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(CNN)ISIS has stepped up the use of children in its bloody campaign of terror, the United Nations says -- subjecting them to horrors that include putting price tags on them to sell as slaves. A report released this week focused on children in Iraq, as well as the responsibility of that nation's government for ensuring the safety and security of young civilians in the conflict. But it certainly doesn't preclude similar things happening in Syria, where ISIS is also entrenched and also has been blamed for various atrocities. In reference to Iraq, at least, the U.N. report found that the terrorist group is resorting more and more to brutal acts such as enslaving, raping, beheading, crucifying and burying people alive. Some of those affected are children. "We have had reports of children, especially children that are mentally challenged, who have been used as suicide bombers, most probably without them even understanding what has happened or what they have to expect," said Renate Winter, an expert with the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child. Some as young as age 8 are getting training to become soldiers, she said. "Children of minorities have been captured in places where the so-called ISIL has its strength, have been sold in market with tags, price tags on them, have been sold as slaves," Winter said. People of the Yazidi faith -- which draws from Christianity, Judaism and the ancient monotheistic religion of Zoroastrianism, and which some Muslims consider devil worship -- have long faced persecution, though by comparison ISIS' cruelty to them has been extraordinary. Kurdistan Regional Government adviser Nazand Begikhani, for instance, has said Yazidi "women have been treated like cattle, ... subjected to physical and sexual violence, including systematic rape and sex slavery." Yazidi children haven't fared much better at the hands of ISIS. An earlier U.N. report described how militants rounded up all Yazidi males "older than 10 years of age at the local school, took them outside the village by pickup trucks, and shot them." The U.N. report, while alarming, isn't surprising considering all the accounts of ISIS' brutality in recent years. The self-proclaimed Islamic State has made a name for itself -- in its quest to form a vast caliphate governed under a strict version of Sharia law -- both through its conquests and its savagery. The savagery was on display again this week with the release of video showing Jordanian pilot Lt. Moath al-Kasasbeh being burned to death, the latest example of ISIS not just executing its captives but broadcasting such violence as propaganda. While there was no response specifically to the U.N. report, ISIS has in the past attempted to justify atrocities -- including the enslaving, raping and selling of captives -- as being done in God's name. The terror group printed a pamphlet last fall, then distributed it in Mosul in December, entitled "Questions and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom." It spells out rationales for having sex with prepubescent girls and generally capturing those who are "nonbelievers," i.e. they don't subscribe to ISIS' extreme take on Islam. ISIS: Enslaving, having sex with 'unbelieving' women, girls is OK . As such, the ISIS document claims, "It is permissible to buy, sell or give as a gift female captives and slaves, for they are merely property." The U.N. report wasn't just critical of ISIS. It also urged the Iraqi government -- which, along with neighboring Syria, is fighting the Islamist extremist group -- to do more to protect children, saying the Iraqi forces are contributing to the problem. A "very large number of children" have been killed and severely injured by airstrikes, shelling and military operations by Iraqi forces, the report said. Still, it's ISIS that is beneath all others involved in the fray when it comes to barbarity. Not only has the group not apologized for its actions, but it's reveled in them. And it's used to children to drive home this point. An ISIS propaganda video released last month -- one that CNN could not independently verify -- shows a boy with a pistol apparently shooting two men in the back of the head. The boy then stands over one of the bodies, fires two more times, and later raises his pistol high. And last August, a photo posted to Twitter from an ISIS stronghold showed a 7-year-old boy holding a man's severed head and his father's words, "That's my boy." ISIS has featured children as fighters before, calling them the "cubs of the caliphate" (the adult jihadis call each other "lions") and has encouraged foreign fighters to bring their families. It has taken over schools to indoctrinate children. Human Rights Watch claims ISIS and other extremist groups "have specifically recruited children through free schooling campaigns that include weapons training and have given them dangerous tasks, including suicide bombing missions." That children celebrate such violence is horrifying enough, as evidenced by an ISIS video showing a young boy watching al-Kasasbeh's killing. Since the propaganda video is carefully orchestrated, CNN has no way of knowing whether the boy was coerced. In it, the child looks up as if in awe and says he would "burn the pilot" himself if he had a chance. He adds, "All Arab tyrants should also be burned." CNN's Jessica King contributed to this report.

U.N. official says the terror group is using mentally-challenged children . She urges Iraq to protect children nationwide .

(CNN) -- This spring break, thousands of college students will ditch the bars and the beaches to do something more meaningful with their vacation time. Brad Vonck (bottom, left) and other student volunteers worked with the Cherokee Nation in Stilwell, Oklahoma. Brad Vonck is one of them. A sophomore at the University of Illinois, Vonck will travel to San Juan, Texas, in a group of 13 students to volunteer with La Union del Pueblo Entero, an organization that helps strengthen the communities and lives of farm workers and their families. "Learning about different cultures is very important to me," Vonck said. "I like to engage in different areas of life that I don't really understand." Every year, more and more college students, like Vonck, are choosing to spend their valuable time off from school participating in "alternative spring break" programs -- community service-based opportunities dealing with the most pressing issues of the day, including hunger and homelessness, disaster relief and global warming. "If you can name a social issue, then students are doing trips around it," said Jill Piacitelli, executive director of Break Away, an organization that trains and helps colleges across the United States promote alternative break programs. For the past six years, these programs have been growing in popularity among college students. Break Away estimated that this year, nearly 65,000 students will participate in its alternative break programs, an 11 percent increase from 2008. "It's a student-led social movement. ... This is a group that very much wants to be involved in the world around them," Piacitelli said of the volunteers. "They're solution-oriented. They want to innovate and lead and involve their peers." The average domestic trip costs around $250 or $300, Piacitelli said, which includes "housing, travel, social activities, food and often a donation to the community." Many university programs offer financial aid and the option to raise money to help pay for trips. "It is rare that anyone who wants to go on a trip cannot go," Piacitelli said. The affordability is part of the reason why so many students return for second or third trips. Nikunj Shah, a graduate of Arcadia University, has taken several alternative spring break trips volunteering in the United States and Mexico. This year, he will be traveling as an alumnus to Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, a city that has been largely ignored by disaster relief efforts in the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita. "I've always had an interest in helping people. I've always been really involved in community service," Shah said. "So I saw this as an opportunity to go places I haven't been before, to get a feel for different cultures and to help people there that truly need help." In an effort to expand their alternative spring break options, universities across the United States partner with humanitarian organizations like the United Way of America. Randy Punley, director of corporate and media partnerships at the United Way, oversees the organization's Alternative Spring Break programs. After Hurricane Katrina, the United Way partnered with MTV to engage young people in the response effort. "We knew there was an interest and a passion in young people for the work we were trying to achieve," Punley said. Since then, the United Way has evolved and expanded, establishing chapters on college campuses. The organization has also developed an Alternative Spring Break Social Media Challenge, encouraging young people to be active in their communities and use social media Web sites, like Facebook or Twitter, to involve other people. "Whether it started with the first Gulf War, punctuated by the September 11 attacks and Katrina and the economic meltdown, young people have a very different perspective about what's going on in the world," Punley said. At the end of the weeklong trip, most students say it was the best week of their lives, Punley said. The increasing interest in these programs, Punley believes, speaks volumes about the attitudes of Generation Y, a group of people who are eager to make an impact on the world around them. "It's such a difference from going home and not really feeling accomplished to going on these trips and meeting new people," Vonck said. "You get experiences that you wouldn't get sitting on the couch watching TV for a week." Piacitelli said these programs encourage young people to continue serving their communities and those in need. "The students are the main benefactors of what goes on," Piacitelli said. "It changes their consciousness. They get really interested in social issues ... They see themselves as active citizens, and helping the community becomes a priority." Like Vonck and Shah, University of Illinois senior Adriana Collazo has a passion for community service. During her spring break last year, Collazo traveled to the Bronx in New York to volunteer at a homeless shelter. She stayed at a hostel with other volunteers and helped serve food and organize clothing drives. "I never really had all that money to go off and do the whole Cancun, Mexico, spring break, and I didn't really want to, because I think that's throwing away money," Collazo said. "When you can give back, it's selfish." The trip to the Bronx was a personal one for Collazo who, at the age of 6, experienced poverty firsthand when her family became homeless. "My family's better now, and I want to give back," Collazo said. "I think a lot of students have realized that they can do better things with their time. ... It humbles you."

"Alternative" spring breaks are becoming more popular among college students . The programs center on community service . Trips may address hunger and homelessness, disaster relief and global warming . The average domestic trip costs around $250 or $300 .

(CNN) -- Calls by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary Hillary Clinton to "unite the world in the isolation of and dealing with the Iranians," in response to an alleged Iranian plot to kill Saudi Arabia's Ambassador in Washington, reflect a hubristic misapprehension of reality. The Obama Administration mistakenly believes it can exploit the accusations for strategic advantage. In fact, they are likely to play to Iran's advantage, not America's. The U.S. foreign policy community profoundly misunderstands the Islamic Republic's national security strategy. The Islamic Republic seeks to defend itself not primarily by conventional military power, in which it is deficient, but by forging ties to proxy allies around the region-actors with the ability to affect on-the-ground outcomes in key regional settings who are inclined to cooperate with Tehran. In some cases, these actors are discrete political movements, often with paramilitary capabilities, for example, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shia political parties-cum-militias in Iraq. In other situations, Tehran sees public opinion as its chief ally. By contrasting some regimes' cooperation with the United States and Israel with its own posture of "resistance" to American and Israeli ambitions to regional hegemony, Tehran cultivates "soft power" across the Middle East. Iran conceives its strategy, especially in a period of relative decline in America's standing, as one that constrains unfriendly regimes in the short term and undermines them in the longer term. Over the last decade, it has helped the Islamic Republic reap significant political and strategic gains in important theaters across the Middle East-Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories. With the advent of the Arab awakening at the end of last year, Iranian decision-makers are confident that some Arab states' shift toward governments more reflective of their peoples' attitudes and concerns-and, hence, more inclined to pursue more independent foreign policies vis-à-vis the United States and Israel-will work to Iran's advantage. Iranian policymakers correctly calculated that virtually any successor to Saddam Hussein 's regime in Iraq would be a net positive for Iranian interests. Now, they calculate that a successor to the Mubarak regime in Egypt is bound to be less enthusiastic about strategic cooperation with the United States and Israel and more receptive to Iran's message of resistance. Iran's strategy toward Saudi Arabia runs very much along these lines. Tehran's approach is to highlight Saudi collusion with Washington and (at least indirectly) with Israel on important regional issues, thereby attracting support from ordinary Saudis-not just Saudi Shia but also Sunnis who dislike their government's pro-American stance. In the short term, Iran seeks to constrain the Saudi government from cooperating in military strikes or other coercive actions against it by making this an unpopular prospect for much of the Saudi population. In the longer term, Iran is working to transform the regional balance of power from one in which the United States, the Saudis, and other American allies dominate to one in which American, Israeli, and Saudi influence is marginalized by the diplomatic realignment of Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Turkey, post-Saddam Iraq, and now Egypt. The Saudi leadership tries to push back by portraying Iran as an "alien", Shia/Persian element in its environment. At times, this helps the Kingdom hold the line against the Islamic Republic's soft power offensive. But the long-term trend is toward rising Iranian influence. In this context, the notion of an Iranian government plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States simply has no logic. History also suggests we treat the Obama Administration's claims of Iranian government complicity with deep skepticism. For eight years, during 1980-1988, the fledgling Islamic Republic had to defend itself against a war of aggression launched by Saddam Hussein -- a war of aggression financed primarily by Saudi Arabia. Nearly 300,000 Iranians were killed in that war. But, during the entire conflict, the Iranian government never targeted a single Saudi anywhere in the world. This is not because the Islamic Republic loves the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is because Iran's national security strategy ultimately depends on appealing to the Saudi public not to support attacks against Iran, by harnessing popular anger over Israeli actions and U.S. overreach in the war on terror. Killing a Saudi Ambassador would have exactly the opposite effect. Whatever Mansour Ababsiar and his cousin may have talked about, it is wholly implausible that the Iranian leadership decided that this was a smart thing to do. The Obama Administration's calls for more concerted action against Iran will ultimately backfire-because they will be seen in most of the Muslim world (outside Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab monarchies closely linked to Saudi Arabia) as the United States yet again leveling dubious life-and-death charges as the pretext to contain or even eliminate another Muslim power. President Obama, his advisers, and all Americans need to ask themselves if this is really the time to bring the United States even closer to another Middle East war fought in blind defiance of the region's strategic realities. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett.

Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leveret say Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton reflect a hubristic version of reality . They also say U.S. foreign policy misunderstands the Islamic Republic's national security strategy . And that Saudi leadership is trying to push back by portraying Iran as an "alien", Shia/Persian element in its environment . The Obama Administration's "calls for more concerted action against Iran will ultimately backfire"

(CNN) -- In a spacious, sunlit apartment on the outskirts of Potsdam, Germany, eight roommates between the ages of 80 and 100 share a kitchen, a living room -- and 24-hour nursing care. Though all tenants suffer from dementia, these seniors aren't whiling away in a nursing home. In the open living area, complete with a flat-screen TV and photos of grandchildren on the wall, an elderly tenant draws, another arranges a flower bouquet, and a third runs a vacuum cleaner repeatedly over the same spot. "It will never get clean," says Birgitta Neumann, 56, the founder and coordinator of the shared living arrangement, stepping over the vacuum cleaner cord snaking across the hallway. "But it doesn't matter." As part of a growing trend in Germany, what really matters is that elderly citizens stay out of institutionalized care. While graying populations affect Europe as a whole, Germany has one of the highest percentages of residents aged 65 or older in the world. A projected 4.5 million citizens—most of them seniors—will require costly long-term care by 2050, according to Federal Statistical Office data. In a recent public health insurance survey, however, about 82% of Germans say they do not want to grow old in a nursing home. In response, as of January 2013, a new law provides seniors with a maximum grant of €10,000 ($13,300) to establish a community apartment as well as a monthly subsidy of €200 ($266) per tenant. "Since 2005, the number of people requiring long-term care has been rising, but the percentage of those living in nursing homes is decreasing," says Heinz Rothgang, a professor at the University of Bremen's Centre for Social Policy Research. "Nursing homes are total institutions where patients lose their rights, but in alternative settings you can live in a familiar environment and your life is more meaningful." While the first shared apartment for seniors appeared as a novelty in the mid-1990s, a recent boom means that almost 2,000 senior residents live in shared housing arrangements in Berlin alone, according to a Journal of Clinical Nursing study. And as the generation that witnessed the social revolutions of the 1960s grows older, the trend is gaining momentum. "The image of aging is changing," says Henning Scherf, a sprightly septuagenarian and former mayor of the northern German city of Bremen. "In the past it had to do with frailty and black clothes. Now there is everything, from traditional people to those who want to do things differently." For more than two decades, Scherf, 74, and his wife have been sharing a large townhouse in the center of Bremen with seven other roommates between the ages of 17 and 79. While some of the tenants have changed over the years, the household now includes a couple of teachers, a retired priest, an engineer, a doctor and a student. "The beauty of our home is that it's so colorful and different," says Scherf, author of "Gray is Colorful," an autobiographical account of aging. "We are a family through choice." When it comes to choosing alternative housing arrangements in Germany, shared apartments aren't the only option. Across the country, multi-generational homes combine assisted living apartments for seniors with nursery schools and allow elderly tenants to remain in the neighborhoods they grew up in. "We haven't built a nursing home in 10 years and we don't plan on building any," says Alexander Künzel, chief executive of the Bremer Heimstiftung, a foundation providing long-term care services. Instead, the foundation offers multigenerational residential buildings such as the Haus im Viertel, or House in the Neighborhood, where seniors can rent one of 85 apartments with round-the-clock assistance and a nursery school next door. "There is an African saying that goes 'You need a whole village to raise a child,'" Künzel says as children from the nursery school at the Haus im Viertel pour into the yard for recess. "But I say that you need a whole neighborhood for an elderly person to live." For Edith Teeg, 88, who moved into one of the apartments at the multigenerational home over a year ago, maintaining her freedom is crucial. She has since joined a theater group, takes a language class, and goes to the gym. "I am completely independent," Teeg says. "Here I am my own master." Back at the shared apartment in Potsdam, the rigors of life in a nursing home are also nowhere to be seen. The elderly tenants are free to go to bed and get up when they choose. Relatives and grandchildren often spend the night in the apartment's guest room. Most of all, the residents keep busy and feel useful helping out with household chores or working on art projects. As lunchtime approaches, the day-time nurse prepares a dish of sweet-and-sour eggs, a reminder of childhood cuisine many of her patients are familiar with. The tenants shuffle over to the dining room table. "It's all very normal here," says Neumann, who oversees the daily running of the apartment. "Just like at home."

Eight German citizens aged between 80 and 100 share an apartment together . A growing trend in Germany is for elderly citizens to avoid institutionalized care . Germany has one of highest percentages of residents aged over 65 . New law provides seniors with up to $13,300 to establish community apartment .

Beijing, China (CNN) -- Jonathon Levine was a fiercely ambitious 25-year-old with a Masters degree -- but stuck in a dead end job. This is not how it was meant to be for a boy raised in New York City, nourished on the American dream that hard work and a good education would bring rewards and riches. So what did he do? He left. After researching job vacancies abroad, an opportunity in reclusive North Korea grabbed his attention. Deciding his ambitions didn't stretch that far, Levine settled on a teaching job at Beijing's Tsinghua University instead. "In the (United) States everyone is so mopey -- it is the end of the world, no jobs, and income inequality is through the roof. We're back to the gilded age in the U.S," he said. Fact Check: China tire case . I met Levine in the crowded Tsinghua campus cafeteria. He's had to get used to a lot in a short time. But he's getting to grips with the language and can now order exotic new local food. "You could say it has been a long march," he said. He is part of a new generation waking up to a new reality. America is no longer the land of opportunity. China is. While people like Levine get it, U.S. politicians seem bent on casting China as the bad guy. Beijing is accused of keeping its currency low to win an export advantage and steal American jobs. The China bashing moved to center stage in the second U.S. presidential debate. Both candidates tried to score points against each other by getting tough on China. "China has been a currency manipulator for years and years and years. And the president has a regular opportunity to label them as a currency manipulator, but refuses to do so. On day one, I will label China a currency manipulator," proclaimed Republican Mitt Romney. What questions weren't answered in the debate? In response, President Barack Obama, looking far more engaged than he did during the first debate, said Romney was the last person to get tough on China, accusing him of sending jobs to Asia during his business career. "Governor Romney talked about China, as I already indicated. In the private sector, Governor Romney's company invested in what were called pioneers of outsourcing. That's not my phrase. That's what reporters called it," Obama said. "And as far as currency manipulation, the currency has actually gone up 11% since I've been president because we have pushed them hard. And we've put unprecedented trade pressure on China. "That's why exports have significantly increased under my presidency. That's going to help to create jobs here." After a softly-softly approach at the beginning of his administration, Obama has switched tack. He's pivoted U.S. geostrategic policy towards Asia after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. While some countries express concern about the intentions of a more powerful and assertive China, the United States is bolstering its relationships in the region. It is boosting its military presence by carrying out military exercises with allies Japan and South Korea, while some U.S troops have been placed on Australian soil at a new base near the northern city of Darwin. Many China watchers have couched this as an attempt to block the emerging super power's rise. China's Foreign Ministry has said U.S politicians need to treat China fairly and that in the interests of security the relationship needs to be based on trust. Checking candidates' facts on foreign policy . Ahead of a visit to Asia by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton last month, an editorial in the state-run Chinese Global Times newspaper claimed "many Chinese people dislike Hillary Clinton. "She has brought new and extremely profound mutual distrust between the mainstream societies of the two countries." One of the sources of this hostility has been Washington's perceived interference in maritime disputes with China's neighbors in the region. During her recent visit, Clinton urged those involved in the various territorial disputes to "begin to engage in a diplomatic process toward the shared goal of a code of conduct." While Chinese officials responded diplomatically by saying that "freedom of navigation and safety in the South China Sea is assured," another editorial in the Global Times was more scathing, saying it hoped Clinton "can reflect upon the deep harm she is bringing to the Sino-U.S. relationship in the last few months before she leaves office and try to make up for it." For her part, Clinton has stressed the importance of deepening bilateral ties. "As we continue to expand our work on the consequential issues of our time, we must continue to build on this historic opportunity to deepen our relationship, because a thriving China is good for America and a thriving America is good for China," she said in a goodwill message to mark China's National Day on October 1. Meanwhile, Levine is watching all of this unfold as he teaches his students about the United States, the country he's left behind. He says it is misguided to fear China. "It's not like going to the moon, like it might have been a hundred years ago because communication links us much closer together." For him this is a new world, interdependent with China as a rapidly emerging new axis of power. And for people like he used to be -- back home and struggling -- he has some only half-joking advice. "Get out, get out, leave everyone behind you." Global reaction to final debate: Disappointment .

Grant: America is no longer the land of opportunity -- China is . Romney, Obama attempt to score points in debate by bashing China . Romney: "On day one I will label China a currency manipulator" Obama: "We've put unprecedented trade pressure on China"

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Thailand's military announced Thursday that it has taken control of the government. Here's what that means for travelers visiting one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations. The biggest implication of the coup -- declared after rival factions were unable to come up with a suitable agreement to govern -- is the nationwide curfew, in effect from 10 p.m.-5 a.m. until further notice. However, the military said air passengers with arrival and departure flights scheduled during the curfew are permitted to travel to and from the airports at any time, and are advised to carry a printout of their flight itinerary. All airports in Thailand remain open and flights are still operating as scheduled. On the ground in Bangkok and beyond . On the ground in Bangkok on Friday morning, streets are calm and most residents are carrying on with their lives as normal, though military checkpoints have been set up at various locations throughout the country. Since the coup announcement was made, protest groups on both sides have dismantled their camps in line with the army's ban on gatherings of five people or more. The military announced a nationwide closure of schools until Sunday, though some international schools remained open. All foreigners, regardless of whether they are tourists or residents, are advised to carry their passports with them at all times. Tourist attractions, government offices, embassies, shops, restaurants and malls are still open, though some have adjusted their hours in line with the curfew. All Bangkok expressways currently remain open. The city's BTS Skytrain, MRT subway, Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link, public ferries and trains continue to operate, though hours have been adjusted in line with the curfew. Taxis were reportedly available at both airports for passengers arriving after the curfew, though travelers posting on social media reported experiencing longer lines than usual. All popular tourist destinations outside of Bangkok, including Phuket, Chiang Mai and Krabi, are all operating as normal and there is a limited military presence on the streets, according to reports, though popular night spots closed early on Thursday night due to the curfew. Television and social media . All state-run, satellite and cable TV providers have been ordered to carry only the signal of the army's television channel. CNN is among those networks that have been taken off the air. In an announcement on their Facebook page, the military government announced that Thai citizens should not believe rumors that they will shut down the internet, social media or Youtube. Though there are reports the military is monitoring social media and will block any content perceived as a threat to national security, as of Friday morning all websites and apps were working normally. With TV stations now off the air, Twitter is one of the best ways to get real-time information on the situation in Bangkok. Richard Barrow, a full-time travel blogger based in Bangkok, is a top source for those seeking news about the protests as well as travel advice. He can be followed at Twitter.com/richardbarrow. Local English-language media on Twitter include the Bangkok Post: Twitter.com/BPbreakingnews; The Nation: Twitter.com/nationnews; and MCOT: Twitter.com/MCOT_Eng. Government warnings . Tourists are advised to check with their governments before traveling to Thailand, as warnings vary and can impact the validity of their travel insurance. In a statement following the coup announcement, the United States Embassy in Bangkok issued an emergency message. "U.S. citizens are advised to stay alert, exercise caution, and monitor media coverage," it said. "You are advised to avoid areas where there are protest events, large gatherings, or security operations and follow the instructions of Thai authorities. " In response to the coup, the Hong Kong government raised its Outbound Travel Alert for Thailand to red, indicating it feels residents face a significant threat by visiting. "Residents intending to visit Thailand should adjust their travel plans and avoid non-essential travel, including leisure travel," says the statement. "Those already there should monitor the situation, exercise caution, attend to personal safety and avoid protests and large gatherings of people." Tourist hotlines . The Tourism Authority of Thailand issued a statement advising tourists seeking assistance to call the following hotlines. TAT Call Centre: 1672 . Tourist Police Call Centre: 1155 . BTS Hotline: +66 (0) 2617 6000 . MRT Customer Relations Center: +66 (0) 2624 5200 . SRT (train service) Call Center: 1690 . Transport Co., Ltd., (inter-provincial bus service) Call Center: 1490 . AOT (Suvarnabhumi Airport) Call Centre: 1722 . Suvarnabhumi Airport Operation Center: +66 (0) 2132 9950 or 2 . Don Mueang Airport Call Center: +66 (0) 2535 3861, (0) 2535 3863 . Thai Airways International Call Center: +66 (0) 2356 1111 . Bangkok Airways Call Center: 1771 . Nok Air Call Center: 1318 . Thai AirAsia Call Center: +66 (0) 2515 9999 .

On Thursday, Thailand's military announced it had taken control of the government in a coup . Military imposed an overnight curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Bangkok . Air passengers with arrival and departure flights scheduled during the curfew are permitted to travel .

