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Detroit , Michigan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Barack Obama , speaking at auto plants here Friday , praised the recovery of the embattled U.S. auto industry and celebrated the tough choices he says made a comeback possible . `` Last year , many thought this industry would keep losing jobs , as it had for the better part of the past decade . Today , U.S. automakers have added more than 55,000 jobs since last June , '' said Obama , speaking at a Chrysler plant . He said both Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Corp. have rebounded from the depths of their government-brokered bankruptcies and are back on track to grow . Later in the day , Obama toured and spoke at a GM plant , where he also made the case for why the federal government 's investment in the auto industry was a wise move . At times sounding like a candidate on the campaign trial , he is working to build support for his economic policies with just a few months to go until midterm elections in November . In the 12 months before he took office , Obama said , the U.S. auto industry had lost hundreds of thousands of jobs and had seen its sales drop 40 percent . He cited estimates suggesting more than 1 million people would have lost their jobs if Chrysler and GM , two of the three big U.S. automakers , had been allowed to liquidate . Ford Motor Co. was the only one of the `` Big 3 '' automakers that did not take a government bailout . At the GM plant , Obama also stressed the need to develop and manufacture green technologies that would cut the country 's dependence on oil . He test drove the Chevrolet Volt , GM 's electric car , which is expected to roll out later this year . `` Today , this industry is growing strong . It 's creating new jobs . It 's manufacturing the fuel-efficient cars and trucks that will carry us toward an energy independent future , '' Obama said .
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NEW : President touts development of green technologies . Says 55,000 new jobs have been added by the U.S. auto industry . Obama defends government support for the companies as a good investment .
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Buenos Aires , Argentina -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Two men who have been together for 34 years have become the first couple to obtain a same-sex marriage since it became legal in Argentina on July 15 . Artistic representative Alejandro Vanelli and actor Ernesto Larrese were married in a civil ceremony Friday morning in Buenos Aires , Argentina 's capital . They wore dark suits and striped blue ties and were surrounded by well-wishers and a throng of reporters , photographers and videographers . Larrese spoke to his partner -- but also to the nation at large . `` To all those who are afraid ... those who are homophobic ... I tell them , do n't worry ; this does n't affect you , '' Larrese said . `` You have nothing to fear . Fear is the opposite of love . Any phobia can be cured with love . There is nothing love can not cure . `` Alejandro , I love you , and I renew my vows to you for 34 more years . '' They were not the first same-sex couple to be married in the nation ; just the first since the federal law was enacted . Previously , Argentina did not have a nationwide law but let state and local governments decide whether to allow same-sex marriages . Alex Freyre and Jose Maria di Bello were married in Tierra del Fuego , at the southern tip of Argentina , in December . They are believed to be the first same-sex couple to be married in Latin America . Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage when lawmakers in the Senate passed the bill this month after 14 hours of debate . The bill had already passed the lower chamber of Congress . It gives same-sex couples equal marriage rights , including the ability to adopt children . The law was backed by the center-left government of President Cristina Kirchner , who signed the measure into law . The majority Roman Catholic country joins a few others around the world where same-sex marriage is legal . Among them are the Netherlands , Belgium and Spain . Countries in Latin America , a region strongly identified with the Catholic Church , have recently given more attention to gay rights . Mexico City 's legislative assembly passed a bill last year legalizing gay marriage there . In September , Uruguay became the first Latin American country to allow same-sex adoption .
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Argentina is the first Latin American nation to allow same-sex marriage . The federal law was enacted July 15 . The legality of same-sex marriage had been determined at the local and state levels . Another couple celebrated a same-sex marriage in December .
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Port-au-Prince , Haiti -- Horror has given way to acceptance ; it can be seen on people 's faces . But desperation surfaces everywhere : . In the rubble still strewn about the streets , in the steadily rising piles of garbage , in the 1,300 makeshift camps that still house so many people . Four months on , the tragedy of the massive January 12 earthquake is fresh . Relief operations thwarted widespread hunger here and so far , there have been no reports of killer disease outbreaks . But Port-au-Prince is very much running in emergency mode . Still . No humanitarian worker will argue with that sad fact . Despite the efforts and good intentions of a host of foreigners and a government that got a wake-up call , progress has been timidly slow . The future has a different meaning now for Haitians such as Edline Pierre , who worries not about where to enroll her three daughters in school but how to get them up off the floor fast enough when the rains start falling . Haiti earthquake special . She poured cement around her shack in the city 's central Champs de Mars plaza . But that does n't keep the water out or her girls safe at night . The future means getting through the night and when the sun comes back out , scrounging together a meal . On the streets , a bright spot : the sight of schoolchildren in uniforms . But only 700 of the 5,000 or so schools around the Haitian capital have opened . Some were destroyed ; others are occupied by the displaced . Another welcomed sight : Hundreds of street vendors , many of whom are women , sit under a rainbow of umbrellas to sell mangoes , plantains and coconuts . Or they display a collision of goods in one basket -- shoe polish , spaghetti , shampoo , cigarettes and molasses . These are snippets of life as it was once , before that fatal day . Give us work -- not handouts . In the aftermath of what most Haitians refer to as `` the catastrophe , '' people asked for food . They patiently lined up for hours to receive a sack of rice , a quart of oil . The lines are gone , along with the massive aid drops . International agencies are wary that too much help could stymie the local economy . Now the two million Haitians living in squalid makeshift camps -- and countless others living in the homes of generous family and friends -- need jobs . They do n't want handouts ; they just want money so they can feed themselves . `` We are willing to work -- work hard -- for money , but we need jobs , '' said Joseph Cangas , a coordinator at a new camp in Corail . Some earn a few dollars here and there through work-for-cash programs . They clear debris off the streets or clean latrines in the camps . These are hardly high-quality jobs , but being employed anywhere will earn you envy . More than 100,000 Haitians found work this way . But that 's only a sliver of the population . Almost four million people live in Port-au-Prince , a city designed for 250,000 . Haitians lived in congested neighborhoods and shanties before the quake . Imagine those conditions compounded -- a family of six eating , sitting and sleeping in a space that 's hardly bigger than the sofa in your den . When home is a place of last resort . To shield people from the potential danger of the rainy season , aid agencies have started building transitional homes and have relocated thousands to new camps on the city 's perimeter . Almost 5,000 went to Corail , a stark place that evokes images of a military base in the Iraqi desert . Void of trees , the tropical sun beats down hard , and soaring temperatures make furnaces of the tents . It 's not a place residents say they would choose . But this is where the government had access to land , so this is where people were brought to ride out the rains . Here , at least , they are not at risk of being washed away by torrents of water or in mudslides down steep , denuded hills . Corail has its own problems . It 's far from the city , and it can cost a camp resident an astronomical $ 1.25 to take tap-taps , the colorful shared taxis , to central Port-au-Prince . No one at Corail could afford that journey . But they said they had to figure out a way to go where the jobs were . `` We help each other . We share food , '' said Cangas , the camp coordinator . `` But the situation is getting more tense . People have nothing so they resort to stealing sometimes . '' He complained about the lack of services and schools at Corail . But aid agencies do n't want people to get too comfortable here . Eventually , people have to try and regain their livelihoods in the neighborhoods where they were established . `` You want people to go home , '' said Mark Turner , spokesman for the International Organization for Migration . `` The last resort is a place like Corail . '' Turner said camp managers have been asking Haiti 's homeless this question : What will it take for you to move out of a camp ? The answers are varied , and the problems are n't easily resolved . Not even the safe places feel safe . All over the city , buildings are being marked green , yellow and red . Some already say : `` To demolish . '' But even after an engineer has marked a home green for `` safe , '' people are reluctant to return . The United Nations estimates only 9 percent of those with green houses have gone back . What if there is another earthquake ? Gerald-Emile Brun , an architect working with the government on relocation , said incentives for people to go home -- $ 50 and a few provisions -- are being created . But so far , nothing has been doled out . For many , Brun recognized , it 's impossible to go back to the spot where their house once stood because there is no place to dispose of the rubble . In this city of renters , landlords are refusing to accept people who can not pay the back rent for the four months they have been gone . Many of the displaced can no longer even afford the monthly amount they were paying before . And as time marches on , many landowners want to evict displaced people so the buildings can be used as intended . What if your child could not go to school because the classrooms were occupied by the homeless ? What if you were homeless and had no place to shelter your children except at the neighborhood school ? It 's a tough call , especially for humanitarian workers who do n't believe in forced evictions . But at the same time , Turner said , `` we recognize the landowners have legitimate concerns . '' These are municipal issues that will have to be dealt with by the local government , Turner said . But it wo n't be easy . Ask Jacques Pablito Chardavoire , who helps manage a camp in front of the city 's main cathedral . Chardavoire 's response was simple but to the point : . Why would you leave an encampment that offers you a toilet , a shower , emergency food rations and , yes , even an outdoor movie screen when you have no place to go and no money in your pockets ? He said almost 2,000 people were resettled in February from Champs de Mars to the cathedral . But within days , that many more people from elsewhere had flocked to Champ de Mars . `` Every time we move people , more come because they need services , '' he said . Much is shattered , but not hope . Haitians , who have lived through political turmoil , extreme violence and grinding poverty , will tell you the earthquake was the worst experience of their lives . Whether a new city can rise from the rubble of Port-au-Prince remains in question , though Haitians are hopeful something good must come out of an event this tragic . They have to be . They have nothing left but hope . And faith . That 's why if you peek down lanes on a steamy afternoon , you 'll see a gathering of people under a tent , their arms stretched skyward , their eyes closed . And you 'll hear the Lord 's Prayer . You 'll hear it , too , every Sunday morning , before the sun gets hot , at Notre Dame , the main cathedral in Port-au-Prince . The building is shattered , but not the congregation 's faith . They still come to the place where , every week , they are re-energized by their belief in Christ . Several Haitians said they feared the world 's goodwill would quickly fade now that the throngs of media have left and the spotlight has turned elsewhere . Edna Dunrod was one of them . She worried she was forgotten , lying on a smelly mattress under three tattered bed sheets that serve as a roof in the Champs de Mars tent city . Last month , she gave birth to Marvins , asleep in a plastic tub under a foldable umbrella . Life with a newborn in this congested camp , she said , was unbearable . `` I want to go somewhere else , '' she said . But where , she worried . And who would help her reclaim her life ?
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Four months after massive quake , progress in Haiti is painfully slow . People are afraid to return to their homes , even if they 've been deemed safe . Life in camps is difficult , but for many , it 's the best option they have . Despite their tremendous suffering , many Haitians hang onto the hope of a better future .
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Islamabad , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Some 14 million people have been affected by the torrential rains and flooding that have left more than 1,000 dead in Pakistan , a spokesman for the national disaster authority told CNN Tuesday . While 1,245 people have been confirmed killed , officials believe the number of dead may reach 1,500 , said spokesman Ahmed Kamal . He said 1,334 people have been injured and 337,282 people have been rescued . More than 302,000 houses have been damaged , Kamal said , but that number might more than double by the time the flooding subsides . Most of the displaced have sought shelter in public buildings , including schools , said a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . They include thousands of Afghan refugees `` who have suddenly lost their homes for the second time . '' Pakistan 's Meteorological Department said more heavy rains were in store in the next few days , threatening to deepen the worst natural disaster the nation has experienced in recent history . The monsoon season is only halfway over . The flooding , which started in the northwest , threatened places as far south as the port city of Karachi . Nineteen people died across the country between Sunday and Monday nights , Kamal said . The weather in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did improve slightly Tuesday , which allowed 23 helicopters to take off for relief and rescue operations , according to a military spokesperson who did not want to be identified . Kamal said 76 helicopters and 621 boats were participating in rescue efforts . Of those affected by the flooding , 6 million to 7 million are in immediate need of food and other items , said Maurizio Giuliano , information officer for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . `` While not all may be in need of immediate humanitarian assistance , and the severity of their needs has not yet been fully assessed , this is a higher figure than those who were affected by the 2005 South Asia tsunami -LRB- 3 million -RRB- , the 2005 South Asia earthquake -LRB- 3 million -RRB- , or the 2010 Haiti earthquake -LRB- 3 million -RRB- , '' he said Monday in a statement . Though the number of fatalities was not comparable with either the tsunami or the earthquake , both of which had death tolls that exceeded 200,000 , Pakistan 's flooding `` is a major disaster of enormous magnitude , '' said John Holmes , U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and emergency relief coordinator . Many Pakistanis are not happy with the government 's response to the floods , saying it has been slow and ineffective . Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari returned home Monday from an overseas trip , facing growing criticism of his actions following the massive flooding . He had been in England for talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron during the worst of the crisis . Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said a true assessment of the loss of life and infrastructure can be determined only after the water recedes . He appealed to the international community and to Pakistanis living abroad to help . Aid agencies scrambled to help those in need . `` The assistance that we have so far provided has alleviated suffering , but relief operations need to be massively scaled up , '' said Martin Mogwanja , the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan . U.S. emergency relief teams continued to arrive in Peshawar to help , the U.S. State Department said . The U.S. Agency for International Development has committed $ 55 million in aid to international organizations and nongovernmental organizations , it said . The United States has provided more than 435,000 meals . This assistance is in addition to U.S. military efforts , which include rescue airlifts , food supplies and other deliveries provided by the Pentagon . Of the total , $ 20 million will be used to expand humanitarian operations farther south as the flood zone expands , Mark Ward , acting director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance , told reporters Tuesday . CNN 's Reza Sayah and Samson Desta and journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report .
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NEW : The displaced in Pakistan include thousands of Afghan refugees . Some 14 million people have been affected by the rain and floods . The death toll stands at 1,245 , Pakistani authorities say . 1,334 people have been injured ; 302,000 homes damaged .
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New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- New York City will pay more than $ 7 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the estate of a man killed by police outside a Queens ' nightclub in 2006 and by his two friends , who were seriously wounded , a spokeswoman for the city 's Law Department said Tuesday . The estate of Sean Bell , who was killed in the shooting , will receive $ 3.25 million , Joseph Guzman receive $ 3 million and Trent Benefield will get $ 900,000 , said Kate Ahlers . `` The city regrets the loss of life in this tragic case , and we share our deepest condolences with the Bell family , '' Michael Cardozo , attorney for the New York City Law Department . `` We hope that all parties can find some measure of closure by this settlement . '' Bell , Guzman and Benefield were shot after an altercation with plainclothes detectives outside the Queens nightclub where Bell 's bachelor party was held on the night before his wedding . Bell died at the scene , and Guzman and Benefield were seriously wounded . Accounts of the incident varied . Undercover officers , who were investigating the club regarding prostitution allegations , said they identified themselves as police , but witnesses and the wounded men said they did not . Police said they believed at least one of the men had a gun , but no gun was found . And one of the officers said the Bell , instead of obeying his command to stop , hit him with his vehicle . The incident quickly became a touchstone for those who believe police -- in New York and elsewhere -- have a record of excessive force , particularly against black men . Bell , 23 , was African-American , as were the two men wounded and two of the three police officers . The officers fired 50 shots in just a few seconds . The shooting sparked street protests , and Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it `` inexplicable '' and `` unacceptable , '' saying `` it sounds to me like excessive force was used . '' In March 2007 , three of the police officers were indicted on multiple charges . Detectives Gescard Isnora , Marc Cooper and Michael Oliver -- who fired his gun 31 times that night , pausing to reload his weapon -- were acquitted of all charges in April 2008 . Justice Arthur Cooperman of New York State Supreme Court said inconsistent testimony and other problems `` had the effect of eviscerating the credibility '' of key prosecution witnesses , and that some testimony `` just did n't make sense . '' `` The police response with respect to each defendant was not proved to be criminal -- i.e. , beyond a reasonable doubt . Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums , '' Cooperman said , according to a transcript released by his office . Citing insufficient evidence , the Department of Justice announced in February that it would not pursue federal civil rights charges against police officers involved . The department issued a statement saying that after a `` careful and thorough '' review , there is not enough evidence to prove that New York Police Department detectives `` acted willfully '' when they opened fire on Bell and his friends . In May , Rev. Al Sharpton led a large protest in response to the Department of Justice decision . Sharpton and Bell 's fiancee and parents were among more than 200 people arrested in New York City . Sharpton responded to Tuesday 's decision in a written statement . `` This in no way mitigates or repairs the permanent damage done to them and the pain it has caused them forever nor does it diminish the outrage in the community , '' Sharpton said . `` We will always pursue justice for the family of Sean Bell , Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield . ''
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City to pay more than $ 7 million to victims of 2006 shooting . Bell was to be married the following day . Bell was killed , his friends seriously wounded . Police are acquitted in 2008 , Justice Department does not file civil rights charges .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- We 're getting to the point where even good news comes wrapped in bad news . Good news : Despite the terrible June job numbers -LRB- 125,000 jobs lost as the Census finished its work -RRB- , one sector continues to gain -- manufacturing . Factories added 9,000 workers in June , for a total of 136,000 hires since December 2009 . So that 's something , yes ? Maybe not . Despite millions of unemployed , despite 2 million job losses in manufacturing between the end of 2007 and the end of 2009 , factory employers apparently can not find the workers they need . Here 's what the New York Times reported Friday : . `` The problem , the companies say , is a mismatch between the kind of skilled workers needed and the ranks of the unemployed . `` During the recession , domestic manufacturers appear to have accelerated the long-term move toward greater automation , laying off more of their lowest-skilled workers and replacing them with cheaper labor abroad . `` Now they are looking to hire people who can operate sophisticated computerized machinery , follow complex blueprints and demonstrate higher math proficiency than was previously required of the typical assembly line worker . '' It may sound like manufacturers are being too fussy . But they face a real problem . As manufacturing work gets more taxing , manufacturers are looking at a work force that is actually becoming less literate and less skilled . In 2007 , ETS -- the people who run the country 's standardized tests -- compiled a battery of scores of basic literacy conducted over the previous 15 years and arrived at a startling warning : On present trends , the country 's average score on basic literacy tests will drop by 5 percent by 2030 as compared to 1992 . That 's a disturbing headline . Behind the headline is even worse news . Not everybody 's scores are dropping . In fact , ETS estimates that the percentage of Americans who can read at the very highest levels will actually rise slightly by 2030 as compared to 1992 -- a special national `` thank you '' to all those parents who read to their kids at bedtime ! But that small rise at the top is overbalanced by a collapse of literacy at the bottom . In 1992 , 17 percent of Americans scored at the very lowest literacy level . On present trends , 27 percent of Americans will score at the very lowest level in 2030 . What 's driving the deterioration ? An immigration policy that favors the unskilled . Immigrants to Canada and Australia typically arrive with very high skills , including English-language competence . But the United States has taken a different course . Since 2000 , the United States has received some 10 million migrants , approximately half of them illegal . Migrants to the United States arrive with much less formal schooling than migrants to Canada and Australia and very poor English-language skills . More than 80 percent of Hispanic adult migrants to the United States score below what ETS deems a minimum level of literacy necessary for success in the U.S. labor market . Let 's put this in concrete terms . Imagine a migrant to the United States . He 's hard-working , strong , energetic , determined to get ahead . He speaks almost zero English , and can barely read or write even in Spanish . He completed his last year of formal schooling at age 13 and has been working with his hands ever since . He 's an impressive , even admirable human being . Maybe he reminds some Americans of their grandfather . And had he arrived in this country in 1920 , there would have been many , many jobs for him to do that would have paid him a living wage , enabling him to better himself over time -- backbreaking jobs , but jobs that did not pay too much less than what a fully literate English-speaking worker could earn . During the debt-happy 2000s , that same worker might earn a living assembling houses or landscaping hotels and resorts . But with the Great Recession , the bottom has fallen out of his world . And even when the recession ends , we 're not going to be building houses like we used to , or spending money on vacations either . We may hope that over time the children and grandchildren of America 's immigrants of the 1990s and 2000s will do better than their parents and grandparents . For now , the indicators are not good : American-born Hispanics drop out of high school at very high rates . Over time , yes , they 'll probably catch up -- by the 2060s , they 'll probably be doing fine . But over the intervening half century , we are going to face a big problem . We talk a lot about retraining workers , but we do n't really know how to do it very well -- particularly workers who can not read fluently . Our schools are not doing a brilliant job training the native-born less advantaged : even now , a half-century into the civil rights era , still one-third of black Americans read at the lowest level of literacy . Just as we made bad decisions about physical capital in the 2000s -- overinvesting in houses , underinvesting in airports , roads , trains , and bridges -- so we also made fateful decisions about our human capital : accepting too many unskilled workers from Latin America , too few highly skilled workers from China and India . We have been operating a human capital policy for the world of 1910 , not 2010 . And now the Great Recession is exposing the true costs of this malinvestment in human capital . It has wiped away the jobs that less-skilled immigrants can do , that offered them a livelihood and a future . Who knows when or if such jobs will return ? Meanwhile the immigrants fitted for success in the 21st century economy were locating in Canada and Australia . Americans do not believe in problems that can not be quickly or easily solved . They place their faith in education and re-education . They do not like to remember that it took two and three generations for their own families to acquire the skills necessary to succeed in a technological society . They hate to imagine that their country might be less affluent , more unequal , and less globally competitive in the future because of decisions they are making now . Yet all these things are true . We can not predict in advance which skills precisely will be needed by the U.S. economy of a decade hence . Nor should we try , for we 'll certainly guess wrong . What we can know is this : Immigrants who arrive with language and math skills , with professional or graduate degrees , will adapt better to whatever the future economy throws at them . Even more important , their children are much more likely to find a secure footing in the ultratechnological economy of the mid-21st century . And by reducing the flow of very unskilled foreign workers into the United States , we will tighten labor supply in ways that will induce U.S. employers to recruit , train and retain the less-skilled native born , especially African-Americans -- the group hit hardest by the Great Recession of 2008-2010 . In the short term , we need policies to fight the recession . We need monetary stimulus , a cheaper dollar , and lower taxes . But none of these policies can fix the skills mismatch that occurs when an advanced industrial economy must find work for people who can not read very well , and whose children are not reading much better . The United States needs a human capital policy that emphasizes skilled immigration and halts unskilled immigration . It needed that policy 15 years ago , but it 's not too late to start now . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum .
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Some jobs remain unfilled because not enough skilled workers , manufacturers say . David Frum : Immigration policy has created influx of unskilled labor . He says pool of new workers more suited to needs of last century . Frum : U.S. policy should emphasize admitting highly skilled immigrants .
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Islamabad , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Flooding caused by monsoon rain has killed more than 400 people across Pakistan , a provincial government official said Friday . Mian Iftikhar Hussain , the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province information minister , said the death toll is now 408 people in that province and 25 in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir . Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry , the head of the Pakistan meteorological department , told CNN the 300 mm , or 11.8 inches , of rain recorded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the most ever in Pakistan . Many of the victims died when floodwaters swept away hundreds of mud houses in parts of Swat Valley and the districts of Shangla and Tank , according to Bashir Ahmed Bilour , a provincial minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . Rushing water also has washed away thousands of acres of crops and dozens of government buildings , local businesses and schools , Bilour said . Hussain said floodwater has cut off the Swat Valley and the districts of Shangla and Peshawar . There is no way to get to these areas by road , he said . Earlier Friday the head of Pakistan 's National Disaster Management Authority said flooding had killed at least 150 people and injured 90 since Wednesday . Retired Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed said 90 people were still missing . The Pakistani Air Force is helping with rescue efforts , spokesman Tariq Yazdanie said in an interview on Pakistani TV . The recent torrential rains have broken all previous records of rainfall in the country , he said . The U.N. refugee agency dispatched the first shipment of aid for flood victims in the region Thursday , the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported . APP said the supplies include 585 tents , 2,700 plastic sheets , 1,760 kitchen sets and 4,000 plastic mats . At the same time , a top official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province pressed Pakistan 's president for help , according to APP . The news agency said Assembly Speaker Karamatullah Khan told legislators he had asked President Asif Ali Zardari for a supply of emergency boats . Photographs from Getty Images showed flood victims struggling to cross a swollen river in the town of Nowshera . The pictures showed children being ferried across the water in overcrowded boats , and more able-bodied people helping the elderly to higher ground . Supplies from the U.N. agency will go first to the two hard-hit villages of Talli and Sultan Kot in Sibi district , APP said . The U.S.-based group Save the Children said it will distribute plastic sheeting for shelters , household supplies and hygiene kits to about 1,000 families over the next two days . Journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report .
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Almost all the deaths are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province , official says . State media : A U.N. agency has dispatched a shipment of aid for the victims . Floodwaters have swept away hundreds of homes .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Canadian Coast Guard finished the job of ferrying passengers Monday from a cruise ship that ran aground on an unmapped rock . Officials aboard the Clipper Adventurer reported their troubles Friday . The crew failed to dislodge the ship during high tide on Saturday . Sunday , a Coast Guard icebreaker arrived to transport the people on board to land . `` All 128 passengers were safely transported from the Coast Guard icebreaker , Amundsen , to the community of Kugluktuk '' on Monday , said Theresa Nichols , a spokeswoman with the Canadian Coast Guard . In addition to the passengers , 69 crew members also were on board , according to Nichols . Kugluktuk is a small town on the shore of the Arctic Ocean . Accommodations for the passengers have been arranged by the cruise ship company , said Nichols . The passengers are expected to fly to the Canadian city of Edmonton . The grounded vessel is stable , but rests with a slight list , according to the company that operates the cruise ship , Adventure Canada . The company said that while the passengers were stranded , they were able to enjoy ship-board programs , and some even took in some sun on the disabled ship 's deck .
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Passengers are taken to a small town on the shore of the Arctic Ocean . The 128 passengers are unhurt , Canadian Coast Guard says . The ship ran aground on unmapped rock Friday .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County , Arizona , is challenging the Justice Department 's request for certain documents in its investigation of alleged civil rights violations by the sheriff 's office . In a letter to the Justice Department on Friday , Arpaio 's lawyer said the sheriff could n't agree to the department 's September deadline to supply all documents requested for its investigation and questioned the government 's pursuit of broad access to documents , personnel and facilities in the inquiry . The letter , from sheriff 's office attorney Robert Driscoll , alleged that the Justice Department 's position that it is `` entitled to any document it wants , to access any facility it wishes , and to interview any witness it wants , without limitation ... is simply unreasonable . '' Authorities are investigating whether Arpaio 's policies and law enforcement sweeps discriminate against Hispanics . Justice Department officials met Tuesday with Arpaio and his lawyers to request additional documents in the investigation . The department formalized the request in a letter to the sheriff 's lawyers Wednesday . The letter asked the sheriff 's office to send confirmation Friday that it would deliver the documents by September 10 . In his letter to the Justice Department on Friday , Driscoll pushed back on that deadline , saying `` we did not agree to a September 10 , 2010 deadline at our meeting , and we can not agree to one now . `` As I am sure you are aware , '' the letter continued , `` MCSO -LSB- Maricopa County Sheriff 's Office -RSB- like many other state and local governmental agencies , has limited resources which can not be deployed indiscriminately without a potentially negative impact on MCSO 's ability to perform its primary functions of enforcing the law and protecting the citizens of Maricopa County . '' On Saturday , a Justice Department spokesman said the department expects to receive the documents on time , despite the Friday letter . `` We 're reviewing the letter , '' spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement , `` but as we have said all along , we expect the sheriff 's office to provide nothing short of full compliance with the law , as every other law enforcement agency in the country has done in similar circumstances . '' If it does n't turn over the documents , the government has threatened to sue the sheriff 's office `` to compel access to the requested documents , facilities and personnel , '' Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez has said . Arpaio , who has called himself `` America 's toughest sheriff , '' is known for his hard-nosed opposition to illegal immigration . Detractors accuse him of discriminating against Hispanics . Supporters say the Justice Department 's civil rights probe and its separate criminal investigation are politically motivated . In his Friday letter to the Justice Department , Driscoll claimed that some of the requested documents were already in the Justice Department 's possession . `` I must say I was surprised at the apparent lack of command that any members of the DOJ team had over these documents , '' Driscoll wrote , referring to the Tuesday meeting . `` Indeed many of the items your team claimed to need are among those documents that the DOJ has and has had for quite some time . '' CNN 's Carol Cratty contributed to this report .
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Sheriff 's lawyer : Government expectation of documents and access is `` unreasonable '' Lawyer refuses to commit to Justice Department 's September 10 deadline . Justice Department official says DOJ still expects requested documents on time . Officials are investigating alleged civil rights violations by the sheriff 's office .
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Atlanta , Georgia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A building at a Georgia university was evacuated Monday morning after some Civil War relics stored there were found to be possibly dangerous , officials said . Officials at Kennesaw State University in suburban Atlanta called an all-clear around 1 p.m. , about an hour and a half after they evacuated the school 's Social Sciences Building and its surrounding area . `` Some Civil War relics stored on the third floor were noticed as being a potential hazard , '' the university said in a news release . The relics included two cannonballs that were located in a display case within a room that was accessible only with a card-key , the university said . The cannonballs had been on display in the building for about three years as part of a collection within the university 's Center for the Study of the Civil War Era , the school said . They were donated by a private individual . A new administrative faculty member at the university was the person who raised concerns about the cannonballs , Kennesaw State said . A local bomb squad responded to the university and removed the relics in question , and the building was reopened .
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Civil War relics at Kennesaw State University were deemed potentially hazardous . Officials evacuated the building as a precaution . A bomb squad removed the questionable relics .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Mormon bishop was shot and killed in Visalia , California , on Sunday , police said . The suspected gunman was killed later in the day in a gunfight with police , Visalia California Police Chief Colleen Mestas told CNN . Bishop Clay Sannar , 42 , was shot dead in an office at Visalia 's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , Mestas said . About 20 minutes after the shooting , police got a call from the suspect , who told them where he was heading , Mestas said . Officers intercepted the suspect and a gunfight ensued , during which the suspect was killed . Church members tell police the gunman was a stranger who had n't been seen at the church before . `` I 've got a dozen investigators trying to sort this out right now , '' Mestas said . `` We 've got to get some answers for his -LSB- Sannar -RSB- family . '' Unlike in some religious traditions , Mormon bishops lead individual churches , not regions or groups of churches .
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The bishop is killed in a California church office . The suspect is killed in a gunfight with police . Unlike in some religious traditions , Mormon bishops lead individual churches .
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Los Angeles , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- First-time winners and new shows took the lion 's share of the hardware Sunday night at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards . `` Modern Family '' beat out the heavily favored `` Glee '' for outstanding comedy honors , and wound up winning six Emmys out of 14 nominations while `` Mad Men '' and `` Breaking Bad '' continued their winning ways in the drama category . `` We are thrilled that families are sitting down to watch a television show , '' said `` Modern Family '' creator Steven Levitan . `` Thank you for letting us into your families . '' `` The Pacific , '' which won seven Creative Arts Emmys last weekend and outstanding miniseries during the primetime show , was the overall champ , but the night 's big winners were the TV movie `` Temple Grandin , '' which won five Emmys for a total of seven . `` Modern Family '' took four Emmys on Sunday night and six overall . `` Mad Men '' received its third straight outstanding drama series trophy . `` I ca n't believe we are here , '' said series creator Matthew Weiner . The trend-setting AMC series received 17 nominations , and four Emmys . Actress Claire Danes won her first Emmy receiving the best actress in a miniseries or a movie award for her turn in `` Temple Grandin '' which also scored up with seven wins including best miniseries or movie . `` This is in service of your work , '' Danes said , thanking the real-life Grandin during her acceptance speech . The award show proved to be full of surprises . Aaron Paul of `` Breaking Bad '' scored his first win for outstanding supporting actor in a drama , and Jim Parsons from `` The Big Bang Theory '' beat out such veterans Alec Baldwin and Tony Shalhoub for best actor in a comedy . Edie Falco scored her fourth Emmy as lead actress . Falco , who had previously won for `` The Sopranos '' in the drama category , took home the award for best actress in a comedy for her role on `` Nurse Jackie . '' `` I 'm not funny , '' Falco insisted when she took to the stage . `` Top Chef '' ended seven years of domination of `` The Amazing Race '' in the best reality show category . `` The Daily Show '' won for outstanding variety , music , or comedy series . The critically acclaimed `` Breaking Bad '' swept the drama acting category with the show 's star Bryan Cranston winning for best actor . George Clooney received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his many philanthropic works , including `` America : A Tribute to Heroes in the Wake of 9/11 , '' `` Tsunami Aid : A Concert of Hope , '' `` A Concert for the Gulf Coast '' and the `` Hope for Haiti Now '' telethon . Kyra Sedgwick took home her first Emmy for best actress in a drama for her work on `` The Closer , '' and Archie Panjabi from `` The Good Wife '' won for best supporting actress in a drama . Jane Lynch from `` Glee '' looked shocked for her selection as best supporting actress in a comedy series and was followed to the podium by `` Glee '' co-creator Ryan Murphy , who won the award for directing in a comedy series . Eric Stonestreet , who plays Cameron Tucker in ABC 's `` Modern Family , '' won the first Emmy Sunday for best supporting actor in a comedy series . `` All I wanted to be was a clown in the circus , growing up , '' Stonestreet said as he accepted the award . The most spoken words during Sunday night 's awards show may be `` Glee '' and `` Mad Men , '' as those two shows dominate nominations with a total of 36 . Who wins and what they say will be seen sooner across the entire United States , since NBC moved the broadcast up several weeks to avoid a conflict with NFL football games that the network starts broadcasting on Sunday nights in September . West Coast viewers , who normally have to wait three hours to see a delayed broadcast , could witness the Emmys live this year , which started at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT . The program repeated again on the West Coast immediately after it ended in the Eastern time zone . Comedian Jimmy Fallon served as host of the show at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles . CNN 's David Daniel contributed to this report .
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NEW : `` Modern Family '' beats `` Glee '' for best comedy Emmy win . NEW : `` Mad Men '' wins Emmy for best drama series . Claire Danes wins her first Emmy , in `` Temple Grandin '' Aaron Paul of `` Breaking Bad , '' Jim Parsons of `` Big Bang Theory '' score surprise wins .
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-LRB- Mashable -RRB- -- In a rather small survey conducted by a young psychologist , Facebook was shown to have some interesting correlations with self-esteem and narcissism in young adults . In a survey of 100 college students , young people with narcissistic personality traits were shown to exhibit Facebook activity that was distinctly more self-promotional . These people had `` About Me '' sections that referred to their intelligence and photos that were more about displaying the user 's physical attractiveness than about capturing memories with friends . Narcissism is defined in the survey , by a researcher at York University in Toronto , Canada , as `` a pervasive pattern of grandiosity , need for admiration and an exaggerated sense of self-importance . '' For the average narcissist , Facebook `` offers a gateway for hundreds of shallow relationships and emotionally detached communication . '' More importantly for this study , social networking in general allows the user a great deal of control over how he or she is presented to and perceived by peers and other users . Mashable.com : Study says social media is for narcissists . The study postulated that narcissists would show more overall Facebook activity than average users and that their activity would be more self-promotional , either descriptively or superficially . The survey 's results showed `` significant positive correlations between narcissism and self-promotional content in the following areas : Main Photo , View Photos , Status Updates and Notes . '' People who scored higher on the study 's narcissism test also spent more time on Facebook and checked it more times each day than their less narcissistic counterparts . Mashable.com : Weekend stories you may have missed . Male narcissists were more self-promotional in their `` About Me '' descriptions , using this section as an opportunity to highlight their intelligence and wit . Female users with narcissistic tendencies tended to use images in their self-promotion , uploading content that `` include -LSB- d -RSB- revealing , flashy and adorned photos of their physical appearance . '' Mashable.com : Older adults nearly double social media presence . The researcher notes that this study is intended to be a preliminary look at nonynous social networking , a fairly new field for academic scrutiny . As we abandon the fake avatars and cryptic usernames of years past and begin associating our online identities with our real-world lives , our online activities begin to have more relevance to our true personality traits . © 2010 MASHABLE.com . All rights reserved .
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New study suggests correlations between narcissism and behavior on Facebook in young adults . People who scored higher on narcissism test spent more time on Facebook . Male narcissists were more self-promotional in their `` About Me '' descriptions . Female users with narcissistic tendencies tended to use images in their self-promotion .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A doctor . A cop . A little girl . A Phillies fan . They 're all Muslims . And , they emphasize in a new online commercial that begins appearing this week , they 're all Americans . `` I do n't want to take over this country , '' the dozen-plus speakers say in the public service announcement . `` I do n't support terrorism . '' The online video is an effort to fight back against `` the rising tide of fear-mongering '' resulting from plans to build a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan in New York , the group behind it said . The project , called Park51 , has come to be known as the `` ground zero mosque , '' although it is two blocks from the site of the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11 , 2001 . Its supporters say it will include many other facilities in addition to a space for prayer . The group behind the new commercial , `` My Faith My Voice , '' describes itself as a `` grass-roots effort by American Muslims from across the country , '' and says it has `` no affiliation to any one organization or school of thought . '' It officially launched the video Monday . The group currently has no money to put the ad on television but hopes to raise funds to do so , it said at a news conference Monday . Asked who had funded the project , Hassan Ahmad , an immigration attorney who is part of the group , tapped his pockets and said , `` Part of it is coming from my pocket and part of it is coming from donations . '' A one-minute version posted on YouTube includes white , black and Asian speakers , young and old , in clothes ranging from hipster casual to Middle Eastern , with police and doctors ' uniforms among them . Most of the commercial is in English , but it also includes a woman speaking Spanish . CNN 's Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report .
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A new group releases a commercial in response to the New York controversy . The spot includes a wide variety of speakers talking about Islam and themselves . The group behind the commercial officially launches it on Monday .
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[[1092, 1133]]
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Lindsay Spencer was two years out of college and facing one of the biggest decisions of her young life : what to do with those Facebook friend requests from people she met through her job . Blurring work and personal friendships is prompting Lindsay Spencer to maintain separate Facebook pages . `` There 's nothing on my personal page that 's horrible , '' says the 24-year-old communications coordinator for the National Peanut Board in Atlanta , Georgia . `` It 's just that there are some things that are not work-appropriate . '' Many of the job-related friend requests came after meeting people at conferences . Eventually they would find her by searching on Facebook and request to be `` friended . '' Initially Spencer decided to ignore the requests . After all , does a virtual stranger really care what her favorite movies are ? Do they really benefit from learning details about her weekend leisure time ? Spencer 's answer was to create a second Facebook page , which she devotes to work-related information . This means she now has her `` friend friends , '' about 400 of them , and then she has her `` work friends , '' four , so far . Spencer 's modern dilemma is becoming more common throughout the world , experts say , as friendships with co-workers extend to our lives spent online after work hours . Simultaneously , our computer time at the office is becoming an extension of our personal life , they say . ` Work takes place in more places now ' This is n't necessarily a bad thing , says Paul Levinson , professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University in New York . `` No one ever forces us to go online -- we can shut it off , '' he says . `` What this is really all about is an increase in information sharing . '' And with the popularity of smartphones and other handheld devices , many people carry their work into their homes and are never separated from e-mail . They also have the ability to stay in constant touch with their favorite social networking sites . `` There is increasingly less difference in work life and personal time , '' Levinson says . `` We are coming from a time when there were very clear boundaries . That comes from an older expectation . Work takes place in more places now . '' And again , Levinson does n't think it 's a bad thing to have access to all this information about work and co-workers . Spencer , who has friended her manager but not her big boss , says she likes to think her co-workers are sensible enough not to put out too much information -- especially photographs -- on social networking sites . And so far , so good . There have been no embarrassing images of drunken escapades , no status updates erupting with emotional outbursts . Social networking sites have both good and bad uses in the business world , says Dr. Lynn Friedman , a clinical psychologist and adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University . Face time vs. Facebook time . People can use the sites to make new acquaintances outside their departments and groups , and users can extend their networks beyond the traditional workplace , she says in an interview by e-mail . `` It 's a way to enter new professional galaxies . '' But people can use the sites too much and as a consequence give less time to meeting with co-workers in person . `` In most businesses , it 's optimal to mix social networking with real-life face-to-face interaction , '' she writes . `` However , social networking can provide a springboard for identifying kindred spirits with whom one might want to do something old-fashioned like , say , having a cup of coffee . In an ideal world , it 's best to relate to others in both cyber and real space . '' Paula Pile , a psychologist who practices in North Carolina , says you need to be careful to make sure that social networking sites are n't encroaching on your office time . More than an hour a day is excessive , she warns . Worse , spending too much time on the sites can disrupt your balance between work and private time . It can also take you out of your family time with your spouse or children . `` If you are spending two hours at home on them each night , you are not available to your family , '' she says . Set boundaries . Both psychologists advise setting boundaries between yourself and the people you work with , as well as your online `` friends . '' Friedman also suggests setting goals for using social networking sites and telling others about your limits to avoid hurt feelings . She uses an example of someone who lets people know , `` I do n't do those things at nights or on weekends so I can have my time with family . '' And Pile says to consider who you 're corresponding with during your work time . If they are n't people you would talk to in `` real life , '' she says , you probably are wasting time .
