport Packages, and all three were powered by a 3.7-liter 300-hp V6. The voice-activated navigation system is a nifty feature, as it comes with rearview camera and AcuraLink satellite communications with real-time traffic data. AOL Autos: Used Acura . 2007 BMW 328i sedan . The 328i is another sleek, finely-tuned and beautifully-designed driving machine, offering sporty performance and Euro-style luxury. It is widely considered to be the definitive "sports sedan." The '07 328i was propelled by a 3.0-liter 230-hp inline six-cylinder engine, which you can find mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. Consumer Reports also recommended the 3-Series coupe and convertible that joined BMW's model line-up in '07. AOL Autos: Used BMW . 2004 BMW M3 . The M3 is the top-of-the-line, high-performance-tuned version of the 3-series coupe. Performance power, therefore, is much higher than the other 3-Series editions. It came as a coupe or convertible, and churned out 333 horses. The M3 is often favorably compared to the Porsche 911 when it comes to quick acceleration, crisp braking and taking tough corners at brisk speeds without breaking a sweat. 2007 Infiniti FX35 . Well, the marketplace surely is not lacking for luxury crossovers. Here is yet another one that appeals to luxury buyers with its balance of SUV-type spaciousness, pampering amenities, deft handling and burly engine muscle. For '07, the FX35 was a two-wheel-drive vehicle powered by a 280-hp 3.5-liter V6 and a five-speed automatic transmission. AOL Autos: Used Infiniti . 2006 & 2007 Infiniti M . Infiniti's M series is another winner, which seamlessly synergizes sleek styling, aggressive engine performance and a bevy of luxo-line amenities. It comes in both the M-35 and M-45. During the last used-model year, '07, the primary distinction between the two was that the M35 was powered by a V6 that kicked out 275 horses, while the M45 muscled up to a 325-hp V8. Luxury features included standard leather seats with heating and ventilation, and optional 10-way power adjustments for the driver's seat. Lexus . Just like in the $24,000-to-$30,000 category, Consumer Reports recommended a slew of world-beating used Lexus models in this segment: the '06-'07 6-cylinder GS RWD; the '07 GS450h Hybrid; '05-'07 GX; '07 IS; '04-'07 LS; '03-'06 LX and '06-'07 RX. AOL Autos: Used Lexus . Lexus has placed No 1 in the JD Power Dependability Survey every year for the last 12 years - until '07, when another carmaker, Buick, finally tied them for first. Porsche 911 (various years) Consumer Reports included the '98 911 in the $24,000 to $30,000 category. Here, the model years get more recent as the price range climbs. The 911 went through some changes over this time period, of course, but all have been anointed with the "supercar" appellation. AOL Autos: Used Porsche . And by the latest recommended used-model year, the '07, you could choose among various styles and engine sizes, including the Carrera, with its 3.6-L 325-hp flat-six plant; the Carrera S and S Cabriolet, with the 3.8-L 355 hp V6; the 911 Turbo, with twin-turbocharged 480 hp six-cylinder engine; and the GT3 track model, powered by a high-revving 415-hp six-cylinder engine.

Newer Acura MDX is classified as a crossover SUV, but it's a deluxe version . BMW 328i is sleek, finely-tuned and beautifully-designed driving machine . Infiniti's M series is another winner with an aggressive engine performance . Consumer Reports recommended a slew of used Lexus models .

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(CNN) -- A Delaware pediatrician has been indicted on 471 felony counts in the alleged sexual abuse of his patients, prosecutors announced Monday. The Sussex County grand jury indictment accuses Dr. Earl Bradley, 56, who has had a practice in Lewes, Delaware, for more than 10 years, of victimizing 103 children -- all but one girls. The charges range from rape and sexual exploitation of a child to endangering child welfare and assault. Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden told CNN Radio the indictment is based on "video and digital evidence" seized from Bradley's home and medical practice in December. Authorities have not ruled out additional charges, he added. "The reality is that as a prosecutor, the rules prohibit me from telling you exactly how I feel -- and I'm feeling a great deal today," Biden said. Bradley also has medical licenses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida. Authorities have said they have contacted officials in those states. He was initially arrested and charged in December. Bradley's attorney, Eugene Maurer Jr., said he would base his client's defense on mental health. "Most of the evidence in this case comes from videotapes -- it's kind of hard to argue with videotapes," Maurer said, adding, "The issue in this case is going to come down to his mental health at the time." Biden said Bradley will be arraigned within four to six weeks.

Dr. Earl Bradley faces 471 counts in the alleged abuse of 103 children . Indictment is based on "video and digital evidence," official says . Doctor also has licenses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida .

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Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi has not been seen for six weeks and may be facing psychological torture by the government, activists claimed Monday, citing sources in the country. "We are extremely concerned for the health and well-being of Karrubi, who is 74 years old, and no one has heard from him for six weeks, not his wife, any family or associates," said Hadi Ghaemi, the director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. His wife said she had not had any contact with him since July 16, the campaigners said, citing the opposition leader's official website. Ghaemi alleged that Karrubi is "surrounded by a team of psychiatrists working with his captors" to try to manipulate him into a televised confession. He cited "a credible source from inside Iran," without saying who it was. An opposition website said February that both Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi, another opposition leader, had been detained. The website, Kaleme, citing "trusted sources," reported that the men and their wives had been arrested and taken to Tehran's Heshmatieh prison. The semi-official Fars news agency denied the report, citing an unnamed judiciary source, but it had earlier said that the government had restricted the movements and communications of both men. The two, who are both former government insiders, both ran for president against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed 2009 election that led to months of protests and a government crackdown on the opposition. Iranian authorities rounded up opponents afresh in February, as revolutions swept the region. Iran media said Monday that that Karrubi was being kept in an unknown location but did not include any comments from Iranian officials. International journalists have been limited in their ability to gather news in Iran, where the government has squelched the media and maintains tight control over state-linked news organizations.

Mehdi Karrubi has not been in contact with his wife since July 16, she says, according to campaigners . Activists fear he is under psychological pressure to make a televised confession . He and Mir Hossein Moussavi came under restrictions in February . Iranian officials have apparently not commented on the reports about Karrubi .

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Erie, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The image remains chilling nearly eight years later: a pizza deliveryman sitting cross-legged on the pavement with a homemade bomb clamped around his neck, surrounded by nervous police who crouch behind their cars. "Why isn't anybody trying to get this thing off me?" he shouts to the dozens of officers nearby. But before a bomb squad can arrive, the device goes off, killing 46-year-old Brian Wells. In the agonizing minutes before his death on August 28, 2003, Wells told police the bomb had been fastened to his body by people who ordered him to rob a bank and follow a detailed checklist before it would be disarmed -- instructions that amounted to a twisted scavenger hunt. Timeline, evidence photos, video, 911 audio . The case fueled years of debate about whether the hapless Wells had been the victim of a heinous murder or a willing participant in a horrifically botched crime. The FBI later concluded that Wells had been a participant and closed the books on the case in March. Two people that agents identified as having been part of the scheme are in prison; a third has died. But Wells' family still believes he was a blameless victim -- "innocent 100 percent," his sister, Jean Heid, told CNN. "They screwed up big time," Heid said. "They let an innocent man, my brother, die while in their custody and they didn't even lift a finger to help him. "This case is going to be looked at for years to come, and they don't want it known that they screwed up," she said. "Brian never would have done this." In particular, she said, one of the plotters escaped justice. According to the FBI, Floyd Stockton knew of the robbery, but received immunity from prosecution and was allowed to go free. Prosecutors never called him as a witness in the trials, saying he was ill at the time. The FBI believes a Stockton associate, William Rothstein, was the mastermind of the heist and likely made the bomb, the affidavit says. Bombmaking materials were found in Rothstein's home. According to the FBI affidavit, one of the admitted conspirators said Stockton carried the bomb out of Rothstein's garage on the day of the robbery and handed it to Rothstein. Read the entire FBI affidavit warrant . Rothstein then secured the bomb around Wells' neck and followed him to the PNC Bank branch that Wells robbed shortly before his death, the affidavit states, quoting a witness who talked to Rothstein's girlfriend, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. Stockton is a registered sex offender who was a fugitive from a rape charge in Washington state at the time the plot unfolded and was staying with Rothstein at the time, according to court papers. According to Kenneth Barnes, a convicted crack dealer who is now serving a 20-year prison term in the bomb plot, Stockton was to have divvied up the money from the bank heist. Stockton has rebuffed repeated requests for comment from CNN, both by telephone and in person. Barnes also gave the FBI information that implicated Wells. According to an FBI agent's court affidavit, Barnes told authorities that Wells had been discussing the hold up about a month before it took place. Barnes' story had been corroborated by another witness in the affidavit. By all accounts, the 2003 case evolved into one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI. Police investigating fake collar bomb extortion plot . Half an hour before the bomb went off, Wells had walked into the PNC branch on Peach Street in Erie. The bomb sat on his chest beneath a white T-shirt, which had the word "Guess" spray-painted on it. And he carried a cane, which turned out to be a homemade shotgun. Wells handed over a series of notes to the tellers, demanding $250,000. Tellers didn't have nearly that much in cash, and Wells walked out with a little less than $9,000. Police caught up with him in the parking lot of a nearby eyeglass shop, where he died begging for help. Because it was a bank robbery, the FBI became the lead investigative agency. Agents quickly assembled a task force of more than 50 law enforcement officers from a half-dozen federal, state and local agencies. At first, the FBI saw Wells as a victim. Rich Schapiro, a writer for Wired magazine, has reported extensively on the case and told CNN that the notes Wells carried led him to believe he could live. "The note suggested at the very end of this, if he completed it in the allotted time -- which wasn't much -- that he would be able to save his life," Schapiro said. One federal law enforcement official says the cast of characters ultimately linked to the crime is "like a band of criminal misfits." According to the FBI, those misfits began to turn on each other less than a month after Wells died. On September 21, Rothstein called Pennsylvania State Police to report that there was a body in his freezer -- the body of a man named James Roden, whom he said was killed because he was going to report the bomb plot to authorities, according to the FBI affidavit. Rothstein told FBI agents that Roden had been killed by Diehl-Armstrong and that he had helped Diehl-Armstrong hide the body. After her arrest, Diehl-Armstrong implicated Rothstein in the bomb plot, and she eventually told investigators she gunned down Roden when he threatened to go to police about the plan. Rothstein died of cancer before being officially linked to the crime. Diehl-Armstrong is now serving prison terms both for the botched heist and for Roden's killing. Her own lawyer says she has multiple personality disorders and sometimes has "difficulty" telling the truth. 'Pizza bomber' conspirator gets life behind bars . Barnes, meanwhile, saw his 45-year sentence for the bomb plot reduced to 20 years because he cooperated with authorities. And Stockton now lives in Bellingham, Washington, north of Seattle. He's the one Wells' sister wants brought to justice. "He didn't deserve immunity, "Heid said. "He's the guilty one that killed my brother. He deserved to be brought to justice." Prosecutors said Wells may have been duped into thinking the bomb was a fake before agreeing to take part in the holdup -- but they're confident he was part of the plot from the beginning. "No one could have sat through this trial without understanding the degree of evidence linking Mr. Wells to these participants," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini, who led the government's case, told reporters. And Jim Fisher, a retired FBI agent and writer, told CNN that he believes Wells was murdered as part of the plot. "It was a first-degree murder," Fisher said. "This was an intentional, pre-meditated homicide. Moreover, it was extremely cruel in the way the crime was executed." CNN's Blake Luce and Curt Merrill contributed to this report.

Case of bomb-wearing bank robber pizza delivery man occurred in 2003 . Man who allegedly knew about the bomb and the robbery was allowed to go free . Erie, Pennsylvania, case one of the most bizarre bank robberies in FBI history . Two people were convicted in the robbery; FBI closed the case this year .

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Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea will conduct naval fire drills near a flashpoint with the North that resulted in the deaths of four people, military officials said Thursday. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the exercises will take place in the seas southwest of Yeonpyeong Island on a day to be announced between December 18 and 21. The South previously announced military exercises for this week, but Thursday's announcement adds to them. Tensions mounted between the Koreas on November 23, when North Korea shelled the island, which lies in South Korean territory. The attacked killed two marines and two civilians and injured 18 people. Last month's attack was the first direct artillery assault on South Korea since 1953, when an armistice ended fighting. The North has accused the South of provoking the attack because shells from a South Korean military drill landed in the North's waters. North Korea Thursday accused the South's new defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin, of "going reckless like a puppy knowing no fear of a tiger," state-run KCNA reported. During his confirmation hearing this month, Kim said South Korea would respond with airstrikes if the North attacks it again. The South Korean joint chiefs said the drills will be carried out in the presence of officials from the Military Armistice Committee and representatives from U.N. party members to ensure that the exercise is lawful and follows rules of the armistice.

New drills add to military exercises around the Korean peninsula . North Korea shells a South Korean island last month . The drills will take place near a flashpoint that left four people dead .

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(CNN) -- The tiger is one of wildlife's most endangered species, but there's one big cat which refuses to be tamed. Meet Radamel Falcao -- or "El Tigre" as his friends nicknamed him after watching him terrorize defenders on the streets of Colombia as a child. From making his professional debut at just 13 to running top-class defenders ragged, this is one Tiger who hasn't changed his stripes since bursting onto the scene in Europe with Porto and Atletico Madrid. "I think that every person specializes in what they know best and as a young kid, I liked scoring goals," he told CNN. "Later, I realized that's what I was best at and I went perfecting that aspect to give the best of myself to my team in the position I played, which was striker." Constantly on the prowl for goals, the 26-year-old is one of football's most wanted transfer targets, with several top European clubs waiting to poach him from Atletico. He moved to Spain in a €40 million ($53 million) deal from Porto in 2011, and scored 36 goals in his debut season in La Liga including two in the Europa League final against Athletic Bilbao. His stunning hat-trick in the demolition of European champions Chelsea at the 2012 Super Cup Final underlined to those not au fait with Spanish football just how deadly he can be. Atletico thrash Chelsea in Super Cup . Falcao then went on a streak which saw him score in 11 consecutive games for club and country between August and late October. With 18 goals in La Liga this season, the vultures are circling the Vicente Calderon once again, with Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City all hovering. But Falcao insists he is happy with life at Atletico and says he has no thoughts of moving on -- at least not yet. "I have three years left on my contract with the club and my reality is that this contract ties me down for a few more seasons," Falcao said. "Afterwards though, I don't know what's going to happen in the future as it's in the hands of the people responsible for deciding the future of the players on Atletico. "I simply give the best of myself for the team, for this really good season that we're having. We have a lot of objectives/goals in our sight and I hope that we can achieve them." Falcao has emerged as one of the world's top goalscorers since making the move to Porto from Argentina's River Plate in July 2009. It was in Portugal that he came to prominence, scoring 34 goals including the winner in the final of the 2011 Europa League to help the club pull off a quadruple haul of trophies. His goalscoring feats in the continent's second-tier competition, in which he scored a record 17 goals, earned him a move to Spain where he has led the line for Atletico with his predatory instincts causing havoc for defenses across Europe. Can Falcao help Atletico Madrid reign in Spain? It is a skill which he honed as a youngster, spending many hours on the practice fields in a bid to perfect the art of one of football's hardest arts -- scoring goals. Ever since he ran around the streets barefoot, covered with scratches and blood, Falcao's desire has been to reach the very top. His father played club football in Colombia, and there was never a doubt in Falcao's mind what he wanted to achieve in life. Incredibly, he made his professional debut for Deportivo Pereira at the age of just 13, making him the youngest player to ever appear professionally in Colombian football. At the age of 14 he moved to Argentina to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer. It was there that he flourished, establishing himself as one of the most exciting players at River Plate. After overcoming a serious knee injury in 2006, he returned to lead River Plate to the Clausura title and earn a move to Europe with Porto. It was the realization of a dream for a player which had begun life with one simple dream -- to become one of the best striker's on the planet. Fantasy football: Pedro Pinto's team of 2012 . "Thanks to lots of training and hard work, I was able to succeed and be able to shine above other players of my age," Falcao said. "This is work that took a long time, many years in terms of knowing the position, the development of my abilities and also the talent and potential that I was born with. "Through lots of training, I went along perfecting it, along with knowing the team that I play with, both Atletico Madrid and my national team, which allowed my good development as a striker." While league and cup success with Atletico remains his priority, the opportunity to lead Colombia into battle at the 2014 World Cup is high up on the agenda. Falcao on fire as Atletico Madrid win Europa League . Colombia has not appeared at the World Cup finals since 1998, but is third in the South American qualifying section. The top four of the nine competing nations will automatically qualify for Brazil, while the fifth-placed team goes into a playoff against an Asia confederation side. Falcao who has scored five goals in six qualifying games, wants the latest generation of Colombian talent to write their own records and emerge from the shadow of former great players such as Carlos Valderrama and Faustino Asprilla. "We're forming quite a strong team and hopefully we can manage to qualify for the World Cup and for the next few World Cups and bring lots of other triumphs and victories home," he said. "I don't like comparisons too much -- we simply want to write our own history and hope that it's important for our country."

Radamel Falcao, known as "El Tigre," is one of the world's most lethal strikers . Colombian fired Spanish club Atletico Madrid to Europa League glory last season . The 26-year-old, a pro since age 13, is the son of a former professional footballer . Falcao scored 36 goals last year and has 18 in La Liga so far this season .

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(CNN) -- As far as hitchhikers go, this one looks harmless enough. He or she -- it's hard to tell -- is short and friendly, if a little fashion-challenged. Get him talking, however, and he won't shut up. Meet hitchBOT, a talking, tweeting, bucket-bodied Canadian robot that's hitchhiking west from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Victoria, British Columbia -- a journey of nearly 4,000 miles. The robot employs artificial intelligence, speech recognition, social media and other tools to bum rides from motorists. Deposited last Monday on Highway 102 outside Halifax, hitchBot by Friday had journeyed to just west of Toronto. Its travels are being documented on Twitter, on Instagram and on the robot's website, which charts its progress on a map. The gender-neutral robot was conceived by university researchers David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller, who view its quest as part performance art, part social experiment. As they see it, humans in popular science fiction are always wondering whether they can trust robots. Instead, they'd like to turn the question around: . Can robots trust human beings? So far, the answer appears to be yes. Three young men gave hitchBOT a ride, bought it a stuffed animal and fed it a "meal" of metal screws and motor oil. A couple covered hitchBOT with a plastic cape to keep it safe from the rain. And people have been recharging hitchBOT along the way by plugging it into their cars' cigarette lighters. "People seem to be rather intrigued with hitchBOT, and take very good care (of it)," said Smith, a communications and multimedia professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and Zeller, a communications professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, in a statement e-mailed to CNN. "We have even seen hitchBOT lying in a camping bed under a blanket, and sitting on a toilet," they said, "so people certainly have fun with it." hitchBOT has a bucket for a torso, blue swimming-pool noodles for arms and legs and a smiling LED panel for a face, protected by a cake saver. It wears yellow gloves on its hands, and wellies -- rubber boots -- on its feet. Inside is a simple tablet PC and some components from Arduino, the open-source electronics platform. Together, all the parts cost about $1,000. "We wanted to see what we can build on a shoestring budget ... and with tools/components that one can get in any hardware store," Smith and Zeller said. Thanks to its computerized innards and speech software, hitchBOT can answer basic questions, make small talk and recite info from Wikipedia. It can also get pretty chatty, not always something you want in a road-trip companion. "We knew that sometimes ... hitchBOT won't be able to properly understand what people are saying. For these cases, we came up with the solution to let hitchBOT simply chatter away," its creators said. "We taught hitchBOT to say that sometimes it gets a bit carried away, and that its programmers could only write that many scripts, hoping for people to be patient." hitchBOT records its journey via GPS. It contains a camera and snaps random photos every half hour or so, which are moderated before being posted online to protect people's privacy. It also can record conversations with people it meets -- with their permission -- as a sort of audio diary. Humans who encounter hitchBOT are directed to its website, where instructions tell them how to handle the robot (tip: drop it off at rest stops or gas stations instead of alone on busy highways). hitchBOT's final destination is the Open Space artist center in Victoria, British Columbia, which means the robot will likely have to hitch a ride on a boat. Nobody knows exactly how long his cross-country trip will take. Smith and Zeller say the goal of their project is to examine the relationship between humans and "smart" technologies while seeing whether an anthropomorphic robot can engender good will, cooperation and even affection. The two researchers are worried that someone might mistreat hitchBOT. But the journey's success so far has allayed their fears a little. "We have seen so much support on social media and through other channels that we are now more optimistic," they said. "They (the robot's drivers) all say that wherever they go with hitchBOT, they meet lots of people through it. "Everybody stops, takes pictures, and wants to talk ... so this is an interesting case of technology bringing humans closer to each other."

A talking robot is hitchhiking west from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Victoria, British Columbia . Called hitchBOT, it uses artificial intelligence and speech software to communicate . It relies on human drivers to ferry it from place to place . As of Friday the robot had reached Toronto .

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(CNN) -- Poaching tourists from the trendy tango bars of Buenos Aires or the glamorous beaches of Rio de Janeiro would be a tall task for most cities. But the Chilean capital, Santiago, is looking to do just that by encouraging travelers passing through on business to stay and uncover its potential as a hip South American destination. Chile has become one of the continent's leading locations in which to do business in recent years. Foreign investment increased by 80 percent in 2011 alone, totaling $12 billion for the year according to Daniel Pardo, director of SERNATUR, the Chilean tourism ministry. As a result, the number of foreigners coming into the country for trade purposes has increased along a similarly sharp upward curve. This surge has been concentrated mainly in Santiago, Chile's nerve center and economic engine room, and it's here that Pardo and the country's tourist board spy an as yet untapped opportunity. "Hopefully by bringing out those business people that are coming here for a week to do their jobs (they will) stay for the weekend and enjoy the country," Pardo told CNN's Richard Quest. "There's a lot of interest in coming to Chile," he adds. "And we've seen it in our numbers, with a 60 percent growth in tourism this year." See also: Exploring the mystery and beauty of Chile . Travelers who take up the invitation to hang around will find a variety of parks, churches and museums which offer a wealth of easily accessible tourist sites -- ideal for the culture vulture with a couple of hours to spare. For those with a little more time on their hands meanwhile there is even more to explore and experience around the city's outskirts and beyond. With the Santiago business traveler in mind, CNN asked Lonely Planet's Bridget Gleeson, co- author of Lonely Planet Chile and Easter Island Travel Guide, to lend her expertise in selecting the city's best spots. In the city . Santiago offers an intriguing mix of both the modern and the classic. Historic sites such as the Catedral Metropolitana contrast sharply against the rowdy Mercado Central fish market, which offers "a colorful attraction for photographers and foodies alike," says Gleeson. Touring the city's downtown district on foot is a particularly nice way to explore Santiago, she adds, while the nearby Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda museum plays host to the finest Chilean modern art. Other Santiago highlights include Museo de la Moda (Museum of Fashion) in the Vitacura district -- which includes famed items such as John Lennon's jacket and the famous "cone bra" Jean Paul Gaultier designed for Madonna -- and the 300 meter high San Cristobal lookout point. Valparaiso . The picturesque seaside resort of Valparaiso is a UNESCO world heritage site and a heaving modern port that is integral to Chile's vast export industry. See also: Singapore on a stopover . A little under two hours from Santiago by road, the town is perched atop a dozen or so hills which offer spectacular vistas out across the Pacific Ocean. Vistors can "tour (the Chilean poet and author) Pablo Neruda's charming hilltop house, La Sebastiana" or "board one of Valparaiso's 15 antique ascensores (elevator cable cars) ... to take in vibrant street art and stunning views over the ocean," says Gleeson. Those on a quick stop-off before heading back to Santiago however may make the most of their time by taking "a quick boat ride from Muelle Prat (harbor) to get a feel for the city," Gleeson advises. Observatories . With an average of more than 330 cloudless nights per year, Chile is a near perfect natural laboratory for astronomers and stargazers. It is for this reason the country will host 68 percent of global astronomy infrastructure by 2018, according to the national government. But you don't have to be an acolyte of Alfred Hubble to enjoy the sparkling contents of the Chilean night sky. The Paielan Observatory in the Maipo Valley is just 50 kilometers from Santiago and is surrounded by a spectacular, unspoilt nature reserve. A world class restaurant on the premises meanwhile serves up the latest in contemporary Chilean cuisine, enabling visitors to enjoy fine dining under the stars. Wine regions . Chile is a major exporter of wine and visiting some of its fertile vineyards is a rite of passage for many a connoisseur. See also: Making the most of wine at 35,000 feet . Almost 17 million people drink a glass of Chilean wine every day and the country is the world's largest grape exporter. "Many travelers opt to visit a few wineries with a specialist like Uncorked Wine Tours," says Gleeson. These customized tours include an English-speaking guide, visits to three wineries and a leisurely lunch in wine country. Those looking to go it alone on a wine-tasting odyssey meanwhile can reach some of the lesser visited wineries in the Santiago region by public bus in little over an hour. If you're planning an independent visit, Gleeson warns however, it is wise to log onto the wineries' websites to find out about specialty tastings, picnics, and additional activities before setting out. Stina Backer contributed to this story .

Santiago aims to become one of South America's leading tourist destinations by wooing business travelers . Chile is already one of the continent's leading locations in which to do business . Santiago offers an intriguing mix of the modern and historic, including idyllic churches, museums and parks .

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(CNN) -- There's some magic coming to a British stage. Author J.K. Rowling has announced she is developing a play based on her "Harry Potter" stories. According to her website, Rowling is working in collaboration with award-winning producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender on the project. "Over the years I have received countless approaches about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production, but Sonia and Colin's vision was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry's story to the stage," Rowling said in a statement. "After a year in gestation it is exciting to see this project moving on to the next phase. I'd like to thank Warner Bros. for their continuing support in this project." Warner Bros. is owned by CNN's parent company, Time Warner. Rowling will reportedly be a producer of the play and work with a writer, but she will not be writing the play. The story will follow Potter in his early years as an orphan. Directors and writers for the play, which will go into development in 2014, are currently being considered.

