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Washington (CNN) -- Think this current climate of political polarization is bad? Things could get even uglier in 2013. With a third of the Senate and every seat in the House up for election this year, each side is already bragging about how likely it is they will win back or take over the next Congress. But if the past three years are any indicator, no matter if the Republicans or Democrats control the House or Senate -- or both -- gridlock, brinkmanship and stalemate could continue to plague the next president and frustrate the American electorate. The ongoing back and forth Friday between the White House and Republican leadership over exactly who is at fault for the weak economy offers a glimpse into what's in store. "One of the things that people get so frustrated about is that instead of actually talking about what would help, we get wrapped up in these political games. That's what we need to put an end to," President Barack Obama said on Friday, a day when politicos on both sides of the aisle played the blame game over the country's fiscal troubles. Voters have been clear in expressing their displeasure with Congress, whose approval ratings -- currently only 15% of Americans polled think Congress is doing a good job -- have been in the basement for much of the past few years. And it doesn't stop there. Just look at, for instance, Congress' work habits. The Republican-controlled House's frequent election-year recesses do little to clear the mountain of legislative work off their plates and have rankled such Democratic colleagues as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California. "Instead of recessing yet again, the House should remain at work and pass critical legislation that will create jobs for the middle class that will actually be signed into law. Republicans must not run out the clock on the economy," Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, this week, adding that the upcoming recess is the ninth weeklong break this year. Whether President Obama or Republican Mitt Romney occupies the Oval Office next year, both men are facing an indigestion-inducing plate full of domestic problems. Either one could, for instance, have to preside over a dramatic overhaul of the health care reform law if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual coverage mandate as unconstitutional this month. The original law passed in 2010 without a single Republican vote in the House or the Senate. The backlog of bills that have passed in one chamber but are in limbo in another include the hotly debated transportation bill. Many House Republicans want any deal on the transportation construction measure to include approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. In the Senate, both parties are at loggerheads on the best way to address mushrooming student loan rates. If the balance of power in the Senate shifts to the Republicans, as some political analysts expect, or Democrats and Republican end up with a near equal number of seats, partisan gridlock could become even worse. Both the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg Political Report suggest that at least two to four Senate seats are in play, including open seats in the battleground states of Virginia and Wisconsin. Seats in Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Maine are also competitive. "You can expect these bitter times to continue," said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the book "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism." It's little wonder why. A new Pew Research Center study found that the nation is more politically polarized than it has been in the past 25 years and "the values gap between Republicans and Democrats is now greater than gender, age, race or class divides." So, there's little chance of compromise on solutions for shoring up the ailing economy and stanching job losses as the country braces for the impact of more than $1 trillion in mandatory budget cuts set to kick in next year. Should Obama win re-election, he'll be a second-term president facing a narrow window to accomplish policy goals before he enters the lame duck phase of his office. "If president Obama is re-elected he will have to work with a Republican Senate to define his legacy," said Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of The Rothenberg Political Report. Obama's "big opportunity will be 2013." That's the same year sequestration, massive mandatory across the board budget cuts, are triggered as part of a congressional deal that allowed Obama to raise the debt ceiling. The large defense budget, which many Republican lawmakers defend as necessary to maintain, will face substantial cuts. Ironically, Obama may have to take a harder, more partisan line in order to get his agenda passed, Mann said. "It's his second term. The country is facing serious problems," Mann said. "If the Republicans are playing an opposition game I can't imagine he can peacefully engage in constructive negotiations with (Republicans). He would find the same problem he faces today." Things aren't likely to go much easier for Romney. If Romney should win the general election and his party maintains control of the House and ekes out a Senate majority, the newly minted president may still face some political headaches. Candidates down ballot may get a boost from a Romney win, but it is unlikely his party will net the 60 seats needed for a filibuster-proof Senate majority. He'll also face intense pressure from his party to keep his campaign promises and steer clear of compromise. "If Romney is elected he'll have a brief honeymoon period," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "In this polarized era I see no reason for optimism there.

Partisan bickering likely to continue after elections . Health care, economy remain wedge issues . Senate power shift could happen after 2012 election .

(CNN) -- This Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, one of history's most notable figures. Despite holding office for less than a full term, he has long been perceived by the U.S. public as one of the best occupants of the White House. Yet JFK's presidency is inspiring not just to Americans, but also to many others around the world too. And it offers key lessons for today, ranging from U.S. policy in the Middle East post-9/11, to how to best engage a "rising" China. At a time when U.S.-Soviet rivalry was becoming heavily militarized, JFK's political genius was to appreciate that the superpower contest was as much a battle for ideas as strength of force. Through his skilful rebalancing of hard and soft power, he powerfully renewed U.S. global leadership, helping to thaw the Cold War. Here his projection of hope and optimism, and stirring rhetoric appealed to U.S. and international audiences alike, including those behind the Iron Curtain. Landmark speeches included the one he made in Berlin in 1963 when he offered U.S. solidarity with West Germany. And his desire to re-set U.S.-Soviet relations was expressed eloquently too, including a compelling speech at the American University after the Cuban missile crisis. This was described even by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as the "the greatest speech by any U.S. president since [Franklin] Roosevelt." Renewal of U.S. international policy was not just rhetorical, as initiatives like the Peace Corps and the South America-focused Alliance for Progress underline. And, through landmark achievements such as the International Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, JFK gave substance to his ambition of moving toward international peace. To be sure, an objective appraisal of JFK's period in the White House must highlight lows as well as the highs. In addition to successes such as his management of the Cuban missile crisis, there was also the Bay of Pigs invasion debacle. And JFK had a much more limited record of legislative success than his successor Lyndon Johnson. Professional historians therefore tend to rate JFK's presidency as "good," rather than "great," with reason. Of course, the circumstances of today are transformed from those of the early 1960s. As well as the end of the Cold War, the United States has experienced relative decline: for instance, its economy now accounts for less than a quarter of global GDP compared to around a third then. Yet, the relevance of JFK's insights about international cooperation and peace endure. As does the wisdom of much of the way in which he harnessed U.S. leadership and power to try to achieve these ends. Indeed, at a time of U.S. military cutbacks, and given the ongoing information revolution, the importance of achieving better balance between -- often expensive -- hard power assets and soft power resources is perhaps even more important today for Washington. And this is true right across the world from Asia-Pacific through the Middle East and South America. On China policy, for instance, some U.S. hawks advocate a much tougher stance toward Beijing. However, as JFK would have recognized, Washington has much to gain from cooperation with Beijing too, and it would be a mistake to view the relationship solely through a lens of threat and suspicion. To be sure, there remains a legitimate remaining need for maintaining significant U.S. military power in Asia, not least to re-assure key allies. However, on issues ranging from North Korea, terrorism, through to the future stability of the global economy, China has a potentially key role to play in concert with the United States. Here the role of soft power is key as Washington seeks to better integrate Beijing into a network of regional and global institutions and alliances. In so doing, this will help incentivize China even more strongly toward a path of constructive partnership. In the Middle East meanwhile, U.S. standing in numerous countries has unfortunately been at a low ebb now for at least a decade. Only 11% of the population in Pakistan, 14% in Jordan, 16% in Egypt and the Palestinian territories, and 21% in Turkey, currently have favourable views toward the United States, according to Pew Global. Despite some U.S. overtures, the challenge remains monumental. This is such a critical issue given the wide-range of U.S. priorities in Middle Eastern and other Muslim-majority countries, including the "campaign against terrorism." As JFK would surely have appreciated, there is a compelling need for redoubling efforts to win the battle for moderate "hearts and minds." This can be best achieved through a vigorous re-assertion of U.S. soft power, combined with prudent use of hard power. Such an agenda would require much greater resourcing for activities such as public diplomacy, broadcasting, development assistance and exchange programs. U.S. public diplomacy is in particularly strong need of revitalization, with a clearer long-term strategy essential. Taken overall, it is clear that JFK's key insights about international relations retain much relevance and appeal. And for this reason alone, his presidency will continue to hold not just enduring value, but also inspiration, right across the world for many years to come. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Hammond.

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy . Presidency offers lessons on U.S. policy in Mideast and China - Andrew Hammond . Hammond: JFK powerfully renewed U.S. global leadership, helping to thaw Cold War . Objective appraisal of JFK's presidency must highlight lows and highs, he adds .

(CNN) -- On the evening of Whitney Houston's death, renowned recording artist Tony Bennett told the audience of Clive Davis' Beverly Hills party, "First it was Michael Jackson, then it was Amy Winehouse, and now, the magnificent Whitney Houston. I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs -- so they'll have to get it through a doctor, not to some gangsters who just sell it under the table." Bennett's idiotic comments were followed closely by the often original, but in this case mistaken, Arianna Huffington. On Monday morning's edition of "CNN Starting Point With Soledad O'Brien," she agreed with Bennett: "The point I think is absolutely fair -- that the war on drugs has failed, and we are not acknowledging it. We are spending over $50 billion a year fighting a war that has become a war on our own people." First, we do not know the immediate cause of Houston's death. But we do know that she had a long and public struggle with drugs, both legal and illegal. But legalizing drugs and making them more readily available would not have saved her life, or the life of Michael Jackson, or the thousands of other drug-related deaths each year. Lest Tony Bennett forget, Michael Jackson died from acute propofol intoxication administered to him by a doctor. Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning -- a legal, easily available substance. A fatal combination of painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-depressants -- all legal prescription drugs -- killed Heath Ledger. Brittany Murphy died from multiple drug intoxications (only prescription and over-the-counter medications according to the medical exam) combined with pneumonia. And Anna Nicole Smith overdosed on prescription and over-the-counter drugs. All these drugs are legal and prescribed by doctors. Contrary to what Tony Bennett and other legalizers would like to think, legalization does not prevent the abuse and misuse of drugs. In fact, it accelerates it. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drug abuse is the nation's fastest-growing drug problem. In 2007, there were 28,000 deaths from prescription drug overdoses. This is five times higher than the number in 1990. More people die in America every year from prescription drug abuse (i.e., legal and available drugs) than from heroin and cocaine combined. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of deaths from prescription narcotics increased fourfold over the past 10 years. This coincided with a fourfold increase in the number of prescriptions written for powerful painkillers. Legalization increases supply and when you increase supply, you increase the use and misuse of deadly drugs. As for Bennett's envy of Amsterdam, he should realize that its legalization experiment has backfired. With the legalization of marijuana came an increase in drug addictions and dependency followed by illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking and crime. After a rapid influx of organized crime, the Netherlands has announced that it will ban foreigners from the country's pot shops starting in 2013. Drug decriminalization in Portugal has also been a failure. As of 2007, Portugal was still the country with the most cases of injected drug related AIDS, and it was the only European country to show a significant increase in homicides from 2001 to 2006. "With 219 deaths by drug 'overdose' a year, Portugal has one of the worst records, reporting more than one death every two days. Along with Greece, Austria and Finland, Portugal is one of the countries that recorded an increase in drug overdose by over 30% in 2005," according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Bennett and Huffington's misguided solutions would result in more tragic deaths like Houston's. Illicit drugs are not harmful because they are illegal, they are illegal precisely because they are harmful. It is my hope that in the national dialogue surrounding Houston's death, our country's loudest voices would speak honestly and seriously about the drug problems in America. In the 1980s and '90s, the U.S. beat back the cocaine and heroine epidemics, not by legalization or decriminalization, but by tough law enforcement, strong prevention and education programs and public outcry. You could hardly watch TV without seeing the Partnership For a Drug-Free America's famous "This is your brain on drugs" advertisements. If we are to be successful today, we must reignite that same national effort. Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy Houston, understood the seriousness of drug abuse. In a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston recalled how her mother showed up one day at her doorstep with sheriff's officers and a court order in a drug intervention. "(My mother) says, 'I have a court (injunction) here,' " Houston said. "Either you do it my way, or we're just not going to do this at all. We are both going to go on TV, and you're going to retire.'" If more Americans, celebrities in particular, spoke and acted like Cissy Houston, rather than like Bennett or Huffington, fewer Americans would be victims to drug addiction. Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter . Join the conversation on Facebook . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of William J. Bennett.

Whitney Houston had a long and public struggle with drugs, but cause of her death is unknown . William Bennett: Some have said legalizing drugs would have saved Houston's life . Numerous celebrities have died from using drugs that are legal and prescribed by doctors . Bennett: Legalization does not prevent the abuse and misuse of drug; it accelerates it .

Billings, Montana (CNN) -- Stacey Dean Rambold, a former high school teacher who served a month-long sentence for raping a 14-year-old girl, was released Thursday from a Montana jail. Rambold's lenient sentence and the judge's comments about his victim sparked national outrage and protests. He won't be a free man exactly; he's on probation for the next 14 years, 11 months. According to court documents, that means he'll have to agree to conditions like undergoing sex offender treatment, not going to places where children congregate and not having a cell phone with photo, video or Internet capabilities. Prosecutors have appealed the sentence, saying it is illegal, to the Montana Supreme Court. The victim's mother says she hope Rambold will be behind bars again soon. "(Judge G. Todd Baugh) made a mistake and I'm disappointed. (31) days, that's outrageous, but the Montana Supreme Court stepped in. Hopefully they'll make it right," said Auliea Hanlon, whose daughter, Cherice Moralez, committed suicide before Rambold went to trial. In the meantime, Hanlon told CNN's Erin Burnett Thursday night that she wants to avoid the man who raped her daughter. "I hope I don't see him. That would be horrible," she said. "I didn't see him for the first six years. I didn't see him until the courtroom." But she said someday, she hopes she will be able to forgive him. "I could be miserable the rest of my life," she said, "but that wouldn't do my other kids any good." Rambold declined to answer questions from CNN as he entered and left a probation office in Billings on Thursday. Defense attorney Jay Lansing had no comment on the case, but has said his client contends the sentence imposed is lawful and appropriate. Before suicide, raped Montana teen loved outdoors, poetry . Activists file formal judicial complaint . On Tuesday, the Montana and Pennsylvania chapters of the National Organization for Women and an activist group called Ultraviolet filed a complaint with a judicial review board, CNN affiliate KULR reported. More than 140,000 people signed accompanying petitions, the groups said. "If we can't get him removed from this, there is something wrong with the system, and I know people in the state will work to not get (Baugh) re-elected (next year)," said Marian Bradley, president of Montana NOW. The case drew widespread attention when Baugh imposed a one-month sentence on Rambold and made controversial comments about the victim, saying she "seemed older than her chronological age" and she was "as much in control of the situation." Rambold admitted raping the girl in 2008 while she was 14 and he was her teacher at her high school. Moralez took her life shortly before her 17th birthday. The judge later apologized for his comments, and earlier this month tried to revisit his sentence. But the state Supreme Court barred him from a new ruling, saying he didn't have the legal standing to change a sentence. Baugh said he didn't realize at first that the minimum sentence should have been two years. Baugh's secretary said Wednesday the judge had no comment on Rambold's release. 'We want the conversation to go nationwide' There is one good thing about the case, NOW's Bradley said: It's brought renewed national attention to the critically important issue of violence against women. "We want the conversation to go nationwide, so that everyone will say this behavior is not OK in my community. . ... I think everyone believes, 'In my town it can't happen, it shouldn't happen, I need to stop it,'" she said. "And you can stop it. You can stop it by going out and spreading the word." That's why she sees a glimmer of hope in how much people are talking about the case. "I think as long as we know that it's happening we can acknowledge it and we can do something to change it. If we don't see it and don't acknowledge it, we can't make a change at all," she said. "So I think this is important. This is so sad for the mother, this is so sad for the community, this is so sad for our state and our country. But there is hope." The legal process . With Cherice's death, the prosecution entered into what is known as a "deferred prosecution agreement" with Rambold. This meant that all charges against Rambold -- who admitted to one of the rape charges -- would be dismissed if he completed a sex-offender treatment program and met other requirements. One of them was to have no contact with children. But the ex-teacher fell short of the agreement and prosecutors asked Baugh last month to sentence him to 20 years. Baugh ruled Rambold's infractions weren't serious enough. "He made some violations of his treatment program," the judge said. "They were more technical and not the kind you would send someone to prison for." Hanlon said the pain of her daughter's death hasn't faded. "I think we just get used to it, so we don't cry every day," she said, but the tears still came. Opinion: In Montana, a case study in rape culture . CNN's Jack Hannah and John Branch contributed to this report.

NEW: Victim's mother hopes she'll never see him, but wants to forgive him someday . Stacey Rambold checks in at a probation office after his release from jail . Rambold admitted to raping 14-year-old Cherice Moralez . Judge's ruling is being appealed by prosecutors, who say two years is the minimum sentence .

(CNN) -- Hillary Clinton wants Americans to believe that she made difficult decisions as secretary of state. That's the premise of her new book, "Hard Choices." Somehow, I suspect that if Clinton had a do-over for this week's CNN town hall, she might choose not to field a hard question from Francisco Gonzalez. A professor at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Gonzales asked America's former top diplomat about President Obama's record of removing the undocumented and splitting up families with such efficiency that, as Gonzales noted, many Hispanics call Obama the "deporter in chief." He asked what Clinton would do differently. The likely 2016 presidential candidate started by declaring her support for "comprehensive immigration reform" because undocumented immigrants who are "raising families and working hard and contributing to our country deserve a path to citizenship." So far, so good. She went on: "I also think that we have to understand the difficulty that President Obama finds himself in because there are laws that impose certain obligations on him." Clinton doesn't seem to understand how much discretion the executive branch has -- in immigration enforcement -- to set policy, shape priorities, and decide who stays or goes. After arguing with immigration reform advocates from 2009 to 2011 that he was powerless to stop deportations, Obama himself -- in a gesture intended to woo Hispanic voters during the 2012 election -- flexed his executive power when he announced a change in policy by the Department of Homeland Security that allowed some young undocumented immigrants to avoid deportations and obtain work permits. Under Obama, DHS imposed quotas for apprehensions, The Washington Post reported, and roped local police officers into enforcing immigration laws as a force multiplier. The executive branch wasn't some spectator to the deportation juggernaut; it was the driving force. Shouldn't a former member of the Cabinet know this? Clinton also said that it was her understanding that "the numbers have been moderating in part as the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement officials understood that separating children from families -- I mean, the horror of a father or a mother going to work and being picked up and immediately whisked away and children coming home from school to an empty house and nobody can say where their mother or father is -- that is just not who we are as Americans." Apparently, Clinton doesn't know many immigration lawyers. The dozen or so that I know -- who give me updates about their battles to stop clients from being deported -- would not agree that the numbers of deportations are "moderating." There are still just under 400,000 per year. Wrapping up her answer, she went on to say: "We need to show humanity with respect to people who are working, contributing right now. And deporting them, leaving their children alone or deporting an adolescent, doing anything that is so contrary to our core values, just makes no sense." Yet, as secretary of state, Clinton sat at the Cabinet table for four years alongside Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano -- who went before Congress to brag about the number of deportations and promise to raise it. And she didn't say anything then? You know, in defense of humanity? Right about then, Clinton strayed off message. When CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked her what she would do about the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America who are coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, Clinton at first tried to duck the question by talking about everything from violence in Central America to the need to provide emergency care to children who cross the border. Fortunately, Amanpour pursued an answer. After asking the question -- whether these children should stay or be sent back home -- four different times, she finally got one. "Well," Clinton said, "they should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who responsible adults in their families are, because there are concerns whether all of them should be sent back. But I think all of them who can be should be reunited with their families." It's not that simple. According to media reports, many of these young people came to the United States to be reunited with parents and other family members. What do we do with them? Separate more families? Didn't Clinton herself just say that this approach "makes no sense"? Finally, having painted herself into a corner, she took a hard line. Opinion: Does Hillary Clinton have to be so boring? "We have to send a clear message: Just because your child gets across the border, that doesn't mean the child gets to stay," she said. "So, we don't want to send a message that is contrary to our laws or will encourage more children to make that dangerous journey." What world is Clinton living in? When a child crosses the border, of course he or she gets to stay. That has long been the unspoken policy of U.S. immigration officials, under administrations in both parties. They can't just send these minors back across the border to be abused, assaulted, or worse. Instead, they're locked up for a couple of days and then released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge, which most of them ignore. As for encouraging more people to come, that is precisely what conservatives predict will happen if we ever pass the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that Clinton claims to support. Is this her roundabout way of saying she agrees with them? We already knew that Obama had flunked immigration. Clinton's comments this week suggest that she finds the subject just as challenging.

Ruben Navarrette says Hillary Clinton doesn't seem to understand immigration issues . He says her answer at CNN Town Hall started out OK but strayed off message . As former Cabinet member, she should know executive branch power, he says . Navarrette: Clinton said she's sympathetic to immigrant families, but then took hard line .

(CNN) -- The MV Rachel Corrie, a cargo ship loaded with humanitarian aid and bound for Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade, is on track to arrive there Saturday, according to the Free Gaza Movement. The 19 people aboard the vessel -- which is owned by the Free Gaza Movement -- include activists and crew members who are determined to reach Gaza, passengers told CNN. "We're not prepared to turn around," said Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, who is aboard the ship. "We are prepared to go straight to Gaza." "We will stay within the international waters," said Maguire. "If Israel refuses that we get into Gaza and insists on boarding our boat, then we will sit down as non-violent activists. We will be very peaceful. We will not resist the Israeli navy coming aboard, arresting us and taking us by force to [the Israeli port city of ] Ashdod, but we will not turn around. We will keep going." Organizers say the ship is carrying 550 tons of cement to help rebuild schools, homes and other buildings destroyed in Gaza. Maguire said the ship is also carrying "tons" of writing materials donated by Norway, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment -- including wheelchairs donated by Scotland -- and toys. Former Assistant U.N. Secretary-General Denis Halliday, also aboard the Rachel Corrie, said the passengers had no plans to confront the Israelis. "We will stand back and show we are harmless and unarmed -- we will put up no resistance," he said. "We're not going to make any silly mistakes." Israel has offered to unload the vessel's cargo in Ashdod, screen the material and deliver it to Gaza, but passengers aboard the ship rejected the offer, according to a statement from Micheal Martin, Ireland's minister for foreign affairs. Israel said its naval blockade is in place to stop weaponry from reaching militants in Gaza intent on attacking Israel. "If, as is their stated intention, the Israeli government intercepts the Rachel Corrie, the government demands that it demonstrate every restraint," said Martin. He called on Israel to lift its blockade. In Washington, National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer urged the passengers to accept Israel's offer. "In the interest of the safety of all involved, and the safe transmission of assistance to the people of Gaza, we strongly encourage those on board the Rachel Corrie and other vessels to sail to Ashdod to deliver their materials to Gaza," Hammer said. He called on all parties "to avoid any unnecessary confrontations and to ensure the safety of all involved." In an incident Monday, violence erupted on one of six ships in a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, leading to the deaths of nine people, all Turkish citizens -- including one of dual Turkish-American nationality. A number of other people were wounded. Israel said the passengers initiated the attack; the passengers said it was the troops who initiated it. On Friday, two Turkish ambulance planes left for Israel to carry five wounded Turkish citizens back to Turkey, the country's state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Other Turkish activists on the ship have returned from Israel to a hero's welcome. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Thursday that the incident "left an irreparable and deep scar" in once-close Turkish-Israeli ties. On Friday, thousands of people attended a funeral for the victims in Istanbul. Many of the attendees chanted anti-Israeli slogans. Tensions among Palestinians are also simmering. "Ongoing provocations and systematic discrimination against Palestinians signify Israel's continuous disrespect of international law and human rights and destabilize the region," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Friday. The tensions have sparked security concerns within Israel. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN a heightened police presence would keep the peace. Men under age 40 are not allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, he said. The violence sparked official and grassroots rage in governments and streets outside the Middle East on Thursday. South Africa recalled its ambassador to Israel. At the United Nations, the Security Council called for an inquiry into the flotilla raid and the Human Rights Council voted for a probe, but Israel said it alone -- and not an international entity -- should be investigating. It is Israel's "standard practice" to carry out "a prompt, professional, transparent and objective investigation in accordance with the highest international standards" after military operations, said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister. The Israel Defense Forces military advocate general -- charged with ensuring the military upholds the rule of law -- said Israel's interception of the flotilla was legal. It said international law allows a country to stop a vessel in international waters if it attempts to breach a naval blockade -- even before such a blockade is breached. Free Gaza activist Derek Graham has said the plan was for the Rachel Corrie to be unloaded in Gaza and then return to Ireland. "We're just hopeful the Israelis will let us make a small gesture for the people of Palestine," Halliday said. "Because we believe Monday was a gross error." He added that Monday's confrontation resulted from "faults on both sides," saying the effort on the Rachel Corrie is a "different ball game." The ship was named for a 23-year-old American woman who was killed in Gaza in 2003 while attempting to keep IDF forces from bulldozing the home of a Palestinian. CNN's Ivan Watson, Paula Hancocks and Laura P. Maestro contributed to this report.

NEW: White House encourages activists to go to Ashdod . Passengers refuse Israeli offer to offload in Israel, Irish minister says . Ship to arrive Saturday . Activists vow not to stop until they reach Gaza .

(CNN) -- The challenge facing the next generation of the Chinese leadership is steering the nation as it moves from an export and investment driven economy to a more sustainable consumption-driven economy. However, such transformation will not be easy. Over the last two decades, various measures to encourage Chinese consumption had limited success. The expansion of higher education since mid-1990s was one early attempt. While a success in matriculation -- 19% of Chinese under the age of 30 have a college degrees -- the move failed to spur consumption as families instead saved to afford university educations. A similar story can be seen in the commercialization of the housing market. Families have to save increasingly more in order to afford apartments with rising prices. Given the spotty success of Beijing policy to boost consumption, new research suggests the key may lie in tackling China's growing divide between the rich and the poor. The government has never publicly released household-level data necessary to study this problem. To gauge the scope of the problem, my colleagues and I at China Household Finance Survey conducted a nationwide survey, interviewing a random sample of 8,438 households in China, both rural and urban. We found that China's Gini coefficient -- a number that is widely used to measure a country's income inequality -- is 0.61. This number suggests a level of income inequality so high that can only be found in some of the African countries such as South Africa and Seychelles. In the U.S., this number is 0.39. Income inequality is the key reason for China's low consumption rate. The rich hold the vast majority of Chinese savings. The top 10% of households have 69% of the total savings, and average saving rate for these households is a staggering 60%. Conversely, about half of the Chinese households surveyed have negligible savings. Therein lies the dilemma for Beijing's new leaders as they try to make Chinese consumers, not exports, the key driver of China's economy. Why? The data suggests China's rich are already spending what they need, and pocketing most of the rest. The low savings rate of most Chinese households surveyed suggest they simply don't have the money to spend. To move toward a consumer-based economy, therefore, raising the income -- and spending -- levels for the poor is key. Here the next generation of Chinese leadership can and should play a significant role. An effective approach to reduce the inequality and to boost consumption, however, is to shift government spending priorities away from massive infrastructure development -- roads, railroads and airports -- and toward social welfare investment and income transfer programs. Studies have shown that spending on social welfare can have a substantial effect on consumption. In the case of health insurance, each one dollar the government spends would increase consumption by $2.36 dollars for rural health insurance or $4.16 for urban employee health insurance, according to a series studies by my colleagues and I did in 2010. Although 90% of Chinese population is currently covered by three basic health insurance systems, benefits differ substantially across the three systems because of different levels of contributions made by the government to the insurance premiums. Government should bring up the benefit level of the rural insurance to that of urban insurance. Another important area that government can do is to establish an effective unemployment insurance system. China's urban unemployment rate was at 8.0% in the summer of 2012. So far, the coverage rate of the unemployment insurance is only 30% of that of health insurance. It also pays too little: unemployment benefit is only 17% of the average salary compared to 47% in the U.S. and 60% in Germany. Given the challenges ahead, China's new leadership should view this with some urgency: When the economy is in transition, unemployment rate will likely rise and more people will need help. China can also learn from successful programs in the developed and developing countries. Programs such as Earned Income Tax Credits of the United States help the poor who actually work. Many developing countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and India have various Conditional Cash Transfer programs that pay poor families if they keep their kids in the school. Recognizing the serious income inequality problem in China, Beijing issued a new income redistribution policy in February. The new policy moves in the right direction, but is not nearly enough. Beijing plans to raise the government spending on social welfare programs by two percentage points within next five years, from 12% to 14%. The comparable number in the United States is 37%. If Chinese government wants to serious tackle the income inequality while helping boost consumption of the country, they have to work on a much larger scale. There is money on the table to support this. China's state owned enterprises (SOEs) are tremendously profitable due to their monopoly positions but only turn in less than 10% of those profits to the government. Beijing runs a budget deficit of only 1% of its GDP. According to the new plan, Beijing will demand five percentage points more of the share of the profits from SOEs. That's not enough. If Beijing doubles its budget deficit (still very low relative to most developed countries) and boosts revenue from SOEs on social welfare programs and income transfers, China would spend at similar percentage as the U.S. and inequality may be reduced to a similar rate. If the government creates a stronger social safety net for its citizens, Chinese workers will feel less pressure to save for health emergencies, unemployment and retirement, and more likely to buy goods and services -- and create a mature consumer-driven economy. Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Li Gan.

Gan: China's plans to boost social welfare spending don't go far enough . Key challenge for China's leaders is moving to a consumption-driven economy . Measures to encourage Chinese consumption have had limited success . Research shows top 10% of Chinese households garnered 57% of total income .

(CNN) -- All the talk at Muirfield has been about which drought would be broken. Would world No. 1 Tiger Woods win his first major in five years? Could Lee Westwood complete his 18-year quest for a major title? No-one talked much about Phil Mickelson, on his own personal mission to end a British Open quest that began in 1991 at Royal Birkdale. But at the 20th time of asking, the man known as 'Lefty' produced some of the most dynamic golf of his career to electrify the galleries and finally wrap his hands round the Claret Jug. Four birdies on the final six holes saw Mickelson surge up the leaderboard, his last on the 18th green prompting tears as the enormity of his achievement sunk in. Starting the day five shots off the lead he won his fifth major at a canter, three clear of Sweden's Henrik Stenson in second, with Westwood joint third and Woods in a share of sixth. No wonder the 43-year-old told the gallery at Muirfield it was his finest ever round, a glittering career now only lacking one of the four golfing majors, the U.S. Open. "It's an amazing feeling," Mickelson told a press conference. "I hit some of the best shots I've ever hit, putted better than I've ever putted. "I needed to show up and play some of the best golf of my career and that's what I did. It's a day I'll always cherish. "I was behind the whole day. The putt at 13 was going to make the day go one way or another. It's very hard to make birdies here. "I had to compose myself up to 18 because when I walking up to the green I realized this championship was in my control. That's when I started to get emotional. "It's a special moment to be a part of the history this championship. This has been the biggest challenge of my career to capture this trophy." Day three: Woods hunting Westwood . The clear skies and bright sunshine that graced the opening three days of the 142nd Open were absent by the time the final round began to form a decisive shape. As the majority of spectators alternated between the final two groups, Mickelson was steadily, and stealthily, winding his way through the field under a blanket of cloud on the East Lothian coast. He reached the turn at two-under, by which time the frontrunners had begun to shed shots. Slowly but surely, the galleries got wind of his charge and made a beeline for Lefty. It was the 13th where the momentum swung his way, a birdie putt sparking a run that was to end with him posing for photos with the Claret Jug as the main grandstand was enveloped in late afternoon gloom. Another birdie on 14 moved him one shot behind then leader Scott, before two perfect blows to the par five 17th saw him infused with adrenalin as he seized the outright lead for the first time in the Championship. By this time Scott had carded four consecutive bogeys, the same run that saw him relinquish the lead 12 months ago at Royal Lytham to allow South African Ernie Els to claim his second Open title. Another Mickelson birdie on the final hole saw him punching the air, hugging his caddy Jim 'Bones' Mackay and breaking down as he realized he'd finally landed the one crown he wasn't sure his game was equipped to deliver. It was his second victory in a week after he won the Scottish Open and goes some way to repairing the desolation he felt after losing out on the U.S. Open crown to England's Justin Rose at Merion last month. For home hoppe Westwood, the final day only served to reinforce the widely-held notion that his game isn't sturdy enough to close out a major championship. Leading by two as he teed off in front of a supportive crowd at 2:10pm local time, he managed just one birdie and carded five bogeys. It meant he ended a 62nd major without topping the leaderboard, extending an unwanted record that weighs heavily around his neck. "I didn't play that badly -- probably not so well at seven, eight or nine," he explained to reporters. "Phil must have played really well for five under par this afternoon, especially with a breeze going. That is a special finish in a major championship." Woods too will rue missed opportunities as he goes in search of the 15th title that will end his half-decade without a major championship. Three birdies were canceled out by six bogeys and he could only watch from the 14th green as, only 30 yards away, Mickelson marched up the 17th on his way to a pivotal birdie to a rapturous ovation from the crowd. "It was frustrating. I played well," Woods told reporters. "I could just never get the speed right today. "I had a hard time adjusting to the speeds. They were much slower today, much softer. I don't think I got too many putts to the hole today. "I really had a hard time and left myself a couple of long lag putts early on when [the wind] was really blowing, and left them way short and didn't make those putts."

American Phil Mickelson wins the British Open at Muirfield by three shots . A final five-under-par round of 66 helped the left-hander to his first British Open title . Swede Henrik Stenson was second with Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Adam Scott third . Tiger Woods dropped back to joint sixth on two over for the tournament with a final round 74 .

(CNN) -- At the beginning of 2008, everything seemed set for Bill Clinton. His wife, Hillary, had the money and the endorsements to run for the presidency. She also had the experience and the talismanic Democratic last name. Everything was in place for Bill's return to the White House, this time as first gentleman. Then came Iowa, when the supposedly unstoppable Hillary for president locomotive was derailed by Barack Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois. Bill Clinton couldn't believe that this Johnny-come-lately might block his wife's path to the White House. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama may be making common cause now, but four years ago the future president drove the former president crazy. Obama's sins in the eyes of Bill Clinton in 2008 were numerous and grievous: He denied Hillary a shot at the Oval Office that Bill believed she earned and he attacked Bill by playing the race card, or so Bill believed. In reality, Clinton played the race card on himself when he compared Obama's victory in the South Carolina primary to Jesse Jackson's wins there in 1984 and 1988. Perhaps Clinton's intent was to isolate Obama as the "black candidate"; perhaps not, but an uproar ensued, deeply wounding the man who had been beloved by African-American voters throughout his political career. Obama had even gone so far as to compare Bill Clinton unfavorably to Ronald Reagan, saying that Reagan had "changed the trajectory" of the nation "in a way that Bill Clinton did not." The nerve of this whippersnapper, ranking the first Democratic president since FDR to serve two full terms below the hero of the opposition party -- the party that had tried to throw that Democratic president out of office. By drawing that contrast, Obama was consciously baiting Bill, secure in the knowledge that as Hillary's campaign brain trust, his outbursts -- about Reagan, about the "fairy tale" of Obama's pure opposition to the Iraq War, about the "race card" -- were doing harm to his wife's campaign. But Obama's biggest offense was simply that he was seeking to replace Bill Clinton as first in the hearts of the Democratic faithful. And he was doing it courtesy of a free ride from the media -- nothing like the trial by fire that Bill had undergone in 1992. Once the nomination fight ended, Hillary was quick to dismiss her ill feelings toward Obama. But insiders say Bill nursed his grudge, only slowly releasing it as his wife took office as Obama's secretary of state. The coldness between the 42nd and 44th presidents persisted well into Obama's first term. Obama sought to set the nation's course on his own, without interference from the man who he said had not achieved the kind of transformative presidency to which he aspired. Within the Democratic Party, the two men were still rivals. It's no accident that Clinton has had a much warmer relationship with both Presidents Bush than he has had with Obama; he and the Bushes are not seeking approval from the same audience. Now, however, mutual interest has pushed Bill and Barack together. While no one would confuse them for best friends, Obama needs Clinton's access to deep Democratic pockets and his appeal to white blue-collar voters, who are more attuned to Bill's messy I-feel-your-pain empathy than to the professorial coolness of Obama. For his part, Bill craves political relevance. In the 11-plus years of his post-presidency, he has succeeded in securing both public acclaim, for his work on AIDS, and private enrichment, pulling down well into six figures for a single speech. But talking to 10,000 people at a gathering of furniture-industry representatives, no matter how high the remuneration, can't compare to influencing a presidential election -- or, for that matter, to pressing the flesh in a high-school gymnasium packed with adoring fans. What's more, if Hillary does follow the advice Bill is certain to whisper in her ear and run for the presidency in 2016, when she will be 69, the party chits he is now amassing will certainly come in handy. Bill Clinton's political advice to Obama to focus less on likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's inconsistency and more on his devotion to "severe" conservatism comes directly from the Clinton playbook of 1995-96. After the drubbing he took in the 1994 midterms, Clinton revived his fortunes by depicting his Republican opponents in Congress, led by Speaker Newt Gingrich, as a band of radical ideologues seeking to knock down the underpinnings of middle-class American life, and himself as the only thing stopping them. The strategy succeeded. When the government shut down in late 1995, the public blamed Gingrich. Seeking the president's re-election, the Clinton campaign hung the unpopular speaker around the neck of the Republican nominee, Bob Dole, and that was that. Obama has the opportunity to position himself as the reasonable centrist seeking to save the nation from the depredations it would suffer were a radical opposition to gain unchecked power. He has plenty of material to work with -- the Republicans in power today make the ones Clinton faced seem like Swedish socialists. It's good advice. Whatever his feelings toward Bill Clinton, Obama should listen to him. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Takiff.

President Obama has actively embraced Bill Clinton for help on raising money and gaining voters . Michael Takiff: Obama needs Clinton in his campaign, Clinton craves political relevance . He says four years ago, Obama drove the former president crazy . Takiff: Whatever his feelings toward Bill Clinton, Obama should listen to him .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A century ago, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes described Supreme Court deliberations among his colleagues as "nine scorpions in a bottle," fiercely protective of their own agendas and power bases. Justices on the Supreme Court say they are like a family, and change is sometimes difficult. The ideological tensions these days have not lessened on a court almost evenly divided along conservative and liberal lines, but the mood may have brightened considerably, with the justices likening their relationships to a family. "You will be surprised by the high level of collegiality here," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal juror, says in a new C-SPAN documentary on the court. "This term, I think we divided five-to-four in almost one-third of all the cases. One might get a false impression on that degree of disagreement." But in fact, she and conservative Justice Antonin Scalia are the best of friends, sharing dinners and holiday celebrations together with their families. The justices say their family atmosphere is so embedded in the court's culture that when change occurs, such as the appointment of the newest member Justice Sonia Sotomayor, it can be difficult. "To some extent, it's unsettling," Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said. "You quickly get to view the court as ... composed of these members, and it becomes kind of hard to think of it as involving anyone else. I suspect it's like how people look at their families." He is beginning his fifth term as "the first among equals" on that court. "You're bringing in a family member," said Justice Clarence Thomas, who joined the bench in 1991. "It changes the whole family. It's different. It's different today than it was when I first got here. And I have to admit, you grow very fond of the court that you spent a long time on." Thomas has lamented that his good friend David Souter is no longer on the court. The two men joined the court within a year of each other, and both were nominated by President George H.W. Bush. Sotomayor replaces Souter, and neither talked to C-SPAN. Sotomayor had not yet been confirmed, and Souter rarely grants interviews. "This will be a very different court," said Justice Anthony Kennedy. "And it's stressful for us because we so admire our colleagues. We wonder, oh, will it ever be the same?" Until recently, the high court had enjoyed an unusual period of stability. Between Justice Stephen Breyer's nomination in 1994 and Roberts' nomination in 2005, the bench remained unchanged. Breyer said his colleagues' differences on hot-button issues reflect society at large in the current political climate and emphasized the importance of considering all views. "What I see every day in my job -- which amazed me the first day and continues to amaze me -- is sitting up in the bench I see in front of me people of every race, every religion, every nationality, every point of view imaginable," he said. "And we have 300 million people, probably have 900 million points of view. I mean, people in this country don't agree about a lot of things. And despite enormous disagreement, they've decided to resolve their differences under law." Several justices acknowledge changing the dynamic on the court can be a good thing. "It gives us the opportunity, again, to look at ourselves to make sure that we're doing it the right way so that the new justice will be able to take some instruction from our example if we are doing it the right way," Kennedy said. "And I'm sure a new justice can always ask the question, 'Well, what are you doing this for?' Then we have to think about whether or not we should continue to do it.'" Sometimes change is forced upon the justices, especially in the area of fashion. "There were very few robes available," said retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor who joined the court in 1981 as the first female justice. "I didn't know anybody who made robes for women justices, and I think most of what was available was something like a choir robe or an academic robe often used for academic processions and graduations from universities. "I was given a note that had been written by someone sitting in the audience one day in the courtroom, and it said, 'Dear Justice O'Connor, I've been in the audience watching the court today, and I noticed that you did not have a judicial collar. Now, all your colleagues were wearing white shirt collars, and they showed under the robe, and you just looked like a washed-out justice to me. What's happening here?' "And so I took that note to heart. I thought, well, maybe I should try to find some kind of a white judicial collar of some kind that I could wear because I didn't always have a white shirt under the robe, and it was hard to find. Nobody in those days made judicial white collars for women. I discovered that the only places you could get them would be in England or France." When Ginsburg joined her in 1993, the newest justice improvised. "This one, the robe is from England, but the collar is from Cape Town, South Africa," she told C-SPAN host Brian Lamb in her chambers. "You know the standard robe is made for a man because it has a place for the shirt to show and the tie. So Sandra Day O'Connor and I thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman. So I have many, many collars."

Supreme Court justices liken their relationships to that of a family . Change among the jurists is difficult, the say in C-SPAN documentary . Even so, justices say change on the court can be a good thing .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has been chosen to become chief of U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday. Gen. David Petraeus has been the commander in Iraq for more than a year. Petraeus would replace Adm. William Fallon, who said last month that he was resigning. Fallon said widespread, but false, reports that he was at odds with the Bush administration over Iran had made his job impossible. In addition, Gates said, Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the Multinational Corps-Iraq -- the No. 2 position in Iraq -- is being nominated to fill Petraeus' post. Odierno has been home from Iraq for only a couple of months but has agreed to return, Gates said. The plan is for Petraeus to leave Iraq in late summer or early fall, Gates said, to ensure a smooth transition and plenty of time for Odierno to prepare. "We expect to move the paperwork on these nominations to the White House and to the Senate very quickly," Gates said. "Because of the complexity of this series of moves, I respectfully ask the Senate to move on them expeditiously, hopefully by Memorial Day, so the families and we can plan appropriately." Odierno was in line for a Pentagon desk job as Army Vice Chief just over a year after helping Petraeus implement the "surge" in U.S. troops in Iraq. The Pentagon says Petraeus will stay in Iraq long enough to make the first recommendation on further troop cuts after the surge is over. Watch the challenges ahead of Petraeus » . Gates said the generals' promotions reflected an endorsement of the current course in Iraq. "The course certainly that Gen. Petraeus has set has been a successful course. So, frankly, I think staying that course is not a bad idea. I would say it's a good idea," Gates said. Watch Gates nominate Petraeus » . Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in East Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, has its headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Gates said Odierno is well known to troops in Iraq, to military leadership and to Iraqis, and "I believe, in most parts of the world, especially in the Middle East, personal relationships make a difference." "I believe that this arrangement will probably preserve the likelihood of continued momentum and progress," Gates said. The defense secretary said he expects to easily win Senate approval for the nominations once they are made by President Bush. He said he had spoken with Sens. Carl Levin, D-Michigan; John McCain, R-Arizona; and John Warner, R-Virginia, and "I don't really anticipate any problems." In a press release Wednesday, McCain praised the move. "Both of these great generals have served our country with skill and distinction, and I am pleased that they will continue to do so in positions of high responsibility," McCain wrote. Gates acknowledged that Fallon's "decision to step down was unexpected." "I had intended that Adm. Fallon probably stay on for a third year. His second year would have ended in February," he said. "So I'm faced with a critical combatant command where a commander is needed -- and a commander who knows what's going on in the region." Asked whether he was using Petraeus "almost as a finger in the dike" because of the shortage of Army generals with expertise in counterinsurgency warfare, Gates admitted that there are few Army officers with experience in and knowledge of Iraq. Odierno served as commander of the 4th Infantry Division, the unit that captured former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Petraeus was picked in January 2007 to replace Gen. George Casey as the chief commander in Iraq and won Senate confirmation that month. He previously served as head of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and as a commander in Iraq, and he was one of the main writers of an Army manual on counterinsurgency efforts. He was seen as the logical choice to replace Fallon. In his new post, he will oversee U.S. forces in all the Middle East, not only Iraq and Afghanistan. "I recommended him to the president because I am absolutely confident he is the best man for the job," Gates said. In testimony to Congress this month, Petraeus said Iranian agents have played a "destructive role" in Iraq by backing Shiite militants, called "special groups" by the United States. The U.S. believes that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force is behind the support for militants. "Unchecked, the special groups pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq," Petraeus testified. Last month, in an interview with CNN's Kyra Phillips in Baghdad, Petraeus acknowledged some "friction" between himself and Fallon in the past year, but "actually, over the last six months or so, our relationship was really very, very good." "There was friction in the beginning. He has a different job than I have," Petraeus said. "There can be understandable differences of your take, if you will, on a situation. As they say in politics and government 101, where you stand on an issue sometimes depends on where you sit in the organization, and we sit in different chairs." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.

Gates says changes "will probably preserve ... momentum and progress" Petraeus would oversee all forces in Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan . Petraeus would take over for Adm. William Fallon, who resigned . Central Command position is subject to Senate confirmation .

Nicosia, Cyprus (CNN) -- In the old town of Cyprus's capital Nicosia, something subtle and unexpected is happening. In the wake of the economic crisis, the historic center -- an attractive old town ringed by vast 16th century Venetian walls -- is gradually coming back to life with new cafes, shops, and art galleries emerging from the labyrinthine streets. Ledra Street, at the heart of town, has been a symbol for the island's division since 1974, when, in July of that year, a Greek military junta backed a coup d'etat in Cyprus. In response Turkey launched military intervention and by August it had landed thousands of troops and successfully partitioned the island. Around 180,000 Greek Cypriots were forced south and some 50,000 Turkish Cypriots moved into vacant properties in the northern Turkish occupied zone. Since 2008, Ledra Street has reopened with a checkpoint that can now be crossed. But between the ubiquitous Kentucky Fried Chicken and Starbucks outlets, and the local restaurants selling frozen yoghurt, coffee, and souvlaki by the pita-load, U.N. soldiers still patrol. Gradually however, through the frustrations of separation and the strain of the economic crisis, a new generation of poets, directors and entrepreneurs are reclaiming the area. Band aid . The band Monsieur Doumani have been playing in and around Ledra Street for several years. Many of their songs have a distinctly political edge. The band's lead singer, Antonis Antoniou, says that in his view music and art can help to heal old wounds: . "We strongly believe that art and music can reconcile and reunite people ... especially in parts of the world where problems are between neighboring countries. For instance, here in Cyprus, the two communities share the same culture, and people used to live happily together listening to the same songs -- in many cases sung in both Greek and Turkish. This should be used as an example to bring people of the communities together." The Green Line -- the buffer zone between the north and south Cyprus-- stretches almost across the length of the country (interrupted by the British Overseas Territory of Dhekelia), but nowhere is it more visible than in Nicosia. "The Green Line gives the city a strange energy ... in a good way," says Eleni Xenou, a writer who lives in city. "There is a silence here; an absence. A feeling of the past with the U.N. in the middle. It is very edgy and it gives the city a very interesting charm. You need to get over yourself to get over the line." Cafe culture . Even though the checkpoints are now open, barricades still snake through the middle of town. On the corner of one inauspicious street, is the popular Xaratsi Cafe, which owner Stavros Lambrakis has managed since before the checkpoints opened up. The cafe attracts all kinds of people, and welcomes anyone from either side of town. "The vibe of the place is what I believe attracts (my customers)," Lambrakis says. "Xaratsi is like no other place. It is on the Green Line, sitting on the 'no man's land.' It carries the energy and history of the city. It is untouched and one can see how the time has stopped." Retail therapy . Alongside the arts scene are the shops, many of which celebrate their location with an unmistakable irony. A kebab shop called Berlin 2 sits right by a street blockade; a little further down the road you can buy lingerie from No Border Underwear. On Kleanthi Christophides Street Anastasios Gkekas runs a shop called the Office -- a high end men's fashion boutique and art gallery space. The shop has no mirrors, but asks its customers go outside and down the street to look at themselves in the mirrors inside the nearby U.N. guard station. "I find it necessary to expose my clients to this reality," Gkekas says. "To make them see their reflection among the ruins, (and) get them to think about where it is they are standing, at a very particular level of history." As there is a high turnover of guards, Gkekas regularly has to explain what he is doing: . "Officially the access to the guard station 103 is not permitted to anyone. In addition, the guards often change so I do not know several of them and anyway I always have to ask permission, explaining the nature of my request ... I do not know why they let me enter," he says. Many younger people in Nicosia see hope for the city and believe that reconciliation, while difficult, is certainly possible. Antoniou believes that opening up the crossings and allowing the two communities to get to know one another has been key to the city's healing. "For the first time in our lives (especially for us who were born after 1974) we came to have first-hand experiences with the so-called 'other' and create friendships," he says. "Both the propaganda that spread amongst people all these years in both sides and the fact that we had no direct contact with this 'other', helped towards demonizing it. But now, people who manage to get rid of these prejudices are able to construct relationships and have built trust, so the future could be optimistic." CNN On the Road series often carry sponsorship originating from the countries and regions we profile. However, CNN retains full editorial control over all of its reports. Read the policy.