(CNN)Four geisha, wrapped in kimonos under dark winter coats, walk in single file through a snow-covered forest. Their red and orange parasols a burst of color against the winter monochrome. It could be a scene from a print by 19th century Japanese artist Hokusai, but behind the evocative image is a modern story. Leading the four through the snows of Niseko, the ski resort on the northern island of Hokkaido, is Fiona Graham. She's an Australian citizen who first moved to Japan when she was just 15 and in 2007 became a geisha. Now working and living as Sayuki, she offers those intrigued by the geisha tradition a glimpse into their enigmatic world by hosting banquets and offering visitors the chance to watch them practice their arts. Her initial fascination with geisha came when working as a filmmaker pitching a documentary on the subject. She eschewed the detachment gained through a camera lens, claiming that only by becoming one herself could she really get to know their traditions and skills. "I couldn't just take one step into it, I had to totally embrace it, it was the only way," she says. "The geisha world is aesthetically very beautiful and with a very beautiful lifestyle," she says explaining what first attracted her to a very different life. "But, really, to live a beautiful life in any country is not so easy," she adds hinting at the challenges she faced becoming one of the few western women to live as a geisha in Japan. An experience unchanged for 400 years . For most visitors to Japan attracted by the mystery of the geisha industry, Sayuki's tours may be as close as they will get to experience an authentic geisha experience. An evening's entertainment at a banquet consists of a multi-course meal with interludes for dances, singing or music played on traditional instruments like the shamisen, a three-stringed lute, or yokobue, a traditional Japanese flute. Traditionally, geisha would specialize in one art form and spend their careers improving their craft. Aside from a few 21st century additions like an iPod accompaniment to the dancing, Sayuki says that the scene at one of her hosted dinners would not have changed much for 400 years. "If you come to a banquet you get to experience the most beautiful parts of Japanese culture, the best of Japanese cuisine. There really is no other way to experience it all in one space." While Niseko is something of frontier in the country for geisha culture, the rest of the year Sayuki is based in Tokyo's Asakusa district and also travels to host geisha banquets abroad. A tradition cloaked in mystery . For centuries geishas have worked as entertainers and paid companions. The most literal translation of geisha is simply "artist." Different districts in Japanese cities have varying training regimen for geisha, but typically, as in Kyoto, exams are taken after the first year as an apprentice, with four additional years of training.h . Many operate within geisha houses -- academies for trainee geisha -- that help manage their careers, while also providing a unique bond and atmosphere of sisterhood. With each delicately crafted kimono costing thousands of dollars (traditionally each geisha would need a wardrobe of 36 to reflect changing seasons), being affiliated with a geisha house helps trainee geisha (called maiko in Kyoto, hangyoku in Tokyo) absorb the costs. After a year's training at a geisha house in Tokyo's Asakusa district Sayuki now operates as an independent. She says she was denied the chance to take on the position of "geisha mother" and mentor young geisha affiliated with the geisha house she trained with because she is not Japanese. Along with Kyoto, the Asakusa district has a long tradition of geisha, enabling visitors today to easily indulge in some geisha-spotting (particularly the ancient Gion area of Kyoto) as they walk through streets on the way to functions at local teahouses and restaurants. Commercialization: Against geisha's nature . It's become something of a tourist pastime in Kyoto. There are now organized walking tours, something that many within in the community have criticized as being too intrusive. For some the commercialization of geisha culture goes against its very nature. "Exclusivity is part of the deal with geishas," says author Lesley Downer who spent six months living in Kyoto's geisha district while researching her book, "Geisha: The Remarkable Truth Behind the Fiction." "People want to commercialize it, but as a tourist you won't see the pristine experience, you'll get an experience, but it just won't be the same." "I think those that work in the geisha industry are very good at hiding (the world from outsiders)." For Downer, geisha remain the embodiment of refinement and grace and are still the custodians of the traditional Japanese art forms. And far from being painted courtesans, their role as artists and professional companions makes them rather formidable, believes Downer. "These are really impressive women. Walking down the street with them I felt really proud." Sayuki's tour; +81 90 6046 9708; from JPY30,000 ($250)

Hoping to make a documentary about geisha, Australian Fiona Graham ended up becoming one . Apart from using an iPod to accompany her dancing, a geisha banquet hasn't changed much in the past 400 years . Different districts in Japanese cities have varying training regimen for geisha .

(CNN) -- Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman, who supports Gov. Scott Walker's repeal of a law that protected workers from pay discrimination, recently said, "You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious." As a graduating student surrounded by classmates about to assume their first jobs, I assure the senator that none of my female classmates is thinking, "Salary isn't that important to me. I don't plan to work hard and don't need to be paid fairly, because I won't be a breadwinner. A man will come along to take care of that for me." Instead, many young women about to enter the workforce are focused on paying off their student loan debt. Those who are also mothers are worried about how to financially provide for, and simultaneously care for, their young children. The single moms among us face even larger challenges. And we are worried about our sisters who don't have college degrees and so don't have the same earning power. What female students might not remember is that the men with whom we stand shoulder-to-shoulder at graduation don't face the same financial challenges. Many young women of my generation believe they live in a post-feminist world, without unfair sex discrimination -- a world in which career paths are designed with fathers and mothers in mind. Unfortunately, that world doesn't exist quite yet. A significant gender pay gap still persists. That's why we cannot be passive as we acknowledge Equal Pay Day, which marks the day when a woman's earnings catch up to what her male peers earned in the previous year. To millennials, it's startling to see that women still earn just 77 cents to the dollar of what men earn. Women of color are hit especially hard: African-American and Hispanic women earn 70% and 61%, respectively, of what white men earn. Without any male income in their household, single women and lesbians may feel the pay gap effect all the more. This wage gap costs working women and their families more than $10,000 annually and jeopardizes women's retirement security. This gap isn't just about women making different choices in their careers. Even after accounting for occupation, hours worked, education, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, number of children and more, a difference of 5% still persists in the earnings of male and female college graduates one year after graduation. After 10 years in the workplace, that gap more than doubles to 12%. Today we are fortunate to have critical laws like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which overturned a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it harder for women -- and all employees -- to pursue federal claims of pay discrimination. Although this important law restored fairness for workers who want to use federal law to challenge cases of discriminatory pay, it only addresses one piece of the larger puzzle. More needs to be done. Paycheck discrimination is not the only obstacle preventing women from having the same economic opportunities as men. As our country continues to focus on our economic recovery, leveling the financial playing field for women must be a priority. According to recent predictions, within a generation, more families will be supported by women than men. If these primary breadwinners earn lower incomes, it won't just affect their families, but also consumer spending and our larger financial growth. For starters, we need to further close the pay gap by fulfilling the promise of equal pay for work of equal value. Entire employment sectors shouldn't be paid less because they're considered "women's work." Because so much of "women's work" is paid at minimum wage, one way to begin to address this is to pass the Rebuild America Act, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage and index the tipped minimum wage to keep pace with inflation. Women and families also need paid sick days and paid leave. The United States remains the only country in the developed world that does not mandate paid sick leave, despite the cost benefits to businesses, workers and our larger economy. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, employers lose hundreds of billions of dollars in productivity when sick workers stay on the job, while workers who are forced to stay home without pay because of illness lose critical income. These costs of unpaid leave take a disproportionate toll on women, who are more likely to have care-giving responsibilities and be unable to take time off to care for family members when they fall ill. Our generation can change this. We know what the problems are and we know what the solutions are, but we have to demand that our elected officials and business leaders take action. At the federal and state level, we have to fight efforts to repeal equal pay laws. We have to support increases in the minimum wage. And we have to demand that the United States join our global competitors in giving workers paid leave. All these issues affect our individual financial health and the strength of our collective economy. On this Equal Pay Day, I hope all young women -- and men -- join this fight and prove that none of this is about "money being more important for men" or for women. It's about the kind of country we want to live in, work in and pursue our dreams in. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sandra Fluke.

Sandra Fluke: Women care about wages as much as men do; they want to be paid fairly . On Equal Pay Day, women still make 77 cents for every dollar that men make, she says . Fluke: More families will be supported by women than men, making issue more crucial . Fluke pushes equal pay for equal work, higher minimum wage, guaranteed sick days .

Washington (CNN) -- CNN's John King and other top political reporters empty out their notebooks each Sunday on "Inside Politics" to reveal five things that will be in the headlines in the days, weeks and months ahead. Talk of Bill Clinton's role in the campaign stretch, where his wife hopes to make a difference, a 2016 GOP buildup and some 2014 observations from the trail made for a lively trip around the "Inside Politics" table on Sunday. 1. GOP grass roots sees a growing immigration crisis . We thought after the 2012 presidential election that Republicans would see their crisis with Latino voters and find some way to strike an immigration reform compromise with President Obama. It didn't happen, largely because of pressure from grass-roots conservatives who oppose any path to citizenship for the undocumented and consider even granting legal status tantamount to amnesty. Well, if you believed perhaps there would be room, and motivation, for a deal after the 2014 midterms -- think again. One striking common theme from a 1,200 -mile drive this past week across Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa is the visceral reaction of conservatives when immigration comes up -- and often they are the ones to raise it early in any chat about what is driving their politics. Perhaps it's not surprising to hear this anger at a Colorado tea party meeting, where one speaker warned that Islamist suicide bombers are deliberately infecting themselves with Ebola and coming across the U.S.-Mexican border planning to "cough and spit" on Americans "before blowing themselves up." But talk of a wide-open border being exploited by terrorists also animated four Kansas women during a chat at a senior center in Bob Dole's hometown of Russell, and came up in conversations with voters in conservative rural Iowa. The bottom line: There appears to be little political space for House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who could well be majority leader in January, to negotiate any deal that would be acceptable to Obama. And, when the President takes executive actions, as he promises to do after the election unless there is some legislative breakthrough, it is clear the conservative grass roots will demand confrontation -- leaving the issue front and center as we head into the 2016 presidential cycle. 2. Hillary Clinton's delicate Wall Street balancing act . Hillary Clinton is closing the 2014 campaign with appearances designed to both help Democratic candidates this cycle and also help her test themes for her likely White House run in 2016. Last week it was Kentucky. This week it's Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to help two Democratic women in close gubernatorial contests. The Rhode Island stop, in particular, has an interesting twist, as detailed by Politico's Maggie Haberman: . "That's the one to watch, because Gina Raimondo has been criticized as being too close to Wall Street herself. This has been a commentary applied to Hillary Clinton," said Haberman. "Watch and see what Hillary Clinton's words are as she is helping her up there." 3. Bill Clinton to court African-American voters in Louisiana . And while Hillary Clinton is in New England, "Big Dog" Bill Clinton will be in the Big Easy trying to help Democrats rescue a Senate seat that appears to be slipping away. Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times added the nickname for the former president and she noted his hope of generating increased turnout among African-Americans. "Where he can really help her is with black voters in Louisiana," said Reston. "She's going to get virtually all of them, both sides would say, but it's a matter of getting them to the polls, and Bill Clinton might be able to work his magic down there to help her do that." Turning out the African-American vote is a top priority for Democrats there and in several other states now, and there could be a sequel if the Louisiana race ends up in a runoff. 4. Up all night on November 4? Maybe a good time to invest in coffee futures? Or book an advance airfare to New Orleans or -- Atlanta? Jonathan Martin of The New York Times rightly points out the likelihood of a late election night because so many Senate races are so close, including an Alaska contest that, in addition to the time zone issue, also includes many remote areas where the count could spill into Wednesday. Even then, he points out the possibility that control of the Senate might not be clear until months after November 4. "I talked to a lot of folks from both parties over the weekend -- increasingly certain that Georgia is in fact going to a runoff," said Martin. "And by the way, that's a January runoff." 5. Ben Carson, the "Tea-vangelical" vote, Ebola and 2016 . Speaking of 2016, keep an eye on Dr. Ben Carson. The conservative favorite is adding staff to his talk of a possible presidential run, Nia Malika Henderson of The Washington Post reports. And supporters looking to encourage a Carson run are raising some serious money. "He's got a virtual campaign-in-waiting, a campaign chairman, his super PAC raised $3 million in this last third quarter -- Ready for Hillary was only able to raise $2 million," said Henderson. "Look for him to challenge Rand Paul and Ted Cruz for that key 'Tea-vangelical' vote. And this Ebola scare certainly gives him something of an opening to flex his medical knowledge during these next couple of days."

Bill Clinton courts black voters in Louisiana this week . Ben Carson, "Tea-vangelicals" & the Ebola vote . Hillary Clinton's Wall Street balancing act in Rhode Island .

(CNN)The fiancée of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez has been granted immunity, compelling her to testify at his murder trial, according to a decision released by the trial judge on Tuesday. In early January, the fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, met with Bristol County, Massachusetts, prosecutors in what court documents call an immunity meeting, but the results of that meeting are secret, even from the Hernandez defense team. "It allows the prosecutor to force her to testify in front of the jury without taking the Fifth" (Amendment against self incrimination), CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said of the order. "If she lies, she can still be prosecuted for perjury because a grant of immunity never (immunizes) someone against committing perjury on the witness stand." Hernandez, the former tight end who once had a $40 million contract, has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the death of Odin Lloyd. He has also pleaded not guilty to weapons charges. His co-defendants, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, have also pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. Jenkins has been a regular at hearings for Hernandez. He has often been seen mouthing "I love you" to her. Jenkins is on the prosecution's witness list. It is not known whether her testimony will help or hurt Hernandez. "Normally, a fiancée is not going to testify adversely against her true love," said Callan, a former New York homicide prosecutor. But there is no privilege in Massachusetts allowing engaged couples to avoid testifying against one another. Prosecutors suspect Jenkins of following instructions from Hernandez to get rid of the murder weapon from their home by removing the gun inside a box, putting it in a black trash bag, and borrowing her sister's car to take the bag to a dumpster and throw it away. According to court documents, she doesn't remember where. Her sister was the girlfriend of the victim and has already testified against Hernandez. Prosecutors said Jenkins, Hernandez's high school sweetheart, lied to a grand jury several times about the presence of guns in their North Attleboro home, among other issues. She faces possible jail time if found guilty of perjury charges. She has pleaded not guilty. Jenkins and Hernandez are the parents of a daughter who was less than a year old when her father was arrested on June 26, 2013. Jenkins' sister Shaneah was dating Lloyd, 27, who was shot six times, according to prosecutors. Who's who in Aaron Hernandez case . Prosecutors allege that on the day after Lloyd's killing, Jenkins got a coded text message from Hernandez. Search warrants said Hernandez asked Jenkins to get something out of their basement. "Go ... in back of the screen in movie room when u (sic) get home an (sic) there is a box ... jus (sic) in case u were looking for it!!! Member (sic) how you ruined the big tv ... WAS JUST THINKIN bout that lol wink wink love u TTYL....K" TTYL is shorthand for "talk to you later." The evidence against Hernandez: What's in, what's out . A home surveillance video shows Jenkins leaving the house about an hour later carrying something "rigid" she described as a box, court documents state. She placed it inside a garbage bag, covered it with children's clothing, and carried the bag to a car and drove away, prosecutors said. Jenkins borrowed her sister's car, something her sister told investigators she had never done before. When Jenkins returned home, she was seen on the same security system but without the "rigid" item. Jenkins told a grand jury she threw the item in a dumpster but couldn't remember where, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors suspect the murder weapon was inside. It has not been found. Hernandez's lawyers have argued there's no way of knowing what was in the box. "I mean, who knows?" Hernandez co-counsel Jamie Sultan told the court in 2014. "It could be drugs, it could be something that was connected to this crime that he knew about, that he was covering up for somebody else after the fact. There are all kinds of possibilities." Hernandez's defense team has filed a motion demanding to know what promises prosecutors may have made to Jenkins. If she made a deal for a lesser charge or immunity, the jury will have to take it into account. "The jury is going to look at that and say, 'You know something? He must be guilty if even his fiancée would say that,'" said Callan. "Or the defense would convince them that she's made such a sweet deal with the prosecution that she's decided to lie to implicate her lover," he added. Callan suggested that if Jenkins is put on the stand as a prosecution witness and repeats her grand jury testimony that she threw out the item without knowing what was inside and can't remember where she disposed of it, she could put herself in greater legal jeopardy. That's because, Callan said, prosecutors could later contend at a perjury trial that she repeated an alleged lie under oath. "It's going to increase her guilt if the prosecutor pursues perjury charges," Callan said. CNN's Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.

Aaron Hernandez is on trial in the death of Odin Lloyd . His fiancée has pleaded not guilty to perjury charges . She is on the prosecution's witness list .

(CNN) -- Much was made of the death of the VW Kombi last year, when the last van rolled off a Brazilian factory floor after more than 60 years of continuous production. But there are still places where this icon of world travel can be found, spluttering and stuttering along the dusty paths of adventure. A small tour company in Uganda has discovered a few Kombis rusting away, abandoned by their owners in dusty corners of the country, and is putting them to use as hardy servants of travelers seeking alternate means of travel. In 2009, Steven Cresswell and William Boase toured Uganda from the UK on a motorcycle and saw several deserted Kombi vans along their way. A year later they returned, bought and revived one of these relics, named it "Piglet," and founded Kombi Nation Tours. From ambulance to tour bus . Piglet, a 37-year-old red Kombi van, was first registered as an ambulance in the northwest of Uganda. "She'd been last used as a matatu (bus/taxi)," says Rachel Landman, director of Kombi Nation Tours. "Though when we found her, she was being used as a storage for car parts with the words 'Please Enjoy Me Again' painted on the back window." The company quickly found two more camper vans, namely Beatrice (Betty) -- formerly an ambulance -- and The Dude, formerly a chicken hutch. Many of the Kombis were used as taxis and minibuses until they become difficult to maintain. "VW Kombi are no longer common in Uganda," says Landman. "They ceased to be used as taxis and buses in 2000. "They're actually the more expensive choice because of the amount of (maintenance) invested in them but most clients still choose them for the novelty factor," says Landman. Every recovered Kombi is reincarnated by chief mechanic Fred Seruwo, who refits the engine and brakes, reworks the body and takes the van on a 700-kilometer test drive. "When I get back [from the test drive], we have a nice Kombi," says Seruwo. Good, bad, ugly of a Kombi tour . Not all Kombi fans are confident the vehicle is suited to Africa's terrain. "Having been to Africa, I believe there are more appropriate vehicles for touring this part of the world," says Californian Gary Garfield, a Kombi fan who toured Europe in a Kombi in 1973. "The Kombi is/was fun and has great memories, but it's old technology and I wouldn't seek out a tour that uses these for a nostalgic rationale," he adds. Thus, the company also owns a fleet of 4x4 Toyota Landcruisers as backups. "[Our camper vans are] a bunch of old ladies, and this means that they do occasionally have hiccups, usually related to poor-quality fuel confusing their guts," says Landman. But the company says no major breakdowns have occurred so far. "Kombi Nation Tours was born out of Boase's and Cresswell's motorcycle tour and it remains the inspiration of the tour company," says Landman. "[Kombi tours] are to replicate that trip, a true adventure," says Landman. "Many of the clients that we attract are from that 'nostalgia market,' those who traveled in a Kombi back in the 1970s." One quality that has turned Kombis into icons of resourcefulness are the stories that get towed along in their exhaust stream. Landman describes one such episode: "In February 2014, we were traveling between Ishasha, home of the tree-climbing lion and Bwindi, home of the mountain gorillas. "We left the savannah of the national park only to find the road had been resurfaced the day before and raised about 40 centimeters and we couldn't get the Kombi onto the main road. "Luckily, Kate, one of the clients who had owned a Kombi in Nepal in the '70s, and her nephew, had a good sense of adventure. "Together we dug some of the gravel and sand -- luckily not yet tarmac -- and made a clearance to drive the vehicle up -- and replaced it afterward of course." 'They'll be around another 40 years' The Kombi has been in production since the 1950s but Volkswagen shut down its Brazil plant, the last facility making the vans, on the last day of 2013. "We are, of course, all saddened that they will at some point fade away," says Landman. "But we think they'll be around for another 40 years or so. From a business perspective, it makes them more special and unique. "On tour outside of Kampala [the vans] certainly turn heads. Children run to them in the village and sometimes just stare at them, confused, in the very remote areas. "Old men wave and its been known for them to stop walking and take off their hats!" Have you traveled in a VW Kombi? Share your experience in the comments section.

VW ended the production of the Kombi last year, but the vans' resourceful spirit thrives in Uganda . Kombi Nation Tours recovers abandoned Kombis and turns them into tour buses . "Many of the clients that we attract are from that 'nostalgia market,'" says company director .

(CNN) -- In 2005, Brian Baker was one of the rising stars of American tennis. Aged just 20, he recorded a shock win over world No. 9 Gaston Gaudio at the U.S. Open. Despite being beaten in the second round, the future looked bright for the Tennessee native. However, it was to be his last match at a grand slam tournament for seven years as a nightmare series of injuries and operations threatened to end his promising career. "I was the No. 2-ranked junior in the world," Baker told CNN's Open Court. "I was hoping to start off with a bang on the ATP Tour and have a successful career, whether top 50, top 10 or top 20." Instead, he had to have five surgeries in four years. And until recently, his only involvement in tennis was playing on the low-ranking Challenger Tour and coaching his college team. Roddick exits early at French Open . As well as elbow and hernia injuries, the root of Baker's fitness problems lie with a hip condition which has troubled him since he was a boy. "Femoroacetabular Impingement is a developmental condition that has to do with the way his hip formed when he was probably nine or 10 years old," Doctor Thomas Byrd told CNN. "There's an overgrowth around the socket where the femoral head grows out, sort of like the front end of your car being a little out of alignment. It leads to some uneven wear inside the hip. "What's remarkable to me he was able to reach such an elite status in the first place. He was spending as much time battling his hips as he was his opponent." But now Baker is back on the big stage, having made a remarkable comeback. On Wednesday, the 27-year-old will play in the second round of a grand slam for the second time in his career. Learn more about Baker's next French Open opponent . Having been awarded a wildcard entry to the French Open after winning a Challenger tournament in April, Baker reached his first ATP Tour final at a warmup event in Nice last weekend. He lost that match, but won his opener at Roland Garros on Monday against the man who beat him in New York in 2005, Belgium's world No. 77 Xavier Malisse. Baker next faces a much tougher test against French 11th seed Gilles Simon, but his family are just glad to see him back out on the court enjoying himself. "I was just so happy for him because that's what he'd worked all this time to go back for," said his father Steve. "Now that he's done that we hope to have a good time in Paris. "We've watched him play in grand slam matches before; it's not the first time. I always thought I would one day go to see him play in Roland Garros." The famous clay-court venue holds special memories for Baker, who reached the 2003 French Open boys' final before losing to Switzerland's Stanislaw Wawrinka -- who has since enjoyed a steady career and is ranked 21st in the world. While players such as Marcos Baghdatis and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga -- both of whom he beat during that Roland Garros run -- were winning titles and climbing the rankings, Baker was trying to rescue his fading career. "I think Marcus beat me a couple of times, but I got the better of him a few more times," Baker told CNN. "That was right when I was coming back from my first hip surgery. "I had no idea I was going to have four more surgeries ... I can't remember who he beat, (David) Nalbandian and somebody else. It definitely gave me some motivation -- maybe if I come back I could have some good results." Baker's return gained real momentum in Nice. Before losing to defending champion Nicolas Almagro in the final, he scored notable wins over former junior rival and world No. 14 Gael Monfils and Russia's former No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko, a 21-time title winner on the ATP Tour. "Every time you go onto court you want to win," Baker told the ATP Tour's official website after his final defeat. "I am a competitor, I hate losing. But, when you look at the week as a whole, it has been an unbelievable week. "I hoped to qualify at the start of the week and win a match or two before going to Roland Garros. I obviously did much better. "I think even in the qualifying, I felt as if I was playing pretty well. I won my three matches easily and knew I was playing good tennis." Baker's compatriot John Isner, ranked 11th in the world, is pleased to see his former junior rival back competing at the highest level. "We are virtually the exact same age," Isner told CNN. "We were born days apart in and played in the juniors, he was hands down one of the best players in the country. "He definitely deserves it and he has worked really hard. And he hasn't let all of these obstacles discourage him. "He is still doing what he loves and that is playing tennis -- and he is doing very well. You know, without more injuries and if he can stay healthy, I can see him in the top 100."

Brian Baker is playing in his first grand slam event since the 2005 U.S. Open . The American has been plagued by injuries throughout his career . Baker has had elbow and hip problems which led to five operations . The 27-year-old beat Xavier Malisse in the first round of the French Open Monday .