J.K. Rowling is developing a "Harry Potter" play . The story will follow Potter in his early years as an orphan . The play will go into development in 2014 .

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(CNN) -- The cold has cleared the sunbathing crowds from New Jersey's beaches, yet the freezing temperatures won't keep some surfers out of the water. They have grown up with "ice cream headaches" -- the painful ache when you eat something cold too fast -- they are the surfers from New Jersey. "I've had times when icicles form in my hair," says surfer Andrew Gesler. Even the smallest waves will have the hardcore surfer walking over the snow-covered sand to take advantage of the power of the chilly Atlantic Ocean. For years, professional surfer and cancer survivor Dean Randazzo has been among those in the frigid waters, wearing a full wet suit, hoodie, gloves and booties. "You just deal with your surroundings," says Randazzo, "if you love something so much you just keep doing it." Randazzo kept surfing year-round and it paid off in 1990 when he started making a living off the ocean. Early in his career at contests around the world, he would often be asked, "Are there waves in Jersey?" As filmmaker Alex DePhillipo shows in his newly released surfing documentary "Dark Fall", not only is the surf good in New Jersey, but there are a lot of good surfers in the state. The movie credits Randazzo, a New Jersey native, with proving that East Coast surfers are worthy contenders. "He has absolutely paved the way for any surfer that wants to become a professional from New Jersey," says DePhillipo. Randazzo now just started his own line of surfboards. Gesler -- the narrator of "Dark Fall" and a professional surfer -- concurs, "Randazzo is our big brother, coming from New Jersey you don't have a lot of people that have made the impression that Dean has." It was the impression of a surfer and a state that took years for Randazzo to change. The money to be made in surfing comes from sponsors, appearances and editorial photographs. Only a few in the profession make enough money in surf contests to support themselves. Randazzo became a professional surfer in 1990, yet he still couldn't find a sponsor to support him. A sponsor pays the athletes to use or wear their product and they usually pick up the expenses incurred when traveling to contests. Randazzo couldn't find a sponsor to believe in him, no one wanted to get behind a surfer from the Garden State . "I had to win money," recalls Randazzo, "there were places on the tour when I wasn't eating if I didn't win money in that contest, or I didn't have a plane ticket home." Winning money meant winning contests and in 1996 Randazzo became just one of 44 surfers to qualify for the World Championship Tour. "Somehow I managed to do that with no sponsorship," says Randazzo, then dryly adding the word "barely." He also managed to put credibility into the New Jersey surf scene. "Dean has paved the way," DePhillipo says, "There's never been a surfer from New Jersey or the Northeast that's made the World Tour." The success Randazzo has enjoyed is no surprise when you learn a bit more about this Jersey boy. Fighting to be respected in the surf scene was nothing compared to the four battles Randazzo fought and won against cancer. It was in 2001 when he was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. "Everyone has their hometown hero, but in this case Dean's just like a state hero," says DePhillipo, "he's even motivation for people who aren't from Jersey because of his fights, his battles." When Randazzo isn't in the water he uses his celebrity status along with the sport he loves to raise money for the Dan Randazzo Cancer Foundation. Currently residing in California, Randazzo frequently returns to New Jersey. Not forgetting where he came from, the foundation sponsors an annual event called "Surf for a Cause" in his hometown of Margate. "It's just one of those events that everybody wants to support even if they're not surfing, they want to support Dean," says Stacey Marchel, a Jersey surfer and the owner of Stacey's Surf Camp. As the film "Dark Fall" points out, it is because of Randazzo that being a surfer from New Jersey is no longer, as he puts it, "like trying to be a professional snowboarder and growing up in Miami Beach." Florida doesn't have snow but as captured in this new surf film, New Jersey definitely has waves. The state also experiences winter and that freezing season is what separates the surfing fraud from the fanatic. But as Randazzo or actually any Jersey surfer will tell you, the passion doesn't waiver with the weather.

Dean Randazzo surfed year around off the New Jersey shore until he went pro . There were times on pro-tour when he says "I wasn't eating if I didn't win money" Randazzo also fought and won four battles against cancer . Surfing documentary "Dark Fall" shows freezing weather doesn't keep surfers off the water .

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(CNN) -- The retirements are coming thick and fast out of Old Trafford, with Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand the latest to call time -- on his international career. The 34-year-old's retirement follows the farce that ensued in March when he was recalled by England manager Roy Hodgson for the World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro, only for Ferdinand to quickly withdraw due to his "pre-planned fitness program" with his club. In a statement released by the English Football Association, Ferdinand explained that he wanted to retire from international football to "concentrate on my club career." "After a great deal of thought, I have decided the time is right for me to retire from international football," added Ferdinand, who has not played for England since a Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland in June 2011. "The team looks in great shape and there is an influx of young, talented players coming through the ranks which bodes well for the future. "I regard it as a great honor and a privilege to have represented my country at every level from Under-17s upwards. "I have always been very proud to play for England. I would like to wish Roy and the team all the best for future tournaments. "A big thank you to all the fans, managers, coaching staff and players that I have worked alongside - the journey has been incredible." In October, Hodgson was forced to apologize to Ferdinand after an English newspaper reported he had told fellow commuters during a tube journey on London's underground that the Manchester United defender's international career was over. Ferdinand had been controversially left out of England's squad for Euro 2012 despite the United defender expressing his desire to add to his 81 international caps. After leaving Ferdinand out of his Euro 2012 squad, Hodgson opted to take Chelsea captain John Terry, though the defender had been due in court to face allegations he racially abused Rio's brother, Anton Ferdinand. Hodgson insisted it was purely a football decision and Terry was cleared in July. But he was banned for four matches on the same charge by the FA and announced his retirement from international football. After making his debut against Cameroon at Wembley in 1997, Ferdinand went on to win 81 caps for England, playing in three World Cups. "It's important to pay tribute to someone of Rio's stature and the achievements he had in a senior international career with England over 14 years at the highest level," said Hodgson . "To have captained his country, to play at three World Cups and indeed score in one of those, marks him out amongst a very special group of players. "I appreciated the call from Rio to inform me of his decision, which clearly he had spent much time considering before reaching this point."

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand retires from international football . Ferdinand won 81 caps for England . The 34-year-old defender made debut against Cameroon at Wembley in 1997 . Ferdinand last played for England in June 2011 .

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(CNN) -- One of the three guns Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, was a military-style semiautomatic rifle known as an AR-15. That surprised and shocked a lot of people unfamiliar with America's gun culture. They questioned why such weapons are available and why anyone would need them. "Personally I don't know how any ordinary citizen can justify owning an automatic or semiautomatic gun," writes CNN commenter Mark Smerkanich. "Can't we leave those guns to the trained military?" Self-described gun owner Julie Jones-Hawkins comments, "I ... fully support a ban on rapid-fire weapons. Any weapon that can take out an entire kindergarten class is a problem." Here are five reasons many gun owners say they want military style rifles: . 'Some people play golf, others bowl. I shoot' "Every month or so I take my guns out to the range and shoot. It's thrilling, exciting and a great way to vent," says Christopher L. Kirkman, a Florida-based military-style gun owner. Kirman was one of more than 100 gun enthusiasts who shared opinions on CNN iReport about owning firearms that would have been banned under the now-expired 1994 federal weapons ban. "Sure, I could try to say that the reason I own these guns is self-defense, but the truth of the matter is that, although they will technically serve this purpose, they are not why I own them," he says. Michigan gun owner Ethan Daniels describes his enthusiasm for his rifle more succinctly, saying, "I like to shoot, and that is one heck of a fun carbine to plink with." iReport: Tell us why you own your military-style weapon . Background can factor into a gun owner's choice of weapon. "The AR-15 is what I am used to from my extensive training as an airborne infantryman," writes Nathan Lee. "Because of my training, it's what I feel the most comfortable with." Another reason for these guns is hunting. The AR-15 is a "good hunting platform. I've hunted coyote with it," says CNN iReporter MVR155, who owns two of the weapons. He asked to remain anonymous. Owners of military-style rifles also use them to hunt deer and other game. But some states have banned the AR-15 and its .223 caliber for deer hunting. Related: Newtown shooter's guns: What we know . 'It's cool' It may not be the best or most important reason, but military-style weapons often appeal to the enthusiast side of the American gun owner. Just like many car lovers who dream of owning a Lamborghini, many gun owners get excited about the idea of owning an AR-15. "There are people who buy certain types of firearms because they have a certain image -- the AR-15 is one of them," says Austin Nikel, a former AR-15 owner in Boulder, Colorado. "One thing about this country is how Hollywood has glorified the image behind those certain types of weapons. A lot of guys grow up with GI Joe, and that image is extremely attractive. It grabs you and affects you. "A lot of people buy the AR-15 because, well, it's cool." Apparently it wasn't cool enough for Nikel to hold on to. He ended up selling his AR-15 to his father. iReport: Why some own military-style weapons . 'A part of history' "Since coming of age -- and in the decades since -- I have collected many different firearms, some of them historical pieces, some for sport, some of them even the so-called 'assault weapons' that are now a controversy," says iReporter Hrothgar01. "Guns like these are as much a part of the history of this country as the muskets carried by pioneers, the rifles toted by doughboys in the trenches, and the other arms that have served and protected throughout the years. To hold one in your hands, appreciate its history and design, and to be able to take that piece of history to the range and work -- it is a feeling that many people in this debate do not understand or appreciate." Related story: By the numbers: Guns in America . 'Protecting my family' "I believe the foremost person responsible for protecting my family and myself is me," writes iReporter ShortyDoowap, who owns a pair of AR-15s. "These rifles provide me with the tools to perform that duty. I don't own these guns to target shoot, though I do that with them. I don't hunt with them, though I could in a pinch." Parks says he "would not hesitate to use one to simply defend my home and family from a single intruder if it became necessary." Related: Parents defend right to keep guns in the home . In some home-protection situations, fans say military-style rifles are generally more accurate than handguns. Rifles are generally easier to learn how to shoot, say military-style rifle owners. Like most firearms, military-style weapons such as the AR-15 are semiautomatic -- increasing protection because the shooter can fire off many shots without having to manually chamber a new bullet. With a bolt-action rifle or pump-action shotgun, firing multiple shots takes more time. "When you weigh it all out, these types of guns are stigmatized," says iReporter MVR155. Military-style weapons look more dangerous than other guns, he says, but really, there are many weapons available which are just as lethal, but which are not designed in a military style. iReport: One gun owner's solution . 'Fascination with the Second Amendment' "I am a proud owner of an AK-47," writes iReporter INGunOwner. "It's a terrific gun. Lots of fun to shoot. I own an AK because of my fascination with the Second Amendment, which I view as a backstop protector of freedom. Many people would argue that we have no use for it today because the government is trustworthy. "However since it acts as a deterrent, we can never measure exactly how much it has been effective. Perhaps the notion that people feel safe with our government after over 200 years is a testament to the Second Amendment value in balancing power with the citizens." Related: Gun owners fear new legislation could tread on their rights . CNN's Henry Hanks contributed to this report.

A military-style rifle was used in the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting . "Can't we leave those guns to the trained military?" asks a CNN commenter . Many gun owners collect them, using them for hunting, target shooting and protection . "A lot of people buy the AR-15 because, well, it's cool," says a former owner .

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(CNN) -- Joe Marshall was cruising across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge when a piece of steel and a giant cable crashed down. He was just 50 yards away. The iReporter was just far enough away that he didn't see the debris as it fell. But he did see cars quickly move to the right lanes to avoid the mess. The falling debris forced the closure of the bridge and snarled traffic between Oakland and San Francisco, California, as commuters look for alternate ways to get to and from the cities. It's also forcing structural engineers to look at key questions around the nation's infrastructure: Has the nation done enough to address crucial bridges two years after the tragic collapse of a bridge in Minnesota that killed 13 people? The answer, experts say, is no. The pieces that fell this week raise even more troubling issues because repairs had just been made in September to the same section of the 73-year-old bridge, which spans the San Francisco Bay and carries an average of 280,000 vehicles daily. Over Labor Day weekend, crews worked to repair a damaged steel beam. "The bridge has been inspected, and it is now safer than when we closed it," Randell Iwasaki, the director of the California Department of Transportation, said at the time. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a structural engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, says he's concerned that authorities took a "Band-Aid" approach in September. "It failed," he said. He's worried about what he calls "fracture-critical" bridges: roughly 460 bridges across the country that are in dire need of repairs. "Following the Minnesota bridge collapse, there was a lot of discussion because of emotions," he said. "I didn't really see a sustained effort that says, 'We are going to replace these fracture-critical bridges.' " Federal regulators said support plates that were about half as thick as they should have been were the likely cause of the August 1, 2007, bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people and injured 145. The gusset plates -- metal plates that are meant to strengthen joists -- are believed to have failed on the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. A new bridge has since opened in Minnesota, what the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials hailed as one of the nation's Top 10 transportation feats this year. "It is critical that our transportation systems receive the funding necessary to keep America moving. But even more important is that our state and local governments use that money to deliver projects that quickly meet the needs of our communities," John Horsley, the group's executive director, said in a recent report. But engineers say that's the problem: Repairs aren't happening quick enough. If a tragedy like the Minnesota collapse doesn't get people's attention, they wonder, what will? "I have seen some lip service, but I have not seen a lot of momentum and action," said William Ibbs, a professor of civil engineering at UC-Berkeley. "Part of that is due to the economic recession. When California has a budget deficit of $25 billion, they don't worry about bridges. They worry about closing the budget gap." Fari Barzegar, a civil engineering consultant based out of Oakland, says the Minnesota collapse put critical bridge problems front and center before the American public. "In the engineering community, we knew these things many years ago, and there were requests for money, which wasn't coming," Barzegar said. But he says funding hasn't kept up post-Minnesota. According to a 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers report, more than 26 percent of the nation's bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimated in 2008 that it would cost roughly $140 billion to repair every deficient bridge in the country. Bridges are typically inspected every two years. "If we don't start making substantial progress in five years, we will have more collapses," Ibbs said. The Bay Bridge opened in 1936 and spans 8.4 miles. It was the largest and most expensive bridge -- $77 million -- of its time. The bridge is best known to most Americans from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A 50-foot section of the bridge collapsed during the quake, killing one person and prompting efforts to make it quake-tolerant. Part of the bridge, the West Span, is a suspension bridge. The other portion of the bridge, known as the East Span, is a truss-cantilever design. This week's falling debris happened on the East Span, which is in the process of being replaced.

Falling debris on Bay Bridge raises questions about repairs after Minnesota collapse . Bridge remains shut, snarling traffic across San Francisco Bay area . "I have seen some lip service, but I have not seen a lot of momentum," expert says .

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(CNN) -- Fear is a terrible thing to waste. Yet modern Americans have squandered it as a tool for managing burgeoning populations of wildlife. A woman is in the hospital after she was mauled by a bear while walking in her central Florida neighborhood on Monday. Authorities caught a 75- to 100-pound yearling, but think the larger predator bear is still on the prowl. Tom Shupe thinks black bears have a people problem. He's a state wildlife biologist once responsible for dealing with growing bear-vs.-people conflicts in central Florida. I spent time with Shupe while researching the book "Nature Wars." He explained that perpetually hungry black bears need plenty of food habitat. Parents disown yearlings, forcing them to find new space. As their populations grow, they spread out, often from the Ocala National Forest south into the swampy sprawl of Greater Orlando. Trouble starts when a bear turns up in a backyard. Instead of scaring it away, too many people say: "Oh, isn't he cute. Let's toss him a cookie. Get the camera." Thus begins a photo collection of "Our Bear." But it's the beginning of the end for that bear, because the people are teaching it to associate the smell of people with food. The bear comes back for more. Soon it's breaking into the house. The people call 911: "Do something about your bear." Shupe arrives, darts the bear and moves it 100 miles. But the bear has learned people equals food, and does it again. After three strikes, the bear is shot -- euthanized. But it's not the bear's fault. It's the people's fault. Deer are eating our gardens and spreading ticks that cause Lyme disease; coyotes are killing our pets; turkeys are chasing our children to school; and geese have overrun our soccer fields because they don't fear us. And we have done all sorts of things to help them lose their natural fear. People say our conflicts with wild creatures are our fault because we encroached on their habitat. True, but only half the story. Many species encroached right back. Why? Because our habitat is better than theirs. Ours can sustain many more of them than their un-peopled landscape. We put out all sorts of food for them: lawns, gardens, shrubbery, birdseed, grill grease, garbage, dumpster waste. We offer water: Air-conditioner drip pans are water fountains for raccoons. Edges and hiding places are homes: A coyote can have a litter of pups in that brush behind your garbage and you won't know it. And we offer protection from predators, mainly ourselves. The results are mounting in people-vs.-wildlife conflicts. We should be celebrating a conservation success story that is unique on the planet. Instead, we demonize elegant creatures and fight over what to do, or not to do, about too much of a good thing. How did this happen? How did we turn this story into such a mess? In a nutshell: . Over the last century and half, forests grew back on abandoned farmland; a century ago we ended commercial hunting and began restoring wild bird and animal populations. Since World War II we sprawled out into suburbs and exurbs -- something early conservationists didn't imagine. The 2000 census showed that for the first time, an absolute majority of the population lived neither in cities nor on working farms but in the vast sprawl zone in between. That's where family farms were a century ago. Today, it's full of trees and filling with wildlife. We've become forest people -- yet we spend 90% of our time indoors. There we get most of our nature on digital screens, where wild creatures are often portrayed as pets performing all sorts of antics. Research suggests that the white-tailed deer's biggest predator since the last Ice Age has been man. But sprawl man has largely gotten out of the predation business. He doesn't hunt and doesn't want others to hunt around him. He's peppered the landscape with hunting restrictions and enacted all sorts of laws against hunting, firearms discharges, even bow-and-arrow use in some places. What this means is that in just the last few decades, for the first time in 11,000 years, huge swaths of the whitetail's historic range -- the Eastern United States -- have been put off-limits to its biggest predators. No wonder deer have burgeoned out of control. In Massachusetts, for example, it's illegal to discharge a firearm within 150 feet of a hard-surfaced road or within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling without the occupants' written permission -- often not easy to get. Those two laws alone put almost two-thirds of the state effectively off-limits to hunting. Lots of states have similar restrictions and most were imposed in the name of safety. Guns kill 31,500 people annually in the United States, but hunters are relatively safe. Estimates say about 100 people die in hunting accidents, mainly in cases of mistaken identity. These days, deer kill more than twice that many, both in deer-vehicle crashes and when drivers swerve into a tree or an oncoming vehicle. These accidents hospitalize another 30,000 people. Don't swerve: Hit the deer. Overabundant white-tails, meanwhile, do enormous damage to the landscape, and not just gardens and shrubbery. They are ruining our forests by eating their understories so trees can't regenerate. No seedlings. No places for understory birds and the insects they feed their newborn. Black bears are shy and docile creatures motivated by hunger and fear, but they, like deer, beavers, turkeys, waterfowl and others, were almost wiped out in the United States by the end of the 19th century. Daniel and Rebecca Boone reportedly killed 155 of them in one season in Kentucky. With protection, they slowly came back in the 20th century, to about 750,000 in 2002 and perhaps a million or more today. Between 1900 and 2009, black bears killed 63 people -- 86% were in the last 40 years. Why the increase? More bears and more denatured people living in the same habitat. Birdseed sellers now refer to wild birds as "outdoor pets," helping to condition people to think that putting out food for wild animals is an act of kindness. It isn't. Food and no fear have turned many normally nocturnal wild creatures diurnal. They hang out among us in the daytime. Nuisance wildlife control people say tossing rocks at coyotes would help reinstill their fear of people. Instead, I've known people to toss them dog biscuits. Carrying a stick or a golf club is enough to deter wild turkeys, mail carriers tell me. Bear-proofing your garbage cans and taking down your birdfeeders in spring are no-brainers. Conflicts between people and wild animals will continue to rise as both populations grow into one another. There are all sorts of ways to mitigate them, both lethal and nonlethal. Some work better than others. Reinstilling their fear will help. Feeding them won't. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jim Sterba.

Jim Sterba: Wildlife more and more encroaching on our space, and we into theirs . A bear mauled a woman in Florida neighborhood; deer-vehicle accidents kill . Sterba: Conflicts between people and wild animals will rise as they lose fear of us . We indulge them, he says, but we should be reinstilling their fear .

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(CNN) -- The death toll from a shooting at a house party in the violence-plagued Mexican border city of Juarez has climbed to 14, state media reported Sunday. Chihuahua State Attorney General Carlos Manuel Salas told reporters that another 14 people were injured when gunmen attacked the gathering of young people at a house party Friday, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. The victims killed were between ages 14 and 30, Notimex said. Children as young as 7 and 11 were among the injured, the agency reported. Salas said authorities were investigating the backgrounds of all the victims. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said it was sending representatives to the neighborhood, which was near another home where cartel gunmen stormed a house party in January, killing 15 people. Most of the victims in that shooting were youths who had no ties to organized crime. Investigators said the January shooting was a case of mistaken identity caused by bad intelligence. It sparked widespread outrage in the violent border city, including calls for Mexican President Felipe Calderon to resign. In a news conference Saturday, the country's deputy interior minister told reporters federal authorities will maintain the security strategy they are developing with state officials. "We are here to address this deplorable and condemnable acts, and to ensure full support to local authorities investigating these unfortunate events," deputy interior minister Juan Marcos Gutierrez said, according to Notimex. CNN's Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

A prosecutor says 14 people were killed and 14 others were injured . Authorities are investigating the backgrounds of the victims . Mexico's National Human Rights Commission is sending a team to the neighborhood .

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(CNN) -- "Gigantic, alien-looking buildings" that bring to mind melted guitars, mushroom-like parasols and UFOs. That's how some of the world's finest examples of "blob buildings" have been described, by the company that wants to celebrate them. Building data company Emporis of Hamburg, Germany, usually gives kudos to more traditional architectural triumphs, such as these new skyscrapers completed last year. But this time "we felt that it's time to highlight this interesting and visually appealing topic," says Sarah Krenz, in the Emporis public relations office. What makes a building a blob? "Unconventional, right-angle-free geometric shapes," according to the report. It's also known as "liquid architecture." Emporis cites the Experience Music Project in Seattle, locally known as "The Blob," as a prime example. Others include the Golden Terraces in Warsaw, "whose wavy roof, created from 4,700 separate glass elements, rests like a frozen liquid over the atrium of this multi-story shopping center." As well as standing out from other buildings in their vicinity, blob buildings often conjure imaginative responses from the public, not always complimentary. While the Selfridges Building, a shopping center in Birmingham, England, is known as the Beehive due to its honeycomb-like façade, the London City Hall was once described as a "glass testicle." This list anticipates the opening next year of another "blob" -- the exhibition building Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création in Paris, designed by Frank O. Gehry. What do you think? Are blob buildings creative and inspiring or ugly and over the top? Comment below.

"Blobitecture" comprises buildings with few or no right angles and fluid, flowing forms . Experience Music Project in Seattle, locally known as "The Blob," is a prime example . Blob building Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, designed by Frank O. Gehry, to open in Paris in 2014 .

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(CNN) -- It was the moment the world had been waiting for, and as he has so often in his glittering career, Lionel Messi delivered. After a frantic opening to the World Cup in Brazil with entertainment and goals aplenty, one of its gold-plated stars announced his arrival in style. A trademark slaloming run from the Barcelona striker ended in the fashion soccer fans have become well accustomed to -- with the net rippling. In truth, Argentina were far from their best against the World Cup debutantes Bosnia and Herzegovina despite going 1-0 up thanks to the quickest goal at the World Cup to date. Sead Kolasinac was the unwitting scorer, diverting the ball into his own net after a Messi free kick was glanced on by Marcos Rojo. Alejandro Sabella's men couldn't build on that early lead though as Bosnia and Herzegovina held their own until the interval. Argentina's lead was doubled on 65 minutes thanks to a piece of magic from their talisman. Messi swapped passes with Gonzalo Higuaín and sidestepped two challenges before firing home off the inside of the post via a slight deflection. His vigorous celebration perhaps showed the pressure he was under to perform, as the endless comparisons to Argentina's other world famous player -- Diego Maradona -- go on. A goal from substitute Vedad Ibisevic ensured a nervy final six minutes but Argentina held out to secure three important points. France 3-0 Honduras . The first World Cup goal to be awarded via goal-line technology helped France to a convincing 3-0 victory over 10-man Honduras in Porto Alegre. Karim Benzema, who had put France ahead thanks to a first half penalty, fired a shot against the post only for Honduras keeper Noel Valladares to inadvertently nudge the ball towards goal. It was awarded by the referee after goal-line technology -- introduced for the first time at this World Cup by FIFA -- instructed him the ball had crossed the line. Replays inside the stadium led to boos from some supporters, as the big screen flashed up 'no goal' for the initial effort that hit the upright, then 'goal' after the ball had cannoned off Valladares. Aside from the confusion it was a routine win for an energetic France side, whose task was made easier when Honduras went down to 10 men. Wilson Palacios, who plays for English Premier League side Stoke, had already been booked when he barged into Paul Pogba, conceding a penalty and attracting a second booking. Benzema duly dispatched the spot kick as France seized the initiative just before the interval. Then just three minutes after the break came a landmark moment for the world game when Benzema's volley from an exquisite Yohan Cabaye pass flashed back off the post. Valladares tried to parry the ball clear as it hurtled towards him but only succeeded in flicking it over the line, the referee confirming the goal a few seconds later. Honduras protested and the replays led to confusion but the goal was awarded, four years after the incident in South Africa that led FIFA president Sepp Blatter to change his mind on technology. A shot from England's Frank Lampard flicked off the bar and bounced down a yard over the line in their quarterfinal with Germany but the goal wasn't awarded. There was no doubt about Benzema's second, as he fired emphatically into the roof of the net after pouncing on a loose ball, completing a perfect opening night for France coach Didier Deschamps. Switzerland 2-1 Ecuador . The other game in Group E on Sunday was a tale of two super subs for Switzerland as an injury time winner from Haris Seferovic broke Ecuadorian hearts in Brasilia. The striker came off the bench to pounce in the dying seconds of the game after another sub -- Admir Mehmedi -- had canceled out Enner Valencia's early header. It meant that after nine matches at the World Cup, there is still to be a draw. After a low key opening it was Ecuador who struck first, as Enner Valencia planted a firm header into the net from Walter Ayovi's center. Switzerland, tipped by many as World Cup dark horses, struggled to get into any sort of rhythm and squandered a succession of set pieces. But its two-time European Champions League winning coach Ottmar Hitzfeld got his half time tactical tinkering just right and it drew level within minutes of the restart. Hitzfeld brought striker Admir Mehmedi on for Valentin Stocker and the Freiburg forward nodded home from close range. Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio saved well from Jefferson Montero before Josip Drmic had a goal ruled out for offside as the match neared a dramatic conclusion. Ecuador had a great chance to find the net but Michael Arroyo was tackled brilliantly by Valon Behrami, who then launched a counter attack. The referee played an excellent advantage after Behrami was fouled and the move ended with Seferovic finishing off Ricardo Rodriguez's low cross. "We've done it, and that's unbelievable," Hitzfeld was quoted as saying by FIFA's website. "We never stopped believing in ourselves. I'm extremely happy with the three points and it means it's a good start."