The U.N.-patrolled Green Line divides Cyprus . Artists, poets and musicians are returning to the divided Cypriot capital, Nicosia . New cafes and galleries are bringing life to the city, and with it hope of reconciliation .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Lenny Dykstra, a three-time major league All-Star outfielder who played for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, was indicted Friday for bankruptcy fraud for allegedly selling items from his $18 million mansion in Ventura County, a federal prosecutor said. Lenny Kyle Dykstra, 48, of Murrieta, California, was charged with 13 counts: bankruptcy fraud, obstruction of justice, four counts of concealing property from the bankruptcy estate, three counts of embezzlement from the bankruptcy estate, and four counts of making false declarations to bankruptcy court, according to a statement from spokesman Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles. Last month, Dykstra was arrested and charged with bankruptcy fraud, and he was released on $150,000 bond and ordered to seek outpatient substance abuse treatment. The indictment is the result of conduct Dykstra allegedly engaged in after filing a bankruptcy case on July 7, 2009, Mrozek said. If convicted on all charges, Dkystra could face up to 80 years in prison, Mrozek said. After filing for bankruptcy protection, Dykstra allegedly "looted" his Sherwood Estates mansion in Thousand Oaks, California, lied about who stripped the mansion, and denied receiving money for having sold items that were owned by the bankruptcy estate, Mrozek said. According to court documents, an attorney hired by the bankruptcy trustee estimates that Dykstra stole and destroyed more than $400,000 worth of property in the estate. Among the property that Dykstra allegedly stole were silver- and gold-plated door knobs, gold fixtures, a grandfather clock, two desks, a chair, a Maitland-Smith dresser, chandeliers, electronic equipment, artwork, a stove and a framed piece of sports memorabilia about him, according to the indictment. The former member of a New York Mets World Series champion team was arrested last month on what police said was suspicion of fraudulent auto purchases. His attorney, Mark Werksman, characterized the case last month as "a scorched-earth bankruptcy proceeding" and blamed the auto-related accusations as a "vendetta" by former caretakers. But the U.S. bankruptcy trustee for the central district of California, Peter C. Anderson, described the allegations in Dykstra's case as "egregious." "The bankruptcy-related conduct charged in the indictment constitutes an egregious abuse of the bankruptcy system and will not be tolerated," Anderson said in a statement. The 13-count indictment supersedes a criminal complaint filed last month, officials said. In the bankruptcy filing, Dykstra listed assets of $24.6 million and overall debts of $37.1 million. Among the assets he listed are two residences: a Ventura County mansion in Lake Sherwood Estates that he purchased from Janet and Wayne Gretzky, which he estimated was worth $18.5 million; and a home in Westlake Village that he estimated was worth $5.4 million. As a result of the bankruptcy filing, the residences and Dykstra's personal property became part of the bankruptcy estate that would be used to pay off creditors. Even though Dykstra was prohibited from liquidating any part of the estate, authorities alleged last month that he admitted in a bankruptcy hearing that he arranged the sale of sports memorabilia and furniture that were part of the estate. Dykstra's professional baseball career began in 1985 when he was drafted by the New York Mets at the age of 22. A year later, Dykstra hit a lead-off home run in Game 3 of the World Series at Boston's Fenway Park, after the Mets had lost the first two games. That spark rallied the Mets to a seven-game Series victory over the Boston Red Sox. He was traded in 1989 to Philadelphia, where the rest of his career was marked by successes as well as injuries, brawls and allegations of steroid use that he has denied. He earned the nickname "Nails" for his tenacity and confrontations on the field. By the time he retired, Dykstra had earned $36.5 million from major league baseball, according to the website baseball-reference.com. After retirement, Dykstra moved to California and started a profitable luxury car wash that he called The Taj Mahal. He expanded the business throughout Southern California and in 2007 sold it to investors, according to bankruptcy filings. As a self-taught financial analyst, Dykstra proclaimed himself a financial guru and began writing a stock-picking website column. His prominence soared as a sports celebrity, entrepreneur and popular guest on numerous financial news broadcasts. In 2008, Dykstra began publishing the Players Club, a glossy financial advice magazine exclusively for pro athletes to help them with wealth management and investment banking. His purchase of the palatial Gretzy estate in 2007 for $14 million occurred a few months before the mortgage market collapsed. By the time Dykstra filed for bankruptcy in July 2009, he had accumulated loans totaling $21 million, bankruptcy records show. The bankruptcy case is still ongoing. Dykstra has listed his only income as a $5,700 monthly pension from Major League Baseball, records show.

Lenny Dykstra was a three-time major league All-Star outfielder . He played for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies . He was indicted on 13 counts relating to bankruptcy fraud . He filed for bankruptcy in 2009 .

Atlanta (CNN) -- My name is Lauren Johnson. I'm an associate producer at CNN, and I have systemic lupus erythematosus. It's an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks healthy tissue. It can cause damage to many parts of body such as joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels and the brain. Lupus is one of the most complicated and cruelest autoimmune diseases. Simply put: It's difficult to diagnose, hard to live with and challenging to treat. If I could write a letter to lupus, I would say "I want me back, I've had enough." As a junior at Kent State University, I felt like I was on top of the world. I went to a great school, I was doing exactly what I love (journalism), and then on September 11, 2001, I began to get unexplained illnesses one after another. Eventually, I landed in a hospital bed with an IV pumping a cocktail of drugs meant to cure "a series of infections" ravaging my body. When I finally felt reasonable enough to go to class, I couldn't remember things. My essays, as one professor told me, suddenly "read like ramblings." I wasn't me. That semester, I ended up taking incompletes in all of my classes. My doctors and professors declared I was overwhelmed with catching up in my classes and the anxiety of it all consumed me. Little did I know that it would be a decade later before I would officially find out it was really systemic lupus erythematosus. My diagnosis came as I was entering what I considered the magical part of my life. I had married, had a beautiful daughter and was working my dream job (CNN) and finally felt like I was walking in my purpose. I began to have horrific migraines, excruciating nerve pain down my left arm, and bruises and rashes started to appear more and more often. Initially, I thought I was just tired and it was the allergies and the bruises. I simply attributed it to being anemic. This was until my esophagus began to feel as if it was closing up. I went to a physician, and he said I had a tumor on the shoulder and that must be causing everything I was feeling. When I went to the surgical oncologist, she said "it's not cancer" and referred me to an amazing internist. I had already gone through the gamut of diagnoses: leukemia, thoracic outlet syndrome, sarcoidosis. I was completely over the diagnosis portion of the process. My life had become work, bed and repeat. They ran multiple tests. I remember the appointment like it was yesterday. When I came back in for my follow-up, I was told I had lupus. A disease that has no cure. To me, that diagnosis was not a death sentence, but a sentence to feel the way that I felt at the moment for the rest of my life. I felt pain, I felt exhausted and I was not me. Having lupus has been like having a horrific hangover while doing two-a-day workouts -- #exhausting. No one knows what is wrong unless you tell them. There is no escaping the pain, and the only way out is to sleep or die. I've felt like lupus at times has sucked the life out of me. It's shifted my priorities, taken away many of the things I love because I'm stuck in a holding pattern just treating the symptoms. Never being cured. Fighting this disease has been no easy ride. The disease has affected my brain, GI system, lungs and heart. I take nine medications to treat symptoms. Meaning, this is what I had to do to get through the day. Those drugs include chemotherapy, an antimalarial, a beta-blocker, an anticonvulsant, corticosteroids and a drug used to treat nerve damage. None of the drugs is specifically meant to treat lupus. When people see me, they always say, "You don't look sick." This has sort of been a gift and a curse for me. On one hand, I didn't want people to look at me as if I had a disability. On the other, I wanted people to know what I've been able to accomplish in spite of the disease. It's an invisible fight for me, but now is my time to make some noise so we can find a cure. If no one is aware of my struggle, we can't get there. I want me back, and I've realized that every breath I take is blessed with a responsibility. A responsibility to raise awareness about life with lupus and the need for a cure. Every day, this is what keeps me going. Lupus is one of America's least recognized major diseases, although 1.5 million Americans are living with it. Research is not keeping pace with the research for other diseases of similar scope and devastation. A study conducted by the Lupus Foundation of America found 72% of Americans from 18 to 34 (those most at risk for lupus) have either not heard about lupus or know nothing more than the name. In the past century, only one drug has been developed and approved to treat the disease. With the ebbs and flows of the economy, this disease has taken the backseat to research investment priorities. The Lupus Foundation of America is the oldest and largest nonprofit organization focused on improving quality of life and finding a cure for lupus. To find out more information about the disease or to make a contribution, head over to lupus.org.

Lupus symptoms are unpredictable with potential to damage any organ . Lupus has no known cause or cure . An estimated 1.5 million Americans have Lupus . The Lupus Foundation of America's mission is to improve lives, find cure .

(CNN) -- Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban commander whose capture was made public this week, is one of the most senior figures in the movement to be seized -- second only to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Baradar was Afghanistan's deputy defense minister when the Taliban controlled the country, according to the U.N. committee in charge of sanctions on al Qaeda and Taliban members. In recent years, he has been a senior military commander and a member of the Taliban's governing Quetta Council, the committee said. He has been "very much in control of the military operation in Afghanistan, responsible for appointing the commanders" on the ground, said M.J. Gohel, executive director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a think tank focusing on security. "Baradar is known to have had a very close relationship with Osama bin Laden in the past," Gohel said. "If anyone would know where the senior leaders are of al Qaeda and the Taliban, then Baradar is someone who would be privy to that kind of information." Afghanistan Crossroads blog: More on Baradar and the Taliban . It was critical to keep his capture secret at first, Gohel said. It is not clear exactly when he was detained in the Pakistani city of Karachi. But Reva Bhalla, director of analysis at the Stratfor think tank, said she doubted he could lead the CIA straight to those who are most wanted. "It's not like you have one guy, and that immediately opens the door to everyone else," she said, adding that the Taliban guard information carefully because the militant group knows its members could be captured. Baradar was cagey about his contacts with his superior in an interview that Newsweek magazine said it conducted with him by e-mail last year. Asked if he was "in direct contact with Mullah Omar," he responded, "Continuous contacts are not risk-free because of the situation. [But we] get his advice on important topics." He appeared to consider the possibility of breaking ties between the Taliban and al Qaeda if it would get the Americans out of Afghanistan. "Our decisions are made on the basis of our national interests," Baradar said, according to Newsweek. He could be replaced by a more radical figure, said Rand Corp. analyst Arturo Munoz. "Mullah Zakir is actually notorious because he was in Guantanamo for six years, and then he was released and immediately returned to Afghanistan and rejoined the Taliban," Munoz said. "He left Guantanamo very much more radicalized, and I think Mullah Zakir is actually much more radical than Mullah Baradar, and much more dogmatic and much more in the al Qaeda mindset." Stratfor's Bhalla said the capture could be important for what it shows about U.S.-Pakistani ties, regardless of its effects on the battlefield or the hunt for bin Laden. "It's hard to believe that this will lead to this huge intelligence coup, but if the Pakistanis are shifting their mode of cooperating [with the United States] that is significant," Bhalla said. "Pakistan didn't do this for free -- they are going to be asking for some very concrete concessions" from the United States, she said. She noted reports that Baradar represented Omar in secret negotiations brokered by Saudi Arabia. "Baradar is one of the main mediators," she said. Pakistan's cooperation with the U.S. in capturing him may be its way of telling Washington to deal with Islamabad -- not Saudi Arabia -- if it wants to negotiate with the Afghan Taliban, she said. "The Saudis have been very involved in back-channel talks, and Pakistan wants to show it is the only one that has the real leverage and intelligence to wield carrots and sticks," she said. It is not clear that the Saudi-brokered talks are still going on. "The Taliban leadership through Mullah Baradar engaged with the Saudis by conducting talks with Saudi intelligence chief, Muqrin," Mehlaqa Samdani of the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote last week. "These talks came to an abrupt halt when in mid-2009, Prince Muqrin was told point-blank that Mullah Omar decided to discontinue all negotiations [since he] took it as an affront that on the one hand Washington aimed to engage the Taliban through Saudi Arabia, while on the other hand it planned to continue all efforts to defeat the Taliban through its troop surge and drone strikes," Samdani wrote in "Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and prospects for peace with the Taliban." The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, must have known Baradar's location and turned a blind eye for some time, Bhalla said. "He was hanging out in southern Karachi with ISI knowledge. He wasn't really posing a threat to Pakistan," she said. Baradar has been under U.N. sanctions since February 2001, with his assets frozen and travel banned. The United Nations also forbids selling weapons to him. He was born around 1968 in the village of Weetmak in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, according to the world body. "Baradar," which means brother in Afghanistan's Dari language, appears to be a nickname. CNN's Richard Allen Greene, Joe Sterling, Dick Uliano and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in control of military operation in Afghanistan, experts say . Afghan Taliban's second-in-command reportedly captured in Pakistan . Baradar has had close relationship with Osama bin Laden, analysts say . Capture may suggest change in Pakistan's cooperation with U.S., some experts say .

(CNN) -- Iranian officials said Sunday that the Middle Eastern nation will create a court focusing on "media crimes," according to state-run media reports, a move that has fueled fears Tehran is further intensifying its crackdown on journalists. Abbas Zagholi, the head of Iran's Government Employees Court, said the new judicial branch "was necessitated by the special media crimes," according to a report in Khabar, a conservative publication run by backers of parliamentary Speaker and Tehran Mayor Ali Larijani. "For certain reasons, such as great developments in mass media, the Tehran prosecutor felt the need to create a more independent court to deal with media affairs," Zagholi said. Omid Memarian, a native Iranian and U.S.-based freelance journalist who said he talks regularly with journalists in Iran, said the new apparatus could spell greater attention, and prosecution, of those who don't mimic Tehranian government positions. "The fear is that the media ... will be watched more intensely than in the past," said Memarian. "They will have more money, more judges and more people to focus on the media and target journalists." According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 34 journalists were detained at the end of last year in Iran -- tying it with China for the most imprisoned journalists of any country. They include Mohammad Davari, editor of the news website Saham News, who landed behind bars after reporting on detainees who were raped and tortured in Kahrizak Detention Center. Just last week, the advocacy group delivered a petition signed by 1,102 people to Iran's ambassador to the United Nations urging Iran to end what it called its "unjustifiable crackdown" on the media. Memarian said that, in the present system, journalists cannot publicize any information -- especially if it could be construed as critical -- unless it is from a government source or ran on a state-sponsored media outlet first. He himself was editor of a publication in Iran from 2003 through 2005, the same year that he won Human Rights Watch's Human Rights Defender Award. "You cannot criticize government policies ... If somebody says something inappropriate, you cannot report that," said Memarian, whose work has appeared on the website Huffington Post, in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. "The government has an official narrative (and) no one can challenge that." Currently, cases involving journalists are tried in Iran's Government Employees Court. But Zagholi told Khabar that the explosion of mass media, including the Internet and satellite communications, prompted the judicial system change. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran's chief prosecutor, said "cultural and media crimes" will be addressed exclusively in the new court "so that they can be dealt with by specialists," according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. "The intention is not to replace the country's cultural organizations with this court," Dolatabadi said. The new media court will likely start on or around March, Al Akbar Kasaian, secretary of Iran's supervising media board, told the semiofficial Fars News Agency. Zhagoli predicted its judges will do a "great job (to) protect the rights of those working the media and will bring about judicial justice." "It is now much easier for people to connect with each other and, therefore, certain new crimes are being committed that cannot be overlooked," he added, according to a translation of his remarks from Khabar. Sunday's announcement comes days after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The head of Iran's National Security Council and other Iranian authorities had lauded this development, comparing "the Egyptian Revolution with the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution," according to Iran's state-run media. But while publicly praising the Egyptian revolution, the Iranian government has rounded up activists after Iran's two leading opposition figures called for a rally Monday in support of the uprising in Egypt. On Saturday, Iranian authorities had blocked key internet searches in an apparent effort to obstruct access to sites touting the rally, according to an opposition website and two Tehran residents. Iranian authorities on Wednesday warned against any attempt by the opposition movement to hold a rally. Revolutionary Guard Cmdr. Hossein Hamedani told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, "We definitely see them as enemies of the revolution and spies, and we will confront them with force." The White House says such threats to stifle dissent and mass communication suggest that Iran's government is not willing to let its people voice their views and embrace freedom. "They are scared," press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday, hours after Mubarak stepped down. "That's why they threatened to kill anybody that tries to do this. That's why they have shut off all measure of communication." Even with restrictions on journalists, Memarian said many Iranians have been able to track recent developments in Egypt and elsewhere in forums beyond state-run media, including watching news reports from international media and viewing stories online. He said independent journalists still exist within Iran, even after a massive crackdown following popular unrest after the 2009 elections. Their accounts may become important if, as he predicts, opposition forces find renewed strength and voice their views publicly in the coming days. "We challenge the narrative of the government," Memarian said, noting that reports get out funneled through journalists like himself and posted online more anonymously. "They do their role, even if they don't go public in that role."

Iranian officials say a new special court will focus on "media crimes," state media say . The court will include justices specializing in media, cultural issues . A U.S.-based Iranian journalist say independent media will likely be even more targeted . A journalist rights group says 34 journalists are jailed in Iran, as much as in any nation .

(CNN) -- Two years ago next week, Superstorm Sandy barreled through parts of the United States, causing $65 billion worth of damage to communities up and down the Eastern seaboard. Sandy, which brought extensive flooding to New York and Atlantic City, was described by many as a once in a generation storm. But in the coming years, thanks to global warming, it won't take superstorms like Sandy to bring regular and potentially dangerous flooding to parts of the United States. Tidal flooding used to be a relatively rare occurrence along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, generally happening only occasionally at high tide or king tide, when the sun and the moon are aligned. But based on what scientists already know about climate change, it is clear that sea levels are going to rise over the next few decades. Coastal flooding is expected to occur even more often and cause more disruption. This will redefine how and where coastal residents live, work, and go about their daily routines. High tides are having a greater impact now for two reasons. First, our coasts are more heavily developed, so higher tides affect more people and infrastructure. Second, these tides are now occurring along with elevated -- and rising -- sea levels. Global sea levels rose approximately 8 inches from 1880 to 2009 as global warming hastened land-based ice melt, and seawater expanded as it absorbed heat from a warming atmosphere. Sea level rise worldwide is now accelerating, and at an especially fast rate along parts of the East Coast. This reality is captured in a report we co-authored earlier this month, analyzing how often flooding occurs at 52 sites along the Eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico and estimating the frequency and extent of flooding over the next 15 and 30 years. We found that many East Coast communities now experience dozens of tidal floods every year. In some places, there has been a fourfold increase in the number of days per year with tidal flooding since 1970. When tidal floods occur, water can cover roads for hours, making passage risky or even impossible, trapping residents in their homes. Sometimes this is just a short-lived nuisance, requiring traffic detours. But sometimes floods can compromise evacuation routes -- a particular problem when public safety and commerce in some coastal communities, such as those that dot the Outer Banks in North Carolina, depend on just one or two access routes. So what can we do? In the short term, municipalities, counties and states have to clear flooded coastal roads and repair damage from erosion and overwash. But over the long term, "in many cases, they are going to have to raise the roads on their existing path," according to Steve Miller at the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in New Hampshire. "Money is a big question." Retail stores, restaurants and public infrastructure clustered in low-lying waterfront areas are also threatened by tidal flooding. South Florida has been particularly hard-hit. Tidal flooding "has really affected our business," noted Bobby Thakore, owner of the Taste Bakery Café on Alton Road in Miami Beach and one of the many people we spoke with when compiling our report. "We are down 15 percent on revenue during flooding, and in the past year construction [to address flooding] mixed with the flooding and has made our revenue loss worse." Using a midrange estimate for future sea level rise, we found that more than half of the 52 communities we analyzed can expect to average more than two dozen tidal floods per year by 2030. The rise in the frequency of tidal flooding represents an extremely steep increase for some, and two-thirds could experience at least three times more high-tide floods every year. We expect the Mid-Atlantic coast to see some of the biggest increases in flood frequency. Because many communities are already coping with tidal floods, a tripling in their frequency would mean they could occur more than four times a month by 2030. Annapolis, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., for example, can expect to average more than 150 tidal floods a year, and several New Jersey locations could suffer 80 tidal floods or more annually. By 2045, many coastal communities likely will experience a sea level rise of about a foot. As that occurs, a third of the 52 locations in our analysis would begin to average more than 180 tidal floods a year. And nine locations, including Atlantic City and Cape May in New Jersey, can expect tidal floods 240 times or more per year. Without sensible preparation, daily life in low-lying areas along the East and Gulf coasts will become at best risky and at worst dangerous. Coastal communities -- and state and federal agencies -- have to start planning today to cope with unprecedented tidal flooding and take precautions to limit longer-term damage. Communities need to flood-proof homes, neighborhoods and sewer and stormwater infrastructure and limit new development in flood-prone areas. Federal and state governments, meanwhile, need to monitor sea level rise and flooding, provide funding and other resources for local resilience-building efforts, reform flood insurance programs, and -- most importantly -- address the root of the problem. Sadly, the reality is that the near-term increase in sea level and tidal flooding may be unavoidable. But if states and the federal governments take concerted action to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, then we can at least avoid the worst consequences of global warming.

Global sea levels rose about 8 inches from 1880 to 2009, says science group . Melanie Fitzpatrick, Erika Spanger-Siegfried: It's accelerating along East Coast . By 2045, nine locations can expect tidal floods 240 times or more per year, they write .

(CNN) -- Kate Ryan's fiancé will not let her live down the fact that she chose a hotel for their weekend getaway from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to New York based on the teenage drama "Gossip Girl." Ryan, a 26-year-old public relations executive, watches the CW show regularly. Like many viewers this past season, she took notice when the show's resident bad boy, Chuck Bass, opted to invest in some New York real estate, the very real Empire Hotel on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "We walked into the lobby and my fiancé was like, 'Oh, now I know why you wanted to stay here, even though this hotel is in a horrible neighborhood,' " Ryan recalled. It is women in their 20s and early 30s, like Ryan, who have built a fan base for "Gossip Girl" and who are now driving traffic to the hotel across the street from Lincoln Center. While hotels in New York have been suffering over the past six months because of the nationwide recession and an increase in the supply of hotel rooms in the city, The Empire Hotel has seen a 5 to 10 percent increase in bookings and a 50 percent increase in Web site traffic since September. The marriage between property and television show began last summer when the production company called David Bowd, the president of hotels for Amsterdam Hospitality, which owns the Empire Hotel, and said it was looking for a hotel for location filming and also to include as a quasi-character on the show. "They were looking at three major competitors of ours at the time," Bowd said. "They finally picked us and I thought it was a great match for the hotel because we already catered to a young, affluent crowd in New York City with our rooftop lounge." The show started filming quietly in the hotel's rooms and lobby over the summer. The hotel made its TV debut at the start of the fall season when Chuck Bass began living and working out of the hotel. Its bright red sign is featured prominently on the show. "My phone never stopped ringing from folks in the industry asking 'Really?' " Bowd said. "But I thought it was a great idea. I watched as a woman around 17 years old came to stay at the hotel with her mother. She didn't realize that the show would be filming and she nearly hyperventilated right there in the lobby." It is girls like that and women like Ryan who are driving traffic to the hotel these days. That is an invaluable asset as tourist traffic is up and business travel is down. "I think that teenagers can dictate where their parents stay over vacation and we saw a lot of that over the Thanksgiving holiday and into the bookings for Christmas and New Year's," Bowd said. Alanna Lopez manages the front desk and concierge service for the Empire and said there is no shortage of guest questions about the show during the room booking process. "The standard questions we get are about how often the cast shoots and when they will be back. A lot of people call just wanting to know if they really shoot here in the hotel or whether they just use the name, and I have to tell them that yes, they really do shoot on location here," Lopez said. On site, most of the questions Lopez and her staff are asked don't come from starstruck teenagers. They come from women Ryan's age. "The questions here come from girls in their 20s and 30s. They want to know if Chuck Bass is really as cute as he is on the show and if the girls are actually skinny in person," Lopez said. When the show's stars, Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick, are at the hotel filming, it isn't unusual for crowds of around 400 people to gather outside the hotel's entrance on West 63rd Street. The Empire's boom comes amid an overall decrease in occupancy for hotel rooms throughout the rest of New York. John A. Fox, a senior vice president with PKF, a consulting hotel advisory firm, reviews hotel numbers every day. He noticed an uptick in the Empire's numbers recently but had not thought to attribute it to the hotel's guest appearance in a television show. Fox said the rest of New York's hotels are just starting to put the dark days behind them. Compared to the Empire's increased sales, occupancy for the city as a whole has been at 81 percent, down 5 points from 86 percent last year. Additionally, room rates have been down, decreasing by around $70 last year. The change, Fox said, comes from the replacement of business travelers to the city with the kind of tourists who are flocking to the Empire. "You can compare it to what 'Sex & the City' did for the shoes [of] Manolo Blahnik," said branding expert Todd Brenard of The James Group. "It increases the awareness of the hotel to a national audience and people who are loyal viewers of the show will want to experience in their lives what they see the characters experiencing. Plus people who are new to New York will already feel like they know the hotel and that is comforting for out-of-town travelers." The hotel's staff has been enjoying capitalizing on its newfound fame. They hired cocktail consultant Somer Perez to concoct a menu of "Gossip Girl"-themed cocktails for the property's rooftop bar and lounge, including the "I'm Chuck Bass," a mix of Dewar's Scotch and apple cider that the menu promises will start out sweet and turn sour, much like the character played by Westwick.

New York's Empire Hotel is regularly featured on the CW's "Gossip Girl" The hotel has seen a 5 to 10 percent increase in bookings since September . The show's stars, Blake Lively and Ed Westwick, draw crowds when filming there .

Washington (CNN) -- The word compromise is never music to the ears of passionate advocates for a cause. This is especially true for advocates of overturning the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law, a law that was supposed to be a suitable compromise itself in 1993. But when idealism collides with political reality, risk avoidance and workable solutions become the goal. The deal that was reached on DADT this week between the White House, the Pentagon, gay rights groups (including my own), and pro-repeal champions on Capitol Hill is that workable solution and will get us where we need to go. More than 14,000 proudly serving men and women have been abruptly fired from the military pursuant to the DADT law, and many more have voluntarily left the military because of the burden of serving under this unnecessary restriction. The DADT law prevents our armed forces from being able to recruit and retain troops from the largest possible pool of talent, and it is a stain on the integrity of our nation. We cannot afford to wait until next year to lock in full legislative repeal. Our country needs this now. The risks of waiting until after the midterm elections to address DADT legislatively were simply too great. It is possible that the pro-repeal majority could lose seats in November, and could even lose control of one chamber of Congress. If it passes, this deal will get the looming legislative battle over with. It will also free up the Pentagon to implement the recommendations of its Comprehensive Review Working Group on DADT when it finally releases its road map for a smooth transition in December. The Pentagon and the president will not have to return to Congress for permission on implementing repeal -- the legislation hammered out in this week's agreement will already have authorized the change. This deal is not perfect, but unlike the 1993 DADT law, which codified a de facto gay ban in the military, this new legislation would firmly establish the mechanisms for ending the gay ban once and for all. More importantly, it would do so in a way that has achieved coveted Pentagon support -- a critical requirement for any DADT repeal legislation. But there were three concessions that repeal supporters reluctantly agreed to in order to pick up White House and Pentagon support. These concessions, however, do not compromise the goal of full legislative repeal of DADT. The first is an option that the progressive community had already resigned itself to: delayed implementation. While my organization has long argued that including a delay provision would be the only politically viable way to secure legislative repeal soon, this model for language only recently caught on in the rest of the pro-repeal community. This part of the deal was a given. The second concession was allowing the president, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to decide together the date on which the new law, once passed, would actually take effect. The three are already public supporters of repeal and can be trusted to act in good faith. They may not certify the implementation plan as quickly as some repeal advocates would like (some have unrealistically suggested a matter of days or weeks after the working group issues its report), but I believe that they will within a reasonable amount of time. After all, even the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Conway -- the staunchest opponent of this policy change -- testified before the House Armed Services Committee earlier this year that if this change became inevitable, even he would recommend making the change as swiftly as possible just to get it over with. The third and final concession -- and the most controversial -- was the removal of the affirmative non-discrimination provision from the legislative language. This provision would have legally prevented the Department of Defense from ever engaging in discriminatory practices towards gay and lesbian troops again. Although I am not convinced this was necessary to pick up any additional support for repeal, in light of concessions that were already in the works, it is important to keep in mind that statutory non-discrimination language would have been above and beyond what other minority groups have been given through military personnel policy legislation. An administrative or regulatory non-discrimination policy, such as that accorded women and African-Americans, will be more than sufficient to ensure that lesbian, gay and bisexual service members are protected from discriminatory practices or policies. Even if this deal makes it over its biggest hurdles this week -- a Senate Armed Services Committee vote and a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives -- there will still be much work ahead. The president and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates must be pressed to ensure that the Pentagon's working group does not get off track, as shamefully did happen with the Military Working Group on DADT in 1993. And the president should strongly consider creating a civilian oversight and advisory group to help make a smooth transition to a post-DADT military, as was done for ensuring smooth policy changes on women through the creation of the Defense Advisory Commission on Women in the Services. President Obama recently revived this commission for women, and it would behoove the administration to create a similar commission for this policy change. If this legislation clears these two major hurdles this week, it will undoubtedly be the final nail in the coffin of the outdated and onerous DADT law. This policy change is the best thing for our country and for our military, and it should be supported. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alex Nicholson.

More than 14,000 troops fired because of "don't ask, don't tell," says Alexander Nicholson . Deal on DADT between White House, Pentagon, gay rights groups, is good, says Nicholson . New legislation would firmly establish the mechanisms for ending gay ban, he says . Nicholson: Most importantly, it would do so with coveted Pentagon support .

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- To the soundtrack of fingers banging on keyboards, a cluster of Internet users recently caught up on their e-mails, updated their statuses on Facebook and looked for love on Match.com. The activity would seem unremarkable in any other Internet cafe except there were no lattes for sale and no soft-rock music being piped over speakers, and the owner of "the cafe" is the Cuban government. Read more: 'Forbidden bloggers' The "navigation hall" as such establishments are called here, is one of 118 government-run Internet access points that Cuban authorities opened in June, marking a small step towards greater connectivity in a country with some of the lowest percentages of Internet penetration in the Western hemisphere. For high school student Arian Bacallao, the opening of the centers meant his first opportunity to see sites like Youtube, Twitter and Google. "For a while now I have been trying to find a way to get online, which wasn't that easy to do," he said. "Now that the government's done this, it's a convenient way to find information." Report: Internet censorship on the up . Convenient, but at $4.50 an hour, hardly cheap. While Cubans who work in the island's small but growing private sector or receive remittances from abroad might be able to afford to go online in the navigation centers, it remains an unimaginable luxury for a state employee who typically makes about $20 a month. "You have to get the money together, it's not easy," said Lisbet Rodriguez, a chef in training who said the high cost of going online meant she could only get online twice each month. "If it could be just a little faster," Rodriguez said as she glanced back at the on-screen clock, which was slowly counting down the time she had left. "But I'd rather pay four bucks here than $10 to get online in a hotel." Before the navigation halls opened, Cubans had to enter -- often sneak -- into hotels to use expensive Internet outlets set aside for foreigners. Or they had to ask a favor of a friend who had access through his or her job. Or give a thumb drive full of e-mails to a tourist and hope they would send them once they left Cuba. 'Father of the internet': Why we must fight for its freedom . Even though there are the 118 new halls, there are only a total of 419 computers where people can go online. While that would appear to woefully insufficient for a country of 11 million people, Tania Velazquez Rodriguez, an assistant director with the state-run ETECSA telecommunications company, said so far government officials say they are meeting the relatively small demand for Internet access. Velazquez said currently about 1,000 people each day are using the new centers. But Velazquez said usage is expected to surge should the price drop, a possibility she said Cuban officials were "studying." "Obviously its not enough, we understand that, we know that and we have plans to expand access," she said. "We are working very hard so that by the end of the year we can have more locations." More locations would more mean information -- a rarity in a country where for most of the last 54 years of the Cuban revolution the only media available was a state-run variety rendered bland and devoid of current events to the point of becoming a running joke in the same populace to which it was force-fed. But with increasing usage of cell phones by Cubans and information carried in to the country one newspaper and magazine a time by travelers from abroad, slowly gaps have appeared in the information wall. "Today there is news in every direction," Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba's first vice president and presumptive successor to Raul Castro, said in May. "People receive it, they know about it. So then the worst thing is to remain silent." Cubans who use the navigation halls can access social media, foreign news publications and even blogs written by some of the island's dissidents who are highly critical of the government. But before they do, any user of the government Internet has to sign a contract promising not to engage in any subterfuge online that could harm Cuba's "economy, sovereignty or national security." "Obviously, our government promotes certain conduct regarding ethical and moral behaviors," said state communications official Velazquez. Ted Henken, an associate professor at Baruch College who was written a book on the emergence of social media in Cuba, said the government is wrestling with the problem of giving greater access while not losing control. "I thing it's significant in a kind of cat-and-mouse game between the government and the people of Cuba," he said, "Regardless of their political ideology (they) really want to be connected to the 21st century and that means the Internet." At a Havana navigation hall, retiree Raul Fernandez said he wasn't interested in politics or societal change but in keeping in touch with a brother living in Costa Rica and a son who had moved to Spain. "You have to spend money but nowadays everything costs something," he said of the price tag of his new ability to e-mail with family. "You have to make the sacrifice." Still, he said, with his eyes lighting up, what would be even better than a cost reduction would be to one day have Internet service at his home. "It would be more convenient," he explained. "Then I could communicate whenever I feel like it."

The Cuban government opened 118 "navigation halls" in June . They allow access to the Internet -- for a price, $4.50 an hour . It's an unimaginable luxury for a state employee earning about $20 a month . Still, a professor says, Cubans "really want to be connected"

(CNN) -- Colleen Whiteaker's three eldest daughters looked at her with concern. They were beautiful, she thought, with their slim, athletic builds and porcelain skin. She hadn't wanted them to deal with the pain of being overweight, so she had taught them to eat nutritious foods and stay active. Now they were throwing those lessons back in her face. Miriam, Candace and Chloe tried to pitch their "intervention" like a fun plan. They bought their mom a gym membership and some new workout clothes. They tried to avoid talking about her weight problem directly, but eventually the truth came out. "It was terrible," Candace remembers. "It's never something you want to bring up, especially to your mom. But really it was just hurting us to see her like that. We didn't want to have to worry about her dying." Their mother was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed more than 200 pounds. She had become isolated and never wanted to participate in family get-togethers. The older girls were worried their youngest sister Celeste, 5 at the time, wouldn't get to know the wonderful, energetic mom with whom they had grown up. "They were crying. I was crying," Colleen says. "It really hurt my feelings. ... I was like, 'I know I'm heavy. I know that, but I'm not unhealthy. I'm just supposed to be that weight.' "They were like, 'Mom, I don't think that's true.' " 'I was trying to lose weight' Colleen isn't sure how she put on so much weight. She was chubby as a child, and her weight fluctuated throughout adulthood. She didn't eat a lot of bad foods, staying away from fast food and fried fare. But she rarely exercised and says she has a slow metabolism. Shortly after Celeste's birth, Colleen and her husband divorced. Stress, combined with an unusual work schedule and a new baby, kept the pounds on despite multiple attempts at dieting. "It was discouraging because I wasn't just pretending like I didn't know I needed to lose weight," she says. "I was trying to lose weight. I wanted something to change." Unfortunately, her daughters' intervention didn't work. It wasn't until Chloe and Candace's college graduation nearly six years later that she really took a good look in the mirror. She was thrilled for her daughters and proud to be their mother, but she wasn't proud of the way she looked. She weighed close to 230 pounds. She dreaded meeting their college friends and taking a million photos. On the way home -- embarrassed and miserable -- Colleen thought about what she could do. A few years earlier, her new husband had bought a Bowflex TreadClimber. It was sitting in their North Carolina house, practically unused. She promised herself she would start walking on it three times a week, for 20 minutes. And that's what she did. At the end of September 2011, she met her daughters at Kings Dominion, an amusement park in Virginia, for an annual trip. The girls noticed she had lost a bit of weight and complimented her. "I was excited, but I didn't really want to ... make a huge deal of it because I didn't want her to feel like we were adding pressure," Candace says. The girls' comments encouraged Colleen. She added another day to her routine, then another. Soon she was walking for 45 minutes, six days a week. The more she exercised, the more she was conscious of what she was eating. She started writing down her meals in a journal to get an idea of how much she was consuming each day. Her goal was to go from a size 20 to a size 12. By May 2012, she was a size 2/4. She had lost more than 110 pounds in about 10 months. "She was ready to take on the world," Candace says. "She wanted to go out and do all these things. ... It was like having our old mom back." Have you lost weight? Share your story on iReport . Raiding daughters' closets fun . When she was overweight, Colleen says she never felt bad physically. "I did whatever I wanted to do, but I didn't want to do that much," she says with a laugh. Today she says she feels "100% better." "She has more energy than we do now," Candace says. "She's just very inspiring, and she just keeps going, and I love her for that." Colleen was laid off before she jumped on the TreadClimber. She went on multiple job interviews that amounted to nothing. But her first interview after losing the weight resulted in a job offer. She's not sure if it was her new body or her newfound confidence, but she knows people treat her differently now that she's slim. "They see you as maybe having something to offer," she says. Perhaps her favorite part of losing weight is borrowing her daughters' clothes. Before, she hated to go shopping to buy new clothes. Now when she visits, she doesn't even bother to pack -- instead preferring to raid their closets. Celeste just turned 13, and Candace is happy her youngest sister will get to experience Colleen as the mom she remembers. "She's very free-spirited and encouraging and happy," Candace says of her mother. "And that was being covered up by all that extra weight she was carrying around." Follow Jacque Wilson on Twitter @jdwilson2 or Google+ .

Colleen Whiteaker weighed more than 230 pounds at her heaviest . She went from a size 20 to a size 2/4 by exercising six days a week . Whiteaker is ready to take on the world now, one of her daughters says .

Perth, Australia (CNN) -- "I'm an engineer, so we don't talk emotions too much." Those were the words of Capt. Mark Matthews of the U.S. Navy shortly after the Australian Defense vessel Ocean Shield had discovered a series of pings in the southern Indian Ocean. Perhaps he didn't want to discuss his feelings. But he had a twinkle in his eye, a bit of what he called "cautious optimism." I've seen that same glimmer shining through on the faces of dozens of others involved in the arduous search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It's been there through each new lead, and even through some of the setbacks. The search for the missing Boeing 777 has gone on for eight weeks now. We've all had to learn a new technical language: from Inmarsat satellite data and the "Doppler Effect," to the TPL-25 and Bluefin-21. We've heard countless theories about where the plane might have gone and who might have been flying it. Both the science and the science fiction have, at times, almost drowned out what this search is about at its core: solving the mystery of what happened to the 239 men, women, and children who were on board MH370. Closure . It takes people to find clues and to follow the trail of where they lead. People who are working tirelessly across borders and time zones, putting their lives on hold with the aim of bringing even the smallest bit of closure to the families of those who have been lost, and to prevent their nightmare from ever happening again. Some, like Capt. Matthews, might humbly say that they're just doing their jobs. Others remain anonymous, like the international team in Kuala Lumpur, who did much to give the search a tangible focus, even if that focus has shifted several times. I've been covering the missing flight for CNN for more than 50 days in Malaysia and Australia. I can't pretend that what I do compares with the dedication of the hundreds of service members from China to New Zealand, who have flown tirelessly day after day over millions of square kilometers of the Indian Ocean. I can't pretend that I understand the pain of Selamat Omar, who lost his 29-year-old son, or Danica Weeks, whose husband, Paul, disappeared on the way to start a new job in Mongolia. But as a journalist, I've felt at least a small part of their confusion and frustration. I recall the difficulty in getting a candid response from Malaysian authorities in the early days of the search -- the way they sidestepped almost all tough questions during that first week after the plane vanished. I remember the Chinese family members who were brave enough to try to take their quest for answers public and were dragged out of the press room in Kuala Lumpur, screaming and crying. Thinking about their grief, the expressions on their faces that afternoon, still hits me hard. Human spirit . There have also been moments that have made me proud to be telling this story -- moments that have to do with the human spirit. The card from a 7-year-old on the Wall of Hope inside Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which said she was ready to greet the MH370 passengers as soon as they landed safely. The moment I saw the pinger locator and Bluefin-21 robotic submarine on the dock at Garden Island in Western Australia, I felt a sense of awe and honor standing just steps away from keys that still have the potential to unlock this puzzle. And the moment search chief Angus Houston told the world "I'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft ... in the not too distant future. But we haven't found it yet because this is a very challenging business." A voice of reassurance and reason, even if the challenge soon outweighed the optimism. Over the past eight weeks, I've witnessed something. It's called hope. It was in the words of the housekeeper who answered the front door at Captain Zaharie's house in the Kuala Lumpur suburbs. It was in in the wake of the Ocean Shield as it pulled away from the dock at Stirling Naval Base and made speed for the search area. It was there when I sat a few feet away from the Malaysia Airlines CEO on Day 4, and it was there when I spoke to Captain Matthews around Day 44. Just a few days ago, I felt it again, when I returned to Pearce Air Force Base outside Perth. As I stepped onto the tarmac, I recalled the first time I'd done so, more than a month earlier, to welcome back one of our reporters after she'd taken part in an 11-hour search flight. Solving the mystery . Almost 350 flights later, the massive air search was over with no trace of MH370. Planes from seven countries were lined up in formation at Pearce. Flight crews from Australia to Malaysia to South Korea traded stories, reflecting on the moments behind them, before pausing to recognize the task that still lies ahead. I remember what a young American pilot who flew on the P8 Poseidon search plane told me: that his greatest disappointment after weeks of looking out over the vast open ocean was not being able to give the families what they needed the most. And that if he could continue the search, he would, until the day he found something. After all these weeks, it's a feeling that remains strong as ever -- the hope and the belief that we may eventually be able to solve this mystery, and that the families of 239 passengers and crew will one day have the answer to a crucial question: Why?

The search for the missing Boeing 777 has gone on for eight weeks now . No closer to solving mystery of what happened to the 239 men, women, and children . Despite frustration, searchers remain determined to bring closure to relatives of passengers .

(CNN) -- Chelsea struck a major blow in the English Premier League title race with a controversial 2-1 victory over champions Manchester United on Saturday that put the London club two points clear at the top of the table with five matches to play. Carlo Ancelotti's team traveled to Old Trafford to face a side reeling from the loss of injured England star Wayne Rooney following the midweek European Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich. The Italian coach opted to leave his own key forward Didier Drogba on the substitutes' bench, but the Ivory Coast international scored a decisive goal with 11 minutes to play despite being clearly offside. United boss Alex Ferguson was left fuming at the decision. "What I can't understand is the linesman's directly in front of it. He has no-one near him and he gets it wrong," the Scot told Sky Sports. "A game of that magnitude, you really need quality officials and we didn't get them today. It was a poor, poor performance. "Five games left, they're two points ahead and four goals better than us -- they're in the driving seat. Chelsea are favorites now, there's no question. I'm certain we'll respond but we could win the next five games and not win it." United hit back with a late bundled goal from young substitute Federico Macheda, which television replays showed came off the Italian's arm, but Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov could not convert a chance to equalize in time added on. Chelsea, who had scored 12 goals in the two previous matches and did not have to play in midweek following last month's Champions League exit against Inter Milan, started the game in dominant form. Man of the match Florent Malouda set up the opening goal in the 20th minute, with the France winger surging past Darren Fletcher into the penalty area and providing a low cross that England midfielder Joe Cole cheekily backheeled past goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar. Both teams had penalty claims turned down before halftime, and Berbatov missed United's first real chance with a header after an hour. Drogba replaced Nicolas Anelka in the 69th minute, and 10 minutes later he had the ball in the net after collecting a pass from fellow substitute Salomon Kalou despite being further forward than United's last two defenders. United pulled a goal back with nine minutes to play as substitute Nani broke down the left and his cross rebounded off goalkeeper Petr Cech, onto Macheda and into the Chelsea net, with visiting captain John Terry appealing in vain for handball. Berbatov, who started on his own up front in place of Rooney, then tamely volleyed Gary Neville's cross into the arms of Cech as Chelsea held on for a deserved victory. Third-placed Arsenal kept their title hopes alive with a last-gasp 1-0 victory at 10-man Wolverhampton which left Arsene Wenger's team three points behind London rivals Chelsea. Wolves had captain Karl Henry sent off for a foul on Tomas Rosicky in the 66th minute, but Arsenal could not take advantage until deep into injury-time when substitute striker Nicklas Bendtner headed in Bacary Sagna's cross. Manchester City moved up to fourth place above Tottenham with a 6-1 thrashing of Burnley in Saturday's late match that left their near neighbors deep in relegation trouble. Roberto Mancini's team were 4-0 up after 20 minutes, and led 6-0 before an hour had been played as Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice along with goals from fellow strikers Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez. Patrick Vieira and Vincent Kompany were also on target before Steven Fletcher's 71st-minute consolation for the home side. Tottenham's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League took a big blow with a 3-1 defeat at Sunderland, for whom the London club's former striker Darren Bent scored twice -- the first after only 36 seconds and the second from the penalty spot. England World Cup hopeful Bent also had two spot-kicks saved by Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes as he took his tally to 23 for the season. Sunderland also had a goal disallowed as Steve Bruce's team consolidated 13th place, a comfortable 11 points clear of the bottom three. Aston Villa bounced back from the 7-1 thrashing at Chelsea with a 1-0 win at Bolton to join sixth-placed Liverpool -- who travel to Birmingham on Sunday -- on 54 points. England international Ashley Young fired an 11th-minute winner to leave Bolton five points above the relegation zone. Stoke moved up to 10th with a 2-0 victory that left Hull in the bottom three, equal on points with West Ham, who travel to Everton on Sunday. Jamaica forward Ricardo Fuller gave Stoke a sixth-minute lead, and Hull were reduced to 10 minutes after Dutch midfielder George Boateng was carried off after being kicked in the head before Liam Lawrence scored a late second. Bottom club Portsmouth delayed their inevitable relegation with a 0-0 draw at home to Blackburn despite having defender Anthony Van den Borre sent off with half an hour to play. Avram Grant's team would have gone down if they had lost and Hull had won.

Chelsea move two points clear at the top of the English Premier League with vital victory . London club defeat champions Manchester United in controversial match . Didier Drogba's second-half goal put Chelsea 2-0 up but substitute striker was offside . United hit back with goal by replacement Federico Macheda, who seemed to use his arm .

Cannes, France (CNN) -- Their stunt-laden movies have put them among the biggest names in Hollywood -- and this was a stunt made to match the world's most famous film festival. A who's-who of action heroes stunned promenaders on the Croisette by arriving in Cannes on tanks! Sly, Arnie, Dolph - and then those other stars whose cause is helped by the addition of a surname -- Jason (Statham), Harrison (Ford), Mel (Gibson), Antonio (Banderas), Wesley (Snipes) and, er Kelsey (Grammar). The muscular military parade came to a halt outside the Carlton Hotel -- the grandest destination on Cannes' main boulevard -- where the assembled action force waved to hundreds of fans when they weren't posing for selfies. Read more: 5 most controversial film festival moments . The CNN team should have been 200 meters further west along the Croisette in the Palais de Festivals watching a screening of Tommy Lee Jones' much anticipated entry for the Palme D'Or, "The Homesman." But this was just too good to miss -- a cinematic guilty pleasure. It took two rows of seats to accommodate the cast members, with Sly and Arnie back row, center stage with the newcomers arranged before them, including the only female member of the cast, Ronda Rouse. The quip-fest began and while Arnie, Sly and Mel couldn't resist a few jokey punches and strangleholds, the Expendables crew mostly contented themselves with trading punchlines instead. Talking about the franchise Stallone said "we finally got it right on the third one -- kinda like marriage." Laughter accompanied his cheeky shrug. It continued when he was asked what makes the perfect action hero. "Well you have to be incredibly intelligent, handsome, sexy, good teeth, high IQ, a lot of hair." But then, like an action hero suddenly remembering a fallen favorite comrade, he became suddenly wistful. "You know I'm gonna tell you the truth, I think it's the hardest thing in the world to find an action person because its an indefinable thing. What makes an audience like a person? Because it's not about muscles, because a lot of good action guys are not very muscular, they're not particularly good looking. There's something almost intangible and I don't know what it is, but I know it's very rare because there's only been about 15 action heroes -- I mean real serious ones -- in history." Read more: Kidman's work as Grace Kelly causes stir . Although several of the action heroes he was talking about were there at the press conference, former "Frasier" star Kelsey Grammar admitted he wasn't one of them, as he acknowledged when answering a question directed to the newcomers. "I would like to thank you for characterizing me as one of the younger actors. I'm new to action films and I feel my star is just rising." Antonio Banderas entered the fray, matching Stallone's earlier wistfulness and raising the stakes with an earnest, poignant account of his early Hollywood career typecast as the baddy with the foreign accent, until 1998's The "Mask of Zorro" changed all that and suddenly he was here among the good guys. "For a Spanish person like me to be invited to be part of this movie, which is kind of a hall of fame for action heroes, means a lot to my community and to me personally." By the time he'd finished he had transformed into the cute sad-eyed animated cat he personifies in 2011 animation "Puss in Boots" and the room was transfixed. But then the "elephant" in the room was spotted and cautiously approached. For men of a certain age, what precautions do you take to protect yourselves? Mock indignation ensued. Once again it was Sergeant-Major Stallone who put himself in the line of fire: "Precautions! I wish. Precautions are not in the budget. Seriously, everyone gets hurt. I've had two back operations, neck fused and both shoulders done. We're talking about hands-on action going all the way back to 'Indiana Jones.' You didn't have CGI then you just did it. And we take pride in actually taking the bumps and bruises." Mel Gibson concurred: "We have a battery of physicians like little elves who come in and fix us every night." "Yeah we have a whole wing in the hospital" added Stallone. "The Mel Gibson wing." Arnie joined the fun: "But I think that when you get older things do get easier. When Randy (Couture) picks me up and slams we into a wall it's a padded wall and when Sly was hitting me in the face he was taking it easy a little bit and when Harrison Ford was shooting me with a gun he didn't use live ammo." "You're ruining the magic now!" chipped in Kelsey. The theme continued. When will you know when you're too old to be an action hero? Sly jumped straight in with an alertness which defied his years: "I think when you wake up in the morning and your a** falls off it's time to go. Let me tell you something -- we are children with arthritis -- we are young forever."

"The Expendables 3" cast members arrive on tanks to promote upcoming blockbuster . Action legends Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dolph Lundgren attend . Sly Stallone not ready to give up action yet: "When your a** falls off it's time to retire" Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and Jason Statham also at hilarious press conference .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- In 1968 the Lotus Formula 1 team broke new ground. Rather than racing in a livery related to national flags or emblems, the team took to the circuit with cars in the color-scheme -- and wearing the logo of -- Imperial Tobacco's Gold Leaf brand. Lewis Hamilton's helmet bears the "Striding Man", symbol of Johnnie Walker for nearly 100 years . Since then Formula 1 and sponsorship have walked hand-in-hand, sponsorship money being a significant -- and in many case major -- source of revenue. But what do sponsors get out of Formula 1? Johnnie Walker, a Scotch whisky brand of Diageo, is in its third season of sponsoring the McLaren Mercedes team. Ben Anderson is Johnnie Walker's Global Brand Director: "Specifically for us we're looking at doing two things. At a brand level we're trying continually to develop the equity in our brand image. And that's by getting involved with international, stylish events like Formula 1. "And secondly it's a fantastic vehicle for us to get our responsible drinking message across. When we went into Formula 1 it was on those two bases." Johnnie Walker is the world's best-selling Scotch whisky (and the world's second-best selling whisky after the Irish whiskey, Jameson). Sold in 180 countries and consumed at a rate of 154 glasses per second (or five bottles per second; nearly 160 million bottles per annum), it is a truly global proposition. "You can imagine that when we wanted to get into a sponsorship property we needed something that gave us the global scale and global reach and Formula 1 was really the only possible sporting event that we could get this reach," continues Anderson "it's a huge annual event." With such a global presence, Johnnie Walker doesn't need Formula 1 to grab brand awareness. Rather it piggybacks on Formula 1's appeal -- and the brand appeal of McLaren Mercedes in particular -- to position itself as a youthful and dynamic proposition. "In terms of which team you go for we analyzed the teams and there was really only one potentially for us to get involved with and that was McLaren," says Anderson, "because we share so many similar characteristics. Both our teams are successful. Since they entered Formula 1, 41 years ago, no team has won more races than McLaren. "We're the best and biggest global Scotch player, we've won more awards than any other Scotch whisky. So there's a similarity there. Both brands are innovative. That fit of values -- these brands have a kind of status -- Mercedes, McLaren, Johnnie Walker." But it's not just about presenting the brand. Formula 1 offers Johnnie Walker a chance to entertain its clients in a unique way. "Ron Dennis says that Formula 1 is one of the last gladiatorial sports -- like chariot racing," says Anderson, "it's exciting, it's something you can get close to and experience in a really authentic way. And we found that it's a great asset to our corporate entertaining calendar. "We tend to take customers from specific markets to specific races, both in seeing what the brand looks like at its best in a contemporary, fashionable, international setting such as Formula 1 races are. Be they in Monaco, Sao Paolo or Shanghai, having deeper relationships with our customers is one of the benefits we get out of it." Formula 1 isn't Johnnie Walker's only sporting sponsorship. It also sponsors golf -- a sport that --Tiger Woods aside -- is rarely associated with youth and dynamism. But while its perception in Europe is one of "a walk in the country ruined", in the Asia-Pacific market it has the associated glamour and spirit of Formula 1. The Johnnie Walker classic has run in Asia for 17 years now and Johnnie Walker also sponsors the Championship at Gleneagles in Scotland (Gleneagles is also a Diageo property). Anderson relates a piece of Gleneagles trivia: its golf course was designed by a descendant of Johnnie Walker. Key to the brand message that Johnnie Walker -- and Diageo -- is trying to get across is responsible drinking. Diageo runs worldwide campaigns on this message, including the "Drink Aware" campaign in the UK and "Think B4U Drink" campaign in Australia. But aren't motor sports and drink strange bedfellows? "Responsible drinking and Formula 1: a lot of people say, can you explain that to me for a second?" says Anderson, "I'm always delighted to answer that particular question because responsible drinking is a critical part of Diageo's message." The message has been reinforced by having formula McLaren world champion, Mika Hakkinen, work as a taxi driver at various Grands Prix. "Recently I happened to be in Monaco with [Hakkinen]. 'Why are you driving a taxi promoting responsible drinking?' people ask. The very fact that you're putting that question into people's minds is unbelievably powerful." And then when you explain that a Formula 1 driver is a great athlete who is in control, but that you cannot be in control if you're drinking and driving. It's a powerful message that really resonates with consumers. "If governments do responsible drinking messages, it's probably ignored to be honest, if companies do it, it's less impactful. But Mika is still a hero amongst many young people it really does resonate with them and it changes their behavior and their attitude to something which is critical to Johnnie Walker, to Diageo and to me." E-mail to a friend .