(CNN) -- "Losers" or victims of a framing? With officials seeking possible motives for the men who stand accused of the Boston marathon bombings, a picture is emerging from those who should have known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokar, best -- their family members. As a nation grieves over the three people killed in the bombings, the scores injured and a police officer who lost his life during the search for suspects, members of the Tsarnaev family have gone on record to express their feelings about the possible guilt or innocence of the pair. This is what they had to say: . The mother . Zubeidat Tsarnaeva says it is "impossible, impossible" for her sons to have committed such a crime. Speaking from the Russian region of Dagestan, she expressed support for her children and said she believes they have been the victims of a setup. "You tell me, my son never would keep it in secret," she said. "... If there is anyone who would be knowing it would be me. (Tamerlan) never would hide it from me." The family matriarch also said no one talked about terrorism in their household. Her oldest son had had contact with the FBI before, she said. "They knew what my son was doing, what actions and what sites (on) the Internet he was going," she said. "How could this happen?" Boston suspects: Immigrant dream to American nightmare . The father . "Someone framed them," Anzor Tsarnaev said while the manhunt was being conducted. "I don't know who exactly did it, but someone did." He said he had spoken with his sons on Thursday and they told him, "Everything is good, Daddy. Everything is very good." After being told by ABC News on Friday that his youngest son had been captured alive, the elder Tsarnaev reportedly began to weep and had this message for his child: "Tell police everything. Everything. Just be honest." On Saturday, he told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that he planned to travel to the United States. "My kids never did anything -- that's it," he said. The sister . Alina Tsarnaeva told The (Newark, New Jersey) Star-Ledger that she had not seen her brothers "in a long time" but spoke lovingly of Tamerlan. "He was a great person," she said. "I thought I knew him. I never would have expected that from him. He is a kind and loving man. The cops took his life away just the same way he took others' lives away, if that's even true. At the end of the day, no one knows the truth." Analysis: Older suspect grew increasingly religious . An uncle . After the death of Tamerlan and as authorities continued to hunt his younger brother, their uncle Ruslan Tsarni spoke passionately at a news conference Friday outside his Montgomery County, Maryland, home. "Being losers, hatred to those who were able to settle themselves -- these are the only reasons I can imagine," Tsarni said when asked to speculate on a possible motive. "Anything else, anything else to do with religion, with Islam, is a fraud, is a fake." The uncle admonished the pair for putting "a shame on our entire family -- the Tsarnaev family -- and you put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity." By Saturday, he appeared to have a bit of a change of heart, telling CNN's Shannon Travis that he was angry when he spoke Friday. He said he was still in a "state of shock" but expressed happiness that his younger nephew had been captured alive and said his elder nephew had fallen prey to outside influences, according to a family acquaintance. "(The acquaintance) said there is someone who brainwashed him, some new convert to Islam,'' Tsarni said. "I would like to stress (the acquaintance was) of Armenian descent.'' An unidentified relative in Dagestan told ABC News that Tamerlan had worried family members a year ago during a trip there and had been asked to leave an uncle's home because of his "increasingly extremist views." An aunt . Tsarni was not the only one who passionately spoke about the Tsarnaev brothers. Maret Tsarnaev said she believed the picture of the bombing suspects that purportedly helped lead authorities to her nephews was "staged." "If somebody wants to convince me, show me evidence," she said, telling reporters Friday she is studying to become a lawyer. "Evidence! Evidence!" At times seeming almost combative during a press conference, she said it would take much more than photos to convince her that her nephews had committed such a crime. "What I'm saying is, why FBI does not give me more?" FBI agents interviewed older suspect in 2011 . The wife . Katherine Russell is the 24-year-old wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and mother of their 3-year-old daughter, Zahara. Approached by Britain's Daily Mail at her family's home in New Hampshire, she declined to comment. Her family released the following statement Friday: . "Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child. We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriots' Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlane Tsarnaev. Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted. Please respect our family's privacy in this difficult time."

The family members of the bombing suspects are speaking out . A family member told ABC News the eldest son's views worried them . The wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev is not talking .

(CNN) -- The Obamacare website is open for business. But the Charlton Memorial Hospital in Folkston, Georgia, is closed. Because Republicans in half the states have blocked the expansion of Medicaid, funds to public hospitals with large uninsured populations have been slashed. So far, at least five public hospitals have been closed this year and 5,000 hospital employees have been laid off nationwide. The closures are expected to worsen in the coming years. In Georgia, as many as 15 more rural hospitals may close "within months" and in Tennessee, which is putting off a decision on expanding Medicaid, almost half of the 61 rural hospitals in the state might face "major cuts or closure." This is a direct — and disastrous — consequence of Republicans' ideological opposition to Obamacare. When the Affordable Care Act was originally passed, subsidies to hospitals with large uninsured "charity care" populations were cut, figuring that the expansion of Medicaid under the law would replace this funding. But then the Supreme Court ruled that states could decide whether to expand Medicaid or not. Half the states have said they will not extend Medicaid or are putting off deciding. These are states mostly controlled by Republican governors, state legislatures, or both. There was really no downside to extending Medicaid to cover individuals who earn up to 133% of the federal poverty level. The federal government is covering 100% of the cost of Medicaid for the next two years and 90% afterward. Columnist Josh Barro has pointed out the bind: "(W)hen Republican state officials decline to participate, they will have to explain to both medical providers and potential Medicaid beneficiaries that they turned down free federal money just to spite the President." And yet the 25 states that have indeed refused Medicaid expansion will soon find they're not just spiting the President but also their own citizens. The people who rely on these "essential hospitals" aren't just low-income folks. Middle-class Americans who live in rural communities will have to travel 40 or 50 miles just to reach the nearest emergency room if these hospitals close their doors. According to Bloomberg News, Pam Renshaw crashed her four-wheeler in Folkston, Georgia, and suffered painful second- and third-degree burns on nearly half her body. But her local hospital had shut down. It took two hours for her to get to an ambulance center 20 miles away and then on to a hospital in Florida where she could get treatment. As more of these horror stories emerge and as more hospitals close, even the most diehard Republican voters in these rural communities won't care about ideological grandstanding. They'll just want their hospitals open. On the heels of news of rural hospitals shuttering come reports that health care costs overall are falling and that the cost of Obamacare is expected to be billions of dollars less than expected. Of course, some of the decline in health care cost is certainly the result of a still-sluggish economy. Yet does anyone doubt that if health care costs had risen in the same period to even a fraction of a degree, Republicans would be screaming from the rooftops, blaming Obamacare? We might not be able to expect fervent anti-Obamacare ideologues to act rationally in the face of facts — but what we can expect is that their constituents will be even more vexed to see that as health care costs nationwide are falling, the hospitals on which they depend are closing. Desperate to try to blame everything and the weather on the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have tried to pin the cuts in subsidies to hospitals on the dynamics of the law alone. A spokesperson for Georgia's Republican Gov. Nathan Deal blamed the Affordable Care Act for cutting subsidies to the hospitals that treat the uninsured while refusing to acknowledge the governor's power to expand Medicaid at the state level and solve the entire crisis. You heard that right: Republicans like Deal, constantly railing against the federal government and clamoring for "state's rights," are suddenly abdicating state responsibility and blaming the feds for not fixing the problem. It's the same hypocritical dynamic at work in more than 30 states that have turned their roles in setting up health insurance exchanges over to the federal government. It seems Republicans want state authority when it comes to pushing their conservative agenda but not when it comes to providing basic health care and access to insurance for their residents. Not that Republicans at the federal level are any more responsible. Congress refused to pass a law that would have delayed the subsidy cuts for rural hospitals until more states decide whether they're extending Medicaid. These acts of ideological intransigence by Republicans at the federal and state levels will not hurt Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, its components are broadly popular with the majority of American people and it will only become more so as it is fully implemented and most people see the quality of their care go up as their costs go down. No, Republicans are only hurting their constituents — folks in redder parts of red states who rely on rural hospitals for emergency room treatment, oncology visits, maternity wards and other basic care. Purely for ideological reasons, Republicans are creating a health care crisis — in their own states. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sally Kohn.

GOP states blocked expansion of Medicaid, and public hospitals are closing . Sally Kohn: Medicaid expansion was meant to provide funding for these hospitals . Kohn: Republicans put ideology over health care; refused to delay cuts to hospitals . Kohn: States trying to spite Obama will find they are only hurting their own people .

(CNN) -- Both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were rattled at the World Tour Finals on Saturday but ultimately won their semifinals to set up a blockbuster. Federer saved four match points to inflict a devastating 4-6 7-5 7-6 (6) defeat on Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka at the O2 Arena in London in easily the best match of a tournament that has featured an overflow of lopsided results. "I'm very lucky," Federer told the crowd. "Stan played better from the baseline. I kept believing. I kept fighting." Wawrinka, now 0-11 on hard courts against Federer, will have to put the disappointment behind him as he'll be on the same side as his more famous Swiss in next week's Davis Cup final at France. Whereas Djokovic wasn't happy with the crowd Saturday in his 6-1 3-6 6-0 win over Kei Nishikori, Federer was annoyed with French chair umpire Cedric Mourier. Having the momentum after breaking Wawrinka at love to end the second set, Federer thought he won the first point of the third set on his serve. But he apparently didn't hear Mourier overrule a Wawrinka ball originally called wide. When Wawrinka earned the next two points, the score went to 0-40 when Federer thought it was 15-30. He aired his views to Mourier but the score stood and Wawrinka then broke. Even more drama unfolded later. Federer saved three match points at 4-5 in the third on Wawrinka's serve and another on his own serve at 5-6 in the tiebreaker before converting on his first chance. It was the third time he saved match points this year, the other occasions coming against Gael Monfils at the U.S Open and Leonardo Mayer in Shanghai. A day after clinching the year-end No. 1 spot for the third time, meanwhile, Djokovic moved closer to another significant milestone at the World Tour Finals. If he defeats Federer on Sunday, the Serbian would become the first man since Ivan Lendl in 1987 to claim three consecutive titles at the elite year-end championships. Federer leads their rivalry 19-17 and triumphed in Shanghai but Djokovic has won 31 straight indoor matches. The 33-year-old Federer also played for nearly three hours Saturday and has significantly less time to recover. Djokovic would not have been the crowd favorite anyway, but his negative reaction when fans cheered a double fault in the second set against Nishikori might lose him more supporters. He replied by applauding sarcastically. "The crowd has a right to do what they want, to cheer for whoever they want," Djokovic told reporters. "(There were) some individuals that were going over the line throughout the whole match, some provocations that I usually don't react on, but I did. "It was my fault. I lost concentration." Nishikori had upended the world No. 1 at the U.S. Open in the last four on a sweltering September day, but Djokovic gained his revenge with an easy win indoors at the Paris Masters this month. The way Saturday's affair started -- that, too, was an indoor duel -- it looked like a repeat of the Paris tussle. The exciting Japanese baseliner was hindered by a right wrist injury. Djokovic cruised in the first, needing a mere 22 minutes and dropping 11 points. When he broke in the first game of the second, this edition of the World Tour Finals was on course for an 11th straight-set result in 13 matches. Djokovic, however, double faulted for 1-1 and that was when the momentum shifted. Nishikori broke for 5-3 to the crowd's approval with a winning forehand after Djokovic misplayed a smash and had his older rival in trouble to begin the third. "I allowed myself to be in that situation to lose the set, maybe even lose the match," said Djokovic. "Generally it was my fault and I should know better." Facing the second of two break points in the first game, Djokovic almost double faulted when he struck a heavy second serve. Later in the point, Nishikori misfired on a backhand down the line. It was the turning point of the set. Djokovic immediately broke for 2-0 and coasted, with Nishikori double faulting on match point. "First couple points in the third set, I thought I had it," said Nishikori, the first Asian man to reach a grand slam final. "I think I start thinking too much (that) he's (the) No. 1 player, Novak. I think I risked too much. "I think I did too many unforced errors first couple games. Then he started playing better."

Novak Djokovic defeats Kei Nishikori to reach the final at the World Tour Finals . Djokovic drops his first set of the week but prevails 6-1 3-6 6-0 in about 90 minutes . He will face Roger Federer in the final after Federer topped fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka . Federer saves four match points as he improves to 11-0 versus Wawrinka on hard courts .

Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) -- When Ahmed Jama decided to leave behind the successful restaurant he'd started in London to open a new one in one of the world's most dangerous cities, his hometown of Mogadishu, reactions ranged from surprise to scorn to straightforward questioning of his sanity. "A lot of people think that I am a crazy guy," says the Somali chef, his wiry figure looming over roasting pans full of vegetables and meat inside his downtown Mogadishu eatery. "When I opened this restaurant they could not believe it," he remembers. "When I came here and bought the land some people told me, 'you are not coming back, come back when you're ready' -- I said, 'I am going to build it soon.'" And he did. A risk taker, in 2008 Jama chose to open his first Somalia-based restaurant in Kilometer Four, a dangerous area in Mogadishu where battles would often rage between various factions fighting for control of the city. "That is the only reason I opened it," says Jama, who grew up in Mogadishu before heading to the UK to study culinary arts. "If I do, people are going to see; they are going to say, 'he has done it, why are we not doing it?'" Read this: Holidays in Somalia, anyone? Jama realized that, despite more than 20 years of conflict, there was money to be made here. And now, five years on, Jama owns not one but five popular restaurants across the Somali capital, all of which sell fresh local foods to its growing middle class. But Jama's bold move was spurred on by more than just profits. His mission was to give his fellow countrymen, who'd been scarred by years of war, something greater than just good food. He wanted to offer a taste of normal life and a sense of hope for the future. "The only reason why I came here is to change the lives of the people who don't have somewhere to work and people who have been locked indoors and they don't have anywhere to go and socialize," says Jama. "Basically, what I am looking for is to show them, 'yes, you can laugh when you finish work, university, office work, wherever you are, you have somewhere to go.'" War-torn Mogadishu has for decades been known for the lawlessness and poverty governing its streets. But today, things are starting to change as hope gradually returns to parts of the East African country. With increased security and stability, for the first time in a long time Mogadishu is beginning to open for business. International and regional flights are on the rise, real estate is booming and at the seaport, the country's key national asset, there is a frenzy of activity as commercial ships and boats line up in the harbor carrying goods for import and export. Part of this rising business activity is Jama's chain of restaurants, all called "The Village," that dot the city. The chef and restaurant owner is just one of a growing number of Somalis who, after years abroad, are now returning to be part of their country's economic renaissance. "I wanted to reach where no one has ever reached before and I just wanted to show the world, everyone, that for Somalia this is a time we can take more and remove that dangerous label and to show them that we need help," says Jama. "To show them this is time for peace and for living." Read this: Rappers defy bullets for Mogadishu concert . From his eatery in the heart of Mogadishu to his seafront restaurant in Jazeera beach, Jama's establishments are known as the go-to places in a city that was mostly off limits until recently. Now people gather here to meet friends, eat freshly made Somali food, sip cappuccino and even smoke a pipe of flavored tobacco, albeit discreetly. "Here it is a beautiful place to come over the weekends," says local client Ali Ahmed. "It's beautiful to come out and sit and eat food at the restaurant." The relatively peaceful business environment in Mogadishu is propped up by African Union security forces. They've been able to squeeze out the Al-Qaeda linked militant group Al-Shabaab from the city. But the insurgents seeking to impose strict Islamic rule still launch sporadic terror attacks. Last year, suicide bombers attacked one of Jama's restaurants, killing several people. "People get into my restaurant feeling like they are going out; they have somewhere to sit and have a nice ice cream, have a nice coffee, lobsters too -- there is all of that that makes people come to my restaurant. But politicians and Al-Shabaab they don't like each other -- that's what makes them target my restaurant," says Jama. Despite the danger, Jama is undeterred. He sees his restaurants as more than just somewhere to eat. He sees them as providing hope and has no regrets for leaving the comforts of his life in London to start a business in his country. "I know why I have done it and I want the people to feel that this is what we need to (make things) change," says Jama. "My dream is to have tourism and travel holidays, a mixture of people -- white, black, everyone -- coming on holiday (to Mogadishu). That's my dream."

Somali chef Ahmed Jama owns five restaurants across Mogadishu . He left his successful cafe in London to start a new business in his hometown . Jama says he wanted to give his countrymen a taste of normal life . Growing numbers of Somalis come back to be part of their country's renaissance .

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama is seriously contemplating withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan sometime in 2014, a senior administration official told CNN's Jessica Yellin. The Obama administration had been considering leaving a force of at least several thousand soldiers to act as trainers and to hunt leaders of the Taliban and other militant groups after the long-scheduled withdrawal of all combat troops in December 2014. But Obama has grown increasingly frustrated in his dealings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who last month cut off negotiations about the size of the post-2014 American military force. Karzai objected to the United States beginning formal direct discussions with the Taliban about peace; he regarded this move as happening behind his back and a betrayal. Let's stipulate that Karzai can be a frustrating leader to deal with and that he can even be quite mercurial on occasions. That said, the Obama administration shouldn't be making important strategic decisions merely on the basis of whether or not its leaders like dealing with another country's leader. Further, Karzai will be gone in April 2014, when the next Afghan presidential election will take place; in only nine months, the Obama administration won't have to deal with him at all. In any case, zeroing out U.S. troop levels in the post-2014 Afghanistan is a bad idea on its face -- and even raising this concept publicly is maladroit strategic messaging to Afghanistan and the region writ large. Why so? Afghans well remember something that most Americans have forgotten. After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, something that was accomplished at the cost of more than a million Afghan lives and billions of dollars of U.S. aid, the United States closed its embassy in Afghanistan in 1989 during the George H.W. Bush administration and then zeroed out aid to one of the poorest countries in the world under the Clinton administration. It essentially turned its back on Afghans once they had served their purpose of dealing a deathblow to the Soviets. As a result, the United States had virtually no understanding of the subsequent vacuum in Afghanistan into which eventually stepped the Taliban, who rose to power in the mid-1990s. The Taliban granted shelter to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization from 1996 onward. After the overthrow of the Taliban, a form of this mistake was made again by the George W. Bush administration, which had an ideological disdain for nation building and was distracted by the Iraq War, so that in the first years after the fall of the Taliban, only a few thousand U.S. soldiers were stationed in Afghanistan. The relatively small number of American boots on the ground in Afghanistan helped to create a vacuum of security in the country, which the Taliban would deftly exploit, so that by 2007, they once again posed a significant military threat in Afghanistan. In 2009, Obama ordered a surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan to blunt the Taliban's gathering momentum, which it has certainly accomplished. Read more: Inside the Taliban . But when Obama announced the new troops of the Afghan surge, most media accounts of the speech seized on the fact that the president also said that some of those troops would be coming home in July 2011. This had the unintended effect of signaling to the Taliban that the U.S. was pulling out of Afghanistan reasonably soon and fit into the longstanding narrative that many Afghans have that the United States will abandon them again. Similarly, the current public discussion of zero U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014 will encourage those hardliner elements of the Taliban who have no interest in a negotiated settlement and believe they can simply wait the Americans out. It also discourages the many millions of Afghans who see a longtime U.S. presence as the best guarantor that the Taliban won't come back in any meaningful way and also an important element in dissuading powerful neighbors such as Pakistan from interference in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Read related: Afghanistan vet finds a new way to serve . Instead of publicly discussing the zero option on troops in Afghanistan after 2014, a much smarter American messaging strategy for the country and the region would be to emphasize that the Strategic Partnership Agreement that the United States has already negotiated with Afghanistan last year guarantees that the United States will have some form of partnership with the Afghans until 2024. In this messaging strategy, the point should be made that the exact size of the American troop presence after 2014 is less important than the fact that U.S. soldiers will stay in the country for many years, with Afghan consent, as a guarantor of Afghanistan's stability. The United States continues to station thousands of troops in South Korea more than five decades after the end of the Korean War. Under this American security umbrella, South Korea has gone from being one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the richest. It is this kind of model that most Afghans want and the United States needs to provide so Afghanistan doesn't revert to the kind of chaos that beset it in the mid-1990s and from which the Taliban first emerged. Read more: What's at stake for Afghan women?

White House mulling withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, official said . Peter Bergen said the idea would be dangerous and send the wrong message . He says U.S. abandoned Afghanistan before and the Taliban stepped into vacuum . Bergen: U.S. should follow model it set in South Korea at end of Korean War .

(CNN) -- If Vladimir Putin wanted to get America's attention, he's done a pretty good job. The Russian president's opinion piece arguing against military intervention in Syria, published on The New York Times' website late Wednesday, set off a flurry of reactions -- some outraged, some impressed, and some just plain bemused. Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez said the piece made him almost want to throw up, and House Speaker John Boehner said he was "insulted." Putin said he wrote the article "to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders." But he appeared to have raised some hackles with the last paragraph in which he disputed the idea of American exceptionalism. It was a reference to President Barack Obama's address on Tuesday night, in which he said that while America can't be a global cop, it ought to act when in certain situations. "That's what makes us exceptional," Obama said. "With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth." Putin's answer to that? "It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation," he wrote. World reaction . He concluded with the line, "We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal." The White House shrugged off the fuss around Putin's jabs at Obama, describing them as "irrelevant." Obama himself ignored a question about the op-ed on Thursday. His chief spokesman, Jay Carney, said that Putin has a right to his opinion, noting that America is an exceptional nation. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi questioned Putin's views on equality. "What I found interesting was the closing -- when he says when we pray to God he judges us all - I don't know exactly what his words are but he says `we are all God's children.' I think that's great. I hope it applies to gays and lesbians in Russia as well," Pelosi said. Putin signed a law earlier this year that bans public discussion of gay rights and relationships where children might hear it. Violators can be fined and, if they are foreigners, deported. 'Hey Putin' There are others who took issue with Putin's view. "Hey Putin, next time you wanna write a letter to convince America about something, how about you skip saying we're not exceptional? #rude," tweeted Sarah Rumpf, a political consultant in Texas. Is the U.S. really No. 1? Russia's wars . The Russian president also annoyed some people by warning against military action without U.N. Security Council approval. "Man who launched military action in Georgia and Chechnya without UN say-so says wars without it are illegal?" tweeted the journalist John Podhoretz. A report commissioned by the European Union said that Georgia illegally started the war with Russia in 2008 but that the Russian response, which involved occupying large parts of Georgian territory, also violated international law. The two wars between Russian forces and separatists in Chechnya are widely considered to be internal conflicts. Some Twitter users unearthed a previous op-ed that Putin wrote for the Times about the Chechen war in 1999. Putin, then the prime minister of Russia, struck a different tone in which he sought to explain Russia's military action. "No government can stand idly by when terrorism strikes," he wrote. "It is the solemn duty of all governments to protect their citizens from danger." "Not a word on UN or Pope or Int'l law," Philip Gourevitch, a staff writer at The New Yorker, commented about the 1999 article. (Putin mentions the pope in his op-ed this week as being among those opposed to a U.S. strike against Syria.) Senator's stomach turns . The overall tone of Putin's latest broadside was too much for Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said he read the article at dinner on Wednesday. "I almost wanted to vomit," he said. "I worry when someone who came up through the KGB tells us what is in our national interests and what is not. It really raises the question of how serious the Russian proposal is." But plenty of people seemed to think Putin had scored points against Obama. "I think it's sad to see him acting with more common sense and humanity than Obama," said Ashton Blazer. "Putin made a compelling, though disingenuous, case against military strikes. Its effectiveness shows how badly Pres Obama was outmaneuvered," tweeted Marc Lamont Hill. Power plays . Others saw it in less subtle terms. "#Putin diplomatically serves it to Pres. Obama in the last paragraph. Can't believe the #nytimes ran this," wrote Mary F. Mueller. For some people, the tension between the two presidents has become a spectacle in its own right. "Putin plays his next move on our very own NYTimes. This is almost getting as good as Breaking Bad," wrote Twitter user @MiketheEye. Others said the tone of the article brought to mind some of the famous photos of Putin in macho poses. "Putin wrote his Times op-ed on an Underwood, shirtless, with hunting knife nearby," joked Chris Regan.

Vladimir Putin argues against U.S. military action on NY Times opinion piece . Disputes idea of "American exceptionalism" raised by Barack Obama in speech . Sen. Menendez says op-ed almost made him sick, House Speaker John Boehner "insulted" Obama ignores question about Putin piece; pushes diplomacy on Syria chem weapons .

(CNN) -- Dubai sent investors reeling Thursday after asking creditors to freeze the debt repayments of one of its biggest holding companies, Dubai World. The announcement came after the market close on the eve of the Eid holiday and Thanksgiving in the U.S., leaving traders' hands tied over their exposure to investments in the Emirate. Shares dropped in London and Europe as bankers struggled to gauge the implications of the debt freeze without additional guidance from Wall Street. With very little information being distributed from Dubai, the market has been left to question the motives of ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the financial future of Dubai World and its huge portfolio. So what happened? Late Wednesday, the government of Dubai issued a statement saying it had authorised the Dubai Financial Support Fund to "spearhead the restructure of Dubai World with immediate effect." The first step, it said, was to ask all providers of financing to Dubai World and Nakheel to "standstill" its debt repayments until at least May 30, 2010. It added, to the market's surprise, that the proceeds of a $5 billion bond issue raised hours earlier wouldn't be used to bail the company out. Odd timing wasn't it? Dubai's decision to release its statement just before the Eid holiday in the Middle East, and on the eve of Thanksgiving in the U.S., provoked consternation. "Dubai have certainly picked their moment to finally own up to a need to restructure their debt. I would imagine the news has ruined a few Thanksgiving dinners today," David Morrsion, a strategist at GFT told the Financial Times. Read CNN's John Defterios' take on the Dubai debt fears . How did the markets react? Banking stocks led equity markets lower in London and Europe as traders moved to distance themselves from a potential debt hole in the Middle East. Technical problems in London halted trade for some time, providing further frustration for traders with exposure to Dubai World's lenders. What is Dubai World & Nakheel? Described on its Web site as "Dubai's flag bearer in global investments," Dubai World is a holding company with stakes in everything from ports to real estate and transport. It includes the world's largest privately held real estate company Nakheel, which is the mastermind behind such architectural feats as the man-made residential islands, "The Palm Islands" and "The World." Dubai World also invests in global markets through its investment arm Istithmar World, which boasts a "global footprint" in finance, capital, leisure, aviation and other business ventures. How severe is the debt? Dubai World is said to account for some $59 billion of Dubai's $80 billion debt burden. Nakheel had been due to pay a $3.5 billion convertible loan which expires on December 14. More debts were due to be repaid next year. "This is not just a couple of billion story," Turker Hamzaoglu, EMEA economist at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research told CNN. "For instance, Dubai has to service $10 billion including the Nakheel debt in December and $15 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2010," he added. How much damage has the announcement done? That's incalculable at this stage. Markets in the Middle East and the U.S. don't open until next week so the full impact won't be known until then. It also depends on Dubai's next move. The surprise announcement has shaken confidence in the Emirate as a place to do business. "The key here is the communication of this strategy. I guess everybody is on the same page regarding the need for consolidation in Dubai and for the region. But the only market-positive implication would be if this comes with a clearly open and a predictable way," Hamzaoglu said. "The problem is, here we have a lack of transparency and all these policy reactions are either coming at the last minute, or for example, the recent one just before the long holiday." "I think this is going to shake some investor confidence which may not be reversed as quickly as people expect. So they have to be careful," he added. Who will bail them out? Abu Dhabi has been a lucrative source of funding for its neighbor. The $5 billion bond issue was take up by UAE banks. The question now is whether it will continue to give its backing to its debt-laden neighbour. It may have the money to do so, but does it have the will? What comes next? Ideally, the market wants guidance as to Dubai's debt strategy. It has said that the Dubai World debt freeze is the first stage of a restructuring plan. Investors want to know what comes next. Right now, the region is seen as a risky bet for nervous investors. Hamzaoglu says there are other options for those who want to back similar markets. "From an investor perspective, if you want to still play for the global backdrop of oil prices, etc. there are some other markets, say Brazil or Russia, that investors can be interested in, rather than taking this high risk for the region," he said.