Lionel Messi announces his World Cup arrival with brilliant goal for Argentina . Messi's strike lifts Argentina to a 2-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina . Benzema brace helps France beat 10-man Honduras 3-0 in Group E . Match sees first World Cup goal awarded via the use of goal-line technology .

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(CNN) -- It's become a popular segment on his show, and Jimmy Fallon's latest lip-sync battle featured "The Voice" coaches Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. So what happens when "The Tonight Show" host has two popular singers perform songs by not actually singing? A whole bunch of awesome, apparently. The setup is simple: Each celebrity contestant selects a song and then lip-syncs a snippet. Shelton kicked it off with Taco's '80s hit "Puttin' on the Ritz," including some faux tap dancing. That was followed by Fallon's version of Ellie Goulding's "Burn," and Stefani ended the round with "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen. The trio seemed evenly matched until Stefani and Shelton took it to a new level. In a hilarious duet of "Endless Love," Stefani did the Lionel Richie part and Shelton subbed for Diana Ross. Who do you think won?

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton both lip-sync for Jimmy Fallon . "The Voice" coaches team up for a "duet" Lip-sync battles are popular feature of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"

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(CNN) -- Online and on the air, talking about sports has almost always been a guy thing. Former athletes and coaches banter on a more-or-less equal footing with other guys who've never played a down or never hiked a ball but have a head full of stats and an encyclopedic knowledge of the manly arts. Meshall Shuman zooms in on Hattie Lemon at a recent taping of "Ladies in the Locker Room" It's almost insulting to say the obvious, but there are plenty of women who know their sports, too. And they have their own sports show, one that offers an alternative to the "testosterone ceiling" of the guys' club. It's called "Ladies in the Locker Room," and TV subscribers in the Atlanta, Georgia, area have been tuning in to its unique brand of sports commentary, analysis and trivia since 2004. Watch the 'Ladies in the Locker Room' » . The show is the brainchild of Hattie Lemon, a prolific writer, director, producer and actor whose independent crime series "Atlanta Homicide" is featured on the CoLours TV network. "Ladies in the locker room are not women who think they know everything about sports; they just know the men who do," Lemon said. It's one of the catchphrases she uses to describe the show that immediately disarms most critics who otherwise wouldn't respect an all-female sports show. "It's all women, all sports, all sexy," Lemon said. "It's a combination of my love of sports and my love of media." Each year for the past five years, Lemon has recruited a new group of personalities and production crew members to punch out about a half-dozen shows. The show is captured live at sports clubs and restaurants across the Atlanta metro area, with additional time in the studio to create produced segments to add to the mix. Photo gallery: Making 'Ladies in the Locker Room' » . And for the second time in the show's history, Lemon is traveling to the Super Bowl with a handful of her ladies and a production crew to create a version of the show featuring interviews with the celebrities and stars flocking to football's big game. Soma Balber, a self-professed superfan of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and one of the show's commentators for the 2008-09 season, first got to know Lemon when she began playing a recurring role in "Atlanta Homicide." They got to talking about sports, and Balber was asked to be a part of the show. "It's kind of nice to show the audience that women can have fun watching sports," Balber said. "And we want to educate women about sports as well." Lemon, who describes herself as a huge fan of professional football, says she hopes her show will lead more men to understand that women love sports, too. "When women talk about sports, sometimes men look at us as groupies," Lemon said. "Men don't think women understand sports." As for men who have never played sports but still know all the stats? They get the "man pass." It's not fair, she says, but "it is what it is. I just hope we get more women talking about sports."

Hattie Lemon created show to merge loves of sports and media . "Ladies" offers commentary, analysis and trivia . Lemon and her crew are traveling to the Super Bowl next week .

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(CNN) -- Eight of the 13 people facing hazing charges after the death of a Florida A&M University band member had turned themselves in by Thursday afternoon, a state police spokeswoman said. All eight who have surrendered so far face felony charges in the November death of 26-year-old Robert Champion, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Of the remaining three who face the same count, two are in Georgia and one is in Delaware, she said. "We're in contact with their attorneys or their families, and are expecting them to turn themselves in," Plessinger said. Champion, a FAMU Marching 100 drum major, collapsed on a band bus after a November 2011 football game in Orlando. Medical examiners reported his death came within an hour of his being badly beaten during a hazing incident. Prosecutors announced charges in Champion's death Wednesday. Eleven of the 13 people are charged with hazing resulting in death, a felony, while two others face a misdemeanor hazing count. Champion's mother has said her family is disappointed that the suspects didn't face more serious charges, and she told reporters Thursday that authorities botched the investigation into her son's death. Pam Champion said authorities didn't properly process the bus for evidence and failed to immediately question students who were on the bus. And the family's lawyer, Chris Chestnut, said the family believes FAMU alumni coached the students on how to answer questions from police. "We know they were caucusing to determine how to get away with murder," Chestnut said. He said the family plans to sue the school soon. Deputy Ginette Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, defended its investigation. "I know our deputies questioned everyone available," Rodriguez said. "I can assure you our detectives conducted a thorough and complete investigation, as we do in every case." Champion's death brought renewed public scrutiny to hazing, a practice that has gone on for years despite what the Tallahassee university said had been efforts to eradicate the problem. Champion's mother called for FAMU's famous marching band to be disbanded for the upcoming year, saying the school "cannot go on with business as usual." Nine students at University of Florida charged with hazing . "They need to clean out the filth to move forward. How can they allow the band out there?" she said Thursday. "They haven't done anything to safeguard students -- certainly not my son. My son was murdered." The prosecutor who brought the charges, Orange County State Attorney Lawson Lamar, said Wednesday that the case built by investigators does not support a charge of murder. Some university band members have said Champion died after taking part in an annual rite of passage called "Crossing Bus C," an initiation process in which pledges attempt to run down the center aisle from the front door of the bus to the back while being punched, kicked and otherwise assaulted by senior members. An estimated 30 people were on the vehicle. An autopsy found "extensive contusions of his chest, arms, shoulder and back," as well as "evidence of crushing of areas of subcutaneous fat," medical examiners reported. In a written statement, FAMU General Counsel Avery McKnight said the school "remains committed to the absolute eradication of hazing from all aspects of the university experience." "The university will be able to address all aspects of the marching band after reviewing the documents and evidence flowing from the Champion case and from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's final report on its investigation of the marching band," McKnight said. "As for now, the marching band continues on indefinite suspension." Those facing the more serious charges could serve up to six years in prison if convicted, Lamar said. The two suspects charged only with misdemeanors could be jailed for up to a year. Of the eight who had surrendered on felony charges by Thursday morning, all but three had been released on $15,000 bail, Plessinger told CNN. Two -- Jessie Baskin, 20, and Benjamin McNamee, 21, turned themselves in in Miami. Two others, Rikki Wills, 24, and Caleb Jackson, 23, surrendered in Tallahassee. Bryan Jones, 23, surrendered Wednesday night in Tampa, while 20-year-old Harold Finley turned himself in at the Palm Beach County jail. Two others, 19-year-old Aaron Golson and 26-year-old Shawn Turner, surrendered in Gadsden County, near Tallahassee. Jackson, Golson and Finley had not yet made bail Thursday afternoon, Plessinger said. Earlier this year, the Champions filed a negligence lawsuit against the bus company and its driver. Fabulous Coach Lines President Ray Land said before the suit was filed that the company's employees, who were not on the bus at the time, responded quickly after learning that there was an emergency, even following the ambulance transporting Champion to the hospital. The school's band director, meanwhile, asked for full reinstatement Wednesday. An attorney for Julian White, who was placed on paid administrative leave shortly after Champion's death, said his client worked to root out hazing over 22 years as director. "Dr. White remains disappointed that barely 48 hours after meeting with band members, that Robert Champion was killed in an extreme, horrific and illegal act of bullying," White's attorney, Chuck Hobbs, said in a statement.

NEW: FAMU says its goal is the "absolute eradication" of hazing . Investigation was botched, victim's mother says; sheriff's office defends investigation . FAMU drum major Robert Champion died after a hazing incident last November . Thirteen people have been charged in his death, 11 of them with felonies .

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Few question that there was a major chemical attack in Syria last week, and the United States has made clear that it blames the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Now, the question is how President Barack Obama will respond. For almost two years, Obama has avoided direct military involvement in Syria's civil war, only escalating aid to rebel fighters in June after suspected smaller-scale chemical weapons attacks by Syrian government forces. However, last week's attack on a Damascus suburb that reportedly killed and wounded more than 3,000 people obliterated the "red line" Obama set just over a year ago against the use of Syria's chemical weapons stocks. At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday that Obama was evaluating "a response to the clear use on a mass scale with repugnant results of chemical weapons," adding that "there is very little doubt that the Syrian regime ... used those weapons." Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the attack "inexcusable" and "undeniable," and said there was "a clear reason that the world has banned entirely chemical weapons." He said that evidence "strongly indicates" chemical weapons were used in Syria and that "we know the Syrian regime maintains custody" of such weapons and has the rockets to use them. Read Kerry's remarks . Obama "will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use" of chemical weapons, Kerry added, saying the president "believes there must be accountability" for those who use them. Options available to Obama range from ordering limited missile strikes to continued diplomatic efforts labeled by critics as a "do-nothing" approach. Obama will be presented with final options regarding actions against Syria in the next few days, a senior administration official said Monday. Assuming the president decides to go ahead with a military response, any action could come as early as mid-week, though it could be later, the official cautioned. Factors weighing into the timing of any action include a desire to get it done before the president leaves for Russia next week and before the administration has to make a decision on whether to suspend aid to Egypt because of the ongoing political turmoil there, the official explained. The administration also wants it to be a quick response to the use of chemical weapons, the senior administration official said. American officials are consulting with allies to ensure they are supportive of any U.S. action, which the senior administration official said would be very limited in scope and a direct reaction to the use of chemical weapons. And three representatives of allied governments involved in those top-level consultations said the goal is to reach a consensus as soon as possible. "No one is talking about a long process," one European diplomat told CNN. Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said any U.S. response would be "a determination on how to respond to a blatant use of chemical weapons, and it's not necessarily to change the entire situation on the ground in Syria." That might be a mistake, said Michael Doran, an analyst at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy. A U.S. strike "can't just be one and done," but should be part of a plan to remove al-Assad, he told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "The president has been very reulctant to get involved. Public opinion has been against it. There's not a lot of support on the Hill," Doran said. "And yet, here we are again. Time and time again, we get dragged further and further in." The result could be "a Vietnam-type problem, where we kind of back our way into this, if we don't come up with a plan about how to win." Kerry spoke with his British, Jordanian, Qatari and Saudi counterparts Monday and with the secretary-general of the Arab League, Harf said. "Obviously, the intelligence assessment is ongoing," she said. "But he reiterated that the president is studying the facts and will be making an informed decision about how to respond going forward." The Obama administration is expected to declassify the intelligence assessment backing up its assertion that the Syrian regime was responsible for last week's chemical weapons attack, another senior administration official said. The declassification would happen before any U.S. military action would take place. A senior administration official familiar with the intelligence told CNN that the evidence "includes but is not limited to" satellite images of activity at Syrian military installations identified as including chemical weapons depots. Earlier Monday, a White House official ruled out sending ground troops to Syria or implementing a no-fly zone to blunt al-Assad's aerial superiority over rebels fighting to oust his regime. The official insisted that all other options were under consideration by Obama but put no time frame on a decision. Meanwhile, a senior Defense Department official told CNN's Chris Lawrence Monday that four U.S. Navy destroyers "maintain readiness and, if required, could execute a mission within hours" of being ordered to do so. But the official added that the U.S. military remained "in a holding pattern" as Obama considers both military and nonmilitary options. Opinion: How Al-Assad used chemical weapons to poison debate on Syria . Also, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said while visiting Indonesia that any U.S. action "will be in concert with the international community and within the framework of legal justification." While U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that the use of chemical weapons was a crime against humanity and must be punished, certain opposition by Syrian ally Russia and possibly China undermined the possibility that the Security Council would support a military mission. Instead, a limited coalition of NATO partners such as Germany, France and Britain -- all of which have called for action against Syria -- and some Arab League members appeared more likely to provide the political backing needed by Obama to order U.S. missile strikes. A senior administration official told CNN on Monday that the goals of any coalition military action would be to punish al-Assad and show him that there was a cost for using chemical weapons while preventing him from doing so again. In addition, a military strike would seek to degrade the Syrian regime's capabilities enough to weaken it without causing it to fall to an opposition considered unprepared to assume power, the official said. Possible coalition partners include NATO allies Britain, France, Germany and Canada, as well as regional powers Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Last month, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey provided Congress with a list of declassified U.S. military options for Syria that emphasized the high costs and risks of what he said would amount to "an act of war" at a time of deep budget cuts. U.S. official: Almost no doubt al-Assad regime used chemical weapons . Dempsey's letter, dated July 19, listed U.S. assets in the region including Patriot missile defense batteries in Turkey and Jordan, as well as F-16 jet fighters positioned to defend Jordan from possible cross-border trouble. In addition, the Pentagon has sent four warships armed with cruise missiles to the region. According to U.S. officials, updated options offered the president in recent days included: . • Cruise missiles fired from one of four Navy destroyers deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. The missiles would be used to strike "command and control" facilities such as command bunkers, or the Syrian regime's means of delivering chemical weapons: artillery batteries and launchers. There is no indication that the missiles would strike at actual chemical weapons stockpiles. • Military jets firings weapons from outside Syrian airspace. This option carries additional risks and is considered less likely. "They have to be careful to do this in concert with our allies," Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Sunday, adding that "I don't think the White House is going to want to risk American lives by sending pilots over Syria, so that really limits our options to cruise strikes and think that's probably where the White House is going to go." U.N. chemical weapons inspectors reach alleged attack site . Cruise missile strikes could be "very punishing" on al-Assad's missile supplies and aircraft without going after the chemical weapons stockpiles to risk dispersing them, Schiff said. To Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, the situation is forcing Obama to shift from being an "avoider-in-chief" regarding military involvement in Syria. "It's almost inevitable that the president will authorize some form of military action," Miller told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast Monday. He said he expected a significant response that amounts to "a warning that lays down this time a red line that the president intends to enforce, not one that turns pink." "It cannot simply be a couple of cruise missiles into a storage shed somewhere," Miller said, adding that the goal was to deter al-Assad rather than topple him or radically shift the balance in Syria at this time. "The president's not on the verge of becoming the cavalry to rescue the country." Schiff agreed that Obama has little choice but to respond strongly. "In terms of the credibility of the White House," he said, "the cost of not acting now, I think, exceeds the cost of acting."

U.S. evidence includes satellite imagery, official says . Obama is considering how to respond to Syrian chemical attack . Official: Obama could be presented with options within days . A U.S. strike "can't just be one and done," a Middle East analyst says .

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(CNN) -- Mitch McConnell could very well become the Senate majority leader after Tuesday's midterm elections, but don't count on Ted Cruz to make it an easy transition for the Kentucky Republican. Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas who's eying a 2016 presidential bid, all but promised to raise hell next year should his party control the Senate. In an interview with The Washington Post published Sunday, Cruz refused to pledge his support to McConnell, the current minority leader in the Senate, and outlined what he believes should be the chamber's priorities. Dems put up brave face ahead of election . While Cruz has campaigned for many mainstream Republican candidates this year, his new comments indicate he's aiming to re-claim the mantle of Republican insurgent, a role that helped define his first year in the Senate in 2013. The first priority next year, he told the Post, should be a string of hearings on President Barack Obama, "looking at the abuse of power, the executive abuse, the regulatory abuse, the lawlessness that sadly has pervaded this administration." Polls give GOP momentum going into midterms . He also hopes a Republican Senate will "pursue every means possible to repeal Obamacare," just as the GOP-controlled House has tried more than 50 times to dismantle the health care law. Part of the effort, he said, should include forcing a vote that could avoid a possible filibuster by Democrats. If Obama vetoes the repeal, the Senate should vote on Obamacare provisions "one at a time," according to the Post. McConnell, who's trying to stave off a high-profile Democratic challenge in his re-election bid, has largely stayed away from spelling out the would-be Republican agenda next year. How presidential contenders are spending Election Night . Cruz's comments also set the stage for an interesting dynamic between himself and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a potential 2016 rival. Unlike Cruz, Paul has stood closely by McConnell's side in the senior senator's re-election campaign -- an alliance that could surely benefit Paul, who's eager to get his own series of bills passed in the run-up to a presidential bid.

Ted Cruz refused to pledge his support to Mitch McConnell if he becomes Senate majority leader . He hopes the Senate will be as persistent in trying to repeal Obamacare as the House has been .

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As they make a final push to approve presidential nominations before Republicans take control of the Senate, Democrats said Tuesday the confirmation of a record number of federal judges was evidence they were right to make controversial changes to filibuster rules, despite objections from Republicans. "Yes," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded loudly when asked if still believes he was right to employ the so-called "nuclear option" a year ago in order to clear a backlog of nominees. The No. 2 Senate Democrat explained that at the time there was a "breakdown in the relationship between the executive and legislative branch." "If you just look at where we were, with all of the nominations stacked on the calendar, most of which had been reported from committees with overwhelming bipartisan votes," Sen. Dick Durbin said. "Republicans were trying to keep as many nominations from final approval as possible. So we had no choice." During the first year of the congressional session, before the nuclear option, the Senate confirmed a total of 36 federal district and circuit court judges appointed by the President. After the rules changes, which took place Nov. 21, 2013, the number of judges confirmed more than doubled to 84. The rules change lowered the number of votes needed to overcome a filibuster from 60 to 51, making it much easier for Democrats, who currently have a 54 to 46 majority, to approve judges to those lifetime positions. Before the Senate adjourns, probably in the next day or two, Democrats hope to confirm an additional 12 district court positions. Democrats this week also cleared a new surgeon general, a top immigration official, and were ready to approve Tuesday the No. 2 at the State Department. Each of those people faced serious GOP opposition and might not have been cleared if not for the rules change. "The train is running over everyone. That's the Reid train. Last trip around the track," complained Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona about the last minute wave of judicial and executive branch nominations Senate Democratic Leader Reid is jamming through. "It's a result of the nuclear option which deprived us of our ability to advise and consent and it's shameful. McCain and other Republicans also blamed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and a small group of other conservatives who forced a weekend session that Reid used to clear procedural hurdles on a number of nominees. "It was also caused in part by what happened last weekend when several nominees who are controversial are now going to receive Senate votes and are probably going to be confirmed who otherwise probably would not have been," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Democrats say they have no regrets over changing the Senate rules to approve more judges . Republicans, who will take control of the Senate in January, are upset with the maneuver .

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Washington (CNN) -- Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison knew her window to run for president had closed. That moment passed when then-Gov. George W. Bush, a fellow Texas Republican, ran for and won the presidency in 2000 and served two terms, the lawmaker told CNN. She was a senator with aspirations to a higher office who was also in the process of adopting two children. "The timing wasn't right for me. Even if he served four years, then maybe. But eight years and Texas fatigue. Then I had children, so...," she said, her voice trailing off. Wednesday marks the 95th anniversary of Congress' approval of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. But all these years later, no woman has ever been named a major party's presidential nominee. The path to the presidency is especially challenging for Republican women and it contrasts sharply with Democrats who -- as buzz grows around Hillary Clinton -- may be poised to nominate the first female presidential candidate of either major party. Primary problems: GOP women struggle to come out on top . Four of the five women who are currently governors are Republicans, and four of the past six presidents previously were governors. Still, GOP women's names are seldom mentioned among top-tier potential presidential hopefuls for 2016. Sure, nods are given to retiring Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's failed 2012 presidential bid. And there's a perennial hope among some conservatives that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will run, though she's said she has no interest in the position. But when mention is made of Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, or New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, it's often couched as "she would make such a good running mate," not in a way that is on par with male candidates, former Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told CNN. "Women should naturally be considered for the highest office in the land," Snowe said. "The bench is too small" Democratic women in Congress far outnumber Republicans -- 16-4 in the 100-seat Senate and 62-17 in the 435-seat House of Representatives. In each of the past 10 election cycles, GOP women have won a smaller percentage of primary elections for U.S. House seats than have their Democratic counterparts, according to a study by Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics, and only twice -- in 1994 and 2010 -- have more Republican than Democratic women run in primaries. "It's the concept of the pipeline. If the women aren't in the offices we draw on for the presidency, the bench is too small to choose from," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Rutgers center. Even when they do seek office, studies have shown that conservative women in particular have had a tougher time getting the networking and financial support -- either from within the party or from outside groups -- needed to mount successful bids, Walsh said. While there are a number of well-heeled groups, such as EMILY's List, which back candidates with progressive stances, there are fewer such groups targeting conservative women, the Rutgers study found. SarahPAC, the political action committee of former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, has supported a number of conservative women candidates, including New Hampshire's Ayotte in 2010. This year, the PAC is supporting Joni Ernst, a Senate candidate from Iowa who won her primary on Tuesday, among other women. SHE PAC, another conservative women's group, is supporting Mia Love, the former mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, in her second bid for the U.S. House. Love narrowly lost in 2012 to incumbent Jim Matheson, who is not seeking re-election. The group is also supporting Monica Wehby, an Oregon physician running for Senate, among other candidates. Both Love and Wehby won their primaries. CNN Poll: Majority say GOP out of touch with women . The other challenge female candidates to federal office face is an "ideological shift to the far right among the Republican primary electorate," the study found. This shift has meant Republican women who might be moderate on such issues as abortion rights are less likely to survive primary fights in conservative districts. The results: fewer Republican women headed to Congress and a shallower pool of presidential contenders down the road. The Republican Party is keenly aware of its problems in both recruiting and supporting female candidates and attracting women voters. The party performed an autopsy of sorts after huge losses among women, minorities and young voters in the 2012 presidential election. GOP's soul-searching leads conflicted party to double down . The party concluded it needed to beef up its outreach operations and has spent millions on efforts such as Project GROW, which seeks to identify and support more female candidates for the midterm elections, and "14 in 14," a program aimed at wooing more women voters in key states. "We've come together with the other GOP campaign committees ... to set up programs to get more women involved in our party," said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. "We've done things like recruit more women operatives to be involved and have a seat at the table with candidates, message-training and specific voter contact efforts." The proof is in the numbers . But some senior Republican women say that despite plenty of lip service paid to elevating women within the party, representation at the federal level is paltry, and the performance trend in primaries shows fewer Republican women are winning in those races than just two decades ago. "It's unfortunate that there's this attitude and perception within the Republican Party that are more aspirational when it comes to women," Snowe said. "The Republican Party hasn't done the groundwork to build a strong bench of Republican women to launch a presidential candidacy." "Women have to put a step forward" as well, Snowe said, to better ensure that they are in the running for the nation's top political post. Senate balance of power could shift on women candidates . However, doing so involves tough choices, Hutchison said. "We do end up with a great amount of responsibility for our families. Being out campaigning for weeks and months at a time is difficult. The women in the Senate struggle with this, with questions of, 'Do you move your children to be with you, or do you leave them back home?'" Hutchison said. "That makes it harder for us to say, 'Yes, I'm going to run for president and go to New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina for weeks on end' -- especially if they are in office already and away from their families. To add that to it is very difficult." "Whereas, no matter what we say, men have wives and they can leave more easily," she said. Though they may disagree with her political views, Republican women often give Hillary Clinton kudos for her political skill. "Republican women have to do what Hillary Clinton is doing. We have to steal the playbook of what she is doing," said Crystal Wright, an editor and blogger with ConservativeBlackChick.com. Winning requires building strong coalitions, fundraising and surrogates, Wright said. "Look at what Hillary has done in each campaign she has run. ... She's a good example of a case study for how women should model their efforts for running for office."

So far, there are no women's names on the GOP's 2016 presidential short list . There are more GOP women governors, but fewer congresswomen than Democrats . GOP trying to recruit and support women who could eventually mount presidential bids . Rutgers study; senior GOP female lawmakers say party still has work to do on women front .

