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Hong Kong (CNN) -- Draconian laws, brutal attacks against bloggers and politically motivated surveillance are among the biggest threats to Internet freedom emerging in the last two years, according to a new report from free speech advocates, Freedom House. "Freedom on the Net 2012: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media," looked at barriers to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights in 47 countries across the globe. Estonia was rated as having the greatest degree of Internet freedom, while Iran, Cuba and China were viewed as the most restrictive. While social media was key in the uprising in Egypt, censorship there continues apace, says Freedom House, a U.S.-based independent watchdog organization. Although online activism is increasing, the report said authoritarian regimes were employing a wider and increasingly sophisticated arsenal of countermeasures. Read more: The full report . According to Freedom House, China has the world's largest population of Internet users, yet the authorities operate the most sophisticated system of censorship. Its "great firewall" has become notorious for literally shutting down Internet "chatter" it views as sensitive. Earlier this year, censors blocked related search terms to prevent the public from obtaining news on prominent human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who caused a diplomatic storm when he escaped house arrest to seek refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Read more: News on blind activist's escape . Major web portals and social networking sites, though not state-owned, have had to comply with strict government censorship rules -- or risk being shut down. After launching a campaign to clean up "rampant online rumors," Chinese authorities in March ordered the country's leading micro-blogging sites -- including Sina Weibo -- to disable their comment function for three days. In China, bloggers are also required to register their real names -- though it's not clear how many have complied with the rules. "It's a typical response by officials and quite a successful strategy in making it extremely difficult to spread information beyond some small circles of activists," Jeremy Goldkorn, a leading commentator on China's social media, told CNN at the time. Freedom House claims Beijing's influence as an "incubator for sophisticated restrictions" has not gone unnoticed, with governments such as Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Iran using China as a model for their own Internet controls. Unrest across the Middle East prompted increased censorship, arrests, and violence against bloggers as authoritarian regimes look to quell calls for reform. Social media was widely accepted to have played a key role in popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Fearing a similar "revolution" in Saudi Arabia, the authorities there took immediate steps to respond to what they regarded as a national security threat. According to the Freedom House report, the Saudi government has issued warnings banning protests -- even using the BlackBerry multi-media message service (MMS) to discourage protesters from participating in demonstrations. They say the authorities have detained and intimidated hundreds of online political activists and online commentators, blocked and filtered sensitive political, religious or pornographic content from entering the Saudi Internet, and even recruited supporters online to campaign against calls for protests. Egypt's "revolution," which ended the three-decade rule of Hosni Mubarak, was widely known as the Facebook or Twitter revolution because of the way activists used social media to spread their message, despite government countermeasures such as arresting dissidents, periodically blocking Internet access and restricting cellular networks. Read More: The faces of Egypt's 'Revolution 2.0' However, the reports says Mubarak-era censorship has continued in Egypt under the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which took control until the election of Mohamed Morsy as president in June. Mobile phones, the Internet, and social media remained under vigorous surveillance, bandwidth speeds were throttled during specific events, while SCAF-affiliated commentators manipulated online discussions. According to Freedom House, activists and bloggers have been intimidated, beaten, or tried in military courts for "insulting the military power" or "disturbing social peace." After taking office in June, President Morsy pledged to work to free Egyptians subjected to unjust detention. That month, Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that he had ordered the formation of a panel of Interior Ministry, Public Prosecution, and military judiciary officials to consider the cases of civilians detained by the military. But this week's report warns the future direction of Internet freedom in Egypt remains uncertain despite Morsy's election. Freedom House also highlighted countries seen as vulnerable to increased restrictions on freedom of speech. In Pakistan, the report noted that successive military and civilian governments have exerted greater control over Internet use, often citing national security or religious reasons for doing so. On several occasions the authorities have blocked access to services such as YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and various blogs -- often under pressure from religious groups. Another country on this watch list is Russia, where the report says Internet-inspired anti-government protests last year have prompted a desire on the part of the Kremlin to tighten up on its controls. "The findings clearly show that threats to Internet freedom are becoming more diverse," said Sanja Kelly, project director for Freedom on the Net at Freedom House. "As authoritarian rulers see that blocked websites and high-profile arrests draw local and international condemnation, they are turning to murkier -- but no less dangerous -- methods for controlling online conversations."

Report looks at barriers to access, limits on content in 47 countries across the globe . Authoritarian regimes increasing restrictions as online activism increases . China has largest number of Internet users and most sophisticated controls . Many countries fear social media-led revolutions seen in Egypt, Tunisia .

London (CNN)We've just landed a washing machine-sized robot on a comet and NASA's chief scientist has no idea. Dr Ellen Stofan is deep in conversation with a journalist when, unable to contain himself any longer, an adviser with phone triumphantly held aloft blurts out: "Rosetta -- It's landed!" "Wonderful" Stofan beams, and the handful of reporters gathered in a lecture theater at University College London excitedly fidget in their seats. Barely has the probe touched down on a comet 310 million miles from Earth, then one of science's great minds is discussing humanity's next cosmic milestone. Stofan wants to land a man on Mars by the mid-2030s. Or rather, "land a human on Mars," the mother-of-three corrects me with a wry smile. "In a sense it's our destiny to move beyond this planet and Mars is the logical choice," said the 53-year-old geologist. "It's a place where humans could live and work -- not out in the open -- but with not too-radical modifications." Indeed, life on the 'Red Planet' may not just be the stuff of science fiction. "Mars is the other body in the solar system that we're very likely to find that life evolved," said Stofan. "So being able to have a laboratory on Mars, being able to have some sort of sustained human presence on Mars in the future, I think is critically important for science." Next stop: Mars . Surviving an eight-month journey to Mars is one thing -- staying alive once there is another. Astronauts would face high levels of radiation -- "we still have to figure out how to adequately protect them," said Stofan. The thin atmosphere would also make landing difficult, particularly for a heavy spaceship loaded with equipment and people. "If you think of the Apollo capsule coming into Earth with a parachute, the Mars atmosphere is just so thin you've got to find some way of slowing yourself down really rapidly," explained Stofan, the daughter of a NASA engineer who watched her first rocket launch as a four-year-old. The interplanetary endeavor has more to do with unlocking Earth's secrets than you might think. "Being able to compare the Earth to Venus, to Mars, and studying these same processes all around the solar system -- all of a sudden you get smarter about your own planet," explained Stofan. "If you're a doctor and you only have one patient, then you'd never really understand the progression of disease. You need lots of patients, and scientists learn more about the Earth by studying lots of planets." Star Wars reality . But with so many earthly problems, does it pay to point billion dollar budgets at the skies? "You know, we're really spending that money here on Earth," said Stofan. "We get amazing technology spinoffs from the work NASA has done," she adds, listing everything from fuel efficient winglets on airplanes, to air traffic control systems, and equipment for measuring climate change. Science fiction becomes reality in NASA's lab, with the hovering orb seen in Star Wars -- fans will remember Luke Skywalker using it during light-saber training -- inspiring real-life gadgets on board the International Space Station. "Think about these things you used to see on TV from science fiction, like communicators on Star Trek, well now we actually have them," said Stofan. "Space exploration pushes us to say 'here's things we've just dreamed about, but we can turn that into reality.'" Marvin the Martian . Does that mean she also believes in intelligent life? "I think there has to be in the universe -- how easy it's going to be to find, is another question," said Stofan. "Statistically every time you're looking at a star you're likely to be looking at a planetary system. Play the math game, there's billions of stars, so eventually you'll come out saying there has to be another body where life could have evolved to a fairly sophisticated level. "Now, do I think they're visiting here and altering people's crop patterns? No. If they were smart enough to get here, we would know about it." Women's business? As a women working at NASA, sometimes it's Stofan who feels like the alien in the room, admitting: "I had to work four times as hard to be taken half as seriously." "I still go into most meetings and I will look around the room and I just suddenly register the male to female ratio -- women usually make up 10% to 20% in any room I'm in, at best." It's a ratio fairly consistent with women working across STEM sectors (science, technology, engineering, math) in the U.S., and Stofan speaks passionately about the need for "all hands on deck." "When you have problems like trying to get humans down onto the surface of Mars, if you don't have all the best minds in the world -- not just white men -- then you're not utilizing humanity the way you should." Landing a human on Mars would inspire a new generation of scientists -- the likes of which we haven't seen since the Apollo mission 45 years ago, says Stofan. "It's a great international human endeavor, with all the nations of the world moving out beyond Earth to explore a new planet, a new world. "And doing it together." Watch: The comedian and her robot sidekick . Quiz: 10 female scientists you should know .

NASA chief scientist, Ellen Stofan, wants humans on Mars by mid-2030s . Astronauts would take 8 months to reach planet, face radiation, thin atmosphere . Studying Mars would help us better understand Earth . Believes there must be intelligent life in our universe .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Zinedine Zidane is sure of the quality most necessary to create a successful team: mutual respect. Zidane: the ex-footballer identifies mutual respect as the most important quality that players need to exhibit within a team. It is a telling observation from a man whose incredible achievements on the football pitch were only slightly marred by explosions of rage that often seemed to be provoked by a perceived lack of respect from others. "When you have 23 players (in a football team's squad), everyone has their personality, one is stronger, one more shy, one more reserved, one more arrogant," he tells CNN. "But the most important is respect between all of us." The French maestro, who hung up his boots two years ago, certainly enjoyed the respect of his teammates. Former coaches and fellow players speak in reverent tones about him. In large part, this is due to his sublime talent -- few would argue with the summation that he was the most gifted footballer of his generation. Yet this immense ability was accompanied by a shyness and humility notoriously absent among many of today's top sportsmen, and by an intense professionalism that bordered on obsession. Aimé Jacquet, the coach of the French national team that Zidane guided to victory in the 1998 thanks to two headed goals in the final against Brazil, says the player was gifted with "an internal vision." "He can make the ball do whatever he wants. But it is his drive which takes him forward. He is 100 per cent football," he told the British newspaper The Guardian. It was this dedication that allowed the French-born son of Algerian immigrants to escape his tough upbringing in a deprived suburb of Marseilles and make it on the big stage. Starting out as a 17-year-old for French side Cannes, Zidane went on to play for Bordeaux, the Italian team Juventus and finished his career at a Real Madrid side packed with many of the world's top talent. Under the tenure of President Florentino Pérez the club made a host of big-name transfers including Portuguese international Luis Figo, Brazil star Ronaldo, Zidane and David Beckham. Zidane says great teams need clear and defined leaders that the players can rally behind. At Real he identifies former teammate and current club captain Raúl González as such a player. Nicknamed the Galácticos, the Madrid team frequently underperformed, however, under the sagging weight of expectation and an excess of big egos. Zidane didn't allow Real's inconsistencies to hold him back, however. By the end his career, he had won almost every major honor in the game including the World Cup and European Championships with France and the crown of FIFA World Player of the Year a record three times. In 2004, Forbes magazine named him the 42nd-highest paid athlete in the world, with earnings of $15.8 million a year. "People tell me today, 'yeah, it's easy for you' and I say no, because when I started no-one knew me. I had the skills of course but I made that path myself, and for everything you have to do that." And it is this same mental toughness that has allowed him to shrug off the taunts of the racists and emerge a national hero in a country whose immigrant community has enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the state. Zizou, as he is known affectionately in France, has tried to stay above the murky world of race politics, only once being drawn into defending his Algerian heritage after a small-minded attack on his father's war record. This came after the World Cup win over Brazil, when a member of the far right political party the Front National suggested Zidane's father was "a harki" -- an Arabic word for Algerians who fought alongside the French in Algeria's bloody independence struggle. After a 2001 friendly match between France and Algeria had to be abandoned when angry young French Arabs invaded the pitch, Zidane was forced to break his silence, publically repudiating the libel. He still seems reluctant to be turned into a spokesman for France's North African community -- he tells CNN he would prefer to be thought of as an "example" for immigrant children rather than as a hero. Even so, his heritage is clearly something he remains deeply connected to. So that when he was famously sent off in the final of the 2006 World Cup after a headbutt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the last act of his career, it was an alleged slur against his family that provoked the attack. The headbutt was shocking but not entirely unexpected. Throughout his career, Zidane was prone to flashes of temper on the pitch -- he was sent off 14 times in his years as a professional footballer. Nevertheless, it was an ignoble end for such a prodigious talent. Zidane has refused to apologise to Materazzi because he says that would be like condoning the Italian's comments -- exactly what Materazzi said is still in dispute, and two years on, he remains philosophical and largely unrepentent about the incident. "When people say I shouldn't have finished the World Cup on that note, I don't look at it that way," he says. "My career is much more than that moment."

French ex-footballer Zinedine Zidane won every major honor during his career . His talent and modesty won him the respect of his teammates and managers . The son of Algerian immigrants, he grew up in a poor suburb of Marseilles . He retired in 2006 after he was sent off in the World Cup final against Italy .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Science fiction author Ray Bradbury, whose imagination yielded classic books such as "Fahrenheit 451," "The Martian Chronicles" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes," has died at 91, his publisher said Wednesday. Bradbury was a writer of perils, possibilities and wonder . Bradbury "died peacefully, last night, in Los Angeles, after a lengthy illness," HarperCollins said in a written statement. Bradbury's books and 600 short stories predicted a variety of things, including the emergence of ATMs and live broadcasts of fugitive car chases. Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury on God, 'monsters and angels' "In a career spanning more than 70 years, Ray Bradbury has inspired generations of readers to dream, think and create," the statement said. "A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to 50 books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time." Overheard on CNN.com: Ray Bradbury was 'very down to Earth,' or maybe Mars . Bradbury wrote the screenplay for John Huston's classic film adaptation of "Moby Dick." He adapted 65 of his stories for television's "The Ray Bradbury Theater" and won an Emmy for his teleplay of "The Halloween Tree." Top five Bradbury films . "In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back." he wrote in a book of essays published in 2005. "Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior." Favorite quotes from Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' Bradbury's death brought immediate reaction from his literary and film peers, as well as the White House. "For many Americans, the news of Ray Bradbury's death immediately brought to mind images from his work, imprinted in our minds, often from a young age," President Obama said. "His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world. But Ray also understood that our imaginations could be used as a tool for better understanding, a vehicle for change, and an expression of our most cherished values. There is no doubt that Ray will continue to inspire many more generations with his writing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends." "He was my muse for the better part of my sci-fi career," director Steven Spielberg said. "He lives on through his legion of fans. In the world of science fiction and fantasy and imagination he is immortal." My last conversation with Ray Bradbury . "Ray Bradbury wrote three great novels and 300 great stories," author Stephen King said. "One of the latter was called 'A Sound of Thunder.' The sound I hear today is the thunder of a giant's footsteps fading away. But the novels and stories remain, in all their resonance and strange beauty." Bradbury received the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts and a 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. Bradbury had lived in Los Angeles since his family moved there from his native Waukegan, Illinois, to look for work during the Great Depression. He is survived by his four daughters, Susan Nixon, Ramona Ostergren, Bettina Karapetian and Alexandra Bradbury, and eight grandchildren. His wife of 57 years, Marguerite, died in 2003. Rainn Wilson, others tweet tributes to Bradbury . The biography released by his publisher quoted a story in which Bradbury recounted meeting a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932. Electrico touched the 12-year-old Bradbury with his sword and commanded, "Live forever!" "I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard," Bradbury said. "I started writing every day. I never stopped." Sam Weller, Bradbury's biographer and friend, said in a posting on his website Wednesday, "I'll never see you again. I'll never see you again. I'll never see you again. "The problem with death, you once said to me, is that 'it is so damned permanent,' " Weller's statement said. Weller, in one of his books about Bradbury, quoted him as saying he would sometimes open one of his books late at night and cry out thanks to God. "I sit there and cry because I haven't done any of this," he told Weller. "It's a God-given thing, and I'm so grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer is, 'At play in the fields of the Lord.' " He discussed how many of his best friends were no longer around. "My personal telephone book is a book of the dead now," Bradbury told Weller in his book of interviews. "I'm so old. Almost all of my friends have died, and I don't have the guts to take their names out of the book." Did Ray Bradbury have an influence on your life? Share with us on CNN iReport! CNN's Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.

"I started writing every day. I never stopped," Bradbury once said . The writer "died peacefully ... in Los Angeles, after a lengthy illness," his publisher says . Bradbury "inspired generations of readers to dream, think and create," HarperCollins says . His stories predicted ATMs and live car chase broadcasts .

London, England (CNN) -- China will execute within a few hours a British man convicted of smuggling heroin, his family said Monday. Akmal Shaikh, 53, has been informed by the Chinese authorities that he will be executed, said Seema Khan and Latif Shaikh, first cousins of the condemned man. The relatives told CNN that Shaikh's mother had not been informed of his execution, scheduled for Tuesday morning. "We are keeping the news away from her," Khan said. "We don't feel she can take the news and bear the brunt of it." Shaikh has exhausted all his legal appeals. The Chinese government is not known to give 11th-hour reprieves. But Khan and Shaikh said they are nevertheless "hoping the Chinese government will show some compassion." Shaikh's supporters maintain he is mentally ill and that Chinese officials did not take that into account when trying him. A United Nations official has asked China not to go forward with the execution. Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, has said it would be a "major step backwards for China" to execute a mentally ill man. "Both Chinese and international law clearly indicate that a person who committed a crime while suffering from significant mental illness should not be subjected to the death penalty," Alston said in a statement released by Reprieve, a British legal group. "I very much hope that the government will grant clemency in this case." Britain too has asked China not to execute Shaikh. "The British Government has been doing and will continue to do everything within its power to secure a fair trial and clemency on the death penalty for Akmal Shaikh," a Downing Street spokesman said Monday. "The prime minister has intervened personally on a number of occasions: he has raised the case with Premier Wen (Jiabao), most recently at the Copenhagen summit; and has written several times to President Hu (Jintao). At every level ... the government has raised its concerns, made clear our opposition to the death penalty, and requested a full mental health assessment. We will remain engaged in the coming hours." China says it has followed the law. "This case has always been handled according to law. During the trial, the defendant has been guaranteed his legal rights," Jiang Yu, spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said last week. "Everyone knows that international drug smuggling is a grave crime." Shaikh was convicted of carrying up to 4 kilograms (almost 9 pounds) of heroin at the Urumqi Airport in September 2007. His final appeal -- to the People's Supreme Court -- was rejected a week ago. He would be the first European Union citizen executed in China in 50 years, Reprieve said. The organization says Shaikh may be suffering from bipolar disorder, which is characterized by delusional and manic behavior. The group says Chinese authorities have refused requests for Shaikh to be examined by a doctor and for his mental condition to be taken into account during his trial and sentencing. "We deeply regret that mental health concerns had no bearing on the final judgment despite requests by Mr. Shaikh's defense lawyer and repeated calls by the prime minister, ministers, members of the opposition, as well as [the] European Union," the British Foreign Office said last week. A spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNN in October there was no evidence of mental illness. "The British Embassy and a British organization proposed to have a psychological exam but could not offer any proof of mental illness," the spokesman said. "The defendant himself said that his family does not have a history of mental illness." Shaikh said he was given a suitcase to carry by another man who had duped him into believing he was traveling to China to become a nightclub performer, and was unaware that the bag contained drugs. Reprieve campaigners have revealed details of Shaikh's erratic lifestyle prior to his arrest -- including traveling to Poland to start an airline and then on to Central Asia to become a pop star. While living in Poland, Shaikh was approached by a man who helped him write a song that Shaikh believed would bring world peace, according to Reprieve. The man said he knew people in Kyrgyzstan who could help Shaikh become a pop star. Once there, Shaikh was introduced to another man called Okole, who told him he owned a nightclub in China where they would launch his singing career. The pair traveled together to Tajikistan, staying in a five-star hotel. Okole then told Shaikh he would have to travel on to China himself because there was only one seat available on the plane -- and gave him the suitcase to carry, according to Reprieve. Forensic psychologist Peter Schaapveld said he suspects Shaikh is suffering from a severe mental disorder. Schaapveld traveled to Urumqi this year for Shaikh's appeal hearing but was unable to meet Shaikh or attend the appeal. He said British consular staff told him court officials had been "bemused and amused" by Shaikh's "incoherent" testimony. Schaapveld also examined hundreds of pages of rambling e-mails sent by Shaikh to the British Embassy in Poland and various public figures, including then-U.S. President George W. Bush and former Beatle Paul McCartney. He said the evidence "very clearly" suggested Shaikh was "probably suffering from bipolar disorder and may also have an additional delusional psychosis." CNN's Jo Ling Kent in Beijing and Zain Verjee and Simon Hooper in London contributed to this report.

China will execute British man convicted of smuggling heroin within hours, his family says . Akmal Shaikh supporters maintain he is mentally ill and officials did not take that into account when trying him . British government has asked China not to execute Shaikh but China says it has followed law .

(CNN) -- Fehmi Khairullah, a Syrian-American doctor living in New Jersey, says he cannot sleep these days. "The humanitarian situation in many parts of Syria has reached its lowest point. It is so horrific," said Khairullah, who collects and delivers aid to Syria. As violence escalates in the sanctions-hit country and - - many argue -- the lack of government cooperation, humanitarian groups have been unable to reach those suffering the most in the country. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross & Red Crescent, the only independent international aid agency operating inside Syria, has not reached trapped citizens in devastated areas such as the Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs. Last weekend, the aid group released a statement saying it started distributing aid to people in the restive city. But Saleh Debaki, its Damascus-based spokesman, said Thursday the aid is located at nine distribution centers around the city, but none has reached ravaged neighborhoods such as Baba Amr. Residents and activists in the neighborhood said Friday they have not had any humanitarian aid reach them in more than a month. "It is the 13th days of shelling over our neighborhood," said Abu Omar, who was reached by satellite internet at a Baba Amr shelter. "We have not had any electricity, phone service, ... or even running water for weeks. We have not had any food or medical supplies either. We are so desperate! There are only a few houses here that have water wells. That's our only access to any water!" Abu Omar, who did not want to reveal his real name over safety fears, said the few dozen people staying at shelters in Baba Amr shower once every five days or so and limit other use of water to only drinking. Khalil Ahmed, another resident of Baba Amr, said he has not seen any bread coming from outside the neighborhood in weeks. "That's why we decided to collect whatever flour we could find to bake some bread and share at the shelters," Ahmed said. "We have no baby formula. Parents put bread in water ... and that's what babies eat and drink." There is only one medical facility in Baba Amr operating out of a basement of a mosque. It moved there because its last location was shelled in January, killing three medics, according to Mohamed al-Mohamed, one of a handful of doctors running the makeshift clinic using "primitive tools." Back in the United States, Khairullah says the suffering will only get worse in many parts of Syria unless there is a way to deliver humanitarian aid to those who need it most. Shortly after the Syrian uprising began on March 15, Khairullah and other Syrian-American professionals started the Syria First Coalition to collect donations and deliver them to affected families in the nation. "In light of the sanctions, we did not want to fall into any legal traps. And we did not want to deal with the government's institutions. So we started paying influential businessmen inside Syria in U.S. dollars and get food, water, blankets among other humanitarian items in return," Khairullah said. This worked for only a few months until no more businessman could risk doing that under the watchful eye of the regime, he said. So he identified financial institutions in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon -- to which the group transferred money in order to buy aid locally. The aid was then smuggled across the Syrian borders. But with more and more limited safe passages into Syria and a drying flow of cash, this option became even harder. The current sanctions allow transferring money to charitable groups in Syria. "But how could we trust these government-sponsored Syrian groups to oversee the distribution of aid?' Khairullah said. A couple of international humanitarian groups such as the Humanitarian Relief for Syria admit that they only go through Syrian charity organizations to reach affected people inside the country. Others -- such as Islamic Relief and Zakat Foundation -- only reach out to Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. "The only way to reach us in Homs is through establishing safe passages," Abu Omar said. On the international level, France is trying to revive a plan it first introduced in November that tries to do just that. The idea is to provide safe access for relief organizations to deliver aid to affected populations through land border routes, a sea port or an airport - - all under the watch of international observers. But such a plan needs either Syrian government approval or the backing of armed peacekeepers. In the latter case, a U.N. resolution may be needed. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé discussed his government's "humanitarian corridors" plan Thursday with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in order to avoid a veto on a possible U.N. Security Council resolution. The two met in Vienna to reach a compromise despite Moscow vetoing a U.N. resolution based on an Arab League proposal on Feb. 4, according to Russia's state-run Itar-Tass. "We can possibly reach a compromise on a short-term objective." Juppé told reporters "We are ready to work in New York on a draft resolution inspired by the Arab League to stop the violence and provide humanitarian aid." Lavrov was not committed to the plan and said more details are needed before an agreement, Itar -Tass reported. But many Syrians seem to have no choice but to be optimistic as their tragedy plays out on the international stage. "I am hopeful," Khairulla said. "I am finally sensing change among international and regional powers regarding the suffering in Syria ... And it is about time!"

"The humanitarian situation in many parts of Syria has reached its lowest point," doctor says . An international aid agency operating inside Syria cannot reach trapped citizens . The suffering will only get worse in Syria unless there is a way to deliver humanitarian aid .

(CNN) -- West Virginia's attorney general and state legislators announced Tuesday that they'd join those investigating a chemical spill that left hundreds of thousands scrambling for safe water, with one senator promising "there will definitely be a change." "This whole series of events is unacceptable," said Senate Majority Leader John Unger, who will be leading the state legislative probe, echoing many others around West Virginia and elsewhere since the crisis boiled up last Thursday. These latest investigations came out the same day that a few thousand more West Virginians were told they could use their tap water again, for the first time in nearly a week. Still, nearly two-thirds of the nearly 300,000 people initially prohibited from using their taps still are waiting for the all-clear. Their headaches and heartaches trace to the leak of several thousand gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol -- a substance used in the coal industry -- from a storage tank belonging to a company called Freedom Industries. That chemical made its way into the Elk River, to a water plant about a mile upstream, then into the water system. Residents of nine counties -- including the one that is home to Charleston, West Virginia's capital and most populated city -- were urged last week not to use their tap water to do anything except flush their toilets. With its strong odor as the telltale sign, officials warned that they couldn't say that the water so many rely on to drink, cook using or wash themselves with was safe. Authorities worked to flush the foul-smelling chemical from the area water system, all while conducting tests that eventually showed it declining. Chemical spill shines spotlight on loose regulation . But it has been only recently some have been told they can use their water, such as the lifting of the "do not use" order Tuesday morning for the Southridge/Southside area near Charleston. By Tuesday evening, about 114,000 people were advised it was safe for them to run their taps again -- with more than 180,000 remaining in limbo. And it's not just individual citizens in their homes who have been affected. Without safe water, schools and many businesses such as hotels, restaurants and more decided to close. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office said schools would remain closed in four counties Wednesday, leaving about 46,000 students at leisure. Amid this widespread pain, a number of local, state and federal authorities have announced they're launching investigations intent on getting to the bottom of what happened and holding people, agencies and companies responsible for the spill and possible issues in the response. Investigators from the Kanawha County Fire Department and the state Department of Environmental Protection were among the first at the scene. By the next day, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that his office was also looking into what happened, telling CNN that "even a negligent release of this kind could be a criminal violation." Also on the federal side, Environmental Protection Agency investigators went to the scene as did a team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. Plus, two U.S. congressmen -- Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Paul D. Tonko, Democrats from California and New York respectively -- said in a letter Monday they believe the spill may have exposed regulatory gaps in the country's chemical control laws. Two new authorities in the state of West Virginia on Tuesday announced their own investigations. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement that his office plans "to get to the bottom of this and ensure that the public knows the truth" -- including what happened, why and how might it have been prevented. "We need to make sure this never happens again, and that responsible parties are held accountable," Morrisey said of his office's "unbiased, independent inquiry." And Unger, the Democratic state senator from Berkeley, said the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources -- which he co-chairs -- is also digging into the "unacceptable" ordeal. Among other things, that legislative body will look into who knew what and when, "and if no one knew, why not." "There will definitely be a change to the way things have been done in the past," Unger said. And it's not just West Virginians who are affected. The Greater Cincinnati Water Works, which serves that Ohio city and parts of four counties in Ohio and Kentucky, will temporarily stop taking water from the Ohio River as a precaution, allowing water that might contain traces of the chemical to pass the city, company spokeswoman Michele Ralston said Tuesday. Two Kentucky water systems -- in Ashland and Russell -- temporarily turned off their valve systems, Dick Brown, a spokesman for the Department for Environmental Protection, told CNN. The move was strictly a precaution since the Elk River is a tributary to the Kanawha, which feeds into the Ohio River. The Cincinnati utility is sampling the Ohio River water and so far hasn't detected anything out of the ordinary, Ralston said. The move will not disrupt customers' water supplies because the company has a two-day reserve and a groundwater plant that can provide even more treated water, she said. Opinion: It's OK, the water's safe to flush . CNN's Matt Smith, Michael Pearson, Jason Hanna, Alina Machado and Meridith Edwards contributed to this report.

NEW: More people are told they can use water; more than 180,000 still under "do not use" order . A state legislator says "there will definitely be a change" after last week's chemical spill . Thousands of gallons of a compound used to clean coal poured into the Elk River . "This whole series of events is unacceptable," lawmaker says .

Washington (CNN) -- Democrats have a message for voters during the final, frenzied day of campaigning: All is not lost. Party leaders insist they can still hold onto the Senate -- their last bastion of power on Capitol Hill -- and are spending the remaining hours before the polls open on Tuesday trying to convince their voters not to give up. "I don't agree with the oddsmakers," Vice President Joe Biden said in an exclusive interview with CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. "I predict we're gonna ... keep the Senate." Everything would have to break for Democrats just right for Biden's optimism to carry the day. New polls in states that Democrats must win if they have any hope of keeping the Senate aren't promising. In New Hampshire, a WMUR poll released Sunday shows Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican challenger Scott Brown in a deeply competitive race. The poll puts Shaheen's support at 46% with Brown at 43%. The race narrows further -- with Shaheen at 47% against Brown at 45% -- once undecided voters are asked who they are most likely to support. The numbers are troubling for Democrats because a WMUR poll just a few days earlier showed Shaheen leading Brown 50% to 42%. A Quinnipiac University poll in Iowa shows the Senate race there in a dead heat, with Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst at 47%. That could provide some comfort to Democrats after a Des Moines Register poll had Ernst up by 7 points over the weekend. Though Republicans appear on track to take the Senate majority for the first time in nearly a decade, polls can be wrong and might miss important shifts in the electorate during the final hours of the election. But veteran Republican power broker Haley Barbour told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," that it was looking good for his side. "I think it is more likely than not Republicans will have a majority in the Senate after these elections, but it's not a certainty, never is in politics," Barbour said. "People shouldn't take things for granted." Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz however said her party's superior get-out-the-vote operation would be the difference maker. "We are going to hold the Senate tomorrow night. We have, going into election day, a superior ground game that has run circles around the Republicans," she told Tapper. Emotions are running high among exhausted candidates, who are throwing everything into their last hours of campaigning. Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, vowed not to give up, despite polls showing her well behind Mitch McConnell, the man in line to become the next Senate majority leader. "You are the messengers that Mitch McConnell can't buy," Grimes said in a campaign rally Sunday, her voice cracking with emotion. "And I tell you, this strong independent Kentucky woman, I've got kick still in me." CNN's Dana Bash reported at the weekend that Republican strategists have already told McConnell that things are looking so good that he will indeed be the next majority leader. Democrats might not be giving up but they know the wind is in their face. Republicans need a net gain of six seats to pick up the Senate in an election in which they are also likely to pad their majority in the House of Representatives. The GOP is expected to cruise to victory in Democratic seats in South Dakota, Montana and West Virginia, which would leave them just three seats short of a majority. And latest polls show the GOP leading in Democratic-held seats in Arkansas, Alaska and Colorado. Democrats, however, hold the advantage in North Carolina. To have any hope of halting the Republican tide, Democrats would have to come from behind in several seats on the GOP hit list and push races in Louisiana and Georgia into run-offs. The party is insisting that its vaunted get-out-the-vote operation will make things much closer on Tuesday than they seem now. Republicans are making the election a referendum on the increasingly unpopular President Barack Obama. The GOP would use Senate control to make him a lame duck during his last two years in power. Buy if they do win the Senate, Republicans will fall short of the 60 seat supermajority that they would need to thwart Democratic delaying tactics. And they also know they have a tough map of Senate seats to defend in 2016 — a presidential election year in which Democratic turnout is likely to be higher. So they may have an incentive to show they can govern or to compromise with Obama in some areas like tax reform or trade deals. The votes have not yet been counted in this election, but the next White House race effectively begins on Wednesday morning. Likely candidates on both sides are hitting the Senate battlegrounds — and boosting their own prospects in 2016. New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie is wrapping up his campaign marathon that has seen him hit 10 states since Friday. He is in Rhode Island, Michigan, Maine and New Hampshire on Monday. Another Republican with 2016 in his sights -- Sen. Rand Paul -- is making seven stops with McConnell in Kentucky. Mitt Romney, who two years ago lost the presidency to Obama, travels to Alaska to give GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan a last minute boost. And Bill Clinton will cap his own long campaign swing with an event with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist in Florida — a swing state that will see a lot of his wife Hillary Clinton, in her presumed presidential run.

Democrats are trying to keep hope alive for Tuesday's midterms . This includes Vice President Joe Biden and candidates like Alison Lundergan Grimes . Their message comes in the face of a wave of worrying poll numbers for Democrats . Both parties have top surrogates on the trail Monday .

(CNN) -- When artist William Wegman shows up for events, fans don't only bring books or pictures for him to sign. They also bring their dogs -- mostly Weimaraners -- to meet him. After all, Wegman is the patron saint of those sleek, regal canines -- a man who has made a career around Weimaraner imagery. Now 70, Wegman has dabbled in various mediums and themes since introducing the world to Man Ray, his first pet Weimaraner, in the 1970s. But his choice of muse has remained fairly constant throughout his art, and even in the dog bed he helped design. "He's the reason so many people know about these dogs," said Betsy Bottomley, who brought her 7-year-old rescue Weimaraner, Chance, to see Wegman at a recent author talk at the Decatur Book Festival in Georgia. "Weimaraners are very people-oriented," she said. "They love days like this when they can be outside with their families." Wegman was at the festival to promote "Flo & Wendell Explore," his newest children's book inspired by his blue-eyed pet Weimeraners, Flo and Topper. They're the latest in a long line of Wegman's canine muses that have inspired a robust collection of paintings, photographs, films, books and worldwide exhibits. Wegman has had 3-year-old Flo and 2-year-old Topper since both were 8 weeks old. They share the Wegman home with 13-year-old Candy and 15-year-old Bobbin, a descendant of Fay Wray, one of his most famous subjects. "Topper didn't seem like a little boy's name. Wendell seemed to suit the look," Wegman said in a post-panel interview in a nearby hotel lobby, pulling out his iPhone to show off pictures like a proud parent. "How could you not do a book about her?" he said, pausing on a closeup of of Flo. "She's so captivating." The follow-up to "Flo & Wendell" features a combination of paintings and photographs, a departure from the images of dogs in costumes and roller skates for which Wegman is perhaps best known. It's a format that suits his current lifestyle and artistic sensibilities, he said. It allows him to ditch the studio and production crews needed to stage shoots of dogs dressed as Little Red Riding Hood or the Hardly Boys. Instead, he can paint the backdrop to Flo and Wendell's adventures beneath the skylight in his lakeside home in Maine. "It was great, because I could be by myself in my room, like I was when I was a little boy, drawing pictures," he said, referring to his childhood in western Massachusetts. Wegman shared the book festival stage with author-illustrator Chris Gall for a discussion about why animals make such great subjects for books. Every dog has its own personality, which guides how Wegman portrays them, he said. He told the festival audience -- a mix of adults and children -- that he approaches children's picture books the same way as everything else he does. He just makes art, using dogs. "I love the idea that Wegman isn't thinking about picture books any differently from his adult work, that he's approaching his books for kids with the same kinds of ideas and aesthetic concerns," said author and panel moderator Laurel Snyder. "He seems to be an artist by nature and an author by default, and it shows." Wegman knows it, too. At best, he's a "part-time" children's book author, a fact that became apparent to him in the company of established children's authors at the book festival. "I don't have a TV show. You're not going to have a huge following unless you have a franchise or a creature -- something that gets in your imagination, whereas I just kind of dabble in children's books," he said. "Everything that I do is sort of that way," he said. "I think it's a product of being an artist in the '60s, where switching mediums was not alien." Don't get Wegman wrong -- he loves children. He has two children of his own that he also likes to show off in pictures on his iPhone doing winter sports like ice skating and playing hockey. He also likes creating art with children, which he occasionally does in schools. They don't care about impressing William Wegman the artist -- even his appearances on "Sesame Street" with Fay Wray are too far in the past to register with them. "They don't care about doing a William Wegman piece. They just want to do a Darth Vader piece, or disco dog," he said. "Their language is mesmerizing." If he could be anywhere, unsurprisingly, he'd be spending time with his dogs in the country, or taking photos of them in New York, where he spends about half the year. Dogs' personalities shine through in front of the camera, he said. It was true for Man Ray, who became "very calm and interested" when Wegman would point a camera at him. Same goes for Flo and Topper, who "loves to be on top of things." "You really fall in love with them taking their pictures," he said. "You learn so much about them."

William Wegman's latest picture book "Flo & Wendell Explore" features photos and paintings . The book was inspired by Wegman's Weimaraner puppies, Flo and Topper . "You really fall in love with them taking their pictures," Wegman says . Fans often bring their dogs to meet Wegman at speaking engagements .

(CNN) -- For decades, residents in Makoko have boarded wooden canoes to navigate through a labyrinth of narrow waterways crisscrossing a floating shanty town perched on stilts above Lagos Lagoon's murky canals. Lacking access to basic infrastructure, including clean drinking water, electricity and waste disposal, and prone to severe environmental and health hazards, Makoko is one of the many chaotic human settlements that have sprouted in Lagos in recent years. Its makeshift shacks shelter thousands of people fighting for space in one the world's most crowded cities. But in late July, scores of Makoko dwellers were left homeless after Lagos authorities swooped into the low-lying coastal community and demolished many of the community's houses and other illegal structures. Interactive: Lagos - Engulfed by floods . Officials cited security concerns for the operation -- the water village had grown dangerously close to a major bridge and the electrical towers surrounding it. In the past, local authorities have also said that the ever-growing slums built on flood-prone wetlands put an additional burden on the city's inadequate drainage systems. Yet the demolition left a large number of people displaced and homeless overnight, their possessions disappearing into the water. Without a place to go, many have since taken to their canoes for shelter or squatted with neighbors. "We can't keep living like this," says Makoko resident Paul Adiroba. "We are human beings, we are not animals." Related: A look inside Nigeria's floating slum . Some say that Makoko residents are paying the price of an ambitious urbanization effort. Felix Morka, executive director of the Social and Economics Rights Action Center, says that Makoko residents were given just a 72-hour notice to evacuate their homes. "The government has a duty to organize its resources and mobilize its resources to improve this city," he says. "But destroying people's homes without due process is not the way to go about it -- that is counterproductive." Read related: Africa's daily commuting grind . But for others villages like Makoko need to be torn down if Lagos is to develop into a world class city. Nigeria's commercial capital and economic nerve center, Lagos has a population of some 15 million people, making the sprawling city bigger than London, Buenos Aires and even Beijing. In Metropolitan Lagos there are 20,000 people per square kilometer while authorities estimate that some 3,000 people from other states of the Nigerian federation enter the state every day without leaving. Read more: Nigeria's growth leaves elderly behind . Professor Johnson Bade Falade, Habitat Program Manager for Nigeria, says that a number of socio-economic factors have led to Lagos experiencing an "astronomical growth" between the 1960s and now. "At the time Lagos was growing there wasn't too much importance attached to physical planning," he explains. "We were left with the kinds of challenges that cities are growing, planning is not complete." About 70% of the city's population is believed to live in slums, while a 2006 U.N report estimated that only 10% of households in the Lagos Metropolitan area were directly connected to a municipal water supply. Beset by a swelling population, expanding slums and crumbling infrastructure, Lagos authorities have undertaken a series of urbanization efforts in recent years to modernize the sprawling city's facilities. Read related: Underwater cables bring faster internet to West Africa . Falade says that "a breath of fresh air has come over Lagos," in the recent years. "The difference is clear, the evidence is the improved landscape of Lagos in the urban regeneration project." The city has launched a regulated bus rapid-transit system and has begun work to develop a reliable and affordable urban rail system as part of efforts to sort out its legendary snail-paced traffic. A gleaming fleet of new garbage trucks is also being deployed to deal with the 10,000 tons of waste generated every day. But perhaps the most impressive project for the Lagos of tomorrow is no other than the Eko Atlantic, a pioneering residential and business development located on the Victoria Island, along its upmarket Bar Beach coastline. The ambitious project is being built on three and half square miles of land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to provide accommodation for 250,000 people and employment opportunities for a further 150,000. "This is a city for the 21st century, we are not using an old model," says David Frame, managing director of Eko Atlantic. "We are finding ways and means to produce a city that will reach international standards." Many hope that urban renewal projects like the Eko Atlantic will bring more investment opportunities to the city. "So we have a lot of opportunity for recreational facilities as well as providing a core business center and a good place to live right on the coast of Lagos," says Frame. It's clear Lagos needs to quickly develop its overburdened infrastructure to accommodate the needs of a rapidly increasing population and provide jobs, education and proper infrastructure or risk significant social upheaval. But it also seems that in the race to rebuild some, like the Makoko residents, may be left behind. "There is a more responsible way to engage in development activity," says Morka. "The government must see the people not as marginal to the city, they must be seen as integral to the city. They are part of this population."

Lagos authorities have demolished houses in one of the city's coastal slums . Many people have been left displaced and without a place to sleep . The city is taking a series of steps to modernize its overburdened infrastructure . Lagos, one of Africa's most-populous cities, has some 15 million inhabitants .

(CNN) -- Emil and Leslie Congdon have just one goal, really: Run the best bag company in the world. It might sound like a stretch for a company of three people operating out of a 1,300-square-foot workshop in Nashville. But Emil Congdon, a self-trained leather craftsman and unabashed perfectionist, doesn't see the point in striving for anything less. "There are a lot of people making stuff; you have to be unique and offer something different. You just have to make it better," said the 33-year-old father of three, who runs the company, Emil Erwin, with his wife, Leslie. "The world doesn't need another widget; it needs a better widget." It's a philosophy that seems to be working so far for Emil Erwin, which is named after Congdon's hometown of Erwin in mountainous eastern Tennessee. In less than four years, Emil Erwin's handmade bags and accessories have drawn the attention of major retailers and customers worldwide, proving a small operation can make a big splash. But, as Emil Erwin branches into new territory with women's handbags and clutches, the Congdons are playing it safe when it comes to growing their company -- part of the reason they have only one employee who helps create their products. "I want to grow, but I'm not going to grow for the sake of growth," Emil Congdon said. "I want to make some money, but I have the long view and I want to make sure we're doing it right." Shopping made in America . From their workshop in Nashville's Marathon Village, the Congdons work constantly to fulfill orders. It's been that way since 2010, Congdon said, when lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun's "Made in the South" awards recognized Emil Erwin's "elegantly simple" bags made by hand from rich, heavy leather and waxed canvas. Congdon's smartphone began ringing with orders, prompting him to disable the notification alert. To keep up, he decided to quit his day job as a computer salesman for Dell. "We couldn't justify taking orders unless we had a long-term plan for fulfilling them," Leslie Congdon said. "It hasn't stopped since then." 'It's not for everybody' Emil Congdon's fascination with leather-working began in a shoe and saddle repair store in his Appalachian hometown. In college, he taught himself to sew by mending his own clothes and discovered that he enjoyed it. When he couldn't afford a leather tote bag, he made his own. It was far from a masterpiece, he recalls, but he was hooked and hell-bent on mastering the process. Making bags and wallets on nights and weekends sustained him through a handful of unfulfilling jobs -- automotive restoration, unloading boxes, customizing tour buses for musical acts -- that enabled him to support his growing family. He began selling his handiwork at craft shows around Nashville and throughout the region, catching the attention of Matt and Carrie Eddmenson, the couple behind American denim company Imogene + Willie. They began to carry Emil Erwin bags in their Nashville store and in 2009, the two companies collaborated on a bag for the J. Crew men's boutique in New York, earning the attention of other department stores, including Barneys. Made in America: The short list . The orders kept coming in. They have yet to clear the wait list, Congdon says. By 2012, Congdon was ready to move his workshop out of the family garage and into a workspace in Nashville's Marathon Village. He shared the space for about a year with another budding Nashville designer, men's accessories maker Otis James. By 2013, both businesses had grown to the point that they needed their own workshops. Standards over growth . Despite the growth, the Congdons don't measure success by the number of wallets and belts they sell. To them, being the best means making a distinct product that meets their standards. It's part of the reason they haven't hired more people, he said. Congdon makes each bag to order by hand, a craft he said requires a certain amount of raw talent. "It's not for everybody -- or maybe I'm not for everybody," he said, laughing. "You can't just want to do it and make it happen, not to the level that I expect or our customers expect." Otherwise, Emil Erwin is growing and changing in other ways. The Congdons just launched a line of women's handbags and clutches in a design collaboration. The company recently stopped doing wholesale and started selling exclusively through their website. It might sound counterintuitive for a company trying to expand, but it allows them to bring down the cost of their products and interact directly with customers, Congdon said. "That's the joy of being a small business. We can do whatever we want as long as it makes sense for us and it's fair for our customers," he said. Besides, he didn't start a family business to get rich, he said. He did it because he loves working with his hands and having something to show for his efforts. "We're not building this as a brand just to sell something. We want to build it as a legacy for our children and grandchildren," he said. "But it would be nice to walk away from work for a week."

Emil and Leslie Congdon launched bag and accessories company Emil Erwin in 2009 . The line has drawn attention from customers worldwide and retailers Barneys and J. Crew . "I want to grow, but I'm not going to grow for the sake of growth," Emil Congdon says .

(CNN) -- Just over 24 hours after Super Typhoon smashed into the coast of Tacloban just two blocks from their hotel, the three-man team of professional storm chasers knew they had to get out. Outside, the water was more than waist deep, roads were clogged with debris, and one of their team members, Mark Thomas, had a deep gash to his leg, inflicted by a jagged piece of sheet metal that sliced into him, unseen beneath the swirling water. "On Saturday we realized we needed to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible, mostly because of Mark's leg," said James Reynolds, founder of Earth Uncut Productions. He and Thomas were joined by Josh Morgerman, who runs iCyclone.com, a storm chasing site from the U.S. When the typhoon hit they were working with CNN anchor Andrew Stevens and producer Tim Schwarz. Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the capital of Leyte province in the eastern Philippines early Friday morning, creating "blinding rain, absolutely ferocious winds (and) deafening sounds," Reynolds said. "Windows were blowing out, water was cascading down the staircases in the hotel, flooding all the rooms." After a couple of hours, the storm surge hit, flooding the hotel's ground floor before conditions eased enough to venture outside. Dazed survivors with cuts and bruises searched for anything they could salvage beneath the wreck of their homes. However, Reynolds said on day two, some were raiding abandoned shops for food and water. Pharmacies were being targeted, presumably for medication. He also saw some people carrying electrical appliances, useless in a town without electricity and covered in water. "People in the Philippines are great and they're tough and they're good at fending for themselves. But the problem is in a situation like that, the more desperate people become for food and water, the more desperate their actions become," he said. A sense of foreboding was starting to set in, Reynolds said, as people started to realize that everything they had and knew had been wiped out. "In the immediate aftermath I got the sense that a lot of people didn't quite realize how serious the situation was and how badly it would escalate," he said. "Whilst we didn't personally feel threatened you could just sense it wouldn't take much." "I remember at one point looking at the security guard in the hotel and it wasn't because of any specific threat, but he had his gun in his hand, and he looked like he was anxious and preparing himself for something, and that was unnerving for me." Back at their flooded hotel, the team planned a way to get out. They'd chosen the Alejandro Hotel because of its height -- at four stories it was one of the tallest buildings in Tacloban and they could see the airport from the roof. OPEN STORY: Haiyan's impact . They could also see kilometer after kilometer of flattened buildings and debris covering roads turning what is normally a six to seven kilometer car ride to the airport into potentially a seven-hour trek over collapsed buildings and trees. They were in their hotel room when they heard planes fly overhead. "We rushed out of the room, sprinted up to the roof and watched the planes fly over the city. We were begging them, 'please land, please,' because we didn't know the state of the airport. When we saw one of the planes land, we thought, right, ok the airport's a viable option." Reynolds and Morgerman set out, leaving an injured Thomas back at the hotel. They had handheld radios and within half an hour a call came from Thomas. He'd learned of another way out: a military staging post where the airforce was flying people out. iREPORT: Looking for loved ones . "It was so uncertain -- we didn't want to give up our hotel room and food supplies because if we got to the staging post and they said sorry we couldn't help you we would have been in big trouble," Reynolds said. Leaving behind most of their belongings, they carried the bare minimum to the military checkpoint where they registered their names and were told: "Yes, you can get out on an air force flight but you have to make your own way to their airport." At that moment, a man Reynolds describes only as a general piped up: "There is a helicopter coming, come with me." "We ran with him," Reynolds said. "The chopper landed and we scrambled onto it and got ferried to the airport." From there they boarded a C-130 with other survivors, and the bagged corpses of four people who didn't make it. They landed in Cebu and caught flights out of the Philippines. Thomas is currently being treated in hospital in Taipei. Back in Hong Kong, Reynolds said it was clear the people of Tacloban had no idea of what was coming. "The Philippines isn't used to getting storm surges -- it's not usually such of an issue so this would have caught people by surprise. They don't associate typhoons with the rising water levels like that." The day before, his team had bought enough food and water for one week. There were no queues and shelves were well stocked. "It was like a usual day at the supermarket," Reynolds said. Asked whether he thought the message had got out that the storm could be the biggest ever to make landfall, he said, "No, no, it can't have done."

Storm chasers tell of dramatic escape from Tacloban after Super Typhoon . Three-man team escaped on military C-130 on Saturday, day after storm . Team member's leg was gashed by sheet metal, feared infection would set in . By day two, reality was starting to sink in for survivors, James Reynolds said .