Formula 1 seen as a young and dynamic sponsorship opportunity . Global reach of the sport is seen as an advantage . Corporate hospitality helps Johnnie Walker get closer to its customers .

(CNN) -- Bowe Bergdahl wanted a life of adventure. People attend a vigil for Bergdahl in Hailey, Idaho, on Wednesday. He was a seeker, a hard worker, a man raised in a small town, an avid outdoorsman who took ballet lessons. By the age of 23, he had learned to navigate the high seas on an expedition that took him from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. He didn't care for cars, choosing to bike to and from odd jobs he worked to pay for his travels, friends say. "He's a good kid," said his hometown buddy Dylan Fulmer. "Strong as an ox." While working on a commercial fishing vessel in Alaska, Bergdahl told Fulmer he was dreaming of riding his motorcycle around the world. "This kid is crazy," laughed Fulmer, recalling his reaction to his friend's ambitions. "There's no land all the way around the world. Then he explained the whole boat process. Biking around the world, that's one heckuva feat right there." Watch how friends recall adventurous Bergdahl » . Enlisting in the U.S. Army was another way for him to understand the world, but has become a horrific encounter with the darker side. Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl was captured three weeks ago in the Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense. The Taliban is holding him, threatening to kill him if foreign troops continue search operations in Ghazni and Paktika provinces, which they claim target civilians, according to Taliban commander Mulvi Sangeen contacted by telephone by CNN Friday at an undisclosed location. On Sunday, a video was released of Bergdahl dressed in loose fitting blue clothes and sitting on the floor in a location that American officials are not pinpointing publicly. The soldier seems to get choked up when he speaks of his family -- his parents, siblings, nieces and nephew -- and the girlfriend he hopes to marry. "I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America, and I miss them every day that I'm gone," he says. "I miss them, and I'm afraid I might never see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them I love them again. I'll never be able to hug them. I'm scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner," he says. He adds that he's being treated like "a guest." It's unclear if he is speaking from a script his captors are ordering him to follow. Bergdahl's family members, who live in a small rustic home tucked in the woods outside Ketchum, Idaho, have chosen not to speak to reporters. The Bergdahls released a statement earlier this week: "We appreciate and take comfort in all the kind words and support we've heard." "We'd like to ask that your concern for our son Bowe also be shared with all of our American service members in harm's way around the world. We are very grateful to all of them." Bowe Bergdahl was home schooled and taught chivalry at a young age, friends and neighbors of his family say. He is able to have a conversation with anyone, and has a natural curiosity. "Bowe is not somebody in the corner," said Sue Martin, the owner of Zaney's Coffee Shop in nearby Hailey, Idaho, where Bergdahl once worked as a barista. "You engage and he engages very well." "He captures you," Martin said. She recalled going to her car after a snowstorm and seeing that the snow had been scrapped off. "Bowe would have been out there... He would never say anything," Martin said. Her shop has become the epicenter of hometown support, with people leaving notes to him. "Always a knight searching for what is good and right and true in the world," one of them read. One rainy evening, Blaine Country Sheriff Walt Femling spotted Bergdahl walking his bike on the side of the road, completely drenched. "I stopped to give him a ride and he turned it down because he didn't want to get my car wet and he continued to walk in the rain. Kind of tells you a little bit about the person," recalled Femling, who know Bergdahl through renting him an apartment the sheriff owned. "I don't usually rent to 20-year-olds," Femling said, but he trusted Bergdahl. "There's not many young people who have the kind manners he has," said neighbor Minna Casser. "He's a gentleman and a sportsman. He did some yard work for us. And he didn't just do the job, he went above and beyond what was expected." And for all the complimentary things people in Blaine County, Idaho, are saying at Bowe Bergdahl, they all make sure at least one thing is understood. This is not a young man who backs down. Dan Collins is a fishing boat captain who hired Bergdahl for 10 weeks two summers ago, pulling for sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska, up for 18 to 20 hours a day. "It's just hard, grueling work, hours per day. But he was up to it," said Collins. "I am at times not the easiest guy to get along with, being a fishing boat's captain. But I imagine I am easy compared to what he is dealing with everyday now." CNN's Ed Lavandera, Paul Vercammen, Ashley Fantz and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Bowe Bergdahl tough under adverse circumstances, friends say . He took ballet lessons, never owned a car, loved travel and adventure . He was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan on June 30, U.S. officials say .

(CNN) -- The stakes are high this November, for the strength of our economy and the direction of our country. For me, like a lot of us, the stakes are also personal: The choice I make in the voting booth will significantly affect my friends, my loved ones and my generation. Like many millennials, I am concerned about the job market and costs of college. And I'm worried about access to affordable health care for all. But I could never have predicted just how intensely personal this election would become. When I was publicly attacked for testifying before members of Congress, I became even more keenly aware that the rights that generations of women fought so hard to achieve could be rolled back easily. That began a national conversation that I believe highlighted President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney's vastly different values and visions. Obama is committed to rebuilding our economy upon the values of fairness and opportunity and the belief that all Americans, both men and women, must have the rights they deserve. That's why I'm proud to endorse his re-election. He's demonstrated those values since he moved into the Oval Office. The first law he signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which empowers women to challenge pay discrimination in the workplace. He's now asking Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to help stop pay discrimination before it starts and close the 23% gap between women's earnings and men's earnings. Obama also made college more affordable by doubling our investment in Pell Grant scholarships, giving students tuition tax breaks and by fighting to keep interest rates low on student loans. He's helping millions of students graduate without the weight of unbearable loans and financial insecurity. Most importantly, Obamacare is providing vital health coverage for millions of young Americans, especially women and families. When the reforms are fully in effect, we will no longer be denied coverage because of a preexisting condition or charged more for insurance because we are women. We will finally have affordable access to preventive care, such as prenatal exams, cancer screenings and contraception. Health reform makes real the fair premise that our access to basic health care shouldn't depend on where we work, where we go to school or what gender we are. Opinion: Slurs won't silence women . Obama has moved our country forward by working not only to ensure Americans' prosperity, but also by guaranteeing that our rights are protected and we all have opportunities to succeed. By comparison, Romney has offered only frightening promises to send us backward. On fair pay for women, Romney says he won't do anything to make the situation worse; this is little comfort when he then says he won't do anything to make it better. He won't tell us whether he would have signed the Lilly Ledbetter law, and he failed to stand up to congressional Republicans who opposed the Paycheck Fairness Act. Romney would cut his own taxes, but make college more expensive for young people just getting on their feet. Those aren't the values we want in a president -- and they're a stark contrast to Obama, who would raise his own taxes and keep cutting them for the middle class. Romney would allow the college tax credit expire for millions of middle-class families and embraced the congressional Republican budget that would let student loan interest rates double. Instead of explaining how he would improve Americans' access to health care, Romney says only that he would "repeal Obamacare" and "kill it dead on its first day." In practical terms, that means Romney would strip health care coverage from the more than 6.6 million young Americans who, thanks to Obamacare, are not being dropped from their parents' insurance coverage. He would allow insurance companies to keep charging women a billion dollars more every year than they charge men. He would eliminate mandatory preventative care coverage despite its life-saving benefits. In this, Romney has revealed an alarming lack of the vision required to lead. Fundamentally, it's that capacity for leadership that is most important in a president, which brings me back to the national conversation fueled by the verbal assault I experienced earlier this year. In the aftermath of those attacks, I was heartened by the many Americans of all political stripes who reached out to me and supported me. They knew that whether we agree or disagree, as Americans we defend one another's right to speak before our elected officials without enduring personal attacks. Obama responded as so many Americans did, by condemning those attacks as antithetical to our democracy. Romney, when pressed to address those attacks, could only say, "Those aren't the words I would have chosen." If Romney lacks the leadership to stand up to extremists in his own party, then he's not the president we need. At a time when women's rights especially are under virulent attack, we cannot elect a leader who won't or can't stand up to those extremists and protect the rights that generations of women have fought so hard to ensure. Thankfully, we don't have to. We have a president who has consistently shown he will defend those rights while working to ensure that all women and men have all the protections and opportunities they need to pursue economic success. But if we're going to keep Obama in the White House, we need to get involved, get out the vote and do what Romney refuses to do on everything from fair pay to women's rights: speak up. I'll never stop speaking up, and I hope you'll join me. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sandra Fluke.

Sandra Fluke says stakes are high in the election, which is extremely personal for her . Fluke: Attacks on me brought home how easily women's rights can be taken away . Romney is anti-middle class and anti-women, she says, and panders to extremists . Fluke: We need to support Obama, who has the vision and values for a better America .

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Twin car bombs exploded near three Iraqi government buildings Sunday in central Baghdad, killing at least 132 people. It was the deadliest attack in the country in more than two years. More than 500 people were wounded. The blasts had ripple effects throughout the country, triggering questions about the state of Iraqi security and about national elections planned for January. No one immediately claimed responsibility. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to punish "the enemies of the Iraqi people who want to spread chaos in the country and derail the political process and prevent the parliamentary elections from taking place as planned." Surveying the carnage shortly after the explosions, al-Maliki said holding the elections as scheduled would send the strongest response and message to the "enemies of the political process who are supported from the outside." "The cowardly attack that took place today should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party and the terrorist al Qaeda organization, who have committed the most heinous crimes against the civilians,' " al-Maliki said in a statement. Iraqi and U.S. officials had warned of a possible increase in violence ahead of the balloting. President Obama condemned the "outrageous attacks against the Iraqi people." In a statement, Obama called the bombings an attempt to "derail Iraq's progress" and pledged that the United States would be a "close friend and partner" as Iraq prepares for elections. According to the statement, Obama spoke Sunday with al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to express his condolences and reiterate U.S. support. The area struck Sunday is close to the heavily guarded Green Zone that also houses the U.S. Embassy. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, condemned the bombings, which came a day after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, visited the country for the first time. "We will assist the Iraqi government in any way we can to ensure that those individuals or groups responsible for such horrific acts be pursued and brought to justice," they said in a joint statement. The European Union condemned "this terrorist attack" and sent its condolences to the families of the victims, the Swedish presidency said in a statement. The bombs detonated in quick succession about 10:30 a.m., as the Iraqi work week began, an Interior Ministry official said. Among more than 500 people wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy told CNN. The embassy would not give any more details. One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building. The other was outside the Justice Ministry, about 500 meters (1,600 feet) away. The nearby Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works also sustained severe damage. Plumes of smoke billowed from the sites of the attacks as victims fled, some with blood streaming down their faces. The streets were strewn with debris, including charred cars and chunks of concrete from damaged buildings. Some government buildings and others in the area were heavily damaged. It was the deadliest attack on Iraqi civilians since August 2007, when three truck bombings targeted Iraqi Kurds, killing hundreds in Qahtaniya, in northern Iraq. In August, more than 100 people were killed in a series of bombings in Baghdad in what Iraqis have dubbed "Bloody Wednesday." Those attacks shook confidence in the abilities of Iraqi security forces who took over securing urban areas from U.S. troops over the summer. Security was tightened around Baghdad in the wake of the August bombings. Blast walls were erected around the city and more checkpoints were set up. Susan Rice, the ambassador, completed her two-day visit to Iraq on Saturday that included a condolence stop at the Foreign Ministry, one of the sites attacked in August. Iraqi journalists grilled officials on TV on Sunday, demanding to know how the most recent attacks could have taken place given the new security measures. An Iraqi official said the government was working to bolster security, but regional cooperation was needed to help fight suicide bombers. "We are calling on international and U.N. envoys to come and find out why Iraq is being targeted this way," said Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman. He said Iraq's setbacks are mainly caused by a fledgling intelligence that has "not been completed." The Iraqi government has blamed Syria for harboring former Baath party members who it said planned the August attacks, and asked for their handover. Relations between the two neighbors were strained after the bombings. Each withdrew its ambassador from the other's country. Sunday's bombings came on the day Iraqi officials were due to try to break a logjam holding up a new election law. Iraqis are supposed to go to the polls January 16, but Parliament still has not passed the legislation, putting the balloting in limbo. The original deadline for parliament to pass the law was October 15, because Iraq's electoral commission says it needs 90 days to organize the process. Iraq's parliament failed Wednesday to reach agreement on a new electoral law, so the issue was supposed go to the Political Council for National Security on Sunday. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Jamjoom, and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

Obama condemns bombings, pledges U.S. support for Iraq election . Death toll rises to 132 in suicide bombings, officials say . Two bombs explode outside government buildings in Baghdad . In August, at least 100 killed, dozens hurt in another twin bombing .

(CNN) -- "We are now locked in a rolling filibuster on every issue, which is totally gridlocking the U.S. Senate. That is wrong. It is wrong for America." Who said that? Democrat Harry Reid, majority leader of the Senate? Guess again. Try former Republican leader Trent Lott, bemoaning the troubled state of the Senate in the late 1990s. No recent majority leader of either party has been saved the headache of trying to lead a Senate in which minorities can exploit the rules and stymie the chamber. This is not a new problem. Harry Reid may face a particularly unrestrained minority. But generations of Senate leaders from Henry Clay to Bill Frist have felt compelled to seek changes in Senate rules to make the chamber a more governable place. Some things never change. Twice this week, the Senate has opened debate with its party leaders engaged in a caustic battle over Reid's plans to seek changes to Senate rules in January. Reid argues that Republicans have engaged in unprecedented levels of filibustering. GOP leader Mitch McConnell blames what he calls Reid's weak leadership, arguing that Republicans' parliamentary tactics are a natural response to Reid's partisan ways. There is no innocent party in the parliamentary arms race that engulfs the Senate. Still, many argue that Republicans go overboard in their willingness to exploit Senate rules. Indeed, since 2007, Senate records show that Republicans have filibustered or threatened to filibuster more than 360 times, a historic record. Reform of the Senate is overdue. In 1997, with Republicans controlling the Senate, author Steven Smith and I advocated reforms that sought to trim the filibuster while preserving minority rights. Today, with Democrats in control, I again think changes in Senate rules are due: . Senate should limit the number of motions subject to a filibuster . A top priority should be to eliminate filibusters of the "motion to proceed" to a bill and the three motions that are required to send a bill to conference with the House. When the majority seeks to call up a bill on the floor for consideration, the leader offers a motion to proceed. Because Senate rules deem this motion "debatable," it takes 60 votes to cut off debate and come to a vote on the motion. Banning the filibuster on this motion would still allow a minority to filibuster the underlying bill and amendments to it. But it would give a majority the right to set the chamber's legislative agenda. The change might also rein in senators' secret "holds" because the majority leader would no longer need broad support to advance a bill to the floor. Similarly, debate could be trimmed by banning filibusters on the three steps required to send a bill to conference with the House. Conference committees have gone the way of the dodo bird because minorities have been willing to filibuster the steps required to send bills to conference. Banning such filibusters would encourage the use of conference committees and restore the involvement of rank-and-file senators in the process of negotiating bicameral agreements. Senators would still retain the right to filibuster agreements that emerged from conference. Ratchet down the number of votes required to invoke cloture . The first cloture vote would require 60 votes, as is required under Senate rules. If that failed, the next vote would require 57 votes, then 54 votes, and so on, until the Senate reached a simple majority vote for cloture. To guarantee the minority adequate time to debate and amend bills, I would tie the number of days of advance notice of a coming cloture vote to the number of votes required for cloture. The fewer the votes required, the longer the advance notice. Coupling new cloture thresholds and notice requirements would allow the Senate to reach votes by simple majority while still protecting the minority's parliamentary rights. Senate should experiment with new modes of advice and consent for nominations . The confirmation process is a mess, with nominees often waiting months for hearings and confirmation votes. The Senate should consider new "fast-track" confirmation rules. For executive branch appointees, the fast track might fix the length of Senate consideration, guaranteeing a confirmation vote within, say, three months. For judicial nominations, fast-track consideration might be given to candidates recommended by bipartisan commissions in their home states. Zelizer: Gridlock in Congress? Blame the GOP . If the White House nominates a candidate approved by such a commission, the Senate would fast-track the nominee to a confirmation vote. Fast-tracks protect the minority's right to scrutinize presidential appointees, but ensure that nominees are guaranteed confirmation votes within a reasonable period of time. Such reforms would restore some semblance of balance to the Senate. For that reason, the minority party is likely to oppose them. Even members of the majority might balk at trimming their procedural rights. That is the unfortunate history of Senate reform: Senators rarely want to give up their parliamentary advantages. Because changes to Senate rules can be filibustered, efforts to reform the Senate typically crash and burn. Under some conditions, majorities can avoid filibusters of their reform proposals by using what senators term the "constitutional option." But as this week's outrage on the Senate floor suggests, the process of an overhaul can be as explosive as the actual reform. There's no easy path. The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Sarah Binder.

Sarah Binder: Minority has always exploited filibuster rules to hang up rival proposals . Reid's plans to reform procedures have faced tough opposition, she says . Binder: Senate should set limits on filibuster rules that are fair to each party . Binder: Confirmation process is glacial and contentious and needs "fast-track" option .

Gainesville, Florida (CNN) -- The University of Florida has temporarily suspended its chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity after learning about a hazing incident involving fraternity members, a university spokeswoman said. University President Bernie Machen, in an e-mail to students, called it a "serious physical hazing incident." University authorities learned about the incident on Saturday, school spokeswoman Janine Sikes said Tuesday. "We believe the incident took place several weeks prior," she said. "The hazing incident is currently under investigation with the University of Florida police." Dave Kratzer, Florida's vice president for student affairs, said, "This was not a case that we know of that anyone went to the hospital -- thank goodness." "It's not in the realm of seriousness on the far end of things, when you think about what could have occurred with hazing, and we want to stop it now," Kratzer told CNN. When contacted by CNN, Alpha Phi Alpha referred all questions to the university. Later Wednesday, a statement released by the executive director of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. said it issued a cease-and-desist order against the local chapter and will investigate the incident cited by the university and cooperate with police on any criminal investigation that may occur. "We recognize that hazing is a persistent social scourge that has proven time and time again to be difficult to eradicate and too dangerous to tolerate," the statement said. "Alpha Phi Alpha does not condone hazing! Alpha Phi Alpha has embraced programs, which provide leadership tools to recognize, prevent and address hazing." The statement concluded with declarations in capital letters: "We cannot say this enough: HAZING IS DANGEROUS and ILLEGAL and must STOP! Alpha Phi Alpha has no place in its membership for the violence and brutality that accompanies hazing. HAZING IS ILLEGAL!" The historically black fraternity dates back to 1906, when it was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. According to its website, Alpha Phi Alpha "has a zero tolerance level in regards to hazing/pledging and strongly prohibits these illegal activities in any form." The alleged hazing incident happened off campus, according to Machen's e-mail to students, obtained by CNN. "As that investigation proceeds, I want to reinforce the university's prohibition against all forms of hazing -- and ask each of you to help us guard against this dangerous and destructive behavior," Machen wrote. "Hazing is specifically prohibited by UF regulations, and it is also classified as a crime in Florida. We cannot tolerate hazing on our campus or in our university community, and anyone found responsible will face the gravest possible consequences, including expulsion and criminal penalties." Machen did not provide any specifics about the incident, and he urged anyone who has experienced or witnessed any hazing incidents to contact campus police. Kratzer said there had been no previous reports of hazing incidents involving the fraternity. The Florida chapter has only a small organization at the university and no house, he said. An e-mail from the university's Office of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs sent to the university's fraternity and sorority members said Alpha Phi Alpha would be placed "on interim suspension pending the outcome of a formal hearing." "Alpha Phi Alpha has been a strong member of the Florida Greek Community for many years," the e-mail stated. "While we are all disappointed to learn of such allegations, we all need to respectfully allow our Greek Conduct process to take place before making decisions or speculations of the fraternity's responsibility in this matter. We will share information with the community as and when that is appropriate." The incident comes less than a month after four students at Florida A&M University were arrested after the hazing-related death of the school's drum major in November. Robert Champion's death prompted FAMU's board of trustees to approve a three-part plan to tackle the issue of hazing on campus, including an independent investigation panel. FAMU is located in Tallahassee. The FAMU incident prompted Florida Gov. Rick Scott to order all state universities to examine their hazing and harassment policies in December. Scott also asked all university presidents to remind their students, faculty and staff "how detrimental hazing can be." Kratzer said University of Florida authorities have worked for some time to eliminate hazing, and there has been a "heightened concern" since the death at FAMU. "I would like to stress this is not the norm for us, and we want to educate all our students that the world has changed -- don't allow anyone to do this to you," he said. However, students at the university said hazing still occurs at fraternities and sororities. "You know fraternities are still going to do this. It's part of their culture, its imbedded in what they do in their initiation process and it's still wrong," said sophomore Jenny Rivero. "You can't escape it." Cece Benitez, also a sophomore, said hazing has become a cyclical activity. "I know a lot of fraternity brothers who would say that why they do it is because it was done to them," Benitez said. "And people who get hazed, for now (it) kind of sucks, but they are going to do it to the ones that come in later on, and I feel that should not be part of the initiation process for becoming a brother or sister." CNN's John Branch and Melanie Whitley contributed to this report.

NEW: Apha Phi Alpha fraternity says it will investigate the incident and condemns hazing . A university official says no one was hospitalized from a recent hazing incident . The incident happened off campus several weeks ago, the university says . Another Florida university was recently at the center of a hazing scandal .

Sendai, Japan (CNN) -- In a nation already besieged with grief over mounting casualties, fears of possible radiation and the threat of more earthquakes, the nightmare grew for Japanese residents Monday as thousands of bodies reportedly surfaced and a government official confirmed another explosion at a nuclear reactor building. The official death toll from the epic quake and devastating tsunami that hit Japan four days ago reached 1,720 on Monday. But the numbers did not take into account the 2,000 bodies that Japan's Kyodo news agency said had been found in the hard-hit Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's northeast coast. Meanwhile, fresh white smoke rose again Monday from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, caused by an explosion at a building tied to the facility's No. 3 reactor. A similar explosion occurred two days earlier at the plant's No. 1 reactor building. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday that the head of the nuclear plant reported the container vessel surrounding the No. 3 reactor remained intact. Yukio said in a news conference that there is little possibility that radioactive material was released into the air, NHK said. The explosion was likely caused by a combination of oxygen and hydrogen igniting, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. "We are now collecting information on the concentration of radiation," Edano said. The quake and tsunami disabled the coolant systems at Fukushima Daiichi, which is about 260 km (160 miles) north of Tokyo. Japanese authorities have said there is a "possibility" that a meltdown has occurred in the damaged reactors, but said that there were no indications of dangerously high radiation levels in the atmosphere. Still, the government has evacuated more than 200,000 residents from homes close to the plant and tested 160 people for radiation exposure on Sunday, authorities said. Workers flooded two of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in a last-ditch attempt to head off a catastrophic meltdown of the reactor cores. In Miyagi Prefecture, rescue workers sifted through mountains of debris as hope for survivors appeared to dim. The town of Minami Sanriku -- about 5 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean -- morphed into a massive pile of wood that used to house some 20,000 residents. An eerie silence fell across town as emergency rescue officials said they don't think anyone was still alive under the rubble. About half of Minami Sanriku's population was unaccounted for. So far, about 15,000 people have been rescued, the Kyodo News Agency reported Monday, citing Kan. Japanese troops went door-to-door in the city of Ishinomaki, hoping to find survivors -- but found mostly the bodies of elderly residents. In the area of Sendai, where houses and buildings disintegrated into rushing water within seconds, solemn reisdents waited in lines that stretches blocks ore kilometers for food, water and gas. Despite the devastation surrounding them, the crowds appeared calm and orderly. But more destruction could still come. There's a high chance of a magnitude-7.0 quake or above in the next three days because of increased tectonic activity, the earthquake prediction department chief for the Japan Meteorological Agency said Sunday. The U.S. Geological Survey reported scores of such aftershocks. More than two dozen were greater than magnitude 6, the size of the quake that severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand last month, the agency said. On Sunday, the country's prime minister called on people to pull together and face sacrifices. "In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters at a televised news conference. "We Japanese had a lot of difficulties in the past, but we were able to overcome those difficulties to reach this peaceful and prosperous society we have been able to build," Kan said. "So with regard to the earthquake and tsunami, I am confident that the Japanese people can be united to work together." The cooperation Kan called for will include accepting rolling blackouts in some areas to preserve electricity as emergency workers try to repair power plants damaged by the quake. About 2.5 million households, just over 4% of the total in Japan, were without electricity Sunday, said Ichiro Fujisaki, the nation's U.S. ambassador. Landmarks such as Tokyo Tower and the capital's Rainbow Bridge went dark in an effort to conserve energy. Japanese officials raised the quake's magnitude to 9.0 on Sunday, but the USGS kept its magnitude at 8.9. At least 48 other countries and the European Union have offered relief. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan arrived off Japan's coast Sunday to support Japanese forces in disaster relief operations, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement. Friday's quake is the strongest in recorded history to hit Japan, according to USGS records that date to 1900. The world's largest recorded quake took place in Chile on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5, the agency said. CNN's Gary Tuchman, Anna Coren, Kyung Lah, Paula Hancocks, Brian Walker, Kevin Voigt and Sean Morris contributed to this report.

Official: There is little possibility that radioactive material was released in the air . About 2,000 bodies were found Monday in Miyagi prefecture . The death toll reached 1,720 on Monday, though the number is expected to rise . There's a high chance of a magnitude-7.0 quake or above in the coming days, an expert says .

(CNN) -- Kevin James trained for 14 months to play a biology teacher who moonlights as a mixed martial arts fighter to raise money for his school in "Here Comes the Boom." James said training included working out three times a day, drinking greens, running and sparring. Yet, he was moving pretty slowly when he dropped by CNN last week. "I threw my back out ... getting into a town car. That'll show you the kind of shape I'm in now. How far I've let myself go," the self-deprecating comic said. James co-wrote and co-produced the action comedy, which hits theaters on Friday. It's already garnering positive feedback. Among his favorite early viewer reactions: "God forgive me, I think I honestly liked this Kevin James movie." Some people have the idea that "Here Comes the Boom" is "just going to be Paul Blart falling around a ring, being the fat guy, tripping over his own feet," James said. "But the UFC gave us their blessing to make this movie. ... I had to promise them I'm going to make this thing as realistic as possible and it's going to be something that they haven't seen in me before." As several MMA sites have reported, this is the first film that's actually been allowed to use the UFC brand name. So far it seems MMA fans like the way the sport is represented. Fight Network's Sarah Davis wrote, "I can appreciate all the cameos made by UFC personalities and fighters, whether they play themselves or not and there are a lot of fight scenes with superman punches, Kimura locks and body shots." Since "The King of Queens," James has made a name for himself in the PG arena, headlining family films like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Zookeeper." And then there are his PG-13 endeavors, which include ensemble comedies like "Hitch," "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and "Grown Ups." Despite some critical reviews, James' flicks have consistently performed well at the box office. As Entertainment Weekly reported after "Zookeeper's" 2011 release, 41% of moviegoers listed "actor in a leading role" as their reason for seeing the flick about talking animals. James said he doesn't feel the need to defend his recent films, and he won't apologize for playing "the goofy guy falling down." "I love doing it," he said. "It cracks me up sometimes what people will say about 'Paul Blart,' " the 2009 flick he co-wrote and starred in as a Segway-riding security guard at a New Jersey mall. "This is for families and for kids." "Here Comes the Boom" is a very different kind of physical comedy, full of knockouts and arm bars. Everything that happens in the film is something that has happened during a real MMA fight, James said, noting, "There was a ring that broke. A guy got thrown through the ring. There was a rain fight. These are all from real life." James, who was a wrestler and a football player once upon a time, has been a fan of the UFC since watching the first fight in 1993. He said it was his "love of trying to be physical and trying to portray what these guys go through" that led him to the project. As for the other half of the story: "I also have teachers that I remember from when I was going to school that have inspired me," he said. "I've also had really crappy teachers, unfortunately, where they don't really care that much and you think it's a great time then because you're in class ... but literally there is nothing for you later on down the road. I kind of just wanted to tie these two worlds together." "It's tough," he added, "because you're trying to blend a big comedy with inspiration, with heart and realistic fighting. ... There are a lot of ingredients in this one." James hopes audiences will enjoy the idea of a "common, everyday guy" fighting in the Octagon for a good cause. "You can watch 'James Bond' and enjoy it because it's something that you would never do," he said. "I could never be James Bond. And then there are movies where you watch because you're seeing yourself through the eyes of the character. And I think I'm the latter." Part of James' appeal as the everyman is his size, which is occasionally written into his story lines, as fans of "The King of Queens" already know. While he said he doesn't mind the jokes, his mother is not a fan. "If I do a movie where I have to have (a son) and it's a chubby kid, my mother is always like, 'You were never like that.' She gets so upset about it," he said. It's his own kids, who are 7, 5 and 17 months, who have greatly influenced his professional decisions. "I want to do movies that I'm proud of where my kids, at some point, can see and I can feel comfortable sitting there watching it with them," he said. "And just that move people. That make people feel a little bit better about themselves when they leave the theater." James will next appear in "Little Boy" and "Grown Ups 2," which is due out in July 2013. He's also gearing up to star alongside Kevin Hart in "Valet Guys," the comedy he co-wrote about two valet parking attendants who witness a murder.

James trained for 14 months to play a teacher/fighter in "Here Comes the Boom" James co-wrote and co-produced the action comedy, which hits theaters on Friday . Since "The King of Queens," James has headlined family-friendly films .

(CNN) -- It's the stuff of movies. Bad movies. But movies. The kind you watch when it's a Friday night, you're feeling lazy, and, oh look! A bucket of hummus! That kind of movie. A ship. Lost at sea. Abandoned by all humans. Floating untethered into the fog. Infested with hundreds of cannibal rats. Slowly and perilously drifting toward shore. But, you see, this isn't a movie. This is really happening. Maybe. The big fear is that this completely real ghost ship could actually be ready to hit land and unleash rat-feces-palooza on the people of Ireland or the UK, who are, no doubt, just innocently going about their day, doing whatever it is those people do. Like building pretty stone fences and arguing with sheep. (By the way: If Rat-Feces-Palooza isn't already a huge concert event, it should be. Tweet your pick for headlining band with #RatFecesPalooza.) So, here's what happened. Back in 1976, a 4,200-ton cruise ship called the Lyubov Orlova was built in Yugoslavia and was specially designed to sail Russia's elite travelers around the coldest regions on Earth. Because, you know ... Russia. Why go to the Greek Islands when you can spend seven days floating next to an iceberg covered in seal turds? Eventually, though, the private owners of the ship racked up too much debt, and, in 2010, Canadian authorities seized the vessel, which had been docked in St. John's, Newfoundland where it was, presumably, quite bored. Two years later, the Canadians sold it for scrap and began hauling the old girl down to the Dominican Republic so it could be dismantled and possibly turned into steel drums. But then, only one day after leaving port, the towline snapped in heavy seas, and the Lyubov Orlova decided to piss off across the Atlantic. As one does when you have nothing better to do and you're a boat. "(Sigh) I would like to have seen Montana." Eventually, another Canadian ship was sent out to corral the wayward vessel in what can only be described as the slowest, crappiest, worst-attended rodeo of all time. But once captured, the Lyubov Orlova was safely hauled farther out to sea, away from Canadian oil rigs. And then they just sort of cut it loose in international waters. Because, hey, what's the worst that could happen? Transport Canada, the government department responsible for roads and planes and trains and SHIPS YOU JUST LET WANDER OFF INTO THE OCEAN, assured its citizens that the Lyubov Orlova "no longer poses a threat to the safety of [Canadian] offshore oil installations, their personnel, or the marine environment." As for everyone else and the hundreds of diseased cannibal rats floating around the Atlantic? "Soory 'boot that, eh." And, so, the 295-foot ship goes sliding by. Free! But then, in March 2013, two lifeboats suddenly fell off the ship and landed in the water. This automatically triggered warning signals that alerted authorities that, holy crap, this thing had floated two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic and was heading straight toward Britain and Ireland. So, radar operators and pilots went looking for the ship. And they couldn't find it. And, now, months later, several news agencies are reporting that the Lyubov Orlova might actually still be intact and getting closer to land. Probably with rats. Canada's National Post explained that the vessel pretty much sat on it's fat, metal butt in that dock in Newfoundland for over two years, "virtually guaranteeing" that the ship is infested with hundreds of these little bastards. And since there's no food on board, the rats have likely turned on each other. "Damnit, Reggie!" "Soorry." The big fear, now, is that a monster storm might give the ship the extra push it needs to finally make landfall. However, people are still hopeful that they can corral it at sea long before that actually happens. In which case, scrap haulers will have to climb on board and deal with the rats. Which sounds like a lovely way to spend an afternoon. But it's also possible that none of this will happen. The Irish Coast Guard recently released a statement saying: "There is no further action required by Ireland and there are no reports and sightings." And the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency pointed out: "We have received no reported sightings of the vessel since April last year." Helping to calm fears even more, the BBC reports that maritime analyst Richard Hurley believes the vessel has probably capsized and is now resting at the bottom of the ocean. (Where, I'm told, rats cannot live.) "There was a report of a EPIRB signal from her," Hurley said. "That's an emergency beacon that normally only activates when the ship has actually sunk." And if you're still concerned, just know that the official spokesman for British Prime Minister, David Cameron, says that this threat isn't a government priority. When asked if the Navy should intervene, he simply said, "Gosh, we're almost in a B-movie script development meeting here." Pass the hummus. Follow @JarrettBellini on Twitter.

The Lyubov Orlova was built in 1976 as an arctic cruise ship for elite Russian travelers . In 2012, the abandoned ship was accidentally lost at sea and believed to be infested with cannibal rats . Recently, media publications have warned that the ship might actually strike the coast of Ireland or the UK .

(CNN) -- In nearly nine hours in detention at London's Heathrow Airport, David Miranda -- the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald -- said he didn't trust the British authorities questioning him, fearing they'd follow through on threats to throw him in jail, if not worse. "I have seen many stories that people are picked up in different countries ... and they are vanished, nobody sees them," Miranda said Tuesday in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. "In that moment, I was really afraid what would happen to me." The Brazilian national said he didn't know what he might have done wrong, why the UK government's anti-terrorism laws applied to him, or why he couldn't have a lawyer of his choosing present. But he did understand why his partner might be a target. Greenwald has been at the forefront of high-profile reports exposing secrets in U.S. intelligence programs, stories that have made him a thorn in the side of Washington and some of its allies. Greenwald, with the cooperation of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, broke the story of the existence of a U.S. National Security Agency program that is thought to have collected large amounts of phone and Internet data. Miranda's detention ended only after a lawyer from Greenwald's news organization, the British-based Guardian, got the chance to talk to him after about eight hours. After that, the 28-year-old was released, without materials he'd been carrying on behalf of Greenwald, to pass onto a filmmaker in Berlin. He said officials also confiscated his laptop, phone and USB sticks. Miranda ultimately returned to Brazil, where he lives with Greenwald. Sitting alongside his partner, Greenwald said the detention gave the British government "a huge black eye in the world, (made) them look thuggish and authoritarian (for) interfering in the journalism process (and created) international incidents with the government of Brazil, which is indignant about this." The action has prompted a lawsuit asking British courts to declare what happened to Miranda illegal because his detention was unrelated to terrorism, Greenwald said. The journalist added the lawsuit also demands that all the items taken from Miranda be returned to him, and that the British government can't first use or share them with anyone else. "To start detaining people who they think they are reporting on what they're doing under terrorism laws, that is as dangerous and oppressive as it gets," Greenwald said. White House knew Miranda would be detained . Britain's Home Office on Tuesday defended Miranda's questioning, saying the government and police "have a duty to protect the public and our national security." "If the police believe that an individual is in possession of highly sensitive stolen information that would help terrorism, then they should act and the law provides them with a framework to do that," it said. "Those who oppose this sort of action need to think about what they are condoning." Questioning was under Terrorism Act 2000 . The British government and Miranda say he was questioned on Sunday under Schedule 7 of Terrorism Act 2000, which gives authorities more powers to investigate and combat terrorism, though not without some controversy. In a statement that didn't name Miranda but referred to his detention, London's Metropolitan Police called what happened "legally and procedurally sound" and said it came after "a detailed decision-making process." The statement describes the law under which Miranda was detained as "a key part of our national security capability which is used regularly and carefully by the Metropolitan Police Service to help keep the public safe." But that's not how Miranda and Greenwald view the law, or at least how it was applied in this case. Said Miranda, for whom English is a second language and who didn't have an interpreter on hand throughout the ordeal: "They didn't ask me anything about terrorism, not one question." "They were just telling me: 'If you don't answer this, you are going to jail,' " he added. Greenwald said he learned three hours into the incident that his partner was being detained, and he added that concerned Brazilian diplomats and Guardian lawyers were shut out of the process for hours. Greenwald: UK authorities trying to intimidate journalists . The entire episode, Greenwald speculated, was designed to intimidate him and other investigative journalists from using classified information and digging into stories critical of the British and allied governments. His newspaper's editor, Alan Rusbridger, detailed in an editorial published late Monday meetings with UK government officials and "shadowy Whitehall figures" in connection with Greenwald's reporting. "The demand was the same: Hand the Snowden material back or destroy it," he said. Otherwise, the government would pursue legal action to force its surrender, he said he was told. These efforts, including Miranda's detention, are a threat not just to the Guardian, but all journalists, Greenwald said. "What you're essentially doing is saying that journalism is not only a crime, but now it's actually terrorism," he said. "It's an extremely dangerous precedent. They clearly abused their own law." As to how what happened will affect his own work, Greenwald said he's more committed than ever to expose governments' abuse of their powers. "We are absolutely going to continue to publish and, if anything, this has emboldened me," he said. CNN's Bryony Jones and Caroline Paterson contributed to this report. Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 10pm ET. For the latest from AC360° click here.

David Miranda was detained for hours at Heathrow without interpreter, lawyer, he says . Miranda says he was never asked about anything related to terrorism . His partner, journalist Glenn Greenwald, calls it a ploy to intimidate journalists . The British government defends the questioning as legal .

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea's decision to launch a second long-range rocket this year, in the face of international condemnation, could be partly due to internal instability, a senior South Korean government official said Friday. "This action is driven primarily by domestic demand," the official said, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Read more: What does North Korea's planned rocket launch mean? North Korea has said it will launch the rocket between Monday and December 22 in a fresh attempt to put a satellite in orbit. But other countries, including the United States, say the move is a cover for testing ballistic missile technology, which the United Nations has forbidden the North from doing. Analysts have cited a number of possible reasons for Pyongyang's decision to carry out an unprecedented second launch this year, after a failed effort in April, including significant anniversaries related to the reclusive state's ruling dynasty. But the South Korean official on Friday suggested that political and pragmatic concerns might be greater motivations for the nuclear-armed North Korean regime. Read more: Kim Jong Un tightens his grip . The North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, has used unusual expressions and words, such as "rebellion," in recent statements, the South Korean government official said. "He refers to the possibility of uprisings or impure elements of those who are not content with the status of the country," the official said. Read more: North Korea moves closer to rocket launch, group says . Kim has been sending North Korean police to a foreign country for training in dealing with riots, according to the official, and has increased his personal physical protection. He is also said to have ordered law enforcement agencies to root out those who are not happy with recent military and cabinet changes that he has imposed, according to the official. "There is a large scale witch hunt going on," he said, declining to disclose the sources of his information. There has been little sign of division in articles published by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. One item Friday referred to the leader as "the dear respected Kim Jong Un." Pyongyang has said the planned rocket launch would be "true to the behests" of Kim Jong Il, the late North Korean leader and father of Kim Jong Un. The elder Kim died on December 17 last year, so the first anniversary of his death falls within the launch window that North Korea has announced. Read more: Kim warns troops to prepare for 'sacred war' Experts also speculate that Pyongyang wants this launch to happen before the end of 2012, the year that marks the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of the current leader. A presidential election on December 19 in the country's neighbor and rival, South Korea, also takes place inside the launch window. What's more, Seoul had planned its own rocket launch aimed at putting a satellite in orbit late last month before postponing it minutes before takeoff. Pyongyang insists that this is a "peaceful scientific and technological satellite launch," but even China, a key ally, has given a cool reception to the prospect. Read more: What Kim's 'mystery woman' says about North Korea . "In view of the situation on the Korea Peninsula and restrictions of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, China hopes the DPRK can proceed from the overall situation of peace and stability on the peninsula and act prudently," Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing this week, according to Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. DPRK is an abbreviation of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The South Korean government has declined to say what exactly its response might be if the North Korean rocket launch goes ahead. "We will send a message that North Korea will have to heed," the senior government official said cryptically on Friday. "Something that will deter any future provocations." Japan, for its part, has said it will shoot the rocket down if it threatens any part of its territory. South Korean media this week cited unidentified officials as saying that the North had completed installing the three-stage rocket on its launch pad at the Sohae Space Center on the west coast of the country. But an analysis published Thursday by the U.S. academic website 38 North questions that claim. Run by the School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University, 38 North says, "We believe these reports are inaccurate based on satellite imagery and lessons from past North Korean rocket launches." The process may have been delayed by a light snowfall, the website's analysis says, but North Korea could still have the rocket ready in time for the start of the launch window. This is the first time North Korea has attempted a rocket launch in winter, and experts say the timing of preparations and the launch itself will depend heavily on weather conditions. "Pyongyang's announcement of a twelve-day launch window, over twice as long as the five-day window for the April 2012 test, may have been based on careful consideration of possible delays or technical problems due to winter weather," 38 North says. Previous launch attempts by the North in 2006 and 2009 also failed to achieve their stated goal of putting a satellite in orbit and provoked international condemnation. CNN's Jethro Mullen in Hong Kong and Alex Zolbert in Tokyo contributed to this report.

North Korea says it will launch a rocket as early as next week . It says it's aimed at putting a satellite in orbit, but others say it's a missile test . A South Korean government official says internal pressures are driving the plan . The official cites recent statements from Kim Jong Un evoking the idea of uprisings .

(CNN) -- I would not take anything away from the success of Occupy Wall Street in bringing so many people together in Lower Manhattan and elsewhere. It is quite an accomplishment. Notwithstanding what has happened so far, the hard work of leadership has not yet begun. It is relatively easy to get disempowered, angry, frustrated people together to rail against a wide range of enemies and scapegoats. It is quite another to effect change. Like it or not, the values and processes that have created the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon are inadequate and ill-suited to taking the next steps and creating real impact. The democratic, inclusive, and consensus-driven norms that have guided OWS up to this point will not get it to the next level -- that is, if there is real interest in changing the current reality rather than just complaining about it and speaking out against it. Another view: Occupy beta tests a new way of living . Here are three big examples of the self-imposed constraints that will get in the way. First, everyone's grievance is equal to everyone else's grievance. Anti-capitalism, lack of health care for the uninsured, tuition hikes at public universities, and many other complaints share the stage. The message is muddied. Clarifying the message and focusing on specific targets are necessary next steps. They will inevitably leave some of the grievances on the cutting room floor, and leave those who care most about those abandoned grievances disappointed and alienated both from the rest of the group and from their own constituents who are not camping out at Zuccotti Park, but who expected them to ensure that their particular issues stayed front and center. Second, the nonhierarchical consensus-driven process will soon reach the end of its utility, at least in its purest form. If OWS is to lead change rather than just call for change, some individuals will have to step up and take on authority roles. The presence of authority is essential in order to move this work forward. Someone, or some ones, will have to provide some of the functions of authority -- direction, protection and order -- so that the movement can begin to make hard choices, create priorities, allocate human and financial resources, and keep the anarchistic outliers from undermining the potential outcomes. When people have different agendas, the downside of operating by consensus is that the only way to get everybody to agree is to agree on something that is so ethereal and abstract it becomes meaningless. That works in an election where you are mobilizing people to vote (see Obama 2008 and "Change We Can Believe in"), but not to generate change from the outside in. Third, the movement will have to decide whether it is willing to create change by infiltrating the dreaded system it is trying to change. There is no other way except violent revolution, and if those in Zuccotti Park think there has been pushback so far, wait till they see what is in store for them if there were to be violence. History has important lessons here. The great movements of the 1960s in civil rights, women's rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War were narrowly focused, well organized, strategically brilliant, and, while attracting large numbers of people, managed by people who took on authority roles and made essential decisions, albeit often with significant consultative processes. They all used their share of extreme measures, but all were directed toward capturing the attention and support of people on the sidelines. Violence, when it surfaced at all, was perpetrated by the system, with the protesters having adroitly stimulated the establishment powers to overreact, thus generating more popular support for their cause. The over-the-top response by law enforcement to nonviolent civil rights protests was so embarrassing to Northern liberals like me that we had to get involved and provide the civil rights cause the additional personpower, financial resources and political clout to create change. More recently -- and both sides hate this comparison -- in a remarkably short period of time, the tea party movement went from a rowdy group of people who felt disenfranchised in different ways to a nonviolent army with a sharply focused, clearly articulated agenda, and fierce commitment to infiltrate the system in order to change it. It has been amazingly successful, influencing elections and the political discourse and soon winning elections with candidates who were completely beholden to its agenda, whether they believed in it all or not. Whether you like it or not, the tea party has changed the system. Where does that leave OWS? Very soon, it will come to a fork in the road. Numbers are very important in a democratic society, and OWS is beginning to have numbers that have caused some establishment members they are railing against to take notice, either positively or negatively. Right now, the Zuccotti Park protesters are being used by those establishment folks, one way or the other, to shore up their own bases and spruce up their own images. Those numbers will only translate into power, and then change, if they can be harnessed to raise the heat on the decision-makers to get them to do something they would otherwise not do. That translates, alas, into joining the system they are protesting against, by taking a page out of the tea party's book and working in campaigns, raising money, and running for office. Leadership is a risky and subversive activity. The crowds at Zuccotti Park and their colleagues in other cities have yet to demonstrate that they are interested in anything other than, well, demonstrating. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Marty Linsky.

Marty Linsky says it's impressive that Occupy Wall Street has so many supporters . But he says it isn't likely to have a big impact unless it develops leadership . Governing by consensus means agreement on watered-down, vague goals, he says . Linsky: Great movements of 1960s were narrowly focused, well organized and strategic .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A veteran of over 20 years of mountain climbing, Dave Bunting has been in some pretty tight scrapes. Soldier mountaineer Dave Bunting on Mount Everest. His team tried to summit via the mountain's notorious West Ridge in 2006. He and his climbing partner once watched in terror as a huge avalanche careered down a Himalayan mountainside straight for them. They were miraculously spared when the wall of snow parted on either side of the promontory where they were standing at a distance of just 50 meters. On another occasion he spent an agonizing night hanging precariously over a 3,000-foot (900 meter) drop during an electrical storm in the Alps. He estimates he was electrocuted "half a dozen times" during the course of the night. Faced with the fearsome power of nature mountaineers like Bunting rely on one indispensable ally -- other mountaineers. Teamwork is essential in climbing. The first successful ascent of Everest was as much about the bond of trust that existed between modest New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and his diminutive Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, as their individual talents. To illustrate this point, when Bunting -- a warrant officer in the British Army -- was compiling a team of soldiers to attempt an ascent of Everest's notorious West Ridge the first quality he and the rest of the selection panel looked for was not climbing expertise, but compatibility. "A lot of people think that when you go and do something like that, you immediately look for all the best climbers in the army," he says. "But what we based our selection process on, compatibility was first." Of course, all team sports rely upon a strong dynamic between the individual members. But there can be few disciplines in which the stakes are as high as in mountain climbing, where your life often literally rests in someone else's hands. Bunting, 40, led the expedition of 21 army mountaineers to Everest's West Ridge two years ago. It was a daunting undertaking. Of over 2,200 climbers who have made it to the top of the world's tallest peak since it was first conquered, only 19 have done so via this route. The ridge is rarely attempted because of its steepness and because its position leaves it exposed to high winds and the risk of avalanche. The army's summit attempt took three and half years in the planning and preparation and was the subject of a documentary, 'Everest: Man v Mountain.' Much of this build-up involved establishing strong bonds between team members. Practice climbs, social events and corporate-style teambuilding days were all employed to try to instil an atmosphere of mutual trust within the group. An essential factor on a mountain as significant as Everest, Bunting says. "You are massively wrapped up in emotions there because you've spent three and a half years preparing for it," says Bunting, who now runs his own outdoor events company in the Bavarian Alps. The prestige of getting to the top of Everest can sometimes blur a climber's moral judgement, leading to acts of single-mindedness that border on the downright callous. During the same season as Bunting's army expedition, David Sharp, a 34-year-old British climber died of cold, exhaustion and lack of oxygen on his descent from the summit. As details of Sharp's death became public it emerged that 40 climbers had passed him, making no attempt to save the stricken climber as he lay stranded in the scant shelter of a rock alcove on the mountain's northeast ridge. The incident drew much soul-searching in the mountaineering world, with Sir Edmund Hillary complaining to New Zealand's Otago Daily Times of the "horrifying" attitudes it revealed. "(On Everest) a lot of people are out for themselves completely," says Bunting. He says this selfish streak is exacerbated by the fast turnover of commercial climbing expeditions, which often meet for the first time just a couple of weeks before a summit attempt, meaning there is little opportunity to build team morale. By contrast, among Bunting's army mountaineers the needs of the group were always put before personal ambition. He gives an example: . "As we went for the summit there were a number of support teams, one of whose job it was to break trail from base camp right the way up to 7,500 metres, clambering through two foot of snow. "Each step you take at those altitudes is absolutely horrendous. There's a clip in the documentary of one of the lads breaking trail, every step up to his knees in snow, and you hear him say: 'Well, this is our job so we've got to get on with it.' "A brilliant demonstration of teamwork." The biggest test of this togetherness came when Bunting was left the unenviable task of telling his team of ambitious young soldiers he was abandoning the summit attempt because of a high risk of avalanches. "Two or three of the guys were pretty pissed off, to be honest. "Instead of getting wrapped up in emotions -- because Everest is a very emotional place -- I looked at it in very black and white terms. I couldn't risk sending my team up the mountain with that kind of real and present danger involved." This clear-headed thinking meant his team braved one of the most dangerous climbs in the world and made it back down again, together.

Army officer Dave Bunting recruited a team of 21 soldiers to summit Everest . The 2006 attempt was via the mountain's notoriously dangerous West Ridge . They spent over three years preparing by building cameraderie and team spirit . Bunting says personal ambition can sometimes get the better of climbers on Everest .