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Do job-related Facebook friends really need to know details of your personal life ? Facebook user decided to separate her `` friend friends '' and her `` work friends '' Expert : More than one hour per day on social sites is too much . Set goals for how you use sites and make your friends aware of them .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Two men held in the Netherlands may have been trying to test U.S. airport security by putting bottles with electronic devices attached in checked baggage , a U.S. law enforcement source said Monday . The men were taken into custody after landing in Amsterdam on a flight from Chicago , Illinois , Dutch prosecutors said . Both men were being held at Amsterdam 's Schiphol International Airport at the request of Dutch national police , airport spokesman Robert Kapel said . The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they were arrested after `` suspicious items '' in their luggage raised concern . `` The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves , and as we share information with our international partners , Dutch authorities were notified of the suspicious items , '' the U.S. agency said . `` This matter continues to be under investigation . '' Those items were an empty shampoo bottle with watches attached to it and an empty bottle of a stomach medicine with mobile phones attached , according to the U.S. law enforcement source , who has been briefed on the investigation . That has raised concern that the men may have been testing a future terrorist plot , the source said . Attempts to sneak liquid explosives aboard jetliners were at the heart of a 2006 plot broken up by British authorities . That case led U.S. authorities to ban all but small quantities of liquids from aircraft cabins . U.S. law enforcement officials told CNN that the checked bags contained knives and box cutters as well . Passengers have been banned from carrying those items on aircraft since the September 11 , 2001 , attacks on New York and Washington . The source identified the men aboard United Airlines Flight 908 , from Chicago , Illinois , to Amsterdam , as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezem al-Murisi . Al-Soofi began his trip by boarding a flight in Birmingham , Alabama , and al-Murisi originally flew from Memphis , Tennessee , the law enforcement source said . Another U.S. law enforcement official said both men were in the United States legally , but their countries of origin were not immediately known . That official said neither of the passengers were carrying items that are barred from aircraft , and federal air marshals were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight . However , the law enforcement source said al-Soofi was ticketed for a flight that went to Washington 's Dulles International Airport , with continuing stops in Dubai and Yemen , while both he and al-Murisi were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight . Al-Soofi 's luggage went aboard the Chicago-to-Washington flight without him , the source said , in what amounted to another violation of U.S. safety protocols . A U.S. government official said items in at least one of the bags were being examined by law enforcement authorities at Dulles on Monday night . The official said al-Soofi and al-Murisi were seated near each other on the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight , but were not seated next to each other . Authorities are still looking into whether the men were traveling together or simply had similar itineraries , the official said . CNN 's Nic Robertson , Jeanne Meserve , Mike Ahlers and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report .
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NEW : Men in custody may have been testing security . NEW : The items included bottles with phones or watches attached . Arrests follow Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight . Dutch investigators keep lid on details .
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[[219, 302]]
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It 's sometimes said that the ' 00s opened with a Pearl Harbor and ended with a Great Crash . Yet this dramatic decade still lacks even a name . The Forties had big bands and a bigger war , the Sixties protests and hippies , the Seventies `` malaise . '' But what do we call the decade just ending ? The Double-Zeros ? The late Bill Safire suggested the Naughties , `` nought '' being an old-fashioned term for `` zero '' -LRB- as in dough-nought -RRB- . Whatever you call them , the years from 2000 on have been united by one great theme : This is the decade when the bills came due for neglected problems . 1 -RRB- Terrorism . The most painful thought about the 9/11 attack was how easily it could have been prevented . If the state trooper who pulled over Ziad Jarrah for speeding had a way to detect a fraudulent driver 's license -- if the gate agent who checked Muhammad Atta in Portland , Maine , had acted on his suspicions -- if , if , if . Through the 1990s , the United States was targeted by an escalating series of terrorist actions . Yet the country 's leaders continued to treat terrorism as second or third-tier problem . President Clinton did not respond to the attack on the USS Cole in December 2000 . Some suspected he feared retaliation would disrupt his Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations . Candidate George W. Bush promised Muslim voters that he would end the use of CIA terrorism evidence in immigration hearings . The bill for past laxity came due on September 11 , 2001 . And over the remainder of the decade , other bills would arrive : the bill for allowing Saddam Hussein to remain in power in 1991 , the bill for not responding to Iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks in the 1990s . After the attack on the U.S. Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 19 , the Clinton administration threatened retaliation if Iran repeated the atrocity . That threat was followed by the ramping up of the Iranian nuclear program that confronts the world today . 2 -RRB- Health care . The private marketplace had developed a promising , cost-efficient means of delivering healthcare : the health maintenance organization . Thanks to the spread of HMOs , health care costs grew more slowly in the 1990s than any decade since World War II . Because health care costs are paid out of employee wages , slowing those costs boosted worker pay . Thanks in large part to the slowdown of health cost inflation , worker incomes grew faster in the 1990s than in any decade since the 1960s . But the HMOs had their faults and kinks . Instead of defending and improving the HMO system , demagogic state and federal politicians waged war on HMOs , imposing strict mandates on them that forced up their costs . And they persuaded employers to revert to more traditional and expensive fee-for-service medicine . The main result : Costs exploded upward again in the 2000s . The average cost of a health policy for a family of four doubled between 2000 and 2006 , from about $ 6,000 to about $ 13,000 . A secondary result : Wage growth stopped . The typical earner actually brought home less after inflation in 2006 than in 2000 . 3 -RRB- Immigration . In 1986 , Congress passed the Simpson-Mazzoli bill , granting amnesty to illegal aliens and promising stricter enforcement of immigration laws in the future . The law failed miserably . The amnesty only invited a huge surge of migrants hoping for a second amnesty . The promised enforcement never materialized . Over the ensuing decade , the United States received the biggest influx of migration since before the First World War . These new migrants transformed the lives of middle-class Americans . In the 1960s , McDonald 's was the typical night out for a middle-income family . In the 1990s , a family earning the same income could enjoy table service at an Olive Garden or Applebee 's . House cleaning , gardening , nannying and valet parking all became more affordable to middle-class Americans . There were losers from this social transformation : lower-skilled natives priced out of low-wage jobs . But they had little political clout , and their feelings were easily ignored . But in the 2000s , it became apparent that the illegal migrant population had grown vastly bigger . Migrants were now displacing the native-born from more desirable work : construction , meatpacking , trucking . More ominously , the children of the migrants were growing into something that looked very much like an underclass . The rate of teen motherhood among second-generation Hispanic children is higher than among blacks . Barely half of second-generation Hispanic migrants complete high school on time . Rejecting the low-skilled jobs that employed their parents , but unprepared for more skilled work , they fall into gangs and alienation . And this time , unlike 1986 , we are talking about a population numbering in the tens of millions . These bills for past mistakes arrived in the 2000s . But we did not manage to pay them . Maybe it would be both more numerically and historically accurate to call the decade not the double zeroes but the triple zeroes . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum .
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The decade that 's ending does n't yet have a name . David Frum says the decade was marked by unsolved issues of earlier years . Frum : Terrorism , health care inflation , immigration issues came home to roost . He says these problems have n't been solved in this decade either .
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[[113, 163], [278, 318]]
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LOS ANGELES , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- There is a `` maker 's movement '' gaining prominence on a global scale . Mister Jalopy works out of converted hot-rod repair shop . This is where he builds `` the stuff of my dreams . '' One of its pied pipers is a man known by his pen name , Mister Jalopy . His agenda is simple . `` You need to be able to modify , hack , repair , rebuild and reuse the stuff that you buy . '' Mister Jalopy 's name comes from a blog he started years ago . From his Web site : . `` When I started the Hooptyrides blog , I pictured a modest used car lot of broken-down , flat-tired junkers that represented great promise and little else . Lit with strings of bare light bulbs , I dreamed of a little desert lot of plucky automobiles and a faded neon sign that erratically blinked ` Mister Jalopy 's Hooptyrides . ' '' Mister Jalopy owns a laundromat and a used-bicycle store , and he operates out of a converted hot-rod repair shop along an industrial strip of land in the shadow of Interstate 5 . He calls his workshop `` Hooptyrides World Headquarters . '' `` It 's my personal shop where I do my writing , think up my crackpot business schemes , repair bicycles and do my auto maintenance ... where I build the stuff of my dreams . '' It 's brimming with high-quality tools , odds and ends from 20 years of harvesting garage sales , and machines like a lathe and welder that would delight a working tradesman . He created the `` world 's largest iPod . '' It 's housed in a 1950s record console that can now digitize his music off the turntable , and the original buttons control the iPod . He also made an `` urban guerrilla movie theater '' -- a handmade movie projector sitting on an adult tricycle . Watch Mister Jalopy at work '' His used-bike shop , Coco 's Variety , is named after one of his two dogs . `` The credo of my store is ` Faded champions reborn for another chance at glory . ' '' He adds : `` These old bikes , already manufactured , -LSB- are -RSB- tenderly brought back to life for someone to love anew . The best bike for the environment is one that already exists . Not one made fresh . '' Mister Jalopy goes to garage sales every week . `` Some of my favorite stuff ... are the things that were made or worn by human hands . There 's an incredible feeling of soul . '' His most treasured find ? `` It was a lowly glass Skippy jar filled with all of the earthly treasures of a kid from the '50s . '' There was a chunky eraser , toy soldiers , and caps for a cap gun . Mister Jalopy has a practical approach to saving the environment and surviving in a downturn economy . `` The hands-off era is over . We were seduced by low prices . Our landfills are filled with cheap plastic fans , broken vacuum cleaners . We 're feeling the crunch economically . Maybe this stuff should be repairable . '' He wrote an article for Make magazine called the `` Maker 's Bill of Rights . '' It outlines the need for manufacturers to make products that are repairable , modifiable , have replaceable parts and come with a manual . Of products that are glued shut , he has this to say : `` The idea of the Maker 's Bill of Rights was to say , if you ca n't open it , you do n't own it . '' Dale Dougherty is the creator of Make magazine , which is at the core of the movement . `` We live in a complex world . I wanted to make a magazine to showcase innovation and ideas around the world ... even in Third World countries . '' Make magazine sponsors the annual Maker Faire in Northern California . More than 500 exhibitors will showcase their ideas and innovations on the last weekend in May . Families are a big part of their business . `` There are no famous rock bands or stunts to bring people in , '' Dougherty says . Last year 65,000 people attended . Mister Jalopy will be there hosting the main stage . `` There 's this amazing community of people that are makers : carpenters , fabricators , mechanics , electronics repair people , designers of products , garden designers ... that 's the great thing about the maker movement . It is passionate individuals willing to make mistakes and build the stuff of our dreams . '' `` I 'm a professional amateur . I have n't been trained to do anything . I 'm not an expert carpenter , metalworker or mechanic . I 'm fearless , though . I 'll jump into anything . My hope is everyone becomes a professional amateur , that we have the passion and courage to fail . '' Mister Jalopy tinkers with a dusty jukebox given to him by a friend . He presses selection `` D5 . '' The electronics strain to move the parts that pull a 45 onto the needle . Elton John 's `` Bennie and the Jets '' warbles along . The speakers grind out the tune . As the song ends , the needle arm unexpectedly skips to another disc . `` Uh ... oh , these old machines are fascinating . There 's a visceral quality . It seems like I 'm chasing a ghost through the machine . ''
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Mister Jalopy : `` You need to be able to modify ... repair , rebuild and reuse '' `` Makers '' want manufacturers to produce items that can be repaired . One of their slogans : `` If you ca n't open it , you do n't own it '' Maker Faire in northern California expected to draw thousands of innovators .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Carole Dunham , 69 , loved the ocean . Last July , she was diagnosed with cancer and had only a few months to live . Dunham knew her last footprint had to be a green one , and she started looking into eco-friendly alternatives to traditional burial . Carole Dunham , 69 , had her remains memorialized on an offshore reef . The concept of `` going green '' has taken new life in the death care industry as eco-minded companies tap into the needs of those like Dunham . From biodegradable caskets to natural burial sites , death is becoming less of a dark matter than a green one . Dunham , an avid scuba diver , chose an eco-friendly company that would combine her cremated remains to form an artificial memorial reef . `` She loved the idea of always being in the water as an alternative to being cremated and scattered , '' said her daughter Nina Dunham . Dying is arguably the most natural phenomenon in the world , but modern death rituals -- embalming with formaldehyde-based solutions and traditional burial in concrete vaults -- are not nature-friendly , according to environmentalists . Along with its dead , the United States buries 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete , 827,060 tons of toxic embalming fluid , 90,000 tons of steel -LRB- from caskets -RRB- , and 30 million tons of hardwood board each year , according to the Green Burial Council , an independent nonprofit organization based in Santa Fe , New Mexico . `` We can rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge with that amount of metal , '' said Joe Sehee , the council 's executive director . `` The amount of concrete is enough to build a two-lane highway from New York to Detroit . '' Sehee established a burgeoning network of death-care providers that have earned a green thumbs-up in the council 's eco-certification program , the first of its kind in the industry . `` We want to reduce carbon emissions , waste and toxins in the death care industry and utilize burial to steward natural areas in the U.S. , '' said Sehee . Among the certified eco-providers is Eternal Reefs , based in Decatur , Georgia . `` We 're the surf and turf of natural burial , '' said George Frankel , CEO of Eternal Reefs . The company takes the green movement to sea level by offering a living legacy in the form of underwater reefs used to create new marine habitats for fish and other sea life . The artificial reefs are cast from a mixture of environmentally safe cement and cremated remains . Eternal Reefs was the logical choice for Dunham , who died on November 3 . `` She liked the idea of being a home for fish , '' said her daughter . This month , Dunham will travel to Florida to see her mother 's reef lowered off the coast of North Miami Beach . Other families will join her , wearing shorts and T-shirts instead of dark suits and dresses . They will have a chance to decorate the reefs with flowers and other sea-friendly mementos . A brass plaque will help Dunham identify her mother 's reef . She intends to visit the underwater memorial by scuba diving there in the future . `` These reefs will be covered up with sea life in a very short period of time , so they make a significant contribution , '' Frankel said . The reefs last about 500 years , and so far about 300 have been dropped off the coasts of Florida , South Carolina , Maryland , New Jersey , Texas and Virginia . Another eco-provider certified by the Green Burial Council is UK-based Eco Coffins Ltd. , which allows its customers to design their own 100 percent biodegradable coffins , made from 90 percent recycled grid honeycomb cardboard . The company says the coffins release 72 percent less carbon monoxide in the cremation process compared to a traditional coffin . `` We are appealing to customers to make the responsible choice , '' said Sophie Dansie , founder and director of Eco Coffins . `` The fact that standard chipboard is full of resins and formaldehyde , which is either released into the earth when buried or as emissions when burnt , is really unknown to the general public . '' The vibrant coffins have even captured some attention in Hollywood . They have a cameo as props in the upcoming film `` Powder Blue . '' An eco-friendly funeral can also help conserve land and protect it from development . The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is working with the Green Burial Council to become the first state-park agency to offer cremation-based green burials . The funds raised from the services will be used to acquire new state park lands . `` We want burials to be more sustainable for the planet , more meaningful for the planet and economically viable for the provider , '' said Sehee . `` We do n't want this to be a marketing gimmick that diminishes the social and ecological benefits of this concept , '' he emphasized . The death care industry , like others , has its share of green hype . While it might be a bit macabre for some , CoffinCouches.com sells eclectic couches made out of used coffins . Founder Vidal Herrera buys unwanted or slightly damaged coffins from funeral homes that would otherwise go to a landfill . From these discarded materials , Herrera designs artsy Goth couches you might see in a music video or a tattoo parlor . Herrera 's clientele includes musicians , actors and others who can afford $ 3,500 for a couch . Hype or no hype , the decision is a personal one that ultimately rests with an individual or family . Sehee emphasizes that the Green Burial Council is careful not to diminish anyone 's choices or make recommendations about the greenest way to go . `` There are shades of green and people can distinguish one shade from another , '' he said .
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Eco-minded companies in death care industry offer `` green '' funerals . Dying woman had her ashes added to an artificial reef off Florida coast . CEO of Eternal Reefs : `` We 're the surf and turf of natural burial . '' 1.6 million tons of concrete , 827,060 tons of toxic fluid buried in United States yearly .
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LOS ANGELES , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Andy Lipkis was 15 years old on the first Earth Day in 1970 -- the year he says he realized what his calling in life would be . A file photo of the rainwater cistern while it was being constructed at TreePeople 's headquarters . Three years later , Lipkis and his teenage friends would found the non-profit , community-based organization known as TreePeople . Based in Los Angeles , California , the environmental organization 's primary purpose has been to educate communities on the planting and care of trees and to work with government agencies on issue No. 1 in the West : water . Exploding populations from Phoenix , Arizona , and Las Vegas , Nevada , to suburban Los Angeles have turned the issue of water supply from problem to crisis . `` The way we use water is so wasteful and so inappropriate today , according to the California Water Plan , there is already so much demand for water , it already exceeds supply , '' says Lipkis . And human consumption is n't the only problem , because as cities grow , so does the amount of pavement and concrete that seals the natural watersheds . That in turn prevents rainwater from refreshing underground aquifers , nature 's water tanks . And rainwater is exactly what Lipkis is hoping people will start to think about . Right now , building codes in Los Angeles County , as in most parts of the country , require rainwater to be moved from rooftops to the street . As a result , even in mostly sunny southern California , a massive amount of water gets flushed into storm drains every year . `` When it rains an inch , '' Lipkis says , `` Los Angeles hemorrhages 7.6 billion gallons of water . '' Part of the solution to the water crisis , he says , is collecting as much rainwater as possible because `` it represents half or more of all the water we need in this big city . '' Lipkis and the TreePeople imagine a time when as many as a million homes and businesses have rainwater cisterns all electronically networked and ready to provide treated drinking water to the public . Lipkis points out that cisterns are not a new idea . If fact , civilizations throughout history have used cisterns to collect rainwater . Cisterns exist now as part of building codes in places like Bermuda , which lack fresh water resources such as lakes or rivers . Lipkis believes it 's an idea whose time has come here in the deserts of the West . Watch how rainwater cisterns work '' TreePeople , in collaboration with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power , has built five demonstration sites in Los Angeles , which include a large hilltop cistern at the organization 's Coldwater Canyon Park headquarters . `` When it rains an inch , '' Lipkis said , `` those five little projects capture 1.25 million gallons . '' And it is all that free water that has government agencies thinking about rain . In Los Angeles , storm runoff presents many problems . When it rains heavily the water goes from the streets into the canals of the Los Angeles River and straight into the ocean . With that runoff is all the garbage and toxic pollutants picked up along the way . Another problem , Lipkis argues , is the heavy reliance on the almost 100-year-old California Aqueduct , which routes water from the Eastern Sierras . His main concern is the incredible amount of energy that is spent moving water . `` We 're bringing water in from hundreds of miles away . Moving water and using water , '' he says , `` consumes , overall , 19 percent of all the electricity in the state and one-third of the natural gas . '' That is the single largest use of electricity in the state , which happens to be the most populous in the country and which , were it an independent nation , would be the eighth-largest economy in the world . That 's quite a carbon footprint . Lipkis believes a hybrid water management system is the best solution , one that would include cisterns , natural watershed management and existing water infrastructure , including a less power hungry aqueduct . And perhaps most importantly , it would include the cooperation of water supply agencies , flood control agencies and sanitation agencies , which he believes have done too much conflicting , single-purpose cost-benefit analyses in the past . Lipkis sees only an upside to a large-scale cistern and rainwater infiltration project , and not only because of the environmental benefits . A study in the late 1990s conducted by TreePeople estimated up to 50,000 new jobs that would be created by a sustainable infrastructure system . `` Why would we invest billions of dollars on old infrastructure we know does n't work anymore ? '' he asks . `` It 's very important to start putting this new alternative on the table . ''
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Water supply problem in the West has turned into a crisis . Rainwater represents half of all the water that Los Angeles needs . California Aqueduct is almost a century old and wastes enormous amount of energy .
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CNN -- When Apple launched its App Store last summer , few imagined it would reach today 's numbers so quickly , if ever . Auto-apps could become the next way to customize your ride . The store now hosts over 85,000 titles and has passed 2 billion downloads . Even Apple is surprised . Now the concept of the app store has spread like a virus among competitors . It 's also reached seemingly unrelated industries , like automobiles and TV set-top boxes . The App Store taps the creative energy of entrepreneurial developers . Whether they 're big or small , they can make money through it , even though the challenges for them can be considerable . For consumers , the App Store offers third-party applications -LRB- free or charged -RRB- that can be downloaded or synched onto an iPhone or iPod Touch . Apple takes 30 percent of a paid app 's revenue and charges developers an annual fee to use the iPhone software development kit and upload apps to the store . But the rest goes to developers , some of whom have profited handsomely from their creations . Many companies now offer something similar to the App Store , if not in whole then in part . Even if none has yet come close to Apple 's numbers -- or , arguably , its design achievements -- the spread of the app store idea is undeniable . `` It seems like every company remotely related to technology is embracing the app store craze , '' notes IT expert Tony Bradley in a blog post for PC World . Handset makers now offering software stores include Palm , Nokia , Sony-Ericsson , and BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion . On the platform side , Google 's Android and Microsoft 's Windows Mobile -- competitors to the iPhone OS -- each have an app store now . Nintendo and Sony , the traditional powers in gaming gadgets , have also launched app stores , for their DSi and PSP handhelds , respectively . Apple is now their competitor thanks to all the iPhone games . The chipmaker Intel announced last month that it 's setting up multiple app stores through partners like Acer and Asus to encourage independent developers to create apps for netbooks and handhelds based on its processors . For Twitter , a startup called Oneforty is trying to position itself as the unofficial `` app store '' for tie-in services . Cellular operators , wary of becoming `` dumb pipes , '' are n't sitting idly by . Verizon , Vodafone , Orange , and others getting in on the action with their own app stores . Not every company is a natural fit for creating app stores , so another market is forming for firms that help set them up . A firm called GetJar has helped Sony Ericsson and the cellular carriers Optimus -LRB- in Portugal -RRB- and 3 -LRB- in the UK -RRB- with app stores . Amdocs and Comverse , which already provide various services to carriers , have added `` app store provider '' to their offerings . Other firms are helping developers deal with the sudden rash of app stores . A California startup called GoldSpot Media recently launched miApp , designed to let developers `` design once , deploy in any app store . '' Of course they were n't thinking about app stores outside the mobile space when they wrote that tagline . From hand-held to real-world . Few anticipated the app store meme spreading to cars , for instance , but Atlanta-based Hughes Telematics says it 's helping automakers prepare app stores for drivers . For safety , some of these apps would use an audio-only interface for drivers , or be usable only by passengers or when parked , notes Kevin Link , a vice president with the company : `` Automotive applications must consider driver distraction , network security , and reliability within the vehicle . '' But the possibilities are tantalizing and include taking pictures of a thief in action , playing catch-up audio clips of TV shows , deciphering that obscure Check Engine light , and remotely starting the engine or resetting the car alarm . Such apps could be accessed through home computers or smart phones , as well as from within the vehicle itself . Hughes Telematics ca n't reveal too many specifics about upcoming app stores because their rollouts depend on the schedules of the carmakers . And many details have yet to be worked out , notes Link , such as how revenues will be split with the developers . An app store of sorts will also be offered later this year by Roku , which sells a TV set-top box that connects to your broadband connection and brings online content to your living room . The box already lets customers order Netflix movies . With the upcoming app store , online content normally reserved for computers will be easily accessed over the TV . Possibilities include video and audio podcasts and photo-sharing destinations . As with the App Store , the idea is to let any developer -LRB- most likely a content owner in this case -RRB- offer their product through the platform . `` What an open platform does is create an opportunity for any content owner or content aggregator that has access to content , to make that content available for viewing on the TV , '' notes company spokesperson Brian Jaquet . Between six and 12 new apps , or channels , will be offered by the end of this year , he adds , and more will follow . Of course exactly what will follow is unclear because -- as with the other App Store-like offerings -- the only real limit is the imaginations of developers . Stay tuned .
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Apple 's ` Apps Store ' has become hugely successful and mimicked by others . Away from hand-held gadgets , apps being developed for cars and TV set-top boxes . Such apps could be accessed through home computers or smart phones .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Silverstone , home of the British Grand Prix , has officially unveiled a new circuit that will host both Formula One and MotoGP this year . The new $ 7.5 million 5.9 km layout has come in the wake of Silverstone being handed the British Grand Prix for the next 10 years , after it looked certain the race would be moved to rival track Donington Park . The re-design , apart from increasing the length of the track , also sees famous sections of the old course -- Bridge and Priory -- removed altogether . New sections -- Farm Curve , Village corner , The Loop , Aintree corner and Wellington Straight -- have all been added and a new pit and paddock complex is currently in development . This is expected to be completed ahead of the 2011 British Grand Prix . Silverstone is owned by the British Racing Drivers ' Club and president Damon Hill , the 1996 world champion , admitted to reporters that there was a financial risk involved in spending so much money on the new circuit . `` It 's a necessary risk . The alternative was that the British Grand Prix would have gone off the calendar , '' admitted Hill . `` There is a justification to demand first-class facilities if you have a first-class event like Formula One , and others like MotoGP , but it has to make financial sense . `` We are relying a little on this country 's tradition of producing world-class drivers who potentially drive people through the gate . ''
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The new Silverstone Formula One circuit has been officially unveiled . The circuit will host the British Grand Prix as well as the British MotoGP . Silverstone are to stage the British GP for the next 10 years after Donington withdrew .
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PHNOM PENH , Cambodia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Francois Ponchaud was a newly ordained Catholic priest when he arrived in Cambodia in 1965 from a small village in France . Francois Ponchaud said refugees ' accounts of the genocide `` went beyond my wildest imagination . '' He was sent to do missionary work . But within a decade he would become a crusader against the worst genocide since the Holocaust . `` I was staying by the Cambodian people 's side , '' Ponchaud said , `` through the good and the sadness and the suffering . '' When he arrived at age 26 , Cambodia was a peaceful place : a bucolic land of villages , peasants , rice paddies and Buddhist monks . Ponchaud studied Cambodian history and Buddhism , became fluent in Khmer , made friends and immersed himself in the culture -- falling in love with the country and its people . But the peacefulness was short-lived . By 1970 , Cambodia was descending into chaos as the Vietnam War spilled across its borders . In the countryside , the Americans were carpet-bombing Vietcong outposts . In the capital , Phnom Penh , Washington was propping up a corrupt government . From the jungles , a sinister and brutal communist rebel group called the Khmer Rouge was fighting to overthrow Cambodia 's U.S.-backed regime . On April 17 , 1975 , Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge . They began to reinvent Cambodia according to an insane blueprint . They emptied the cities , including some 3 million in the capital , forcing all the residents into the countryside -- and toward a dark future . `` As of noon , all the people started leaving , '' Ponchaud said . `` Then I saw all my friends who were leaving . ... There were hundreds of thousands of people who were trudging along a few kilometers an hour . It was truly a staggering sight . Incredible . '' Watch Ponchaud describe the exodus from Phnom Penh '' Ponchaud was told to stay at the French Embassy , where thousands fleeing Phnom Penh desperately sought asylum . One of the few foreigners able to communicate with the Khmer Rouge , he spent days at the embassy gate , trying to negotiate . Watch Ponchaud discuss the significance of the embassy gate '' In the weeks that followed , the Khmer Rouge let him leave the embassy twice . Both times he searched for clues about what was happening in the country . But Phnom Penh was empty . Read a reporter 's notebook of his journey through Cambodia 's killing fields '' Ponchaud was expelled from the city in the last evacuating convoy , as the Khmer Rouge forced all foreigners onto trucks and out of the country . At the border , Ponchaud broke down , weeping . `` It was as though we had gone mad , '' he said . `` We were getting out of a country of the living dead . '' With the country sealed , the Khmer Rouge went about creating their new Cambodia -- and the killing began in earnest . The Khmer Rouge envisioned a return to Cambodia 's medieval greatness -- a `` pure '' nation full of noble peasant farmers . For that , though , they had to purge everyone else : the rich , the religious , the educated , anyone from a different ethnic group . `` All those who were opposed to the government were killed , '' Ponchaud said . `` And all those who did n't work quite hard enough were killed . '' Hundreds of thousands were worked -- or starved -- to death . `` Perhaps a good chunk -- a solid half -- died from sickness and lack of health care , '' he said . By September 1975 , Ponchaud was back in France and ready to resume his work . His missionary society in Paris asked him to keep track of events in Cambodia . He quickly became the `` go-to '' person for Cambodian refugees arriving from Thailand , and he began documenting their stories . At first , Ponchaud had a hard time believing the accounts of execution , torture , deportation , forced labor and starvation . Read how a Khmer Rouge survivor is documenting the genocide . `` They were burning villages ... sending people into the forest without giving them anything to eat , '' Ponchaud said . `` It went beyond my wildest imagination . '' Horrified , Ponchaud devised a plan to gather more information : A friend living on the Cambodian border would record and send him broadcasts from Radio Phnom Penh -- the official voice of the Khmer Rouge -- in which the government described its transformation of the country . Read a former Khmer Rouge member 's account of the killings . Ponchaud found that the broadcasts substantiated the refugees ' claims . As unbelievable as those claims were , the broadcasts told of the same policies . What the refugees were saying was true . `` I decoded the radio -- the official declarations . And then the refugees would give me the ` experienced ' side . It matched up , '' he said . `` On one hand , the ideology , and on the other , the lived experience . '' Watch Ponchaud describe how he was able to decode the Khmer Rouge ideology '' For months , Ponchaud gathered and documented information , repeatedly denouncing the Khmer Rouge . His testimonials appeared in the French press as early as October 1975 . He also wrote to the president of France and Amnesty International , and appeared before the U.N. Commission on Human Rights . Watch Ponchaud discuss his efforts to alert people to the genocide '' In 1976 , angered by inaccuracies in Le Monde 's reporting on the Khmer Rouge , Ponchaud fired off a letter to the newspaper 's editor -- along with a dossier of refugee accounts and radio transmissions . He was contacted immediately and asked to write for the newspaper . His articles were published in February 1976 . Watch Ponchaud tell the Le Monde story '' Though few accounts of Cambodia 's nightmare were appearing in the press , the U.S. government was receiving frequent briefings about what was happening there . In a meeting in November 1975 , then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger acknowledged the brutality of the Khmer Rouge . But he also knew that they shared an enemy with the U.S. -- Vietnam . `` Tell the Cambodians that we will be friends with them , '' Kissinger told an official in the region , according to a declassified State Department account . The Khmer Rouge `` are murderous thugs , '' he said , `` but we wo n't let that stand in our way . '' Read Kissinger 's words in the declassified State Department document -LRB- pdf -RRB- . By 1977 , the Khmer Rouge had been in power for two years , and much of the world remained unaware or uninterested . Many who did hear accounts of Khmer Rouge brutality found them hard to believe . Even prominent liberals and intellectuals doubted that a supposedly egalitarian peasant movement would perpetrate such horrors on their own people . Ponchaud then published a startling book called `` Year Zero . '' It was one of the first to expose the brutal totalitarian regime of the Khmer Rouge to the world . Still , no help came for Cambodia . `` I was pretty frustrated , '' he said . `` The governments did not react . You know , countries do n't defend human rights . They are always subservient to politics . '' In January 1977 , the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter promised a change . Carter vowed to put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy . But it would take 15 months for him to publicly condemn the Khmer Rouge as the world 's `` worst violator of human rights . '' Even then he took no action to stop the slaughter . Invasion , he said , was not an option for a country still recovering from the Vietnam War . Instead , in December 1978 , Vietnam invaded Cambodia after years of cross-border skirmishes . The Vietnamese quickly overthrew the Khmer Rouge , who fled back into the jungle . The world would finally start to see that all Ponchaud had said was true . More than 2 million Cambodians were dead . The scope of the catastrophe quickly became clear . In the fall of 1979 , Carter responded , raising $ 32 million to help the refugees . Today , Ponchaud is back in Cambodia , continuing his efforts for the Cambodian people , building schools , holding Mass and working on local projects . Often referred to as `` the friend of the Cambodians , '' he is considered an expert on the country . But this time he has no illusions . `` No one defends human rights , '' he said . `` Governments are cold beasts looking out for their own interests . ''
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Francois Ponchaud was sent to do missionary work in Cambodia in 1965 . A priest , he became a crusader against the worst genocide since the Holocaust . Ponchaud kept a dossier of refugee accounts and radio transmissions . His articles and book helped expose the Khmer Rouge 's brutal totalitarian regime .