(CNN)The popular image of wrestling may be of WWE superstars pretending to fight each other in luridly-colored spandex but Yogeshwar Dutt's version of the sport has a much more earthy appeal. With a battle-worn face that wears the story a thousand bouts and more, the Indian freestyle wrestler has risen from the mud wrestling pits of rural India to produce moments of unscripted theater on crash mats around the world. Today, Dutt is warming up inside the Chaudhary Devi Lal Stadium complex tumbling across a padded floor in preparation for some training bouts overseen by his coach. The vast gymnasium in the town of Sonipat, a few miles north of New Delhi has become a center of excellence for Indian wrestling in recent times with the 32-year-old becoming one of the country's most celebrated mat men. It might be easy to attribute his success -- Dutt is a double Commonwealth Games champion and an Olympic bronze medalist -- to his impressive, muscle-bound physique, but wrestling isn't just about throwing your weight around, he argues. It's also requires brain power. "Wrestling is very different compared to other sports. It requires equal use of power as well as equal use of mind," Dutt told CNN's Human to Hero series. "It is usually said that wrestlers do not have a sharp mind, but the wrestler (has to) use their brain really well ... you have to take a decision to attack or defend within a second." The indoor facility he trains in is a world away from the traditional open-air mud wrestling pit -- called Akhada -- in his home village of Bhainswal Kalan. Dutt took up the sport when he was eight years old, learning an ancient form of wrestling called Pehlwani in the mud before switching to mats during his teenage years. During his time in the sport Dutt says wrestling's popularity in India has surged. "I have seen the difference of day and night. When I was small there was a mud pit wrestling area in my village and not a mat," he says. "There was no infrastructure and facilities when we used to wrestle, but today many have turned professional and now everyone wants to be an Olympic or World champion," he added. "The most important thing is wrestling was the game of the village and now it has reached the city. And now the people in the city like to play and see wrestling." The sport's growing profile has been aided by Dutt's success and that of his contemporary Sushil Kumar, a former world champion and Olympic silver medalist. "I've known Sushil from the days I started going to the Akhada and we used to meet each other in national matches," he said. "We have been friends for the past 18 years. We have changed the mind set on wrestling in India with our friendship -- that is a really big thing." While Kumar has enjoyed the more successful career to date, Dutt may now be entering a golden period. Last year was particularly fruitful as Dutt clinched a second Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow, Scotland in August before making history at the Asian Games the following month. When Dutt beat Tajikistan's Zalimkhan Yusupov in the final of the 65 kg freestyle final in South Korea he ended an Indian wrestling drought, winning the country's first gold medal at the Games in 28 years. It was an emotional moment for Dutt who dedicated the win to his father who died shortly before the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar. "It was my father's dream that I wrestle for the country and make the name of the country proud," Dutt said. Dutt's recent good run might have come earlier had he not been plagued by injuries. His cauliflower ears are testament to a life spent grappling with opponents -- head, neck and back injuries have all sidelined him for extended periods. But it was injuries to his knees that have threatened to permanently derail his career. Tears to both the anterior and medial cruciate ligament of his right knee following the 2008 Beijing Olympics required two operations and 10 months out of the sport. Dutt completed a triumphant return to action in 2010 winning the Commonwealth Games title and won a bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London before another knee injury saw him sit out 2013. "There was lot of pressure on me that I have to win a medal in 2012 because you have a dream and if a man comes so close to his dream and then (fails) it is very painful. I go with a mind set that I have to win and if you win only then will the name of the country be known." Achieving a podium at the Olympics -- India won just six medals in 2012 -- has earned Dutt a degree of personal fame in his homeland along with some other perks. In 2012, his local government in Haryana awarded him cash and land following his Olympic success and the following year he was recognized on a national level when he was the recipient of a Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award. His sights are now firmly set on preparing for one final push for Olympic gold in Rio next year. "Now that I have won gold at the Asian Games, I will try to win gold at the Olympics and dedicate it to my father," he said.

Yogeshwar Dutt is an Indian wrestler who won bronze at the 2012 Olympics . The 32-year-old has also won two Commonwealth Games gold medals . Dutt began wrestling in traditional mud pits when he was eight . Graduated to mats in his teens; His success has helped raise profile of wrestling in India .

Fairhope, Alabama (CNN) -- Mark Castlow and Jimbo Meador have a solution for saving the oil-covered birds in the Gulf of Mexico. However, they also have a problem. I saw the solution firsthand during a quick ride through a Gulf inlet, near Meador's home of Fairhope, Alabama, about a 20-minute drive outside Mobile. The two co-owners of Florida-based Dragonfly Boatworks have been working at a breakneck pace for weeks to modify the design of their shallow draft fishing boats, turning them into mobile triage units for pelicans, seagulls, and pretty much any kind of critter caught in the catastrophe. Their concern on the 65th day of the underwater gusher is deep rooted. Castlow, who says he has "salt water in his blood," grew up surfing off Miami and the Keys. Meador, a former shrimper, was raised along Alabama's Gulf shores. They're keenly aware that each day adds to the death toll of birds and other animals dying in pockets of oil that invade their natural habitat. "We have to do everything we can to take care of them," said Meador, who said he has a serious interest in the "birding world." "We want to do try to do what's right to help them because they can't help themselves." Oil-soaked birds: Rescue or kill? Unlike more traditional boats, which have deep keels that bog down when they push into shallow marshlands, the custom Dragonfly boats can operate in less than a foot of water. Their broad hulls create very little wake that might further alarm wildlife; and they've even been painted a light green color to blend better with their surroundings. On board, Castlow and Meador have added a whole set of tools to help wildlife rescuers: a large, skid-proof worktable for crews to handle animals, an adjustable shade canopy which can be easily lowered to slip beneath bayou tree branches, fine mist nozzles to cool the scorching summer temperatures for workers and critters. The oil won't hamper the boat's engines, thanks to a special cleaning solution. The men consulted wildlife biologists and other scientists as they rushed to make the improvements, and they've found big donors, like Florida musician Jimmy Buffett, who are willing to help them make the boats available to rescuers free of charge. The vessels will be outfitted with wireless Internet access, and plans are in the works to team up with Google Earth to enable anyone to track the boats online in real time. Onboard Web cameras donated by a group in Houston, Texas, will allow classrooms or anyone else to watch rescuers in action. So far, Buffett has funded construction of one prototype boat, according to the duo. The plan is to produce a new boat every seven days from here on out. After the cleanup, the animal rescue groups will be allowed to keep the boats for use in research projects. Clean up crews trample pelican nests . No one will make money off of the deal, but the animals could benefit immensely, including brown pelicans, a species native to the eastern Gulf which has fallen victim to the oil. Brown pelicans spent almost 40 years on the endangered species list until last year. Salvaging just a few of the birds is so vital to the survival of the species, said Lee Hollingsworth, a wildlife adviser with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Wales. "Something has got to be done, and of course, it's worth saving the bird." Brown pelican: Symbol of survival . Every day adds to the death toll of the region's birds and other animals. According to a June 22 report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, rescue officials have collected 1,746 birds along the coastline from Louisiana to Florida. Of those, 749 were alive and "visibly oiled." Another 997 were found dead, and 265 of those were visibly oiled. Birds that were found alive and then euthanized numbered 143. The report states BP's Deepwater Horizon spill is not responsible for all dead birds. How much is a pelican worth? Although the vessels have been praised by wildlife experts, including marine biologists at the University of Southern Mississippi, Castlow and Meador say they've run into dead ends trying to get their boats into the hands of animal rescuers. They've called federal authorities and BP too, but they say no one seems able to willing to tell them how and when the boats might be put to work. Castlow and Meador call their support network the DEA, the Dragonfly Environmental Army, which is made up of those who have extended a helping hand, which include suppliers, donors and volunteers. They're hoping the combined forces of their group can break through the bureaucracy and get their boats in the hands of animal rescuers. It is frustrating to both men, but they say they've been so encouraged by wildlife experts who have universally praised their innovation, that they're pressing on, convinced that no less than the lives of thousands of birds are at stake, and the future of their beloved Gulf too. "And we're going to get all of these people, and we are going to break that ceiling," said Castlow. "And we will go through it -- because it's our livelihood." CNN's Katie Ross and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.

Mark Castlow and Jimbo Meador develop boat to save oil-covered wildlife . Musician Jimmy Buffett offers to fund boats for rescue operations, say boatmakers . Boats operate in shallow water, are outfitted with special tools to save wildlife . Wildlife experts praise their idea, but men say feds and BP haven't responded .

(CNN) -- If Sony is to continue its sales dominance in the new gaming and entertainment console market, it may be one of its most popular exclusive titles for the PlayStation 4 that does the trick. "inFamous: Second Son" continues the franchise's story of enhanced humans who are able to use special powers for good or for evil. This episode benefits in many ways, though, because the developer, Sucker Punch, start working with Sony early into the development cycle of the PS4 and really get a sense of how the new console would work. A new protagonist and a new city let the animators really explore areas of expression that they couldn't do with the older generation consoles. Animation director Billy Harper said the result is a real city -- Seattle -- that feels more natural than those in previous "inFamous" titles. "We took the familiarity of the 'inFamous' universe. We know what makes people happy. We know what makes us grin," Harper told CNN. "We decided to essentially rework everything else, because the PlayStation 4 let us." Seattle, where Sucker Punch is based, is rendered in fine detail -- from the familiar spire of the Space Needle to shops along Puget Sound. Cut scenes and in-game dynamics work together to show how the player has already interacted with buildings or other people, and create deeper player immersion. "We're able to get all the subtleties in the characters themselves and all the nuances of actors," Harper said. "We're capturing every single thing we get on stage, which is totally insane. We avoid the 'Uncanny Valley' (digital characters that appear too lifelike) effect you usually see in most games." John Koller, vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, said it was important to bring in the crew from Sucker Punch before the PS4 was launched to give console builders a better idea how developers were going to use the new device. "The PS4 was done hand in hand with development and 'inFamous' was one of those titles brought in early," Koller said. The result was not only an open-world game with plenty of action, but a wide-ranging story that explores the moral quandaries ingrained within the franchise's story. Do you choose the path of the hero, or flip the coin and become the villain? "How ruthless can you be? How heroic can you be? How true can you stay to that (path) to earn the biggest reward?" says Jennifer Dean, public relations manager for SCEA. While Koller won't call "Second Son" the PS4's killer app, chatter on social media and forum have shown many people are using the game as their "excuse" to buy the new console. However, expectations from fans and critics alike are very high. "'inFamous' has always been my favorite Sony-exclusive franchise, and the first 'inFamous' was actually the reason I bought a PlayStation 3 a few years into its lifecycle. Everything I saw at PAX Prime 2013 made me say that I would own a PlayStation 4 prior to the launch of 'inFamous: Second Son', just because the title wowed me that much," explained Brian Shea, editor-in-chief of Video Game Writers. "I expect it to deliver the same open-world superhero experience the first two retail entries brought us, but in a way that harnesses the power of the PlayStation 4." Koller said this is just the beginning for what he calls blockbuster titles for the PS4, and explains there is a strategy to it all. With "Destiny," "Watch_Dogs," "The Order: 1886," and "Uncharted 4" on the horizon, he thinks "inFamous: Second Son" has the initial lasting power to potentially sell more hardware. "You buy a platform and you're actually looking not only at the game you're buying today, but the content that's coming ... because that promise is really important when you are putting down $399 for hardware," Koller said. Harper pointed out it was a huge benefit for Sucker Punch to hold off releasing the new title until they could do something to show off the new console's power. "A lot of what we wanted to do was provide justification for purchasing the hardware," Harper said. "In the process, it gave us so much (flexibility) to actually let people justify buying another 'inFamous' title. It is as close as you can get to buying a new IP (intellectual property) utilizing the same universe." However, a five-month delay for a blockbuster title could have spelled potential doom as it has for other new console starts (i.e.: Nintendo's Wii U). Nintendo sales of their new console struggled in its fledgling months, mostly due to the lack of gaming titles that appealed to their audience. Shea doesn't think Sony is in any danger, and actually will benefit from the release time. "Sony has a much better relationship with third-party developers than Nintendo does, and right now Sony just has more credibility with core gamers," Shea said. "The success or failure of 'inFamous: Second Son' won't change any of those facts. That said, if 'inFamous' does click with gamers, the PlayStation 4 will be a hard console to compete with." "inFamous: Second Son" is a PlayStation 4 exclusive and was released worldwide on March 21. It is rated T for Teen due to blood, drug reference, language, sexual themes, and violence.

'inFamous: Second Son' is an exclusive PlayStation 4 title . Designers had access to the new console before it was released . For some, it's been the "excuse" to buy a PS4 . The game features enhanced humans who may choose good or evil .

(CNN) -- American drivers across the country are rejoicing at falling gasoline prices, but the world's oil producers are understandably less thrilled at the drop in revenues. That discontent could devolve into something more serious: instability, and even unrest. And that, in turn, would drive prices back up, leaving no one feeling happy. This is a hard cycle to break. Ultimately, there's only one way out, and that's to depend less on oil, for both producers and consumers. In the meantime, the U.S. economy will just adjust to lower prices, even if that adjustment is painful for some companies and their investors. That may be true almost nowhere else in the world. A number of oil-producing countries may have trouble paying their bills if oil prices stay below a certain level. Expert opinion generally puts that level between $80 and $100 per barrel, but given how much money goes missing in most oil-producing countries, it's hard to be sure about that breaking point. No one really knows the price elasticity of corruption. In countries that are already experiencing unrest -- and unrest often goes hand in hand with oil wealth -- any shortfall could spell disaster. Some producers are more vulnerable than others. Norway, for example, will be fine. The country has a fairly diverse economy, a well-run national oil company that plays by the rules, and a democratic government. Saudi Arabia, like Norway, has a large sovereign wealth fund, which the country is actively using now to weather price volatility. There may even be a silver lining for the U.S. in the case of some countries. For Russia and Iran, already feeling the bite of international sanctions, the domestic pressure that comes with low prices may prompt their leaders to be more accommodating in international negotiations. At least for now. It's the countries that are already in deep trouble, such as Iraq and Libya, that are truly at risk. Oil income has been propping up embattled central governments, but with less money to ensure political and popular support, and the ongoing assaults, these governments could fall. But there are other less obvious, but no less consequential, producers at risk. Consider Nigeria, an important global supplier with the 26th largest GDP in the world. Nigeria should have everything going for it, but instead, the country ranks 153rd out of 187 countries in the United Nation's human development index, rating low in everything from life expectancy to education. The nation's highly corrupt energy sector is partly to blame. 2015 is an election year for Nigeria, and if the unpopular President, Goodluck Jonathan, lacks the patronage dollars to spread around and won't step aside, expect problems. Venezuela is not much better off. Still an important trade partner for the U.S., the country's oil production is in steady decline, even though Venezuela has the largest petroleum reserves in the world. The Chavez era was tough on Venezuela's once-respected national oil company, featuring political purges and a devastating strike. If the increasingly decrepit energy sector can no longer bankroll social programs, that will roil an already unsettled population. Energy subsidies to other Caribbean nations may well be the first thing to go, and U.S. refiners will feel the bite, too. One of the top energy trading partners for the U.S., Mexico, has seen its production drop by almost a quarter in the last decade. Mexico's largest field, Cantarell, has long been in decline, and the national oil company lacks the technical expertise to drill new deepwater sites. The Pena Nieto government is currently shepherding through reforms that could change that picture, but lower prices could be a complication, given that 30-40% of government revenues come from oil. All of this instability is bad news for U.S. national security -- but also for the American consumer. This is the cruel full circle of the global oil market: unrest provoked by low oil prices in these countries can run prices back up. The United States is still a net importer of petroleum, and even if that should change -- which is possible -- the United States will remain tied to the global oil market. Their crises will be our crises. So, while it's nice to get the break at the gas pump and the economic benefits of an energy boom at home, the national security price of oil remains high. In the near term, the United States should be doing everything it can to diversify global energy suppliers, including allowing exports of U.S. crude oil. In the long term, the only way out is a sustained, long-term investment in the alternatives to petroleum. This is a critical but not a quick fix, given the scale of global oil consumption and the technological challenges involved. It would help to be strategic and consistent in these investments: innovation in the transportation sector is especially important, for example, given its near-total dependence on oil. Of course, if the U. S. succeeds in energy innovation, that will in itself be destabilizing for other oil-producing countries. Ultimately, the only way out is for them is to diversify their economies and promote good governance and rule of law for their energy sector. That is something they have to do for themselves, but the U.S. should do everything it can to press, persuade, and support such reforms as a matter of national security, no matter how much oil we produce at home. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.

Oil prices have dropped sharply around the world, easing gasoline costs for U.S. drivers . Sharon Burke: Be careful what you wish for; lower prices can have a downside . She says they could foster instability in nations like Iraq and Libya that are dependent on oil . Burke: Some oil-producing countries could have trouble paying bills if price stays below $80 .

Damascus, Syria (CNN) -- The world is watching the situation in Syria transform before its eyes -- with an uptick in bombings and allegations of chemical weapons use -- but deciding what to do about it is no easy feat. In the capital, there is less shelling and fewer fighter jets are seen in the air than in the past, but the streets are as empty as ever in the wake of recent bombings. The increasing number of explosions is causing a lot of anxiety for Syrians, due in part to the fact that it's not clear which side is behind the blasts. The government blames "terrorists," a designation that includes the rebels who are trying to bring down President Bashar al-Assad. The rebels accuse the government of bombing its own capital in a ploy for sympathy. "They are all our children and it is sad. We are all Syrians killing each other," lamented Umm Wasim, who witnessed the latest tragedy: a bomb blast that killed at least 13 in Damascus Tuesday. Equally frustrating for the Syrian civilians who are waiting and hoping for international intervention in the crisis is the fact that the United States has now said there is evidence that the chemical weapon sarin has been used on a small scale in the conflict. It appears that a line has been crossed, but the response from the world community has not been swift. President Barack Obama said Tuesday the United States will wait until it has more details on the evidence of chemical weapons use before altering its strategy on the strife in Syria. Obama previously called the use of chemical weapons a "red line," but the United States has not radically changed its approach to Syria in the days since an administration official announced the finding. The United States doesn't yet know "how they were used, when they were used, who used them," Obama said. "When I am making decisions about American national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapons use, I have to make sure I have the facts." On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army said that the rebels had secured what they believe is an unexploded chemical weapon deployed by the regime in Idlib. The FSA will try to get the unexploded canister out of the country for testing, he said. "If the Syrian regime doesn't want to allow the U.N. investigation team in, we will do all we can in order to present the evidence to the international community because we have the moral and national obligations to our people and our nation," Louay Almokdad said. At the scene of Tuesday's bombing in the capital, some people burst into tears as they spoke about the event and the general situation in Syria. "They are killing our people. Washington and the West know they are terrorists. Why are they providing them with weapons?" asked Mohammed Agha. But the United States says it provides only non-lethal aid to the opposition. The question of arming the rebels is being debated among the international community. Syrian state-run television said the "terrorist explosion" also wounded 70 people. The blast apparently came from a car bomb parked behind the old building of the Interior Ministry, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Syrian Observatory, which opposes al-Assad's government, said the number of casualties is expected to rise because of the large number of injured. Prime minister uninjured after bomb targets motorcade . Members of the Syrian armed forces were among those hurt in the explosion, the group said. But Almokdad told CNN he believes the attack was staged by the government. "The latest blasts are nothing but a farce staged by the Assad regime in order to beg for sympathy from the international community on the eve of the U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the use of chemical weapons by the regime armed forces against our innocent civilians," the FSA spokesman said. He also said the rebel army was not involved in the explosion. "Setting up car bombs in the capital or anywhere in the country is not a strategy that the FSA condones," Almokdad said. "We reject targeting any civilian area and risking the lives of our civilian population." Syrian rebels attack military airports across country, opposition says . Tuesday's blast occurred a day after Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survived a bombing that targeted his motorcade in an upscale Damascus neighborhood, the government and opposition reported. The Syrian Observatory said one of al-Halqi's escorts and five civilians were killed in the explosion. Another escort and a driver were badly injured, the group said. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported casualties but did not elaborate on the incident. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the Monday blast. But the rebel spokesman said he believes that attack was also set up by the government. "Al-Halqi is a minor figure propped by the al-Assad regime, and he is not a strategic target to the FSA or anyone in the revolution. We actually feel sorry for the man who was appointed to be a prime minister," he said. The Syrian civil war has pitted al-Assad's forces against rebels seeking an end to four decades of Assad family rule. More than 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict in the past two years. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reported from Damascus, with Mariano Castillo reporting and writing from Atlanta. CNN's Saad Abedine and Holly Yan also contributed to this report.

Obama says more information is needed before a decision on Syria . A rebel spokesman says recent blasts were set up by the government to garner sympathy . State-run TV calls Tuesday blast a "terrorist explosion;" no one has claimed responsibility . The blast took place a day after the prime minister survived a bombing on his motorcade .

(CNN) -- The less-than-confrontational comments coming from new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are not what the West is used to hearing from that country's office in recent years. Rouhani, a cleric and moderate politician elected in June, has signaled his desire for better engagement with the West, most recently in a Thursday Washington Post op-ed, in which he called for an end to "the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart." Coming a week before he's to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Rouhani's op-ed called for nations to work together on contentious issues such as Iran's nuclear program. And he offered to broker efforts to bring peace to Syria, a long-time Iranian ally torn by civil war. Given Iran's closeness to Syria's government, it seems unlikely rebels would consider Rouhani an independent broker. But Rouhani's tone is far less fiery than that of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And Rouhani's promise of more positive engagement with the world during his election campaign appeared to propel him to victory. Rouhani, 65, enjoyed reformist backing and took more than 50% of the vote. Three of the six candidates were much more conservative, and the Iranian public viewed Rouhani as a mild alternative. But how just how conciliatory is Rouhani? Hassan Rouhani is Iran's next president . Hawk or dove? Rouhani has a reputation for avoiding extreme positions and bridging differences, but he is no pushover. He has a long history of service in the country's defense establishment. He is a former commander of the Iranian air defenses, is a leader on three war and defense councils, and was national security adviser to the president for 13 years before Ahmadinejad took office. Rouhani is also a diplomatic and legal intellectual. He has three law degrees, including a doctorate from a university in Scotland, and as president of Iran's strategic research center, he regularly publishes essays. He has served as managing editor for three quarterlies on scientific and strategic research, and foreign policy. He was also Iran's chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, who later became one of the leading figures in Iran's rebellious "Green Movement," which erupted into street protests after the re-election of Ahmadinejad in 2009. Ahmadinejad's government violently quashed the protests with the help of elements of a unit of the Revolutionary Guard, which answers to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader. Rouhani has expressed support for the Green Movement. "These were protests that were natural and popular," he has said. "They should have been addressed." After Green supporters chanted for him at a rally, security forces arrested members of his campaign. Relationship with Khamenei . Rouhani's relationship with Khamenei has the potential to be complex. He represented the supreme leader on Iran's security council for many years. But Rouhani has purportedly also suggested Khamenei is too rigid toward the international community, said Abbas Milani, who runs a research program on Iran at Stanford University. In a book about his experience as Iran's nuclear negotiator during Khatami's presidency, Rouhani criticizes Ayatollah Khamenei, according to Milani. "If you read in between the lines, he places a lot of blame on Khamenei," Milani says. "He says in his book that if it was up to him, he and his team would have come up with a solution that would not lead up to Iran's case being deferred to the U.N.-- saying 'we could have done this, and some people in Iran and some in the West torpedoed it." A televised presidential debate turned into an animated political clash and touched on Iran's nuclear program. Exchanges grew so heated that the candidates were later accused of having revealed national secrets during the debate. Rouhani was warned that he could be barred from running in the elections because of confidential material he revealed about Iran's nuclear program during the two-hour-long debate. It wasn't his first testy moment with Iran's state-run media. He has openly accused it of censorship and publishing lies. Many believe Rouhani was not Khamenei's favorite candidate. But Khamenei has said he is not playing favorites and would not let on whom he voted for. And Khamenei and his Guardian Council had to approve all candidates before the race began. Out of 680 who applied to run, only eight were allowed to do so. Two later dropped out. Ultimately, the supreme leader approved Rouhani's candidacy after rejecting the candidacy of a former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani endorsed Rouhani during his campaign. Rouhani is a senior cleric and still is a member of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader. As Khamenei ages and the appointment of a successor becomes necessary, Rouhani will likely have influence on the choice. CNN's Reza Sayah, Azadeh Ansari, Tara Kangarlou, Mitra Mobasherat, Laura Smith-Spark and Greg Botelho contributed to this report .

Hassan Rouhani holds a doctorate from a university in Scotland . He had a long career in Iran's defense establishment . A senior cleric, he was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and writes on diplomacy . He has made comments in support of Iran's rebellious Green Movement .

(CNN) -- A 6.3-magnitude earthquake ripped through Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday afternoon, causing multiple fatalities as it toppled buildings onto buses, buckled streets and damaged cathedrals, authorities said. New Zealand Police announced on the agency's website that a large-scale evacuation of the central city was under way. According to the news release, the earthquake killed an undetermined number of people at various locations around the city, including passengers on two buses crushed by buildings that had fallen on them. TVNZ reported that the 147-year-old Christchurch Cathedral's spire had toppled, Christchurch Hospital was being evacuated and the airport was closed. Laura Campbell told CNN she was at work at the bottom of a six-story building when the earthquake struck. She described seeing "windows blowing out, bricks falling down, people screaming, the whole nine yards." "It was bloody serious," said Campbell, who was trying to walk home. "I'm worried about what I'm going to find down the road." The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck just before 1 p.m. Tuesday (7 p.m. Monday ET), and a 5.6-magnitude aftershock struck about 15 minutes later. The U.S.G.S. recorded a second 5.5-magnitude aftershock shortly before 3 p.m. local time. The New Zealand Herald reported that phone lines in the area were out, including the city's emergency 111 service, roads were cracked -- in some cases lifted as much as a meter (1 yard) -- and water mains had burst, flooding several streets. Witness Philip Gregan said he was attending a joint U.S.- New Zealand conference when the earthquake struck. "I'm seeing a lot of damage in buildings, there are glass and bricks in the road. I've seen one collapsed bridge and there's a lot of water from broken water mains," he told CNN. "I saw one (injured) person in the back of a police car and one of our colleagues saw a person crushed by falling debris, so there are definitely dead." New Zealand's transit authority told TVNZ that it had been unable to reach its staff in Christchurch and at the Lyttleton Tunnel, which is near the epicenter. Christchurch police told TVNZ that the city's 106-year-old Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament was badly damaged, and a Herald reporter said that half the building had collapsed. Camera footage aired by the station showed piles of stone lying atop crushed chairs on the floor of the cathedral with light shining through the collapsed tower above the sanctuary. Witness Gavin Blowman told CNN how he ran into the street when the earthquake struck. "It felt like I was running on jelly," he said. "We saw a giant rock tumble to the ground from a cliff -- a rock that had been there for millennia. It fell on the RSA (Returned Services Association, a veterans' association) building -- it was terrifying." He said there were now fears that a tsunami could hit in the wake of the quake and that he and 20 other people were trying to get to higher ground. Flying out of the city currently was not an option in the hours immediately after the quake. "The airport is currently closed until further notice," an airport employee told CNN some two hours after the quake. All planes inbound for the airport were being diverted, and no planes were allowed to take off. No one was injured at the airport, he said. The employee did not give his name and wanted to clear the phone line to continue emergency work. The quake caused significant damage to several older buildings, a Herald reporter said. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said he would attend an emergency Cabinet meeting in Wellington and then fly to Christchurch if conditions allow. Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told Radio New Zealand that the rumbling tossed him across the room, that he knew of injuries in the city council building and has heard unconfirmed reports of serious injuries. "That was, in the city central anyway, as violent as the one that happened on the 4th of September," he said. Parker added that streets were jammed as people tried to get out of the city, and he urged people to avoid the water supply. "We've been through this before this once, we now need to think what we did at that time," he said. Southern New Zealand has been plagued by a series of quakes since September, when the area was shaken by a 7.1-magnitude temblor that New Zealand authorities said was the most damaging quake to hit the region since 1931. The earthquake struck in the predawn hours of September 4. Authorities said the deserted streets at that time likely kept injuries to a minimum. There were no deaths from that earthquake. Both the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and the Anglican Christchurch Cathedral were undergoing repairs after being badly damaged by the September quake. The quake struck in the "worst possible location," Kevin Fenaughty, data center manager for GNS Science, told the Herald. "It's a nightmare," he said. "A lot of people were just getting back on their feet after the original quake." TVNZ also reported that its newsroom in Christchurch was badly damaged.

NEW: Police say the 6.3-magnitude earthquake caused "multiple fatalities" NEW: Large-scale evacuations of central Christchurch are under way . NEW: Witness describes "windows blowing out, bricks falling down, people screaming" The city's Catholic and Anglican cathedrals are damaged; Christchurch airport is closed .

(CNN) -- Juan Pablo Galavis, the latest star of ABC's "The Bachelor," has gone from stud to dud faster than he could hand out his final rose. The former pro soccer player and first Latino "Bachelor" in series history was initially adored by the show's fan base, who saw Juan Pablo, 32, as a sweet, romantic single father searching for "everlasting love." His appearance on the 18th season of "The Bachelor," which debuted in January, was so hyped that ABC dubbed the month "Juan-uary" in his honor. But even before Monday night's season finale and surprising "After the Final Rose" post-finale special, Juan Pablo was being called "the worst 'Bachelor' ever" -- which is saying a lot, because this franchise has had some doozies. (See: Womack, Brad.) So how did Juan Pablo pull off such a rapid downfall? In six easy steps: . 1. Made controversial comments about marriage and sexuality . By the third episode, Juan Pablo was already losing viewers. The reality star, who'd previously appeared on ABC's "The Bachelorette," was asked at a network party whether he thought it would be "good at some point to have a gay or bisexual bachelor." Juan Pablo then gave a long response that included statements like, "I don't think it is a good example for kids to watch that on TV," and, "There's this thing about gay people. ... They're more pervert in a sense." We should note that Juan Pablo, who's lived in Venezuela, does have a language barrier, and when he apologized for offending anyone he said that he'd chosen the wrong words. Whether his true meaning was lost in translation or not, the comments left a cloud over the rest of the season. 2. Caused one woman to accuse him of being a 'narcissist' and an 'a***ole' After the scandal over his views on sexuality, Juan Pablo plowed ahead through his options on "The Bachelor." By the time he narrowed the 27 women vying to be his next bride to the final few, at least one of the contestants, Andi Dorfman, couldn't stand him. After spending time in "the fantasy suite" with Juan Pablo, Dorfman said she "could not wait" to get out of the show. "I saw a side to him that I didn't really like," she said during that episode. "There's a difference between being honest and being an a***ole." Later, Dorfman explained that she was "turned off" by him and his "borderline narcissistic" perspective. Watching the ambivalence some of the contestants developed for Juan Pablo -- including from Sharleen, another contestant who decided that he wasn't what she was looking for in a mate -- didn't help the athlete win any "best 'Bachelor'" awards. 3. Caused another woman to cry . His interactions with the women on the show only went downhill, as one of the final two ladies, Clare, accused Juan Pablo of saying an overtly sexual comment to her when the cameras stopped rolling during a helicopter ride. "As the helicopter's landing, we have a rare moment together with no cameras, nobody there with us and Juan Pablo leaned over and whispered something to me," Clare said. "He chose to tell me something that no woman wants to hear. It was insulting, it was offensive and it just made me feel awful." To make matters worse, Clare is also the same woman who broke down in tears after Juan Pablo told her he regretted a late-night swim session with her. Although she made it into the final two, Juan Pablo didn't propose to Clare -- and then commented aloud how glad he was that he didn't. 4. Didn't propose during the final show . We already know what happened to Clare, but the other final woman, Nikki, "won" this season only by a technicality. Juan Pablo picked out an engagement ring but then refused to put it on her finger because he wasn't "100% sure" he wanted to propose. (The ring is now reportedly with "Bachelor" producers.) 5. Refused to say the 'L' word . Similarly, Juan Pablo was just as evasive about his relationship with Nikki on Monday's "After the Final Rose" special. When "Bachelor" host Chris Harrison asked him directly whether he was in love with Nikki, Juan Pablo replied, "I'm not going to answer that question." His potential future fiance, at least, isn't bothered by his inability to express his devotion verbally. "It's not that he doesn't tell me -- it's like in his actions," Nikki said. "I know that he does (love me). I know that he cares about me a lot." Viewers at home don't know that, though. As TV Without Pity put it, "Congrats to #TheBachelor for the most horrifically strange and uncomfortable #AfterTheFinalRose in franchise history." 6. Got celebrities to hate him . "OMG i want to stab this narcissistic idiot... PAINNNNNNN," Kirstie Alley tweeted on Monday. "I HATE THIS A***OLE!!! He is a jerk!!!! STRAIGHT UP!!" Kristin Chenoweth agreed, chiming in, "Isn't he a disappointment?" To "Bachelor" fans, apparently so.

Juan Pablo Galavis has had a rapid downfall as "The Bachelor" It began with homophobic comments and then spiraled with his behavior on the show . His refusal to propose or say the "L" word to the woman he chose has enraged viewers .

Washington (CNN) -- Colleagues of Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia mourned his death as family and friends planned his funeral. Byrd, the longest-serving member of the U.S. Congress, died Monday at the age of 92. Under West Virginia law, the state's popular two-term Democratic governor, Joe Manchin, has the power to appoint Byrd's successor. Manchin is expected to name a fellow member of his party to succeed Byrd, who was also a Democrat, thereby keeping a total of 59 Democrats in the Senate. There are questions, however, regarding exactly how long Byrd's appointed successor can serve before another election is held. West Virginia law says that if a Senate vacancy is created within two and a half years of the end of a term, the appointed successor will automatically serve out the remainder of the term. If not, a special election is required. Byrd's current term is scheduled to end on January 3, 2013. The two and a half year mark will be reached on Saturday, July 3. West Virginia law fails, however, to state exactly when a vacancy occurs. Whether the vacancy is considered to have been created at the moment of Byrd's death, or when the Senate informs state officials of the vacancy, or when Manchin declares the seat vacant will be crucial. West Virginia -- a traditional Democratic stronghold -- has been increasingly competitive for the Republicans. John McCain easily defeated Barack Obama in West Virginia in the 2008 presidential election. Neither Manchin nor the Democratic-led Senate have made any official declarations yet. As question swirl around the timing of the next election for Byrd's seat, numerous political leaders have been issuing statements in remembrance of the nine-term senator: . -- President Barack Obama . "The people of West Virginia have lost a true champion, the United States Senate has lost a venerable institution, and America has lost a voice of principle and reason with the passing of Robert C. Byrd. Senator Byrd's story was uniquely American. He was born into wrenching poverty, but educated himself to become an authoritative scholar, respected leader, and unparalleled champion of our Constitution. He scaled the summit of power, but his mind never strayed from the people of his beloved West Virginia. He had the courage to stand firm in his principles, but also the courage to change over time." -- Gov. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia . "Sen. Byrd was a fearless fighter for the constitution, his beloved state and its great people. He made a significant mark as a member of Congress in both our state's and nation's history. His accomplishments and contributions will define history for eternity." -- Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia . "It has been my greatest privilege to serve with Robert C. Byrd in the United States Senate. I looked up to him, I fought next to him, and I am deeply saddened that he is gone. He leaves a void that simply can never be filled. But I am lifted by the knowledge of his deep and abiding faith in God, I have joy in the thought of him reunited with his dear (late wife) Erma, and I am proud knowing that his moving life story and legacy of service and love for West Virginia will live on. Senator Byrd came from humble beginnings in the southern coalfields, was raised by hard-working West Virginians, and triumphantly rose to the heights of power in America. But he never forgot where he came from nor who he represented, and he never abused that power for his own gain." -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada . "By virtue of his endurance, Robert Byrd knew and worked with many of the greats of the United States Senate. Because of his enduring virtue, he will be remembered as one of them. Senator Byrd dedicated every single day of his Senate service to strengthening the institution, state and republic that he loved so dearly. There will never be another like him." --Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky . "Sen. Byrd combined a devotion to the U.S. Constitution with a deep learning of history to defend the interests of his state and the traditions of the Senate. We will remember him for his fighter's spirit, his abiding faith, and for the many times he recalled the Senate to its purposes. ... We are glad to know that Senator Byrd and his beloved Erma are reunited. We extend our deepest sympathies to the entire Byrd family." --Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont . "No senator came to care more about the Constitution or to be a more effective defender of our constitutional government than the senior senator from West Virginia. He was a senator's senator. ... I know him as a mentor and a friend. I was honored to stand with him and fight against assaults on the Constitution and against an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq. He was a self-educated man who learned much throughout his life and had much to teach us all. He was a symbol of West Virginia, he was an outstanding senator, and he was extraordinary American." --Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama . "It is a sad day for all of us. There was no one who loved the institution of the Senate more, and no one who was a better student of it." CNN's Ted Barrett, Alan Silverleib, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

NEW: President Obama: Senate has "lost a venerable institution" Questions raised about if/when a special election is required . Harry Reid, Senate Democratic leader: "There will never be another like him" Void "can never be filled," says Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia .

(CNN) -- Soon you won't have to worry about your phone falling in the toilet, tumbling into a puddle or someone inadvertently dribbling coffee into the headphone socket (we've all done it). British-based firm P2i has developed a "liquid repellent nano-coating" technology -- branded Aridion™ -- that can be sprayed onto a solid surface and, they claim, repel nearly all forms of liquid. The polymer coating in question is a patented chemical that lowers an object's surface energy, causing liquid to form beads upon contact and roll off without being absorbed. The chemical itself is a little less than 50 nanometers wide -- that's 1,000 times thinner than a human hair and, suffice to say, completely invisible to the naked eye. That means once a mobile phone -- or any electronic device -- has been coated, it's still physically indistinguishable from the original. "You look at it and you can't see any change," explains Stephen Coulson, the chemical engineer who developed the technology. "But when you drop water on it, it will just bead up and drop off. More importantly, the internals will also be protected to prevent corrosion damage." Like the Internet, GPS and digital photography before it, Aridion™ began life as a military-sponsored innovation -- with a military purpose in mind. In this case, the British Ministry of Defense were seeking to provide maximum protection to its soldiers' uniforms so they could resist all types of liquid assailants, "not just rainwater, but also chemical nasties like nerve agent," says Coulson. "We did about a year's research and then found the technology -- which was the eureka moment where we put certain drops of liquid onto fabrics and, rather than being absorbed into it, they rolled off," he added. Indeed, the research was so successful that the scale by which liquid repulsion is measured immediately required updating, claims Coulson. "Before we started this research the top end was what was called 'Oil 8' ... We've now had to push that up to 'Oil 10' in order to fully measure all of the treatments we've made ... we're seeing resistance that people have never seen before" It's a gratifying result for a man who has invested every minute of his professional life perfecting the technology. The first shoots of what would later become known as Aridion™ sprouted in Coulson's research as a PhD student in the 1990s. The patents were established at the turn of the millennium, but it wasn't until the beginning of 2011 that the technology finally made its way into the kit of Britain's Special Forces. Now having demonstrated that Aridion can repel almost any type of liquid from almost any type of solid surface and also act, incidentally, as an anti-microbial and flame retardant, you'd assume a host of industry reps would be knocking down the door's to P2i head office in Oxfordshire. But Coulson says it's not been quite so straightforward. "I think any new technology is a hard sell to start with. You can show the benefits and it's very visual, so that gets you a seat at the table to discuss it, but when you're talking about implementing new manufacturing solutions and technology into mass-manufacturing then you have to convince a lot of people," says Coulson. "You've got to not only engage with the technical people, the marketing but also the operational and implementation people," he adds. Having said that, the numbers are starting to tell a different story. P2i has worked closely with Motorola, who have now implemented the technology in 10 million of their latest phones and the polymer is also coating about 60% of the world's hearing aids. Meanwhile, the company has installed over 100 nano-coating machines within major manufacturing centers around the world and turnover has been doubling every year -- last year hitting $20 million. "We're also working with all of the top ten mobile phone manufacturers. We've just recently signed TCL Alcatel and we have a number of announcements moving forward," says Coulson. But mobiles and other electronic goods most obviously vulnerable to liquid corrosion are just the tip of the iceberg as far as Coulson is concerned. Following the success of its clothes range with the British Army, civilian varieties from your favorite brands will soon be in store. P2i already has deals with shoe-makers K-Swiss, Nike and Adidas. Coulson argues that there's a fundamental difference between existing waterproof clothes and garments coated with ion-mask™ (effectively the same as Aridion™ but specially tailored for the fabrics market). "A waterproof jacket in the rain without our technology will provide protection against water coming through it directly -- however the outside material will get wet and start to increase in weight, he explains. "It may also get dirty; you may get staining on there. With the ion-mask™ technology on the outside of that jacket ... it remains the same weight." Indeed, anything that suffers reduced performance from the effects of liquid intrusion seems to be in Coulson's sights: P2i have even experimented with things like tennis balls, surfboards and the nose cones of Formula One racing cars. "We see the future as everything being treated with P2i's technology," he says. Only time will tell if it's as watertight a proposition as it sounds.

Liquid repellent nano-coating technology prevents water from being absorbed onto surfaces . Most popular application so far is within mobile phones and hearing aids . The chemical's British-based inventor Stephen Coulson says it could be applied to almost everything .

(CNN) -- In this period of gloomy economic forecasts, Africa's rise has become a widely discussed international policy topic. The sweeping optimism about Africa's economic prospects has been reinforced by 2013 projections that the continent will grow faster than the world average. The content of the growth, however, has been a source of discomfort among African leaders. They worry that this growth is linked to a commodity boom which is fueled largely by China's demand. Africa's ability to sustain its current growth will depend largely on how quickly it will be able to shift from reliance on traditional commodity markets to modern economic structures that focus on technology-driven development. The focus on innovation is emerging as a key theme in the Africa Union's long-term strategy, Agenda 2063. Read this: 10 African tech startups you need to know . The African Union appointed a high-level panel on science, technology and innovation to provide proposals on how the continent can leverage the world's fund of technological knowledge for economic transformation. The panel is chaired by myself and Professor Ismail Serageldin, director of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Building on emerging trends across the continent, the panel's draft report, "On the Wings of Innovation: Africa 2024," makes key recommendations related to harnessing emerging technologies, constructing basic infrastructure, investing in higher technical training, and promoting entrepreneurship. As a latecomer Africa has the benefit of tapping into vast quantities of technological knowledge available worldwide. The continent's leapfrogging into the mobile revolution illustrated the power of latecomer advantages. Africa is now the origin of new industries such as mobile money transfer. The mobile revolution is still in its infancy and is already being extended to other sectors such as health, education and agriculture. Biotechnology . Another important area that promises to transform Africa is agricultural biotechnology. To date, only four African countries (South Africa, Burkina Faso, Egypt and Sudan) have adopted transgenic crops. African scientists in additional countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana are at the forefront of leveraging biotechnology to address local agricultural challenges. They are focusing on problems such as pests, disease, drought and low nutritional content of staple crops. In addition to technical work, policy makers across the continent are starting to review the laws that govern the same development of biotechnology to create freedom to innovate. This is akin to past efforts to liberalize the telecommunications market to create space for the entry of mobile phones. Biotechnology is already a multi-billion dollar industry and the associated technical knowledge can be adapted to other sectors, such as health, industry and environment management. The experience gained in adopting mobile technologies and biotechnology will make it easier for Africa to move into other fields, such as nanotechnology and new materials. The debate over biotechnology is therefore a strategic battle to position Africa as a global player in the field of new technologies. Infrastructure . The draft report focuses on the urgent need to invest in basic infrastructure, such as energy, transportation, irrigation and telecommunications. The World Bank has estimated that the continent will need to invest nearly $93 billion a year in the next decade to meet its infrastructure targets. African countries are already starting to respond to the challenge. For example, last year South Africa allocated $97 billion to infrastructure projects over the next three years. This magnitude of investment will require considerable creativity that will involve the participation of sectors such as the military. In addition, it offers a new opportunity for building up the much-needed capacity in engineering by creating new research and technical training institutes to support national infrastructure backbones. Read this: Building roads in Africa? Send in the troops . Training . "On the Wings of Innovation" pays particular attention to the importance of technical training of the youth and recommends the creation of a new generation of universities that combine research, teaching and product commercialization. There is a prototype for universities: The Nelson Mandela Institute of African Science and Technology in Arusha, Tanzania. The institute is located in the Ministry of Telecommunications, Science and Technology. Africa's technology-based line ministries have a wide range of research and technical institutes that can be upgraded to create a new family of universities that promote innovation for economic development. Their success will also inspire traditional universities to adjust their missions, syllabi and teaching methods to become more relevant to the challenge of human improvement. Tech entrepreneurs . Finally, the report stresses Africa's need to foster technology-based business incubation. There are two areas that require attention. The first is supporting start-ups. There are good examples of this across Africa, which include initiatives such as iHub in Nairobi and InnovateLagos in Nigeria. The next frontier of policy focus should be scaling up new businesses. Read this: Tech hub working on 'Nigeria's next big idea' Flying on the wings of innovation will require long-term vision, policy focus and change-management capacity among African leaders at the continental, national and sub-national levels. Much of the practical action will occur in sub-national regions such as cities, provinces and counties. It will demand smarter governance styles that are supported by evidence rather than political rhetoric. Creating technology-driven economies will demand greater investment in smart government than is required in the age of extractive industries. Countries that fail to upgrade their governance systems to reflect the competitive challenges of modern global markets will fall by the wayside. The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa, can be downloaded for free, here. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Calestous Juma.

Africa must shift to technology-driven development, says Professor Calestous Juma . Invest in biotechnology, and adapt learnings to other sectors, he says . Africa must support tech startups and help them to scale up .

(CNN) -- A revolution squeezed into its margins -- but that's where it started. It is February 11, 2014. Three years ago today, I walked to Tahrir Square to celebrate the fall of a dictator. In that square, we felt everything was possible, after Mubarak's 30-year rule. It's that feeling a recent film, "The Square" tried to capture. I resisted watching this Oscar-nominated film for weeks. I was in Egypt for many of the events it portrayed, and I knew I'd be emotionally riven if the film were even partially accurate. Indeed, it was painful to watch a film that captured so many of the core emotions of the past three years, and did it so well. The film did not portray my own memories: it mediated the emotional history of the revolution through the subjective experiences of certain key characters. They were all archetypes of the revolution. I wondered -- would the filmmakers do what so many writers on Egypt have done, and go for the easy way out, focusing on spoiled rich kids, playing revolutionary? They didn't -- the first revolutionary character, Ahmad, is hardly rich -- he's a young, middle class, average Egyptian. Another central character is Magdy -- a loyal member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the political Islamist group. Ahmad has struggled economically his whole short life -- Magdy has spent time imprisoned for his political beliefs. There was betrayal. It began with Mubarak himself, addressing the youth of Tahrir with such tenderness -- only to try to crush them. It continued with the military's leadership saluting the revolution's martyrs after Mubarak was forced from office -- only to be shown, unsympathetically, displaying singular disinterest in revolutionary reforms. It lingered with the Brotherhood's leadership insisting on revolutionary intentions -- only to be seen deserting the revolutionary struggle for partisan power. There was hope. The hope that all of Egypt would become Tahrir Square of the 18 days: a place of respect, pluralism, and freedom. Those that had hope now strive to ensure the hope itself doesn't die. There was anger, as we see the potential of the revolution squandered -- and the anger remains. There was naiveté -- the naiveté of the revolutionaries to understand where their power was, and where it wasn't. On the second anniversary of the uprising, I was near Tahrir Square trying to convince some activists that, actually, they'd lost the public's support for protests some time before. The protest, for too many of them, had become the strategy itself, as opposed to a tactic for a better-defined goal. Considering the film's partiality to the ideals of revolution, I was pleasantly surprised to see the idealism of one of the characters, Egyptian-Briton Khalid, challenged, more than once. Ahmad shows an innocent unwariness about the June 30 protests against then-President Mohamed Morsy: the film would have benefited from showing a counter to his exceedingly ill-placed confidence that the military of 2013 would be more restrained than the military of 2011. There was pain. There was the killing of largely Christian protesters at Maspero by the military in late 2011 -- a tragedy the film crew witnessed, and which turned a sizeable number against the military. There have now been more than a dozen "mass protester killings," as the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights put it -- and no acknowledgement or justice for them. The single worst incident was the clearing of the pro-Morsy sit-in -- a scene insufficiently covered in the film, though mentioned. The film is not the story of every Egyptian, or even every revolutionary. It's a mediation of the revolutionary experience through these specific characters. The film is a story of the relationships of these individual characters with the revolution, and with each other. Even though this is a deeply political film, political parties are rarely shown. Central, nevertheless, to the film's development, is the persona of Magdy, a loyal Brotherhood member. He humanizes ordinary Brotherhood members, and of all the central characters, we know Magdy as the most tortured, who suffered the most under Mubarak's regime. Magdy's story is a profoundly conflicted one, as he struggles between his loyalty to an organization that supported him his whole life, and his ideals. His story causes others to be conflicted as well -- we see that although Ahmad opposes the Brotherhood deeply, he wants to come to the pro-Morsy sit-in towards the end, to stand by Magdy. A deeply sympathetic and gallant character, Magdy survives the clearing of the sit-in, unlike the many hundreds who did not. The film certainly prioritizes a revolutionary lens, rather than pretending to be a bland chronicle, for these tragic revolutionary heroes provided the context of the square and the revolution. Watching it now reminds us that in the past few months and years, many who would have been in that square would have been killed, or imprisoned. The film reminds us of a revolution that has been squeezed into the margins -- but also reminds us that, indeed, is where the revolution itself started. READ: How America abandoned Egypt's Arab Spring . READ: Egypt's revolution on the margins . The views expressed in this piece are solely those of H.A. Hellyer.

Oscar-nominated 'The Square' traces Egypt's revolution through revolutionaries . Different experiences portrayed including working class non-Islamist revolutionary . A gallant, loyal Brotherhood member conflicted about his leaders, writes H.A. Hellyer . Emotions of hope, idealism, pain, and betrayal shine through - Hellyer .

(CNN) -- Claudene Christian dreamed of living a seafaring life like the historic HMS Bounty naval officer who shared her name centuries ago. She'd secured a spot as a crew member on a replica of the Bounty and had announced it proudly on her Facebook page. But less than six months after joining the ship, her dream was cut short. As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast, its powerful winds swirled up waves that crippled the three-masted, 180-foot Bounty off North Carolina's coast, forcing the 16-member crew to abandon ship. That's when the waves swept Christian overboard, along with the Bounty's captain and another crew member early Monday, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Robert Parker told CNN. That crew member made it to a lifeboat; Christian's body was found on Monday evening. Capt. Robin Waldridge remains missing. Christian, 42, often said she was related to Fletcher Christian, the 18th-century sailor blamed for leading the infamous mutiny on the real HMS Bounty. Grueling recovery begins . In May, Christian won a deckhand job on the Bounty replica, which was built for "Mutiny on the Bounty," a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando. The tall ship also appeared in several other movies, including Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" films. "I wasn't sure if they'd take me because I didn't have a sailing background," she told a Canadian newspaper in August, "although I've been totally interested in it all my life." She boasted about the Bounty and her new assignment to her friends and family, describing the ship as a "sailing museum" on her Facebook page. On Twitter, Christian announced "I am in love with my ship ... BOUNTY" Seeing it as an opportunity to share "our ship and our history," she posted, "I'm sure my ancestor would be proud..." The ship, she hoped, would begin more efforts toward educating schoolchildren, she told reporters. "Claudene had a huge caring heart," Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, Sheriff Ron Lockhart told CNN affiliate KFSM. Christian once lived in Vian, Oklahoma. "She will be missed." Sandy changes lives forever . Christian may have been a sailing novice, but she was no stranger to adventure. A former Miss Teen Alaska, she decided to start her own business at 17 and headed to California, as she describes on her Cheerleader Doll Company website, "fresh out of Alaska and on my own in the Big City of LA." Once there, she attended the University of Southern California where friends tweeted that she performed as a "USC Song Girl." "She was always staying busy and active at things," her aunt, Patricia Saulsberry, told KFSM. Photos: Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy . Christian's interest in the Bounty began after she toured a replica of Christopher Columbus' Nina on the Arkansas River last year, Saulsberry said. The Bounty tragedy began when the ship, which was sailing from Connecticut to St. Petersburg, Florida, reported Monday that it had lost power and was taking on water about 125 miles off North Carolina. Water poured in through the hull of the 50-year-old wooden ship, the Bounty's owner, Bob Hansen, told CNN affiliate KUSA. "They just couldn't stay afloat anymore," he said. Early Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard staged a daring helicopter rescue: They flew into the hurricane's outer bands and plucked 14 of the surviving crew members from two lifeboats. A short distance away, the HMS Bounty sank to the bottom of the Atlantic, as Hurricane Sandy marched north. All of the crew members were wearing orange survival suits with strobe lights designed to keep them afloat, warm and easy to find. Coast Guard ships continue to search a 1,300-mile area around the site of the shipwreck for Waldridge, 63. On Tuesday, the Coast Guard reported the water temperature was 77 degrees with 15-foot waves and 42-mph winds. Even with a survival suit, "it's very problematic" to stay in position in heavy winds and rough seas, Parker said. Sandy's impact state by state . The Bounty set sail Thursday, as Hurricane Sandy pummeled Cuba with an uncertain path after that. Nevertheless, people have posted pointed questions on the Bounty's Facebook page suggesting Waldridge shouldn't have been sailing through such a violent storm. Hansen noted that the captain took the ship "way out east," trying to steer around Sandy. "He knows the ship, he's been captain of her for over 20 years and nobody knows her better," Hansen said. "I totally trusted his judgment." Waldridge is a good-natured, mild-mannered captain who has a special bond with the Bounty, according to Susan Robertson, who has known him since 2001. "Other than his wife, he acts like it's his first love," said Robertson, who works at The Pier in St. Petersburg, where the Bounty is often docked. The ship's crew, she said "are like members of your own family." "I hope they find him," she said. Get the latest information on the storm on CNN.com's Just In blog .