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- Spain's best-known judge, Baltasar Garzon, refused to answer questions from a prosecutor as he took the stand Tuesday in his trial on charges of abusing his judicial authority. Garzon sat and listened in silence as lawyer Joaquin Ruiz Infante read out all his questions to put them into the court record. The case centers on Garzon's investigation of human rights abuses under Gen. Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled Spain for four decades, until his death in 1975. A seven-judge panel at Spain's Supreme Court Tuesday rejected requests from both state prosecutors and Garzon's defense to throw the case out, clearing the way for private prosecutors to press forward. Spanish law allows for private prosecutions, and it is the lawyers for these parties that are pressing the charges against Garzon. Garzon, however, did answer questions from his defense lawyer, Gonzalo Martinez Fresneda, explaining that his investigation started in December 2006 after people came forward with complaints about those still missing from the Franco era. Garzon testified that he searched but could not find any national census of how many people disappeared or their identities. So he decided to investigate because he considered those to be "permanent crimes" which still affect their descendants, since the remains have never been found. He said he began to see evidence that there was a "systematic plan" against Franco's opponents, which he said included forced disappearances, illegal detentions and assassinations. About 20 supporters applauded the judge in a hallway of the courthouse before the trial began Tuesday, while outside, dozens more demonstrated in his favor, some holding placards with just one word: justice. Judges began hearing the Franco-era case last week, a week after a different seven-judge panel at the same court conducted another trial against Garzon, for allegedly abusing his judicial authority in a high-profile financial corruption case known as Gurtel. That trial lasted three days and a verdict is pending. Garzon, 56, was suspended from his post in 2010, pending these trials. If convicted, he would not go to jail but could lose his right permanently to be a judge in Spain. Many observers said the second trial is the more important one against Garzon, who became known internationally in 1998 when he sought the extradition of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was in a London hospital. Garzon accused him of the murder of Spaniards in Chile and crimes of genocide. Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch was in the courtroom on Tuesday along with other international observers and later said, "Garzon showed today that his decision to take up the investigations of the crimes of the Franco era was fully supported by international law." "But the spectacle of a judge as a criminal defendant, having to justify his investigation into torture, killings and 'disappearances,' was itself an affront to principles of human rights and judicial independence," Brody added. The private prosecution is led by a small civil servants union called Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands. It brought charges against Garzon, saying he ignored a 1977 amnesty law approved in Spanish Parliament, two years after Franco's death. "Parliament unanimously approved the amnesty law. Judge Baltasar Garzon takes a stance as if they're crazy. What does he think? That he's better than them?" said Miguel Bernard, leader of Manos Limpias. Bernard denies critics' charges that his group is a tiny far-right front, but he recently told CNN he was proud to receive an honor just last month from the Francisco Franco Foundation. Just before the trial began on Tuesday, Bernard told CNN outside the courtroom that he had heard the judges would deny the motion to stop the trial and instead proceed. "A first victory," Bernard said. Garzon said in May 2010, at the time of his suspension from his post as investigating magistrate at the National Court, "I face this calmly, with the tranquility of knowing that I am innocent of these charges." Franco's military uprising in 1936 triggered the three-year Spanish Civil War. The war ended when Franco's forces emerged victorious over Republican and leftist fighters. Franco's dictatorship continued until his death. Mass graves from the regime are still being unearthed, including one this week in the southern Spanish village of Gerena, said Emilio Silva, from a group called Historical Memory. Silva said the excavations are being done with permission from the landowner, whether public or private, and with permission from local health authorities, who must ensure that the potential discovery of bones or other remains does not pose a current public health risk. Just outside the courtroom before the proceedings began January 24, Garzon told CNN he was "okay" as he headed into this second trial. He talked with his lawyers and supporters, smiled broadly and appeared relaxed. Garzon spent 22 years as an investigating magistrate at the National Court, which handles cases of terrorism and other delicate cases. He has investigated the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Basque terrorist group ETA, and drug traffickers. At times in the past, Garzon has been considered a darling of the Spanish right or the Spanish left, depending on the cases he was investigating. His critics say he is too flamboyant and grandstands in front of the cameras. Since his suspension in 2010, Garzon has been working as a legal adviser outside of Spain on human rights cases and judicial issues, including in Latin America.

Baltasar Garzon refuses to answer prosecution questions . The private prosecution is led by a small civil servants union . He faces a private prosecution for investigating crimes under the Franco regime . Critics accuse him of ignoring an amnesty law passed by Parliament .

(CNN) -- Like thousands of other female applicants to Indonesia's National Police, 24-year-old Sari (not her real name) submitted to the mandatory "virginity test" that the authorities require women -- but not men -- to take as part of the application process. In a police hospital in the city of Makassar in 2008, Sari says that she and 20 other fellow police recruits were told to undress, lie down on a table and allow a physician to perform a "two-finger test." Six years later, Sari says she is still traumatized. "I feared that after they performed the test I would not be a virgin anymore. It really hurt. My friend even fainted because...it really hurt, really hurt." Indonesia's National Police have imposed these abusive and degrading tests on thousands of female applicants since as early as 1965, despite the fact that they contravene National Police principles that recruitment must be both "nondiscriminatory" and "humane." Meanwhile, the tests have been recognized internationally as a violation of human rights, particularly the prohibition against "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" under article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 16 of the Convention against Torture, both of which Indonesia has ratified. Indeed, last month, the World Health Organization stated unambiguously that "There is no place for virginity (or 'two-finger') testing; it has no scientific validity." Indonesia's National Police can't feign ignorance of the tests, nor the opposition to them within police ranks. High Commissioner Sri Rumiati, a police psychologist who now teaches at the Graduate School of Police Sciences in Jakarta, underwent the virginity test in 1984 and subsequently advocated for their abolition. Those efforts prompted colleagues in police recruitment teams in 2010 to defend "virginity tests" as a means of preventing "prostitutes joining the police." Indonesia's National Police has responded to Human Rights Watch's exposure of this abusive practice with defiance. A senior police official, Inspector General Moechgiyarto, on November 18 confirmed that the National Police required the test for female applicants. But rather than condemning the practice and promising its abolition, Moechgiyarto defended it as a means to ensure the "high moral standards" of the police and reportedly suggested that failure of the test was simply proof that applicants were sex workers. "If she [a candidate) turns out to be a prostitute, then how could we accept her for the job?" he said. There also are alarming indications that the use of virginity tests extends to other parts of Indonesia's security forces. On November 19, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security, Tedjo Edhi, told reporters that such tests have long been obligatory for female military recruits as well. Sadly, this isn't the first time that Indonesian government officials have advocated such tests for women. In August 2013, H.M. Rasyid, education chief of Prabumulih district in Indonesia's south Sumatra, reportedly sought to impose mandatory "virginity tests" on female high school students to tackle perceived problems of "premarital sex and prostitution." After Indonesian civil society organizations attacked Rasyid's proposal as "against human rights" and then-Indonesian Education Minister Mohammad Nuh, skewered the idea as "degrading and discriminatory," Rasyid backed off, insisting that he had been misquoted by domestic media. But that same month, the semi-official Indonesian Ulema Council in East Java urged the local government to impose "virginity tests" as a requirement for all girls entering the city's high schools. "Virginity tests" and the Indonesian government's tolerance of such abusive practices are not an isolated attack on women's rights. Instead, they are but one of many far wider-reaching abuses of constitutionally-guaranteed women's rights that have been occurring across the country in recent years. One of the most obvious of those violations is a growing number of discriminatory regulations -- more than 300 -- imposed by local governments since 1999. They range from local bylaws requiring women to wear the hijab to a local government's prohibition against women from dancing. The failure of Indonesia's central government in protecting women's rights is symbolized by the stalled passage of a gender equality bill which has been in draft form since 2009. Former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who left office in October after a decade in office, deserves a portion of the blame for the erosion of basic rights of women and girls. Yudhoyono is seen by many as having traded political support from the Indonesian Ulama Council, Indonesia's top Muslim clerical body, for a commitment to backing fatwas. Such government tolerance for abuses of women's rights must end. President Joko Widodo, who replaced Yudhoyono in October, has an opportunity to send an unambiguous message in the first weeks of his administration that he will not ignore women's rights or undermine them for political gain. Widodo can begin by instructing the National Police to prohibit "virginity tests" and ordering local governments to abolish local regulations that violate constitutionally-guaranteed women's rights. These moves would send a much-needed message that the government and its security forces are committed to protecting the rights of women, rather than violating them.

Indonesia's national police force reportedly requires "virginity tests" for women . Phelim Kine: Tests recognized internationally as violation of human rights . Kine: New President much send message on protection of women .

(CNN) -- Evangelist Oral Roberts, founder of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University, died Tuesday from complications of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California, his spokeswoman said. He was 91. Roberts' son, Richard, and daughter Roberta were at his side, spokeswoman Melany Ethridge said in a statement. Roberts was hospitalized Monday following a fall on Saturday, in which he suffered broken bones, Ethridge said earlier, adding he was being treated for pneumonia. There will be a private interment, the statement said. Arrangements for a public memorial service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, are pending. "Oral Roberts was a man of God, and a great friend in ministry," the Rev. Billy Graham said in a statement Tuesday. "I loved him as a brother. We had many quiet conversations over the years." Granville Oral Roberts was born into poverty in Bebee, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1918, according to a brief biography released by Ethridge. His Christian ministry began with what he described as his own miracle healing of tuberculosis at age 17. Roberts pastored churches in Oklahoma and Georgia and preached at revivals around the country while studying at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University in Oklahoma, according to the biography. In 1947, he founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association in Tulsa, "and began conducting crusades across America and around the world, attracting crowds of thousands -- many who were sick and dying and in search of healing," the biography said. "Through the years, he conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents" and "laid hands" on an estimated 2 million people, according to association officials. In 1954, he brought television cameras into services, providing what he liked to call a "front-row seat to miracles" to viewers, the biography said. He later began a television program, initially called "Oral Roberts Presents." The ministry's daily program, now called "The Place for Miracles," can be seen on more than 100 television stations, multiple cable and satellite networks and the Internet, Ethridge said. "If God had not in his sovereign will raised up the ministry of Oral Roberts, the entire charismatic movement might not have occurred," said Jack Hayford, president of the California-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, in the statement. "Oral shook the landscape with the inescapable reality and practicality of Jesus' whole ministry. His teaching and concepts were foundational to the renewal that swept through the whole church." Roberts founded the Abundant Life Prayer Group in 1958 "to address the around-the-clock needs of those suffering and requesting prayer," according to the biography. Today, prayer partners at Abundant Life continue to receive calls 24 hours a day. The group has received more than 23 million phone calls for prayer, the biography said. Oral Roberts University was founded in 1963, built on 500 acres in Tulsa and dedicated four years later by Graham, according to the biography. Graduate schools including medicine, nursing, dentistry, law, education and theology were later added. Roberts served as school president until 1993 but remained a chancellor until his death. He remained involved in his evangelistic association as much as his health allowed, Ethridge said Monday. His son, Richard Roberts, currently serves as president. In 1977, Roberts said he had a vision of a 900-foot-tall Jesus, who told him to found the City of Faith Medical and Research Center. The biography said the center was aimed at "merging the healing power of medicine and prayer." In 1986, Roberts announced that God would "call him home" unless he raised $8 million to send medical missionaries from the center -- an announcement that was widely publicized. He wound up raising $9.1 million, but the center closed in 1989. However, the biography said, it left "a lasting impact on the understanding by many medical professionals of the importance of treating the whole person -- body, mind and spirit." In addition, Roberts wrote more than 130 books, the biography said. "His book 'The Miracle of Seed Faith' has more than 8 million copies in circulation. This book's key principles -- God is your source, sow your seed out of your need, and expect a miracle harvest -- formed a fundamental part of Roberts' ministry and legacy," the biography said. Before his death, Roberts said, "After I'm gone, others will have to judge how well I've obeyed God's command not to be an echo but to be a voice like Jesus," the statement said. "As far as my own conviction is concerned, I've tried to be that voice with every fiber of my being, regardless of the cost." Responding to news of Roberts' death, Graham said Tuesday: "Just three weeks ago, I was privileged to talk to Oral on the telephone. During the short conversation, he said to me that he was near the end of his life's journey. I look forward to the day that I will see Oral and Evelyn Roberts again in heaven -- our eternal home." Roberts wife, Evelyn, died in 2005 after the couple had been married more than 66 years. Roberts is survived by his son and daughter and their spouses, along with 12 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, Ethridge said.

NEW: Roberts "a man of God, and a great friend in ministry," the Rev. Billy Graham says . Oral Roberts died of complications from pneumonia, spokeswoman says . He was hospitalized Monday, two days after a fall, spokeswoman says . Founder of Oral Roberts University "conducted more than 300 crusades," biography says .

(CNN) -- NFL player representatives and the league's owners on Monday signed a collective-bargaining agreement to end a lockout that threatened to derail the 2011 season. "Football's back!" NFL Roger Goodell exclaimed at a news conference in Washington after the agreement was signed, ending the four-month lockout. He said the 10-year agreement "is extraordinarily great for our game." The agreement was signed after members of the NFL Players Association unanimously approved the deal offered by the league's 32 owners early Monday. Chief among the issues embraced in the deal was the main issue of the lockout -- how to divide the $9 billion the NFL takes in each year. Under the old agreement, NFL owners took $1 billion off the top of that revenue stream. After that, the players got about 60%. The owners said the old labor deal didn't take into account the rising costs related to building stadiums and promoting the game. The players argued that the league had not sufficiently opened up its books to prove this. "We managed to talk about things that make football better and safer," NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith told reporters on Monday. "There are a number of issues that (needed) to be considered. ... The good thing is, the only way to talk about these things is if you're a union." The compensation issue was resolved when both side embraced an "all revenue system" as the basis for player compensation, according to an NFLPA news release. Under the system, the floor for the players' share of the revenue is set at 47%. The deal sets the salary cap at about $120.4 million per club -- plus $22 million in benefits for performance-based pay in 2011. This includes a guarantee for the league as a whole to spend no less than 99% of the cap in 2011 and 2012, and no less than 95% in consecutive four-year periods thereafter. Both sides over the weekend discussed details that players wanted resolved, including the contractual handling of player injury, an opt-out clause in the 10-year deal and, "most pointedly, the potential timeline for the recertification of the NFLPA (NFL Players' Association) as a union," the NFL said. In a bid to reduce injuries, the pact eliminated "two-a-day" practices, set a maximum of 4.5 hours on-field per day during training camp, and limited full-contact practices to an average of one per week not exceeding three hours. It also allows for unannounced inspections by NFLPA staff to ensure compliance. It also limits off-season workout requirements. Player representative Jeff Saturday acknowledged that the lockout "has been (a) roller coaster for the fans," but he echoed the cheerfulness from both sides: "With dialogue, things began to happen," said Saturday, a center for the Indianapolis Colts, "and ...now instead of these meeting rooms, I get to be in football meeting rooms (at training camp)." With the signing of the deal, the clock begins to roll on the 2011 season, beginning with the league's publication of its free agency list. The rest of the week will be dominated by the deferred business of expanding rosters, signing drafted rookies, reopening facilities and starting camps in preparation for preseason games, the first of which are on August 11, according to an updated league schedule released Monday. The only confirmed casualty of the lockout is the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, which was canceled because of the delay in opening camps, Goodell said. The game, which this year was to be between the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears, had been scheduled for August 7. The regular season is set to open on September 8. The league's owners imposed the lockout on March 11, suspending the labor deal in place at the time in hopes of creating a new financial structure. Ten players, including marquee quarterbacks Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league on behalf of other current and eligible NFL athletes. A judge in early April joined that action with another filed by retired players. After the lockout, the two sides faced off in courts and around conference tables. The issues revolved around how to divide the billions of dollars of revenue reaped via the league each year, rules of free agency, the rookie wage scale, retirement benefits and a host of other matters. According to the NFLPA, the deal, among other things: . -- Raises the minimum salary by $55,000 a year from 2010, with increases each year through 2014 By that year, the NFL's lowest salary will be $420,000. -- Sets the overall limit on rookie compensation at $874 million in 2011 (increasing with salary cap); . -- Sets minimum pay for high draft picks at a graduated scale based on average pay of the highest-paid players at those positions; . -- Sets mandatory contracts lengths at four years for players drafted in the first seven rounds; . -- Guarantees contracts against injury for up to three years; . -- Creates a $610 million Legacy Fund for players who played before the 1993 season; . -- Allows the NFLPA discretionary use of $20 million per year for health, safety and "former player issues;" -- Calls for a three-member appeals panel, including at least one former judge, to resolve disputes.

"All revenue system" resolves issue of how to split NFL's $9 billion take . Salary cap set at about $120M plus $22M in performance-based benefits . Clubs will start signing rookies, opening facilities and camps this week . Other top issues included rookie compensation, practice, ex-player benefits .

Washington (CNN) -- A federal appeals court Wednesday issued an order blocking the U.S. military from enforcing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays and lesbians serving in the military. U.S. officials have been moving ahead with dismantling the policy but had objected to having the courts force the government to officially repeal it at this time. At issue in the complex legal fight is whether "don't ask, don't tell" can remain in effect -- even in name only -- while the legal fight over its constitutionality is being fought in the federal courts. Judges have been at odds over the enforcement issue for months. The case puts the Obama administration in an unusual position of supporting a repeal, but at the same time filing court motions to prevent it from happening faster than planned. Military officials suggest the policy compliance changes eliminating "don't ask, don't tell" could be finished in a few weeks. In a brief order Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals echoed that, saying, "the process of repealing (the policy) is well underway, and the preponderance of the armed forces are expected to have been trained by mid-summer" on abiding by the new guidelines. "The circumstances and balance of hardships have changed," said the three-judge panel, concluding that as a result, "don't ask, don't tell" cannot remain in place. The Justice Department can now go back to the Supreme Court to try and have the enforcement order suspended for a second time. The justices last fall upheld an earlier order keeping the policy in place. The San Francisco-based appeals court also announced it would hear oral arguments in the issue in late August. A gay rights group -- the Log Cabin Republicans-- had sued over the 18-year-old ban on openly gay and lesbian members from service in the U.S. armed forces. In September, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips declared the military's ban to be unconstitutional. The Congress has since passed legislation signed by President Obama to gradually eliminate "don't ask, don't tell," but Pentagon officials had refused to issue a timeline on when that policy change would be completed. It is an issue Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who took over the post this month, will now have to confront. If the policy is fully in place, and any current investigations of gay and lesbian service members are suspended, the legal appeals might quickly become moot. But the Log Cabin Republicans have vowed to continue the legal fight until then. The group called the court order "exciting news." The ruling "removes all uncertainty -- American service members are no longer under threat of discharge as the repeal implementation process goes forward," said R. Clarke Cooper, the group's executive director. "As a captain in the United States Army Reserve, I have observed the reactions of my colleagues to the Department of Defense's move toward open service, and can say with complete confidence that our military is ready, willing and able to take this step. Log Cabin Republicans are proud of our role in ending this unconstitutional and un-American policy once and for all." Obama had said he long wanted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," and had reached an agreement with then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a process that included a military review of how to make a successful transition to openly gay and lesbian soldiers serving. The three men would then have to certify the repeal. Gay rights groups say the policy -- even as it is being discarded -- violates the due process and First Amendment rights of military members. In their appeals, the Log Cabin Republicans said allowing the policy to remain in effect pending appeal would be unacceptable and would cause "irreparable harm." The government presented "no evidence to support a finding that open service by gay and lesbian individuals harmed the military's interests, and ... both civilian and military leaders admitted that DADT actually impairs military interests," the appeal claimed. "Deference to military judgment here tips the scales against a stay, rather than in favor of one," it said. But the Obama administration, supported by Pentagon officials, argued that suspending the policy and forcing the military to immediately change course while the case is being appealed would cause problems during a time of war. "The military should not be required to suddenly and immediately restructure a major personnel policy that has been in place for years, particularly during a time when the nation is involved in combat operations overseas," said the government in a prior legal brief. Pentagon spokesman Dave Lapan said the military "will of course comply with orders of the court, and are taking immediately steps to inform the field of this order." He added, "In the meantime, implementation of the DADT repeal voted by the Congress and signed in to law by the President last December is proceeding smoothly, is well underway, and certification is just weeks away." Gates last fall raised the level at which gay and lesbian troops can be discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" by ordering that it only be done by the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force. In a memo written to the heads of all the military services, Gates said his action was taken in direct response to the legal uncertainty surrounding "don't ask, don't tell" law. There have been four voluntary discharges -- all from the Air Force -- in connection with "don't ask, don't tell" since October, according to the Pentagon. CNN's Charley Keyes contributed to this report.

A federal appeals court says "don't ask, don't tell" cannot remain in place . The Obama administration supports repeal of the policy . But the administration opposes repeal faster than planned . Military officials suggest policy changes eliminating DADT could be finished in a few weeks .

(CNN) -- A ball hasn't been kicked yet, but have we seen the World Cup's first own goal? Football fans around the world have been having their say on social media after FIFA announced the results of a slogan competition run by Korean car company Hyundai, one of the tournament's sponsors. The "winning slogans," which will be emblazoned on team buses for the month-long event, are anything but in some fans' eyes. News that the Australian team bus will wear the words "Socceroos: Hopping Our Way Into History!" was met with derision. "Whose mum came up with that ultra cheesy slogan?" read one tweet. Australian Football Federation CEO David Gallop took an equally dim view of it as the country's 30-man preliminary squad for Brazil was announced. "Don't worry too much about the other slogans that you might have read about. Just say, 'Go you Socceroos,' " Gallop said, The Australian reported. Other national teams' nicknames have been put to better use, with Ghana's slogan perhaps being the highlight. The quarterfinalists in South Africa four years ago will travel in a bus bearing the phrase, "Black Stars: Here to illuminate Brazil," while Ivory Coast's slogan, "Elephants charging towards Brazil!" also has some fun with the team's alias. Other teams, however, will have to make do with more enigmatic messages. One of the tournament favorites, Argentina, won't win any prizes for "Not just a team, we are a country," and nor will 2006 champions Italy with "Let's paint the World Cup dream blue." The U.S. stick with the motoring theme with "United By Team, Driven By Passion," while Dutch fans will hope the slogan "Real Men Wear Orange" can help steer the Netherlands all the way this time around after losing to Spain -- "Inside our hearts, the passion of a champion" -- in the 2010 final. "In principle, at least, it was a good idea to run this competition ... but quite how significant and far-reaching having a slogan on the side of a bus is a moot point," Simon Chadwick, professor of Sport Business Strategy and Marketing at the UK's Coventry University, told CNN. "Right now in sponsorship, and football generally, there is a big emphasis on fan engagement -- trying to get the fans as close as you possibly can to having an association with the sponsorship deal you are involved in," he told CNN. "Effectively what you've got here is a collective view of what your country brand stands for. By using these slogans you are positioning your country as a brand in a particular way. "So, if you look at Greece for example -- 'Heroes play like Greeks' -- you're then into Trojans, (being) resolute, and that works very, very well, and Japan -- "Samurai, the time has come to fight! "These are, in many ways, all very good positioning statements or very good brand slogans." But Chadwick has some sympathy for Gallop and the Australian team. "How is it that a commercial partner of FIFA rather than the football association itself decided what would be on the side of the bus?" he says. "I think there is a broader issue about corporate influence on the World Cup and on football in this. "It's an issue about joined-up thinking. I can understand why FIFA has done this, but I don't think you can do it without involving the national association as well." Here's the list in full. Let us know what you think. Algeria . Desert Warriors In Brazil . Argentina . Not Just A Team, We Are A Country . Australia . Socceroos: Hopping Our Way Into History! Belgium . Expect The Impossible! Bosnia and Herzegovina . Dragons In Heart, Dragons On The Field! Brazil . Brace Yourselves! The Sixth Is Coming! Cameroon . A Lion Remains A Lion . Chile . Chi Chi Chi!, Le Le Le! Go Chile! Colombia . Here Travels A Nation, Not Just A Team! Costa Rica . My Passion Is Football, My Strength Is My People, My Pride Is Costa Rica . Ivory Coast . Elephants Charging Towards Brazil! Croatia . With Fire In Our Hearts, For Croatia All As One! Ecuador . One Commitment, One Passion, Only One Heart, This Is For You Ecuador! England . The Dream Of One Team, The Heartbeat Of Millions!! France . Impossible Is Not A French Word . Germany . One Nation, One Team, One Dream! Ghana . Black Stars: Here To Illuminate Brazil . Greece . Heroes Play Like Greeks . Honduras . We Are One Country, One Nation, Five Stars On The Heart . Iran . Honour Of Persia . Italy . Let's Paint The FIFA World Cup Dream Blue . Japan . Samurai, The Time Has Come To Fight! South Korea . Enjoy It, Reds! Mexico . Always United, Always Aztecas . Holland . Real Men Wear Orange . Nigeria . Only Together We Can Win . Portugal . The Past Is History, The Future Is Victory . Russia . No One Can Catch Us . Spain . Inside Our Hearts, The Passion Of A Champion . Switzerland . Final Stop: 07-13-14 Maracana! Uruguay . Three Million Dreams ... Let's Go Uruguay . U.S. United By Team, Driven By Passion .

FIFA reveals slogans that will appear on team buses at World Cup in Brazil . Australian fans nonplussed by trite "Socceroos: Hopping Our Way Into History" slogan . UK marketing expert says competition is "a good idea" but not very "far-reaching"

(CNN) -- A freight train went off the rails outside Casselton, North Dakota, in the last week of December, spilling a load of crude oil and creating an impressive explosion that prompted officials to evacuate the small town. No one was hurt, but cell phone videos of the fireball were given wide exposure in the media. Here was "an airborne toxic event," a phrase Don DeLillo famously used in his novel "White Noise," a theatrical catastrophe born of the most quintessential American screw-up: a railroad crash. In addition to its use as shorthand for a failed government initiative or a friend who really ought to quit drinking, train wrecks occupy a contradictory place in the American cultural memory. They are as much celebrated as they are feared, and frequently memorialized in art and song. One of the most celebrated martyrs in American history, for example -- Casey Jones -- lost his life while trying to limit casualties in a 1900 smash-up on the Illinois Central. But beneath the morbid romanticism lies a historical home truth about train wrecks -- it took a little while before the most spectacular and shocking of them resulted in enough popular outrage to spur by real legislative action to make the rails safer. And so today an incident such as Casselton draws attention, with the help of dramatic TV images, to the enormous amount of oil being shipped on American rails and the inadequacy of current tank-car designs. It was different before mass media, and not every crash was galvanizing. Wrecks were all too common on early American rails, mainly because the tracks were constructed so badly. The merchant barons of Baltimore and Philadelphia were in a rush to get their lines over the Appalachians and into the fertile grain country of the Middle West during the 1830s. Crews grew accustomed to laying warped wooden ties and low-quality iron, and breakneck curves were common in the mountains. Signaling was also primitive, which meant that collisions -- euphemistically called "cornfield meets" -- were another cost of doing business. Perhaps because they involved an exciting new technology -- the railroad was the first true "machine" of the steam era to see widespread use -- or perhaps because the crashes were so messy and difficult to clean up (a combination of jacks, ramps and pulleys were often necessary to rerail cars), train wrecks came to assume a mythic stature and even a nobility that a later generation of car and plane mishaps would never touch. When engineer Casey Jones hit the brakes on his speeding Illinois Central locomotive instead of jumping in 1900, he died in the crash but became the subject of an enormously popular ballad and an oral legend that he died with the throttle puncturing his heart and a halo of spilled corn around his head. Songs such as "The Wreck of the Old 97" and "Wreck of the Royal Palm" became beloved standards. There were no stirring ballads to be drawn out of a horrendous train caught fire in Angola, New York, in 1867 that burned 49 people to death. The result was that carriages would no longer be made of wood and track gauges were standardized throughout the country, a turning point for cars and rails. And in New York City's Park Avenue was torn up and Grand Central Depot was completely rebuilt after a wreck in the tunnels killed 15 people in 1902. The Long Island Rail Road installed automatic speed control on its system after a crash near Richmond Hill, in Queens, in 1950 killed 78 commuters and triggered the threat of a boycott by frightened Long Island riders. And Southern California's Metrolink began an accelerated program to install a GPS-based safety system called positive train control after a 2008 wreck in which the driver blew through a stop signal because he was texting on his phone. Likewise, the deadly crash of a Metro North train north of New York City in December has raised the urgency of a 2015 federal deadline for railroads to install positive train control. Wrecks have so fascinated and horrified the public since the early days of train travel that perhaps it is no surprise that America's first corporate public relations department was created by the Pennsylvania Railroad after one of its trains plunged into a creek near Atlantic City in 1906, killing 53 passengers. Last week's derailment in North Dakota has already raised questions about just how much oil is now being shipped by rail in America. The answer: a lot. Almost all of North Dakota's considerable production of oil is shipped by rail, and train cars carrying petroleum went from about 10,000 in 2009 to an estimated 400,000 by the end of this year. This signals a revival of a hauling practice not widely used since the 1860s, and has spurred calls to toughen federal design standards for the DOT-111 type of tank car that is most often used to transport oil. Unlike other transforming rail crashes in American history, nobody died or was even hurt in the Casselton incident. It would be a major step forward -- perhaps even worthy of myth -- if this bloodless wreck on the prairie is what it took to bring us better oil cars on American tracks. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tom Zoellner.

Tom Zoellner: Oil freighter went off rails in North Dakota; fireball made arresting media image . Americans have a perverse, folkloric fascination with wrecks in song and story . He says deaths and media coverage have helped make wrecks spur reform . Zoellner: Let's hope North Dakota crash spurs higher safety in rail transport of oil .

(CNN) -- World leaders are moving carefully and anxiously, trying to prevent a disaster in the Korean Peninsula. This increasingly unpredictable round of saber-rattling is far from over, but so far the winner is the North Korean regime and the losers are the brutally oppressed North Korean people, joined by much of the rest of the world. While we watch the drama from far away, it's worth noting just how far North Korean weapons programs -- not just the weapons themselves -- can reach. U.S. intelligence officials differ on their estimates of the range and accuracy of North Korean missiles, nuclear-tipped or not. But the country's nuclear and missile technology has already found its way to the Middle East. North Korea helped Syria develop a nuclear reactor. It has sold missile technology and weapons to anyone willing to pay, and it has developed close cooperation with Iran. If the crisis ended right now -- with every piece of military hardware back to where it stood a few months ago and everyone taking a vow of silence on the matter so that we get no more threats and no more demands -- the confrontation would have already sent clear and damaging messages across the globe, encouraging tyrants and regimes seeking or considering the idea of developing nuclear weapons. Opinion: North Korea endgame - 3 scenarios . North Korea's message seems to be: If you have nuclear capabilities, it doesn't matter how outrageously you behave; it doesn't matter how horribly you mistreat your people; it doesn't matter how flimsy your economy is. When you have a nuclear arsenal, countries that could topple your regime with a tiny fraction of their power suddenly become afraid of making you angry. This is a pernicious reality with tragic and hazardous consequences. Nuclear development makes it easier for the totalitarian regime to condemn the North Korean people to grinding poverty and imprisonment in nightmarish gulags. Several generations of the same family can live and die in captivity. While the North Korean people go hungry, the regime diverts scarce resources to its nuclear and missile programs while its top leader, the youthful Kim Jong Un, adds insult to injury with his visibly expanding girth. As the latest crisis unfolded and as North Korea threatened a "preemptive nuclear attack" on the United States, a "final destruction" of South Korea, and a "nuclear attack" on Tokyo, world powers held a new round of talks with the Iranian regime over its nuclear program. Coincidence or not, the talks with Iran produced nothing, not even the customary agreement to hold more talks. Iran, one can only imagine, must be paying close attention to the dance macabre between Pyongyang and the rest of the world. North Korea, whose entire economy is worth about $40 billion -- less than a small-sized American city and a tiny fraction of prosperous South Korea and its trillion-dollar economy -- has ordered the whole world to attention. Experts are scratching their heads, trying to figure out what exactly Kim Jong Un wants and how far he will go. There's general consensus that he wants, like all dictators, to strengthen his hold on power and to secure the support of the military. But he is accomplishing more than that. North Korea is giving its crucial weapons industry a huge boost of publicity. Every headline is a Super Bowl-size ad for the country's destructive wares. Opinion: Why I fled North Korea . Current and future clients may have noticed that its arsenal has allowed North Korea to get away with creating these crises, which fortify the regime and sometimes even bring generous international aid. Without its dangerous arsenal, it's unlikely Pyongyang would have gotten away with the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong island, when it killed two South Korean marines and three civilians, sent the population fleeing in panic and set homes and forests on fire. Despite South Korea's vow of "enormous retaliation," the regime is still in place. Not only is it still standing, it is spreading its deadly know-how. North Korea has long been one of the world's top proliferators of missiles and other weapons systems. U.S. officials say Iran recently received North Korean missiles capable of reaching Western European capitals. Last September, Tehran and Pyongyang signed a scientific cooperation agreement, which experts say is almost identical to the one North Korea signed with Syria a decade ago. That agreement with Damascus brought North Korean technicians to help the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad build a nuclear reactor that Israeli warplanes destroyed in 2007. And the North, incidentally, is still sending weapons to Damascus. Back home, when North Korea carried out its third nuclear test earlier this year, news reports in the region said Iranian scientists were there to observe. This standoff is not over, but Pyongyang has already won. From the moment the North obtained nuclear weapons, however rudimentary, the game changed. From that moment, the chances that the North Korean people will rejoin the world and have a chance at a better life diminished greatly. From that moment, the South and the West's room to maneuver became much more limited. The challenge now is to prevent a greater disaster, while keeping the regime from scoring an even greater victory, as it has in the past, by walking away from this confrontation with new rewards. Beyond that, the world must seek a creative way to help free the North Korean people, while bearing in mind the disastrous consequences of allowing dangerous regimes to obtain nuclear weapons. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.

Frida Ghitis: North Korean weapons programs have spread to the Middle East . Ghitis: North Korea's messages encourage tyrants to seek nuclear weapons . She says with nuclear arsenal, powerful countries are afraid to make a regime angry . Ghitis: This standoff is not over, but Pyongyang has already won .

(CNN) -- At first it may seem "24's" Jack Bauer didn't get the memo. In 2014, our heroes now wear capes and fight the bad guys at the box office, while the small screen has been taken over by a gang of antiheroes. From "Scandal" and "Mad Men" to "Breaking Bad" and "House of Cards," the recent slate of leading men aren't as interested in saving the world as they are in saving themselves. Yet on Monday night (May 5), counterterrorism agent Bauer will return in Fox's "24" event series, "24: Live Another Day." He's once again played by Kiefer Sutherland and is as determined as ever to do the right thing. Those around Bauer may question which side he's on, but viewers have always known him as the guy willing to do anything (and we mean anything) for what he sees as the greater good. In a TV world filled with monsters and Heisenbergs, where does Bauer fit in? In a sense, the 12-episode "24: Live Another Day" is asking that very question. When "24" ended in 2010, Bauer was still alive but a fugitive. In its two-hour premiere, "24: Live Another Day" picks up four years later with a hardened, angrier Bauer living in exile as a presumed threat to the U.S. government. "He's actually working on his own, but the people that he's trying to help are actually hunting him and they're trying to either kill him or arrest him," Sutherland told CNN in a press call. "He's had to hide in Eastern Europe for four years. He's been estranged from his daughter and grandchildren, he has not been able to go back to the country that he feels he served. That kind of isolation has made him really hard." And yet, as executive producers Evan Katz and Manny Coto point out, he'll still jump at the chance to stop another attempt on a president's life without asking, as many of our favorite characters would today, what's in it for him. "Jack is an individual who has saved his country numerous times and now that country has turned his back on him," Coto said. "On the outside (he's) changed and has a darker view of humanity and the people around him, but at his core has maintained his love of country and what he's always fought for." That core is undoubtedly part of what made audiences root for the impossibly unstoppable federal agent when "24" debuted in 2001. With a premiere date that came just weeks after the September 11 attacks, "24" greeted TV viewers badly in need of a hero. "He was a man who got things done at a time when that was all this country wanted," observed Los Angeles Times' TV critic Mary McNamara. "I don't think Sutherland cracked a smile during the entire run of '24.' He was all business." At the time, the series was one of a few new programs focusing on the CIA, but "24" was unique in its setup. Each week's episode covered one hour of a very long, very bad day for Jack Bauer, with the conceit that all the events viewers were watching were happening in real time. Although the series was shot five months prior to the September 11 attacks, that event seemed to rule out "24's" success, Sutherland said. (It's not surprising he assumed as much, given that "24's" premiere episode featured a terrorist placing a bomb on a plane.) "After that terrible day we personally thought the show was over and we shouldn't do it because it was too close to something that had really happened," Sutherland said. "We were very surprised to see the audience reaction ... to the show early on. Somehow there was something that made Jack's character quite cathartic." To producer Katz, audiences have connected with Bauer because he's "selfless in a way that a lot of the other characters aren't. He's not ambitious, he doesn't care about what happens to him," the producer said. While that may make him unique in today's TV world, at the very least it'll help him stand apart. "He's definitely a singular character," Katz noted. "No one is occupying the same pace." Now with his return, there's another fight that Bauer is facing that has nothing to do with a world leader. The question of whether audiences are interested in welcoming back this gun-toting archetype, and whether this event series will be a success or a disappointment for Fox, doesn't have a straightforward answer, said Variety's Brian Lowry. The TV critic wasn't that impressed with "24's" new event series, noting that it "doesn't in any way reinvent the show." Although, Lowry continued, that may be enough for fans who are content to watch what they would've seen in the mid-2000s "in a more truncated form." For Sutherland, the concern is less about ratings and the possibility that there could be more "24" on the horizon as it is about doing justice to the man he brought to life for nine years. During production on the event series, which is set and shot in London, "we became so focused on trying to make these the best episodes of '24' period," Sutherland said. "I feel very, very strong about the first eight episodes that we have completed. Now we just need to really bring it home."

Jack Bauer returns to TV with event series "24: Live Another Day" The character doesn't quite fit the current antihero trend . But the reason he became so popular is because of his "get it done" attitude .

(CNN) -- Wednesday marked Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. Across the United States, conservatives gathered in chicken restaurants to show support for the company after its president, Dan Cathy, came out against gay marriage. Democratic mayors in Chicago and Boston at first threatened to halt expansion of the Chick-fil-A chain to their cities, which turned a question of sexual morality into a debate about freedom of speech. The motto of conservative Christians seems to be, "They'll take my chicken from my cold dead hand..." Writing as a European, this story combines two of the things we most readily associate with America: Jesus Christ and fast food. It certainly reflects a uniquely American phenomenon. There are religious businesspeople and raging conservatives in other parts of the world, but only the United States enjoys all the elements that could turn a statement of conscience into nationwide movement. Where else in the world would a) the president of a chicken restaurant chain feel it was within his remit to publicly endorse "the traditional family," b) liberal mayors totally overreact by trying to stop his business' expansion, c) a former presidential candidate declare an "appreciation day" for the restaurant, and d) hundreds of people actually show up to eat there in solidarity? Opinion: Chick-fil-A and free speech . The whole scenario seems so preposterous as to be contrived, which makes me wonder if it was a brilliant sales gimmick. Yet, we have no reason to doubt the strength of Cathy's faith and, after all, Chick-fil-A isn't the only company with a taste for Christian witness. Norm Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries, discusses his faith on his company's website and offers advice on prayer. In-N-Out Burger prints "John 3:16" on the bottom of its paper cups. Hobby Lobby says it is committed to "honoring the Lord" and closes all its stores on a Sunday. Are there other corporations out there with a hidden religious agenda that we all missed because we weren't looking for it? Is Ronald McDonald the acceptable face of Seventh-Day Adventism? That this story revolves around a chicken restaurant might incline us to be skeptical about its political significance. But don't forget that the tea party started with a trading floor rant and was initially lampooned for its innocent association with the tea bag. In America, businesses have often been the battlegrounds for political conflicts, think of the civil rights movement's lunch counter sit-ins. Time will only tell whether or not this is an important moment in the revival of conservative religious activism. However, it does offer two immediate warnings about the November election. Opinion: The right way and the wrong way to protest Chick-fil-A . First, culture will matter. There's always a tendency to presume that in presidential elections "it's the economy stupid." The polls confirm that voters still place moral questions very low on their list of priorities. But cultural issues keep on coming up in ways that we didn't expect: contraception in February, gay marriage in May, guns in July, and now we're back to gay marriage. It could be that bad jobs reports are so common that they've become the background noise of the campaign, while the matters related to sex and violence compete more colorfully for our attention. But no, something more complex is taking place: Economics and culture are becoming synonymous. News: Jim Henson Co. ends five decade relationship with Chick-fil-A over gay marriage stance . In rallying to Cathy's defense, some conservatives have pointed out that his company has created jobs and that attempts to block its growth are bad for middle-class Americans. They made the same case against Michael Bloomberg's war on supersized drinks. There's a theme to the complaints emerging: that in their pursuit of liberal ends the Democrats are costing jobs, while patriotic conservatives like Cathy are repairing the economy and spreading the gospel. Mitt Romney is now running billboard ads that lampoon Obama's claim that businesses need government support to flourish. The implicit choice that the right is trying to establish is "hardworking, self-reliant Christian businessmen" vs "welfare-supporting, anti-growth, atheistic bureaucrats." Hence, debates that can seem only to be about culture can actually become a way of discussing who is to blame for our economic woes. Second, the sheer number of people involved in the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day suggests that turnout will matter in November. A common theme among tweets coming out of the restaurant demonstrations Wednesday was that conservative strength lies in numbers. One photo caption read, "Hey liberals, the turnout for Chick-fil-A appreciation day is a preview of the polling stations in November." Maybe, maybe not. But the polls are close and the number of undecided voters is falling. America is settling down into two, surprisingly partisan, camps of voters who probably won't change their minds significantly until voting day. If that pattern holds, then turnout is all important. In 2004, the ability of the Bush team to get out their religious vote swung them a relatively close election. If Mitt Romney can effectively establish the link between economics and culture, and then motivate conservatives to turn out in big numbers, then the Chick-fil-A moment could prove prophetic. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Timothy Stanley.

Timothy Stanley: Chick-fil-A dustup so preposterous it almost seems a brilliant sales gimmick . He says U.S. has odd tendency to turn statements of principle into a nationwide movement . He says it might be pre-election warning: Culture wars can be blended with economic worries . Stanley: Chick-fil-A protest support could preview voter turnout if Romney plays it right .

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

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

(CNN) -- Syria on Saturday slammed the U.N. Human Rights Council's stinging condemnation of its security crackdown, calling the resolution "unjust and blatantly politicized." "It has become clear to the people of Syria and the countries that realize the reality of the conspiracy against it that the interest of the Syrian people is the last thing on the mind of the countries sponsoring such sessions and their impotent resolutions, and that their true goal is inciting the continuation of terrorism against citizens," according to an official source quoted by the government-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The council, in a 37-4 vote, passed a resolution Friday that "strongly condemns the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities, such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the killing and persecution of protesters, human rights defenders and journalists, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, including against children." There were six abstentions at the meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. The group convened to consider action against Syria after a report issued Monday by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, a body appointed by the council. That report concluded security and military forces "committed crimes against humanity" on civilians. The resolution recommends that U.N. bodies "urgently consider" the commission report and "take appropriate action." Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Djibouti were among the nations who voted in favor of the resolution. Those countries are members of the Arab League, one of the international entities initiating sanctions against the Bashar al-Assad regime for its nearly nine-month long bloody push against peaceful protesters. The United States, the European Union and Turkey also have imposed sanctions. The violence appeared to continue Saturday, with the activist group Local Coordination Committees of Syria reporting 22 dead across the country. The highest number of deaths, 10, occurred in the restive region of Homs city and province, in the west. At least six were also killed in Idlib, two each in Daraa and suburbs of Damascus, and one apiece in Hama and Damascus. Intense shooting was reported in several locales, including the Damascus suburb of Hajar Aswad where army forces had allegedly surrounded the Bilal Habashi Mosque. A video statement posted Saturday on YouTube, purportedly from the Free Syrian Army, a military force of defectors, claimed that government snipers fired at protesters in Idlib. In response, the group said its members stopped them by destroying two Syrian armored vehicles and killing "several" security forces. SANA, meanwhile, reported that 13 "army and security forces martyrs on Saturday were escorted from Tishreen Military Hospital to their finale resting place." The deaths were blamed on "armed terrorist groups" -- a term the government commonly uses to describe the opposition, and rationalize its response -- in the "Damascus countryside." CNN is unable to independently confirm events occurring inside Syria because the government does not allow journalists free access to the country. Overall, the United Nations said this week that more than 4,000 people have died since mid-March and the death toll continues to rise. That prompted the the report from the world body's human rights council, which SANA said made judgments "based on information promoted by some groups outside Syria and known biased mass media sources." The source cited by SANA contended that "several countries at the UNHRC said that the report and the resolution don't meet the minimum standards of objectivity and professionalism and overstep the jurisdiction of the UNHRC, in addition to ignoring the issue of weapon smuggling and the funding and training of terrorists in special camps outside Syria." Russia, Cuba, China, and Ecuador voted against the resolution. Russia's permanent council representative said the resolution "is designed to further exacerbate the conflict and not to peacefully settle it. The resolution is biased, in reflecting the current situation placing full and total blame on the Syrian government and ignoring those serious crimes by anti-government forces. We believe that there is no basis for calling Damascus's activities crimes against humanity - in any event this goes beyond the mandate of the council." Russia has been calling for the violence to stop, no matter where it stems from. But it is concerned that several provisions in the resolution could be construed "as an open appeal to interfere in Syria's internal affairs, allowing for military actions, including military intervention." The Syrian source was quoted by SANA as saying the council "deliberately ignored documents and information" from Syria and failed to mention the government's reforms. Even though it was denied access into Syria, the Commission of Inquiry interviewed "223 victims and witnesses, including military and security forces who had defected and testified to the role of Syrian forces in the use of lethal violence against peaceful protests. " The United States, Britain, and Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, hailed the council's move. "The time has come for the Security Council to follow the lead of the Arab League and Turkey and impose sanctions. It should put in place an arms embargo as well as an asset freeze and travel ban on Syrian officials responsible for the abuses, and refer the case to the International Criminal Court," Human Rights Watch said. CNN's Joe Sterling contributed to this report .

NEW: At least 22 die Saturday in Syria, including 10 in Homs, an activist group says . NEW: 13 army and security force "martyrs" are transferred for burial, state media reports . Several Arab nations backed a U.N. resolution condemning crackdown . A Syrian official says the report lacks "objectivity and professionalism"

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down Friday and handed over power to the military -- three decades of his iron-clad rule ended by an 18-day revolution. In a somber one-minute announcement on state television, Vice President Omar Suleiman said Mubarak had resigned and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will "run the affairs of the country." Tens of thousands of emotional Egyptians exploded in deafening cheers on the streets of Cairo, electric with excitement. It was a moment they had anticipated throughout long days of relentless demonstrations -- sometimes violent -- that demanded Mubarak's departure. It was also a moment that many had thought unimaginable in the Arab world's powerhouse nation. "Egypt is free!" and "God is Great," they chanted in the honeymoon of the moment. They waved Egyptian flags, honked horns and set off fireworks as they savored a moment that just days ago had seemed unimaginable. A source with close connections to Persian Gulf government leaders told CNN that Mubarak had fled to the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Swiss government has directed banks to freeze all assets belonging to Mubarak and his family, said Norbert Baerlocher, a spokesman for the Swiss Embassy in Washington. The banks do not as yet have a clear picture of what Mubarak has but protesters on the streets had worried that he would attempt to flee the country with looted money. In a televised speech Thursday night, Mubarak had indicated he was delegating authority to Suleiman, but Friday, deeply disappointed crowds calling for his ouster kept swelling throughout Cairo and in other major cities. Friday night, they got what they wanted all along. Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, however, sounded words of caution amid the euphoria. He urged Egyptians to stay united beyond the moment of euphoria. "We have challenges ahead of us," said the Nobel laureate whom many believe could emerge as Egypt's next leader. "I think we need to not worry about retribution. Mubarak needs to go and we need to look forward." Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian activist who became a reluctant hero of the revolution said only one word would be used to describe Mubarak in history books: "Dictator." "I want to say: 'Welcome back Egypt," he told CNN. Ghonim -- a Google executive who is on leave from his job and whose Facebook page is credited with triggering the popular uprising -- was seized by security forces and released Monday. His words and tears in a television interview galvanized the protesters in Tahrir Square. He said he knew Mubarak would be forced out after a revolt in Tunisia forced its leader out in January, and he said he believed the military can be trusted to respect the demands of the protesters. Many of the anti-government protesters had been calling for Egypt's powerful army, well-respected within the country, to take over as interim caretakers. Friday night, they voiced optimism that the military would pave the way for free and fair elections. But it's uncertain what will come next in the most populous nation of the Arab world, and how Egypt's revolution, that succeeded on the 32nd anniversary of Iran's, will reverberate throughout the region. U.S. President Barack Obama was notified of Mubarak's decision Friday morning, said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, and was closely watching the extraordinary developments unfold in Egypt, a key U.S. ally. He will make a statement Friday afternoon, the White House said. Mubarak's decision to step down is "obviously a welcome step," said a U.S. official involved in the Egypt discussions. Now comes "an unpredictable next chapter," the official added. It is "a sign the military chose society." Amre Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, said Egyptians are "looking forward to a different (and) better future." A high-ranking Egyptian military official said the army's command was discussing whether to dismiss Mubarak's government and parliament and also when the next election would be held. An announcement was expected later Friday. But some analysts were already sounding the alarm over a military takeover. "Suleiman's statement is the clearest indication thus far that the military has carried out a coup led by Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi," analysts with the Stratfor global intelligence company said in a statement. "Egypt is returning to the 1952 model of ruling the state via a council of army officers. The question now is to what extent the military elite will share power with its civilian counterparts," the statement said. Amnesty International, whose staffers had been among human rights workers and journalists detained by Egyptian authorities during the uprising, congratulated Egyptians for "their extraordinary courage and commitment to achieve fundamental change." But it warned that the departure of one man did not mean an end to a police state. "The repressive system that Egyptians have suffered under for three decades has not gone away and the state of emergency remains in place," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general. "Those in power must grasp this opportunity to consign the systematic abuses of the past to history. Human rights reform must begin now," Shetty said. CNN's Amir Ahmed, Nic Robertson and Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.

Vice President Omar Suleiman says the armed forces will run the country . 'Egypt is Free!' people chanted on the streets . Crowds explode in cheers on the streets of Cairo . Many protesters had called for the army to take over .