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SARAJEVO , Bosnia-Herzegovina -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Richard Holbrooke first visited Bosnia in 1992 as a private citizen . Richard Holbrooke 's ` bombs for peace ' policy was vindicated when bombings brought an end to the war . Three years later , he would become one of the most influential U.S. figures working to end a war that had introduced a new euphemism for genocide : ethnic cleansing . Holbrooke , who had worked as a diplomat , journalist and investment banker , was intrigued , disgusted and challenged by what he saw in the early days of the war in Bosnia . A month before his first visit , reporters had learned of Bosnian Serb concentration camps where Muslim prisoners were tortured , sexually mutilated and executed . The news photographs and footage seemed like an echo of the Holocaust . In the ethnically mixed capital , Sarajevo , Holbrooke saw Bosnian Serb forces laying siege to the city to drive out Muslims . U.N. peacekeepers even had to negotiate with the aggressors just to truck food into the starving city . In Banja Luka , Holbrooke saw Muslim families being forced to sign over their property to Bosnian Serbs -- Orthodox Christians -- in exchange for their lives and a one-way bus ticket out of town . Returning with CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour in 2008 , Holbrooke remembered feeling the connection with his own family history : His Jewish grandfather fled Germany shortly after Hitler took power . `` I thought I 'm seeing a color remake of the black and white scenes we 'd seen in World War II of Jews signing away their property at the point of a gun and then being shipped off to who knows where , '' Holbrooke said . `` I do n't think you have to be Jewish to understand that what you 're seeing was a genuine crime against humanity . The Europeans were doing nothing , and the Americans were doing less . '' Watch as Holbrooke talks with CNN 's Christiane Amanpour at the scene of the crime '' Holbrooke thought only a U.S.-led intervention would stop the slaughter . `` The -LSB- Bosnian -RSB- Serbs would have melted away because they were thugs and bullies , '' he said . But the White House was vowing to stay out . `` The United States is not going to inject itself into every single crisis , no matter how heart-rending , '' then-President George H.W. Bush said . Holbrooke , who had served President Jimmy Carter as an assistant secretary of state , offered his recommendation to Bill Clinton 's advisers during the 1992 presidential campaign : Direct use of force against the Bosnian Serbs . `` I took a stand that I believed was correct , '' Holbrooke said . `` I did n't think it was so controversial . '' When Clinton embraced a get-tough policy , Holbrooke was optimistic . In the back of Holbrooke 's mind , there was a lingering question : `` Will he do as president what he said he would do as a candidate ? '' Watch Clinton 's campaign pledge '' Holbrooke wanted to handle Bosnia for the Clinton administration . But after the election , Holbrooke -- the consummate insider -- found himself on the outside . Instead of getting the Bosnia portfolio , he was named U.S. ambassador to Germany . `` By advocating vigorous action -LSB- in Bosnia -RSB- , I was kind of marginalized by people inside the government who were less in favor of vigorous action , '' he told Amanpour . America 's European allies opposed airstrikes , fearing retaliation against their peacekeepers on the ground . Clinton 's national security adviser , Anthony Lake , told CNN that the Europeans `` were , to put it mildly , extremely reluctant to see us pursue unilaterally any actions which could imperil their troops . '' Lake said the president 's hands were tied . `` We tried to convince them . And the Europeans said , ` Absolutely no . ' '' Over the course of the next year , Clinton was able to persuade his European allies to at least use limited air strikes against the Bosnia Serbs . But it did n't stop the killing . Under mounting criticism in the press , Clinton asked Holbrooke in May 1994 to leave his post in Germany and return to the White House to help with Bosnia . But Holbrooke and others in the administration who advocated force would nonetheless see Bosnia 's Muslims endure another 15 months of heartbreak and death -- including the slaughter of 8,000 at Srebrenica . Watch as a Bosnian concentration camp survivor describes the torture and rape she witnessed '' The massacre shook the world 's conscience -- and Clinton 's foreign policy . He was now ready to lead , with or without approval from other nations . `` What I said to the Europeans was , ` We 're going to do this . And it 'll work best if you come with us , ' '' Lake recalled . After a Serb mortar attack on a Sarajevo market in August 1995 , Clinton pulled the trigger . With the Europeans on board , U.S. and allied planes began attacking Bosnian Serb positions . After eight weeks of NATO bombing , Holbrooke got enough concessions to negotiate an end to 3 1/2 years of war . It was vindication for a policy Holbrooke calls `` bombs for peace . '' `` I do n't like to advocate the use of force , -LSB- because -RSB- I know people will get killed , '' Holbrooke said . `` But there are times when you have to use force in order to stop people from being killed in larger numbers , and it seemed to me this was a clear-cut example . ''
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Richard Holbrooke first went to Bosnia in 1992 in the early days of the war . The former diplomat recommended using U.S. force against the Bosnian Serbs . He watched as Bosnia 's Muslims suffered years of heartbreak and death . In 1995 , after weeks of NATO bombing , Holbrooke negotiated an end to the war .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Adolf Hitler , Pol Pot , Slobodan Milosevic . They are household names , infamous for masterminding genocide . But who were the foot soldiers who did the dirty work ? Recently discovered photos show Nazi officers relaxing at a retreat near Auschwitz . In many cases they were equally notorious in their communities because they were the friends , neighbors and co-workers of those they raped , slaughtered and buried alive . Nusreta Sivac watched ordinary people become killers while imprisoned in a concentration camp in Bosnia . She saw prisoners beaten beyond recognition and watched camp guards force a Muslim prisoner to rape a Muslim woman in front of everyone . She was shocked to see people she knew running the camp . `` They acted as if they had never seen me before , '' she said . `` It was difficult for me to understand how people could turn into beasts overnight . '' Watch as Nusreta tells her story '' While some perpetrators participate unwillingly -- they are forced to kill or face death themselves -- many ordinary people are manipulated into participating in the killing machine voluntarily . Researchers say most perpetrators of genocide were not destined for murder and had never killed before . `` You do n't have to be mentally ill or even innately evil or criminal . You can be ordinary , no better or worse than you or me , and commit killing or genocide , '' said Harvard psychiatrist Robert Lifton , who has studied Nazi doctors . `` The truth is that we all have the possibility for genocidal behavior . '' Experts have reached a troubling conclusion : It was actually very easy for the architects of genocide to find more than enough ordinary people to do the killing . Genocide is often the result of a `` perfect storm . '' A country reeling from political and economic turmoil , a fanatical leader promising to make things better and a vulnerable population targeted for blame -- all combine in a blueprint for mass murder . Architects of genocide use the same tools to execute their plan . Group identity . Millions have been killed for being religious , ethnic or simply educated . Group identity is one of the foundations of genocide . This allegiance makes it easier for extremist leaders to stoke age-old animosities between groups . `` We all divide the world into ` us ' and ` them , ' '' said psychologist Ervin Staub , author of `` The Roots of Evil : The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence . '' `` Some people are like ` us ' because of nationality , religion , race , etc. . Those that are not like ` us ' are ` them . ' '' `` Group identity intensifies during difficult times , '' Staub said . Jean-Bosco Bizimana , a Rwandan Hutu , slaughtered his Tutsi neighbors 14 years ago . Leaders of the genocide exploited the history of hatred between the Hutus and Tutsis to pit them against each other . But before the genocide , the two groups had overcome their hostility to live peacefully together . `` We were manipulated , '' Bizimana said . `` The government pushed us to kill . Before that , we intermarried , we helped each other in daily life and we shared everything . We ourselves ca n't even believe what happened . '' Bizimana 's wife said her husband , `` would go around with the mob , and to show them he was part of it , he would kill . '' Perpetrators do n't want to be seen as weak , and in a mob mentality , individual guilt seems to disappear . `` People will do almost anything in a group and will do anything not to be rejected , '' said psychologist Philip Zimbardo , a professor emeritus at Stanford and famous for his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment , which divided student volunteers into `` prisoners '' and `` guards '' and showed how easily people could be induced to commit sadistic acts . `` They give up a sense of personal accountability and diffuse responsibility to the leader . '' Propaganda and dehumanization . Genocidal regimes use propaganda to incite hatred . During the genocide in Bosnia , for example , a fictitious news report said Muslims were feeding Serb children to animals at the Sarajevo zoo . When people feel threatened and endangered , they can be led to kill . `` Most genocides are shaped on -LSB- a perceived need for -RSB- self-defense , '' said Christopher Browning , a University of North Carolina history professor who studied a Nazi police battalion . Bizimana said Rwandan government radio broadcasts led him to kill . `` When instructions come from the government , we believed it was the right thing to do , '' he said . `` People tend to believe the world is a just place , '' psychologist Staub said . So the targeted group `` is seen as though they did something to deserve the suffering . '' The propaganda machine portrays the victim group as less than human . In Rwanda , the Hutus called their Tutsi neighbors ` cockroaches . ' In Cambodia , the Khmer Rouge said their victims were `` worms . '' To the Nazis , Jews were `` vermin . '' Dehumanization is the most powerful psychological tool used in all mass murder and genocides , Zimbardo said . `` Dehumanization blurs your vision . You look at these people and you do not see them as human . '' Instead , the enemy is treated as a germ -- as something to eradicate , or else face the threat of infection . `` Purification is at the heart of genocide , '' said Harvard 's Lifton . `` In that purification ... -LSB- the killers -RSB- are healing . '' Recently discovered photos show Nazi officers at a retreat near Auschwitz relaxing as though they are taking a break from a routine job , not an extermination factory . `` In order to carry out the function of killing , one must instill in that environment a sense of ordinariness , '' said Lifton . Watch images of Nazis relaxing '' In the end , the masterminds of genocide see their visions play out : Foot soldiers carry out the mission and entire populations are displaced or killed . Perpetrators and victims do n't realize what they 're involved in until it 's too late , said Ben Kiernan , director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University . `` It 's a conspiracy , a silent secret plan to set up a situation whereby the victims , who are unsuspecting , are brought into a conflict with a large number of people , many of whom are also unsuspecting , '' Kiernan said . Looking back at their crimes , some perpetrators are now sorry for their actions , including Bizimana . `` What we did to them in the past was very bad , '' he said . `` Deep in my heart , I regret it . '' Bizimana has since reconciled with his surviving Tutsi neighbors , and is trying to build unity in his country . `` What happened , '' he vows , `` will never happen again . ''
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Genocide 's foot soldiers were neighbors of those they tortured and killed . Many ordinary people are manipulated into participating , researchers say . Architects of genocide use group identity , mob mentality to execute their plan . Other tools include propaganda and dehumanization .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- No one teaches reporters how to cover a war , much less wars that include genocide . Most of us rely on the wisdom of experienced colleagues and a lot of on-the-job training . CNN 's Christiane Amanpour in a Sarajevo cemetery ; she returned to Bosnia for `` Scream Bloody Murder . '' My first war assignment -- Bosnia , in the 1990s -- included visits to the Sarajevo morgue to see the bodies . How else would a journalist know exactly how many Muslim children were cut down by Bosnian Serb snipers ? How else could we put names to civilians left faceless by mortar shells from the surrounding hills ? I learned what it means to bear witness . I found my voice and my mission in Bosnia . I learned to seek the facts , to tell the truth no matter how difficult or unpopular . I learned that objectivity meant covering all sides and giving all sides their hearing , but never to draw a false moral equivalence when none exists . I learned never to equate victims with their aggressors . I learned that there are limits to the style of journalism that goes : `` On the one hand , on the other hand . '' Most of all , I learned that as reporters our words and our actions have consequences and that we must use this powerful platform , television , responsibly . But how many times have people asked me , when I 've come back from a place like Bosnia or Rwanda : Is it really that bad ? I have found that many people want to believe that I am exaggerating . I guess they do not want to believe such evil can exist . Or perhaps they just do not want to be pushed into that moral space where they would have to take a stand and do something . Genocide is hard to imagine -- despite all we know about the Holocaust . Or perhaps , ironically , as a result of it being the most documented event in modern history . Many people now believe that if the extermination is not done on the Nazis ' industrial scale or is less than complete , it is not genocide . They are wrong . Genocide is mass murder with the intent to wipe out a significant part of an ethnic , religious or national group . It means killing people not because of what they did , but because of who they are . It is the world 's most heinous crime . And it continues , despite an international treaty written 60 years ago this month . With a unanimous vote on December 9 , 1948 , the fledgling United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide . The signatories committed themselves to act , although the convention does not say what intervention is required . And sure enough , instead of using the convention as a springboard to action , political leaders in the ensuing years have invoked reason after reason not to stop the bloodshed . If there is any hopeful sign , it is in the voices of people with the emotional and intellectual courage to stand up and scream bloody murder -- often at personal or professional risk . Some are members of the political establishment who believe that doing the right thing is also the pragmatic thing to do . Others are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances . What makes them do it ? Over the course of filming a two-hour documentary , I found a few common threads . Unlike politicians who make policy from the detachment of their national capitals , these men and women have been on the front lines . Like Father François Ponchaud , a French missionary in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975 , they have seen the victims ' suffering first hand . Like Peter Galbraith , an idealistic staff member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee who wanted the U.S. to punish Saddam Hussein for using chemical weapons against the Kurds , they are convinced that the accounts of refugees are true . And like Richard Holbrooke , a U.S. diplomat whose Jewish grandfather fled Germany when Hitler came to power , they see where action -- sometimes military action -- can make a difference . None considered himself a hero . And some , like Canadian Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire , who led a U.N. peacekeeping force in Rwanda , believe they did not do enough . Dallaire was one of those good men who put on a uniform and felt that it meant something , that he was actually there to make a difference . Unfortunately , he was sent to Rwanda with an impossible mandate and without the backing of the international community . He was helpless to stop the slaughter of 800,000 to 1 million ethnic Tutsis at the hands of their Hutu countrymen . Imagine if that had happened to you or me ? How would we be able to live with ourselves ? iReport.com : Have a question for Amanpour ? Send it in . In any single crisis , I can understand that political leaders are under pressure not to intervene . But stepping back to look at the consistent pattern , one must ask : Is it acceptable ? In the 1970s , the Carter administration touted human rights as a core value in U.S. foreign policy , but knew that military intervention against the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia was politically inconceivable after the disastrous war in Vietnam . In the 1980s , the Reagan administration was courting Iraq as an ally against Iran and as a market for U.S. exports when Saddam Hussein was gassing the Kurds ; a punishing trade embargo would have destroyed the budding relationship . In the 1990s , the Clinton administration would not take military action against the Bosnian Serbs without backing from the European allies . Watch Bosnia 's president discuss the 1991 U.N. arms embargo on the former Yugoslavia '' And some U.S. officials even avoided characterizing the slaughter in Rwanda in 1994 as genocide lest it lead to a call for action under the U.N. Genocide Convention . Military force : The last resort ? Or the first resort ? '' But three years into the Bosnian war -- after the massacre at Srebrenica -- the U.S. finally forged a coalition of previously reluctant allies to bomb the Bosnian Serb military positions . They stopped the war , then led the peace process and the peace enforcement that has survived to this day . And because we the press , the storytellers , finally made it impossible for our Western democratic governments to tolerate mass murder of men , women and children in the age of 24/7 satellite TV , 3 1/2 years later , the U.S. led its allies in a pre-emptive strike against genocide in Kosovo . NATO , established to protect the West during the Cold War , had launched its largest military strike -- for a purely humanitarian mission . And today , there is a grassroots American movement that has brought the genocide in Darfur to such prominence . We 're always told that evil happens when good men do nothing . And the question -- my question as a reporter and as a witness to history is : Will we ever learn ? Or will I or my children or my successors be reporting on this same kind of atrocity and inhumanity for years and years to come ? This is what I do n't understand about the human race . So thank goodness for the few good men and women who summon the courage to do something in the face of evil , to stand up and confront it . They give me hope .
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CNN 's Christiane Amanpour traveled the globe for documentary on genocide . Amanpour : The few people who stand up and confront evil give me hope .
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WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The State Department issued a report Wednesday sharply critical of China 's human rights record , despite the Obama administration 's decision to take a different approach to the Asian country . In India on Wednesday , Tibetans living in exile protest Chinese rule in Tibet . `` The government of China 's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas , '' the report said in reviewing the last year , finding Chinese authorities `` committed extrajudicial killings and torture , coerced confessions of prisoners and used forced labor . '' The `` 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , '' the annual report of human rights around the world , also accused China of `` severe cultural and religious repression '' of minorities in Tibet and other regions and increasing harassment and detention of dissidents and activists who signed a petition calling for respect of human rights . China limits the rights of citizens to privacy and freedom of speech , assembly , movement and association , the report said . It also noted that abuses peaked around high-profile events like last year 's Olympic Games in Beijing . The critical report stands in sharp contrast to the lower-key approach Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took last week on her visit to Beijing . Clinton broached the issue of human rights with Chinese leaders , but drew criticism from human rights activists for downplaying the issue 's importance in the overall relationship with China . `` Our pressing on those issues ca n't interfere with the global economic crisis , the global climate change crisis , and the security crisis , '' she told reporters traveling with her , adding , `` It is essential that the United States and China have a positive , cooperative relationship . '' In the past , Clinton has been an outspoken , staunch critic of China 's human rights stance . But officials have said privately that a new approach to dealing with China 's human rights record , including less public criticism and more private discussions , may prove more productive in changing Chinese behavior . While not delving into U.S. human rights practices , the report acknowledged that the U.S. human rights record remains a concern around the world , and it said President Obama has vowed to apply global human rights ideals at home . `` The Department of State remains mindful of both domestic and international scrutiny of the United States ' record , '' the report said . `` We and all other sovereign nations have international obligations to respect the universal human rights and freedoms of our citizens , and it is the responsibility of others to speak out when they believe those obligations are not being fulfilled . ''
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Report contrasts with lower-key approach Clinton took on her visit to Beijing . Review for 2008 alleges extrajudicial killings , torture , coerced confessions . Clinton had said `` pressing on those issues ca n't interfere '' with other crises . Report acknowledges U.S. human rights record is a concern around the world .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- There 's nothing like images of infants and children in distress to make outsiders yearn to help , which is why the unfolding story of Haiti 's orphans -- the most helpless of earthquake victims -- has kept people riveted . But what can be done and what should be the focus of attention and efforts remains a mystery to many Americans , who are flooding the phone lines of organizations , seeking to adopt these children -- immediately . The offer to open arms , hearts and homes is no doubt well-intentioned , but several leading aid organizations recently said new adoptions should stop and not be rushed . They want to protect children wrongly identified as orphans from being moved out of the country or falling victim to child traffickers . To help people understand what is and what can be , here are the facts as they stand right now : . Understanding the numbers . In 2007 , the United Nations Children 's Fund , or UNICEF , estimated that there were 380,000 orphans in Haiti . But -- emphasis on `` but '' -- that number is rough at best , said Christopher de Bono , a UNICEF spokesman . The oversight of children in the system has been lousy in Haiti , de Bono said , and parents -- burdened by hardships -- have been known to leave their children in orphanages on a temporary basis . So determining who was truly orphaned before the earthquake was next to impossible . Despite the large number of orphans , as of last summer , Haiti had only about 100 licensed orphanages and 67 crèches -LRB- orphanages licensed to perform adoptions -RRB- , according to the Haitian Adoption Authority , or IBESR . Orphanages generally have no more than 150 children , according to adoption officials in the United States . This means most kids described as orphans in Haiti have not been housed in licensed establishments . Add to this the recent chaos and inevitable loss of documentation , and nailing down an accurate number of orphans becomes even more difficult . Since the 7.0 earthquake struck two weeks ago , 497 Haitian orphans have been evacuated to the United States , according to Tuesday 's figure from a U.S. State Department official . These were children confirmed to be orphans and already far along in the adoption process with identified families waiting for them . In total , 500 orphans had been issued travel documents to go to the United States , said Kathleen Strottman , executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute , a Washington-based nonprofit organization that works to raise awareness about children worldwide in need of homes . Strottman estimates more than 900 orphans -- including more than 400 who do n't yet have travel documents -- were in the process of being adopted from Haiti and placed in American homes . The actual match between family and child , she says , happens early in the two - to three-year adoption process , which is why this limbo stage is so painful for families who cling to photos of a child they 've already grown to love . Should doors open to more children ? Late last week , three aid groups -- Save the Children , World Vision and a unit of the British Red Cross -- issued a joint statement , asking for an immediate halt to any new adoptions of Haitian children . The crux of their argument was that hasty adoptions could break up families that may still have a chance of coming together again . Rather than whisk these children off to a foreign land , which might create a new set of problems for already traumatized young ones , these organizations , as well as many advocates in the adoption field , said the children should be cared for where they are -- provided with food , shelter , clothing and medical care -- and given the chance to reunite with family members who may be frantically searching for them . It 's better to give to the organizations that are on the ground , looking out for the welfare of kids , they say . UNICEF released a statement last week echoing this stance and saying that efforts to register unaccompanied children are under way . `` Every effort will be made to reunite children with their families . Only if that proves impossible , and after proper screening has been carried out , should permanent alternatives like adoption be considered by the relevant authorities , '' said Ann Veneman , UNICEF 's executive director . `` Screening for international adoption for some Haitian children had been completed prior to the earthquake . Where this is the case , there are clear benefits to speeding up their travel to their new homes . '' Added to the concern for these children are fears of increased trafficking and sexual exploitation . Before the earthquake , UNICEF estimated that as many as 2,000 Haitian children were being trafficked annually to the Dominican Republic , which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti , often with the consent of parents . These worries , and the desire to rejoin children with their loving family members , are not lost on U.S. lawmakers who came out Tuesday in support of a more efficient adoption process for Haiti . No one wants to tear children from the waiting arms of family members , nor do they want to place kids in danger . But for those who are `` true orphans , '' Sen. Mary Landrieu , D-Louisiana , and other senators from both parties , are throwing their political weight behind the issue . They say it 's time to cut through the red tape that slows down the adoption process and drags it on for years -- for the sake of verified orphans living in Haiti , but also for those who span the globe and will still need loving homes after the media coverage surrounding Haiti 's earthquake dies down . These lawmakers are pushing this week to get the Families for Orphans Act out of a Senate committee and onto the floor for a vote . The bill would create an office in the State Department to specifically handle adoption issues and look out for the best interests of the world 's most vulnerable children . The stance of the Haitian authorities , though , appears unbending . `` The Haitian government is very clear on this , '' said Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lessgue , the communications minister . `` We are facilitating all of the adoption applications already submitted . Other than those , no child will be leaving the country for adoption . ''
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Images of Haitian infants and children in distress keep world watching and worried . Calls from families hoping to adopt Haitian orphans flood phone lines . Aid agencies explain why hasty adoptions are dangerous and offer advice on how to help . U.S. lawmakers step in , trying to make adoptions more efficient .
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HELSTON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A huge cyclone struck Myanmar in May 2008 . It was the largest recorded disaster in that country , killing more than 130,000 people and leaving millions homeless . Since 2001 , Tom Henderson 's organization , ShelterBox , has supplied aid to more than 600,000 people . `` We were one of the first aid agencies into the country , delivering our ShelterBoxes , '' says Tom Henderson , whose relief package and organization of the same name has aided more than 600,000 victims of disasters of all scales worldwide since 2001 . Designed to help an extended family survive for a minimum of six months , the lightweight , weatherproof box contains items such as a 10-person tent , blankets , basic tools , water-purification tablets and containers , a multi-fuel or wood-burning stove , mosquito nets and other items tailored to the particular region in crisis . The `` ShelterBox is designed to be small enough so two people can carry it -- but it has to be large enough to get equipment in for 10 people , '' Henderson explains . `` It 's a simple package of aid delivered to the most needy people in the shortest amount of time . '' The ex-Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver says the idea behind the ShelterBox came to him `` literally in a heartbeat '' while watching the news in 1999 . Henderson was struck by the footage he saw of relief workers dropping food on the ground to victims of a disaster . `` I decided there and then that I would try to make a difference in a more sensible and dignified way , '' he recalls . `` I went to my study and I got a piece of paper out , and I wrote down ` shelter , ' ` warm , ' ` comfort , ' and ` dignity . ' And that 's where it started . '' Though Henderson says people thought he was crazy , he searched around the world for the products he knew would work . In 2000 , he brought his idea to the local Helston-Lizard Rotary Club , where members adopted the cause . In January 2001 , the first 143 ShelterBoxes were flown to earthquake-ravaged Gujarat , India . Since then , the ShelterBox organization has responded to more than 70 disasters in 46 countries . `` If people have lost everything why should they lose their dignity as well ? '' asks Henderson . `` So we were very keen , as well as delivering aid , to give people back their dignity , put them back in control . '' Watch how ShelterBox helps victims of disasters around the world '' The secret of its success is two-fold , explains Henderson . ShelterBox is nonpolitical , accepting no funding from government agencies , and is a worldwide network with communication hubs near every potential disaster site via Rotary International . This allows ShelterBox to respond within 72 hours of a disaster anywhere in the world , subject to customs and local political barriers . According to ShelterBox , each box costs # 490 in the United Kingdom and $ 1,000 in the United States , including all materials , packing , storage and distribution to recipients around the world . Donations from the British public and money raised from Rotary Clubs worldwide help fund the boxes . Watch Henderson reveal the items in a typical ShelterBox '' `` Nobody can buy our boxes , they are only available for free , '' says Henderson . Although Henderson does not travel to drop off boxes or choose where they go , he says he remains motivated by the thought of the millions of people that need help every day , and that if ShelterBox stops delivering aid , people might not survive . Watch Henderson tell the story of a mother and her baby in a ShelterBox '' `` The goal for me was these people , '' he says . `` I had pictures in my mind 's eye ... -LSB- like -RSB- children dying in the snow after a disaster . We want this to last for years to come , not just to get them through this disaster , -LSB- but -RSB- as a springboard for moving forward . '' Stories that Henderson hears from the field remind him that ShelterBox is doing just that . Recently , a woman in Kenya gave birth to a baby girl in a ShelterBox tent . `` The ShelterBox became a crib for the baby . And the blankets became blankets for the baby , '' says Henderson . `` It 's a huge feeling of pride and satisfaction when these sorts of things happen . ''
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Tom Henderson 's organization , ShelterBox , helps disaster victims worldwide . It provides free ShelterBoxes , containing items such as blankets , tools and tents . The organization has aided more than 600,000 victims of disasters since 2001 .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Germany coach Joachim Low has ended speculation over his future by signing a two-year contract extension in the wake of a successful World Cup campaign . Low 's assistant coach Hansi Flick , goalkeeping coach Andreas Kopke and national team manager Oliver Bierhoff have also signed on for a further two years . The 50-year-old 's previous four-year deal expired on June 30 . Talks on extending it had initially stalled in February , reportedly over financial details , and Low 's desire for more control over the Under-21 Germany side . But the new deal will now see Low take on the task of helping Germany qualify for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine , after his team finished third at the World Cup . `` We are all pleased that we can continue our work with the national team , '' he told the German Football Federation 's -LRB- DFB -RRB- official website . `` Our team has excellent sporting prospects and it is a big challenge for us to be able to get stuck into the preparations for Euro 2012 after the successful World Cup in South Africa . `` In order to be able to achieve our main goals in the near future , we need the continued hard and consistent work from everyone . '' The DFB president Theo Zwanziger announced his delight at securing the futures of Low and his backroom staff . `` I 'm happy for German football that we have been able to solve the most important personnel decisions in the national team so quickly and confidentially , '' he told the federation 's official website . `` The signature of the Bundestrainers for this young team is immensely important . '' Zwanziger was keen to extend Low 's position as coach of Germany after the former Stuttgart manager guided his country to third in South Africa . Low 's young Germany side won rave reviews as they thrashed England and Argentina before losing to eventual winners Spain in the semifinals . The team finished the tournament with a bronze medal after beating Uruguay 3-2 in a third-place playoff . Many players on the Germany team impressed , none more so than forward Thomas Muller , 20 , who won the Golden Boot and the best young player award . Low , who has won 38 out of 55 matches since succeeding Jurgen Klinsmann in 2006 , also guided Germany to the final of the European Championships of 2008 in Austria and Switzerland , where they were defeated 1-0 by Spain . Germany 's first qualifying match for Euro 2012 will be against Belgium in Brussels on September 3 .
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Germany coach Joachim Low has signed a two-year contract extension . Team manager Oliver Bierhoff has also agreed to stay on for a further two years . Low guided Germany to third place at the World Cup in South Africa . He will have the task of helping Germany qualify for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Manchester City 's transfer window spending neared the # 90 milliion -LRB- $ 139 million -RRB- mark after completing the signing of Serbian international left-back Aleksandar Kolarov from Lazio . The 24-year-old has been granted a work permit and the formalities of the reported # 19 million -LRB- $ 29.32 million -RRB- deal with the Serie A club were completed after he passed a medical Saturday . The Kolarov deal has increased speculation that England international left-back Wayne Bridge will now move to Liverpool . But Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has denied Bridge will be leaving Eastlands . `` I want two top-class players for each position , '' the Italian told their official website . `` I first saw Kolarov in his Lazio debut back in 2007 . I have watched him a lot since then and so have the Manchester City scouts . `` His attacking capability is very good . He is fast and can shoot with power and accuracy . `` He also has the ability to play in numerous positions and is very good in midfield . City 's Abu Dhabi-based owners have given Mancini the funds to improve on their fifth-placed finish in the English Premier League last season . Mancini had already spent # 25 million -LRB- $ 38.59 million apiece on Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure and Valencia winger David Silva , as well as signing German international defender Jerome Boateng from Hamburg for # 15 million -LRB- $ 23.15 million -RRB- . City have also been linked with Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli but the Italian club want them to up their bid . `` It all depends on whether we can find the measures that are interesting for both us and them , '' the club 's president Massimo Moratti told their official website .
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Aleksandar Kolarov completes his move to Manchester City from Lazio . Manchester City have spent nearly $ 139 in close season transfer window . Big spending City also linked with Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Some long-time Cuba watchers expressed skepticism Tuesday over a report by a former Mexican foreign minister that Communist leader Raul Castro removed two top-ranking officials earlier this month because they were plotting to overthrow him with the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez . Fidel Castro , beset by illness , ceded power to his younger brother , Raul , pictured , last year . Jorge G. Castaneda , who served as Mexico 's foreign minister from 2000 - 2003 , wrote in the March 23 issue of Newsweek , which became public Saturday , that Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Lage Davila and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque were concerned that Raul Castro would make concessions that would betray the 50-year-old Cuban Revolution . `` For at least a month or so , Lage , Perez Roque and others were apparently involved in a conspiracy , betrayal , coup or whatever term one prefers , to overthrow or displace Raul from his position , '' Castaneda wrote . `` In this endeavor , they recruited -- or were recruited by -- Venezuela 's Hugo Chavez , who in turn tried to enlist the support of other Latin American leaders , starting with Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic , who refused to get involved . '' The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington did not answer a verbal and written request for comment . The Dominican Republic Embassy in Washington did not answer telephones calls at various numbers . Robert Pastor , who served as a Latin America National Security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s , returned Saturday from a weeklong visit to Cuba . Pastor said he wrote Castaneda a letter upon his return expressing his disbelief in Castaneda 's contentions . `` This is Jorge at his most creative , '' Pastor said Tuesday . Louis A. Perez Jr. , a Cuba scholar who has written 12 books on the nation , also expressed his doubts . `` Where is this coming from ? '' Perez asked . `` I operate with the idea that there has to be some standard of plausibility . Is there discontent in Cuba and was Lage seen as the heir apparent ? Yeah , that 's the conventional wisdom since last year . But that there 's a conspiracy between Lage and Perez Roque ? I do n't think so . It would be helpful if the people who write these reports cross the barrier of speculation . '' Castaneda freely offers that he has no proof , calling his thesis `` informed speculation . '' `` I have no way to substantiate any of this , '' he said by telephone Tuesday from Mexico City . `` I have no evidence of it . '' Instead , Castaneda points to an `` enigmatic '' comment former leader Fidel Castro made in a column after the two men were removed . `` He resorted to a baseball metaphor on the occasion of the World Baseball Classic to praise Dominicans for not participating -LRB- the team 's plans had been unclear -RRB- and to claim that Chavez 's baseball players , ` as good and young ' as they might be , were no match for ` Cuba 's seasoned all-stars , ' '' Castaneda wrote in the Newsweek article . Castaneda says Castro was thanking Dominican President Fernandez and sending a veiled message to Chavez . The former Mexican official also points to Chavez ' silence on the removal of the two men as further proof that he was involved . The two fired functionaries were acting out of loyalty to the revolution , Castaneda wrote . Fidel Castro , beset by illness , ceded power to his younger brother last year . Most analysts see Fidel Castro as the more idealistic and doctrinaire of the two brothers , while Raul is viewed as more pragmatic . `` Their reasons for wishing to unseat Raul were mainly turf and power , '' Castaneda wrote , `` but they also feared that the leader was beginning to feel threatened by the reaction of the Cuban people to excessive economic and social deprivation , and after his brother 's demise would be unable to control the flow of events . Consequently , he would accept a series of economic and political reforms to normalize relations with the United States . ... `` They believed this to be a betrayal of the revolution , and the beginning of the end of its survival . '' According to Castaneda , Raul Castro detected the plot and went to his brother and gave him an ultimatum : support him or the plotters . Fidel Castro agreed to back his brother , Castaneda wrote . The Castro brothers then called in Chavez and gave him a `` devil 's alternative : back off , while maintaining economic support for the island , or lose his Cuban security detail and intelligence apparatus , exposing himself to coups and assassination attempts from eventual Venezuelan replacements . He chose to stick with the Castros . '' Castaneda acknowledges that Pastor and others have criticized him but says , `` I ask that they offer a better explanation . '' Says Pastor , `` Most of them are quite conventional explanations . Everyone knew he was going to change the Cabinet . The only question was when the changes would be . '' Raul Castro was merely trying to make the government more efficient , Pastor said . `` What was he doing ? '' he asked . `` Merging different ministries , trying to decentralize and strengthen the government 's capacity to undertake economic reforms . '' But Castaneda points to the manner in which the two men were removed as proof that there was more to it than just a change in government . Why were n't Lage and Perez Roque given ambassadorships or other face-saving posts , as is often done in cases like this , he asked ? Instead , Castaneda said , the men were stripped of all posts and made to sign letters in which they confessed to unspecified `` mistakes . '' And one day after the two men were removed , Fidel Castro wrote in his column that they were ousted after they became seduced by the `` honey of power , '' which led them to an `` unworthy role . '' Castro further said the two men had reawakened the illusions of `` foreign powers '' regarding Cuba 's future . Castaneda says Raul Castro was worried about what would happen after Fidel dies and was trying to avert a succession battle . Perez Roque , 43 , might have been perceived as a threat . `` Perez Roque was popular in Cuba ; his youth , his humble origins , his combative nature all brought him closer to the people than most Cuban bureaucrats , '' Castaneda wrote in Newsweek . Pastor notes that the decision to remove the two men was not popular . `` There was pushback in Cuba among the -LSB- Communist Party -RSB- cadres and the public who said , `` We 've connected with these two people . Why are they going ? '' Pastor said . `` They did n't feel the government had given an adequate explanation for changing those individuals . They were concerned about the language of the resignations and about Fidel 's comments . '' Interestingly , Pastor said , `` They blamed Fidel more than they seemed to blame Raul . '' Perez , the Cuba scholar , also noted Fidel Castro 's apparent passing from power . `` Nobody speaks of Fidel anymore , '' Perez said . `` He 's a non-presence . Out of sight , out of mind . The only time anyone speaks of him is when they are asked about him . ''
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Former Mexican foreign minister says Raul Castro removed two top-ranking officials . It 's claimed they were plotting to overthrow him fearing he 'd betray Cuban revolution . Report says plotters received support from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez . Some long-time Cuba watchers skeptical over the report .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A woman who claims polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs forced her as a 14-year-old to marry her 19-year-old cousin said she is not giving up , despite the Utah Supreme Court 's overturning Jeffs ' convictions and ordering a new trial . `` This is not the end , and I by no means am backing down , '' Elissa Wall said after the ruling at a news conference , portions of which were posted on the website of CNN affiliate KSL-TV . Jeffs , the `` prophet '' of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , or FLDS , was sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life after he was convicted on two counts of rape as an accomplice in September 2007 . He was accused of using his influence to force Wall to marry her cousin Allen Steed in 2001 . The Utah Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the jury instructions in Jeffs ' 2007 trial were flawed . The first count of rape as an accomplice against Jeffs was alleged to have occurred shortly after Wall and Steed were married , when the two first had sex , the Utah Supreme Court opinion said . The second was alleged to have occurred after Jeffs refused to `` release '' Wall from her marriage and told her to `` give herself to -LSB- Steed -RSB- ... mind , body and soul . '' Prosecutors relied on three separate portions of the law defining the circumstances under which sex is non-consensual , the opinion said . Under those portions , the victim must express a lack of consent through words or conduct , the victim must be younger than 18 , and `` the actor '' must be in a position of special trust in relation to the victim . `` Jeffs argues that the instruction erroneously focused the jury on Jeffs ' actions and position of special trust , rather than on Steed 's , for the purpose of determining whether Wall consented , '' the opinion said . The justices agreed , saying in the unanimous ruling that the jurors should have been asked to consider whether Steed was in a position of special trust and whether Steed lured or induced Wall into having sex . `` The state interprets the term ` actor ' to mean the ` defendant , ' '' the opinion said . `` We conclude that the state 's interpretation is erroneous . '' Also , the jurors should have been instructed that in order to convict , they must find that Jeffs intended that Steed would sexually assault Wall as a result of his conduct . Wall told `` In Session '' on Tuesday night that she was in `` disbelief '' after hearing that the convictions were overturned . `` What I know is this : I would never have married my first husband unless Warren wanted it , '' she said . `` I would never had had unwanted sex with my first husband unless Warren demanded it . The jury understood that . '' She told KSL-TV that she has no regrets about her testimony in the case . `` If I had to do this again , I would n't change a thing , because I stood up for what I believe in , '' Wall said Tuesday . She is now 24 and has remarried and left the FLDS . Her attorneys made her name public after the Jeffs trial , with her consent . According to KSL , she is in a witness protection program . She said she feared retribution for her testimony against Jeffs . `` He controlled thousands of people in fear for many , many years , '' she said , and `` many abominable sins and many things ... have occurred to thousands of people because of his influence . '' The justices sent the case back to the lower court for a new trial . Defense attorney Wally Bugden said Tuesday that he expects the Washington County , Utah , district attorney to decide quickly on whether Jeffs will be retried . Brian Filter , senior deputy attorney for Washington County , said Wednesday that the district attorney 's office is still analyzing the Supreme Court 's ruling and consulting with the victim and others involved in the case before deciding to retry Jeffs . Jeffs will be transferred , however , from the Utah State Prison just south of Salt Lake City to Washington County in southern Utah -- closer to the FLDS communities of Hildale , Utah , and Colorado City , Arizona , Bugden said . Bugden said Tuesday that he will be requesting bail for Jeffs when a hearing is held in the lower court . But Jeffs remains under federal indictment for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in 2006 . Federal detainers remain in place , said Melodie Rydalch , spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney 's office in Utah . If Jeffs is not held on state charges , he will be taken into federal custody , she said . However , Jeffs ' biggest legal challenge still awaits him . He is awaiting trial in Texas , where he was indicted in 2008 on a felony charge of sexual assault of a child . The indictment accuses him of assaulting a child `` younger than 17 years of age and not legally married to the defendant '' in January 2005 . If convicted on those charges , he could face a maximum penalty of five to 99 years or life in prison . An extradition hearing on the Texas matter was canceled Tuesday after the Utah Supreme Court ruling . But the Texas attorney general 's office began new proceedings Wednesday to extradite Jeffs , spokesman Jerry Strickland told The Dallas Morning News . Jeffs had been awaiting trial in Arizona on four charges of being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor . But last month , a judge dismissed those charges . The Mohave County , Arizona , prosecutor , had asked the court to throw out the charges , citing `` much more serious charges '' against Jeffs in Texas and the desire of his alleged victims that he `` face these more serious charges as soon as possible . '' The FLDS drew national attention when Jeffs was arrested during a routine traffic stop in August 2006 . At the time , he was on the FBI 's Ten Most Wanted list . The FLDS is a 10,000-member offshoot of the mainstream Mormon church , which renounced polygamy a century ago . FLDS members openly practice polygamy at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado , Texas , and the two towns straddling the Utah-Arizona state line . Critics of the sect say young girls are forced into `` spiritual '' marriages with older men and are sexually abused . Sect members have denied that any sexual abuse takes place . Jeffs had led the sect since his father 's death in 2002 . CNN 's Ashley Hayes and `` In Session 's '' Beth Karas contributed to this report .
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Elissa Wall says she `` would n't change a thing '' Warren Jeffs ' Utah convictions thrown out by state Supreme Court . Report : Texas launches new efforts to extradite Jeffs . Feds say they will take Jeffs into custody if he is freed on state charges .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Brazil 's president has offered asylum to an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning , state-run media reported Saturday . President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva was quoted by Brazil 's official state news agency EBC as saying `` I want to make an appeal to my friend Ahmadinejad ... and to the government of Iran to allow Brazil to take in the woman . '' Brazil recently participated in talks with Iran aimed at restarting negotiations about Iran 's nuclear program . In May , Brazil helped broker a deal with Iran that would provide Tehran with enriched uranium for medical research . Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 and was originally sentenced to death by stoning . Iranian authorities say the sentence has been put on hold , but there have been no reports as to whether a new sentence has been imposed . The 43-year-old mother of two is reportedly still being held held in Tabriz prison . Iran 's judiciary could reinstate her sentence of death by stoning , execute her by another means , or possibly even grant her a reprieve , according to human rights groups . Ashtiani 's attorney , Mohammad Mostafaei , told CNN earlier this month that his client confessed to the crime after being subjected to 99 lashes . He said she later recanted the confession and denied any wrongdoing . Mostafaei has gone into hiding since last weekend after being interrogated by Iranian authorities , human rights groups say . Advocates and Mostafaei say his wife and brother-in-law are being held by Iranian authorities . A letter believed to be written by Mostafaei was posted on the Internet on Saturday , calling for the release of his relatives . The lawyer says he has cooperated with interrogators , and says his wife and brother-in-law are victims of of `` hostage taking . '' Mostafaei said he and his family are innocent of any wrongdoing . The Guardian newspaper previously reported that Mostafaei 's wife was arrested when they were unable to find him . CNN 's Gena Somra contributed to this report .
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Brazil 's president offers asylum to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani . Lawyer of woman says his wife is being unfairly held . Brazil 's president has been involved in diplomatic talks with Iran in recent months . Iran says Ashtiani 's stoning sentence was commuted , but no word on alternate sentence .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Considered one of modern Africa 's founding fathers , Zambia 's first President Kenneth Kaunda has spent much of his life fighting some of Africa 's toughest battles . From his struggles against the racism and oppression of colonial rule in the 1950s to the fight against AIDS today , it 's been an eventful life for Zambia 's former leader . Kaunda 's rise to prominence started in the early 1950s , a time of growing political unrest in the region . Independence movements across Africa were gaining momentum and activists , becoming ever more defiant , were demanding the end of colonialism and the right to self government . In Northern Rhodesia -- soon to become Zambia -- Kaunda was in the midst of the struggles , fighting against a repressive and racist regime , he explained to CNN . `` We were going to defy unjust laws , conditions of slavery more or less ... There was segregation of the worst form . '' He continued : `` Schools for whites , schools for blacks , hospitals for whites , few hospitals for blacks . And so it went on . Everywhere there was racial discrimination . '' But his fight for independence was not without consequence and in 1959 Kaunda was arrested and jailed for ten months . For Kaunda , prison was an inevitable part of the fight for freedom . `` I think I succeeded in the end but it meant going into prison defying unjust laws , being arrested by the police , beaten up , thrown into prison , '' he said . `` You come out and you still continue and we did this and in the end thank God we succeeded . '' After his release in January 1960 Kaunda became leader of the newly formed United National Independence Party -LRB- UNIP -RRB- and in 1964 after elections and much political wrangling , Zambia was finally granted independence from the British with Kaunda as its president . It was a presidency which was to last 27 years , but under one party rule . A decision highly criticized , with many accusing Kaunda of presiding over a dictatorship . But Kaunda has remained defiant about his decision to form a one-party state , telling CNN : `` My colleagues and I decided we 're going to go into one party . The reason for that , there was no way , no way at all in which we could have fought and defeated colonialism all around us , with so many parties in Zambia at that time . No way at all . He continued : `` No , I have never been a dictator . It was a bargain with the people . But even then I knew it was not the best thing to do . But in that situation it was the only way out . '' In 1990 Kaunda finally legalized opposition parties setting the stage for free , multi-party elections , which took place in 1991 . The elections saw the end of Kaunda 's leadership with Frederick Chiluba from the Movement for Multiparty Democracy coming to power . Now , after 20 years away from the political spotlight , Kaunda is still campaigning . His major battle today is the fight against HIV/AIDS , a disease running rampant throughout his country , affecting one in eight Zambians . It 's a cause close to the former leader 's heart and one which has affected him personally . `` My own child , one of them , died of Aids . A brilliant boy , '' Kaunda told CNN . `` He died of AIDS but that 's not the reason why I am fighting AIDS . I fight AIDS because it 's a killer disease , destroys the human race in all fields . '' It 's this constant will to fight that leaves Kaunda positive about the future of his country and Africa . This despite the many challenges ahead . `` I 'm very hopeful that things will come right , '' he said to CNN . `` Because you see there was a time when a leader went wrong and they became an oppressor ... but today things have begun to change . `` The struggle , the condemnation is quite often within the continent of Africa . It 's a good beginning towards a realization of what , democracy is right in this world , east , west , north , south . So I 'm confident that we have begun to grow . '' Susannah Palk contributed to this report .