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Anatalya, Turkey (CNN) -- Lapped by the pristine waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Turkish coastal city of Antalya attracts millions of sun-seeking tourists each year, beguiling them with its sweeping scenery, picture-perfect beaches and blazing sunshine. It is this abundance of sunlight -- Turkey receives greater annual solar radiation energy than Spain and Germany according to estimates by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission -- that has prompted Antalya's local authorities to push ahead with plans to harness the city's solar potential. "We aim to make Antalya the leader of solar power generation of Turkey and to promote it to the world as 'The Solar City,'" says Antalya's mayor Mustafa Akaydin. The declaration comes as the sun-soaked city, located some 700 kilometers south of Istanbul, starts rolling out its ambitious plans to use solar power to generate electricity, emulating the successful example of cities like Barcelona, Spain, which has put in place regulations requiring solar panels to be fitted to all large new buildings. In April, the city opened the "Antalya Solar House," an ecological research and educational center designed by architectural firm Temiz Dunya to raise awareness about the benefits of renewable energy and promote eco-tourism. The zero-emission structure, which was built with ecological materials, generates most of its energy using photovoltaic panels (22kW in total) as well as a windmill and heat pumps. 'Living' buildings could inhale city carbon emissions . These systems are supplemented with gray-water recycling -- re-use of used water from bathtubs, showers and so on. -- and passive solar heating features such as a greenhouse to collect heat during the winter months. It also has a green roof that facilitates rainwater harvesting and acts as heat insulation. "The building is also very significant because it is Turkey's first energy positive building," says architect Mehmet Bengu Uluengin, the designer behind the Solar House. "It actually produces more energy than it consumes." The architect says the structure has fascinated the local population while helping to change perceptions that buildings can only be big energy consumers. "The idea that having a building that not only provides its own energy but actually gives some back is a totally new phenomenon for Turkish people," says Uluengin, who is also a professor at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University. "They like it, they find it very intriguing." Local authorities expect around a thousand people to visit Solar House each month, including students, green investors and hotel owners. They say the project is just the first part of a long-term initiative to turn Antalya into a climate-friendly city -- other initiatives include a waste management facility that will convert the city's sewage into biogas. "Antalya has already been the pioneering city of green energy (in Turkey)," says Akaydin. "We are trying to make Antalya the leader of agriculture, tourism, park and garden lighting, energy generating and (solar) panel producing." While educating the local population about achieving energy efficiency, Uluengin says the technology used in the Solar House can also help Antalya -- Turkey's biggest coastal resort and home to several five-star hotels -- to become an ideal destination for eco-conscious tourists. "There are several hotels which are considering green energy to attract customers," he says. "A hotel which can say that ... if you're staying here your carbon footprint is zero for the duration of your stay -- this is becoming very interesting for people worldwide," he adds. For the moment, however, sunny Antalya is still far from being branded a green resort -- local authorities estimate that eco-visitors account for just 1% of the city's tourism. Mayor Akaydin says that Turkey is missing a trick by failing to exploit its clean energy capabilities. "Turkey has a very big potential in solar and wind energy. Unfortunately, the insufficient and wrong policies of the government prevent the promotion of them," he says. Turkey's geothermal potential . Despite receiving plenty of sun, Turkey has been remarkably sluggish in developing a sound solar industry. The country still depends heavily on oil and natural gas, most of which is imported from abroad. In 2008, oil provided 37% of Turkey's total final consumption of energy, natural gas and electricity 18% each, coal 17%, biomass and waste 7% and other sources 3%, according to figures by the International Energy Agency. At the same time, limited government subsidies, coupled with high costs for green energy equipment, have further impeded the market's growth, leaving little incentives for households to go solar. Yet, Uluengin is optimistic that green initiatives like the one in Antalya can help Turkey's green energy sector to take off in the coming years. He notes that the lack of government incentives has bolstered Turkey's fledgling renewable energy industry by creating a solid and growing grassroots movement -- that, he says, is in contrast to the top-down approach that was implemented in other European countries, where the sector grew after governments started offering subsidies and incentives for green energy usage. "The way we are going through it in Turkey is more painful but is also healthier because it is growing out of real demand," says Uluengin.

Antalya has launched a long-term initiative to become a climate-friendly city . Turkey's tourist hotspot wants to use solar power to generate electricity . The country has been slow in developing a sound solar industry .

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- More than 10,000 charred bone fragments were found buried at the site of a former Argentine government detention center, the first find of its kind at one of the secret centers, Argentine officials said. Bones were unearthed during a seven-month search at an ex-detention post in La Plata, Argentina, officials said. Searchers said they also found a wall with more than 200 bullet holes and an "important quantity" of spent ammunition shells on the ground nearby. In some cases, bullets were still lodged in the wall. The announcement was made Tuesday at a news conference by government officials and representatives of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, better known as EAAF, the initials of its name in Spanish. A team of six professional anthropologists and support crew said it believed the remains were human, but it was unable to determine how many bodies the fragments represented. "I ask the forgiveness of family members, because I can imagine what the mothers and all who are gathered here will feel, but what we are about to show is not to detail the genocide but so that we have proof for the trials that are to come," said Sara Derotier de Cobacho, secretary of human rights for Buenos Aires province. "But let us not forget," she said in a statement, "that behind every clandestine center there were the names of the repressors. ... So it is very important for all citizens to know those names." The detention center was among those used in Argentina during the country's "Dirty War," which started in 1976 when a group of generals staged a coup and started a vicious crackdown against anyone considered a subversive. By the time civilian control of the government resumed in 1983, up to 30,000 Argentines had been abducted and taken to the secret government detention centers, where they were tortured and killed. They are widely called "los desaparecidos," or "the disappeared." Thousands more people were abducted and killed by right-wing dictatorships in other South American countries during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in Chile and Uruguay. The bone fragments in Argentina were unearthed during a seven-month search at the former detention post in the city of La Plata, near Buenos Aires. In 25 years of searching, this was the first time that human remains were found at a former detention center, said Luis Fondebrider, president of the EAAF. "We've worked throughout the country and have always found remains in cemeteries, never outside," Fondebrider said in the release. The conference was called, he said, because of the extraordinary nature of the find. "We usually don't hold press conferences about our work or what we find," Fondebrider said. "But we understand that the magnitude of what we have found where the Clandestine Center of Arana was located merits that sometimes we show partial results." The searchers determined that bodies had been burned inside graves along with tires, combustibles and other material, Fondebrider said. "The possibilities of identifying some of these remains is low because of the state they are in," Fondebrider said. The searchers will start analyzing the remains next year and are working with two prominent forensic genetic laboratories that specialize in working with remains that are in poor condition, he said. Lending an official air to Tuesday's proceedings, Carlos Stornelli, minister of security for the province of Buenos Aires, and Pablo Buruera, mayor of La Plata, also attended the news conference. "We are looking for the truth so we can attain justice and construct, from there, the memory of our 30,000 'desaparecidos,' " Derotier said.

Remains believed to be human; number of bodies unknown, officials say . Detention center among those used in Argentina's 1976-1983 "Dirty War" Tens of thousands said to have been abducted, killed during "Dirty War"

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Paris (CNN)A traumatic event, such as the 9/11 attacks or the assault on Charlie Hebdo in Paris two weeks ago, can produce huge shifts in public opinion. A surge in patriotism, perhaps higher church attendances -- but one would not expect it to boost the work of an 18th century writer. In France, and especially in Paris, the mood over the past two weeks has been subdued, but punctured by public displays of solidarity across faiths. In a famously fractious society, there is a sense of cohesion. The French seemed to have coalesced in reaching back into their history and the Enlightenment: They have started reading Voltaire. One of France's most renowned philosophers, Voltaire published his "Treatise on Tolerance" in 1763. It was an appeal for religious tolerance, within and between faiths. The French publisher Folio says sales of the "Treatise" have increased significantly since the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Between 2003 and the beginning of this year, Folio had sold 120,000 copies of the book -- roughly 10,000 a year. From January 12 to 14, immediately after the rally in Paris in support of free speech and tolerance, some 7,000 copies were sold. Folio said another 20,000 new copies would be made available to cope with demand. Online orders on Amazon and Kindle have also spiked. When first published, the "Treatise" was a revolutionary creed, and one that landed Voltaire in trouble with the French government and especially powerful religious interests, such as the Jesuits. His message has endured to become a cornerstone of the French republic, where the state and religion are formally and forcefully separated. But Voltaire went far beyond the rifts within Christianity in the "Treatise." "I say that we should regard all men as our brothers," he wrote. "What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?" Voltaire wrote the "Treatise" because he was outraged by the execution of a Protestant man, Jean Calas, who was wrongly convicted of murdering his own son to prevent him from converting to Catholicism. His campaign to clear Jean Calas went all the way to King Louis XV, who pardoned Calas posthumously. Paris mayor: We'll sue Fox News . Last week, the justice minister here, socialist Christiane Taubira, celebrated Voltaire's legacy when speaking at the memorial for the Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Tignous. "We can draw anything, including a prophet, because in France, the France of Voltaire and irreverence, we have the right to make fun of religions," she said. "A right. Yes, because a right is democracy and democracy is the realm of the law." That sentiment was shared across the political spectrum. Writing in Le Figaro on Tuesday, former Prime Minister Dominique Villepin said that "Faced with the drama that struck it, France has shown great dignity." Villepin, from the conservative UMP, wrote that, "The people have chosen by instinct loyalty to France." It was fitting, and perhaps not accidental, that when world leaders gathered at the rally last week to commemorate those killed in Paris, they began their walk down the Boulevard Voltaire, toward the Place de la Nation. Scattered around them, among the many tributes, posters of the writer bordered with the motto: "Je suis Charlie." Some of the marchers waved copies of "A Treatise on Tolerance" as they walked and left them at impromptu memorials in the Place de la Republique. The chateau at Versailles, once the residence of royalty, devoted the Hall of the Pope to a portrait of Voltaire in honor of the victims of the terror attack. Underneath, a sign quotes from the "Treatise": "What is tolerance? It is the prerogative of humanity." Opinion: Attacks show hypocrisy of West's outrage . The Societe Voltaire, charged with keeping the philosopher's flame alive, says the attacks in Paris were also an attempt to assassinate him. In an article in L'Express, the Societe said Voltaire's lifelong struggle was to "crush the infamous" (a saying with which he often ended his letters) and defend the victims of fanaticism. In the words of the Societe's Alain Sager: "The border today is not between the religious and the atheist, between the Christian and non-Christian, Muslim and non-Muslim, between the Jewish and non-Jewish. It is between barbarism and civilization." Among the millions of tweets in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings, not a few cited these words attributed to Voltaire: "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire never actually said that. The phrase was invented by his English biographer many years later. But he did write this, in "A Treatise on Tolerance": "The fewer dogmas, the fewer disputes; the fewer disputes, the fewer miseries: If this is not true, then I'm wrong." Two-hundred-fifty years later, the words have new resonance.

After Charlie Hebdo attacks, French find comfort in writing from 1763 . Voltaire's "Treatise on Tolerance" is an appeal for religious tolerance, within and between faiths .

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A nurse has died of Ebola in the Malian capital of Bamako, the health ministry said Wednesday, sparking fears that the nation has not yet defeated the deadly virus. This is the second confirmed Ebola fatality in the West African country. The first victim, a 2-year-old girl, died last month after she traveled to Mali with her grandmother from Guinea -- one of three countries hardest hit by the outbreak in the region. The clinic where the nurse died has been quarantined, and the government has urged citizens to report suspected cases. The first case prompted fears that the virus was spreading beyond Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea -- the three nations which have seen the most cases of Ebola. Shortly after the toddler was diagnosed, dozens of people who came into contact with her were quarantined, including medical workers. It's unclear whether the nurse was among those who were in contact with the child. The virus has killed at least 4,960 people and infected more than 13,000, mostly in the three nations, according to the World Health Organization. There is currently no cure or vaccine for Ebola. As the world reels from the outbreak, scores of companies are fast-tracking tests for various vaccines, and hope to have millions of experimental doses by next year. Scientists racing to stop the epidemic are trying various experimental drugs on patients, including ZMapp and TKM-Ebola. Health care workers in affected nations will get the first opportunity to try the experimental vaccines, the WHO said. Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

This is the second confirmed death from Ebola in Mali, the health ministry says . The first case was a toddler who died last month . The clinic where the nurse died has been quarantined, officials say .

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(CNN) -- Lazio will play its next two European matches behind closed doors after football authorities punished the Italian club for several offenses, including a fourth charge of racist behavior this season. European football's governing body also fined Lazio €40,000 ($52,000) following incidents in last week's Europa League round of 32 tie with German side Borussia Monchengladbach. Lazio had already been fined a total of $230,000 for racist abuse and other fan offenses during two group-stage matches with English team Tottenham Hotspur and another against Slovenia's Maribor. The Rome-based team has appealed UEFA's latest decision, which was handed down for "setting off and throwing fireworks, racist behavior and insufficient organization." "The control and disciplinary body decided to order Lazio to play their next two UEFA competition matches as host club behind closed doors," read UEFA's statement. It applies to the home leg of Lazio's last-16 clash in the second-tier competition against another German team, Stuttgart, on March 14. "The remaining game behind closed doors applies to the next UEFA competition match for which the club would qualify," the ruling body said. It is also the second time in a matter of days that a top Italian team has been cited for racism. Inter Milan was fined €50,000 ($65,500) by the Italian football federation on Tuesday after its supporters directed abuse at former player Mario Balotelli during Sunday's derby match with city rival AC Milan. Lazio president Claudio Lotito was disappointed by UEFA's decision, saying it was unfair on the majority of fans at the Stadio Olimpico. "We cannot as a club be penalized for the mistakes of a small minority (and) we will lodge an appeal," Lotito told RaiSport. "Lazio did everything we could and should have done to stop this from happening. It seems absurd to me that we have to play behind closed doors, which will seriously damage the club economically and stop the fans from participating in this event. "We must distinguish between the delinquents who act on their own volition and those fans who express themselves in a civilized fashion." UEFA meted out a heavier punishment to Turkish club Fenerbahce following last week's home Europa League match against BATE Borisov, threatening the Istanbul team with a one-season ban from from European competition if it offends again in the next two years. That sanction is probationary, but Fenerbahce will have to play the home leg of its last-16 clash with Viktoria Plzen on March 14 behind closed doors and pay a €60,000 ($79,000) after its fans set off and threw fireworks from outside the stadium. Fenerbahce's Portugal midfielder Raul Meireles will miss both games against the Czech club after being sent off in the February 14 away leg against BATE.

Serie A side Lazio punished for a series of offenses including racism . UEFA says Lazio must play next two European home games behind closed doors . The Rome-based team also fined €40,000 ($52,000) by ruling body . It is the fourth time this season Lazio has been punished by UEFA .

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Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- What was Hurricane Karl weakened Friday to a tropical storm after making landfall, but the heavy rain it spawned could still cause mudslides and flash floods in the Mexican interior, forecasters said. Karl was downgraded after coming ashore as a Category 3 hurricane about 10 miles (15 kilometers) north of Veracruz, Mexico, CNN's satellite and radar estimates showed. The storm is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression later Friday or Saturday and dissipate over the mountains of Mexico on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Friday evening. It added the Mexican government has discontinued all coastal watches and warnings. The storm delivered torrents of rain and fierce winds several hours before it hit land around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET). Photographs sent to CNN's iReport by Ricardo Arcaraz, who lives in Veracruz, showed heavy rain and trees on top of power lines. He reported widespread outages. Maximum sustained winds later weakened to around 70 mph (115 kph) with higher gusts, according to the Hurricane Center. Karl, located about 75 miles (115 kilometers) east of Puebla Mexico, was moving west-southwest at about 9 mph (15 kph), it said. Satellite images and surface observations from Mexico suggest Karl is weakening rapidly as it passes through steep mountains, the Hurricane Center added. High winds remain a threat, though forecasters said they will likely weaken too in the coming days. The homes of at least 3,000 families in central Mexico were damaged, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. "Tropical storm force winds are occurring in a small area near the center. These winds will continue to spread inland along the track of the center tonight but should decrease rapidly as Karl weakens," the Hurricane Center said. Potentially dangerous rain also was forecast. "Karl is expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 5 to 10 inches across portions of south-central Mexico, with isolated amounts of 15 inches possible in the mountains," the center said. "These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides." Within the past day or so, some 8 inches of rain has fallen in Veracruz, according to CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. Some local flooding was already reported, the Mexican Interior Ministry said. Officials closed some roads and urged evacuations for large, low-lying areas in Veracruz. Mexico's National System for Civil Protection issued a red alert, the highest level, for central and southern Veracruz. An orange alert was in place for northern Veracruz and the states of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala and Puebla. A yellow alert was issued for the states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi and Oaxaca. Mexican President Felipe Calderon also sent a warning Friday morning on his Twitter account. "An alert for Hurricane Karl in the nation's central states," it said, adding that Karl "could convert to a Category 4. It will enter through Veracruz around midday." Texas could be spared any major problems because a storm surge occurs only near the landfall location, said CNN meteorologist Sean Morris. Coastal flood advisories have been issued for south Texas, which means forecasters expect a small amount of coastal flooding but nothing serious, Morris said. A larger threat to south Texas will come from several inches of rain that could cause flooding and mudslides. The area could see as much as 4 inches by Sunday, with isolated amounts of up to 6 inches in far southern Texas. CNN meteorologists Brandon Miller and Mari Ramos contributed to this report.

NEW: Karl is downgraded to a tropical storm . NEW: It is weakening rapidly over the mountains of Mexico . Hurricane Karl made landfall in Veracruz, Mexico . Heavy rain could still cause problems .

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(CNN) -- Canada reserved the best to last as its ice hockey heroes beat arch-rivals the United States 3-2 with an overtime goal from Sidney Crosby to claim the final gold of the Winter Olympics. Crosby, Canada's star player, broke American hearts with his goal seven minutes and 40 seconds into added time to give the hosts its 14th gold of a triumphant Vancouver Games. Canada looked headed for a comfortable victory as Jonathan Toews scored in the first period and teammate Corey Perry followed up to make it 2-0 early in the second. But Ryan Kesler pulled one back later in the second period to set up a frantic finale. Canada's much-vaunted Stanley Cup hero Crosby missed a breakaway chance to seal the gold for his side but with the clock counting down it seemed not to matter. That was until the United States threw caution to the wind and Zach Parise forced overtime with just 25 seconds remaining, his fourth goal of the Games for the previously unbeaten in five U.S. squad. The momentum now appeared to be with the United States, who had beaten Canada 5-3 in a preliminary round match. But they reckoned without Crosby, who had not been a significant factor in the final until he came good as he received a pass from Jarome Iginla and slid his winning shot under U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller. He was immediately mobbed by teammates who had finally lived up to the expectations of an ice hockey-mad nation. "I just shot it," Crosby told gathered reporters."It doesn't even feel real. It feels like a dream." It's the first victory for a host country in Olympic ice hockey since the famous United States triumph at Lake Placid in 1980. But their 2010 counterparts were unable to match their golden feat and it clearly hurt. "We only came here for one thing we wanted that gold medal, it's really a tough feeling right now. It stings you a lot, said Patrick Kane. The other gold decided on the 17th and final day of action in Vancouver went to Norway's Petter Northug who won the men's 50km cross country title. He beat Germany's Axel Teichmann in a two-up sprint with Johan Olsson of Sweden taking the bronze.

Sidney Crosby overtime goal gives Canada ice hockey gold at Winter Games . United States forced added time with Zach Parise goal with 25 seconds remaining . Victory gives hosts Canada a record 14 golds in Winter Games . Petter Northug of Norway wins men's 50km cross country title in sprint finish .

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(CNN) -- A banker caught looking at photos of a semi-nude model on live TV will remain an employee of the Sydney-based Macquarie Private Wealth, the firm said Friday. David Kiely became a Web sensation after he was filmed on Australian television admiring pictures on his computer screen of scantily-clad Miranda Kerr. Kiely was opening e-mailed pictures of Kerr while one of his colleagues, Martin Lakos, was being interviewed on Channel 7 news behind him on Tuesday. "In accordance with Macquarie established policies and practices and internal review, interview events of 2nd February has been completed," a company spokeswoman told CNN. "This review has been discussed with the employee and action taken. He will remain an employee of Macquarie. Macquarie and employee apologies for any offense that may have been caused." A Web site was set up calling for Kiely to not lose his job. An email petition, Here is the City, wrote: "Whether set up or not, Kiely was really only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There but for the Grace of God." It said Kiely "seems like a nice bloke, the pictures were not hardcore and that he had already suffered enough." It adds: "There's just too much political correctness in this world anyway." A posting of the clip on YouTube had attracted more than 1.3 million hits by Thursday, along with thousands of comments, with many viewers arguing Kiely was unlucky to be caught on TV.

Banker caught looking at photos of semi-nude model on live TV . Firm says he will keep his job . Internet campaign launched in bid to save his job . Video of incident viewed more than 1.3 million times on YouTube .

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(CNN) -- Here's a 21st-century art object if ever there was one: a Japanese film by a French-Vietnamese writer-director based on a 1987 international best-seller named after a 1965 Beatles' song about Scandinavian pine. Well, that's not all the song is about. According to John Lennon, it was conceived as a deliberately opaque reference to an extramarital flirtation (he didn't want his wife to know about it) that went nowhere. The narrator sleeps in the bath, then torches the place in the morning. Tran Anh Hung's lovely but overly languorous film of the acclaimed Haruki Murakami novel catches at the sexual longing and consternation that both the book and Lennon's song evoke: the tantalizing co-mingling of desire, mixed signals and cross purposes that can derail a tentative relationship. Tran (who also wrote the screenplay) follows Murakami's slender plotline with respect bordering on devotion, but fails to find a correlative to the complex, overlapping perspectives that allow the novel to live in both the present and the past -- to enter into the mindset of adolescent angst, and to contemplate it from afar. Instead the film flails between too many lengthy, numb exchanges and a handful of spectacular but histrionic set pieces. Toru Watanabe (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) is a freshman at Tokyo University in the late 1960s. He's largely impervious to the political upheaval going on around him, still struggling to come to terms with the sudden suicide of his best friend, Kizuki, on his 17th birthday. In their grief, Watanabe and Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi of "Babel"), spend many hours consoling each other, and on her 20th birthday they finally sleep together. The next day, Naoko quits school and retires to a sanatorium, leaving the confused Watanabe to muddle his way through classes. While he and Naoko correspond in long, intimate letters, Watanabe takes up with another girl (or should I say, she takes up with him?). Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) is as self-confident and assertive as Naoko is vulnerable and timid. Watanabe, meanwhile, is a distinctly passive and bewildered protagonist, unsure of what he wants or what his obligations might be to the broken, suicidal Naoko. The performances are credible enough, but neither the passive, vacillating Watanabe nor the neurotic, grief-stricken Naoko are easy figures to identify with, and it's hard to understand why so many women keep throwing themselves at Matsuyama's clay feet. Only Mizuhara's assertive Midori offers any energy, and she's sidelined for much of the movie. While the movie has moments to savor and artistry to spare, these elements don't cohere into a satisfying whole. Tran doesn't speak Japanese, but in other respects he's well-suited to Murakami's world. A Vietnamese brought up and educated in France, best known for "The Scent of Green Papaya" and "The Vertical Ray of the Sun," Tran is a cinematic aesthete, very much attuned to melancholy and introspection. "Norwegian Wood" features a tumescent score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and stunning cinematography by the Taiwanese Mark Lee Ping-bin ("In the Mood for Love"). It's so gorgeous to look at that spectators are in danger of swooning in their seats. It's rather irritating that the characters prefer to wallow in misery than admire the natural beauty all around them -- including each other, of course. And that's the trouble. The film feels like a fetish object; almost a series of screen prints, it's a beautiful illustration of the text, but somehow the text itself is lost in translation.

Critic: Director follows Haruki Murakami's slender plot with respect bordering on devotion . Protagonist is passive and bewildered, unsure of what he wants, Tom Charity says . He says movie has moments to savor, but these elements don't cohere into satisfying whole .

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(CNN) -- Gadget fans eagerly awaiting the next wave of Apple products just got some good news, and some bad news. First, the bad: Based on CEO Tim Cook's comments Tuesday on the company's quarterly earnings call, Apple appears unlikely to announce a major new product until this fall at the earliest. If so, that would mean the company, which typically rolls out new stuff every three or four months, will have gone an entire year -- an eternity in tech-industry time -- without launching a new gadget. And now the good: Cook also said Apple sees potential in some "exciting new product categories." On the surface, there's not much news in that last statement. But as the most-watched tech company in the world, Apple's every utterance is parsed for its deeper meaning. Many observers see those four words as further evidence that Apple is moving beyond laptops, phones and tablets into other areas of computing -- most likely a "smartwatch" that could display messages, or a long-rumored connected TV. "Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline," Cook said, adding "we can't wait to introduce (them) this fall and throughout 2014." This may just be corporate PR speak, aimed at assuaging investors concerned about Apple's plummeting stock price. But it could serve to re-energize the Apple faithful who line up to buy whatever new gizmos the company makes and may be growing impatient for new ones. Of course, Cook made similar comments early in 2012 when he said Apple was working to deliver "some products that will blow your mind." What followed were the usual updates to Macs and iPods, plus the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini -- solid if not groundbreaking products. Blogosphere reaction this week to Cook's comments has been mixed. "Apple almost never spills any beans about what its product plans are, so it's worth getting excited about fall based on Tim's willingness to talk about that specific period, as well as his mention of 'new product categories,' " wrote Darrell Etherington in TechCrunch. "Still, unless he's purposefully trying to throw us off the scent, people eager for new Apple products might also want to sleep through the summer." Slate's Will Oremus thinks Cook's teases about mind-blowing future products reflect a shift in Apple's approach to promotion since co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011. "In the past, Apple didn't have to promise exciting new things," he wrote. "It just delivered them."

CEO Tim Cook: Apple sees potential in some "exciting new product categories" Observers see those remarks as evidence Apple is making "smartwatch," possibly a TV . Cook 's comments also suggest Apple won't announce a major new product until this fall .