(CNN) -- The storm that swept last week across the Northeast left indelible memories for many, but also erased some. Limor Garfinkle, whose Staten Island apartment is littered with scraps of paper that represent some of the most important memories of a woman she barely knows, is trying to salvage at least a few of them. The 35-year-old art director for a Midtown ad agency drove Sunday from her home, which is on high ground and did not flood, to the hard-hit South Beach section of the borough to take pictures of Sandy's aftermath. There, she came across Victoria Beckman, a Russian immigrant: Her family's photographs and documents were arrayed on the stone railing leading from the street to her front door. iReport: Drying A Lifetime's Memories . "I saw she had thousands of pictures," Garfinkle said. Many were smeared with mud, others were stained by rust. The woman's house was gutted, she had no heat and she was bereft. "I said to her, 'Would you like me to take these?'" Garfinkle recalled. "She said, 'Yes, please, I have nothing left.' So I just took it." Sandy survivors face voting -- and another storm . Garfinkle took five plastic garbage bags stuffed full of memorabilia, loaded them into the trunk of her car and drove them back to her home. "The whole thing was a mess," she said. Garfinkle consulted the Internet and set about trying to preserve the treasure that had been entrusted to her. "It said to wash the pictures with water and just dry them," she said. So she emptied the bags and set to work. Many of the pictures predate the introduction of digital photographs. They chronicle weddings and bar mitzvahs and include images of people presumably long dead. Among the pictures were citizenship papers, tax returns and a Russian Army medal. "It's all over my house and my floor," she said. Garfinkle, who grew up in Israel and plans to vote for the first time Tuesday in a U.S. election ("I think Obama, probably. We'll see."), said she was just trying to help. But Alan Radom, who has restored photographs for about 25 years, said that washing wet photographs may not always achieve that end. "It's the kind of thing that sometimes can help, but sometimes many old photos have dye in them -- water-soluble dye," he said in a telephone interview. Radom, who runs Artisan Photo Restoration in Manhattan, said he is guided by the same maxim doctors follow: First, do no harm. Washing photographs is too risky for him. "That might work, but I wouldn't take a chance doing that because you might take the whole image off it." He advises separating any pictures that may adhere to one another and letting them dry. "Once they're stuck together, then it becomes near impossible to deal with anything," he said. "I've seen 500 pictures dry together. It's basically just a congealed block of paper and glue." New Jersey lets Sandy victims vote via e-mail . Radom recommends leaving any picture stuck to glass since trying to pull it away can tear it apart. "Leave it be," he said. And any wet pictures should be removed from albums, he said. "The worst thing you can do is leave them in plastic sleeves and albums." His personal trove of family pictures survived Sandy in the basement of his home north of the city in Westchester County -- "raised about 6 feet off the ground." Tom Sobolik, a professional photographer for more than 35 years in Westchester County, advised putting wet photographs in a print dryer, but said the devices have largely disappeared since the advent of digital photography. "I don't even know if there is such a thing any more," he said. "My recommendation would be to do as little as possible," he said. "But, if they're ruined without washing them, then you try washing them." Sobolik, who is launching an online print laboratory called riveredgestudio.com, said some companies, including Kodak, used resin-coated paper -- covered with a thin layer of plastic. Those photographs "are more likely to wash easier and resist washing better," he said. Remembering the victims . Seth Bogdanove, owner of Digital Archiving and Photo Restoration in Manhattan, said washing wet pictures is dangerous. "I would put them up on a piece of paper or towel or something absorbent and let the water leach out from the bottom and let the air dry the top, because the surface of the photograph is an emulsion -- you get it wet, it gets sticky and it can smear. You can get fingerprints on it. You put anything on top of it, it will stick. So the best thing to do is just put them face up and let them air dry." Only if they were stuck together, he said, would he "very gently" soak them to separate them. He recommends those who want to safeguard their pictures have them digitalized and stored that way. In general, the approach worked, said Garfinkel. "Some of them, the ink in them didn't hold up very well," she said. "But very few, actually. Most of them are perfect. You know what held up best? Kodak. The ones that were printed the old-fashioned way." Beckman, who has moved from her home to a relative's, said she was planning to pick up the photographs as soon as they are ready. How you can help . CNN's Daphne Sashin contributed to this report .

In Staten Island, Limor Garfinkle seeks to save a woman's cache of wet, muddy photographs . She is trying to salvage five plastic bags stuffed with soggy memories . Photographer: "If they're ruined without washing them, then you try washing them"

(CNN) -- One need look no further than the Nielsen Top 25 to see that funny fare is doing some serious damage this fall TV season. Led by "Two and a Half Men" on CBS and featuring no less than three newcomers -- CBS' "2 Broke Girls," Fox's "New Girl" and ABC's "Last Man Standing" -- sitcoms have dominated the Top 10 scripted programs in the weekly rankings (based on delivery of the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic). "It's been a while since that's been the case," says Kelly Kahl, senior executive vice president of CBS Primetime. "At the end of the day, it does seem like there is some sort of groundswell right now." CBS claims five of eight highly ranked sitcoms. The network's three other hits are "How I Met Your Mother," "Big Bang Theory," and "Mike and Molly." "New Girl," "Last Man Standing" (which debuted to 13 million viewers) and ABC's Emmy-adorned "Modern Family" round out the crowd. "People forget sometimes that comedies are supposed to be fun, but a lot of the comedies are bringing the funny this fall," Kahl says. "And when you do that, the audience is there for it." The audience also has been there for cable comedies, with HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" coming off all-time highs, even in their eighth and seventh seasons, respectively. TVLine: Hit series poised to kill off major character . Perhaps the biggest surprise of the fall is Fox's "New Girl," which not only bowed to strong numbers but also built on its lead-in, the buzz worthy "Glee." That performance, which has continued throughout the newbie's run, even caught the ratings-crunchers at Fox a bit by surprise. "Did we think we were going to get those numbers? No," says Preston Beckman, Fox's executive vice president for strategic program planning and research. "But we had a lot of positive signs." Beckman says pilot testing indicated "New Girl" would be a potential four-quadrant hit, meaning one that played well to audiences young and old, male and female. While preseason tracking put consumer awareness of the Zooey Deschanel-fronted comedy at expected levels, Beckman says, "The intent to view was consistently high. We knew we had a show here." TVLine: TV worth watching tonight . Beckman, who was at NBC during "Friends" fever, sees "New Girl" sharing DNA with that piece of Must See TV. When creating an identifiable cast of characters, "You either want to be those people, you are those people, or you remember being those people -- and if you can hit everybody, you have success," he says. "That's what 'New Girl' is." Asked how it is that "New Girl" is even growing out of "Glee," Beckman cites a good fit between the shows, as well as the 9 p.m. hour's older-skewing competition (reality juggernaut "Dancing With the Stars" included). To a 12-34 demographic that is ripe for the picking, Deschanel and friends offer "a real alternative," he says. Much can also be attributed to star power. Both "2 Broke Girls," starring wisecracking Kat Dennings and bubbly newcomer Beth Behrs, and "New Girl" have the "sort of appealing characters the audiences love," CBS' Kahl says. "I don't think there's been a female lead sitcom in a while -- much less two -- that featured young, energetic characters." TVLine: Spoilers on 'Glee,' 'Gossip Girl,' 'Bones,' 'Vampire Diaries,' 'CSI,' 'Castle' and more! At CBS, the good news expands to its older comedies. "How I Met Your Mother," which leads into "2 Broke Girls" on Monday nights, "has kind of come out of nowhere" to gain 30% in the demographic versus a year ago, Kahl says. Likewise, "Two and a Half Men's" performance -- netting more than 15 million total viewers at last count, despite replacing one of its leads, Charlie Sheen, with Ashton Kutcher -- "is not something anybody could have forecast," Kahl says, "and even 'Big Bang Theory' is up" on Thursdays. One perspective Kahl offers on the trend is that in an era of bloated reality shows "that are now two hours in length," with a half-hour sitcom "you get your laughs and you're done, and that is very appealing." Speaking of unscripted programs, expanded editions of "The X Factor" -- coupled with Fox's commitment to post-season Major League Baseball coverage -- led the network to pull its shiny "New Girl" off the schedule until November 1. Beckman has been down this road before, and to those who question the tactic, he says, "You're thinking about this moment, when we have to think about a strategy for the whole year." So while some grumble at the breakout hit's brief MIA status, his attitude is this: better now than later. "I get into interesting discussions with my bosses about this, where I say, 'If you're telling me to put (new episodes) on now, you're going to flip out in January or March when I've run out," he says with a laugh. "It becomes choose your poison."

Sitcoms surge, challenge reality TV shows . CBS exec: "There is some sort of groundswell right now" "2 Broke Girls" and "New Girl" feature "young, energetic" female leads .

(CNN) -- The trial of British mercenary Simon Mann continued Thursday, a day after Mann implicated former friend Mark Thatcher in the alleged plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea. Simon Mann was arrested after a plane carrying him and about 60 mercenaries landed in Zimbabwe. Mann, a former British army commando, was arrested four years ago in Zimbabwe and extradited to Equatorial Guinea's capital of Malabo earlier this year to face trial for the alleged coup. The trial began Tuesday and a verdict was expected within days. Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested along with Mann in 2004. He pleaded guilty in South Africa the following year to unwittingly bankrolling the alleged coup plot; he escaped jail time by paying a fine. Thatcher said he had given $275,000 toward the charter of a helicopter, which he originally thought was to be used for commercial purposes, but later suspected was to be used by mercenaries. But Mann said Thatcher knew much more than he claimed, and even helped plan the operation. "He was not just an investor," Mann testified Wednesday. "I mean, he came on board completely and he became part of the management team." Excerpts of Mann's testimony were broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 news, which says it has the only camera in the courtroom. Thatcher paid $350,000 in total, Mann said. The money paid for an Alouette III helicopter and a King Air plane which were to be used in the plot, he said. Mann said he brought Thatcher to London to meet with Lebanese businessman Eli Calil. Mann said he himself met with Calil three times in London's Chelsea neighborhood and that, during the third meeting, Calil requested his services. "He asked me if I would assassinate the president. He also talked about the possibility of a guerrilla war in Equatorial Guinea," Mann said in the footage broadcast by Channel 4. Mann testified that he refused both requests, considering them both unethical, but he did agree to help stage a coup -- an idea which he said foreign governments including Spain and the U.S. supported. Mann testified that a scout had been sent to the U.S. to gauge the government's reaction to a possible coup. "The opinion in Washington, the Pentagon, Langley, and the oil companies was basically all the same, which was that the situation, the political situation, in Equatorial Guinea was very unsatisfactory, very dangerous, and that a well conducted change of government would be welcome," he said. The courtroom did not appear packed, with several of the bright red fabric-covered chairs empty. Bespectacled Mann was dressed in a gray prison outfit, clean-shaven, with his hair combed back. Channel 4 said Mann testified for four hours. He spent the first two standing up but he was "clearly uncomfortable" and suffering from a hernia, so the judge let him sit for the last two hours, the broadcaster said. Equatorial Guinea prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty for Mann, the country's U.S. ambassador told CNN Tuesday. Mann was arrested four years ago after a plane carrying him and about 60 mercenaries landed in Zimbabwe. The government of Equatorial Guinea said the group was on its way to overthrow its president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, but Mann said at the time that they were going to guard a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Zimbabwe court convicted Mann of trying to buy weapons illegally, and he served four years in jail there before his extradition to Equatorial Guinea to face charges of leading an abortive coup. Britain's Foreign Office said it was offering consular assistance to Mann and a consular representative had visited him in prison to check on his welfare. The British consul from nearby Nigeria was attending the start of the trial in a consular capacity, said a Foreign Office spokesman, who declined to be named in line with policy. Britain has no embassy in Equatorial Guinea. Mann once served in the British army and was later affiliated with the South Africa-based mercenary firm Executive Outcomes. The firm described itself on its now-defunct Web site as a "military advisory service" that had played a "crucial" role in ending two African civil wars. At the end of his testimony Wednesday, Mann offered an apology. "I would like to say that I am very, very sorry for what I tried to do in 2003 and 2004. I'm very sorry for what I've done," he said. "I'm also very happy that we failed, that it didn't work, that nothing actually happened. I'm very happy that that is the case." Mann also said that those involved in the plot who had not been prosecuted should now face justice. "I've been in prison for four years," he said. "I'm not the same man as I was, and that is what I think -- I think they should all face justice." Equatorial Guinea -- slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Maryland -- is the third-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa and a supplier to the U.S. and Europe. The former Spanish colony gained independence from Spain in 1968. Obiang seized power in a 1979 coup after which President Francisco Macias Nguema was arrested, tried and executed. Obiang has remained in power despite several reported coup attempts, Britain's Foreign Office says.

Mercenary Simon Mann implicates former friend Mark Thatcher in coup . Former army commando faces charges of trying to overthrow president . Mann claims Thatcher knew much more than he claimed about plot .

(CNN) -- Kevin Pearce One of the country's top snowboarders, who was considered a favorite to make the U.S. Olympic team, was in critical but stable condition Sunday after an accident while training last week at Park City, Utah. The Los Angeles Times reports that the 22-year-old from Norwich, Vermont, was wearing a helmet while attempting a twisting double back flip on an icy halfpipe. Pearce hit his head, was knocked unconscious and was then airlifted to the University of Utah hospital for surgery. He sustained severe traumatic brain injury, one of his doctors said in a statement. Pearce, a beloved athlete, was one of the few snowboarders who experts thought could challenge top contender Shaun White, who has won almost every top snowboarding medal. Los Angeles Times: Snowboarder in critical condition . Adrian Smith One of the world's most widely recognized architects is one of the principal designers of the world's tallest tower, the Burj Dubai, which opens today in the emirate of Dubai. The 160-plus-story structure has already been hailed as a monumental architectural achievement but is seen by some as a symbol of the city's unbridled excess. The majestic silvery construction houses a luxury hotel, apartments and offices. Six years in the making, the Burj Dubai reaches 818 meters, or half a mile, into the sky above Dubai, with dizzying views of the ambitious building program that has transformed the emirate and left it swamped by debt. Smith worked for four decades at the structure's architecture firm, Chicago, Illinois-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which called the Burj "a bold global icon that will serve as a model for future urban centers." Declaring that "tall buildings are back," the company predicts that the groundbreaking techniques it used to push the Burj to new heights should enable the construction of even taller towers in the future. CNN: Debt-hit Dubai opens world's tallest tower . Kurt Westergaard The Danish political cartoonist was threatened by a Somali man wielding an ax and knife. According to Westergaard, the man tried to enter the house by breaking through a glass door Friday night. Westergaard took his 5-year-old granddaughter into a specially built "panic room" when he realized what was happening, Chief Superintendent Ole Madsen said. Police said a home alarm alerted them to the scene in the city of Aarhus, and they were attacked by the suspect when they responded. Police shot the suspect and he was taken into custody. Westergaard, who has been threatened for drawing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, is ordinarily accompanied by bodyguards, but there were no guards at the house when the break-in occurred. The New York Times quoted a Danish newspaper report that Denmark's security and intelligence agency knew that the accused Somali man was held in Kenya in September for allegedly helping to plot an attack against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited Kenya in August. The man was released earlier this fall by Kenyan authorities due to lack of evidence, the newspaper Politiken reported. Denmark's ambassador to Kenya told the news agency Ritzau, however, that the Somali man was arrested in Kenya for incomplete travel documents, adding that Kenyan authorities never told the embassy that he was a suspect in a terror plot. CNN: Cartoonist hid in 'panic room' during attack . Annise Parker Houston's first openly gay mayor will be sworn in today. Parker's election last month also makes her the second woman to become mayor of Houston. Other cities such as Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Oregon, have picked openly gay mayors. Houston is the fourth-largest U.S. city. Parker's victory is also remarkable because a few years ago, Houston rejected a referendum to offer benefits to same-sex partners of city workers. Also, the city sits in a state where gay marriage is against the law. Parker, 53, has never shied away from, nor made an issue of, her sexual orientation. She has been with her partner for 19 years and they have two adopted children. CNN: Houston elects first openly gay mayor . What makes a person intriguing? There are people who enter the news cycle every day because their actions or decisions are new, important or different. Others are in the news because they are the ones those decisions affect. And there are a number of people who are so famous or controversial that anything they say or do becomes news. Some of these people do what we expect of them: They run for office, pass legislation, start a business, get hired or fired, commit a crime, make an arrest, get in accidents, hit a home run, overthrow a government, fight wars, sue an opponent, put out fires, prepare for hurricanes and cavort with people other than their spouses. They do make news, but the action is usually more important than who is involved in the story. But every day, there are a number of people who become fascinating to us -- by virtue of their character, how they reached their decision, how they behaved under pressure or because of the remarkable circumstances surrounding the event they are involved in. They arouse our curiosity. We hear about them and want to know more. What they have done or said stimulates conversations across the country. At times, there is even a mystery about them. What they have done may be unique, heroic, cowardly or ghastly, but they capture our imaginations. We want to know what makes them tick, why they believe what they do, and why they did what they did. They intrigue us.

Top U.S. snowboarder injured during training . World's tallest tower opens in Dubai . Fourth-largest U.S. city swears in its first openly gay mayor .

(CNN) -- Online classified service Craigslist's decision to censor its adult services section is a "good step but a continuing battle has to be fought," a leader in the fight against prostitution ads said on Sunday. "I'm very pleased by this very solid and significant apparent step in the right direction," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who spearheaded a recent letter from 17 attorneys general urging Craigslist to discontinue its adult services section. "I say apparent because we have received no definite or definitive word from Craigslist that the shutdown is permanent or complete," Blumenthal told CNN's Tom Foreman. Blumenthal said he wants to broaden his fight against online prostitution ads but that "right now our focus is really on Craigslist." "We're taking it one step at a time," he said. "We want to verify and confirm that Craigslist is in fact shutting down (its adult services section)." The embattled website has been under fire for allegations that it promotes prostitution. "These prostitution ads enable human trafficking and assaults on women," Blumenthal said Saturday. "They are flagrant and rampant. Craigslist has lacked the wherewithal or will to effectively screen them out." The section that usually reads "adult services" on Craigslist was replaced Saturday by the word "censored." It was not clear whether Craigslist removed the adult services and replaced them with the "censored" section, which had a link that was not active. But for users who accessed the account outside the United States, the adult services link was still active. Craigslist representatives said on Saturday that they will release a statement at a later time. "If it remains shut down it will be a model for other sites, we hope, because Craigslist is by far the biggest," said Blumenthal, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut as a Democrat. He said that he would try to change federal laws to make it easier to prosecute sites like Craigslist. "Craigslist says it cannot be held legally responsible for anything on its site," he said. "My belief is strongly ... that we need to change that." In the August 24 letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark, the attorneys general wrote: "The increasingly sharp public criticism of Craigslist's Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution -- including ads trafficking children -- are rampant on it." Blumenthal said on Sunday that attorneys general from three more states have joined his campaign against Craigslist's adult services ads. Blumenthal didn't say which attorneys general joined the initial list of 17. A Craigslist spokeswoman said at the time that the site agreed with at least some of the letter. "We strongly support the attorneys general desire to end trafficking in children and women, through the internet or by any other means," said Susan MacTavish Best, who handles press inquiries for Craigslist. "We hope to work closely with them, as we are with experts at nonprofits and in law enforcement, to prevent misuse of our site in facilitation of trafficking, and to combat such crimes wherever they appear, online or offline." In their letter, the attorneys general highlighted an open letter, which appeared as a Washington Post ad, in which two girls said they were sold for sex on Craigslist. When the ad came out, Buckmaster wrote a blog post in response that said, "Craigslist is anxious to know that the perpetrators in these girls' cases are behind bars." The letter also highlighted a report in May by CNN's Amber Lyon, who posted a fake ad for a girl's services in the adult section. She received 15 calls soliciting sex in three hours. Earlier this month, Lyon interviewed a woman named "Jessica" who sells sex on Craigslist. The woman said a Craigslist ad was "the fastest, quickest way you're for sure going to see somebody that day." In a later blog post, Buckmaster said Craigslist implemented manual screening of adult services ads in May 2009. "Since that time, before being posted each individual ad is reviewed by an attorney," the post said. He said the attorneys are trained to enforce Craigslist's posting guidelines, "which are stricter than those typically used by yellow pages, newspapers, or any other company that we are aware of." Attorneys general from Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia made the request a week after accused "Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff committed suicide in jail. Markoff was charged with the April 2009 killing of Julissa Brisman. Boston Police said that Brisman, a model, advertised as a masseuse on Craigslist, and Markoff might have met her through the website. In 2008, under pressure from state prosecutors, the website raised the fees for posting adult services ads. In 2009, it started donating portions of the money generated by adult ads to charity. A CNN investigation of Craigslist's adult services section, which replaced "erotic services ads" two years ago, counted more than 7,000 ads in a single day. Many offered thinly veiled "services" for anything from $50 for a half-hour to $400 an hour. CNN's Deborah Doft and Nicky Robertson contributed to this report.

NEW: Connecticut attorney general says Craigslist action is a "good step" NEW: Richard Blumenthal wants law change to make Craigslist legally accountable . The word "censored" replaces Craigslist section where adult services used to be . The website has been accused of promoting prostitution in its adult services section .

San Diego (CNN) -- You may have heard that a group of Republicans in Congress -- including GOP rock star and possible vice presidential pick Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- are getting ready to introduce their version of the DREAM Act.You also may have heard that Democratic lawmakers and liberal advocacy groups despise the Republican alternative and derisively label it "DREAM Act Lite." As someone who has written about immigration for more than 20 years and hammered Democrats and Republicans (including Rubio) when appropriate, I call the GOP approach to the DREAM Act something else: A common sense solution. It could break a stalemate and improve millions of lives. And it could only be opposed for ugly partisan reasons. While it's not perfect -- and no piece of legislation is -- it is better than nothing, which is all the critics have been able to offer, even when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. Like the bill that has been kicked around in Congress for more than a decade, and which met its demise in December 2010 when five Senate Democrats effectively killed it by voting against cloture on the debate, the Republican plan would give undocumented students a path to legal status in exchange for going to college or joining the military. But unlike the earlier version, it would not include a path to citizenship. Students could become citizens later. It's not like they'd be barred from the citizenship process. But they would have to take the initiative. It would be on them, as it should be. Of course, Democrats hate this idea -- for three reasons. 1. Some of the 50 Senate Democrats who voted in favor of cloture in support of the original DREAM Act may have been moved by the humanitarian argument that young people brought here by their parents shouldn't be forced to languish in the world of the undocumented. But for others, it is likely that their vote was a political calculation. If hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students could gain legal status, many of those people would become loyal Democratic voters for life. But if citizenship isn't in the mix, and there are no votes to be had, why bother? 2. Rubio is attached to the bill, and, in fact, seems to have been put front and center by Republican colleagues such as Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. Democrats know that the Cuban-American senator is on the short list of likely running mates for GOP nominee Mitt Romney. And that has to terrify them. Rubio has skills. Besides, they know that putting him on the ticket could lure some Latino support away from Democrats -- especially given that, according to polls, a majority of Latino voters disapprove of President Barack Obama's handling of immigration. If they can torpedo the GOP DREAM Act, they might just hobble Rubio. But if they can't, and Rubio uses the bill to score points with Latino voters, it could be a nightmare for Democrats in November. 3. Many Congressional Democrats, and for that matter, most of the other critics of the Republican bill, don't really understand what is at stake in the debate over illegal immigration. They approach the issue of what to do with the undocumented in the third person, like rich folks who talk about poverty over lunch. If you want to know what the immigration debate is really about, you need to get out of the Washington echo chamber and ask an illegal immigrant. Why would you ask a U.S. citizen who takes for granted all the benefits that come with citizenship? Take it from me. I was born in the United States, as were three of my four grandparents. So while I care about the immigration debate, the truth is that my destiny, and that of my family members, doesn't rise and fall on whether Congress stops passing this hot potato and finally tackles immigration reform. I can sympathize with the undocumented, but I can't empathize. So when they talk, I shut up and listen. What I'm hearing from the illegal immigrants I've interviewed -- who also happen to be parents of teenagers who are also undocumented -- is emphatic support for a bill like this. They don't care about citizenship, and they care even less about voting. All they care about is putting their kids in a lifeboat. Many of those kids are planning to go to college and start lives of their own like their classmates, and the last thing their parents want to do is explain why that is impossible. While Congress dickers on this issue, all these people hear is the ticking of the clock. They understand the value of a solution, even if Democrats in Congress don't. Of course, there is always the possibility that those who are so quick to criticize a bill they have not even seen yet may not be interested in solutions at all. Maybe what they really want is the problem -- something to hurl at their opponents at election time to rile up Latinos so they turn out and vote for Democrats. If that is the case, then shame on them. This isn't a game. This is about peoples' lives and finding the best way to enrich them without turning our country's principles inside out. We tried the Democrats' approach. Many of them backed the original DREAM Act, but the leadership couldn't even convince every Democrat in the Senate to support the bill. Now let's give the Republicans a chance. And give politics a rest. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette.

Ruben Navarrette: GOP plan to float new version of DREAM Act a step in right direction . He says plan would let kids who are undocumented be legal but not citizens if in college, military . He says Dems don't like this, as they want to claim DREAM Act and loyalty of Latinos . Navarrette: Some Dems faltered on pushing issue through; time to give new plan a chance .

(CNN) -- The air in and around New Orleans is electrified with anticipation -- and anxiety. Louisiana National Guard members arrive at the New Orleans convention center during preparations for Gustav. Nervous is how Merrick Matherne says he is feeling. Nervous and stressed at the prospect of having to survive and rebuild in the wake of another hurricane. As Friday's third anniversary of Katrina's landfall passed, the Crescent City found itself potentially in the cross hairs of another destructive storm, Hurricane Gustav. Residents are suspended in a wait-and-see mode, with an evacuation order for New Orleans likely to come sometime after Saturday, according to Mayor Ray Nagin. Matherne and his family live in a low-lying area in the town of Metairie, near Lake Ponchartrain, just outside New Orleans. After Katrina and a drawn-out evacuation, Merrick and his wife spent nine taxing months living in various places, sometimes apart. Then, they went through the challenge of dealing with insurance companies and contractors over the phone, waiting for the various bureaucracies involved to do their part. Now they face the prospect that it might happen all over again. And they are not alone. "The city is in a little bit of a panic," says Dr. Tim Pearman, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Tulane University School of Medicine. "Kind of wherever you go, every TV is turned to the news. The news is now reporting nothing else other than the hurricane, and it's days away. People are really heightened in terms of their emotions right now." Many New Orleans residents already live on the edge emotionally. Among Katrina survivors, New Orleans has a post-traumatic stress disorder rate of more than 25 percent, and a mood and anxiety disorders rate of roughly 35 percent, according to a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry in January. The big question is, can the city deal with any mental health fallout should Gustav get within striking distance? "Thinking about the storm is anxiety-provoking for people. It brings them back to a lot of those feelings they had and memories from Katrina," says Dr. Anthony Speier, the deputy assistant secretary for the office of mental health at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. "People have memories that are triggered by preparing for this storm." "Why did we return? Why did we rebuild? Why is this happening again to us? All of those thoughts are going through people's minds," says Dr. Lisa Mills, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center at New Orleans. "People are certainly anxious and doubting themselves." But there is a small silver lining to all the attention Gustav is generating. Pearman, who also serves as the director of the Tulane Cancer Center Comprehensive Clinic, says that although the anxiety brought on by Gustav is "definitely a bad thing," it is spurring better preparedness. "In terms of the prep, it's great, because I really think it's going to be a different ball game than it was three years ago." There is no doubt that the city is better prepared overall than it was for Katrina. But in mental health services, many holes still exist. After the storm, the city lost -- and hasn't completely replaced -- many of its hospital beds devoted to mental health, and also many of its psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, leaving it ill-equipped to handle its chronic caseload, let alone any spike in mental health care needs brought on by potential stressful events like Gustav. "Throughout the country, mental health is in crisis, and in areas that are impoverished and recently devastated like New Orleans, they are certainly struggling," says Mills, who is also an ER physician at the Louisiana State University emergency department at the University Hospital in New Orleans. Mills says the city's mental health system that can't provide care for its chronic level of illness, let alone for any surge in demand. Pearman agrees that the city has not recovered. "Mental-health wise, absolutely not. The number of providers is still far below what's needed," he says. Still, New Orleans is not a complete wasteland in terms of mental health services. Louisiana Spirit is the state-run counseling program funded by FEMA. "We've been on the ground since Katrina and have been providing mental health and emotional recovery services," says Speier, who directs Louisiana Spirit. He says the agency has about 215 counselors who service the parishes in and around New Orleans. "We have provided individual counseling visits to over a quarter-million people and we've generated probably 2.5 million to 3 million contacts -- many people we see more than once. The primary part of their work [is] meeting with survivors, going to their neighborhoods, homes, community centers, and educating people about emergency preparedness, about coping with the recovery process, about getting their homes and lives back together." As for Matherne, he says he and his wife are dealing with the specter of Gustav with humor, mostly for the sake of his eldest daughter, now 9, who is anxious about losing her friends and her toys all over again. "We're just trying to be as funny as possible and keep it in as light a mood as possible while we're biting our nails. We're worrying amongst ourselves and eating junk food as relief." He jokes that they haven't hit the bourbon yet, but they are defrosting the freezer, where a gallon of daiquiris await. CNN.com's Elizabeth Landau contributed to this report.

Katrina survivors face more stress with new looming hurricane . Study: New Orleans' post-traumatic stress disorder rate is more than 25 percent . City's mental health services haven't recovered from Katrina losses .

MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- The death toll in a plane crash that claimed the life of Mexico's interior minister and two other high-ranking officials has risen to 13, Mexico City prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera said Wednesday, according to Mexico's state-run Notimex news agency. The scene of Tuesday night's plane crash in Mexico City was one of panic and confusion, a witness says. The small plane carrying Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and seven others crashed in central Mexico City on Tuesday night. A witness described "moments of panic and confusion" after the crash, as burning people asked for help and others ran from the scene. The crash injured 40 people on the ground, said government spokesman Marcelo Ebrard. All eight passengers and crew on board the plane were killed, the spokesman said. Two of the dead are women, Mancera said. Also among the dead were Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a former deputy attorney general, and Miguel Monterubio Cubas, the director of social communication, President Felipe Calderon said in a televised address Tuesday night. In Mexico, the minister of the interior oversees domestic affairs, particularly national security, law enforcement and the war on drugs. It is Mexico's second-most-powerful post. Vasconcelos was one of Mexico's top experts on the fight against narcotraffickers and was said to have a price on his head. "I want to express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and my absolute support during this difficult time," Calderon said. Mourino, he said, "was one of my closest colleagues and one of my best friends. ... With his death, Mexico loses a great Mexican." At least 12 cars were burned and two buildings were damaged, Notimex said. Watch video footage of the aftermath of the crash » . No cause for the crash was immediately given, but Calderon assured the nation that the results of the investigation will be made public. The Learjet 45 did not explode in the air, said Luis Tellez, secretary of communication and transportation. When there is an explosion in the air, Tellez said at a news conference Wednesday, pieces of the airplane are scattered over a wide area. But the wreckage in this instance was limited to a small area, he said. Tellez said Wednesday the pilot did not report an emergency, Notimex said. An audio recording released Wednesday of what Mexican officials said was dialogue between the pilot and the airport control tower did not appear to have an emergency call from the aircraft. The recording could be linked to off the Notimex Web site. The plane was traveling from the north-central city of San Luis Potosi to Mexico City, Calderon said. The cities are about 220 miles (355 km) apart. The Learjet was built in 1998 and carried identification call letters of XCVMC, Tellez said. Agustin Arellano, director of the federal agency that oversees Mexican airspace, said the aircraft's flight path, altitude and velocity were within accepted standards for a landing at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport. The information was retrieved from the airplane's flight data recorder, Arellano said at the news conference with Tellez. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it has sent a team of investigators, led by senior aviation accident investigator Joe Sedora. The team includes technical advisers from the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration, Learjet and Honeywell International, it said. Mourino had just given a speech in San Luis Potosi, detailing the administration's efforts to combat drug traffickers, kidnappers and other criminals. When Calderon took office in December 2006, Mourino said, the new president focused on combating crime. "It was decided to combat criminal groups with all available power in order to confront them, to reduce them and to fulfill the essential mandate of all authority, which is none other than to guarantee peace, tranquility and security for its citizens," Mourino said in his speech. Calderon has unleashed federal police and soldiers in several states across Mexico and tightened controls on money laundering and corruption among local and municipal police forces, which have been infiltrated by drug traffickers. The effort has resulted in widespread carnage, with more than 3,000 deaths this year. At the scene of Tuesday's crash, taxi driver Raymundo Bernal, 28, told Notimex that he witnessed the event. "I heard a strong roar and then saw four people who were burning and asking for help while the rest ran and the tops of trees were burning," he said. "The ambulances took 10 minutes to arrive, but several of the people who were burning were not moving, and what followed were moments of panic and confusion." More than 100 federal police secured the area, while the military took control of the airport at San Luis Potosi, Notimex said. Mourino, 37, studied in the United States, receiving an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Tampa. He did post-graduate studies in accounting and finance from the Universidad Autonoma de Campeche, his government biography says. After serving in municipal government in Campeche, Mourino was a regional coordinator for Vicente Fox's successful presidential candidacy in 2000. He later served in the Mexican federal congress and in the Cabinet. He was chief of the president's office from December 2006 to January 2008.

NEW: U.S. agency sends investigative team to help . Death toll in Mexican plane crash rises to 13, report says . Mexico's interior minister and two high-ranking officials among those killed . Interior minister is country's second most-powerful post .

Houston (CNN) -- Alexander Reyes' boyhood dream of a military career ended when he was hit by an improvised explosive device during a patrol a few years ago in Baghdad. "Laying in that hospital bed ... sometimes I felt I'd rather (have) died," Reyes said. "My life came to a complete halt." Reyes sustained severe blast injuries that led to his medical discharge and put him on medical disability. Like many soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, he found the transition to civilian life difficult. But he and a handful of other injured veterans have gotten help from what may seem an unlikely source: a custom homebuilder in Houston, Texas. Dan Wallrath presented Reyes and his wife with an unexpected gift: a home built especially for them, mortgage-free. "Thank you. That's all I can say," Elizabeth Reyes said, sobbing and clutching her stunned husband's arm when Wallrath surprised them with the house. For Wallrath, a 2010 CNN Hero, giving wounded veterans a place to call home is his way of saying thanks. Since 2005, his organization has built 44 houses through a national campaign called Operation Finally Home. Wallrath spent 30 years making upscale clients' dream houses a reality. But he found a new mission in 2005 when he met with Steve Schulz about a very different type of project. Schulz's 20-year old son, a U.S. Marine, had been seriously injured in Iraq. Schulz desperately needed to remodel his house to accommodate his son's wheelchair. "I had no idea how I was going to pay for it," Schulz said. "I just knew that I had to get it done." As a favor to a friend, Wallrath went to advise Schulz on remodeling his house. It was a meeting that changed Wallrath's life. He remembers Schulz showing him photos of his son Steven. "He was a big, strapping Marine," Wallrath said. But the pictures he saw of Steven taken after his injury told a different story. "He was ... half his size. It was so sad," he said. "It dawned on me that people are facing this all over the U.S." Wallrath mobilized an army of carpenters, plumbers and suppliers who took on the remodeling job for free. They widened doorways, built a ramp to the back door and made the bathroom more accessible. "Anything that needed to be done, Dan said, 'We'll take care of it,' " Schulz recalled. "It was just a huge, huge relief." When the work on Schulz's home was complete, Wallrath realized he was just getting started. "It really broke my heart to think (about) these young men and women," he said. He decided the best way he could help wounded veterans was by doing what he knew best: building them homes. "It was like someone hit me upside the head with a 2x4. ... I just felt like this is what God wants me to do." Wallrath took his idea to his local trade group, the Bay Area Builders Association, and convinced members to start a homebuilding program for wounded veterans. With donations from suppliers and contractors, Wallrath said, the group can build a $250,000 house for about $75,000. Each house is customized -- and often fully furnished -- to meet the needs of each family, and they are mortgage-free. The group also covers taxes and insurance for one year. Wounded veterans or their spouses often have to find a new career or go back to school, making it hard to make ends meet, Wallrath said. "If you can alleviate a financial burden off these young kids where they can concentrate on rebuilding their lives, you can really make a difference," he said. Lt. Erasmo Valles is one such story. As a Marine, he was injured by an IED in Iraq in 2004 and ultimately had one of his legs amputated. Returning to civilian life was hard, and his family rapidly burned through its savings. "We'd saved money for rainy days, but ... it was raining," Valles said. Receiving a home from Wallrath in November 2008 turned their fortunes around. Valles started studying for his doctorate in public safety; his wife earned her master's degree and became a special education teacher. "It saved us," he said. "We're moving on and moving forward. ... For someone to think about me and my family ... to build a home -- wow. That's a hero." Wallrath is determined to help as many families as he can. His group has enlisted builders and builders' associations in 17 states to join his crusade. The group has 42 homes under construction, with the goal of building 50-60 more next year. Considering the industry was hard-hit by the recession, Wallrath says he's been heartened by the response. Now retired, Wallrath dedicates most of his time to this effort without pay. He says it's the least he can do to repay some of the more than 50,000 troops who've been wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq. "These kids ... they're doing it for me and you," he said. "So we're the ones that need to step up and do something." Want to get involved? Check out the Operation Finally Home website and see how to help.

Dan Wallrath's organization builds free homes for wounded war veterans . Wallrath, a 2010 CNN Hero, started it after meeting the father of a wounded Marine . Wallrath's team remodeled the Marine's house to make it more accessible . A special documentary, "Operation Finally Home," airs December 8 and 15 on CNN .

(CNN) -- In 1974, a series of powerful tornadoes whipped through Alabama and devastated a small town called Harvest. It happened again in 1994, and then again last April. Kathleen Graves was there for all three. "We're sort of a tornado magnet," she said, her voice quaking as she surveyed the damage to her neighborhood caused by the latest major storm system to hit her community. "I'm basically starting to rebuild, just like I did last year." Graves, 56, and her husband, Buddy, were still reconstructing their home smashed by April's tornadoes when an apparent twister barreled through town on Friday. "My son called me and said there's one coming up Capshaw Road," she said. "I could hear the ground rumbling. So I stepped outside with my coffee and I saw it." Turning to her neighbor, she asked, "Jim, is that a tornado?" "Hell yeah," he responded. "Run!" What happened next for Graves seemed a blur. "I ran through my front door and out the back toward my neighbor's storm shelter. It was almost like I had blinders on," she told CNN Saturday. "I wasn't looking where that funnel was, I was just running." Moments later, the pair flung open the shelter's metal door and descended underground as powerful gusts swirled overheard. About 15 minutes later, it was over. Surveying the damage, Graves said her front porch and a section of her roof were gone. Much of the house's siding had also been cleaved off, rooms were damaged and carpets were soaked. "I was lucky," said Graves. "We didn't lose any of our neighbors this time. They didn't die this time." The state's emergency management agency said Saturday that at least one person had died and 11 others were injured in Alabama after Friday's storm. The apparent tornado outbreak also killed dozens of others across the nation, leveling communities from Texas to Indiana and up through North Carolina. Seventeen counties in Alabama reported moderate to heavy damage, including Madison County, where the town of Harvest is located. "Last year two people died right there on that corner," said restaurant owner Kim Shelton, referring to a nearby intersection in town. Shelton, 47, who runs the Harvest House Restaurant on a storm-damaged block, said the region has grown somewhat accustomed to treacherous weather. During last year's storms, she said, her store was damaged and lost power, but continued to serve food on open grills in its parking lot until National Guardsmen arrived three days later with much-needed aid. "This is a close-knit community," she said. Harvest House has also become a neighborhood meeting spot of sorts, and is located roughly a quarter of a mile from Graves' home in an area where several other houses were damaged Friday. "It destroyed my trailer," said resident Nancy Lawson, who had fled to seek shelter with her daughter in the neighboring town of Madison when she heard news of the approaching weather. Less than a year ago, her home -- a house that she and her family had built -- was destroyed in a similar storm. "It was a nice house. I didn't have much money and no insurance, and so FEMA gave me the trailer." In 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched disaster assistance, including trailers, after April storms tore through houses, downed trees and scattered debris across Alabama. But after Friday's storms, Lawson said her year-old trailer had been rendered unlivable. "I'm 75 years old and I'm tired," she said. "It just makes me feel real tired." Mostly weary of the weather, Lawson says she now has plans to look for a place in Tennessee. "I just trust in God." Back at the Harvest House, conversations were abuzz Saturday with talk of the storm. "It basically followed the same path it followed on April 27th," said Fred Allen Wilson, a 67-year-old retiree and long-time restaurant patron. "It just got them again," he said of his neighbors. "People are walking around dumbfounded." Wilson, whose house survived Friday's storms, said last year's tornado cost him more than $40,000 in home damages. "How much more of this are we going to take?" he said. "Some are saying, 'That's enough,' and don't planning on coming back." Harvest is in the so-called "Dixie Alley," a collection of Southern states, which includes Alabama, where warm-air moisture from the Gulf of Mexico mixes with cold air sweeping down from Canada. The mixture is thought to foster conditions suited for tornadic activity. "When the seasons change, warm and cold air are fighting more," said CNN Meteorologist Monica O'Connor. "That increases the chances." But the specific path tornadoes take is "largely happenstance." State authorities say Alabama historically has been prone to the storms, and encourage residents to develop emergency plans for the start of what's commonly referred to as "tornado season." "We always know that starting in March we'll likely have tornadoes," said state emergency management spokeswoman Yasamie August. "Fifty-five percent of Alabama was hit by the storms last April, so it's pretty likely that we'll have had some repeat hits this year."

Harvest, Alabama, has a history of coping with tornado damage . Town residents are trying to recover after apparent tornadoes leveled parts of Harvest . Residents were still repairing their homes from last year when the storms hit . 55% of Alabama was hit by the storms last April, authorities say .

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- India and Pakistan traded bitter accusations Wednesday after New Delhi said Pakistani troops had killed two of its soldiers in the disputed territory of Kashmir, a flash point between the two nations since their creation. Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai summoned the Pakistani High Commissioner and "lodged a strong protest" about what India alleges took place Tuesday, increasing the strain on ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. But Pakistan reiterated its denial of the accusations, saying India was trying to distract attention from a weekend clash in the Himalayan territory that left a Pakistani soldier dead. India asserts that Pakistani troops took advantage of thick fog in a wooded area on Tuesday to cross over to its side of the Line of Control, the de facto border between the two nations in Kashmir. The Indian military says one of its routine patrols spotted the Pakistani troops in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district, and a firefight lasting about 30 minutes ensued, during which two Indian soldiers were killed. The Indian government on Wednesday accused Pakistani troops of subjecting the two soldiers' bodies to "barbaric and inhuman mutilation," calling the alleged actions "highly provocative." Read more: Fire destroys historic shrine, triggers anger in Kashmir . The Pakistani foreign ministry rejected the allegations that its troops had crossed the Line of Control and killed Indian soldiers. "These are baseless and unfounded allegations," the foreign ministry said. "Pakistan is prepared to hold investigations through the United Nations Military Observes Group for India and Pakistan on the recent cease-fire violations on the Line of Control." Pakistan said it is committed to "a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India," and is working to ensure their relations are normal. Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid urged his compatriots to keep cool heads despite widespread outrage about the reported attack on the Indian soldiers. While noting "enormous concern among ordinary people" and a "tremendous amount of stress" in the government, he said Wednesday, "I think it's important that we remain in control of the situation and we don't allow emotions to run away with the situation." Speaking in an interview with CNN affiliate IBN, Khurshid said it was necessary to wait for Pakistan's formal response to India's diplomatic protest. In the Sunday clash, according to the Pakistani military, Indian troops crossed the Line of Control and attacked a military post. Pakistani army troops repulsed the attack, but one Pakistani soldier was killed and another critically injured, Pakistan said. The Indian Defense Ministry, however, said Pakistani troops opened fire unprovoked on Indian posts in the north Uri sector of Indian-administered Kashmir. Indian troops retaliated and forced Pakistani troops to stop firing, the ministry said. It did not immediately report the number of casualties. The disputed territory lies in India's Kashmir Valley, separated from Pakistan by the 450-mile Line of Control. The Pakistani army filed a formal complaint over Sunday's incident with United Nations military observers, said Kieran Dwyer, spokesman for the agency's peacekeeping operations. The U.N. group will conduct an investigation. No complaint had been filed by either army over Tuesday's incident. U.N. officials urged "both sides to respect the cease-fire and de-escalate tensions through dialogue," Dwyer said. Read more: South Asian rivals take baby steps to warmer relations . The two South Asian neighbors have had a cease-fire along the de facto border since November 2003. But it has been violated repeatedly, with both sides accusing the other of offenses. Bilateral talks were suspended in 2008 after an attack by Pakistani militants in Mumbai, India's most populous city, killed more than 160 people. The negotiations have since resumed. Read more: 2 police officers killed in Kashmir attacks . The conflict over Kashmir dates back to 1947, after Britain relinquished control of the Indian subcontinent, giving birth to modern India and Pakistan. Kashmir was free to accede to either nation. Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of the kingdom at the time, initially chose to remain independent but eventually opted to join India, thereby handing key powers to the central government in New Delhi. In exchange, India guaranteed him military protection and vowed to hold a popular vote on the issue. Read more: Pakistani Taliban threaten to target India after execution of Mumbai attacker . The South Asian rivals have fought two full-scale wars over the territorial issue. Islamabad has always said that majority-Muslim Kashmir should have been a part of Pakistan. A United Nations resolution adopted after the first war called for a referendum allowing the people of Kashmir to choose which country they wanted to join, but that vote for self-determination has never been held. Pakistan wants that referendum to take place. India says that Pakistan lends support to separatist groups fighting against government control and argues that a 1972 agreement mandates a resolution to the Kashmir dispute through bilateral talks. CNN's Harmeet Shah Singh reported from New Delhi, and journalist Habib Nasir reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. CNN's Shaan Khan in Islamabad; journalist Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar, India; and CNN's Aliza Kassim in Atlanta contributed to this report.

NEW: Indian minister warns against letting emotions "run away with the situation" New Delhi says Pakistani troops killed two of its soldiers in Kashmir . Pakistan's military denies the accusations . Islamabad says one of its soldiers died in another clash Sunday .

(CNN) -- The British invasion continues. Fox recently announced a new show airing soon -- "Take Me Out" -- from the producers of "American Idol" and "X Factor." The dating reality show premieres in June and marks yet another remake yanked from the tellies of the United Kingdom. Although it follows other British reboots ashore, the journey over can be choppy. When Adam Ferrara emerged from his broken '76 Coupe de Ville on the first season of "Top Gear USA," his co-hosts Tanner Foust and Rutledge Wood raised their hands ... to bestow upon each other a round of enthusiastic high fives. For many fans of the wry attitude of "Top Gear" Classic, this show of dude-ly appreciation was a cringe-worthy moment. The U.S. edition of the world's favorite car show has been gaining in viewership on History, yet continues to be a point of controversy with hardcore fans of the British original, which airs here on BBC America. As one of the most popular TV shows worldwide (with men and women alike), many questioned the need for a high-fiving American overhaul. It's part of a bigger debate found everywhere from newspaper columns to online trending topics. When rumors flared up of a possible "Doctor Who" movie, showrunner Steven Moffat -- whose other hit "Sherlock" is under threat of a knock-off as CBS's "Elementary" -- tweeted: "To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot." Not that a UK-to-U.S. conversion hasn't ever worked. "Three's Company," "Sanford & Son," and "All in the Family" had great casts and excellent writing, but they also benefited from the originals not being readily available for comparison. For a remake to thrive in the Internet age -- and in a crowded market where both UK and U.S. versions air on competing channels -- it has to pave its own road. The American version of "The Office" didn't click until it worked through the original scripts and settled into its own routine. The characterizations made more sense too: where Ricky Gervais' David Brent was belligerent and mean-spirited, Steve Carell's Michael Scott was merely awkward and sometimes even kind. Scott was a more relatable boss for the American workplace; Brent wouldn't survive one season stateside without being sacked by HR. But the recipe is delicate. The forced comedy of "Coupling" didn't land. "Skins" was deemed too smutty for U.S. standards. "Prime Suspect"— which starred Maria Bello (and a fabulous hat) in place of the legendary Helen Mirren — turned ITV's sleeper procedural into a weekly one-hour version of that scene in "Pulp Fiction" where Jules and Vincent "hang back" to debate foot massages before busting in on the main action. Bill Young, keeper of the Brit TV blog Tellyspotting, as well as VP of programming for KERA/Dallas -- the very PBS station that set "Monty Python" loose on the American public in 1974 -- feels the key to a successful translation lies in subtlety. "There seems to be a feeling that with American audiences you need to lay everything out on a platter so that the audience doesn't have to think. British television takes the opposite approach," which he explained had to do with pacing, meticulous casting, and relatable locations. For anyone who grew up quoting Basil Fawlty, watched "Doctor Who" when only the math geeks did, or gambled on the color of Mrs. Slocombe's hair with their dorm mates (pink was a safe bet), there has never been a more exciting time for a British TV invasion. PBS period charmer "Downton Abbey" is a cult phenomenon, Idris Elba's "Luther" kicks down doors as a new style of gritty detective, and "Doctor Who" is oh-so-very cool now. "Top Gear" host Richard Hammond is even filming a new show -- in America, for America -- as part of an original-programming experiment by BBC America. It might be time to just let the Redcoats in. (Preferably with Hammond's cohort Jeremy Clarkson manning a beach-bombing Ford Fiesta.) Multiple channels are importing original British programming. Online streaming service Hulu has steadily been adding free programs close to their UK airdates, including the cult action/sci-fi hit "Misfits" (currently undergoing a U.S. pilot treatment by "Chuck" creator Josh Schwartz) and the award-winning comedy "Spy." They've recently begun streaming the UK version of "Skins." Although as Young pointed out, stateside reality hits "Antiques Roadshow," "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" did all originate as British creations, which could mean good news for "Take Me Out." "Maybe it's just comedy and drama that have difficulty traveling across the pond. Which is odd, because comedy should be comedy no matter where you are," Young said. Speaking of translated transatlantic comedy, the industry is in on the joke: Matt LeBlanc -- currently the fastest Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on the British "Top Gear" -- won a Golden Globe for Showtime's "Episodes" which is a series about the American bastardization of a popular British sitcom.

British TV shows have been rebooted and imported to the U.S. Some have had success while others have not . Fox will try this summer with a remake of dating show "Take Me Out"

(CNN) -- When a new president strolls into the White House, there's a kick in his step and a twinkle in his eyes. This photo illustration projects what President-elect Barack Obama may look like in four years. But as the years go by, the high-stakes decisions, constant criticisms and the fluctuating public opinion chip away at the president. His shoulders slump a little and his energy may seem sapped. The president ages twice as fast while in office, according to a theory advanced by Dr. Michael Roizen, a chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic. "The typical person who lives one year ages one year," he said. "The typical president ages two years for every year they are in office." Using public information, Roizen looked through medical records of previous presidents back to Theodore Roosevelt. Assessing factors such as diet, blood pressure, physical activity and lifestyle habits, he calculated that the leader of the free world ages more quickly. Roizen, who is the author of "RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be?" has not assessed the "real age" of President-elect Barack Obama, who is 47, because of lack of medical data. "Barack Obama is a fairly young guy and doesn't have great of a risk," Roizen said. "If he's president for eight years, he ends up having the risk of disability or dying, like someone who is 16 years older." Former president Bill Clinton entered the office with a robust head of salt-and-pepper hair and a healthy habit of running. After bitter partisan battles, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and impeachment by the House, Clinton left office with wrinkles and powder-white hair. "Chronic stress can produce lots of wear and tear on the body," said James A. McCubbin, a Clemson University professor of psychology and senior associate dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science. "This is what we see in the changes in the appearance in the beginning and end of the presidency." Roizen points to the experience of Ronald Reagan. "When Reagan came into office, he stood up absolutely straight. He was joking and incredibly quick-witted about current events. When he left office, he was hunched over. The age signs on face was there. His jokes were those of olden days rather than current events," he said. See the toll of the presidency » . On Wednesday, Obama, President George W. Bush, and all three living former presidents -- Jimmy Carter, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Clinton -- are meeting in the Oval Office and then having lunch together at the White House. After eight draining years in the Oval Office, an outgoing president like George W. Bush can reverse the tolls of stress by exercising and spending time with friends, Roizen says. "Do as many healthy things as you can adopt," Roizen suggested. "The main thing he should do is finding what he wants to do with the rest of his life, which is tough for presidents to find something meaningful to do." During his second term, Bush dealt with a troubled war, a struggling economy, and sagging approval ratings. But the avid runner, mountain biker and fisherman showed that his reflexes haven't slowed. "I mean, did you see him dodge that shoe?" said David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine, referring to a December news conference in Iraq where an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the president and Bush swiftly ducked the flying footwear. Twice. The incoming president is also no slacker. Although accused by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of having skinny legs, Obama regularly frequents the gym and plays basketball. The president-elect was on the cover of Men's Health in November. "This is not a broccoli-shunning, pork rind-eating, McDonald's-popping guy. I mean, this is someone who eats arugula and guacamole and Hawaiian pizza," Zinczenko told CNN. Watch a report on presidential aging » . "If the worst that happens is that your hair goes a little gray, so be it." Many recent presidents have turned to sports to decompress. Presidents have enjoyed mountain biking (George W. Bush), golf (Clinton, Gerald Ford, Dwight D. Eisenhower), tennis (Ford, Carter, George H.W. Bush), jogging (Clinton, Carter and both Bushes), swimming (Ford), bowling (Richard Nixon), horseshoes (George H.W. Bush) and horseback riding (Reagan). Check out projected aging of other political leaders . "The daily routine of a president is really grueling," Ron Nessen, Ford's press secretary, told CNN. "It's hard to get thinking time. Ford talked about how when he was swimming laps, it gave him time to think about things." During the Democratic primaries, Obama worked out at the gym in the Cleveland Clinic the morning of his debate with then-rival Hilary Clinton. Living up to his nickname "No Drama Obama," the candidate was remarkably calm, considering a high-stakes debate was to take place that night, Roizen recalled. "Maybe he will age better, because he handles stress better," he said. "The fact that he smokes means he still has inner stress." Retaining a close group of friends and confidants is an important way to reduce the isolation of the presidency, Roizen said. CNN's Alina Cho and David S. Martin contributed to this report.