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Kenneth Kaunda became Zambia 's first President after independence in 1964 . During the country 's struggles , Kaunda was jailed twice by the colonial authorities . Once in power , he governed for 27 years under one-party rule . Twenty years out of politics , Kaunda continues to campaign against the spread of AIDS .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The cost of attending college has risen nearly three times the rate of the cost of living , and could eventually put higher education out of reach for most Americans , according to a National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education report released Wednesday . The price to attend college , adjusted for inflation , rose 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 , according to a report . The problem could affect the United States ' global competitiveness , the center said in its biennial report . `` College tuition continues to outpace family income and the price of other necessities , such as medical care , food and housing , '' the center said . College tuition and fees , adjusted for inflation , rose 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 , towering over increases in medical care , housing and food , according to the report . Median family income rose 147 percent during the same period , the report said . In Austin , Texas , Tony D'Addeo , a high school senior and straight-A student , hoped to attend an Ivy League school , paid for with his parents ' stock options . But the options , once worth several hundred thousand dollars , are now worthless . `` I think a lot of families -- lower class and middle class -- are having to readjust their plans and goals , '' said D'Addeo , who is now looking at a state school or possibly signing up for an ROTC program to cover college expenses . Watch how the economy is affecting students ' college plans '' The report gave a failing grade in affordability to all states but one , California , which received a `` C. '' `` The nation 's colleges and universities have become less affordable for students and their families since the early 1990s , '' it said . `` This year continues the trend in deteriorating college affordability in the majority of states . '' See how tuition has risen in comparison to other prices '' In most states , the percentage of an average family 's income used for a public four-year college -- after financial aid -- has increased , the report said . `` On average , students from working and poor families must pay 40 percent of family income to enroll in public four-year colleges . Students from middle-income families and upper-income families must pay 25 percent and 13 percent of family income , respectively . '' Watch how the affordability of college is getting tougher in the U.S. '' In addition , students who enroll in college take on more debt to stay there . `` Over the last decade , borrowing has more than doubled , '' the report said . `` Money is n't cheap , '' said Georgia State University senior Eric Hahn . `` The process is time-consuming , and there 's also the stress of having to liquidate my investments and wonder where I 'm going to find money , '' said Hahn , who had to scramble to find a new loan earlier this year after his lender suspended its private loan program . Hahn is now borrowing money from Sallie Mae , the country 's leading student loan provider . He estimated it will take him five to seven years to repay about $ 30,000 he will borrow . Read full story . The researchers said states are struggling with substantial budget shortfalls , a consequence of the lagging economy . The soaring cost of college is on the political radar of President-elect Barack Obama . He has promised to create a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $ 4,000 in exchange for community service , according to the Obama-Biden Web site . Recipients of the tax credit would be required to conduct 100 hours of community service . Obama also promised to streamline the financial aid process . Under Obama 's plan , families would apply for financial aid by checking a box on their tax form , which would authorize their tax information to be used , and eliminate the need for a separate application . The United States made modest advances in some areas of education , but the rate of enrollment and completion for college is below other countries , the report found . The 34 percent of young American adults enrolled in college puts the United States behind Hungary , Belgium , Ireland , Poland , Greece and Korea -- which ranked the highest , with 53 percent . Nearly 40 percent of older Americans , ages 35 to 64 , hold an associate degree or higher , putting the United States second in the world in that category , behind Canada 's 44 percent . But the United States ranks 10th in the world for percentage of younger adults holding those degrees -- 39 percent -- far below Canada , which has the highest at 55 percent .
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Report : Tuition and fees , adjusted for inflation , rose 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 . Public policy and education center gave an `` F '' in affordability to 49 states . U.S. leadership in college enrollment has slipped , it said .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The man known for one of the most partisan practices in American politics had once quit government for a time because of partisanship . Elbridge Gerry was once an accomplished statesman devoted to his country , but nearly 200 years after his death , his legacy is overshadowed by the tactic that bears his name . It 's called `` gerrymandering , '' and it means redrawing congressional districts , often in odd shapes , for the sake of political gain . The term was coined after Gerry , as the Massachusetts governor , approved an obscure redistricting plan ahead of the 1812 elections that helped Republicans hold on to power in the legislature . The plan lumped many of the Federalists into one district , while giving his party , the Democrat-Republicans , the advantage in other districts . The Federal press ran a political cartoon calling attention to the salamander-like shape of one of the districts , and thus `` gerrymander '' was born into the political lexicon , according to his bio from the Senate Historical Office . Gerry 's partisan tendencies did n't sit well with his state , and he lost his 1812 re-election bid . While Gerry is best remembered for being the namesake behind the redistricting tactic , there were high points in his political career . Gerry , whose name is pronounced with a hard `` g '' unlike the term derived from it , was born in Marblehead , Massachusetts , in 1744 . He attended Harvard College and graduated with the class of ' 62 . He returned to Marblehead after graduation and by 1770 , he was becoming more active in the anti-British movement , according to his Senate bio . In 1772 , Gerry was elected to the legislature and later served in the Provincial Congress . He was later elected to the first and second Continental Congress , meetings with delegates from the 13 existing colonies . He was a signatory on the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation . Related : Lines drawn over census results . Gerry argued in support of the `` Great Compromise '' at the 1787 Constitutional Convention , according to his Senate bio . The Great Compromise yielded the current bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and Senate . As the Constitution evolved , however , Gerry feared it would give too much power to what would be the Congress , so he refused to sign it . He viewed it more favorably after the Bill of Rights was added . In the years that followed , Gerry served in the first and second Congresses as a representative but became disenchanted with the partisan debates and retired after his second term , his Senate bio says . John Adams later appointed him as an envoy to France , and although Gerry believed he helped to avoid war , he was sharply criticized for his work . Emerging as Massachusetts ' Republican leader , Gerry served as governor twice and was defeated in his bid for a third term , clearing the way for his move to higher office . With the backing of the Republican caucus , President James Madison chose 67-year-old Gerry , a staunch supporter of the War of 1812 , to be his running mate . The pair were elected , but Gerry died 20 months after becoming the nation 's fifth vice president . Gerry was buried in the Congressional Cemetery . His epitaph displays one of his most well-known quotes : . `` It is the duty of every man , though he may have but one day to live , to devote that day to the good of his country . ''
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`` Gerrymandering '' derived from Elbridge Gerry , former VP and Massachusetts governor . The term refers to redrawing legislative districts for political gain . Gerry signed Declaration of Independence , Articles of Confederation ; was Madison 's VP .
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[[472, 503], [2832, 2862], [1858, 1947]]
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It 's not as fancy as an iPad , but it 's far more affordable : Kmart 's July 25 circular advertised a 7-inch tablet by Augen running the Android operating system . The GenTouch78 is on sale through July 31 for $ 149.99 . That 's far less than the cost of a laptop computer , and significantly less than the cost of a typical netbook . It 's even less than the up-front cost for many popular carrier-subsidized smartphones -- and it does n't require a pricey monthly contract . In fact , this device is roughly the size and cost of the Wi-Fi version of the latest Amazon Kindle . It 's small enough to carry in a purse , and light enough to hold up easily if you 're lying down in bed to read . All of this puts the GenTouch78 in a very interesting market position . It 's a net-enabled tablet that is truly affordable for a mass consumer audience . In this unboxing video , YouTube user MrJn7 compares the Android tablet to his iPad and notes that while the iPad functions more smoothly and has a more compelling display , you can buy three GenTouch78 tablets -LRB- and then some -RRB- for the price of the least expensive iPad model . This tablet certainly has some shortcomings . According to MrJn7 's video , the touchscreen is plastic -LRB- not glass -RRB- and requires a much firmer touch than the iPad . It even comes with a stylus , which seems like a technological throwback . Furthermore , the Android operating system may not be as intuitive as the Mac OS -- although it probably is not more difficult than Windows , which has been the choice of cost-conscious computer users for decades . The big deal is : Devices like this -- and rest assured , there will be many more of them -- can help address the class biases of technology and bridge the digital divide . Tablets like the GenTouch could become popular among people who have never owned a computer , or who own a computer and just want light web access on the go . I could see them becoming popular with teens and students , with seniors -LRB- who often feel overwhelmed by learning a computer -RRB- , or anyone who wants more than an e-reader but less than a netbook as long as it 's inexpensive . I also could see this kind of device catching on among businesses and organizations where people must walk around while recording or accessing information . I could envision cost-conscious shoppers opting to meet their communication needs via a small Wi-Fi tablet plus a no-contract , simple-feature phone -- and not feeling left behind by the smartphone craze . I 'm sure that some people who are accustomed to laptops and smartphones will scoff at the GenTouch78 and its inevitable successors as underpowered cheap toys . That 's fine . They 're not the target market . The target market , I think , is people who just want good-enough , easy internet access for the lowest cash outlay . That 's a big market -- one that probably includes people who would n't ever purchase a computer , netbook , or smartphone . The catch , of course , is Wi-Fi access -- which is still far from ubiquitous in many areas . It 's is often available for free at schools , libraries , and many kinds of businesses ; but it 's a bigger hurdle for people in rural or poor communities . So far , tablets -LRB- even the iPad -RRB- are mainly intended for media consumption , simple interaction , and light content creation or curating . They are n't good for writing a book , manipulating a big spreadsheet or editing a podcast . But they are good enough to allow considerably more people to do considerably more online , affordably , and with fewer obstacles than most phones present . At the moment , the GenTouch78 is not actually on Kmart 's shelves . The retailer is issuing rain checks for this offer . -LRB- See the Kmart blog for details . -RRB- And it 's unknown what Kmart 's price for the tablet will be after July 31 . But remember , this particular product is just a starting point . It 'll be interesting to watch this market develop -- and to see how people put these cheap tablets to use .
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The GenTouch78 is a 7-inch tablet running the Android operating system . It 's a web-enabled tablet that at $ 150 is truly affordable for a mass consumer audience . Tablets like this could become popular among people who have never owned a computer .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Even 6-year-olds at Hamilton Central School in central New York came to school prepared for swine flu . Jessica Poyer , a first-grade teacher , noticed in the spring that kids had begun bringing their own hand sanitizer , tissues and water bottles . Guidelines on when schools should dismiss the student body because of H1N1 were released Friday . Poyer , also the mother of two young children , thinks about swine flu , also known as influenza A H1N1 , every day , both at school and at home . She knows that some schools nationwide have had to close because the disease was widespread , and she has mixed feelings about the school closures . `` I hate to close schools , because it interrupts learning , but we leave it up to health professionals , '' said Poyer , who lives in Deansboro , New York . Federal health officials , releasing guidelines Friday , suggested that closure of schools this fall be rare . `` There are measures we can take to protect the students , protect the staff , and to allow learning to continue , '' said Dr. Thomas Frieden , director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . A key change in the new guidance is that people with H1N1 should stay out of school for 24 hours after their fever is gone , regardless of whether they are taking medication such as Tamiflu . Before , the recommendation was seven days , Frieden said . Watch a report on the new recommendations '' In the current context of the H1N1 outbreak , if it is similar to the situation in the spring , schools should consider closing if most or all students have particular medical needs , such as children on ventilators or pregnant teens , Frieden said . In addition , some districts may decide that because there are so many cases of H1N1 , from an administrative point of view , they can not stay open , he said . In addition , despite telling parents to keep sick children home , some parents may continue to send their children to school with a fever -- a situation that resulted in the closing of some New York schools in the spring , Frieden said . Officials emphasized that school closures are ultimately local decisions , which Superintendent Al Hambrick at the Sherman Independent School District in North Texas also stresses . He said his district will always take federal guidance into account , but individual localities will handle the H1N1 situation differently depending on the particular circumstances of the outbreak . If there are cases of swine flu at Sherman ISD , and the federal guidelines suggested that children should n't necessarily be sent home , the school may decide to dismiss the students anyway , he said . `` We might send the whole school home because we want to sanitize the building , '' he said . Ryan Koczot , a teacher at Broad Creek Middle School in Newport , North Carolina , believes that if proper precautions are taken early , such as telling parents to keep their sick children at home , schools will not have to close . He is concerned about creating panic among faculty , staff and students , and about making up lost days at the end of the year . `` Let the individual students and parents handle it , '' he said . Tara Whittington , a math teacher at Villa Rica High School near Atlanta , Georgia , who makes hand sanitizer available for her students , considers school closures a waste of time if only one student has H1N1 , but supports dismissal if a quarter of the students become ill . `` By the time a fourth of the students have it , your school may be the cause of it being spread between the students , need to step in and clean it out , '' she said . Boston Public Schools in Massachusetts had 10 closings in the spring , which came about through collaborative decisions between the city public health commission and the superintendent , said Matt Wilder , spokesman for the schools . In Georgia , the final decision about closing schools because of H1N1 is usually up to the local school board with input from local and state public health officials , the Department of Community Health said . `` Some school closures may be based on operational interruption due to a significant percentage of student and staff absences , while some school closures may be based on a recommendation of public health to reduce the virus spread , '' the department said in a statement . The novel virus is known to have been circulating worldwide since April . There have been 353 deaths , and more than 5,500 people have been hospitalized for H1N1 in the United States so far , according to the CDC . In Montgomery County , Maryland , public school principals have been asked to come up with plans for giving students lessons in the event of school closings , said schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison . One option for continuing instruction is a Web resource called Edline , which lets them post lessons and assignments online , she said . There is also a cable television station that could be used to broadcast lessons , she said . These Maryland schools , which will follow the guidance of local health authorities on school closings , have also ordered hospital-grade face masks , she said . It is still unclear under what circumstances these masks would be used , but , for example , employees who have to work together closely may use them , she said . Watch the U.S. education secretary talk about preparedness '' Other schools across the country are ramping up their cleaning efforts to prevent H1N1 transmission . At Sherman ISD in Texas , the staff is disinfecting door handles during the upcoming school year , something the school did n't do before , Hambrick said . Most schools in the district have hand sanitizer in every classroom , he said . Sherman ISD schools , which have not had any confirmed cases of the virus , will also be distributing informational pamphlets about H1N1 , he said . For athletic practices , coaches discourage the sharing of towels and water bottles , Hambrick said . In the spring , the schools canceled field trips to places where there had been reported cases of H1N1 , he said . Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told government leaders last month that a vaccine to fight the H1N1 virus should be ready for distribution in mid-October . At what point schools should close because of the new virus , if ever , is a matter of controversy . A recent study in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases concludes that there are a lot of uncertainties about the consequences of closing schools during a pandemic -- for example , the ways that children interact when they are not in school . For example , children may mix with each other at the mall if school is not in session , said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley , a professor at the University of California , Los Angeles , School of Public Health , who was not involved with the study . Moreover , school provides a relatively safe environment , whereas other problems could arise outside school such as children getting hit by cars , he said . Disinfecting classrooms may not be so effective , either , because the virus dies within about three hours , he said . `` If people will stay away from school when they are sick and do the ABCDs , that will mollify , or make less severe , the transmission of disease in schools , '' he said .
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NEW : Federal agency releases guidance on closures related to H1N1 . In Maryland , schools prepare for instruction when students are n't in class . Some schools have ramped up cleaning , offered hand sanitizer in classrooms . The value of closing school because of H1N1 is still being debated .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The number of babies born in the United States dropped 2.6 percent last year , according to a recent study , the latest in a long list of falling indicators . The birth rate , which takes into account changes in the population , fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year , from 13.9 births in 2008 , and 14.3 births in 2007 , according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics . The news is not surprising , said Andrew Cherlin , a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University , given the sad state of the American economy right now . `` The birth rate is falling because of the Great Recession . When people are unsure of their financial future , they tend to postpone having children , '' Cherlin told CNN . `` It 's stronger now than in the last couple of recessions because this is a stronger recession , '' he added . The U.S. birth rate has been declining since the start of the economic downturn in late 2007 . When the economy picks up , so should births , said Cherlin , though he stressed it will take time for people to feel secure again . Some of the women postponing having children now will have them later , Cherlin said , while others never will . During the Great Depression in the 1930s , roughly 20 percent of women never had children -- a percentage that Cherlin predicts the United States will hit again . The number of actual babies born in the United States dropped to 4,136,000 in 2009 , from 4,247,000 in 2008 , the statistics center said . `` I think it 's likely to be a few years before this turns around , '' said Cherlin .
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The U.S. birth rate fell 2.6 percent last year , according to the National Center for Health Statistics . An expert says the drop is likely because of the current recession . The U.S. birth rate also fell in 2008 .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Political discussions about Iran 's nuclear aspirations were benched Thursday when the U.S. and Iranian national basketball teams went head to head at the FIBA World Championships in Istanbul , Turkey . The Americans clinched first place in Group B with an 88-51 win over Iran . But most of the attention was n't directed toward the players ' performance or their skills on the court ; rather , it was the fact that the two teams -- whose countries have no diplomatic relations -- were sharing the same court for the first time . `` Yeah I get a lot of questions , most of it about the politics . But our game is nothing to do about the politics , it 's just the sport , '' Iranian player Arsalan Kazemi told CNN . `` The only way is for people from USA and Iran can come together and have a friendly time together . We have to go there and play our best . The USA , you know , are a lot better than us . We just have to go there and play so the fans can enjoy the game , '' Kazemi said before the match . The 6-foot , 7-inch forward and sophomore at Rice University in Texas considers himself a fan of both teams . He is the first Iranian to play Division 1 men 's college basketball in the United States . Kazemi grew up watching old National Basketball Association games replayed on Iranian television every Friday . This is the first time Iran has qualified for the world championships , and for Kazemi , there was no hiding his excitement at playing against some of the NBA 's elite . `` Because they are the best players in the world . They all play in the NBA , which is the highest level of basketball , and that 's it . I just want to go and play against them , play good , '' Kazemi said . Only about a quarter of the seats in Abdi Ipekci Hall in Istanbul were occupied for the game , and a majority of the spectators were Iranians or expatriates . Hamed Haddadi , who plays for the NBA 's Memphis Grizzlies , was the crowd favorite as he played for his home country . Through a sea of Iranian flags and banners , only a handful of American flags were visible , but one group of fans held up an American flag and an Iranian flag with a sign in between them reading `` PEACE . '' Relations between the two countries have been strained further in recent years due to Iran 's nuclear program , which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes . But Washington and many of its allies fear Iran may be trying to develop nuclear weapons . Diplomatic ties between the United States and Iran were cut in 1980 , after Iranian students seized the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for more than a year . Despite any outside pressures both teams may have felt looming from home , they were not shown on the court . Haddadi shared a friendly bump and a laugh with U.S. forward Rudy Gay , his teammate on the Grizzlies . Haddadi scored 19 points for the Iranians . `` We both came out , played hard , and represented our countries well . Iran fought very hard . It was a very good game . I think we showed a lot of respect for each other . I was happy with the outcome , '' U.S. player Tyson Chandler said . The match provided a trip down memory lane for the U.S. team 's coach , Mike Krzyzewski . `` I 've been to Iran . I played there in the early 70s , in Tehran , '' he said after the game . `` I have good friends that are of Iranian descent in the United States . So I have a good feeling for the Iranian people . There 's no political aspect in my mind about the ballgame . '' The Iranian team 's coach , who is from Serbia , laughed when discussing the media attention surrounding the game . `` A lot of newspapers would come to practice and make a picture . OK for us , this is interesting . We are first time at the world championship and for us this entertainment is good , '' Veselin Matic said . `` I am very happy for my players . This helps them to motivate them . I think they are very good fighters , '' he added . Despite its efforts , Iran will not advance to the next round . The U.S. win put them at 1-3 for the tournament . `` This was a very hard game , this was a very tough game . This is the first time we are playing in the world championship , '' Iranian player Aren Davoodi told CNN . `` Everyone wants to play against NBA players because they are the biggest players in the world . I hope we can be better next time against the U.S. '' CNN 's Yesim Comert contributed to this report .
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In the first-ever meeting of the teams , the U.S. won 88-51 . Scrutiny of the game was due more to the political situation than anything else . The Iranian players said they were excited to go up against NBA stars .
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PHNOM PENH , Cambodia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Walking down a street in Cambodia 's capital city , Phymean Noun finished her lunch and tossed her chicken bones into the trash . Seconds later , she watched in horror as several children fought to reclaim her discarded food . Phymean Noun is helping give Cambodian children a chance at a better life . Noun stopped to talk with them . After hearing their stories of hardship , she knew she could n't ignore their plight . `` I must do something to help these children get an education , '' she recalls thinking . `` Even though they do n't have money and live on the sidewalk , they deserve to go to school . '' Six years after that incident , Noun is helping many of Phnom Penh 's poorest children do just that . Within weeks , she quit her job and started an organization to give underprivileged children an education . Noun spent $ 30,000 of her own money to get her first school off the ground . In 2004 , her organization -- the People Improvement Organization -LRB- PIO -RRB- -- opened a school at Phnom Penh 's largest municipal trash dump , where children are a large source of labor . Today , Noun provides 240 kids from the trash dump a free education , food , health services and an opportunity to be a child in a safe environment . Watch Noun and some of the children who attend her school '' It is no easy task . Hundreds of them risk their lives every day working to support themselves and their families . `` I have seen a lot of kids killed by the garbage trucks , '' she recalls . Children as young as 7 scavenge hours at a time for recyclable materials . They make cents a day selling cans , metals and plastic bags . Noun recruits the children at the dump to attend her organization because , she says , `` I do n't want them to continue picking trash and living in the dump . I want them to have an opportunity to learn . '' Watch Noun describe what life is like for children at the trash dump '' Growing up during the Pol Pot regime , Noun faced unimaginable challenges . `` There were no schools during Pol Pot 's regime , '' she recalls . `` Everyone had to work in the fields . My mother was very smart . She told them that she did n't have an education . That was how she survived . If they knew she was educated , they would have killed her . '' Noun 's mother died of cancer when Phymean was 15 . Phymean 's sister fled to a refugee camp , leaving her young daughter in Phymean 's care . `` When my mom passed away , my life was horrible , '' says Noun . `` It was very sad because there was only my niece who was 3 years old at that time . '' Yet Noun was determined to finish high school . Watch Noun describe the hardships of life during the Pol Pot regime '' That dedication paid off , and after graduating she spent the next decade working with various aid organizations . `` I tell the children my story and about the importance of education , '' she said . `` I 'm their role model . '' Some of the children who attend her school continue to work in the dump to support themselves and their families . Without an education , she said , these children would be vulnerable to traffickers or continue to be caught in the cycle of poverty . `` We are trying to provide them skills that they can use in the future , '' Noun said . `` Even though we are poor and struggling and do n't have money , we can go to school . I tell them not to give up hope . '' Noun has even bigger plans for them . `` These children are our next generation and our country depends on them . They are our future leaders . ''
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Children are large source of labor at Cambodian capital 's largest trash dump . Phymean Noun quit her job to give them an education -- and a way out . Today she provides 240 children a free education , food and health services .
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PARIS , France -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy became faint while jogging late Sunday morning and was taken to a hospital , the presidential office said . French President Nicolas Sarkozy is often seen jogging with bodyguards . He did not lose consciousness , and initial tests showed nothing abnormal , said a statement released by the president 's office . His heart will be monitored until Monday morning , which is standard procedure in such cases , the statement said . In the meantime , according to the statement , he is resting and keeping in touch with his advisers . Sarkozy , 54 , had been jogging with bodyguards for about 45 minutes near the Elysee Palace , the official residence of the president , when he fell ill , the statement said . After being seen by the Elysee doctor , Sarkozy was taken by helicopter to the military hospital Val-de-Grace . Watch more on Sarkozy 's trip to hospital '' No further announcement was expected until morning , the statement said . Sarkozy exercises regularly and is an avid jogger . Earlier this month , he was photographed jogging through Central Park in New York during his trip to the United States . CNN 's Jim Bittermann contributed to this report .
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NEW : Sarkozy resting , talking with advisers at hospital , president 's office says . NEW : Initial tests show nothing abnormal , according to president 's office . French President taken to hospital after becoming faint while jogging . Sarkozy is an avid jogger .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Ahead of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians on Thursday , President Barack Obama said Wednesday night that he was `` hopeful -- cautiously hopeful '' that the talks could achieve a two-state solution to the long running Mideast conflict . `` Though each of us holds a title of honor -- president , prime minister , king -- we are bound by the one title we share , '' Obama said on a stage with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan . `` We are fathers , blessed with sons and daughters , '' Obama said . `` So we must ask ourselves what kind of world do we want to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren . '' The president was speaking at the start of a working White House dinner with Netanyahu , Abbas , Jordan 's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak . Each made remarks before the dinner . Also attending the dinner were Secretary of State Hillary Clintonand Middle East Quartet Representative Tony Blair . The Quartet consists of the United States , Russia , the United Nations and the European Union . `` We do n't seek a brief interlude between two wars , we do n't seek a temporary respite between outbursts of terror , '' Netanyahu said . `` We seek a peace that will end the conflict between us once and for all ... for our generation , our children 's generation and the next . '' Netanyahu and Abbas condemned attacks against the Israelis in recent days . `` We do not want any blood to be shed -- one drop of blood from the Israelis or the Palestinians , '' said Abbas . `` We want peace between the two countries ... let us sign a formal agreement for peace and put an end to this long period of suffering forever . '' In earlier remarks from the White House Rose Garden , Obama said that `` this moment of opportunity may not soon come again . '' With the U.S. war in Iraq drawing to a close , the Middle East moved front and center for administration officials Wednesday as Obama held a series of high-stakes meetings with Israeli and Arab leaders . Obama huddled behind closed doors at the White House with the Israeli and Arab leaders . On Wednesday night , Obama called the talks `` very productive . '' But he also pointed to challenges ahead . `` We are under no illusions , '' he said . `` Passions run deep ... there 's a reason that the two-state solution has eluded previous generations -- this is extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily difficult . '' `` But , '' he continued , `` we know that the status quo is unsustainable . '' Obama and Netanyahu met first on Wednesday , briefly addressing reporters to condemn , in Obama 's words , the `` senseless slaughter '' of two men and two women Tuesday near the West Bank city of Hebron . `` Terrorists ... are purposely trying to undermine these talks , '' Obama said . `` The message should go out -LRB- that this attack -RRB- is not going to stop '' the United States from backing Israel and the peace process . Later , after meeting with Abbas , he said that `` we are making progress '' in negotiations . During his meetings with Abbas and King Abdullah , according to the White House , Obama was joined by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel , National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones , and former Sen. George Mitchell , among others . Mitchell is Obama 's special envoy for Middle East peace . At stake is a unique `` window of opportunity '' for a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the next year , according Mitchell . Talks have been stalled for a year and a half . The hurdles , however , remain steep . One immediate threat is the looming September 26 expiration of Israel 's 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank . Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat indicated to CNN this week that if Israel does not extend the freeze , direct talks may quickly fall apart . Netanyahu will have `` closed the door in my face '' if settlement construction resumes , Erakat said . Pressed on whether the Palestinian delegation would walk out of talks at that point , Erakat said that `` we will not be able to go . '' Netanyahu can have settlements or peace , but he ca n't have both , Erakat said . Another roadblock to any comprehensive deal is the Palestinian view that any two-state solution must include a handover of all the land Israel captured in the 1967 war , along with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital . While Netanyahu has expressed openness about a Palestinian state , he has expressed strong opposition to a Palestinian takeover of East Jerusalem . The issue of Hamas control of Gaza , Erakat noted , also remains a `` major problem . '' While Gaza is generally considered to be part of any future Palestinian state , Hamas has refused to recognize Israel 's right to exist and is not a part of the talks . Hamas leaders are frequently in conflict with the more moderate Abbas and his Fatah organization , which has the upper hand in the West Bank . Mitchell , however , told reporters Tuesday that both Netanyahu and Abbas are noting polls showing fear of intensified conflict if negotiations fall apart . This is `` a moment in time within which there remains the possibility of achieving the two-state solution , '' Mitchell asserted . `` The alternatives ... pose far greater difficulties and far greater problems in the future . '' Several top officials close to the negotiations conceded to CNN that it is hard to be optimistic about a peace deal at the moment . They downplayed expectations , saying that nobody directly involved in the talks expects a deal to be reached this week . But simply resuming talks was a critical step , and a comprehensive Middle East peace deal has been one of Obama 's top foreign policy goals , they said . `` The biggest breakthrough would be an agenda -LSB- emerging Thursday -RSB- for a second round of meetings soon to move forward , '' one top official actively engaged in the talks said . Clinton is set to play the main role in the talks on Thursday , hosting a meeting at the State Department with Netanyahu and Abbas . CNN 's Hala Gorani and David Molko contributed to this report .
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Obama says he is `` hopeful -- cautiously hopeful '' about the talks . Netanyahu says , `` We seek a peace that will end the conflict between us '' Abbas says , `` Let us ... put an end to this long period of suffering forever '' Obama is hosting Netanyahu , Abbas , Mubarak , and King Abdullah II at the White House .
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Corolla , North Carolina -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Ray Midgett hunts the Corolla beaches on the Outer Banks of North Carolina almost every day . `` Beachcombing , or metal detecting , or relic hunting is in my blood , '' said Midgett , a retired government worker who hits the sand between October and April . `` There are so many shipwrecks up here , it 's just beautiful . '' Midgett drives his pickup truck right onto the beach using the access road near the Currituck Beach Lighthouse . With a metal detector and shovel in tow , he 's uncovered everything from antique coins to wedding rings . Yet his biggest discovery came in December when he located the remains of a historic shipwreck . The wreckage , hidden under the sand for centuries , became fully exposed after a winter of brutal Nor'easter s , making it the oldest shipwreck found off the coast of North Carolina . But historians had to act fast to recover the ship , according to Meghan Agresto , site manager of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse . `` This winter , it just got smacked . After awhile the ocean was going to take it back , '' Agresto said . `` The fact that we got it off the beach makes us excited because we got to save it . '' Midgett and other beachcombers had discovered a number of relics near the shipwreck 's beach grave site , including coins believed to be from the reign of Louis XIII in France and Charles I in England , lead bale seals used for identification , and spoons dating to the mid-1600s . Midgett said he feels a personal connection to the discovery . `` This shipwreck is a part of me , and some of the other hunters , too , that have been hunting around it for years , '' Midgett said . `` I 'm just so glad that they decided to save it . '' The rough currents and shallow sand bars off North Carolina 's Outer Banks have destroyed thousands of ships in what is sometimes called the `` Graveyard of the Atlantic . '' However , it is rare to find the remains of a shipwreck -- particularly a wooden vessel -- intact . Throughout winter , the Corolla beach shipwreck would repeatedly get uncovered and covered again . The waves would also move it along the coastline , causing damage . `` I 'm glad we got to it when we did . ... It may have covered back up and survived another summer , '' Midgett said . `` But next winter it would have been the same thing over and it eventually would have gone to pieces . '' Midgett , who used to work as a government auditor , wanted to make sure his discovery was salvaged , so he personally lobbied North Carolina state Sen. Marc Basnight . After numerous phone calls and e-mails appealing to Basnight , a beach lover himself , he was successful . In April , volunteers from the Wildlife Resources Commission , Underwater Archaeology Branch , the Corolla Fire Department and area residents helped free the wreck from the sand and tow it near the lighthouse . Archaeologists originally thought the wreck could be the HMS Swift , a British Navy ship from the late 18th century that originally ran around in the southern Chesapeake Bay off Virginia 's coast . The HMS Swift drifted to the Outer Banks , where it was looted once it hit shore , then disabled by the looters so it would n't resurface . After further examination of the ship 's 12-ton skeleton -- complete with wooden peg fasteners -- archaeologists determined that it was not the HMS Swift , but most likely a merchant 's ship dating to the mid - to late-1600s . That makes it the oldest shipwreck found along the state 's coast . `` History is the one thing we have that has a reasonable amount of certainty attached to it , '' said Joseph Schwarzer , director of North Carolina Maritime Museums . `` It tells us where we 've been , it tells us what 's happening , and it 's a directional sign for where you need to go next . '' Before the Corolla Beach discovery , the oldest shipwreck found along the state 's coast was Queen Anne 's Revenge , the presumed flagship of Blackbeard the pirate said to have run aground in 1718 , according to the North Carolina Maritime Museums . The remains of the Corolla Beach wreck and some of its artifacts will be moved to the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum on Hatteras Island , North Carolina . Midgett and the other beachcombers are entitled to keep the coins and other artifacts found near the ship they discovered . `` It 's very exciting to find something from this time period , '' said Richard Lawrence , director of the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch for the Department of Cultural Resources . `` And amazingly we found it in this beach environment . It appears this wreck has been sitting here for 350 years almost undisturbed until this winter . '' Lawrence said the discovery would never have happened without Midgett . `` Ray Midgett was probably more responsible than anybody to get this wreck off the beach , '' Lawrence said . `` He created enough of a stir to get various organizations involved . `` Thankfully , Ray and his colleagues collected various artifacts that would have otherwise not survived . ''
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Ray Midgett finds shipwreck while on his regular beachcombing route . He and other beachcombers had found numerous coins and other items from the wreck . Winter storms uncovered the wreck , but historians feared it would be re-covered . Midgett lobbies a state senator to get wreck removed so it could be studied and preserved .
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Islamabad , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- At least 28 people are dead and at least 218 others were wounded Wednesday after three blasts during a Shiite procession here , authorities in Pakistan said . Khalid Ranjha , a Lahore government official , said two of the dead are children and two others are women , and seven of those injured are in critical condition . The three explosions occurred within a radius of about 600 meters -LRB- 2,000 feet -RRB- . All three blasts were the work of suicide bombers , said Nayab Haider , a spokesman for the Lahore police . Police tried to stop the first suicide bomber as the procession was ending , but he blew himself up as the police officer caught up with him in the crowd , Haider said . Three or four minutes later , the second blast erupted . It was followed 25 minutes later by yet a third suicide bomber . Police have found two heads and one body separately , said Haider , who said authorities had assigned 2,500 police officers to the procession after receiving a warning that it might be attacked . Khusro Pervez , a senior government official , said the incidents took place around the time of the daily breaking of the Ramadan fast , and security may have been lax . `` At the end of the procession , security should have been more vigilant , '' Pervez said . `` The incident happened because of security breach . '' Pakistan is a largely Sunni Muslim nation , and the attack on Shiite Muslims conjures thoughts of the long-standing tensions between the two groups in the Middle East and Asia . Paramilitary forces have been deployed to the streets to bring order . Local TV channels showed pictures of angry people burning vehicles , beating police and trying to break into a police station . CNN 's Samson Desta contributed to this story .
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Three blasts strike a Shiite procession in 30-minute span . 218 people are wounded , with 7 in critical condition , officials say . 2,500 police officers were assigned to procession after attack warning .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates helped usher in the next chapter for the United States in Iraq on Wednesday , presiding over a ceremony launching a new military operation designed to train , assist and advise the Iraqis . The ceremony , held at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad , marked the conclusion of the U.S. combat mission dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom and the transfer to the assistance mission , named Operation New Dawn . Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III replaced Gen. Raymond T. Odierno as commander of U.S. Forces-Iraq in the changeover , held at one of the many palaces of late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein -- whose regime was ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 . Biden said Operation Iraqi Freedom is over , but promised that `` American engagement with Iraq will continue '' with the new stability mission . `` This change of mission , to state the obvious , would never have been possible without the resolve and tremendous sacrifice and competence of our military -- the finest , if our Iraqi friends will forgive us , the finest fighting force in the world , and I would argue the finest fighting force that ever has existed , '' Biden said . He acknowledged the pain Iraqis endured during the long war , saying tens of thousands of troops and civilians died , and many more were wounded and displaced . However , he said , `` I believe that their darkest days are now behind them . '' Noting the divided opinion toward the war in the United States , he said people from both parties had always backed the troops for their `` extraordinary service '' after `` a high-speed invasion that toppled a tyrant became a grinding struggle against violent extremists . '' `` Our fighting men and women were given a mission in Iraq that was as complicated as any in our history , an assignment that taught us that war is the realm of uncertainty , '' he said . `` Troops steeped in military doctrine were asked to deal with challenges ranging from electricity to unemployment , currency exchange to trash collection . '' The vice president also praised the new electoral system in Iraq , urging political parties there to settle their differences and form a government soon . `` Iraqis have cast their lot as well as their ballots for a better future , '' he said . Biden highlighted Gates ' contributions , saying the defense secretary 's decision to serve under both Republican and Democratic administrations during the war is a testament to his patriotism . Odierno , who said Iraqi security forces are ready to take the lead there , recalled the wartime period as one of Iraqi heroism . `` This period in Iraq 's history will probably be remembered for sacrifice , resiliency and change . However , I remember it as a time in which the Iraqi people stood up against tyranny , terrorism and extremism , and decided to determine their own destiny , as a people and as a democratic state , '' he said . As Biden did , Odierno urged Iraqi political blocs to form a government , which has yet to be established since elections six months ago . `` It is time for Iraq to move forward , '' Odierno said . Odierno said a democratic Iraq `` can become an engine for peace and stability '' in the Middle East . `` We can no longer dwell on our past accomplishments , but must remain focused on the tremendous opportunity at hand . Iraq has always played a vital role in this uncertain part of the globe , '' he said . Austin said Iraq still faces hostile threats from insurgents working to undermine the country . But he said that `` the past few years in Iraq have been marked by steady progress '' and he envisions a `` stable , secure and unified Iraq . '' `` Operation New Dawn marks the next phase of an enduring relationship '' between the United States and Iraq , he said . While the U.S. combat mission is ending , roughly 50,000 American troops will remain in the country until the end of 2011 for the assistance mission . When asked Wednesday if the United States is still at war in Iraq , Gates responded , `` No , we 're not . '' Gates added it is up to historians to determine whether the war was worth it . Along with U.S. political and military dignitaries , Iraqi officials -- including Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani , Defense Minister Mohammed Abdul Qader al-Obeidi and the Kurdish region 's Prime Minister Barham Saleh -- attended the ceremony . The U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially ended at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday . The drawdown and end to the U.S. combat phase marks a new page in what has been a controversial seven-year conflict . Weapons of mass destruction , a major justification by the Bush administration for going to war , were never found . Saddam Hussein was toppled , along with his massive Baghdad statue , but sectarian violence soon erupted . On Tuesday night , U.S. President Barack Obama addressed Americans about the transition in a televised speech . `` The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people , '' Obama said from the Oval Office . `` We have sent our young men and women to make enormous sacrifices in Iraq , and spent vast resources abroad at a time of tight budgets at home . We have persevered because of a belief we share with the Iraqi people -- a belief that out of the ashes of war , a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization . '' The war in Iraq has claimed the lives of more than 4,400 U.S. troops . Obama said he was `` awed '' by the sacrifices of service members and their families and that the U.S. has met its responsibility . `` Operation Iraqi Freedom is over , and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country , '' Obama said . `` We have removed nearly 100,000 U.S. troops from Iraq . We have closed or transferred hundreds of bases to the Iraqis . And we have moved millions of pieces of equipment out of Iraq . '' Before Obama 's speech , some Republicans had urged him to acknowledge that the 2007 U.S. troop surge in Iraq ordered by then-President George W. Bush had worked . Obama , as a U.S. senator and candidate for the presidency , had opposed it . Obama , who spoke with Bush in a phone call earlier in the day , did not mention the former president 's role in the surge . Meanwhile , Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Kentucky , delivered a speech Tuesday suggesting Bush deserves more credit for reaching this milestone . `` You might recall that the surge was n't very popular when it was announced , '' McConnell said . `` You might also recall that one of its biggest critics was the current president . So it makes it easier to talk about fulfilling a campaign promise to wind down our operations in Iraq when the previous administration signs the security agreement with Iraq to end our overall presence there . '' Obama said the most urgent matter now is restoring the economy and `` putting millions of Americans who have who have lost their jobs back to work . '' To strengthen the middle class , he said , `` we must give all our children the education they deserve , and all our workers the skills that they need to compete in a global economy . '' Obama 's emphasis on the economy appears to dovetail with the mood of the American public . In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll earlier this month , 56 percent of respondents said the economy would be extremely important to their vote for Congress this year . Fewer than four in 10 said that the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan were extremely important to them . CNN 's Ed Henry , Dan Lothian , Dana Bash , Jason Hanna and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report .