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Washington (CNN) -- Global financial reform topped the agenda Tuesday as President Obama huddled with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose country is at the center of Europe's debt crisis. The White House meeting marks the conclusion of a four-country financial relief tour for the beleaguered Greek leader. Beginning Friday, he visited Germany, France and Luxembourg seeking support for his government's new austerity measures to counteract skyrocketing budget deficits. Greece had one of the worst budget deficits in the developed world last year, at 12.7 percent of gross domestic product, more than three times higher than previously declared due to accounting irregularities -- or what some call outright fraud. It also has a public-sector debt equivalent to 113 percent of its entire economy. Athens recently unveiled a package of budget reductions to try to bring its deficit down to the 3 percent level allowed under the rules for the eurozone -- the European Union countries that have adopted the euro currency. Finance ministers from those 16 countries met in Brussels last month to try to find a way to end the crisis that some analysts say could spread to other heavily indebted European nations, such as Portugal, Spain and Italy. Greece's "deficit is more a credibility deficit than a financial deficit, and we need to bring back the sense of credibility," Papandreou said recently. His unpopular budget cutbacks have met with stiff political resistance and strikes at home. Overseas, the Greek prime minister is trying to win support for greater regulation over certain forms of financial speculation that analysts say have made his country's debt crisis worse. Among other things, Papandreou is asking U.S. and other leaders to restrict the use of credit default swaps, which are insurance contracts -- the same kind of contracts that pushed insurance giant American International Group (AIG) to the brink of collapse. Two weeks ago, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Federal Reserve is looking into actions taken by Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms that may have contributed to Greece's debt problems. Bernanke's comment came in response to a question posed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, who asked about U.S. banks and hedge funds making financial bets that the Greek government will default on its loans. Goldman Sachs and other banks have been in the news over reports they secretly helped raise $1 billion in credit for Greece in a way that was off the balance sheet, and that they helped hide the country's debt woes from European Union regulators. The New York Times reported recently that some of these same banks also were making side bets that Greece would default on loans it owes American banks and hedge funds. By betting in favor of default, the U.S. banks and hedge funds would win whether Greece pays off its loans or not. Dodd asked whether Bernanke thought there should be limits on the use of these types of bets to prevent firms from creating intentional runs against governments. "The rising price of these contracts contribute to an atmosphere of crisis, making it even more difficult for the Greek government, in my opinion, to borrow," Dodd said. Bernanke noted the similarity of the situation of banks making bets to hedge against Greek debt to banks that made bets to hedge against real estate debt, which imploded AIG. "The poster child for that would be the capital arrangements that banks took out for AIG," he said. "Derivatives have a legitimate purpose, but if they're used to distort accounting results or regulatory ratios, that needs to be addressed." Congress is considering legislation to make such financial bets more transparent. Papandreou has asked American and European authorities to crack down on financial speculators who benefited from taxpayer bailouts only to turn around and profit by exacerbating his country's debt crisis. "Enough is enough," he told an audience at the Brookings Institution on Monday. CNN's Jennifer Liberto, Christine Theodorou and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.

President Obama met Tuesday with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou . The meeting is the last on a four-country tour centering on the nation's financial crisis . He hopes to win support for more regulation of speculative practices . Papandreou is asking U.S. and other leaders to restrict use of credit default swaps .

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(CNN) -- Alleged Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger may have authored two memoirs, one of which was titled "My Life in the Irish Mafia," according to court documents. It is not clear whether the notorious fugitive, who evaded authorities for 16 years, actually wrote the memoir, but prosecutors say it is part of their investigation. The manuscript was seized at a South Boston home on January 5, 1995, the same day a warrant was issued for Bulger's arrest on racketeering charges. The alleged gangster also apparently penned a separate autobiography that was found by authorities at Bulger's Santa Monica, California, apartment after his arrest there, courts documents say. Bulger, 82, has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including 19 murder counts. Once one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives, he is currently being held without bail and faces an impending racketeering indictment after authorities tracked him down in June 2011 at his California home. Bulger was arrested after being lured out of his apartment with an FBI ruse: He apparently received a phone call and was told his lock box, located in the basement parking lot of his building, had been broken into. When Bulger went down to check, FBI agents arrested him. His alleged barbarity as an Irish-American mobster in Boston inspired the Jack Nicholson character in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film "The Departed." CNN's Chuck Johnston and Jack Maddox contributed to this report .

James "Whitey" Bulger may have inked two memoirs . One of the memoirs is called "My Life in the Irish Mafia," prosecutors say . A separate autobiography was found at his California apartment . Bulger, 82, has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including 19 murder counts .

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(CNN) -- When pictures leaked out in December of the late Steve Jobs' new yacht, Venus, leaving The Netherlands, interest was once again sparked in the mysterious world of the super mega yachts, and in those who build them for the super mega rich. I say mysterious because the business of yacht building is full of rumors and speculation until the ship is seen leaving the sheds of the family-owned builders, whether in Amsterdam, Hamburg or Bremen. Read more: Steve Jobs' yacht impounded over pay dispute . A bit of the veil on this industry was lifted in London in January when the builders and designers of the biggest yachts celebrated the launch of the 2013 Top 100 Forecast from superyachts.com. The backers of this event are at pains to remind people this business employs thousands of people (craftsmen, architects, builders, designers, deckhands), and when a new anchorage is discovered by the rich and famous to park their yachts, it can generate a lot of income for a region. Read more: Sailing the world's most beautiful lakes . And since they aren't allowed to talk about those who buy these yachts, they are only to happy to talk all about the business. Herbert Aly, the CEO of Blohm+Voss, told me that superyacht building was actually hurt during the economic crisis. It took some time for the slowdown to filter through as orders can take five to seven years to fulfill, so 2011 and 2012 were the tough years. But that's coming to an end. Watch here: Yacht sales down amid austerity . "We've seen the rock bottom of it," Aly stressed. "And I think 2013 will be a promising year for the industry, for the big ones." Aly said the bigger yacht side of the business is coming back faster than the smaller side. Read more: Adventurers recreate 'greatest survival story' of the Antarctic . Aly's competitor Peter Lurssen would agree. His famed Lurssen shipyard in Bremen will soon unleash the world's longest mega yacht, codenamed Project Azzam. While Lurssen is not allowed to confirm the owner, or the specifics, he can talk a little bit more once aficionados caught a glimpse of it. "The yacht had to leave one shed and flowed through the river to the next shed, and even though the nose wasn't on, specialists were there with their instruments and they figured out it, yes it will be longer than what is flowing today." Watch here: 'Super yachts' gather in London . The '"specialists" estimate it will be around 180 meters long, beating out Roman Abramovich's Eclipse, built by Blohm+Voss, which comes in at 163.5 meters long. Will they just keep getting longer? "Maybe we will see 200 meters, but I think that's it," said Aly. "Why do you go for a bigger one if you are alone on it?" Read more: Olympic yachts glide into London for a colorful makeover . Well, not exactly alone, since some of the mega yachts need 60 to 80 employees when the boat is in full use. But he has a point. We could ask one of the owners, but they tend to like the yacht to do the talking. Henk de Vries of Feadship built the Venus for Jobs, though he won't confirm that. But he says building for the mega rich also means building an intimate relationship. "It's very personal. I have the cell phone number of my customers." And they have his. "Oh, yes, and they call me when something breaks down." Does that mean de Vries will do whatever it takes to strike a deal with a tech billionaire or Saudi sheik? "I had someone ask me the other day, 'but you can't say no to a prince?' I said, yes, we do. We do it all the time," de Vries said, laughing. All the builders stress that the ship takes on the personality of the person paying for it, and that things like the interior can change over the years it takes to build the ship. But since they only can book a profit once the yacht is delivered, they work hard to find a compromise. And de Vries has something new and special coming out of the shed soon. "Whereas the Venus was about eliminating everything, and going back to even than more than basic, just purity and form in design. This project that will be shown to the world, again I can't say anything, except that it is very large, and it's immensely complex and has everything that is included in that one." In other words, while the roofline of Venus looks like -- you guessed it -- an iPhone, the next one will be all about the bling. Project Azzam will be all about the yacht's length. With the business of big yachts coming back, it's possible other builders might want to get in on the action. Europe's family-run yacht builders caution against it. "We see military shipyards, commercial shipyards who think, 'oh, OK. I'll do a frigate, paint it white, put a nice interior in it, I have a nice yacht.' No way," said de Vries. It's about the personal touch, as Lurssen stressed. "We had a client that had in the contract that I could never resign as a director as long as the yacht is still not delivered, in fact not out of warranty." At a time that Europe is very worried about jobs, the uptick in interest for mega yachts should be looked at in a positive light, even if news reports will soon be filled with gossip (and jealousy?) over Project Azzam and the "bells and whistles" yachts to soon sail away from the shores of Europe to the Middle East.

Aly, CEO of Blohm+Voss, told CNN that super yacht building was hurt in the crisis . Lurssen shipyard in Bremen will soon unleash the world's longest mega yacht . Some of the mega yachts need 60-80 employees when the boat is in full use .

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Washington (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration Wednesday proposed a $2.9 million fine against American Eagle Airlines for allegedly conducting more than 1,100 flights using planes with landing-gear doors that had not been repaired as prescribed by the FAA. The proposed fine comes just weeks after the FAA proposed a $2.5 million fine against the airline for allegedly operating flights without adequately ensuring that the weight of baggage was properly calculated. The Fort Worth, Texas-based American Eagle -- a regional affiliate of American Airlines -- flew four Bombardier regional jets on more than 1,100 flights between February and May 2008, with main landing-gear doors that had not been repaired as ordered by the FAA in August 2006, the FAA said. "Following Airworthiness Directives [repair orders] is not optional," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. "The FAA does not hesitate to levy fines if maintenance standards are violated." American Eagle responded that it was disappointed in the FAA's actions, saying the airline did not endanger the public and it considered a fine unwarranted. The repair order required airlines to inspect landing-gear doors and take necessary action, fixing the doors or replacing them with new ones. In this case, American Eagle found damage on four aircraft, but rather than removing the doors as required, the airline repaired them while they remained on the planes. American Eagle said it self-disclosed to the FAA that repairs were performed while the landing-gear doors remained on the aircraft, a process that the FAA and the aircraft manufacturer subsequently approved, the company said. American Eagle subsequently removed the landing-gear doors on each of the affected aircraft and repaired them in accordance with the Airworthiness Directive. The airline said it will meet with the FAA to discuss the matter. The proposed fines are the latest in a string of multimillion dollar fines the FAA has proposed against airlines for failing to follow repair orders. In October, the FAA proposed to fine US Airways $5.4 million and United $3.8 million for other maintenance violations. In March, Southwest Airlines agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a complaint that it flew unsafe planes.

FAA seeks $2.9 million from Texas-based regional affiliate of American Airlines . FAA: Aircraft with bad repairs on landing gear doors used on more than 1,100 flights . FAA also has proposed $2.5 million fine for flights without proper baggage weight check .

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(CNN) -- Uncertainty over the fate of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was further compounded Saturday by reports that two men whose names matched those on the passenger manifest had reported their passports stolen. Malaysian authorities apparently did not check the stolen documents on an international law enforcement agency database, CNN has learned. After the airline released a manifest of the 239 people on the plane, Austria denied that one of its citizens was on the flight as the list had stated. The Austrian citizen was safe and sound, and his passport had been stolen two years ago, Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss said. Similarly, Italy's foreign ministry confirmed that no Italians were on the flight, even though an Italian was listed on the manifest. Malaysian officials said they were aware of reports that the Italian's passport was also stolen but had not confirmed it. On Saturday, Italian police visited the home of the parents of Luigi Maraldi, the man whose name appeared on the manifest, to inform them about the missing flight, said a police official in Cesena, in northern Italy. Maraldi's father, Walter, told police that he had just spoken to his son, who was fine and not on the missing flight, said the official, who is not authorized to speak to the media. Maraldi was vacationing in Thailand, his father said. The police official said that Maraldi had reported his passport stolen in Malaysia last August and had obtained a new one. U.S. law enforcement sources, however, told CNN they've been told that both documents were stolen in Thailand. Still, the missing passports raised concerns about the possibility of terrorism. A law enforcement official Saturday told CNN that various U.S. government agencies were briefed about the passports. The names of the persons whose passports were stolen have been circulated and checked, the official said. There's nothing at this point to indicate foul play on their part. The National Transportation Safety Board announced late Saturday that a team of its investigators was en route to Asia to help with the investigation, the agency said. "They will be positioned to offer U.S. assistance," the NTSB said of the team, which also includes technical advisers from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration. Plane bore painters, pilgrims, others from around the world . FBI help . The FBI is ready to send agents to Asia if requested by the Malaysian government, but no agents have been sent yet, U.S. officials familiar with the issue told CNN on Saturday night on condition of anonymity. Earlier Saturday, an official said FBI agents were heading to the area. U.S. authorities have not ruled out terrorism -- or anything else -- as a cause of the airliner's disappearance. CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, was told by sources at Interpol, which keeps a database of lost or stolen travel documents, that the stolen Italian passport was in the agency's database. The reportedly stolen Austrian passport was not. Malaysian authorities apparently did not check Interpol's database, sources told Fuentes. "Interpol's database has 39 million records of stolen travel documents at the present time," he said. "One billion passengers a year board international flights where there's no inquiry made of that database. So it leaves an opening." Referring to the stolen documents, Fuentes added, "You wonder who was using it? What were their motives? Were they using it to check luggage in that matched the tickets, and maybe the luggage contained explosives? So, it's a great concern when people use false documents to board international aircraft." Traces of oil spotted near area plane lost contact . A U.S. intelligence official said authorities had established "no nexus to terrorism yet although that's by no means definitive. We're still tracking." Malaysian authorities reiterated during a news conference that they are not ruling anything out regarding the missing aircraft. In the United States, Fuentes said, passports are routinely checked against the Interpol database. "Even in the United states, we have a tremendous problem with our documentation, our driver's licenses," said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation. "Everything can be forged and faked here. We certainly have a problem with that as well. But that's why you have the various checklists to check against and had they been identified as stolen passports ... there was a way to flag them in advance. That's what is disturbing, as it apparently wasn't checked." China mystery . Schiavo also expressed surprise that two potentially stolen passports may have been used to board the flight. "It's rare that you have one stolen passport, much less two stolen passports on a flight. It's starting to look like more than a coincidence," she said. She added it was especially surprising given the destination of the flight was Beijing. "American citizens have to have visas ... and you can't get on board the plane without showing the visa," she explained. "For a stolen passport, stolen two years ago -- these visas only last for a certain amount of time. So, did they (the authorities) not check? Did Beijing not clear or have to issue a visa? There are a lot of questions about these passports because the destination was Beijing." First officer was transitioning to 777-200s . Safest part of flight . No one is sure what happened to the plane. Air traffic controllers lost track of it after it left Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, on its way to Beijing on Friday. The plane was cruising during what experts consider to be the safest part of the journey when it vanished. Greg Feith, a former investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said there were multiple scenarios of what could have gone wrong, including structural problems with the wings or fuselage. "Of course, you also have to look at in that part of the world and around the world there is still a potential for a terrorist act or an intentional act that could have rendered the airplane incapacitated," he said. He added: "Whatever happened, happened very quickly. For them to have lost two-way radio communication with (air traffic control), two-way radio communication with the company, and to lose any kind of radar data with ground control facilities means that the airplane was compromised in a very quick manner and it may have been well beyond the control of the crew to keep the airplane under control and make any kind of emergency distress call or emergency landing." How a jet goes missing . CNN's Hada Messia in Rome, Jim Sciutto in Washington, Shimon Prokupecz and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.

NEW: The NTSB is sending a team to Asia to be "positioned to offer U.S. assistance" Sources say 1 of 2 stolen passports used on flight was on law enforcement database . Malaysian authorities did not check passports on Interpol database, sources say . The stolen passports raise concerns about the possibility of terrorism .

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(CNN) -- For the first time since a reported massacre there, U.N. observers on Saturday entered the Syrian town of Tremseh, where opposition activists say more than 200 people were killed. The violence took place Thursday, on what may have been the single deadliest day in the 16-month crisis. It prompted a fresh round of condemnation from world leaders. In Tremseh, the U.N. team found evidence of an attack, including a burned school, damaged houses, and proof that artillery, mortars and small arms were used, said Sausan Ghosheh, spokeswoman for the head of the U.N. Supervising Mission in Syria. She added that the number of causalities remains unclear. "The attack ... appeared targeted at specific groups and houses, mainly of army defectors and activists. There were pools of blood and blood spatters in rooms of several homes together with bullet cases," Ghosheh said in a statement. U.N. observers are expected to return to the town Sunday to continue their fact-finding work. Still grappling with the attack, Syrians endured yet another bloody day Saturday as regime forces fired from low-flying helicopters and a bomb exploded at a state security headquarters, opposition activists said. At least 73 people were killed in Saturday violence, including 20 in Homs, 11 in Damascus Suburbs and 13 in Hama province, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. Fourteen additional deaths were reported in Deir Ezzor and 12 in Idlib, among others. Another opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a car bombing targeted a state security building in Hama, and "a number of state security personnel were killed and wounded." Syrian state-run TV said at least three civilians and a security officer were killed in Muhrada by a suicide bomber in a truck. Farther south, the Daraa province town of Khirbet Ghazaleh came under heavy shelling and machine gun fire after the Syrian army surrounded it with tanks, the LCC said. "Helicopters fly over the city at a low altitude with a continued siege of the city and gunfire from snipers," the opposition network said. Meanwhile, Deir Ezzor was subject to intense shelling by government forces, as well as fierce clashes between regime forces and the Free Syrian Army, the LCC said. How long can al-Assad hang on? According to the opposition network, more than 200 villagers were killed in the Hama-area town of Tremseh on Thursday, and dozens more were killed elsewhere across the country. U.N. spokeswoman Ghosheh said a large patrol had been sent from Damascus to Tremseh on Saturday to assess the situation, amid widely differing accounts of what happened from opposition activists and the government. An initial reconnaissance mission was sent Friday following assurances of a cease-fire in the area, the spokeswoman said, but it was too late in the day to do much. "The patrol assessed the situation -- if there was in fact a cease-fire and our access to the town," she said. "An 11 vehicle integrated patrol, comprised of specialized military and civilian observers, arrived ... on Saturday after confirming that a cease-fire was in place." International anger against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ratcheted up since the Tremseh incident, with at least one U.S. official suggesting the need for more pressure on al-Assad's regime. As outrage grows in Syria, report of a 'breakthrough' for humanitarian aid . "Through these repeated acts of violence against the Syrian people, President Assad has lost legitimacy to lead. It is time for him to go. It is time for the political transition that is long overdue to finally get under way," Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, told reporters Friday. "It certainly does build strong international support ... to continue to ramp up the pressure on Assad," he added, citing "ongoing conversations at the United Nations about additional ways that we can build some international agreement and raise the stakes even further." Syria moving chemical weapons? Activists in the city of Hama, meanwhile, gave a grisly account of the assault in Tremseh. Witnesses inside the town told the activists by telephone that Syrian military forces had launched a full-scale attack against the opposition Free Syrian Army inside the town, which was surrounded by government tanks and artillery. As the government forces rained artillery rounds into the town, a number of village residents fled their houses, going into the streets, where many of them were shot dead by the government militias, the activists told CNN. The government painted a starkly different picture of Tremseh than that detailed by opposition groups. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the violence. It said the government said residents called security forces for help after the terrorist groups raided the neighborhood. Regime forces arrested some of the members of the terrorist groups and confiscated their weapons, the government said. Syria's detached and deluded elite? "Armed forces successfully dealt with the terrorists without casualties taking place among the citizens. They searched into the terrorists' dens where they found the dead bodies of a number of citizens who had been abducted and killed by the terrorist groups," SANA reported, citing a military source. CNN cannot independently verify reports from Syria because the nation has restricted access by international journalists. Meanwhile, many who survive the violence are caught in a precarious humanitarian situation. The chief U.N. organization that coordinates emergency aid warned Friday that more Syrians will die if contributing nations do not follow through and fund its relief operation. "We have run out of language to describe how it is for the civilian population," said John Ging, operations director and chairman of the Syria Humanitarian Forum for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "It is physical and it is psychological." CNN's Saad Abedine, Dan Lothian and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.

NEW: At least 73 people are killed across Syria on Saturday, opposition activists say . U.N. monitors arrive in Tremseh and find evidence of an attack . An opposition group says more than 200 people were killed there Thursday . The Syrian government blames the Tremseh incident on armed terrorist groups .

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(CNN) -- Boeing resumed testing Monday of its 787 Dreamliner in an effort to receive certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, a company spokeswoman said. The certification tests come two months after a fire on board one of the planes caused a power failure during a test flight. Boeing halted tests after the November 9 incident. Boeing resumed in-house testing of the jet on December 23, and the FAA certification tests began Monday, said Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter. Once the plane meets FAA approval, Boeing can begin filling orders for nearly 900 jets from around the world. The Dreamliner is Boeing's next-generation passenger jet. It is touted as a highly fuel-efficient aircraft made largely with composite materials. Boeing suspended test flights after the fire during a flight near Laredo, Texas, in November. The crew used backup systems to land the aircraft. Engineers determined the problem started as a short circuit or an electrical arc in a power distribution panel, most likely caused by foreign debris, Boeing said.

A fire on board one of the planes causes a power failure during a test flight . Tests are halted after the incident . Once the plane meets FAA approval, Boeing can begin filling orders . The Dreamliner is Boeing's next-generation passenger jet .

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London (CNN) -- Space has come of age, grown up enough to be commercially viable -- or has it? For more than 80 years the BIS has been looking at how we get into, and travel in, space, but the society has concentrated more on the technical achievement or feasibility than on the finance or contractual requirements. From the end of World War II, technologies were very much in the hands of the defense industries and development was funded by the defense departments of national governments. Recognizing the strategic importance of space led to the 'space race' and the conquest of space being nationally or government funded. However, times change. The end of the Cold War led to the end of the space race -- governments no longer had to prove their nation's technical superiority in space. But in many Western industrialized nations, as the government support and funding reduced overall, there appeared a raft of technically capable companies and some government departments and entrepreneurs who were able to identify key areas where there could be a viable and sustainable return on their investment. Communications satellites became commercial products as soon it was realized that communications capacity could be sold and could provide a realistic return over their lifetime. Science and Earth observation (EO) missions have not met with such commercialization yet. It is difficult to see a commercial return from scientific exploration of either our own planet or other celestial bodies. But the gathered EO information could see a commercial return from the sale of mapping, environmental or weather data, or charges for navigation services. However, military and government owned assets -- already fully operational -- make it hard to compete. When it comes to launchers and human spaceflight things are changing. The original missile-based launch vehicles gave way to commercially manufactured, but government-owned and operated systems. Now the launcher market is opening up as new players broach new user markets. Space tourism and small payloads have very different launch requirements that are best satisfied by new systems -- like Virgin Galactic's Spaceship 2 and XCOR's Lynx spaceplanes. BIS spokesman Nick Spall adds: "For many the fascination for space is the almost visceral desire we have to travel further and faster to explore and to spread human interest across the cosmos. The BIS has championed the goal of eventually colonizing the solar system and, indeed, traveling on to the stars one day. "To achieve this human spaceflight ambition, NASA is quite correct in its decision to use a commercialized approach to lowering the cost of launching astronauts into orbit. The investment in Boeing's CST-100 and the Space X V2 spacecraft for flights to the ISS from 2017 will make seat prices cheaper and more sustainable. "For the future though, reusable spaceplanes such as the UK's Skylon are the real answer to getting humans and hardware into space to properly explore and occupy the rest of the solar system. "To help this low-cost approach happen, purely private space tourism spacecraft companies will offer affordable flights to space, with Virgin Galactic's SS2 and the XCOR Lynx going sub-orbit in the next two years. One day we will see space hotels in orbit and then on the Moon and eventually Mars. "To go into deep space, to asteroids, the Moon and Mars, governments will have to foot the bill initially, but the possibilities are immense and there is a very exciting future for humans in space," he said. BIS President-Elect Mark Hempsell believes the UK government's new policy of maximizing economic return from space is illustrated by the recent studies into setting up spaceports in the UK, both for suborbital and orbital flights. "The recent change in UK government direction, with the formation of the UK Space Agency as a key component, is at long last connecting the vision within Britain with the capability to realize its potential," he said. Another important factor of space exploration is in its relations with the dual areas of education and outreach. Space education . BIS vice president Chris Welch said: "Space -- and especially space exploration -- has been shown time and again to engage and motivate students in a way that few other topics can. "It also has a role to play for defining how a country sees itself. One only has to look at the recent exploits of China and India to see how success in space exploration can transform a nation's view of itself and what its citizens can achieve if they believe they can aspire to greatness," he said. NASA's decision to sub-contract Boeing and SpaceX is a sign of things to come, but governments must continue to support and fund those areas that are not yet self-sustaining. The UK space sector is currently bringing in over £11.3 billion ($18.07 billion) per annum to the UK economy and supports 99,000 jobs. The UK government, recognizing this important contribution, plans to capture 10% of the world space market and generate more than £40 billion ($64 billion) per annum by 2030, according to the UK government. This will certainly require the support and leadership of UK industry and the creation of up to 100,000 new jobs. With India's Mangalyaan spacecraft now orbiting Mars and China's "taikonauts" in Earth orbit and its Chang'e 3 lunar lander already on the Moon, the competition is heating up. The space industries of the Western industrialized nations must play their part in identifying where they can make a real contribution and even take a leadership role, while the national space agencies take on more of a coordination and funding role, particularly in scientific exploration and manned missions .

It is difficult to see a commercial return from scientific exploration, says Alistair Scott . Earth observation missions have not met with commercialization yet, says Scott . But the launcher market is opening up as new players broach new markets, he says . Scott: National space agencies should take on more of a funding role for science missions .