Presidents age twice as fast, says a theory by expert on aging at Cleveland Clinic . Analysis determined by looking at medical records of previous presidents . Tolls of stress can be reversed with healthy habits, says Dr. Michael Roizen . Roizen: Obama has good fitness habits of exercising, but smoking doesn't help .

(CNN) -- For Makudu, it all started with a friend playing him a Luciano Pavarotti record; for Linda, it was a TV commercial featuring a powerful soprano singer; and for Thesele, a community choir practice in his township. These flashes of operatic singing were all it took for the three young South Africans to instantly fall under the spell of opera and never look back. Makudu, Linda and Thesele are the stars of "Ndiphilela Ukucula: I Live to Sing," a compelling documentary released earlier this year spotlighting the rising wave of talented opera singers emerging from South Africa's black townships. Born as South Africa was throwing off the chains of apartheid, the film's stars came to discover the enchanting world of opera in their teens, entranced by its beautiful voices and the magnificent music. Since then, they've sung their way from humble beginnings to South Africa's top stages, thrilling opera audiences in their country and beyond. Along the way, the determined singers had to overcome everything from financial hardship and health struggles to social resistance and lack of support in order to follow their dreams. Read this: Township girl to opera diva . "If you had told me a few years ago that classical French and Italian opera is an art form that's gaining in popularity in black South African townships, I certainly would have been surprised -- in a way that I think many of the audiences for the film are," says Julie Cohen, director of the film. Rich tradition . What Cohen came to realize was that opera has become popular among some people in South Africa's townships thanks to the widespread culture of community choirs and competitive choral singing. This strong musical tradition has paved the way for many talented young singers to develop an interest in classical opera, says Michael Williams, managing director of the Cape Town Opera Company, one of the continent's most famous production houses. "The national sports in South Africa are not soccer or rugby, but choirs," notes Williams. "The culture of choral singing in South Africa is huge. It's deep rooted in the community and has a huge repertoire," he adds. "And what happens with choir singers is they reach a sort of a ceiling -- because they're singing traditional works ... then they start moving towards opera genre and it opens up a new world for them." Rising stars . "I Live To Sing," which was first aired in July on WNET in New York, is centered around the University of Cape Town Opera School -- once an all-white school and now home to remarkable singers from South Africa's black townships, some of whom have graced international stages such as The Met and La Scala. The documentary follows Linda, Thesele and Makudu through their studies at the school as they set out to introduce themselves to the world of opera and become professional classical singers. Throughout the film, the stars' charisma and personality shine through. Thesele Kemane, 26 at the time of filming last year, is an extremely committed and disciplined bass baritone with confidence in his talent; Linda Nteleza, 24, is a shy soprano with extraordinary singing abilities; and Makudu Senaoana, the youngest of the protagonists, is a gregarious, outspoken 20-year-old with a powerful tenor voice. The filmmakers capture the singers' preparations for a performance of "The Tales of Hoffman" at Cape Town's main opera house -- a landmark building in the anti-apartheid struggle. Read this: Five African festivals you can't miss . They also follow the students to the United States, where they spend a summer as apprentices at the esteemed Glimmerglass Festival. While in New York, Kemane was invited to sing at the U.N. General Assembly to mark Nelson Mandela Day on July 18. "I'd never dreamed that I would be singing at the United Nations," says Kemane. "I felt delighted," he adds, "singing there and honoring our late Nelson Mandela." But along with capturing the triumphant performances and the intense training, the filmmakers also travel to the townships where the young singers grew up, often under challenging conditions. Nteleza hails from Khayelitsha, a sprawling township on the outskirts of Cape Town that has been struggling not only with high unemployment and crime rates but also health scares. "(It has) one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world and in fact Linda herself has suffered from a bout of tuberculosis," says Cohen. "Her parents have both passed away from health problems, so she has not had an easy life." Kemane is from Galeshewe, a township in Northern Cape that is also struggling with rife unemployment. His extraordinary talent shone from an early age, winning several youth singing competitions, and last week he traveled to the United States to audition for, among others, Juilliard, the prestigious New York music school. But at the time, his discovery of opera and his decision to pursue classical singing professionally didn't go down too well with his financially struggling family. "My father wanted nothing to do with it," says Kemane, whose parents are both unemployed. "The last thing our parents want for their children is for them to live as difficult as they did -- so now they all want careers that they know you'll definitely get money for sure, and with opera it's kind of difficult," he adds. "Last year was actually the first time my father actually saw me singing ... that is when he actually approved of opera music."

"I Live To Sing" is a documentary on opera students from South Africa's townships . It follows three young singers as they set out to launch a career in opera . The students often had to overcome adversity and resistance to follow their dreams . Thesele Kemane is auditioning for prestigious U.S. opera schools .

(CNN) -- Just days after a Boeing 737 flown by Southwest Airlines made an emergency landing with a hole in its fuselage, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a press release Monday that it will mandate operators of about 175 specific older Boeing 737s to conduct inspections for wear and tear. The FAA said the "emergency directive" it plans to issue on Tuesday would affect about 80 U.S.-registered 737-300s, 737-400s and 737-500s, mostly operated by Southwest. The remaining 95 or so aircraft are registered outside the United States. Each of the 175 or so planes in question have taken off and landed more than 30,000 times and will receive repetitive electromagnetic inspections at regular intervals for fatigue damage. In a separate statement, Boeing said it was working with the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and Southwest, and it was preparing a service bulletin to recommend lap joint inspections on certain 737 models. NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said Monday that inspectors have visually checked lap joints in the past, but haven't used high-tech monitoring, because no one thought that part of the plane was susceptible to cracks. Moving forward, inspectors will test the joints with an electromagnetic process. The chairman on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said in a statement that the American public wants answers to retain confidence in commercial air travel. "As the details of this unusual incident unfold, we will get a better understanding of what caused the plane's fuselage to tear open," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia. "I expect the FAA to be painstakingly diligent in reviewing the safety of all aircraft, and to conduct a careful investigation into what caused the cracks that have been discovered on the bodies of these planes." Rockefeller took advantage of the occasion to renew his call for reauthorizing the FAA. "The FAA reauthorization bill now headed to conference takes steps to strengthen the inspection process of passenger aircraft, and I hope we can move that bill quickly to a resolution," he said. After Southwest canceled about 600 flights over the weekend to accommodate inspections, the airline said it canceled another 70 flights on Monday. By 3:30 p.m. Monday, the company had checked out 67 of the 79 planes it had grounded for inspection. Southwest said 64 of the 737-300s were being returned to service, while inspectors had discovered subsurface cracks on three jets. Those three will remain out of service "until Boeing recommends an appropriate repair," Southwest said. As planes are cleared, they will be put back into service, Southwest said. Inspections are expected to be completed by late Tuesday. The airline recommended that customers should check with the website SWA.com for the status of a particular flight or rebook a trip before heading to the airport. Eighteen minutes into Flight 812 from Phoenix to Sacramento, California, on Friday, a hole 5 feet long and 1 foot wide opened in the fuselage, causing the cabin to lose pressure, the NTSB said. One flight attendant received minor injuries, the agency said. The pilot initially planned to return to Phoenix, but he made an emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, Arizona, after flight attendants reported seeing blue sky through the jet's roof, the safety board's Robert Sumwalt told reporters. Some of the 118 passengers who were aboard the crippled Boeing 737 said they feared for their lives. "We were in shock," passenger Debbie Downey said Saturday. "We were in row 16, and my husband and I could see blue sky ... the wiring, the cabling. It actually was terrifying." Greg Hansen said fellow passengers panicked and screamed as the sun shone through the cabin. "Most people were just white knuckles, holding on to the arm rests," he said. The airline said it provided a full refund, an apology and two complimentary round-trip passes on the airline for future flights. In July 2009, another Southwest Airlines 737-300 made an emergency landing when cabin pressure dropped because of a football-size hole in the jet. That incident prompted the airline to inspect its entire fleet of 737-300s. Earlier that same year, the airline was fined $7.5 million by the FAA after the agency found that Southwest operated 46 of its Boeing 737s on nearly 60,000 flights without performing mandatory inspections for fatigue cracks in their fuselages. Sumwalt said the 737 used for Flight 812 had a maintenance check in March at Southwest's Dallas facility, and the jet had no outstanding maintenance issues at the time of the accident, with all its records "positive, up to date, (and) with no discrepancies." The plane's flight data recorders had no noteworthy information on them, Sumwalt said. CNN's Mike Ahlers, Ric Ward and Marnie Hunter contributed to this report .

NEW: Southwest Airlines says as of 3:30 p.m., it had inspected 67 of its 79 grounded jets . NEW: The joint where the breach opened had been visually, not electromagnetically, inspected in past . The Federal Aviation Administration says it plans to mandate inspections of certain 737s . About 175 planes, including about 80 registered in the United States will be subject to inspection .

(CNN) -- The 21st century is a terrible time to be a control freak. When I speak with leaders around the world and ask them what one thing has most changed for them over the last 15 years, they almost always cite the perceived loss of control. The thing they cite as the major reason? "Connection technologies" -- technologies like the internet and mobile phone networks that connect people to information and each other. Media and information environments, political agendas, social movements, governmental decision-making processes and control over corporate brands have all been disrupted by citizens using what are now billions of devices and billions of internet connections. Information no longer flows exclusively from mainstream media and government out to society. It flows in a vast network of citizens and consumers interacting with once-dominant information sources. This network of people is constantly reading, writing, and evaluating everything, shaping the ideas that guide society and politics. In a ground-breaking speech on internet freedom given by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in January 2010, she described this by saying that the "spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for our planet." A little bit of hindsight shows that this disruption has come to the foreign policy domain. Should we fear mind-reading future tech? We can draw at least three early conclusions about the impact of these connection technologies on the development of political movements: . Conclusion #1: These technologies accelerate the growth of social and political movements. Distance and time no longer limit access to real-time information. Movements that would have once taken years to develop and relied on strong ties between people well-known to each other now can be built in days or weeks, leveraging the relatively open platforms that social media provide. This phenomenon is plain to see in world events as diverse as the Arab Spring, political protests in Russia, disaster response in Japan, and the populist online movements supporting open internet policies in Europe and the United States. Conclusion #2: Connection technologies have enriched the information environment, changing our ability to share and receive information. Many people know the story of Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor from the small town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia whose self-immolation on December 17, 2010, catalyzed what became the Arab Spring. On December 18, his mother and other family members began a protest that spread to the rest of Tunisia. What most people don't know, though, is that just two years earlier there were protests in Tunisia that started off far larger but failed to spread beyond the confines of the Gafsa mining basin where they began. What changed in those two years? During the initial protests in Sidi Bouzid, acts of protest were documented on video-enabled mobile phones and posted to social media sites. Activists in the Tunisian Diaspora curated and distributed this content, leading to its pick-up by pan-Arab satellite television networks including Al-Jazeera. This allowed students with a few dozen friends and followers on social media to become eyewitness sources for satellite TV networks that broadcast their stories to hundreds of millions of viewers. The Tunisian government of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was unable to contain this flow of media and information. This combination of new and traditional media can amplify the voices of citizen-centred movements into potent political forces and demonstrate how governments lose control over their information environments. Opinion: Humans, lose your cyberphobia . Conclusion #3: New information networks have disrupted leadership structures. Internet-enabled movements tend to lack the traditional single charismatic leader, inspiring and organizing the masses from on high. Rather, movements that rely heavily on the internet tend to have leadership structures that look like the internet itself -- a distributed web of nodes and connections, rather than a pyramidal, top-down structure. This enables a decentralized form of organization bringing together unlikely combinations of people into rapidly formed movements. While this has the virtue of making movements more citizen-centered and less bound to the cults of personality one often finds in and around protest movements, it also makes these movements more ephemeral and less sustainable. A lack of real structure and widely-accepted leaders has limited the sustainability of many movements, both political and issue-oriented. More than anything else, we can draw the early conclusion that connection technologies redistribute power from hierarchies to citizens and networks of citizens. These technologies are changing the entire political ecosystem. They are changing the nature of who is participating, who has power and how that power is exercised. Most of the time, this is a good thing. It allows for more open, transparent and participatory government. It allows citizens to make their voices heard and participate in the political process. A look back at all the action LeWeb'12 London: Day one . However, the same power given to people seeking to connect the governing to the governed also gives the world's criminals and terrorists powerful tools to build sophisticated networks through which to perpetuate fraud, graft, and violence. In this respect, Secretary Clinton has likened our information networks to nuclear power, which can either fuel a city or destroy it, and to steel, which can be used to build a hospital or a machine gun. It is difficult to imagine how connection technologies will shape political movements and systems over the next decade, but we can anticipate more empowerment of the citizen and more disruption, for both good and ill. How political leaders respond to this connectivity and its power will be a test of values, open versus closed. Closure strictly constrains the benefits technology can bring and separates the aspirations of the governed from the governing. Openness brings transparency, democratizes information, and empowers people to achieve things together that none could attain by themselves. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alec Ross.

Media and government have been disrupted by citizens with internet connections, say Ross . "Connection technologies" are technologies that connect people to information and each other . Ross runs through the impacts of connection technologies on political movements .

(CNN) -- In June 2004, at the age of 85, and five years after stepping down as South Africa's president, Nelson Mandela announced he was "retiring from retirement" to spend more time with family and friends, telling journalists, "Don't call me, I'll call you." As a globally recognized ambassador for a multiracial South Africa, the conscience of his continent and an inspiration for strugglers against oppression everywhere, Mandela was never going to be allowed to fade quietly into the history books. After leaving office, Mandela continued to lend his tireless support to the fight against social injustice and poverty in South Africa and beyond through fundraising organizations such as the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Persevering with diplomatic efforts he had initiated in government, Mandela worked patiently to mediate in conflict-stricken Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mandela, who died Thursday, also brought charisma, charm and enthusiasm to South Africa's successful bid for the 2010 World Cup, lobbying hard for the tournament to be awarded to an African nation for the first time. Comfortable retirement may have mellowed Mandela, but the instincts of the freedom fighter and anti-establishment activist still burned strongly. In early 2003, he spoke out harshly against the imminent U.S. invasion of Iraq, accusing U.S. President George W. Bush of "wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust," adding "if there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America." In particular, Mandela became an outspoken advocate of efforts to tackle South Africa's worsening HIV and AIDS epidemic, criticizing his presidential successor and longtime ANC comrade Thabo Mbeki in 2002 for his government's prevarication in combating the disease. "This is a war. It has killed more people than has been the case in all previous wars and in all previous natural disasters," Mandela said. "We must not continue to be debating, to be arguing, when people are dying." Mandela also set up the HIV/AIDS charity 46664 -- named after Mandela's prison number during his long incarceration on Robben Island -- inviting stars such as Bono and Beyonce to perform at a fundraising concert in Cape Town in 2003. Mandela had personal reasons for promoting the fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2005, he announced that his son, Makgatho Mandela, had died of an AIDS-related illness at the age of 54. "Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and to say somebody has died because of HIV/AIDS -- and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary," Mandela said. Mandela had endured health problems of his own, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, but, he remained active throughout his 80s and continued to travel the world. In 2007, he formed The Elders, a group of widely respected former statesmen and world leaders dedicated to bringing their expertise, experience and moral authority to bear on the world's most pressing political and social issues. Members included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter . In 2008, Mandela made his final trip abroad, traveling to London for a concert celebrating his approaching 90th birthday and marking the 20th anniversary of the city's iconic "Free Nelson Mandela" concert. Mandela celebrated his birthday at home in Qunu, delivering a simple message drawing attention to the continuing gap between rich and poor in South Africa: "Poverty has gripped our people. If you are poor, you are not likely to live long." In an interview with Graca Machel to mark the occasion, Machel told CNN her husband's only regret was that he hadn't had the chance to raise his children and spend more time with his loved ones. On the day in 2004 when South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup, Mandela, a keen sports fan whose support for the Springboks at the 1995 Rugby World Cup was seen as a defining moment in the birth of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation," summed up his excitement by saying he "felt like a boy of 15." Apartheid was a policy of segregation and discrimination that aimed to keep black and white apart in every sphere of life. But the eagerly anticipated tournament brought private tragedy for Mandela's family when his 13-year-old great-granddaughter, Zenani Mandela, was killed in a car accident while returning from a concert on the eve of the opening match. Mandela made a last public appearance at the World Cup final, smiling and waving to football fans at Johannesburg's Soccer City on July 11, 2010. To the end of his life, Mandela remained loyally committed to the African National Congress, appearing on stage with party leader Jacob Zuma in 2009 during his successful campaign for the presidency. Most of all, Mandela remained committed to the principle of dialogue -- and the belief, based on his own experiences, that even the most intractable problems could only be solved by enemies sitting down around a table to talk to each other.

Nelson Mandela pushed issues on the world's stage . Among them were HIV/AIDS epidemic . Sometimes, former president spoke bluntly . He lost a son and great-granddaughter .

(CNN) -- Repeat after me: "Flower sir?" Now say it again -- 341 times. Virginia Cherrill must have been on the verge of tears after director and actor Charlie Chaplin made her perform one scene -- in which she says just two words in a silent film -- an excruciating 342 times. To be fair to Cherrill, she was not a professional actress, but a 20-year-old socialite Chaplin had spotted in the crowd at a boxing match. The comedic legend, who defined the silent era with his trademark bowler hat, shuffling gait, and toothbrush mustache, hadn't even spoken to Cherrill when he hired her as the love interest in one of his most successful movies of all time -- 1931's "City Lights." "Chaplin was a perfectionist, the king of the re-take," said Hooman Mehran, historian and author of "Chaplin's Limelight and the Music Hall Tradition." "This was just a three minute sequence in the finished film," he added. "But he took her to task -- even though it was a silent film." Now for the first time we can see the making of the memorable scene -- in which blind flower girl Cherrill mistakes Chaplin the tramp for a wealthy man -- in rare behind-the-scenes footage released by film archive the Criterion Collection. Watch the scene here . Practice makes perfect . It's a remarkable insight into the Oscar-winning comedian's work ethic, perhaps better known for his iconic role as the loveable "Tramp," than director. "He was a one man show -- not only was he the director, he was the writer, he was the producer. When music came in, he was a composer too," said Mehran, who narrates the flickering black-and-white footage. In a career spanning 75 years -- from Victorian England to 1950s Hollywood -- Chaplin became one of the most recognizable screen stars in the world, negotiating a $670,000 film deal when he was just 26, a phenomenal amount at the time. It was not uncommon for Chaplin to re-do one scene 10 or 20 times. But 342? "This was extraordinary even by his standards," said Mehran. Why so many attempts at such a seemingly simple scene? "Chaplin rehearsed on film -- he'd try out an idea and do it over and over again," explained Mehran. "And since he was the director, he couldn't see his performance so he had to record it." At the time, sound had also started to come into movies, and Chaplin worried "City Lights" would be his last silent film -- he wanted to make it a masterpiece. As producer, he invested all his own money into the film -- had it been a flop, it could have destroyed him. Luckily, it turned out to be a box office success. Rags to riches . Growing up in an impoverished London home -- his mother was committed to a mental asylum, his alcoholic father died from liver failure -- Chaplin spent his early years in orphanages. "He identifies his mother as his greatest influence," said Mehran. "As a child, they would sit in their apartment and she would mimic all the people who were walking down the street. "It's no coincidence that "City Lights" is about a blind woman -- a lot of Chaplin's heroines have a physical disability, which comes back to his mother." Cut! After joining various theatre troupes as a teenager, Chaplin was taken on by the prestigious Fred Karno comedy company. He toured America, gaining the attention of Keystone Studios -- and launching his career on the big screen. He became the master of physical comedy, with his exaggerated facial expressions, silly walks, and bumbling demeanor influencing generations of slapstick artists; from Abbott and Costello to Lucille Ball, and Mr Bean. Yet despite his blundering on-screen persona, Chaplin was also disciplined director. Watch this: Meet the world's greatest clown . "He was very tough on set," said Mehran. "He knew exactly what he wanted and he would have preferred not to have any other actors in his films -- he even tried making a film once where he was the only person in it." It was a style Marlon Brando apparently struggled with on the set of Chaplin's 1967 film "A Countess from Hong Kong." "Brando was a method actor and really wanted to understand what his character was feeling. He said to Chaplin: 'I don't understand my character's motivation in this scene,' and Chaplin said: 'Forget about motivation, just do it as I tell you to do it, that's your motivation,'" said Mehran. Time capsule . After leaving the U.S. in the 1950s and moving to Switzerland with wife Oona O'Neill -- the couple remained married until his death in 1977 and had eight children -- Chaplin ordered many of his outtakes to be destroyed. "We're very lucky to have this "City Lights" footage," said Mehran. "It was shot by his friend Ralph Barton, who committed suicide not long after, and certainly Chaplin would not let anyone else, other than his brother, film on set." For a legend of silent cinema, Chaplin's actions spoke louder than words.

New behind-the-scenes footage reveals Chaplin's demanding directing style . Comedic legend made "City Lights" co-star do scene 342 times . Marlon Brando struggled to accept Chaplin's method on set . Rare black-and-white footage survived Chaplin's orders to destroy all outtakes .

(CNN) -- What price love -- or more accurately, what price a love letter? When it comes to such letters written by a teenage Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, that price is $134,500, according to the auctioneer Christie's. And if you like happy endings, it was "a French lady" -- perhaps appropriately enough -- who paid that amount Thursday and is now the owner of 22 letters and a printed telegram authored by Onassis, said Christie's spokeswoman Sung-Hee Park in New York City. The letters, which Onassis sent to her then-boyfriend at Harvard in the late 1940s, were valued between $25,000 and $35,000 prior to the auction, held Thursday morning, Park said. The letters were written before Onassis met her future husband and future president John F. Kennedy, who also studied at Harvard. "The buyer bought it over the phone, and they just wanted to be identified as a French lady who is a very big fan of Jackie Kennedy," Park told CNN. "It's always great when a piece of art goes for the estimate, but when something goes much higher than the estimate, it's a great surprise." The letters reveal the personality of the future first lady on the matters of adolescent love, kissing and a loathing of attending a finishing school. The auction house described the writings as "the earliest Jackie Kennedy letters," displaying "a funny, spirited, at times cynical young woman, but one with great intelligence and a strong will of her own." In a letter dated October 10, 1946, the 17-year-old Miss Bouvier reveals her "cooling enthusiasm" in a letter to Harvard boyfriend R. Beverley Corbin Jr., "who seems to have been badly hurt when Jackie refused to kiss him during one visit," according to Christie's. Corbin was 21 at the time. Corbin's son, Bev, of New York, owned the letters and put them up for auction, he told CNN. "I do love you though -- and can love you without kissing you every time I see you and I hope you understand that," Onassis declares. Then, on January 20, 1947, she writes to her boyfriend about her definition of true love. "I've always thought of being in love as being willing to do anything for the other person -- starve to buy them bread and not mind living in Siberia with them -- and I've always thought that every minute away from them would be hell -- so looking at it that (way) I guess I'm not in love with you," Onassis writes. Her last letter to him is undated, and it announces her engagement to John Husted. "What I hope for you," she writes Corbin, "is for the same thing to happen as quickly and as surely as it did with me. It will when you least expect it." But that ill-fated engagement to Husted lasted only a few months in 1951, according to Christie's. Onassis died in 1994 in New York as one of the world's most famous women. She was 64. In an extraordinary life marked by staggering tragedy, she was the widowed first lady of Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, and became a widow again, of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who died in 1975. Corbin died in 2004 at age 79, according to the Social Security death Index. The 75 pages of letters were written between 1945 and 1951 on personal stationery and the letterhead of Miss Porter's School, but in the letters, Onassis calls Porter's finishing school "prison." "If school days are the happiest of your life, I'm hanging myself with my skip-rope tonight," the teenage Onassis writes to her boyfriend. In another letter, she pens of an upcoming Christmas break, when "I can commute happily back and forth between my doting parents until they both get sick of me." In an October 3, 1946, letter, she jokes about her schooling. "I'm never going to send my children to boarding school," she writes. "The boys can go to P.S. 148 with gangsters, and then go to Columbia & the girls can go to Hunter College and they'll all be morons but at least they wont have to tear around and get their teeth knocked out playing hockey every day. ... Can you think of anything worse than living in a small town like this all your life and competing to see which housewife could bake the best cake?" The finishing school was in Farmington, Connecticut, a town where Corbin had resided at one time, a Christie's spokeswoman said. Onassis displays a mischievous side in a February 12, 1947, letter in which she tells Corbin to smuggle in cigarettes, chocolate "and a hip flask to shock Mrs. J." Many of the letters begin with "Dearest Bev" or "Buddy darling," and one envelope, sent via "air mail" with three 3-cent stamps, is addressed to "Mr. R. Beverley Corbin Jr." of "The Owl Club" at Harvard University. The sale included an undated black-and-white photograph of Onassis and Corbin along with another couple.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis's love letters were written when she was a teen . She wrote them to her then-boyfriend at Harvard . They were valued between $25,000 and $35,000 . "A French lady" bought them for $134,500, the auctioneer says .

(CNN) -- While this year's Super Bowl commercials ran the gamut from sentimental to silly, some were downright offensive to viewers who used the Twitter hashtag #NotBuyingIt to flag what they considered the most sexist spots of the night. Web host GoDaddy.com earned more than 7,500 #NotBuyingIt tweets for its ad featuring an intimate smooch between supermodel Bar Refaeli and a bespectacled computer programmer, putting it at the top of the list of offenders, according to Miss Representation, the social activism nonprofit leading the Twitter campaign for the second year. The "Perfect Match" and its "smart meets sexy" tagline drew criticism from men and women for "stereotyping programmers and objectifying women" in the words of one male Twitter user. "@GoDaddy, continuing the tired stereotype that programmers are geeks, while women are sex objects. Disgusting," a female user tweeted. Overall, #NotBuyingIt generated more than 10,000 tweets and reached more than 8 million people on Twitter during Sunday's Ravens-49ers showdown, a spokesman for Miss Representation said, citing statistics from Topsy and Hashtag.org. Two days after the Super Bowl, the ads continue to generate conversation and controversy. "Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit Go Daddy's Super Bowl ads are effective," begins one story published Tuesday on news that the domain name provider had its biggest sales day in history after its Super Bowl campaign. 'God made a farmer' ad stirs pride, passion in agriculture . Others continued to criticize some of Sunday night's ads for playing on typical gender stereotypes, promoting sexual assault and making the Super Bowl into a less than family-friendly event. "The #superbowl commercials are a window into American culture & values. Today, try to pay attention to what (they're) telling you," one user said in a comment that was retweeted more than 230 times. In response, another person tweeted: "(Let's) just enjoy the game. No academics. PLS:-):-)" In a statement Monday, GoDaddy.com said it embraced "commercial controversy" even if some viewers deemed the content "inappropriate." CBS rejected two "edgier" versions of the spot, and the final version earned more than 4 million views on YouTube before the game even started, the company said. "We're not going to apologize for 'The Kiss,' " CEO Blake Irving said. "It's sparking conversations. It was approved by network Standards and Practices and it uses humor to illustrate the point about how powerful a combination 'sexy' and 'smart' are. Personally, I think it's hilarious." GoDaddy.com wasn't the only company to earn the #NotBuyingIt designation. The main goal of the campaign is to make consumers think twice about their purchasing power, said Imran Siddiquee, social media coordinator of MissRepresentation.org. But, as the response to the GoDaddy spot showed, the campaign not only highlights demeaning portrayals of women but also the limited depiction of manhood on display in most Super Bowl commercials, he said. Breaking down Super Bowl tech ads . "Masculinity in America is so very narrowly defined, and it's an interesting juxtaposition to have that conversation during the Super Bowl," Siddiquee said. Viewers have come to expect women seductively devouring fast food or throwing themselves at men during Super Bowl commercials, he said. But more surprising was the reaction to ads featuring what Siddiquee called more "subtle" forms of sexism, such as Audi's "Prom" ad, which showed a teen boy strutting onto the dance floor, grabbing a girl and pulling her in for a kiss. "(S)top teaching our boys that bravery is kissing a girl you've never talked to & that girls are simply objects or rewards," one person tweeted. A spokesman for Audi said the prom queen's reaction to the kiss was meant to indicate there was history between the two, showing that "in no way was the kiss something less than mutual." "While trying to tell a complete story within the 60-second format, much of the backstory has to be implied or set up off-camera," the spokesman said in an e-mail. After the kiss, another prom-goer, presumably the girl's date, lunges at the guy and punches him in the face. Change scene to the protagonist driving away in his Audi with a bruised eye. "So getting punched in the face makes someone a man?" another person tweeted. KIA, Mercedes-Benz and Fiat USA were also targeted for ads playing the "nice car = get the girls" trope, in the words of one person. "Hey @MBUSA More WOMEN drive than men AND we influence 85% of car buying decisions. Stop the sexist ads," @WellVersedMom said. The lesson of the evening? As one person put it: "What have I learned from #SuperBowl ads? Women = robots, objects, strippers & showgirls. Violent men are brave. Hmm what else???" Miss Representation compiled its favorite tweets and viewpoints into a Storify summarizing reaction. Mobile users who can't see the Storify below should click here. . Follow Emanuella Grinberg on Twitter .

Viewers use Twitter hashtag #NotBuyingIt to call out what they saw as offensive TV spots . GoDaddy's ad featuring model kissing programmer biggest offender among hashtag users . Twitter campaign's purpose to raise consumer awareness about purchasing power . Campaign highlights limited depiction of masculinity in Super Bowl ads, activist says .

(CNN) -- It's described as the 'Everest of sailing' -- a testing 39000 nautical mile challenge that takes crews through some of the most perilous waters in the world. The Volvo Ocean Race is in its first weeks of competition, an adventure that will last nine months. At the beginning of this month, six crews set off on the first leg of the grueling race in Alicante, Spain. Their journey will take them across the globe via the ports of Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient -- eventually finishing in Galway, Ireland in July next year. It's predicted millions of people will flock to the shorelines when the boats enter the ports. The event's growing popularity is parallel to the increasing professionalism that surrounds the race, and shows just how much it has changed since it began 38 years ago. "Our main concern was survival in the first race," says Alec Honey, who competed in 1973-74, when the event begun. It was known as The Whitbred Round the World Race and featured 17 yachts competing on what was then a 27,000 mile contest. Although the course was shorter, the journey was much slower and meant that sailors spent a lot more time at sea. Then the crew's comfort was considered. There was space for sailors to play cards during the down times and guitars were brought on board for night time sing-a-longs. Erik Pascoli, who skippered 'Tauranga' in 1973-74, remembers how on some yachts crates of beer were even included in the supplies so the sailors could enjoy a drink. "I remember the way the boats were loaded with pallets of beers when in other circumstances even an extra roll of toilet paper would have been a scandal." In modern racing, speed is the driving force behind every design decision. The record for the fastest day was set in 2008, when the Ericsson 4 traveled 687 miles in 24 hours. In the early days of the race's history, 200 miles was considered a very good day. But while it may have been slower, in 1973 the crews relied on their wits for survival. There was no satellite information -- the first they knew of a storm was when they were in it. "Our instrument of navigation wasn't so far from James Cook's times," says Pascoli. Even some former competitors admit they were crazy to embark on such an adventure, particularly when it comes to sailing in the southern ocean. "We knew there were whales, we knew there were icebergs, we knew there were storms," says Peter Lunde, the skipper of the 1981-82 entrant 'Berge Viking'. "We prepared ourselves to cope with it. We were very happy to get around with a full crew." Despite all the advances in technology, competitors at sea now are still faced with plenty of danger. "Down there you are pretty much running on luck anyway," explains Mike Sanderson, who is this year captaining 'Team Sanya'. "You're blasting along. You know it would only take a piece of ice the size of a small car to tear the bottom out of the boat and you're not going to see that with any technology in the world." Five sailors have lost their lives competing in the race, including three in the first edition. Participants are all too aware that the dangers of the event are very real. "It's easy to say that winning the race is the priority," says Ken Read, skipper of 'Puma Ocean Racing, powered by BERG'. "But our number one priority is everybody coming home." The determination and courageous spirit of the yachtsman has remained unchanged throughout the past four decades. Organizers say it's one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world, with participants this time around set to face countless challenges in the months ahead like their predecessors. Sailors will experience temperatures ranging from minus five degrees Celsius to 40-plus degrees. No fresh food is taken on board, only freeze dried goods are eaten by crewmen and woman, who are also unlikely to get sufficient sleep while competing. While many of the personal challenges faced by competitors are similar, one thing that is significantly different is the professionalism of the event. "When you reach this echelon in this sport -- the upper echelon -- you get paid pretty well for doing something like this," says Read. Multi-million dollar sponsorship deals have been signed on on all six boats as well as the event itself. There is greater media attention that follows the race, bringing a valuable global audience. In each port, separate small races are being held, giving the teams the opportunity to win points, and the event the chance to win over more spectators. In Alicante, several events such as concerts were held to coincide with the start of the race, and more are due to be held in the other ports. "We're in the entertainment business, without entertaining all these guys there is nothing," explains Read. But the lucrative sponsorship deals have not taken away the spirit of adventure. "There's not a lot of commercialism at 2am when your spinnaker is out the back of the boat and you are lying on your side," says two-times race winner Grant Dalton. "No matter what you do with it .. you can never destroy adventure, icebergs, waves, cold and no sleep. You will never destroy the adventure that started this race in 1973."

The Volvo Ocean Race is 39000 nautical miles long . It began in 1973, then called The Whitbred Round the World race . Six crews left Alicante, Spain earlier this month on the first leg .

(CNN) -- Since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of eight, Sarah Chang has grown through the weight of expectation to become one of the world's great violinists. Now aged 31, Chang was born in Philadelphia to a composer and music teacher of Korean descent. She first dabbled with the piano at the age of three, before opting for the violin a year later. By five she had been accepted into New York's prestigious Juilliard School for Performing Arts. By her own acknowledgment, the world of grand orchestras and opera houses that she has so long inhabited can be "very formal" and "exclusive." This perhaps goes some way to explain her choice of destination for her "Fusion Journey" challenge: Buenos Aires. Here, in the hot-blooded Argentinean capital, she would meet with local band "Orquesta Tipica Andariega," to learn first-hand the sensual and mysterious art of tango. See more Fusion Journeys . During her visit, Chang was challenged to produce a fusion of sound that blended the traditions of Western classical music with tango's emotionally raw and folksy heritage. She says that the process has given her performance a new-found sense of intimacy that she's carried ever since. In her own words, Chang tells the story of her Fusion Journey. Sarah Chang: I've been trained as a classical violinist my entire life. It's all about structure, all about technique. It's very much a polished profession. But tango music, although it has some classical elements, is very sexy and rough and, in a way, from the earth. When you walk along the streets of Buenos Aires, fun is in the air. You see children with barely anything on their feet playing soccer, and there is music on every corner. They are playing all sorts of Latin sounds; they're all dancing and drinking; they're enjoying life; they are loving life. One of the cornerstones of tango is definitely the dancing, so I first met up with dance instructor Nora Schvartz. Now, I'm not really a dancer. I'm a very physical performer when I'm on stage, but of course tango is a completely different thing to thrusting around when you're performing as a violinist. I learned that the best tango dancers move not just with their legs and arms, but from their guts. That's the sign of a true art form, and it's the source of so much beauty, so much soul and passion. Even though I absolutely cannot dance -- just watch the footage! -- I always thought that to experience the whole picture, you really have to open up your vulnerabilities, and sort of take that risk. Read related: Photographer's Lapland journey highlights global warming . Tango is -- in a sense -- imperfect ... albeit beautifully imperfect. It's not about being always metronomically on time, it's about spontaneity and freedom. I've worked, of course, with a piano and an orchestra before -- but never with a band. All of a sudden I find myself rehearsing with the "Orquesta Tipica Andariega," an extremely talented local tango group. So there I was, playing songs I'd never played before, alongside instruments I'd never heard before, with a group I'd never met before -- it was thrilling! The piece we chose for our fusion was by Carlos Gardel -- the biggest name in the history of tango. The tune itself is very famous -- it's used in all these movies, you name it, any famous tango scene. But as far as I know, there is no version for a band with a solo violinist, so I asked a composer friend of mine to make an arrangement for us. I was really thrilled with the result. We performed it in this intimate little club and it felt so immediate. Everyone was there, drinking wine, dancing, looking so happy. There were no rigid rules, none of this "clap here, oh you have to be quiet here." Instead, the audience were whistling and yelling and clapping along -- it felt like they were right up there with us. Literally, if I just stretched my arm, I could touch them, they were so close. That sort of intimacy, that sort of physical closeness, the fact that they were dancing when we were playing, I just thought was so beautiful. "Fusions" can often turn out badly -- I can think of some fusion cuisine that I wish I could forget! But when each side brings just the right balance of their experience, their culture and personality, then I think it can be magical -- and the only way you know it has worked is when everyone has a smile on their face. Classical music is one of the world's longest-standing traditional forms of music-making out there -- and I don't think it will, or should, change over night. There is a sort of purity in what classical musicians do that I cherish very much and want to preserve. But the big thing that I really took from this experience is that sense of connecting with the audience. Quite often, in grand concert halls where everyone is wearing elegant ball gowns and black tails -- that kind of old-Hollywood glamor -- it can feel like there is a big distance between the audience and the performers, a sense of "look, but don't touch." But with Argentinean tango, it's the opposite. They are saying "please touch, please come into and share my world." Now, every concert that I do, I try to utilize that, I try to connect with every single last person in the balcony on an emotional and personal level.

American violinist Sarah Chang flew to Buenos Aires to immerse herself in tango . Chang collaborated with local ensemble to create fusion of musical styles . She says that the process has given her new sense of intimacy with audience .

(CNN) -- Americans hungry for feel-good fine dining are reaping the benefits of the struggling economy. 606 Congress in Boston, Massachusetts, is offering a three-course "appetite stimulus" deal for $25. Wine deals, bar menu specials and three-course, prix fixe meals for $25 to $40 are popping up in high-end eateries across the country to lure customers as business and leisure travel dips and diners stay closer to home and make more value-driven decisions about eating out. For Manhattan restaurateur Paul Grieco, sticking to good food and the warm, hospitable philosophy of his East Village restaurant, Hearth, is key to devising dining promotions to combat a 20 percent dip in business from the same period last year. "Every restaurant out there is leading with the discount, and the consumer -- it's become one big blur. We're all competing against each other -- none of us are coming out winners," Grieco said. To differentiate Hearth this winter, Grieco and the restaurant's chef created five winter soups available at the bar for $5 each, paired with $5 glasses of sherry. This spring, Grieco plans to offer $5 spring salads. Hearth's Cucina Povera, a rustic $35 three-course, prix fixe meal featuring entrees such as braised lamb shank, is another offer aimed at budget-conscious diners. "A year ago, to be honest, I didn't have to hit that three-course menu at $35 a head. Now you have to," Grieco said. Grieco said he hopes the special menu items and prix fixe offering will attract more neighborhood diners to Hearth, one of the most expensive restaurants in the East Village. "You need that neighborhood crowd, and because of our price point, maybe not everyone in the East Village was able to come to Hearth. Well, we need to change that," Grieco said. Taking menu price inflation into account, the National Restaurant Association expects the restaurant industry's sales to decline by 1 percent in 2009. A similar drop in 2008 makes for the first consecutive back-to-back decline for the industry since the organization started tracking sales in 1970. "This is currently the most challenging environment for restaurant operators in several decades," said Hudson Riehle, head of research at the National Restaurant Association. While the decline is relatively small compared with other industries, pricier restaurants take a bigger hit in a down economy, and establishments that rely heavily on travelers are likely to feel the economic slump acutely as total travel expenditures in the U.S. are expected to dip by 6.7 percent in 2009, according to the U.S. Travel Association. At national seafood chain McCormick & Schmick's, 35 percent to 40 percent of the customer traffic, on average, comes from business travelers, according to CEO Bill Freeman. Sales through the end of February were down 13 percent from last year. The restaurant is offering a steak and lobster dinner with dessert for $29.95. Increased focus on local promotional opportunities around holidays such as Mother's Day and Father's Day and an enhanced preferred guest program also are part of the company's efforts to drive sales. The preferred guest program allows diners to amass points that can be redeemed for food in the restaurant and some travel-related awards. In Charleston, South Carolina, where many upscale restaurants rely heavily on tourism, those that are coping best are adding value without compromising their price integrity, according to Robert Frash, an assistant professor in the College of Charleston's Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. "Rather than lowering their prices or offering coupons and discounts that are inconsistent with fine dining, they're trying to give [customers] a better value. Perhaps where they were priced a la carte before, now it might be more of a prix fixe menu," Frash said. The Charleston Grill, in the Charleston Place Hotel, started a dinner at dusk promotion in January. The three-course menu for $39 is available seven days a week to diners who are seated before 6 p.m. Similar value-driven promotions are available at other hotel-based restaurants. 606 Congress, in the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel in Massachusetts, will resume a popular "appetite stimulus" menu on April 13. For $25, guests receive an appetizer, entrée special, dessert and a glass of wine. Wine promotions are another customer lure. Patina Restaurant Group, which operates more than 20 restaurants, is wrapping up a wine promotion at East Coast establishments March 31 that gives customers 25 percent off all bottles. The promotion finished a successful West Coast run at the end of February, and the company is now waiving corkage fees at most West Coast restaurants. "That is something that has been wildly successful ... just getting people in the door," said spokeswoman Amanda White. "We figure if people don't need to pay for wine, they'll spend more on food." Promotions and sales declines aside, Americans are still dining out, according to Riehle of the National Restaurant Association. "Restaurants have become so ingrained in American lifestyles now, and the consumer reliance upon them in some cases deems it a much more essential experience than a discretionary experience."

Upscale restaurants are offering prix fixe menus to attract diners . Some restaurants have three-course meals for $25 to $40 . Economic slump has hit high-end restaurants harder . Americans continue to dine out despite recession .

(CNN) -- CNN on Thursday continues its series "The Sixties," which explores the decade of historically significant social movements, people and events. The new episode -- "A Long March to Freedom" -- focuses on the Freedom Summer of 1964 for a very notable reason. This week marks the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer -- the tumultuous period in our history when three young workers were kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi while attempting to register people to vote. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner shall never be forgotten. The three youths were civil rights workers in Mississippi who had taken their summer to help eligible citizens to register to vote, a right that state and so many others down South had denied for more than one hundred years. As the men drove through Philadelphia, Mississippi, they got a flat tire. The town's deputy sheriff put on his patrol car's red light and pulled them over. He called for two highway patrolmen. Forty-four days later, the FBI found their bodies in an earthen dam. Goodman and Schwerner, white students from the North, were shot through the chest. Chaney, an African-American student from Mississippi, was beaten to death. Though 18 men were indicted on federal conspiracy charges and were likely present at the killings, seven were convicted. The longest sentence served was just six years. Those three men knew the risks they were taking, one reason why they were making haste through Mississippi's countryside and small towns. They had no desire to be martyrs. Yet, they were killed by racists who sought to stop their campaign to secure each Mississippian the right to vote. It was their deaths, along with hundreds of actions by courageous civil rights workers during the Freedom Summer of 1964, that mobilized the Congress to end the filibuster and approve the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and gave much needed momentum to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Many of those Freedom Fighters are gone, and others are too old to still organize and mobilize citizens to vote. However, they all serve as reminders that in our long march for freedom, justice and equality for all, we will never end our pursuit to secure a more perfect union. One of the people the youth recruited into local leadership in 1964 was Fannie Lou Hamer, then 44. "They treated us like we were special and we loved 'em," she said. "We trusted 'em." She became a lifelong civil rights worker. Hamer understood that we must make government our business, and our business justice. The right to vote, the right to an education, the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," the right to opportunity, go hand-in-hand, one to the other. Economic liberty and social justice and civil rights -- we cannot have one without the others. If it weren't for Freedom Summer, I wouldn't be here. If it weren't for events like Freedom Summer and for the thousands of people who participated in that and so many other events, I wouldn't be here. Throughout my years in politics and public service, I have carried with me one of the sayings of Fannie Lou Hamer. She said, "Nobody's free until everybody's free." That's true, no matter what kind of freedom we're talking about. We have a long way to go. The reactionary forces never give up, never cease, and neither can we. President Barack Obama campaigned with a message of hope to all: "Yes, we can!" He didn't say, "It will be a walk in the park." Mississippi today has come a long way. But, it still ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in poverty, unemployment, median household income and health care. There's work to do. We have to win back legislation to enforce not just civil rights, but also strengthen and protect the rights of all Americans to vote. Sadly, that right is under constant attack or simply being undermined by some lawmakers who insist there is widespread evidence of voter fraud when the evidence clearly shows that it's not true. Truly, we have come far in 50 years. No one disputes this fact. But now is the time to create a new Freedom Summer, but a very different one than what we experienced 50 years ago. This summer, we have an opportunity, if we have the courage, to struggle together — together, regardless of differences, to create a summer of economic freedom, and a new birth of secured voting rights. But it's time we try to simply power forward together. What is "power forward?" It's the term for a basketball position I played during high school. Power Forward means welcoming obstacles as opportunities. Power Forward means taking risks, accepting responsibility and sharing the profits and prestige. Power Forward means being conscientious, courageous and confident. Power Forward means being independent and interdependent. It means networking, sharing -- you can't do it on your own. It means following your own path but not ignoring the advice of those that have 'been there, done that.' It means being true to your vision and enabling the vision of others. Power Forward means staying ethical, doing it right and legally and honestly, especially when it's easy not to, when it seems no one else is. Power Forward means being humble and ambitious. Power forward means moving the ball farther down the court in our pursuit of equal justice under the law. Together we can commemorate a great milestone and power forward to a better and brighter future for all Americans. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.

Donna Brazile looks back at 50 years after the Freedom Summer of 1964 . The deaths of three young crusaders help spur Congress to pass Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Brazile calls on America to create a summer of economic freedom and secured voting rights .

(CNN) -- Bernadette's father died from AIDS complications when she was a child. Her mother never even knew he had HIV until she and her daughter tested positive years later. Shocked and angry, Bernadette couldn't accept the news. She refused to take her medicine. Depressed and shut off from the world, Bernadette imagined she would soon die. Then, at the urging of her mother, she joined a Sunday support group for young people living with HIV. Over time, she became engaged in youth activities and opened her heart to the others. Today, she is a youth peer educator at Women's Equity in Access to Care and Treatment, where she shares her experiences with other young people living with HIV, encouraging them to stay in school, take their medicine and work for a better future. This is just one example of a brave story. And there are millions more: . The teenage girl who was orphaned and had to raise herself and her siblings; the young man who refused to be silenced by discrimination and disclosed his status to friends; or the young couple -- one HIV positive and the other not -- planning their future. These stories speak to the pain, loss and challenges that HIV and AIDS have put upon this generation, but also to the triumph of what's possible when we come together. We are part of a generation that has only known a world with HIV. The United Nations says that about 34 million people are living with HIV worldwide -- and 5 million of them are between the ages of 15 and 24. That age group accounts for an estimated 39% of new adult HIV infections globally; and nearly 65% of young people living with HIV are women. Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Bernadette is one of those young people. Now 20, Bernadette has been a client at the WE-ACTx for Hope Clinic, Keep a Child Alive's partner in Kigali, Rwanda, since 2007. Cristina and I have had the honor of visiting our Keep a Child Alive programs in Africa -- and Cristina just returned from a visit with some of the young people that I met when they were just toddlers. Ten years later, these young people are living healthy, happy, hopeful lives. We've seen amazing progress in the past 10 years -- and though we still have a long way to go, more people are getting HIV treatment and fewer babies are being born with HIV. We're seeing the results of so many people's work to "keep a child alive," and now, the first generation of children who received HIV treatment are entering adolescence and young adulthood. But for all of our progress, we are still failing this generation. In the United States, young gay men and young women and men of color are particularly vulnerable to HIV. In terms of rates of infection, vulnerability, impact and -- most important to us -- the enormous potential to turn this epidemic around, young people are at the center of the HIV epidemic. Despite this, most HIV treatment programs and policies are designed for children or adults, leaving young people caught in the middle of programs that fall short in meeting their special needs. The good news is that across the world, young people are uniting to demand a seat at the table. They are demanding attention from their communities, health facilities, schools, governments and leaders. At Keep a Child Alive, we believe in nurturing a strong, true and loud collective voice from our world's young people. We recently launched, 5MIL, a new initiative that seeks to address the needs of their generation as it relates to HIV. Over the next few months, we will roll out 5MIL: Hangout, a youth-led platform to connect young advocates living with HIV and affected by HIV from Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and the United States. This grassroots, virtual dialogue is about fostering a safe space for young people to come together and talk openly about HIV, share challenges and solutions and connect directly with influential leaders. We are calling for action from all young people around the world living with and affected by HIV and AIDS and the global community to join this movement. Get loud! Talk, blog, tweet and text truths about HIV. By talking openly, we can take the power away from silence and fear and put it in the hands of knowledge, acceptance and love. Tap into the Y-potential: Young people are passionate -- let's harness their energy and willingness to think boldly and take risks. Ask young people what they think and what ideas they have to turn the tide of HIV for their generation, their community and themselves. Know your status: Get an HIV test and talk to young people about testing, prevention -- including using condoms and having good sexual health -- and treatment if they are positive. AIDS isn't over yet. And it won't be without including young people in the conversation. We believe in a world where young people living with HIV and its effects can lead a life without fear. You believe they can thrive and follow their dreams. I hope you will join us in our efforts to bring awareness and money to organizations such as Keep a Child Alive. Together, we are loud, proud, and strong! And please tune into live streaming of the Global Citizen Festival this Saturday in Central Park, New York. I'll be performing, as well as John Mayer, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder and Elvis Costello. It's organized by the Global Poverty Project. Opinion: Social entrepreneurs dare to change the world . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alicia Keys and Cristina Jade Peña.

Writers: A generation of young people have only known a world with HIV . Millions of young people are affected or live with HIV, especially in Africa . They say vulnerable young people don't get the kind of treatment they need . Alicia Keys and Cristina Peña call on young people to join movement to end HIV .