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NEW : Odierno notes Iraqi fight against tyranny . NEW : Iraqi officials attended the ceremony . NEW : Biden : `` High-speed invasion '' became struggle against extemists .
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New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Facing a sharp increase in bedbug cases , New York became the latest state Monday to require landlords to disclose an apartment building 's bedbug infestation history within the previous year to potential tenants , according to a release from New York State Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal , who sponsored the bill . `` Nothing is more horrifying than signing a lease after a lengthy apartment search only to discover that your new apartment is bedbug-infested , '' Rosenthal said in the statement . `` By requiring landlords to disclose infestations before the lease is signed , people will have a means of guarding themselves against exposure to this plague . '' New York is the second state after Maine to adopt such a measure , commonly referred to as a `` right-to-know '' law , according to Missy Henriksen of the National Pest Management Association , which researches and tracks bedbug trends around the country . New Jersey has similar legislation pending , according to Henriksen . `` We actually expect an avalanche of right-to-know legislation introduced , '' she said . According to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development , it issued 4,811 violation notices to residential landlords for bedbug infestations in 2009 , compared with 82 in the 2003-2004 fiscal year . For the first half of 2010 , 1,976 bedbug violation notices have been written . However , such statistics represent only a fraction of bedbug cases in the city , as they come almost exclusively from buildings in the rental market . Owners of bedbug-infested residences are less likely to call 311 , the city 's nonemergency hot line , which then notifies the Housing Preservation Department . Further , landlords of commercial structures are currently not obligated to report bedbug infestation . In recent months , bedbugs have struck high-end retailers , movie theatres and office buildings . Last year , the federal Environmental Protection Agency sponsored a bedbug conference in Arlington , Virginia . Speaking to 230 academics , agency employees and exterminators , Dale Kemery , an agency spokesman , said the incidence of infestation in the United States has tripled since 2005 . Despite their name , bedbugs need not live in beds . They generally live within 10 to 20 feet of their hosts and avoid light , preferring the dark security of spaces behind headboards , under baseboards and behind hanging pictures .
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Law says landlords have to give history of infestation in previous year . New York is the second state after Maine to adopt such a measure . New York City officials issue 4,811 bedbug notices in 2009 , compared to 82 in ' 03 - '04 . Bedbugs have struck high-end retailers , movie theaters and office buildings .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- New details emerged Tuesday about the controversial `` Park51 '' project , involving the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque in New York City . A source familiar with the project told CNN 's Allan Chernoff the structure is being planned as an 11-story building . It will cover 120,000 square feet . Within that space , the source said , 10,000 square feet -- just more than 8 percent -- would be designated for the Muslim prayer space . The developer is considering the possibility of an interfaith education/meditation/prayer space as well , the source said . The Islamic Center 's leaders have said plans for the $ 100 million facility call for a community center including a mosque , performing arts center , gym , swimming pool and other public spaces . It will be built on property the center already owns , two blocks from where the World Trade Center was destroyed by Islamic extremists on September 11 , 2001 . The attacks on the two towers killed more than 2,700 people . CNN 's Allan Chernoff contributed to this report .
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Islamic Center in New York planned for 11 stories , source says . Project will be 120,000 square feet , 10,000 of which would be Muslim prayer space . Interfaith area being considered in the $ 100 million facility .
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Miami , Florida -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Bermuda 's weather officials have relaxed local storm advisories after news arrived that Fiona is downgraded to a tropical depression . But Gaston , however , can still regain strength in the next two days and become a tropical cyclone , U.S. forecasters said Friday . Fiona 's center -- which was expected to pass near Bermuda on Saturday morning -- put officials on alert as it promised heavy winds and downpours . But as of 8 p.m. ET , Fiona 's wind speed had decreased to about 16 miles per hour . Fiona 's is expected to continue its course north to northeast at about 16 mph with some increase in forward speed , brushing east of Bermuda . Some rainfall is expected . Gaston , churning westward , is between the Cape Verde Islands off Africa and Lesser Antilles .
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NEW : Fiona is now a tropical depression . Fiona expected to pass near Bermuda Saturday . Gaston could become a tropical cyclone in 48 hours .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- American-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal , believed to be one of Mexico 's most ruthless drug traffickers , was captured Monday , Mexican authorities said . Federal police made the capture , though the exact location and timing of it were not immediately known . The arrest , a high-profile win for Mexican authorities , followed `` intelligence work '' that began in June 2009 , federal police said in a statement . His capture came after a shootout , according to Viviana Macias , a spokeswoman with the federal attorney general 's office . Valdez , who is known as `` La Barbie '' because of his blue eyes and fair complexion , was a one-time top lieutenant of Mexico 's most wanted man , Joaquin `` El Chapo '' Guzman . Valdez later joined the breakaway Beltran Leyva cartel , but the leader of that group , Arturo Beltran Leyva , was killed in a shootout with Mexican officials late last year . Beltran 's brother Carlos was arrested , leaving Valdez in a fight to fill a power vacuum in one of Mexico 's most powerful drug cartels . Lieutenants loyal to the cartel 's co-founder deny Valdez is the group 's leader , federal police have said . Valdez , thought to be the first U.S.-born cartel leader in Mexico , is accused in the United States of attempting to launder money and conspiring to import and distribute cocaine . He is believed to have played a key role in shipping roughly 100 kilograms of cocaine across the border at Laredo , Texas , every week for much of 2005 , U.S. authorities have said . U.S. Justice Department officials offered in June a $ 2 million reward for information leading to the capture of the alleged cocaine kingpin . His arrest comes on the heels of another big blow against the drug cartels . Ignacio `` Nacho '' Coronel Villareal , a principle leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel , was killed during a military raid in July . More than 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon intensified the government 's fight against drug cartels and organized crime after taking office in December 2006 , according to government figures . The president is under increasing pressure to show results .
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Edgar Valdez Villarreal is known as `` La Barbie '' because of his blue eyes and fair complexion . Valdez was captured by federal police on Monday . He is purported to be a top leader in the Beltran Leyva drug cartel . His arrest is a high-profile win for Mexican authorities .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and covered parts of Massachusetts on Wednesday as forecasters upgraded Hurricane Earl to a Category 4 storm and warned it will be approaching the East Coast by late Thursday . Hurricane models have Earl passing close to North Carolina 's Outer Banks on Thursday night , the National Hurricane Center said in an 8 p.m. Wednesday forecast . `` Only a small westward deviation of the track to the west would bring the core of the hurricane to the coast , '' it said . The center extended hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings northward through Massachusetts on Wednesday evening and said the storm 's track has shifted slightly to the west , closer to North Carolina 's Cape Hatteras . Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Ocracoke Island , on North Carolina 's Outer Banks , and Cape Lookout National Seashore , as well as Hatteras Island . Earl had been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane earlier Wednesday but was judged to be a Category 4 in the National Hurricane Center 's forecast on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Earl 's maximum sustained winds have increased to near 135 mph and the storm is growing , the National Hurricane Center said . Tropical storm force winds are expected to reach parts of the North Carolina coast by Thursday afternoon , with hurricane force winds arriving by late Thursday , the center said . CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said Earl is expected to make its closest pass to Cape Hatteras around 2 a.m. Friday as a Category 3 storm , with hurricane force winds of up to 75 mph expected on the Outer Banks . Large breaking waves of 10 to 15 feet are possible along the coast , with possible storm surge of 2 to 4 feet , along with 3 to 4 inches of rainfall , Morris said . Isolated tornadoes and waterspouts are possible . Tropical storm force winds are expected to reach the coast from Virginia to New Jersey by early Friday . Morris said that Earl will make its closest pass to New Jersey on Friday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane . The long duration of tropical storm force winds threaten widespread power outages in parts of the South and the mid-Atlantic region , he said . Tropical storm force winds will arrive on Massachusetts ' Cape Cod by Friday afternoon . Morris said that hurricane force winds are possible there later on Friday , with Earl making its closest pass to Cape Cod on Friday evening as a Category 1 hurricane . Forecasters have issued a hurricane warning for the area from Bogue Inlet , North Carolina , northeast to the North Carolina-Virginia border , including Pamlico and Albemarle sounds . On Wednesday evening a tropical storm warning for the area between Cape Fear , North Carolina , and Bogue Inlet , was extended from the North Carolina-Virginia border to Sandy Hook , New Jersey . A hurricane watch stretched from the North Carolina-Virginia line up to Cape Henlopen , Delaware , while another hurricane watch covered a chunk of the Massachusetts coast , from Wood 's Hole to Sagamore Beach , and includes Martha 's Vineyard and Nantucket . A tropical storm watch extends from Sandy Hook , New Jersey to Wood 's Hole , Massachusetts , encompassing Long Island Sound and Block Island . A tropical storm watch also covers the area from north of Sagamore Beach , Massachusetts , to the mouth of the Merrimack River . Because of Earl 's size , effects of the storm are expected to be widely felt . Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles -LRB- 150 kilometers -RRB- from the center , and tropical storm-force winds up to 200 miles -LRB- 325 kilometers -RRB- . As of 8 p.m. Wednesday , Earl was centered about 565 miles -LRB- 910 kilometers -RRB- south-southeast of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , the National Hurricane Center said . It was moving northwest at about 18 mph -LRB- 30 kph -RRB- . Overnight Tuesday , a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoy recorded a wave with a 50-foot peak associated with Earl , National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read told reporters . `` The buoy survived it just fine and it 's still reporting , '' he said . On Friday , Earl is forecast to move away from the Outer Banks and northward , CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said . It is not expected to make a direct hit on the coast from Virginia to New Jersey , but heavy rain , high surf and gusty winds are likely . Friday night , Earl will make its closest pass to Cape Cod , Massachusetts , and the outlying islands of Nantucket and Martha 's Vineyard . Again , no direct hit is forecast , but any deviation could bring Earl 's center over the area , Hennen said . Earl is expected to make a direct landfall over southern Nova Scotia , Canada , on Saturday morning as a strong Category 1 hurricane . Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Wednesday he had briefed President Barack Obama on what the agency is doing in preparation for the storm . Teams are in place or on standby to assist each state along the East Coast , he said , and supplies were being moved into two incident support bases to be available if they are needed . Several airlines said Wednesday that fliers to and from cities along the eastern seaboard , from San Juan , Puerto Rico , to Bangor , Maine , could reschedule travel in coming days without penalty . Though they have not announced cancellations , Air Tran , American Airlines , Continental Airlines and Delta said they would waive reschedule fees for such travelers . On Ocracoke Island -- a long sliver of land reachable only by ferry -- not everyone was planning to flee as Earl approached . `` A lot of times when -LSB- residents -RSB- evacuate , it 's hard to get back on the island , '' said Brandon Benecki , who tends bar at Howard 's Pub on Ocracoke Island . `` It 's simpler to just stay here and kind of ride it out . '' `` None of my neighbors are leaving , '' one man on Ocracoke Island told CNN affiliate WVEC-TV . `` We 're just going to hang in and ride her out . '' Some tourists did n't seem deterred either . `` They 'll throw us off the island , '' one woman told WVEC . `` That 's all right . We 'll just camp somewhere else . '' However , Paula Schramel , who co-owns the Flying Melon restaurant on Ocracoke with her husband , Michael , said she has made plans to go to Charlotte , North Carolina , where her mother is . The couple are natives of New Orleans , Louisiana , who moved to Ocracoke 10 years ago . Their restaurant specializes in Creole cuisine . Some of Michael Schramel 's relatives in New Orleans who lived through Hurricane Katrina are urging them to evacuate , she said . `` They 're probably more nervous than we are , '' she said . `` It wakes you up a little bit to the fact that it can be '' dangerous . Once the wind gets to 50 mph , she said , the ferries stop running and `` you 're stuck . '' Officials are `` running the ferries as fast as they can , '' she said , but some visitors are dragging their feet -- understandably , since it means cutting their vacation short . Earl is also dealing the couple an economic blow , they said , as it 's considered the last big week of business for the summer tourism season . The restaurant was busy Tuesday night , Paula Schramel said , but closed on Wednesday once the evacuation order was issued . Michael Schramel said he will leave if Earl becomes a Category 4 storm , and said he is `` a little bit nervous . ... A 4 would be devastating . '' `` We are concerned about the storm , and it is important that people are n't here who do n't understand the -LSB- potential -RSB- flooding issues , '' said Alan Sutton , the owner of Tradewinds Bait and Tackle on Ocracoke Island . But for regular residents , he said , the threat of hurricanes is `` just part of living here . '' Staff members of Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina also ordered an evacuation Tuesday , according to park Superintendent Russel J. Wilson . The park will be closed to all visitors beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday , until further notice . Hurricane Earl is approaching the United States just ahead of Labor Day , a holiday weekend that many families spend at the beach . `` Unfortunately , they 're just getting started with their vacation and now they have to turn around and go , '' bartender Benecki said . `` However , I think most people do understand why . '' Rip currents and dangerous surf will threaten beachgoers all along the East Coast , Hennen said . The hurricane already dealt a glancing blow to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands , downing trees and knocking out power lines . The hurricane center said Earl 's center is set to pass east and northeast of the Bahamas on Wednesday and Wednesday night . A tropical storm warning for San Salvador Island in the central Bahamas was discontinued Wednesday afternoon . Sixty-six members of the North Carolina National Guard have been told to report Wednesday night for storm response duty . They will report to facilities in eastern North Carolina , but away from the coast , said spokesman Maj. Matt Handley . After the storm has moved away , they will assess damage and formulate a response , he said . FEMA has urged those living in the region to prepare for the storm , stock up on supplies and have a plan in case it becomes necessary . Besides FEMA 's Ready.gov website , people can use FEMA 's mobile application , which links to the National Hurricane Center , to stay up to date on information . Tips include developing a family communications plan , putting together a kit with food and water for 72 hours , and staying informed of risks in the area . Meanwhile , Tropical Depression 9 was upgraded to Tropical Storm Gaston on Wednesday night , with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph , the center said . The storm is located in the far eastern north Atlantic Ocean approximately 1,635 miles east-southeast of the Caribbean 's Leeward Islands . The depression had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph -LRB- 55 kph -RRB- and was heading west at 15 mph -LRB- 24 kph -RRB- . It is likely the depression will become Tropical Storm Gaston within 48 hours , forecasters said . And Tropical Storm Fiona was moving out into the open Atlantic on Wednesday , and the center discontinued all watches and warnings related to the storm . CNN 's Larry Shaughnessy and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report .
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NEW : National Hurricane Center says a `` westward deviation '' could bring storm to land . Various warnings and watches are extended north to Massachusetts . Tropical Depression 9 is upgraded to Tropical Storm Gaston . President Obama talks to the FEMA director about preparations for Earl .
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Islamabad , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Intense rain and gushing flood waters threatened Wednesday to cause more misery in monsoon-bloated Pakistan , where 3 million people are already suffering . U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Americans to donate to relief efforts , saying that experience in post-earthquake Haiti showed that small donations can make a big difference . Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed to residents to curtail expenditures for Ramadan feasts and upcoming independence day celebrations and contribute instead to help their desperate compatriots . As many as 1,500 people have died in Pakistan 's worst flooding in 70 years . Relief agencies were struggling to reach people who have lost everything to walls of water . Many were cut off after roads and bridges washed away . Thousands of others were people already displaced by violence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan , according to the United Nations refugee agency . The flooding also washed away tens of thousands of homes , devastated livestock and swept away farm land . The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it has distributed 10,000 tents so far , along with other relief supplies which have assisted some 50,000 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces . Speaking to reporters in Washington , Clinton stressed the importance of U.S. assistance to Pakistan , a strategically important country whose relationship with Washington continues to be a work on progress . The Obama administration is looking to turn the natural disaster into opportunity , hoping a robust response to the crisis will help improve its poor image among a skeptical Pakistani public . A senior Pakistani military official told CNN that six U.S. helicopters landed at Ghazi airbase Wednesday near the village of Tarbela Ghazi , just north of Islamabad , to participate in the rescue and relief work . The United States has already committed $ 10 million in aid , and U.S. helicopters have airlifted flood victims and helped deliver critical supplies including temporary bridges and 300,000 halal meals , food that meets Islamic dietary law . `` We 've been working hard over the past year to build a partnership with the people of Pakistan , and this is an essential element of that partnership -- reaching out and helping each other in times of need , '' Clinton said . She urged Americans to use their cell phones to text the word `` SWAT '' to the number 50555 to make a $ 10 contribution to the U.N. refugee agency . The Pakistan Meteorological Department predicted more misery in the days ahead . As much as 2 inches of rain is forecast over the next two days for central Pakistan while scattered showers will continue to fall in the north . Rushing river waters could cause more flooding in downstream areas by this weekend , meteorologists said . In some areas , Pakistanis complained the government has been sluggish to respond . In a special emergency meeting Wednesday , Gilani said the government was doing all it could to address the crisis . People stranded in Tonsa Sharif and Dera Ghazi Khan were still waiting for government relief , reported CNN affiliate Geo TV . Meanwhile , limited access to clean water and poor hygienic conditions raised the threat of widespread acute respiratory infections , diarrhea and skin infections , said the medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres -LRB- also known as Doctors Without Borders -RRB- , which is supporting health units in Mandrakhel , Wadpaga , and Gulbela in the Peshawar district , and the Paddi Hospital in the Nowshera district . Collapsed bridges meant the medical teams were unable to reach the badly hit North Swat region . A case of cholera has been confirmed in Swat . CNN 's Reza Sayah and Elise Labott contributed to this report .
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NEW : Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeals for aid . NEW : Clinton says the crisis aid is essential part of building ties with Pakistan . About 3 million people have been affected by monsoon rains and flooding . Some Pakistanis say their government has been slow to respond .
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Los Angeles , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- California 's Senate has voted down a measure that would have banned plastic bags at grocery stores . The new ban was rejected by a 21 to 14 vote late Tuesday . The ban would have included grocery stores , convenience stores and drugstores . The California Assembly passed the legislation in June . Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had said he would have signed the measure into law , the Los Angeles Times reported . Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club encouraged Californians to contact their state senators to push for the measure . The group Heal the Bay produced what it calls a `` mockumentary , '' narrated by actor Jeremy Irons , called `` The Majestic Plastic Bag '' that charts the life of a plastic bag . The video is on YouTube . The measure had its opponents , too . The American Chemistry Council criticized California Assemblywoman Julia Brownley , D-Santa Monica , who proposed the bill . `` Assemblywoman Brownley 's inflammatory comments are obviously intended to distract public attention from the substance and dire consequences of Assembly Bill 1998 , '' the group said . `` Her proposed legislation to ban plastic grocery bags in California ... is bad for the economy and bad for the environment : It will eliminate several hundred California manufacturing jobs and dismantle existing plastic bag recycling programs . '' According to its website , the chemistry council represents companies that `` make the products that make modern life possible , while working to protect the environment , public health , and the security of our nation . '' In this case , that includes plastic bags . Brownley said she was disappointed with the vote . `` This is a sad day for California , '' Brownley said . `` Communities across the state were waiting for the state to adopt a uniform , statewide ban on single-use bags before they adopt their own ordinances . The state failed them . '' Brownley has been fighting to reduce plastic bag waste for three years , calling single-use bags `` an unnecessary scourge that blows like urban tumbleweeds into every corner of the earth . '' Her bill gained support from the California Grocers Association , which decided to back the bill after Brownley agreed to subject all stores that sell groceries to the ban . CNN 's Adam Blank contributed to this report .
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NEW : Lawmaker who proposed bill is disappointed . Bill passed state Assembly in June . Groups supporting and opposing the measure are speaking out . Governor says he would have signed it into law , LA Times reported .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Several observers on the left side of the opinion spectrum write dismissively of the followers of the Tea Party . About the kindest labels appended to them are `` rednecks , '' `` highly volatile '' and `` laughable . '' Young research assistants at George Washington University see them as `` psychopaths , '' `` racists , '' `` anti-Semites '' and `` homophobes '' and hold that , in the political arena , `` one can not talk to them ; one must defeat them . '' As I see it , it is never a good idea to dismiss out of hand a major social movement . One poll in December found the tea party movement was then viewed favorably by more Americans -LRB- 41 percent -RRB- than either the Democrats -LRB- 35 percent -RRB- or the Republicans -LRB- 28 percent -RRB- . More importantly , the concern on the part of tea partiers that the government is not responsive to the interests and values of the majority is a valid one . Whether the bank and auto industry bailouts , the huge economic stimulus package and the health care bill are good policies or bad -- and will help the economy or hurt it -- they are not favored by the majority of Americans . And the things that people most care about -- the creation of new jobs and vigorous economic growth -- are lacking . Even more important are the ways the bills were fashioned . There is a saying in Washington that one should never see the ways laws and sausages are made . Well , many people are choking on them even without knowing how they were concocted . Those of us who follow politics closely have become inured to the fact that the bills that are finally enacted -LRB- often after months of haggling , slicing and dicing -RRB- are loaded with earmarks that favor some congressional districts or industry and are riddled with exceptions for special interests . You may not wonder why the auto dealers won exemptions in Congress from the new financial regulations . But the behind-the-scene deals the White House has made are enough to make you sick . These include deals with private hospitals to drop the public option in exchange for their support of the health care bill and with the pharmaceutical industry to block Americans from purchasing low-cost drugs from other countries . Some of us have learned to live with these maneuvers as long as something comes out at the other end . However , many Americans are busy working or looking for a job , taking care of their families and trying to find some spare time to follow their favorite sports team and have a beer . But when they are made aware of these shenanigans , they are nauseated . As they should be . I choose my words carefully . I suggest that the sense of the tea partiers that they have been had is largely a valid one . At the same time , their ideas of what ought to be done are very much off the mark . The desire to gut the government ignores the fact that there are many important missions that the government is best-suited to accomplish . However , before those of us who do not belong to this movement can carry this message to the tea partiers , we first need to validate their feelings , rather than dismiss them . And we must be honest : Reforming the government so that it will be less captured by special interests and more responsive to the public interest is a difficult road to navigate . Indeed , that road was recently made more difficult to navigate by a Supreme Court ruling that largely lifted the limits on legalized bribery , which is the proper name for allowing corporations and labor unions to make unfettered donations to the political campaigns of those who do their bidding . The best we can offer is to point out that a major , populist social movement can serve to countervail special interests , as long as it sees its role as to straighten out the government , rather than to decimate it . This is what the progressive movement of yore accomplished . However , we can not have this very badly needed dialogue with the followers of the tea party unless we make it clear that we understand where they are coming from . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Amitai Etzioni .
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Amitai Etzioni : Tea party correct that government not responsive to majority . He says they are right to be disgusted by Washington deals that grant special favors . He says tea party movement is wrong about the solution . Gutting government is not the answer ; getting it on the right track is , says Etzioni .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Before President Obama says a word during his Tuesday Oval Office address , the backdrop will make a statement for him : that he is the decider . Obama is set to give his second Oval Office address , a speech meant to mark the end of combat missions in Iraq . But besides the remarks he will make , the setting of his speech will convey something , too . `` The Oval Office invokes the center of the presidential authority . That 's the president 's office , that 's where he supposedly makes decisions , where he governs , '' says presidential historian Robert Dallek . '' -LSB- When -RSB- a talk to the nation is given from that office , -LSB- it -RSB- is underscoring his executive powers , his leadership . '' The Oval Office symbolizes power , command , and authority , Dallek said . It shows the president , `` as George W. Bush put it , is the ` decider ' '' and that symbolism is important . For example , former President George H.W. Bush announced the start of the first Gulf war from the Oval Office , telling Americans and the world that he was the commander in chief just by setting the scene in the Oval Office . And on the night of the terrorist attacks on September 11 , 2001 , former President George W. Bush spoke to the American people from the Oval Office , to show he was in command and to reassure the nation . Dallek points out the differences between giving a speech in the Oval Office versus a speech in a different venue . For example , Obama 's speech in front of the joint session of Congress a year ago conveyed his desire to get Congress to act on health care reform . `` A joint session of Congress has a different function , '' Dallek said . A speech in front of both the Senate and House shows the president is `` trying to convince Congress to join with him . '' When Obama addressed both chambers in September 2009 , the health care debate was still waging . He called for bipartisan proposals to address health care reform and focused attention on the issue , on Congress and on the presidency . An Oval Office address is different . The prime-time address focuses the attention singularly on the subject matter . `` Presidents do n't give speeches from the Oval Office casually , '' Dallek said . `` It 's given with forethought and consideration . So the fact that he 's giving the current speech about the end of America 's combat role in Iraq is something that he wishes to emphasize and underscore and in a sense I think it 's a demonstration of his completion of his mission or fulfillment of a commitment that he made . '' Because of the singular focus on the subject matter during Obama 's Tuesday evening address , Obama will have to navigate the tricky road of marking the end of a war he did not support and honoring the lives of all the Americans killed in the war , Dallek said . Obama must use a `` certain amount of domestic diplomacy to bring the war to a close ; you do n't just end the war and say it 's a mistake . It 's unpalatable because of all the deaths , '' Dallek said . So Obama must do it in a way that is `` politically palatable to the American public -- that is at the heart '' of his address Tuesday , Dallek said . The Oval Office will also help convey a sense of intimacy of the message . Since former President Jimmy Carter , each president has delivered his farewell address from that room , using the office of the presidency to say goodbye to the American public . President Reagan used the intimate space to comfort the public after space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986 . President Johnson used the room in 1968 to tell Americans he would not seek re-election and President Nixon gave several speeches regarding the Watergate scandal , including his decision to resign from the presidency in the wake of Watergate in 1974 . Obama 's other Oval Office address was two months ago to address the nation about the Gulf oil disaster . And who does the presidential historian think was most successful at intimate talks to the American people ? Franklin Roosevelt 's fireside addresses -- although there were no televisions at the time , these radio talks were effective in boosting the country 's confidence .
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Obama to give Oval Office address on end of combat mission in Iraq . Presidents do n't give speeches from the Oval Office casually , says historian . Obama 's other Oval Office address was two months ago .
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Islamabad , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- India offered another $ 20 million in aid to its neighbor and rival Pakistan on Tuesday , but an official in the flood-ravaged country said he has no knowledge of the aid . Abdul Basit , spokesman for Pakistan 's Foreign Ministry , said Tuesday he is not aware of such an offer by India . Basit said India was formally notified that Pakistan would accept an earlier offer of $ 5 million through the United Nations -- but not directly from India . He said Pakistan did not accept the aid directly from India because `` that is our government 's policy . '' However , Basit said , Pakistan has received aid directly from other countries . The world community has geared up to help Pakistan recover from the devastating floods . More than 1,600 people have died in the colossal tragedy , according to the country 's disaster authority , and at least 17 million Pakistanis have been affected . In the United States , Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged donations to the Pakistan Relief Fund In television and radio public service announcements released by the Ad Council on Tuesday . The new PSAs , which include television and radio spots and Web banners , urge audiences to visit www.state.gov , where they can make donations . `` Now is a time for our shared humanity to move us to help . That is why the United States government through the Department of State has established the Pakistan Relief Fund for all Americans to join in this tremendous relief , recovery and reconstruction effort , '' Clinton says in the message . The money will go toward U.S. government programs or to give money to international programs focused on relief , recovery and reconstruction efforts in Pakistan . Daniel Feldman , deputy to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan , told reporters on Monday that the flood crest is reaching the Indian Ocean , but it may take weeks to determine what Pakistan will need to recover , and `` we calculate that the needs are going to be absolutely vast . '' `` The good news at this point is is that in most places waters are no longer rising but are finally receding , '' Feldman said . He also said that the United States is planning to deploy 18 more helicopters to supplement the 15 already there . He said that , in addition to some $ 200 million in aid pledged by the U.S. government , American companies are providing assistance -- including $ 1 million from Coca Cola and $ 1 million and dried food items from Sheraton , $ 1 million . from BP , and $ 600,000 in cash and water purification tablets from Procter & Gamble . The U.N. World Health Organization said this week that health services are a priority for humanitarian agencies , as many of those affected by the floods need treatment for diarrhea , skin infections , respiratory problems and malaria . WHO said about 400 of the more than 1,000 health facilities in flood-affected regions have been damaged or destroyed , and it could take months before such facilities can be rebuilt or restored . About 3.7 million people were reported to have received some medical treatment from July 29 to August 23 . . `` Of those , 500,000 were cases of acute diarrhoea , 517,000 involved acute respiratory infections , there were 693,000 cases of skin infections and 94,000 suspected cases of malaria , '' the United.Nations said .
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An earlier offer via U.N. was OK 'd by Pakistan . U.S. ramps up an ad campaign . Health care is a major priority .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The California State Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on a bill that would ban the use of plastic bags by retailers in the state , including grocery stores , convenience stores and drugstores . This year 's Senate session ends Tuesday , so it 's the last opportunity for the Senate to pass the bill . The California Assembly passed the legislation in June . Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he would sign the measure into law , the Los Angeles Times reported . Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club have encouraged Californians to contact their state senators to push for the measure . The group Heal the Bay produced what it calls a `` mockumentary , '' narrated by actor Jeremy Irons , called `` The Majestic Plastic Bag '' that charts the life of a plastic bag . The video is on YouTube . But the measure has its opponents , too . The American Chemistry Council criticized California Assemblywoman Julia Brownley , D-Santa Monica , who proposed the bill . `` Assemblywoman Brownley 's inflammatory comments are obviously intended to distract public attention from the substance and dire consequences of Assembly Bill 1998 , '' the group said . `` Her proposed legislation to ban plastic grocery bags in California ... is bad for the economy and bad for the environment : It will eliminate several hundred California manufacturing jobs and dismantle existing plastic bag recycling programs . '' According to its website , the chemistry council represents companies that `` make the products that make modern life possible , while working to protect the environment , public health , and the security of our nation . '' In this case , that includes plastic bags . `` We had to work hard to win passage for the bill in the Assembly and I anticipate an equally hard battle in the Senate , '' Brownley told CNN in June . `` Nasty habits , like our reliance on plastic and paper bags , are hard to break . '' Brownley has been fighting to reduce plastic bag waste for three years , calling single-use bags `` an unnecessary scourge that blows like urban tumbleweeds into every corner of the earth . '' Her bill has gained support from the California Grocers Association , which decided to back the bill after Brownley agreed to subject all stores that sell groceries to the ban . `` Our hope is the consumer is driven towards reusable bags '' , says Dave Hanley , vice president of the grocers association . `` We have a huge responsibility to educate consumers . '' However , Hanley told CNN he 's acutely aware of the speed bumps the legislation might encounter along the road to passage . For instance , he said , the bill requires grocery stores to sell reusable bags for at least 5 cents if customers do n't bring their own . `` With the economy , there 's always the concern when legislation has fees , '' Hanley said . Californians appear to be split on the issue . While some people told HLN recently they could go either way , others said a ban would be beneficial . `` I 'm one of those people who 's really good at picking up cloth bags , and really bad at remembering to bring them to the store , '' one woman told HLN . `` It could be just the kick I need to make sure I use recycled bags . '' Another wondered whether it really mattered . `` It 's not just plastic bags . I mean , everything else I get that comes in a container is in plastic , '' one man told HLN . `` Just eliminating plastic bags , as far as I 'm concerned , you are not really making that big an impact . '' So just how much plastic and paper bag waste do we produce a year ? According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Catherine Milbourn , 3.96 million tons of plastic bags , sacks and wraps were generated in 2008 in the United States alone . That 's more than three times the 1.17 million tons of waste generated by paper bags and sacks that same year . And of that , what 's being recycled ? A combined total of 830,000 tons of plastic and paper bags was recycled in 2008 , while a combined total of 4.3 million tons was discarded , according to the EPA -- the equivalent , speaking in terms of weight , of nearly 24 jumbo jets . San Francisco already has a ban on plastic bag use , and it 's not the only city where such a law has been discussed . Austin , Texas ; Seattle , Washington ; Dallas , Texas ; and Portland , Oregon , just to name a few , have all considered the environmental impact of plastic bag distribution . And then there 's the global initiative currently underway . Several cities in China , Africa , Australia , India and Ireland have all imposed bans or surcharges on plastic bags . Prior to China 's ban , an estimated 3 billion plastic bags were used on a daily basis , creating more than 3 million tons of garbage each year , according to the website World Watch Institute , an independent research organization which has programs that focus on areas such as the climate , energy , food and agriculture . CNN 's Adam Blank contributed to this report .
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California state senators are expected to vote on plastic bag ban Tuesday . Bill passed state Assembly in June . Groups supporting and opposing the measure are speaking out .
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Amsterdam , Netherlands -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Two men arrested at Schiphol International Airport in the Netherlands are being held on suspicion of plotting a terrorist act , Dutch authorities said Tuesday . They are Yemeni citizens who were en route to the Yemeni capital , Sanaa , from Chicago , Illinois , officials said . They were arrested Monday morning and authorities continued to question them Tuesday , Dutch prosecutors said . A U.S. law enforcement source said Monday the men may have been trying to test U.S. airport security by putting bottles attached to electronic devices in their checked baggage . But two U.S. government officials said Tuesday an initial U.S. investigation into the men shows no evidence of terrorism and no indication the men even knew each other . `` This looks like nothing , '' said one of the officials , saying both men missed flights in Chicago because of a gate change and their airline rebooked them onto the same plane . `` We see no evidence of a dry run or a connection to terrorism , '' said the source , who is not authorized to discuss the case with the media and asked not to be named . The Department of Homeland Security noted that the two men `` have not been charged with any crime in the United States '' and cautioned `` against jumping to any conclusions . '' Appropriate airport security protocols were followed , the department said . `` In this instance , sound judgment led to suspicious items being identified , which triggered automatic security responses by U.S. security personnel , '' the department said . '' ... When the investigation tells us more , we will let you know , but we do n't have anything else at this time . '' An announcement about whether the men will be charged will be made `` in a few days , '' Dutch authorities said in a statement . The men were still being held at Schiphol Airport on Tuesday , said Martijn Boelhouwer , a spokesman for Dutch prosecutors . Another U.S. official said the Dutch are being cautious and checking everything . That official , who also asked not to be named , said the United States is doing the same and is continuing to investigate . The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Monday the two were arrested after `` suspicious items '' in their luggage raised concern . `` The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves , and as we share information with our international partners , Dutch authorities were notified of the suspicious items , '' the U.S. agency said . `` This matter continues to be under investigation . '' Those items were an empty shampoo bottle with watches attached to it and an empty bottle of a stomach medicine with mobile phones attached , according to the U.S. law enforcement source , who has been briefed on the investigation . Dutch authorities confirmed that one phone was found taped to a bottle and seized in the United States . Nothing else suspicious was found in the men 's luggage , the Dutch said . The items have raised concern that the men may have been testing a future terrorist plot , the source said . Attempts to sneak liquid explosives aboard jetliners were at the heart of a 2006 plot broken up by British authorities . That case led U.S. authorities to ban all but small quantities of liquids from aircraft cabins . U.S. law enforcement officials told CNN that the checked bags contained knives and box cutters as well . Passengers have been banned from carrying those items on aircraft since the September 11 , 2001 , attacks on New York and Washington , but they are allowed in checked bags . The source identified the men aboard United Airlines Flight 908 , from Chicago , Illinois , to Amsterdam , as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezem al-Murisi . Al-Soofi began his trip by boarding a flight in Birmingham , Alabama , and al-Murisi originally flew from Memphis , Tennessee , the law enforcement source said . A co-worker of al-Soofi said he was not known to express anti-American opinions and was `` not a very good Muslim '' because he drinks beer . Al-Soofi had been back to Yemen at least twice before to deliver money and gifts , and bought watches and cell phones as gifts for family members on this trip , said co-worker Ali Moqbel in Tuscaloosa , Alabama . Al-Murisi was scheduled to fly from Chicago to Yemen , with connections in Washington and Dubai , a U.S. government official said , but his flight was changed to go from Chicago to Amsterdam . Another U.S. law enforcement official said both men were in the United States legally . That official said neither of the passengers was carrying items that are barred from aircraft , and federal air marshals were aboard the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight . Al-Soofi 's luggage went aboard the Chicago-to-Washington flight without him , the source said , in what amounted to another violation of U.S. safety protocols . A U.S. government official said items in at least one of the bags were being examined by law enforcement authorities at Washington Dulles International Airport on Monday night . The official said al-Soofi and al-Murisi were seated near each other on the Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight , but were not seated next to each other . CNN 's Atika Shubert , Nic Robertson , Carol Cratty , Jeanne Meserve , Mike Ahlers , Dave Mattingly and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report .
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NEW : Homeland Security cautions against `` jumping to any conclusions '' An initial U.S. investigation finds no connection to terror , two officials say . The two are Yemeni citizens , the Dutch say . The men in custody may have been testing security , source says .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A House ethics investigative panel has charged a high-ranking Democratic congresswoman with violating House rules by seeking federal assistance for a bank with financial ties to her husband . According to the House ethics committee , California Rep. Maxine Waters helped arrange a meeting in September 2008 between Massachusetts-based OneUnited Bank and Treasury Department officials . OneUnited Bank ultimately received $ 12 million in bailout funds . Waters is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee . Waters , according to a preliminary report , called then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the height of the financial crisis `` and requested that Treasury Department officials meet with representatives from the National Bankers Association , '' an organization representating over 100 minority-owned banks . `` A meeting was in fact granted , however , the discussion at the meeting focused on a single bank -- OneUnited . Rep. Waters ' husband had been a board member of the bank from 2004 to 2008 and , at the time of the meeting , was a stock holder of the bank . '' The report states that Waters approached Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank , D-Massachusetts , to say that she was `` in a predicament because her husband had been involved in the bank , but ` OneUnited people ' were coming to her for help . '' Waters , `` according to -LRB- Frank -RRB- ... knew she should say no , but it bothered her . It was clear to -LRB- Frank -RRB- that this was a ` conflict of interest problem . ' '' Frank 's advice to Waters , the report states , was to ` stay out of it . ' '' According to Waters ' 2008 financial disclosure statement -- as mentioned in the report -- her husband had two investments in OneUnited at the time valued between $ 500,000 and $ 1 million . `` There is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Waters ' conduct may have violated '' House rules , the report concludes . Waters , a 71-year-old 10-term Democrat representing the Watts section of Los Angeles , insists she did nothing wrong . `` I have not violated any House rules , '' she said in a statement released Monday . `` I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do . '' Waters asserted that `` the record will clearly show that in advocating on behalf of minority banks neither my office nor I benefited in any way , engaged in improper action or influenced anyone . ... The case against me has no merit . '' Waters stressed that the meeting `` was requested and scheduled on behalf of the -LRB- National Bankers Association -RRB- , not on behalf of OneUnited Bank as has been suggested . '' The announcement by the ethics committee means Waters may now face a trial by committee members tasked with determining whether there is `` clear and convincing evidence '' she broke congressional rules . Also facing a possible ethics committee trial : Rep. Charlie Rangel , D-New York . Rangel , the former chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee , has been accused of 13 violations of House rules involving alleged financial wrongdoing and harming the credibility of Congress . Both trials could take place in September -- only a few weeks before the midterm elections . The prospect of inquiries into two high-profile Democrats has compounded the fears of congressional Democrats nervous about their prospects in November . The growing likelihood of trials for Waters and Rangel also adds the explosive element of race to the political equation . Both representatives are leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus , and OneUnited Bank is one of the largest minority-owned banks in America . CNN 's Alan Silverleib , Craig Broffman and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report .
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Rep. Maxine Waters denies breaking any House rules . Waters joins Rep. Charlie Rangel in possibly facing trial by the House ethics committee . Waters is facing charges for violating House rules . Waters is charged with seeking federal aid in 2008 for a bank with ties to her husband .