Dubai stuns global investors by calling for a debt "standstill" on Dubai World and Nakheel debts . Market reactions restrained by public holidays in the Middle East and the U.S. Nakheel is Dubai World's real estate arm, owns "The Palm Islands," and "The World" Dubai World said to account for $59 billion of Dubia's $80 billion debt .

Sana'a, Yemen (CNN) -- Yemeni forces have killed Said al-Shihri, second in command of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemeni Defense Ministry said Monday. A Yemeni government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials are waiting for DNA confirmation. If confirmed, the death "would be a deeply significant blow against AQAP," CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. Security Clearance: Dead, captured and wanted . The killing of al-Shihri and other AQAP leaders "is leading to the gradual dismantlement of the group," CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen said. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan in April described AQAP as "very, very dangerous" and "the most active operational franchise" of al Qaeda. FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress in May that al Qaeda and its affiliates, "especially al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, currently represent the top counterterrorism threat to the nation." The group was behind the so-called underwear bomb attempt on a U.S.-bound international flight on Christmas Day 2009 and an effort to smuggle bombs in printer cartridges onto U.S.-bound cargo planes in 2010. Al-Shihri, who was once held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, was killed Monday in an operation in Hadramawt Valley, state-run news agency SABA reported. Six other terrorists were killed as well, the military said in its statement, posted on an official website. One security official said that a brother of senior AQAP leader Nadir al-Shadadi was among those killed. While the Yemeni military said al-Shihri was killed in "an operation by the armed forces," three local security officials told CNN that a U.S. drone conducted the strike. The United States generally does not comment on reported drone strikes. "For weeks we have known his destination and were waiting for the right time to conduct this major operation. The attack makes al Qaeda a handicapped network," a senior Defense Ministry official told CNN on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to media. Officials: Al Qaeda affiliate surrounded at last Yemen stronghold . In November 2007, al-Shihri, a Saudi national, was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi custody to undergo a program designed to lead people away from terrorism. Despite travel restrictions requiring him to stay in Saudi Arabia, he left for Yemen, where he joined another former Guantanamo detainee to assume leadership of AQAP, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee said in a document about detainees who resume terrorism. The U.S. State Department notes that he was publicly identified in January 2009 as the deputy leader of AQAP. "As deputy of AQAP, al-Shihri helps carry out terrorist acts by generating targets, recruiting new members, assisting with training and attack planning, and tasking others in the preparation of attacks," the State Department said. He is believed to have played a key operational role within AQAP, including the planning of attacks inside Yemen and a failed attack to the kill the head of Saudi counterterrorism in 2009, Cruickshank said. Al-Shihri "was the most important Saudi figure within the group. He was key to AQAP's recruitment of Saudis and their fund-raising in the kingdom," Cruickshank said. In December 2009, Yemen said it thought al-Shihri was at the site of an aerial assault against senior al Qaeda operatives. But later reports said he had apparently escaped the attack. Officials: 5 suspected al Qaeda killed in Yemen drone strike . Residents in the Hadramawt Valley said that Yemeni Air Force planes and U.S. drones have been roaming the skies for four days. On Sunday, Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi said Yemeni authorities had uncovered three al Qaeda plots to attack populous areas in the provinces of Sana'a, Aden and Hadramawt. Meanwhile, clashes intensified Monday between al Qaeda and the pro-government Popular Resistance Committees in the town of Shaqra, the third day of fighting. Three al Qaeda militants were killed in the clashes, two local security officials said. "Al Qaeda is attempting to retake the areas it lost in May. It is sending its fighters back to Abyan," one of the security officials told CNN on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the issue. After the Yemeni government announced victory against AQAP in the towns of Jaar, Zinjibar and Shaqra in late May, the terrorist group carried out numerous suicide bombings in various provinces, killing hundreds of troops. One of the bombings killed the commander of Yemen's southern military region, Salem Qatan, the highest-ranking military official killed in Yemen's fight against terrorism. Al Qaeda diminished, but not gone . Journalist Hakim Almasmari reported from Sana'a; CNN's Josh Levs reported from Atlanta. CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom and Tim Lister contributed to this report.

NEW: If confirmed, the death "would be a deeply significant blow," a CNN analyst says . NEW: Three local security officials say a U.S. drone conducted the strike . NEW: "The attack makes al Qaeda a handicapped network," a Yemeni official says . Said al-Shihri was once held at Guantanamo Bay .

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. The habits of coworkers can be irksome in the tight quarters of the modern office. Being part of a team can be a great learning experience when collaboration and discussion lead to new ideas and career growth. But for some employees, like these professionals we talked to, interactions with co-workers range from merely irritating to being a complete nightmare. (To protect the innocent and the annoyed, some of these workers are only sharing their first names.) Do any of these sound familiar? The scented worker . "I worked with a guy that smelled like dirty, wet rags. That was pretty annoying," recalls Christine Lam, a entrepreneur based in Washington state. The issue impacted Lam's productivity. "He smelled so terrible, it made my eyes water and it was very difficult to work with him as a result." Back away from the Blackberry! Many of us are irked by our fellow employees spending way too much time on personal phone calls or texting friends and family. And perhaps no device is more visible at work than the Blackberry. "I had a co-worker who was on his Blackberry so much he'd mastered blind-typing on it," says Andrew Chris, an employee at Olighting.com, an online retailer. Unfortunately, the Blackberry-addicted team member couldn't type, text and talk at the same time. "Talking to him while he is busy typing was comparable to talking to a container of glue." Too much face time on Facebook . Krista, a consultant in Colorado, found the allure of the Internet severely curtailed her co-worker's ability to get anything done. Krista's "no-worker" was particularly addicted to social networking sites. "She would spend the majority of the day on her MySpace and Facebook pages, which she took great pains to maintain," she notes. In terms of actual work, Krista's teammate wasn't too productive. "I'd say she worked approximately two hours a day, and most of it had to be corrected or redone." The bad behavior list . Those may have been some extreme examples, but co-workers can annoy us, rub us the wrong way and make us get our hate on for a number of reasons. If they're not singing, our co-workers are chewing, slurping, sniffling, coughing or belching in a way that's impossible for us to ignore. What are the most common reasons a fellow worker might be annoying? They're annoying you (and all of us) in many ways: . • He or she is a "Debby Downer," or has a consistently negative attitude at work. • They're incredibly nosy or prone to gossip. • They bring aromatic food to their desks for lunch. Tuna fish, broccoli and asparagus are just a few of our favorites. • They use their cubicles as a spaces to take care of personal hygiene. Everyone LOVES a fellow worker who clips his nails at his desk, right? • They leave common areas a mess, and don't clean up after themselves. • They play "hot potato" with responsibilities and pass the buck whenever possible. • They're constantly trying to one-up the competition. Resolving conflict . April Callis, a Michigan-based trainer and facilitator, suggests several strategies to solve conflicts with irritating co-workers before they become major issues. Ask for a resolution . "Greet each complaint or problem with the request for a solution," Callis suggests. She believes this approach is less likely to put your co-worker on the defensive, but instead makes them part of the solution. Just the facts, ma'am . Another strategy Callis likes is the "Dragnet strategy." "When gossip, a complaint or negative information is brought forward, play Joe Friday and document the facts." Callis says that this approach defuses any potential sparks for greater conflict. "This will take the emotion out of the picture." Use humor . Any legitimate complaint about a co-worker should be taken seriously. But, minor conflict can often be resolved by using tactful humor so that the parties involved dial the intensity down a notch. Be tactful . Workers should also remember that as irritating as some of these behaviors might be, there may be other factors that are catalysts to making them happen. Excessive time on personal phone calls may be a sign of a personal crisis, while hygiene issues might arise from a medical problem. You or your manager should be fair, caring and empathetic when bringing up any issues with co-workers. They may not be aware that their actions are having an impact. "I used to work at a company where a managing director was famous for spotting two people having a conflict and taking them to a conference room and introducing them as if they had never met or talked," recalls David Dalka, a Chicago-based consultant who specializes in social media change management, business development and web marketing strategy. Dalka believes it was an effective strategy. "That was the whole point -- to encourage people to talk about little things before they became big things," he says. "The culture was one that encouraged people to reconcile with one another on their own." Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority .

Working in a team can be great, but it also can reveal annoying habits of co-workers . "I worked with a guy that smelled like dirty, wet rags," says Christine Lam . Krista, of Colorado, says a "no-worker" spends the day on social media sites . Tact is advised; hygiene issues may be medical, phone usage may be family crisis .

(CNN) -- The Graha Bhakti Budaya (or GBB as it's locally known), is a care-worn, 1960s slab of a building, popular as part of Jakarta's largest arts center, but outwardly unremarkable. Yet what happened inside on Monday, the Indonesian premiere of documentary "The Look of Silence", has for some made it more than a theater space and transformed it into a site of huge importance for the development of Indonesia's democracy. "That screening on Monday night was a big, big moment," says 54-year-old Irawan Karseno. "There are deep wounds in our nation since 1965 and this movie is like a healing process." As head of the Jakarta Arts Council, Karseno was instrumental in bringing the film, Joshua Oppenheimer's companion piece to last year's Oscar-nominated "The Act of Killing", to a captivated audience of around 1,500 people. Oppenheimer's 2012 film helped open up public discussion about a troubling and little-spoken of period in Indonesia's recent history: human rights groups estimate between 500,000 to 1 million Indonesians were killed by military death squads during anti-communist purges in 1965 and 1966 that helped cement the "New Order" regime of General Suharto. While "The Act of Killing" told the story from the killers' side, "The Look of Silence" takes an unflinching look at the situation from the viewpoint of the survivors. The film's protagonist is Adi, a 45-year-old optometrist, who tries to understand why his parents remain so deeply traumatized by his brother Ramli's murder in 1965, and the culture of fear and lies he believes pervades his community and country. Adi's unflinching gaze when he confronts members of the militia involved in his brother's brutal death is juxtaposed with the attitude of perpetrators and survivors in the film, and many Indonesians as a whole, who prefer to say the "past is the past". "But the younger generation are more open-minded," says Karseno. "I was only five years old when these events happened and I'm still ashamed by them. "Next year is 50 years since (the killings of) 1965. How can we prepare for next year? How can we see the events more sensitively? I hope it can be like when Germany came to terms with the holocaust and they had a healing process with each other." After a multi-year investigation, the country's National Commission on Human Rights in 2012 declared the massacre a gross violation of human rights. Yet Indonesia is still a distance from any official truth and reconciliation process. No one has been brought to trial for the alleged crimes. The Attorney General's office has not yet replied to CNN's requests for comment. Many survivors' families across Indonesia still live in fear of reprisals if they should speak openly against those responsible for the crimes. During filming Oppenheimer made sure precautions were taken should things take a turn for the worse; a getaway car was on hand, no-one carried ID, phones were data-free and in some cases Adi's family were on standby at the airport to leave at a moment's notice. "It's a terrible situation that Adi and his family had to move away like fugitives (after the film was made), especially when he was just trying to create the conditions for forgiveness," says Oppenheimer. "But it shows just how far Indonesia has to go before it can be called a genuine democracy with rule of law and that because of the impunity the perpetrators and gangsters have Adi's family has to run away, when they've done only the most beautiful and dignified thing." For Oppenheimer, Monday's premier was the most important screening of either "The Act of Killing" or "The Look of Silence" (which has appeared at a number of international film festivals), as it was hosted by Indonesian government agencies-- the Jakarta Arts Council and the National Human Rights Commission. While "The Act of Killing" first had to be shown at private screenings, even public showings initially had to have heavy security, "The Look of Silence" premier was publicly announced, proving to Oppenheimer, that a space is opening up for the country to continue to heal. In December community screenings will take place across Indonesia, and Karseno, encouraged by the recent election of Joko Widodo as president, feels optimistic that the country can get over its "mental block." "We are pushing hard for Jokowi (Joko Widodo) to see the film," says Karseno. "We have a problem in our culture. It's not just about 1960s for us, but how we as a country are connected to the rest of the world." According to Karseno the atmosphere on Monday was only tense with expectation rather than from any safety worries, and two screenings had be shown as twice as many people turned up as could be accommodated by the auditorium. Adi was one of those present at the premier. "After watching the film and seeing the victims I felt sad," says Karseno. "I then met Adi and I just cried."

Documentary 'The Look of Silence' show legacy of 1965 massacre in Indonesia . Film premiered with government support in Jakarta on Monday . Filmmaker believes country is slowly coming to terms with its brutal past . Says unless those responsible for crimes are punished country will cannot be a genuine democracy .

(CNN) -- Last year, after CNN readers voted for me to do a story on income inequality, I spent two weeks reporting from what was then the "most unequal place in America": East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. It's a tiny patch of land on the western bank of the Mississippi River -- home to a beautiful oxbow lake called Lake Providence. That lake, I found, is a stark barrier between rich and poor -- and a fitting microcosm for inequality across the nation. My goal in reporting on the parish, on your behalf, was to spark a national conversation on income inequality that could, in some small way, help push for change. I'm now happy to report that the level of income inequality in East Carroll Parish, while still quite high, has dropped considerably. New York is now the worst. East Carroll Parish went from top-of-list to No. 128. Manhattan -- or New York County -- has the highest inequality rating, followed by Borden County, Texas; Franklin County, Mississippi (which I visited in 2013 for a very different kind of story); Mineral County, Colorado; and Greene County, Georgia, according to census data released on Thursday. The new data is part of the American Community Survey, and is an average of data from the years 2009 to 2013. The census, and many economists, use a wonky metric called the "Gini coefficient" to measure how income is spread across a particular society or geography. A rating of zero means a society is perfectly equal -- or that everyone has the same level of income. A rating of one means that literally all the income falls into the hands of one man or woman. East Carroll Parish had a rating of 0.67 in 2011, which was the most recent data available when I traveled to the parish. Now, its rating is 0.50, which isn't that much higher than the U.S. Gini coefficient, which is 0.47, according to the census. "It's a big change," Kirby Posey, a survey statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau said of the shift in East Carroll Parish. It's also one, he said, that's statistically significant when you compare 2011 data from the parish to the current set. New York County's inequality, meanwhile, has remained constant over the same period, holding steady at about 0.60. Mind you, that level of inequality is still not good. The United States is one of the most economically split nations in the world -- with more income inequality than Nigeria or Russia. The most equal country, according to CIA data, is Sweden, with a rating of 0.23. Also, there's a lag in data reporting. The most recent numbers, those released on Thursday, come from interviews that were taken between 2009 and 2013 as part of the American Community Survey. So it's difficult to get an exact snapshot of this moment. I do, however, find East Carroll Parish's drop in inequality promising. It's hard, from my desk in Atlanta, to tease out exactly how and why this shift occurred in East Carroll Parish. Posey, from the census, wasn't sure, either. I left messages with the sheriff of East Carroll Parish and the mayor of Lake Providence, among others, but I haven't heard back from them. I'll update this piece if and when I do. The one resident I could reach was Bernadette Barrett, or "Sister Bernie," as she's known locally, because she's an Irish Catholic nun. She told me some new jobs -- including those with a pepper farm and at a chemical processing plant -- have come to town, or are coming soon. "Some people have gotten employed there -- so that's helping bring people up," she said. She told me there's talk of a new tomato cannery in town, too. The numbers, however, indicate something else may be at play: The rich are getting less rich. The average income for the top 5% of earners in the parish was $610,884 in 2011 -- but fell sharply to only $165,017 in 2013, the data show. The average income for the top 20% fell from $224,264 to $97,104 over the same period. It's unclear what would have caused that plunge. There have been symbolic signs of progress, though. Among them is that locals and volunteers finished painting a mural downtown. It features a crossword puzzle with words like "believe," "hope" and "change." It also includes a painting of Dede Willis, a young woman who was featured in the video on the income gap in Lake Providence, which I produced with videographer Edythe McNamee. I'll leave you for now with something Willis, then 18, told us on our visit: "If one day someone just came (and said), 'Dede, here's a million dollars, do whatever you want,' I would build a huge bridge across the lake. And then, after a while, (the rich and the poor) are not going to have a choice but to talk to each other." My hope is that Dede's bridge, at least symbolically, is already being built.

CNN's John Sutter looks at new income inequality data from the census . New York County has the highest inequality level, according to the data . East Carroll, Parish, Louisiana, which Sutter featured last year, drops to No. 128 . Sutter celebrates the news as a sign that things are changing in that rural community .

(CNN) -- The familiar string intro filled the room. The happy couple stepped onto the dance floor. And as they took each other's arms, Etta James' voice began to tell the story of their marriage. "At last ... " "We had waited so long to meet the right person," recalled Jennifer Macdonel of Sugar Land, Texas, who married her husband, Rudy, in March 2010. She was 32, and he was 41. "It seemed as if everyone we knew was already married, or had been married before. Just when we thought that we had kissed every frog left in the universe and given up on true love, we met." It's a fairy tale scene that's been witnessed at thousands of weddings since James' recording of the classic, romantic song "At Last" was released in 1961. And though James died on January 20 at age 73, her legacy lives on in couples around the world. After her death, many of them paid tribute to the woman who described their relationships like no one else could. When the Macdonels heard that James had died, they honored her by rewatching their wedding video and dancing under the stars to the song she made famous. "No other song could possibly capture the story behind our love, and the very long journey that we endured until we finally met," Jennifer Macdonel said. "Etta James will forever live deep in our souls, as every time we watch our wedding video and hear that song, we will be reminded of our special day." Many other couples chose "At Last" as their song for the same reason. "My wife and I were born just a month apart in 1977 across the world," said Nicholas Montana, an American whose wife, Leily Vassigh-Montana, is from Iran. "It wasn't 'til we were both at the age of 30 did we meet and marry six months later. 'At Last' seemed like a song that was meant to be, just like our intertwining fates." Nicholas hadn't heard the song before the couple had to choose a piece for their first dance as husband and wife, but "was taken by its emotional character and lyrics. Little did I know it was such a popular wedding song, and rightfully so," he said. The pair were married in April 2008 and now live in Miami. "We wish [James'] family to be proud that she was able to bring so much joy to many couples around the world," he added. For other couples, the song was a humorous nod to long courtships that their families thought would never end at the altar. When Kimberly Griffiths and her husband, Richard Cicciarelli, stepped onto the dance floor to the first strains of "At Last," their wedding guests burst out laughing. The pair had dated for nine years before finally getting married in July 2008 in upstate New York. "As the music started and the first words of 'At Last' blasted over the speakers, everyone laughed and clapped because they all knew it was a long journey for us," Griffiths said. "It was the perfect fit. It was one of my favorite songs," she said. "It's so soulful and tells exactly how I feel about the relationship with my husband. ... No one could reproduce the feeling that Etta conveys when she sings it." "At Last" was the soundtrack to Tina and Craig Wehrbein's engagement and wedding, so of course they had to go see James live when she performed in their city of Omaha, Nebraska, in 2007. "We couldn't wait to go see her sing our song live on stage," Tina wrote. "She was in her late sixties at the time, but wow -- what an entertainer she was! I was pregnant with our second child when we saw her, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the concert like a teenager!" Another couple had a different kind of message in mind when they chose "At Last" for their wedding. Jasmine Brown-Denny married her husband, Randy Denny, in September 2009. The Brooklyn, New York, couple chose the song because it seemed to describe their relationship -- and to honor President Barack Obama. "The song also signified the inauguration of the first African American president," Brown-Denny said. "We were both big supporters of President Obama and his campaign and excitedly watched several inauguration balls where the song played prominently." She remembers staying up all night watching the president and first lady Michelle Obama dance the night away at the inaugural balls. "When we chose the song, we had the first family in mind." And for Jenn Greenberg, "At Last" was always her wedding song. She knew from the time she was 10 years old that it would be played at her wedding. "My mom would play this song, as a record, when I was a little girl and I thought it was so romantic," said the Epping, New Hampshire, resident. "I would listen to it and piece together all the traits and things that would make the perfect husband. I've always known that 'At Last' would be the song I'd want to use as my wedding song with my husband." In June 2006, Greenberg married her husband, Dave, and finally got to dance to her -- and thousands of couples' -- perfect wedding song. All thanks to Etta James.

Etta James' classic "At Last" is a popular wedding song . Couples who featured the song at weddings pay tribute to the singer, who died January 20 . Some chose the song to show how long they dated; others because they married later in life . See all the tributes, including one bride's rendition of the song, on CNN iReport .

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's doctor will face trial on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the death of the pop superstar, a Los Angeles judge ruled Tuesday. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor also prohibited Dr. Conrad Murray from using his California medical license until the trial is completed. The state medical board requested that be made a provision of his bail. While Jackson was Murray's only and last California patient, Murray's lawyer argued a suspension in one state would prompt Texas and Nevada, where he sees patients, to also take action. Pastor denied the prosecution's request to increase Murray's bail, which is now set at $75,000. "Michael is not with us today because of an utterly inept, incompetent, reckless doctor, the defendant Conrad Murray," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said in his final arguments. Several Jackson's family members sat through the six-day preliminary hearing for Murray, but they would not talk about the ruling as they left court Tuesday. The lawyer for Michael Jackson's estate issued a statement on behalf of the co-executors. "The judge's ruling ordering Dr. Murray to stand trial for the death of Michael Jackson is perfectly appropriate given the testimony in this case," Howard Weitzman said. Murray's lawyers appeared satisfied with the results of the preliminary hearing because of testimony they got from prosecution witnesses that might help raise reasonable doubt about Murray's guilt at trial. "I think the prosecution is going to change their tactics in this case," defense lawyer J. Michael Flanagan said after court. "It's not the same as what they gave in opening statements." Earlier Tuesday, the prosecution's expert witness in the case admitted he made a math mistake and that the recalculation supports the defense theory that Michael Jackson may have given himself the fatal dose of propofol. Propofol is a surgical anesthetic that the Los Angeles coroner ruled killed Jackson in combination with several sedatives found in his blood. Dr. Richard Ruffalo, an anesthesiologist hired by the prosecution, was the last witness to take the stand. "I actually made a mistake on that," Ruffalo said during cross-examination, referring to his calculation of the levels of propofol in Jackson's stomach fluid. The admission drew an audible gasp from Jackson family members sitting in court. Murray's lawyers suggest a frustrated and sleepless Jackson may have poured the surgical anesthetic propofol into his juice bottle while the doctor was out of his bedroom. "Now it doesn't make sense unless he ingested it orally in a huge amount," Ruffalo testified. But he said Murray would still be at fault, because he left dangerous drugs near a patient who was addicted. "It's like leaving a syringe next to a heroin addict," Ruffalo said. "If he's not getting what he wants, when you leave the room he might reach for it himself." "Either way, it doesn't matter," he testified. "He abandoned his patient and didn't resuscitate appropriately." Murray should have anticipated that Jackson, who had previously asked to inject himself, might do this, Ruffalo said. "He gets upset if he doesn't get his milk," he said, referring to Jackson's habit of referring to propofol as his "milk." The pop star's sister La Toya Jackson was clearly upset by hearing a prosecution witness vilify her brother as an addict. The pathologist who conducted Jackson's autopsy acknowledged earlier Tuesday it was possible, although improbable, that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of the propofol. The defense planted the seed Monday for its theory that Jackson may have given himself the fatal dose. A doctor said in a police interview two days after the death that a sleepless Jackson begged Murray for propofol the day he died, a police detective testified. While Murray told police he eventually gave Jackson propofol, the defense lawyer suggested that it could be that a frustrated Jackson poured the fatal dosage into his juice and drank it. Jackson had depended on propofol to put him to sleep almost every night in the previous weeks as he was preparing for his "This Is It" comeback concerts, but Murray began to wean him off the surgical anesthetic two nights earlier, Murray told police. Los Angeles Police Detective Orlando Martinez testified at the preliminary hearing about what the doctor told him two days after Jackson's death. Several doses of two sedatives Murray used in place of propofol still hadn't put Jackson to sleep after several hours on the morning of June 25, 2009, Murray said, according to Martinez. "Mr. Jackson began to complain that he couldn't sleep and that he would have to cancel his rehearsal and cancel his shows if he couldn't get any sleep since he couldn't perform," Martinez quoted Murray as saying. A civil lawsuit filed last year by Jackson's mother against the company producing the concerts alleged that he had been warned a week earlier "that if Jackson missed any further rehearsals, they were going to 'pull the plug' on the show." Murray said he eventually gave in to the pressure from his patient and administered a dose of propofol about 10 a.m., the detective testified. Jackson finally fell asleep, according to Murray's account. While his patient slept, Murray sent an e-mail to a British insurance agent assuring him that Jackson was in good health, according to another witness Monday.

Defense attorneys comment on hearing . Judge bars Dr. Conrad Murray from using his California medical license . A prosecution expert witness testifies he made a math mistake . The expert says Murray is still responsible for leaving drugs around an addict .