Claudene Christian died after abandoning the HMS Bounty replica . The 50-year-old ship sank after taking on water during Hurricane Sandy . Christian, a USC grad, had begun new life aboard movie ship . She said she hoped to educate children as a crew member .

(CNN) -- We are ... Penn State. I cannot recount the thousands of times that I have proudly proclaimed that chant throughout the years. I belted it out as a Penn State cheerleader, later as a proud alum standing in Beaver Stadium among nearly 100,000 raucous fans, and more recently on Saturday afternoons sitting solo in my TV room watching my Nittany Lions roar in those classic no-name jerseys. Those words still give me goosebumps nearly 20 years after I left State College, Pennsylvania, lovingly called Happy Valley. Looking down from my perch on other colleges over the past decade, I've watched major programs crumble as their dirty little secrets were revealed. And through all those college scandal headlines -- paying players, inflating SAT scores, falsifying classroom grades -- I have held Penn State up as a shining example of all that is good and right and pure about college sports. We are the good guys. We have Joe Paterno. We are ... Penn State. But today, I'm putting my pompoms down. I'm done covering up Happy Valley's secrets. And it's time for others in the program, starting with Coach Paterno, to do the same thing. And then, Joe has got to go, immediately. That is the only real alternative after the shocking allegations that Jerry Sandusky, 67 -- a former assistant coach who worked with the program for more than 30 years and who was viewed by many as Paterno's heir before he retired in 1999 -- has been charged with multiple felonies in the alleged sexual abuse of eight boys during a 15-year period. Prosecutors now expect that more boys will come forward with abuse claims. Before this week, I'd argued that Jo Pa should coach until he takes his last breath. He'd earned it. This year, Penn State tied with Stanford for the top graduation success rate among teams ranked in the October 30 Bowl Championship Series and AP Top 25 rankings, according to the NCAA. During his 46-year tenure, Paterno has had 47 Academic All-Americans, with 37 earning first-team honors. I made excuses for Penn State in 2007 when the women's basketball coach, Renee Portland, quit after the university was sued over her "no lesbians on the team" policy. Portland, who had coached at the university for 27 years, was accused of bullying and humiliating one of her young players because she believed the girl was a lesbian. Portland's homophobic views were well-known on the team. Still, I reasoned that she was just a rogue coach, an anomaly at the school. Surely, her brand of bigotry was not the norm. Right? And I even defended Penn State after my own ugly experience with discrimination, when an adviser for the cheerleading squad tried to force me to quit the team after I was elected by my peers as the first African-American captain. It wasn't the only racial hatred I'd experienced at the school. In the late '80s, it was routine to find the campus littered with leaflets from the local Ku Klux Klan telling us blacks to "Go back to Africa." Sometimes the writer even drew a nice little noose on the fliers. But I stayed at the school, kept cheering on my Nittany Lions. I was proud to be there. Plus, I reasoned that my struggles there would prepare me for the real world. Now, I've run out of excuses. According to a grand jury report, Paterno back in 2002 was informed by a grad assistant that he had seen former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky naked and forcing a boy who appeared to be about 10-years-old to have anal sex in the showers of the school's sports complex. Paterno reportedly told his boss, Athletic Director Tim Curley, but it's unclear whether the coach did anything further to follow up on the shocking report. And incredibly no one, Paterno or his superiors, reported this alleged incident to the authorities. Those of us who have been on campus find it a joke that Coach Paterno would now say that he reported the incident to his bosses. What bosses? Everyone knows Paterno had as much or more power on that campus than anyone to make things happen, including the president. It's absolutely unforgivable if Paterno did nothing but pass the information up the chain. In fact, even after this incident was reported, Sandusky still had the keys to the complex and free rein to bring boys he mentored at his nonprofit foundation, the Second Mile, to visit the campus and hang out around the sports facility. If these allegations are proven true, this scandal is far worse than anything that's happened at other universities. Exploiting dozens and raping young boys could never compare to the minor infractions of boosters buying a car for a player or a player selling his autographed football jersey for a few bucks. Now, as I look back at my years at Penn State and realize that some of these alleged incidents were possibly taking place as I was a student there proudly waving my pompoms, I feel sick. We are ... Penn State. And we are ashamed. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roxanne Jones.

Roxanne Jones is a proud Penn State alum, former Nittany Lions cheerleader . Penn State sports had squeaky-clean reputation; Jones defended it through thick or thin . Jones: Coach Joe Paterno must step down, it is inexcusable he did not tell authorities . If this is true, it is far worse than any infractions seen at other universities, she writes .

San Diego (CNN)As you're driving along the highway, wouldn't you like to know if there's a police car up ahead so you can slow down and avoid getting a ticket? You'd also probably like to know if there's a speed trap around the next corner, so you don't wind up spending your weekend at traffic school. Well, there's an app for that. Police chiefs, sheriffs and law enforcement groups wish there wasn't. They say they want to protect the lives of police officers, but what if they're just trying to protect the revenue that flows into government coffers due to speeding tickets? Waze is a new and controversial mobile app that tracks cars moving through traffic in real time and shares that information so users can get around traffic jams. This sounds harmless. But there is more. The app also uses a small icon of a tiny face in a police hat to warn users if police are nearby, either in speed traps or parked on the side the road. It obtains that information when other users who are driving further up the road input data into the system. It's ingenious -- and for law enforcement personnel, also frustrating. Police chiefs and sheriffs are not amused at this high-tech example of information-sharing. In fact, they're determined to put a stop to it. Law enforcement leaders claim to be concerned about officer safety. After all, lately, officers have been gunned down simply for wearing a uniform. They say they're worried about everyday citizens keeping track of the comings and goings of officers, and they insist that the app is a high-tech "police stalker." They claim that this technology -- while helpful to motorists -- turns officers into "sitting ducks" for criminals. The folks at Waze, for their part, insist that the app improves the safety of roadways because most users tend to drive more carefully when they think police are nearby. That sounds reasonable. It also sounds as if police doth protest too much, and that they're not telling us the whole truth as to what they're really concerned about. It's not as if motorists can't often times spot police cars and adjust their speed without the help of an app; often, the patrol cars are in plain view on the side of the road. Likewise, those who want to harm law enforcement officers will find a way to do so regardless of what app is or isn't on the market. It's easy to see why Waze -- which was purchased by Google in 2013 for $966 million -- is so popular. There is a huge appetite for this technology. Potential customers include anyone who hates speed traps -- and that probably covers most Americans. In fact, there have been cases where individuals have tried to warn motorists about an oncoming speed trap and the police have come down hard on the good Samaritans. Luckily, the courts have, in turn, come down hard on the police, citing a First Amendment right to alert others as to the presence of police. In February 2014, for example, a county judge in Frisco, Texas, about an hour north of Dallas, reportedly dismissed a complaint against 33-year-old Ron Martin who was arrested for holding a sign warning drivers of a speed trap. The sign read: "Police Ahead." The charge was ridiculous but creative: a misdemeanor count of violating the city's sign ordinance. It's not just signs that are protected speech. Signals are covered too. A few days before the Texas ruling, in St. Louis, a federal judge ruled that motorists "have a First Amendment right to flash their headlights to warn" fellow drivers that police are nearby or setting a speed trap. In 2012, Michael Elli flashed his headlights to warn oncoming vehicles that police were waiting with radar just up the road. A police officer pulled over Elli, citing him for "flashing lights on certain vehicles...warning of RADAR ahead." The city dropped the charge, but the American Civil Liberties Union decided to sue on Elli's behalf, charging that his First Amendment rights were violated. The judge agreed. Let's hear it for common sense. Speed traps are, by their very nature, a form of cheating. Law enforcement officers are bending the rules to hand out tickets. Worse, they're also an example of government-sponsored thievery. Cash-strapped cities and counties have come up with new ways of generating revenue. One of the first places they look are unsuspecting motorists who are in a poor position to complain because -- the authorities are likely to claim -- they wouldn't have received a ticket in the first place if they weren't guilty of speeding. But what are the authorities guilty of? If police have a quota to meet, or a sheriff's substation is competing with other substations as to the number of tickets it hands out, discretion will suffer. People who might not normally get a citation are going to be written up. That's not right. It's one thing for police officers to come across someone speeding in the course of their normal duties, and write that person a ticket. It's another for them to lie in wait for motorists to make mistakes so the government agency they work for can fleece the citizenry. That's not right either. When police set up a speed trap where motorists are likely to be driving over the speed limit -- say, at the bottom of a hill -- and then wait for drivers to meander into their web so they can write tickets that generate revenue for a city, county or state, they're violating a social contract. Those who have sworn an oath to protect us aren't supposed to prey upon us.

Law enforcement groups have complained about Waze mobile app . Ruben Navarrette: Too often speed traps are about money, not safety .

Washington (CNN) -- No science or religion can accurately predict what will happen in Congress. But looking plainly at the political chess board and listening to sources on Capitol Hill, there is plenty of reason to think that a shutdown of the federal government won't happen, at least not next week. Here's why: . Politics. And blame. And 1996. "Let's put it this way," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told CNN. "I'm not about to shut down the government and have Republicans take the blame for it. It's just that simple." Bluntly, many Republicans fear they will be blamed for a shutdown, just months before a big congressional election year. This makes them highly motivated to find a way to keep government running. A CNN/ORC poll in mid-September showed 51% of people would hold Republicans in Congress responsible for a shutdown versus 40% for President Barack Obama. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, might already be in this camp. He initially proposed a spending bill that would have avoided a standoff. Conservatives forced him to go to war with a different version fully defunding Obamacare, but Boehner's opening move was an important signal that he wants to sidestep a shutdown. Main Street fed up over Beltway shutdown battle . There may be some learned behavior from history here, too. "I saw this movie before, I saw what happened before," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, talking about the sting Republicans felt after the shutdowns in 1995 and 1996. "That's what happened the last time we tried this," he concluded. Bottom line: Ideal or not, Congress runs on political currency. And multiple House GOP aides tell CNN that the majority of the Republicans in their conference fear a shutdown would cost them with voters. The next fights . Republicans are divided over how far to take the Obamacare battle right now. And GOP leaders also are preparing a second Obamacare fight during the upcoming debt ceiling debate. So, they have the option of dropping the anti-Obamacare push from the shutdown debate now and instead including it in the debt ceiling fight coming up. At the same time, Democrats are eager to get past the shutdown debate so they can move on to the debt ceiling and start to deal with yet another fight: budget cuts slated to hit in January at the latest. The numbers . Republicans have 233 members in the House, 16 votes more than a majority. Those 233 are divided over how far to take the Obamacare fight, over whether to ultimately shut down government in the name of defunding the health care law. This year, funding measures repeatedly have passed the House of Representatives with a bipartisan coalition. Take a look at the Superstorm Sandy funding vote. Or the last debt ceiling increase. Or the March vote to avoid a government shutdown. Sure, every vote is different. But a bipartisan safety net has magically rolled out during the last funding standoffs. Deadline pressure . Something happens in the day or two before a potential shutdown. Whatever the atmosphere and seemingly-firm positioning now, things will ramp up fast if Congress gets closer to a shutdown, especially a shutdown that would go in place during a work week. Workers ask if they will be sent home without pay. Troops (and their families) worry if their paychecks will be delayed. Families may start to cancel vacations. That is the moment when incredible political pressure against a shutdown builds. The deadline itself . Finally, we come to a public secret. The government does not necessarily have to shut down at the end of the day on September 30. Yes, at midnight, funding officially runs out for most programs. But if lawmakers are close to a deal, the president can order agencies to keep running for a few hours or perhaps even a day or two for Congress to pass the legislation. CNN Fact Checks: Obamacare . This has happened before. Recently. At midnight at the end of April 8, 2011, the funding for most agencies officially ran out. But Democrats and Republicans had struck a funding deal a few hours before, it just had not passed through Congress yet. So the Obama administration told agencies to hold off with any shutdown plans because a spending bill was likely to become law soon. In that case, it waived just a few hours of shutdown, but sources in both parties at the Capitol have confirmed that the president can do this for a longer period if a deal is emerging. Again, Congress works best on deadlines, and the shutdown deadline is not quite as firm as people might think. Why a shutdown (still) might happen . All this said, you cannot underestimate the swirling, unpredictable dynamics in Congress at the moment and Republicans' gut-level objections to Obamacare. Once the Senate passes its version of a spending bill, House Republicans are considering attaching another item to it. That could be a one-year delay in the individual insurance mandate in Obamacare, a repeal of a medical device tax, a change in how the government handles congressional employee health plans or possibly something in support of the Keystone pipeline. How this affects you . A spending bill with something Republicans want and Democrats don't would set up a late game of chicken between the House, Senate and president. If no one blinks, which is possible, this would lead to a shutdown. It's unclear whether House Republicans will do this. It is also unclear how Democrats would react. But this scenario is the reason there is still a chance a shutdown could happen.

The federal government is facing a possible shutdown next week . The government has been here before in 1995 and 1996 . History may give Congress pause before embarking on another shutdown .

(CNN) -- Did Kerry Kennedy realize the morning of a 2012 traffic accident that she mistakenly took a sleeping pill? Is she responsible for what happened next? Those are the sorts of questions the jurors in her DWI trial began deliberating Thursday. In closing arguments, a prosecutor accused Kennedy of lying to police and the public in an effort to protect her legacy. Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, faces a charge of driving while impaired after swerving off the road in her Lexus SUV and careening into a tractor-trailer on a New York interstate in morning rush-hour traffic in July 2012. She testified this week that she grabbed the wrong prescription bottle off her kitchen counter that morning and swallowed 10 milligrams of zolpidem, commonly known by the brand name Ambien, thinking it was her thyroid medication. "She had a lot on her mind that morning. And she took the wrong pill by mistake," prosecutor Doreen Lloyd told jurors. "However, it also makes no sense whatsoever that at no point did she realize or feel tired or dizzy or drowsy. That makes no sense," she said. "She is responsible for the chain of events that happened after that." Lloyd told jurors that Kennedy had a responsibility to pull off the road safely when she felt the effect of the drug. Her inconsistent statements about the incident, including the claim that her doctors said she'd had a seizure, were meant as a smokescreen, Lloyd said: "She knew. She knew right away that she had taken the wrong pill. She felt it. And I submit she was looking for an excuse, to avoid responsibility ... to control her public image." In his closing arguments, defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt told jurors there's no disputing that Kennedy ingested zolpidem and was "out of it" the morning of the crash. "The dispute is this: Whether the prosecution has proved to you beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Kennedy operated her vehicle while she was aware that she had ingested zolpidem and, after becoming aware, she continued intentionally to drive. That's what this case is all about." He continued, "They're arguing without any evidence that she realized; she says she didn't. There's nothing to the contrary. Reasonable doubt." A jury of two women and four men began its deliberations Thursday afternoon, after four days of testimony. They stopped for the day without reaching a verdict and will resume deliberations Friday morning. This week, jurors watched police cruiser dashboard camera footage of a disoriented Kennedy failing three sobriety tests after a motorist found her slumped over her steering wheel and called 911. New York State Trooper Bradley Molloy, who evaluated Kennedy three hours after the crash, said he thought she may have a medical condition and recommended that she get checked out. A worried Kennedy asked him for a vial of the blood drawn from her at Northern Westchester Hospital, Molloy said: "She was concerned, and she wanted to know what happened to her." Kennedy remained at the hospital overnight for observation. Jurors also heard from Elizabeth Pratt, director of the Westchester County Division of Laboratories and Research, who testified that zolpidem is "a very potent, fast-acting hypnotic" that begins to hamper cognitive ability and motor skills within 15 to 45 minutes. Its effect on Kennedy would have peaked about 9 a.m., testified Pratt, roughly the time Kennedy failed the sobriety tests. Lloyd asked Pratt whether zolpidem is a "knockout pill," and she replied that the drug would need time to enter the bloodstream and brain before it takes full effect. A defense expert, clinical pharmacologist and forensic toxicologist David Benjamin, challenged that notion Thursday, saying the disabling influence could be instantaneous and impossible for a person to self-detect, likening it to the effects of a date rape drug. During her testimony, Kennedy emphatically denied feeling the effects of the powerful sleep aid in her system before the erratic driving and told Lloyd she doesn't even know what its symptoms feel like. "You've taken this pill for 10 years, and you can't tell me whether or not it makes you feel tired after you take it?" Lloyd asked incredulously. "I guess I don't really think about how I'm feeling when I take it," Kennedy replied. "I take it, and then I'm asleep." The jury is well-aware of the defendant's place in the storied political family. "Daddy was the attorney general during the civil rights movement and then a senator," she testified Wednesday, and said her mother raised the family's 11 children because her father died when she was 8 years old: "He was assassinated while running for president." Matriarch Ethel Kennedy, 85, has attended the trial daily, along with several other relatives and family friends. Kennedy is the director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and became animated on the stand as she described her work to fight poverty and sexual slavery. She testified that she missed jury selection last week because of a trip to several European nations, including a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry in France and another in Brussels with the president of the European Parliament. In her closing arguments, Lloyd told jurors that Kennedy's humanitarian work and background are irrelevant: "She is not exempt to the rule of law. She is subject to the rule of law of the state of New York like everybody else." If convicted, Kennedy could face up to one year in prison.

Kennedy is on trial on a misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired . Prosecutor says she lied to protect her legacy . Defense: Kennedy was unaware she took a powerful sleep aid . Deliberations are set to resume Friday morning .

(CNN) -- Oh Brad. So strong. So virile. So capable of wielding a sword in Troy, destroying zombies in World War Z, and seducing leading ladies with just the tilt of a cowboy hat in Thelma and Louise. "He's a real man's man," gushed fiancé and mother of his six-children, Angelia Jolie. But that alone is not what makes him such an important role model for men today, says one of America's most distinguished feminists and international affairs professors, Anne-Marie Slaughter. It's his ability to share breadwinning and caregiving with his partner. Which has a lot more to do with empowering women than you might think. "Think of Brad Pitt in Troy, he's a real guy, no question," said 55-year-old Slaughter, President of the New America Foundation, and former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department. "But he's also become a posterchild for engaged fatherhood." "When Angelia Jolie is on location, he's there with their six children, and when Brad Pitt is on location, she's there with the kids. So that's really sending a very different signal about what an icon, a movie star, and definitely a leading man is." Of course, as Slaughter admits with a chuckle: "We never see the probably 15 people on the 'childcare train' that I'm sure they drag along with them." But Hollywood A-lister Pitt -- often seen splashed across celebrity magazines with his brood in tow -- nonetheless represents a shift in how society views men, she says. And that has big consequences for women. "Why women still can't have it all" Around a year-and-a-half ago, Slaughter was a hugely successful, though relatively unknown academic. Then, in the summer of 2012, she wrote an article in The Atlantic, "Why Women Still Can't Have It All," and it became the most read in the publication's history, with over 224,000 people sharing it on Facebook. Why the huge response? In the article, Slaughter spoke of her decision to leave her job as the first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department, after two years working under Hilary Clinton. Commuting from New Jersey to Washington each week, Slaughter was getting up at 4.20am on Mondays and returned on Friday evenings -- all while her teenage son was having problems at school. And so she left her government job and returned to teaching at Princeton University: "Because of my desire to be with my family and my conclusion that juggling high-level government work with the needs of two teenage boys was not possible." Beyond the women's movement . Now Slaughter is extending the debate on gender equality -- and focusing on men -- in this interview with CNN . "The conversation has been tilted too far in the direction of women's issues, women's problems, missing women in the workforce. That is a huge issue. And it's appropriate that 60 years after the 'Feminine Mystique' was published, that we should be asking these questions. But I really see this issue as a much broader social issue -- as an issue of breadwinning on the one hand, and caregiving on the other." "Men's choices are actually still much more restricted than women's. Because although women no longer have to just be in the home, men are still pretty uniformly socialised to believe their place is in the office. And if we really want equality between men and women, we can't just measure it in terms of how well women succeed on traditional male terms, we have to measure it in terms of the degree of choices that women and men have." "About 20% of the responses I got to The Atlantic article I published, were from men. They said: 'I want to be a fully engaged father' or 'I want to take time to be with my parents as they age,' and 'If you think it's hard for a woman to ask for flexible hours, or work from home, or work part time, well if a man asked for those things, not only is he told he's not sufficiently committed to his career, he's told either explicitly or implicitly that he's not really one of the guys.'" "If you notice in comparison to 40 years ago, pretty much every male star you see is toting a baby, is out with his children, is equally engaged as a dad and proud of it. So that's an interesting marker on popular culture." "I said to my 16-year-old son: 'Would you mind if your wife out-earned you?' He looked at me at first and was like: 'Are you crazy?' And then he said: 'Guys who are really insecure about that are really insecure about something else.' And I thought: 'It's a different generation.'" "Why can't a man marry well? Why can't a man find a woman and marry and people say: 'Wow that was a great catch' and part of what that means is that she earns a great living and they're going to both live very comfortably, and they can provide caregiving and breadwinning however they want." Opinion: Our predatory capitalist system need not be a zero-sum game . Learn: Five things you didn't know about YouTube's new boss . Watch: The orphan who became a billionaire 'Tsarina' CNN's Pat Wiedenkeller contributed to this report.

Academic Anne-Marie Slaughter says Brad Pitt is 'posterchild for engaged fatherhood' Equality isn't just about women's issues, it's about men sharing breadwinning and caregiving . Many men find it difficult to take time out from work to care for family .

(CNN) -- "The stupidity is simply staggering," Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, told Roll Call. He was referring to the political miscalculation of anti-abortion forces in the House Judiciary Committee who insisted this week on reviving the culture wars, years behind us, still again, with yet another proposed abortion bill. This bill, championed by Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks, sought to ban abortions after 20 weeks nationwide, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. "I'll be very frank: I discouraged our leadership from bringing this to a vote on the floor," Dent said. My e-mail box was flooded with headlines that began "This again?" and "This ... is the GOP's idea of outreach to women? Really?" and "He said what?" The latter referred to a remark by Franks, chairman of the committee, that "incidents of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low," as a justification for the bill ignoring rape and incest victims. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee were apparently willing to allow the time when an abortion is legal to be reduced by one month. They sought to add exceptions for rape, incest and the woman's health -- all of which were rejected by Republicans on the panel. But it appears the House Republican leaders, recognizing a train wreck, added the language to the bill anyway to avoid an embarrassing defeat. The bill will also include an exception for a medical emergency in which the woman might die. This new altered version goes before the Rules Committee on Monday. There are, by the way, 22 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. All men. Not a single woman. It's hard to avoid inflammatory remarks when discussing rape. And the line between inflammatory and insulting is thin. It's also porous. So if Franks thought he had to address the issue of rape, he should have done so judiciously. His remark says to women impregnated by rape: You don't count. There aren't enough of you to matter. That's not just insensitive; it's immoral. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, first pounced on the statement's factual inaccuracy. "I just find it astonishing to hear a phrase repeated that the incidence of pregnancy from rape is low," she said. "There's no scientific basis for that." Then Lofgren, one of five women among the Democratic minority on the committee, added, "And the idea that the Republican men on this committee can tell the women of America that they have to carry to term the product of a rape is outrageous." It might be that Franks' argument, such as it is, echoed a comment by Missouri Republican Rep. Todd Akin, who claimed during his Senate campaign last fall that women's bodies have a built-in mechanism to prevent impregnation from "a legitimate rape." Aiken's candidacy went into a tailspin from that misinformed remark, and never recovered. Fact checkers have pointed to studies that indicate Franks' claim is as suspect as Akin's. One study by St. Lawrence University found that pregnancies resulting from rape were higher than from other instances. Franks later walked back his low-pregnancy-from-rape argument, saying he was not claiming it was harder to get pregnant from rape. Franks apparently based his claim on there being fewer pregnancies from rape than from consensual intercourse. Even so, that's a "Duh, do the math" excuse. GOP aides now say Rep. Marsha Blackburn will be managing Franks' anti-abortion bill. Given her record -- "no" votes on major equality or women-protection legislation and "yea" for issues like ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood -- that's hardly an improvement. And it misses the point. It's not the who, it's the what -- the argument itself does not stand. During the Judiciary debate, Franks said, "When you make that exception, there's usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours. And in this case that's impossible. ... And that's what completely negates and vitiates the purpose for such an amendment." So, Franks' argument then became a technical one, that if a rape wasn't reported, a decision after 20 weeks to abort was made too late. But why is it too late? Does psychological trauma have a timetable? Each case of rape that produces a pregnancy is as individual as the woman who was raped. And the ordeal -- psychological, emotional, physical, spiritual -- is not term-limited. The issue of abortion raises real and poignant moral questions. Franks made many remarks that show his obvious, deeply felt, conviction that abortions after 20 weeks are wrong. But majorities in Congress and of Americans, also with deep conviction, came to a different conclusion: They feel compelled to support exceptions for rape, incest and health. Franks' outrageous comment and the viewpoints of other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee illustrate that when one party becomes so narrowly composed that it represents a particular religious culture, we're headed to what people in other countries face when a ruling party begins making laws from religious theology, without regard to a democratic, secular society -- thus excluding other religious viewpoints and dismissing those who suffer as too few to matter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.

Judiciary Republicans sought anti-abortion bill with no exception for rape, incest . Judiciary chair Trent Franks: "Incidents of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low" Donna Brazile: His remark tells women who got pregnant by rape they don't count . Brazile: House GOP finally added exception to the bill to avoid embarrassing defeat .

Washington (CNN) -- A college senior studying Arabic says he was wrongly detained for almost five hours last summer after an airport screener found his Arabic-English flash cards and a book critical of U.S. foreign policy. Nicholas George, 22, a senior at Pomona College in California, filed suit in federal court Wednesday against the Transportation Security Administration, the Philadelphia Police Department and the FBI. He says he was handcuffed and "abusively interrogated" by authorities at Philadelphia International Airport. The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges officials violated George's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable seizure and First Amendment rights to free speech. "Nick doesn't object and we don't object to the fact that he was searched closely, that his belongings were scrutinized," ACLU attorney Ben Wizner told CNN. "But once that's done, there's absolutely no justification for handcuffing him and locking him in a cell for several hours." All three agencies named in the suit declined to comment. But one official, who could not speak on the record about matters involving pending litigation, said security agents focused on George because of "erratic" behavior before he reached the checkpoint. George, of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, said he is studying Arabic because of his interest in Middle East politics. He plans to take a foreign service exam later this year, he said. "I want to serve my country using my Arabic language," George told CNN. "And it just seems crazy to me that for that I was arrested and treated like a criminal." He said the incident occurred August 29 after he arrived at the Philadelphia airport for a flight to California to begin his senior year at Pomona College. When he was asked to empty his pockets at the airport checkpoint, he produced a set of handmade flash cards, which piqued the interest of the TSA screener. The flash cards had an English word on one side and the corresponding Arabic word on the other. Of the approximately 200 flash cards, about 10 had words such as "bomb," "explosion," and "terrorist," George said. "They asked me why I had those words. I told them honestly because I had been trying to read Arabic news media, especially Al-Jazeera, and these are words that come up when you read the news about the Middle East," George said. He said he was in the secondary screening area for about a half hour before a TSA supervisor arrived and began questioning him in a "hostile and aggressive manner." Noting that George had a book titled "Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions," the supervisor asked him a series of questions, including "Who did 9/11?" and "Do you know what language he spoke?" The supervisor then held up the flash cards and said, "Do you see why these cards are suspicious?" George said. He said he was then turned over to a Philadelphia police officer, who handcuffed him and placed him in an airport jail cell while officers examined his possessions. They "appeared particularly interested in the flash cards" and a student ID card issued to George during a study abroad program in Jordan. George later was turned over to the FBI, who questioned him for about 30 minutes before freeing him. "My attitude during all of this was -- just answer the questions fully and honestly. Don't give any lip. Don't do anything that will arouse suspicion, and they'll just pass it by because I had nothing seditious. ... I had nothing dangerous. I had nothing that would pose any threat to anyone," George told CNN. "I'm absolutely certain that I never raised my voice. I never got smart with them," he said. George said he is angered by his treatment. One government official, who spoke on background because of the pending litigation, said TSA behavior detection officers observed George "exhibiting anomalous behavior" before he reached the checkpoint. The official did not elaborate. George "was referred for additional screening, where his behavior escalated further," the official said. "As a result of a number of factors, including the passenger's erratic behavior, local law enforcement was called to the checkpoint to investigate further." ACLU attorney Wizner called the alleged incident "an amazing abuse of authority." "We need to really make clear that Americans don't give up their constitutional rights when they choose to fly by plane," he said. "When Nick George was handcuffed, arrested and locked in a cell for several hours just for carrying Arabic-English flash cards, that was not only illegal and unconstitutional but absolutely did nothing to make air travel any safer. "In fact what it does is it diverts resources from the kind of real security efforts that we need more of." One year ago, JetBlue Airways and two TSA screeners paid $240,000 to an Iraqi man to settle claims that they refused to let him aboard a flight until he had covered up his T-shirt, which read, "We Will Not be Silent" in English and Arabic. The man, Raed Jarrar, said one screener told him, "Coming to an airport while wearing a T-shirt with Arabic letters on it was equivalent to going into a bank while wearing a shirt saying, 'I am a robber.' " In the settlement, JetBlue and the screeners denied any wrongdoing, and said they were acting only to resolve the 2 1/2-year-old federal lawsuit. CNN's Carol Cratty contributed to this report.

Nicholas George, 22, took flash cards used to study Arabic to airport last summer . College senior says he was detained for almost five hours; he's now filing lawsuit . TSA, Philadelphia Police Department and FBI named in lawsuit . Official: TSA agents said they saw George "exhibiting anomalous behavior"

(CNN) -- The Southeast is among the areas of the United States with the highest concentration of cases of HIV and AIDS, according to a new online tool called the National HIV/AIDS Atlas. In this map of AIDS prevalence rates in the Southeast, red represents the highest (0.593 percent or greater). AIDS experts in the region say that access to health care, especially when it comes to screening, is a major problem in rural communities. In the Southeast, people with HIV tend to get tested late, after they have become sick, partly because of stigma, said Kathie Hiers, executive director of AIDS Alabama in Birmingham. "If you look at access to health care and almost any kind of health care report card, the South is the worst," she said. With little or no public transportation, people in non-metropolitan areas are at a disadvantage when they need to see a particular kind of doctor, experts say. There is also a shortage of doctors who deal with HIV in the region, Hiers said. These problems also resonate with Georgia's rural communities, which represent 39 percent of the HIV/AIDS burden in the state, said Raphael Holloway, director of the HIV Unit at the Georgia Division of Public Health. The remaining 61 percent of people living with HIV or AIDS are in the metro Atlanta area. "In some districts, for example, there may be 10 counties within that health district but only one infectious disease doctor that people can access for care and services," he said. It is also difficult to get HIV education to people in rural areas, he said. Of the 29 states reporting county-level data for the National HIV/AIDS Atlas, Georgia had more counties than any other state with the highest levels of HIV and AIDS prevalence. Although this does not represent a comprehensive national assessment, Georgia ranked fifth in reporting of new AIDS cases in 2007, behind Texas (fourth), Florida (third), New York (second) and California (first), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Northeast also has a heavy burden of HIV/AIDS cases nationally, atlas collaborators said. Other states with high numbers of counties with high HIV prevalence included Florida, New York and South Carolina. The atlas, the first of its kind to map out HIV and AIDS at the level of counties, launched in time for Saturday's HIV/AIDS Testing Day. The National Institutes of Health is encouraging everyone age 13 to 64 to get tested for HIV as part of routine health care. "Not knowing one's HIV status endangers one's health and the health of one's sexual partners. By getting tested for the virus and learning one's HIV status soon after infection, treatment can begin early, substantially delaying the development of HIV-related illness and prolonging life," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. The National HIV/AIDS Atlas allows users to explore the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in any region of the United States. The map, a project of the National Minority Quality Forum, encompasses all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The more red a region appears, the greater the prevalence, which is the ratio of the number of people living with the disease at a given time to the total number of people living there at that time. Users can look at rates of disease by gender, race/ethnicity and age group in regions where this information is available. The map also has different settings for HIV and AIDS, the more severe illness caused by the HIV virus. They can also zoom into counties and, for New York City only, ZIP codes. About 33 million people have HIV/AIDS worldwide as of 2007, according to the World Health Organization. The CDC estimates that 1.1 million Americans have HIV and that 56,300 new infections occurred in the United States in 2006. Nearly 75 percent of HIV/AIDS diagnoses among adolescents and adults in that year were for males. People who worked on the atlas project were surprised at how concentrated HIV and AIDS are in certain U.S. counties. "Being able to look at all the data in this way reminds us that the HIV epidemic is not uniformly distributed throughout the U.S.," said Patrick Sullivan, associate professor of epidemiology at Emory University, who collaborated on the atlas. The atlas also reflects the disproportionate number of African-Americans who have HIV and AIDS. "You can see at the level of the national map that there's so much variation in the U.S. about which groups have been impacted," Sullivan said. Demographics and county-level data are not available for some states, or parts of some states, because of the way these places report data by region, researchers said. These areas appear as gray when users zoom in. Some places also appear gray because the disease case count is so low. The atlas is based on data from public health departments from 2006, the most recent available. Collaborators say they hope to update the maps when new data become available. The atlas, which launched Monday morning, had about 100,000 visitors by Tuesday afternoon, and more than 10,000 people completed the free registration in that time, said Gary Puckrein, executive director of the atlas project. To find an HIV testing facility near you, visit www.hivtest.org.

HIV epidemic is not uniformly distributed throughout the U.S. Disproportionate number of African-Americans have HIV/AIDS . Atlas is based on data from public health departments from 2006 .

Jerusalem (CNN) -- The United Nations body responsible for preserving the world's most important cultural sites voted Friday to grant "world heritage" status to the Church of the Nativity in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. The declaration by U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization covers the West Bank church, venerated by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, and the surrounding route taken by religious pilgrims. It marks the Palestinians' first bid for inclusion on the prestigious list of sites deemed to hold "outstanding universal value" as part of the world's shared heritage. It comes after Palestinians were granted membership of UNESCO last October, when the body's general assembly voted overwhelmingly to accept them. The vote proved controversial within the United States, which holds the view that Palestinians must reach a peace deal with Israel before the Palestinian Territories can be granted full membership in international organizations. The United States' and Israel's subsequent funding cut to the body caused UNESCO lose more than a fifth of its revenues. Rebels burn Timbuktu tomb listed as U.N. World Heritage site . The declaration, announced in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, was backed by 13 of the body's 21 members. Two countries abstained, while six countries voted against the declaration. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki, in St. Petersburg for the vote, thanked all those who voted in favor of including Bethlehem's holiest sites on the world heritage list. "The victory of Palestine in international organizations is the beginning of the end of the Israeli occupation," Malki said in a statement. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee who heads the group's Department of Culture and Information, told CNN from Ramallah that the vote affirms the Palestinian identity and is one step toward Palestinian self-determination. "Now we are responsible for our cultural and historical sites as part of human civilization as a whole," Ashrawi said. "Politically it is important, because it is the beginning of the loosening of the control of the Israeli occupation on our land, on our lives, on our culture and at all attempts of confiscation and distortion of our cultural heritage and reality," Ashrawi said. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told CNN that Israel was opposed to the move. "This is a real theater of the absurd. The Palestinians have stepped over the regular procedure of UNESCO and distorted the usual proceeding in order to vote a decision that has nothing to do with world heritage sites and even less to do with this site, the Church of the Nativity," he said. New Delhi's heritage sites . "The only purpose of this unprecedented voting procedure was to turn the commission into a propaganda tool against Israel. This should be denounced by all member countries of UNESCO, otherwise this will not be the Palestinians' last word." The West Bank city of Bethlehem, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) south of Jerusalem, is considered the Palestinian Territories' top visitor destination, largely due to the religious significance of the church. One of the oldest surviving Christian churches in the world, it drew 2 million visitors last year, according to Nada Atrash, an architect and head of the research and training unit at Bethlehem's Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation, which has been lobbying for the site's designation as a World Heritage destination. Atrash said the center considers Bethlehem's inclusion on the list "as a Palestinian dream, and as a reward of 11 years of work in the field of preserving the cultural and natural heritage in Palestine." Visitor numbers have hit record highs in recent years but, according to a report into developing tourism in the town, Bethlehem has yet to properly capitalize on its potential. The majority of the visitors were day-trippers on short visits, meaning the full economic benefits of tourism did not flow into the town. Africa's heritage sites under threat . Atrash said it is hoped that gaining world heritage status will help efforts to boost Bethlehem's appeal as a destination and keep visitors in the town longer. "We are mainly seeking to extend the stay of the visitors, who usually drop (in) to Bethlehem for few hours to visit the church and leave without visiting the town," she said. "We hope that this inscription would contribute to both the promotion of the site and its protection." Concerns have been raised over the condition of the church, which has suffered extensive earthquake damage in its long history. Another issues is that responsibility for its administration is shared among three religious authorities: the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic churches. On occasion, tensions among the groups have spilled over into violence; in December, about 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics fought with brooms when a tussle broke out while cleaning the church. One of Christianity's most holy places, the site's focal point is the Grotto of the Nativity, a rectangular cavern beneath the church that has been considered the site of Christ's birth since at least the 2nd century. A 14-point silver star set into the marble floor marks the precise spot where Jesus is said to have been born. In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine founded a church on the site that was destroyed in the year 529, only to be replaced by larger structures, which form the basis of the church today. UNESCO suspends year-end projects due to U.S. funding cut .

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is now the first Palestinian world heritage site . The vote signals a loosening of Israeli control on Palestinian land, a Palestinian official says . "This is a real theater of the absurd," says an Israeli foreign office spokesman . U.S. and Israeli funding to UNESCO was cut over Palestinian membership .

(CNN)They don't call journalists 'hacks' for nothing. At large news agencies where speed is crucial, template-style stories have long been used for company results, allowing journalists to simply key in the relevant facts and numbers and fire off the dispatch. Often disparagingly referred to as 'churnalism,' some of the larger media organisations -- including the L.A. Times and Associated Press -- have now turned to robots to take the grind out of formulaic dispatches. The L.A. Times uses the algorithms in its in-house software -- called Quakebot - to produce reports on local earthquakes, using data provided by the US Geological Survey. The reports typically hit the newspaper's website within three minutes of the tremor being recorded. For data-rich stories such as finance stories, sports stories and breaking news where dry facts need to be collated and sent out quickly, robo-journalists are becoming increasingly common. Narrative Science, a Chicago company set up in 2010 to commercialize technology developed at Northwestern University that crunches data into a narrative, markets its Quill software to television stations and to financial houses that generate earnings statements. "A lot of people felt threatened by what we were doing, and we got a lot of coverage," Narrative Science CEO Stuart Frankel told MIT Technology Review. "It led to a lot of inquiries from all different industries and to the evolution to a different business." Read this: Will nanotechnology soon allow you to 'swallow the doctor?' Its algorithms now write up lengthy reports on the performance of mutual funds for the consumption of investors and regulators. "It goes from the job of a small army of people over weeks to just a few seconds," Frankel said. "We do 10- to 15-page documents for some financial clients." While the prose can seem stilted, chief scientist at the company Kris Hammond says the algorithm is growing in complexity. "We know how to introduce an idea, how not to repeat ourselves, how to get shorter," he said. Writing in the nuances can simply be a matter of setting the software's parameters: a devastating loss for a sports team can be written in a sympathetic style for the team's home audience while regulatory filings can be as exhaustive and granular as required for the client. Known as 'natural language generation', the company -- which does not reveal exactly how its software operates - is tapping into years of research into how software can write in language that responds not just to the data but its context and its relevance. Hammond, meanwhile, believes it is only a matter of time before a robo-journalist will write a Pulitzer Prize winning story as the software grows in sophistication. He said there is no reason for the algorithms to move from commodity news, to narrative journalism to complex long-form features. Asked whether a computer would win a Pulitzer Prize within 20 years, he disagreed saying it would happen within five years. "Humans are unbelievably rich and complex, but they are machines," Hammond told Wired. "In 20 years, there will be no area in which Narrative Science doesn't write stories." While media organizations that use bots to crunch data say the software is merely an adjunct to the journalist's work, and will never replace them, some commentators believe that mapping the way forward for artificial intelligence will be one of the most urgent tasks of the 21st century. Professor Yuval Harari, Israeli historian and author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, believes it is not just journalism that is being challenged by machines. "The conscious experiences of a flesh-and-blood taxi driver are infinitely richer than those of Google's self-driving car, which feels nothing," Harari told CNN. "But what the system needs from a taxi driver is to bring passengers from point A to point B as quickly, safely and cheaply as possible. "Google's self-driving car will soon be able to do that far better than a human driver. The same goes for mechanics, lawyers, soldiers, doctors, teachers -- and even computer engineers." Read this: In a hurry? Let a robot valet park your car . He said that while machines may have replaced humans for the past 200 years since the Industrial Revolution, there has always been something that humans could do better than machines. However, he said that this gap is likely to close over the next 100 years. "(Since the Industrial Revolution) humans have focused more on performing cognitive tasks. But what will happen once computerized algorithms can outperform humans in that (area) too? Some believe that artificial intelligence should be viewed as a threat to the human race. Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom is convinced that humanity will end up being "the biological boot loader for superintelligent AI". Elon Musk, the superstar entrepreneur who founded PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors, echoed this warning via his Twitter feed: . "The idea that humans will always have a unique ability beyond the reach of non-conscious algorithms is just wishful thinking. It is based on the traditional assumption that intelligence and consciousness are inextricably linked to one another. For millions of years of evolution, this may have been true. But no longer," says Harari. Read more from Make, Create, Innovate: . Digital nose on a chip can sniff out cancer . Meet the world's first 1,000 mph car . Out of juice? Try a cardboard battery .

Software with increasingly complex algorithms are now writing news stories and financial reports . The L.A. Times uses Quakebot to write about tremors, using data from the US Geological Survey. Chicago-based company Narrative Science markets its Quill software to media and financial houses . The company's chief scientists believes a computer program could win a Pulitzer Prize within the next 5 years .

(CNN) -- A day after North Carolina became the latest state to approve a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, opponents of the referendum are beginning Wednesday to explore their next options. North Carolina voted Tuesday to outlaw same-sex marriage, which was already prohibited in the state. Supporters pushed for the constitutional amendment, arguing that it is needed to ward off future legal challenges. Voters approved the amendment by a 61%-39% margin with all counties reporting, according to unofficial returns from the State Board of Elections. "It is a very sad day in North Carolina," said Tori Taylor, 23, a Charlotte resident who voted against the amendment. "There were a lot of college students, young professionals who came out to vote. We have gay friends. A lot of us are integrated to that culture. Do you think your friends should have the same rights? It's black and white. Of course, they should." The North Carolina amendment alters the constitution to say that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized" in the state. "It writes discrimination into our state constitution and gives the majority the chance to vote against the minority," said Anne Fawcett Krishnan, 33, of Greensboro. But Vote for Marriage NC, which supported the amendment, applauded the passage, saying it solidifies the state ban and ensures the definition of marriage does not change. "We are not anti-gay; we are pro-marriage," said Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of the group. "And the point -- the whole point -- is simply that you don't rewrite the nature of God's design for marriage based on the demands of a group of adults." Experts expressed concerns that the language of the amendment is so vague, it could strip other unmarried couples of some rights as well. It could affect unmarried couples who live together and bring them unintended consequences on issues such as child custody and the prosecution of domestic violence, said Kathryn Bradley, a law professor at Duke University. It also strengthens the state's position against same-sex civil unions, often considered a precursor to the marriage issue, Bradley said. Some municipalities in North Carolina provide benefits to same-sex couples, and those rights could be lost with passage of the amendment, she said. Opponents of the amendment regroup Wednesday to decide the next course of action, with some planning campaigns in cities across the state this week. The groups acknowledged the loss but urged supporters to keep fighting. "We can't change the results of this vote, but we can determine what comes next," said Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, director of Campaign for Southern Equality. "When kids across the state wake up, I want them to know that this story isn't over." Campaign for Southern Equality said it will launch a "we do campaign to take action" Wednesday, with events planned across various cities all week. Another group, Equality North Carolina, plans to hold a news conference Wednesday to discuss the amendment. But its backers said they are not deterred. "Despite the relentless lawsuits and attempts to marginalize supporters of traditional marriage, a clear majority of the American people have not given up on standing in support of marriage," said Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council. "But instead, the evidence suggests they want to see it strengthened and preserved for future generations." The state House and Senate voted in 2011 to put the amendment before state voters. Both chambers are Republican-controlled for the first time in 140 years. President Barack Obama said he was "disappointed" by the vote, describing it as discriminatory against gays and lesbians, a spokesman said. Americans overall are closely split on the issue, according to a recent Gallup survey. About 50% of Americans believe same-sex couples should be allowed to wed -- up considerably from polls in past years. An additional 48% say such marriages should not be legal. Before Tuesday, 30 states had voted in favor of constitutional amendments that seek to defend traditional definitions of marriage as a heterosexual union. "Of states without constitutional amendments on marriage, 45% (nine of 20) eventually recognize same-sex marriage, either by direct judicial decree, by legislative action, or by a ruling requiring that same-sex marriages from other states be treated as valid," the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriages, said in a statement. "Among the 30 states with marriage amendments, none have been repealed." Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Columbia issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In February, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage beginning in June, but opponents there have pledged to block the bill and called for voters to decide the issue. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law a bill that permits the state's same-sex couples to wed as of January 1, and state residents may vote to affirm such a law. Minnesota will vote on a state constitutional amendment similar to the one in North Carolina. Maine will have a referendum on allowing same-sex marriage. CNN's Matt Smith, Joe Sutton, Paul Steinhauser and Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report.

"We are not anti-gay; we are pro-marriage," a proponent of the amendment says . "It is a very sad day in North Carolina," says Tori Taylor, who voted against the amendment . The amendment puts an existing ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution . Opponents of the amendment regroup Wednesday to decide the next course of action .

New York (CNN) -- Today's bipartisan health care meeting is being called a summit, a term that brings to mind diplomatic missions during wartime. That's a fitting description for the atmosphere in Washington. Political opponents are considered enemies. Health care is just the latest example of government dysfunction; it's been derailed by hyper-partisanship, over-spending and the disproportionate influence of special interests. Independent voters, the largest and fastest growing segment of the electorate, hold the balance of power in American politics, but they have once again been shut out of the debate. The professional partisans in Washington ignore them at their peril. Many Americans associate broken government with the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina and the anxieties that accompany the current manic recession. But the roots of independent voters' frustration go deeper. For them, the first modern evidence of failure from the federal government came during the late 1960s, when the social spending of Democratic President Johnson's Great Society failed to stop urban blight by throwing taxpayer money at the problem. One presidency later, the country confronted the corruption of Watergate from Republican President Nixon. Washington grew more harshly partisan, with political opponents determined to delegitimize any president from day one of his term. As the two parties grew more polarized, power shifted from the center to the margins, and special interests increased their influence. In reaction, the ranks of independent voters grew from 20 percent of the electorate at the start of the 1960s to 30 percent after Watergate. When Ross Perot ran for president as an Independent in 1992, the self-made businessman presented himself as a nonideological problem solver. His campaign gained traction because both parties had lost credibility as stewards of fiscal responsibility, with overspending and then-record deficits. Perot briefly led in the polls, and independents spiked to 36 percent of the electorate. The divided government of President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich ultimately produced hard-won budget surpluses. But when President Bush and the Tom DeLay-led Republican Congress ruled Washington during the last decade, surpluses again turned to deficits and independents turned against the GOP. Independents listed the economy as their No. 1 issue back in 2007, when Democrats said health care and Republicans said terrorism. Moderates and the middle class -- the people who determine who wins elections -- felt squeezed even before the fiscal crisis, with rising health care and energy costs absorbing whatever benefit they might have received from tax cuts. After watching the jet set excess of the Bernie Madoff class from afar, they were left with less and still asked to clean up the mess. Now, as they try to balance their own budgets at home, they see big government and big business --Washington and Wall Street -- piling up huge debts and passing the buck to the taxpayer. It was in this environment that independents began to break with President Obama last spring, after voting for him in 2008 by an eight-point margin. The change they voted for was rooted in candidate Obama's calls for an end to politics that "played to the base" and a restoration of fiscal responsibility. The liberal House leadership's private negotiations over the $787 billion stimulus bill seemed to contradict those promises. And the subsequent health care debate was derailed in part because it was seen as adding additional spending and leading to the growth of government. In reaction, independents reasserted themselves, their numbers growing quickly and reaching 43 percent by September 2009, according to a monthly Washington Post/ABC News poll. In Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts' elections, independents voted by at least a 2-to-1 margin for Republican candidates. Exit polls showed they were voting to send a message to Washington, not necessarily endorsing the Congressional Republicans' agenda. Independents' anger today is focused on familiar targets: hypocritical politicians, over-spending and a lack of agreement on solutions from Washington. Independents feel they are paying more and getting less. They believe the system has been rigged to benefit special interests at the expense of the national interest. As bitter partisanship increases government's dysfunction, more voters are declaring their independence from politics as usual. Today's bipartisan health care summit is a step in the right direction. Independent voters want to see the warring parties in Washington speaking to each other in the presence of television cameras, ensuring at least a degree of civility and accountability. It's more difficult to demonize the opposition when talking with them. But photo-op centrism is, of course, not enough. It must be followed by substance. To really change the culture of Washington, we need to change the rules that reinforce this predictable partisanship. The quickest policy cure would be to change the rigged system of redistricting that creates congressional 'safe seats' and replaces competitive general elections with closed primaries, where party activists reign supreme. Nonpartisan redistricting and open primaries would reward politicians who reach across the aisle, and would empower independent voters. Americans' sense that government is broken didn't happen overnight, and it won't be solved overnight. It will take time to restore trust in Washington. But substantive efforts to depolarize our politics will lead to the politics of problem solving. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.

John Avlon says health care summit comes amid a period of bipartisan dysfunction in government . Historically, frustrated independent voters increase in this climate, hold balance of power, he says . Let down by bipartisan gridlock, stalled agenda, faltering economy, independents have broken with Obama . Avlon: Health care meeting is chance for parties to show independents they can change .