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Los Angeles , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Actress Lindsay Lohan was released from the Lynwood Correctional Facility early Monday morning after less than two weeks behind bars , the Los Angeles County Sheriff 's Department said . Lohan was released at 1:35 a.m. -LRB- 4:35 a.m. ET -RRB- , Los Angeles County Sheriff 's Deputy Benjamin Grubb said . He said she was taken to a treatment facility . After Lohan was taken to jail July 20 , a sheriff 's spokesman said her stay would likely last between 13 and 15 days . Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail for missing alcohol counseling sessions in violation of her probation . But the sheriff , who runs the jail , has the power to release prisoners early because of jail overcrowding . Lohan was also sentenced to spend 90 days in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program after her jail term is completed . Revel ordered Lohan to enter a program within 24 hours of leaving jail . `` I would like the transition to be sooner rather than later , '' Revel said last month . She said Lohan 's next court date would come a week after her release from jail , although if she is in a rehab program her lawyer can appear without her . Lohan was arrested twice in 2007 on charges of driving under the influence , and in the second incident she was charged with cocaine possession . The first arrest came after Lohan lost control of her Mercedes-Benz convertible and struck a curb in Beverly Hills . Just two weeks after checking out of a Malibu drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility , she was arrested again in July 2007 after a woman called Santa Monica police , saying Lohan was trying to run her down with a car . Lohan 's acting career , which started at age 10 on a soap opera , took off on the big screen a year later , when she played identical twins in Disney 's remake of `` The Parent Trap . '' CNN 's Matt Cherry contributed to this report .
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Lohan has left jail after spending 13 days behind bars . Sheriff 's department says she is being taken to a treatment facility . A judge sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail for a probation violation .
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Kapikoy , Turkey -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Hamide Yeni is a woman on the hunt . The women 's rights activist wears a determined expression on her face as she paces the dirt roads of this remote village , looking for the man who Turkish authorities say beat his wife and put her in a hospital twice in less than 12 months . `` Have you seen Faruk ? '' she asks the village mayor 's daughter . `` He disappeared with his car . '' `` No one 's seen him , '' the woman replies . Some other villagers retreat behind the mud-brick walls of their homes as Yeni approaches . Convicted wife beater . The man Yeni is looking for is Faruk Platin , one of the 600 residents of Kapikoy . Last fall , a court sentenced him to 15 months in prison for assault , after his 30-year old wife Sidika was hospitalized with trauma wounds . Video footage filmed in September of 2009 shows Sidika outside of the hospital in the provincial capital of Van . Her face was horribly bruised ; her head encased in bandages . Part of Sidika 's right ear had been sliced off . The woman could barely walk and leaned on her brother for support , as she hobbled a few short steps into the hospital . After the incident , Turkish authorities separated Sidika Platin and her children from her husband and placed them in a state-run women 's shelter . But barely two months later , a local criminal court asked that Sidika and her children be handed back to Faruk Platin . He had not served any jail time for beating his wife . `` At that time , because he showed regret and because his -LSB- criminal -RSB- record was clean , his sentence was postponed , '' said Meral Demirbas , the governor of Saray district where Kapikoy is located . `` Also , the wife withdrew her complaint . '' Sidika Platin is an ethnic Kurd who speaks no Turkish . According to eyewitnesses , when she appeared in court , she could not understand the judge or prosecutor , and relied on her husband to translate legal proceedings . On a snowy day last December , local women 's rights activists like Hamide Yeni could do little more then watch helplessly , as Faruk Platin led his mutilated wife away from the courtyard , back to the village where they lived . Widespread violence against women . `` This kind of thing happens in every village , '' says Yeni , one of the founders of a grassroots local family protection association in the Saray district of southeastern Turkey . `` There are thousands of women like Sidika out here . '' In fact , according to a 2009 Turkish government report , 42 percent of women surveyed said they had been the victims of either physical or sexual abuse by their husband or partner . The report concluded that one in four married Turkish women had been injured by partner violence . Meanwhile , one in ten Turkish women were injured by such violence while pregnant . Some Turkish activists fear the real statistics for violence against women may actually be much higher . `` In all domestic surveys there are ` shadow figures . ' That is because women are not willing to tell about the violence , it 's a very sensitive issue , '' says Pinar Ilkkaracan , a co-founder of the Istanbul-based group Women for Women 's Human Rights . `` We think it 's much higher than 42 percent . '' Domestic violence against women is not confined to economically-depressed , rural regions of eastern Turkey . According to the Turkish government survey , the statistics for physical and sexual assault were roughly the same in the countryside as in the most developed , fast-growing cities in the western part of the country . Over the past 15 years , Turkey has adopted several progressive pieces of legislation to protect women , including a 1998 Protection Order against Domestic Violence . Reform of Turkey 's Civil Code in 2001 gave women legal equal status to men in the family . Meanwhile , changes to the country 's Penal Code in 2004 criminalized marital rape . But critics argue that the Turkish state has lapsed far behind in implementing these laws . `` The law prohibits violence against women , including spousal abuse , but the government did not effectively enforce it , '' the U.S. State Department said in its 2009 human rights report on Turkey . Despite widespread violence against women , in 2009 the Turkish government reported there were only 52 state-run shelters for women in the entire country . Those shelters have the capacity to house less than 1,300 residents , in a country where the population exceeds 70 million . `` There is a lack of coordinated action and strong will on the part of the government to stop violence against women , '' says Ilkkaracan . ` It looks as if she was tortured ' Not long after Sidika Platin returned to the village of Kapikoy , neighbors and relatives began contacting authorities , reporting that her husband was once again beating her . But Sidika 's parents and siblings said Faruk Platin repeatedly threatened them when they tried to intervene . Sidika 's brother claims on one such occasion , his brother-in-law beat him up . `` That man started beating my daughter the day she put on her wedding dress and he has been violent with her ever since , '' said Cemile Ozer , Sidika 's mother . `` I wish he killed her long ago to spare her all the suffering . '' In early July , gendarme security forces were summoned to the crude house where the Platin family lived . Niyazi Yakin , a member of the Kapikoy village council and a relative of Faruk Platin , says he personally asked Sidika if she was being abused , and she said no . `` She deserved what happened , '' Yakin said . `` Because we gave her the chance to leave him and she did n't . '' On July 15 , Faruk Platin brought his wife to the hospital in Van . `` When the doctors discovered that she was battered , the husband escaped , '' the Van Social Services Directorate announced in a written statement on July 19 . Doctors at Van hospital said Sidika had trauma marks on various locations on her head , infections from injuries , a fever and there was a third-degree burn in the shape of an iron on her back . `` It looked as if she had been tortured , '' one Van hospital doctor told CNN , on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give an interview . Though there was no evidence of brain damage , for more then two weeks after being hospitalized , Sidika was in a near-catatonic state , unable to move or respond to questions . Hakan Cankaya , the deputy chief doctor at the hospital , said psychiatrists suspected she suffered from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder . He added that the hospital frequently received female patients who appeared to be victims of abuse . `` Usually if a woman comes in who has been beaten , she will say ' I fell down the stairs ' or ' I bumped into the refrigator , '' Cankaya said . `` It stays in the family ... and as doctors , we can not interfere . '' Meral Demirbas , the district governor of Saray , told CNN an arrest warrant has been issued for Faruk Platin , who is on the loose . But Hamide Yeni says that is not enough . `` The state is guilty , the system is guilty , '' she says . `` It failed to protect the victim . '' The governor of Van province and Turkey 's minister of state responsible for women 's and family affairs did not respond to numerous requests from CNN to comment on the case . Both officials have made visits to Sidika 's bedside in Van hospital . In village of Kapikoy , where many residents eke out a living herding sheep , Yeni goes house to house , dressed in a long skirt and loose headscarf , asking locals why they did not speak up about the violence that had been taking place in their community . `` It was n't our responsibility , '' insists Saban Altinli , a brother of the village muhtar , or mayor . `` When there is violence , it does n't matter if it 's your relative , '' Yeni responds . `` You can still make a call and inform that this woman is being beaten . ''
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Statistics show the violence is in urban and rural regions . Turkey has adopted legislation to protect women . There are only 52 state-run shelters for women in the nation .
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ATLANTA , Georgia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Food from healthy clones of cattle , swine and goats is as safe as food from non-cloned animals , the Food and Drug Administration said in a report released Tuesday . Debate has raged around food products from cloned cattle , such as this one produced by the company Viagen . `` Extensive evaluation of the available data has not identified any subtle hazards that might indicate food-consumption risks in healthy clones of cattle , swine , or goats , '' the 968-page `` final risk assessment '' concluded . `` Thus , edible products from healthy clones that meet existing requirements for meat and milk in commerce pose no increased food consumption risk -LRB- s -RRB- relative to comparable products from sexually-derived animals . '' But the FDA said it needs more information to determine the safety of meat and milk from cloned sheep . The FDA also concluded that food from newborn cattle clones `` may pose some very limited human food consumption risk . '' The purpose of using cloned animals is to improve the overall value of a given herd by creating genetic copies of donor animals , resulting in a herd that produces higher-quality milk and meat . For years , heated debate over the use of cloned animals for food production has stretched from Congress to cattle farms and dinner tables nationwide . Judy Fortin has more on the debate over meat and milk from cloned animals '' . Dr. Stephen Sundlof , director of the agency 's Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition , acknowledged the controversy to reporters . About half of the more than 30,500 comments from the public the FDA has received about the matter have dealt with labeling , he said . But , he added , agency regulators can not require cloned products be labeled as such if -- as they assert -- there is no material difference between them and food produced by conventional methods . `` There 's really nothing for us to label , '' he said . Consumers wo n't be able to figure it out for themselves , he said . No test exists that could distinguish meat from a cloned animal from other meat . Either way , food products from cloned animals or their offspring would not reach store shelves for years , experts said . But companies could label their clone-free products as such , Sundlof said . In addition , foods labeled `` organic '' would not contain cloned products . Tuesday 's announcement followed the agency 's December 2006 preliminary conclusion , reached after a four-year review , that milk and meat from cloned animals are safe for human consumption . The agency was then to collect more safety data before issuing a final decision . Last month , the Senate passed a measure intended to bar the FDA from approving the products until further study was conducted . The legislation , part of the Senate 's $ 286 billion farm bill , also required the Agriculture Department to examine consumer acceptance of cloned meats . On Tuesday , opponents of using cloned animals in food production expressed anger at the move . `` The FDA has acted recklessly and I am profoundly disappointed in their rush to approve cloned foods , '' Sen. Barbara Mikulski , D-Maryland , said in a written statement . `` Just because something was created in a lab does n't mean we should have to eat it . If we discover a problem with cloned food after it is in our food supply and it 's not labeled , the FDA wo n't be able to recall it like they did Vioxx -- the food will already be tainted . '' Vioxx , a painkiller , was withdrawn from the market in 2004 after it was linked to a heightened risk of heart attack and stroke . `` We think the FDA should pay attention to what Congress is asking them to do , '' said J.D. Hanson , policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety . `` It looks like they are releasing it to sidestep what Congress has asked them to do . '' The National Farmers Union , in a written statement , said `` consumers have the right to know if the food they feed their families comes from a cloned animal . '' Another concern is possible economic fallout . `` People will start consuming less dairy and meat '' if they are not sure of the products ' safety , predicted Michael Hansen , a senior scientist with Consumers Union . His group calls for more study and clear labeling . Perhaps in an effort to placate critics , Tuesday 's report included hundreds of pages of raw data in the risk assessment . Some consumer groups said they were pleased with the report . `` There are still unanswered questions about the use of cloned animals in the food supply , but the Food and Drug Administration has satisfactorily answered the safety question , '' the Center for Science in the Public Interest said in a written statement . `` While the safety of any food can not be proven with absolute certainty , consumers should have confidence that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring will be safe . '' Experts say it is unlikely actual clones would be used in food production . A cloned cow costs $ 15,000 to $ 20,000 to create . More likely , experts said , the offspring of cloned animals would be used . Bruce Knight , the U.S. Department of Agriculture 's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs , said only about 600 cloned animals exist in the United States , about 570 of which are cattle . He said the agency is urging providers to extend a voluntary moratorium on the use of the meat or milk from cloned animals during the transition , a period he would not specify . Mark Walton , president of ViaGen , which uses cloning technologies , said his company will comply with the request , but he played down the scope of the matter . `` The number of cloned animals in the barn yard today is minuscule compared to the size of the total livestock population , '' said Walton . `` In addition , clones are to be used as breeding animals , not for consumption . Because of a supply chain management system that allows tracking of cloned livestock , consumers are unlikely to ever eat these animals . '' A spokeswoman for the National Cattlemen 's Beef Association , Karen Batra , predicted , `` It will be many , many years '' before the technology becomes mainstream . She further predicted that its adoption would not be accompanied by a hike in prices . `` There comes a point where consumers will find another form of meat , '' she said . E-mail to a friend . CNN 's Jennifer Pifer and Val Willingham contributed to this report .
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Sheep meat , milk need more research , FDA says . Heated debate has raged for years over use of cloned animals for food production . Products from cloned animals wo n't be labeled . Food products from cloned animals not expected on store shelves for years .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Three crew members were killed and one was injured Wednesday when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crashed in waters near James Island in LaPush , Washington , officials said . The surviving crew member is hospitalized in Seattle with non-life threatening injuries , said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Gary Blore . The helicopter , a MH-60 Jayhawk , was flying to Sitka , Alaska , after departing the Coast Guard Air Station in Astoria , Oregon . `` The Coast Guard lost communication with the helicopter around 9:30 a.m. PT -LRB- 12:30 p.m. ET -RRB- , '' said Blore . `` Rescue crews were launched shortly after that . '' The survivor was pulled from the water by a good samaritan and transferred to a medical facility , said the Coast Guard . The recovery phase for those killed is continuing , said Blore . `` The helicopter is in the water , inverted , '' he said . `` There are power lines down at the beach . '' The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight restriction in the area near the crash to allow response crews to search without distractions , said the Coast Guard . The Coast Guard will conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the accident , said Blore . With his voice cracking at times , Blore told reporters at a media briefing Wednesday afternoon that accidents such as this are deeply personal to members of the Coast Guard . `` We all have flown helicopters , we have flown the same machine . This hits close to home , '' he said . CNN 's Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report .
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Helicopter crashed near James Island off La Push , Washington . One survivor hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries . Helicopter is in water , power lines it hit are down at beach .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Heavy rains caused flash flooding across the Boston metro area Saturday , stranding cars and causing damage , the National Weather Service reported . No injuries were immediately reported . Flash flood warnings were issued for four counties in eastern Massachusetts , and 2 to 4 inches of rain fell in the region , according to the weather service . There were several reports of cars getting stuck in floodwaters , particularly in the Somerville area , northwest of Boston , where the weather service said at least five vehicles were stranded underneath the Assembly Square Underpass . Video from CNN affiliates WHDH and WCVB showed the vehicles fully submerged beneath the underpass . Drivers had to be rescued from their cars when the tunnel filled with up to 18 feet of water , according to an off-duty police officer involved with the rescue efforts . The officer told WCVB that the water was heavily mixed with sewage . The flooding also forced the closures of at least two bridges . Witnesses told WHDH that cars were also submerged around the bridges and residents waded through water up to their knees . Some locals said they helped direct traffic since lights were knocked out by the storms . The bad weather also disrupted travel for the Boston area transit system . Joe Pesaturo , a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority , told CNN affiliate WCVB that there were weather-related delays during the afternoon , including the suspension of rail service in one area due to water on the tracks .
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Storms cause flash flooding in eastern Massachusetts . Several cars stuck in water in Somerville area . Floodwaters cause delays for mass transit system .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Mexican authorities searching a man with a bulge under his shirt at the airport in the nation 's capital found 18 monkeys hidden beneath his clothes , police said . Investigators grew suspicious after Roberto Sol Cabrera Zavaleta , 38 , became `` markedly nervous '' when asked what he was transporting , Mexico 's Public Safety Department said . Two of the tiny titi monkeys he was carrying in a belt were dead , the department said in a statement , and 16 of them survived the journey from Lima , Peru . Cabrera has been detained as authorities continue their investigation , the statement said . In an interview with authorities released by police , Cabrera said he first carried the monkeys in his suitcase , but then hid the animals in his clothes so they would not be harmed by X-ray machines at the airport . Cabrera described the animals as `` pets '' and told authorities he had purchased them for $ 30 . Titi monkeys are protected endangered species requiring a permit for possession , police said . Images released by police show the tiny creatures , many of which are tied up in pouches , squirming in a cardboard box .
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Police say the man was carrying 18 monkeys in a belt under his shirt . Authorities say they grew suspicious when Cabrera was nervous during questioning . Titi monkeys are an endangered species requiring permits for ownership .
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Los Angeles , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The mother of a California woman missing for nearly a year is dismissing a recent turn in the search for her daughter that has led investigators to Las Vegas , Nevada . In a statement released Sunday , Latice Sutton -- mother of Mitrice Richardson -- said she `` does not believe Mitrice is in Las Vegas , nor does she believe the sighting of Mitrice by a teenage acquaintance is a credible sighting since he has not seen her since she was 15 years old , which was over nine years ago . '' Sutton , who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Los Angeles County sheriff 's deputies for negligence in her daughter 's disappearance , suggested the recent turn in the investigation could be a `` diversionary tactic '' by California authorities . Investigators have spent about six weeks checking out a high school classmate 's report that he saw Richardson at a hotel casino , and are `` unable to show that it is not a good lead , '' Los Angeles , California , police Capt. Kevin McClure said Thursday . Detectives have talked to several witnesses since then who believe they have seen her in the area , he said . Richardson , who would be 25 now , is a former beauty pageant contestant who was last seen leaving a Los Angeles County sheriff 's station in Malibu , California , in the early morning hours of September 17 , 2009 . She had been arrested the previous evening at an upscale restaurant for allegedly not paying for her meal , and patrons at the restaurant said she exhibited strange behavior . Her family has said the college honors graduate suffered from mental health issues and should have been kept at the sheriff 's station until a relative arrived to pick her up . `` Latice Sutton hopes this is not a diversionary tactic to redirect attention and efforts away from where Mitrice was last known to be last seen -- leaving the Los Angeles Sheriff 's department , Malibu/Lost Hills station , without her cell phone , money , transportation , or asthma medication , which is where their massive search efforts and public plea should be concentrated , '' the statement , signed by Sutton , said . It added : `` The more time spent following leads in Las Vegas , is less time spent following up on facts in the Calabasas -LSB- California -RSB- and surrounding area . '' Sutton also disputed authorities ' claims that the person who reported seeing Richardson in Las Vegas spent significant time with her daughter . `` Contrary to law enforcement official statements during their press conference , Mitrice did not grow up with , go to school with , nor spend any significant time with this witness , '' the statement said . According to the wrongful death and negligence suit filed last month in Los Angeles Superior Court , authorities launched a homicide investigation into Richardson 's disappearance in December . The lawsuit claims Richardson suffered `` grievous bodily harm and loss of life . '' Sutton argues in the lawsuit that the sheriff 's department failure to administer psychiatric or medical evaluations and the fact that Richardson was released `` alone in an unfamiliar area without money , a cellular phone or means of transportation amounts to negligence . '' The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages . Steve Whitmore , a spokesman for the sheriff 's department , told CNN in September that the decision to release Richardson was made because `` she was not intoxicated , she did n't exhibit any mental issues , so when we were done running her fingerprints and criminal history , then we are obligated by law to release her from custody . '' Police have not discounted the possibility that Richardson may not want to be found , but her family believes that would be `` out of her character , '' McClure said . `` We could find that out , but we 'll never know that until we actually talk to Mitrice , '' he said . CNN 's Gabriel Falcon contributed to this report .
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Mother of Mitrice Richardson does not believe her daughter is in Las Vegas . Richardson was last seen September 17 , 2009 . She suggests the search could be a `` diversionary tactic '' by California authorities . She has filed a wrongful death suit against deputies in her daughter 's disappearance .
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United Nations -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Calling it an `` unprecedented development , '' United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Monday the U.N. will launch a panel of inquiry to investigate the May 31 Gaza flotilla incident that left nine Turkish activists dead . `` For the past two months , I have engaged in intensive consultation with the leaders of Israel and Turkey on the setting-up of a panel of inquiry on the flotilla incident , '' Ban said in a statement . `` Today I am very pleased to announce the launch of the panel . This is an unprecedented development . I thank the leaders of the two countries with whom I have engaged in last-minute consultations over the weekend , for their spirit of compromise and forward-looking cooperation . '' The panel will be led by Geoffrey Palmer , former prime minister of New Zealand , as chairman and Alvaro Uribe , outgoing Colombian president , as vice-chair , Ban said . Representatives from Israel and Turkey will be the panel 's other two members . The panel will begin its work on August 10 and submit its first progress report by mid-September , the statement said . Ban said he hopes the panel 's work will `` give me recommendations for the prevention of similar incidents in the future . '' He said he also hopes the agreement will `` impact positively on the relationship between Turkey and Israel as well as the overall situation in the Middle East . '' The United States welcomed the announcement . Susan Rice , U.S. ambassador to the U.N. , said the panel will receive and review reports from both Israeli and Turkish investigations into the incident , and issue recommendations on how such incidents can be avoided in the future . `` The panel is not a substitute for those national investigations , '' Rice said in a statement . `` It complements them , affording Israel and Turkey the opportunity to present the conclusions of their investigations to the international community . '' Israel has maintained its troops used force on the activists after they were attacked by those on board one boat in the flotilla , the Mavi Marmara . Soldiers were attacked with knives , metal poles and other objects , Israeli officials have said . But passengers on board the boat insist they were fired upon without provocation . The incident left a wide-ranging military and diplomatic alliance between the Jewish state and Turkey , its powerful regional ally , badly shaken and drew international outrage . Israel maintains it must inspect all goods entering Gaza so that weapons do not get into the hands of militants . Gaza is run by Hamas , the Palestinian Islamist movement that has said it is dedicated to the destruction of Israel . Israel had asked the flotilla to dock at the port of Ashdod so its cargo could be inspected and transferred to Gaza , but flotilla members refused . `` Israel has nothing to hide , '' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement . `` The opposite is true . It is in the national interest of the state of Israel to ensure that the factual truth of the overall flotilla events comes to light throughout the world , and this is exactly the principle that we are advancing . '' Israel had previously resisted demands for an international inquiry into the incident , but an Israeli military investigation was conducted into the boarding of the Mavi Marmara and it criticized some aspects of the operation . The operation prepared only one course of action and had no backup plan , military commanders were not presented with options other than boarding the ship , and different branches of military intelligence did not coordinate well enough , the report found . But the report said the commando team that boarded the ship operated properly , with bravery and professionalism , and that the use of live fire against the activists was justified . The Israeli Commission of Inquiry also is conducting an ongoing investigation into the incident and is not expected to complete it for some time . Rice said the United States hopes the panel `` can serve as a vehicle to enable Israel and Turkey to move beyond the recent strains in their relationship and repair their strong historic ties . ''
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The former New Zealand prime minister will chair the panel of inquiry . Israel and Turkey will both have representatives on the panel . Its first report is due by mid-September .
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Dover , New Hampshire -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Tuttle farming legacy may come to an end soon . Since 1635 , the Tuttle farm has been passed from father to son and after years of thought , Will Tuttle has put what 's known as the country 's longest family-run farm up for sale . As the 11th generation Tuttle man to farm this now 134-acre plot of land in New Hampshire , Will Tuttle says he has no regrets . `` I 'm not a museum curator , I 'm a farmer , '' Tuttle says . He 's tall , lean and tanned from head to toe , apart from his red cheeks and white beard . Shaking his head underneath the beating sun , he adds , `` I was n't the first one . I may be the last one . You ca n't live anybody else 's dream , and 57 years is enough . '' Tuttle , now 63 , left the farm to attend Tufts University in the 1970s . But after graduation , he grew tired of his job as a salesman and says he was drawn by the feeling of `` self-reliance , satisfaction at the end of the day '' that farming gave him . `` The variety of our lives here , as on every farm , is incredible , '' Tuttle says . `` Being out in the fresh air , being tired when I get home , that 's all good stuff , '' he says , sighing , and adding that those also are the worst parts about farming . Tasking work . Tuttle wakes up at 4:30 a.m. and says he works anywhere from 12 to 17 hours a day . He says he 's learned to `` survive on less sleep '' but admits he longs to spend more time with his children . As he trudges along rows of tall , ripe corn , Tuttle recalls what his grandfather once told him . `` He said be careful where you set foot on this farm because that footprint is going to be there for the rest of time , you 're gon na leave your mark on this farm , '' he says . But in the end , Tuttle admits he `` had to take the weight of our ancestors off the decision , they 're not here to advise us . I think probably most of them died with their boots on . '' Tuttle says his health has been compromised by decades of farm work ; he ruptured his Achilles tendon a couple of years ago and he says he suffers from neck and back problems . Standing next to her big brother Will , Lucy Tuttle confesses she has mixed feelings about selling the family 's land and says it will be a tough adjustment . `` I feel a great sense of continuity here with the family , '' she says , `` To be standing there hoeing or weeding and to think about my father doing that or my grandfather doing that ... is just an incredible feeling . '' But Will Tuttle says his two grown sons were not interested in running the family business and he could n't make the decision for his two younger sons to carry on the tradition . `` I believe it would be unfair of me to say ... one of my kids is going to run it . I ca n't decide for them , '' he said . Customers and condolences . On a tour of Tuttle 's Red Barn store , youngest sister Becky Tuttle , 58 , points to a heap of fresh radishes , proudly noting `` everything that says ` our own ' on the sign was grown here . '' The air-conditioned shop resembles a modern grocery store , but with freshly picked vegetables of all sizes and colors as the main attraction . Abundant varieties of squash and lettuce are lined up on shelves near a mound of the Tuttles ' `` famous '' sweet corn . Fresh cucumbers are added as soon as they are scrubbed clean . Many regulars recognize Becky Tuttle and they ask about her family . They also offer their condolences . Kathleen McShera , a lifelong customer who shops at the store at least once a week , says the thought of the Tuttles selling their farm brings tears to her eyes . `` I 've got goosebumps . It 's really sad . It 's a tradition . It 's been here forever , '' she says . In 1956 , when the Tuttles ' parents started the farm stand store , Becky Tuttle says , `` This place became a destination for people , where they could come and know they were getting fresh , homegrown , quality vegetables . '' Since then , she says , `` Supermarkets have caught up to speed '' on offering fresh vegetables and gourmet products and they have competitive prices that are hard to match . `` Places like Walmart and even the supermarkets with their buying power , to buy the products we sell , they are able to buy them cheaper at wholesale than we can , '' she says . That results in retail prices that are often cheaper than the Tuttles ' wholesale prices . Fresh ideas , fresh backs . Although the Tuttles will not be working on the farm once it 's sold , the three older Tuttle siblings remain hopeful about the land 's future . As a first step of the selling process , the family went through a conservancy to ensure the farm would be worked and viable for generations to come . `` I believe it 's not psychologically possible for the three of us to sell this farm for residential or commercial development , '' Will Tuttle says . `` The fact that it 's going to remain open in someone 's gentle care , in some form or another is very comforting to me . '' Though they 've booked showings already , Tuttle says the farm 's sale is not imminent . `` This is not going to sell in one day , '' he says . `` Its may take a long time to sell it . We 're prepared to battle it out until that time and spend what 's left of our energy , so I can keep this place as vital as it can be . '' Becky Tuttle adds that for now , `` The business still will remain open , and the corn is still as fresh and sweet as ever . '' What 's needed to make the farm thrive for years to come ? Tuttle says the farm needs a `` fresh approach , fresh ideas and fresh legs and backs to do that . ''
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The oldest family farm in U.S. -- the Tuttle farm in New Hampshire -- is up for sale . After working for up to 17 hours a day , Will Tuttle says he has health problems . His grown sons are n't interested in farming and he wo n't pressure 2 younger sons . Conservancy will ensure farm would be worked and viable for generations to come .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The defense in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor filed an emergency motion to delay supermodel Naomi Campbell 's testimony against him , the court announced Monday . She is scheduled to take the stand against him at the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone on Thursday . Prosecutors say Taylor gave her a diamond during the brutal war in Sierra Leone , contradicting Taylor 's testimony that he never handled the precious stones that fueled the conflict . The defense says it has n't seen a copy of her testimony , which interferes with Taylor 's right to a fair trial . Under tribunal rules , the defense team should get advance access to prosecution witness testimony so it can prepare its arguments . It asked the court to decide by Wednesday whether Campbell would testify Thursday , according to court papers . Campbell did not want to be involved in the trial but was subpoenaed on July 1 to appear at the tribunal for Taylor , who faces war crimes charges over a brutal conflict in Sierra Leone that was fueled by rough diamonds , also known as blood diamonds or conflict diamonds . Witnesses have said Taylor gave Campbell a diamond . Prosecutors had rested their case against Taylor in February 2009 . They asked to reopen it specifically to call Campbell , as well as actress Mia Farrow and a witness named Carole Taylor , court papers show . Prosecutors said they learned in June 2009 that Taylor had given the supermodel a diamond in South Africa in 1997 . Farrow confirmed it , they said . When arguing to reopen the case , prosecutors said Campbell 's testimony would prove that the former president `` used rough diamonds for personal enrichment and arms purchases , '' according to papers filed with the U.N.-backed court . Taylor , 62 , was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003 . The war crimes charges against him stem from the widespread murder , rape and mutilation that occurred during the bloody civil war in Sierra Leone . It was fought largely by teenagers who were forced to kill , given addictive drugs to provoke violent behavior , and often instructed to rape and plunder . Taylor is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity , including murder , sexual slavery and violence , and enslavement . He also faces five counts of war crimes , including acts of terrorism and torture , and one count of other serious violations of international humanitarian law . He has pleaded not guilty to the charges . CNN 's Carol Jordan contributed to this report .
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Naomi Campbell is due to testify in the trial of Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor . Witnesses say Taylor gave Campbell a diamond . Campbell had to be ordered to testify . Taylor is accused of crimes during a civil war in Sierra Leone .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Republicans are predicting big wins in the November midterms . Across the aisle , Democrats are saying the same thing about their chances at the polls . But both ca n't be right . Republicans speculate that they will take back the House -- and possibly the Senate -- as voters express their frustration at where Democrats and President Obama are taking the country . `` I think it 's pretty clear that the American people are tired of the job-killing agenda in Washington , D.C. . They want the spending spree to stop , '' House Minority Leader John Boehner said on `` Fox News Sunday . '' `` I think we 're having a good year , but we 've got a lot of work to do before the Election Day on November 2 , '' he said . Boehner advised Republicans heading home for the August recess to `` talk about the better solutions that Republicans have been offering over the last 18 months . '' His counterpart in the House , Speaker Nancy Pelosi , encouraged her members to do the opposite . `` We 've been legislating for the past 18 months . The other side has been in campaign mode for 18 months , saying no , stopping job creation and the rest . But our members are the best salespersons for their own districts . They 've been elected there . They know their constituents , '' she said on ABC 's `` This Week . '' Sen. Carl Levin , a Democrat from Michigan , said that although his party will probably lose a couple of seats , `` it 's going to be a lot better than what people now look at . '' Democrats hold a 256-179 advantage in the House and a 59-41 advantage in the Senate , including the two independents who caucus with Democrats . This year , 37 seats are up for grabs in the Senate , and 18 of those are considered at least somewhat vulnerable , according to The Rothenberg Political Report , a nonpartisan newsletter covering campaigns and politics . Eleven of those are held by Democrats , and seven are held by Republicans . In the House , all 435 seats are on the ballot , and 88 are considered vulnerable , according to Rothenberg . Twelve are held by Republicans , and 76 are held by Democrats . In order to net control , Republicans need to pick up 39 seats in the House and 10 in the Senate , said Nathan Gonzales , political editor of The Rothenberg Political Report . `` The most likely scenario is the Republicans gain 28 to 33 seats -- but the House is definitely in play . The majority is at significant risk for Democrats , '' Gonzales said . In the Senate , however , Republicans have a tougher task . `` Republicans need to win every competitive race in order to take the majority . It 's possible but difficult , '' Gonzales said . Although the election is still three months out , the trajectory of the cycle is not going to change , Gonzales added . `` Republicans will gain seats in November . We just do n't know how many yet , '' he said . White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had some fellow Democrats fuming last month over his take on the midterms . `` I think there 's no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control . There 's no doubt about that , '' he told NBC 's `` Meet the Press . '' Asked Sunday about those comments , Pelosi said , `` with all due respect , I do n't spend a whole lot of time thinking about what the president 's employees say about one thing or another . '' `` We have a solid plan of messaging and mobilizing at the grass-roots level and management of our campaigns . And we have a two-to-one advantage money-wise . So we feel very confident about where we are , whether that 's well known to that gentleman or not , '' she said . After facing backlash from Democrats , Gibbs revised his prediction and said the party will hold on to the House and Senate . A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll indicates that Democrats and Republicans are tied on which party can bring the kind of change the country needs . The Republicans hold an 8-point margin over the Democrats on the question of which party shares the respondents ' view of the government and which party can effectively manage the government . `` These results illustrate the reasons why the Democrats are now behind on the so-called generic ballot question , '' CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said . `` The Democrats manage no better than a virtual tie on issues , but they are behind when it comes to handling the government . And when the presidency is not at stake , the congressional elections are the only way that voters can do something about the direction the government will take . '' Full results of the poll -LRB- PDF -RRB- . A potential thorn for Democrats is the ethics cases dogging two House members . California Rep. Maxine Waters has chosen to face a House ethics trial rather than accept a finding of wrongdoing by the House ethics committee , according to a source familiar with the process . The ethics committee has been looking into whether Waters violated House rules when she helped arrange a meeting in September 2008 between Treasury Department officials and a bank she and her husband had ties to financially . Longtime Rep. Charlie Rangel also could face an ethics trial , barring a settlement between him and the committee members . The House ethics committee last week accused Rangel , a New York Democrat , of 13 violations of House rules involving alleged financial wrongdoing and harming the credibility of Congress . Bill Kristol , editor of conservative magazine The Weekly Standard , said Republicans would be `` foolish '' to jump on the ethics problems because they are not unique to the Democratic Party . `` They should just shut up . There 's a bipartisan ethics committee . Let the process go forward , '' he told Fox . `` Democrats are going to lose the House and suffer the loss of a lot of Senate seats because of their policies , '' Kristol said . `` And the idea that Republicans should go around throwing stones at Charlie Rangel , I think , is just foolish on their part . '' Lawmakers are entering the most crucial part of the campaign season , when candidates start to engage each other and their messages begin to stick with voters . But as the cliché goes , three months is an eternity in politics . `` I 'd love to have the election tomorrow , but obviously it 's not tomorrow , '' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox when asked whether anything short of a Republican takeover could be considered a victory for Democrats . `` If the election were today , we 'd certainly have a good day , but it 's a long way until November . They have a lot of money . They 've outspent us for the last three cycles , and I expect them to do it again . They 're not going to go down easily , '' McConnell said .
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`` I think we 're having a good year , '' House Minority Leader John Boehner says . `` The House is definitely in play , '' political observer says . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats `` feel very confident about where we are '' To gain control , Republicans need to pick up 39 seats in the House , 10 in the Senate .
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Havana , Cuba -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Cuban President Raul Castro said Sunday that his government would allow more private businesses and make it easier for those businesses to hire workers , as the socialist economy struggles to get back on its feet and shed up to one million redundant state jobs . The government `` agreed to broaden the exercise of self employment and its use as another alternative for the employment of those excess workers , '' Castro said during a biannual session of the National Assembly . He went on to say that the government would eliminate `` numerous '' prohibitions to the granting of licenses for private businesses and to the sales of some products , as well as `` make the contracting of a work force more flexible . '' In exchange , those businesses will pay taxes on income and sales , and pay contributions for employees , he said . The measures `` constitute a structural and conceptual change in the interest of preserving and developing our social system to make it sustainable in the future , '' Castro said . The decision was part of a series of measures approved by the Council of Ministers to reduce `` the considerably inflated payroll in the state sector , '' he added . Earlier this year , Castro said that more than one million state jobs , out of a total of 5.1 million , could be redundant . The government has launched a few , small free-market reforms . In April , for example , barbershops were handed over to employees , who pay rent and taxes but charge what they want . Licenses have also been granted to private taxis . For a couple of years , fallow land in the countryside has been turned over to private farmers . The more they produce , the more they earn . Not surprisingly , output is up . In his speech , Castro also mentioned for the first time the release of political prisoners that started last month . `` The Revolution can be generous because it is strong , '' he said . The Catholic Church and Spain negotiated the release of 52 prisoners jailed in 2003 as part of a crackdown on people the government accused of receiving money from the enemy government in Washington . So far , 21 prisoners have been released and flown abroad . Castro did not give details about why Cuba agreed to free the `` counterrevolutionaries '' or if he expected any gesture in return . Former President Fidel Castro did not make an appearance despite expectations that he might .
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The Cuban president says it will become easier to have a private business . Raul Castro says jobs will be cut `` in the considerably inflated '' state sector . Fidel Castro did not attend his brother 's speech to the National Assembly .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- With nearly 86,000 people evacuated from fire-ravaged regions , Russian authorities said Sunday that firefighters were gaining control over blazes sweeping across thousands of acres in western Russia . `` Despite complicated weather conditions , the situation is under control thanks to preventive measures and efforts taken by the Russian Emergencies Ministry , '' a spokesman for the ministry told the Itar-Tass news agency . At least 28 people have been killed and thousands left homeless by the wildfires , which are among the worst ever to hit western Russia . No fire-related deaths were reported since Friday , officials said Sunday . Two firefighters were among the dead , Itar-Tass reported , citing the Emergency Ministry . Latest figures from the ministry showed that 128,500 hectares -LRB- 317,530 acres -RRB- were burned or had burned , and 774 `` hotbeds of wildfire '' were counted as of 6 a.m. Sunday . About half the fires had either been extinguished or contained , the ministry spokesman said . `` The most difficult situation with wildfires remains in the Nizhny Novgorod , Vladimir and Voronezh regions and the Republic of Mordovia , where fires threaten several populated settlements , '' the ministry 's information department said . A hot , dry summer has been a key factor in the fires , drying out large parts of land and igniting the peat bogs that lie all over central Russia . Moscow , Russia , hit a temperature of 39 Celsius -LRB- 102 Fahrenheit -RRB- on Thursday , the highest temperature since records began in 1879 . The fires have destroyed more than 1,200 homes , the ministry said , and nearly 5,000 people have been left homeless . CNN 's Matthew Chance reported from the village of Maslovka , Russia , near Voronezh , that almost every house in the village of 500 people had burned to the ground . All the residents of Maslovka had been evacuated to nearby hotels . A resident of Maslovka named Nina told Chance she had returned to the village after the fire to sift through the rubble of the house where she was born . For 50 years , she said , she lived under the same roof . A few days ago , the wildfires were swept by high winds to the village and quickly engulfed her house . Now there was nothing left . Even the clothes she was wearing were not hers -- they had been given to her by a neighbor . As Nina told her story , an elderly woman walked from behind a broken wall , wailing with tears . Nina said the woman was her mother , devastated she had lost the home where she raised her family . Russia 's government has vowed to compensate the more than 1,870 families whose houses have been burned down . Amid complaints , Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered regional governors to speed up the compensation process . The Kremlin has called the wildfires a natural disaster of the kind that appear every 30 or 40 years . Critics , meanwhile , accuse local authorities of mismanaging the response . Desperate to control the blazes , Russia says its deployed nearly a quarter of a million people to fight the fires . But around Voronezh , many of the firefighters that Chance saw were just volunteers with buckets .
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About half of the hundreds of wildfires in Russia are extinguished or contained . At least 28 people -- including two firefighters -- are dead . In one village , all 500 residents have been evacuated , and nearly every house is burned .