(CNN) -- It's hard to imagine a scene more gruesome and disturbing than the one Londoners encountered on an inner-city street Wednesday. A person hacked to death, lying in a pool of his own blood. His assailants standing nearby, covered in blood and brandishing gore-soaked knives and meat cleavers as they spew violent rhetoric. A car smashed into a lamppost a few yards away. Most bystanders kept their distance, understandably. Yet one woman directly confronted the apparent murderers -- in fact, she jumped off her bus and rushed to the scene when she saw what looked like a car accident, then stuck around and tried to engage both attackers in conversation even after she realized what was going on. The woman, a 48-year-old mother of two named Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, later said she was trying to talk them down and keep them from hurting anyone else, especially children. Why did she put herself on the line when so many others stayed away? We don't really know enough about Loyau-Kennett to be able to say for sure; perhaps we never will. History is filled with heroes, from Oskar Schindler to Paul Rusesabagina of Hotel Rwanda fame, whose life histories couldn't have predicted the extraordinary things that they later did. Cub scout leader, ex-teacher confronted London terrorist . But what we do know, thanks to social psychology, is that what separates people like Loyau-Kennett from the rest of us is often extremely subtle. In fact, research suggests that many of us, perhaps to our own surprise, have the potential to find our own inner hero. What often makes the difference between a bystander and an "upstander" are the particulars of a crisis situation and how those details interact with a person's background. For instance, decades of research on the "bystander effect" has shown that even good, moral people fail to take action when confronted with an emergency. One famous study found that the only factor that determined whether bystanders stopped to help someone in need was whether they were in a hurry. Other research shows people are less likely to help when they're part of a crowd: They assume either that someone else will take responsibility or that there must not really be a crisis at all if no one else has acted yet. Taking action would mean going against the norm, breaking from the herd; they don't want to rock the boat. The bigger the crowd, the more likely all crowd members will do nothing. Yet there are exceptions. Research suggests, for example, that when people can be made to feel a personal connection to a victim, they might intervene in a situation that they would otherwise ignore. One British study even found that people were more willing to help an injured stranger if that stranger were wearing the jersey of their favorite soccer team. There are other exceptions as well. Research by Princeton psychologist John Darley, who pioneered the study of the bystander effect, has found no clear personality profile distinguishes the upstanders from the bystanders. More important, according to Darley and others, is whether people can recognize a crisis and feel they have the skills to help. That finding resonated in London when Loyau-Kennett, trying to explain her actions, cited her role as a Cub Scout leader, mentioning that she had to learn first aid for the position. It was her knowledge of first aid that initially prompted her to get off her bus, thinking that she could help the victim she saw lying on the ground. Similarly, after Wesley Autrey-- aka the Subway Hero -- leaped onto New York City subway tracks to save someone who'd fallen in front of a train back in 2007, many observers later pointed to Autrey's Navy service to explain why this otherwise unexceptional man sprang to action while everyone else simply watched. In their own extensive analysis of what makes a hero, psychologists Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo suggest that people who don't succumb to the bystander effect are sometimes people who generally don't adhere to social norms and conventions. That means they're prone to intervene and take positive action when no one else will. But it may also mean they're prone to break other rules. Franco and Zimbardo cite the story of Jabar Gibson, who was hailed as a hero after he drove 70 people to safety from the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, commandeering an abandoned school bus. Gibson thought to do something bold that others wouldn't do; he also had an extensive criminal record, which has grown in the years since. Does this mean we can expect Ingrid Loyau-Kennett to break the law in the not-too-distant future? Hardly. But it does challenge the notion that there's a distinct category of exceptional people who are heroes, elevated above the rest of us. Franco and Zimbardo have argued that deifying heroes like this -- what they call "the myth of the 'heroic elect'" -- has the perverse effect of making us blind to our own heroic potential. If instead we believe we're capable of heroism ourselves, we'll be better prepared to realize that potential and snap into action if and when our time comes. So science still hasn't gotten to the bottom of stories like Ingrid Loyau-Kennett's. But perhaps its greatest insight so far is that her story could be ours. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jason Marsh.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett talked to murder suspects right after London hacking to calm them . Jason Marsh: People who step up like her often think they have skills to help, like she did . Marsh: Such people, sometimes, are a bit nonconformist . He says we all have the potential to shake the "bystander effect" and find our inner hero .

(CNN) -- For the first time in two years there will be a winner of a Masters 1000 event who is not ranked in the "Big Four" after Andy Murray suffered a shock defeat in Paris on Thursday. World No. 3 Murray, who was the highest ranked player remaining in the draw, squandered a match point before going on to lose to Poland's Jerzy Janowicz. Halloween horror for 'Darth' Djokovic . Murray had been expected to lift the trophy in the French capital after Novak Djokovic's defeat and the withdrawals of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But he somehow contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after allowing Janowicz, ranked 69 in the world, to emerge triumphant. The hard-hitting Pole looked to be heading out of the tournament when Murray served for the match in the second set. But the Olympic and U.S. Open champion fluffed his lines and from serving for the match at 7-5 5-4 and 40-30, he capitulated in dramatic circumstances to lose the second set 7-6. The Briton was then swept aside 6-2 in the final set and will now head to the end of season finals in London which begins on Monday. It is the third consecutive tournament where Murray has lost after holding match points. Djokovic beats Murray in classic Shanghai final . Murray was beaten by Canada's Milos Raonic in the last four at the Japan Open in Tokyo after holding two chances to win, while he also went down to Djokovic in Shanghai after failing to convert five opportunities. "I didn't play a particularly good game and missed a couple of shots that I would have hoped to have made," Murray said on the ATP website. "He probably gained some confidence from that and started playing better. He played a good tie-break, played aggressive. "I have to make sure I tighten that up next week, if I get that opportunity in the matches. Make sure I don't let it happen at The O2." Janowicz, who had already beaten Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marin Cilic before defeating Murray, has enjoyed a stellar year and will now hope to make the semifinals when he faces Janko Tipsarevic -- who clinched the eighth and final place for the season-ending championships. "In the beginning of this year, I had many changes in my life," Janowicz said. "I changed the racquet. This racquet which I'm using right now is helping me a lot. Even if I have some weak days, this racquet is actually helping me. So this is one change. "The second one is, I have a new fitness coach this year, and he's helping me a lot. I'm doing a lot of fitness. When I'm at home I'm actually doing more fitness than tennis. "So there is this other change. My behavior on the court is also a little bit different. I decided not to give up, whatever the situation is. I'm fighting right now for every single ball." Federer to surrender world No. 1 ranking after pulling out of Paris Masters . There was also another shock as home favorite Michael Llodra overcame seventh seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina. Former U.S. Open champion Del Potro, who has already booked his place at next week's end of season finals in London, went down 6-4 6-3 to the 32-year-old left-hander. Tipsarevic, who played in London last year as an alternate when Murray pulled out with an injury, ensured his second appearance by defeating Juan Monaco 6-3 3-6 6-3. "The World Tour Finals last year was one of my best experiences ever on the tennis court. "I was always dreaming of playing the World Tour Finals and I'm excited to be back there," the Serbian said. Elsewhere, the 2005 Paris champion Tomas Berdych overcame big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 1-6 6-3 6-4 to secure his place in the quarterfinals. Berdych, who will also play in London next week, will now face France's Gilles Simon after his opponent, Japan's Kei Nishikori, withdrew with an injury. World No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga guaranteed his place in London after defeating Spain's 11th-ranked Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3). "It's really important for me to have qualified," said the Frenchman, who will next face world No. 5 David Ferrer following the Spaniard's three-set win over Stanislas Wawrinka. "With the big four at the moment, it's not easy to get rewards in tennis, so for me this is one of my rewards. It feels good to be a part of it. "I have some great memories from last year where I played the final against Roger. It was huge for me, one of the big moments of my career." Canada's world No. 13 Milos Raonic was dumped out at the third-round stage after going down 6-3 7-6 (7-1) to Djokovic's conqueror, American Sam Querrey -- who will play Llodra in the last eight.

Andy Murray beaten by Poland's Jerzy Janowicz.in third round of Paris Masters . First time in past two years that a Masters 1000 winner will come from outside the top four . Argentina's Martin Del Potro suffers shock defeat by France's Michael Llodra . Janko Tipsarevic keeps London dreams alive by defeating Juan Monaco in three sets .

Tokyo (CNN)Fighting back tears, Junko Ishido stood before dozens of television cameras, just hours before an apparent ISIS deadline to execute her son, Kenji Goto -- one of two Japanese hostages who appeared in a shocking propaganda video days before. One of the first statements she made, before making a direct plea to ISIS to spare her son's life, was an apology to the Japanese people. "Thank you for your great kindness and I apologize for the tremendous inconvenience and trouble that my son has caused," she said. The plea came just before a 72-hour deadline for a $200 million ransom set in the video was due to expire. The Japanese government appears not to have given into the demand, and a day later, her son appeared again, this time holding a photo that purported to show the decapitated body of his compatriot, Haruna Yukawa. Now, the jihadist group is demanding the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, a female terrorist being held in Jordan, in exchange for Goto's life. Ishido's public apology is understandable in the context of Japanese society, says Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University's Tokyo campus. "In Japan when you inconvenience people, it's important to respect them and ask for forgiveness," Kingston says. Ishido conveyed several times how badly she feels about her son's capture causing trouble for the Japanese government and alarm for its people. To her, it doesn't matter that her son was likely trying to rescue his friend and fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa. It doesn't matter than he has been praised by friends, colleagues, and strangers for reporting sensitively from war zones like Syria with strong, respectful determination. If she were to say such things publicly in Japan, she could be perceived as a selfish individual who touts the righteousness of her son. Because of this, Ishido -- a desperate mother, with a son in imminent danger of brutal murder at the hands of a militant jihadist group -- apologized to her country "from the bottom of my heart." And then begged for help. "I plead to the Japanese government to save Kenji's life," Ishido said. "To all members of ISIS, Kenji is not the enemy of ISIS. Please release him" Kingston says public sympathy for the two hostages is mixed, partly because of their vastly different backgrounds. "There's a distinction in the public between Goto and Yukawa," Kingston told CNN, ahead of the news of Yukawa's apparent murder. "There is a great deal of respect for the journalist (Goto) and what he's done and his experience. Yukawa is looked at as a naïve adventurer who put himself in harm's way. So many are asking why should it be the government and the taxpayer's problem." In 2004, three young Japanese hostages were released by militants in Iraq. Instead of being welcomed home, they were shunned for "causing trouble" for Japan. The former hostages, including one who was in Iraq helping children before her capture, were even billed by the government for their airfare. "They got the frostiest unwelcome you can imagine. It was essentially government-encouraged bullying," Kingston says -- adding the trauma of their return was in some ways worse than their capture. In the previous hostage crisis, under Japan's former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during the Iraq war, language like "self responsibility" and "go at your own risk" was engraved into the Japanese psyche. For most Japanese citizens, areas of the Middle East ravaged by conflict are perceived as distant, dangerous places -- the opposite of the safety and calm that permeates Japanese society. Many in Japan don't understand why anyone would leave the island nation and travel to such hostile regions, where they face potential capture by terror groups like ISIS. Therefore, many find it difficult to sympathize with those who choose to go. Goto has received more sympathy because the Japanese media has widely reported on his commitment to telling the stories of suffering women and children. According to his own online posts, Yukawa was a troubled man, and as such he has received far less sympathy back home in Japan. He lost his wife to cancer, and then his home and business to bankruptcy. At one point, he attempted suicide and took a traditionally female name. "On the outside I look normal," he wrote in one post. "But inside I'm mentally ill." It seems he went to the Middle East looking for a fresh start and wanted to be a private security contractor -- even though he had no experience. "He's seen as irresponsible," Kingston says. Kingston adds this latest incident has the potential to change the way Japanese society feels about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's approach of "proactive pacifism." The ISIS video was released just two days after Abe was in the Middle East pledging $200 million in humanitarian aid to the coalition against ISIS -- a commitment the Japanese government insists it will honor, no matter what happens to the hostages. However the public might feel about the two men who they watched kneel in the desert on their computers and TV screens, there is no doubt that the sight of their countrymen enduring capture at the hands of ISIS has brought the situation in Iraq and Syria into sharp relief. "Islamic extremism was something you watched on TV that happened to other people," Kingston says. "And now it's happening to the Japanese."

Hostage Kenji Goto's mother's decision to apologize for inconvenience caused by her son not unusual in Japan . Many Japanese people have made a distinction between Goto and fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa . Previous hostages have been treated with indifference upon their return home to Japan .

Pretoria (CNN) -- Reeva Steenkamp's parents said Tuesday they are "satisfied" with the sentence handed down to their daughter's killer, as Oscar Pistorius started his first full day in a South African prison. June and Barry Steenkamp told broadcaster ITV's "Good Morning Britain" show that they accepted the five-year prison term Pistorius was given Tuesday -- although they feel there's still a "big missing piece of the puzzle" concerning their daughter's final moments. "He's got to pay for what he's done," said June Steenkamp. "It's not that we want vengeance or anything or him to suffer with his disabilities, but at the same time we feel satisfied that he will realize now that you can't go around doing things like that." "We have gone along with the judge and her decision," her husband said. "Only Oscar knows whether that sentence is acceptable to him; I've got my feelings to the whole thing but we do accept what the judge handed down." Pistorius, who won global renown as a medal-winning double amputee track star before his dramatic fall from grace, woke up Wednesday morning in Kgosi Mampuru II prison, formerly known as Pretoria Central. He was convicted of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, but cleared of murder. His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said the family accepted the sentence and that his nephew would "embrace this opportunity to pay back to society." 'More to the story' Asked if she believed the athlete's account that he shot Steenkamp through a locked toilet door under the mistaken belief that she was an intruder, June Steenkamp expressed skepticism. "No -- there's more to the whole story than everybody knows, only Oscar knows," she said. Her doubts are based in part on the evidence heard in court that Steenkamp was at times scared of Pistorius. "She described exactly how she felt and that he wasn't treating her properly, he was always irritable with her and snapped quickly, so we know all of that so that's why we feel that it is not actually what happened," said June Steenkamp. The couple were disappointed, "even shocked," that Pistorius was cleared of murder, she said, but feel that perhaps insufficient facts were put before the judge. Barry Steenkamp told "Good Morning Britain" they had known "very little" about their daughter's relationship with Pistorius before she was killed on February 14 last year. If an appeal is lodged over the sentence, they will have to accept it, hard though that may be, his wife said. The key thing, she said, is that he will now realize in prison what he has done. "I think he has lost everything but now he has to pay for what he has done to our daughter and no words can actually describe what that has done to us -- but we have to live with this now for the rest of our lives without her and it's so difficult to go through this and to have that pain in your heart and in your soul for her." Blankets, place to sleep . Ofentse Morwane, of Gauteng Correctional Services, told CNN that Pistorius was one of nine disabled offenders now held at the prison, notorious during the Apartheid era for its harsh treatment of political prisoners. After leaving the Pretoria courtroom where his seven-month trial played out before the Steenkamp family and world's watching media, Pistorius was driven in an armored police van to the prison. There, he will have undergone a health risk assessment within six hours of arrival, Morwane said. Within 21 days, a comprehensive assessment of his needs will be done. "He was allocated blankets, a place to sleep," Morwane said. "The second day he will undergo an orientation and induction process which includes explaining to him the services available to him in the correctional center and ensuring he knows the dos and don'ts." The prison has 7,217 inmates in total, just over 4,700 of whom have been sentenced, with the remainder in custody awaiting trial, Morwane added. The defense argued during the sentencing hearing that Pistorius was too vulnerable to be sent to prison and should be sentenced to house arrest with community service. But Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled that the prison system was equipped to cater for Pistorius' needs. Orange jumpsuit . Prison commissioner Zedilon Monama said Tuesday that Pistorius was placed in a cell for one person in the hospital section of the prison. The cell has has a bed, toilet, blanket, sheets, prison-issued toothpaste and toilet paper, she said. Pistorius was dressed in the standard-issue orange jumpsuit. As is routine for all prisoners, he saw a nurse, psychologist and chaplain, Monama explained. Pistorius is a "B" group inmate, which means he's only allowed two no-contact visits on weekends, with a limit of 45 visits per year. If he behaves, after six months, he could be allowed to join group "A" and get 60 visits a year, Monama said, and enjoy special perks like chocolate and Coca Cola. CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Pretoria and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN's Khushbu Shah contributed to this report.

Reeva Steenkamp's parents tell UK broadcaster they are satisfied with the sentence . But despite the lengthy trial, they feel there's still a "big missing piece of the puzzle" Oscar Pistorius starts his first full day in prison in Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru II prison . He will be given an induction, after spending the night in a single cell in the hospital section .

Rabat, Morocco (CNN) -- Five charred bodies were found Monday in a Moroccan bank that burned down during protests the day before, Morocco's state-run news agency reported, citing the country's interior minister. The bodies were found in a bank in the town of Al Hoceima in northern Morocco, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui told reporters on Monday. He said the acts of vandalism followed the peaceful protests in at least six cities Sunday, according to Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse. He estimated that about 37,000 people participated in the protests nationwide. The demonstrators were calling for political reform, according to Human Rights Watch. Cherkaoui said Monday they included labor unions, youth organizations and human rights groups. Police stayed away from the marches and demonstrations, most of which were peaceful, Human Rights Watch reported. The vandalism broke out in a handful of cities afterward, Cherkaoui said, describing it as acts of sabotage committed by troublemakers including ex-convicts. Twenty-four banks were burned, he said, along with 50 shops and private buildings and 66 vehicles. Authorities dispersed the vandals and made arrests, Cherkaoui said, according to Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse. About 120 people are awaiting trial, he said, and detained minors were returned to their parents. Some 128 people were injured, he said, including 115 security forces members. Cherkaoui said authorities are investigating the five deaths in the bank, according to the news agency. The victims are thought to be computer technicians. Banks in Morocco are not open on Sunday. The interior minister said the protests included sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations, Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse reported. "Thanks to the expanding liberties, the practice of a healthy and authentic democracy and the right to the freedom of expression enjoyed in our country, these protests took place in a peaceful environment marked by serenity and discipline," he said, according to the report. A government spokesman told a Russian television station on Sunday that protests in Morocco are not unusual, according to the Moroccan state news agency. "Unlike most Arab countries, rallies and protests are common in Morocco," said Khalid Naciri, communication minister and government spokesman. Naciri said the protesters' demands are "ordinary" and that the rallies take place lawfully and preserved public order in an environment of "stability." He also said the protests are part of the practice of democracy, Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse said. Demonstrators' demands are on the agenda of most political parties, he said. Morocco's laws on demonstrations are liberal. Cherkaoui emphasized Monday that people are free to demonstrate in the country. But, he said, while authorities support freedom of expression, they will intervene to stop those who are disrupting public order or damaging property, the news agency said. In Rabat, Morocco's capital, an estimated 2,000 demonstrators gathered at Bab al-Had Square and marched to parliament, where they chanted slogans calling for change, including "Down with tyranny" and "The people demand change," according to Human Rights Watch. Hundreds also demonstrated in Casablanca, Marrakesh and Agadir, Human Rights Watch said, as well as in the Rif, the mountainous area in northern Morocco. There were reports that protesters set fire to a police station in Marrakesh, the organization reported, citing a witness. A few unarmed, uniformed police officers monitored the Rabat protests, the group said. There were no reports of arrests in the capital, according to Human Rights Watch. In Larache in northwest Morocco, a representative of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights reported that protesters set fire to a police station, robbed stores and attempted to break into banks, Human Rights Watch said. Cherkaoui told reporters they also stormed a customs administration building and looted drugs and alcohol that had been seized, Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse said. And in Al Hoceima, where the bodies were found, demonstrators vandalized a stadium, two political party offices and a pair of hotels, the organization said, citing activists in the city. Security forces responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, and there were reports of injuries, the group said. A small police building was also burned there, Cherkaoui said. Meanwhile, youth groups who demonstrated over the weekend are calling for their own political party. Morocco is much more advanced in many areas compared to Egypt and Tunisia and aligns itself more with Europe than other Arab countries in the region. The king, who is widely revered, is pushing through reforms in the country, but the government is not so well respected by many people here, particularly the youth. "What happened over the weekend is that people sent a message to the king. We want reform in justice and free access to hospitals," said Fatiha Layadi, an opposition member of parliament. "The problem is that these groups don't feel there is a platform for their views. There's no debate, so if we are to have more of these demonstrations, firstly the government needs to better organize itself, but secondly it would be better if these (youths) could have a voice of their own through the media." There are no political debate shows, Layadi said, but youths on Facebook are asking for help in forming a political party. Journalist Martin Jay contributed to this report for CNN.

NEW: Interior minister says vandalism broke out after the demonstrations . The bodies were found in a bank in Al Hoceima, an official says . The demonstrations were mostly peaceful . Activists say police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets in one city .

(CNN) -- You know it will happen someday: Zombies are chasing you down the street, groaning for your blood. You've been holed up for a week, and there's spotty cell service. It sure would be handy to request an emergency ammo drop from the black-helicopter guys. No? OK, maybe there's a major blizzard. The power in your part of town goes out for days. Your landline is knocked out too. But there's still a faint cell signal from a couple of miles away. It would be no trouble to traverse that distance if there weren't eight feet of snow piled outside your door. You're running out of food and firewood. How do you call for a rescue? So maybe the zombie apocalypse thing is a wee bit unlikely. But for emergencies, it still helps to have a simple, small, hardy backup phone that can make calls, send or receive text messages, and hold a charge for a very, very long time. Yes, wireless networks often go down during disasters, but they also can come back online (at least in spots) before power has been restored to buildings. Or sometimes, voice service goes down, but text messages will still work. (During Hurricane Katrina, text messaging saved lives and was a key coordination tool for NOLA.com, according to Online Journalism Review.) Or sometimes, wireless carriers or emergency personnel can set up temporary emergency cell towers within a few days. But the battery on your regular cell phone may not hold a charge that long. So your nasty neighbor who won't share his drinking water might be chatting away to his daughter in Seattle while you're kicking yourself for not powering down your phone two days before. A low-end, energy-efficient backup phone also can come in handy during smaller-scale emergencies -- if your car breaks down or if you just can't find your regular phone anywhere. On the August 14 Engadget Mobile podcast (time stamp 50:35), co-host Myriam Joire (aka Tnkgrl) recommends the Motorola Motofone F3 as her preferred "zombie apocalypse survival phone." This handset was designed primarily for users in the developing world, where access to cell signals and electricity can be very unreliable. It's available in the U.S. from many online retailers, in the $20 to $25 price range for an unlocked version -- one that operates on multiple wireless networks. This makes it an affordable part of anyone's emergency preparedness kit. Joire's co-host Chris Zeigler advised Engadget podcast listeners, "Instead of spending $20 on a pizza tonight, go buy this phone." Joire noted, "It's very refreshing to have a phone in your car that can only do three things: make calls, do text messages and set alarms. That's it! And the text messages are all lower case." The Motofone F3 is a very thin (about 9mm thick) candy bar-style phone with a small e-ink display -- a technology with extremely low power requirements, since it mostly draws power only when the screen changes. The handset weighs just 68 grams (2.4 ounces). The charger is also very small. Joire especially likes this phone's voice-prompting feature: "When you plug in a SIM card, it tells you to pick from three languages. When you pick a language, it asks you whether you'd like voice prompting. You should say yes, because then, for pretty much everything you do, you'll get walked through by voice. That's helpful because this visual interface is very minimal. The segmented OLED display is mainly just icons baked into the e-ink, hard to interpret." According to Joire, the phone's lithium ion battery "lasts for a month or more on standby, with something like 200 hours of talk time." A 2007 GearDiary review of this phone reported the battery life as about two weeks. Neither estimate had been confirmed. Joire was planning to take her "zombie apocalypse" phone to the Burning Man gathering (August 30-September 6 in the Nevada desert). While there's no official cell service in remote Black Rock City, some attendees may set up ad-hoc wireless networks. (Last year, a cell tower installed on private land near the festival proved highly controversial.) Joire tweets at Twitter/tnkgrl, and you can tweet via text message, so it's possible she may tweet from Burning Man via her F3. Also, she plans to blog about her zombie apocalypse phone when she returns. Whichever phone you choose as your emergency backup, get it ready to go. Put a SIM card in it -- and if prepaid, top it off with enough credit to cover lots of talking and texting. When you first charge it, condition the battery by letting it drain completely, then recharge it completely. Make sure you top off the charge at least weekly. Store the phone with its charger in an easily accessible place, and maybe put some reflective tape on it so you can find it better with a flashlight. Consult local, state and federal emergency preparedness agencies to find out which numbers you should program into the phone, for both calls and texting. Also, program in numbers for your family communication plan. And of course, program in the numbers of your zombie apocalypse phone tree. Better to give them a head start early than a head shot later.

A low-end, energy-efficient backup phone can come in handy during emergencies . Expert says Motorola Motofone F3 is her preferred "zombie apocalypse survival phone" Store the phone with its charger in an easily accessible place, or maybe in your car .

(CNN) -- The parents of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who's been waiting more than a year for a lung transplant says the girl has essentially been "left to die." Sarah Murnaghan, who has had cystic fibrosis since birth, could die within weeks without a transplant. She has been waiting 18 months for another pair of lungs as her ability to breathe has rapidly deteriorated. She is at the top of the list for any pediatric lungs that may become available for transplant in her six-state region. Doctors say modified adult lungs could help save her, and adult lungs become available much more often. But children under age 12 aren't prioritized for adult organs, under federal rules. So Sarah could only get available adult lungs if everyone else waiting for lungs in her region -- no matter how sick they are -- turns them down. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has called on officials to review the nation's lung transplant policy for children, but any change could take up to two years. Organ donation by the numbers . A statement from Fran and Janet Murnaghan welcomed the policy review as a "positive step." "However, Sarah, and other children like her who need a transplant now, do not have the luxury of time to wait for a lengthy bureaucratic change," the parents said. "Essentially, Sarah has been left to die." The department said Sunday it is sympathetic to the many parents facing similar circumstances. "Our heart goes out to any family that is dealing with a loved one who is on a waiting list for an organ transplant," the statement said. "Given the significant disparity in the number of transplantable organs to the number of people in need of an organ, (the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) has regulations and policies to ensure that decisions are based on the best medical science and the most equitable process in a very difficult situation." The Murnaghans asked that other parents consider naming Sarah as a transplant recipient should they or one of their children face death in the coming weeks. "If you want to directly donate your loved one's lungs to Sarah, the law cannot change that. And Sarah will use that and create a positive and wonderful life and legacy for your loved one," Janet Murnaghan told CNN. "I'm praying that somebody sees this story and is in a position to save my baby." Sarah had a setback Sunday night, suffering from a fever and increased carbon dioxide levels, according to a post on Janet Murnaghan's Facebook page. "I am feeling anxious and praying," she wrote. The United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit that manages the nation's transplant system under federal contract, agreed to the review Friday, the same day Sebelius sent an urgent request for it to look at its policy, UNOS spokeswoman Anne Paschke said. But because the review process involves research and public comment, which take time, and because there are not enough organ donations for children, the nation's transplant system may not be able to save Sarah's life. Her family wants Sebelius to step in. "We are going to let a kid die over red tape. Somebody needs to stand up that this isn't right, this is a human issue. This isn't politics, this is a human issue," Janet Murnaghan said. Paschke urged more Americans to look at an organ donation website. Sebelius' request to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network called on officials to look at the age categories used in lung transplant cases. Sarah's struggle has ignited a fight for new rules governing organ donations. She's been in a Philadelphia hospital for months due to her cystic fibrosis. Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition on Change.org, and a congressman has called on the Obama administration to take quick action. Sarah's mother told CNN she was "shocked" when she learned the rules a couple of weeks ago. Sebelius asked for the policy review in a letter to Dr. John Roberts, board president of OPTN. Sebelius cited the significant disparity between the number of transplantable organs and the number of people in need of an organ, especially among children. She also directed HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration Division of Transplantation to consider new approaches for promoting pediatric and adolescent organ donation. "With 1,819 pediatric patients on organ transplant waitlists and only 852 pediatric organ transplant donors each year, it is especially clear that we can and should, if possible, do more to encourage the public to become registered organ donors," Sebelius wrote. OPTN issued a statement last week noting that there is a separate policy for children because the "biological needs and circumstances of candidates younger than age 12 are different from either adolescent or adult candidates. One key difference is the size and lung capacity of donors and patients among these age ranges." Children younger than age 12 are prioritized for donations from other children of similar age and size within a 1,000-mile radius. Policies allow "status adjustments for specifically defined groups of candidates with unique medical circumstances not addressed by the overall policy," the statement said. The network routinely reviews policies and considers "public input as well as medical data and experience," the statement said. Dying girl's plight sparks fight over organ transplants . CNN's Jen Bixler, Chris Welch, Ross Levitt and Josh Levs contributed to this report.

"I'm praying that somebody sees this ... and is in a position to save my baby," mom says . Federal agency says policy aims to be fair in difficult situations . Officials will take several years to review lung transplant policy . Sarah Murnaghan has been waiting for a transplant for 18 months .

(CNN) -- The use of drones to carry out military strikes is controversial, to say the least. U.S. lawmakers and international leaders continue to examine the legality of the unmanned attacks and whether their role in curbing terrorism outweighs the risk of unintended casualties. But British artist James Bridle has made up his mind -- and he's adopting Web and mobile tools to tell his side of the story. "There are many ways to approach the use of drones, but being against it, my take is old school: raising awareness," he told CNN. "This means not only knowing that drone strikes are happening, but knowing how we frame it, how we understand it." His Dronestagram is a project that blends art and technology in an effort to show Americans, and others, a side of warfare that few will ever see in person. The project collects what it says are Google Earth images of the locations of drone strikes. The photos are then posted to Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app more customarily used to share filtered images of skylines, cappuccinos and other much lighter fare. From there, they're pushed to popular blogging platform Tumblr and Twitter. The idea, Bridle said, is to make the strikes "just a little bit more visible, a little closer, a little more real." He notes the irony of using technology, from GPS location data to mobile social-sharing, to report on a uniquely high-tech form of warfare. "History, like space, is co-produced by us and our technologies," Bridle told CNN. "Those technologies include satellite mapping, social photo sharing from handheld devices, and fleets of flying death robots. "We should engage with them at every level. ... We have gotten better at immediacy and intimacy online: Perhaps we can be better at empathy too." A spokesman for the Department of Defense declined to comment to CNN about Dronestagram or U.S. drone activity. CNN Explains: U.S. Drones . The largely secretive U.S. drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies has transformed the nature of modern warfare, becoming a key weapon in the U.S. arsenal against suspected terrorists. Advocates see drones as an effective tool in the fight against extremists. Opponents worry about civilian casualties and loose oversight. While used for the past several years, the drone strikes have drawn increased attention in recent weeks since President Barack Obama nominated counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to be the next head of the CIA. Brennan is considered by many to be the mastermind behind U.S. drone policy. A Senate committee vote on whether to confirm Brennan as CIA director is expected at the end of the month. The New America Foundation estimates that in Pakistan, between 1,953 and 3,279 people have been killed by drones since 2004 -- and that between 18% and 23% of them were not militants. The nonmilitant casualty rate was down to about 10% in 2012, the group says. In Yemen, the group estimates, between 646 and 928 people have been killed in a combination of drone strikes and airstrikes, and 623 to 860 of those killed were militants. About 2% of those killed have been "high-level targets," the group said. Bridle, who describes himself as a "writer, artist, publisher, technologist and a number of other things" on his website, launched Dronestagram in October. The Instagram account now has about 6,600 followers, with about 2,400 on Twitter and more checking in on the Tumblr blog. Bridle uses media reports and local government sites to find the locales for his images. Many, he says, are in remote areas where information on exact locations is scarce; so if a precise location is unavailable he uses satellite views near the reported location. "I'm always concerned about misrepresentation, but I also make it as clear as possible in the project description that these are not exact locations, and they're the best I can do," he said. It's definitely far from perfect, and I'm sure mistakes have been made, but I just try to be clear about that." To some observers, that undercuts the impact of his project. "It's not like you have the exact longitude and latitude of each strike," said Peter Bergen, a CNN national-security analyst. "As an art project, this (Dronestagram) is interesting," Bergen said. "As a piece of actual journalism ... it seems quite off." Bridle also uses information from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a British independent nonprofit organization which compiles local reports of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The debate over the use of attack drones will no doubt continue, even as U.S. troops continue to draw down in places like Afghanistan, reducing the number of combatants apt to encounter militants face-to-face. And Bridle says he'll continue trying to put people at the scene of the strikes -- even if it's only through the screens of their smartphones, tablets or desktop computers. "It's about trying to make it literally visible," he said. "The very nature of this kind of warfare makes the perpetrators, the victims, the landscape, essentially invisible." CNN's Brandon Griggs and Doug Gross contributed to this story.

Dronestagram aims to show the impact of drone strikes . British artist James Bridle uses Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter for project . Advocates praise drones' effectiveness, while critics decry too many civilian deaths . Artist: "It's about trying to make it (drone warfare) literally visible"

KIEV, Ukraine (CNN) -- A planned missile defense system in Eastern Europe poses no threat to Russia, President George Bush said Tuesday, responding to concerns that the U.S. might use interceptor missiles for offensive purposes. President Bush, with President Viktor Yushchenko, praised Ukraine's democratic and military reforms. "The missile defense system is not aimed at Russia," Bush said at a news conference in Kiev following talks with the Ukrainian president. "It's viewed as an anti-Russian device. Well, it's not." His comments came before he left Kiev for a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, that is expected to highlight divisions over the plan. The summit begins Wednesday. Russia and some European countries have expressed concerns about the missile defense system. While Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to host parts of the system, others in Europe share Russian concerns that the defensive shield could be used for offensive aims. Outside the U.S. Embassy in Kiev on Monday, protesters gathered to denounce Bush's visit. They chanted, thrust signs into the air -- one reading, "Yankee Go Home" -- and burned an effigy of Bush in the street. Watch the demonstration » . The U.S. has tried to dissuade opposition over the plan. Washington offered to allow Russian monitors at the missile sites and to negotiate limits to the system over time. The United States also told Russia the system would not be operational until Iran test-fires a missile that could threaten Europe. Many European countries don't believe the U.S. assertion that the system is needed to guard against imminent threats from Iran or North Korea. Europe is dependent on Russia for at least 40 percent of its oil and is reluctant to upset the Kremlin. The issue will likely be divisive at this week's three-day NATO summit, where Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to make a rare appearance. Putin normally declines invitations to attend. Bush is slated to meet Sunday with Putin in the Russian resort city of Sochi on the Black Sea, according to RIA Novosti. It will be the last meeting between the two men before the outgoing Russian president steps down, the Russian news agency reported. Russia also is unhappy with NATO's eastward march. The alliance has already welcomed former Soviet republics such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Bush is pushing hard for Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO as well. Before leaving Tuesday for Bucharest, Bush said that Russia will not be able to veto Georgia's or Ukraine's inclusion into NATO. Bush said that both countries should be able to take part in NATO's Membership Action Plan, or MAP, which is designed to help aspiring countries meet the requirements of joining the alliance. "I strongly believe that Ukraine and Georgia should be given MAP," Bush said. "And there's no tradeoffs, period." The U.S. president further said he was working "as hard as I can" to ensure the two countries are accepted into the MAP and that Russia will have no power to block their inclusion. In remarks last month, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer told the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe that NATO "has long made clear that any decision regarding membership is between NATO and the country concerned, and not subject to veto by any third party." Russia is not a NATO member but works with the alliance via the NATO-Russia Council. Russia's concerns also align with those of some NATO members who oppose welcoming Georgia and Ukraine into the fold. Pifer said last month that NATO should strive to maintain good relations with Russia, but "should not allow Moscow a veto, either explicit or tacit, over relations between the alliance and third countries." Allowing Russia a say, Pifer said, "would encourage those in Russia who wish to reassert a Russian-led post-Soviet bloc rather than develop a relationship of cooperation and full partnership with Europe and the West." Bush said he phoned Putin recently to reassure him on both issues. "NATO is an organization that's peaceful. NATO is an organization that helps democracies flourish. And democracies are good things to have on your border," Bush said he told Putin. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said his country should be able to start the NATO membership process. "We are not speaking about joining NATO; we are only speaking about MAP," he said at the news conference. "Why should Ukraine be deprived of that sovereign right, since the principle of open doors is the basic principle for NATO?" Bush added that Ukraine already contributes to NATO missions, specifically in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. Ukraine also has demonstrated a commitment to democracy, he said. Responding to a reporter's question, Bush denied that the United States might ease off on membership plans for Ukraine and Georgia if Russia acquiesces on the missile shield. Both issues threaten to destabilize NATO, said Jane Sharp of the Center for War Studies at King's College London, but she has heard particularly sharp criticism of the missile defense plan. "Somebody in the UK Ministry of Defense said to me, 'We are being dragged along on this missile defense thing to the American trough like pigs with rings in our noses,'" Sharp said. "It's a nuisance for Europeans, and I think they are irritated with the Czechs and the Poles for trying to do deals with the Americans." E-mail to a friend .

NEW: Bush: Russia can't veto Georgia's, Ukraine's inclusion in NATO's MAP program . European countries share doubts that system is designed to deter Iran, North Korea . U.S. president says he will push for Ukraine, Georgia to join NATO . Analyst says both issues threaten to destabilize NATO .

(CNN) -- Police in Pennsylvania mounted an intense search Monday in the Philadelphia suburbs for a man suspected of killing his ex-wife and five former in-laws, the district attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, said at a Monday night press conference. Bradley William Stone of Pennsburg killed his ex-wife and her mother, grandmother and sister, as well as the sister's husband and 14-year-old daughter, said District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. But Stone didn't harm his two daughters, who were living with his ex-wife. He took them to a neighbor's residence in Pennsburg, the last place he was seen, Ferman said. "We do not know where he is," Ferman said. "We do not have vehicle information. We actually recovered his vehicle and his personal cellphone so we do not have information how he might be traveling." She didn't provide a motive for the slayings. Stone was described as armed and dangerous. Late Monday night, police agencies descended on Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to investigate a possible sighting of Stone, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. Doylestown is about 25 miles from Pennsburg. A "shelter in place" had been ordered in the surrounding area where the sighting occurred, according to the source, and K-9 units have been asked to respond to the area as well. Suspect led American Legion post . The killings broke the calm in several small towns in Montgomery County, the second wealthiest county in Pennsylvania and the 51st wealthiest in the United States, according to the county government web page. Stone served as a reservist in the U.S. Marines until 2011, mainly as a meteorologist, according to the Marines. He spent a few months in Iraq in 2008. William Schafte of Harleysville, who described himself as a friend, said Stone was a "good guy" who helped people who needed money or a hand, according to the Morning Call newspaper of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Stone served as president of the American Legion William E. Hare Post 206 in Lansdale about a decade ago, said the current post commander John Gillmer, the Morning Call reported. "He was always on the honor guard and stuff like that for parades," Gillmer told the Morning Call. "I was shocked, I couldn't believe it. ... I never would have thought it was one of our guys." 911 hangup call started investigation . Ferman said the investigation started at 4:25 a.m. with a 911 hangup call directing police to the town of Lansdale, 28 miles northwest of Philadelphia. When police arrived, they found two slain women: Stone's former mother-in-law and former grandmother-in-law, Ferman said. At 4:55 a.m. a neighbor of Stone's ex-wife called 911, Ferman said. Police went to an apartment in Lower Salford and found Nicole Stone, 33, dead. Another neighbor, Michele Brewster said she heard a loud crash and shattering glass. "Thought I heard a gunshot, but wasn't sure," she said. "A few minutes later I saw flashlights -- it was the cops putting up police tape so I went outside." Brewster said she asked an officer if gunshots had been fired. He said yes. "I asked him if she was dead," Brewster said, "but he said he couldn't tell me that." At 5:30 a.m. Stone delivered his two daughters to a neighbor in Pennsburg, Ferman said. "That was the last time he was seen by anyone," she said. "I think it's of great significance the children are safe right now." About 8 a.m., police went to the home of Nicole Stone's sister, Patricia Flick, in Souderton. Officers found Flick, her husband and the couple's 14-year-old daughter dead, Ferman said. The sister's 17-year-old son was wounded and was being treated at a Philadelphia hospital, Ferman said. Suspect may be wearing fatigues . Though last discovered, it appears the killings in Souderton took place first, the district attorney said. Ferman's office said Stone may be wearing military fatigues, in either sand or green color. According to Montgomery County court documents found online, the Stones divorced in 2009. In family court papers, Stone's ex-wife said he claimed in a 2011 hearing that he was "permanently disabled," according to the Veterans Administration, but that he had not applied for Social Security disability benefits. The Marine Corps told CNN it has no record of Stone being injured. "Earlier today we indicated that he does on occasion use a cane or a walker, but he may or may not be using those devices," Ferman said at the press conference. "It's been indicated to us it may not have been necessary. ... If he has escaped he might be seen using a device or not." CNN affiliate WPVI said police originally thought Stone was holed up inside the house in Lansdale, so officers surrounded the residence. Heavily armed SWAT teams tossed flash-bang devices into the house and stormed the residence, but police said Stone was not inside. Fast Facts: Rampage killings in the United States . CNN's Kristina Sgueglia and Lawrence Crook contributed to this article.

NEW: Police descend on Doylestown, Pa., after possible sighting of suspect . Killings break the calm in three small towns in Pennsylvania . DA says suspect killed his ex-wife and five in-laws . Suspect identified as Bradley William Stone, 35, of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania .

Washington (CNN) -- Republican K. Carl Smith is African-American and he knows that the GOP's racial reckoning won't come from 100-page reports from party headquarters with carefully worded prescriptions about "outreach" to "demographic partners." Instead, the type of sea change needed to shake the GOP's image as a party of old, white and culturally-insulated men will require the type of profound grassroots shakeup that might make some in the GOP uneasy. "You got your establishment Republicans who want to keep things the same," said Smith, an Army veteran who grew up in Alabama during the Civil Rights era. "The status quo needs to go through some, I won't say diversity classes, but I'll say liberty classes and learn about helping people on the bottom of the ladder." He said the party also has to deal with small but noisy elements that co-opt any message of inclusiveness if it wants to win the "propaganda battle." Full CPAC coverage . When Smith, founder of the Frederick Douglass Republicans, tried to share his message while leading a panel at last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, he found himself face to face with that fringe. Smith said one young attendee said Douglass, an abolitionist, should have thanked his slave masters for giving him food and shelter and that segregation wasn't such a bad policy. The Republican National Committee knows it has major work ahead as it tries to make inroads with racial minorities, young voters and women. The group released a 100-page report analyzing its losses in the 2012 presidential election as well as seats in the House. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost big among Latinos, African-Americans and Asians. "The report notes the way we communicate our principles isn't resonating widely enough," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said. "Focus groups described our party as 'narrow-minded,' 'out of touch,' and 'stuffy old men.'" "It all goes back to what our moms used to tell us: It's not just what we say; it's how we say it," Priebus continued. Republicans want to change perception of 'stuffy old men' Romney's hardline stance on immigration, including his endorsement of a policy of "self-deportation," may be one reason why he won just 27% of Latino voters -- a lower percentage than the last two GOP presidential candidates. But Romney isn't the only Republican politician who has used that type of rhetoric. Similar comments from other GOP politicians coupled with the occasional pronouncements of President Barack Obama as "lazy" helps to cement for minorities an impression of the Republican Party as out of touch and out of sync with minority communities, said Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta. Outreach and naming minorities to committee positions is great, Gillespie said, but the party has much harder work ahead. Party leaders will have to work to better understand the minority groups they are reaching out to. In the case of African-Americans and Latinos, that will mean recognizing the fact that a strong sense of "linked fate" means many members of this group may be loathe to take a hardline position on cutting entitlement programs, immigration or changing the Voting Rights Act because someone they know may be adversely affected, Gillespie said. "If prominent Republicans are signing amicus briefs supporting dismantling affirmative action, African-Americans and Latinos will have a problem with that," Gillespie said. She added that the GOP also won't win broader minority support "in the budget talks advocating dismantling programs that disproportionately help people of color while keeping programs that are perceived in helping the well off." "It's going to take some platform changes," Gillespie said. "The identity politics they decry is something minorities hold dear. That's a compromise some people will be unwilling to make." The RNC report underscored this point. Opinion: GOP has power where it counts - the states . "If Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States, they will not pay attention to our next sentence," it states. In one of its few policy recommendations, the report counsels Republicans to "embrace and champion" comprehensive immigration reform. Lionel Sosa, a veteran Latino GOP strategist who has helped advise candidates since 1980, put it more bluntly. "Token efforts, such as tamale parties, will no longer work," Sosa told CNN last year. "Winning will require more than outreach. It will require inclusion." "Latinos, African-Americans and people of other races must be represented in the important decision-making strategies of any given campaign, whether it be for a Democrat or Republican." For his part, Smith holds out hope that the GOP's attempts to bring more minorities into the Big Tent will align the party's views with those of Douglass, his personal hero who he says shared Republican values. But he's looking for more than platitudes about inclusiveness. The party, Smith said, has got to tie principles about self-reliance and getting weaned off government dependence to efforts to help people become entrepreneurs and gain a stronger economic foothold. "The Republican Party has to be sincere, otherwise the outcome is not going to work and it's going to fail," Smith said. 5 things post-CPAC: New faces, old music and winners/losers .

Republican outreach to minority cited as a priority in new report . The GOP will have to work hard to gain trust, voters in minority communities . Previous GOP policy positions on immigration, entitlements a hurdle for some minorities . Some platform changes may be needed in order to win over more minority voters .

(CNN) -- A few thousand Egyptian fans will watch their national soccer team continue its bid to end a long World Cup wait on Tuesday, but coach Bob Bradley says that a population of 85 million are praying for victory. His "Pharaohs" will take on Zimbabwe knowing that a win will put the side five points clear of second-placed Guinea and well on the way to reaching the final round of African qualification for Brazil 2014. With the domestic league halted for a year after more than 70 fans were killed during a riot at a match last February, the American's task of lifting the continent's fallen soccer heavyweight has been fraught with problems on and off the pitch. Al Ahly, one of the clubs at the center of the Port Said tragedy, may have qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the continent's Champions League title last year against all the odds, but Egypt failed to reach the Africa Cup of Nations -- a tournament it has won a record seven times. The country's last World Cup finals appearance was in 1990. "When I accepted this mission I knew how hard the challenge was for me," former U.S. team boss Bradley told the African Football Confederation's official website. "Egypt is a big team, a champion in a transitional period where we are rebuilding the squad. Added to that is the current situation, and then came the Port Said incident and football activities were suspended. "This made the mission even more difficult, but I never thought of abandoning it. All this stuff made me determined even more to achieve success with this team." Zimbabwe has just one point from two Group G games, while Egypt has six -- and Bradley's mission was made easier when Guinea could only draw 0-0 with Mozambique on Sunday. "When we faced Mozambique in match day one of the qualifiers behind closed doors, we felt as if we were not the home team," Bradley said. "This time we'll have a few thousands in the stands and 85 million outside praying for us to win. If it was possible most of these millions would be there in the stands. All the Egyptians want to see their national team in the World Cup finals after a 24-year absence. "After Zimbabwe we have two more games in June and everything could happen. But I believe winning on Tuesday will open the door for us to win this group and qualify to the final qualifying round. There are no margins for error in this match." Bradley, who won over many doubters when he took an active interest in the Egyptian people's struggles and protests following his arrival in September 2011, believes his players can overcome their recent adversity -- especially now the domestic league has resumed. "Those players are very strong, mentally and technically. Playing in the World Cup is the ultimate dream for all of them, either the young ones like Mohamed Salah and Mohamed El Nenny, or the veterans like Mohamed Abou Treika and Wael Gomaa who want to put the cherry on the top of their career by playing in the World Cup." Defender Ahmed Elmohamady hopes the presence of supporters will spur his team to victory. "Recently we played either away or behind closed doors and that affected us much. Our supporters' presence will be like magic and will motivate us to win this game," he said. "I know only 30,000 fans can attend because of security measures, but still this is better than nothing. I hope to see 30,000 ones in full voice in the stands." Meanwhile, Ethiopia edged closer to a first World Cup finals appearance after beating Botswana 1-0 on Sunday thanks to a late goal from substitute Getaneh Kebede. It returned Ethiopia to the top of Group A, having surrendered the position when South Africa won 2-0 against Central African Republic on Saturday. Tunisia earned a third successive victory in Group B, beating second-placed Sierra Leone 2-1 to move five points clear. Morocco's hopes of a fifth finals were hit by a 3-1 defeat against Tanzania, which allowed the home team to close to within a point of unbeaten Group C leader Ivory Coast after three matches. Zambia dropped its first points in Group D, being held 1-1 in Lesotho while second-placed Ghana closed to within a point with a 4-0 win at home to Sudan. Burkina Faso beat Niger 4-0 for its first win in Group E, where three teams all have three points but Congo leads the way with a 100% record following Saturday's 1-0 win over Gabon. African champion Nigeria was caught at the top of Group F on Saturday after snatching a 1-1 draw with Kenya, as Malawi also moved up to five points with a 1-0 win away to Namibia. Mali leads Group H by two points following Sunday's 2-1 win over bottom team Rwanda, while Libya's bid to overhaul Group I leader Cameroon was thwarted in a 0-0 draw away to Democratic Republic of Congo. Liberia closed to within a point of Group J leader Senegal with a 2-0 win at home to Uganda. Senegal drew 1-1 in Angola on Saturday in a match moved to Guinea due to crowd trouble in Dakar last year.

Egypt fans allowed to attend World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe in Alexandria . Previous home match was played behind closed doors due to security fears . "Pharaohs" seeking to qualify for World Cup finals for first time since 1990 . Guinea's 0-0 draw with Mozambique gives Bob Bradley's team to extend lead .

Decatur, Georgia (CNN) -- Somber chords sounded at a funeral service Wednesday for a drum major whose death has sparked an investigation of hazing allegations at his Florida university. Criticisms of hazing and rallying cries for change echoed throughout the three-hour church ceremony. "I call on every mother, every father, every niece, every uncle: Do what is necessary now to stop this tragedy so that it will never happen again," the Rev. John Tatum shouted into a microphone as he pointed at hundreds of people packed into the pews at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. Authorities have not specified what caused 26-year-old drum major Robert Champion's death after a performance earlier this month with the Marching 100 band from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). Officials said hazing was involved, and his family has said it plans to sue the school "to get answers." Speaking at Wednesday's service, FAMU President James H. Ammons pledged to "wage a campaign to stomp out hazing on the campus at FAMU," drawing cheers and applause from the crowd. "I vow as president of FAMU that Robert's death will not be in vain," Ammons said. Music and testimonials filled the service for Champion. A band performed from Southwest DeKalb High School, where Champion first became a drum major at the end of his sophomore year. As a recording of "Flight of the Bumblebee" from the soundtrack of the 2002 movie "Drumline" played, audience members stood and pantomimed performing the song on band instruments. A jazzy trumpet solo marked the funeral's final moments. Several speakers described Champion as a kind person and a strong leader who was dedicated to achieving his goals. "Robert gave us his all every time that he took the field. ... Whenever Robert heard the sound of the drum, his knees raised, his toes pointed and he was on a mission to make the FAMU community proud," said Julian E. White, who has led the 420-member FAMU band since 1998. The university's president moved to fire White shortly after Champion's death, citing "alleged misconduct and/or incompetence involving confirmed reports and allegations of hazing with the Department of Music and the 'Marching 100.'" White has hired an attorney to fight for his job and has said he did everything he could to put a stop to hazing. White made no mention of the allegations at Wednesday's funeral. He said that he considered Champion a son and regretted not telling him he had been selected to be the band's next head drum major. "I loved that young man. The world is a better place because of Robert Champion," he said. While uncertainty swirled over the hazing allegations, there was no doubt among mourners Wednesday that Champion was doing what he loved. A program distributed at the service showed several photos of him performing with FAMU's band. Inside the program, an obituary said Champion proclaimed his goal of becoming a drum major in the Marching 100 after seeing them perform when he was just 5 years old. His childhood next-door neighbor described memories of watching Champion marching around his yard. Mourners filing past the open coffin before Wednesday's service began saw Champion's body clad in the band's uniform, his hand holding a baton. A group of drum majors draped his coffin with the university's flag as the service began. Band members who attended FAMU decades ago were among those who attended the ceremony. Brian Joyner, 49, said after the service that Champion was kind and humble when they met at a recent homecoming game. The hazing allegations are "baffling" for many of the prestigious band's alumni, said Joyner, who was a drum major in the band in 1980. "There's nothing I've heard of in 32 years where a drum major was required to go through any type of initiation," he said. He defended White, the band's longtime director. "The rumors that you hear about Dr. White not being active and eradicating hazing, that's a lie," he said. Wednesday's service came two days after Champion's family said they would sue FAMU. "We are concerned about the culture of cover-up, that hazing has been covered up...for generations," the family's lawyer, Chris Chestnut, said Monday. The medical examiner has not issued a report on the cause of death of the 26-year-old student. But, Chestnut said, evidence points "to the fact that hazing was a cause of Robert Champion's death, and it was under FAMU's watch." Champion became ill at an Orlando hotel after a football game on November 19. He reportedly vomited in the parking lot and started complaining of not being able to breathe, authorities said. Champion was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said last week that hazing was involved, but added that authorities were trying to determine an official cause of death. Under Florida law, any death that occurs as the result of hazing is a third-degree felony. After the death, Ammons suspended all band performances and said he would convene a task force "to determine if there are any unauthorized and questionable activities associated with the culture of the Marching 100."