(CNN) -- Groups of graduate students who hang out at The Partisan, an indie band bar near the University of California-Merced campus, like their liquor and their politics straight up. Many of them felt they only got one of those things after watching the debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday night. "I don't know what universe Romney is living in," said Beth Hernandez-Jason, a doctoral student in American Latino literature. "I was kicked off my parents' health insurance by age 25 as was my little sister and she was reinstated because of the changes in the health care system." And Hernandez-Jason, like several people in the bar, felt Obama's performance fell flat. CNN Poll: Romney wins debate by big margin . "I am disappointed in Obama. I felt like he was holding back. He's too nice," she said. "I understand that he has to come across nice but come on. After you hear Bill Clinton talk at the convention, he was willing to say it straight and not pull punches and it's unfortunate that (Obama) doesn't feel comfortable doing that." Obama and Romney sparred over differences on the economy. In their points and counterpoints, both men drew regularly on examples of people who they met on the campaign trail who've been hit hard by the economic downturn. Some of those people were from towns like Merced, a community at the crossroads of the nation's foreclosure and unemployment crises. Connecting with the viewer: 'Romney was able to out Obama' The city has the nation's second highest foreclosure rate and an unemployment rate that at 17.5% is twice the national average. It is also a city that is nearly 50% Latino, a voting block both candidates are trying to woo. "We're on just about every list it seems like," said Mike Murphy, a Republican and Merced city councilman who helped lead a community discussion on the University of California-Merced campus after the debate. "People's priorities here (are) jobs, jobs, jobs." For generations, many people in Merced have depended on the land, growing things like almonds, strawberries and grapes. But times are hard and farm work is harder to come by these days as growers are forced to tighten their belts in a down economy. In an area that some residents call California's "fruit basket," the housing crisis has further compounded the area's woes. Obama, Romney clash over economy, health care . At that debate watching party, people gathered at the university library's "Bobcat Lair" were glued to the television as the two candidates faced off. When the debate ended, the room full of students wanted to talk about education funding and student loans -- a topic the candidates spent little time discussing -- and jobs, Murphy said. People in Merced want "to see what either administration is going to do with unemployment and foreclosures," said Josh Pedrozo, a Democrat and Merced city councilman who also helped lead the post debate discussion. Speculators flooded the area at the height of the housing market in a frenzy to build and sell homes. Just a few short years later, many of those homes were often left half finished when builders ran out of money or empty when their owners faced foreclosure after losing jobs and being unable to make mortgage payments. "Merced is ground zero for all of those concerns," said Dorie Perez, a Merced native who is pursuing her doctorate in political science at the local University of California campus. "I want a plan and articulation of policies that I haven't seen. I want the bread and butter." What we learned from the first debate . Perez has watched her community struggle to recover from the recession. She moved back to her hometown in the San Francisco Bay area after working for the state of California and the city of Oakland. She returned to a city vastly changed. "The Central Valley is struggling as a whole. Merced and Merced County is not the most affluent place," Perez said. "People need governmental services and the threat to those programs is scary for this area. ... We need government help for the average person. It's pretty tough here." In a place struggling to recover, the new college campus is seen as a symbol that things are turning around. The school, which opened in 2005, is one of the nation's first research universities built in the 21st century. Analysis: Romney seizes the story . On Wednesday night, Perez, too, felt the president gave a lackluster debate performance. "It was surprisingly dry. I was unimpressed to be honest. I know the expectations weren't that high for the president but I wanted him to be more aggressive," Perez said adding that classmates talked about the topic at The Partisan. Most evenings, Perez spends her time poring over her studies in the hopes of one day getting a doctorate and a highly coveted tenure track teaching position. In the process she's taken out thousands of dollars worth of student loans, so she listened with keen interest to the any mentions by the candidates' of addressing student loan rates and soaring tuition costs. "I'm under 30. I'm trying to start a career and a life," she said. "Academic departments are shrinking their budget and the idea that I'm going to put next five years of my life into it is terrifying." Candidates hit campaign trail after debating .

Merced, California, has one of the nation's highest foreclosure and unemployment rates . Debate watchers in that city wanted the candidates to lay out plans for the economy . Many felt Romney's polices were off track and Obama's performance fell flat .

(CNN) -- An Afghan designer and former refugee has developed a low-cost, wind-powered mine detonating device inspired by the toys he played with as a child. Massoud Hassani's Mine Kafon is composed almost entirely from bamboo and biodegradable plastics, with a skeletal structure of spiky plungers that resembles a giant spherical tumbleweed from another planet. At 70 kilograms, Hassani says his invention is light enough to be propelled by a normal breeze, while still being heavy and big enough - 190cm in diameter - to activate mines as it rolls over them. According to the U.N., there are more than 110 million active mines scattered across 70 countries, with an equal number stockpiled around the world still waiting to be planted. Meanwhile, manual diffusion by trained mine-clearing experts remains the most common method of removal globally, according to the Landmine Monitor, an industry publication published by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. But this method can be prohibitively expensive - in some cases it costs thousands of dollars to clear just a single mine. By contrast, Hassani claims the Mine Kafon -- which includes a basic GPS tracking device used to record the area "cleared" by its tumbling path - costs as little as $40 to build. "The core sphere that contains the GPS system is high enough from the ground to avoid damage from most anti-personnel mines," explained Hassani. The lengths of the spikes are based on the height of an adult's leg - because the kinds of mines that it is designed to clear are those that will take a leg off below the waist of an adult. "So, as it moves the spikes get blown off, but the center stays intact," Hassani said. "It can withstand up to four explosions before it loses too many of its legs to carry on." As a young kid growing up in Afghanistan, Hassani did what children the world over do: made up games and created his own toys. "One of them was a little rolling object that was carried by the wind," he recalled. "We would race them against each other in the local fields. "Sometimes, due to the presence of landmines, they would roll off into places that we weren't permitted to go." After his father was killed in a rocket attack during the late 1980s, Hassani fled Afghanistan with his mother, brother and sisters. Living first in Uzbekistan, then traveling through central Asia and ending up four years later as a refugee in Holland, Hassani went on to study at the Design Academy in Eidenhoven. What started life as his final graduate design project has since undergone strength testing at the hands of the Dutch military. This year, a full-scale mock-up was tested in the deserts around Morocco and Hassani hopes to fundraise $100,000 so he can engineer the design to mass produced, industry standards. However, some are skeptical about Mine Kafon's chances of ever meeting the official International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) -- considered to be the minimum grade of delivery for responsible mine clearing operations. "There are many citizens who live in mine-affected areas who carry out their own DIY clearances, and while this is noble it is also very dangerous," explained Adam Komorowski, head of operations at the UK-based Mine Advisory Group. "For any mine clearing technology to be adopted by a serious mine action organization, it needs to conform to IMAS. "As much as I welcome all new ideas -- and I think this is a nice concept with great potential to raise awareness and perhaps inspire other solutions -- I can't see it meeting those standards in anything like its current form," he said. Komorowski, who stresses that his assessment is based solely on what he has read and viewed online, believes that Hassani's creation is undermined by its dependence on the "serendipity of random gusts" -- making it a haphazard option in a field traditionally characterized by highly methodical techniques. "Every square centimeter of land should be properly checked," he said. "I'm also not convinced that the device can be relied upon to necessarily detonate every mine it crosses," said Komorowski, who argues that if a couple of its spikes are blown off during a clearance, then the holes in its structure could cause it to miss other mines as it rolls on. "It looks to me that there is also a huge limitation in terms of terrain," he added. "I can't see it working on hills or areas with dense vegetation." Hassani says he is aware of these limitations, and claims to have a number of solutions in the pipeline. "We are developing a remote-controlled model with a motor and a metal detector -- so that even if it fails to detonate a mine, it should map-out the presence of metal structures underneath," he said. Whether the Mine Kaffon can be engineered to overcome the criticisms of industry insiders like Komorowski, the strikingly-designed structure with its poetic symmetry has already brought the issue of landmine clearance to new audiences in the design world. It was recently showcased during Dutch Design Week and the Lodz Design Festival, and in March of next year will enjoy a run at New York's prestigious Museum of Modern Art. "The design industry is perhaps too focused on tables and chairs," said Hassani. "I think we can use our talents to find design-based solutions to more serious problems."

Mine Kafon is a cheap, light, wind-powered mine detonating device . Created by an Afghan designer who was inspired by toys he modeled as a child . Industry expert says concept is laudable, but does not currently meet safety standards .

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- When Severiano Ballesteros became a professional golf player in 1974 at the age 16, he began transforming the game in Europe with his masterful creativity and imagination. On Saturday, at the age of 54, he succumbed to complications related to a brain tumor, according to his official website. A message on the site Saturday said, in part, "Today, at 2:10 a.m. Spanish time, Seve Ballesteros passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at his home in Pedrena. "The Ballesteros family is very grateful for all the support and gestures of love that have been received since Seve was diagnosed with a brain tumor on 5th October 2008 at Madrid Hospital la Paz." Fellow players have been quick to pay tribute. English golfer Lee Westwood, the current world No. 1, tweeted that it was a "sad day" and described Ballesteros as an inspiration, genius, role model, hero and friend. "Seve made European golf what it is today," Westwood continued. "RIP Seve." Italian golfer Francesco Molinari tweeted: "What a terrible news to hear first thing in the morning. Seve was a superhero for all young golfers, played shots only he could see. RIP." Ballesteros first made his name as a 19-year-old in 1976 when he finished second at the British Open -- one of golf's four major tournaments. Three years later, he captured the win, making him the youngest winner of that century and the first non-British European to do so since 1907. The Spaniard headed to America the following year where he achieved what no European player had: he won the Masters at Augusta. That victory was seen as breaking down the barriers for his fellow professionals from across the Atlantic who were seen at the time as inferior rivals. "It was hard to get an invitation, it was hard to get into the majors, especially the U.S. Open," Ballesteros told CNN in 2006. "They didn't like to see someone coming from a small country like Spain and go over there and take their money. As I hear several times in the locker room, 'Here comes the Spaniard to take our money.'" During his 33-year career, he won a total of five major championships, six titles on the U.S. PGA tour and 56 on the European tour. Adored by fans around the world, Ballesteros was also highly respected by his fellow golfers, who described him as a maverick. "You never knew when Seve was down -- he's always been a battler on the golf course," said British professional golfer Lee Westwood. "When he thought he was out of a hole, he's been able to get it up and down and just grind away." He led the newly formed European team to its first Ryder Cup victory in 1985 and its continued period of success after that. Key to the team's success was the partnership between Ballesteros and his friend Jose Maria Olazabel. They went on to become the most successful pairing in the event's history. Olazabel told CNN that he "learned a lot" from his fellow Spaniard. "It was wonderful to watch him play," the European Tour player said in a 2006 interview. "Even though he might not be hitting the ball well he never gave up. He fought until the end. Great matches we won matches that looked lost. So everything was positive." He led his team to victory in Valderrama, Spain, in 1997 -- the first year that the teams event was hosted by Europe outside of Britain and Ireland. Despite battling chronic back pain that hampered his form in the 1990s, he was named Spanish Sportsman of the Century and European Player of the Century in 2000. It was Ballesteros' passion and fighting spirit that saw him reach the summit of golf's world rankings and escape seemingly impossible positions on the golf course. When he announced his retirement in July 2007 at the age of 50, he said it was "the most difficult decision of my life." "I have a number of good years left and I'd rather spend time now with my three children and my companies and friends," he said at the time. "Golf has given me so much over the years that it's really hard to give back even 25 percent of how much I got. It gave me the pleasure of competing and feeling the glory of winning." A three-time British Open champion and two-time Masters champion, Ballesteros was often credited for transforming European golf. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor after losing consciousness at Madrid Airport on October 5, 2008. In late 2008, he reportedly was recovering from the tumor and was released from a hospital after several operations. At the time, he called the situation the "hardest challenge of my life." He posted a message on his personal website to thank the doctors at Madrid's Universitario La Paz hospital for the treatment. "Thanks to them I will be able to play the mulligan of my life, which I expect to enjoy at my best," Ballesteros said at the time. CNN's Tricia Escobedo and Esprit Smith contributed to this report.

"Seve was a superhero" for young golfers . Ballesteros was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2008 . He won a record 50 tournaments on the European Tour . He helped beat the U.S. in the 1985 Ryder Cup to begin two decades of dominance in golf .

(CNN) -- Selecting a winner for the Nobel Peace Prize is an invidious task because there are so many worthy recipients. There are individuals who put their lives on the line to help others and defuse conflicts as well as organizations which work on a daily basis, and invariably below the radar of media attention, to push a peace agenda. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),which is this year's recipient of the peace prize, is in the latter category. I am thrilled that Ahmet Uzumcu, the Director-General of the OPCW has been awarded the Nobel on behalf of his organization. For years the OPCW has been working to persuade governments to sign up to a treaty outlawing chemical weapons. Known as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC ), this treaty which established the OPCW, is the fruit of millions of hours of diplomatic negotiations in the 1980s and early 1990s. Building on earlier treaties, the CWC is one of the most comprehensive international agreements to control armaments. It requires signatories to agree that they will never manufacture or use chemical weapons, nor will they support others in this endeavor. Syria is the latest country, and the 190th, to sign up, somewhat unwillingly, to the treaty. Most countries have acceded to the CWC willingly because they recognized the devastation which chemical weapons will cause. In World War some 1.5 million were injured or killed by chemical weapons. More recently in the 1980s the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq used chemical weapons, including mustard gas and various nerve agents, against Iranian soldiers and Kurdish civilians -- tens of thousands were injured and killed in Iraq and Iran as a result. Some 30,000 Iranian soldiers are still receiving treatment today for chemical weapons related injuries. But undoubtedly, the most shocking incident was the attack by the Iraqis on the Kurdish city of Halabja where some 5,000 were killed and more than that number injured. Families sheltering in cellars to get away from bombs where asphyxiated by nerve gases, chemicals which are heavier than air and which sink to fill any depression in the landscape. Images on our television screens from Syria over the last few months are a reprise of what happened in Kurdistan. Families in Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, and resident in areas controlled by forces opposed to the Syrian government regime, were asleep in their beds when rockets filled with nerve agents fell through bedrooms or landed in the street. Some rockets appear to have discharged their cargo before impact, others on hitting the ground. Videos show glimpse into evidence for Syria intervention . The result was predictable. Thousands were affected, many dying without even waking, with others succumbing painfully over the hours that followed as they gasped for breath. How many died? We do not know for certain. But numbers are being collated in Syria by doctors, activists and lawyers and the tally seems to be well over 1,000 now. Many more were injured and some of these are highly likely to have long term effects, a situation which has to be investigated as a matter of urgency. We know all this from what doctors and others have told us and from the many images uploaded on YouTube. But we also know that it was the nerve gas sarin that caused all this trauma, just one of the many traumas Syrians have faced over the nearly three years of the conflict. We know it was sarin because the OPCW, on behalf of the Secretary General of the U.N., sent in inspectors to take samples of soil, scrapings from used rockets, and blood samples from people. These samples were tested for the presence of chemical weapons in four of the 22 laboratories which have the necessary expertise and which are part of the OPCW's network of competent organizations to help it enforce the CWC. The laboratories confirmed that sarin had been used. The OPCW now has the task of overseeing the destruction of the chemical weapons Syria has declared it has. The task is formidable because of the civil war in the country. Funding will also have to be found to pay for the work which is additional to the routine policing, fact checking and inspections which the OPCW does on a daily basis to ensure old chemical weapons are destroyed, no more are produced and that the chemical industry continues to make ploughshares rather than weapons of war. The chemical industry, worldwide, supports this activity. So Ahmet Uzumcu in post as Director-General of the OPCW for over two years now, inherited an organization which had a solid reputation for excellent work over the years. But he has done more than simply acknowledge his inheritance and has, and is, steering his band of some 450 employees (from many countries ) in a direction which will help guarantee that the attacks on Ghouta will become a thing of the past. We are all much safer because of the OPCW which has done its painstaking work largely unnoticed by the world. No longer! Well done OPCW. Your award is richly deserved. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alastair Hay.

For years the OPCW has been trying to persuade governments to outlaw chemical weapons, writes Alastair Hay . Hay: Most countries have acceded willingly because they recognize the devastation which chemical weapons will cause . The OPCW now has the task of overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons . We are all much safer because of the OPCW which has done its painstaking work largely unnoticed by the world, he says .

(CNN) -- The men accused in the gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old Indian woman were formally charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in a New Delhi court Thursday, a senior police official said. The attack on the woman, who died from her severe injuries last week, has appalled and enraged many Indians, prompting widespread debate over the way the country handles sexual assaults and the treatment of women in Indian society. Numerous protests have taken place, new laws have been proposed and senior lawyers in the court district where the accused men have been charged say they will not represent them. Police submitted charges against five suspects before a new fast-track court in Saket, a southern district of New Delhi, said Suman Nalwa, deputy police commissioner of a special unit for women and children. He said authorities were waiting for the outcome of a bone marrow test before deciding whether a sixth suspect in the attack, believed to be a minor, will be charged as a juvenile or an adult. 'She could have been me': Action urged after Delhi gang rape case . The results of the test, intended to determine the suspect's exact age, should come soon, Nalwa said. The trial will begin this week once all the evidence is gathered, he said. As well as counts of murder, kidnapping and rape, the men face charges including voluntarily causing harm during a robbery, armed robbery with murder, and destruction of evidence. If convicted, several of the offenses are punishable by death or life imprisonment. The victim, whose name has not been released, died Saturday in a Singapore hospital, where she received treatment after being airlifted from New Delhi. The men are accused of assaulting the woman and her male companion on a bus in the Indian capital on December 16, robbing them of their belongings before dumping them at the side of a road, police said. The male companion was eventually discharged from a local hospital. iReport: 'I'm ashamed as a man' Protests, which have been taking place every day since the woman's death, continued Thursday in New Delhi. Authorities plan to seek the death penalty for the accused, CNN affiliate IBN reported, with many calls for the men to be hanged, including from the victim's family. If the sixth accused is confirmed to be a minor, he could be sent to a children's home for a maximum of three years, according to IBN. The 11 lawyers who make up the executive board of the Saket Bar Association on Wednesday vowed not to represent any of the accused assailants because of the nature of the crime. In addition, the bar association has appealed to its 7,000 members also to refrain from representing the accused, said the association's president, Rajpal Kasana. "We are not taking this case on the grounds of humanity," he said. The boycott by the bar association does not mean the accused will not have lawyers. Attorneys from other districts or ones appointed by the court will likely fill that role. Opinion: End culture of rape in 2013 . The call for local lawyers to avoid defending the accused is unprecedented, but justified because "everyone is emotionally attached to this case," Kasana said. Lawmakers are weighing a proposal to toughen the country's anti-rape law. Some have suggested a new law should be named after the woman, while others have said it's illegal to reveal her identity. The victim's father told IBN that he supported naming a new law after his daughter. "All I ask is that the law is the toughest it can be," he said. "The death penalty is compulsory for a crime so grave the assailants must be hanged. The courts must give these men the death penalty." Misogyny in India: We are all guilty . CNN iReporter Meera Vijayann, a consultant for a non-governmental organization from Bangalore, India, said sexual harassment is a daily problem for women -- but it was the horrific nature of the New Delhi attack and the brazenness of the alleged perpetrators that frightened so many people. Despite calls for harsher punishments for those who carry out such crimes, Vijayann feels only a change in attitudes and culture will truly bring about change. "There is a sexist mindset, politicians have made silly remarks about women and how they should wear modest clothes, not go to parties ... if they make the laws how will it benefit us?" she asked. "People have to change the way they think." India's Supreme Court will hear a petition Thursday asking it to suspend all lawmakers who face charges for crimes against women. The petition was filed in the aftermath of the brutal gang rape, which sent thousands of outraged protesters to the streets for days. "This unfortunate episode has galvanized the nation," said Jagdeep S. Chhokar, an official with the Association for Democratic Reforms, which tracks political candidates' criminal records. Chhokar said six Indian state lawmakers are facing rape charges in unrelated cases, and two people in the federal parliament are also facing charges of crimes against women that fall short of rape. The group says that in the past five years, political parties across India have nominated 260 candidates facing charges of crimes against women such as assault and outraging the modesty of a woman. CNN's Jethro Mullen reported from Hong Kong, Aliza Kassim from Atlanta, and Sarah Brown contributed to this report from London.

Police file charges against the accused men in a New Delhi court . They are alleged to have raped a woman on a bus, leaving her with fatal injuries . The victim's father says he supports naming a tougher anti-rape law after her . Bar association leaders in the district where it happened urge lawyers not to take defendants' case .

Zawiya, Libya (CNN) -- Rebel fighters in Libya, trying to take over a key western city, faced stiff resistance from Moammar Gadhafi's forces on Wednesday, a rebel commander said. The fighters hope to seize Zawiya, about 30 miles west of the capital, in an effort to advance on the capital of Tripoli in their fight to topple the Gadhafi regime that has controlled the North African country for decades. "Most of Zawiya is now in rebel hands, but there are snipers and shelling coming from the east of the city," rebel commander Col. Radwan Fheid said. "The snipers are near Zawiya hospital. People are leaving. They can't stay because of the shelling. These are the last days, God willing." Rebels are setting up checkpoints and field hospitals to treat the wounded, many of whom have been shot or struck by shrapnel. At a hospital in nearby Yefren, doctors said they had treated more than 200 patients over the past four days -- some of them rebel soldiers from any of several front lines, some of them civilians. Among the latter was a 9-year-old girl who was in her house when it was hit by a missile, sending shrapnel into her, a doctor said. "Unfortunately, there is more than 90% chance that she may lose her right arm here," he said. Medical staff said they were donating their own blood to keep their patients alive. One man, both legs wrapped in bandages, cried out in pain. Doctors said there were not enough staff members to properly take care of the patient load. Zawiya is west of Tripoli on a strategic supply route. Rebel control of Zawiya would represent a major advance toward putting a stranglehold on the Gadhafi-controlled seat of power. Col. Ahmed Banni, military spokesman for the opposition National Transitional Council, said Tuesday that rebels hope to enter the capital by the end of the month. The Obama administration has agreed to a NATO request for two additional Predator drones to conduct operations over Libya, a U.S. defense official said Wednesday, a day after the drones began flying. The United States has earmarked up to six drones for the Libya operation in recent months, although until generally only two drones have flown at any one time; some have been armed with missiles. In Washington, the Libyan Embassy was officially re-opened Wednesday by its ambassador amid a crowd of proud Libyan Americans waving flags and singing Libyan songs. "This embassy will serve as a symbol of the new Libya here in the U.S.," Ambassador Ali Aujali said outside the Watergate building in Washington where the embassy is located. "We will work tirelessly not only to serve the needs of the Libyans studying, living and traveling in this country, but also to thank the United States government on behalf of the Libyan people everywhere for its continuing support for transition to a free and democratic nation." The mission now represents the Transitional National Council (TNC), the rebel movement based in Benghazi, that the United States recognized as the rightful government of Libya on July 15. The embassy was closed in March after the State Department expelled all diplomats loyal to Gadhafi. Aujali, who previously represented the Gadhafi regime in Washington, resigned his post in February, and has since represented the TNC in Washington. He was formally accredited as head of the Libyan mission last week. On Tuesday, Col. Roland Lavoie, a spokesman for NATO's military operation, said that "anti-Gadhafi forces are now assuming control of the key approaches to Tripoli." He described the advances as "the most significant anti-Gadhafi territorial gain we have seen in months." Since the end of July, as the threat from pro-Gadhafi forces has diminished, thousands of people have returned to their homes in the western Nafusa mountains, he said. Since Friday, the northwest coastal city of Misrata has been free of pro-Gadhafi forces, he said. And the threat from nearby Zlitan has diminished as pro-Gadhafi forces are being pushed farther west, he added. Lavoie said rebels had occupied Surman and Sabratha west of Tripoli but added that the regions were "still contested." However, Libyan state television reported that pro-Gadhafi forces and tribal fighters were "cleansing the city of Sabratha from the gangs of traitors" and had secured the coastal road, a key supply pipeline into Tripoli. Though the center of Zawiya was under rebel control, "there's still reports of fighting also in the suburbs," Lavoie said. A spokesman for the Gadhafi government offered a different view on Tuesday. "We are doing very well," Ibrahim Musa said. "It's true that it's a bit slow; people are still saying that we're not acting immediately and that we're having problems in Surman and Sabratha and whatnot because of armed gangs. That's true, but, God willing, we are able to lead this battle successfully. We will achieve peace and victory." He added, "We are fighting NATO, not the tens or hundreds of armed gang members. Our war is with the crusaders." CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this story.

In hospital in Yefren, a 9-year-old girl may lose her arm . White House OKs two more drones for Libya . Most of Zawiya is in "rebel hands," commander says . Snipers, shelling are in the east of the city .