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New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In the first two days back from his Martha 's Vineyard family vacation , President Obama gave two speeches on two important subjects . The first was a four-minute address from the Rose Garden on Monday on the economy . This was obviously a quickly thrown together speech to let the country know that even though the economic indicators , to quote the Washington Post , `` trended from bad to worse '' while the president golfed and relaxed , his team was aware of them . We all come back a little rusty , and hopefully relaxed , from our vacations , and certainly the president and his family are entitled to theirs . But this speech offered nothing new on the most important subject of concern to voters , who in two months may alter the political makeup of the Congress and change the way this president can do things for the remainder of his term . The president slammed the Republicans one more time . This is his campaign theme , and obviously it is n't working . Besides , the more he blames the Republicans , the more difficult it will be to work with them in January , when they may have a majority or at least a lot more clout in the Congress . Saying his economic team was working on identifying new ways to boost the economy , the president said he would provide details `` in the days and weeks to come . '' It raises the obvious question : What has the administration been doing in the weeks and months just past ? It may not matter if the administration proposes any new measures on the economy , especially if they would require a vote in Congress . I can promise you , Mr. President , in the heat of a campaign battle royal -- in which your congressional team is on the brink of a disaster unlike any that Democrats have faced since 1994 -- in the `` days and weeks ahead , '' they are going to be focused on doing nothing except trying to get re-elected and running as far from you and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as possible . The second speech was given from the newly decorated Oval Office on Tuesday night in prime time . It was to celebrate the `` Campaign Promise Kept '' : the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq . I could n't quite figure out what the speech was about . Our combat troops moved out of the cities of Iraq last summer and have n't been in real combat since the success of the surge much earlier . There still is n't a functioning government there and may not be for months to come . Mr. President , you need to fill in the blanks about what you meant when you said , `` Our combat mission is ending , but our commitment to Iraq 's future is not . '' It was appropriate to thank our troops and military leadership . It was a nice gesture to tell the country that George W. Bush supported our troops and loved our country , and obviously was committed to our national security . It would have even been more appropriate to say that the program he and Secretary Robert Gates laid out is the one the president implemented without change , and it seems to have worked . It would have been an accurate statement to remind people that we were withdrawing our troops because of a Status of Forces agreement signed in December 2008 by Bush and Iraq President Nuri al-Maliki to do so -- and not because Obama had promised this in his campaign . The Iraq government insisted that we withdraw all of our forces by December 31 , 2011 . I hope we can . We certainly will know by then whether the Iraq government can stabilize and whether the Iraq army and police can keep the peace . If not , the president has another tough decision to make . We signed an armistice in Korea in July 1953 -- and we still have nearly 30,000 troops there . Let 's hope that 's not the outcome here . The president said : `` Now is the time to turn the page . '' But , as in his speech on the economy , he raised several issues that will need to be clarified `` in the days and weeks ahead . '' He gave the clear impression that now that we are finished with the `` bad war '' in Iraq , his term we can focus on the good war , Afghanistan . `` Because of the drawdown in Iraq , we are now able to apply the resources necessary to go on offense -LSB- in Afghanistan -RSB- . '' I am sure that the more than 100,000 troops fully engaged under the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus already think they are on the offense and did n't realize they were being bogged down by Iraq . But the president could n't leave it there . He had to return to politics , because every speech will be political between now and November 2 . He went on to say : . `` As we wind down the war in Iraq , we must tackle those challenges at home -LSB- jobs , deficits , energy independence and education -RSB- with as much energy and grit and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad . '' The war was expensive , not only in terms of the soldiers who were killed and injured but in the trillion-plus dollars spent on it . But if the president thinks the nation and the world are in this economic mess because of a war he did n't want to fight and did n't support , we are in worst shape than I thought . We still have expensive obligations to those men and woman who so bravely served us . It 's not like we can close down the Pentagon and use that money to build more buildings to house Energy and Education Department employees . Now that Iraq is fixed -- and in a few weeks we will hear how the president and his team plan to get the economy moving again -- we now move on to solving the crisis in the Middle East . Lots of luck ! Like most Americans , I want my president 's focus to be on the economy . In a few short weeks , we Americans get to exercise our voice and vote for a new Congress . I promise our voice and our message will be a lot clearer than these two pedestrian speeches the president just made . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ed Rollins .
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President Obama made two speeches in first two days after vacation . Ed Rollins says the president 's speech on economy had no new ideas . Rollins says speech on Iraq left questions unanswered . He says it does n't make sense to blame our economic problems on the Iraq war .
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Mexico City , Mexico -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A second person survived a massacre in which 72 migrants from Central and South America were killed last week in northern Mexico , Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Mexican officials said . A man from Ecuador was previously thought to be the only survivor . That man , identified as Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla , said someone else also lived through the mass shooting , Correa said at a news conference late Tuesday night upon his return to Ecuador from a trip to Haiti . Correa did not provide details other than to say the second survivor came from Honduras . `` We do n't want to put him in danger , '' Correa said . Viviana Macias , a spokeswoman for the Mexican attorney general 's office , confirmed Wednesday that a second person had survived the attack . The attorney general 's office said authorities had not revealed news of the second survivor in order to protect the person 's safety . For the same reason , officials said Wednesday , they will not reveal the person 's identity . The attorney general 's office said in a release Wednesday afternoon that the survivor is being held and protected as a witness and has given officials `` relevant information to identify those presumed to be responsible . '' The agency has been in touch with authorities in Honduras , the release said . Lala Pomavilla , the Ecuadorian survivor , was returned to his homeland late Sunday . The young man was wounded in the attack and said he survived by playing dead . He later walked several miles to a military roadblock near the town of San Fernando in Tamaulipas state , less than 100 miles from the U.S. border . Officials are investigating whether members of the Zetas drug cartel were responsible for the deaths . The bodies of the 72 victims are being returned to their homelands , which include Guatemala , El Salvador , Honduras and Brazil . Mexican officials returned the remains of 16 migrants to Honduras on Wednesday . A live broadcast on CNN affiliate Televicentro showed six-man honor guards wheeling the bodies one by one off a transport aircraft . Bereaved relatives and friends cried and held each other as the gray caskets glided by slowly , guided solemnly by soldiers in dress uniforms and red-plumed hats . The caskets , each adorned with a bouquet of flowers on top , were placed under a large tent on the tarmac at the air force airport in Tegucigalpa , the capital of Honduras . `` Repatriation , '' said the Televicentro banner imposed over the bottom of the TV image . `` What started as a search for the American dream ended in a mortal nightmare . '' After the 16 caskets were gathered in the tent , a Roman Catholic priest prayed over them . `` Do n't lose your faith in God , '' he told those gathered there before he sprinkled holy water on each of the caskets . Honduran President Porfirio Lobo also addressed the crowd , merely reading the names of the 16 victims before walking back to his spot in a line of dignitaries . Some family members were brought up to have a word with Lobo , who hugged them and spoke quietly with them . The caskets were released to the families after the ceremony , and at one point Lobo went to where a man with a gray New York Yankees cap was sobbing as he leaned on a coffin . Lobo patted the man on the shoulder and reached out to a woman standing next to him . The victims will be taken to their hometowns for burial . CNN 's Jose Antonio Flores , Krupskaia Alis and Arthur Brice contributed to this report .
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The second survivor is a migrant from Honduras , officials say . The only previously known survivor was from Ecuador . That survivor said someone else also had lived , the Ecuadorian president said . The bodies of 16 victims were returned to Honduras on Wednesday , Mexico said .
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LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- From an animated documentary detailing one man 's efforts to regain his memories of being a young soldier in `` Waltz with Bashir '' to Christopher Nolan 's box office behemoth `` The Dark Knight , '' movies in 2008 have been notable for their creativity , diversity and international flavor . `` Man on Wire '' looks back at Frenchman Philippe Petit who , in the 1970s , set a wire between New York 's Twin Towers and walked the tightrope across it . As well as featuring films from the U.S. , our list contains the work of directors from Brazil , Korea , Argentina , Italy , the UK and Israel . There are documentaries and animations in there , as well as a very impressive comeback from Mickey Rourke in Darren Aronofsky 's `` The Wrestler '' and a jaw-dropping documentary about a French man who walked the tightrope between the World Trade Center 's twin towers in New York , which were destroyed in 2001 . As ever , it is impossible to fit every film we would like to on this list , and we want to hear from YOU -- what were your favorite films of 2008 ? Tell us in the SoundOff box below . Fei Phoon contributed to this article .
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Action to animation ; Brazil to Korea this year 's films are characterized by diversity . Heath Ledger blew audiences away as The Joker in `` The Dark Knight '' Matteo Garrone 's `` Gomorrah '' stripped the glamour out of gangster life in Italy . Sally Hawkins stole hearts and Best Actress at Berlin in `` Happy-Go-Lucky ''
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[[234, 329]]
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-LRB- Mashable -RRB- -- 25.94 seconds . That 's how much time it took Melissa Thompson of Salford , England , to type a complex sentence on a Samsung Galaxy S , which makes her the new Guinness World Record holder for fastest typing on a phone . The sentence for this particular record , as determined by Guinness , reads as follows : `` The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world . In reality they seldom attack a human . '' Before Thompson , Franklin Page of Seattle held the record , having typed the above sentence in 35.54 seconds earlier this year . Interestingly enough , Melissa claims she 's out of shape as far as texting goes . She used to send a lot of text messages to her boyfriend Chris -- 40 or 50 per day day , she says -- but after they moved in together she has n't been texting as much . But when Samsung invited her to have a go at breaking the world record , it turned out her fingers were in better shape than she thought ; she texted faster than anyone else and by a large margin . The new world record still awaits official approval from Guinness , but if it turns out to be legitimate , the title of the world 's fastest texter will move from the U.S. to England . © 2010 MASHABLE.com . All rights reserved .
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British woman is the new Guinness World Record holder for fastest typing on a phone . She breaks the old record , held by a Seattle , Washington man , by nine seconds . The new world record still awaits official approval from Guinness .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A 25-foot dead whale washed ashore on New York 's Jones Beach Island on Thursday morning , a New York State Parks official said . George Gorman , director of recreational services for New York State Parks , told CNN that officials believe it 's a humpback whale . Jones Beach Island is a barrier island bordering the south of Long Island and a popular recreational spot for New Yorkers . The New York State Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Program -- a branch of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation that rescues and rehabilitates marine animals -- was called to examine the whale and remove it from the beach . Riverhead officials estimate that the animal weighs 20 to 25 tons . The group is moving the animal out of the path of the incoming tide with a tractor . An necropsy will be performed Friday and then officials will determine where to bury the remains .
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25-foot dead whale washes ashore on New York 's Jones Beach Island . It 's estimated to weigh 20 to 25 tons . Experts are moving the whale up the beach Thursday ; will perform an necropsy Friday .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Three people died after Typhoon Kompasu hit central South Korea Thursday morning , the Yonhap News Agency reported . Kompasu also halted much of the metropolitan area 's subway service , toppled trees and caused widespread power outages , the agency said . Airlines canceled or diverted domestic and international flights . According to Yonhap : A flying roof tile killed an 80-year-old man in Seosan , South Chungcheong province . A broken tree branch fatally struck a 37-year-old man in Bundang , on the southern outskirts of Seoul . And an electrical engineer was electrocuted while trying to restore electricity in Mokpo , 255 miles -LRB- 410 kilometers -RRB- south of Seoul . iReport : Kompasu whips through South Korea . Kompasu also unleashed torrential rain and strong winds on North Korea Thursday , according to the state-run KCNA news agency . The typhoon was expected to further devastate crops in secretive North Korea , which has been gripped by food shortages . As of late afternoon Thursday , Kompasu was carrying maximum winds of 55 miles per hour and had moved away from both Koreas .
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Debris kills two people and a third is electrocuted . Torrential rain and winds hit N. Korea , where crops were threatened . N. Korea has already struggled to feed its people .
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MEXICO CITY , Mexico -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The police chief in Cancún has been relieved of his duties and placed under house arrest while he is investigated in the killing of a retired Mexican general who had been the area 's anti-drug chief for less than 24 hours , Mexican media are reporting . A Mexican soldier guards the entrance at a Cancún police station where the military is investigating a murder . Francisco Velasco Delgado was detained by military officials early Monday and flown to Mexico City , where he was placed under 45 days of house arrest , according to the media reports . With Delgado 's removal , the military has taken over the Cancún police force , several newspapers reported . Cancún Mayor Gregorio Sanchez Martinez said the move was made `` to facilitate all types of investigations into the triple murder that happened last week , '' the Diario de Yucatan newspaper said . Salvador Rocha Vargas , the secretary for public security for the state of Quintana Roo , will lead the police force . He said he will take all the pertinent measures `` to clean up the Cancún police , '' the Excelsior newspaper reported Tuesday . Retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quinonez 's bullet-riddled body was found a week ago on a road outside Cancún . Authorities said he had been tortured before being shot 11 times . His aide and a driver also were tortured and killed . Quintana Roo state prosecutor Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo said last week there was no doubt Tello and the others were victims of organized crime . `` The general was the most mistreated , '' Rodriguez y Carrillo said at a news conference . `` He had burns on his skin and bones in his hands and wrists were broken . '' An autopsy revealed he also had broken knees . Tello had been appointed less than 24 hours earlier as a special drug-fighting consultant for Gregorio Sanchez Martinez , the mayor of the Benito Juarez municipality , which includes the city of Cancún . Tello , who retired from the army in January at the mandatory age of 63 , had moved to the resort area three weeks ago . Mexico is undergoing an unprecedented wave of violence that some have likened to a civil war . The government is battling drug cartels as the traffickers fight each other for control of the lucrative illicit market . Tello was the second high-ranking army officer to be killed in the area in the past few years . Lt. Col. Wilfrido Flores Saucedo and his aide were gunned down on a Cancún street in 2006 . That crime remains unsolved . The latest killings come as Mexico grapples with the highest violent-death rate in its history . Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora reported in December there had been around 5,400 slayings in 2008 , more than double the 2,477 tallied in 2007 . There already have been more than 400 drug-related killings this year , according to some news accounts .
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Mexican media says local chief put under house arrest for 45 days . With Francisco Velasco Delgado 's removal , military takes control of police . Mayor : Delgado 's detainment to `` facilitate all types of investigations '' into murder . Retired general killed after being area 's anti-drug chief for less than 24 hours .
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Los Angeles , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Tears rolled from Fernanda Romero 's eyes as the Mexican soap opera actress told jurors that she really loved Kent Ross , the pizza deliveryman she married five years ago . Their marriage was real , but it soon fell apart because of his drinking and her focus on a modeling and acting career , Romero testified Tuesday . Closing arguments are set for Wednesday in the trial of Romero and Ross on federal charges their marriage was an illegal sham , intended only to earn her a U.S. work permit . Romero is accused of paying Ross , 28 , $ 5,000 to marry her on June 12 , 2005 , but the prosecutor alleged they never lived together as a couple . U.S. District Judge Manuel Real blocked defense lawyers from using evidence they said would show Romero was set up and turned in by a vengeful photographer angry that she rebuffed his romantic advances . The job of convincing jurors the marriage was real fell on Romero , a 28-year-old actress-singer-model who starred in Telemundo 's `` Wounded Soul '' soap opera . The prosecutor suggested Romero was using her professional acting skills to sell her own fiction . Romero testified she married for love , not a green card . `` To be in a loving relationship , forever and ever , like my parents , '' she testified . The couple did n't have a family wedding because he is Mormon and she is Catholic , she said . They kept separate Hollywood apartments because he could n't break a lease and she traveled a lot , she said . The first months were `` very loving , fun , '' she said . `` We socialized together , passionate . It was the honeymoon stage . '' Romero and Ross separated after less than a year together because `` he was coming on very late and drunk , '' she said . `` We started to fight a lot , sweat a lot , throw things . It was not healthy . '' The villain in Romero 's script would be Markus Klinko , a celebrity photographer she met at a Hollywood casting call about the same time her marriage was `` on the rocks , '' she said . Klinko , a 49-year-old Swiss native , is the star of his own reality TV show -- Bravo 's `` Double Exposure . '' Romero said the relationship initially was `` professional and creative , '' but she eventually engaged in a `` short affair '' with Klinko as he helped with her modeling career . `` I felt very pressured and I was vulnerable , '' Romero said as she cried . `` It was the biggest mistake I 've done in my life . '' Her friendship with Klinko turned into a nightmare when she decided to end the affair , she said . `` Mr. Klinko wanted more and more and he knew I was n't able to give it to him , '' she said . Klinko threatened to turn her in to immigration officials , she said . `` He was losing it , he was very psycho , '' Romero said . `` I was very scared , because he would n't stop . '' The federal complaint against Romero said the immigration investigation began after agents were given evidence gathered by a private detective hired by Klinko . When Klinko testified for the prosecution last week he said it was `` completely incorrect '' that his motivation was to get Romero deported . Instead , the investigator was gathering evidence to be used in a lawsuit against Michael Ball , the founder and owner of the Rock & Republic fashion company , Klinko said . The criminal complaint named Ball as a target of the federal investigation , alleging that he helped arrange the sham marriage while Romero was modeling for his company . Klinko said his lawyer turned the evidence over to the government only because he feared Klinko might be extorted by Ball . `` My case has never been against Fernanda , '' Klinko said after his testimony . `` I wish her the best . '' Ross also had his turn on the witness stand Tuesday , hoping to convince jurors that he and Romero were a real couple at one time . `` I was in love with her , '' Ross testified . `` It felt right at the time , so I rolled with it . '' He was asked why he asked the actress to marry him after knowing her for only a short time . `` I had a tiger by the tail and I wanted to keep her here , '' he said . Romero and Ross sat directly in front of jurors throughout the one-week trial , holding hands much of the time . They could get between 15 and 21 months in prison if convicted , though such cases usually produce shorter sentences , according to the prosecutor . The case is unusual because marriage fraud charges are usually litigated by immigration authorities rather than prosecuted as criminal cases . Romero 's show business career began in Mexico at age 16 when she joined the ensemble Frizzby , her Internet Movie Database biography says . The group toured Mexico and Central America , releasing two top-10 singles , it says . She started hosting television shows and appearing on commercials in Mexico when she was 18 , it says . Romero has appeared in print and TV ad campaigns for Rock and Republic , Clean and Clear , Pepsi , Apple and JC Penney , it says . `` She was cast in Telemundo 's original production ` Wounded Soul , ' where she was not only a lead actress , but also a lead singer , performing two songs in the soap opera 's soundtrack , '' her online biography says .
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Fernanda Romero testifies in her own defense Tuesday . The actress tells jurors her marriage was not fake . Closing arguments are set for Wednesday . Romero is charged with paying a pizza delivery man to marry her .
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[[338, 364], [365, 436]]
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ARLINGTON , Virginia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Forecasters predict the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season will be `` near-normal , '' with four to seven hurricanes likely , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday , less than two weeks before the season begins . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters predict a ` near normal ' hurricane season . `` While we can not prevent hurricanes , we can prepare , and we must , '' Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told reporters at Reagan National Airport , just outside of Washington . The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through the end of November . Locke said it is likely there will be nine to 14 named storms , with four to seven of those becoming hurricanes . Of the hurricanes , NOAA predicts that one to three will be major hurricanes -- storms classified as Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of storm intensity -- with winds of 111 mph or higher . In 2008 , there were 16 named storms and eight hurricanes , five of which were major . It was among the busiest and costliest seasons to date , with about $ 54 billion in damages , according to the National Climatic Data Center . Learn more about hurricanes and how you can stay safe '' The weather agency had predicted a total of 12 to 16 storms last year . NOAA 's predictions for 2009 are similar to those of four other organizations : AccuWeather , -LRB- 13 named storms and eight hurricanes -RRB- , Colorado State University , -LRB- 14 named storms and seven hurricanes -RRB- WSI Corp. -LRB- 13 named storms , seven hurricanes -RRB- and Weather Research Center -LRB- seven named storms , four hurricanes -RRB- . Competing climate factors are shaping the 2009 seasonal outlook , NOAA said , saying enhanced rainfall over West Africa , warmer Atlantic waters and reduced wind shear encourage greater storm activity . Should El Nino develop in the equatorial eastern Pacific this summer , or if ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Atlantic stay cooler , storm activity could be diminished , NOAA said . The weather agency will release an updated hurricane outlook in August , ahead of what it says is historically the peak period for hurricane activity . Newly appointed Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate emphasized that people who live in coastal areas should prepare for the hurricane season . `` We can not tell you where a hurricane is going to hit this year , and there 's a lot of our coast that has n't had a hurricane in decades . People grow up in areas and have n't had a hurricane , and live in a hurricane prone area and do n't realize it , '' Fugate said . `` Hurricane season is upon us , and to anyone who lives or works in hurricane-prone areas , to any of you who have family or friends in hurricane prone areas , NOAA 's message is clear -- be prepared , have a plan , '' NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said . The first named storm of the Atlantic season will be named Ana . CNN 's Greg Clary contributed to this report .
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NOAA predicts four to seven hurricanes , with one to three major storms . Predictions similar to last year 's forecast . In 2008 , there were 16 named storms , eight hurricanes .
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Kabul , Afghanistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The American people need to know that American troops will not still be fighting in Afghanistan in 2025 , Pentagon chief Robert Gates said , but the United States ' relationship with that country will be a long-term one . Gates and Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke after the two met Thursday . `` Americans will still be here after July 2011 , '' the defense secretary said . `` The president has been very clear that that is the beginning of a process , and the pace will be determined by conditions on the ground in Afghanistan . '' But , he said , `` the American people need to know we are not still going to be fighting this fight 15 years from now . '' `` That said , the reality is we are looking at a long-term relationship with Afghanistan , and we have the confidence that the progress we are making jointly with our Afghan partners and our other allies will allow us to begin a transition to Afghan security control within the next year . '' Karzai , he said , has indicated he believes his country will be ready to accept full security control in 2014 . `` We learned our lesson in turning our back on Afghanistan ion 1989 and we have no intention of doing it again , '' he said , referring to the support the United States provided Afghans during their lengthy battle with Russian troops -- that disappeared when Russia withdrew . Gates ' visit came on the same day that a NATO airstrike killed 10 people in the country 's northeast . A provincial official said those killed were parliamentary campaign workers , but NATO and U.S. officials said the precision airstrike targeted a senior member of an insurgent group . NATO is investigating the incident . Karzai has issued pointed criticism at the coalition for civilian casualties during warfare , including this latest incident , which comes a little more than two weeks ahead of the parliamentary elections . `` The reports that we get so far are 10 killed and three wounded in this operation , '' Karzai said in a joint appearance with Gates after their meeting . He added that a parliamentary candidate was wounded in the attack and that an investigation was under way . `` I have limited knowledge of the strike at this point , '' Gates said . `` I believe I can confirm that a very senior official of the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan was the target and was killed . This was an individual who was responsible for organizing attacks here in Kabul and in northern Afghanistan . This is the first I heard that civilians may have been killed , and we will certainly look into that . '' Gates ' trip comes a day after he visited Iraq , where he attended a change of command ceremony that marked the end of the U.S. combat mission there . Karzai defended his government 's decision to kick private security companies out of the country in four months . `` On the issue of the private security firms , the decision of the Afghan government is final and conclusive , '' he said . `` The presence of security firms is not only adding to the problems of corruption in Afghanistan , the problems of lawlessness in Afghanistan and lots of other affectations ... but they 're also running a parallel structure to the Afghan government . We will not have an effective growth of Afghan security forces '' with the private firms still operational . `` We can not sustain them any more in our country , and I 'm glad to say the U.S. backs this decision with us . '' Gen. David Petraeus , the top U.S. military man in Afghanistan , said initial approaches to some Taliban members as part of a reconciliation initiative have shown promise and could help in the effort to resolve the conflict there . Petraeus , who heads the U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan , spoke to reporters after greeting Gates , who arrived in the war-torn country Thursday to consult with political and military officials . Petraeus said there have already been approaches toward Taliban officials at senior levels that hold some promise . This comes amid discussions about reaching out to some Taliban members as part of a reconciliation process , but the military is n't envisioning peace talks with hard-liners . Petraeus also addressed a number of other issues , such as the community police plan , which he described as basically `` community watch with AK-47s , under a Ministry of Interior chain of command '' so there are n't concerns about warlords or militias . `` This will not be Sons of Iraq in Afghanistan , '' he said , referring to anti-al Qaeda Sunni groups in Iraq . He also said that since the departure earlier this summer of Gen. Stanley McChrystal -- who was forced to step down after he made controversial comments about members of the Obama administration in a magazine article -- there has been `` a change in personnel , not in overall concept '' in the Afghan mission .
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NEW : Gates says American troops will eventually leave Afghanistan . NEW : Transition to Afghan security control will begin next year , he says . NEW : Karzai says parliamentary candidate wounded in airstrike .
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Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- There are just times , when you are president of the United States , that formally speaking to the American people is part of the job . Not because it 's politically wise , or even politically advisable -- but because you have something important to say . As in , the seven-year-combat-mission-in-Iraq-is-over . Or , more specifically , as President Obama said , `` it 's time to turn the page . '' It was n't a particularly artful speech , nor was it full of new and interesting ideas . It was what it was : a ceremonial proclamation ending combat in a war Obama inherited -LRB- and opposed -RRB- and a declaration to fight another war -LRB- also , as he says , inherited -RRB- on the economy . No talk of winning or victory , only of transitions -LRB- to noncombat mode -RRB- and of a new focus for resources : on investments at home , on fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan . No self-congratulation , only plaudits for the troops . The declaration ending combat was clear , but what comes next in Iraq was completely ambiguous : Will a government finally form ? Are the Iraqi security forces up to the job ? And if it all falls apart , what do we do ? In many ways , it was an opportunity for the president to remind us of a promise kept . Fair enough : He said we would leave Iraq as combatants , and we have . He tipped his hat to President Bush in an effort to try and finally end the longstanding political divisions over Iraq -LRB- declaring Bush 's `` love for his country '' -RRB- , but stopped short of saying the obvious : Bush 's surge strategy worked . The world can argue over why it worked , but one thing is clear : Obama opposed the surge . And now he 's employing one in Afghanistan . The pressure to talk about something else other than Iraq was palpable . There 's an election in a couple of months , and it looks like the Democrats are about to get thumped . They 're sitting ducks , in a way , victims of their own success . They hold almost every swing congressional seat ; they have incumbents in about 40 districts that John McCain won . Unemployment is high ; there 's been no summer of recovery , as some promised . The Democrats are in charge , and voters are ready to throw the bums out . So the president had to talk about the economy , I suppose , but it fell flat . That 's because there really was n't anything he could tell us that would make voters feel any better . He went through the drill , but no one was under any illusion that this Oval Office speech would budge the needle for him -- or the Democrats -- at this dicey time . In a way , it 's more interesting to watch Obama now than it was during the campaign . Back then , he was the great communicator , an inspirational figure promising to take government where it had never been , promising to rescue an electorate sick of partisan divisions and gridlock in the mechanisms of government . It was easy to digest because the public was so eager to move on from what it had . Change seemed the natural order of things . But now , after two years in which the White House has been locked in combat with a GOP that found its voice in its almost unanimous opposition to everything -- the stimulus , health care , financial reform -- the campaign call for change seems ancient . The president , for all of his success in checking off his to-do list , is now seen as just more of the same by a growing number of voters : a partisan Democrat addicted to big government and big spending . It 's strange , really , that the man who touched so many during the campaign has failed to connect in the same way during his presidency . It 's not that we do n't see Obama ; we see him more than just about any other president . So why is it that we still ca n't figure out who he is ? Because a Zelig-like devotion to announcing one more agenda item or one more stimulus project or give one more speech just is n't enough . Visibility does n't guarantee connection . Connection guarantees connection . That 's where Bill Clinton comes in . There 's no one who was better at empathy . And so , as Obama and the Democrats trudge toward an election bound to make them unhappy , the question is this : If Obama loses seats -LRB- or even control of the House -RRB- , who will he be ? Will he be Bill Clinton -LRB- a la 1994 , after losing the House to Newt Gingrich and the GOP -RRB- , adjusting to his new circumstance , working to pass welfare reform and a budget agreement ? Or will be Jimmy Carter , who went from bad to worse , sulking with not much to show for it ? Granted , if the Republicans win handily , they 'll have problems of their own : some of the newest members of Congress will be virtually unmanageable . They 'll vote against every spending bill , not to mention funding the war in Afghanistan . They will have no appetite for compromise at all . They will make some GOP leaders miserable . But Obama will be the one to watch , as always . The thing about Bill Clinton is that he knew where to draw a line between the ground he had to yield and the ground he refused to yield . And then he got something done . About 90 days after the midterm election , we will really know who Barack Obama is , and what he 's willing to do . He 'll have plenty of time to shape his legacy , and he wo n't need an Oval Office address to point it out . We 'll already be watching . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gloria Borger .
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Gloria Borger says President Obama 's discussion of economy fell flat . She says the change message , which worked well for Obama in campaign , is old by now . Obama is visible but is n't connecting with public the way Bill Clinton did , Borger says . Key test for Obama will be after midterms as he deals with new Congress , she says .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Millions of hot dogs , beers and explosive devices will help Americans celebrate their country 's 234th birthday on July Fourth this Sunday . If people did n't gobble down the 150 million hot dogs they are predicted to eat on the holiday , the wieners could be strung across the nation five times , from San Diego , California , to Washington , according to Tom Super of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council . About one-third of hot dog lovers will smear them with mustard , almost a quarter prefer ketchup , 17 percent will put chili on their dogs , 9 percent relish and 7 percent onion . Folks in Chicago , Illinois , like their dogs in yellow mustard , dark green relish , chopped raw onion , tomato slices and topped with a dash of celery salt , according to the council . Kansas City , Missouri , dogs are served with sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese . Chili , cheese and jalapenos are the favorite toppings for dogs sold at Minute Maid Park in Houston , Texas , the council 's website says . Watch 4th of July spending index . But New Yorkers eat more dogs than any other group in the U.S. , and they top them with steamed onions and mustard . Some of those dogs will be swallowed in the 12 minutes allotted to contestants of Nathan 's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest -- an event held nearly every year at New York 's Coney Island since 1916 . Last year 's record of 68 hot dogs and buns was set by Joey Chestnut . Watch Chesnut discuss his chowdown strategy . About one in every four hot dogs and pork sausages eaten by Americans this holiday will come from Iowa , according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service . The beef hot dogs , steaks and burgers sizzling on backyard grills are likely to have originated in Texas . And the barbecue or fried chicken most likely will come from either Georgia , Arkansas , North Carolina , Alabama , Mississippi or Texas . The odds are about one in three side dishes of baked beans started in North Dakota . The tomatoes on the table have a 7 in 10 chance of coming from Florida or California . And there is a 66 percent chance that the corn on the cob was grown in Florida , California , Georgia , Washington or New York . Much of the holiday feasts will be washed down with beer . `` In fact , according to IRI Infoscan data , the Independence Day holiday period is the number one occasion for sales and servings of beer in the United States , '' says Jeff Becker , President , Beer Institute . American Pyrotechnics Association predicts a booming day on Sunday despite the recession . The group says on its website that more fireworks are ignited on the Fourth of July than on any other country 's celebration in the world . It also notes that 213.2 million pounds of fireworks were used in 2008 . All those celebratory explosions will create some casualties . Last year , there were two fireworks-related deaths and some 9,000 injuries that required treatment at hospital emergency rooms , according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission . Serious burns and eye injuries are the most common , says the agency , reminding people that even the harmless looking sparklers reach temperatures of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- hot enough to melt some metals . Read safety tips . It was n't fireworks that led to the deaths of two Founding Fathers on the Fourth . John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both helped America become independent of Britain . But in 1800 when the two men ran against each other for the presidency , the campaign turned ugly , according to Mental Floss magazine . It took about 12 years to repair the friendship before the two men began exchanging letters . On July 4 , 1826 -- the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence -- both men died . America 's fifth president , James Monroe , also passed away on July 4 , 1831 .
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Americans expected to gobble down 150 million hot dogs . Contestants at Nathan 's Hot Dog Eating Contest will have 12 minutes . Fourth of July holiday is No. 1 occasion for sales and servings of beer in U.S. Sparklers can reach temperatures of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit .
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-LRB- Mental Floss -RRB- -- Want to be cremated , but worry that your ashes will just end up sitting in some boring urn ? Fear not ! Have a look at these 10 bizarre places that ashes have gone . 1 . Into a comic book . When longtime Marvel Comics editor Mark Gruenwald died in 1996 , he left an interesting final wish : he wanted to have his ashes mixed into the ink used in one of Marvel 's titles . The company obliged by reprinting a 1985 collection of the Gruenwald-penned Squadron Supreme with the specially prepared ink in 1997 . Gruenwald 's widow , Catherine , wrote in the book 's foreword , `` He has truly become one with the story . '' 2 . Into fireworks . Writer Hunter S. Thompson literally went out with a bang . Thompson 's appropriately gonzo 2005 memorial service featured a fireworks show in which each boom and crack dispersed some of the writer 's ashes . Johnny Depp underwrote the fireworks display at a cost of $ 2 million . 3 . Into a Pringles can . The name Fredric Baur may not ring any bells , but you know his most famous creation . In 1966 Baur invented the Pringles can so Procter & Gamble could ship its new chips without using bags . Baur was so proud of the achievement that he told his children he wanted to be buried in the iconic can . When he died in 2008 at 89 , they honored his wishes by placing his ashes in a Pringles can before burying them . According to his son Larry , Baur 's children briefly debated what flavor canister to use before settling on original . Mental Floss : Where 'd the name `` Pringles '' come from ? 4 . Onto a Frisbee . More than anyone , Edward `` Steady Ed '' Headrick was responsible for transforming the Frisbee from a fad toy into a valued piece of sporting equipment . While working as a manager at Wham-O , Headrick designed numerous improvements to the flying disc , and during the 1970s he created the sport of disc golf . Mental Floss : 10 specialized summer camps . Before his 2002 death , Headrick told his children that he wanted to have his ashes mixed into the plastic for a batch of Frisbees . His hope was that the proceeds from the sales could help establish a disc golf museum , but he also wanted to have a bit of fun . Headrick 's son Daniel later told the San Francisco Chronicle , `` He said he wanted to end up in a Frisbee that accidentally lands on someone 's roof . '' Headrick 's wish came true , and the discs are quite valuable as collectors ' items now . A two-disc set fetches upwards of $ 200 on Amazon . 5 . Out of a shotgun . There 's no more fitting way for a hunter to go out than this . When James Booth , a British expert on vintage shotguns , died in 2004 , his wife asked an ammunition company to mix his ashes into a batch of shotgun shells . The Caledonian Cartridge Company happily complied and presented Joanna Booth with 275 12-gauge cartridges containing James ' ashes ; a minister even blessed the shells . The widow then invited a group of close friends over for a hunt , and the group used the cartridges to bag ducks , pheasants , and partridges . Mental Floss : What makes No. 2 pencils special ? 6 . Into space . Looking for the remains of '60s icon and LSD advocate Timothy Leary ? You 're going to need a space shuttle . In 1997 Leary 's remains were on the first rocket to send cremated ashes into space . Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry 's ashes went into orbit on the same flight . Space burial company Celestis will send a portion of anyone 's remains into the final frontier for a fee . According to the company 's website , your ashes can go into Earth orbit for $ 2,495 , find their way into lunar orbit for $ 9,995 , or make the trek into deep space for $ 12,500 . Mental Floss : 10 things your body can do after you die . 7 . Into a tattoo . When English parents Mark and Lisa Richmond tragically lost their son Ayden when he was just two years and four months old , they wanted to find a fitting way to honor his memory . The couple owned a tattoo parlor , so they decided to remember the boy with a bit of ink . Mark got a seven-inch portrait of Ayden tattooed on his chest using ink that had been mixed with his son 's ashes . 8 . Onto a reef . If you 're a sea lover , Eternal Reefs can help turn your remains into a permanent reef . After the ashes are mixed into concrete , the reefs go into the water and provide a new habitat for fish and other marine life . A 2 ' x 3 ' Aquarius Memorial Reef will set your loved ones back $ 3,995 . 9 . Into a diamond . LifeGem can take the ashes of a departed loved one and convert them into a diamond . The process looks basically identical to the production of synthetic diamonds , except the carbon used to kick start the production comes from the cremated remains . Depending on the color and size of the diamond you want , prices can range from $ 2,699 all the way up to $ 24,999 . Mental Floss : 10 weird places to get married . 10 . Up Keith Richards ' nose ? In 2007 music mag NME asked Rolling Stones guitarist to name the strangest thing he 'd ever snorted . The reporter was probably expecting an odd answer given Richards ' legendary proclivity for partying , but Richards ' response was a jaw-dropper . Richards told the magazine , `` The strangest thing I 've tried to snort ? My father . I snorted my father . He was cremated and I could n't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow . '' Richards went on to explain that snorting a rail of dear old Dad had n't caused him any health problems and that he did n't think his old man would have cared . The remarks sparked a predictable media firestorm , though , and the Stones ' publicist released a statement calling Richards ' story `` an off-the-cuff remark , a joke . '' Richards himself later revised the tale and said that he planted his father 's ashes at the base of an oak tree . Mental Floss : 7 different Seven Wonders of the World . For more mental_floss articles , visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright , Mental Floss LLC . All rights reserved .
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People have chosen some strange place for their cremated remains to go . Marvel Comics editor Mark Gruenwald 's ashes went into ink used in Squadron Supreme . Grieving parents had some of son 's ashes used in tattoo ink on the father . LSD advocate Leary , Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry 's ashes went into space .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Controlled drugs were found in one of two tour buses carrying rocker Bret Michaels and his band during a traffic stop in northeast Indiana late Wednesday , police said . No one was arrested , but the evidence was passed along to the DeKalb County prosecutor for consideration of charges , according to the police report . Drug detection dogs did `` vehicle scans '' of the buses after a sheriff 's deputy pulled Michael 's tour convoy over on the northbound side of Interstate 69 , police said . `` Both K9s alerted for the odor of narcotics coming from the front of the bus , '' Deputy Aaron Long wrote in his report . Another dog alerted to the odor of drugs in the second bus , the one in which Michaels was riding , the deputy said . `` Searches were conducted on both buses yielding marijuana on each bus , as well as a quantity of Schedule II controlled substances on the first bus , '' Long said . Schedule II substances are those defined as having a high potential for addiction or abuse , but also have a legitimate medical purpose . Michael 's publicist said the buses were stopped because a trailer had no tag light . `` Mr. Michaels allowed an open search of the buses and everything was handled in a professional manner , '' the publicist said . Michaels is on tour just months after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage in April . CNN 's Jennifer Wolfe and Denise Quan contributed to this report .
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A deputy stopped Michaels ' buses on Indiana 's I-69 . Police says illegal drugs were found on one bus . No charges have been filed .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Florida 's Everglades National Park and rain forests in Madagascar have been added to a list of world heritage sites in danger . The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization -LRB- UNESCO -RRB- announced the decision at its 34th annual meeting in Brasilia , Brazil . Degradation of the Everglades has caused its addition to the list this year , with UNESCO reporting that water inflows have reduced up to 60 percent and high pollution levels are currently killing marine life . The Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States , with more than 1.5 million acres of estuaries , prairies , and shady stretches of pine . This is the second time the Everglades has been included on the list , the first time was between 1993 and 1997 because of damages caused by Hurricane Andrew . The rain forests of Atsinanana in Madagascar make the list this year after illegal logging and hunting of endangered lemurs on the site . Due to the illegal exporting of logged timber , many rare species found in the rainforest are threatened , especially lemurs found only in Madagascar .
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Degradation of the Everglades leads to its addition to the list . This is the second time the Everglades has been added to the list . Madagascar forests make list after illegal logging and hunting .