(CNN) -- Chris Martinez, just 20 years old when he was gunned down at a deli Friday in California, dreamed of being a lawyer like his dad. Now his grieving father, Richard Martinez, has emerged as the public face of gun control advocates in the aftermath of the six killings in Isla Vista. Three of the victims were shot, including his only son. The gunman also shot himself, police said. Chris Martinez, a college student, had gone to get a snack at the I.V. Deli Mart when the gunman opened fire. Richard Martinez says his child died because of gutless politicians. "Where is the leadership? Where is the friggin' politicians that will stand up and say, 'We need to do this. We're gonna do something,'" he told CNN. "Those gutless bastards did nothing. And my son died because of it. And it's outrageous. Absolutely outrageous." Martinez told CNN that he was furious that lawmakers had done nothing since the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings in Connecticut in December 2012. His son died, he said, because of that inaction. Their inaction was not just related to gun laws; it also was in the lack of progress toward solving a mental health crisis, he told CNN. The two issues are interconnected, he said. At the same time he grieves for his son, he feels for the parents of the 20 children and six adults who died at their elementary school. "Those parents lost little kids. It's bad enough I lost my 20 year old. I had 20 years with my son," he screamed through tears. "That's all I'll ever have. Those people lost their little 6- and 7-year-olds. How do you think they feel? And who's talking to them now? Who's doing anything for them now?" Congress's efforts to enact stricter federal gun laws fizzled in April of last year, when a bill that included stronger federal background checks for gun purchases failed to pass the Senate. We've been here before: Will California shooting revive gun debate? 'We need to hold them accountable' Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, told CBS that if the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 had passed, it would have provided more mental health resources in addition to strengthening the background check system. "I really sincerely hope that this tragedy -- this unimaginable, unspeakable tragedy -- will provide an impetus to bring back measures that would keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who are severely troubled or deranged, like this young man was, and provide resources. We need mental health resources," the senator from Connecticut said. Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said legislative debate should center on mental health issues related to violence. "I think that is something on which there is agreement," he told CBS. "And that is where we ought to be focusing our efforts." Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said the Sandy Hook mass killings should have been enough to motivate Congress. "We are taking steps to deal with the mental health issues, but obviously we've made very little progress, and it shows in these tragedies," he said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley." Bob Weiss, whose daughter Veronika was killed outside a sorority house, said he wasn't ready to get political about the issue. "I do know this, the people who write the laws, they work for us ... and we need to hold them accountable," he told CNN's Sara Sidner. "If we're not holding them accountable, then we're accountable." Opinion: I'm a gun owner and I want gun control . "What about Chris' right to live?" On Sunday, Martinez also gave a passionate statement to the media, saying: "We don't have to live like this. Too many have died. We should say to ourselves, 'Not. One. More.'" The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence issued a statement agreeing with Martinez and blaming the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups for blocking political progress. Martinez also pointed a finger at the NRA for his son's death. "They talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?" he said angrily. The NRA has not commented publicly since the killings. The organization also waited several days after the Sandy Hook attack before issuing a statement. "Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting," the statement after Sandy Hook said. "The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again." Martinez said he anticipated the NRA would say he's being overly emotional. "I think I can be emotional and rational at the same time," he said. He said he wanted to be an advocate for the victims and to honor his son, who liked sports and competition and was an English major at the University of California at Santa Barbara. "If there's all these things in the media about the shooter and nothing about the victims, it sends the wrong message," he said. "People need to understand that real people died here." Roommates, 'a really great kid' among victims .

Father of shooting victim blames inaction in Congress for his son's death . Chris Martinez, a student at UCSB, was out getting a snack when he was killed . Congress debated stricter gun laws in 2013, but the legislation didn't pass in the Senate . Father of another victim says people need to hold lawmakers accountable .

(CNN) -- The shale gas boom in the US is having a surprise knock-on effect in Europe -- a big increase in the burning of coal by European utilities, despite EU environmental policies designed to curb the share of polluting fossil fuels in the energy mix. The trend shows how disruptive shale gas has become for traditional industries, leading to unforeseen -- and often perverse -- outcomes across the global energy system. North America's fracking revolution pushed down US natural gas prices to 10-year lows last spring, prompting electricity generators to switch to gas from coal. Unwanted at home, US coal increasingly found its way on to European markets, where it has displaced more expensive gas as a feedstock for power stations. But many experts believe coal's European revival will be shortlived, and that it is essentially the last gasp of a fuel with no long-term future. The International Energy Agency says the trend of rising European demand is "close to peaking", and by 2017 it will drop to levels slightly above those in 2011. Even coal's backers agree that the phenomenon is short-term. "We don't see this as a renaissance of coal," says Milton Catelin, head of the World Coal Association. "It's just economics." Coal sceptics say the dirtiest of fossil fuels will inevitably be squeezed out in Europe as new solar and wind capacity comes on stream and ageing coal plants are shut down. Attempts to replace these creaking pieces of kit with new, efficient coal-fired stations are being stymied by environmentalist opposition and regulatory uncertainty, especially in Germany. "New large-scale power plants and some existing assets are not economically viable in the current environment," says Matthias Hartung, chief executive of RWE Generation, which bundles RWE's German, Dutch and UK power plants. According to figures from the European Climate Foundation, a think-tank, in 2008 European utilities had plans for 112 plants. Of these, only two have broken ground and 73 have been abandoned. Long-term, policy analysts say, coal's comeback will inevitably fall foul of EU environmental policy, which calls for a 20 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 and a growing role for solar, wind and biomass in electricity generation. For the time being, however, the economics work in coal's favour. American coal exports to Europe increased by 29 per cent last year. The resulting oversupply, exacerbated by a slowdown in Chinese demand, sent European coal prices plummeting from $130 a tonne in March 2011 to around $86 now. That coincided with a sharp fall in the price of carbon allowances under the EU's flagship emissions trading system and rising European prices for natural gas. As a result, the German power generators' association, the BDEW, says gas-fired electricity output in Germany fell last year by 13bn kilowatt hours, or 16 per cent, while coal-fired plants upped output by the same amount, recording a 5 per cent increase to 275.8bn kWh. "The economics are telling us to burn coal rather than gas," says Andrew Horstead, risk analyst at Utilyx, an energy consultancy. Figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance show power generators in Germany currently earn €25.2 per megawatt hour when they burn coal and lose €1.1/MWh when they burn gas. There are also local factors in individual EU countries that have contributed to increased coal use. In the UK, several coal plants are due to close before the end of 2015 under the EU's Large Combustion Plants Directive, which is designed to limit emissions of pollutants from ageing plants. The directive limits the number of hours they can operate before shutting down, and many coal plants are choosing to burn through their remaining permitted hours by April when the UK government introduces a carbon floor price. This will set a price for carbon that is higher than in the European trading scheme, and so entail much higher costs for coal-burners. Another new policy, the emissions performance standard, currently moving through parliament, will prevent any new coal-fired stations being built in the UK that are not equipped with technology to capture and store carbon emissions. Other countries are following similar paths. The Netherlands is introducing a coal tax, Denmark and Finland have announced phase-outs of coal and Spain says it will end coal subsidies. Even Germany, which has huge domestic reserves of cheap lignite, is lowering its reliance on coal. RWE, Germany's largest electricity generator, has reduced the proportion of coal-fired plants from 56 per cent of total capacity in 2006 to about 50 per cent at the end of 2011. By 2020, it sees that dropping to about 35 per cent as the proportion of renewables in the energy mix rises. However, Germany and the Netherlands are due to build 12.5 gigawatts of new coal capacity between 2012 and 2015, offsetting the 11GW that will be retired in the UK over the next four years. "But a lot of the new plants are replacing older ones," says Brian Potskowski of BNEF. "So there is unlikely to be net growth in coal capacity in western Europe."

U.S. shale gas boom having knock-on effect in Europe, despite EU environmental policies . Fracking revolution pushed down US natural gas prices, leading electricity generators to switch from coal . US coal has displaced more expensive gas in Europe as feedstock for power stations . Experts believe coal's European revival will be shortlived .

(CNN) -- John McCain tried to make Barack Obama's celebrity status a campaign issue last summer, but there's no debate about the president-elect's ability to draw famous and talented Americans to his inauguration. Bruce Springsteen campaigns for Barack Obama in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 2, 2008. Dozens of major celebrities will perform on several nationally televised shows, as well as 10 inaugural balls the evening after Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president. The celebration will open Sunday evening on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with a free concert so star-studded it's hard to choose a headliner. Beyonce, Bono and Bruce Springsteen are on the list. Other musical performers include Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. In addition, Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington will take the stage to deliver historical readings. More performers will likely be named. Executive Producer George Stevens Jr. said the intention is "to root the event in history, celebrating the moments when our nation has united to face great challenges and prevail." See how inaugurations have changed over the years » . Don Mischer, who directed the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympics and ` recent Super Bowl half-time shows, is directing this event. "We will have the statue of Abraham Lincoln looking down on our stage and a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people lining the mall -- a tableau any director would relish," Mischer said. Admission will be free, but security will be tight. Check out an interactive map of Washington . Five gates leading into the area, including one around the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, open at 8 a.m. ET Sunday. Performances start at 2:30 p.m. HBO paid for exclusive rights to televise Sunday's show, but its feed will be free to all cable and satellite viewers from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. It cannot be seen through local broadcast television stations. The Disney Channel will carry Monday night's big event -- "Kids' Inaugural: We Are The Future" -- from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. ET. Those who don't have cable will be able to hear it live on Radio Disney or watch it online later at Disney.com. Musical performers will include the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Bow Wow. Singer-actress Keke Palmer -- star of Nickelodeon's "True Jackson, VP" -- is one of the hosts for the show, which will be staged in Washington's Verizon Center. Palmer, 15, hopes to meet Obama's daughters Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, backstage Monday night. Palmer said she moved from Chicago to Los Angeles when she was about the same age as Malia is now, and Obama's election is "very special for my family and me, being from Chicago and all." "I also feel like I know what Sasha and Malia are experiencing in terms of leaving Chicago at an early age, having to attend a brand new school, a new house, just new everything," Palmer said. "It's not easy, but as long as you have great parents, which we all three have, then it turns out OK." There should be plenty of celebrity sightings at the swearing-in ceremony at noon ET Tuesday or in the parade starting at 2:30 p.m. Viewers will have no trouble finding a television broadcast of those events. Palmer said she will likely view the inaugural parade from a viewing stand at the Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women. "Hey, either way I'm so happy to be a part of it no matter how small," she said. "This is historic!" While inaugural ball tickets are tough to get, one of the 10 balls Tuesday evening will be shown live on ABC television from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. "The Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration" is billed by planners as "the premier event of the inauguration evening." Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Stevie Wonder and others yet to be announced will perform live at the ball. The Neighborhood Ball will take place in a hall at the Washington Convention Center, the venue for four other balls. Take a quiz about first ladies' inaugural gowns » . A Youth Ball -- aimed at partygoers ages 18 to 35 -- will take place at the Hilton Washington. Ball planners have not released the entertainment line-up for this ball, but said whoever is there won't stop playing until 2:30 a.m. For those who somehow miss all of this -- or want more -- the Presidential Inaugural Committee is selling a CD-DVD with 18 music tracks from many of the inauguration performers. Eight key Obama speeches from the past two years also are included.

Celebrations open Sunday evening with a free star-studded concert televised by HBO . Kids' inaugural show Monday will feature Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus . One of the 10 inaugural balls Tuesday evening will be shown live on ABC . Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder will perform at the ball .

Manila (CNN) -- Crowded, gritty, and poor, Metro Manila can be a tough place to live for just about anyone; but when you stand three feet 10 inches the odds are seriously stacked against you. "I come from the provinces so there was no work," says 35-year-old Alejandro Doron, looking at his hands. "Farm work, using the heavy equipment, was just too hard for me." Arriving in Manila as a 21-year-old, Alejandro - a dwarf or unano as they are called in the Philippines - tried his hand at several jobs, among them working as a show wrestler in a Manila bar. "That was okay but it could be quite hard," he says. "It was just a show, and just on Thursdays, but sometimes you could still get hurt and you were always slipping over in the oil." Now safely ensconced in Manila's "Hobbit House" - a dwarf-themed blues bar in Manila's scruffy Ermita district - he is part of a group of dwarves who plan to build their own community for about 30 of the city's "little people" - the preferred term for people with dwarfism. Often isolated in the provinces, where they can be the only person in the town with dwarfism, in Manila they are less visible. Working and living together, however, makes the condition all but a normal state of affairs. The founder of the Hobbit House, 71-year-old Jim Turner, says dwarves in the Philippines suffer the same amount of prejudice as little people anywhere else in the world. "I think anywhere ... anywhere in the world they'd have the same problems," says Turner sitting in his usual corner of the bar, a cigarette burning in his ashtray. "People look and stare at them," he says, screwing up his face in imitation of someone who's just seen something weird. Far from exploiting the dwarves, Turner maintains the bar gives hope and employment to people who sometimes hail from the worst slums in Manila. "It gives them a real sense of community," he says, taking a draw on his cigarette. A former Peace Corp volunteer who came to Manila in the 60s, Turner later worked in Filipino television in the 1970s when dwarves and transvestites were a staple fare of the film industry. The exploitation genre - a period during the 60s, 70s and 80s when sexism, racism and so-called "carnival freaks" were regarded as a surefire recipe for a box office smash - was recently documented in an Australian film released last year called Machete Maidens Unleashed! The B-movie genre was designed as drive-in fodder and involved risqué scenes featuring gun-toting nuns, topless female revolutionaries or martial arts-performing dwarves. The low-budget films launched the career of Filipino actor and martial artist Ernesto de la Cruz - better known as Weng Weng - who stood just 2 feet, 9 inches tall. Starring in roles as diverse as the baby Moses in a Filipino biblical epic to a spoof on James Bond where he appeared as agent '00', Weng Weng was wildly popular in the Philippines in a genre that became know as 'dwarf TV'. Turner became friends with several people with dwarfism and, combined with his love of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the idea for the Hobbit House was born. It has since become so popular that he opened up a second Hobbit House in the beach resort of Boracay and the venues now attract a steady stream of little people looking for work. "At first we were just taking anyone we could get, but now we're pretty much turning people away," he said. The bar general manager Pidoy Fetalino, who started at the Hobbit House as a cashier but now operates the bar, says they are now looking for dwarves who have good English and even college degrees. "A few of the people we've hired haven't worked out," adds Turner. The Hobbit House is still the first stop for casting agents looking for little people to star as extras and most of the staff at the bar describe themselves as freelancers or businesspeople. Not only does the bar provide regular employment between gigs, it also gives the staff a chance to hone their skills - the Hobbit House has spawned a slew of diminutive Elvis impersonators, jugglers and fire eaters. One bar staff member even patrolled the premises dressed as a security guard with a Great Dane three times his size. "I just landed a role as Santa Nino," says Alejandro, chuckling as he makes the shape of the headdress and cape of the saint. "In all my life, I never thought I would be doing something like that." While the dream of starting a live-in community for Manila's little people is still to attract any financial backers, Alejandro is hopeful the scheme will one day come together. "So far we don't have the money to go much further," Doron says. The group has already sourced a 40-acre site outside Manila, but the cost of developing the site and building housing is daunting. "What can I say except that dreams do come true," he says, laughing infectiously. "There's always Santa Claus."

Some of Manila's dwarves want to build their own community . Life in the provinces can be tough for people with dwarfism . Some have found work in a Manila bar called the Hobbit House . Dwarves in the Philippines have long been a staple of TV shows .

London (CNN) -- Police are to investigate claims that the British secret services were involved in the rendition of two men to Libya and their alleged ill treatment there, London's Metropolitan Police said Thursday. The investigation will take place now rather than at the end of a government inquiry into allegations of UK involvement in abuse of detainees, the police said in a joint statement with prosecutors. One of the cases involves Abdul Hakim Belhaj, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group who became a senior revolutionary commander, while the second is Libyan citizen Saami Al-Saadi, officials confirmed. "The allegations raised in the two specific cases concerning the alleged rendition of named individuals to Libya and the alleged ill-treatment of them in Libya are so serious that it is in the public interest for them to be investigated now rather than at the conclusion of the Detainee Inquiry," the Metropolitan Police said in a joint statement with the director of public prosecutions. John Sawers, chief of the British foreign intelligence agency MI6, welcomed the decision in a statement Thursday. "We will of course be cooperating fully with the police on this new investigation, as we have done on the one now concluding," Sawers said. "It is in the service's interest to deal with the allegations being made as swiftly as possible so we can draw a line under them and focus on the crucial work we face now and in the future." A statement from the Cabinet Office said the government would also cooperate fully. "The government stands firmly against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment," it said. "We do not condone it, nor do we ask others to do it on our behalf. The security and intelligence agencies work tirelessly to protect us day in, day out." The Detainee Inquiry, to be headed by Peter Gibson, was ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010 but cannot start until all related criminal investigations have been concluded, meaning it may be further delayed by Thursday's decision. The inquiry's remit is "to look systematically at the allegations about whether British personnel were in any way involved in the alleged mistreatment of detainees held by other countries," following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, its website says. Last September it confirmed it would look into the claims of British involvement in renditions to Libya. Clive Stafford Smith, director of the legal action charity Reprieve, also welcomed Thursday's decision by police and prosecutors. Their statement made clear that "British complicity in the torture of Libyans Sami al Saadi and Abdulhakim Belhaj by the Gaddafi regime is so blatant that a criminal inquiry must go ahead before the government's deeply flawed Gibson Inquiry can get started," he said. Al-Saadi, also known as Abu Munthir, is suing the British government and intelligence agencies for their alleged complicity in his rendition from Hong Kong to Tripoli in 2004 and subsequent inhuman detention, torture and abuse by the Libyan authorities, according to a letter from his lawyers placed online by Reprieve. Documents found at Libyan intelligence headquarters in Tripoli by campaign group Human Rights Watch last September highlighted the cooperation between Libya and Western intelligence agencies after Libya ended its weapons of mass destruction program in 2004. CNN saw an exchange of information between Libyan intelligence and Western intelligence agencies -- such as the CIA, the MI6 in Britain and Canada's intelligence service -- in documents dating from 2004 and 2005. They included a March 6, 2004, CIA letter to Libyan officials concerning Belhaj. British police and prosecutors also said they would not charge any individuals in relation to allegations of wrongdoing by British officials in two separate investigations, in their statement Thursday. One, known as Operation Hinton, relates to claims that British intelligence officials were involved in the ill-treatment and torture of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born British resident and former Guantanamo Bay inmate, while he was detained in Pakistan. The other, Operation Iden, was set up to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing after an individual who was detained by U.S. authorities in Afghanistan was questioned by a member of the Secret intelligence Service, or MI6. Neither investigation produced evidence that would have led to a criminal conviction of an individual, the police and prosecutors concluded. But, they added, "Nothing in this decision should be read as concluding that the ill-treatment alleged by Mr Mohamed did not take place or that it was lawful." Stafford Smith welcomed that statement as "the first time any official in any country has conceded that Binyam Mohamed was tortured -- and it is clear from this statement that the CPS accepts that Mr Mohamed was tortured and it was a criminal offense." It was unsurprising that the authorities had not found evidence to prosecute an individual in the case, he said. "But the main focus of all this should not be the rank and file, but those who were signing off the torture policy at the top," he added, naming former Prime Minister Tony Blair among them. The police and CPS have also agreed to set up a panel to look into other claims of ill treatment of detainees and determine whether they should be investigated before the Detainee Inquiry concludes, Thursday's statement said. CNN's Raja Razek contributed to this report.

NEW: The UK government stands firmly against torture and will cooperate fully, it says . Claims made by two Libyan men are so serious they should be investigated now, police say . Abdul Hakim Belhaj and Saami Al-Saadi say British officials were involved in their rendition . The head of MI6 says the intelligence agency will cooperate fully with the police .

(CNN) -- Sanaa residents reported hearing heavy explosions and sporadic gunfire for several hours early Tuesday, one day after security forces set fire to tents and tore through demonstrators' camps in Freedom Square in Taiz with bulldozers, an activist and eyewitnesses said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast sounds in Sanaa, which residents described as coming from the Hasabah neighborhood, an area close to it and the region near the airport. Hasabah is home to Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, leader of the powerful al-Hashid tribe, whose forces oppose the government. Eyewitnesses in the capital city said they saw a heavy security presence in Sanaa, as well as what they described as "armed thugs" roaming the streets. In Taiz, a center of protests against the Yemeni president, the protest camp was essentially gone on Monday, said Bushra Maktati, a leading human rights activist. A field hospital was also dismantled, with the equipment taken away by troops, Maktati said. Troops also used water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters in the city on Monday, a day after clashes left at least 20 people dead and 200 wounded, according to eyewitnesses and two medical officials who could not be named because of security concerns. One youth activist said the attacks would not stop their protests. "Our revolution will not stop even if hundreds are killed every day," said Sameer Al-Samaee, a leading youth activist in Taiz. "Killing innocent civilians always leads to war crime charges and that is what we are seeking for Saleh." Meanwhile, government forces launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in the coastal city of Zinjibar, where fierce fighting raged Sunday. And the nation's largest cell phone network was ordered shut down Sunday, according to a senior official with the country's Communications Ministry who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The SABAFON network was ordered shut down because of violations and unpaid fines over the last few years, the Communications Ministry official told CNN. A management official with the SABAFON network, who also was not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed the shutdown. The official denied the government's allegations and said the move appeared to be a tactic to pressure members of the al-Ahmar family, including Hamid al-Ahmar -- President Ali Abdullah Saleh's chief political enemy. The official said members of the al-Ahmar family are majority shareholders in SABAFON, with the largest shareholder being Hamid al-Ahmar. Saleh has been under intense pressure to resign after months of protests and mounting opposition. Taiz, where protests continued Monday, has been a center of anti-Saleh activity. The most recent protests broke out Sunday when thousands of protesters took to the streets and were met with gunfire from security forces. Protesters threw rocks at the forces, who responded with more gunfire, witnesses said. The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa condemned what it called the "unprovoked and unjustified attack" on demonstrators in Taiz. It praised the protesters and called on Saleh "to move immediately on his commitment to transfer power." On Monday, security forces were arresting youths and taking them from the streets to an unknown location, Maktati, the human rights activist, said. At least 70 tents had been burned down by security forces since late Sunday night, according to witnesses. Abdu Ganadi, a government spokesman, said security forces were rescuing colleagues who had been captured and beaten by protesters. "We did not attack the protesters," Ganadi said. "Reports are all exaggerated. Only two were killed." He said protesters' tents were burned by people attacked by the protesters, and that tents that burned were empty. In Zinjibar, fighting continued Monday between Yemeni troops and Islamic militants. Militants moved into the city on Friday and controlled the streets by Saturday, residents said. The militants began ferocious attacks on Saturday, according to a Yemeni government official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Security forces and soldiers abandoned their posts, leading to chaos, the source said. Hundreds of soldiers moved back into the city on Sunday, with heavy fighting between militants and the Army's 25th Mechanized Brigade, the source said. More than two dozen soldiers had been killed since the start of the battle on Saturday, said a government source Sunday who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The fighting occurred on the same day Saleh met with top military and security officials to talk about "hostilities and crimes" occurring in his country, the Yemeni State News Agency reported. Saleh has been resisting protests calling on him to step down after 33 years in power. The powerful al-Hashid tribe, which includes the al-Ahmar family, rose up against long-time leader Saleh in the last week, after he backed out of a regionally brokered deal meant to ease him out of office and end months of demonstrations of the kind that have swept the Arab world this year. The recent fighting has raised fears of a full-blown civil war in Yemen, an impoverished, arid and mountainous nation that has been a key U.S. ally in the battle against the al Qaeda terrorist network.

Witnesses say security forces use bulldozers and fire to dismantle camps in Taiz . A government spokesman denies attacking protesters . 20 now are dead in clashes in Taiz, medical sources say . The Yemeni air force launches strikes against militants in Zinjibar .

ZHOUSHAN, China (CNN) -- They operate from a bare apartment on a Chinese island. They are intelligent 20-somethings who seem harmless. But they are hard-core hackers who claim to have gained access to the world's most sensitive sites, including the Pentagon. The leader of these Chinese hackers says there "is always a weakness" on networks that allows cyber break-ins. In fact, they say they are sometimes paid secretly by the Chinese government -- a claim the Beijing government denies. "No Web site is one hundred percent safe. There are Web sites with high-level security, but there is always a weakness," says Xiao Chen, the leader of this group. "Xiao Chen" is his online name. Along with his two colleagues, he does not want to reveal his true identity. The three belong to what some Western experts say is a civilian cyber militia in China, launching attacks on government and private Web sites around the world. Watch hackers' clandestine Chinese operation » . If there is a profile of a cyber hacker, these three are straight from central casting -- young and thin, with skin pale from spending too many long nights in front of a computer. One hacker says he is a former computer operator in the People's Liberation Army; another is a marketing graduate; and Xiao Chen says he is a self-taught programmer. "First, you must know about the Web site you want to attack. You must know what program it is written with," says Xiao Chen. "There is a saying, 'Know about both yourself and the enemy, and you will be invincible.'" CNN decided to withhold the address of these hackers' Web site, but Xiao Chen says it has been operating for more than three years, with 10,000 registered users. The site offers tools, articles, news and flash tutorials about hacking. Private computer experts in the United States from iDefense Security Intelligence, which provides cybersecurity advice to governments and Fortune 500 companies, say the group's site "appears to be an important site in the broader Chinese hacking community." Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks of on-again, off-again e-mail exchanges. When they finally agreed, CNN was told to meet them on the island of Zhoushan, just south of Shanghai and a major port for China's navy. The apartment has cement floors and almost no furniture. What they do have are three of the latest computers. They are cautious when it comes to naming the Web sites they have hacked. On camera, Xiao Chen denies knowing anyone who has targetted U.S. government Web sites. But off-camera, in conversations over three days, he claims two of his colleagues -- not the ones with him in the room -- hacked into the Pentagon and downloaded information, although he wouldn't specify what was gleaned. CNN has no way to confirm if his claim is true. "They would not publicize this," he says of someone who hacks the U.S. Defense Department. "It is very sensitive." This week, the Pentagon said computer networks in the United States, Germany, Britain and France were hit last year by what they call "multiple intrusions," many of them originating from China. At a congressional hearing in Washington last week, administration officials testified that the government's cyber initiative has fallen far short of what is required. Most alarming, the officials said, there has never been a full damage assessment of federal agency networks. Watch Pentagon bans Google from bases » . "We are here today because we must do more," said Robert Jamison, a top official in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "Defending the federal system in its current configuration is a significant challenge." U.S. officials have been cautious not to directly accuse the Chinese military or its government of hacking into its network. But David Sedney, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, says, "The way these intrusions are conducted are certainly consistent with what you would need if you were going to actually carry out cyber warfare." Beijing hit back at that, denying such an allegation and calling on the United States to provide proof. "If they have any evidence, I hope they would provide it. Then, we can cooperate on this issue," Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a regular press briefing this week. But again off-camera, Xiao Chen says after the alleged Pentagon attack, his colleagues were paid by the Chinese government. CNN has no way to independently confirm if that is true. His allegations brought strenuous denials from Beijing. "I am telling you honestly, the Chinese government does not do such a thing," Qin said. But if Xiao Chen is telling the truth, it appears his colleagues launched a freelance attack -- not initiated by Beijing, but paid for after the fact. "These hacker groups in my opinion are not agents of the Chinese state," says James Mulvenon from the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis, which works with the U.S. intelligence community. "They are sort of useful idiots for the Beijing regime." He adds, "These young hackers are tolerated by the regime provided that they do not conduct attacks inside of China." One of the biggest problems experts say is trying to prove where a cyber attack originates from, and that they say allows hackers like Xiao Chen to operate in a virtual world of deniability. And across China, there could be thousands just like him, all trying to prove themselves against some of the most secure Web sites in the world. E-mail to a friend .

Chinese hackers claim to have broken into Pentagon's system . The hackers met with CNN on an island near a Chinese naval hub . Hackers say Beijing secretly pays them at times, something the government denies . Official: "The Chinese government does not do such a thing"

Washington (CNN) -- For more than a week into a government shutdown, Paul Ryan kept a low profile amid the political uproar. When he finally emerged, the time was ripe for someone with his conservative cred and fiscal bona fides to step in and try to corral his bucking Republican Party. While a group of conservatives were driving the agenda in the quagmire over spending, Obamacare and the looming debt limit, Ryan dropped an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal outlining the Republican path forward. Yes, he did stir up divisions between tea party conservatives and establishment GOP lawmakers, but he also enabled party leaders to grab the reins and regain control of their caucus. Prologue: Ryan's strategy . To remain silent. In new book, Paul Ryan asks 'where do we go from here?' As Texas Sen. Ted Cruz staged a public fight over defunding President Barack Obama's signature health care law, which led to the shutdown, Ryan tread lightly. For instance, CNN has asked every member of Congress if he or she would support a government funding or debt ceiling bill with no strings attached -- something Obama and Democrats are demanding. Ryan's office chose not to comment. His recent reticence was more noticeable because the issues front and center now fell into his wheelhouse. Cue Paul Ryan. Act I: The adult in the room . Ryan Williams, former spokesman for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said that Ryan speaks about issues when necessary. "He intends to be the adult in the room when needed," Williams said. "He felt that it was important for him to speak up to address the seemingly never-ending stalemate that we're witnessing in Washington." Supporters stand by representatives, and government shutdown . A source told CNN this was the plan all along. Ryan thought the better issue to demand concessions from the president was around the debt ceiling and that he'd play a larger role in that debate. Ryan's low profile, however, was evident on Thursday when Republicans emerged from a conference to announce what they planned to take to the White House. As nearly a dozen House leaders approached the microphone to announce a deal, Ryan refrained from speaking. He stood in the background, barely in the frame of the television cameras. Act II: Ryan's backlash . Ryan, who was previously considered the conservative knight in shining armor for his fiscal policies, took a beating from the home team when he released his op-ed urging the terms of negotiations revolve around the deficit and entitlement programs. Lisa Miller, Founder of the Washington-based Tea Party WDC, told CNN that she is skeptical of Ryan's plan. "Paul Ryan is a numbers guy; I just don't like his numbers," Miller said. And a spokeswoman for Cruz noticed something else that irritated conservatives. "There is one big work missing from this op-ed. It's start with an O and ends with BAMACARE," she tweeted. Ryan was forced to go on defense instead of push his agenda. Ryan responds to criticism over op-ed . Appearing on conservative talk show "Bill Bennett's Morning in America," Bennett asked Ryan if dismantling Obamacare was no longer a priority. Ryan insisted that it still was. "Obamacare's an entitlement just like any other entitlement," Ryan said, according to Politico. "If you look at the op-ed, I say we have to - ultimately we have to rethink all of our nation's health care laws." Act III: Ryan's defense . But Ryan has some support on this matter. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus echoed Ryan's defense, and said the op-ed included "OBAMACARE," even though it didn't specifically mention it. And Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona called Ryan's proposal a "must read." Act IV: Ryan's impact . One day later, however, Ryan's timely action has proved significant. Republican leadership has now effectively transitioned GOP negotiation demands away from health care. Republican leadership said the proposal they are bringing to Obama is a discussion on "an array of issues." Missing from the proposal were the words "health care" or "Obamacare." Opinion: Goodbye to the strategy Republicans knew was a fantasy . The subtle omission is significant because the parameters of the debate have dramatically changed. Dismantling the health care law is a top priority among a core group of conservative lawmakers. The demand to defund Obamacare resulted in the government shutdown, despite reluctance from Republican leadership to back their plan, knowing that the president and Democratic Senate would never agree to that. Epilogue: Ryan's future . Ultimately, his timely emergence could be part of a larger plot. As a young politician with a bright future, speculation is rampant that he might be running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. That speculation grows louder especially as he plans trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, the first presidential nominating states. He will keynote a birthday fundraiser for Iowa's Republican governor next month and he is to attend a fundraising breakfast for a congressional candidate in New Hampshire. Ryan stood back while Cruz, another potential 2016 hopeful, pushed the Republican Party into a difficult position. With some experience on his side having served in Congress for 15 years and running on a presidential ticket, Ryan understands the risk of speaking too often and too soon. It creates more opportunity to mess up. CNN's Dan Merica contributed to this report.

After keeping a low-profile, Paul Ryan emerges with key role in Washington's standoff . His op-ed on a path forward first generated a conservative backlash . But his timely emergence has proven effective . Leadership effectively transitioned Republican negotiation demands away from health care .

(CNN) -- Reclusive author J.D. Salinger has emerged, at least in the pages of court documents, to try to stop a novel that presents Holden Caulfield, the disaffected teen hero of his classic "The Catcher in the Rye," as an old man. J.D. Salinger has stayed out of the public eye for most of the past half century. Lawyers for Salinger filed suit in federal court this week to stop the publication, sale and advertisement of "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye," a novel written by an author calling himself J.D. California and published by a Swedish company that advertises joke books and a "sexual dictionary" on its Web site. "The Sequel infringes Salinger's copyright rights in both his novel and the character Holden Caulfield, who is the narrator and essence of that novel," said the suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New York. Published in 1951, "The Catcher in the Rye" is an iconic take on teen alienation that is consistently listed among the greatest English-language novels ever written. Salinger, 90, who has famously lived the life of a recluse in New Hampshire for most of the past half-century, last published in 1965. With the exception of a 1949 movie based on one of his early short stories, he has never authorized adaptations of any of his work, even turning down an overture from director Steven Spielberg to make "Catcher" into a movie. "There's no more to Holden Caulfield. Read the book again. It's all there," the court filing quotes Salinger as saying in 1980. "Holden Caulfield is only a frozen moment in time." The filing refers to the new book's author as "John Doe," saying that the name John David California probably is made up. The first-time novelist's biography on Amazon.com says California is the son of a Swedish mother and American father who was named after the state where he was born. It claims he is a former gravedigger and triathlete who found a copy of Salinger's novel "in an abandoned cabin in rural Cambodia" and that it helped him survive "the most maniacal of tropical fevers and chronic isolation." The Web site's description of the book is written in the same choppy, first-person stream of consciousness that Salinger employs as Holden wanders the streets of New York. It describes a character, "Mr. C," who flees his nursing home and "embarks on a curious journey through the streets of New York." The lawsuit names Swedish publisher Nicotext; its offshoot, Windupbird Publishing Ltd.; and California-based SCB Distributors as defendants. The Web site for Nicotext advertises such books as "The Macho Man's (Bad) Joke Book" and "Give It To Me Baby," which it describes as an erotic "flick book." Marcia Paul, Salinger's New York-based attorney, declined to speak on the record, citing her client's private nature. E-mail messages to Nicotext were not returned Wednesday. Aaron Silverman, president of SCB Distributors, said the people behind the new book plan to defend it against the lawsuit. "We believe we have the right to distribute this book and the publishers believe they have the right to publish it," he said. Silverman, whose company distributes books by about 150 publishers, called "60 Years Later" a work of "social science fiction," saying that California doesn't plagiarize, but sets a well-known character in an alternate place and time -- as literature has done for centuries. "It's amazing," he said of the book. "If it was something else, or it felt like a knock-off or whatever, I would have told the publisher we wouldn't do it. But it's really just amazing." Despite his cloistered lifestyle, Salinger nods to the contemporary marketplace in the lawsuit, noting that, as of last week, " 'The Catcher in the Rye' currently sells more copies on Amazon.com than 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,' 'The DaVinci Code,' 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'Of Mice and Men.' " A hearing in the case is expected Monday. Salinger's lawyers will ask a judge to freeze publication of the book until a final ruling is made. The book is already available in Europe and the United Kingdom, and is scheduled to be released in the United States in September. The lawsuit asks that sales be halted and that books already distributed be recalled and destroyed. The argument is reminiscent of the legal tussle over the 2001 novel "The Wind Done Gone," a parody of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" told from the perspective of a slave. Mitchell's estate argued that the book, by novelist Alice Randall, infringed upon her copyright. But the 11th District U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in Randall's favor, saying the book was protected as a parody of a well-known work. Salinger's lawyers say "60 Years Later" deserves no such protection. "The sequel is not a parody and it does not comment upon or criticize the original," the lawsuit argues. "It is a rip-off pure and simple."

Lawsuit seeks halt to "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye" J.D. Salinger says "sequel" infringes on copyright of his classic novel . New author says he's former gravedigger, discovered "Catcher" in Cambodia . Court hearing scheduled for Monday in New York .

(CNN) -- Chicana author Sandra Cisneros is perhaps best-known for her 1984 coming of age novel, "The House on Mango Street," a story about a young Latina who leaves behind her barrio for a chance at a better life. The novel, also released in Spanish, has sold more than 4 million copies and is a considered a classic of Chicano literature. But not everyone is a fan, specifically the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, which banned Cisneros' book in its suspension of its Mexican-American studies program. It still bewilders Cisneros and her fans: How can a character who spends most of her time at the library and shares her experiences with her mother and blind aunt offend a school district? Cisneros is on a national book tour this month for "Have You Seen Marie?" a tale about a woman's search for a cat who goes missing in the wake of her mother's death. It's a fable for grieving grown-ups, and at less than 100 pages, she hopes the book will be medicine for hearts broken from loss. California-based artist Ester Hernandez, known for her depiction of Latina and Chicana women through prints and pastels, represented the unique and colorful characters, all based on Cisneros' neighbors. They make up the quirky King William district of San Antonio, Texas, where the story is based. Cisneros tell us what inspired the tale, why she is planning a move to Mexico and how she feels about her famous book being banned. CNN: What inspired you to write "Have You Seen Marie?" Cisneros: I was working on the 25th anniversary tour of "The House on Mango Street." I wanted to make a small book that people could have or give to someone in a place of grief. My mother had just passed, but I still felt the need to create something. My friend and artist of the book, Ester Hernandez, had just lost her mother too, and I proposed that she join me, and she very reluctantly joined the project. CNN: What do you want your readers to take away after reading this book? Cisneros: I hope that they understand that when they are in a time of grief, there is something to be gained during the time, even though we tend to focus on what we've lost. But when you have your heart broken wide, you are also open to things of beauty as well as things of sadness. Once people are not here physically, the spiritual remains, we still connect, we can communicate, we can give and receive love and forgiveness. There is love after someone dies. CNN: Were you surprised to hear that "The House on Mango Street" was the list of banned books in Arizona? Have you ever considered yourself a controversial writer? Cisneros: Gosh, no! I don't think they read the books. They just eliminated the entire whole Mexican-American studies without thinking. It should be called American studies, and all the books should be re-introduced. Then there would be less of an uproar. The fact that there is a hyphen there tells you a lot about our times. And our whole relationship with Mexico, which has always been very controversial, especially now. CNN: There has been talk about you wanting to improve your Spanish; is that true? And por qué? Cisneros: What's always a challenge for me is that my Spanish is not the level of my English. Nor do I read in Spanish the way I read in English. I want my Spanish to be like that of a newscaster. ... That's a different kind of Spanish. I feel comfortable in Spanish, I chat like a parrot, but I don't have the confidence in Spanish that I do in English. I'm perfectly fine in the mercado, and I can make people laugh and tell a story, but my vocabulary is limited. For example, I don't know the Spanish word for "contractor." But I'm going to Mexico to live for a year! This is the first time I'm going to live there. I just need to be in an environment where all I hear is Spanish. CNN: There's a lot of debate of whether or not knowing Spanish makes you a "less Latino." How do you feel about that? Cisneros: It doesn't make you less. You are just missing out on one of your senses if you don't have the language. It's like not having any taste buds. You are missing out on the pleasure of Latino food. The more you speak more languages, the more you understand about yourself. It's like being blind. You aren't less of a person, but you're missing out on wonderful things. CNN: Finally, what you are reading right now? Cisneros: I'm read essays, poetry, fiction, art books and more all at the same time! On my various bookshelves in my home are: "The Five Acts of Diego Leon: A Novel" by Alex Espinoza; "The Distance Between Us" by Reyna Grande and "What You See in the Dark" by Manuel Munoz; "I (Heart) Babylon, Tenochtitlan and Ysteléi" by Richard Villegas Jr.; "Slow Lightning" by Eduardo Corral and "Looking for The Gulf Motel" by Richard Blanco. And I just finished Marie Arana's "American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood." Is that a lot?

Chicana author Sandra Cisneros wrote a new book, "Have You Seen Marie?" Her book "The House on Mango Street" was banned from Tucson schools . Cisneros is planning to move to Mexico for the first time . "I just need to be in an environment where all I hear is Spanish," she said .

Golden, Colorado (CNN)A Colorado resident who pleaded guilty to wanting to join ISIS jihad has adopted a new Muslim first name and prepared a new hairstyle for her sentencing Friday. Shannon Maureen Conley, 19, now prefers to go by Amatullah, she told CNN during a visit to her jailhouse the day before her sentencing. The name means female "servant of Allah," she said. Conley initially took the name Halima after converting to Islam. She will become one of the first Americans sentenced for conspiracy to support ISIS. Conley attracted national attention last year after authorities arrested her at Denver International Airport. Investigators said she told them she was going to Turkey to await word from an ISIS member in Syria -- a man she met on the Internet and planned to marry. According to court documents, she intended to become a nurse in an ISIS camp. She is a Colorado certified nurse's aide. Here are three key questions about her case: . Conley seemed friendly and nervous Thursday, sometimes hesitant to say anything that would upset her attorney, who wasn't present. She was happy to talk about less-sensitive matters such as her new coiffure: a tight braid to her dark brown hair, arranged in four or five rows. She wasn't wearing a Muslim headscarf. "Oh, this is for tomorrow," Conley said about her new hairstyle for the sentencing in federal court. She declined to go into detail, however, about her pending punishment, in which she is facing a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist group. "I'm in a vulnerable place right now, and it would be stupid of me to talk to you when I'm vulnerable," she told CNN during a video conference visit in the Jefferson County Detention Facility in Golden, which didn't allow any on-camera taping. She didn't want to talk about her crime. "No comment," she said. "Didn't you learn your lesson last time?" That was a reference to CNN's prior jailhouse visit, in which Conley said her attorney had advised her against talking to the media about her case. But Conley did acknowledge a measure of transformation since her arrest and jailing pending her sentence. That's why she changed her name, she said. "I'm a different person than when I came in," she explained. Opinion: When Americans leave for jihad . Her mother, AnaMaria, was blunt. "She was clueless. She's just a teenager, young, with a big mouth," the mother told CNN last year. "I think another time, another place, she would just be another kid with a big mouth." ISIS is extremely savvy with its Internet propaganda, and her daughter was a victim of the jihadist group, AnaMaria Conley said. The mother worries about other impressionable young Americans. "I hope that justice rather than fear will prevail," the mother said. She and her husband, John, were aware of their daughter's conversion to Islam but didn't know about her interest in extreme Islam or jihad. John Conley reportedly caught his daughter talking to her "suitor," a 32-year-old Tunisian man, on Skype. The couple asked for the father's blessing, but he said no. On April 1, the father called the FBI to report that he had found her ticket for an April 8 flight to Turkey on his desk. Opinion: Rise of the female jihadists . The FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force were tipped off to Conley's suspicious activity in November 2013, when the pastor and security director of Faith Bible Chapel told local police that Conley was wandering around campus and taking notes, court papers said. The church's main campus in Arvada was the scene of a gunman's fatal shooting in 2007. When church staff confronted Conley about her notes, she allegedly told them: "Why is the church worried about a terrorist attack?" and that terrorists are "... not allowed to kill aging adults and little children," according to court papers. Church officials asked her not to return. In an interview with the FBI the following month, she said she joined the U.S. Army Explorers to receive military training and intended to use the firearm skills to go overseas to wage jihad, court papers said. Over five months, authorities interviewed her seven times. Conley told them that "jihad must be waged to protect Muslim nations," court papers said. She preferred to wage jihad overseas, to be with jihad fighters. Conley told investigators she "would be defending Muslims on the Muslim homeland against people who are trying to kill them," according to court documents. Conley told her parents that her knowledge of Islam was based solely on research she had conducted on the Internet. Four days before Conley's April 8 flight, federal investigators again questioned her about whether she would engage in actual combat on the ISIS battlefield. "If it was absolutely necessary, then yes. I wouldn't like it ... but I would do it," she told authorities, according to court papers. But, she added about her ISIS suitor in Syria: "He's the man, he should be doing the fighting." Opinion: What lures Americans to Syria fight? CNN's Ana Cabrera and Sara Weisfeldt reported from Colorado. Michael Martinez wrote and reported from Los Angeles.

Shannon Conley, 19, tells CNN at her jailhouse that she calls herself Amatullah . "I'm in a vulnerable place right now," she says a day before her sentencing . She declines to talk about her crime, to which she pleaded guilty last year .

(CNN) -- Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs said Thursday said neither he nor his companies have ever hired illegal immigrants and it was not his responsibility to check their papers. Dobbs challenged an online article accusing him of hiring contractors who employ illegal immigrants on his properties. During his afternoon show on WOR NewsTalk Radio 710 in New York, he and Isabel Macdonald, author of The Nation piece, debated what he should have done to ensure the workers were in the United States legally. Dobbs, who left CNN in November 2009, repeatedly asked Macdonald whether he or his companies had ever hired an illegal immigrant. "No," she said. But Macdonald said that the situation involved Dobbs and his Dobbs Group hiring contractors that she said used undocumented workers. She pressed the journalist on whether he had ever checked on the status of workers at his properties. Dobbs, who called the article a "hit piece," countered that he had no legal right to do so. "They want me checking citizenship and status?," he said later in his show. "I don't think so," adding he could be sued for stepping in. "I have documented that undocumented workers have been fundamental in the maintenance of your estate in West Palm Beach," said Macdonald. The talk show host said workers at his New Jersey farm receive health and retirement benefits. "You can understand my sensitivity in you going after my 22-year-old daughter. That doesn't sit well with me," Dobbs told the author. He defended the hiring of those working at the stables. "I have been told they are absolutely legal." Macdonald said Dobbs is responsible for those working at his properties. "I didn't hire him directly," Dobbs replied to a claim that an undocumented Guatemalan was paid $8 an hour to watch his grounds. "I didn't hire him undirectly." In the article posted Wednesday on The Nation's website and headlined "Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite," the leftist political magazine reports that Dobbs hired contractors who used illegal immigrants for landscaping work and caring for horses ridden by his daughter, Hillary Dobbs, a champion show jumper. It says the landscaping and equestrian industries depend on illegal immigrants due to the low pay, long hours and physical labor. In the article, several people identified as current or former workers on Dobbs' properties say they were in the United States illegally at the time. However, the article says none of the names reported for the workers are real because they requested aliases to prevent their possible deportation or firing. Dobbs has a history of making critical comments about the high number of illegal immigrants and the way they are treated. In particular, he has said that employers who hire illegal immigrants should be prosecuted. "Why not make it a felony for illegal employers who hire illegal aliens?" Dobbs asked on his CNN show on April 4, 2006. The next day, he said on his show that field workers are paid "not, in my opinion, an adequate wage, but a decent wage," adding: "These people deserve to be paid more. And we're sitting here talking about more of the same, allowing people to be exploited in this country." The Nation article reports that one worker said he crossed the Yuma Desert on foot from Mexico five years ago, eluding the border patrol, in order to find work. According to the article, the man said an old friend worked at a stable owned by Dobbs and promised the man work as a groom at a Vermont stable contracted to care for horses owned by the Dobbs Group, which is headed by Dobbs. The man held the job for more than two years without legal documentation, the article says, adding that he then obtained a guest-worker visa, designed for seasonal foreign workers. The article says Dobbs on his CNN show had denounced such visas as a form of "indentured servitude." Another man whom the article says cared for Dobbs Group horses is quoted as saying the job required him to be available at all hours, day and night. "I looked after Dobbs' horses while I was illegal," the article quotes him as saying. Several workers are quoted in the article as saying they believe that Hillary Dobbs knew about their lack of legal papers. The article says she "did not respond to repeated attempts to contact her for comment." The Nation identified Macdonald as a freelance journalist and former communications director of the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. It was reported with research support by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, according to the website post. "You put out an article that is being used by the left-wing press as a hammer on me," Dobbs told Macdonald. "And you know full well, you already acknowledge, I never hired illegal immigrants, my company never has and I don't condone it." Dobbs and Macdonald had a testy exchange at the end of the WOR segment. "Your listeners deserve to know the truth," said Macdonald. "Come back and next time concentrate on truth, reality and straight-forwardness," Dobbs replied. The pair continued the debate Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Last Word." "Even Lou Dobbs, the emblem of this get-tough approach on immigration enforcement, even he has been unable to manage his property [so that] there will be no undocumented workers," Macdonald said. Dobbs said he has done nothing wrong and is being targeted. He also said the article omitted the fact that he is seeking a compromise on immigration issues. Dobbs did not return calls from CNN seeking comment Thursday.

Former CNN anchor says he's not allowed to ask status of people working for contractors . The Nation article says Lou Dobbs hired contractors who used illegal workers . The immigrants did landscaping and cared for horses ridden by Dobbs' daughter . Dobbs calls article a "hit piece"

(CNN) -- In Sao Paulo's affluent Butanta neighborhood, a green haven in the heart of the notoriously polluted megalopolis, Guilherme Amaral Nunes, 25, and partner Luiz Ramirez, 51, enjoy a brief respite from the limelight. While trying to seem tranquil while playing with their "children," two rescued dogs and a cat, excitement is building as news of their plans to become the first married gay couple in Sao Paulo goes viral. On Monday, court papers are set to publish their names as the first couple to petition for a marriage license in this conservative-leaning state, two weeks since Brazil's Supreme Tribunal ruled unanimously that the nation should recognize gay marriages. "We feel anxious until we hear the results," Ramirez said. "We hope we won't receive a legal challenge to block our dreams." Nearly two weeks ago, Brazil's highest court voted on behalf of gay marriages by 10-0. The court ruled that the same rights and rules that apply to the "stable union" of heterosexual couples will apply to same-sex couples, including the right to joint declaration of income tax, pension, inheritance and property sharing. Argentina became the first Latin American nation to approve same-sex marriages in 2010. Mexico City recognized same-sex marriages in 2009. Several other countries in the region now recognize same-sex unions. Brazil's ruling, however, does not allow same-sex marriage. It leaves it to judges to evaluate on a case-by-case basis. "It's not like Argentina, where the law is more evolved, Nunes said. "But it's a step ahead," he said. On Friday, Ramirez and Nunes took the first legal step to legalize their union. Holding hands and brushing off some curious onlookers in one of the city's busiest public registries, the two delivered a petition to convert their civil union document into a marriage certificate. Next stop, the Sao Paulo courts, Ramirez said. That is where the fate of their legal bond will be decided by a judge. "This is not really about us," said Nunes, who added that his job as an IT consultant for HP already allows them to have very good same-sex benefits. "It will be a victory for many of us, many of my friends who suffered discrimination." According to many gay rights groups in Brazil, discrimination and bullying is rampant in Brazil, despite generational and cultural changes. Ramirez, president of CORSA, a large gay-activist group, said government studies show that 260 people die a year in Brazil as a result of homophobia. Gay people in Brazil, as in other Latin American nations heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, continue to encounter strong resistance. "On one hand, we have made some considerable judicial strides," said Ramirez, who helped turned Sao Paulo's gay parade into one of the world's largest. "On the other, the intensity and frequency of homophobia in Brazil is alarming," he said. Ramirez was referring to a hotly contested issue by Brazilian lawmakers on the proposal to distribute the so-called "homophobia-kit" in public schools, an educational packet that includes a DVD and other information distributed through Brazil's Ministry of Education to address homophobia among Brazil's youth. Ultraconservative lawmaker Jair Messia Bolsonaro of Rio de Janeiro, has led the outcry against the ministry's move to deliver the packets, joining hands with evangelist lawmakers, who are growing in numbers. "I have now seen the most scandalous thing I have ever seen in my 20 years in politics, and of course I am not talking about corruption, which is a daily matter here in our circles," he said. "Attention parents of 7-, 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds in public schools! Next year, your children are going to receive educational kits titled, 'Combating homophobia," Bolsonaro told Brazil's House of Deputies in November. "But what this is is an incentive to enforce homosexuality and promiscuity," he said. Bolsonaro claimed that in one of the videos, a boy named Ricardo goes to the bathroom to urinate when he sees another boy and falls in love. "Listen here lawmakers, this was published in our congressional papers. This could be your son one day," he said. Brazilian Minister of Education Fernando Haddad denied that the so-called "kit homophobia" circulating among lawmakers was created by his office. During a meeting Thursday with evangelical and other conservative lawmakers, Haddad said the kit was still being put together by his ministry. "Yesterday, this material was delivered to the Ministry of Education from hired NGOs," Haddad told Agencia Brasil. "Now, we will have an internal debate within the ministry," he said. While the debate heats up in conservative circles, throughout Brazil, gay couples are trickling into local courts to fight for their marriage rights. "This is not about making people gay. This is about letting people who are gay live respectfully and in peace," Ramirez said. "There won't be any more gays in Brazil as a result," he said. "But there will be happier ones." CNN's Marilia Brocchetto and journalist Luciani Gomes contributed to this report.