(CNN) -- Edward Snowden, whose disclosures have triggered broad debate over the balance between privacy and national security, has left Hong Kong and is in Moscow, apparently headed to Ecuador. Hong Kong and the Department of Justice have issued different stories about whether Hong Kong authorities had enough information to prevent Snowden's departure. Moscow says since Snowden remained in transit through the Moscow airport, he could not have been detained by them. China and Russia seem delighted to facilitate Snowden's passage. Snowden's supporters assert a moral equivalence between surveillance by the United States and surveillance by China, Russia and other authoritarian regimes. This equivalence posits that surveillance by any nation, for whatever reason, whether of its citizens or of other nations, is morally equivalent. To pure privacy advocates, the use of surveillance makes no difference. The mere fact that Big Brother is watching is the central commonality. This is a mistaken view of surveillance. In the United States, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act distinguishes between U.S. persons and non-U.S. persons. It allows only metadata collection on the former: the origins, destinations and length of calls but not their contents. The volume of data is so enormous that no government official's prying eyes have access to what you or I say. Opinion: Why Ecuador might shelter Snowden . Computer algorithms sort the data, and additional safeguards exist when that data needs to be accessed by analysts, agents or officers to comply with Fourth Amendment requirements. The entire process operates under an umbrella of approval and oversight by an elected Congress, is vetted by privacy attorneys in the Department of Justice and is overseen by life-tenured federal judges. The watchers are the agents of the people. If President Barack Obama himself asked for data concerning an individual citizen, resident alien or casual visitor to the United States, the request would be vetted and denied if it did not meet probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment. The FISA statute explicitly protects First Amendment rights to free speech, which include criticisms of government policy and peaceful protests against government actions. It also requires minimal privacy intrusions -- however inadvertently -- of U.S. persons. The national surveillance state, to borrow a term from legal scholar Jack Balkin, is closely tethered to the rule of law and accountability to the people. Contrast surveillance in authoritarian regimes. China closely monitors its citizens' access to political information, and dissidents of all varieties are targeted at the whim of the unelected Communist Party leadership. The constitution is not judicially enforceable, so no independent authority can say no to a request of the party leadership. No opposing party can make political hay over surveillance of its advocates and adherents. Or consider Russia, where President Vladimir Putin's minions, again without judicial oversight or significant independent political opposition, can monitor and imprison those who oppose his regime's policies. Freedom of speech, and especially political speech, is closely cabined by the regime. The contents of communications found through electronic surveillance or otherwise can rapidly lead to imprisonment or house arrest. And defection, a cousin of espionage, can lead to polonium poisoning. In short, there is a world of difference between the United States and China or Russia when it comes to surveillance. The United States analyzes data to prevent terrorist violence to its people, while authoritarian regimes use surveillance to cabin political dissent by their people. But what about U.S. electronic espionage directed at Chinese e-mail contents, communications of Russia's president and NSA interception of communications of individuals thought to be Islamist terrorists, also revealed by Snowden's disclosures? Opinion: Why U.S. is being humiliated by the hunt for Snowden . These electronic intercepts concern the contents of communications, not just the fact of communications. And these intercepts do not respect the privacy or political free speech of the communicators. The difference is that snooping on foreign nations and alleged terrorists furthers national security, the most basic reason for the existence of the United States. National security pervades the Constitution, from the preamble's purpose to "provide for the common Defense" to designation of the president as commander in chief. It is nothing new for the executive branch, again under rules established by Congress and often subject to independent judicial oversight, to direct espionage against those who may seek to harm this country. Aliens outside the United States and the leadership of foreign countries are "fair game" for surveillance, and they have no Fourth Amendment or First Amendment rights. Moreover, foreign countries know as much or more, often from the public record, of United States defensive capabilities. As Justice Robert H. Jackson dissented more than 60 years ago, the Constitution is not "a suicide pact." Some may think Snowden's destination immaterial. But if he lands in a regime that represses its own people and seeks to further harm the United States, might the U.S. consider ratcheting up the diplomatic pressure beyond genteel mechanisms of criminal extradition to fulfill its mandate to "provide for the common Defense?" Instead of the Department of Justice writing a criminal complaint to begin a federal criminal process where Snowden could avail himself of all his constitutional rights, could the United States consider other options to protect its national security? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Charles A. Shanor.

Charles Shanor: Some think that surveillance by any nation is morally equivalent . Shanor: Surveillance by the U.S. is vastly different from that of authoritarian regimes . He says Russia or China uses surveillance to cabin political dissent by their people . Shanor: If Edward Snowden ends up in a nation that seeks to harm the U.S., it spells trouble .

(CNN) -- Thomas Edison came up with a way to play back recorded sound in 1878. But 20 years before the inventor patented the phonograph, French scientist Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville was fiddling around in his laboratory trying to come up with a way to record sound. His invention, the phonautogram, enabled him to create a visual representation of his voice. Scott de Martinville wasn't able to listen back to his recordings, though. The science of acoustics was in its infancy. He could only see lines etched in soot. His achievements were long-forgotten until a group of historians, audio engineers and scientists searched for his work. The First Sounds Collaborative found it in the archives of the French Academy of Sciences in 2008. "His machine would capture the vibrations out of the air and write them on to a moving piece of paper," said David Giovannoni, one of the founders of First Sounds. "When you look at the writing that this machine made, it looks exactly like a sound wave would look on audio editing software today." Giovannoni and his group analyzed Scott de Martinville's work with audio software and unlocked the sound held in the waveforms. The result is like listening to a ghostly time machine, the voice of a man from 150 years ago singing French song "Au Clair de la lune." The earliest known sound recordings can be heard at www.firstsounds.org. Giovannoni said recordings like these are extremely important. "Imagine studying art without being able to actually look at the canvases themselves. What modern technology and modern scholarship are opening up is a window into past human endeavors that we can hear through." Nearly 20 years after Scott de Martinville experimented with recording his voice in Paris, Edison perfected a way to record and play back audio at his laboratory in New Jersey. His invention would spark a new industry, the recording business. Tim Brooks is a historian of early audio recordings. His home in Greenwich, Connecticut, is a private museum of sorts, with a collection of recording and playback devices from a century ago. Chests of drawers are filled with recordings made more than 100 years ago. Brooks is part of a network of historians and audiophiles on a mission to find and preserve the earliest recordings ever made. They do this with a sense of urgency. The recordings from the late 1800s were made on very fragile cylinders. "They were made of a soft kind of wax," said Brooks. "They're very subject to humidity and mold. And if they're not stored carefully, then you will take them out a few years later and suddenly you can't hear anything because the mold has eaten it up." A new window onto history was recently opened up at Edison's laboratory in New Jersey. As the place was undergoing renovations, someone discovered a long-forgotten box containing cylinder recordings of Otto von Bismarck. The influential 19th-century statesman unified Germany and preserved peace in Europe for more than 40 years. The cylinders weren't in the best condition, but they were still listenable. Through the static, you can hear von Bismarck on the Thomas Edison National Historic Park's website reciting poetry. "Nobody living today had ever heard the great German chancellor. Today we can," said Giovannoni. "By hearing it, it conveys all sorts of information that may or may not have survived in printed accounts of the man and of his speaking." Brooks is researching the earliest African-American recordings ever made as well as black spirituals recorded by white performers. He wrote extensively about Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion. In 1910, he beat a white man in what was called the fight of the century. His win sparked deadly race riots across a racially divided country. "At that time, he recorded his description of the fight. ... This recording had been thought lost for years and years and years," said Brooks. "He [Johnson] is usually portrayed as a kind of Muhammad Ali character, A very big living in your face guy in the middle of white America causing lots of turmoil because he lives so large and makes so many outrageous statements." But the recording reveals a very different Jack Johnson. "You can see that he's like a politician. He knows he's in a dangerous place because he's a black man in a very racist white American. And he's dealing with it in a way that is playing on the fairness of the game -- may the best man win -- as opposed to the racial aspects of it," said Brooks. "That's a whole different view of this person than we did get before just from the written word." Brooks says preserving long-forgotten recordings is important work precisely for that reason. "In a way, scholarship hasn't caught up yet with the importance of recorded sound and understanding why leaders were able to lead and change history the way they did," said Brooks. "Once in a while, if our ears are open and we're really listening it, can change our understanding of how they were able to do what they did." Brooks anxiously awaits the next discovery of a long-forgotten recording that will change our view of history. In the meantime, he has plenty of wax recordings in his home museum to study and preserve.

Historians and audiophiles are on a mission to find and preserve the earliest recordings . Modern technology is unlocking recordings from more than 150 years ago . Tim Brooks is researching the earliest African-American recordings .

(CNN) -- "These types of patients have such disfigurement beforehand they can't eat, they can't breathe properly. It's about functionality," says Dr. Richard Luskin, CEO of the New England Organ Bank. Luskin is referring to the small group of people worldwide who are on waiting lists in hope of a new face, and in the United States at least, they may now have one donated to them more readily. Last month the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), a non-profit organization managing the U.S. organ transplant system, approved the first national policies for the transplantation of limbs, faces and other structures collectively known as "vascularized composite allografts" (VCAs) -- which should make it easier to find donors. As of April 2014, there had been 28 face transplants across the world. Animal attacks, severe burns and gunshot wounds had left these recipients scarred for life, literally, in the one place their scars cannot be hidden -- their face. "Anyone with this disfigurement would argue they're not living, they're surviving," says Luskin. Face transplant recipients: New findings . A growing field . The first face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on Isabelle Dinoire, whose mouth, nose and chin had been chewed away by her dog. Since then the field has grown and transplants involving varying combinations of facial parts have been performed in six other countries, including the United States. As the procedures improve and their safety grows, donor registries and collaborating hospitals will increasingly be asking the question: Would you like to donate your face? Or in the case of the UNOS approval, asking family members of potential donors the sensitive question of whether they will donate the face of their loved one. The UNOS approval will initially be in place temporarily for 15 months to enable public comment, but families of donors will receive extra guidance when it comes to making the decision. "Face transplants remain unique and require very specific criteria such as hairlines and ethnic components," explains a UNOS spokesperson. "Therefore consent should be distinct and individual." "(This) will broaden the donor pool for wait-listed patients across a number of regional and national organ procurement organizations," explains Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, professor of reconstructive plastic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center. "A major component for a successful procedure is patient selection on both the recipient and donor," he adds. "The likeliness of a perfect match can be very challenging." But this once-experimental procedure is becoming more widespread and accepted. Richard Norris, from Virginia, received a new face in March 2012 and last month his face was featured on the cover of the U.S. edition of men's magazine GQ. Norris lost most of his facial features after a gun blast, and lost abilities such as his sense of smell. But after surgery at the hands of Rodriguez and his team he can live his life once again. Face transplant patients: Where are they now? Risk of rejection . However, as this mode of surgery becomes a norm, the side effects and risks that come with the life-changing operation are still a concern and a question of ethics. Like any other transplant, there is a risk of the new organ being rejected by the patient's immune system and recipients have to take immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of their lives, putting them at risk of infections and cancer. But unlike many other transplants, replacing a face is not a matter of life and death. The surgery is classed by some as life-changing, not life-saving, which raises questions as to whether this risk is justified. "For heart transplant patients they need a transplant or they will die. These (face transplant) patients are not in organ failure but are having to take anti-rejection medication and have lifelong repression," explains Dr. Maria Siemionow, from the University of Illinois, who performed a near-total face transplant in 2008 on American Connie Culp, who was shot in the face by her husband. But Siemionow is working to solve this problem. "We need new therapies which will be less harmful," she says. The Polish surgeon is developing chimeric cells, which bring together the cells from a donor and the recipient during transplantation. "We are fusing together cells from the bone marrow of donors and recipients so these cells will be recognized by the recipient's immune systems as their own," she explains. Not an easy task. By combining the two cells and delivering them into patients receiving a transplant, their immune system will learn to recognize the donor's cells, which are present throughout their new face, making their immune cells less likely to attack the face. "If the (immune system) can recognize more cells as 'self' the patient will need less anti-rejection drugs," says Siemionow, whose experimental therapy is hoped to enter clinical trials in a few years and when it does, may make face transplants more acceptable to critics. "Immunosupression is the main ethical concern and new therapies are crucial for the future of this field," she says. Luskin feels the benefits of a new face counter ethical doubts. "There is no ethical issue," he concludes. "I saw a patient walking down a crowded hospital hall a few years after surgery and no-one noticed them. He looked like a normal guy. To me, that's the point of these surgeries."

The first face transplant was performed in France in 2005 . U.S. has approved policies that will make it easier to find donors . Scientists are developing techniques that will reduce risk of transplant rejection .

(CNN) -- "If 'don't ask, don't tell' is repealed and you are assigned to bathroom facilities (that have)] an open bay shower that someone you believe to be a gay or lesbian service member also used, which are you most likely to do?" -- Question on 2010 Department of Defense Comprehensive Review Survey of Uniformed Active Duty and Reserve Service Members* . It seems that ensuring shower security for American soldiers and Marines is critical to maintaining our global military pre-eminence. If our brave men and women cannot comfortably bathe in environments free from the risk of homosexual lust, how can we expect them to battle armed Taliban insurgents and other enemies? In order to assess the gay shower hazard and other threats to military readiness if the "don't ask, don't tell" policy were repealed, the Department of Defense surveyed American troops over the summer. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, found the results reassuring. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "Repeal of the law will not prove an unacceptable risk to military readiness. ... I believe our troops and their families are ready for this," although he acknowledged, "some soldiers and Marines may want separate shower facilities." Sen. John McCain, despite having promised in 2006 to respect the judgment of military leaders, disputed the results of the survey. He questioned whether the sample size was representative and noted that soldiers and Marines in combat units were especially concerned about the effects of repeal. Insisting that "one of our highest responsibilities is to the men and women of our armed services," the Senate's self-declared straight-talker demurred, "it may be premature to make such a change at this time and in this manner, without further consideration of this report and further study of the issue by Congress." While the government certainly has profound responsibilities to the men and women of our armed services, it is not clear why the precise breakdown of their opinions on "don't ask, don't tell" matters one whit when assessing whether gays and lesbians are permitted to serve with them. When President Harry Truman ordered the armed forces to integrate in 1948, he did not first commission a survey asking white soldiers what they would do if they had to share a shower bay with a black soldier. If he had, the response in an era of segregated bathrooms would have been unenthusiastic to say the least. There had been some 1940s military surveys about integrating the armed forces; they showed that opposition by white soldiers ran as high as 80 percent. But as Truman knew, civil rights are not a matter of popular opinion. "Whereas it is essential that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy," he wrote in the executive order, "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." Of course, most of those who support the military's prohibitions against gays and lesbians reject the analogy. They do not believe that America's servicemen and women deserve equality of treatment without regard to sexual orientation. But if gays and lesbians have no right to equality of treatment, why bother with surveys at all? The military could just bar them from serving, as it used to. Or they could even take the matter to the logical extreme by emulating the old racist segregationists. If sexual orientation is not a civil rights issue, why not create segregated units? Gays and lesbians could have their own barracks, their own ships and their own shower bays. They could even design their own uniforms, adding to those dull dress whites with optional leather pants, fishnets and sequined cocktail dresses. Not only would segregated units aid military recruitment, they would boost morale among the straight troops by siphoning now-closeted gay and lesbian troops into the new homosexual units. Straight soldiers and Marines would no longer have to worry about being surreptitiously ogled in the shower by gays and lesbians pretending to be straight, so they would be able to battle Taliban insurgents with even more unity and effectiveness. There is one potential problem. Because of a shortage of homosexual officers, straight officers would have to lead homosexual units until new gay and lesbian officers could be trained This might cause morale problems among the straight officers. Fortunately, officers are likely to have private showers, avoiding at least one problem. They could also be selected from among those who indicated that if they were assigned to a shower bay with gays or lesbians, they could choose the answer: "Take no action." Other than the officers and the uniforms, the homosexual units would be equal in every way to the straight units: separate but equal. It's a perfect solution. Unless, that is, sexual orientation is a civil rights issue after all. The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Michael Wolraich. *Answers: 1) Take no action 2) Discuss how we expect each other to behave and conduct ourselves while sharing a room, berth or field tent 3) Talk to a chaplain, mentor, or leader about how to handle the situation 4) Talk to a leader to see if I have other options 5) Something else 6) Don't know .

Michael Wolraich: Military asked troops what they feel about sharing showers with gays . So this means shower security is crucial to battle readiness, Wolraich asks . If things are this absurd, why not take it to the next level: segregated units, he writes . Wolraich: Polling troops is irrelevant when it's an issue of civil rights, like integration was .

(CNN) -- Recently, we learned two important things about Mitt Romney. First, he would rather see the American economy fail than President Barack Obama win. Second, the extent of his hypocrisy is amazing. While he laments the toll that outsourcing has taken on our workers and economy, he amassed a fortune by investing in companies that outsourced American jobs. In word and deed, Romney roots for failure, and his insincerity reveals a disdain for the common good and disregard for people's common sense. Americans deserve better. As Bloomberg News reported, Romney urged Florida Gov. Rick Scott to downplay good economic news in the Sunshine State. It's his way of sending a signal to Republican governors in states where the economy is improving -- in the battlegrounds of Virginia, Ohio and elsewhere -- to be quiet. Obscure the truth, he begs. Obstruct any progress. But these governors know better. Scott continues to tout Florida's economic recovery, as he should. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell notes that the state's 5.6% unemployment is the lowest in three years -- in other words, it's been falling since Obama's policies took effect. Ohio is another key state where the facts contradict Romney's scorched-earth message. Following the president's recent Cleveland speech, Romney urged residents to "look around Ohio" to see the impact of Obama's policies. So let's take him up on it. Ohio's unemployment rate fell from 10.6% to 7.5% in three years. A main reason is the resurgent auto industry, which the president rescued but Romney opposed -- an undeniable success that Ohio's Republican Gov. John Kasich still tries to downplay. By all means, Republican governors should take credit for the economic turnarounds in their states. But give credit where credit is due. States are not islands unto themselves. Their economies are intertwined with that of other states, and with the nation's economy as a whole. Some states went into the Great Recession faster than others; some went in deeper. But all were sucked into the same economic abyss of the failed policies of the past -- the same policies, by the way, that Romney promises to repeat as president. Similarly, some states have climbed out of recession faster, some further, but all have been pulled up by the president's policies that are moving us forward. While we're far from a full recovery, "we're all in this together; we rise and fall as one nation and as one people," as the president says. What we're seeing from Romney as the leader of his party is the worst and most predictable kind of politics. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has said his party's top priority is to defeat Obama. Not to create jobs. Not to get our economy going again. But to win an election. His troops have carried out that mission in lockstep. Congressional Republicans have stalled, slow-walked or stopped everything -- even blocking the president's jobs plan, which addresses the most important issues in the country and is full of bipartisan ideas that would create as many as 1 million new jobs for our teachers, police officers, firefighters and construction workers. Another part of the president's jobs plan would create tax incentives to reward companies that bring jobs back to America rather than those that send them overseas. But we're unlikely to see Romney start showing any signs of leadership now. In a major report from The Washington Post, we learned that Romney's corporate buyout firm bought companies that specialized in outsourcing. He made a fortune helping companies send American jobs to China, India and Mexico, maximizing profits for himself and his investors while laying off American workers, gutting companies and devastating communities here at home. If Romney really supports American jobs as strongly as his stump speech suggests, he'd stand up to members of his Republican Party and encourage them to pass the president's jobs plan. If that's a bridge too far, perhaps he'd consider coming up with a jobs plan of his own. As former Clinton Treasury official Brad DeLong said, "President Obama has a plan for dealing with our cyclical unemployment crisis," but Romney does not. Even worse, according to Harvard professor and former Obama budget official Jeffrey Liebman's op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Romney's ideas "would slow the recovery, reversing the gains we have made since the recession ended." Which is why Romney is trying to convince voters of two impossible contradictions simultaneously. One, that the national economy is lousy, but state and local economies are improving. And two, that if an economy has improved, it's only because of Republican efforts and in spite of the president's leadership. Economists disagree, and even Republican governors refuse to play along with Romney's games. Romney's detachment from, or denial of, the truth is not just a political tactic or say-anything-to-please character flaw. It reveals a lack of leadership. It reveals an elemental attitude he shares with the special interest super PACs that support him -- silence the truth, show indifference to the hardship of others and sow distrust of the American people's belief in the common good and common sense. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.

Donna Brazile: Romney would rather see U.S. economy fail than President Obama win . Brazile: He has urged GOP leaders to downplay good economic news in their states . She says America deserves better than someone who roots for failure . Brazile: Romney's tactic or say-anything-to-please character flaw reveals lack of leadership .

London, England (CNN) -- If the location is anything to go by, then the omens are promising. Denmark's capital city, Copenhagen -- host to the U.N. climate summit which starts today -- is already one of the greenest cities in Europe. With over 300 kilometers of cycle lanes it is estimated that around 40 percent of the 1.2 population travel to work on a bicycle. And visitors to the city are encouraged to join in by making use of the network of city bikes for a deposit of just 20 DKK ($4). The influence of two wheels has extended into Yuletide this year, as cyclists in City Hall Square are generating the electricity powering the lights on the Christmas tree. It's just one of hundreds of activities and events which Copenhageners have organized to coincide with the 11-day U.N. summit taking place at the Bella Center in the Orestad district in the southeast of the city. The opening of the summit marks the end of an exhaustive planning period by the city. Preparations at the Bella Center began two years ago. The finishing touches began eight weeks ago. "It is, by far, the largest conference we have ever held and the largest political conference in Europe," the Bella Center press manager, Lars Lemche told CNN. "If numbers continue to grow, it will be the biggest political meeting the U.N. has ever held," he said. The center has hosted big events before -- a European Union summit in 2002 and the 2006 MTV European Music Awards -- but the U.N. summit makes them look like a tea party. "A conference is 36 hours. This is 11 days," Lemche said. The Bella Center has had to extend its floor space to 77,000 square meters -- the size of 11 football pitches -- to accommodate all delegates and 1000 staff will be on hand throughout. Numbers are expected to peak at around 18,000 in the second week when 100 heads of state arrive for the high-level political negotiations. This Herculean effort of planning is being backed up by a raft of green initiatives. Outside the conference center solar-powered streetlights are helping light the car parks. A wind turbine is helping power the lights indoors. Inside the conference center delegates will eat from a menu that is 65 percent organic and drink water that has come out of a tap rather than a bottle. Pens provided will be made from recycled plastic, and even the carpets are biodegradable. In a bid to offset the considerable carbon dioxide emissions - estimated to be 40,000 tons -- generated by the summit, organizers are funding the replacement of polluting brick factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh with 20 new efficient ones. Despite the disruption, Copenhageners have gone about their daily business as usual. Jason Heppenstall, Editor of The Copenhagen Post, a weekly English language newspaper told CNN: "There hasn't been much of a build up until the last few days. Until about two weeks ago it's not been talked about a lot in the press and maybe a month ago half the people in Denmark didn't know there was going to be a conference," he told CNN. People are starting to notice changes now, and the mood among Copenhageners is positive, apart from the locals living near the Bella Center and whose lives have been disrupted by all the security arrangements, Heppenstall said. The concrete barriers and the perimeter fence erected to protect the Bella Center have been one of the more obvious signs of security in the city. And now that the conference has started, 6000 officers will be on duty during the conference. Niels-Otto Fisker, communications advisor to the Danish national police commissioner, told CNN: "It is the single greatest operation that the Danish police have undertaken. Police are being drafted in from all over the country, and shifts are being extended from eight to 12-16 hours." In all, the security operations are costing the Danish government an estimated $122 million. Last week, police unveiled a 22-ton vehicle armed with a water canon which will be used if trouble flares during the conference. The only confrontations in the buildup to the conference have been between Copenhagen's female mayor, Ritt Bjerregaard, and the city's prostitutes. A row started after city leaders requested hotels display postcards saying: "Be sustainable: Don't buy sex." The prostitutes -- whose are free to work under Danish law -- have responded by offering their services free of charge. "Our office is based in the red-light district. There are prostitutes here, but it's not like Amsterdam," Heppenstall explained. "I think some people coming to the conference think it might be. So the city council have been trying to pre-empt it by sending postcards saying please refrain from going to these areas. The sex workers have responded by saying that's ridiculous. They see this as their big moment." As Copenhagen hands over to the U.N. for two weeks, the world's eyes are now turning to negotiations which precede the arrival of U.S. President Barack Obama and company. Earlier this year, Copenhagen announced the aim of being carbon neutral by 2025. Perhaps the U.N. could take a leaf out of their host's book.

Danish capital, Copenhagen, one of the greenest cities in Europe . U.N. climate summit is biggest political event Denmark has hosted . Copenhagen aims to be carbon neutral by 2025 .

(CNN) -- Could it be that the reason our government is broken is because of which generation is running things? Authors Morley Winograd and Michael Hais think so, insisting that the problem is that power is now firmly in the hands of self-righteous baby boomers who have spent their entire lives convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is morally inferior. Boomers won't negotiate anything, Winograd and Hais say, because they think every position they hold is rooted in something no less sacred than their values, and they're understandably reluctant to negotiate their values. Winograd, who worked as a policy adviser to former Vice President Al Gore, and Hais, an expert on polling and research, insist that the situation will get better when the generational torch is passed and younger people take over. In their new book, "Millennial Momentum," they explain how the millennial generation (born from 1982 to 2003) will remake America in education, politics, entertainment and every other conceivable endeavor. There will be more compromise, they predict, and more tolerance for different points of view. There will also be more of a desire to rule by consensus and not decree. But until that day comes, the authors told me during a recent interview, there will be gridlock and dysfunction. And our government will stay broken. I'm not sure I'm sold, but it's a provocative theory. There are others out there as well, and I wanted to hear them. I have a lot of friends who are in Generation X -- in between boomers and millennials. Some of them are political insiders in their 30s and 40s who have worked as congressional staffers, run major political campaigns, worked in the White House, or been elected to legislatures and city councils. They know all about government, what works and what doesn't. So I asked some of them why our government is broken, and here are some of the reasons they gave: . Safe districts. Now that the redistricting process has become all about preserving incumbency, and limiting the number of "competitive" districts that could go into either party's column, there are fewer moderates in Congress. It was bound to happen. Once politicians start thinking in terms of creating safe Republican districts and safe Democratic districts, it becomes a contest to see which candidate for a congressional seat is more of a partisan Republican or Democrat. The result: plenty of highly partisan and comfortable lawmakers who don't have to worry about being voted out of office. Constant need to fundraise. Because members of Congress have to stand for re-election every two years, they are in constant need of ready cash, which the candidates then turn around and spend on glossy mailers, campaign staff, and television commercials. Besides being undignified, this dialing for dollars leaves little time to get to work on solving the nation's problems. Words speak louder than actions. Somewhere along the road, lawmakers got the idea that talking about a subject was just as good as tackling it. On an issue like immigration, for instance, members of both parties talk endlessly -- and with every utterance, move further away from ever finding a solution. Powerful special interests. Many people run for Congress because they think these are powerful positions. But when they arrive, they realize just how little power they have. The clout lies with special interests, which turn out volunteers and give money to campaigns. Want to get education reform? Talk to the teachers unions. Want to save Social Security? You'll need to go through the senior lobby. All politicians have pressure points, and the special interests know just where to push. Polarization. No matter what the issue at hand, the extreme voices tend to be the loudest -- and often the most inflexible. So policy debates quickly degenerate into a pair of competing and intractable positions that neither side will budge from. Compromise is unlikely, and combat is inevitable. And in that environment, it's usually all or nothing. No one will settle for half a loaf; they all want the whole bakery. Resistance to accountability. Lawmakers would rather wring their hands over a problem than lay claim to a remedy that might ruffle feathers. They know that, if they approve a controversial bill, they have to own it for the next election. So, oftentimes, they would rather have an issue to bat around than risk accountability at the polls for rolling up their sleeves and working out a solution to a problem. Voter apathy. The irony is that the worse government performs, the greater the public cynicism, and the less likely it is that many Americans will turn out to vote -- which, in turn, only makes government even worse, because it offers little incentive for politicians to do better. That's dangerous. After all, as former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson likes to say, politics is a contact sport: "You take part, or you get taken apart." What if you were in charge? The old saying dictates that people get the government they deserve. But they also get the government they'll tolerate. If it's really true that record numbers of Americans are fed up with their government, as the latest polls show, they have to make it known -- and make some changes. And one way to fix government is to replace those who are doing the governing -- whatever generation they're from. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette.