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(CNN) -- For 14 seasons, Bob Harper has been the man behind many of the transformations on NBC's "The Biggest Loser." His new book, "Skinny Meals: Everything You Need to Lose Weight -- Fast!" is chock full of 100 new recipes, all under 350 calories. We asked Bob to share some of his favorites. Eggs Florentine . Will you take a look at that photo? Doesn't it look like something you could serve for a brunch with pride and confidence? Well, go ahead! But don't forget to make this just for yourself sometimes, too. Sauce: . ¼ cup plain 2% fat Greek yogurt . 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard . ½ teaspoon chopped fresh dill . ½ teaspoon chopped fresh parsley . Eggs: . 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach . 1 whole wheat English muffin, toasted . 3+1 or 5+1 large eggs, scrambled . Directions: . Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside so that it has a chance to come to room temperature while you are preparing the spinach and eggs. In a steamer, steam the spinach for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until just wilted. Drain any excess water. Set aside. Top the toasted English muffin with the spinach and eggs; delicately spoon the sauce on top. Nutrition information: 313 calories, 30g protein, 32g carbs, 8g fat, 6g fiber . Bob says: . "Instead of making a traditional Hollandaise sauce (a sinfully rich combination of egg yolks and melted butter that hurts my heart just thinking about it), I've lightened things up using Greek yogurt. I don't think you're going to miss 'real' Hollandaise. This is going to become your go-to sauce for life." 10 simple weight-loss tips . Avocado toast . Replace the fatty butter and sugary jam you used to pile on your toast with this abundance of natural flavors, good fats and protein, and you will have a well-balanced meal to kick-start your day! It's low-calorie, high-protein and oh, so good. Ingredients: . ¼ avocado . Pinch of paprika . ½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice . 1 slice whole-wheat or Ezekiel bread, toasted . 4 hard-boiled large egg whites, chopped . 1 ½ teaspoons finely diced shallots . 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard . ½ teaspoon capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped . Dash of freshly ground black pepper . Directions: . In a small bowl, mash and mix the avocado, paprika and lemon juice. Spread on the toast. In the same small bowl, mix together the egg whites, shallots, mustard, capers and pepper. Pile the egg white mixture on top of the avocado-smeared toast and enjoy! Nutrition information: 221 calories, 20g protein, 20g carbs, 8g fat, 6g fiber . Bob says: . "Like most busy people, I tend to automate my weekday breakfasts. I have one or two recipes that I repeat, saving the slightly more complicated preparations for weekends, when I have more time to cook. Avocado toast is one I just have to have several times a week! To save even more time in the morning, double the chopped egg white, caper, shallot and Dijon mixture the first day of the week you make this breakfast; it'll keep in your refrigerator, and then all you have to do is pile it on your toast with the mashed avocado." Junk-food fakes: Healthy alternatives to fast food . Terrific tuna salad . Pairing the protein of tuna with the carbs of pasta and all these delicious briny add-ins makes a memorable and hearty lunchtime meal. Ingredients: . 4 ounces canned tuna, drained . 1 teaspoon capers, rinsed . ½ shallot, minced . 1 tablespoon pitted Kalamata olives . ½ cup cooked whole-wheat corkscrew pasta . ¼ cup quartered cherry tomatoes . 1 cup chopped arugula . 1 cup chopped fresh spinach . Directions: . In a medium bowl, mix the tuna, capers, shallot and olives. Toss the pasta, tomatoes, arugula and spinach with the tuna mixture. Nutrition information: 288 calories, 28g protein, 26g carbs, 10g fat, 5g fiber . Bob says: . "When shopping for canned ingredients, like tuna, be sure to purchase the low-sodium version. There's no short supply of other salty flavors in this dish: Capers and olives both naturally add a little salty punch to every bite. For a little extra crunch, you could also dice up a tart apple and mix it into this lunch." Eating out? Best, worst food choices . Zucchini noodles with avocado cream sauce . Carb-free noodles, hooray! Thinly sliced zucchini will work in any recipe that calls for pasta. It pairs beautifully with any "skinny" sauce. Ingredients: . 1 large zucchini . 4 ounces roasted boneless, skinless chicken breast, warmed before plating . Avocado cream sauce: . ¼ avocado . 1 cup arugula . ¼ cup chopped fresh basil . ¼ cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth . 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice . 1 teaspoon crushed garlic . 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese . Directions: . Slice the zucchini very thinly lengthwise. Then cut each piece into thirds lengthwise to resemble thick noodles. Steam the "noodles" for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they are just cooked through. Meanwhile, blend the avocado, arugula, basil, broth, lemon juice, garlic and Parmesan in a food processor or blender. Toss the "noodles" with the sauce and the cubed chicken and serve. Nutrition information: 258 calories, 27g protein, 19g carbs, 11g fat, 8g fiber . Bob says: . "If you have a mandoline, use that to slice the zucchini thinly (but watch your fingertips!). If not, use a sharp knife and cut precisely." Got cravings? Snack 'em down! Chimichurri steak . Chimichurri is an Argentinean sauce similar to pesto. You will often see it with more olive oil than herbs, but to make it skinny, Harper swapped the base and created a more herbaceous condiment. Ingredients: . Olive oil spray . 1 cup sliced bell peppers . ¼ red onion, thinly sliced . 3 plum tomatoes, quartered . 2 cups chopped fresh spinach . 4 ounces lean round steak . Chimichurri sauce: . 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley . 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro . 1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint . ½ garlic clove . 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice . 2 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth . Directions: . Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Coat the skillet with olive oil spray and add the bell peppers and red onion. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and spinach. Heat through, stirring, until the spinach wilts. Remove the vegetables and set aside. Place the steak in the hot skillet and cook for at least 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Meanwhile, combine the parsley, cilantro, mint, garlic, lemon juice and broth in a food processor or blender and process until coarsely blended. Cut the steak into strips and serve on top of the vegetables. Drizzle the chimichurri sauce over the steak. Nutrition information: 262 calories, 29g protein, 20g carbs, 10g fat, 5g fiber . Bob says: . "Chimichurri isn't only for Argentineans. It's popular throughout South America. And chimichurri isn't only for steak; you can use this as a marinade for any protein, as a sauce for lunch pasta, as a topping on eggs or as a dressing." Can you really control where you lose fat?

"Biggest Loser" trainer Bob Harper offers new "skinny" recipes . They feature a lighter Hollandaise and zucchini "noodles" Avocado toast is a savory way to kick-start your day .

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The man who revealed that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA said that he was "extraordinarily foolish" to leak her name. Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was a source of the CIA leak to columnist Robert Novak. Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview broadcast Sunday that he did not realize Plame was a covert agent when he discussed her with syndicated columnist Robert Novak. Novak, a former CNN contributor, wrote the July 2003 column in which Plame was named as a CIA employee. He later cited his sources as Armitage and Karl Rove, then President Bush's top political adviser. Armitage said he had seen a memo that said Plame was publicly chairing a meeting, so he assumed her CIA employment was not a secret. "There was no ill intent on my part, and I had never seen, ever in 43 years of having a security clearance, a covert operative's name in a memo," he said. Watch Armitage explain why he leaked Plame's name » . Blitzer asked Armitage if he "simply assumed that she was not a clandestine officer of the CIA." "Well, even Mr. Novak has said that he used the word 'operative' and misused it," Armitage said. "No one ever said 'operative.' And I not only assumed it, as I say, I have never seen a covert agent's name in a memo. However, that doesn't take away from what Mrs. Plame said. It was foolish, yes." Rove, who left the White House in August, has denied he was also a source of the leak to Novak. Plame's identity was disclosed shortly after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, challenged one of the chief claims underpinning the Bush administration's case for the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons from the African country of Niger. In an op-ed piece for The New York Times, Wilson wrote that he had investigated the claim at the request of CIA officials and found it "highly doubtful" that any such transaction could have occurred, and he accused the Bush administration of having "twisted" the evidence for war. Neither Armitage nor Rove was charged with a crime in the leak. Wilson and Plame have accused Rove and other Bush officials of leaking her identity as a CIA officer in retaliation for her husband's emergence as an administration critic. A federal judge in Washington recently dismissed a lawsuit by the couple against Rove, Armitage, Vice President Dick Cheney and Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby was convicted of obstructing justice and perjury in the probe and sentenced to 30 months in prison, but Bush commuted his term before he had served any time. E-mail to a friend .

Richard Armitage says he had "no ill intent" when he revealed CIA agent's name . Armitage revealed Valerie Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak . Former State Department official says he didn't know Plame was covert agent . Plame's husband -- Joseph Wilson -- was critical of Bush administration's Iraq policy .

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(CNN) -- A controversial Kansas church says members will picket before the memorial service Wednesday evening for two Florida teenagers allegedly killed by their mother. In a press release, Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, said it will demonstrate outside the service in Tampa because the mother is a military wife and "the doomed American military declared war on God & His church." The controversial church and its pastor, Fred Phelps, have made their name picketing near funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people and soldiers. The church plans to picket beginning at 5:15 p.m.and ending at 6 p.m., when the service is scheduled to start, according to CNN affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa. Julie K. Schenecker, 50, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths Friday of her 16-year-old daughter, Calyx, and her 13-year-old son, Beau. She was denied bail at a court appearance Monday, a court spokesman said. Her husband, Army Col. Parker Schenecker, is with the U.S. Central Command, which is headquartered in Tampa. Police told WFTS that he was in the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar when his children were killed. King High School, which Calyx attended, and Liberty Middle School, where Beau was a student, are sponsoring the service at First Baptist Church of Temple Terrace in Tampa, the church said. Josh Saliba, director of creative ministries, told CNN he would not comment on Westboro Baptist's plans to protest. On Monday -- their first day back since the shootings became public -- students at Liberty Middle School wore blue and black in memory of Beau, who was an eighth-grader there. CNN affiliate Bay News 9 posted a statement Monday from the Schenecker family: . "Colonel Parker Schenecker has returned from his deployment and is grieving with family and friends. He is devoted first and foremost to honoring the lives and memory of his beautiful children, Calyx and Beau," the statement said. "Parker and his family have been touched by the overwhelming support from the community both near and abroad. Arrangements and details are still being finalized with regard to the services to be held for Calyx and Beau." A search warrant filed Tuesday said Julie Schenecker was unconscious and wearing a bloody robe, and her slain children were covered in blankets when police arrived. Julie Schenecker was awakened and taken from a screened-in pool area to inside the home, where evidence was recovered, according to the warrant filed in Circuit Court in Hillsborough County. The search warrant was posted on the website of CNN affiliate WTSP. The warrant provides new details in the case: Five bullets, along with a Smith & Wesson box and instruction manual, were found in the master bedroom; 15 live rounds and five spent shell casings were in the master bath. Also indicated in the search warrant -- both inside and outside the house -- were cigarette butts, note pads, undisclosed medication and paperwork. Police found Calyx's body in an upstairs bedroom. She had been shot twice in the head, police said. Beau's body was later found in the front seat of an SUV inside the home's garage, police said. They said he was shot while he was being driven to soccer practice. Schenecker confessed to killing the children, according to a police statement, eventually recounting her rationale and thought process "in detail," according to a news release. "She did tell us that they talked back, that they were mouthy," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy told CNN affiliate WTSP last week. "But I don't think that will ever serve as an explanation to the rest of us of how you could take a child's life." Schenecker had initially planned what she called the "massacre" -- killing the children and then herself, McElroy said on Monday -- for January 22, but she put it off after learning there would be a three-day check before she could buy a gun. Police later found writings in the house, thought to be from Schenecker, in which she spelled out her intentions in detail. "There are definitely indications that she planned this," McElroy said. "(The writing) was devoid of emotion." CNN's Phil Gast contributed to this report .

Westboro Baptist Church says it will picket service because mother is a military wife . Tampa schools sponsoring service for brother and sister, who were slain last Friday . Julie K. Schenecker, 50, is charged with murder in the deaths of her children . Her husband is with the U.S. Central Command .

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(CNN) -- Two hijackers who took over a plane flying from Sudan's Darfur region on Tuesday and diverted it to Libya surrendered to authorities Wednesday, Libyan state media said. The hijacked plane took off from near the Darfur refugee camp of Kalma, which was attacked earlier in the week. The official news agency JANA said the two hijackers surrendered to Libyan authorities in the eastern town of Kufra, where the plane landed, and they were being detained in a hall in the airport there. Their identities were not released. Earlier, the hijackers had released all 87 passengers aboard the plane, but had held on to six crew members while they negotiated with Libyan officials through the pilot about passage to France, JANA said. Libyan officials tried to persuade the hostage-takers to surrender as the hijackers demanded fuel to fly the plane to Paris, France. No details were provided as to how the two surrendered. All of the remaining hostages were freed, and JANA said 20 Sudanese officials were en route to the airport. Libya will send a plane to return the passengers and crew to Khartoum, Sudan, the plane's original destination, JANA said. The Sun Air Boeing 737 airliner was about 10 minutes into a flight from Niyala, Sudan, to Khartoum on Tuesday when the pilot called the control tower and told officials the plane had been hijacked and was heading to Kufra, Sun Air airlines official Murtada Hassan Jumaa told the Al-Arabiya news channel. The hijackers at first wanted to land the plane in Egypt, but the Egyptian government refused them permission, John Ukec, Sudan's ambassador to the United States, said Tuesday. Khaled Deeb, an Al-Jazeera reporter in Tripoli, Libya, said Libyan authorities allowed the plane to land only because the hijackers said they were low on fuel -- "for humanitarian reasons and nothing else." "The fact that the plane was kidnapped from Darfur indicates that one of the militant groups may have prepared for this operation, and the fact that they want to go to France adds more to that theory," Deeb said Tuesday. "The hijackers don't have any clear demands except for fuel and then heading to France." -- CNN's Mustafa Al-Arab contributed to this report .

NEW: Two hijackers surrender to Libyan authorities . Hijackers earlier released passengers but had kept crew as hostages . Sudan plane hijacked shortly after taking off from Darfur region for Khartoum . Hijackers reportedly wanted fuel to fly to France; no other demands known .

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(CNN) -- A young woman stands against a crisp black backdrop. The photographer walks forward and gently turns her away from the camera. Today the focus is not on her face but on the delicate architectural feat that sits atop her head. It seems to almost defy gravity, with light radiating from the hair tower as it spirals upwards in a conical shape. Hairstyles have long been popular fashion statements for Nigerian women. But over the years, the intricate braiding and eye-catching sculptures have often reflected the country's changing sociopolitical times as well. And for the last six decades, one man made it his life's work to capture the complex refashioning of his homeland. In February, the renowned artist J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere died at his home in Lagos aged 84. He left behind a remarkable body of work, much of which is largely unknown outside Nigeria. But now, many of Ojeikere's countrymen are putting in a renewed effort to celebrate the life of the beloved artist -- through documentary films, exhibitions and an impressive monograph of work, Nigeria is presenting J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere to the world one last time. "He started taking images of a nation that was in the throes of development [and] independence in 1960," explains Bisi Silva, the founder and director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos. "We discovered oil, money... modern buildings were going up. So he documented that process, that transition into a modernizing nation." A final wish for a departed friend . Over the last five years, Silva has been working tirelessly to complete an extensive monograph on Ojeikere. This has not been yet another project for the art curator -- Ojeikere was a close friend, and the duo had been collaborating on the monograph up until his untimely passing in February. "I had a very close relationship with 'Pa Ojeikere,' as we call him here," says Silva, who turned to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to raise funds for publishing the book. "I used to speak to him at least once a week." Silva recalls Ojeikere's passion and enthusiasm for the project and, holding it close to her heart, she says she's determined to finish what they had started together. "He was really dynamic, really passionate about photography and there was so much to learn in his archive. Over the last five years, we became friends. He was like a father to me. "It was just such a big shock that he passed away. That he wouldn't see the book he was extremely excited about." Documenting independence . Born in a small rural village in West Nigeria in 1930, Ojeikere would become one of Nigeria's most celebrated artists. For over 60 years, the master photographer fastidiously immersed himself in capturing his homeland, documenting every facet of daily life. His many photographs would come together to create a striking anthropological study of Nigeria. The 1950s saw a young Ojeikere searching for a vocation. Rejected by the army, it was an uncle who inadvertently put him on a lifelong journey by suggesting photography. Starting small, the untrained amateur would photograph women in his village as they donned their Sunday best and headed to church. Later on, Ojeikere got a job as a darkroom assistant at the Nigerian Ministry of Information. When he wasn't working, he was often found at the local university, snapping moments between students, staff and events on campus -- once again capturing daily life on film. The country was moving toward a time of social change and political upheaval and Ojeikere explored this through his lens. "You're getting a sort of history of Nigeria at a very important, transitional period, just on the cusp of independence," says Silva. "And just after independence [in 1960], when there is a feeling of euphoria, feeling of liberation, the sense of 'now we can conquer the world, we can develop the nation; we are free, we are independent.' "And this all comes out in the way in which individuals and people presented themselves. It's like: 'Look at me. I'm fashionable, I'm modern, I'm confident, I'm educated. I'm a professional.' All these images amount to a visual image of Nigeria in the 50s, 60s and 70s." Not just hair . Ojeikere's next job was working for the national television station, a career move that enabled him to rub shoulders with other creative minds. This is when he started to take photographs with more artistic intent, explains Silva. "He started coming into contact other artists, filmmakers, writers and that's why as he developed, the artistic intent as opposed to the anthropological intent began to develop. When we finally get to 'Hairstyles,' they are actually done in a very specific manner. It wasn't someone on the street. It was in a studio with a specific lighting, with a specific position." The "Hairstyles" series, for which he is so critically acclaimed, features over 1,000 photographs of Nigerian styles since 1954. But for Silva, his work documenting traditional Nigerian headgear and the country's architecture, as well as his studio portrait work, must be examined alongside "Hairstyles" to fully comprehend Ojeikere's legacy. The images communicate a transition from the normal photographs depicting Africa, says Silva. "The images we are used to seeing of Africa -- they gave a one dimensional perspective of a race, of a nation, of a people. It's been a herculean work to bring this publication together." Final tributes . Silva's monograph is just one tribute to Ojeikere. Nigerian filmmaker Tam Fiofori recently released "J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere: Master Photographer," a documentary capturing the final year of the artist's life. Elsewhere, an exhibition of "Hairstyles" is currently shown across the UK. Curated by Gillian Fox, it is the first time audiences in the country are having the chance to view Nigeria from this perspective. "As a Nigerian, he wanted to document that moment in Nigeria when it was a time of colonial rule changing over to democracy," says Fox. "He was keen in the wake of modernization to capture something that was quite intrinsic to his culture, his nation and he saw the rate of change that was happening and he thought hairstyles were fascinating and an art form in their own right," she continues. "They were something that should be preserved because the thing about a hairstyle is that they are really ephemeral." She adds: "I think it was a love letter to his country. He used photography which is a very modern medium to document these moments of social change." Click through the gallery above to explore some of Ojeikere's iconic photographs.

Ojeikere was a Nigerian photographer who passed away in February . Throughout his life, he took thousands of pictures cataloging the changing times of his nation . Monograph from Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos will showcase the work .

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(CNN) -- South African mountain bike star Burry Stander, who narrowly missed out on a medal at the London Olympics, has been killed in a road accident. Stander, 25, was on a training ride when he was hit Thursday by a vehicle in Shelly Beach, on the country's southeast coast, according to Cycling South Africa, the national cycling body. Details of the accident are still being investigated, it said. "Not only is this a loss to South African sport, but we have lost a true gentleman who through his professionalism, modesty and humility, constantly showing sheer guts, represented our country with great pride," Cycling South Africa said in the statement released Thursday. The organization expressed its condolences to Stander's family, including his wife and parents. Stander finished fifth in the Men's Cross Country mountain bike event at the Olympic Games in London last year. It was the second Olympics for Stander, who had finished 15th in the same event at the Beijing Games. He rode a superb race to move through the field in a race won by Jaroslav Kulhavy of the Czech Republic from Nino Schurter of Switzerland. Italy's Marco Fontana was third, 25 seconds adrift, with Stander only missing out on the podium by four seconds in a close finish. He had won the 2011 African championships to book his place at the Games. Adrien Niyonshuti was fourth in the same race to become the first Rwandan to qualify for an Olympic competition. Stander had recently married the multiple South African road race champion Cherise Taylor. CNN's Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.

Burry Stander is hit by a vehicle while on a training ride in South Africa . He was the country's most successful mountain biker . He finished fifth in his event at the Olympic Games in London last year . Stander missed out on a medal by just four seconds .

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Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korea said Wednesday that it had put a satellite in orbit for the first time, giving a lift to its homegrown space industry and matching a feat achieved last month by its hostile neighbor, North Korea. Amid a billowing plume of smoke, the Naro-1 rocket blasted off from a launch site perched on the edge of an island near the country's southern coast. South Korean television footage showed it ascending into the clear blue sky. South Korean officials: North Korean rocket could hit U.S. mainland . Officials and technicians watched the launch intently to see if it would succeed in delivering its payload into orbit. A crowd of onlookers near the site applauded and waved national flags. About an hour after takeoff, Science Minister Lee Ju-ho declared the launch a success. North Korea on Google Maps: Monuments, nuclear complex, gulags . The pressure on the South Korean rocket scientists to get the satellite into space increased after North Korea carried out its own successful launch last month in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Only weeks before that, the South was forced to suspend its previous attempt to launch the Naro-1 rocket after finding problems with the electronic signal just minutes before it was due to take off. The country's previous launch attempts in 2009 and 2010 had failed. After threats against U.S., North Korea turns ire to South . Wednesday's successful effort comes at a delicate time on the Korean peninsula: North Korea said last week that it plans to conduct a new nuclear test and carry out more rocket launches after the U.N. Security Council voted to tighten sanctions on the secretive regime. Pyongyang didn't say when it intends to carry out the nuclear test, which follows previous underground detonations in 2006 and 2009. Although the North's rocket launch last month managed to put an object in space, it was widely considered to be a test of long-range ballistic missile technology. It's unclear whether that satellite is functional. North Korea says new nuclear test will be part of fight against U.S. Saber-rattling statements . In its saber-rattling statements last month, North Korea said its missile and nuclear programs were part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States. It also threatened "physical counter-measures" against South Korea if it participates in the imposition of the new sanctions. South Korean authorities say their latest attempted satellite launch is a crucial step for the development of the country's civilian space program. The satellite carried by the launch vehicle is mainly intended for gathering climate data and other atmospheric information, they say. Is Asia on cusp of space race? Analysts have said the South Korean launch is different from that of the North because it is more transparent, clearly focused on civilian applications and doesn't contravene U.N. sanctions. The development of the South Korean rocket program, using Russian technology for the first-stage launcher, began in 2002. Seoul is aiming to develop its own thruster by 2021 through a program estimated to cost 1.5 trillion won (about $1.4 billion). The successful launch puts South Korea among the small group of nations that have sent a rocket into space from their own soil. Others include the United States, Russia, China, Japan, France, India, Israel, Iran and North Korea. South Korea already has a number of satellites in space, but they were launched in other countries using foreign rocket technology. Opinion: Rescind North Korea's license to provoke . CNN's K.J. Kwon reported from Seoul, and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong.

NEW: South Korea was forced to suspend its previous attempt weeks earlier . Other launch attempts in 2009 and 2010 had failed . North Korea successfully launched its own rocket last month, defying U.N. resolutions . Seoul says it is trying to develop its own civilian space program .

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(CNN) -- South African police are investigating abuse allegations at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, the talk-show host's $40 million school for disadvantaged girls near Johannesburg. Oprah Winfrey, who founded the school this year, has apologized in connection with the incident. Investigators declined to provide details of the alleged abuse and said no charges have been filed. The academy's CEO, John Samuel, said in a statement earlier this month that an internal inquiry was launched based on a claim of misconduct involving a dormitory parent. According to an article in The Cape Argus, a Cape Town newspaper, the dorm parent allegedly grabbed a pupil by the throat and threw her against a wall, the girl claimed. Girls at the school also claimed that the matron swore and screamed at the girls and assaulted them, the newspaper reported Saturday. The newspaper said one of the pupils ran away from the school, blaming the alleged abuse. In an emergency meeting with pupils and parents at the school, Winfrey apologized in connection with the incident. "I've disappointed you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said tearfully, according to numerous South African media reports. Winfrey's representatives said she flew to South Africa twice in October to meet with parents of girls at the academy, although they would not specify what the meetings were about. Previously, Winfrey -- who has spoken publicly about the abuse she suffered as a child -- issued a statement on October 17 saying, "Nothing is more serious or devastating to me than an allegation of misconduct by an adult against any girl at the academy." In the statement, Samuel said South African child protection services were notified and that the dorm parent was removed from the campus. "We have engaged professional investigators of the highest standing from South Africa and the United States to conduct a fair and impartial inquiry into these claims," the statement said. The school's head has agreed to take a paid leave of absence pending the results of the investigation, although she is not the subject of the allegation, Samuel said. The national prosecuting authority is deciding whether or not criminal charges will be filed. In an October 23 statement, Samuel referred inquiries to the South African Child Protection Services Unit. The academy opened in January with a student body made up of some of South Africa's poorest children. The academy provides its 450 students with textbooks, uniforms and meals. E-mail to a friend .

Report: Student says dorm parent grabbed her by the throat . Winfrey aides say she flew to South Africa twice to speak to parents, pupils . Winfrey founded $40 million school in January to help disadvantaged girls .

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(CNN) -- Saturday's World Cup downhill race in Bormio ended in a thrilling dead heat as Aksel Lund Svindal extended his overall lead despite narrowly missing out on a three-way share of victory. The Norwegian had to settle for third place after finishing just 0.01 seconds behind Austria's Hannes Reichelt and Italy's Dominik Paris -- who delighted the home crowd by claiming his first World Cup win. "It's amazing, it was my dream to win a downhill in the World Cup -- and now I finally won it," said the 23-year-old, who finished third at his national championships in March. "Tying with Reichelt doesn't make any difference -- I am only happy to be on top. I was very nervous in the leader box because I knew the others behind will ski well, but it turned out good. "It is totally amazing to win here in Bormio, I can't say anything just that it was a dream come true." Reichelt also set a time of one minute 58.62 seconds as he claimed the fifth World Cup win of his career and his second podium this season after placing third in the Super G at Beaver Creek in the U.S. at the start of December. "I feel like I am back in downhill because my last races were really bad, but I felt confident today," the 32-year-old said. "I think equipment today was very important because if the skies are stable on this bumpy slope it helps you to ski fast. During the Christmas break we did a good job, I did a lot of testing and now I can say I am on the right wave back. The year is ending really, really nice." Svindal earned his first podium finish at Bormio, which is considered one of the most testing courses on the World Cup circuit. He finished 0.01 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Austrian Klaus Kroll, who was the World Cup downhill champion last season. "It's crazy, four guys within two-hundredths on one of the toughest downhills in the world," said Svindal, who leads the downhill standings by 92 points from Paris and has a 114-point advantage in the overall competition. He now has a record-equaling six podium positions before New Year, matching the mark set by Austria's Michael Walchhofer in 2004-05. "I can't remember a race exactly this close. But as a ski racer you almost get used to it, it's actually kind of crazy like that," Svindal said. "For sure there is that one mistake at the bottom that I wish I had back, but that's ski racing. As long as you are fighting for the win like I am today, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. But racing is a lot of fun when you are in that position." Meanwhile, Veronika Zuzulova had a comparatively more comfortable victory in the women's slalom in Semmering, Austria, as she won her first World Cup race. The Slovakian was 0.10 seconds ahead of home hope Kathrin Zettel over the two runs, while Tina Maze extended her overall World Cup lead with her 11th podium in 16 starts. The Slovenian, who was fastest in the first run, now has a 427-point advantage over Germany's Maria Hofl-Riesch, who placed fourth.