Nearly two weeks ago, Brazil's highest court overwhelmingly voted to allow gay marriage . Judges to decide on case-by-case basis . Homophobia still rampant, kills 260 a year, a study says . Conservative lawmakers lash out against anti-homophobia kits to be distributed in public schools .

(CNN) -- More than 60 years after reneging on a promise to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who fought for the United States during World War II, the U.S. government will soon be sending out checks -- to the few who are still alive. Veteran Franco Arcebal says, "we are loyal to the United States, except that the United States has forgotten us." "For a poor man like me, $15,000 is a lot of money," said 91-year-old Celestino Almeda. Still, he said, "After what we have suffered, what we have contributed for the sake of democracy, it's peanuts. It's a drop in the bucket." During the war, the Philippines was a U.S. commonwealth. The U.S. military promised full veterans benefits to Filipinos who volunteered to fight. More than 250,000 joined. Then, in 1946, President Truman signed the Rescission Act, taking that promise away. Today, only about about 15,000 of those troops are still alive, according to the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans. A provision tucked inside the stimulus bill that President Obama signed calls for releasing $198 million that was appropriated last year for those veterans. Those who have become U.S. citizens get $15,000 each; non-citizens get $9,000. "I'm very thankful," said Patrick Ganio, 88, the coalition's president. "We Filipinos are a grateful people." Ganio was among the tens of thousands of Filipinos at the infamous battle of Bataan, a peninsula on Manila Bay opposite the Philippine capital. He was captured and beaten by Japanese troops before ultimately being freed, suffering from malaria and then resuming his service to the U.S. military. "The record of the Philippine soldiers for bravery and loyalty is second to none," Truman wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate in 1946. "Their assignment was as bloody and difficult as any in which our American soldiers engaged. Under desperate circumstances they acquitted themselves nobly." Though Truman said the Rescission Act resulted in "discrimination," he signed it. "There can be no question but that the Philippine veteran is entitled to benefits bearing a reasonable relation to those received by the America veteran, with whom he fought side by side," he said. "From a practical point of view, however, it must be acknowledged that certain benefits granted by the GI bill of rights cannot be applied in the case of the Philippine veteran." Some historians say financial concerns were paramount: The cost of funding full veterans benefits to all those Filipinos, particularly in the wake of the costly war, would have been a heavy burden. The National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity offers a different explanation. "In 1946, discrimination against people of color was the rule of law," the group says in a document it submitted to the Obama-Biden transition team in November. "The second-class treatment of Filipino World War II veterans is another example from this historical period." For decades, Filipino activists and their supporters have fought for the full benefits. They've petitioned and picketed. Almeda, a widower who now lives in Virginia with his daughter, once chained himself to the fence outside the White House. "I was fined $50 for civil disobedience and was arrested," he says now, chuckling. He says he was just looking for answers. Despite encouraging words from U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the benefits were never restored. "Only 70,000 Philippine veterans remain alive, and they hope to stay alive long enough to see those benefits reinstated," CNN reported in 1997. "There's a bill, stuck in committee in Congress, that would do just that." That effort, just like so many before, fell apart. "We were loyal to the United States. Even up to now, we are loyal to the United States, except that the United States has forgotten us in many ways," said Franco Arcebal, another leader of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans. "It's only now, because of the insistence of Sen. [Daniel] Inouye in the Senate, he was able to act on this." Inouye, D-Hawaii, inserted the language in the stimulus bill, calling it "a matter of honor." The honor comes too late for the many Filipino veterans who passed away waiting for this moment. Families of deceased veterans are not eligible to receive the money. For those who are alive, the checks could make a real difference. "Practically all of us are below the poverty line now at this age. We have no way of earning a living," Arcebal said. But, he emphasized, "it does not correct the injustice and discrimination done to us 60 years ago. ... We were not granted school benefits. We were not granted hospital benefits. ... And in the 60 years, several billion dollars were saved by the U.S. government for not paying 250,000 of us. "Now we are only 15,000. And the amount that they're giving us is a small amount. But we appreciate that. Because it will finally recognize our services ... as active service in the armed forces of the United States." CNN's Lisa Sylvester contributed to this report.

Filipinos were promised full military benefits to enlist . President Truman later signed act reneging on promise . Only about 15,000 of the troops are still alive . U.S. citizens will get $15,000; non-citizens will get $9,000 .

NEW YORK (CNN) -- His was one of the first photos of a missing child to appear on a milk carton. Almost 30 years later, Etan Patz is still missing. Etan Patz, 6, disappeared while walking to a school bus stop. It was the first time he'd gone alone. Etan was 6 when he disappeared on May 25, 1979, the Friday before Memorial Day. He was on his way to school in what is now the upscale Soho neighborhood of New York. It was the first time he'd walked to the bus stop by himself. It was just a few blocks away. Etan, like any 6-year-old, argued that all of his friends walked to the bus stop alone, and his parents relented. His mother, Julie Patz, learned that Etan hadn't been in classes when he failed to return home. She called the school at 3:30 p.m., then called the homes of all his friends. When no one had seen Etan, she called police and filed a missing person's report. By evening more than 100 police officers and searchers had gathered with bloodhounds. The search continued for weeks, but no clues to Etan's whereabouts were found. Watch an update on the case » . The boy's disappearance was one of the key events that inspired the missing children's movement, which raised awareness of child abductions and led to new ways to search for missing children. Etan's case was the first of the milk carton campaigns of the mid-1980s. "In our minds there were only two possibilities," said Stan Patz, the boy's father. "Either Etan was taken by a stranger and killed or he was taken by a very sad woman desperate for a child of her own, and we hoped that such a woman would at least take care of him and keep him safe." Patz lived with this hope until 1982, when he learned of Jose Antonio Ramos' arrest and the surprising connection between him and a former babysitter of Etan's. Ramos was a drifter who in 1979 lived in Alphabet City, a neighborhood not far from Soho. In 1982 he was arrested after boys in a neighborhood in the Bronx complained that he had stolen their book bags while trying to coax them into a drainpipe under a bridge, where he lived, said the Patzes and federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois, who spent years investigating the case. When police found Ramos in his drainpipe home, they found he had many photographs of small blond boys. They noticed that they looked a lot like Etan Patz, according to author Lisa R Cohen's book about the case, "After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive." Bronx police questioned Ramos, and he denied having anything to do with Etan's disappearance. But he did tell police that his girlfriend used to baby-sit for the boy, GraBois said. Prosecutors in the Bronx and Manhattan pursued this lead, but concluded they did not have enough evidence to connect Ramos to Etan's disappearance, GraBois and a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said. Ramos was released when the parents of the Bronx boys chose not to press charges against him, according to published reports. He left town and disappeared for six years -- until GraBois reviewed Etan's case. GraBois said he focused on Ramos as the prime suspect. GraBois said he learned in 1988 that Ramos had been arrested and convicted of child molestation and was serving time in a Pennsylvania prison. GraBois said he brought Ramos to New York for questioning and surprised him with the question: "How many times did you have sex with Etan Patz?" Ramos told GraBois that he'd taken a little boy to an apartment he had on the lower East Side on the same day that Etan went missing. "He was 90 percent sure it was the same he'd seen in the news that was missing," GraBois said. According to GraBois, Ramos claimed he released the boy and brought him to a subway station so the boy could go visit his aunt in Washington Heights. "Etan did not have an aunt in Washington Heights," GraBois said. When questioned further, Ramos refused to say anything more and asked for a lawyer, according to GraBois. Ramos is serving a 10- to 20-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania. He is scheduled to be released in November 2012, GraBois said. GraBois said he had Ramos transferred to a federal prison, and planted informants as his cell mates. He wouldn't go into detail about what Ramos might have told them, but said he's convinced he's eyeing the right suspect. GraBois turned over his evidence to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, but prosecutors have not brought charges. They say that without a body, they don't have enough evidence. Etan's case is still considered by the NYPD to be a cold case. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Etan Patz or that leads to the arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for his disappearance is asked to call the FBI/NYPD Etan Patz hotline: 212-384-2200.

Boy, 6, begged his parents to let him walk to school bus stop for first time . He never showed up at school in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood . Etan Patz disappeared on May 25, 1979 . Know something? Call the FBI/NYPD Etan Patz hotline: 212-384-2200 .

(CNN) -- A suicide bomber walks into a bar. He shouts at the bartender, "Gimme the money, or I blow this place to bits!" The worried bartender hands him a wad of cash, and the bomber departs. The next day, the suicide bomber returns to the same bar. He shouts at the bartender, "Gimme the money, or I blow this place to bits!" "Are you nuts?" answers the bartender. "If I give you money every day, I'll go out of business. Plus, you're scaring away the customers." "I tell you what," replies the bomber, "Gimme the money, and I won't come back until the day after tomorrow." Welcome to the art of negotiation, Republican style. Since the election of 2010, the United States has narrowly averted three Republican-built suicide bombs: one government shutdown, one debt default and one fiscal cliff. We have two more scheduled for February: across-the-board spending cuts and another debt ceiling expiration. The Republicans' suicide strategy is a relatively new addition to American politics. Newt Gingrich pioneered the first government shutdown in 1995. It was so disastrous that no one tried it again for 16 years. In the meantime, Republicans pursued a more traditional method known as the democratic process. They campaigned for election and took control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. From 2001 to 2006, the dominant Republicans passed plenty of conservative legislation. (They did not, however, reduce spending or balance the budget.) Borger: Fiscal cliff was bound to collapse . When their golden era came to an end, many Republicans refused to accept that the popular will had turned against them and resorted to obstructionist tactics. In the Senate, they have filibustered 391 Democratic bills in the past six years, culminating last month in Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's historic filibuster of his own bill. The Democrats are no strangers to the filibuster, of course, but they managed only 201 in their six years of minority status. Yet the Senate is a model of effective government compared with the House, now the only Republican-dominated branch of the federal government. Frustrated by their inability to get conservative legislation past the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, congressional Republicans have revived the "suicide bomb." The key to the suicide bomb strategy is to convince people that members of the conservative wing of the Republican Party are crazy enough to wreck the economy if they don't get their way. Democratic leaders seem to believe them. Like the hapless bartender, they keep tossing the Republicans wads of cash -- spending cuts and tax breaks -- in order to spare the country from a debt default, shutdown or recession. Opinion: GOP civil war over Sandy disaster relief . But this bomber will not be satisfied by a few payoffs. The Republicans continue to use every opportunity to extract concessions by threatening to wreck the economy ... again. When Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner proposed a permanent debt ceiling extension during the last round of negotiations, McConnell reportedly laughed in his face. The suicide bomb has become the Republicans' most effective weapon. Why would they give that up? President Obama was slow to see the pattern, but after three nail-biting suicide negotiations in two years, he seems to have finally realized that he cannot continue to encourage the bomb threats with concessions. As attention turned to the next debt ceiling battle, he declared, "While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed." Hopefully, he will maintain this resolve. The endless threats not only enable Republicans to subvert the democratic process, they hurt the country. Even if the Republicans never actually fulfill their ultimatums, the anxiety provoked by such threats damages the economy by creating uncertain business conditions. To extend the metaphor: The suicide bomber is scaring away the customers. So what will happen when Obama finally says enough is enough? Is the country destined to go BOOM? Avlon: Chris Christie drops bomb on GOP leaders . Fortunately not. The joke has a hidden punchline. It turns out that the suicide bomber is a part-owner of the bar. The folks who will lose the most if the bomb goes off are the investors, bankers and businesspeople who still retain large stakes in the Republican Party. When the Republicans threatened to let the government default in 2011, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry advocates objected with growing concern. If the Democrats refuse to negotiate this time around, industry advocates will not sit idly while the party they finance deliberately ruins their businesses. But what if the conservative Republicans are really that crazy? What if they are so committed to their agenda and dismissive of their constituents that they will allow unemployment to rise, interest rates to skyrocket, government services to disappear, seniors to lose their Social Security checks and other catastrophic consequences of debt defaults and government shutdowns? If that is the case, however unlikely, than we will only have to survive until the next election, at which point the Republicans will discover that suicide bombings produce only one guaranteed casualty: the bomber himself. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michael Wolraich.

Michael Wolraich: GOP "negotiations" on cliff, debt are like a suicide bomber's . He says threat to shut down government, hurt economy pioneered by Gingrich . He says strategy back again; Democrats cave in the face of it. Obama may be wising up . Wolraich: For threat to work, suicide bombers must blow themselves up. GOP beware .

(CNN) -- His name is Gammy. He's just seven months old and is attracting attention to the murky world of surrogacy in Thailand, as the military-led country cracks down on the industry. Gammy was born with Down Syndrome in December last year to an impoverished Thai mother, Pattaramon Chanbua; one of twins she was carrying for an Australian couple. However, when it came time to take the babies home, they only took one -- a healthy girl -- leaving the ailing boy in Thailand with a mother ill-equipped to care for a child with special needs. She said the couple told her they were "too old" to take care of twins, according to Fairfax Media. However, on Monday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the father claimed doctors had only told the couple about the baby girl. "When the girl was discharged from the hospital, the mother asked me that if I would be able to raise the boy. How come they said that they didn't know about it? I don't understand, it sounds like they are lying," Pattaramon told CNN. She said the couple didn't show any interest in taking the boy home. "(They) never even looked at the boy. Even milk, they never bought for him. The boy was sleeping next to the girl's bed, diapers were run out, they never bought ones for him," she said. 'I was told to get rid of the baby' Pattaramon spoke to CNN from a Thai hospital where baby Gammy is receiving treatment for pneumonia. She's just 21, has two children of her own, aged six and three, and works selling snacks at a food stall. "I was told the baby has Down (Syndrome) when I was seven months pregnant," she said."I was told to get rid of the baby and there would be some ways to save the other child. I refused because it is a sin." Pattaramon says she met the intending parents just three times, and claims the agency who put them in touch hasn't paid her the full 300,000 baht fee ($9,300). That's irrelevant now. An online crowd-funding campaign to raise money for his care has raised more than $215,000 in just 12 days. Along with Down Syndrome -- a genetic disorder that impairs growth and intellectual ability -- Gammy has a heart condition that may require surgery. "I feel so happy, because we are poor we can't afford to pay all medical bills for the child," Pattaramon said. Fund-raising has now been taken over by Hands Across the Water, an Australian-based charity that works with orphans and needy children in Thailand. "The original money was for the projected costs associated with the heart surgery -- what we'll now be able to do is to plan for the longer term needs, through to his schooling," the charity's founder Peter Baines told CNN. Risks of going abroad . Sam Everingham knows the challenges of having to go abroad for a much-wanted child. He and his partner spent years navigating the Indian surrogacy system before the birth of baby girls in 2011. He says the claim the parents didn't know about the boy was hard to believe. "Most or nearly all intending parents look forward anxiously every month to scans from their surrogates showing their growing babies. The agency would send the scans over on a regular basis. There's no reason why this agency would not have done that," he said. Everingham is the director of Families Through Surrogacy, an organization that helps to guide intending parents through the process. "The vast majority of cases bring happiness and joy to both parties. But it does show the need, particularly in Thailand, for more oversights and regulations and we welcome the fact that the Thai government has said they're going to be clamping down," he said. Worried parents . While Gammy's case has caused an outpouring of sympathy for the boy and his mother -- and anger against his would-be parents -- it's also highlighted the fears of dozens of other couples waiting for children of their own. On July 22, Thai authorities announced they were tightening restrictions on the industry. In the last few days, officials have stopped a number of babies born through surrogacy from leaving the country, Everingham said. "There's a huge concern about that. In Australia alone we have 80 to 90 families with pregnant surrogates in Thailand, which are very concerned about their access to their children. "We're looking for clarity from the Thai government as soon as possible about the safe passage of those babies," he said. While Gammy's case wasn't the catalyst for the crackdown, Families Through Surrogacy said the abandonment of disabled children by foreigners was one of the issues identified by Thai authorities. Not the first . "From within the surrogacy community I've heard that this has happened before," said Michaela Stockey Bridge, a researcher from Macquarie University who has been gathering stories about people's experiences with surrogacy abroad. "Whenever we have a case like this, it highlights the fact that we need international regulation of commercial surrogacy," she said. "If there was more counseling, and the intending parents and gestational carrier were able to talk that through beforehand, it wouldn't come up in this situation -- it's such a sad outcome."

Australian couple leave twin with Down Syndrome with surrogate mother . 21-year-old Thai surrogate says she was asked to abort the baby at seven months . Father tells Australian media that couple wasn't told about the female baby . Internet campaign raised more than $200,000 for child's care .

Editor's note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com. Many companies will want to confirm that your home office is a business-friendly environment. In the last few years, working from home has gone from being a rarity to a reality. With advances in technology, more people are able to link to work from their home computers or laptops. And as employees continue to crave flexibility and yearn for a better work/life balance, more people are working from home for at least part of their workweek. Home-based companies . While many companies are allowing existing employees to transition to various telecommuting options, some companies are also building work forces that are made up solely of employees working from home. Here is a sample of 10 companies that only hire at-home workers: . • Alpine Access is a call center company that uses customer service representatives that work from home. Employees use their own telephones and computers. The company provides representatives for clients like Office Depot and J. Crew. • Convergys hires home-based call center agents who provide support in customer service, and also supplies sales agents or help desk staff for companies. • Extended Presence provides their clients with outbound sales agents and marketing support staff who work from home. • Internet Girl Friday provides information technology support as well as administrative services for clients nationwide. • LiveOps provides customer service support for a variety of major corporations. • Spheris provides support to medical professionals. Their services include medical transcription and clinical documentation. • Staffcentrix supplies virtual assistants for business clients, including CEOs and upper management of major corporations. • VIPDesk provides call center support and also offers a home-based concierge service to clients. • Voicelog provides representatives to perform verifications for transactions done online or by telephone. Many states require changes to telephone service and other remote transactions to be verified by a third party, which VoiceLog provides. • West At Home also hires home-based customer service agents. They cater to a specific range of industries, specializing in health care and pharmaceutical support, as well as the hospitality industry. Employees need to meet some basic requirements, including having a telephone and access to a PC. Although the work is conducted from home, interviews for the job aren't always done remotely. Working at home is a growing and legitimate opportunity, but workers should still beware of any job that asks you to invest money, provide access to a bank account or give up a great deal of personal information up front. These are indicators of a possible scam. Traditional companies with home-based workers . Some traditional companies also have home-based workers in the mix as part of their overall staffing strategies. Companies as diverse as American Airlines, TDS Telecom, 1-800-FLOWERS, Sprint and Xerox have programs that enable traditional workers to transition to telecommuting or hire workers specifically to work at home. Aetna is one of the companies that has developed and implemented such a program. "Our telework program started as a grassroots initiative to keep talented employees when there were site consolidations," Aetna Telework Program head Eileen Levin explains. The program, which started only a few years ago, has become very popular with employees. Levin notes that since the inception of the program, participation has jumped 300 percent. Around 10,000 Aetna employees, or 27 percent of the company's work force, now work from home. Levin says that the company looks at several factors before transitioning a job or task to be done at home. Aetna ensures that the employee is an appropriate candidate to work at home. It also confirms that the home office is a stable, business-friendly environment. And most importantly, Aetna carefully considers whether the job is an appropriate choice to be performed by home-based workers. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is another company that is mixing traditional workers with employees who work from home. These home-based employees include medical transcriptionists and nurses who operate the hospital's Advice Line, a hotline where Laurie Peterson, one of the Advice Line nurses, has been working for CHOA from home for 11 years. She takes calls that vary from minor questions to emergency situations, and provides callers with a recommended course of action based on their conversations. Peterson says, "I really enjoy being able to use my nursing judgment and experience right here in the convenience of my own home. We get inquiries from people both locally and all over the world seeking help with their child's health problems. At the end of a shift, it's very fulfilling for me to know I've helped allay a parent's fears." If you're a worker who wants to transition from commuting to the office to working at home, talk to your company. Think about these discussion points before approaching your boss: . • Talk to the company about how offering this option to you and other employees will benefit them. Money talks, so be sure to refer to any potential savings the company will see by implementing this program. With gas prices at a record high, you should also underscore your savings, as well as the environmental benefits of working from home. • Not every job or every process can be done from home, so be ready with a plan. Identify jobs and transactions at the company that can be done easily, safely and securely from home. Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2007. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority .

Some companies are allowing employees to work solely from home . These companies include American Airlines, TDS Telecom, 1-800-FLOWERS . Many jobs and transactions can be done easily, safely and securely from home . If you want to work from home, tell your employer how much money will be saved .

(CNN)I suppose we should have seen it coming, really. Back in the fall, when Romneyworld was buzzing about another candidacy, the storyline was this: It's in the realm of the "truly hypothetical," I was told, with a strong suggestion that Mitt Romney would only run as part of a late-entrant party-savior scenario. "A lot of people ...are rooting for him to get in," said one inside source. "Romney's not one of them." Well, I guess he is now. What a difference a few months makes. Now, multiple sources inside the Romney bubble tell me (and everyone else) that they "bet" that he gets in the race. And we will know something within "the next few weeks." He had a great midterm election, they point out. (As in: he campaigned like crazy for candidates who won in red states that Romney had won.) He believes that he was right on foreign policy positions that he was "mocked" for during the 2012 campaign. (As in: Russia is our "No.1 geopolitical foe.") Oh, and by the way, he still thinks he can manage the economy better than anyone out there. But, almost to a person, those close to Romney also say this: don't get too analytical about this new decision. One source close to Romney, who has spoken with him about this calculation, puts it this way: "This is about the burning ambition of a guy who believes he would be a great president. He believes he is the right guy for the job. Period. It's not complicated." Which brings us to the rationale for the rest of the ever-expanding field, which is also not complicated: why not run? It's not very often that you have the conjunction of two key situations -- an open Oval Office and a party without an obvious frontrunner. The GOP establishment has not coalesced around New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as some thought might happen. Jeb Bush, another somewhat unexpected contender, has never run in a presidential primary. The tea party has a gaggle of candidates to choose from, and hasn't settled, either. So, from a cost-benefit standpoint, there's no downside for those entering the presidential sweepstakes for the first time. Let's say you know you probably won't win, but -- looking back at the last campaign -- you'll probably get your 15 minutes of fame. (Can you say Herman Cain?) It's a good way to elevate yourself if you bring anything at all to the table. And even if you don't, it's still a good platform from which you can increase your speech fees, board availabilities and TV appearances. So get behind that podium, asap. Romney, of course, is in a different category: he has more to lose. He's a man who lost in 2012 with grace and carried on in the same manner. He was indefatigable during the midterms. Here's the rub: Once you have been a party's nominee, and you vie again, you need to do well. Looking back into semi-recent history, Richard Nixon stands out as a winner on that level, nominated in 1960, nominated again by Republicans and winning in 1968. Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson, the other hand, not so much. He ran against Dwight Eisenhower and lost in 1952 and lost again in 1956. Generally, one-time presidential nominees who lose tend to decide they're not up for the thrill of it all again. And while Romney allies swear this decision isn't about the qualifications of the rest of the field, he clearly hasn't looked around and found a candidate he thinks is as good as he is. "He's not motivated by some sense of entitled ambition," says a Romney ally. "It's just that Romney looks at the field and believes he has a lot to offer. And we think experience is an advantage." Translation: These other guys have no idea what they're in for, and I do. A favorite analogy of Romney supporters is the Super Bowl. "It makes a big difference to have been there before," says one adviser. Another finds the analogy helpful when referring to Jeb's now-famous declaration (and Romney jab) that the GOP nominee needs to be willing to "lose the primary to win the general" to keep principles intact. "The process is the process," this Romney supporter says. "You can't show up at the Super Bowl and say 'I wish it was an 80-yard field.'" In other words, Jeb, you have to win the primaries in order to win the nomination. Underlying all of this are two Romney presumptions. First, that he would be a better candidate. And next, that he would run a better campaign. That remains to be seen. But here's what is already obvious: Republicans see Hillary Clinton as probably inevitable as the Democratic nominee and completely gettable as their opponent. They believe the Democrats can't duplicate the Obama coalition without Obama. They understand the gender gap will grow, but they figure Clinton's liabilities will grow, too -- as a candidate and as a former secretary of state. "Romney was a poor candidate up against a machine and he got 47% of the vote," says a Democratic strategist. "I don't blame them for thinking they can win." Romney could not have said it better himself.

Gloria Borger: Romney seemed uninterested months ago, but now he's looking at it seriously . He likes his chances in the very crowded GOP presidential field .

Qunu, South Africa (CNN) -- The coffin carrying Nelson Mandela's body arrived Saturday in his ancestral village of Qunu, where he'll be buried Sunday amid the lush green hills of his boyhood. After a plane carrying his casket touched down in Mthatha, the closest airport to Qunu, it was taken in a procession past mourners who lined the roads to his rural home. The mood among the crowd was a celebration of his life, as well as sadness for his passing. The nation's first black president had often said he felt most at peace here at his rural home in the southeastern corner of the nation. "Look, he loved these hills," his daughter, Maki Mandela, told CNN in an exclusive interview. "He really believed this is where he belonged." His burial Sunday comes after 10 days of mourning. Before Mandela's journey home, the ruling African National Congress bid him farewell Saturday morning at an air force base in Pretoria. Members of the ruling party stood, bowed and prayed around his black, flag-draped casket. "Icon of our struggle. Father of our nation," read a giant poster bearing a picture of a smiling Mandela. His wife, Graca Machel, sat in the front row, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "We will miss him, he was our leader in a special time. Go well, Tata," President Jacob Zuma said, using the Xhosa word for father. "You've played your part. You've made your contribution. We'll always remember you." Helicopters hovered overhead as soldiers carried the casket into the military plane. It then took off for Qunu -- followed by fighter jets. 'He really wanted to die here' Thousands of mourners lined the streets from the airport as Mandela's remains were brought to the remote village where he spent much of his childhood. Mandela relished his time at the village, which is marked by endless open fields and velvety grass. It's where he herded cows and goats as a child; where his relatives are buried at the family farm. "Even when my father was in jail, he had the most fondest memories of Qunu," Maki Mandela said. "And he really wanted to die here." Intimate tributes . The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the U.S. civil rights leader, told CNN that Saturday was "a day of painful celebration." "People are beginning to realize what they've lost, but they know they've got so much left," said Jackson, referring to the sweeping political and social change achieved by the anti-apartheid leader. "They know what he left in place stays in place." He was planning to attend Mandela's funeral Sunday, where the tributes were expected to be more intimate. The military handed over his remains to elders at his home. And, in a symbol of the return of one of their own, the national flag that had covered his coffin was replaced with a lion skin, a traditional symbol of the Xhosa people. At dusk, tribal leaders and men in his family held a private vigil to honor traditions of his native Thembu clan. His casket was to lie overnight in his bedroom, which overlooks the hills and his grave site. What to expect as Nelson Mandela is laid to rest . Small village, giant spotlight . Mandela died last week at age 95. Events leading up to the burial included a memorial service Tuesday followed by three days of public viewing at Pretoria's Union Buildings, where he was sworn in as president in 1994. About 100,000 people paid homage to Mandela during the three days he lay in state, government officials said. The airport in East London, south of Qunu, will be used for their arrival and departure of dignitaries, with access closely controlled. Thousands were expected to make the trip to Qunu for the burial, thrusting the remote village into the international spotlight. The guest list of foreign dignitaries included Britain's Prince Charles, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A private family prayer service will be held Sunday morning at Mandela's home. The funeral will take place in a white tent set up at the family farm. The Mandela family, Zuma and the Cabinet members will be present along with local and foreign dignitaries. About 4,500 people are expected. The military will again be charged with draping the flag over Mandela's coffin. Members of the military will perform a salute, and play the national anthem. The burial . About 430 family and friends will walk to the grave site to say goodbye to the man many consider to be the father of their nation. Mandela will be buried in the rocky soil of his childhood home. The burial area has been built for him; some of Mandela's relatives are already buried there. Security . Zuma has authorized nearly 12,000 members of the South African National Defence Force to serve alongside the police force. A tight military cordon is expected around the funeral site. As South Africa prepares to bury Nelson Mandela, young Africans are optimistic about the future . CNN's Robyn Curnow reported from the Mandela compound in Qunu, Faith Karimi wrote and reported from Atlanta and Laura Smith-Spark from London. CNN's Kim Norgaard contributed to this report.

Nelson Mandela's casket arrives in Qunu, where he spent much of his childhood . "Even when my father was in jail, he had the most fondest memories of Qunu," daughter says . In Qunu, the military hands over his remains to his family . Mandela will be buried Sunday after a funeral service .

MODESTO, California (CNN) -- The photograph became an icon of the Great Depression: a migrant mother with her children burying their faces in her shoulder. Katherine McIntosh was 4 years old when the photo was snapped. She said it brought shame -- and determination -- to her family. Katherine McIntosh holds the photograph taken with her mother in 1936. "I wanted to make sure I never lived like that again," says McIntosh, who turns 77 on Saturday. "We all worked hard and we all had good jobs and we all stayed with it. When we got a home, we stayed with it." McIntosh is the girl to the left of her mother when you look at the photograph. The picture is best known as "Migrant Mother," a black-and-white photo taken in February or March 1936 by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson, then 32, and her children. Lange was traveling through Nipomo, California, taking photographs of migrant farm workers for the Resettlement Administration. At the time, Thompson had seven children who worked with her in the fields. See Lange's photos of the migrant family » . "She asked my mother if she could take her picture -- that ... her name would never be published, but it was to help the people in the plight that we were all in, the hard times," McIntosh says. "So mother let her take the picture, because she thought it would help." Watch a Depression-era daughter's recollections » . The next morning, the photo was printed in a local paper, but by then the family had already moved on to another farm, McIntosh says. "The picture came out in the paper to show the people what hard times was. People was starving in that camp. There was no food," she says. "We were ashamed of it. We didn't want no one to know who we were." The photograph helped define the Great Depression, yet McIntosh says her mom didn't let it define her, although the picture "was always talked about in our family." "It always stayed with her. She always wanted a better life, you know." Her mother, she says, was a "very strong lady" who liked to have a good time and listen to music, especially the yodeler named Montana Slim. She laughs when she recalls her brothers bringing home a skinny greyhound pooch. "Mom, Montana Slim is outside," they said. Thompson rushed outside. The boys chuckled. They had named the dog after her favorite musician. "She was the backbone of our family," McIntosh says of her mom. "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. She didn't eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. That's one thing she did do." Her memories of her youth are filled with about 50 percent good times, 50 percent hard times. It was nearly impossible to get an education. Children worked the fields with their parents. As soon as they'd get settled at a school, it was time to pick up and move again. Her mom would put newborns in cotton sacks and pull them along as she picked cotton. The older kids would stay in front, so mom could keep a close eye on them. "We would pick the cotton and pile it up in front of her, and she'd come along and pick it up and put it in her sack," McIntosh says. Watch "we would go home and cry" » . They lived in tents or in a car. Local kids would tease them, telling them to clean up and bathe. "They'd tell you, 'Go home and take a bath.' You couldn't very well take a bath when you're out in a car [with] nowhere to go." She adds, "We'd go home and cry." McIntosh now cleans homes in the Modesto, California, area. She's proud of the living she's been able to make -- that she has a roof over her head and has been able to maintain a job all these years. She says her obsession to keep things clean started in her youth when her chore was to keep the family tent clean. There were two white sheets that she cleaned each day. "Even today, when it comes to cleaning, I make sure things are clean. I can't stand dirty things," she says with a laugh. With the nation sinking into tough economic times and analysts saying the current economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, McIntosh says if there's a lesson to be learned from her experience it is to save your money and don't overextend yourself. iReport: Are you worried about losing your job? "People live from paycheck to paycheck, even people making good money," she says. "Do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. Elect the people you think is going to do you good." Her message for President-elect Barack Obama is simple: "Think of the middle-class people." She says she'll never forget the lessons of her hard-working mother, who died at the age of 80 in 1983. Her gravestone says: "Migrant Mother: A Legend of the strength of American motherhood." "She was very strict, but very loving and caring. She cared for us all," McIntosh says. CNN's Traci Tamura and Gregg Canes contributed to this report.

Dorothea Lange snapped iconic Great Depression photo of "Migrant Mother" in 1936 . Daughter in photo says it brought shame and determination to her family . "I wanted to make sure I never lived like that again," Katherine McIntosh says . McIntosh says her mom, Florence Owens Thompson, was "backbone of our family"

Venice, Italy (CNN) -- Public transport in Venice is like an endless sightseeing tour, and not only for the amount of tourists on the central vaporetto routes. The waterfront architecture is truly spectacular, from Palladian churches to private palazzos. And now during the Biennale contemporary artworks and installations are scattered around the city. Venturing along the waterways leads to some unmissable exhibitions, where art and architecture blend into a beautiful dialogue. Baroque influence . Close to the Rialto market on the Canal Grande, an 18th century palazzo is home to Fondazione Prada, where all three floors are open to the public for the first time. During the Biennale it's hosting a show curated by Germano Celant, one of the leading figures of the 1960s anti-formal art movement Arte Povera. Celant has filled the rooms with a theatrical show. From 16th century musical instruments, clocks and mechanical curiosities to modern installation pieces involving performers, Art or Sound explores both formal and conceptual ideas relating to music. You can witness the craft of historic pieces as well as works by key avant-garde artists from Celant's previous collaborations, such as John Cage, Nam June Paik, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Jannis Kounellis. Their radical rethinking of art and the abstract condition of sound resonates throughout the exhibition. The unique Venetian Baroque interiors add another level of interest to the show. It's both raw and historical - unlike any other contemporary art space in the world - with ornaments, carvings and rich details. The Prada Foundation has a contract as a patron to rescue the building and bring the original frescoes and rare, fine materials back to life, "without trying to modify it through characterless facelifts", Celant explains. Modernity takes over . On the other side of the water, after the Rialto Bridge, there is the Fondaco Marcello, an exhibition space in a 15th century arms storehouse by the water front. Here the Biennale theme of Modernity extends into a scientific narrative, looking at possible ways of existence on the Antarctic continent, a subject in total contrast to the surrounding architectural heritage in Venice. The Antarctic Pavilion, curated by Nadim Samman makes you think of lifestyle and tourism, as well as the ecological and political questions posed by those extreme conditions on the margins of civilization. Further down towards San Marco Square, a giant composition of 1,179 stainless steel bikes has been neatly stacked on the canal side courtyard garden of the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti near the Accademia bridge. This art installation, titled "Forever" by Ai Weiwei is part of the exhibition Genius Loci, brought to Venice by the Lisson Gallery. The show continues inside the 16th century palace building with sculptures and installations by international artists including Tony Cragg, Lee Ufan, Julian Opie and Joana Vasconcelos. Contemporary public art . The rest is slightly more modest in scale than Ai Weiwei's installation, but still spectacular examples of ideas addressed in contemporary public works. There is a sense of play with architecture and space, exploring the parallels between the two disciplines, such as Anish Kapoor's work which deals with our spatial perceptions. This exhibition suggests that genius loci 'the special spirit' can be found in the urban space through artworks, materials and forms; a departure from the modernist obsession with functionality. A short hop on a vaporetto takes you across the lagoon from San Marco to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, which has become a site for displaying large public installations. This year a geometric sculpture entitled "The Sky Over Nine Columns" dominates the waterfront square next to Palladio's famous church. Its surfaces are covered with golden glass mosaics, beautifully reflecting the Venetian sun. The piece by Heinz Mack, who represented Germany at the Arts Biennale in 1970, was commissioned by the Cini Foundation. Mack is known for monumental installations: "My sculptures are objects of light in space" Mack said. Behind the church, an exquisitely crafted pavilion has been erected in the garden of the Stanze del Vetro glass museum. The aquarium-like Glass Tea House Mondrian is designed by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, best known for his minimalistic photography. Sugimoto's pavilion is the first in a series of commissions, supported by the Cini Foundation, which follows the model of the Serpentine Pavilion in London. Installed inside a cedar wood fenced garden, the glass pavilion will also be the setting for a traditional tea ceremony, a performance which exemplifies the delicacy in Japanese culture. All these shows run parallel to the Architecture Biennale, overseen by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas this year. Even if you don't have time to visit the Giardini and the national pavilions, these events outside the main programme are some fantastic cultural offerings, adding another level of meaning to visiting a city with such rich heritage. Venice Architecture Biennale 2014: 7.6 - 23.11.2014 . © 2012 Grand Tour Magazine. All rights reserved.

Venice comes alive as the Biennale takes over the city . If you don't have time to visit the Giardini or national pavilions, check out the fantastic events outside the main programme . Anish Kapoor and Ai Weiwei are among artists exhibiting across Venice .

Kirkuk, Iraq (CNN) -- The American military footprint in the volatile northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has all but disappeared ahead of a year-end deadline to withdraw, raising questions about the security of a small contingent of State Department employees and contractors staying behind. The questions come as Iraqi and U.S. officials welcomed what they have called in recent weeks a new phase in the American-Iraqi partnership. "We are absolutely committed to be your partner to the extent you want us to be," Vice President Joe Biden told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a visit last week to Iraq. "We stand read to provide assistance." The State Department mission in Kirkuk is one of a handful of operations that takes over where the U.S. military leaves off, and the missions together are considered one of the largest rollouts of manpower by the United States since the rebuilding efforts in Europe and Japan following World War II. The Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq, as the State Department mission is known, is taking over in some case where the military left off by providing assistance to the Iraqi government and training for the Iraqi military. At Kirkuk, the questions about security come in the wake of routine insurgent rocket attacks in the days leading up to the departure of U.S. troops. One attack resulted in the death of an American soldier and the wounding of at least four others, military officials have said. iReport: Share your stories from Iraq . During a recent town hall meeting held at the base, contractors and security personnel asked about security measures. "Are we going to be safe?" one woman asked Army Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen via a video-teleconference, which was attended by a CNN reporter and producer. She also asked Caslen if he could assure them they wouldn't be overrun. Caslen, who has been charged with overseeing OSC-I and military sales to Iraq, told the woman -- and the larger audience -- that U.S. officials will not be leaving the workers unprotected. A large private security force has been hired as part of the effort to protect the thousands of State Department workers and contractors staying behind after the January 1, 2012, withdrawal deadline. While violence has fallen off across much of Iraq, bombings and shootings remain a near-daily occurrence in Kirkuk, which is home to nearly a third of the country's oil reserves. Kirkuk is populated by ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. Tensions among the groups run high in the city, to which the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region have both laid claim. The meeting, held in November just days before the last U.S. troops left the compound, came as the base was undergoing a transformation. "There is no more operations center. There are no battle captains. There are no more commanders. There are no more military titles on the base," Army Col. Angelo "Tony" Riddick told CNN during a recent interview at Camp Warrior. In fact, Riddick -- who is the military liaison for the base -- is not referred to by his rank, but rather his title, site lead for the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq, Kirkuk. "At any given time, a few weeks ago you would see a couple hundred soldiers moving in and out" of the base housing area, Riddick said during the tour. "Right now, we barely see one." Even the name of the base is in transition. Camp Warrior, once a bustling foothold for the U.S. military, is currently known as Contingency Operating Site Kirkuk, said Frank Lands, the installation manager. The idea is to remove the U.S. military association that Iraqis and others have with the base, Lands said. "Our mission is to support the Iraqi operations. Period. We do not have a combat mission. Period," Riddick told CNN. During a tour of the base, there were numerous signs that the American mission in Kirkuk -- and in Iraq, as a whole -- was changing almost overnight. The size of the base had been reduced, and the State Department mission there now refers to itself as a "tenant of Iraq." "We are going to be a small tenant, a small operating cell," Lands said. The Iraqi air force was taking over a large portion of the base, including the air field. Civilian contractors were taking over where the military left off and training Iraqi air traffic controllers. While much of the American military presence has been wiped away at the base, a salute to fallen American troops will remain. At the center of the compound, more than a dozen giant concrete blast walls ring an area that will be used as a public gathering spot. The walls, painted black, bear the names -- in yellow paint -- of every American service member killed in Iraq. Home and Away: Coalition casualties in Afghanistan, Iraq . The name of the last American soldier killed in Kirkuk, 1st Lt. Dustin Vincent, was added to the walls just days before the troops left. "These walls were actually located around different parts of the base," Riddick said, surveying the memorial that is reminiscent of the Vietnam War memorial in Washington. "When we had a mission to close the footprint of Kirkuk, we decided to bring these walls in," he said. "We are going to maintain this memorial until our mission is terminated." CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

The U.S. State Department is taking over where the American military leaves off as it withdraws from Iraq . "We do not have a combat mission. Period," the military liaison in Kirkuk tells CNN . The base, formerly known as Camp Warrior, is now called Contingency Operating Site Kirkuk . Questions about the security and safety of contractors are being raised as the U.S. military leaves .

(CNN) -- Last year, the bus in which a young Congolese woman we met named Mary was riding was stopped by a militia. "They wanted to all have me, to rape me," she related haltingly to us. "I told them no, and then they took off my shirt and beat me. I have terrible marks now." Mary's story is similar to hundreds of thousands of women's experiences in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where rape is routinely "deployed" as a weapon of war by the armed groups fighting over a nation that has some of the richest nonpetroleum natural resource deposits in the world. Congo holds the numbing distinction of being home to the deadliest war in the world since World War II -- with more than 5.4 million people killed during the past 15 years. "This war is caused by the minerals," Mary told us. "Those [armed groups] control the minerals. I hear that they are used in mobile phones. ... If you talk to Obama or the phone companies, tell them what happens here." Armed groups in eastern Congo that control minerals, mines and trading routes generate an estimated $180 million each year by trading four main minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the armed groups to purchase large numbers of weapons and continue their campaign of brutal violence against civilians. Conflict minerals are key components in the manufacture of cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, video games and portable music players. Because of increasing awareness of the links between electronics products and the worst sexual violence in the world, change is afoot. During U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to eastern Congo in August, she said: "With respect to companies that are responsible for what are now being called conflict minerals, I think the international community must start looking at steps we can take to try to prevent the mineral wealth from the DRC ending up in the hands of those who fund the violence here." The U.S. Congress has also initiated a strong bipartisan effort to curb the conflict minerals trade. Senate and House bills on this issue represent a significant step toward having conflict-free cell phones and laptops by setting up a system of audits and minerals-tracing mechanisms. This would reveal which phones and laptops contain conflict minerals and which ones do not. Introduced by Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) on the Senate side, and Reps. Jim McDermott (D-Washington), Frank Wolf (R-Virginia), Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and Donald Payne (D-New Jersey) on the House side, the bills already have the support of powerful committee chairmen but still must be moved through committee. With the Obama administration and Congress taking a strong interest in this issue, and activist campaigning building some momentum, companies have begun to react. The tin industry has gone the furthest by introducing an initiative to increase due diligence and trace minerals on the ground in Congo. Electronics companies also have a project under way to map out supply chains. And Intel, HP, Dell, and Motorola are hosting a meeting with activists on conflict minerals in San Francisco, California, this month. But it is not enough. Campus activists -- from New York; to Knoxville, Tennessee; to Nevada -- are taking up this issue with increased vigor, along with major faith-based groups, from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to Jewish World Watch. Are the government and company actions taken to date enough to stop the conflict minerals trade from continuing? The answer is no. Electronics companies must invest in a system to certify that the minerals used in their products are verifiably conflict-free. They must work with their suppliers to trace the minerals back to their mines of origin and have independent audits conducted of these supply chains so that we know with verified proof that none has passed through the hands of armed groups. The Obama administration should help companies develop a certification process for conflict minerals, built on the lessons of the Kimberley Process for blood diamonds. The administration can also help devise a public-private partnership to work with companies, the Congolese government and other key donor countries to help miners in eastern Congo and improve mining inspection and tracing on the ground. Companies and the government can take steps today. For a start, electronics companies should have audits conducted of their supply chains for the minerals. And Congress should pass the conflict minerals legislation, to get tracing started. If you have a cell phone, you can also have an impact. Ask your senator and representative to sign the Congo Conflict Minerals Act (S. 891) and Conflict Minerals Trade Act (H.R. 4128), and find a creative way to reach your cell phone manufacturer to tell it you want a conflict-free cell phone. The minerals supply chain involves multiple companies, and the war in Congo will not be resolved overnight. But if companies and consumers take a stand and say "Give us conflict-free products," we can stop this deadly trade and put real pressure on the armed groups that rape women on a mass scale in eastern Congo. Let Mary's request not be forgotten. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sasha Lezhnev and John Prendergast.

Lezhnev, Prendergast: Congo "conflict minerals" fund deadly war in which rape is routine . Authors: Gunmen sell minerals used in cell phones, laptops, games to buy weapons . Victim: "If you talk to Obama or the phone companies, tell them what happens here" They say electronics firms must certify minerals are conflict-free, Congress must pass bills .

(CNN) -- From a distance, it is its shiny exterior that first catches the eye. As you step closer, a rooftop solar panel, an outdoor security light and a roof overhang make Nosango Plaatjie's shack stand out amid the sprawling cluster of makeshift wooden structures and rusty corrugated iron dwellings where her neighbors live. Welcome to the iShack, or improved shack, an innovative approach to housing that's being tested in the windswept slum of Enkanini, just outside Stellenbosch, South Africa. The dwelling, developed by researchers at the University of Stellenbosch, is intended to raise the living standards of slum residents while improving their access to electricity and protecting them from extreme temperatures in an environmentally friendly way. Read: 'Solar sisters' spreading light in Africa . The iShack prototype is occupied by Plaatje and her three young children. It is fully equipped with a photovoltaic panel capable of producing enough electricity to power three lights, a mobile phone charger and an outdoor motion detector spotlight. Its windows are strategically placed to achieve better air circulation and sunlight heating, while the roof is sloped so that rainwater can be harvested during the winter months. Recycled cardboard boxes and old Tetra Pak containers are used for insulation between the exterior zinc surface and the interior, while a flame-retardant paint is used to lessen the risk of fires. Inside the shack, rows of recycled bricks create a sturdy flooring base and act as "thermal mass," protecting against temperature change. Plaatjie, a domestic worker employed once a week, says her family's life has improved a great deal after relocating to the ecologically designed iShack. Their previous home was a cold, damp shack hastily put together from disused pallets and corroded zinc sheets. A leaking roof, bare earth floor and lack of windows made conditions even tougher, while the shortage of electricity meant that Plaatje would often miss out on important calls about work as she couldn't always walk long distances to charge her phone. "Now I am available all the time and it is helping me to make more money," Plaatjie told iShack's developers. She added: "The solar [lights] are better. Now we don't need to go to sleep early anymore because now we have lights. My daughter must do her homework now, she doesn't have any more excuses. And I like the light outside because we can see what is going on, I feel safer." Read: Harnessing pedal power to light up Africa . According to U.N. Habitat, 62% of the urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in slums, which it describes as being typically characterized by deplorable living conditions, a feeling of insecurity and inadequate infrastructure for basic energy, sanitation and water services. In South Africa, thousands of informal settlements have sprouted up in recent decades on the urban perimeter. To deal with the pressing housing problem, the government has shifted its emphasis from building new brick and mortar houses toward in-situ upgrading of existing informal settlements and providing access to services. But the iShack's developers say that slum dwellers usually have to wait for years for power and water grids or low-cost housing to arrive. They say that a growing housing backlog, coupled with budgetary constraints and a surge in urbanization rates, means that poorly serviced dwellings are likely to be part of urban living in South Africa for years to come. "Shacks are becoming the new norm," explains Andreas Keller, one of the developers of iShack. "So what can we do today in order to improve the living conditions of people through energy intervention, lighting, cell phones, communication, upping security? "That's where the planning comes in and the technology takes it one step further." The developers say the project is a cost-effective solution that shows what communities can achieve in the short term. Excluding the solar power system, the iShack costs about 5,600 rand ($660). The typical cost of a shack in Enkanini can vary from a few rand, when somebody collects materials at the landfill and carries them back to the settlement, all the way up to 5,000 rand ($582) on the informal real estate market, says Keller. "The rationale is that over time the additional cost upfront will be recouped through reduced fuel bill [and] greater wellbeing," he adds. Read: Cape Town takes on Tinseltown . Now, thanks to a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the iShack project will be trialled over the next year. Up to 100 shacks will either be built or retrofitted to determine whether the system can be applied on a larger scale. Keller says that as the project grows, community members trained in maintaining and repairing the solar power systems will be able to sell affordable energy to other residents. This will help them earn a living and also pay for new batteries for the iShacks. "We need to encourage the informal settlers, the slum dwellers, to invest into this infrastructure themselves," says Keller. "We cannot rely on a passive population to simply sit there and expect governments to solve their problems, so we need to make sure that any investments that they've made won't become redundant in the future."

The iShack aims to improve living conditions for people in slums . The 'shack' is equipped with a solar panel that can power lights and a mobile phone charger . The project will be scaled up using a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . U.N. Habitat: More than 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa's urban population lives in slums .