Hazing allegations are "baffling," says FAMU band alumnus . Music, testimonials fill the service honoring Robert Champion . A pastor calls on hundreds of mourners to speak out against hazing . Champion, a 26-year-old drum major, became ill and died after a game .

(CNN) -- The dirty and tattered piece of paper, with remnants of thick black industrial-strength tape still stuck to its edges, would not necessarily seem to be a harbinger of summer. But those capitalized words running down the page ... CATCH. SAFARI. CAL GIRLS. BE TRUE. GET AROUND ... I pulled the piece of paper from the surface of the stage right after the show had ended. There was a copy of it next to the base of each microphone stand, so the musicians could look down to see what they were supposed to play and sing next. The capitalized words were shorthand for each song: . "Catch a Wave." "Surfin' Safari." "California Girls." "Be True to Your School." "I Get Around." Summer's coming, all right. I had caught up with the Beach Boys in Fort Myers, Florida, on a Friday night this spring. They were scheduled to play at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall. It will soon be half a century that they have been singing and touring. Fifty years since they really were little more than boys, writing and singing the songs of summer for the first time. Too much has happened to them since they first took to the stage wearing those identical striped shirts, nervous young men careful to bow to the audience after each song. Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson are dead; the much-publicized acrimony in the band has meant that Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine almost never share the same stage anymore. Not that anyone asked for my opinion, but here it is anyway: We all are given a finite number of heartbeats in this life. If I were those three guys, I'd find some way to put the old anger aside and play that wonderful music together again. Before it's too late. But this column isn't about the singers. It's about the songs they gave to the world. The songs have brought so much happiness to so many generations, for all these years. "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Shut Down" and "Surfer Girl" and "Surfin' U.S.A." -- they are America's enduring soundtrack of summer, they somehow never grow old, and there is a chance that, because of those songs, the Beach Boys may one day enter John Philip Sousa territory in the national memory, becoming a sustaining part of U.S. history. It's too soon for that, though; for now, there's a new summer of one-nighters stretching out ahead. Backstage in Fort Myers we ate a cafeteria-style dinner; I sat with Randell Kirsch, a Beach Boys guitarist with whom I spent 15 summers on the road while he and I were touring with Jan and Dean. He told me that at a television studio in California recently he had shared a similar commissary meal with astronaut Buzz Aldrin. "We talked about the moon, spirituality and surf music," Randell said. That is one of the many unlikely places that singing the songs of summer can take a person: to the side of a man who walked upon the surface of the moon. John Stamos, the actor, has gone on the road to sing with the Beach Boys whenever he can for the last 25 years; he was in Fort Myers on this night, and as we talked, Mike Love, the band's lead singer, came over with his own plate of food. I asked him if he thought there might be a band called the Beach Boys on the road even after all the original Beach Boys are gone. "I don't see why not," he said. "The music's not going to die, is it?" That's the secret. There is something about those songs that transcends nostalgia, that parts the clouds, that brings smiles of contentment year after year, town after town. No matter how cruddy the day may have been, no matter what worries may be gnawing at you. ... Well, as the song advises: "Don't Worry, Baby." Everything will turn out all right. The show started, the guitars sounded, the audience rose to cheer. The gloriously predictable set -- "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Dance, Dance, Dance," "Sloop John B," "Good Vibrations" -- unfurled. For 105 minutes, the world seemed peaceful. As "Help Me, Rhonda" was ending, Stamos looked to where I was standing in the wings and motioned with his head for me to join him. He handed me his candy-apple-red Gibson ES-335, and we shared a microphone on "Barbara Ann," and I wish you who are reading these words could look out into a Beach Boys audience and see the upturned faces on the cusp of another summer, the people joyfully singing along with songs whose lyrics they know as well as they know the Pledge of Allegiance or the names of the presidents. Unhappiness, it seems, can against all odds be kept at bay. One-hundred-five minutes at a time. It was after the encore, after the audience had filed out, that I returned to the stage and tore that set list from the floor. I glanced at it: CATCH. SAFARI. CAL GIRLS. BE TRUE. GET AROUND. ... I stuck it into my pocket. A souvenir in advance of warm months that will soon be arriving. However many of those heartbeats we each are given, they seem to swell more gratefully when summer is on its way. Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world.

Bob Greene says it's been nearly 50 years since Beach Boys started singing and touring . He says their songs are American classics and still have resonance . Greene: "They are America's enduring soundtrack of summer"

(CNN) -- "They must know what they're doing, right?" It's a common enough phrase, often muttered by nervous people who are thinking the exact opposite -- who are expressing doubts about those who seem to be in charge, the ones who are supposed to have all the answers. The bus to work is making a strange, loud, thumping sound, but the driver keeps motoring along. There's an unmistakable smell of smoke coming from the restaurant kitchen, but the waiters and waitresses continue taking orders as if nothing is amiss. There is lightning in the sky above the outdoor field of a sporting event and warning sirens can be heard from somewhere in town, but the officials allow the contest to play on. The packaged meat looks a little funny, but the sell-by date is current, and the supermarket has it out on prominent display. "They must know what they're doing, right?" We tend to take it on faith that they -- whoever the amorphous "they" may be -- are on the case and full of expertise and wisdom, ever on the lookout for any threats to the well-being of those who are counting on them. So when there are signs that mistakes have slipped past inspectors, past engineers, past control towers -- signs that, for all the double-checking, perhaps a little triple- or quadruple-checking may have been called for -- people pause to consider if the safeguards assumed to be constantly in place are really so fail-safe. This Memorial Day weekend, Americans are pondering a series of recent events that have called into question the airtightness of the business world's layers of quality assurance, and the effectiveness of the in-house inspection processes that are supposed to monitor and affirm that assurance before customers can be adversely affected. Food-product recalls around the nation have brought worries to consumers used to taking home products assuming they are safe. In Idaho and Washington, state health departments directed people not to eat raw clover sprouts produced by Evergreen Fresh Sprouts after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited seven confirmed and three likely cases of E. coli infection. Nearly 15,000 pounds of hummus and dip products were voluntarily recalled by Lansal Inc. because of possible bacterial contamination flagged by the Texas Department of Health. Merchants in Missouri and Illinois were returning bulk and packaged walnuts to Sherman Produce, which issued a recall as a precautionary measure against possible listeria. And the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that 1.8 million pounds of ground beef products were being recalled because of possible E. coli contamination. In the world of automobiles, General Motors signaled to Barclays Capital analysts that it may continue with recalls into the middle of the summer. GM, so far this year, has called in almost 14 million vehicles in the U.S., in 29 separate recalls -- which constitutes more vehicles recalled than the total of what GM has sold domestically in the last five years. The Federal Aviation Administration was looking into a near miss between two passenger jets in the skies near George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston earlier this month. This follows the FAA's investigation of two other recent near-miss incidents, one at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and the other at Tallahassee Regional Airport in Florida, where a passenger jet reportedly almost collided with a drone. Most of the time, things go just fine. But when stories like these appear in the news in a single week, there is the impulse to wonder just what else is perhaps being missed. And to reflect upon just how many times each day we depend on precision and diligence that, without knowing exactly who is responsible for it, we presume is there. In truth, people reluctantly understand that the idea of endless layers of perfectionist platoons of unblinking and errorless industrial inspectors, while something to be aimed for, is probably a pipe dream. Consumers know that their own common sense, and personal scrutiny of what they buy, is their best protection. Yet there are many areas in which the customer cannot be expected to be an expert, which is why the relentlessness and rigor of professional inspectors and regulators is so essential. The old joke is that the ultimate act of faith in one's fellow man is opening the door to take a box of pizza from the delivery guy, and then eating it. But each time you step into a high-rise elevator and count on all the mechanisms that hold it in the air being up to standards; each time you get a prescription filled and count on the pharmacist dispensing the correct medication into the bottle; each time you watch your child climb onto a purposely scary amusement park ride and count on someone having made certain every rail at every turn is intact and tight and correctly angled; each time you blithely drive through a green-light signal at a busy intersection and count on the light for the perpendicular street being red just like it's supposed to be; each time you start to count backward from 100 as the anesthesiologist begins to administer the first drops of the dose before you drift off. ... each time, you are, of necessity, relying on the conscientiousness, thoroughness, and devotion to detail of strangers. There's a whole lot that, without stopping too often to ruminate over it, we assure ourselves is being done correctly by people we will never meet. Thinking too much about that, especially after a week like the one just past, could drive us nuts. And after all, they must know that they're doing. Right?

Bob Greene: We count on notion that some vague official authority is protecting our safety . He says recent food recalls, GM recalls and planes' near misses remind us this isn't always so . He says giving others sway over our safety carries risk. Use common sense where possible .

(CNN) -- In the 4x100 sprint relay, it is the handoffs that decide the winner. Speed is important, but without a top-notch changeover, you're out. The maneuver is a perfectly orchestrated move performed in a split second without looking. It's all about teamwork, something Tianna Madison knows a thing or two about. She was part of the U.S. team that won gold in the relay at the London Olympics, shattering the world record in the process. Read related: London 2012's top-10 sporting moments . Madison is now back in the U.S., using the lessons she learned on the track to help young girls learn their worth and make positive choices for the future. As a role model, she is not shy to share her experiences -- including the downs in her life: "I went from being World Champion long jumper in 2005, to nothing in the last seven years, to now being an Olympian. "I dealt with a bankruptcy; I had my home foreclosed, and these were things that happened and I was not honest with myself about why I was in that situation," she said. Crucially for her career, she realized that she couldn't deal with everything on her own. She was lucky enough to get help and support from her husband. Building on this experience, she started Club 360, to give young women love and support, which they might not find elsewhere. Madison sat down with CNN to talk about the ups and downs of her career and how they motivated her to start the program. CNN: What is Club 360 and why did you decide to start it? Tianna Madison: Club 360 is a personal development program for girls aged nine and up. We teach girls and young women the importance of living with integrity, honor, and self-respect and we do that through both online and offline activities. They can learn good habits, take their weaknesses and make them into strengths. CNN: Why did you decide to incorporate your ideals of "honor, integrity and self-respect" into Club 360's platform? TM: Integrity means I will not waver from where I want to be, cut corners or cheat myself. When I met my husband, he had a hard conversation with me: I had a weakness where I would say one thing but my action would indicate something else. I would say I wanted to be a great athlete, but I would only give 50% at practice. I learned to be very honest with myself so I know exactly where I am. I can take those weaknesses and turn them into my strengths. Honor means that if I say I am going to do ten reps, I will do ten reps. Sometimes 12. It is important to me to bring honor to my sport, to the people I work with, and to my husband. I can only do that by setting the course. Self-respect: Don't do anything that would derail you or damage you. When you know for a fact who you are and what you want, peer pressure really doesn't exist. CNN: How does teamwork play into it? TM: In a relay, you have to be trusted and you have to trust the next runner. That is what made our team successful. Allyson Felix trusted me to hand her the baton and I trusted her to give me a good target to give her the baton. In school when you have group projects or at work when you have to come together as a team, you have to trust that each person is going to deliver and you have to be trustworthy . iReport: Photos of Tianna Madison . CNN: Part of your group's platform is combating stereotypes and avoiding the over-sexualization of young women. What stereotypes do you feel compelled to combat as a female athlete? TM: People think that athletes do not put a lot of emphasis on education. That is really not true; education is very important. We want our members to experience a range of new things. We teach girls not to not keep themselves in a box where they think they are supposed to be or where they fit in. Tianna Madison on Twitter . CNN: What challenges have you faced in your life and career, and what lessons have you learned that you feel you can pass along to these young women? TM: I had to deal with being molested in high school and what that did to my self-esteem and my ability to trust. I overcame this with the love and support of my husband. But this is definitely not a sob story! I also went from being World Champion long jumper in 2005, to nothing in the last seven years, to now being an Olympian. I dealt with a bankruptcy; I had my home foreclosed, and these were things that happened and I was not honest with myself about why I was in that situation. It wasn't until (last) September that I was able to do that. It took someone like my husband to give me the love and tools to help me change it. It was not something I could do on my own. That is why I wanted to start Club 360 -- so we could give these young women love and support as well. CNN: What's the biggest lesson you'll take away from your experience in London? TM: No matter what stage you're on, no matter where you are, it always comes down to your ability to execute. On the other side, the Olympic Games showed me that I was a part of a larger movement. While my role in that movement was in sports, the whole world was involved in a unity that was amazing to see. Ivana Kottasova contributed to this story .

Olympic gold medalist Tianna Madison helps young women develop personal strength . Through her program, Club 360, she teaches girls to live with self-respect and integrity . As a world record holder and Olympic champion, she uses her own experience as an inspiration .

(CNN) -- If Adam Silver were commissioner of the NFL, would running back Ray Rice have already been banned from the league? And if Roger Goodell were in charge of the NBA, would Donald Sterling still be the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers? What-ifs and role reversals can make your head spin. What we have are two leagues and two vastly different responses to separate hot-button issues: racism and domestic violence. Silver had little time to settle into his new job. He took over from longtime NBA commissioner David Stern on February 1, and by late April, he was already embroiled in the Sterling controversy. Even with the short break-in period, Silver won rave reviews. He earned them by acting swiftly, sending investigators to Los Angeles to confirm it was Sterling who made racist comments on an audio recording obtained by TMZ. Within days, Silver acted, banning the Clippers owner for life, fining him $2.5 million and initiating proceedings to terminate Sterling's ownership rights. It wasn't easy, but Silver held firm. Sterling went back and forth about selling the team, and made additional reprehensible comments, some in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. In it, Sterling repeatedly apologized and denied accusations that he's racist, saying he'd been "baited" into making what he called "terrible" remarks. Still, in the interview, Sterling continued attacks on former NBA great Magic Johnson. In it, he questioned the character of the former Los Angeles Lakers player and his battle with HIV, saying Johnson hasn't done anything to help others. But Johnson shrugged it off, saying he feels sorry for the billionaire and will pray for him. In the end, Silver's actions were seen as decisive and unflinching. Players, team owners and civil rights advocates applauded him. "There's no room for Donald Sterling in the NBA," LeBron James said before a game in April. "There is no room for him." "This attack on Magic is crazy," filmmaker Spike Lee told Cooper after the interview. "He's messing with the wrong brother. Magic is loved by everybody around the world. And the talk about some other stuff that has nothing to do with nothing is ridiculous." Sterling asked: What has Magic Johnson done? Answer: Quite a lot . There was some criticism, like why did it take the NBA so long to get rid of Sterling when he had been accused of racism several times in the past. In 2009 he settled -- while admitting no liability -- three lawsuits tied to discrimination claims at apartments he owned in Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Times reported. He also settled a 2003 lawsuit that claimed he wouldn't rent to Latinos, the Times reported. Sterling also was sued in 2009 by former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor, who said he was a victim of age and racial discrimination. Baylor dropped the race claim and a jury ruled in Sterling's favor. Donald Sterling interview . Bobbling the ball . Now compare that with Goodell's handling of the Ray Rice case. Critics say he fumbled it from the start. It was TMZ again with the damning evidence. Security camera video showed the former Baltimore Raven dragging an unconscious Janay Palmer -- then his fiancee -- out of an elevator. That was back in February, at the beginning of the off-season. The couple married in March. Voices of domestic violence . It would be several months before Goodell interviewed Rice and his wife. And when he did, the two were reportedly in the room together. Another month passed before Goodell gave Rice a two-game suspension, and that didn't sit well with many people. Goodell insisted it was consistent with other cases. Eventually, Goodell admitted that it was a mistake and drew up new domestic violence policy with harsher penalties that were a reaction to the criticism. The harshest blow to Goodell's handling of the case came this week when TMZ released another video that showed Rice throwing the punches that knocked out Palmer. The Baltimore Ravens dropped him from the team, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. NFL chief Roger Goodell faces intense criticism . Taking the hits . Critics want to know why a tougher punished wasn't handed out sooner. "I didn't get it right," said Goodell. "Simply put, we have to do better." The National Organization for Women thinks so. NOW is calling for Goodell's resignation. "The NFL has lost its way," said a statement released late Tuesday by NOW President Terry O'Neill. "It doesn't have a Ray Rice problem; it has a violence against women problem." NOW also noted Goodell's silence on the Jerry Jones lawsuit. A former exotic dancer sued the Dallas Cowboys owner this week, accusing him of sexual assault. An attorney for the team called the allegations "completely false." Adding to the chorus against Goodell is outspoken ESPN personality Keith Olbermann. He called Goodell an "enabler of men who beat women" and demanded the commissioner resign or be fired. San Francisco Chronicle sport columnist Ann Killion agreed. "Roger Goodell should follow Rice out the door -- his leadership has no integrity and no longer can be trusted by the public. He should resign," she wrote. In the reactions to the two cases, perhaps there's a lesson in how the NBA and NFL handled them. Much like on the court or on the field, a decisive hand running the team can blunt much of the criticism.

NFL and NBA commissioners have each faced member conduct challenges in 2014 . Adam Silver took over the NBA and immediately faced the Sterling crisis . Roger Goodell has been the NFL boss for eight years. There's a growing chorus calling for Goodell's resignation .

(CNN) -- Inside a freezer in a research laboratory at the University of Washington are blood and blood plasma samples from 92 people who suffer from mysterious illnesses, including tremors, memory loss and severe migraine headaches. Terry Williams hugs her two boys -- Jake, left, and Zack -- in 2006, before she says toxic cabin air made her sick. They are mostly pilots and flight attendants who suspect they've been poisoned in their workplace -- on board the aircraft they fly. Clement Furlong, University of Washington professor of medicine and genome sciences, leads a team of scientists who have been collecting the samples for 2 ½ years. Furlong said his team is a few months away from finalizing a blood analysis test that will be able to definitely confirm whether the study participants were indeed poisoned by toxic fumes. Results of Furlong's research could expand recognition of what a select group of researchers believes is a largely unrecognized risk of flying: the chance that poisonous fumes enter the cabin. "There's a danger of inhaling compounds that are coming out of the engine," said Furlong in his laboratory. See a diagram of how the air is circulated » . The air we breathe on board a plane is a 50-50 mix of filtered, recirculated air and so-called "bleed air" -- which bleeds off the engines, and then is pressurized and cooled before being sent into the cabin through vents. If an engine oil seal leaks, aviation engineers and scientists say, the bleed air can become contaminated with toxins. In 2002 the National Academies of Sciences' National Research Council reported "contaminant exposures result from the intake of chemical contaminants (e.g., engine lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, deicing fluids and their degradation products) into the Environmental Control System and then into the cabin." Of particular concern are toxic anti-wear agents in the oil, designed to prolong an engine's life, called tricresyl phosphates. "The engine seals fail and there's very potent toxins that can come on board," said Furlong. Neuropsychologist Sarah Mackenzie Ross of University College London studied 27 British pilots who claimed they had inhaled contaminated air and subsequently had difficulty processing information and slowed reaction times. Her testing confirmed their symptoms. "They did appear to underperform on tasks that required attention, processing speed, reaction time, and what we call executive functioning, which is high-level decision making," said Ross. Former flight attendant Terry Williams believes she is a victim of such a "fume event." She complains of debilitating migraine headaches, tremors, and blind spots in her field of vision. "It's been so constant and just continues to worsen so it's extremely frustrating," said Williams, who is suing Boeing, the owner of McDonnell Douglas, which made the MD-82 aircraft on which she worked. "I'm frustrated that I don't feel any better and it's over two years after the exposure." Boeing told CNN, "It is our belief that air quality on airplanes is healthy and safe." In its response to Williams' suit, the company said: "The potential for bleed air contamination has been known through the aviation industry for many years." But Boeing denies any responsibility for Terry Williams' illness. While Williams' symptoms appear to be quite rare, it appears that fume events occur with regularity. A British study for the House of Lords found fume events in 1 of every 2,000 flights. In the U.S., airlines are required to report "fume events" to the Federal Aviation Administration. There were 108 such reports last year. So why wouldn't more flight attendants, pilots and passengers suffer symptoms? Furlong said a small percentage of people (how small is not known) appear to be highly sensitive to the most toxic chemicals. They may be genetically disposed to a strong reaction, possessing multiple genes of metabolizing proteins in their livers, or temporarily have high enzyme levels (which can be triggered by prescription drugs) that will act on the inhaled chemicals to magnify their toxicity. "If you happen to be taking a medication that turns on the protein that converts pre-toxin to very potent toxin, you've got an issue," said Furlong. As a result, someone sitting next to a victim may have inhaled the same contaminated fumes, but not suffer the same reaction. How might you know that you may have been exposed to a "fume event" while flying? Experts say the telltale sign is a "dirty sock" smell. That's butyric acid from engine oil, which itself is not highly toxic. But along with it comes the deadly nonodorous compounds tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate and mono-ortho-cresyl phosphate. Boeing's new plane, the 787 Dreamliner, has been designed so that air entering the cabin from outside will not "bleed" off the engines. The company says that's only for fuel efficiency purposes, not because of any concern about the quality of bleed air in its current fleet of aircraft. Indeed, Boeing and the FAA say the air quality on airplanes is as good or better than that of the average office building or home. CNN's Jessica Ravitz contributed to this report.

Results of scientist's research could expand recognition of "bleed air" Bleed air is air that passes through the engines of a plane, then into cabin . Boeing and FAA say air quality on airplanes is as good as in office or home . Flight attendant Terry Williams believes she is a victim of fumes in cabin air .

(CNN) -- Lisa Rinna has a new book out -- and it's not what you'd expect. "The Big Fun Sexy Sex Book" is a fun and innovative guide to rejuvenating your sex life and libido, co-written with renowned sex therapist Ian Kerner (who writes about sex on CNN's medical news blog, The Chart). The vivacious 48-year-old actress is married to "L.A. Law" actor Harry Hamlin and mother of Delilah, 13, and Amelia, 10. She spoke, very honestly, to CNN about her own sexual problems and how she got her groove back. CNN: How did this book come about? Lisa Rinna: I wrote a book back in 2008 called "Rinnavation." I spoke very candidly and openly about losing my sex drive and mojo and how I figured out a way to get it back. It seemed to really touch people. They came up to me and wanted my help. It started a conversation. So cut to, I met Ian Kerner, who is a sex therapist, and we got to talking. He said, "Maybe we should write a book together -- he said, she said." I thought it was a great idea because I feel like not enough people talk about sex, we feel shame about it. There's so much taboo in this country around sex, yet it's something that is really the glue that holds a marriage together. With 50% of all marriages ending in divorce, I said, "Gosh, it needs to get out. Let's empower." CNN: How did you get your mojo back? Rinna: Firstly I set my mind to do it. I opened up to my husband. I was very afraid to do it. I was terrified, and I held it in for so long, until one day I burst into tears, and I told him. And he was so very supportive. He said, "Well, what can we do? We'll do whatever we have to do." The next day in the L.A. Times there was a piece about pole dancing classes given by an actress named Sheila Kelley. She created this class to help women get back in touch with their sexuality. She taught us how to move in ways that I had never allowed myself to move in. What those kinds of things do is they give you permission. That led me to a woman who threw sex toy parties. She brings out dildos and everyone's giggling and she teaches you how to give great (fellatio and masturbation) -- everything I think a woman needs for confidence, because nobody really teaches you this stuff. Growing up you're not really supposed to be doing it, because you're a bad girl if you do. So this was all part of my own sexual awakening. Even though I lost my sex drive, I didn't have the sexual confidence to begin with, so it happened for a reason. So I could really delve into my own sexual exploration. CNN: What did you discover? Rinna: I just know how important it is in keeping a marriage going. Without it, you're roommates, you don't value each other, and boom -- someone's going to have an affair and get divorced. It's not easy being married; it's hard after 20 years! If you don't have sex you just want to walk away half the time, so you really need to make the effort. CNN: Who would have thunk, you're like Dr. Ruth! Rinna: I certainly never set out to do any of this. I never thought I'd write a book about sex. I'm not an expert. But I have lived through something, and I have been in a marriage for 20 years that has lasted, so I think I have valuable things to say. Because of Ian's expertise it's an encyclopedia on how to get out of a sex rut, how to take risks in your sex life, how to start a conversation with your partner that you've been terrified to bring up. It's really about communication. I really believe anything two people do behind closed doors, as long as it's consensual, is OK. But you've got to talk about it and be open. I hope this book opens people up to try new things. I don't understand why it's not OK to do something that makes us feel so good and so connected to another human being. It's a gift, a beautiful gift that our bodies were made to do, and not just for procreation but for enjoyment. CNN: You and Harry seem to have a Lucy/Ricky thing going on. Rinna: We do. It's exactly our relationship, 150%. But he lets me do my thing and supports me. He shakes his head and walks out of the room. We're complete opposites but it just works. CNN: You have two daughters. They must have been horrified that you've written this book. Rinna: Up until a few days ago they just knew I'd written a book about relationships. They didn't really know I'd written a book about sex. The other day the book was sitting on the table and my daughter Delilah comes in, looks down at it and says, "Oh, that's awkward," and walks out of the room. (Laughs). I'm hoping when they're adults they can have this book and have a healthy sex life as opposed to waiting until their mid-30s to try and figure it out. We don't want to have to think about our kids having sex, but they will.

Lisa Rinna has written a book with sex therapist Ian Kerner . "The Big Fun Sexy Sex Book" is a guide to rejuvenating your sex life . Rinna: "I feel like not enough people talk about sex, we feel shame about it"

(CNN) -- Some of the bravest people I know are cowering today in eastern Congo, wondering where their supporters are. While our daily news zeroes in on Syria and Gaza, the fiscal cliff and Christmas sales, our friends in the war-ravaged part of the immense, mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo are once again convulsed in a conflict they did not choose. A resident from Goma, in North Kivu province, who for security reasons must not be named, sent me a heartbreaking e-mail accompanied by a photo taken by The Associated Press' Jerome Delay. It shows a tiny girl leading a long line of displaced women who carry enormous loads on their backs, a look of utter desperation on her face as tears stream down her cheeks. The e-mail says, "This girl is a future mother, barely four years old and she must walk many kilometers due to the attack on her village. She cries, but who is listening? No one takes care of her, no one to console her. Her mother can't help because she is carrying their entire household's possessions on her back. Just one attack on this column of displaced people and she will find herself alone in the jungle. We only ask for peace. It's unacceptable that we deny her the chance to grow up and become a mother one day." It is shocking how ill-prepared the international community has been for this latest round of violence in Africa. A leading hospital in Goma, where guerrilla forces have been poised to enter the city for months, sent desperate e-mails to friends around the world pleading for antibiotics, painkillers, plaster and bandages, as international agencies focused on evacuating their staff members from border areas. E-mails I received showed bloody, shattered limbs of children and badly wounded patients with expressions of horror and despair. Many call Congo the "rape capital of the world," and when you work as I have with the doctors and nurses who have treated tens of thousands of rape survivors, it's hard not to acknowledge some truth to this terrible epithet. For the past 16 years, armed factions supplied by Rwanda, Uganda and the ragtag and ill-paid army of the Congolese government itself have carved up the Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu, marauding, pillaging, killing, abducting children to be soldiers and, yes, gang-raping women and girls as well as men and boys. All the while, gold, diamonds and precious coltan ore have continued to be extracted and exported as the people of the Kivus have suffered without electricity, roads, schools and good government. The single largest U.N. peace-keeping force in the world, MONUSCO, stood by virtually impotent last week as some 1,500 M23 rebels overran Goma. Congolese troops, many of them hungry and penniless, ran for the hills. And while we gathered around our Thanksgiving tables, the people of Goma hid in their homes or fled. For months, refugees from North Kivu have streamed across the border into Rwanda as the rebels, led by indicted war criminal Bosco Ntaganda, have mounted increasingly brazen attacks on North Kivu villages. While driving across the Rwandan border into Goma in May, I saw buses and cars loaded with families carrying their meager possessions, once again fleeing chaos in their country and renewed attacks by the M23 rebels. Last month when I traveled to South Kivu, Goma was under curfew. In Goma, people who have bravely defended the rule of law and supported human rights for more than a decade were terrorized into silence amid reports of targeted assassinations and disappearances. The Goma prison emptied out mass murderers and rapists, previously convicted by courageous magistrates in the mobile courts set up across the region in recent years. MONUSCO reported that it was airlifting the magistrates to safety, an ominous sign that justice is giving way to guns. In 2008, the International Criminal Court accused Bosco Ntaganda of conscripting children and called for his immediate arrest. The court's prosecutor has stated that he is as dangerous a war criminal as the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. Once again, governments responsible for setting up and subsidizing the international rule of law have failed these very institutions. Meanwhile, in South Kivu's capital of Bukavu, a two-hour boat ride across the lake, residents prepared for the unknown. Who launched the brazen armed attack in October on our beloved medical colleague, Dr. Denis Mukwege, whose hospital near Bukavu has treated tens of thousands of rape survivors? Was this a warning shot? Amazingly, in the midst of the current convulsions, military magistrates in this city are prosecuting rapes and pillaging by their own government's troops as they defend the rule of law despite the chaos. As one of the magistrates told me Wednesday, "It's our country, and we will defend justice here until it's no longer safe." The courage and commitment to justice and human rights of our Congolese counterparts are an incredible inspiration. Their actions must inspire not only our admiration but our reciprocal commitment to respond with equal political courage and whatever other resources we can bring to bear. Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Susannah Sirkin.

Violence erupted in eastern Congo, creating a humanitarian crisis . Susannah Sirkin: The international community cannot stand by and do nothing . She says there's truth to the saying that Congo is the "rape capital of the world" Sirkin: The courage of the Congolese should inspire us to take political action .

(CNN) -- Part of being a child is developing your identity. School can teach you knowledge. Society can teach you what it expects of you. But, once you develop a sense of yourself, no one and nothing can tell you who you are. You come to know that -- to your core. When a child's sense of self develops in ways that are traditional and unremarkable, nobody takes much notice. But when it happens in ways that challenge traditional norms or expectations, people often try to "correct" it. Such is the heart of a controversy brewing in Colorado involving a first-grader and, of all things, a bathroom. The unlikely center of this uproar is a little 6-year-old girl, Coy Mathis. Coy knows she's a girl. She dresses as a girl. Her legal documents recognize her as a girl. Her parents accept her as a girl. On the playground, you would have difficulty identifying her as different from any of the other girls, because in all ways that matter socially and legally, this child is a girl. The problem is that Coy was born in the body of a boy, so the school district wants her to use the boys' bathroom, or some bathroom other than the one the other girls use. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division on behalf of Coy and her family. Discrimination complaint filed for transgender girl . Although generations of people facing a similar mind/body dissonance have been forced to hide, to pretend, to live unhappy and empty lives simply for being different, the world is changing. Kids such as Coy finally have a chance to avoid a similar fate with their dignity and their self-image intact, given the right support and opportunity. Vice President Joe Biden has long been a supporter of gay, lesbian and transgender rights, referring to them as civil rights issues. It seems odd to think of this first-grader who simply wants to use the bathroom as a civil rights pioneer. But crossing seemingly simple barriers for rights is nothing new -- whether to ride a bus, to attend a school or to use a bathroom just like everyone else. It is unfortunate that we keep having to relearn these lessons. I doubt many people stop to consider that the single most significant moment in their lives happens within minutes of their births. That's when, upon simple inspection, a doctor or a nurse pronounces a baby a boy or a girl. That seemingly simple and obvious proclamation has reverberations for the rest of our lives. I can empathize with Coy because I faced those same overwhelming questions myself, almost 50 years ago. I came to know a similar mistake had been made, except that at that time, I didn't have words to explain it. I learned to live a lie. Pretending to be what you're not, hoping things will magically fix themselves, seems easier at times. But lies have consequences. News: Frat pays for brother's sex change . It is unfortunate that Coy's school has not learned the lesson that so many other aspects of our culture have already acknowledged, that a person's gender is more complicated than a body part or a chromosome. Workplaces across this country are recognizing the challenges that their transgender workers face and are removing deeply embedded barriers to health care and wellness benefits. Organizations ranging from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to the Girl Scouts are accepting transyouth, sometimes under fire, treating children based on identify, not body parts. Transwomen have openly competed in mainstream beauty pageants and have been featured in magazines such as Vogue. Transgender athletes, artists and writers, people in all fields, have shown there is a pathway to a happy, well-adjusted and fulfilling life -- not as an "other," but as the men and women we know ourselves to be. Apparently none of this matters to the school that denies Coy the use of the girls' bathroom or to the parents who demonize her and her family. Arguments to treat Coy with dignity often fall on deaf ears. Why? Because discussion of the topic quickly becomes emotional rather than rational. When I came out to my own mother, at 40 years old, I was a parent, I had been married to a woman I loved for 20 years, I had a successful career, we owned two homes, and there wasn't a single person who would have guessed my secret or my struggle. But in the end, a quote from André Gide: "It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not," resonated to the point that I finally became who I should have been. Today, my family and I have never been closer. I have never been more in tune with myself and the world around me. My relationships have never been more fulfilling. Those who would cling to outdated stereotypes of transpeople as sad, lonely, misguided, freakish and broken see more and more examples of people who bloom when they find the strength, and the opportunity, to become authentic. My own advice for Coy and her family: Keep the spirit of the Serenity Prayer close to your heart. Love one another. Know that this journey is far more about happiness and fulfillment than about body parts or bathrooms. To Coy's parents, Kathryn and Jeremy: Doing what's right for your daughter will make a bigger difference for her, and for others, than you know. And last, don't forget to hug one another every day. The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Donna Rose.

Donna Rose: When a child's sense of self is nontraditional, people want to "correct" it . Rose: Transgender Coy, 6, is in every respect a girl, but she can't use girls' bathroom . Rose: School should know gender is not body parts, it is who you are to the core . Rose realized that to live an authentic life she needed to become a woman .

(CNN) -- Canada's rising star Milos Raonic broke more new ground when he reached the first clay quarterfinal of his short top-level career in Portugal on Thursday. The 20-year-old, seeded fifth at the Estoril Open, set up a clash with French No. 4 Gilles Simon after beating local wild-card entry Joao Sousa 6-3 6-3. Raonic, the second-youngest player in the top-100, is the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the ATP Tour at 27th. He has leapt up from a year-starting 156th following his first title at the San Jose hard-court event and then a losing final in Memphis earlier this year, also reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. Is Nadal's clay domination good for tennis? Raonic lost in the last 16 in the European season's opening clay events at Monte Carlo and Barcelona this month, which both had bigger entry fields, as he attempts to adapt his big-serving game to the more subtle surface. "He's the player with some of the best for this season," world No. 22 Simon told AFP of a player who has the third-fastest serve on record. "He's playing well but he doesn't have that much experience on clay. "I think it might be better to play him now instead of for the first time when he may be in the top 15." Simon beat Argentina's Carlos Berlocq 6-2 6-1 in his second-round match. The winner of his clash with Raonic will take on either second seed Fernando Verdasco or South Africa's big-serving Kevin Anderson in the semifinals. Verdasco has dropped from ninth to 15th in the rankings after a run of early exits, but he rebounded to beat another Portuguese wild-card, Frederico Gil, 6-1 7-6 (7-5). Seventh seed Anderson defeated Victor Hanescu 6-4 6-2, avenging his defeat by the Romanian in the second round in Barcelona. Djokovic eases past Ungur in Belgrade . In Belgrade, second seed Viktor Troicki crashed out in second round of his home Serbia Open. The world No. 16, who helped Serbia win last year's Davis Cup final, lost 6-2 6-3 to 52nd-ranked Spaniard Marcel Granollers. Granollers will next face unseeded Italian Filippo Volandri, who beat Ukraine's Illya Marchenko 6-3 1-6 6-3. Third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also crashed out against India's Somdev Devvarman. Devvarman, ranked 71st, had lost to the Spaniard in Houston on clay this month but triumphed 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 7-6 (10-8). He will next play seventh seed Janka Tipsarevic after the Serbian beat Russia-born German Mischa Zverev 6-2 6-0. In Munich, third seed Marin Cilic, No. 5 Florian Mayer and fellow German Philipp Kohlschreiber reached the quarterfinals of the BMW Open on Thursday. Croatia's Cilic will take on Russian seventh seed Nikolay Davydenko following his 6-3 7-6 (9-7) win over Argentina's Horacio Zeballos. Mayer beat Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4 7-6 (7-1) to set up a clash with young Bulgarian Grigo Dimitrov, while eighth seed Kohlschreiber faces Czech Radek Stepanek after eliminating compatriot Denis Gremelmayr 6-3 6-3. In the semifinals of the Barcelona Women's Open, Italian fifth seed Sara Errani will play Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic. Errani won 6-3 6-2 against compatriot Alberta Brianti, who won the Fes Grand Prix in Morocco last weekend. Another Italian reached the last four after sixth seed Roberta Vinci beat France's Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-1 to set up a clash with Slovenia's Polona Hercog or Spain's Laura Pous-Tio. The top three seeds of the women's event in Estoril all lost in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Top-ranked Alisa Kleybanova of Russia lost 6-4 6-2 to Germany's Kristina Barrois, who came back from 4-1 down in the opening set. The 19-year-old will next face Sweden's 80th-ranked Johanna Larsson, who beat Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2 7-5. Austrian second seed Jarmila Gajdosova also tumbled out, losing 5-7 6-4 6-2 to Romania's Monica Niculescu. Niculescu will take on Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, who beat Czech third seed Klara Zakopalova 6-3 7-5.

Fifth seed Milos Raonic sets up quarterfinal against French No. 4 Gilles Simon . Canadian, ranked 27th, is the second-youngest player currently in the world's top-100 . Second seed Viktor Troicki crashes out in second round of Serbia Open . Top three players eliminated in quarterfinals of women's event in Portugal .

(CNN) -- The midterm elections are less than three weeks away, but by several measures, Democrats have already won. Sure, elections are about the race to the top between competing candidates, but they're also a barometer on long-term trends, issues and party trajectories. While the winners of this season's sprints have yet to be determined, Democrats look well-positioned for the lengthier political marathon. How? 1. There's still a contest for the Senate . Historically, the party in the White House tends to lose seats in Congress during midterm elections. The second midterm election of a two-term president -- as this election is for President Barack Obama -- is usually brutal. Only six times since the Civil War has a president come close to gaining seats in both chambers in a sixth-year election. Add to that this year there are simply more Democratic-held Senate seats up for grabs -- with more ranked "toss ups" than Republican-held seats -- and the very fact that Democrats still have a shot at holding onto the Senate is, as Vice President Joe Biden might say, a BFD. 2. Democratic policies are emerging as third rails . Witness Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, running for re-election in Kentucky, and the dance he did around Obamacare during a debate. McConnell insisted that he would repeal Obamacare "root and branch" but somehow, miraculously, keep the law's state-based health insurance exchange. This shows that despite the lackluster rollout of the Obamacare website, voters still overwhelmingly support the particular details and programs of the law, even in places such as Kentucky, where over 400,000 people have enrolled for health coverage under Obamacare's provisions. As the law continues to take hold -- and become more effective and popular -- that rhetorical dance will get more uncomfortable for Republicans, who are still struggling to reconcile their opposition to equal pay legislation, raising the minimum wage, refinancing student loans and extending benefits for the unemployed. When President Obama said -- "I am not on the ballot this fall. Michelle's pretty happy about that. But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot" -- he was right. And when the American people weigh in on Democratic policies, they'll probably side with Democrats. 3. Voters know about "Republican War on Women" In 2012, it was easy to say the whole "War on Women" thing was an aberration that can be blamed on a few errant GOP candidates such as Todd Aiken. But this year, Republicans doubled down on their attacks on women's opportunity and reproductive freedom -- and the "Republican War on Women" brand will now forevermore stick. In New Hampshire, the Republican platform has adopted "fetal personhood" into its state party platform, echoing conservative-backed referenda on the ballots in Colorado, Tennessee and North Dakota that would severely restrict women's control over their own pregnancies. Republicans also opposed the mandate in Obamacare to make birth control affordable and accessible through all health insurance. They have also blocked equal pay legislation and held up re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Economic equality and reproductive freedom are basic priorities for women voters, a group that Republicans already had a tough time winning over. The GOP even commissioned its own poll that found women voters are "barely receptive" to Republican ideas and think the party is "intolerant" and "stuck in the past." By their own deeds, not to mention rhetoric, Republicans just keep reinforcing their war on women and driving voters away. 4. Republicans appear desperate . Wasn't this election supposed to be about Obamacare? No, that didn't work. So Republicans tried to make the midterms about Benghazi. No luck there either. Now they're just generally fear-mongering around ISIS and Ebola and hoping that would work. But the constantly shifting Republican shell game shows how little substantive traction conservatives have with average voters outside their highly gerrymandered House districts. Every time they open their mouths, Republican candidates show that they habitually bash President Obama to distract from the impression that they have neither the intention nor ability to help solve urgent problems facing the country. When you're so worried about the outcome of an election you actively try to discourage Americans from voting, even if it means violating the constitution and values you're sworn to protect. Mind you, it's deeply disturbing that Republicans have used the fig leaf of voter fraud to justify disenfranchising countless legitimate voters to serve their partisan ends. But voter ID laws are a kind of Hail Mary pass thrown by a GOP all too aware that if it just lets everyone keep voting, Republicans are going to keep losing elections -- especially as the American electorate gets younger and more racially diverse. That Republicans don't mind alienating voters by opposing same-sex marriage and immigration reform, which most young voters support, suggests a profound desperation -- namely, a party aware that it can't transform itself for the future and so willing to settle for last gasps of power with its old white voter base. Meanwhile, Democrats are registering new progressive voters in states such as Georgia and Texas at unprecedented rates. We still don't know which party will prevail on Election Day this November. But if these trends are any indication, it will soon become clear which party will increasingly prevail in elections down the road -- the kind of ultimate victory that really counts.

Sally Kohn: Midterm elections are also a gauge for trends and party trajectories . Kohn: By that measure, Democrats have won on issues and policies that matter to the public . She says GOP's war on women have turned off voters; some Republicans act desperate . Kohn: Democrats will likely prevail in elections down the road, which is the ultimate victory .

(CNN) -- "I didn't become a nurse to risk dying -- by getting infected from a patient -- and then going home and infecting my children, too!" the nurse told me. She was angry and afraid. A new infectious disease was rapidly spreading with no treatment and no end in sight, terrifying doctors, nurses and the public at large. As a medical student, I remember being afraid to touch patients with this deadly disease, anxious I might catch it. My instructors told me just to swipe my hands and stethoscope with a tiny alcohol wipe and not stick myself with a needle after drawing blood. But I was scared. Many doctors announced that they would not work in certain hospitals where they felt the disease was more likely. The year was 1984, and the disease was HIV/AIDS. Survey showed that half of medical interns and residents would not continue to treat patients with this disease, if given a choice. Over the past few weeks, I have thought back to that era, as fears of Ebola grip the nation. For about 15 years -- from its first identification in 1981 until demonstration of its effective treatment, using the so-called "cocktail" in 1997 -- fears of HIV swept the world. Ebola and HIV are both transmitted through bodily fluids, and potentially fatal. Ebola is far more contagious to caregivers -- mere exposure to bodily fluids such as saliva can spread it. Our responses to the epidemic of HIV have several lessons to teach us. With Ebola, we have not yet seen large numbers of health care professionals announcing that they do not want to come to work because of the possible risks to themselves. Certainly, some may not want to report to duty to the Dallas hospital where exposures have occurred, but the vast majority of health care professionals continue to be prepared to treat patients in emergency rooms and elsewhere across the country. Several doctors and nurses are now getting infected as well -- most recently Dr. Craig Spencer from my institution -- Columbia University Medical Center. It is a scary time to be a doctor or nurse. Medicine has always depended on providers putting themselves at some risk. We aim to minimize these dangers, but they often persist. Until recently, a clear social contract existed concerning medical professionals. Doctors and nurses agreed to put themselves at danger to help their patients because they operated not just from an economic model of a job description, but from a more profound moral sense of commitment to beneficence -- to the health and well-being of their patients. They accepted that sometimes they would have to put their patients' needs ahead of their own. Such commitment aids patients and society and instills trust. But that professionalism is diminishing as caring for patients evolves from a "calling" to merely a "job." In the end, countless health professionals and I overcame our fear and treated patients with HIV. One surgeon announced, "any staff member who does not want to treat these patients should simply plan to no longer come to work" -- i.e., to quit. None did. Yet in all the attention given to the current Ebola crisis, little has been said about the extraordinary heroism of Doctors Without Borders -- an organization better known by its French name, Medicins Sans Frontiers -- and other health care professionals putting themselves on the front lines. This organization in particular has emerged as for its inspiring heroism. In March, MSF started responding to this Ebola outbreak, and by June it declared the epidemic was "out of control" and that the organization had reached the limit of what it can do alone, calling on the world to provide more aid. But precious weeks passed. Only in August did the CDC issue its first news release about this outbreak. Still, MSF continued to work hard on the front lines in Africa, instituting and following procedures for protecting providers that far exceeded those of the vastly better-resourced United States and have only belatedly become the gold standard. Why? Because they worked hard to uphold their professional ideals. Their moral commitment has motivated them to respond to crises and develop expertise in delivering on-the-ground care in emergencies. MSF understands that adequate resources must be marshaled to deal with potential outbreaks. But in the United States, we have underfunded governmental health care agencies involved in disease prevention and disaster preparedness at all levels. Many legislators have argued for less government involvement in our lives and less public health infrastructure. But in a crisis, our nation demands that the Centers for Disease Control and state and local Public Health Departments protect us while struggling with increasingly limited budgets. The Ebola crisis has revealed serious gaps in our health care system, and we need to think broadly how to deal more effectively with future epidemics. We should also acknowledge the need to support professionals on the front lines of health care delivery. Their courage in facing this disease should inspire us, since in recent years, notions of medical professionalism have been under siege as profit motives and economic bottom lines drive our health care system. Insurance companies, health systems and others pressure physicians and nurses to see themselves as employees who punch time clocks and service clients rather than as professionals who care for patients. Consequently, health providers demonstrate more burnout, as they have had their ideals eroded. Those who are fully committed -- and there are still many -- have our appreciation. Historically, doctors and nurses have rallied to care for our sickest patients, sometimes placing themselves at significant risk. In the upcoming months, these professionals will be among our greatest weapons against this modern plague.

Robert Klitzman: As fear of Ebola grips the nation, I think back on how HIV/AIDS scared the world . Klitzman: It is a scary time to be a doctor or nurse; health professional are at the front lines . He says Doctors Without Borders, in particular, has emerged for its inspiring heroism . Klitzman: Despite eroding morals in health care, we still have many dedicated professionals .

London (CNN) -- Authorities arrested eight people Saturday -- including five journalists of Britain's bestselling Sun newspaper -- as part of an inquiry into alleged illegal payments to police and officials. The other three are a police officer, an employee of the Ministry of Defence and a member of the armed forces, the Metropolitan Police said. A search was carried out at News International's offices in east London, the police said, as well as the homes of those arrested. News International, which owns the Sun, is a U.K. subsidiary of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Following the arrests, Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp, issued a personal assurance to one of his executives to continue to own and publish The Sun newspaper, according to an internal staff memo sent by News International Chief Executive Tom Mockridge. Mockridge also said he was "very saddened" by the arrests of deputy editor Geoff Webster, picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker, and John Sturgis, who is a news editor. The five journalists were arrested at their homes, police said. "I understand the pressure many of you are under and have the greatest admiration for everyone's continued professionalism," Mockridge wrote. "The Sun has a proud history of delivering ground-breaking journalism. You should know that I have had a personal assurance today from Rupert Murdoch about his total commitment to continue to own and publish The Sun newspaper. "Today we are facing our greatest challenge," Mockridge said. The Sun's editor, Dominic Mohan, said in a statement: "I'm as shocked as anyone by today's arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times. "I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday's newspaper." Mohan has said the paper has a readership of more than 7.7 million. The arrests are part of Operation Elveden, an investigation running in parallel with a police inquiry into alleged phone hacking by the media, the police statement said. Late Saturday, all eight people were released after posting bail, police said. News Corp.'s Management and Standards Committee said it had provided the information to the Elveden investigation which led to Saturday's operation. Elveden has been widened out to include alleged corruption involving public officials, as well as the police. The five journalists, with ages between 45 and 68, were arrested at their residences in London, Kent and Essex on suspicion of corruption, aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office, and conspiracy in relation to both offenses, police said. News Corp. said in a statement that it "remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated." The other three suspects were arrested on suspicion of corruption, misconduct in a public office, and conspiracy in relation to both these offenses. A 39-year-old officer with Surrey Police is being questioned at a London police station, the Met Police said. The Ministry of Defence employee, a 39-year-old woman, is being questioned at a police station in Wiltshire, as is the member of the armed forces, a 36-year-old man. The police said the operation "relates to suspected payments to police officers and public officials and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately." The Ministry of Defence said it was a matter for the Metropolitan Police and that it could not comment on an ongoing police investigation. The latest arrests come two weeks after four current and former Sun employees and a London police officer were arrested in connection with Operation Elveden. News Corp. established its Management and Standards Committee in the wake of the summer 2011 scandal over alleged hacking of voicemail, which led to the closure of the News of the World Sunday tabloid. The revelation that a murdered 13-year-old girl's phone was hacked by journalists in search of stories -- and that many other crime and terror victims, politicians and celebrities had also been targeted -- prompted widespread outrage in Britain. News Group Newspapers, part of News International, paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds this week to settle lawsuits over phone hacking from celebrities and politicians, including a former Tony Blair spokesman, Alastair Campbell. The latest settlements meant News Group Newspapers has settled 59 of the 60 lawsuits against it. British Prime Minister David Cameron set up an independent inquiry into press ethics and practices in response to the scandal. Mohan defended his newspaper in testimony before the Leveson Inquiry earlier this month. "The Sun is a private enterprise that performs a public duty with a public interest: to inform a mass readership so that British democracy can function properly," he said in a written witness statement. "The Sun is occasionally boisterous and often cheeky but it is always a loyal companion to our readers, male and female. It relates to them in a more passionate way than any other title and in doing so it has become Britain's best-selling newspaper." Two parliamentary committees are also investigating the scandal. There have been 17 arrests in relation to Operation Weeting, the phone-hacking inquiry, and 21 in connection with Operation Elveden. Three people have been arrested in connection with both investigations. A third police inquiry is investigating alleged email hacking. No one has been charged. CNN's Bharati Naik contributed to this report.

NEW: All eight are free after posting bail, police say . Rupert Murdoch will continue to own and publish Sun, an executive says . The executive names the five Sun employees who've been arrested . A police officer, a member of the military and a Ministry of Defence employee were also arrested .