Hannes Reichelt and Dominik Paris share first place in men's World Cup downhill race . Aksel Lund Svindal extends his overall lead after finishing only 0.01 seconds back in third . Svindal was just 0.01 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Klaus Kroll, last season's downhill champion . Italian skier Paris wins the first World Cup event of his career to delight the home crowd .

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(EW.com ) -- As Tracy Jordan once said on "30 Rock:" Live every week like it's Shark Week. Syfy seems to be taking that maxim to heart, announcing its own Shark Week of sorts (Sorry, Discovery), pegged to the upcoming release of "Sharknado 2: The Second One." "Sharknado 2," is, of course, a sequel to last year's super-buzzy, low-budget television movie, "Sharknado." "Sharknado Week" will air July 26 through August 2; Sharknado 2 premieres Wed. July 30. Also in the programming block? Roger Corman's "Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda" (August 2), Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark (July 26), and "Sharkmania: The Top 15 Biggest Baddest Bloodiest Bites" (July 27). No one could forget the plot of "Sharknado 2," but here's Syfy's description once again: "A freak weather system turns its deadly fury on New York City, unleashing a Sharknado on the population and its most cherished iconic sites -- and only Fin (Ian Ziering) and April (Tara Reid) can save the Big Apple. The movie, directed by Anthony C. Ferrante from a screenplay by Thunder Levin, also stars Mark McGrath, Kari Wuhrer, Vivica A. Fox and Judah Friedlander, with cameo appearances including Kelly Osbourne, Judd Hirsch, Perez Hilton, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Andy Dick, Robert Klein, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, Biz Markie, Downtown Julie Brown, Richard Kind and Kurt Angle, among others." The week might become an annual thing — Syfy has already ordered a third Sharknado. See the original story at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

"Sharknado 2" is coming this summer . There will be a week block of shark content . A third "Sharknado" has already been ordered .

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Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- A month after Nigeria's ruling party ruled he may stand for re-election next year, President Goodluck Jonathan said Wednesday he intends to run. Jonathan said he plans to make a formal declaration about his candidacy Saturday. "In presenting myself for service, I make no pretense that I have a magic wand that will solve all of Nigeria's problems or that I am the most intelligent Nigerian," Jonathan wrote on his Facebook page. "Far from it. What I do promise is this -- if I am elected president in 2011, I will make a covenant with you, the Nigerian people, to always do right by you, to tell you the truth at all times, to carry you along and most importantly to listen to you, fellow citizens in our communities, and also those of you on this page." Jonathan's eligibility was in question until last month, when the Peoples Democratic Party said he could run in an open race with other candidates next year. Under Nigerian "zoning" rules, power must shift to different regions and ethnic groups every eight years. Jonathan -- who is from the Niger Delta, in the south -- was part of the joint ticket of the late President Umaru Yar'Adua, who was from the north. Yar'Adua's death in May, after a long illness, upset the order of the zoning. Yar'Adua was elected in 2007 and his southern replacement threatened to halt the north's turn at holding power. "I know you are tired of empty promises, so I will make only one promise to you today," Jonathan wrote. "The only promise I make to you my friends, fellow citizens and Nigeria, is to promise LESS and deliver MORE if I am elected."

Jonathan says he will formally declare his candidacy Saturday . He made the announcement on his Facebook page . Authorities approved his eligibility last month .

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(CNN) -- The first patient to be diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, in the United States is recovering well and should be able to go home from the hospital soon, doctors said Monday. The patient, an American health care provider who had been working in Saudi Arabia, is not on oxygen and is eating well and walking around, said doctors in Munster, Indiana. Doctors have also tested others who have come into contact with the patient. So far no one else has been diagnosed with the virus. Medical staff will continue to monitor the situation closely. The patient, whose name has not been disclosed due to federal privacy standards, was working at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He told his doctors that the hospital had MERS patients, although he does not remember working with any of those infected. The man was on a planned visit to Indiana to see his family. He traveled on April 24 and went to a hospital in Indiana with symptoms April 28. About 50 staffers worked closely with the man, said Dr. Alan Kumar, chief medical information officer with Community Hospital in Indiana. No patients at the Indiana hospital had close contact with the MERS patient, who was in a private triage unit and admitted to a private bed on a general medical floor within three hours of showing up at the facility. His family brought the man in after he complained of flulike symptoms -- shortness of breath and fever. They told the medical staff he had been in Saudi Arabia. "There was a possible thought initially that it was pneumonia," or some other kind of respiratory virus, Kumar said. "That is why he was in a private room the entire time." MERS: 5 things to know . The patient never needed a ventilator but was initially put on oxygen. The hospital knew which staffers had close contact with the patient because it uses electronic tracers on staff members, tracking where they go in the hospital and how much time they would have spent with the man. Between that monitoring and video surveillance, the hospital was able to track the patient's entire journey through the hospital system, according to Kumar. Both the family and health care workers have all tested negative for the virus and all are on home isolation, officials said. If any of those exposed have to go out, doctors have advised they wear a mask. Doctors will run a second test on both populations since the virus is thought to have a 14-day incubation period. If they still test negative for the virus, they will be considered clear and safe to return to their regular work and duties. Scientists do not know exactly how MERS spreads, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but they don't believe it spreads through casual contact. The virus poses a "very low risk to the broader general public," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general with the U.S. Public Health Service and director for the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, on Friday. MERS mystery: Virus found in camels . Out of an abundance of caution, Indiana health officials and the CDC have acquired the passenger lists from the planes the patient took from Saudi Arabia -- he changed planes in London and landed in Chicago -- and the bus he took to Indiana. Of the 100 or so passengers on the plane, three-fourths have been tested, and none has been shown to be positive for MERS. The patient was not symptomatic at the time of travel, according to the doctors. Health officials are also reaching out to the 10 passengers who shared his bus. Scientists believe MERS spreads through close contact with a patient -- meaning someone would have to have come in contact with some of their bodily fluid. MERS first emerged in 2011, with the first cases being diagnosed in the Arabian Peninsula in 2012. There have been 401 confirmed cases in 12 countries, according to the CDC. Of those, 93 people died. Testing for MERS involves looking for the virus' molecular structure in a patient's nose or blood. While the patient in Indiana was the first MERS case on U.S. soil, the CDC has been preparing for such a scenario and had been conducting an awareness campaign with hospitals and doctors since MERS emerged. There are no travel restrictions to the Arabian Peninsula; however, the CDC suggests people who visit there monitor their health and watch for any flulike symptoms. If you do feel unwell after such a trip, be sure to tell your doctor about your travel. There is no vaccine or special treatment for MERS. Doctors said they believe the patient's quick diagnosis and care dramatically increased his chances for getting better. "MERS picked the wrong hospital, the wrong state, the wrong country to try to get a foothold," said Dr. William VanNess, Indiana state health commissioner. Opinion: Why MERS virus is so scary .

The unidentified man is eating well and walking around, officials say . Those who have come in contact with him have tested negative . More than 400 MERS cases have been reported in 12 countries, the CDC says .

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Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- An Istanbul court slapped a world-renowned musician Monday with a 10-month suspended sentence for posting a series of tweets that poked fun at Islamic descriptions of heaven. Classical concert pianist Fazil Say, 43, was found guilty of "openly insulting the religious values held by a portion of the public" for the tweets, which were posted last year. "Although I am innocent and have not committed any crime, this decision I received is more worrisome for the freedom of expression and belief in Turkey than it is to me as a person," Say wrote in a statement posted on his Facebook page. The sentence marks a "very sad day for freedom of expression in Turkey," Say's lawyer Meltem Akyol told CNN. "We were expecting an acquittal." "Freedom of expression does not entitle you to condescend or offend or insult people," countered plaintiff Ali Emre Bukagili. "That's a crime." Say's tweets included: "You say the rivers will flow with wine, is heaven a tavern? You say each believer will receive two women, is heaven a brothel?" according to the indictment. In another, Say joked about the short duration of a cleric's traditional Islamic call to prayer. The tweet asked a rhetorical question to the chanting cleric: "What's the hurry? Lover waiting?" the indictment said. Say also was convicted of retweeting allegedly offensive posts, such as, "I am not sure if you have realized it, but where there is scum, a lowlife, a thief or a fool, s/he is always an Allahist. Is this a paradox?" Faruk Logoglu, deputy international affairs chairman of the nation's main opposition party, CHP, called the sentence a "new link in the long chain of assaults on the freedom of expression and freedom of conscience in Turkey." "This is shameful for Turkish democracy," he said. Say won't have to serve his sentence as long as he doesn't commit a similar crime within the next five years. "The decision is a correct one," said Bukagili. "In our laws, it is against the law to publicly insult a belief, and he did that." The case was filed last June after three plaintiffs lodged formal complaints. Say has been a vocal critic of the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, which has governed Turkey since it first won parliamentary elections more than a decade ago. Critics linked the case to a recent string of freedom of expression prosecutions in Turkey. Last year, Say commented on the case for CNN Turk. "... if I thought I was guilty, I would feel uncomfortable with myself and would enter the jail on my own," he said. "It is difficult for them to send me to jail. It is that simple."

NEW: "This is shameful for Turkish democracy," says Turkey's main opposition party . Pianist Fazil Say openly insulted religious values with his Twitter posts, court says . His 10-month sentence is suspended as long as he doesn't commit a similar crime . Say has criticized Turkey's governing Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party .

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Jerusalem (CNN) -- Amene Tekele Haymanot thought he had made the right choice when five years ago he escaped war-torn Eritrea and opened a business in sunny Tel Aviv, Israel. But he and his countrymen couldn't escape conflict for long. Haymanot never expected himself - or his store -- to become targets of threats and violence in a metropolitan city known for its tolerance. But it was. His windows were smashed in and his business looted during an anti-immigration protest. "Now I am afraid here. I cannot live this way. I'm afraid for my life," Haymanot, who is an illegal immigrant awaiting refugee status, told CNN. His fear has been growing for many months because illegal African immigrants have attracted anger in certain parts of Israel -- and Haymanot believes the color of his skin makes him vulnerable -- because many here will assume if you're black in his Tel Aviv neighborhood -- you are here illegally. Many Israelis are frustrated with the estimated 59,000 illegal African immigrants in the country and Israel's inability to deal with them. Most of the new arrivals are from Eritrea and Sudan, and the government says they come illegally through the Egyptian border. The police say about 700 African immigrants enter the country illegally every week. Illegal African immigrants are blamed by residents in neighborhoods where there is a large African population for increasing levels of crime, suffocating the infrastructure and changing the fabric of Israel. Many Israelis who sympathize with the plight of African immigrants say they believe racism plays into all this. Some Israelis are asking how a country that founded by Jews trying to escape persecution could turn against anyone trying to escape danger in their own lands. Attorney Asaf Weitzen, who works with the immigrant hotline in the south Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Hatikva, trying to sort out immigrants' legal problems, says: "There is a very big pressure on the neighborhood, and the structures cannot support so many people." He adds that the problem is exacerbated because newcomers come from a different background, speak a different language and have a different approach to life as well as by the fact they are a different race. The biggest problem that immigrants and Israel face, Weitzen says, is the lack of a proper and enforceable immigration policy. He says the Eritrea population should be award asylum and given the necessary papers to work. His words echo the call from the United Nations for Eritreans to be given refugee status due to conditions in their home country. But Israel has no diplomatic relations with Sudan, the source of the second largest illegal immigrant group in the country, so repatriating those immigrants is nearly impossible. The current Israeli policy leaves the immigrants in an unsustainable holding pattern, says Weitzen: They are not allowed to legally work but do so anyway, leaves residents frustrated as the number of poor grow in certain neighborhoods, putting pressure on everything from housing to hospitals. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the immigration problem is being dealt with. "The problem of infiltrators must be resolved and we will resolve it," he said last Thursday. "We will complete the construction of the security fence in several months and soon will start the process of sending the migrants back to their home countries." Anti-immigrant sentiment is particularly strong in Hatikva, partly due to the influx of large numbers of African immigrants who have moved in there. In May an anti-immigration protest numbering several hundred demonstrators boiled over into all-out violence bashing in a few store and car windows owned by African immigrants. (TRY THIS FIX) Israeli protesters chanted slogans such as "infiltrators get out" and "Tel Aviv: A refugee camp". Three members of the right wing Likud party -- part of the governing coalition - were among the politicians who attended. One of them, Miri Regev, was quoted as saying that "the Sudanese are like a cancer in society." Police arrested 17 Israeli protesters at the demonstration and charged them with property damage. In two separate cases in May, two African illegal immigrants were arrested and charged with raping teenage Israeli girls, sparking even more tension between the communities in some parts of the country. Even mentioning the issue of illegal immigration in the neighborhood where the violence broke out causes crowds of residents to form. One was close to tears about the situation, saying that people feared the influx of Africans -- and sometimes Africans themselves. "They come by group, by group, by group and I [am] alone, I [am] afraid," said long-time resident David Ovady, who has lived in south Tel Aviv for 40-plus years. He held up a container of pepper spray that he now keeps with him at all times when he is walking around the neighborhood. Dror Kahalani, a community activist who has lived in the neighborhood for 45 years, said through tears that he knows the immigrants are human beings and need help -- but that it's not up to residents to foot the bill for them. "The government must, must in every meaning of the word, starting tomorrow morning," said Kahalani, "gather them all together, build them a tent city and give them solutions, food, medical, everything they need, give it to them. But not here." In the aftermath of the attacks and arrests, visual reminders of the tension are gone but not the sentiment. "Someone has to take over the law," Kahalani said. The day after the attacks, Netanyahu denounced the violence and what many described as provocative language used against the illegal immigrants. "I would like to stress that the expressions and acts that we have viewed last night are unacceptable," the prime minister said. Amene Tekele Haymanot, who works and lives in Hatikva, says that his Israeli neighbors continue to make threats and intimidate him even after breaking apart his business. He says Israelis in the neighborhood threatened to kill him and burn his place down. With no official refugee status he now wants to close his store and move somewhere where he can live in peace. So far he can't seem to find that, no matter where he goes.

Tension has flared in parts of Israel between some immigrants from Africa and residents of the neighborhood . Residents says that the infrastructure and public services cannot cope with the new arrivals . Many Israelis who sympathize with the African immigrants say they believe racism is a factor . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the immigration problem is being dealt with .

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- In the developing world millions of people struggle to operate machinery, read from a blackboard, or just see the world around them, because they don't have access to the eyeglasses they need. Self-refraction glasses let the wearer adjust the lenses to suit their vision, without the need for an optometrist. But a pair of glasses developed by Joshua Silver, a physics professor at the University of Oxford, offers an affordable solution. The glasses can be adjusted to the right strength by the wearer without the need to visit an optometrist. A major reason for that is a chronic shortage of optometrists -- in Ghana, for example, there is just one for every eight million people. That makes it incredibly difficult for ordinary people to visit an optometrist, without which it's impossible for them to get glasses. But Silver thinks he may have come up with a solution to the problem. His self-refraction glasses mean people can correct their vision without needing an optometrist (see Fact Box). "Take a Sub-Saharan country where there is one optometrist for every million people; those people will never see an optometrist, so how will they get eyewear?," he told CNN. "Any model of delivery of vision correction in the developing world that depends on eye care professionals won't work. If you find a model that doesn't rely on them, then you potentially have a solution." Silver has been developing the glasses for over 20 years and continues to research the technology at the Center for Vision in the Developing World (CVDW) at the University of Oxford. He told CNN that about 80 percent of those who try the glasses are able to correct their vision, but there are limitations. They can't be used to correct astigmatism and it's not known if they are suitable for children, although the CVDW is currently running a study to determine if schoolchildren can correct their own vision with their teachers' help. So far, 30,000 pairs of self-refraction glasses have been distributed around the world, through an adult literacy program in Ghana and the U.S. Military Humanitarian and Civic Assistance (HCA) Program. The man behind the HCA program was Kevin White. He has now retired from the military and has set up Global Vision 2020 to distribute self-adjustable glasses. White has just returned from Liberia, where he trained 40 people from local NGOs to dispense the glasses. White sees charity organizations already working in developing countries as the key to distribution. "If I can train people from existing networks to dispense glasses, and they can spare one day each week or month to dispense the glasses, then they can see 50 to 100 people in a day -- and that's a way to reach a lot of people," White told CNN. But for the program to be sustainable, White says the next step is to train his dispensers to become trainers themselves, so that he builds a growing network of people in developing countries who can distribute the glasses. Silver estimates that one billion people in the developing world don't have access to the glasses they need, and he has said that he would like to see all of them wearing glasses by 2020. But he is under no illusions that he can do it alone. "No one person or company can possibly deliver that many glasses by 2020. There's a big infrastructure that needs to be set up to do that, and I'd like to see it happen," he told CNN. Distribution is one problem, cost is another. Currently, it cost $19 to manufacture a pair of self-refraction glasses, and Silver acknowledges that the price needs to come down to a few dollars a pair to make them affordable. Another issue is style. The glasses are currently functional, rather than fashionable, and that may limit their uptake, but more cosmetic versions are being developed. Silver says far more research is needed before those one billion people get their glasses, but he sees his self-refraction technology as a step toward that goal. He told CNN, "It's one of the world's largest problems. There's an immense amount of interest in solving it and self-refraction is one route that can assist with that."

A lack of optometrists means many in the developing world can't get glasses . Josh Silver has developed glasses with lenses that can be altered by the wearer . The technology could be used to provide glasses for one billion people . Global Vision 2020 is training charity workers to dispense the glasses .

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Los Angeles (CNN) -- Dionne Warwick, one of the most recognizable pop voices of the 1960s, filed for bankruptcy last week, citing more than $10 million in tax debt dating back to 1991. "Due to several consecutive years (the late '80s through the mid-'90s) of negligent and gross financial mismanagement, Dionne Warwick has realized the current necessity to file personal bankruptcy," Warwick publicist Kevin Sasaki said in a statement to CNN Tuesday. Warwick, 72, made hits out of many Burt Bacharach and Hal David songs, and won five Grammys in a 50-year career. The singer is down her last $1,000 in cash and only owns furniture and clothing worth $1,500, according to the Chapter 7 filing in New Jersey. The bankruptcy documents filed in New Jersey on Thursday outline a sad financial situation for Warwick, a cousin of the late Whitney Houston. Along with $7 million in federal IRS debt, Warwick said she owes more than $3 million to the state of California in franchise taxes. Another $500,000 is owed to a lawyer and a business manager, the filing said. "In light of the magnitude of her tax liabilities, Warwick has repeatedly attempted to offer repayment plans and proposals to the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board for taxes owed," Sasaki said. "These plans were not accepted, resulting in escalating interest and penalties. Although the actual amount of back taxes owed have been paid, the resulting penalties and interest has continually accrued." Warwick's total assets are worth just $25,500, mostly because of two fur coats and two sets of diamond earrings valued at $13,000, the documents showed. She also claimed clothing worth $5,000, art worth $5,000 and furniture valued at $15,500. Warwick recently took a credit card debt management class, it said, perhaps relating to a $20,000 Visa debt. Her monthly income was listed at $20,950, although she is eligible for a pension from the SAG/AFTRA union, the filing said. Warwick listed her employment with Star Girl Productions, an entertainment management company. She has been touring in recent months, singing her hits for fans in Europe and South America, according to her website. Warwick's success began in 1962 with "Don't Make Me Over," followed by 18 consecutive Top 100 singles. Other Bacharach/David classics include "Walk on By," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Message to Michael," "Promises Promises," "A House is Not a Home," "Alfie," "Say a Little Prayer," "This Girl's in Love With You," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Reach Out For Me" and the theme from "Valley of the Dolls." "Warwick has spent many years of her career raising funds for several humanitarian and philanthropic causes without compensation," Sasaki said. "Aside from carrying the banner for world hunger, she was the first musical artist to donate all sales and proceeds from her landmark recording, 'That's What Friends Are For' to AIDS and The American Foundation For AIDS Research (amfAR)." 2012: Dionne Warwick sings Hal David's last lyrics . CNN's Jane Caffrey contributed to this report.

Her tax woes stem from "negligent and gross financial mismanagement," publicist says . Warwick is down to her last $1,000 in cash, but owes $10.7 million . Most of her debt is for taxes owed from the 1990s, court documents say . Success began in in 1962 with "Don't Make Me Over," followed by 18 straight Top 100 hits .

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(EW.com) -- Those Jack Bauer fans just won't give up: The infamous character from Fox's long-running drama "24" was a big trending topic on Twitter late Sunday in light of the Osama Bin Laden news -- no doubt because many were thinking (hoping?) a Bauer-like embed was responsible for the "actionable intelligence" that led to President Obama's press conference. Here's the good news: Kiefer Sutherland could be back on Fox this fall. Now, the bad news: He won't be reprising his role as a counter-terrorism agent. Instead, he's playing a dad whose autistic son can predict events before they happen in a project called "Touch." The drama's from Tim Kring ("Heroes") and is already generating great buzz. But a return of Bauer is still in the cards. A big-screen version of the drama remains in the works at 20th Century Fox, and producer Brian Grazer (whose company, Imagine Entertainment, was behind the TV show) recently acknowledged that he's on board. In March, . Sutherland told the women of "The View" that the movie will come out in 2012. Hey Kief: Care to rethink that timeline now? See full article at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Jack Bauer was a big trending topic on Twitter Sunday in light of the Bin Laden news . Sutherland told the women of "The View" that the "24" movie will come out in 2012 . The actor could be back on Fox this fall in "Touch"

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(CNN) -- A fire erupted Friday at the headquarters of the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, memorial to United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed on September 11, 2001, officials said. "There is a potential for 9/11 memorabilia loss due to a fire," according to a statement from the National Park Service, but the extent of the damage is not known yet. NPS spokesman Mike Litterst said 10% of the archives and museum collection was stored in the damaged buildings, but much of it was kept in a fireproof safe. Among the items in the damaged buildings was a U.S. flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol on the day of the terrorist attack. The flag was given to the Flight 93 National Memorial last September 11. Its status was not known. Four buildings were damaged, the park service said. Heavy rain helped the firefighting efforts. Seven fire companies responded to the blaze, which started about 3 p.m., said Geraldine Budzina, a Somerset County dispatcher. No injuries were reported. "I think stuff has been lost" Ken Nacke, whose brother Louis was on Flight 93, said many 9/11 artifacts -- including notes and other mementos left at a temporary memorial at the crash site -- were being stored in the area where the fire burned. He said he had spoken Friday with the head of Families of Flight 93 shortly after the group president was contacted by the memorial's superintendent. "I think stuff has been lost," Nacke said. "I just don't know what has been lost. I know the layout of the buildings and I wouldn't be surprised. It's heartbreaking that we spent all this time to have this happen. All the blood sweat and tears that went into building this." Nacke helped raise funds for the Flight 93 National Memorial and advised in its planning. "At the temporary memorial, people would leave cards, T-shirts and handmade stuff that was very comforting to us," he said. "That's why it's heartbreaking. I hope none of this stuff is lost." Cause of fire is unknown . Clouds of dark smoke could be seen billowing into the blue sky over the grounds Friday afternoon on a live webcam. "We are deeply saddened to learn that a fire occurred at the Flight 93 National Memorial headquarters," Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93 said in a statement. "We understand that no one was injured, and we are grateful for that." "Neither the memorial proper nor the new visitor center currently under construction were affected, as the headquarters is located approximately two miles from those sites," Litterst said. Initial reports were of extensive damage to the complex, Litterst said. All employees and volunteers were safely evacuated. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, he said. 40 people died in the plane crash . The memorial park is dedicated to the 40 passengers and crew who died when Flight 93 crashed outside the town in southwestern Pennsylvania. The plane went down, killing all on board, as passengers fought back against the hijackers, according to investigations. The memorial, still incomplete, includes a visitor center with traditional and interactive exhibits, public programs and information about the history of Flight 93. United Airlines Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco when hijackers took over the plane, according to the 9/11 Commission. Investigators said the terrorists were most likely trying to turn the airplane toward Washington to hit a major political target. The 2,200-acre memorial park is managed by the National Park Service. The second phase of construction is to be completed by 2015. Since 2001, more than 1 million people from around the world have visited the crash site. What you need to know about the Flight 93 National Memorial . CNN's Aaron Cooper, Deanna Hackney and Laura Bernardini contributed to this report.

NEW: Some 911 artifacts may have been damaged, park service says . Fire breaks out at headquarters of memorial to United Airlines Flight 93 . Headquarters complex is about two miles from the memorial in Pa. Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2001, after hijackers took over the plane .