(CNN) -- In a scathing report recently obtained by CNN, the coroner in the case of a Georgia teen found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat blasted how the initial investigation was handled. Authorities say Kendrick Johnson fell into the mat and suffocated while trying to retrieve a sneaker. His family suspects the 17-year-old was murdered and that someone has tried to cover up evidence in the case. "I was not notifedi n (sic) this death until 15:45 hours. The investigative climate was very poor to worse when I arrived on the scene. The body had been noticably (sic) moved. The scene had been compromised and there was no cooperation from law enforcement at the scene. Furthermore the integrity of the evidence bag was compromised on January 13, 2013 by opening the sealed bag and exhibiting the dead body to his father," wrote Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson in a report dated January 22. "I do not approve of the manner this case was handled. Not only was the scene compromised, the body was moved. The integrrety (sic) was breached by opening a sealed body bag, information necessary for my lawful investigation was withheld," he said. The coroner's death investigation report was obtained by CNN through an open records request directed at the coroner's office. A second coroner's death investigation report was provided by the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office. The second report, which is not signed nor dated, is not nearly as critical as the first. "I was not called by investigating officers regarding this death until the afore listed time of notification," it read. It was not immediately clear why there were two coroner's reports. The inconsistencies between them were also not clear. When contacted by CNN, a lawyer for the Lowndes County sheriff and the Lowndes County coroner declined to address specific questions about the reports. "In light of the US attorney's review of this matter, the Lowndes County sheriff and the Lowndes County coroner will not comment further on this case. They will fully cooperate and respond to all inquiries of the United States attorney," Jim Elliott wrote in an e-mail. The U.S. attorney's office in Macon, Georgia, opened an investigation into the case last week. While warning his jurisdiction is limited as a federal prosecutor, Michael Moore, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said that after a lengthy review of evidence collected by authorities and the family's own investigator, "sufficient basis exists" to warrant a formal review of the facts. A Georgia judge on Thursday ruled that pending the outcome of that review, he will decide whether to order a coroner's inquest. Johnson's parents had asked for the inquest. A lawyer for them said they would appeal. Family questions video oddities . Also Thursday, lawyers for Johnson's family raised questions about apparent discrepancies in newly released surveillance images, including missing time codes, gaps and a mysteriously blurry and out-of-position camera that should have been pointed right at the spot where authorities found Johnson's body some 10 months ago. The surveillance images were provided by authorities after a judge ruled they must be released. For instance, in one image, a man seen walking away from the gym in what appears to be an image captured late at night suddenly disappears from a series of images shot by a motion-activated camera. Other images shot at other times capture people walking in that same location, attorney Chevene King said. New footage release in the case of Kendrick Johnson . In another example, King showed reporters images from a camera that he said should have shown the place where authorities say Johnson fell into a gym mat and suffocated. The image was blurry and out of position, he said. While stopping short of directly accusing authorities of deliberately tampering with the evidence, King said problems with the surveillance are only the latest in a series of oddities that have drawn national attention to Johnson's death. His bloody body was found rolled up in a mat at Lowndes High School on January 11. A state medical examiner ruled his death accidental, despite evidence of a neck injury found in a second autopsy conducted by a pathologist hired by the family. His fingernails had been clipped, his clothes were missing and his organs had been removed and replaced by newspaper. "We have had what I think is a series of events that causes you to raise the question, when does a coincidence stop being a coincidence," King told reporters Wednesday in Valdosta, Georgia. King demanded that authorities hand over originals of the surveillance video showing time codes and other evidence that he said could show whether the materials had been tampered with. Elliott, the attorney for Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine, said that his client has confirmed the video had not been altered or edited by anyone within the sheriff's office. An attorney for the school likewise said that what was provided to the sheriff's office was the raw feed with no edits. Federal prosecutor will look into Kendrick Johnson case . Kendrick's father, Kenneth Johnson, angrily demanded justice, calling authorities corrupt and vowing the family will not stop until they get answers to what happened to his son. "The Lowndes County Sheriff's Department, the D.A.'s office, they convict people all the time inside this courthouse," he said. "Should they not be held responsible for the lies they are telling and for the corruption?"

NEW: The scene was compromised, writes Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson . NEW: He says there was no cooperation from law enforcement . Lawyers for family question whether surveillance images were tampered with . Both the school and the sheriff say they did not edit the images .

(CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark ruling Thursday upholding the controversial, massive reform of health care coverage initiated by President Barack Obama. Here are four things Americans learned about the federal government's grand vision to ensure health care for everyone under so-called Obamacare: . Skipping insurance no longer an option . The individual mandate is the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration's signature law. The mandate, which the high court let stand, requires most Americans to have health care insurance. Opponents had contended that the government couldn't force citizens to buy health coverage, but the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the individual mandate is legal under the government's taxing powers. The "tax" comes in the form of a financial penalty on certain individuals who do not obtain health insurance, and the Constitution allows for such a tax, the court said. The justices, however, found problems in how the law threatens to remove Medicaid funding -- the government's health coverage for the poor -- from states that don't participate in an expansion of eligibility. The court said that the government must remove that threat, and Obama acknowledged remedies are needed. The year 2014 is the deadline for everyone to get insurance. Not obtaining insurance in 2014 will cost a person $95 or 1% of his or her income, whichever is higher. In 2015, it's $325, or 2% of income. For families, the penalty will be $285 per household or 1% of income, whichever is greater. By 2016, it goes up to $2,085 per family or 2.5% of income. Penalties will rise each year. Health care ruling gives GOP new attack line -- taxes . The law promises improved collective health . The law does promise better care and better health for America -- at a cost. Federal health spending is projected to grow from 5.6% of gross domestic product in 2011 to about 9.4% by 2035, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Under the law, preventive care services such as mammograms, physical exams, colonoscopies and vaccinations will be fully covered by insurance companies. This requirement kicked in for new health insurance plans that began on or after September 2010. Without the individual mandate, 40 million Americans would have remained uninsured, researchers at the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center estimated. Had the health care law been struck down by the high court, those without insurance would have grown by millions, researchers at the Urban Institute said. Without the law, "in the worst case scenario, the number of uninsured Americans would increase to 57.7 million in 2014 and to 65.7 million in 2019. In the best case, the number grows to 53.1 million in 2014 and 57 million in 2019," the researchers wrote. 'Obamacare' symbol: Court ruling is 'right direction' Uninsured not the only ones who'll see a change . Many Americans are already covered by employers' health benefits. At companies with fewer than 50 workers, the employees must obtain insurance themselves. Companies with 50 or more full-time employees must start providing health insurance for all workers by 2014 or face stiff penalties. Cash-strapped entrepreneurs can buy insurance at state exchanges and can get tax credits if their annual individual income ranges between 100% and 400% of the poverty line, which this year translates to $11,170 and $44,680. Solo entrepreneurs and small businesses can shop for less expensive insurance through the exchanges in each state. One-person businesses can also turn to exchanges for individuals. Companies with up to 100 workers may turn to Small Business Health Options Programs. Both keep down costs by increasing the size of the insured pool and spreading out the risk. No exchange is up and running yet. In theory, though, the exchanges will give small firms the ability to buy insurance at rates once belonging to large companies. By the numbers: Health insurance . Both parties will look to benefit politically from ruling . On Thursday, Republicans indicated that the health care law will be a major issue in this year's presidential election. Obama, a Democrat, agreed. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that, if elected, he would seek to overturn the law. Both candidates were leveraging the conflict to raise money for their respective campaigns. "What the court did not do on the last day in session, I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States, and that is that I will act to repeal Obamacare," Romney said two hours after the ruling was handed down. Despite his pledge to repeal the law, if elected, Romney has promised to continue some of the law's consumer protections, such as the ban on preventing care based on pre-existing conditions. Said Obama: "I know that there will be a lot discussion about this, about who won and who lost. That's how these things tend to be viewed here in Washington. But that discussion completely misses the point." He said Thursday that the principle upheld by the high court's ruling is that no American should go bankrupt because of illness. Opinion: Are voters ready to move on? What the health care ruling means to you . CNN's Tom Cohen, Rich Barbieri, Jennifer Bixler and Jeanne Sahadi contributed to this report.

The controversial individual mandate is deemed constitutional as a tax matter . Americans must have health care coverage -- or face fines . The ruling will continue to play a role this year's presidential election . The law will allow more people access to preventive screening .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When Rep. Joe Wilson yelled "You lie!" at President Obama, the South Carolina Republican's political team quickly launched an online strategy to capitalize on the incident. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, shouts "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to Congress. Wilson's heated outburst came on the House floor as Obama addressed a joint session of Congress about health care. Within 12 hours, Wilson media consultant Brian Donahue had sketched out a plan that included buying ads on Google, cutting videos on YouTube and using Twitter and Facebook to raise money and counter the congressman's critics. "We knew that influencers and news outlets would want to find out more information about what happened and what Joe Wilson's response was, and they would be looking for this information online," Donahue told CNN. "The events were happening by the minute and by the hour. Online was where we needed to be to respond and provide new information from Congressman Wilson. Traditional print media couldn't keep up with the pace of this issue." At the same time, Democrats and liberal organizations seized on the incident to raise money for Wilson's likely Democratic opponent in 2010, Rob Miller. Leading the effort was liberal fundraising site ActBlue, which launched a campaign on Twitter and other social networks to raise money for Miller. Twitter was responsible for 11,000 clicks to ActBlue's portal for donations to the campaign online. While Miller wrote blog posts for Web sites such as the Huffington Post and Daily Kos, his campaign focused on the South Carolina press corps. National fundraising efforts were mostly left to outside groups. Watch more on what happened after Wilson made the comment » . "He really stayed focused on what he needed to do in South Carolina and what his plan was as a candidate," said Jennifer Crider, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. South Carolina political operative Wesley Donehue handled the state and local political strategy for Wilson. The morning after Wilson blasted Obama, his campaign purchased Google AdWords, with search terms applicable to the previous night, that would lead searchers to the congressman's campaign Web site. "The campaigns of both Joe [Wilson] and his opponent, Rob Miller, leaped to place AdWords ads on searches for 'Joe Wilson,' " Google spokesman Galen Panger wrote in an e-mail. Panger noted that it was "one of the fastest responses we've seen to date" for an individual or organization to purchase AdWords after a breaking news event. Panger added that other political advertisers included the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, TheMiddleClass.org and the House Conservatives Fund. In addition, the Wilson campaign bought advertising on approximately 25 different Web sites including Google, Yahoo, Bing, DrudgeReport, Town Hall, Red State and a handful of sites with a South Carolina focus, the campaign said. Within 24 hours of Wilson's outburst, Donahue hired the David All Group, a conservative consulting firm known for its expertise in weaving together politics and social networking. By 4:07 p.m. ET Thursday, @CongJoeWilson, Wilson's campaign Twitter account, sent out its first tweet. "Thank you all for your understanding and support," Wilson wrote. "I'm on Sean Hannity radio now. Listen in." Wilson also used Twitvid, a Twitter-based video sharing platform, to share information. Miller's first tweet went out at 9:54 p.m. Wednesday, moments after Obama's speech concluded. @RobMillerUSMC tweeted a link to the campaign Web site. Throughout the rest of the night, it updated followers with tallies of money raised and also linked to the ActBlue site. His official Facebook account was providing similar updates and increased by more than 2,000 "fans." The Miller campaign did not return several calls or e-mails to discuss its online strategy. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Jessica Santillo, calling on behalf of the Miller campaign, said, "The campaign does not discuss strategy." As for Wilson, David All said the congressman has picked up 10,000 followers on his Twitter account and 16,000 new Facebook "friends." "Twitter is not the end all, be all, but it proved to be another tool to help us achieve our online goals," All wrote in an e-mail. "We used it to share information with influencers, help shape the debate, listen to the conversation as a real-time focus group to gauge our response, set the tone that we were fighting back with social media, and to essentially get our side of the story out." Wilson's campaign team created three YouTube videos and released them September 10, 13 and 15. In total, the videos have been viewed more than 284,000 times. "People needed to hear directly from Congressman Wilson," Donahue said. "So we created Web videos which carried Congressman Wilson's responses, from him directly speaking to online audiences. These videos were quickly picked up by several major TV news outlets [and] had a massive impact online and on traditional mediums." Miller did not use his YouTube account. As of Monday, the last video update made by Miller's campaign team was about a year ago. Barbara Dybwad, senior editor for the social media news blog Mashable.com, said the nation has reached a point where politicians need to factor social media into their strategic thinking. "It leaves the candidate a choice: either engage [on social networks] or lose," Dybwad said.

Republican Rep. Joe Wilson drew fire for yelling "you lie!" at President Obama . After comment, money poured in for both Wilson, his likely Democratic opponent . Both candidates take advantage of Twitter, other social media .

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- For most of his 82 years, Luis Posada Carriles has endeavored with a single-minded determination to bring down the Cuban Revolution. An anti-Castro Cuban exile and former CIA operative, Posada is accused by the Cuban government of blowing up a commercial airliner, masterminding a bombing campaign of Havana tourist attractions and attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro. While denying that he was behind those attacks, Posada, in his rare public comments, called himself "a soldier" not opposed to using violence to force change in Cuba. Before falling ill and stepping down as president, Fidel Castro referred to Posada as the "most dangerous terrorist in the Western hemisphere" and called for him to be bought to justice for alleged attacks that date back over 30 years. On Monday, Posada will face trial -- but not on those charges and not in Cuba. He will be tried in the United States for lying to immigration officials. The "case reads like one of Robert Ludlum's espionage thrillers, with all the plot twists and turns Ludlum is famous for," one of the judges who has heard the case over the last five years wrote in the court records. Posada faces 11 counts of lying to officials about how he entered the United States in 2005 and his alleged involvement in attacks on Cuba. He faces five to eight years in prison if convicted. For Margarita Morales, Posada's trial provides little comfort. Morales' father Luis Alfredo Morales Viego was killed in the 1976 bombing of a Cubana Airlines flight. "It's painful to know that Posada Carriles is only being tried for lying to immigration officials," Morales said, tears in her eyes. "How long do I have to put up with him being called a liar when he's a killer, a terrorist?" The bomb exploded shortly after Cubana Flight 455 took off from Barbados, killing all 73 passengers and crew aboard. Morales, a trainer for Cuba's national fencing team, was one of 24 team members to die in the crash. Following the crash, Posada was arrested and tried in Venezuela where he had worked for the country's intelligence services. While awaiting trial for the airplane bombing, he escaped from jail. Posada denied involvement in the attack. But a declassified CIA document obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University quoted Posada as saying, "we are going to hit a Cuban airplane." Venezuela, whose president Hugo Chavez is a staunch ally of Cuba, continues to seek Posada's exradition for the airliner bombing case. So far, U.S. courts have declined to extradite Posada citing his fear of being tortured in Venezuela. "If Posada Carriles were instead named 'Mohammed,' he would have been extradited a long time ago," said Jose Pertierra, the attorney handling Venezuela's extradition request. "There's a lot of skeletons in those closets and I am sure there's folks in Washington who don't want to see Posada Carriles get extradited because he might sing like a canary." While Posada is not being tried for being a terrorist, he does face charges for allegedly lying about terrorism. In 2005, Posada was arrested by Homeland Security agents after giving a press conference in Miami where he denied involvement in the airline bombing or targeting civilians in his war against the Cuban government. Initially, he was charged with entering the United States illegally but then federal prosecutors also indicted Posada for lying to immigration officials about his alleged involvement in a series of bombings in Havana in 1997. In 1998, Posada admitted to The New York Times that he had dispatched a group of operatives to Cuba to set off bombs in hotels and restaurants in the hopes of ruining the island's tourism industry. An Italian businessman Fabio Di Celmo was killed in one of the bombings. ''It is sad that someone is dead, but we can't stop,'' Posada told the newspaper. ''That Italian was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time." Asked if he felt remorse, Posada told the paper, ''I sleep like a baby.'' Several of those operatives were captured in Cuba and implicated Posada during their trials, according to Cuban government media reports and video shown on the island of the men's testimony. In court filings, Posada's attorneys argue that his English was too poor to understand the reporter's questions. The interviews were recorded though and are expected to be a central part of the government's case against Posada. Fabio Di Celmo's father, Giustino, has lived in Cuba since the 1997 bombing that took his son's life. He was in his room at the Copacabana Hotel when the C-4 plastic explosives went off in the lobby where his son was. "I never thought that a bomb had gone off," Di Celmo said in an interview. "Fifteen minutes later, I was told Fabio had been killed." A piece of shrapnel from the bomb had gone through his son's neck. "If the bomb went off 15 or 20 minutes later when the (hotel) restaurant was open, it would have been a bloodbath," Di Celmo said. "How do you fight ideas by murdering people?"

Cuba accuses Posada of blowing up a commercial airliner and other terror acts . He will face trial in the United States for lying to immigration officials . While awaiting trial on the plane bombing, Posada escapes from Venezuela jail . He has denied involvement but a declassified CIA document quotes him saying otherwise .

(CNN) -- We've all heard the dictum: Don't text and drive. Now a New Jersey state appeals court has an addendum: Don't knowingly text a driver -- or you could be held liable if he causes a crash. Kyle Best was behind the wheel of his pickup in September 2009 driving down a rural highway when Shannon Colonna sent him a text. The two were teens at the time. He was 18; she was 17, and they were dating. They sent each other 62 texts that day, according to court documents. In the opposing lane of traffic, David Kubert was cruising along on a big, blue touring motorcycle with his wife, Linda, along for the ride. They approached Best at exactly the wrong time. Can you really be liable for texting a driver? The texts . A court summary of the times of texts and calls to and from Best's cell phone reflect what happened next: . The teens were having a text chat, volleying each other messages every few moments. Seventeen seconds after Best sent a text, he was calling a 911 operator. His truck had drifted across the double center line and hit the Kuberts head-on. The scene Best described to the emergency operator was most certainly gruesome. "The collision severed, or nearly severed David's left leg. It shattered Linda's left leg, leaving her fractured thighbone protruding out of the skin as she lay injured in the road," the court document said. Best hung up. Colonna texted him two more times. The court did not publish the contents of their messages. Film legend Herzog takes on texting and driving . The lawsuit . The Kuberts both lost their legs. They sued. But they didn't just go after Best. They included Colonna in the lawsuit. In their minds, she was distracting him and was also responsible for their pain and loss. They settled with Best and lost against Colonna, but they appealed that decision. The plaintiffs' attorney, Stephen Weinstein, argued that the text sender was electronically in the car with the driver receiving the text and should be treated like someone sitting next to him willfully causing a distraction, legal analyst Marc Saperstein told CNN affiliate WPIX-TV. The argument seemed to work. The ruling . On Tuesday, three appeals court judges agreed with it -- in principle. They ruled that if the sender of text messages knows that the recipient is driving and texting at the same time, a court may hold the sender responsible for distraction and hold him or her liable for the accident. "We hold that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus be distracted," the court said. Explainer: Can you really be liable for texting a driver? But the judges let Colonna off the hook. She had a habit of sending more than 100 texts a day and was oblivious to whether recipients were driving or not. "I'm a young teenager. That's what we do," she said in her deposition before the original trial. Since she was unaware that Best was texting while driving, she bore no responsibility, the court decided. "In this appeal, we must also decide whether plaintiffs have shown sufficient evidence to defeat summary judgment in favor of the remote texter. We conclude they have not," it said. Survey: Adults text more than teens while driving . The reaction . During the trial, Colonna, now 21, found it "weird" that the plaintiffs tried to nail down whether she knew Best was texting behind the wheel, the court document said. The judges' decision has elicited a similar response from the state's governor, Chris Christie. The driver is ultimately responsible, he said. Not someone sending him a text. "You have the obligation to keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel and pay attention to what you're doing," he told radio station New Jersey 101.5. Other New Jerseyites agreed. "That's completely absurd, just because you know you're driving doesn't mean, it really doesn't mean they know you're looking at it," Joe Applegate told WPIX. "Even talking to the driver can distract them, so they are going to arrest for someone who simply talked to someone who is driving?" Louise McKellip asked. The future . New Jersey has been cracking down hard on texting and driving in recent years, implementing new laws and regulations that treat it in a similar manner as drunken driving if it involves an injury accident. The state passed a law last year based on the fate of the Kuberts and others who had been killed or maimed by texting motorists. The "Kulesh, Kubert and Bolish's Law" makes distracted driving a crime if the driver causes an accident. Fines for bodily injury run as high as $150,000, and the driver can go to jail for up to 10 years. And new legislation proposed by state Sen. James Holzapfel would let police thumb through cellphones if they have "reasonable grounds" to believe the driver was talking or texting when the wreck occurred. The bill has set off alarm bells with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. Judge rules using smartphone maps while driving illegal . CNN's Dave Alsup and Julie Cannold contributed to this report.

Kyle Best was behind the wheel of his pickup, texting his friend . He swerved into the opposing lane and hit a couple on a motorcycle . The couple sued him -- and the girl who was texting him . Court: People texting drivers can be liable for wrecks if they know recipient is behind wheel .

(CNN) -- You cannot mess with America. The moment the Boston Marathon came under attack, the country pulled together and rallied. The FBI vowed to pursue the bombers "to the ends of the earth." They meant it, and everyone knew it. If you launch a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, America's vast resources will spring into action and the country will spare no effort to catch you. Within three days of the marathon blasts investigators had identified the suspects and released their pictures to the public. By the end of the week, one of the suspects was dead, the other in custody. Bostonians poured into the streets in joyous celebration. But how strong, really, is America? Americans are dying by the thousands at the hands of other Americans and the country can't figure out what to do about it. Many at home and abroad scratched their heads when in the midst of the bombing investigation, with all hands on deck to crack the case, the U.S. Senate could not manage to approve a minuscule improvement to the country's efforts to keep weapons out of the hands of potential criminals, including possible terrorists even though polls show most of the public support it. How strong, really, is America? No other nation has even a small portion of America's military power or a fraction of its reach. The country's enemies know they have nowhere to hide. America's unmanned drones will find you and kill you in the most remote corners of the earth. Americans are patriotic and resilient. The population responded with determination, kindness and courage after the Boston bombing. Police, military and intelligence personnel are skilled and brave. They have kept terrorist attacks to a minimum in the years since 9/11. And when terrorists attack, or try to, investigators solve the case with a quickness and ingenuity that rivals fictional television detectives, even as we're constantly warned it is unrealistic to expect such dramatic results. America's might is something to behold. Except when it isn't. More than 30,000 people in the United States are killed every year by someone brandishing a gun. It is a staggering number, no matter what you believe about the right to bear arms. A problem that causes so many people to die every year is one that requires urgent attention. And yet America simply cannot find a way to stop it. How strong is that? It is as if a house stood protected as a fortress, with a high fence around it, with guard towers and alarm systems to keep intruders out, while inside the residents were slaughtering one another. When you travel abroad, people ask what it is about Americans and their guns. As much as we hear from hunters, the issue goes much deeper than that. From the founding days of the nation, freedom lay at its core, and freedom has been viewed as protection from an overreaching government. The Second Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1791, states that the people have a right to "bear arms," but it also prefaces it with what sounds like a caveat, that this is because "a well regulated militia" is "necessary to the security of a free state." Still, Americans have had a romantic relationship with their arms. Think back to the cowboys and their six-shooters and Colt rifles. The romance and the freedom, it's all part of America's character and history. Americans will never look at guns the way, say, the Dutch look at them. In some respects, that is part of America's strength. The people feel a very personal stake, a direct responsibility for the country's freedom. And yet, not even the most ardent gun lovers would argue that it is acceptable for young men filled with hatred, dangerously disturbed or with a track record of violence, to have free access to weapons. The greatest defenders of freedom agree that the massacre of children in school or of moviegoers in a theater constitute a grave affront to the security of the country. It has become a crisis that demands a response. If America were really strong, it would find a way to stop the killings, to staunch the bleeding. But no, America has become weak. The nation has become incapable of solving problems through normal legislative channels. How strong is that? The country's political system has fallen into a muddy, sticky, foul-smelling quagmire. Problems whose gravity is enough to produce near consensus among the population cannot seem to find a solution in Congress. If it's a pure security issue, authorities can order everyone to stay at home in Boston for an entire day. They can ask everyone to send in their iPhone pictures of the marathon to try to solve the case together. If the problem is national debt, however, the mighty nation produces a travesty like the "sequester," creating hundreds of flight delays for no reason at all other than the incompetence of its politicians. Or if the problem is regulatory oversight, how strong is a country where parts of a town are destroyed by the explosion of a fertilizer plant that had not had an inspection in more than two decades? America is in possession of more power than any country on Earth. And yet, its people are not secure. They are dying in large numbers from problems that a better functioning government could do much to prevent. To make America truly strong and its people safe, fixing this broken system deserves at least as much urgent attention as catching the perpetrators of terrorist attacks. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.

Frida Ghitis: Boston Marathon aftermath shows vast resources, reach of America . Ghitis: Yet, the country cannot pass a measure that can keep guns out of potential criminals . She says America cannot seem to solve its bigger problems through its political process . Ghitis: If America were strong, it would find ways to stop the gun violence and fix its debt .

(CNN)Scientists who pulled off a huge achievement in space exploration showed numerous black-and-white images Thursday of where they think the Philae probe landed on a comet 310 million miles from Earth. Many at the European Space Agency have gone without sleep in the last few days, nervously anticipating whether Philae's difficult journey would actually end in success. A few who spoke to reporters in Darmstadt, Germany, choked up and said how much the mission -- dubbed Rosetta -- means to them and to space exploration. "Rosetta is trying to answer the very big questions about the history of our solar system," said Matt Taylor, ESA Rosetta project scientist. "What were the conditions like at its infancy and how did it evolve? What role did comets play in this evolution? How do comets work?" There were flaws with the landing -- anchoring harpoons didn't deploy when Philae made impact, lander manager Stephan Ulamec said, and screws meant to burrow into the surface didn't work. But Philae bounced at least twice, they said, and stuck the landing. And that was all that counts. A jubilant Jean-Pierre Bibring, who has reportedly spent more than two decades working on the Rosetta mission, showed photos that scientists were just beginning to receive. ESA scientists and executives high-fived and hugged one another when the landing was confirmed on Wednesday. Spacecraft have crashed into comets before, but this was the first controlled landing in history. "Our ambitious Rosetta mission has secured a place in the history books: not only is it the first to rendezvous with and orbit a comet, but it is now also the first to deliver a lander to a comet's surface," Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, said in a statement. Many people, and not just the ones who work for ESA, are excited about what kind of information Philae will deliver. And science fiction writer Alastair Reynolds said, "This is science fiction made real in terms of the achievement of the mission itself, but Rosetta is also taking us a step closer to answering science fiction's grandest question of all: Are we alone?" Rosetta took off from Earth 10 years ago, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, and traveled a total of 6.4 billion miles before rendezvousing with the comet in August. The Philae lander separated from the orbiting Rosetta around 3:30 a.m. ET Wednesday and landed on the comet seven hours later. ESA lander system engineer Laurence O'Rourke told CNN that the orbiter had to be in the right position to allow the lander craft, which had no thrusters, to "free fall" on the correct trajectory so it landed on the comet. The lander weighs about 220 pounds and is the size of a domestic washing machine. The target comet is only 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles, in diameter. Shortly after landing was confirmed, the probe tweeted: "Touchdown! My new address: 67P!" Later, it tweeted again: "I'm on the surface but my harpoons did not fire." What can we learn from comet landing? The mission has historic allusions. The spaceship is named after the Rosetta Stone, an inscribed piece of volcanic rock found in Egypt in 1799 that allowed scientists to decipher hieroglyphics and thus understand the ancient Egyptian culture, ESA said. The lander is named after an island in the Nile River where an obelisk was found that helped decipher the Rosetta Stone, ESA said. Led by ESA with a consortium of partners including NASA, scientists on the Rosetta comet-chasing mission hope to learn more about the composition of comets and how they interact with the solar wind: high energy particles blasted into space by the sun. The comet is currently 500 million kilometers (310 million miles) from Earth and pictures from the Rosetta mission to track it on its orbit around the sun have amazed scientists. We can land on a comet, but we can't... Philae is equipped with an array of experiments to photograph and test the surface of Comet 67P as well as to find out what happens when the roasting effect of the sun drives off gas and dust. Built by a European consortium, led by the German Aerospace Research Institute, the landing probe has nine experiments. According to details on ESA's Rosetta website, sensors on the lander will measure the density and thermal properties of the surface, gas analyzers will help detect and identify any complex organic chemicals that might be present, while other tests will measure the magnetic field and interaction between the comet and solar wind. What is a comet and what will Rosetta discover . Philae also carries a drill that can drive 20 centimeters (8 inches) into the comet and deliver material to its on board ovens for testing. Scientists are already pleased with progress of the mission, and they're wowed by what's already been accomplished. Bibring took questions from reporters about the failure of the harpoons, answering them in great detail. He appeared to get mildly frustrated, though, and implored that failure not be the focus. "It's gorgeous where we are!" he said. How comet mission helps search for alien life . CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Dave Gilbert contributed to this report.

Images show area on comet where scientists believe Philae probe landed . "Rosetta is trying to answer the very big questions about the history of our solar system," ESA scientist says . Experts are excited about what kind of information Philae will deliver . Philae has nine experiments including drill to sample the surface, onboard oven .

(CNN) -- Thinking about Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts this week to gain observer status as a nonmember state, I'm reminded of one of my favorite "Seinfeld" episodes. Sitting in the Restaurant -- the venue for so many of the best "Seinfeld" bits -- George and Jerry conspire to produce a new sitcom, a show literally about nothing. Not surprisingly, the idea comes to nothing as well, though the ironic brilliance that the very show they want to produce already exists adds a cool philosophical edge to the comedy. Sadly, like the "Seinfeld" episode, the Palestinian effort to gain entry into the U.N. General Assembly as an observer state will come to nothing as well, even if -- as is likely -- he succeeds. And that's the real tragedy. Success will neither provide the gains Palestinians hope to achieve nor the disasters that opponents of the initiative predict. In the end, Abbas and the Palestinians will be no closer to statehood and perhaps even a little further away. Motives . Frustrated by the world's seeming indifference to the Palestinian issue and weakened by his inability to deliver anything, Abbas is desperate for an end-of- the-year success of some kind. Blocked by Washington and the U.N. Security Council last year from gaining admission as a state, he's fallen back on the idea of observer status, an initiative that can't be vetoed by the Americans and is likely to succeed in the General Assembly. Opinion: Why U.S., Israel should welcome Palestinian move at U.N. Observer status is largely a symbolic issue, but the Palestinian Authority might then have access to other U.N.-affiliated agencies, including the International Criminal Court, assuming that body would be willing to entertain Palestinian claims and charges against Israel. Indeed, Palestinian desperation is accompanied by a Palestinian assessment that the international arena offers a fertile field to score political points and to pressure and isolate the Israelis. Call it a kind of global station identification for an organization -- Fatah -- that's run out of options. What matters is what happens on the ground . If the history of this issue shows anything, it demonstrates that what really counts is what happens between Israelis and Palestinians in the region. How sad and ironic that it was Hamas' rockets, not Abbas' diplomacy, that put the Palestinian issue on the map again. And that's likely to be the story again -- whether through violence or diplomacy. What counts is whether Israelis and Palestinians can offer incentives and disincentives to one another in currency that matters -- prisoners, land, cease-fires, economic assistance, etc. It matters not a whit what goes on in New York at the United Nations. Abbas might well be the best partner Israel will ever have, but if he can't deliver or if the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to deal with him, well Houston, we have a problem. And at the moment, it is Hamas -- not Abbas -- that counts more and the Gaza/Egypt arena, not the U.N., that's more relevant. Washington's calculations . Why not support the Abbas move? Doesn't the U.S. have a stake in bucking him up and reinforcing the two-state solution? Obama's calculations in opposing the observer initiative are three. First, philosophically, ever since we've had Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the American talking points have been pretty consistent. What matters is negotiations, not moves, at the U.N. And even though there are no talks now, the U.S. position is correct; the only thing that can produce two states are two -- maybe three -- parties talking. Second, there's no doubt that Obama understands that observer status will only deepen the adversarial relationship between Abbas and Netanyahu, give the Israelis another reason not to negotiate and get the president into a fight with Congress should he support the Palestinian bid. Indeed, that's the last thing he needs at a time when he's wrangling with Congress about the fiscal cliff and fighting with the Republicans about Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Finally, if he is going to consider an initiative on the big Israeli-Palestinian issues during his second term, he needs to build up credibility with the Israelis -- as he's done on the cease-fire in Gaza -- so he can be in a better position to push and persuade them later. News: Palestinians again take status case to U.N. An initiative about nothing . The observer state initiative won't make the difference that either its advocates or detractors imagine. Congress might further restrict aid to the Palestinians at a time when the Palestinian Authority is in the red. Abbas will look feckless -- and Hamas even stronger -- because in the end, the results in New York will change nothing on the ground for the better in the region. Indeed, Israel might well retaliate by withholding tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority under agreements reached in the mid-1990s. And sadly, unlike a "Seinfeld" episode, what happens between Israelis and Palestinians actually matters. For the time being, these two peoples will remain suspended between a peace they cannot have and a confrontation neither wants but might well come nonetheless. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Aaron David Miller.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas seeking nonmember state status at U.N. Former diplomat Aaron Miller says the move is like a "Seinfeld" episode, a show about nothing . He says it won't achieve a breakthrough and also won't likely do much harm . Miller: The real story is about what happens on the ground between Israel, Palestinians .

(CNN) -- Australia's bushfires have such a long and destructive history there's almost no day of the week that hasn't been dubbed "black" or "ash" to mark a major conflagration. There was Black Thursday in Victoria in 1851, which destroyed five million hectares and claimed 12 lives -- the first large-scale bushfire in the history of white settlement in Australia. Since then there's been Red Tuesday in 1898 in Victoria, which consumed 2,000 buildings, Black Friday in Victoria in 1938 that killed 71 and destroyed 3,700 buildings, and Ash Wednesday in the early 1980s that left 71 dead in the state of South Australia. Most recently in 2009, Black Saturday claimed 173 lives in the state of Victoria in southern Australia -- many of the victims unable to even get the distance of their own driveways before they succumbed to the intense radiant heat generated by a bushfire. Many argue that Australia's catastrophic bushfires are simply a fact of life on a continent where its flora, heavy with combustible eucalyptus oil, constitute something of a seasonal time bomb. Others say more sinister man-made factors are at work. Changing climate . Australia has had a troubled relationship with climate change -- its confused policies on a controversial carbon tax are credited with felling the Labor Party at the last election, while the new government controversially disbanded the country's Climate Commission -- but scientists say the latest bushfire season may turn up the heat on the climate-change skeptics. While the jury is still out on whether climate change is making conditions perfect for large-scale bushfires, scientists agree that bushfire seasons -- a regular occurrence on the Australian seasonal calendar -- are getting longer and the fires more intense. According to David Bowman, professor of forest ecology at the University of Tasmania, who has studied bushfires for more than 30 years, bushfire behavior is showing signs of change. "The problem with Australia is that the records are pretty shallow, which makes it really difficult to talk conclusively about any of the fire activity. But when you piece everything together there's some very convincing evidence. Aggressive fires . "Even the firefighters are reporting really unusual behavior," said Bowman, adding that firefighters are fighting bigger and more aggressive fires. "Normally at night -- and this is borne out by firefighters in the United States -- the fire will quell as the temperature cools. But firefighters are saying that because of the heat, bushfires are burning just as fiercely at night. It's all getting pretty worrying." He said duration was also a factor that was changing in bushfire behavior. "It's no big deal to have a fire in October but to have one that has burned like this for more than a week at this level of intensity is unprecedented. "We are now looking at really catastrophic fire weather -- for October it just doesn't compute." Anatomy of a bush fire: How Australia's explosive forest fires work . A nation built on fire . Fire has been part of the Australian landscape since the dawn of time and its people have used fire as a farming tool for more than 40,000 years. One of the earliest colonial watercolors shows an Aboriginal man gently setting fire to land that now makes up Sydney's most expensive waterside suburb of Vaucluse. Known as fire-stick farming, this mosaic of fire management systems not only flushed out game such as kangaroos and possums, it created new growth which in turn attracted more game. With indigenous people no longer part of the forest management equation, some scientists argue the fuel load that builds up from Australia's notoriously combustible vegetation is now one aspect that needs to be addressed. Pyrogeography . Meanwhile, the emerging academic discipline of pyrogeography is looking at bushfires in Australia -- not just as a one-off catastrophic event -- but as part of an interconnected whole where forest fires around the world feed climate change and make conditions ripe for the propagation of even more fires. Bowman says that deforestation fires alone -- the fires that have been used to destroy forests since the industrial revolution -- account for about one-fifth of all carbon dioxide committed to the atmosphere. "That's a very significant component in global warming," he said. One thing that is being noticed by scientists is that black carbon from forest fires is landing on ice sheets and accelerating ice melt. Slippery factors . "These are tricky and slippery factors because there are places where feedback from fires is actually causing cooling, especially in places where the loss of forest has caused the snow to lie for longer leading to regional cooling." Vegetation and natural conditions may change dramatically between New South Wales, Sumatra and California, but one thing these fires all share in common is that they are becoming more regular because the climate is becoming warmer. Bowman said that vegetation in parts of Victoria, which normally completely regenerates over a 50-year cycle, is now being burned as often as three times in the period of one decade. The particles from forest fires, he said, actually inhibit rainfall contributing to regional drying and warming, which creates a weather cycle conducive to fires. The problem for scientists, he added, was in connecting the dots with these patterns. "It's like trying to find needles in haystacks."

Australia has a long history of bushfires that predates white settlement . Scientists say that, despite shallow records, bushfire seasons are getting longer . Firefighters are reporting that fires are becoming larger and more aggressive . One scientist says forest fires around the world are contributing to global warming .

(CNN) -- Intense black smoke billowing from the flames of an oil fire blocks out the sun. A teenage mom with a one-day-old baby seeks shelter in a dimly-lit basement from a barrage of missiles and shells. Incoming fire smashes through the wall of a house being used as an unofficial media center in Homs, the city that is the focus of anti-regime protests and Syrian efforts to silence them. The horror of enduring the all-out assault by the Syrian military is brought vividly to life in a CNN documentary airing this weekend. With the help of local activists, a CNN crew was smuggled into Homs, moving from house to house as the Syrian army fired missiles and tank shells. For more than a year President Bashar al-Assad's military had used brutal force to put down the uprising. Across Syria, protesters demanded change -- chanting "down with the regime" but it was Homs -- and especially the neighborhood of Baba Amr -- that became the epicenter. Even CNN correspondent Arwa Damon, with her vast experience of reporting from war zones, had reservations about the high-risk job. She said: "I actually wrote a letter home the first time, to my family. And I went to see some very close friends as well, just in case." She was joined by Neil Hallsworth, a veteran cameraman who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel, and Tim Crockett, a former special forces officer to handle security and who would also become an unofficial stills photographer. Just getting into Homs was an ordeal that took five days for what would normally be a two-hour drive. Damon said: "It involves a fairly elaborate process of being moved through farmlands, back roads, trying to avoid the government, ending up in various safe houses. And at every single leg, every single stop, you have a different person who's responsible to move you on to the next one, someone who knows the details of the lay of the land around you to ensure that they can actually get you through from one point to another." For the thousands trapped in Baba Amr, the route was their only lifeline and CNN agreed to keep it secret. In Homs, there was no frontline meaning there was also nowhere that could be called safe. Damon said: "It [seems] mostly deserted, most of the buildings have sustained some sort of damage. And then you'll see a kid peek their head out from a doorway, or you'll see a man walking in the street carrying an A.K." Some of the most constant fire has been on Baba Amr where people are killed or wounded daily, and where two doctors -- and one of those was a dentist -- are fighting against the odds to help the casualties. In a makeshift clinic there was a man with head injuries from shrapnel, another whose leg injury was most likely going to lead to an amputation. The medics say the Syrian military regards the clinic as a target so they have set up in numerous temporary houses around Baba Amr, each with patients and with the doctors moving between them. But snipers posted on rooftops above the rubble-littered streets made even the shortest of trips treacherous. Mosques put out messages before the bombardment started, telling people to not live on the upper floors, to try to stay away from windows, and to try to find protective rooms, inside their homes. In basements used as bunkers, civilians pray the next bomb will miss their home and their loved ones. In one of these bunkers, the CNN crew met a teenager who had given birth the day before. Her daughter Fatimah was the face of innocence amid the hell of Homs. Her father does not know she's been born. He left the shelter to get supplies a month ago and has not made it back. And her gran trembled as she explained how two other relatives died. Virtually everyone in the shelter -- about 300 people -- had similar horrific stories of violent death. And it was easy to learn how death could come arbitrarily and suddenly in Homs and how survival was as much luck as anything else. Working in a home that had become an unofficial media center for the few Western journalists that have made it into Homs, a rocket slammed into the building just two floors up. Also in Baba Amr was Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin who would be killed alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik just a few days later. Throughout Baba Amr, word was spreading that a ground offensive by the Syrian military was imminent. And for CNN it was becoming too dangerous to let Damon, Hallsworth and Crockett stay. Damon said: "It is fundamentally unfair that we live in a world where we can go film this, report on it, and leave, knowing that the people we've left behind's suffering is going to continue. Feeling as if we should've done more, we could've done more." Hundreds of civilians are believed to have died in the siege of Baba Amr. At least three activists involved in getting video out of Baba Amr have been killed. At the end of February, the Syrian military broke the resistance of Baba Amr. Opposition activists claim the military carried out summary executions. Regime forces continue to bombard other areas that oppose Assad's rule.

CNN crew explains how they were smuggled into Homs, Syria, to witness a brutal crackdown on regime opponents . After a year of protests across Syria, Homs was the focus of a military effort to quash the uprising . Women live in basements, snipers kill from rooftops, medics battle the odds in chaos . A home being used as a media center was targeted by the Syrian military surrounding the city .

(CNN) -- What he lacks in technique, Steve Wozniak makes up for in geeks. Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak and his partner show off their moves on "Dancing With the Stars." The Apple Inc. co-founder has managed to transform his less-than-graceful moves on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" into enough votes to keep hope alive on the competitive ballroom-dance show. "Woz," as he is known by friends and fans alike, and partner Katarina Smirnoff have had some of the lowest scores from the trio of judges since the show premiered on March 9. But the judges, who are experts in the field of competitive dance, aren't the only deciding factor. Viewers can vote online, via phone calls or by text messaging, and those votes comprise 50 percent of each couple's score. The dance team with the lowest combined score is then voted off the show -- a fate that may await Wozniak on Tuesday night. Wozniak and Smirnoff are up against a bevy of entertainers, including an Olympian, an NFL Hall of Famer, the most successful female rapper in hip-hop history and an actor whose claim to fame is appearing naked in the film "Sex and the City." But all that star power has so far been matched by the power of computer geeks who are using what they know best to keep the rhythmically challenged Silicon Valley icon in the game. Chris Harrington, technology director for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based advertising, public relations and new media firm Luquire George Andrews, set up VoteWoz.com and a similarly named Twitter account, which so far has more than 55,000 followers. Harrington -- who began rallying the techie troops almost as soon as ABC announced that Wozniak would be competing -- said he is rooting for the philanthropist because "he puts more heart and more passion in what he's doing than some of the other dancers." "When you have beautiful athletes, movie stars and TV personalities, and then you mix in a geek, there's something a little strange and entertaining," Harrington said. "Being a fellow geek myself, I thought now is the time to work with the technologies that we know and start pushing for the vote." That means lots and lots of social networking to spread the love -- and the word of Woz. Joe Patane is a longtime friend of Wozniak's and one of the officers for the official "Vote for Woz on ABC's 'Dancing With the Stars' " Facebook group. Patane shares his friend's passion for philanthropy and runs his own foundation and the site joesworld.org. He also knows a bit about reality television. A former cast member of MTV's "The Real World: Miami," Patane was instrumental in convincing his bud to sign on to the show and said the lovable (though some might argue lumbering) Wozniak has garnered fans both young and old. "He loves his fans, and he's completely flattered by the fan response," Patane said. "He's a shy guy, and he's doing a crazy, unique and different thing in his life that he wants to share with the world." Patane, who is also executive producer of the documentary "Camp Woz: The Admirable Lunacy of Philanthropy," said he enjoys watching his friend dance each week. "He's the most uniquely giving, loving, happy man," Patane said. "With so many people watching this show, it's a good, infectious way to spread love, joy and hope." Aaron Petrey of Stanford, Kentucky, is one viewer who has fully embraced the Wozniak mania. He won an autographed copy of the book "iWoz" for submitting a video of himself imitating Wozniak's dance moves to VoteWoz.com. Petrey said it's only natural that fans of Woz would turn to the Internet to support him. "Without [Wozniak] there probably wouldn't be a YouTube, Twitter or Facebook," Petrey said. "He's the reason why we even have a computer. I like seeing him on the show." Unfortunately, the "Dancing With the Stars" judges don't seem to feel the same way. Despite dancing through injuries -- including a pulled hamstring that sent him to the hospital in an ambulance last week -- Wozniak failed to impress the experts Monday night. While he did manage to score a perfect 10, it was a collective 10 out of a possible 30. At one point during Wozniak's and Smirnoff's samba, judge Bruno Tonioli put his face in his hands. Wozniak capped their routine by doing his version of the break-dance move known as "the worm," but even that failed to save his lackluster performance. "At some point the novelty wears off," said judge Carrie Ann Inaba, often cited as the kindest of the three. Wozniak, who beat out former Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle after a dance-off in an earlier round, kept his smile throughout the storm of criticism. "I enjoy it," he said on the show afterward. "I'm going to try to bring my form of entertainment to the world."

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak scores this season on "Dancing With the Stars" Fellow "geeks" are supporting Wozniak via voting and social-networking sites . Wozniak friend: He's a shy guy "doing a crazy, unique and different thing" Despite dancing through injuries, Wozniak hasn't been a hit with judges .

(CNN) -- In an age of unromance, of Internet dating, of gut reaction cynicism -- I love hearing a story about how Lenny Ann Low of Sydney met her fiancé Alan of Glasgow. Lenny Ann Low made sure every week to do something scary that would in some way alter her future . "Tell the story again!" I would beg her in the manner of a child wanting to be read her favorite fairytale, never tiring of the narrative, always smiling with delight at the ending. Lenny met Alan when she was in Edinburgh at the annual comedy festival. She was lining up for a hot tuna melt and a latte at a station café with 9 minutes to catch a train back to London. She stood at the back of the long queue thinking, probably, of anything but love -- when she locked eyes with the young man behind the steaming coffee machine -- the man who in a few short minutes would be making her latte, than in an even shorter minute later would be consigned to the distant memories of coffee makers past. But when their eyes locked from over the Gaggia machine down the snaking queue, Lenny felt an unmistakable current. Could this be love? And if so -- what could be done in the nine minutes she had left in the country? Lenny knew exactly what to do as she had formulated a plan that she had been following for some years. Called Future Friday it was a game she played with herself each week. In order to gain more confidence and "get out of a rut" she decided that by Friday each week she would do something scary that would in some way alter her future. Minutes ticked up. She moved up the queue. She ordered her tuna melt. She took her coffee and sat in the train. Six minutes until it pulled out bound for London. She thought of Future Friday. She wrote her email address on a piece of paper, leapt off the train, raced back to the café, barged through the queue and gave Alan her address. "Email me!" she told the stranger as she thrust the paper in his hand and bounded back to catch her train. He did email when she was on a plane halfway to Australia. They emailed for a while, then eventually he came out to Sydney. They got on with the business of falling in love and next month they will marry. Unlike other pundits with a self-help plan, Lenny's not promising hers will deliver riches, fame or love. What she does say however is that if you follow it, you will have a lot of adventures and take all sorts of risks that will enrich your life in many ways. Lenny explains how it works: "Future Friday is so simple it's embarrassing. By Friday at the end of every week you must do something that is good for your future that is a risk or something scary." For Lenny, "it could be something like getting pap smear, making a dental appointment or telling someone that you fancy them or ring someone out of the blue and asking them if they've got a job. I've done all those things." Feeling like she was stagnating inspired Lenny to develop the scheme. "Being in a bit of a dead-end job made me want to do this - I thought I needed a trigger. It also lets you off the hook -- you can say I've done my Future Friday now -- I don't have to do anything else for the rest of the week." Lenny isolated particular areas of her life that she had neglected. "I put off making a dental appointment for five or six years. I put off telling men they were nice. I put off my pap smear all my life." The list of things to do each week for Future Friday then became "a combination of exciting thrills and horrible must dos." Lenny made sure she told all her friends about Future Friday so she could get extra support during the difficult weeks. "You'd get praise. I'd tell various people about it. You'd move enormous blocks. I really was quite down and just the little sense of doing stuff helped enormously." Memorable Future Fridays included doing a stand-up comedy gig, flying in a jetfighter, and of course -- meeting Alan. Lenny started doing Future Friday in 1996 to boost her confidence and expand her world, but she had no idea how it would change her world. She was also contacted by a number of people "friends of friends, strangers" who had heard about Future Friday and started practicing it themselves. She recommends starting your own Future Friday if you are also "swimming around and drowning in a lot of stuff. "It's a good way to anchor yourself. Now I have formed a habit of getting on with things now -- today I had to get the celebrant form done and I just did it." Every time you tick off a Future Friday item Lenny says to give yourself a pat on the back. "It's about the power of affirmation and realizing you're not a failure -- and its small and it doesn't cost anything. You can take delightful risks." Lenny's Future Friday Tips: . • Pick a couple of basic but difficult issues in your life -- a niggle. Make the appointment or ring about a job and you are on your way. • Go and see that man at the pub who you thought was cute. Don't be shy. "I told a number of men I liked them and they didn't always feel the same way, but at least I didn't die wondering." • I didn't keep a diary but it's a great idea to keep track of your progress . • Tell other people and they can get inspired and also support you in your Future Friday. E-mail to a friend .

Lenny Ann Low created Future Friday to gain more confidence . She must take one risk that is good for her future by each Friday . Lenny has done stand-up comedy, flew a jetfighter, and met her fiancé Alan .

Washington (CNN)The Congress that has done virtually nothing for two years is wrapping up 2014 with a bang. Dozens of policy provisions are tucked into a 1,603-page bill that will keep the government open through next September. The provisions affect everything from campaign finance laws to financial regulations, marijuana possession and even the government's purchase of white potatoes. The bill, which was negotiated between Democrats and Republicans over several weeks, is expected to get a vote in the House on Thursday -- right as Washington faces a deadline to avert another government shutdown. The provisions are notable because House Republican leaders frequently tout a transparent process. But some of the items added at the last minute to this massive funding bill were never discussed in any committee hearing, or voted on as part of any of the nearly dozen spending bills that were rolled into one package to result in the 1,603-page legislation. House Speaker John Boehner defended including all these so-called "policy riders" in the spending bill on Wednesday. "Understand all these provisions in the bill were worked out in a bi-partisan, bi-cameral fashion or they wouldn't be in the bill," Boehner said. Here is a quick list of some of the changes: . Blocking new marijuana legalization bill in Washington, D.C.: Voters in D.C. approved a measure to decriminalize recreational marijuana use last month. But Congress has authority over the city's finances, so the bill bars the District from using any of its own money or federal funds to regulate the use of pot. Wealthy donors allowed to give more to political parties: The bill increases the individual limits that donors can give to national parties to help fund conventions, building funds and legal proceedings, such as recounts. The change would effectively allow rich donors to give ten times more than they can today to support political parties. Republicans who pushed for the change say they are substituting more private money for the taxpayer money that was collected for national political campaign committees, but instead used to fund a pediatric cancer bill that passed earlier this year. More wheat bread for school lunches: Republicans wanted to block new nutritional requirements for school lunches under a program championed by First Lady Michelle Obama. But instead of wiping out the rule, Republicans and Democrats agreed to give local schools more flexibility on how they decided to include whole grain items on school menus. The sage grouse faces uncertain future: The Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to add the sage grouse - a type of bird found in some western states - to the endangered species list, but Republicans argued that would have a negative economic fallout for energy companies developing resources in those states. No more taxpayer money for expensive portraits: Committee chairs and other high ranking government officials in Washington often commission large, often very pricey portraits of themselves to hang in hearing rooms. Under the bill they would need to use private money to pay for any new portraits. Old fashioned light bulbs still allowed: The bill blocks new energy efficient standards that would have made incandescent light bulbs obsolete. Consumers had complained about the new requirements. White potatoes get top billing: A new provision was added requiring that the Women, Infants and Children program that provides food assistance to low income families include fresh vegetables, and includes an explicit requirement for white potatoes. Truckers won't be required to get more sleep: Safety advocates wanted to require truck drivers to get a full two night's sleep before beginning their new shift on the road, but the bill blocks that requirement. Farmers get a reprieve from some clean water rules: The deal prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing some of its clean water act rules in some agricultural regions. Gitmo prisoners can't come to the United States: The bill bars money for transferring any detainees held at the facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to any prisons in the U.S. Banks allowed to use taxpayer money to engage in potentially risky trades: The bill rolls back a provision that was part of financial reforms for Wall Street banks. It reverses a rule that was enacted in 2010 that barred banks from using taxpayer backed funds from trading in derivatives. Democrats argue these often risky trades helped contribute to the financial collapse in 2008. Blocks IRS from targeting certain groups: The bill prevents any federal money to be used by the Internal Revenue Service to target any advocacy group based on their ideological leanings. This practice is already not allowed, but Republicans wanted to underline it after internal documents showed that some IRS employees targeted some groups when investigating their tax-exempt status. New sexual harassment training for Hill staffers: The measure requires the Chief Administrative Officer, the office that oversees the thousands of aides working on Capitol Hill, to develop an online training program focused on sexual harassment. Earlier this year, Louisiana GOP Rep Vance McAllister was caught kissing a member of his own staff. What the bill doesn't do: . The bill doesn't block the president's executive action on immigration. Conservatives wanted to use the spending bill to strip away money for any agencies tasked with implementing the president's new policy. But the legislation continues funding for the Department of Homeland Security through the end of February. The deal doesn't roll back any major portions of Obamacare - it allows for continued funding at the current levels. Last fall the GOP's effort to defund the health care law as part of the spending bill resulted in a government shutdown, a move leaders pledged they didn't want to repeat this year.