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Los Angeles , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was rushed to the hospital after her husband found her `` unresponsive '' Tuesday morning , her publicist told CNN . Gabor , 93 , was taken by ambulance from her Bel Air , California , home to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center , where she had undergone hip replacement surgery earlier this summer , publicist John Blanchette said Tuesday . The spokesman for Gabor 's daughter Francesca Hilton said the doctor told Hilton the situation was `` not life-threatening . '' Gabor was hospitalized for several days earlier this month for complications relating to the surgery . Her husband , Prince Frederic Von Anhalt , was `` very agitated '' after calling for an ambulance Tuesday morning , Blanchette said . Gabor had returned home from the hospital two weeks ago because she `` wants to spend her final days at her home , '' Blanchette said at the time . She spent three weeks in the hospital after breaking her hip in a fall from her bed on July 17 . She has been frail and `` pretty much confined to a wheelchair '' since a 2002 car accident , said Von Anhalt . The crash happened when the car in which she was riding with her hairdresser slammed into a light pole on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles . The glamorous Hungarian-born actress , the second of the three celebrated Gabor sisters , is most famous for her many marriages . Among her husbands was Oscar-winning actor George Sanders . Her more prominent films include John Huston 's 1952 Toulouse-Lautrec biopic , `` Moulin Rouge ; '' `` The Story of Three Loves '' in 1953 ; `` The Girl in the Kremlin '' in 1957 ; and Orson Welles ' 1958 classic , `` Touch of Evil . '' CNN 's Jack Hannah contributed to this report .
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NEW : Doctor tells Gabor 's daughter incident was `` not life-threatening . '' Gabor , 93 , rushed by ambulance to UCLA Medical Center . She underwent hip replacement surgery there earlier this summer . Gabor went home from hospital two weeks ago `` to spend her final days , '' publicist said .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Nicole `` Snooki '' Polizzi , of MTV 's reality show `` Jersey Shore , '' will soon learn her fate after the young reality star was arrested Friday on disorderly conduct charges , court officials said Monday . Polizzi is set for a first-appearance court date on August 18 at 9:00 a.m. in municipal court , said Seaside Heights court administrator Jane Carrozza . According to Seaside Heights Police Chief Thomas Boyd , Polizzi , 22 , was acting in a disorderly manner while on the beach at Seaside Heights Friday around 3:30 p.m. . She was placed under arrest and was later released with a summons , said Boyd . Polizzi is not facing any jail time , but she could be fined between $ 250 and $ 1,000 , said Carrozza . The arrest comes a day after the widely anticipated `` Jersey Shore '' second season premiere , which drew more than 5 million viewers , according to ratings firm Nielsen . Just three days before Polizzi 's arrest , on Tuesday July 27 , the entire `` Jersey Shore '' cast rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange . In Session 's Aletse Mellado and CNN 's Marc Balinsky contributed to this report .
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MTV reality star set to appear in New Jersey court later this month . Nicole `` Snooki '' Polizzi was arrested Friday on disorderly conduct charges . She could be fined between $ 250 and $ 1,000 , says court official . `` Jersey Shore '' premiere drew more than 5 million viewers , according to Nielsen .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Maricopa County , Arizona , Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Tuesday he shrugged off reports of a $ 1 million bounty on his head by Mexican drug cartels , saying this is not the first -- nor the largest . Arpaio , who calls himself `` America 's toughest sheriff , '' told CNN he had a $ 5 million bounty on his head when he worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Mexico . `` It 's nothing new , '' Arpaio said on CNN 's `` American Morning . '' `` It 's part of my job . They keep coming after me . '' Maricopa County Sheriff 's Office spokeswoman Lisa Allen said Monday that authorities are investigating the threat , which came in the form of a text message from a throwaway cell phone in Mexico . Allen said that the message was sent to a `` text message tree , '' similar to a phone tree . The message offered $ 1 million to anyone who could kill Arpaio . She said investigators `` do n't know how likely it is '' they will be able to track down the sender . It was not clear how the threat came to light . Allen said the FBI is assisting in the probe , but FBI special agent Manuel Johnson , a spokesman for the bureau 's Phoenix office , said the agency is aware of the reported threat but he knows of no federal investigation . Johnson said the bureau would help if Arpaio 's office requested assistance . Arpaio is well-known for creating a tent city jail in the Arizona desert , providing pink underwear for inmates and bragging that he spends more to feed his dog than a prisoner in his jail . He made national headlines for his tough enforcement of Arizona 's anti-illegal immigration laws and for his outspoken support for a new state immigration law , parts of which were blocked by a federal judge last week . His critics say he has a long history of abusing his power and launching bogus criminal investigations against political opponents . Those critics note that while the probes were launched with great public fanfare , they rarely resulted in convictions . A federal grand jury is probing the complaints , but Arpaio 's allies have defended the investigations as necessary . The 78-year-old sheriff , who has been the chief law enforcement officer for the county that includes Phoenix and many of its suburbs since 1992 , would not discuss the issue with CNN in a July interview , citing the federal probe . Arpaio was elected Maricopa County sheriff in 1992 and has been re-elected every four years since . He served for 32 years in federal law enforcement before then , ultimately becoming head of the DEA 's Arizona office . Speaking Tuesday on `` American Morning , '' Arpaio said the latest threats come with the job . `` It 's part of my work , '' he said . `` I do my job . Nothing changes . ''
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$ 1 million bounty was sent as a text message , the sheriff 's office said . Threat originated in Mexico , sheriff 's spokeswoman says . Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he 's had previous death threats , including a $ 5 million bounty . `` It 's part of my job , '' sheriff tells CNN .
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Beirut , Lebanon -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A clash between Lebanon and Israel along their volatile shared border Tuesday left an Israeli officer and several Lebanese soldiers dead while escalating fears of renewed violence between the nations . Lt. Col. Dov Harari , a battalion commander , was killed in the fighting , according to an Israel Defense Forces statement . Another Israeli soldier was seriously wounded , it said . A Lebanese army spokesman said at least two Lebanese soldiers were killed and several others were wounded . Lebanon 's official National News Agency reported that journalist Assaf Abu Rahal also was killed in the exchange of fire between Lebanese and Israeli soldiers . In a statement , the spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon `` took immediate steps through contacts with the parties and the presence of the acting force commander alongside peacekeepers at the location to help restore calm in . the area . '' UNIFIL will investigate the incident , it said , adding that Ban `` urges the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to work with UNIFIL and the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon in taking steps to consolidate the calm now restored in the area . '' Two separate narratives emerged about the incident . Israel said the Lebanese fired on Israeli soldiers who were on the Israeli side of the border . In Jerusalem , Israeli Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor said the incident was captured on video and that it all occurred on Israeli soil . `` This is all under Israeli sovereignty , '' he said . `` Somebody wanted to ignite fire and kill one of our soldiers and wound another . We responded in a military way . But this should serve as a warning : Do n't dare do this again . '' Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned the Lebanese government against continuing provocations of Israeli forces and demanded an investigation into Tuesday 's violence . He said Israel would not tolerate attacks on Israeli territory . `` The IDF will continue to act firmly and determinedly to protect the residents of Israel and the sovereign borders of Israel , '' Barak said in a written statement . The Israeli military said its soldiers were on `` routine activity '' when the incident occurred . It issued a statement saying that the soldiers were in `` an area that lies between the ` blue line ' -LSB- the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon -RSB- and the security fence , thus within Israeli territory . '' The Lebanese army 's account and a report from Lebanese media said , however , that the hostilities occurred when Israel wanted to remove a tree . A Lebanese army unit stopped the Israelis , and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon intervened , the National News Agency said . The Lebanese army said it asked the U.N. force to arbitrate the issue , but the Israeli forces did n't comply and entered Lebanese territory . That led the army to open fire , with Israeli forces returning artillery fire and hitting a house in the village of Odaise . But Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said Israel violated U.N. Resolution 1701 in crossing the blue line and by bombing a Lebanese army checkpoint in Odaise . He said Israeli aggression needs `` to be confronted , whatever the sacrifices are '' and that he will pursue the issue diplomatically . Israel fought a five-week war with Hezbollah in summer 2006 after Lebanese-based militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers during a cross-border raid . Resolution 1701 , which was intended to resolve the 2006 conflict , bars Israel from conducting military operations in Lebanon . Israel has accused Lebanon-based Hezbollah , considered a terrorist group by the United States , of violating the resolution by smuggling arms into southern Lebanon . In a televised speech marking the fourth anniversary of the war , Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of never having stopped its attacks on Lebanon and said it is guilty of 7,000 violations of Resolution 1701 . `` We salute the Lebanese army and we salute their commander , their soldiers and their officers for baptizing the land with their blood , '' Nasrallah said . `` Our young men were in Odaise and other neighboring villages in the south but we asked them to exercise restraint . We were ready to fight and defend our land . '' In the aftermath of the 2006 fighting , the United Nations deployed peacekeepers to the area . The U.N. troops were focused Tuesday on restoring calm , said spokesman Neeraj Singh . Acting Commander Brig. Gen. Santi Bonfanti flew to Odaise and said the situation had quieted . The United Nations was urging Israel and Lebanon `` to exercise maximum restraint , '' Singh said . Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had discussed the potentially explosive situation with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rifai , Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu , Hariri 's office said . Meanwhile , Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stated Syria 's support for Lebanon `` against the heinous aggression launched by Israel , '' according to the Syrian state-run news agency SANA . `` This aggression proves once more , '' he said , `` that Israel has always been seeking to destabilize security and stability in Lebanon and the region . '' In Washington , the Obama administration expressed concern about the clashes and urged both sides to exert calm while the United Nations investigates . State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters the State Department was in touch with the Israelis , Lebanese and the UNIFIL , the United Nations mission on the ground , to establish the facts . But Hezbollah leader Nasrallah predicted any U.N. investigation would not favor Lebanon . `` Israel was n't condemned for massacres that they have committed , '' he said . `` The U.N. will not condemn their aggression in Odaise . '' Still , he predicted , the incident is not likely to turn into another war . `` I do n't believe that there is a likelihood of a -LSB- nything -RSB- close to war but there is reason for concern , '' he said . Nasrallah further accused Israel of involvement in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut . He promised to present evidence of Israel 's involvement to reporters on Monday . `` We officially accuse Israel in Hariri 's assassination , '' he said . `` We will expose the true killer . '' To that , Israel 's Meridor was unequivocal . `` It is ridiculous , '' he said . `` It 's not the first time that he says lies . It 's easy for him . '' CNN 's Saad Abedine , Nada Husseini and Michal Zippori contributed to this report .
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Differing narratives emerge from Israeli , Lebanese sides . Hezbollah leader denounces Israel in speech marking 2006 war . An Israeli officer , Lebanese soldiers and a journalist are killed in Tuesday 's clash . Israeli tank fired shells into Lebanese territory , Lebanese army says .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The morning after a masked gunman killed two people and wounded six more at a party , police in Indianapolis , Indiana , were still on the scene investigating , authorities said Tuesday . Indianapolis police said the victims were Barbara Johnson , 37 , who lived at the home where the shots were fired , and Charles Mays , 54 , also of Indianapolis . Investigators had found two cars that may be related to the incident , Indianapolis police Lt. Jeff Duhamell said Tuesday . Police have recovered a silver/green Chrysler 300 sedan `` that had been shot several times '' that may be the suspect 's vehicle , an Indianapolis police news release said . The vehicle was found parked and unoccupied and was towed for further investigation , it said . Earlier in the morning , investigators found a silver Dodge Charger that they believe was initially at the crime scene , and then was driven away by someone attending the party , Duhamell said . Video from CNN affiliate WISH showed the vehicle was riddled with bullets . But no one inside that vehicle was wounded , the news release said . The incident happened in the `` near northwest '' part of the city , in a neighborhood rife with gun violence , drugs and prostitution , Indianapolis police Sgt. Michael Jefferson said . Seven victims were found outside the house where the party was going on . The eighth victim was found in a vehicle less than a mile away . `` It makes you sick . And it makes you wonder , ` Why are people so bent on killing each other , shooting each other ? For what ? ' '' an unidentified neighbor told CNN affiliate WISH . `` I do n't know what 's going on , what 's happening in our neighborhood . Hopefully , we can get some help over here . And the young people have taken over . They 're doing whatever they want to do . '' Read , watch WISH 's coverage . Witnesses said that around midnight , at least one person got out of a car , put on a mask and fired what appeared to be an assault rifle at a crowd gathered at the party , Duhamell said . `` Unfortunately , two people were killed , '' he told WISH . `` We 're talking at least 25-30 rounds from a high-powered rifle , so although eight people were shot , it could 've been a lot worse . '' The six other gunshot victims , all Indianapolis residents , were rushed to hospitals , Duhamell said . Clarian Health spokesman Gene Ford said Tuesday morning that four patients had been brought to Methodist Hospital . Tamera Williams , 32 , and Nakeisha Morris , 24 , were treated and released , he said , and he was unable to disclose information on Jewel Dotson , 21 , and Prinsonia Johnson , 54 . Wishard Hospital received two victims . Willie Battles , 28 , was treated and released , while Kendall Hill , 25 , remained in the intensive care unit in good condition , hospital spokesman Todd Harper said Tuesday morning . Police had initially been sent to the vicinity of the party around 10 p.m. Monday after they received a call about a person toting an automatic weapon , Jefferson said . Investigators were still searching for the gunman Tuesday morning and trying to determine if others were involved . CNN 's Samuel Gardner and Mark Morgenstein contributed to this story .
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NEW : Barbara Johnson , 37 , was killed at her Indianapolis home . Police are processing a vehicle they say may have been used in the shooting . A police spokesman tells CNN affiliate WISH `` it could 've been a lot worse '' Police are still searching for the suspect who fired an assault rifle into a crowded party .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A 19-year-old Kentucky woman missing for two weeks has been found , and police are searching for a registered sex offender believed to be involved in her disappearance , authorities said Monday . Brittney Kustes was last seen July 17 at her grandparents ' home in Brooks , Kentucky , just south of Louisville , Kentucky , according to Det. Scott McGaha of the Bullitt County Sheriff 's Office . Witnesses told police that sex offender Roy Vernon Elwell -- who has a history of kidnapping and unlawful confinement -- was seen driving up and down the street where Kustes ' grandparents live on the day she disappeared . `` Shortly after , she was gone , '' McGaha said last week . Numerous witnesses reported seeing the pair in Louisville and surrounding areas over the past two weeks . On Friday , Kustes was driven to a drop-off point by a friend of her alleged captor , according to authorities . Kustes then called her boyfriend , who picked her up , drove her to a motel and called police . Her mother told HLN 's `` Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell '' Monday night that getting the news was `` one of the greatest moments of my life . '' `` It was truly a blessing , '' Laurie Kustes said . `` When we found her , we just stared at each other and I told her over and over you 're safe now ... and she just cried and cried . '' Laurie Kustes said her daughter was so `` brutally , mentally tortured '' during her disappearance that she was hospitalized Friday night . `` She 's just really been through a lot of horrible things , '' she said , declining to elaborate due to the ongoing police investigation . Brittney Kustes has a history with the 34-year-old Elwell , according to her mother . `` This guy came into my daughter 's life with drugs , '' Laurie Kustes told CNN affiliate WHAS last week . She said the last time Elwell was with her daughter , Brittney returned home addicted to methamphetamine , a drug habit she had recently kicked . But Laurie Kustes said Monday that her daughter again returned from Elwell 's alleged captivity hooked on drugs . `` We 're going to have to start all over with drug counseling , rehab , '' she said . `` Also , I 'm going to have to get her into a psychiatrist for the past two weeks . '' McGaha described Brittney Kustes as `` terrified '' and `` extremely frightened '' of Elwell , and described him as `` very dangerous . '' `` She is not under police protection , but we are under alert to watch her , '' McGaha told `` Issues , '' adding that Brittney Kustes is `` at a location -LSB- Elwell -RSB- is not familiar with . '' McGaha has said that Elwell knows police want to speak with him about Kustes . Friends of Elwell 's have told police that he laughs off requests to come in to the sheriff 's office , according to McGaha . Meanwhile , Elwell has been found to be noncompliant with the laws of the state 's sex offender registry as he continues to evade police . The Class D felony carries a penalty of up to five years in prison , McGaha said .
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Brittney Kustes was last seen July 17 . She was driven to a drop-off point Friday night . Her mother says her daughter was `` mentally tortured '' during her disappearance . Police are searching for a registered sex offender believed to have been with her .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- She was a call girl working the streets of Sin City . He 's a guitarist in a heavy metal band . They found commonality in their Christian faith and Friday evening , the two were married in a Las Vegas , Nevada , ceremony broadcast live via the Web . Its Web site says Hookers for Jesus `` addresses the realities of human sex trafficking . '' Annie Lobért , who founded Hookers for Jesus , and musician Oz Fox of the Christian band Stryper said their `` I do 's '' at the Church of South Las Vegas in front of an applauding crowd and an audience on the Internet . The wedding had been widely touted on several Christian Web sites . Lobért , 41 , walked up to the stage in a white strapless gown , gloves and veil . Earlier this week , she wrote on her MySpace blog : `` I am getting married . It 's about time . '' She had worked as a prostitute for 11 years , making as much as $ 500 an hour . She said she hit rock bottom when she overdosed on cocaine and everything went black , according to an ABC interview posted on her Web site . She asked Jesus to help her and became what many jokingly call a `` porn-again Christian . '' Lobért says her mission now is to save the souls of women who sell their bodies . She often spends time at night on Las Vegas streets handing out Bibles to prostitutes and seeking to convince them there is a better way to make a living . The Hookers for Jesus Web site describes the organization as `` an international , faith-based organization that addresses the realities of human sex trafficking , sexual violence and exploitation linked to pornography and the sex industry . '' Before he administered the vows , Pastor Benny Perez said Lobért was a shining example of Christ 's love for everyone . Fox , 47 , is a longtime member of Stryper , which stands for Salvation Through Redemption , Yielding Peace , Encouragement and Righteousness . The band 's albums include `` Reborn : and `` In God We Trust . ''
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The bride : Annie Lobért , a former prostitute and founder of Hookers for Jesus . The groom : Musician Oz Fox , longtime member of the Christian band Stryper . Couple wed in South Las Vegas in front of an applauding crowd and a Web audience . Lobért 's mission : To save the souls of women who sell their bodies .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The case of a missing 2-year-old boy who disappeared from an Arizona campground more than a week ago has turned into a criminal investigation , the Yavapai County sheriff announced Monday . Syler Newton was last seen shortly after midnight July 24 , sleeping in a tent with the family at the Beaver Creek Campgrounds . About 1:45 a.m. July 25 , the family noticed that he was missing from his sleeping bag . `` The sheriff 's office believes Syler did not wander from the campground and he is presumably dead , '' Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh told a news conference Monday . `` The search effort is now in a recovery mode and the investigation has become criminal in nature . '' Waugh said investigators have spent the past three days searching more than 200 tons of garbage in a nearby landfill `` to try to determine if in fact the boy 's body was there . '' About 50 people , along with highly trained bloodhounds , had joined in the search for Syler , who was wearing only a diaper when he disappeared , according to Yavapai County Sheriff 's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn . The bloodhounds , normally used by the state Department of Corrections for tracking down escaped felons , failed to detect the boy 's scent outside the immediate campground area , investigators said as they described an exhaustive search that included aerial surveillance , scuba teams and underwater cameras . `` Anything we could have done in that area has been searched , '' one investigator said Monday . Syler was camping with his custodial mother , Christina Priem , and her children , when he disappeared . Priem has said she was in the process of adopting the boy from his biological mother . D'Evelyn said last week that that `` there 's no evidence '' that the planned adoption played a role in his disappearance , `` but until we 've exhausted every lead , all possibilities are being investigated . '' About 25 other people were at the campgrounds the night of Syler 's disappearance -- all of whom have cooperated with investigators , according to the sheriff 's office .
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`` The investigation has become criminal in nature , '' sheriff says . Syler Newton was reported missing in the early morning hours of July 25 . The search effort has turned to one of recovery , sheriff says .
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-LRB- The Frisky -RRB- -- Dan had a big grin in his profile picture , like he 'd just said something super funny . He liked foreign novels , old buildings and could spell in complete words . He looked like a cute professor . Could this be ... my guy ? I 'd been online dating for a few months -- long enough . There were the guys who lied about their age/height/marital status , the guy who said I was a dead ringer for his favorite blond sports reporter and would I mind putting on a fake newscast for him and my favorite , the guy who asked me not to use face cream because he had a phobia about moisturizers . The Frisky : Cat gives birth to a dog ?! Dan seemed so normal . Even with that bright orange shirt . Forgivable . He told me about his knee injury , his love of almond butter and Alpine air . I reciprocated with anecdotes of world travels and professional mishaps . We beamed in mutual online adoration . Two weeks later , I was eating pre-date whole-wheat toast and deciding on outfit options : size 10 pencil skirt , black cashmere sweater , and boots . Understated sexy 30-something outfit , yes ! The Frisky : 6 roles intended for men , but cast as women . I went to meet Mr. Could Be , and spotted a guy with a round , waffle-sized bald patch pacing outside the bar . Is that Dan ? It was . He looked more Woody Allen than George Clooney . I wondered where the guy in his pictures was tonight . Some awkward gazing and polite chitchat later , he ordered two courses and a bottle of Pinot , and I ordered salad . Then he began the food and fitness inquisition . The Frisky : 10 songs secretly written about celebrities . `` You like fettuccini , right ? '' he asked me , twice . `` Yah , but I 'm fine with the caprese , '' I said . And this was just supposed to be drinks . `` So , how often do you run ? '' he asked , shoving pasta in his face . `` Whenever I can , mostly on the weekends . '' `` Not during the week ? '' `` I try and avoid that getting raped and robbed in the park after dark thing , '' I said . We discussed our jobs , artistic pursuits and the dog he still visited at his ex 's . Then he launched into a half-hour story about his best friend in prison . I wanted to go home , and I crossed my eyes to see if he 'd look better blurry . Nope . He was still talking . The waiter came over . The Frisky : 10 famous females who have a twin . `` I hate it when they do that , '' Dan said . `` Do what ? '' `` Just assume that we want more wine . '' He snorted . And when the bill came , he let it sit there . `` Surely a strong , modern woman like you would like to pay ? '' Dan asked . I told him that this strong , modern woman was happy to have him pay . The Frisky : 8 celeb guys with revenge bodies . We walked away , a comfortable distance of non-touchiness in between us . During our pat-on-the-back goodbye , he asked me about my workout schedule -- for the third time . I must have laughed since the air coming from my mouth was visible . Watch me run home now , you freak ! I sighed and mentally scribed the `` thanks , but no thanks '' message I 'd write to him tomorrow . The Frisky : 7 sexy ladies missing belly buttons . Dan beat me to it . I clicked on his message . It was 13 paragraphs long : . I had a lovely time last night . You are so interesting , and smart and witty . Not to mention as pretty as Springtime . -LRB- Far prettier than I am handsome ! -RRB- I have no idea if you 'd like to see me again , but a part of me would strongly like to ask you to do so . But -- . Sigh . As is often the case in this fallen world , there is more that at least one of us -- me -- must say . I 'm an unusually sensitive and empathetic man , who is very aware of other people 's -LRB- particularly women 's -RRB- feelings . The task facing me has been to decide whether to simply say `` I had a great time , but did n't feel any chemistry , '' or instead to say more . It wo n't shock you that I 've chosen the latter . So . I 'm by no means a fetishist for the skinny women whom Hollywood and Madison Avenue shove down our throats , but -- I do n't feel chemistry , frisson , with very curvy women . That may well be the end . -LRB- You can let me know by writing me an angry final message . -RRB- This much is certain : You 're beautiful , and there 's certainly no health-related reason why you would want to change a thing about yourself . I 'm writing , though , because several factors -- specifically , that phrase in my profile about me seeking '' -LSB- someone -RSB- who 'd like to move in that direction '' ; plus your frequent mentions of running ; plus your markedly small dinner last night -- leave open the possibility that you 've decided to embark on and commit to a process of transformation . When I moved back to the city , I weighed 163 pounds and was skinny ; I now weigh 185 pounds , with virtually all the gain being muscle . If this is the case , and if you were interested in continuing to explore a relationship with me , you 'd find me an encouraging , energetic , optimistic -- but firm -- addition to your team . Fondly , Dan . I took a long breath and hit the `` reply '' button . Dear Dan , There are so many things I 'd like to tell you . Like how I spat out tuna and little bits of celery all over my keyboard the first time I read your message . Or how , on the second read-through , I had to run to the closest meeting room to hide . That did n't really help since it has glass walls , so now I was crying in a fishbowl . Yeah , thanks for sending me that message . At work . You can take your ` frisson ' and go jump off a you-know-what since a man with any testosterone would drool over my cleavage . And that poofball above your forehead is n't fooling anyone , so would you mind growing your hair back , and while you 're at it , get some real shoulders , and stop being so rude to the nice waiter pouring our wine . Perhaps then I could consider dating you . Thanks . The one thing I will say , however , is this : I am not your petri dish . Nor is any other woman -- yes , the ones you 're out there wooing with your in-depth knowledge of romantic poetry and early 20th century architecture . Enjoy being single , Dan . Forever . Fondly , Me . P.S. I sent your literary bile to my friends , who forwarded it to their respective boyfriends , husbands and mailmen , all of whom want to conduct a manhunt and slowly tear you into little pieces of Dan . Be careful out there . The Frisky : 30 things every woman should quit doing by 30 . But I never pressed the `` send '' button . Dan does n't deserve my heated words , or the three minutes of my life it 'd take to write them . I am grateful for my body , for its healthy curves propping up my wardrobe , and these legs that run around Central Park and up infinite subway stairs . I do n't need a guy to tell me that . Obama and 12 more biracial celeb hotties . TM & © 2010 TMV , Inc. | All Rights Reserved .
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Martin had been online dating for a few months and thought she 'd finally found the one . After a horrible first date , Martin realized she 'd have to let Dan down the next day . Dan sent her a message first , and told Martin she needed to lose weight to date him .
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Recent newspaper articles and a flurry of online responses have put the role of job training in our economic recovery under a microscope . Even in the midst of high unemployment , some industries are having trouble finding workers with the right skills . And yet some people graduating from federally funded workforce programs are still not able to find jobs . This `` new '' debate actually reflects a question policymakers have asked for several decades : Does job training work ? But is this the right question to ask ? Experts project an increasing gap between workforce skills and employer needs . The gap is already pressing in some places and will worsen as the economy recovers . For example , in Cleveland , Ohio , manufacturers have had difficulty finding people with the English , math and technical skills to operate the high-tech machinery that today 's jobs require . Worker skills are a critical ingredient in making any business go -- ask any small or medium-sized business owner , particularly in industries facing global competition . Other national governments invest a much larger portion of their GDP in worker skills . Training can not erase the job losses we have seen in the past year , but done right it could build worker skills and help American businesses compete in the global economy . If we want to deal with the skills gap and put more Americans to work , then training is the only option . So the question is not whether training works , but rather what kind of training is most effective ? So what 's wrong with the way training works now ? Our current approach is built on the idea that getting someone quickly into the workforce is the best first step . Today , the lion 's share of public workforce training dollars is spent on short-term job readiness training -- basic computer skills , interview prep , and resume development -- rather than on industry-specific skills . Organizations that offer workforce services are typically funded to get people quickly into jobs , an approach to workforce development that was built during the high-employment '90s when it was much easier to find a job . In this economy , that approach is not working as well . But there is an approach that works better . Some organizations -- swimming against the tide of public policy and supported in large part by private philanthropy -- have developed an approach known as sectoral employment . This approach cultivates a deep understanding of local industries and employers and provides training that is closely tailored to their needs . At Public/Private Ventures -LRB- P/PV -RRB- , we have just completed a rigorous evaluation of three such programs : one in New York 's South Bronx that prepares people for jobs in the IT industry , another in Boston , Massachusetts , that trains medical billers , and a third in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , that focuses on both health care and construction . Following a two-year study funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation , the results are clear and difficult to dispute : Participants in these sector-based programs were more likely to be employed and found jobs with higher wages and better access to benefits than those who did not participate in the programs . They earned about $ 4,000 more , or 29 percent , in the study 's second year alone . What makes these programs work ? First , a flexible and nimble organization that has the ability to make connections between local employers and job seekers and that can marshal money from public and private sources to provide needed training . On their face , these programs might not look much alike , yet they share key elements , including an understanding of what local employers need and a focus on teaching relevant technical skills ; a careful recruitment and screening process that helps ensure a good match between program participants and available jobs ; and connections to resources that participants might need -- like child care subsidies and transportation assistance -- to complete training and succeed on the job . This study shows that job training can work -- if it is closely tied to local labor market needs and offered by organizations nimble enough to change as those needs , and the needs of workers , change . The study was referenced on July 19 , as the House passed the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success Act of 2010 , with bipartisan support . This legislation is an effort to provide more resources for developing programs that bridge the gap between employer needs and worker skills -- a complex and vitally important task as the economy begins to recover . The SECTORS Act reflects a growing understanding on both sides of the aisle that investing in skills is critical to our economic recovery . The Senate should move to pass it quickly . But much more needs to be done to foster public policies that support effective sectoral programs -- and to expand our base of knowledge about successful approaches to training . We must invest in research that will help us better understand the many types of programs that fall under the umbrella of `` sectoral employment , '' improve their ability to serve job seekers , and , crucially , forge a path by which effective approaches to training may be brought to scale . Among other things , this research should examine specific program practices and costs ; the role of sector-based programs in supporting local businesses ; and the most effective mix of services for different populations . The debate about whether or not training works is a distraction from the urgent need to learn more about and build on the specific strategies that have demonstrated success . Developing an effective workforce training system is too important for America 's workers and businesses to let it be derailed by an outdated debate . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sheila Maguire .
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Experts have debated whether job training works , says Sheila Maguire . She says giving people basic job skills is n't enough . Maguire : New research says training people in specific industry sectors pays off . Job training needs to be tailored to the kinds of skills employers need , she says .
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Kill Devil Hills , North Carolina -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Weakening by the hour but still covering a massive area , Hurricane Earl spun off the North Carolina on Thursday night , lashing parts of the Outer Banks with rain and high wind . People along the East Coast made just-in-case preparations despite the waning power of the storm . The hurricane has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm , the National Hurricane Center said Thursday night , but warned that `` Earl is expected to remain a large and strong hurricane as it passes near the Outer Banks '' of North Carolina . Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and into Massachusetts , where a hurricane warning was issued for Cape Cod , Martha 's Vineyard , Nantucket and the surrounding area . A hurricane watch was also issued for the coast of Nova Scotia , Canada . Tropical storm watches and warnings were in effect for most other coastal areas between North Carolina and Nova Scotia . iReport : Share your images and information . As of 8 p.m. , the center of Earl was about 160 miles -LRB- 260 kilometers -RRB- south of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , and about 625 miles -LRB- 1,005 kilometers -RRB- south-southwest of Nantucket . It was heading north at about 18 mph -LRB- 30 kph -RRB- . A tropical storm warning is now in effect for the coast of Massachusetts from north of Hull to the Merrimack River , and for the coast of Maine from Stonington to Eastport . The tropical storm warning from Cape Fear to west of Surf City , North Carolina , has been discontinued . The storm , which had been a Category 3 until Thursday night , has maximum sustained winds of 105 mph -LRB- 168 kph -RRB- , the Hurricane Center reported just before 11 p.m. ET . Further weakening is expected overnight , forecasters said , but `` Earl is expected to remain a large and strong hurricane as it passes near the Outer Banks . '' Two more tropical systems are in the Atlantic -- Fiona and Gaston . Fiona is on track for Bermuda , and as of Thursday afternoon , Gaston was n't threatening any land . Read more on Gaston and Fiona . But for now , all eyes are on Earl . President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina on Wednesday evening . The action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts and makes federal funds available . Maryland 's governor issued an emergency declaration earlier in the day . The monster storm is forecast to pass close to the Outer Banks on Thursday night , the National Hurricane Center said . `` Even if the center of Earl remains offshore ... hurricane force winds are expected to occur in the Outer Banks overnight tonight , '' the center said in its 8 p.m. Thursday forecast . The storm is expected to take aim at southeastern New England on Friday night . `` Hurricane force winds are expected within the Hurricane warning area in Massachusetts Friday night , '' the center said Thursday . Officials in Dare County , North Carolina , issued mandatory evacuation orders Thursday for visitors to the coastal county , including the Outer Banks . The mandatory evacuation extended to residents in some areas , including the town of South Nags Head and Hatteras Island . Dare County schools and courts were closed Thursday and will be closed Friday . Earl concerns homeowners along coast . `` Early this evening Hatteras Island will begin feeling the impact of Hurricane Earl 's approach , '' the county said in a statement Thursday evening . `` Throughout the evening , weather conditions will progressively deteriorate ... until the storm leaves the area around daybreak Friday morning . '' `` Hurricane Earl will produce high seas , ocean overwash , dangerous rip currents , and strong winds , '' it said . On Thursday night , Dare County Manager Bobby Outten told CNN that `` evacuations went well . '' `` We got everybody off Hatteras -LSB- Wednesday -RSB- , '' he said , referring to one coastal island . In other nearby areas , Outten said , `` I 'm sure there are people holding out . '' `` Residents of Dare County have been through this many times , '' the county 's emergency response coordinator , Warren Judge , said on CNN 's `` American Morning . '' `` And they have their own individual practices and procedures to get their homes and businesses secured and prepared for the oncoming storm . What we need to happen now is for the visitors to heed the warning , to evacuate . '' Earl is a large storm , meaning effects will be widely felt even if it does not make a direct hit . It covers about 166,000 square miles -- larger than California , which covers just under 160,000 square miles . The storm 's outflow , or the clouds associated with it , could stretch from one end of the state of Texas to the other , said CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf . The North Carolina coast should begin experiencing tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph by Thursday evening , forecasters said , with hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph arriving later . Local coverage by CNN affiliate WECT . `` Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly , '' FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said Thursday , and people should not be lulled into thinking Earl is going to miss them . `` We have teams in all coastal states ready to support -LRB- governors -RRB- all the way up the New England States , '' Fugate told CNN Thursday night , describing FEMA 's standby teams . `` We 're not going to wait till things get bad . '' Large breaking waves of 10 to 15 feet are possible along the coast , with possible storm surge of 2 to 4 feet and 3 to 4 inches of rainfall , CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said . Isolated tornadoes and waterspouts are possible . The National Hurricane Center said those in the hurricane warning area -- coastal North Carolina from Bogue Inlet up to the Virginia state line , including Pamlico and Albemarle sounds -- could see storm surge of 3 to 5 feet . However , the most severe part of Earl is expected to remain offshore , which might mean a lower storm surge , according to CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano . `` The fact that it happens overnight always gives us cause for concern , '' Judge said . `` But we 're going to get a glancing blow . '' He said he hoped the storm will not deal a direct hit to the area and will pass through quickly . `` This is my first hurricane and I 'm looking forward to it , '' said Sarah Baker , a native of Oklahoma who works for a vacation rental company in Kitty Hawk , North Carolina . `` The locals have been really nice , telling me what I needed to buy to get ready . '' Rip currents and stormy seas were reported all the way up the East Coast , from Florida to Maine . Earl will make its closest pass to New Jersey on Friday afternoon , Morris said . It is expected to make its closest pass to Cape Cod , Massachusetts , on Friday night as a Category 1 hurricane . Tourist towns on Cape see effects from Earl . The long duration of tropical-storm-force winds threatens widespread power outages in parts of the South and the mid-Atlantic region , he said . Earl is expected to make a direct landfall over southern Nova Scotia on Saturday morning as a strong Category 1 hurricane . The storm will turn northeast as it collides with a cold front , said National Hurricane Center director Bill Read . But the hurricane was undergoing a phenomenon known as eyewall replacement , in which the existing eyewall weakens and a new one forms . That means the eye likely will grow in diameter and the storm will grow even larger as hurricane force winds stretch farther out , he said . Several airlines said Wednesday that passengers to and from cities along the Eastern Seaboard , from San Juan , Puerto Rico , to Bangor , Maine , could reschedule travel in coming days without penalty . Though they have not announced cancellations , Air Tran , American Airlines , Continental Airlines and Delta said they would waive reschedule fees for such travelers . North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue urged residents and visitors to prepare for the storm and heed evacuation orders . Indeed , some people were stocking up on food at grocery stores and attaching plywood to windows and doors of coastal homes . However , others thumbed their noses at Earl , set to arrive just ahead of the Labor Day holiday , and said they were staying put . `` We 're from Michigan , so we 're used to storms , '' one man said . `` But this is our first hurricane , so we 're kind of excited about it and hope everything goes well . '' `` I got three bottles of wine hidden in there , '' another man said , gesturing toward his grocery bags . `` The kids are good with the milk . '' He said Earl `` might ruin some beach time ... looks like it 's OK , but we 'll keep an eye on the TV . '' One sign on the Outer Banks warned , `` Earl , you are not welcome here . '' CNN 's Angela Fritz and Randy Harber contributed to this report .
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NEW : Just before 11 p.m. ET , sustained winds reported at 105 mph . Earl is now a strong Category 2 storm . In U.S. , warnings and watches stretch from North Carolina to Massachusetts . Some people are staying put on Outer Banks : ` I 'm looking forward to it '
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[[1564, 1573], [1627, 1685], [1688, 1742], [332, 387], [574, 669], [656, 669], [672, 781], [1284, 1398], [6379, 6439]]
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-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- An FBI webpage quoted an agent calling Mexico 's drug cartels more violent than al Qaeda -- a comment sure to grab attention , but which does n't tell the whole story , the agency said . On its website , the FBI was highlighting a special series of stories on law enforcement challenges along the Southwest border . The report includes a quote from an unidentified senior agent based in El Paso , Texas , who says , `` We think al Qaeda is bad , but they 've got nothing on the cartels . '' The controversial-sounding comment was just one of point of view that exists on the ground , the FBI said , explaining the remark . `` The quote is the opinion of one FBI agent who lives and works on border violence every day , '' said Special Agent Jason Pack , an FBI spokesman in Washington . `` The FBI does not believe the cartels are any more dangerous than al Qaeda . '' According to the FBI report , `` Some areas on the Mexican side of the border are so violent they are reminiscent of the gangster era of Chicago in the 1930s or the heyday of the Mafia 's Five Families in New York . '' It cites the violent and ruthless tactics of the cartels , using as an example the case of a man known as El Pozolero -- the stew maker -- who is said to have dissolved hundreds of murder victims in acid . Mexico has seen other violent acts that are reminscent of al Qaeda tactics , including the severing of heads and videotaping of kidnap victims . But according to one analyst , comparing one to the other is apples and oranges . `` Obviously , it 's a more complex issue than that , '' said Fred Burton , vice president of intelligence at Stratfor , a global intelligence company . `` Reading between the lines here , what they might be trying to say is that clearly the scope of the drug cartels from a geographic perspective is very robust , '' he said . The cartels are very brutal and violent , but they have n't hijacked planes , built complex improvised explosive devices or attacked U.S. vessels , as al Qaeda has , Burton said . The major drug trafficking cartels in Mexico do use terror , however , in their rivalries for smuggling routes to the United States market . In one recent sign of escalation , a device that authorities called a car bomb exploded in Ciudad Juarez , Mexico , killing four . However , Burton said , it was n't clear whether it was a case of explosives packed into a car , or a carefully rigged car bomb in the true sense of the word , the type of fine deliniation that separates groups like al Qaeda and Mexican drug cartels .
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An FBI webpage includes a quote comparing al Qaeda to Mexican drug cartels . A senior agent says that the cartels are more violent than al Qaeda . The FBI explains that it is just one agent 's point of view from the field .
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[[0, 15], [19, 107], [335, 396], [368, 413], [642, 686]]
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