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InStyle.com) -- The dark horse in a stampede of sun-kissed curls, Lucy Liu's ebony mane sets her apart from the typical Hollywood leading lady. "Even if you don't have any makeup on, you can still look really pretty if your lips are soft and shiny." "My hair is so dark that I'd have to bleach it to add color, so I never dye it," she says. From long, sexy locks on Ally McBeal to razor-straight styles that whip around as she side-kicks and slices her way through Charlie's Angels and Kill Bill, Liu's hair practically plays a supporting role. This fall she returns to television as publishing exec Mia Mason on ABC's Cashmere Mafia. With a wavy bob (thanks to a grown-out perm), Liu, 38, embraces her girlier side. "When my hair was longer, people didn't come up and talk to me," she says. "Now they find me more approachable." What's your earliest beauty memory? I used to watch my mom put makeup on, and we would go to the five-and-dime store and experiment with whatever makeup was there. It was basically L'Oréal lipstick -- which is funny, because I still use it. So is your mom your beauty guru? No, now she's coming to me for tips. She sees how amazing my makeup looks, but it's not me. It's the people putting it on. I really like to keep my skin clean. I use just a little concealer. I don't even put on sunscreen, but I don't sit in the sun either. No sunscreen! How do you keep your skin so young and smooth? I drink a lot of water, and I've never had coffee. I think caffeine can be really bad for your skin. And I don't get facials, ever. Why don't you get facials? I think they damage your skin. People are getting peels and dermabrasion, and anything with the word "abrasion" doesn't work for me. I also think a lot of plastic surgery hurts your skin. Do you always carry around two different eye liners? Yes. The liquid liner is for above the eye, and the pencil is for inside the eye. But I rarely use the pencil unless I'm going out. If you put liquid liner on during the day and then add pencil to the inner rims at night, it glams it up. What about your hair? How do you keep it so shiny? I alternate between Dr. Bronner's All in One soap, Davines and Prawduct for shampoo and different conditioners like Pantene. I love herbal scents because I'm a little bit allergic [to fragrance]. If I walk into a store and it's all perfume, it's too much. And I let my hair air dry. I rarely blow-dry -- I don't have time. You sound very low maintenance. Do you have any beauty indulgences? I splurge on acupuncture. It's preventative medicine: You go in once a month, and you get a little checkup so you're regulated. It keeps you healthy. My parents used to get acupuncture. It has been a part of my culture and my life for a long time, and it really, really works. It can help you lose weight, it can help your skin stay young -- and I've found it helps with jet lag. [Acupuncturists] look at your tongue and will say: "All right, you're drinking too much" or "You're emotional, aren't you?" How else do you stay healthy? Do you still practice martial arts? I just trained for the movies. But I love going hiking, and now because I'm [filming in New York City], I go biking. People can see me on the street -- I'm not biking that fast. It's just good exercise, and you get around quickly. It's like being on a horse or a motorcycle because you're outside. What about Aquaphor? I've heard you're obsessed. I use it for everything. It's not too glossy, so I wear it when I do movies because it looks really natural. I always carry a mini with me. And if I fall, which I do a lot -- I generally skid -- I'll put it on my [scrapes]. When I was shooting a movie in Montreal, it was freezing. If you take a little bit of Aquaphor and dab it on your face, it keeps your skin looking fresh. I dubbed it Aqua for Everything. Get her look . Makeup . Makeup pro Scott Barnes applied La Femme eye shadow in Clove (far left, $6; alconeco.com) in Liu's creases and black liquid liner along her upper lash lines. Next he lined top and bottom inner rims with black pencil. For a natural glow he used the same beige cream makeup on cheeks and lips (Scott Barnes Crème Color in Flush, left, $24; saks.com). Hair . To enhance Liu's waves and add volume, stylist Hallie Bowman spritzed Kiehl's Super Thick Volumizer ($19; kiehls.com) on her damp hair, then blow-dried with a diffuser while scrunching the ends. Once hair was dry, Bowman rubbed Kérastase Vinyle Nutri-Sculpt cream ($29; kerastase.com) between her palms and finger-shaped waves to tame frizz and flyaways. E-mail to a friend . Get a FREE TRIAL issue of InStyle - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2009 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Actress Lucy Liu believes long hair makes her more approachable . She believes lots of water and no caffeine is good for skin . Says acupuncture keeps you healthy, helps with weight loss .

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(CNN)The former imperial capital of Hue sits just below what was once the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam and was, near the end of the war, the site of some of its fiercest fighting. You've seen it in newsreel footage -- and recreated (in England) in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." It's one of the few areas of Vietnam I've never been. Hue is, in many ways, a city of ghosts, of memories and spirits -- and we play on that in Sunday's episode. It begins with a camera movement inside a "Spirit House" -- the dollhouse-sized shrines that many believers keep outside their homes and businesses. The Vietnamese are largely ancestor worshippers. Helping your deceased relatives into the next life -- and making sure they are happy while there -- is important. On special days and holidays, families visit temples and pagodas and leave offerings, often food, sometimes replicas of money or appliances or luxuries for the departed. Things they liked in life that might make the afterlife more comfortable. Spirit houses, as I understand them, are designed to deal with the problem of hungry, dissatisfied spirits who may not be settled, who have, for one reason or another, unfinished business left behind. They sit out front, or near the house or store, usually filled with incense and offerings, in the hope of distracting the spirits away from the main destination. In the weeks following the initial North Vietnamese taking of the city of Hue, many hundreds -- if not thousands -- of citizens, deemed dangerous or counterrevolutionary or otherwise undesirable, were summarily executed and buried in unmarked mass graves by the communist forces. When the United States Marines and army of South Vietnam retook the city, it was only at the end of brutal, house-to-house fighting and finally, airstrikes, that Hue was retaken -- flattening much of the city in the process. Many, many people were lost, their bodies never identified or recovered. This, the inability to find the physical remains of a relative, is a particular agony to Vietnamese. For this reason, this episode is haunted by ghosts. We hadn't intended it to be so. But that definitely emerged as a theme. You feel it as you drive the streets and early morning rice paddies on a scooter, walk the parapets of the ancient citadel, look at the flag hanging in the mist across the Perfume River. At one point, a young woman I'm having dinner with casually mentions that her mother doesn't like her to go out after dark. Too many ghosts. I don't want you to think that this episode of "Parts Unknown" is some kind of a bummer -- a depressing discussion of a war about which there are still strong feelings and disagreements here. It's not. One of the crazily awesome, incongruous things about Vietnam that I've found from the first time I visited is how friendly, welcoming, quick to move beyond the past the Vietnamese are. It is an incredibly beautiful country. One filled with passionate, proud cooks, and opinionated, enthusiastic eaters. You will see me with some old friends -- and you will, as always in Vietnam, see me eating some amazing food. And if you thought pho was the best thing ever? Wait 'til you see Bun Bo Hue.

Anthony Bourdain returns to a country he's loved since his first visit . The city of Hue, Vietnam, is a city of spirits and ghosts . The episode deals with the past, but also with the vibrant present .

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(CNN) -- Twenty-five people were discharged from hospital Friday, state media reported, a week after a meteor exploded in spectacular fashion in the skies above Russia's Urals region, shattering glass in thousands of buildings. Eleven children were among the patients who went home Friday morning, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. More than 60 people were hospitalized across the region, the local emergencies ministry said. The total count for those hurt climbed in the days after the meteor's arrival on February 15 to more than 1,500, according to RIA Novosti. Most of the injuries were minor and caused by flying glass. The Chelyabinsk region, the hardest-hit area, asked federal authorities Monday for $16.6 million in aid, RIA Novosti said. Russian scientists track down fragments of Urals meteor . The total bill for the damage is estimated at 1 billion rubles ($33 million), with more than 4,000 buildings affected, many of them apartment blocks. About 200,000 square meters (almost 240,000 square yards) of glass were broken in total, authorities said. Meanwhile, the first fragment of meteorite arrived in Moscow on Friday for analysis, RIA Novosti reported. About 50 small fragments have been found so far, the news agency reported earlier this week, some in a crater in the Chelyabinsk region's Lake Chebarkul. Opinion: Don't count 'doomsday asteroid' out yet . Images taken soon after the meteor blast showed a hole in the ice covering the lake where a chunk of meteorite was believed to have fallen. Because the meteor exploded in a huge fireball in the atmosphere, the fragments could be scattered over a huge area. A couple of purported pieces of Chelyabinsk meteorite were advertised for sale on the eBay online auction site Friday. The national space agency, Roscosmos, said scientists believe one meteoroid entered the atmosphere, where it burned and disintegrated into fragments. Amateur video footage showed a bright white streak moving rapidly across the sky before exploding with an even brighter flash and a deafening bang. According to NASA estimates, the meteor measured 55 feet (17 meters) across and had a mass of 10,000 tons. CNN iReport: Meteor in the sky over Chelyabinsk . The space agency put the amount of energy released in the meteor's explosion at nearly 500 kilotons. By comparison, the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy. The whole event, from the meteor's atmospheric entry to its disintegration in the air above central Russia, took 32.5 seconds, NASA said. Residents told CNN of their shock as they saw, heard and felt the awesome blast, and the chaos and confusion they witnessed in the moments afterward, when no one knew what had happened. Denis Kuznetsov, a 23-year-old historian from Chelyabinsk, told CNN via e-mail of his experience. At first there was a blinding flash lasting several seconds, which made him want to shut his eyes. The light shone "like 10 suns," he said. "This is no exaggeration." Kuznetsov said he experienced what felt like "a push," as a sound wave passed through his body. "For some seconds I simply stood," he said, amid the sound of breaking glass. Interior Minister Vladimir Puchkov told state news agency Itar-Tass this week that he wanted to see scientists develop new technologies that would allow such meteors to be spotted in advance. "I believe that this emergency situation will push us towards generating new resources, approaches and ideas in tackling this serious problem," he is quoted as saying. The European Space Agency said that events of the magnitude of the Chelyabinsk meteor blast "are expected once every several of tens to 100 years." It calculates that the meteoroid burst and disintegrated about 15 to 20 kilometers (nine to 12 miles) above the ground. "The terminal part of the explosion probably likely occurred almost directly over Chelyabinsk," said Detlef Koschny, of the European Space Agency. "This was perhaps the single greatest contributor to the blast damage."

Local officials say 25 people injured by the blast were discharged from hospital Friday . The total number injured, most by flying glass, was more than 1,500, state media reports . State media: A fragment of the meteorite arrives in Moscow for scientific analysis . European Space Agency believes blast occurred almost directly over Chelyabinsk .

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(CNN) -- Among the entertainers who have donated their energies to the USO in recent years are Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Scarlett Johansson, Kid Rock, Queensryche, Toby Keith, Lewis Black and Robin Williams. Stephen Colbert's trip to Iraq, facilitated by the USO, was six months in the planning. But when the USO conducts a public opinion survey asking people who they think of when the military service organization is mentioned, one name always comes up. "The first thing out of their mouths is 'Bob Hope,' " said Mark Phillips, the USO's vice president for communications, with an audible shrug. "And if they're not part of the military, the list stops there." As the country celebrates Independence Day and pays tribute to the men and women who serve in its armed forces, the USO is trying to change that mindset. The organization, which was founded in 1941 to bring comfort and entertainment to America's men and women in uniform, has been focusing its support on American troops stationed around the world, particularly those in the military theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan, said Phillips. As part of that initiative, it's paying a great deal of attention to the troops' desires, whether they be for high technology -- the USO recently brought video game/HDTV entertainment centers and satellite-based telephone systems to some areas -- or a diversity of entertainers, including rappers and NFL players. The Colbert trip was a meeting of the minds between the Comedy Central star and the military, said Rachel Tischler, the USO's vice president for entertainment operations. The "Colbert Report" host, who has attested to his interest in Iraq in such venues as Newsweek magazine (he was a guest editor last month), expressed interest in going, a request that made its way up the chain of command to Gen. David Petraeus, the former leader of coalition forces in Iraq. Petraeus liked the idea, said Tischler, and the principals were put in touch with the USO. Colbert's excursion, which the comedian called "Operation Iraqi Stephen," was unusual for the USO, she added. "We try to keep our footprint small," she said, noting that the organization is reliant on the military to feed and house its guests. In "Colbert's" case, the footprint was considerably larger: Colbert's staff and several USO employees -- not to mention 150 volunteers. The trip required six months of planning. But the broadcasts went well, with Colbert paying tribute to the military and the USO's volunteers (as well as his own staff) on the "Report." He also put in a plug for USO donations: "The USO does more than bring my show to Baghdad," Colbert said on the show. "They also deliver much-needed care packages to the troops." (Whereupon, in a care-package primer, Colbert and Tom Hanks filled a box with shaving gel, Tang and a demolished ice sculpture.) The group remains greatly dependent on the kindness of strangers, said Phillips. "We're primarily a volunteer organization," he said, noting the USO has fewer than 400 paid employees and 25,000 volunteers. Though the USO does receive a small congressional appropriation -- $20 million in 2008 -- much of its funding comes from individuals, corporations and in the form of in-kind services. Jamie Masada, the owner of Los Angeles' Laugh Factory comedy club, said the organization is close to his heart. He followed a tour of Laugh Factory comedians with an invitation to service members to visit his club. "What we try to do is give the soldiers -- the people that are out there putting their lives on the line for our country ... we try to say, one day if you come to Los Angeles, if you want to be a comedian, our door is open to you. We want you to send us some material, some jokes," he said. At a recent USO fundraiser, five service members were given the opportunity to compete for the title of "funniest service member." The group was given advice from several notable comedians, including Tom Dreesen and Paul Rodriguez, and the winner received cash, gift certificates and a performance at the club, complete with name on the marquee. A number of performers return again and again. Toby Keith has gone on at least seven USO tours; "He insists on going to the smallest, most remote places," said Phillips. Actor Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band are also frequent participants. "There aren't enough words to describe just how grateful I am to our nation's troops," said Keith in a press release before this year's tour. "I've participated in several USO tours over the years and I've seen firsthand their sacrifice. And I will not stop doing all I can to show my support and lift their spirits." Many entertainers shy away from publicity, particularly on the home front. "We have celebrities come to Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed ... and they almost always insist we don't talk about [the visits]," said Tischler. At its core, Phillips said, the USO remains dedicated to the needs of U.S. service members. "Service members in Iraq and Afghanistan are frequently at small, remote bases," said Phillips. "There's little in the way of creature comforts. Those are the things we try to deliver."

USO often brings thoughts of Bob Hope, but organization well beyond that . Group offers technology, entertainment to troops overseas . USO played key role in arranging "Colbert Report" from Iraq .

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

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

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(CNN) -- Reputed mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, visibly annoyed, muttered under his breath "You're a f---ing liar" Thursday as a disgraced former FBI supervisor testified that there was "no question" the Irish gangster doubled as an informant for FBI Boston. Prosecutor Brian Kelly requested that the judge in Bulger's federal trial advise Bulger to "keep his little remarks to himself," which Judge Denise Casper advised shortly after. Both sets of attorneys have spent a remarkable amount of time during the trial of the notorious Bulger, charged with 19 murders and in court after living in hiding for 16 years, trying to prove whether Bulger was an informant during a 15-year period. Even Judge Casper is beginning to question the importance of the issue. During post-court discussion over motions, as the defense was attempting to further it's argument that Bulger's informant records were forged by his FBI handler, Judge Casper questioned, "How does that address that your client is not guilty of crimes here?" Bulger's attorney J.W. Carney danced around the question and responded, "Bulger was not providing information as an informant, he was providing money so that he'd get tipped off about wire taps and search warrants." Bulger's attorneys have been quick to admit to acts of extortion and racketeering -- charges Bulger is also facing -- to defend their client's position that he was not another "rat" from South Boston. "Why can't both be true?" Judge Casper inquired. "The defendant's position is (that) only one is true." Carney said. "Why would James Bulger be paying all this money to all these people if the government's theory is he got all this protection because he was providing information. Why would he keep paying everybody?" Former FBI supervisor John Morris, an addition to the government's long list of cooperating witnesses, testified Thursday that he took bribes from Bulger in the amount of $7,000, along with a silver-plated champagne bucket and two cases of imported wine. Morris said he asked Bulger if he could "spring" for a plane ticket for his secretary girlfriend to visit him during FBI training in Georgia, and Bulger obliged. Morris admitted to his acts of corruption in 1997 in exchange for immunity. A sheepish, red-faced Morris, though less than six feet away from Bulger, avoided eye contact with the defendant, who glared steadily at his old confidant throughout his testimony. This is the first time the two have seen each other since they cut ties in 1991 after Morris leaked Bulger's informant status to the Boston Globe. Morris said he first met Bulger at a dinner he hosted his Lexington, Massachusetts, home in 1978 along with Bulger's FBI handler John Connolly, whom he characterized as his "best friend." Morris said he met Bulger and later his associate Steve "The Rifleman" Flemmi eight to 10 times in various places, including Morris' home, Morris' girlfriend's apartment, a hotel, Bulger's home and even in Flemmi's mother's house for dinner. Flemmi's mother cooked. The defense has previously argued that Bulger was not treated like an informant, and thus did not believe that he was. Morris testified that Connolly preferred to meet Bulger in "pleasant surroundings, not the type of surroundings you would meet a normal informant," like in a hotel or car. "He wanted Mr. Bulger to be comfortable," Morris said. Morris was supervisor to rogue FBI agent Connolly, who is currently serving a 40-year sentence on second-degree murder charges for leaking the identities of witnesses cooperating against Bulger's Winter Hill Gang. Flemmi, serving a life sentence, is set to testify against Bulger later in this trial after agreeing to cooperate with the government to evade the death penalty in 1997. All that Bulger and Flemmi wanted from their handlers in exchange for information was "a head start," as Morris described -- to be tipped off if they were going to be indicted or charged so they could flee. The pair, according to Morris, knew they were "fair game" and acknowledged that they were engaging in criminal activity and at some point they might get charged. If that happened, they didn't want their identity as informants disclosed and would rather "take the risk" Morris said. Morris admitted to tipping his informants off to wire taps, and keeping their names out of a 1975 horse race indictment. He testified that the Mafia, or La Cosa Nostra, was the main priority of the FBI in Boston and that Bulger and his partner Flemmi were instrumental in the take-down of those mobsters. The two provided the agents with a drawing of Mafia headquarters, and that was used to take down the New England Mafia in a 1983 sting. After being tipped off to an indictment, Bulger went on the run for 16 years and landed himself on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list before being arrested in his Santa Monica. California, home with his girlfriend in 2011. Morris said that he signed off on reports Bulger provided to the FBI that he knew were false lies to protect himself from being implicated as the person to who leaked sensitive information that may have tipped Bulger off to witnesses that were cooperating against him. Those potential witnesses were eventually murdered, Morris said, and Bulger has been charged in their killings. While the defense had little time to cross-examine Morris, who will be back on the stand Friday, defense attorney Hank Brennan painted Morris to be a liar, an adulterer, and a fraud. He was able to fire off a question that is likely to resound with the jury. "You were corrupt, weren't you Mr. Morris?" Brennan queried. "Yes," Morris exhaled after a long pause and a deep breath.

A former FBI agents is asked: "You were corrupt, weren't you?" "Yes," comes the answer from agent, who is testifying against "Whitey" Bulger . Reputed mob boss Bulger is charged with 19 murders . He lived in hiding for 16 years, after a tipoff from an FBI source that he faced indictment .

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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel has expelled Venezuela's ambassador in response to Venezuela's expulsion of an Israeli envoy and the rupture of diplomatic relations earlier this month. A pro-Palestinian mural in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Venezuelan head of mission Roland Betancourt and two other diplomats were given until Friday to leave. "Due to the decision of Venezuela to cut relations with us a few weeks ago, we told the Venezuelan charge d'affaires that he and his staff should leave Israel," Foreign Ministry official Lior Hayat said. "We told them they are declared persona non grata in Israel." Venezuela expelled Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Cohen and staff on January 6 and broke off diplomatic relations on January 14 in protest of Israel's attack on Gaza. Bolivia also broke off relations with Israel that day. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro defended his country's actions, saying Israel violated basic human rights with its military action. "Our decisions were just, correct, aligned with and adjusted with the spirit of our constitution, which mandates that we seek international peace," Maduro said in a statement on the foreign ministry's Web site. Maduro said Venezuela's actions are compatible with its support for the creation of a Palestinian state. He has not spoken, he said, with any Israeli officials over this week's expulsion of the Venezuelan diplomats. "The response of the state of Israel is weak, late, and in any case for us it's an honor," Maduro told the Qatar-based television network Al-Jazeera. "We're proud that the state of Israel that exists today, led by these criminals, made this decision." Israel and Venezuela have had diplomatic tensions before. Israel recalled its ambassador to Venezuela in August 2006 "in protest against the one-sided policy of the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, in light of his outrageous defamatory remarks against the state of Israel, and in reaction to the recalling of the Venezuela ambassador to Israel," the foreign ministry said at the time. A January 21 cease-fire put an end to fighting between Hamas militants in Gaza and Israel, which had launched a three-week offensive, saying its goal was to stop missile strikes into southern Israel. More than 1,200 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were killed. Israel lost about 10 soldiers and three civilians.

Venezuelan ambassador to Israel and two others expelled . Move in response to Venezuela breaking diplomatic relations over Gaza attack . Venezuelan foreign minister says country is proud of the expulsion from Israel .

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Hong Kong (CNN) -- Growing levels of conflict, terrorism, and the toppling of regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as political violence in East Africa, are driving a rise in political instability worldwide, according to research by UK risk analysis firm, Maplecroft released on Thursday. Since 2010, one in ten of the countries surveyed have experienced a significant increase in the level of short-term political risk. These risks include governments asserting control over natural resources, regimes being ousted by popular uprisings and the expropriation of foreign investors' assets. The findings form part of the latest Maplecroft Political Risk Atlas, which uses 52 indicators to help companies monitor political issues affecting the business environment in 197 countries. Since 2010, Syria has deteriorated the most. It now ranks second compared with a 44th place ranking in 2010. Somalia topped the rankings. Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also ranked in the top five. Egypt has been downgraded to "extreme risk" for the first time as a result of violence following the ousting of former President Mohamed Morsy and an increase in terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, the report said. Maplecroft warned that Syria, Egypt and Libya are "now so bad" that they will be "mired in exceptionally high levels of dynamic political risk for years to come." A fall in political violence in the Philippines, India and Uganda has contributed to these countries experiencing the biggest reduction in short-term political risk over the past four years. Improvements in the level of governance has also helped to lower risk levels in Malaysia and Israel in the same period. Social unrest . The report said there is a higher chance for social unrest to exacerbate political instability in Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. "This is due to the erosion of democratic freedoms, increasing crackdowns on political position and the brutality by security forces towards protesters, compounded by rising food prices and worsening working conditions," Maplecroft said in a statement. Another concern for foreign investors is that there has been a major increase in oppression by governments worldwide. "This erosion of political freedoms is central to driving the wider risk of unrest and instability in the medium- to long term," said Charlotte Ingham, senior political risk analyst at Maplecroft. In the short term, foreign investors face a heightened risk of becoming complicit with the actions of these oppressive regimes, which poses a threat to a company's reputation, the think tank said. Empowered youth . Instability increases as the gap grows between political freedoms and social gains, such as education and computer literacy among young people. In 2010, prior to the the Arab Spring, Libya, Tunisia, Iran, Syria and Egypt were among the countries with the biggest divide between political freedoms and social gains. Maplecroft predicts that the growing imbalance between social gains and political freedoms in Bahrain, Azerbaijan and South Africa will heighten the risk of instability in those countries in 2014 and beyond. Although China is categorized as "extreme risk" in Maplecroft's ranking of oppressive regimes, the speed of the country's governance reforms is likely to be sufficient to limit the chances of widespread social unrest that could lead to a "jasmine" revolution, according to the think tank. But China's increased scrutiny of foreign business practices has created compliance challenges for companies operating there, the report added. Maplecroft cautioned that Vietnam's crackdown on social media and freedom of speech amid growing opposition may undermine the stability of the government in the long term. Poland has experienced a significant increase in the level of political freedoms over the past four years, according to Maplecroft, and now displays a "near perfect balance" between the level of political freedoms and social gains, which reduces the likelihood of protests and disputes over labor conditions. Political violence . East African countries saw the biggest increase in the risk of political violence, including terrorism, poor governance, and regimes vulnerable to popular uprisings. Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan scored in the "extreme risk" category, while Kenya and Ethiopia are "high risk." Eritrea, Tanzania and Mozambique also saw a change in their risk category. Three years after the Arab Spring, more than 60% of countries in the Middle East and North Africa region have seen a significant rise in political violence, demonstrating the long-term political risks associated with forced regime change, the report said. In the West, the impact of the global financial crisis continues to be seen in high levels of unemployment and underemployment. This, combined with austerity measures, has contributed to growing inequality and stalling or declining living standards, according to Maplecroft. Political landscapes both in Europe and the United States have become increasingly fragmented and polarized as populist parties flourished in response to growing voter dissatisfaction with established political parties over these issues.

New research finds the Middle East and North Africa, and East Africa are political risk hotspots . The Philippines, India, Uganda, Ghana, Israel and Malaysia saw the largest decrease in risk . More than half of countries are classified as 'extreme' or 'high risk' of limiting political freedoms . Disparity between political freedom and education drives short-term social unrest .

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English Premier League club Liverpool have agreed a $36 million deal with Ajax for Uruguay striker Luis Suarez. Liverpool have been haggling with the Dutch outfit over the fee for several days but both announced on their websites that negotiations had proven successful on Friday. The Reds have now been given permission to discuss personal terms with Suarez and will aim to complete the transfer before the European transfer window closes on January 31. Liverpool reject Chelsea's bid for Fernando Torres . A statement on the official Ajax website read: "Ajax and Liverpool have reached an agreement over the transfer of Luis Suarez. "He will make the move to the English club immediately. The deal is worth up to a total of €26.5 million ($36 million)." Suarez hasn't played a league game for Ajax since November last year after he was banned for seven matches for biting an opponent. The 24-year-old was infamously sent off during the World Cup quarterfinal against Ghana in July after saving a goal-bound attempt with his hands. His switch would mark the first signing Kenny Dalglish has made since he returned to Liverpool as manager. The Scot previously won eight league titles as a Reds player and manager. Liverpool posted a statement on their website that read: "Liverpool Football Club announced this afternoon that they had agreed a fee of up to €26.5 million ($36 million) with Ajax for the transfer of Luis Suarez, subject to the completion of a medical. "The club have now been given permission by Ajax to discuss personal terms with the player and his representatives." The deal comes on the same day Liverpool revealed they had turned down a multi-million dollar offer from Chelsea for Spain striker Fernando Torres.

English Premier League club Liverpool agree a deal with Ajax to sign Luis Suarez . Fee for the 24-year-old Uruguay striker is $36 million . Suarez will now discuss personal terms with Liverpool .

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