Lawmakers tucked in dozens of items to the spending bill . Items affect everything from financial regulations to white potatoes . Congress must pass bill by Thursday to avert a shutdown .

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Natalia Vodianova is the Russian supermodel and philanthropist described by designer Tom Ford as "the most beautiful woman in the world." Natalia Vodianova: "I think protecting your family and giving to them is the most important achievement." Natalia, 27, is a mother of three and has set up her own children's charity. The woman nicknamed "Supernova" tells My City_My Life about her tough childhood, her love of Moscow and why Russian vodka is the best. CNN: How would you describe Moscow? Natalia Vodianova: It's a city of contrasts. You have this great culture and traditions that are very normal, calm and established. And then you have explosions of emotion, craziness, art, and young people who are so proud to be Muscovites and really trying to be individuals. Moscow is a huge inspiration for me. I love what I find here, I love being here. CNN: What would you change about Moscow given the chance? NV: Definitely the way it's treated at the moment, the way the government wants to renovate the old buildings. To me it's a little bit sad because in the West people have a very different mentality about renovating buildings, keeping them as intact as possible. Watch Natalia Vodianova take CNN on a tour of Moscow. » . CNN: What's the fashion in Moscow? NV: You see women in jeans wearing very high heels and a short puffy jacket. It's really funny! CNN: Tell me about your childhood . NV: I was born in Nizhny Novgorod to a very poor family and unfortunately my father and mother separated when I was very little. She was a single mum and had two more girls. It was a struggle but we all worked really hard and stood up for each other. My mum was amazing; she never drank, she never smoked -- she lived for us. I appreciate what she has done for me and the way she raised me. CNN: Is family very important to you? NV: I think protecting your family and giving to them is so important. It's the most important achievement. CNN: How did your modeling career take off? NV: I went to Paris when I was 17. I was lucky because my career kind of gradually built up over two years -- I always had good work but I wasn't a star straight away. In fact, my agency thought that I might never do shows because I was a bit shorter and not skinny enough, but when I gave birth to my first son I was 19 and I lost a lot of weight. I guess the stress on the body was extreme and I suddenly just turned into this stick -- just the way designers love models. My career took off after Lucas was born because I opened a lot of shows on the runway and that's where a lot of stars are made in my industry. See Natalia Vodianova's Moscow in photos. » . CNN: If you weren't a model, what would your life be like? NV: It's very hard to say what my life would be like if I hadn't gone to Paris. People say I didn't change very much but I don't think that's true. I'm a happy person and even if I thought that I was happy then, I had so much baggage to carry with me: my background, people's expectations, the fact that I wasn't a perfect student and I wasn't going to school all the time -- I didn't live a normal life at all. That's not with me anymore, because of my success. It really doesn't matter because I know I have learned so much more than a lot of other girls who have had perfect childhoods. CNN: Tell us about the charity and what you are trying to achieve with it? NV: I started my foundation in 2005, after the Beslan tragedy [the 2004 school siege in which at least 339 hostages were killed]. I was in Moscow at the time and it just struck me so much. I went back to New York, where I was living at the time, organized a fundraising event and raised $350,000 to build a playground for the children that had survived in the area. I believe that play is very therapeutic. It's really the only way for these children to forget about what happened and just be children, even if it's only for five minutes. But then I realized that it would be good for all the other children in Russia and I just started raising money and building playgrounds. Now we have 23 places all over Russia and we are building 15 more this year and planning to build more. I want to fulfill my dream of building 500 play parks in Russia. Each one will cost about $300,000 so it's a big dream -- an expensive one! CNN: Let's talk about vodka... NV: Our vodka is definitely the best. It's a very pure, good drink and it goes with Russian food. Generally I don't drink vodka outside Russia, but when you come to Russia there is no reason to order a glass of wine. CNN: What do you think of your nickname -- Supernova? NV: I don't mind being called Supernova. If one nickname is going to stick, that's not a bad one! CNN: Which five words best describe Moscow? NV: It's mysterious, cultural, exciting, crazy and spiritual.

Natalia Vodianova is a Russian supermodel and has started a children's charity . "Moscow is a huge inspiration for me. I love what I find here," she says . She says she had a tough childhood but learned from the experience . "I want to fulfill my dream of building 500 play parks in Russia," says Natalia .

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- There's the Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls: blending her voice with singing partner Emily Saliers on songs such as "Closer to Fine" and "Galileo" and writing songs that tap into the duo's shared folk-oriented touchstones. Amy Ray says playing with some musician friends brought out songs that "felt very different from the Indigo Girls." Then there's Amy Ray the solo artist, letting out her inner Joe Strummer and Paul Westerberg. The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course. "Emily and I are frustrated sometimes with any kind of box," Ray says during an interview at her manager's office near downtown Atlanta, "because we want to experiment musically, and we do a lot of electric stuff. ... But the reality is that we are a folk band." However, Ray adds, her influences include artists who have come out of a punk mindset such as the Clash, the Replacements, the Pretenders and Patti Smith. "At some point I was hanging around with the Butchies -- a band I ended up playing with a lot -- and it just brought out this thing in me ... and it felt very different from the Indigo Girls," she says. Which explains the appearance of "Didn't It Feel Kinder" (Daemon), Ray's third solo album. Watch Ray perform the song "She's Got to Be" » . (Disclosure: Ray and I were contemporaries at Atlanta's Emory University, but we didn't know one another.) The songs on "Kinder" include "Bus Bus," a scorching rocker about the longings felt while on tour; "Who Sold the Gun," which alludes to a mass shooting, counterpointed by rousing major chords; and "SLC Radio," which praises the support of a Salt Lake City radio station in the midst of "LDS nation." Ray gives a great deal of credit to producer Greg Griffith for the album's raw sound and melodic ideas, and she adds that the musicians on the solo album helped guide the way the songs were presented. "Something like 'Bus Bus,' I wanted this lead thing going on with a kind of raucous band, and the harmonies are very important but they are more of a bed that you're singing over rather than the duo," she says. "I think the musicians I play with solo do a certain thing that the musicians we play with with the Indigo Girls don't do. It's just a different thing. ... And it sort of steers my writing in some ways." A number of the solo songs do share the same activist outlook as Ray's songs with the Indigo Girls. "SLC Radio," for example, is about KRCL-FM, which Ray describes as "a really progressive community station." In the song, Ray, an out lesbian, sings "Radio radio SLC fighting the good fight for me/ Boys and girls lend a hand, bend an ear in God's land." "I was thinking about community radio in general, and I was thinking about Mormonism and the fabric of the country and how much you see when you're traveling ... and the idea that change comes, but it comes slow, and it comes one person at a time," she explains. But, she notes, "The song is not totally taking Mormonism to task. I even say, 'I'm sending love to all the Mormons,' 'Keep the good things throw out the bad.' " Respect flows both ways, she says. Ray's activism extends to the artist-centered Daemon Records, the label she founded in 1990. Though Daemon is the furthest thing from corporate -- Ray and the label's staff still stuff envelopes themselves -- she acknowledges that changes in the record business have forced her to adjust as much as any major label. Watch Ray on keeping the business going » . "For indie labels it was a big adjustment because we ended up with a lot of CDs on hand when downloading [happened]. We knew it was coming, it came, but it happened a little bit faster [than we thought]," she says. "There were business decisions that were hard. ... But I love the freedom that downloading has brought, and I love the way it saves resources." Besides, she adds, "The Internet has revolutionized the DIY movement, and it's great to me. I don't even know if record labels need to exist. I don't even know if I need to exist," she laughs. But some things about being a musician don't change, such as promotion and performance, which means it's time to hit the road again. Ray will perform with the Indigo Girls in September and then do some solo dates for the rest of the year. A new Indigo Girls album is due out in early 2009. Isn't it exhausting, after more than 20 years in the business, to have to get on the bus again? Ray agrees that touring can be draining. "It's like you're doing all this stuff, the traveling and the unpacking and the packing, just to play the show. And in that one ... moment during the show, that's the fun. That's where all the fun is," she says. "It's the blessing and the curse of it. "But it's not like digging a ditch," she adds. "You get to see different places, get to go running in a different town every day. It's very stimulating, and that can be a very good thing."

Indigo Girl Amy Ray has solo album out, "Didn't It Feel Kinder" Sound on album harder-edged than Indigos; Ray says songs more apropos . Ray on touring: Can be draining, but "not like digging a ditch"

(CNN) -- Four men and three women have been arrested in connection with shootings that left two Louisiana sheriff's deputies dead and two others wounded, police said Friday. Their arrests, and the preliminary charges they are facing, follow a pair of allegedly linked shootings early Thursday in LaPlace, a community of about 30,000 people located roughly 25 miles west of New Orleans. Five of those arrested are now in jail, while the two others remain hospitalized for treatment of gunshot wounds, Louisiana State Police spokesman Melissa Matey said Friday. St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Michael Tregre called the slain and wounded deputies "heroes" and described those arrested as "some very violent individuals." "The people that (the deputies) lost their lives for, that we have in custody, I believe are some of the most violent, evil people on the planet," Tregre said Friday. All the charges levied against the suspects, thus far, apply to the first shooting that occurred around 5 a.m. in a parking lot near the Bayou Steel plant in LaPlace, according to police. A man there shot Deputy Michael Boyington from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office -- who was directing traffic at the time -- several times, Tregre said Thursday. Despite his injuries, Boyington told dispatchers about the suspect. His description, along with a civilian report of a speeding car, led responding officers to a nearby trailer park, the sheriff said. Col. Michael Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said Friday that investigators have determined that five of those under arrest were in the car that sped from the scene. Boyington is at University Hospital in New Orleans, where Tregre said he had visited him and found him to be "very good, upbeat, very positive, very strong." A law enforcement source who was not authorized to speak on the record said Thursday that the deputy had been shot in the shoulder and is expected to survive. "He just wanted me to tell everyone that he'll be back to work Monday," Tregre said Friday. Brian Lyn Smith, 24, will be charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer tied to Boyington's shooting, police said. Four others -- 44-year-old Terry Smith, 22-year-old Derrick Smith, 28-year-old Kyle David Joekel and 21-year-old Teniecha Bright -- each face charges of being a principal to attempted first-degree murder of a police officer. Chanel Skains, 37, and Brittney Keith, 23, have been charged with being an accessory after the fact to attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, authorities said. Brian Smith and Joekel will be formally charged after their release from the hospital, according to information released Friday by the parish sheriff's office. "Once ... the hospital says, they're OK and they can leave the hospital, believe me, they're going straight to jail," Edmonson said of the two hospitalized suspects. All those facing charges lived in one of three nearby addresses on the same street in LaPlace. And they could face additional charges tied to the second shooting later Thursday at a trailer park in that same city. In that incident, deputies who had gone there to investigate the initial shooting were questioning two people when a man ambushed them, Tregre said. Multiple weapons were used and at least 20 shots were fired in this shooting, according to Edmonson. St. John the Baptist Sheriff's Deputies Brandon Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 28, were killed in the gunfire. Nielsen was married with five children and Triche had a wife and a 2-year-old son, Tregre told reporters. Deputy Jason Triche -- who is not related to Jeremy Triche -- was wounded in that shooting, according to Louisiana State Trooper Evan Harrell. Jason Triche is "recovering very, very well" at LaPlace's River Parishes Hospital, where Tregre visited him and said he believes that he was taken off a ventilator Friday and "couldn't really speak, but he could write." As to the overall investigation, the state police superintendent stressed Friday that "there are a lot of things that we don't know and that we will find out," vowing that authorities will "very tediously, very delicately" compile evidence and interview witnesses. "We'll build our case on what we know now, (including about) the individuals in the car. And now we are going to work our way back to the scene where those two deputies were killed," Edmonson said. "It's going to take us a while to do that." The slain and wounded sheriff's deputies will be honored Friday at a candlelight vigil, which starts at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) in front of the Percy Hebert Building in LaPlace, Tregre said. In addition, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans will be lit in blue Friday night and there will be a moment of silence to remember Nielsen and Jeremy Triche before the New Orleans Saints take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in an NFL pre-season game, according to the sheriff. CNN's Rick Martin contributed to this report.

NEW: The suspects are "some of the most violent, evil people on the planet," sheriff says . NEW: 5 of those arrested were in a car that sped from the first shooting, state police say . A Louisiana sheriff's deputy directing traffic was shot and wounded, police have said . A short time later, 2 responding deputies die and another is hurt in a nearby shooting .

(CNN) -- Jennifer Tyrrell dislikes public speaking so much that when she was in high school, she almost failed marketing because she didn't want to speak in front of the class. But when the Boy Scouts of America made a decision that hurt her little boy Cruz, she did what any mother would do -- set aside her own fear, spoke up and, with the help of family and friends, is fighting back. "I've never been involved with any kind of activism or anything like that before, so this is all new to me," the mother of four said. "All I know is this has got to stop." And by "this," she is referring to the Boy Scouts' policy of banning gays and lesbians from being members or serving as leaders. Earlier this month Tyrrell was forced to resign as den leader of the Tiger Cubs for Pack 109 in Bridgeport, Ohio, because the national office learned she is a lesbian. So even though everyone in the local chapter loved her, she was forced out by the discrimination that is woven into the organization's bylaws. The cubs of Pack 109 are upset. But none more than Cruz, who is being forced to be away from his friends and is too young to fully understand why. He's only 7. He wasn't brought up to dislike people because they are different. He's too young to understand bigotry. Which is why Tyrrell is not taking any of this lying down. She started a change.org petition, in protest of the Boy Scout policy, that has amassed more than 120,000 signatures in a matter of days. I met Tyrrell and her beautiful family at the 23rd annual GLAAD Awards this past weekend. Numerous celebrities took the stage that night, but only Tyrrell managed to hush the crowd, save for a few sobs. I can remember sitting there wondering: What in the hell is wrong with them? The Girl Scouts of America, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, as well as the 4-H Club all welcome gay kids and adult leaders, and none of those organizations bursts into flames. Needing answers, I reached out to the Boy Scouts and Deron Smith, the organization's director of public relations, sent me an official statement that in part read: . "Our focus is on delivering the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. Our mission does not include teaching young people about sex or sexual orientation, and we do not believe it is Scouting's role to introduce this topic in our youth development program." Fair enough. So I asked Smith via e-mail if the group had received complaints that Tyrrell was attempting to turn the Scouts into an unofficial sex ed camp. He didn't answer that question. When I asked if heterosexuals were banned for being heterosexuals, Smith said, "Heterosexuality does not conflict with Scouting's policy and is not a reason for removal from the program. However, if a leader chose to make it a focus of his or her time with youth they could be removed from the program." Now I've never sat in one of Tyrrell's meetings, and so I can't speak as to what she did or did not do. So I asked some folks who would know, the parents of Pack 109. "I'm not a city person," said Robert Dunn. "I'm just a backwoods hick, and I don't think anybody around here have an issue with homosexuals. She did a wonderful job, and what they did to her was just horrible. "When I told my son Jen was kicked out because she is gay, he didn't know what was wrong because he thought gay meant happy. He's just devastated." Don Thomas, who has a grandson in Pack 109, e-mailed me, saying either he or his wife has been to "every cub scout meeting my grandson has attended, also to every function, community event, Salvation Army ringing bells, collection of food for the needy....etc. I do not know where you are getting your information, but never ever has sex been brought up, not in any way shape or form. In fact, I was not aware of Jen even being gay for quite some time.....wasn't an issue or concern." My favorite response came from Crystal Sabinsky, who said, "the boys knew her as Tiger Leader Jen, not Gay Tiger Leader Jen. They are only first graders. Most don't even understand what 'gay' or 'lesbian' mean." So again, I sit and wonder: What in the hell is wrong with them? While it's commendable that Tyrrell is fighting, I'm ticked off that she has to. It's 2012, for heaven's sake. Who, after the zoo-like Casey Anthony trial, still believes being straight automatically makes you a good influence to have around children? Tyrrell is clearly just a good mother, trying to invest in her son. She didn't ask to be den leader a little over a year ago -- she was selected because the pack loves her. She was chosen to be treasurer because everyone trusts her. Maybe being loved and trusted conflicts with the values of the Boy Scouts, because according to the folks who were actually around Tyrrell, sexual orientation was never added to the handbook. It just doesn't make sense. Then again, bigotry never does. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.

An Ohio mother who is gay has been kicked out as a Cub Scout den mother . LZ Granderson says she was a model leader, admired by scouts and parents . He asks why her sexual orientation is an issue for the Boy Scouts .

(CNN) -- With Ivan Lendl by his side, Andy Murray opened his grand slam tennis account, won an Olympic gold and ended Britain's nearly 80-year wait for a men's singles champion at Wimbledon. When he triumphed at the All England Club last July, Lendl, not Murray's influential mom, Judy, was the first person he hugged as he climbed into the players' box. The knowledge Lendl amassed in winning eight grand slams himself was passed on to Murray and the two -- who share dry sense of humors and like to keep low profiles -- forged a strong bond. Murray thanked Lendl for pulling no punches when discussing his game, which, as good as it was, had yet to yield a major as he competed with the talented trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. But on Wednesday, Lendl became the latest coach to cut ties with Murray. It's another blow to the Scot, who has struggled to rediscover his best form following back surgery only months after that once-in-a-lifetime occasion at Wimbledon. "Working with Andy over the last two years has been a fantastic experience for me," Lendl said in a statement. "He is a first class guy. "Having helped him achieve his goal of winning major titles, I feel like it is time for me to concentrate on some of my own projects moving forward, including playing more events around the world which I am really enjoying. "I will always be in Andy's corner and wish him nothing but great success as he, too, goes into a new phase of his career." Murray, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for Lendl. "I'm eternally grateful to Ivan for all his hard work over the past two years, the most successful of my career so far," Murray said in the statement. "As a team, we've learned a lot and it will definitely be of benefit in the future. "I'll take some time with the team to consider the next steps and how we progress from here." Lendl played senior and exhibition events in the period he was coaching Murray, and runs an academy in South Carolina. He was hired at the end of 2011, following the likes of Mark Petchey, Brad Gilbert and Miles Maclagan, and Murray won singles gold at London 2012 and captured the U.S. Open a month later. Lendl's arrival paved the way for other retired greats to return as coaches, with Boris Becker now alongside Djokovic and Stefan Edberg teaming up with Federer. In an email to CNN, Lendl -- a man of little words in public -- said there was no deeper issue to the partnership concluding. "It's VERY simple -- I could not commit enough time to do the job properly," wrote the father of five girls. Indeed, according to Murray's former Davis Cup captain, all appeared to be going well. "The relationship is very sound, they really enjoy each other's company, Lendl is a fantastic coach and Andy is a world-class tennis player," Jeremy Bates told CNN. "So it's a shame to me that this has happened, but you have to respect Lendl's reasons for doing so. "He's in demand to do so many different things, and I guess he feels it's time to move on in that regard. Andy has learned so much in the last couple of years and Lendl has to be a bit selfish in a decision like this, but he also has Andy's best interests at heart as well. "To me they wouldn't split up for another reason, a tennis reason, or a compatibility issue. They would just be spitting up for the time commitment reason." Nonetheless, the news stunned the tennis world, with Gilbert saying he was "surprised as heck." He described Murray as a "genius but complicated." It came as Murray prepares to defend his title in Miami, the city he uses as a training base. Lendl is a Florida resident. "I got up at six, saw a tweet and I was like, 'Wow,'" Gilbert told CNN. "I've been inundated on Twitter and everyone wants to know why it happened. I'm just as surprised as anyone that the partnership has ended. "It's an unusual time, right before Miami. I didn't hear that anything was coming. It just shows you how fragile the coaching-player partnership can be." Murray, who has dropped from second in the rankings in July to sixth, has yet to win a title in 2014 and is coming off losses in Acapulco and Indian Wells to lower-ranked opposition after claiming the opening set. Bates, though, isn't alarmed. "He's coming back from a pretty significant surgery to a very delicate part of the body," said Bates, a former top 60 player. "I've been saying for months now -- and I had a lot of surgery myself -- mentally, you just don't recover from those things instantly. "It takes you a long time to regain all that confidence in your body and so I'm not surprised that it's taking him a while to get up to speed. We might not see it in the next six months. Who knows when he's going to feel completely comfortable again. "If (100-meter world-record holder) Usain Bolt pulls a calf muscle, he doesn't all of a sudden run 9.50 seconds in his first race."

Andy Murray ends his successful partnership with coach Ivan Lendl . Under Lendl, Murray won his lone two grand slam singles titles . Murray says he is "eternally grateful" to the eight-time grand slam champion . Murray has struggled in 2014 after undergoing back surgery last fall .

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Regrowing a fingertip cut off in an accident sounds like something from a futuristic movie. But with innovative technology developed by the U.S. Army, such regrowth is possible today. This remotely controlled robot, called BEAR, could help remove injured soldiers from battlefields. This research project and a hundred others were on display this month at the 26th Army Science Convention. Some the greatest minds in science from around the world gathered at the four-day conference to exchange ideas and showcase collaborative projects between the Army's research laboratories, universities and partner industries. The main goal is to develop technology to make soldiers safer and more effective, said Thomas H. Killion, the Army's chief scientist. The Army's regenerative medicine study combined properties from the intestinal lining and the urinary bladder to create a regenerative substance called Extracellular Matrix. The cream-colored crystallized powder, called "magic dust," boosts the body's natural tendency to repair itself, said U.S. Army Biological Scientist Sgt. Glen Rossman. When the matrix is applied to a missing digit or limb, "the body thinks it's back in the womb," Rossman said. One civilian participated in the regenerative-medicine study after cutting off the tip of his finger in a model plane's propeller. Researchers continually applied the matrix to the wound, and after four weeks, the body grew skin and tissue to replenish the damaged area. The U.S. military branches have begun a consortium with private institutions to develop treatments for severely injured troops. With the help of grants, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine is studying nerve and vein transplantation, treating burns without scarring and regeneration of tissue, skin and even bone. Through both animal studies and civilian clinical trials, the institute is developing therapies for the large number of soldiers injured by improvised explosive devices and other explosives in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We are working on trying to regenerate limbs, to repair limbs and to keep them from being amputated," institute Project Director Col. Bob Vandre said. Army scientists also have developed an engineered skin substitute made in a laboratory from patients' own cells. A postage stamp-sized patch of skin could grow several times larger than the original sample. The engineered skin could then be placed over a wound or burn, protecting it from infection, and eventually cover large portions of the body that have been damaged. "Our goal is to restore the function to our wounded warriors who have given so much in battle," Vandre said. Armed Forces Institute scientists also say they also have developed a process to rebuild missing or damaged bone. A web-like tube of calcium-phosphate ceramic, called hydroxyapatite, acts as a biodegradable scaffold that is set in place of the missing bone, giving the body a platform on which to rebuild. Scientists say the scaffold allows the body to regrow its own natural tissue, bone and veins so it can support itself. Because of the complexity of the process, researchers so far have regrown only 3 centimeters of bone in clinical trials on rats, but they hope to reach 5 centimeters in two years. With the regrown bone, scientists could avoid placing titanium or other medical devices in the body. Of course, to apply this technology, the Army needs a way to safely remove injured soldiers from combat zones. Enter the Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot, or BEAR, a human-shaped machine with eyes, ears and arms for lifting heavy objects. Built by Vecna Technologies in association with the Army, BEAR is still a prototype. But its potential is promising. BEAR is outfitted with lights, two cameras and infrared abilities, and it can travel up to 10 mph. The device also can lift 250 pounds while balancing on its toes. Vecna robotic engineer Andrew Allen says BEAR can be remotely operated, reducing the chance of injuries to soldiers' human rescuers. "BEAR can easily be replaced; it costs money and not lives," Allen said. Robot technology has exploded in the past six years, said Army scientist John Parmentola. Robot prototypes of all kinds were on display at the conference, and about 10,000 military robots are expected to be deployed in the field in 2009. Robots can be outfitted to accomplish various tasks. One can detect 38 different chemical or biological explosives from a distance of 3 to 5 meters. The robot could be used to scan car doors or truck lids for explosives or chemical residue. Another, called Packbot, is deployed in Iraq for surveillance, reconnaissance and explosives removal. Packbot has been outfitted to react to voice commands, given remotely through an earpiece. Loud background noises do not distort the commands, because the system monitors the vibrations of the operator's jawbone. Finally, some robots come with a retractable apparatus called a Zipper Mast or Situational Awareness Mast, which can be equipped with a camera or antenna and raised to peer over walls or send radio communications. The smallest Zipper Mast is not much bigger than a coffee pot and can extend to a height of 8 feet. Designed by the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, the larger mast is affixed to tanks and can reach heights over 30 feet.

Cutting-edge technology on display at U.S. Army Science Convention . Some of greatest minds in science gathered at four-day conference in Florida . Regenerative-medicine research could help injured soldiers regrow tissue and bone . Remotely controlled robots could help remove wounded from combat zones .

(CNN) -- CNN picked the brains of the Plastiki's crew members before they set off on the voyage. From the importance of the mission to a pint of Cornish cider, skipper Jo Royle tells CNN about her hopes and fears, how she plans to get through the voyage, and what she looks forward to most at the end of it. CNN: What did you want to be when you were young? Royle: I wanted to engineer a way to spend as much time on or by the ocean as possible. CNN: What's the one characteristic that has led you to where you are today? Royle: Thriving off the feeling of living just outside my comfort zone. CNN: Who inspires you? Royle: Everybody! CNN: What's the most important lesson you've learned about yourself from the Plastiki project? Royle: Put your energy into your beliefs, think outside the box and it will happen. CNN: What's your biggest hope for the expedition? Royle: To communicate to as many people as possible that our oceans are our umbilical cord to life, without healthy oceans we are not healthy, no matter where we are in the world we are directly connected to the ocean. CNN: At what point would you define the Plastiki a success? Royle: The Plastiki is already a success, it has proven that we need to think about the way we consume, the way we manufacture products, how we need to think about a products end life before it is created. Most importantly it has proven that no one is as smart as everyone; the Plastiki is a success because she has created a platform for many incredible minds to collaborate and engage in conversations on how we can ensure we leave this world in a better condition than we found it for our future generations. At the moment this feels like a tough ambition, but an exciting one! CNN: What are your favorite sea creatures? Royle: Jellyfish, as we know so little about them, but their increasing population is a direct indication of the health of our oceans. Dolphins, as they are our true companions when sailing across oceans. Seals, as they look so lazy and fat, but if you get on the wrong side of them they certainly show you who's boss. CNN: When is the last time you personally used a plastic bottle? Royle: I'm not sure, but we still get guests aboard the Plastiki who leave plastic water bottles behind! Have you tried to spend just one week without consuming anything plastic? I have, and it was impossible, I had to steal my flat mate's toothpaste when I ran out! CNN: What do you most value about nature? Royle: The way she makes your life feel like such a speck in the grand scale of things, your little worries feel so insignificant, the way she can make us feel like a visitor, but has her welcoming arms wide open. If we listen and open up she naturally teaches us how to live a sustainable, healthy life. She is always boss, we can choose to respect that, and live our lives as a caretaker, or not, but in the end she will always be here. CNN: What's the one creature comfort you'll miss most when you're at sea? Royle: Cycling my bike through the countryside. My buddies and a good pint of Cornish cider! CNN: Name 3 books you will bring with you on the expedition. Royle: I will be researching my Masters dissertation on populations displaced because of human influenced climate change, so lots of journals. If anyone has anything on this topic please send it to me! I'll be taking Sylvia Earle's latest book, which I am currently reading, but not finding the time to finish. I also might take a copy of Jim Dodge's "Stone Junction". CNN: If you had to choose a theme song for the expedition, what would it be? Royle: "Plastikians" by Jerry Zeiger (written just for the Plastiki). CNN: What's your favorite adventure film? Royle: "The Kon Tiki". CNN: What's your green motto? Royle: The more time you spend in the natural environment, the more you will naturally become a better caretaker of the planet. CNN: What's the most important thing you've done to prepare for life at sea? Royle: Lived in a city for a year, this is the longest time for over ten years that I have not been on an ocean adventure. As much as I love San Francisco I can't wait to get back to life on the ocean. CNN: What's the main emotion you're feeling right now days before the launch? Royle: My brain is running a million miles an hour to try to dot every "I" and cross every "t" in the preparations for the passage. Once we leave we can't pick up what we have forgotten, we just have to make do with what we have. CNN: What's your biggest fear for the expedition? Royle: I don't have big fears in my mind at the moment, we have spent a long time meticulously preparing the boat with an incredible team of talent. I am a sailor, so I have a huge respect for the ocean, and understand the path to take to minimize risk, I am in my element at sea. CNN: What's the first thing you'll do when you reach Sydney? Royle: Have a shower! I'll also enjoy the post-adventure feeling of mixed emotions; having achieved an awesome adventure, but also leaving a tight knit Plastiki family life behind! Oh, and maybe party a little!

CNN asked crew members about hopes and fears for the voyage . Skipper Jo Royle looking forward to communicating message of the mission . Will take journals for her MA research; believes mission is already a success .

(CNN) -- Fresh reports of global espionage. Furious European officials. A plea from the vice president. The weekend was packed with twists and turns in the case of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and the secret documents he's leaked. Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the United States, is still in Russia and seeking asylum from Ecuador. Here are some key recent developments that CNN is reporting: . New allegations about U.S. spying . Germany's Der Spiegel and Britain's The Guardian have published stories with new claims about U.S. surveillance, citing NSA documents leaked to them by Snowden. The reports, which CNN has not independently confirmed, include allegations that: . • In Brussels, Belgium, the agency targeted the Justus Lipsius Building, which houses the European Council and the EU Council of Ministers, the union's main decision-making and legislative body. • In Washington, Der Spiegel claims, the NSA installed bugs in the European Union's building and infiltrated its computer network. • One NSA document leaked by Snowden describes 38 embassies and missions as "targets," and it details surveillance methods that include planting bugs in communications equipment and collecting transmissions with specialized antennae. Targets included France, Italy, Greece, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey, according to The Guardian. Outraged European officials ask U.S. for answers . European officials reacted with fury to the reports that the NSA spied on EU offices. "I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations," European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a statement. "If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-U.S. relations." German officials have said the claims, if true, are reminiscent of the Cold War. French President Francois Hollande said any U.S. surveillance targeting officials from his country must stop immediately. U.S. officials have said they'll address the concerns through diplomatic channels. They haven't spoken publicly about the specific allegations published by Der Spiegel and The Guardian. Schumer and McCain: Russia should pay a price for harboring Snowden . Two high-profile senators on Sunday admonished Russia for not handing over Snowden, who's hiding in Russia as he seeks asylum in Ecuador. Republican Sen. John McCain said Snowden's actions amounted to a "slap in the face to the United States" and called President Vladimir Putin "an old colonel KGB apparatchik" who "dreams of the restoration of the Russian Empire." Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday he's not sure what should be done to get Snowden back, but Russia should "pay a price" for "doing what they did." "(Putin) ought to know he is going to pay a price here because he goes out of his way to stick his finger in the eye of America, whether it is Iran, Syria, and now this," he said on the same Fox program. "He has got lots of vulnerabilities." Biden to Ecuador: Don't give him asylum . Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa says he got a phone call from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Friday. Biden asked him "to please reject" Snowden's asylum bid, Correa said. The Ecuadorian leader said his country would be cautious about processing Snowden's asylum request. "We have to act very carefully but with courage," he said, "without contradicting our principles but with a lot of care, responsibility and respect, of course, towards the U.S. -- but also respect for the truth." On Saturday night, Correa said the ball was in Russia's court. "In order to process this request, he needs to be in Ecuadorian territory," Correa said in an interview with Ecuador's Oromar TV on Saturday night. "At this point, the solution for Snowden's final destination is in the hands of the Russian authorities." Bush slams Snowden, defends NSA surveillance . Former U.S. President George W. Bush sharply criticized Snowden. "I think he damaged the security of the country," he said in an exclusive interview with CNN over the weekend. Asked about an NSA program that tracks people's Internet activity, Bush said, "I put that program in place to protect the country. One of the certainties was that civil liberties were guaranteed." Filmmakers release the first Snowden movie . A group of amateur filmmakers in Hong Kong has already filmed a short thriller dramatizing the events that unfolded in the city last month. The five-minute film was shot over four days, said freelance videographer Edwin Lee, describing it as a "foot-on-the-gas" guerrilla operation. The script was mostly written the day before shooting, and actors had no rehearsal time, he added. In its first week, the film has garnered more than 60,000 views on YouTube. The movie ends with the former NSA contractor's June 23 flight to Moscow. But the world is still waiting for the next chapter in Snowden's story. CNN's Josh Levs, Claudia Rebaza, Michael Martinez, Jethro Mullen and Alexis Lai contributed to this report.

Citing leaked NSA documents, European publications publish fresh allegations of U.S. spying . Outraged European officials are demanding answers from the United States . Ecuador's president says Vice President Joe Biden asked him not to give Snowden asylum . Amateur filmmakers release the first movie about Snowden .

ALSIP, Illinois (CNN) -- A Cook County cemetery where hundreds of graves were dug up and allegedly resold has been declared a crime scene, meaning that relatives of people believed buried there will not be allowed to visit for several days, an official said Friday. Family members and police gather outside the Burr Oak Cemetery office in Alsip, Illinois, on Wednesday. "It would be the height of irresponsibility for me to invite people in, to raise expectations and then crash them," Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart told reporters in a news conference held at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. He pleaded for patience, saying he hoped to reopen the 150-acre cemetery to the public in five to seven days. Dart said the scope of the investigation has broadened to include "Babyland," a section of the cemetery intended for children. "A lot of women came up to me and asked for help with Babyland," he said. "To a person, every one I talked to could not find any of their children in Babyland." Watch sheriff discuss gruesome revelation » . A large number of grave sites "are completely missing," he said, adding that he had received more than 5,000 telephone inquiries and 1,700 e-mails about the matter since the investigation began. As many as half of the complaints were about missing headstones, 25 to 30 percent were about loved ones who had been relocated, he said. He cited the experience of one family looking for 10 relatives buried there. "They couldn't find anybody," he said. In addition, in some cases there are no records of burials having taken place, despite relatives' insistence that they did, he said. In other cases, records have been altered, destroyed or found in people's houses, he said. "Our office has to investigate over 5,000 grave sites due to the vast amounts of inquiries from grieving family members," he said. Dart said he himself walked through the cemetery on Friday and what he saw was disturbing. "I found bones out there," he said. "I found individuals wandering aimlessly looking for their loved ones who can't find them." Some people told him that an entire area that used to have gravestones facing in one direction now has them facing in another direction, he said. "This is getting bigger," he said. "We don't have an end in sight ... more people have not found relatives than have found them." More than 2,000 families have descended on the cemetery since authorities uncovered what they say was a scheme to resell the plots, excavate the graves, dump the remains and pocket the cash. Four people face felony charges for their alleged involvement. He had said earlier this week that the number of disturbed graves was around 300, but said Friday that number was sure to rise. One family arrived on Thursday to bury a woman in a plot they had purchased and found the plot was already occupied, he said. Authorities also discovered Emmett Till's original casket in a dilapidated garage on the cemetery grounds. The casket had been replaced by a new one after Till's body was exhumed in 2005. "There was wildlife living inside of it," Dart said of the old casket, found in the corner of a garage filled with lawn care equipment and other "piles of things." Till was killed in August 1955 in Mississippi after the 14-year-old reportedly whistled at a white woman. His body was exhumed 50 years later as part of a renewed investigation into his death. The Chicago Tribune reported that he was reburied in a different casket. Thousands of people had viewed Till's body in the original casket in Chicago shortly after he was killed, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said at the news conference. "His mother had the gut and grit to say that 'I want America to see what they did to my baby's body,'" Jackson said about Till, whose body was mutilated. "More than 100,000 saw his body lying at the church. It is said that those who saw his body were never the same again," he said. "Emmett Till's lynching redefined emotions in our culture in very fundamental ways. So to see his casket in this state of desecration and neglect is very painful." Cemetery groundskeepers told investigators that Till's grave was not among those disturbed in the alleged resale scheme, Dart said earlier this week. Carolyn Towns, an office manager for the cemetery; and Keith Nicks, Terrance Nicks and Maurice Daley, all gravediggers, have each been charged with dismembering a human body, a felony charge for which sentences range from six to 30 years, authorities said. Steven Watkins, an attorney for Towns, said his client is innocent. The public defender's office in Cook County said it had represented the three others at the bond hearing but could not provide a statement for them. Authorities began investigating the cemetery -- where, along with Till, blues legend Dinah Washington and some Negro League baseball players are buried -- about six weeks ago after receiving a call from its owners, who said they suspected "financial irregularities" regarding the business, Dart said earlier this week. He said the owners are not believed to be involved in the alleged scam.

Officials say there was scheme to resell plots, excavate the graves, dump remains . Four people face felony charges for their alleged involvement . Emmett Till's original casket found in dilapidated garage on cemetery grounds . Cemetery closed temporarily so officials can investigate .

(CNN) -- A week ago Sunday, Arctic sea ice cover reached its lowest extent ever recorded. For good reason, there has been significant media focus on how a warming sea gobbles up the ice that is polar bear habitat and reduces the area's capacity to reflect the sun's rays. This is roughly equivalent to unplugging one pole's worth of the Earth's central air conditioning system. But far less attention has been placed on what a naked Arctic Ocean means for its closest neighboring ecosystem: the Arctic tundra. Beyond the images of icebergs and stranded polar bears, I doubt many people picture the Arctic's vast carpet of lush green plants, chirping songbirds or highs in the mid-70s -- all of which are typical of summertime on the tundra. With climate changing at an alarming rate and sea ice extent slipping away, the tundra stands to change a lot, and this, too, will affect the rest of the planet. It is time to start familiarizing ourselves with the tundra, and here's why. The tundra biome is huge, covering 15% more of the Earth's surface than all 50 U.S. states combined. Currently, it stores a significant proportion of the Earth's carbon in its permanently frozen soils, keeping it locked away and unable to contribute to the atmosphere's giant pool of greenhouse gases. Opinion: Why we should look to the Arctic . However, in much the same way that other bodies of water keep coastal cities such as San Francisco from having extremely cold winters and scorching hot summers, sea ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean influence weather patterns over the nearby tundra. Less sea ice is associated with warmer and drier summer conditions on the tundra. Consistently balmier summers will cause soils to warm and thaw to greater depths, unleashing long-stored carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are potent greenhouse gases. The previous record low in Arctic Ocean ice cover occurred in 2007, and the hot, dry summer that accompanied it on the Alaskan tundra was highlighted by the largest, longest lasting and most severe tundra fire to burn in northern Alaska in recorded history. The fire covered an area roughly 10% larger than Manhattan and burned for 2½ months. Although lightning frequently strikes the tundra, the landscape is typically fairly moist and so rarely ignites, and even when it does, the flames don't spread very far, burn very deeply or remain alight for very long. But the tundra was very dry in 2007 and fire-fueling winds kicked up the blaze. During this single event, the immediate combustion of plants and soils and the thawing of frozen soils injected an enormous amount of carbon into the atmosphere — an amount equivalent to what the entire tundra biome typically absorbs from the atmosphere through plant growth every year. The effect of diminishing sea ice isn't limited to increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Warmer conditions on the tundra trigger a cascade of change, including converting its lush but short green carpet into a taller shag, since warmer soils and deeper thaw enable taller, woody plants to grow and thrive on the tundra. What my colleagues and I are discovering from our own work in Alaskan tundra is that this shift in vegetation cover has implications -- some good, some bad -- for the animals that depend on it for food and shelter. Opinion: Extreme weather and a changing climate . Each spring many species of migratory songbirds travel to the Arctic tundra from all over the world to breed. Some nest in patches of tall vegetation and may stand to benefit from the expanding taller shag, but those that nest in short vegetation may not be able to adapt. What may likely benefit all species is that the taller vegetation harbors significantly more bugs to eat. We don't yet know which species will benefit, and which will suffer in response to the changes, but because each species plays a specific ecological role on the tundra, the downfall of one species or proliferation of another could have a domino effect that disrupts the tundra's delicate food web. And in case you thought that what happens on the tundra stays on the tundra, consider that many of the sparrows, robins and warblers that visit our backyards in winter, or pass through come fall and spring, spend their summers breeding on the tundra; so, whatever happens to them there will affect which ones and how many of them show up at your bird feeder in the future, potentially setting off a local domino effect. Since the Arctic as a whole is responding to climate change earlier and more acutely than the rest of the planet, we should think of it as an early warning system -- a proverbial canary in a coalmine. Perhaps if we pay closer attention to how the tundra is changing, we can learn some practical lessons on what types of changes to expect here at lower latitudes, which would enable us to mitigate the consequences, or at least plan for how to cope with them. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Natalie Boelman.

Natalie Boelman: Arctic sea at lowest extent recorded, affecting Earth's ability to cool . But, she says, change to sea's neighboring tundra ecosystem is also a big global-warming worry . The tundra locks up carbon in frozen soils; when they thaw, huge amounts released . Boelman: Tundra also a vast habitat; thawing will have far-reaching effects around globe .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Taken alone, a California woman's 20-minute video "scrapbook" is basically a collection of photographic memories spanning her 19-year-old daughter's all-too-brief life. Birthday parties, picnics, graduations -- all set to evocative music and narrated matter-of-factly by the mother. John Paul Stevens was one of three justices who wanted to grant further review of the defendant's case. What makes this video unusual is that it was presented at a California murder trial as "victim impact evidence." The Supreme Court on Monday gave an indirect endorsement to such videos when it rejected an appeal from a defendant who argued that the presentation violated his right to a fair trial. The high court also rejected a similar capital case, also from California, involving a woman who narrated a video montage of her slain parents. With the court's refusal to intervene, the death sentences imposed by the juries in the two cases were upheld. At issue was not whether any testimony can be used showing the impact a crime victim's loss had on family, friends and society at large. The question for the justices was how that testimony is presented. Some trial courts, but not all, have allowed such videotapes to be played in court, while often placing limitations on the content. One case involved Douglas Oliver Kelly, convicted in the 1993 slaying of Sarah Weir. The teenager had befriended Kelly at a Burbank gym. Her body was found stabbed 29 times, probably by a pair of scissors. During the penalty phase of the trial, the prosecution presented just one witness to provide victim impact evidence: the victim's mother, Martha Farwell, a Los Angeles-area attorney. She had prepared the video, describing how her daughter had been adopted from Canada and was a Blackfoot Indian. In the background is the music of Enya, an Irish singer and composer. Most of the video simply describes the photos and home movies, but near the end is a shot of Weir's grave and Farwell's narration: "As time goes by, I try very hard not to think of Sarah in terms of this terrible tragedy that we've had to deal with here in court, but rather of her in a place like this." Over photos of the Canadian landscape, Farwell concludes, "This is filmed in southern Alberta, the land where Sarah's people lived for so many generations. This is the kind of heaven she seems to belong in." The trial judge had allowed the video to be presented, calling it a "very compelling tape" and adding that "it has more probative value than any prejudicial effect." Kelly appealed, saying the video so influenced the jury that the panel was unable to render a fair assessment of the penalty. California's highest court allowed the verdict and death penalty to stand, but urged judges to use caution in allowing such video evidence. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, in a brief statement, said Monday he would have accepted Kelly's appeal of his sentence and held oral arguments on the issue. "The videos added nothing relevant to the jury's deliberations," he wrote, "and invited a verdict based on sentiment, rather than reasoned judgment." But it takes four justices to grant further review of a case, and only Justices David Souter and Stephen Breyer joined Stevens. Breyer called the Kelly video "poignant, tasteful, artistic and, above all, moving," but he noted that was the problem. "Those aspects of the film tell the jury little or nothing about the crime's 'circumstances' " the jury had to consider during sentencing. The companion case dealt with Samuel Zamudio, convicted in the February 1996 slayings of Elmer Benson, 79, and his wife Gladys, 74, in the South Gate area of Los Angeles. The defendant lived next door to the Bensons and owed money to them. He robbed and stabbed the elderly couple, and a jury sentenced him to death. The Bensons' daughter, Linda Bouffard, narrated 118 scenes from her parents' life. The trial judge forbade the playing of accompanying audio, and instructed Bouffard not to make inflammatory comments, an order she complied with. Courts around the country have offered differing rulings on the issue of such videos. Juries in Maryland, Missouri, Montana and Arkansas have been allowed to see video of victims playing the piano, with their families at Christmas time, and playing with their children. But a federal court in Massachusetts barred a video of about 200 photos of a victim, set to Beatles and James Taylor music. And a Texas court tossed out a murder conviction after a slain man's father showed a video tribute, also with Enya music, during the penalty phase. The Supreme Court in 1991 upheld the use of victim impact evidence, saying it balanced what the justices at the time said was almost unlimited mitigation evidence the defendant could offer. But the high court said such evidence has its limits. Then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote that a criminal defendant could seek judicial relief "in the event that evidence is introduced that is so unduly prejudicial that it renders the trial fundamentally unfair." The justices in 2006 unanimously upheld the conviction of another California killer after the victim's family members wore buttons with a picture of the slain man as they sat silently in front of jurors throughout the trial.

Case involved case of Sara Weir, stabbed to death in California . Victim's mother, a lawyer, put together moving video scrapbook . Defendant Douglas Oliver Kelly contended video was prejudicial . Justices rejected Kelly's appeal, indirectly endorsing victim impact videos .

(CNN) -- Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. and coalition invasion of Iraq. Ten years of conflict caused death, despair and a complete change of life for many Iraqis. Retired Army Sgt. Noah Galloway recently reflected on his time in Iraq after serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom and on what was left behind: . "When any country invades another country there are civilians affected that aren't a part of the conflict and those are lives that need to be taken care of. We have a responsibility as humans on this planet to take care of them. Homes and lives were destroyed. I agree with a lot of Americans that we have struggles of our own in this country that need to be addressed, but even in hard times, we have a lot going for us," Galloway said. Now, a decade later, the casualties and hardships caused by war are still apparent among Iraqi civilians. Galloway continues, "If we want our efforts, the lives of the soldiers given, if we want that to not have been in vain, then we have to go in after the invasion and take care of those people because this is going to affect the Iraqis as a people for decades to come." Galloway is speaking to what he saw at the beginning of this conflict, but the needs of humanitarian aid have only grown since then. As he said, homes were destroyed and many were left with the need of extensive medical attention either from injury as a direct result of the fighting or because of the lack of proper medical care in general. One such example of the latter is Noor al-Zahra Haider, or as she's known worldwide, Baby Noor. Baby Noor was born with spina bifida, a birth defect in which the vertebrae do not form completely around the spinal cord. In 2005, a routine raid by U.S. soldiers into her home in the town of Abu Ghraib forever changed the course of her young, fragile life. It was then that Noor's grandmother boldly pleaded to the soldiers that without their help, this young child would die. Iraq newsmakers: Where are they now? The troops responded, sending word to their superiors that they needed to help this baby. And help her they did. The troops brought Noor, her father and grandmother back to Camp Liberty while planning her transport to the United States for proper care. Childspring International, an Atlanta-based Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing sick children from the developing world to the United States for medical care, offered assistance in bringing Noor and her family to Atlanta for treatment at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Childsrping International also set up a fund for Baby Noor and are still taking donations through their website. There she endured several surgeries and began what would be a lifelong, uphill battle. But following threats believed to be from al Qaeda, Noor and her family were left with little choice but to return home. She is now a 7-year-old girl in a wheelchair with serious medical needs that are barely being met and at high risk of complications from a urinary tract infection that could cost Noor her life. But Noor's story is just one of many and represents the greater need for humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged region. There are organizations in Iraq meeting the needs as best as they can. One such organization is the International Medical Corps. Founded in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, the International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. It has been on the ground in Iraq since before the conflict began. Dr. Tariq Hasoon, national medical director for International Medical Corps Iraq, said of his involvement in this mission: "Today, I look back at the Iraqi health system and compare it to what I knew a decade ago, and I am amazed at the progress we have made. The most remarkable advances have come in the strategy and planning and the skills of the people running the system. International Medical Corps has played a vital role in that transformation. For example, we introduced a nationwide emergency medicine strategy, which has significantly improved the survival rates of injured people in need of paramedic and emergency room care." But Hasoon acknowledges that the work is far from complete. He said he will not rest until "we are done with our task that began 10 years ago this week." Another organization aiding in efforts in Iraq is the Sponsor Iraqi Children Foundation. Its work brings to light another major issue facing the country after 10 years of war: orphaned children. "Iraq is facing an urgent humanitarian need. According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 800,000 orphans in a nation that has known 10 years of war and violence," said Jonathan Webb, a U.S. Army vet and chairman of the Sponsor Iraqi Children Foundation. "Among them, there are kids who have lost parents and now work on the streets to help support themselves. We need a legacy of love for these kids who are the future of Iraq," said Webb. Sponsor Iraqi Children Foundation also supports a safe haven for orphans and street children which provides them with healthy food, tutoring, medical care, as well as loving and emotional support. While the official U.S. military mission in Iraq has ended, it is clear that the people of this nation are still suffering and the need for international humanitarian aid is great. Please click on the links above and see how you can make an impact for the Iraqi people.

The U.S. military mission in Iraq is over, but the Iraqi people still need help . Baby Noor is the face of a nation in a humanitarian crisis . Iraqis need help with basic medical needs . The war has left many of the nation's children orphaned .

(CNN) -- In late 2012, some comic book fans were completely outraged. How could Marvel Comics lose Peter Parker, its most famous character, to a brain switch with Dr. Otto "Octopus" Octavius, so that "Doc Ock" would take over the role of Spider-Man? That development in the final 700th issue of "Amazing Spider-Man" sent shock waves across the comic book industry and gave rise to "Superior Spider-Man" with the new Spidey, who was secretly "Doc Ock." All of that finally comes to an end with the relaunch of "Amazing Spider-Man." The first new issue (#1 of course) hits stores on Wednesday, and the anticipation is so strong that at least 600,000 books have already been preordered (it doesn't hurt that it comes with the comic "Inhuman" #1 for free). CNN spoke again to once and future "Amazing Spider-Man" writer Dan Slott on the new developments surrounding the return of the original Spider-Man. CNN: So why lose Peter Parker and then bring him back? Dan Slott: With "Superior Spider-Man," we took Peter away from everybody for a year. And we showed you how having someone who should never be Spider-Man be Spider-Man, how much you'd miss Peter Parker. And now he's back! Just in time for the movie. It's almost like we planned it. Originally, when we were planning out Superior Spider-Man, editorial was like "This is a six-issue arc," and we said "No, we can go longer than that." Then it was "OK a year," and then we said, "You know if we go a little further, we can make it to the movie!" It was a lot of faith from Marvel editorial, and I'm grateful they let me try it. CNN: Why do you think Peter Parker is so beloved and important? Slott: Peter is the one and only Spider-Man. He's beyond comic book superhero, he is folklore, he is myth, he is legend! Peter Parker is always gonna be there for us, for every generation, like Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes or Hercules. This is an enduring hero for all time, the greatest superhero there ever was. It's weird because when we swapped brains with Doc Ock, one of my editors said "You'll know you did your job right, if when they switch him back, everyone goes 'No!' " It's kind of fun that there are so many people out there who have become "Superior Spider-Man" fans that this has become a tragedy. No matter what you do, something's gonna be a tragedy! But there's also people who are grateful and happy. They're ecstatic Peter Parker is back. CNN: What's new about the new Peter Parker and the new book? Slott: He's the underdog and when he gives his all, he comes through. And with Peter Parker, he has all the problems we've had. And for 50 years, he's whined about it. Now he's the guy who has a new lease on life. This is his second chance, and he knows it. The mopey Peter Parker, that's what's dead. This Peter Parker will try to rise above it to grow up. This Peter Parker is very much a Rip Van Winkle. It's very much the old Chinese curse of "May you live in interesting times." Peter Parker is coming back to interesting times. Doc Ock broke it off with Mary Jane. Mary Jane is now dating this fireman. Also, Doc Ock was dating this scientist, Annamaria. She moved in with him. And suddenly Peter Parker wakes up to that! What does he do? We also learn that there was another person bitten by a spider at the same time as Peter. We never knew this all this time, and now this mysterious person is gonna show up. [Editor's note: We have now learned that this character goes by the name Silk.] . CNN: What do you say to fans who have seen it all in terms of superheroes dying and resurrecting? Slott: Let's be fair. Peter Parker didn't die. They swapped brains. So you've seen Peter Parker's physical body up and running for a year and a half. And now he's got his body back. I don't think we've seen a brain-swap in comics last this long! This isn't death of Superman, Captain America or Human Torch -- there's been a really weird spin on this. You've seen that body up and about the entire time. As far as the other Marvel superheroes go, they don't know he's been dead or missing. They just think he's been a colossal jerk. Doc Ock's body was buried and in "Superior Spider-Man," we learned that grave is empty! Ooooh ... CNN: What else can we look forward to in the new stories? Slott: The whole world now looks at Spider-Man differently, some good, some bad. Same great power, all new responsibilities! You've always dealt with a mopey Peter Parker but now that he's coming back with this can-do attitude -- when life gives him lemons, he's gonna make lemon-flavored web fluid. That's our new positive, upbeat Spidey.

Peter Parker, out of commission more than a year, returns as Spider-Man . Peter Parker's return is one of the most anticipated comic book events of recent years . His loss in late 2012 -- and replacement by Dr. Octopus in a brain switch -- was controversial .

(CNN) -- Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader on trial for genocide during the Balkan wars, claimed he's "tolerant" and blamed ethnic rivals for plotting violence. "It was no secret to anyone" that Muslims and Croats planned a massacre of his Serbian people after Yugoslavia disintegrated, said Karadzic, who opened his defense Tuesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague in the Netherlands. "We could see it. It was obvious," said Karadzic, who faces multiple counts for a range of war crimes. The breakup of the multiethnic communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990s led to the bloodiest conflict on the European continent since World War II. Karadzic's Bosnian Serb forces have been accused of ruthlessly working to oust Muslims and Croatians from regions claimed to be Serbian, actions that have come to be known as "ethnic cleansing." But Karadzic, 67, tried to make a case for himself as a humanitarian leader without designs to commit mass crimes. How the world took a step closer to ending impunity . "I never allowed for the possibility of even the smallest individual crimes, and especially not crimes on a mass scale, nor the possibility that any of the communities would be permanently removed from the Serb territories," he said. "I should have been rewarded for all the good things that I've done," he said. "I did everything within human power to avoid the war and to reduce the human suffering of all civilians." Karadzic has been charged in connection with three high-profile actions in the war. One is the notorious massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That event has come to symbolize the brutality of the Balkan wars. Another is the "permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed as Bosnian Serb territory." He is charged for a role in overseeing the actions known as the "siege of Sarajevo," sniping and shelling by Bosnian Serb forces in the Bosnian capital that killed and wounded thousands of civilians. But Karadzic defended his actions and said he has "nothing against Muslims and Croats." A trained psychiatrist, he called himself a "mild man" and a "tolerant man, with a great capacity for understanding others." That brought a shout of "liar" from The Hague gallery. Karadzic was indicted in 1995. After hiding in plain sight for more than a decade, he was captured in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2008. He had adopted an elaborate disguise that included long hair and a full beard, and was practicing alternative medicine in the Serbian capital. The trial began in 2009, but Karadzic failed to attend the proceedings several times because he said he didn't have enough time to prepare. Genocide count dropped in Karadzic trial . The court allowed him to represent himself, with the provision that a standby lawyer will take over if he refuses to attend court. Karadzic made opening statements in March 2010. The prosecution began presenting evidence in April 2010 and rested its case in May. The ICTY said the trial is expected to finish in 2014. Karadzic, Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic and Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic have been the highest-profile suspects on trial at the ICTY. Mladic was captured last year and is also on trial for charges such as genocide. Both Karadzic and Mladic would face life in prison if convicted. The court cannot impose the death penalty. Milosevic died while on trial at The Hague. During the 1990s and the early 2000s, conflict raged in Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Kosovo, a Serbian territory dominated by ethnic Albanians. An estimated 140,000 people died in the wars, ICTY head of communications, Nerma Jelacic, told CNN. Around 100,000 deaths occurred in Bosnia, she said. Yugoslavia's six republics -- Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia -- are now independent countries. Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared its independence several years ago. The tribunal has indicted 161 people for international law violations in the former Yugoslavia. The tribunal said "the most significant number" of its cases dealt with alleged crimes by Serbians or Bosnian Serbs. But there have been convictions for crimes against Serbs by others, including Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians. The trial of the last Yugoslavian war crimes suspect at large also started Tuesday, with proceedings beginning against Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic. Appeals in some of the cases are expected to last until 2016. CNN's Dominique Van Heerden contributed to this report.

Radovan Karadzic is accused in the Srebrenica massacre, in which about 8,000 Muslims died . His charges stem from the violence during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s . Karadzic disguised himself and hid in plain sight for more 13 years before his capture . He could face life in prison if convicted .

(CNN)As thousands-strong anti-Islamization rallies make headlines in Germany following the Charlie Hebdo attack, one of the rallies' organizers has resigned as leader of a right-wing group after a newspaper published a months-old selfie of him posing as Adolf Hitler. The photo shows Lutz Bachmann, leader of PEGIDA, which translates in English to Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West. It appeared Wednesday on the cover of German tabloid BILD. Bachmann resigned as chairman of the group following the backlash to the Hitler photo, as well as another image Bachmann posted of a man in a Ku Klux Klan robe with the caption, "Three K's a day keeps the minorities away." "I apologize to everybody who has felt attacked by my online postings. They were comments made without serious reflection, which I would no longer express today. I am sorry that I thereby damaged the interests of our movement, and draw the appropriate conclusion," Bachmann said in Dresden. The selfie was an act of satire, his spokeswoman Kathrin Oertel said on Facebook. While every citizen has the right to engage in satire, she wrote, insulting foreigners is not satirical. Though Bachmann apparently has deleted his own Facebook account, screen grabs published by numerous media outlets suggest Bachmann posted the Hitler photo in September, while the KKK image is from 2012. Bachmann told BILD, "I took the photo at the hairdressers, for the publication of the audiobook of the satire 'He's Back.' ... You need to be able to joke about things now and then." "He's back," or "Er ist wieder da" in German, is a 2012 best-selling satire based on Hitler waking up in modern-day Berlin with no knowledge of what happened following World War II. The audiobook was released long before September, as January 2013 news reports indicate 75,000 copies had already been sold. It appears the images gained traction not because of timeliness but because PEGIDA has successfully organized weekly anti-Islamization demonstrations in Dresden. Police estimated that 18,000 people attended a January 5 rally, while about 25,000 people showed up at a January 12 rally. Monday's scheduled protest in Dresden was canceled after police persuaded PEGIDA to call it off following an ISIS fatwa targeting PEGIDA's organizers, the group wrote on the Facebook page for its United Kingdom branch. "The police has canceled the rally in agreement with PEGIDA because they can't guarantee the security and safety of participants after information of planned attacks by islamistic groups," the Facebook post said. In response to Monday's cancellation, LEGIDA, the city of Leipzig's offshoot of PEGIDA, said it was organizing a rally expected to draw between 30,000 and 60,000 demonstrators, according to German media. As many as 4,000 police officers had been recruited from around the country in preparation for the event, one news outlet reported. On its main Facebook page, which has more than 155,000 "likes," PEGIDA has stated its philosophy that citizens should "wake from their slumber" and recognize the "danger in the Islamic ideology." "Stop the radical Salafists' Islamization," it urges. "As a society, we should give people the chance to integrate, but we should not allow ourselves to be Islamized thereby losing our freedom and democracy!" The group claims to have supporters in more than 30 German cities and 18 countries in Europe. A PEGIDA group in Norway also called for demonstrators to gather outside Town Hall in the capital, Oslo, earlier this month to show support for the French and demonstrate opposition to what it calls the "Islamification of Norway." German Justice Minister Heiko Maas and Chancellor Angela Merkel have called on the group to cancel the rallies in Dresden and other German cities. Counterprotests have taken place or been planned in Hanover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. During a January 5 demonstration, Germany's Cologne Cathedral turned off its lights in a symbolic rejection of the rally taking place in its shadow. Joerg Forbrig, a European analyst with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told CNN that the PEGIDA's message resonated only in the Dresden area, where its ideas had fallen on "particularly fertile soil." "These protests are not so much fueled by fear of Islam and fear of Islamist attacks, but by frustration at the cost of reunification -- about the way they are being integrated and represented since the fall of the Berlin Wall," Forbrig said. Dresden already had a well-established network of right-wing extremists before PEGIDA's emergence, he said. "It's more a case of East Germans not entirely feeling at home in Germany," Forbrig said. "There is a feeling of second-class citizenship, and in order to be heard, many East Germans take to radical measures." CNN's Rick Noack and Susannah Cullinane contributed to this report.

Leader of anti-Islamization group said he took Hitler photo as "joke" to coincide with audiobook release . PEGIDA, which says it fights against Islamization of the West, has organized rallies drawing as many as 25,000 . Newspaper published the Hitler photo Wednesday, but image was posted on Facebook months ago .

(CNN) -- New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton has made history as the youngest ever winner of the Man Booker Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in the Commonwealth, with her second novel, "The Luminaries." The 28-year old's book, a murder mystery set on New Zealand's remote, forbidding West Coast during the 1860s gold rush and featuring seances, opium and a dead hermit, was described by the judges at the time it was shortlisted as a "Kiwi Twin Peaks." The chair of judges Robert Macfarlane said it was a "dazzling work, luminous, vast" and "extraordinarily gripping." "The characters are in New Zealand to make and to gain -- the one thing that disrupts them is love," he said. He also praised the poise demonstrated by the young writer, who began the book aged 25 and completed it at the age of 27. "Maturity is evident in every sentence, in the rhythms and balances. It is a novel of astonishing control." Canada's Alice Munro, 'master' of short stories, wins Nobel Prize in literature . Accepting the award at London's Guildhall Tuesday, Catton joked about her 832-page book's length -- 160 pages longer than the previous longest winner of the prize. "I've actually just had to buy a new handbag because my old handbag wasn't big enough to fit my book," she said, before thanking her publishers for allowing her to pursue her complex, lengthy "publisher's nightmare" by freeing her from commercial pressures. "I was free throughout to concern myself with questions not of value, but of worth," she said. Catton is only the second New Zealander to win the prize, which is awarded each year for the best English-language novel published by a citizen of Britain, Ireland or a Commonwealth country, and carries a GBP50,000 (US$79,880) award. The previous winner was Keri Hulme for "The Bone People" in 1985, also set on New Zealand's West Coast. Canada can also lay claim to Catton, who was born in London, Ontario, where her father was completing a doctorate, and raised in Christchurch when the family returned to New Zealand. Catton said she had drawn inspiration for her novel from classics including "The Brothers Karamazov," "Crime and Punishment" and "Moby-Dick," and drawn heavily on archived newspapers of the period for her research. Malaysian novelist wins Man Asian Literary Prize . "I was able to see how much everything cost; what kinds of foods and wares were available to buy and sell, what entertainments were on offer, and, most importantly ... read transcripts of actual court trials from the period," she said. "The trials are extraordinarily vivid in their detail: I recall a man sentenced to death by hanging, shouting from the dock, 'I have in me three hearts and my father knows it.' That line gives me chills." The previous youngest winner of the Booker was Ben Okri, who was 32 when he won for "The Famished Road" in 1991. Fergus Barrowman, New Zealand publisher of "The Luminaries" at Victoria University Press, said he realized on reading the manuscript he was dealing with a "masterpiece -- a brilliant and brave and totally successful work of art. "I knew it had the potential to go this far, but you never count the chickens in this game," he said. "I think it will be a book that's read for decades to come." He anticipated the win would help shine a spotlight on other New Zealand writers. "It's certainly reminded people that the best new talent can come from anywhere in the world and often if it comes from a distant part of the world it's fresher and more exciting." Hilary Mantel becomes first woman to win Booker Prize twice . The other shortlisted authors for the prize were Indian-American Jhumpa Lahiri for "The Lowland," Irish writer Colm Toibin for "The Testament of Mary," Zimbabwe's NoViolet Bulawayo for "We Need New Names," British writer Jim Crace for "Harvest" and Canadian Ruth Ozeki for "A Tale for the Time Being." This year's award marked the last time that entry in the awards will be limited to certain nationalities, with the organizers' decision to open the awards to competition from any novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom -- opening the door to writers from the United States and further afield. The decision caused alarm among sections of the British literary world, with some expressing concern that the contest would come to be dominated by established American writers and lose its potential to highlight literary talent from around the world. But Catton said she welcomed the move. "I think it's a really great thing that finally we've got a prize that is an English-language prize that doesn't make a distinction for writers who are writing from a particular country," she said. Previous winners of the prize include Salman Rushdie, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwen, J.M. Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro and Peter Carey. Egyptian writer shares passion for her country with the world .

New Zealander Eleanor Catton, 28, wins Man Booker Prize for "The Luminaries" The murder mystery is set on New Zealand's West Coast during the 1860s gold rush . Catton is three years younger than the previous youngest winner . At 832 pages, her book was also the longest novel to win the prestigious award .

San Francisco (CNN) -- Sunday's debut of the Nintendo 3DS, a hand-held game system with a 3-D display that doesn't require special glasses, isn't just the culmination of several years of research and development for one product. It could be a milestone for a company that's spent decades refining three-dimensional technology, only to be met with resistance from consumers. Playing games in 3-D "is something that we've been continually testing and working on at Nintendo," said Hideki Konno, who has directed or produced some of Nintendo's most prized franchises and was a key person in the 3DS's development, through an interpreter. "We've never actually stopped looking at 3-D as a viable product," Konno said. "And it just so happens that the technology in the marketplace now coincides with what we wanted to do. So actually, it was just very fortuitous timing." Nintendo projects that it will sell 4 million 3DS units this month, and many analysts agree. The system was released in Japan last month and in parts of Europe on Friday. Nintendo sold 47 million units of the DS line of systems, which all have two screens, with one being a touchscreen. Even before the U.S. launch, the 3DS is off to the most promising start of any game system in at least a decade, according to pre-sale observations from Amazon.com. Without a doubt, it's Nintendo's strongest foray into the third dimension. And there have been many. The first commercially available 3-D product from Nintendo came in the 1980s. The Kyoto, Japan, company manufactured 3-D goggles and a companion disc player that could be connected to the Family Computer, called the Nintendo Entertainment System in the U.S. The project flopped and never made its way outside Japan. Then in 1995, Nintendo tried again with the Virtual Boy. Players would peer through stationary goggles and manipulate monochromatic red characters that popped out from the screen using a wired controller. The system was designed by the team that thought up the Game Boy, but the machine was barely portable. It had a battery, but imagine setting up this ridiculous hunk of plastic to play on the train, said Konno, who can joke about the defeat now. The Virtual Boy disappeared from shelves less than a year after appearing in stores. "When we launched Virtual Boy, we thought it would work," Konno said. "It's trial and error. We made mistakes. And we build on mistakes." Despite failures, Nintendo's trials continued -- but in secret so that errors weren't subjected to public humiliation. For example, Nintendo internally developed hardware that would allow players to enable 3-D on the GameCube, which was the home console that preceded the Wii. That project never made it out of the laboratory. "It would have required consumers to buy a special LCD screen to attach to the GameCube to actually play," Konno recalled. "We didn't think it was worth that investment for consumers, so it never came out." Nintendo has taken a string of commercial risks in the past decade, racking up an impressive track record. The company released a touchscreen gadget called the DS in 2004, three years before Apple would ignite the mobile market with the iPhone. In 2006, the Wii became an instant hit, and competitors in the game-console industry scrambled to make motion-detection systems of their own. Now, 15 years since the company's last 3-D system vanished from stores, Nintendo's next bet is on an old horse that has never made it far out of the stable. Fortunately for Nintendo, the technology has a number of high-profile backers, including Hollywood. Users will be able to purchase 3-D movies to watch on the device's 3.5-inch screen -- larger than most previous DS systems and about the size of the iPhone's -- or stream video from Netflix. "This is an entertainment device; make no mistake," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said. "It's not purely a gaming device." In addition to entertainment features, the 3DS has a pedometer to appeal to the health-conscious crowd that the Wii Fit tapped, as well as a variety of internet and wireless communication applications. Nintendo also plans to add a Web browser. A pair of cameras on the back can snap 3-D pictures, and Nintendo hints that 3-D video recording may come. But above all, what Nintendo has learned from its research over the past few decades -- and what television makers and rival game companies like Sony Computer Entertainment are learning -- is that 3-D plus glasses is a losing formula, Nintendo executives said. "I think at Nintendo, we realize that any sort of goggle-type 3-D technology was not going to work," Konno said. "In order to make 3-D technology viable with video games, we thought we needed to have glasses-free 3-D." Nintendo's aversion to glasses could also rule out 3-D coming to its home console systems. On television screens, 3-D is difficult to achieve without glasses because people watch from many different angles. "Glasses-free is a big deal," Fils-Aime said. "We've not said publicly what the next thing for us will be in the home console space, but based on what we've learned on 3-D, likely, that won't be it."

Nintendo has spent decades developing 3-D technologies . That work culminates with the 3DS, a glasses-free 3-D game system that launches Sunday . But the 3DS comes after a string of failures for Nintendo in the 3-D space .

LONDON, England (CNN) -- On the surface, the similarities are striking; they were both princesses born in the 1940s in a foreign land. Young and beautiful, the long-haired brunettes soon fell in love and followed their men to the United States where they built a reputation for steely determination and strength. Diane von Furstenberg's comic book image appears in the window at the London launch of her Wonder Woman collection. Thirty years later, in the 1970s, one was rewarded with her own fashion empire, the other, her own TV show. The only thing really separating them was the magic lasso. Oh, and the invisible plane, and maybe the bracelets that deflect bullets... Belgian-born New York designer Diane von Furstenberg has used Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, as inspiration for her latest collection, a brightly-colored clothing range that proves dressing like a cartoon character needn't involve teaming knee-high boots with hot pants. The influence of the American stars and stripes are evident in the collection, but in the star piece, a full-length dress, they blend together in muted tones, hinting only at their origin rather than screaming out superhero. The collection was launched in London last night, a day after Barack Obama stormed home as the next President of the United States. Diane von Furstenberg watched the election results from a London hotel room, having lodged an absentee vote from Asia. "I think it's amazing -- I think we need him desperately," she said. In what could only be a gift from the marketing gods, images of the President-elect dressed as Superman started appearing on street corners in the U.S. in the lead-up to the election. Obama has insisted he's no superman, but do the images demonstrate that America is hoping and searching for a superhero? If not Superman, maybe Wonder Woman? "It's not about a superhero," says Diane von Furstenberg. It's just because he's bright and he's willing to do the work. And he's young and he has energy, and that's it." Of all of America's superheroes -- and there are many -- Wonder Woman is seen as one of the most patriotic. She literally wears the stars and stripes. See images of Wonder Woman through the ages and the DVF collection » . She was created in 1941 during World War II by William Moulton Marston as a female alternative to the plethora of male action heroes who were saving the world in comic books of the day. He also invented the lie detector, the early version of Wonder Woman's "Lasso of Truth." As the story goes, Wonder Woman was an Amazonian princess who left her home on Paradise Island to fight the "Axis powers" in the world of man. By day, she was Diana Prince who, with a quick spin, transformed into Wonder Woman, ready to destroy Nazi enemies, foil Japanese plots and expose international spy rings. In the early 1970s, she became a cover girl for feminism, appearing on the cover of the inaugural "Ms." magazine. Fame followed on television when she was immortalized by actress Lynda Carter. After years of lying low, she starred in a popular exhibition "Superheroes: Fantasy and Fashion" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York earlier this year. Curator Andrew Bolton says, "When designers look to Wonder Woman there are two things they seem to refer to -- her role as Amazon woman, this strong powerful Amazonian figure -- and her as a symbol of America, a symbol of democracy." In 2001, John Galliano for Christian Dior used Wonder Woman as inspiration for a rather risque ensemble which included a red and white striped jacket, starry gold bustier and tiny knickers. Bolton says the 9/11 attacks in 2001 sparked a resurgence in American patriotism that's been strengthened this week with the election of a man with a mandate for change. "I think that the idea of patriotism has become much more potent, certainly in light of recent events," Bolton says. "It's a celebration of a new regime, a new democratic regime." It's perfect timing perhaps for the launch of a fashion range that celebrates an all-American, albeit originally Amazonian, hero. For Diane, the Wonder Woman collection is more about empowering women than tapping into the zeitgeist: "The message is that there's a wonder woman inside every one of us," she says. She's penned a limited edition comic book to go with the collection, "The Adventures of Diva, Viva and Fifa," which is emblazoned with the message "Be the Wonder Woman you can be." All proceeds from the sale of the comic books, and a portion of the sales of the collection, go to Vital Voices, a non-governmental organization that aspires to empower women in developing countries, to address human trafficking and to train future leaders. "What Diane von Furstenberg has done for us, by the Wonder Woman book, by supporting us in the way she has done has raised the profile of Vital Voices," says Baroness Mary Goudie, one of the group's directors. "And by her example, she's empowering young women and other women around the world." A bit like Wonder Woman, really.

Wonder Woman inspired Diane von Furstenberg's latest fashion collection . The 1940s comic book character is considered one of America's most patriotic . Diane Von Furstenberg: "There's a Wonder Woman inside every one of us" Proceeds will go to Vital Voices, a group that empowers women worldwide .

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli sailors boarded two aid ships headed to the Palestinian territory of Gaza on Friday, the Israeli military said. While no resistance was reported, activists criticized the Israeli action as "illegal" and vowed that activists "will keep coming, wave after wave" to try to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Activists on board the "Freedom Waves to Gaza" mini-flotilla were "attempting to break the maritime security blockade that is in place in accordance with international law," the Israeli military said, and were refusing to heed their calls to turn back. "The boarding was carried out in line with directives from the Israeli government and after all attempts to prevent the vessels from reaching the Gaza Strip were made, but to no avail," the military said. "The boarding was carried out following numerous calls to the activists on board and during different points at sea. Following their unwillingness to cooperate, and after ignoring calls to divert to the port of Ashdod, the decision was made to board the vessels and lead them there." Sailors "took every precaution necessary to ensure the safety of the activists on board the vessels as well as themselves," the Israel Defense Forces said. Activists will be handed over to Israeli police and immigration authorities, the military said. According to the activist organizers, this mission was the eleventh attempt to run Israel's blockade of Gaza by sea. Five missions arrived safely in Gaza between August and December 2008, with the rest intercepted by Israel. The activists said Friday that "ground support crews lost contact with two ships, the Saoirse of Ireland and the Tahrir of Canada." It said there are 27 civilian passengers. The boats are carrying medical supplies and letters of support for people in Gaza. The activists said the navy interrogated people on the Tahrir around 7:30 a.m., when it was about 48 nautical miles from the Gaza coast. Thirteen minutes later, ground support crews lost contact with two ships. Asked by the Israeli Navy for their destination, Canadian activist Ehab Lotayef replied, "The conscience of humanity," the activists' said in a statement. When they repeated the question, asking for final destination, Lotayef said, "The betterment of mankind." Kit Kittredge, an American traveling with the Tahrir, said Israelis made contact with the group and told them to change their radio channel. Kittredge said the group declined to do so. Late Thursday, two Israeli navy ships shadowed the ships before pulling back, the group said. The activists said the ships had been "illegally boarded." "It's clear that 27 civilians on two small boats, carrying only medicine, constituted no security threat to the Israeli state, and that the determination to keep them out is only a furtherance of Israel's policy of collective punishment, a crime against humanity," said Huwaida Arraf, spokeswoman for Freedom Waves to Gaza. "Despite this Israeli aggression, we will keep coming, wave after wave, by air, sea, and land, to challenge Israel's illegal policies towards Gaza and all of Palestine," Arraf said. "Our movement will not stop or be stopped until Palestine is free." Jane Hirschmann, U.S. coordinator for the Freedom Waves to Gaza flotilla, said, "Had the passengers been permitted to proceed to Gaza rather than being stopped on the high seas by armed force, there would have been no threat to their safety. The IDF's statement is like the mugger promising to escort his victim home safely." Ann Wright, one of the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla that attempted to sail to Gaza last June, said,"It's a little hard to imagine how 27 unarmed civilians on two small boats carrying medicine and letters threaten Israel's security. Israel is simply determined to maintain its policy of collective punishment against the 1.6 million civilians in Gaza. This is a crime against humanity and violation of international law. Despite Israel's consistent use of military force against nonviolent protests and demonstrations, activists around the world will continue to challenge the occupation of Palestine and the blockade and Gaza." Passengers on the boats are from Canada, Ireland, the United States, Australia, and the Palestinian territories, the activists say. The flotillas have sparked international controversy. In 2010, an Israeli raid on one flotilla ship, the Mavi Marmara, resulted in nine Turkish activists being killed, a development that led to the deterioration of relations between Israel and Turkey, once close allies. Israel was roundly criticized by many over the deaths. A U.N. report criticized Israel for its use of excessive force in the incident but described the blockade -- which activists call illegal -- as a "legitimate security measure." Israel says it is concerned about the smuggling of arms to Gaza militants intent on attacking the Jewish state. Gaza is controlled by the anti-Israel Hamas militant group, regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and Israel, . But activists say Israeli embargoes of goods into Gaza from land and sea are collective punishment of civilians in what is a tiny and densely populated strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. Israel has said any organization or state that wants to give humanitarian aid to Gaza can do so in coordination with Israeli authorities via existing land crossings into the Palestinian territory. CNN's Kareem Khadder and Nicky Robertson contributed to this report.

Activists are from different countries . The ships will be diverted to the Ashdod port, Israel says . Activists will be transferred to the custody of Israeli authorities . No resistance was reported .

KFAR CHABAD, Israel (CNN) -- Thousands of mourners and emissaries from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement poured into an Israeli village Tuesday for the funerals of two people killed in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Israeli girls mourn Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah, who were killed in the Mumbai attacks. There was a feeling of pain and anger at the funeral in Kfar Chabad, a village of 900 families just outside Tel Aviv. Speeches at the funeral said the gunmen sought out the Chabad House in Mumbai and targeted the victims because of their faith. The two people laid to rest Tuesday were Chabad House directors Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka. They lived and worked at the house in Mumbai, which served as both a home and Jewish center -- a place open to anyone who wanted a place to pray, eat kosher food, or celebrate Jewish holidays. Three former Israeli prime ministers were at the funeral: Ehud Barak, who is now the defense minister; Shimon Peres, currently the Israeli president; and Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party. Watch Israeli funerals for those killed in Mumbai » . After the funeral, the bodies of the Holtzbergs were buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Another victim from Chabad House, kosher supervisor Rabbi Leibish Teitelbaum of New York, was buried there earlier. Separate funerals were held for Teitelbaum and another kosher supervisor at Chabad House, American-Israeli Rabbi Bentzion Kruman. They died in the siege along with Israeli grandmother Yocheved Orpaz and Mexican citizen Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich. The building, also known as the Nariman House, was the local headquarters of the Chabad community, a Hasidic Jewish movement. The Holtzbergs had two children, one of whom was in the house when terrorists stormed in. A woman who worked as a nanny and cook at the house managed to escape with the 2-year-old boy, Moshe. Watch report about nanny saving infant » . The couple's other son was not in Mumbai at the time, according to Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of the educational and social services arms of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The child has Tay-Sachs, a terminal genetic disease, The Associated Press reports. In an emotional scene before flying from India to Israel on Monday, the boy repeatedly cried for his mother at a memorial ceremony at a Mumbai synagogue. His cries were played repeatedly on Israeli TV stations. "You don't have a mother who will hug you and kiss you," Rabbi Kotlarsky said, adding that the community would take care of the boy, AP said. "You are the child of all of Israel." The only other surviving member of the family, Moshe's brother, has Tay-Sachs, a terminal genetic disease, and is institutionalized in Israel, AP added. The Holtzbergs' eldest son died of the disease. The Holtzbergs went to Mumbai five years ago to serve the city's small Jewish community and the thousands of Israeli visitors and business people who frequent the area, according to Chabad.org, the ultra-Orthodox group's Web site. About 5,000 Jews live in India, according to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. About 3,000 of them live in Mumbai, The Jewish Press reported. iReport.com: Share tributes to those who died . The Holtzbergs operated a synagogue and taught Torah classes. The rabbi also conducted weddings for local Jewish couples. Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, was born in Israel and moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was 9. He studied in New York and Argentina and traveled to Thailand and China as a rabbinical student. His wife, Rivka, 28, was a native of Israel. In Mumbai, they ran the headquarters of the Chabad community, a Hasidic Jewish movement. The center, in a building known as the Nariman House, was open to anyone who wanted a place to pray, eat kosher food or celebrate Jewish holidays. In footage filmed two years ago by the Chabad movement, Gavriel Holtzberg said anybody who visited the center was welcome. His wife said its doors were always open and that it was not unusual to have 30 people for dinner. The Chabad-Lubavitch movement was formed more than two centuries ago in Russia. The organization says 4,000 full-time emissary families now direct more than 3,300 Chabad institutions around the world. Kruman was in India to help Teitelbaum supervise a mushroom packing plant under kosher certification, the Chabad Web site said. He grew up in Israel and in the past year had visited China once a month to supervise food packaging plants there. Kruman often visited the Chabad House in Beijing, the organization said, and survived the May earthquake in China's Sichuan Province. He leaves behind a widow and three children. CNN's Paula Hancocks contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thousands attend funerals in Israel of two people killed in Mumbai attacks . Three former Israeli prime ministers attend Tuesday's funeral . Rabbi and wife killed; family's nanny helped couple's 2-year-old son to escape .

(CNN) -- Officials in the tiny east Texas town of Tenaha are accused in a federal lawsuit of stopping African-Americans driving through town and seizing their money and property by threatening them with criminal prosecution -- or worse. Tenaha, Texas, has about 1,000 residents and is about 60 miles southwest of Shreveport, Louisiana. Among the plaintiffs are two African-Americans who claim they forfeited more than $50,000 under threat of money-laundering charges, and a biracial couple who gave up more than $6,000 after officials threatened to put their children in foster care. No one was charged with a crime. The lawsuit, filed in July 2008, has 10 plaintiffs, said attorney Timothy Garrigan, one of the attorneys who filed the suit. But he told CNN Wednesday that "we get more inquiries every day." Attorneys are seeking class-action status for the suit, he said. The suit names as defendants Tenaha's mayor and deputy city marshal, plus several Shelby County officials, including the district attorney. It alleges that the officials "have developed an illegal 'stop and seize' practice of targeting, stopping, detaining, searching and often seizing property from apparently non-white citizens and those traveling with non-white citizens." Watch Garrigan explain the lawsuit » . "The defendants undertake this practice without legal justification, in violation of the citizens' rights, not for any legitimate law enforcement purpose but to enrich their offices and perhaps themselves, by seizing and converting cash and other valuable personal property they can find during the course of the illegal stop and seize practice," the suit claims. City and county officials, however, maintain they are doing their jobs along the highway through Tenaha. They say the road is a known route for drug traffickers between Shreveport, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas, according to The Chicago Tribune, which first reported on the lawsuit Tuesday. Tenaha, which had just more than 1,000 residents in the 2000 census, is about 60 miles southwest of Shreveport. "The police and local district attorney there say they're operating within the law, and it appears as if they are," said Howard Witt, the Tribune reporter who wrote the story. "Texas has an asset forfeiture law similar to many other states, and it basically allows police to seize assets [that] are used, or suspected in being used, in commission of a crime." The law as it currently exists does not mandate that a person be convicted of a crime or even charged with one before the police can seize the assets, Witt said. A bill was introduced Tuesday in the state Legislature to close that loophole, he said, because of the alleged goings-on in Tenaha. "We are in the business of enforcing the law," Tenaha Mayor George Bowers told CNN in a written statement. "We send our officers to school and train them well. All we've done is enforced the law." In court documents filed responding to the suit, several defendants have denied some allegations and said they did not have knowledge of others. Each maintained they were doing their jobs. Garrigan told CNN the plaintiffs he represents are not drug traffickers, and their criminal histories contain "nothing that would suggest it was appropriate for them to be pulled over and robbed this way by police." "Typically, these people are stopped, no drugs are found and only their money and valuables are taken," he said. "We don't think they should be able to get away with that." He said he didn't know if the route was known for drug trafficking, but "I don't think that justifies what they've done." The suit's plaintiffs all were traveling through Tenaha in rental vehicles or in cars with out-of-state license plates, according to the suit. In each case, they were stopped and ordered out of their cars. In some cases, officials searched their cars. But all the plaintiffs claim they were asked if they had any money, and coerced into giving up cash, cell phones and other property. All of the plaintiffs were threatened with arrest and prosecution for money laundering. The couple, Jennifer Boatright and Ronald Henderson, were threatened with another charge concerning their children. Boatright told the Tribune that police stopped them for driving in a left-turn lane. During a search, she said, police found a gift for Boatright's sister, an unused glass pipe similar to those used to smoke marijuana. No drugs were found, but police seized the $6,037 the couple was carrying to buy a car. After they contacted an attorney, the city returned the money, but offered no explanation or apology, she said. "It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," she said. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there." In 1997 Louisiana lawmakers reformed that state's asset forfeiture law after a report on NBC's "Dateline" alleged that law enforcement officers in Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis parishes were stopping motorists without cause, particularly out-of-state drivers and minorities, along Interstate 10 and seizing their money and property from them, according to an article on the National Drug Strategy Network's Web site. The television show used hidden cameras to record such incidents, the article said.

Lawsuit, filed in federal court, seeks class action status . It alleges minorities are targeted for car stops in Tenaha, Texas . Assets seized, minorities threatened with prosecution, suit says . Officials in Tenaha say route is favored by drug traffickers .

(CNN) -- The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic. Kindergarten students, some wearing masks, attend school in a residential estate in Hong Kong on Thursday. Increasing the alert to Phase 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said. "This is an important and challenging day for all of us," WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in a briefing with reporters. "We are moving into the early days of the first flu pandemic of the 21st century." The last previous pandemic occurred in 1968. As of Thursday, the virus had spread to 74 countries, the health agency said. There were 28,774 confirmed cases and 144 deaths. The United States had 13,217 cases and 27 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said June 5 in its weekly update. Cases have been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. See where H1N1 flu cases are in the U.S. » . The U.S. death toll is expected be higher when the CDC releases its latest figures Friday, said Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. New England -- particularly Massachusetts -- and the New York and New Jersey areas have been hit the hardest, Schuchat said Thursday at a CDC news conference. The Phase 6 pandemic designation had been widely expected for weeks. "Further spread is considered inevitable," Chan said at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. "The scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met." The announcement came after a meeting of the WHO's Emergency Committee, which has debated since April whether the spread of a novel H1N1 flu virus was fast and widespread enough to warrant a Phase 6 designation. Phase 6, Chan said, is meant as a signal to countries to recalibrate their strategies to minimize the harm from swine flu. In countries where the virus and the response to it are already widespread, it is not likely to mean significant changes, but Chan urged countries that have not seen cases, or seen only limited cases, to get ready. "The virus is not stoppable," she said. "I would advise them to maintain vigilance, enhance surveillance and be prepared for the arrival of the novel H1N1 in their country." The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security said those agencies have been acting for weeks as if Phase 6 were already in effect and no additional measures would be put into effect. The United States declared a public health emergency April 26. "WHO continues to recommend no restriction on travel and on border closures," Chan said. Discussions about shifting to Phase 6 have been under way for weeks. Chan indicated that a major factor in the decision was surveillance from countries in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is under way. In Chile and Australia, two countries with many flu cases, she said H1N1 appears to be the dominant strain, "crowding out" the seasonal influenza virus. Chan said she would recommend that vaccine manufacturers proceed with mass production of an inoculation against the new swine flu strain as soon as they finish production of seasonal vaccine, which she estimated would be complete in about two weeks. HHS spokesman Bill Hall said Thursday that no decision has been made on full-scale production because there is no need yet to make that decision. It is a step-by-step process that is moving forward. "We're doing as much as we can now," he said. The agency awarded a contract several weeks ago to five manufacturers to develop an H1N1 antigen. The companies are producing pilot lots. Clinical testing will take place over the summer, Hall said. At the end of the summer, HHS will decide whether to go into production. "There's no specific date on the calendar," Hall said. If officials decide to produce a vaccine, the first doses would be ready early in the fall. Hall noted that even full-scale production doesn't mean there will be an immunization campaign. Federal officials may have a vaccine and decide not to use it, he said. Also Thursday, authorities in Hong Kong ordered the closure of all elementary schools, kindergartens and day care centers in the city after 12 students were found to be infected with the virus. Authorities have not determined the source of the infection, said Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang. This makes it the first cluster of swine flu cases in the city without a link to someone who had traveled overseas. The schools and day care centers were told to close for 14 days as investigators tried to identify the source of the infection, said Tsang, the chief executive. The health department will decide after two weeks whether to continue the shutdown. Also on Thursday, Israel's health ministry announced that the number of people diagnosed with swine flu there was 68. Health officials use the virus' clinical name -- H1N1 -- to reflect that it's actually a combination of several different types of flu and to reduce confusion about whether eating pork can spread the virus. It cannot. CNN's David S. Martin, Roya Shadravan in Hong Kong, and Michal Zippori in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Further spread of swine flu inevitable, World Health Organization says . WHO calls H1N1 a global pandemic, raises alert to highest level . U.N. agency says that doesn't mean disease is worse, but that it's in more countries . Hong Kong orders closure of all elementary schools, kindergartens, day care centers .

San Diego (CNN) -- It used to be that when Americans thought of Mexico, they imagined a festive getaway where margaritas flowed, mariachis played, and every day was Cinco de Mayo. Not anymore. Horrifying stories of random shootings, mass beheadings and mass graves have become commonplace. Gunmen think nothing of mowing down a couple dozen teenagers in a disco with machine guns and tossing grenades indiscriminately into crowds during holiday fiestas. Mexicans have almost become immune to carnage, it seems. As a result of such wanton acts of terrorism, and government efforts to combat them, more than 47,500 have died in the last 5½ years. Many of the dead were believed by authorities to have been connected to the drug trade, but others were innocent civilians -- including women and children -- who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many Mexicans wrongly put the blame for those deaths entirely on the shoulders of Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The argument goes that, if Calderon had only left the cartels alone, Mexico wouldn't be on fire. Calderon is a convenient target because he has made it his personal mission to destroy Mexico's drug syndicates. We're talking about a half-dozen drug cartels, each of which rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars annually in a country so poor that the average laborer is lucky to earn $8 a day. The cartels' customers are mainly Americans, who consume more than their share of illegal drugs. Is Calderon winning his war? Hard to say. It's true that a few cartels have been weakened; government officials say that the drug syndicate La Familia has all but been destroyed. What they don't say is that, from the ashes, has arisen a new group called Knights Templar. So the horror continues. Just recently, in a widely reported case, Mexican police found 49 mutilated bodies in a small town between the cities of Monterrey and Reynosa near the U.S.-Mexico border. Heads, arms and legs were chopped off, making it difficult for authorities to identify the dead. Q&A: 49 bodies - just another drug war crime? It's like a Shakespearean tragedy where every act is bloodier than the one before it, and they go on without end. A new generation of drug traffickers aiming to be bosses seems locked in a gruesome contest as to who can be the most vicious. As for blame, Mexicans should at least dole it out correctly. Calderon is responsible for his decision to use the Mexican military as the government's chief weapon against the cartels, in part because so many of the local police in Mexico are thought to be corrupt or corruptible. And so, when the military is accused of being heavy-handed with civilians and violating the rights of Mexican citizens, as it has been in recent years, that blame should go to Calderon. But the Mexican people also bear a responsibility -- for empowering the drug lords. For decades, Mexicans have romanticized the drug trafficking industry in film, music and other aspects of popular culture. There are many "corridos" (Mexican ballads) that tell the story of the rise-from-nothing fellow who becomes the head of a powerful syndicate by relying on his wits and strength. Recently, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo -- who coincidentally was cast as a powerful female drug lord in Telemundo's Spanish-language series "La Reina del Sur" -- tweeted that she has more faith in Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman than she does in government. Guzman heads the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, and once landed on Forbes' list of the world's richest people with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. There are even so-called drug saints that some Mexicans pray to -- inspired by Robin Hood-like figures who are seen as protectors of the poor against the government. Of course, the Catholic Church doesn't recognize these saints, but this fact hasn't made them any less popular. One of the most popular of the "narco saints" is Jesús Malverde, named after a bandit, who legend has it, was killed by authorities in the early 1900s. Known as the "generous bandit" or the "angel of the poor," Malverde is a folk hero to some in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Mexico is in chaos. And many Mexicans are in shock. They don't know what to do, or even if they can do anything at all. Well, they can do this: They can stop making folk heroes out of murderers and terrorists. They can stop writing poems and songs that honor drug traffickers and instead start praising the Mexican law enforcement officers who are bravely trying to bring these outlaws to justice. And they can support their government and stand by their president in fighting a battle that needed to be fought. It's time to step up and take ownership of the drug war -- as well as the circumstances that made it necessary. People on both sides of the border had a hand in helping make this mess. It's going to take people on both sides of the border to clean it up. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr.

Ruben Navarrette: Drug violence has become so common in Mexico, some are used to it . He says some blame President Felipe Calderon, saying he should leave drug cartels alone . He says Calderon not perfect, but other problem is Mexicans' romanticization of drug outlaws . Navarrette: Mexicans share responsibility, should not be on side of drug lords in the battle .

(CNN) -- My 65-year-old father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was shot five times, knife in hand, as he wrestled with a domestic terrorist in the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. The coward fled, leaving my father to pass away in a murmur of meditation. My father lived the American dream. Starting with only a couple bucks in his pocket, he worked hard and long to make a life for his family and his community, helping to build the Sikh temple where he was attacked. Since that day, many discussions in our community have come and gone, with little attention from the majority of the national media or government. It seems many hard-earned lessons from this tragedy already have been forgotten. But they bear repeating and remembering. Injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. This attack was predicated on hate. Too many hate groups exist right here in the United States, and terror can take many forms: from school bullies to conservative radio hosts spreading fear and distortions to racists spewing hate. And, of course, to psychotic loners. Violence has become part of American life. The U.S. has the highest murder rate of affluent democracies. America had an extreme homicide rate of 5.4 per 100,000 people in 2008-2009, compared with a 1.43 rate in England and Wales and a 1.3 rate in Italy. The statistics differ somewhat every year, but the rate is always much higher in the United States than in other affluent nations. Japan has less than a 10th of the U.S. murder rate. Since 1982, America has seen at least 60 mass murders (defined as at least four people being killed) committed by guns. But violence doesn't manifest only in the psychotic actions of a few. It seems to be part of the fabric of society, prevalent in entertainment and present in the "pre-emptive war" in Iraq, waged on false information and funded by the American public. The coward -- I will never utter his name -- who so violated sacred ground and killed so many people was a product of a broken system. He spent six years in the armed forces, drank heavily and was a member of a white-power rock band. At some point, we must acknowledge and understand why this happens. In seems our system of education, our culture and our governance are failing somehow. President Obama, come to Oak Creek . On August 5, the American dream was attacked. Immigrants, whether naturalized -- like my father -- or not, have been treated as a second class for far too long. Mexican-American and Muslim immigrants shoulder the brunt of this sentiment. Yet all people who are not Caucasian and Christian most likely have felt this disregard, including African-Americans, brought to this country against their own free will. Conservatives who are anti-immigration add to the poison by denigrating foreigners more and more often. It is a sad and backward situation because immigrants are the lifeblood of this country, as John F. Kennedy wrote so eloquently in his book, "A Nation of Immigrants." "This was the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers...," Kennedy wrote. "Every ethnic minority, in seeking its own freedom, helped strengthen the fabric of liberty in American life. Similarly, every aspect of the American economy has profited from the contributions of immigrants." This second-class status was further demonstrated when the national government and media seemed to lose interest in or concern about the shootings and the ensuing dialogue. Maybe it was too much to take in after the massacre in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Maybe this was not tragic enough to get prolonged attention. Maybe politically, this is a powder keg. Whatever the excuse, it is not good enough. Michelle Obama is coming to Oak Creek, but she is not an elected official who is responsible for national policies that are at the core of this problem. On a Sunday morning when devout Americans were getting ready for a sermon, they were slaughtered by a maniac who should have never been able to own a gun, given his history. No matter what was happening that week, it should have been top priority on any leader's list to do something to acknowledge and help right this situation. The president should have made phone calls to representatives of the Sikh community. The media should have sent their best and brightest to Wisconsin to dissect the phenomenon of hate murders -- to its credit, CNN did. Civil rights leaders would have done well to evaluate the nuances of the massacre, to shed light on their own causes. In turn, they would have gained an ally in the Sikh community. If any of these things would have happened, maybe our discussion would turn to how to take action. How does "freedom" apply to hate speech, gun control, or the history of violence in America? Maybe Democrats and Republicans could unite on the issue of safety in our society. Maybe political leaders would realize that when neighborhoods are safer, the economy benefits as more people and businesses move in. Maybe immigrants would stand side by side to raise a unified voice in the upcoming elections -- seeking legitimate immigration reform. Maybe it's not too late. Maybe these lessons are not lost. Maybe those who laid down their lives did not do so in vain. I hope this is the case. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Amardeep Kaleka.

Amardeep Kaleka's father was killed as he tried to stop Sikh temple murderer . Media and government did not pay enough attention to what this tragedy means, he says . We need to find out why U.S. has highest murder rate of all affluent nations, he says . Kaleka: We need action to stop violence against immigrants, racism and hatred .

(CNN) -- Last week, the College Board dealt parents, teachers and the education world a serious blow. According to its latest test results, "SAT reading scores for the high school class of 2011 were the lowest on record, and combined reading and math scores fell to their lowest point since 1995." The reading scores, which stand at 497, are noticeably lower than just six years ago, when they stood at 508. And it's just the second time in the last 20 years that reading scores have dropped so precipitously in a single year. Yet, according to the College Board, there is no reason to panic. The results, they say, "reflect the record size and diversity of the pool of test-takers. As more students aim for college and take the exam, it tends to drag down average scores." Since when has diversity and more students taking the test become a legitimate excuse for bad scores? A conservative certainly could not get away with blaming falling test scores on diversity. Imagine the outcry. Increased diversity and student participation are very good things, but we should not console ourselves with excuses for falling scores, especially considering the amount of money we spend each year on education. The 2011 budget for the Department of Education is estimated to top $70 billion, while overall spending on public elementary and secondary education is about $600 billion a year. By comparison, in 1972, before the Department of Education even existed, SAT critical reading scores for college-bound seniors were above 525, more than 20 points higher than they are today, while today's math scores are only slightly better than in 1972. As the United States increases education spending, our students' scores should not be getting worse. For a long time, I, along with other conservative reformers, have been saying that real reform means more than throwing money at the problem. Now, an unexpected voice from across the political spectrum is agreeing. Steven Brill, founder of Court TV and The American Lawyer magazine, and author of the new book "Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools," has turned the journalistic magnifying glass on the nation's public schools and teachers' unions. Brill's book is one of the most in-depth and closely researched looks into the modern workings of the education "blob" in recent memory. And Brill is a liberal, a very thoughtful and careful liberal, and he is criticizing the heart of liberal power: the teachers' unions. Brill closely traces the modern education reform movement from Race to the Top, to KIPP Academies, to Teach for America, to such high-profile reformers as Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein, while lamenting obvious long-standing barriers to educational improvement such as the "last in, first out" policy that requires teachers to be laid off based purely on seniority rather than performance. Brill scours the inner workings of public school teachers' contracts, uncovering such gems as a New York City contract provision "allowing the principal no say over the format of a lesson plan." He recounts his exposure of New York City's infamous "rubber rooms," where hundreds of teachers under investigation for misconduct or incompetence were sidelined for years at full pay with nothing to do but watch the clock tick down each day. The practice was discontinued after his reporting revealed it. In another illustrative case study, Brill compares Harlem Success I, a charter school, with P.S. 149, a traditional public school. Both schools happen to share the same building in New York City, with very similar students, parents, socioeconomic conditions and environments. But Harlem Success blows P.S. 149 out of the water. Eighty-six percent of its students were proficient in English in 2010, compared with 29% of P.S. 149's. Throughout the book, Brill uses examples like these to explain how fossilized teacher union contracts, lax or nonexistent teacher evaluations, and unmovable wages and benefits have straitjacketed any hope of real reform. The solution, Brill says, is to overhaul the public school education system in order to motivate and inspire better teachers. Rewriting union contracts and paying teachers based on performance, not seniority, are among the first steps Brill advises. The United States can afford to pay our nation's best teachers more, while holding bad teachers accountable and paying them accordingly. Brill's work represents a real tug-of-war inside the Democratic Party, between the teachers' unions and modern reformers, for control of the nation's education machine. The old guard of the Democratic Party, the AFT and NEA, believe that the blame for stagnant and falling test scores falls on anyone but them. Yet, new Democratic voices, such as Cory Booker, Geoffrey Canada and Rhee, are vocally questioning what was once unquestionable -- that contracts, wages, benefits, accountability and standards need sensible reforms. The latest drop in SAT reading scores should not be written off as a statistical outlier, but should be a wake-up call to heed the chorus of reformers, conservatives and liberals alike, whose prescriptions are timely, relevant and might be just what we need to turn our public schools around. The opinions in this commentary are solely those of William J. Bennett.

William Bennett: SAT reading scores for 2011 high school class were lowest on record . Bennett: College board blames record numbers and diversity of test-takers, but this is no excuse . He says some Democrats agree that contracts, teacher performance need reform . We can afford to pay best teachers more, if worst are held accountable, Bennett says .