Ruben Navarrette: Two authors blame baby boomers for broken government . They say that boomers are too inflexible, see disagreement as assault on their values . He says other factors contribute to paralysis in Washington . Navarrette: Constant fundraising and power of special interests are key .

(CNN) -- Police in suburban Dallas are recommending that ex-football star Deion Sanders face a charge that could land him in prison for a year, after a dispute last week that led to his estranged wife's arrest, authorities said Thursday. The fact that the Prosper, Texas, police sought charges against Sanders is not entirely unexpected, as he and a third person had been cited for misdemeanor assault in the incident in question, according to a statement from that town's police released April 25. But the "Class A Misdemeanor Criminal Mischief" charge that police are now recommending is more serious than the "Class C Simple Assault" charge that Sanders was cited for shortly after the incident. A conviction on a Class A misdemeanor carries a maximum prison sentence of one year and fine of $4,000, according to Texas statutes. A Class C misdemeanor, by comparison, carries a fine of no more than $500 and no prison sentence. The case is now in the hands of the Collin County district attorney's office. As of Thursday afternoon, Sanders -- a 2011 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a former Major League Baseball standout who is now an NFL Network analyst -- had not been arrested, Prosper police said in the statement. "The investigation is continuing, and no other information is available at this time," police said. Authorities responded to a domestic disturbance call the afternoon of Monday, April 23, at a Prosper residence where Sanders, 44, complained he was assaulted by Pilar Sanders, 38, and another woman identified as Dianna Boswell, also 38, according to an earlier police statement. Pilar Sanders was detained on a charge of simple assault, a misdemeanor, that statement said. After further investigation, police cited Boswell and Deion Sanders for "Class C simple assault," but neither was taken into custody. Pilar Sanders was released a day later and said she hadn't been given a "fair shake" over allegations that she attacked Sanders in an incident he made public in a series of bizarre Twitter postings. "I understand that I have very little chance at beating a Hall of Fame, two-sport man that everyone seems to love and adore," Pilar Sanders said, proclaiming her innocence. The Collin County Sheriff's Office said Pilar Sanders, under an emergency protective order, is forbidden from returning to the couple's home for 61 days and cannot threaten or harass any member of the family. In one of the messages posted last week on his verified Twitter account, Deion Sanders included a photo of what he said were his children filling out complaints to give to police in Texas. "Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room," said the first tweet, posted at 6:15 p.m. "She's going to jail n I'm pressing charges!" Two minutes later, Sanders tweeted again. "I'm sad my boys witnessed this mess but I warned the police department here that she was gone try n harm me and my boys. This is on my mama!" it said. Pilar Sanders was booked on suspicion of assault family violence, according to booking records at the Collin County Jail. Bail was set at $264. "I can tell you that there are two sides to every story, and the truth will come out in court," Larry Friedman, an attorney for Pilar Sanders, said on the day of her release. The Sanderses have three children together. Deion Sanders has two other children from an earlier relationship. The couple married in 1999 and starred in a reality show, "Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love," that aired on the Oxygen network. The marriage soured, however, and the two are engaged in bitter divorce proceedings. In February, Pilar Sanders filed a suit against her husband and his aunt, Laura Jones. She said the aunt attacked her in their 10-bedroom, 29,000-square-foot home in Prosper while Deion Sanders watched. At the time, the athlete tweeted that his wife was the aggressor and the aunt was in the home merely to fix his phone. Pilar Sanders also filed a separate suit against her husband and his daughter, Deiondra, after she called her stepmother a "gold-digging (expletive)" and "the number one gold digger of the year" in Twitter posts. Deion Sanders played for several NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons. During much of his NFL career, he also was an outfielder with four Major League Baseball teams and played in a World Series with the Atlanta Braves. The NFL Network and Sanders' business manager, Constance Schwartz, have declined to comment about the incident. But a clearly emotional Sanders spoke to Dallas television station KXAS hours after his estranged wife's arrest and appealed for help. "I got locks on my doors right now," he told the station. "Is somebody going to have to die? Is it going to be me before the court does something and get this woman out of my house? It's absurd."

Deion Sanders was involved in a dispute with his estranged wife last week . Pilar Sanders was arrested; husband was cited for a Class C misdemeanor . Prosper, Texas, police now want Deion Sanders charged with a Class A misdemeanor . If charged and convicted, the ex-NFL star could face up to one year in prison .

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two undocumented workers from Mexico and one from Ecuador have reached court settlements in recent weeks for a total of $3.85 million in damages for New York construction-site accidents, an attorney for the men announced Wednesday. "All three cases involve construction and terribly unsafe working conditions," the attorney, Brian O'Dwyer, said in a news conference. "We're here today to re-emphasize -- as we have in the past -- to the Latino community and all undocumented workers that they have the same rights once they're on the job as any New York citizen." A 33-year-old undocumented plumber from Mexico who was scalded by an exploding pipe at a Wall Street construction site in 2004 settled his damage claim for $2.5 million, according to a statement given to reporters at the news conference. The married father of two, who says he still has nightmares from the accident, hopes to open a restaurant or bar with the settlement money, his cousin told reporters. In a separate statement, owners of the Wall Street site said only that the injured plumber was "employed directly by [the] contractor and not by the owner of the property nor the managing agent." Reached through a public relations firm, a spokesperson for the contractor, Swig Equities, had no comment. Another undocumented Mexican worker suffered severe injuries to his left foot and other parts of his body when a steel beam fell on his lower body at a building site in downtown Manhattan, the news conference statement said. The 52-year-old settled his damage claim against Beway Realty Corp. and F.J. Sciame Construction Co. Inc. for $750,000, according to the statement. David Koeppel, a managing member of Beway Realty, said he was not familiar with the case. F.J. Sciame Construction, the site's contractor, did not respond to inquiries. A 36-year-old Ecuadorian laborer who worked at the Arverne by the Sea community in Queens -- a neighborhood The New York Times has called a "bright spot" in the housing market for its strong sales and low foreclosure rates -- settled a damage claim for $600,000, the news conference statement said. He was injured when three large 44x10-foot trusses, each weighing 200 pounds, collapsed onto him in August 2007, fracturing his hip and causing other injuries, according to the statement. The father of three, who had worked in construction for more than a decade and owned his own company at the time of the accident, said he was very sad after the accident because he did not know how he would support his family. His two sons, now 7 and 8, and his 16-year-old daughter were all born in the United States. "The contractor tried to blame me," he said at the news conference, speaking in Spanish. What message would he give other workers? "Don't be afraid to talk to a lawyer." Although he had not yet recovered enough to resume construction work, he hopes to use the settlement money to build a home for his family in New Jersey. Messages left for The Beechwood Organization, developers of Arverne by the Sea, were not returned. Joel Magallan, executive director of Asociacion Tepeyac, an immigrant advocacy group, said that while construction work is often dangerous, undocumented workers are likely to work at sites that lack safety equipment and OSHA regulation compliance. "This is a great day for the undocumented immigrants," Magallan said. "They have to know today that they have rights -- the same rights as other workers who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents." "Many workers are threatened by their employers with deportation or discharge if they bring their cases to court," O'Dwyer said. "What we find normally on work sites in New York is that deaths occur to the undocumented far out of proportion to their work in the workplace, and that is because of the fact that they just do not receive the safety protections," he said. In 2005, O'Dwyer won a historic $4 million settlement for a 33-year-old Mexican worker who had fallen 30 feet in a scaffolding accident in the Bronx. The injured worker, who was hospitalized for four weeks and underwent seven surgeries after the 2001 accident, told CNN on Wednesday that workers -- documented or undocumented -- should not to be afraid to stand up for their rights. Although it is illegal for an employer to knowingly hire a worker who is undocumented, according to the New York City Mayor's Office of Immigration Affairs, if an undocumented worker is hired by an employer, he or she then has the right to be paid minimum wage and overtime, the right to health protection and workplace safety, and the right to organize to improve labor conditions. "Each of these men was injured in the course of their work on construction sites, and their immigration status was irrelevant to their right to seek redress for those injuries," O'Dwyer explained in a statement. "Enforcing laws requiring a safe workplace serves the interests of all Americans, whether they are citizens or not." The men involved in the settlements said they chose to remain anonymous to protect relatives outside of the United States, who could become the target of kidnapping schemes if knowledge of their settlements became public.

Two undocumented workers from Mexico, one from Ecuador reach settlements . The three had been injured in different construction accidents around New York . Attorney says undocumented workers have same rights once they're on the job . Advocate says undocumented construction workers often have less-safe sites .

(CNN) -- Tom Braden, the creator and co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," which pioneered the talk-show format that pitted a conservative against a liberal, died Friday at age 92. Tom Braden died Friday at age 92 of natural causes at his home in Denver, Colorado. Daughter Susan Braden said he died of natural causes at his home in Denver, Colorado. In 1982, Braden took "Crossfire" to CNN from a local station in Washington and served as the program's host "from the left" until 1989. "Many people believe that Tom created the genre of political talk shows and debate programs that has now been copied and copied and copied," said Sam Feist, CNN's political director and senior executive producer of political programming. "He was a giant of a man and one of the most decent human beings you'd ever want to meet. CNN was a better place because Tom Braden worked here." Born in Greene, Iowa, Braden graduated from Dartmouth in spring 1940, when the Germans overran France. He volunteered to join the British army, said his good friend and conservative sparring partner, Pat Buchanan. After fighting in the African desert, Braden joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services when the United States joined the fight, then joined the CIA, Buchanan said. Braden tried his hand at politics, running for lieutenant governor of California in 1966, when he lost in a Democratic primary. He and Bobby Kennedy "were real buddies," Buchanan said. Braden decided to become a journalist at the suggestion of the poet Robert Frost, Susan Braden said. In 1975, he wrote the best-selling book, "Eight is Enough," about his eight children, which was made into a television sitcom that starred a crusty political columnist named Tom Bradford. In 1977, he was co-hosting a Washington radio show called "Confrontation," a format that caught on quickly, Buchanan said. "We took over afternoon drive," the former GOP presidential candidate said. "Braden and I would interrogate people, and we'd go at it 'til all hours." Their show caught the attention of a local television station and then caught the attention of CNN's first president, Reese Schonfeld, who hired them to appear late at night on the fledgling cable channel, Buchanan said. "We'd go out and have dinner and a few drinks and come back at 10 or 10:30 and start preparing for the 11:30 show," Buchanan said. "We'd have to yell to people to shut up in the newsroom." Braden played the establishment liberal -- a Rockefeller, Kennedy man, and Buchanan played the Goldwater, Nixon man. "He was a cantankerous character," Buchanan said. "He really didn't like conservatives, especially the new breed. It made for great chemistry and opposition." But the dislike didn't get personal. "He would laugh at something that was at his expense if it was a good line. That's what you need in the show. An appreciation if the other guy scores a good point." Once, they both found themselves interviewing a man representing the Ku Klux Klan. "He had on his hat and everything and he was sitting there with his arms folded," said Buchanan, who introduced the guest to the audience. "So Tom Braden starts off and says, 'What the hell are you doing in this getup?' "The guy said, 'Your producer told me to wear it.' It was ratings month. It was like that in the early days. It was wild, crazy stuff. But the ratings were tremendous." So good that, after six months, the duo's show was moved up to 7:30 p.m., a half-hour after they finished their three-hour radio show, he said. "We'd get in our cars, race to CNN, put powder on our faces, sit in the chair and start going after somebody," he said. Braden stuck to his guns, Buchanan said, citing an interview with Cal Thomas, the columnist. "Cal accused him of writing, I think, for a pornographic magazine, and Braden hadn't written for them, but had been interviewed by them. "Braden says, 'You're going to apologize to me or I'm walking off the show.' And Cal didn't apologize, and Braden walked off his own show. It was a very funny moment. "I immediately said, 'We're going to have to go to break here.' " After the break, Braden returned. "Fortunately, it was taped," Buchanan said. "It was the most important part of his life," Susan Braden said of her father's years at CNN. "It was his life, it was what he did. He was a part of something, the beginning of something." She said that, despite their philosophical differences, "he and Pat Buchanan actually liked each other." Braden left the show in 1989. "I think he left because CNN thought it was time for a change and to bring in a newer, younger adversary," Buchanan said. "The truth is, I opposed Tom's leaving at the time." Funeral arrangements had not been made Friday, but Braden is to be buried in Dubuque, Iowa, Susan Braden said.

Tom Braden was the creator and co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" Braden died Friday at age 92 in his Denver, Colorado, home of natural causes . His show was first talk show to have conservative face off against a liberal .

(CNN) -- President Obama has proposed expanding high-speed Internet access in public schools across the country. That seems like an obviously good idea, to me and probably to you too. But of course, there is a rub: money. The initiative is expected to cost $4 to $6 billion. The federal government is hardly flush with cash these days. How then will it pay the price of doing something good? The president is suggesting that the Federal Communications Commission raise the charges on cell phone users -- that is, basically, all of us (there are today more cell phones than people in the United States) -- by $4 a year for the next three years. That is small change, to be sure, in a world of trillion dollar deficits. Who among us would begrudge today's youth better Internet access for a penny or so a day? And that may well be the "right" answer, from a moral and public policy perspective. But it is still worth pausing to make an important bigger point. We see here the same old deal with the devil that our government has been making for decades now. Liberals like President Obama propose doing something good -- better Internet access for all today, health insurance for all Americans some days back. But, heaven forbid, we cannot ask wealthy Americans to pay disproportionately for the change. Indeed, we cannot even touch the income tax -- the one major American tax that at least pretends to be progressive -- to pay for any new social wants and needs at all. The fact is that the changes we made to the income tax in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 -- the "fiscal cliff" fix deal from the wee early days of 2013 that raised the marginal rate on married couples earning more than $450,000 a year (yes, $450,000 a year) back to its 2001 level of 39.6%, and so on -- are supposed to be permanent. Even if "permanent" means something like a wedding vow in my home state of California -- a year or two? -- it is clearly too early to revisit that political hot potato. Raising tax rates on the rich is a once-a-decade affair at best. Raising taxes on the middle class has become more like our daily bread. All of the 2013 changes to the income and other taxes -- such as the gift and estate tax, which was "permanently" made largely irrelevant for 99.7% of Americans -- brought in far less revenue to the government than the expiration of the "payroll tax holiday." This latter change happened quietly, without need for any congressional action, as with the proposed mobile phone fee. As a bottom line, payroll taxes on all wage earners increased by 2% of earnings up to approximately $110,000. The social security "contribution" -- not labeled a tax, mind you -- thereby went up by as much as $4000 for a married couple. We're talking over $10 a day, now. This politically well hidden tax increase brought in almost twice as much revenue to Uncle Sam as all other 2013 changes combined. And so the fundamental things continue to apply as time goes by -- it is the middle class that pays, and the more hidden the "surcharges," "user fees," "contributions" and so on, the better. Back to the episode du jour. Obama's proposed increase in mobile phone fees is especially well hidden, as a "charge" that the FCC alone can impose, without congressional action, on account of the "Gore tax" from 1996, whereby then-Vice President Al Gore helped give the FCC this power. Obama's proposal continues a trend of various forms of "excise" and user taxes -- on cigarettes, gasoline, alcohol, and telephone use, on both state and federal levels -- that is rising and accelerating. Obama was unable to deliver on his campaign pledge to raise income taxes in his first term, but he did raise federal cigarette taxes, for example, by 64 cents a pack in 2009, to just over a dollar, and he recently proposed nearly doubling that level. Meantime, there are already 17% worth of various taxes and users fees on cell phones, which the new proposal would only increase. States and localities have been raising sales taxes for years now. No one who follows government or tax policy will be shocked if we one day, likely sooner rather than later, get a national sales or "value-added" tax (VAT) to ... well, to fund all the good that government does. Now I happen to be a liberal who supports all this government good. But I am also a tax lawyer and professor who see the reality of the new class warfare in the U.S. Here's that reality: The middle class is being gouged to pay for programs for all, including the poor. That may all be fine and good, until one day we realize that you cannot keep getting blood from a stone, and the middle class becomes poor, too. Then we will be left with only the rich to ask for a fair share -- unless, of course, the rich have gotten ahead of the curve, and are no longer hanging around in America for the asking. But they wouldn't do that, now, would they? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Edward J. McCaffery.

President Obama's plan to fund ConnectEd is to charge cell phone users . Edward McCaffery: The middle class is being gouged to pay for programs for all . He says Obama's proposed increase in cell phone fees is hidden as a "charge" McCaffery: Why not ask wealthy Americans to pay disproportionately more for it?

(CNN) -- Check your ground beef before you grill this Memorial Day weekend. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says stores in at least 15 states may have received beef contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The service announced this week that 1.8 million pounds of ground beef products were being recalled because they could be contaminated. The federal agency has since named businesses that may have received the tainted products. Stores that may be affected include: . • Gordon Food Service Marketplace stores in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin . • Giorgio's Italian Delicatessen in Stuart, Florida . • Surf N Turf Market in Sebring, Florida . • Blairsville Seafood Market in Blairsville, Georgia . • Butcher Block Plus in Decatur, Illinois . • M Sixty Six General Store in Orleans, Michigan . • Harvest Moon Co-op in Long Lake, Minnesota . • Foscoe Country Corner in Boone, North Carolina . • Bronson's Super Valu in Beulah, North Dakota . • Jason's Super Foods in New Town, North Dakota . • Buchtel Food Mart in Buchtel, Ohio . • Chunky Foods in Girard, Ohio . • Ian's Market in Englewood, Tennessee . • Quick Stop in Erwin, Tennessee . • Virginia Market in Maynardville, Tennessee . • Barger Foods in Nashville, Tennessee . • Stanley Valley Market in Surgoinsville, Tennessee . • Parkway Tobacco Express in Appomattox, Virginia . • Kelley's Market in Eagle Rock, Virginia . • Virginia Heights Travel Store in Wytheville, Virginia . What government tests found in your meat . A representative for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the meat is being removed from store shelves. But consumers should return or throw out meat that has the code EST.2574B and a production date between March 31 and April 18, 2014. The ground beef is sold under a variety of labels, according to the USDA, but comes from Wolverine Packing Co. in Detroit. "While none of the Wolverine Packing product has tested positive for the pathogen implicated in this outbreak, the company felt it was prudent to take this voluntary recall action in response to the illnesses and initial outbreak investigation findings," said Chuck Sanger, a spokesman for Wolverine Packing. Eleven people across four states are suspected to have been sickened by the product, according to the USDA, which learned about the first such illnesses on May 8. Ten of those people were sickened after eating at restaurants that received contaminated meat. But federal officials say regulations prohibit them from naming those restaurants. "People who were exposed were already exposed, so it doesn't help the public to tell them now that a certain restaurant was associated with these illnesses," said David Goldman, assistant administrator for the Office of Public Health Science at the USDA. "Our job really is to identify product that may still be available." According to information officials received from the packing company, he said, the meat went to many states. "The number changes. Yesterday, it was on the order of nearly 40 states, but we don't -- that number changes. That's part of the process, too, is to identify where the food -- the meat in this case -- was actually distributed," Goldman said. The recall was categorized by the Food Safety and Inspection Service as Class I: a health hazard situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death. E. coli is a large group of bacteria that live in the intestines of people and animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Certain strains cause gastrointestinal illness in humans, with symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. An estimated 265,000 infections occur in the United States each year, the CDC says. People usually get sick three to four days after ingesting the bacteria and recover on their own. Young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people who have weakened immune systems (like cancer or HIV patients) are at greater risk for severe illness and death. The best way to avoid getting sick is by washing hands frequently when preparing food and avoiding cross-contamination by washing cutting boards, counters and utensils with hot, soapy water. Properly washing hands after using the bathroom and after coming into contact with animals or being in their environments -- anywhere there may be traces of feces -- also helps. Cooking meats thoroughly to at least 160°F or 70˚C kills the bacteria and prevents infection as well. Using a meat thermometer will most accurately help you determine that the food is thoroughly cooked. Eatocracy: Don't get sick from your picnic . Food Safety and Inspection Service officials said in a news release that the agency is continuing to work with state and federal public health partners on the investigation and provide updated information as it becomes available. After CNN exclusive, USDA probing 'personnel issues' in meat recall . How 9 million pounds of bad meat escaped into the food supply . Food safety tips from a pro . CNN's Chris Frates, David Fitzpatrick, Jacque Wilson, Miriam Falco, Elizabeth Cohen, William Hudson, Greg Botelho and Stephanie Smith contributed to this report.

1.8 million pounds of beef recalled for E. coli risk . Recalled cases were from Wolverine Packing Co. Stores in 15 states may have received contaminated beef . There are reports of 11 people across four states getting sick .

(CNN) -- For a country of just 2.1 million people in an area more than twice the size of Germany, Namibia has seen more than its share of conflict over the past 120 years. Dragged into the 20th century as a German imperial protectorate, German South-West Africa, as it was known then, was the scene of violent insurrections by indigenous people and brutal crackdowns by colonial administrators. In 2004, Germany offered its first formal apology for the massacre of an estimated 65,000 members of the Herero tribe who sustained a rebellion between 1904 and 1907 before they were forced into the desert where many perished. Descendants of the few survivors are still seeking $4 billion compensation from the German government for what they claim was an orchestrated campaign of extermination that pre-figured Germany's genocidal policies of the Second World War. Namibia's troubled history continued deep into the 20th century: in 1920 the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its apartheid laws on the region after 1948. In 1966, the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (Swapo) launched a war of independence for the area that became Namibia. The simmering guerilla campaign continued for 22 years, when South Africa agreed to end administration of the region under a U.N. peace plan. Swapo has governed since Namibia won independence in 1990 in a functioning democracy that saw Hifikepunye Pohamba take his second five-year term as president following elections in 2009. Test your knowledge of Namibia . Even with independence, Namibia's problems continued. In the 1990s, a secessionist movement in the Caprivi Strip, in eastern Namibia, caused thousands to flee to Botswana. The government has since calmed the restive region, declaring it safe for tourism. Today Namibia struggles with huge unemployment (around 50% of the population, according to the CIA World Factbook). HIV/AIDs affects 15% of the population, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization and more than half the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, according to data from the UN. With one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, the result, in large part, of a rural, cashless subsistence economy, land reform is one of Namibia's most hotly contested issues. There are believed to be 4,000 commercial farms - mostly white-owned - that occupy up to half of Namibia's arable land. The government's aim is to resettle landless Namibians on this land on a "willing buyer, willing seller" arrangement. However, expropriations have taken place because too few farmers have been willing to sell. In a bid to speed up the land reform process, the government has moved to loosen up restrictive terms that heavily favored the government in negotiations with farmers over land sales. Just 1,000 of these commercial farms have been purchased by the government as part of its land reform program, and white farmers must offer the government first refusal on any sale of land. Continuing wrangling has acted as a serious disincentive to further investment in the country's valuable arable land. Currently, mining -- particularly diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium -- constitutes more than 12% of Namibia's GDP, according to government figures. Its other largest sectors are tourism, agriculture at more than 9% and manufacturing at more than 15%. The latter, however, struggles as it competes with a highly subsidized manufacturing sector in neighboring South Africa. Ultimately, however, Namibia's most precious resource is likely to be water. Sandwiched between two of the world's most famous deserts - the Namib and the Kalahari - Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, with less than 370mm of rainfall on average each year. Send in your photos of Namibia . However, this year the Namibian department of water affairs announced the discovery of a significant body of underground water - an aquifer dubbed Ohangwena II - that scientists say could supply the north of the country with enough water for centuries. Situated on the border with Angola, Namibia's side of the 10,000-year-old aquifer covers an area about 70km by 40km (43 miles by 25 miles). Project manager Martin Quinger, from the German Federal Institute for Geoscience and Natural Resources (BGR), told the Namibia Sun that it was a substantial body of water and could supply 40% of the nation's population for as long as 400 years. "Old water can be, unlike old beer, very fresh and clean, as it was infiltrated before environmental pollution was an issue," Quinger told the newspaper. CNN's Eye On series often carries sponsorship originating from the countries we profile. However CNN retains full editorial control over all of its reports. Read the policy .

Namibia is over twice the size of Germany and the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa . Colonized by Germany and later ruled by apartheid-era South Africa . Independence came in 1990 after 22 years of war . Stark beauty of landscape and deserts matched by challenges to improve economy and lives of Namibians .

Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- Hurling rocks and brandishing daggers and sticks, supporters of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh plunged into a crowd calling for his ouster in Sanaa on Friday as rising momentum in Yemen sprouted similar protests in other towns. Reports of excessive force prompted calls for restraint amid intensifying demonstrations. U.S. President Barack Obama voiced concern about what the U.S. Embassy in Yemen described as "a disturbing rise in the number and violence of attacks against Yemeni citizens gathering peacefully to express their views on the current political situation." "The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protestors," Obama said. "Wherever they are, people have certain universal rights, including the right of peaceful assembly." The embassy statement said "the attacks are contrary to the commitments that President Saleh has made to protect the right of Yemeni citizens to gather peacefully to express their views." The violence in Yemen and Libya on Friday stood in sharp contrast to images from Cairo's Tahrir Square, where Egyptians showed up en masse to celebrate the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak a week ago. Saleh's foes in Yemen are trying to score their own victory. After midday prayers concluded, they marched from the gates of Sanaa University to the streets, where security forces and riot police tried to stay between rival demonstrators Friday. Some told Amnesty International that they had been surrounded by security forces, aided by "thugs" who fired shots at them and beat them. "We are very scared, particularly because there are children with us," a protester told the human rights monitoring group. "We've tried to get the children out of the area, but the security forces have not allowed us to do so." "After Mubarak, now it's Ali's turn," chanted the anti-government protesters. "The people want the fall of the regime." "I'm out here today because we want the president to go and we want to make sure that he and his family don't stay in power," said Khalid Amer, a student. Despite concessions from Saleh, a tide of anger is sweeping through Yemen's youths, who say they are simply fed up with the status quo. At least 30 anti-government demonstrators were injured, according to Abdul Naser Al-Dumaini, an anti-government protester at a demonstration in Sanaa. The day before, at least 20 people were injured in Sanaa. Opposition lawmaker Ahmed Hashid said police at the scene did not try to intervene. In Taiz, more than 10,000 anti-government demonstrators, including 4,000 women, gathered Friday in Freedom Square in a seventh straight day of protests, witnesses said. An assailant drove by the square and hurled a grenade, killing one person, a police official said. At least 43 others were wounded. And in the coastal city of Aden, about 3,000 anti-government demonstrators gathered in the Al-Mansoura District, witnesses said. Five people have been killed in Aden since Wednesday, hospital and government officials said. Aref al-Qubati, a participant whose friend was one of the victims, said police fired to disperse protesters. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that "at least four photojournalists were attacked, beaten and had their cameras confiscated" by government supporters at the protests. The government countered the coverage of discontent in Yemen by reporting on sympathetic demonstrations. The state-run Saba news agency said a million demonstrators had marched in Taiz, hoisting Yemeni flags and pictures of Saleh. And Deputy Interior Minister Hussein al-Zawa'ari blamed a southern secessionist movement for the unrest and deaths in Aden, Saba said. Saleh has called for an investigation into the Aden violence, and Vice President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi met with the governor Thursday, Saba said. Saleh, in power for 32 years, met earlier in the week with his National Defense Council to discuss discontent in his nation. The council "stressed all should practice their rights according to the constitution, in a peaceful way and without violence, chaos, sabotage and lawbreaking," Saba said. Saleh has been in touch with King Hamad of Bahrain, which is also mired in unrest. "He pointed out that there are schemes aimed at plunging the region into chaos and violence targeting the nation's security and the stability of its countries," Saba said. "Those who commit acts of disorder and vandalism (are) simply implementing suspicious foreign agendas ..." The report didn't suggest who might be behind the agendas. In an attempt to quell growing discontent, Saleh, a U.S. ally in the fight against an offshoot of al Qaeda in Yemen, has announced he won't seek another term in 2013. He also said he would postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for April to allow more time for discussions about reform. Yemen's situation is compounded by the fight against al Qaeda, the southern separatist movement in its once-independent south, a Shiite uprising and a looming shortage of water.

NEW: Obama: U.S. condemns violence "by governments against peaceful protestors" Rival demonstrators clash at Sanaa University . Scores of injuries reported . Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power for 32 years .

(CNN) -- Jaycee Dugard filed a complaint against the federal government Thursday, seeking compensation for what she called its failures to track the man who held her captive for 18 years. The lawsuit was filed Thursday morning in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. This comes after the U.S. government "summarily rejected" two requests from Dugard "for private mediation in the case," according to a press release from Nancy Seltzer and Associates, a Los Angeles-based public relations firm that represents the long-time kidnap victim. The U.S. Justice Department had no immediate comment Thursday, as it had not seen and thus did not know the details of the complaint, said spokesman Charles Miller. Dugard was 11 years old in 1991, when she was abducted from the street in front of her South Lake Tahoe, California, home. Phillip and Nancy Garrido held her and the two daughters she gave birth to in subsequent years in a hidden compound of sheds and tarpaulins until they were found in 2009. Phillip Garrido was convicted in the 1970s of kidnapping a 25-year-old woman and keeping her in a storage shed in Reno, Nevada, where he repeatedly raped her. He spent 11 years of his sentence in a Leavenworth, Kansas, federal penitentiary, then went to a halfway house and eventually was allowed to live with his mother at her Antioch, California, home. The federal government oversaw Phillip Garrido's parole from when he got out of custody in 1988 through 1999 -- including the date in 1991 when Dugard was kidnapped -- after which responsibility shifted to California authorities. "For nearly the entirety of their lives, ... Dugard and her two daughters were held captive, abused and irreparably damaged by a deranged and maniacal felon, Phillip Garrido," the complaint begins. The court document sharply criticizes the federal government for releasing Phillip Garrido originally from prison in 1988 as well for what it calls its "outrageous and inexcusable" handling of his case. "Had federal parole authorities demonstrated a modicum of vigilance -- indeed, had they simply performed their duties and obligations as required by federal law and internal policies -- Jaycee and her daughters would not have been forced to endure a virtual lifetime of physical and mental abuse from a detonated 'time bomb,'" the complaint states. No specific damages are requested in the complaint, and Dugard "is not seeking money for herself" -- as any funds would go to her non-profit The JAYC Foundation, which gives support and services to families recovering from abductions and other traumatic services -- said the press release. "We believe that the years of abuse experienced by Ms. Dugard are a direct result of the U.S. parole commission's colossal blunders in the supervision of Mr. Garrido," Dale Kinsella, part of the law firm of Kinsella, Weitzman, Iser, Kump and Aldisert, which filed the complaint on behalf of Dugard, said in a statement. A $20 million settlement was paid out in 2010 from the state of California. The press release on Dugard's behalf notes those funds were shared between her and her children, as well as used for legal and other expenses. Moreover, it states "the two governmental entities" -- meaning the state and federal governments -- "committed separate, distinct and consecutive acts of negligence." This past April, the Garridos pleaded guilty in El Dorado Superior Court. A judge sentenced Phillip Garrido to 431 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and 12 counts of sexual assault. Nancy Garrido got 36 years to life in prison for her role in the crimes, including kidnapping and one count of rape by force. A few months later, in July, James Ware -- the chief federal judge for northern California, thus putting him in charge of the probation department there -- released a once-confidential report from the Administrative Office of the United States Court on Garrido's case. It found no evidence that federal officers charged with overseeing Garrido over the years would have found Dugard by searching the premises. Still, the report called the handling of his case "clearly substandard" and symptomatic of larger problems. "The Garrido case is a significant reflection of the deficient practices in the probation office in the northern district of California," the report said. "The office had a track record of inadequate supervision (and) serious deficiences in operations." After arriving in Antioch, Garrido was "correctly categorized as a 'high risk' offender, (but) the probation office failed to supervise him accordingly." The Administration Office said the case's poor management was unsurprising, as the same federal agency had concluded in 2000 that the northern California probation office's supervision of sex offenders was "poor." CNN's Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

NEW: Abuse is due to "the U.S. parole commission's colossal blunders," a lawyer says . Federal authorities oversaw Phillip Garrido's parole between 1988 and 1999 . He and his wife abducted Jaycee Dugard in 1991 and held her 18 years . Dugard's representative claims, in a release, that feds rejected two private mediation requests .

(CNN) -- By now the story has become familiar, though it's no less gut-wrenching: A grown man is accused of hurling a racial insult at a crying toddler on an Atlanta-bound flight and then slapping the child when he won't quiet down. Joe Rickey Hundley of Idaho has been charged with assaulting 19-month-old Jonah Bennett and has lost his job. Hundley turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday and was released on bail. His first court appearance has not been set. Hundley's attorney, Marcia Shein, said her client is being unfairly portrayed. A good deal of the conversation surrounding the incident involves the fear that the youngster may be "traumatized forever." How likely is it that little Jonah will remember this incident or be affected by it long-term? Not very likely, according to experts. "He may remember it for a while, and he may be fearful, but a one-time experience won't have a long-term effect," said Atlanta pediatrician Dr. Jennifer Shu. According to Shu, who has not treated the toddler, Jonah is too young to understand what is going on. The incident was shocking in the moment, says Shu. The toddler understands the slap and knows that someone hit him and that it hurt. But he doesn't know or comprehend the significance of what happened. Nor would he understand the meaning if ugly words were directed at him. Dr. Theodore Gaensbauer, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and author of the study "Emotional Expression in Infancy," agrees. "I would not say it will cause lifelong trauma, depending on how it's handled," observed Gaensbauer, who is a national expert on preschool trauma. The experience may, however, create a vulnerability for a period of time, perhaps months or up to a year or so. If something else happens that is reminiscent -- such as being subject to racially charged slurs and violence similar to the alleged incident -- he may be more vulnerable. Early childhood trauma is certainly a cause for concern. Dr. Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, told me last year that stressful experiences can effectively rewire the brain to respond to hardship by becoming more sensitized to stress. That is, the child becomes hard-wired to react much more strongly than someone who did not experience a lot of turmoil. As a result, the child may go on to have a permanently elevated level of stress, with its adverse implications for physical and psychological health. But challenging situations, even one as dramatic as the one little Jonah Bennett experienced, do not necessarily lead to lifelong issues. Sinha observed that it's stress that is sustained, uncontrollable and overwhelming that is damaging. "It is hard to be resilient that often," said Gaensbauer, who also has not examined Jonah Bennett. But even then, protective factors like social and family support, education and optimism and emotional self-regulation can provide a safety net for children. Both Shu and Gaensbauer observe that most children can work through and overcome a single traumatic episode without any obvious long-term effects, given supportive parenting and caretaking. "How secure is the child's relationship with his caregivers?" Shu asked. If he's had good relationships and solid attachments, that will make him more able to deal with traumatic situations like this. On the other hand, if he's had a lot of stress in his life already, it may make it harder. What's really important is how Jonah's family is dealing with the incident. Shu says that if the family is calm and reassuring, the child will be comforted by that. If they are stressed out and expressing their anxieties, particularly within the toddler's earshot, he is likely to respond by becoming stressed as well. After traumatic incidents, Gaensbauer always recommends that caregivers look out for subtle signs that children may be adversely affected: "Things like increased clinginess, bed-wetting or separation anxiety. He may need to be closer to his parents. He may have trouble sleeping, may be more hyper. Noises may make him fearful." The child may even hit others, cautions Gaensbauer. And in such an instance, it's important that parents do not react punitively or generalize in terms of their child being more aggressive. "What he's doing is imitating and reenacting what he experienced, in an attempt to understand it." Gaensbauer suggest that play therapy may be useful. Caregivers can use dolls, play materials and toy airplanes to create a scene that helps the child to conceptualize and develop a narrative around what happened. Over and above providing reassurance and empathy, caregivers need to help children understand that the experience was unique, "so they're not living with this undercurrent of anxiety that no matter where I am, suddenly, for reasons I don't understand, something terrible can happen, and someone can come along and hurt me." It's important to make the unconscious conscious, within the bounds of children's understanding, says Gaensbauer. At age 2, a child does not understand what happened, but with the wisdom, care and support of his loved ones, over time, he will.

Joe Rickey Hundley is accused of slapping 19-month-old Jonah Bennett on a flight . Hudley was charged with assault after incident, in which he allegedly used racial slur . Many CNN commenters wondered whether the child would be traumatized . Experts say a one-time incident of this nature is not likely to have lasting effects .

(CNN) -- The happiest day in Justin Smith's life -- next to the day his daughter was born -- was March 5, 2013. When his phone rang, he looked down and saw the 301 area code. It must be the National Institutes of Health, he thought. He didn't know anyone else in Maryland. Indeed, Dr. Brigitte Widemann was calling to say that after five months of waiting, Smith's 12-year-old daughter McKenna had been accepted into a clinical trial at NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. She could begin the week of September 30. Smith thanked the doctor and hung up the phone. "Baby, hopefully we can get you a cure now," he said as he hugged and kissed his daughter. McKenna has neurofibromatosis, a rare genetic disorder. Countless tumors in various parts of her body tangle around her nerves and grow into her soft tissue. One tumor the size of a grapefruit crushed her esophagus and her carotid artery when she was 4 years old. Another tumor collapsed a lobe of her right lung. The growths are starting to cut off sensation to her right arm and left leg; soon she will lose function of them entirely. She's on four different pain medications, including two types of morphine. McKenna has had two surgeries and 24 rounds of radiation. The tumors have continued to grow. She underwent medical experiments to use the drugs thalidomide and Gleevac. Both were a failure. Doctors have told Smith his daughter will likely die before her 20th birthday. She turns 13 today. "This NIH trial is her last hope," Smith said. The Smiths boarded a plane Monday from their home in Cape Coral, Florida, to head to Bethesda. But during the trip -- even as they checked in at the Children's Inn at NIH -- they weren't feeling hopeful that McKenna would be able to start taking the experimental drug, called hydrogen sulfate, on Friday as scheduled. Hydrogen sulfate, or AZD6244, has been tested in adults and children with cancer. NIH doctors think it might be able to prevent benign tumors like McKenna's from growing, or at least shrink the tumors and slow down their growth. Smith feared the government shutdown would keep McKenna from being able to start the study at all. McKenna is one of about 200 new patients, including some 30 children, who come every week to the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to begin clinical trials. These patients are being told they will have to wait until the government starts up again to start their trials, according to NIH spokesman John Burklow. Taking care of McKenna, as well as her disabled grandmother, is a full-time job for Smith, a single father. An Army veteran, he's used to hard work and trying times, but as he waited Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for word from the doctors, he grew more and more worried -- and angry. On Wednesday he tweeted, "#governmentshutdown needs 2 end #Now hurting sick people. have the #House come here to apologize to my young daughter & others." "Finally we're here and our government can't get its act together," he told CNN. Then at 3 p.m. Wednesday, there was a turnaround. For reasons that are unclear, McKenna's doctors said she would be able to start taking the hydrogen sulfate on Friday as scheduled. No one knows how many other new patients like McKenna also managed to get into their NIH studies despite the government shutdown. "If a child or adult patient is in desperate need for treatment, those people will be handled in a different manner," Burklow said, "and will more than likely be seen by physicians or nurses at the NIH Clinical Center." While relieved that his daughter can start the trial, Smith worries about the kids who won't be able to. There are the other patients, like McKenna, who were supposed to start this week at the NIH Clinical Center, and if the shutdown continues, another 200 patients every week will face the same dilemma. Even though McKenna's been lucky, the shutdown has still made her trip more difficult. With 75% of NIH's employees on furlough, the testing takes much longer than it should. An eye doctor's appointment this week, for example, should have taken one hour, but lasted more than three. Exhausted and in pain, McKenna had to take a dose of morphine to get through it. And then another setback, this one unrelated to the shutdown: doctors found a new tumor in McKenna's eye. This medical complication means she might not be able to get the drug Friday as planned. Smith said he knows what he would do if he could talk to members of Congress in person. "I'd put my daughter in their face and I'd say, 'Why are you putting politics above my daughter's life, or any other child's life?'" he said. "This is not a game." McKenna said her message to Congress would be much shorter. "This is stupid." CNN's John Bonifield and Val Willingham contributed to this piece.

Some 200 new patients, including 30 children, start a clinical trial at NIH every week . With the government shutdown, these patients are being told they will have to wait to begin . McKenna Smith will be allowed to receive treatment, doctors say, on Friday .

New York (CNN) -- Enjoy hypocrisy? This past weekend you could glut the appetite. On Monday, Israeli ships stopped a flotilla carrying materials that could be used for war, including cement that Israel maintained could be used to build bunkers, to Hamas-ruled Gaza. The crew of one boat resisted violently, triggering a firefight in which nine people were killed, most of them Turkish nationals. Turkey is protesting vigorously. But, question: Turkey is a NATO ally, an applicant to the European Union. What is it doing allowing its nationals to smuggle cement that could build bunkers? Especially when those nationals belong to a group, the Turkish IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) that Israel has designated a terrorist organization? The flotilla departed from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. Turkey's occupation of half of Cyprus is deemed illegal by the European Union and the United Nations. If the government of Turkey feels so strongly about ending disputed occupations, why does it not start with the disputed occupation it is operating itself? The flotilla followed a breathtaking Friday at the United Nations. The 189 signatories of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty agreed on a final list of resolutions for a safer world. The nuclear threat from Iran? Unmentioned. Instead, the NPT resolution targeted -- what a surprise -- Israel. Shamefully, the Friday resolution was joined by the United States. Yes, the Obama administration issued a statement at the same time that "deplores the decision to single out Israel" and also "the failure of the resolution to mention Iran." The administration deplored -- but it signed. The Obama administration's signature marks an abrupt departure from previous U.S. policy. Since the 1960s, the United States has accepted Israel's nuclear arsenal on condition that Israel not threaten its neighbors. Israel has more than met that condition. In 1973, Egypt outright invaded Israel, in full confidence that Israel would not go nuclear so long as Egypt stopped short of attacking Israel's cities. It's important to understand that Israel (like India and Pakistan) has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. So Israel's nuclear force violates no commitments or pledges: unlike, say, the nuclear programs of Syria, Libya, Iraq and Iran, to name just four of the Middle Eastern countries that have been caught violating the NPT. Iran by contrast is violating the NPT. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. And Iranian leaders have threatened to use the nuclear weapons they are seeking to annihilate Israel. On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran has accumulated enough nuclear material for two bombs, when fully enriched. And the latest round of U.N. sanctions will do nothing to stop that bomb, because they omit the most crucial measures: . • A ban on exports of gasoline to Iran (Iran now imports half its gasoline) • Measures to sever Iran's central bank from the global payments system . The measures adopted by the Security Council last week are not only toothless, but they even contain a loophole legalizing the sale of Russian air defenses to Iran, the better to protect nuclear facilities from action by the United States or Israel. OK, so maybe it is not news that the U.N. system is hypocritical and useless. What is news is this: The Obama administration has broken with 40 years of precedent and has affixed its signature to a document suggesting that it is Israel's weapons -- not Iran's -- that ought to be priority No. 1 in the Middle East. And now, post-flotilla, the Obama administration stands in danger of being drawn into the attempt to open Hamas-ruled Gaza to military-capable imports, and to force Israel to engage in some kind of negotiation with Hamas. Former Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, who is close to Obama administration thinking, outlined in the New York Times Monday the contours of just such a deal: . "The administration needs to work on a package deal in which Hamas commits to preventing attacks from, and all smuggling into, Gaza. In return, Israel would drop the blockade and allow trade in and out." It's a pretty thought. Pro-Hamas groups did not go to the trouble of organizing a flotilla of supplies that could be used for war in order to end smuggling of war material into Gaza. Nor are pro-Hamas groups seeking to ship the material into Gaza in order to thwart future attacks on Israel. Rebuilding Hamas' bunkers is not a step toward peace. But as with the Obama administration's joining the anti-Israel resolution at the United Nations on Friday, followed by after-the-fact explanations that Israel had nothing to fear, so the Obama administration is now being drawn into another anti-Israel action, again cushioned by assurances that, "This is for your own good." Monday morning, ABC'S Jake Tapper reported an unnamed administration official promising "no daylight" between the United States and Israel. But the same administration official who promised "no daylight" also told Tapper: "The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure." Meaning: first we soothe you, then we squeeze you? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.

David Frum says Gaza flotilla was carrying war materials . Turkey's criticism of Israel ignores Turkey's occupation of northern Cyprus, he says . New U.N. non-proliferation resolution targets Israel but ignores Iran threat, Frum says .

(CNN) -- Some subjects are just plain hard to talk about. Religion, politics and money -- maybe sex, too. But try talking about race and then add the emotional context of a death penalty trial, and no one will talk at all. If you try to broach the subject during jury selection, asking all the racists to please raise their hands is not an option. We, as a nation, have to find a way to face the dirty secret of criminal justice -- that prejudice often carries the day. The issue of racial disparity in the administration of the death penalty has been a part of modern law. Starting with Furman v. Georgia and continuing on to McCleskey v. Zant, courts have struggled to come to grips with this issue as have those of us defending the most despised amongst us. Jury selection is actually a process of elimination: Potential jurors are called for jury duty and are questioned and either seated, excused for a cause or excused by a peremptory challenge from either side. Generally, a challenge for cause involves jurors who have a relationship with a party or witness, have a personal experience that would cause them to be unfair or are legally unable to sit. In capital cases, the number of potential jurors who can be excluded for cause is much larger because anyone who is against the death penalty can be turned away -- and minorities are more likely to find problems with the death penalty. Then there's the misuse of peremptory challenges -- each side gets a certain number of these that it can use to excuse a juror for any reason. The prosecution often uses this strategy to strike as many minorities from serving as jurors as it can. The problem this creates is obvious. A black or Hispanic defendant facing death is the most likely to have an all, or nearly all, white jury. To combat this, the U.S. Supreme Court in Batson v. Kentucky held that the defense could object if it believed the prosecution was using its peremptory challenges to limit the number of minority jurors. If the trial judge so ordered, the prosecution would then be obliged to give "race-neutral" reasons for the exclusions. If the trial court accepted these explanations, the trial would continue. If not, a mistrial would be declared. This procedure was supposed to fix the problem. It hasn't had that effect. Almost any excuse will do -- a prosecutor can call the juror "arrogant" for example, and that is enough. In one case I tried, the prosecution excused a black woman who was married, a homeowner, had two children and taught elementary school. They kept a white woman who was married, a homeowner, had three children and taught elementary school. His "race-neutral" explanation? The black woman wore her dress too tight. No kidding. And the judge accepted that explanation. Obviously, prosecutors know that this form of discrimination increases their odds of winning, and the desire to win is hard to resist. But a prosecutor is supposed to represent the people of his or her state or the federal government, and that includes not only the victim and his or her family, and public safety, but the accused and the community. Systematic exclusion of a race from jury selection sends an ugly message -- African Americans and Hispanics need not apply. In an analysis of Jefferson Parish, the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center found that from 1999 to 2007, blacks were struck from juries at more than three times the rate of whites. The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama has just issued a report, "Illegal Racial Discrimination Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy," that details racial discrimination in jury selection in eight Southern states. "Key decision makers in death-penalty cases across the country are almost exclusively white," the Equal Justice Initiative said. Then there is the case of Curtis Flowers, as reported by CNN. He is about to be tried for the sixth time for the same crime in a case marred by racial discrimination in jury selection. We might think in this supposed "post-racial" world we are past discrimination, but we aren't. Not by a long shot. Confronting racial attitudes in the courtroom is often necessary. The problem is fear. When a lawyer speaks up about these issues, he or she is inviting anger from the prosecution, potentially the judge and maybe even the jury. But we have to talk about this -- and by "we" I mean not only defense lawyers, but all of us -- and openly. The courts have to stop glossing over the problem by pretending that "race-neutral" reasons really exist or are even close to satisfactory. And courts should name the offending parties. The prosecutor who said he didn't want the teacher on the jury because of her so-called tight dress might have hesitated if he knew his name could be published. In one case I tried, the complaining witness was white, the defendant black, and race was all over the case. I was afraid to talk about it, but I believed it was a motivating force behind the choice to prosecute at all. So I took a deep breath and spoke. The jurors acquitted and thanked me for giving them permission to speak about race -- so they could talk about it and then move on and be able to "get to the case." It's time we all did the same. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrea Lyon.

Andrea Lyon: Racial discrimination in jury selection frequent in death penalty cases . Lyon: Prosecutors use challenges to keep as many minorities off as possible . When defense objects, she says, judge often accepts lame "race-neutral" excuses . Lyon says black or Latino facing death is the most likely to have all, or nearly all, white jury .

(CNN) -- Searchers have recovered the bodies of three people who were aboard a Yemenia Airways jet that crashed off the coast of Comoros in the Indian Ocean, a spokesman for Yemen's Civil Aviation department said Tuesday. A man hugs a relative of one of the victims at an airport in Marseille in southern France. Capt. Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Qadir also told reporters that a child who was reported found alive was a 5-year-old boy. He did not give further details of the child's condition. "The French said that (Wednesday) they will send more French units to the accident location in order to retrieve the bodies and possibly that they may be able to locate people who are still alive," he said. The Airbus 310 went down early Tuesday, carrying 142 passengers and 11 crew members on a flight that originated in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. Qadir said the jet took off from Sanaa shortly before 10 p.m. Monday and vanished from radar when it was about 16 miles from Comoros' capital, Moroni. Searchers have not located the plane's data recorders, Qadir said, and investigators were not speculating on the cause of the crash. "The weather conditions were indeed very troubling and the winds were very strong, reaching 61 kilometers per hour (38 mph)," he said. "That's one thing. The other thing was that the sea was very rough when the plane approached landing at Moroni airport." But French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau noted that several years ago France banned the plane, a A310-300, because of safety concerns. "People are talking about poor weather conditions, but for the moment, we are unsure," Bussereau said. "It seems the plane may have attempted an approach, put on the gas, and attempted another approach, which then failed. For the moment, we must be careful because none of this information is verified." Qadir said it was too early to blame the aircraft for the crash. "This plane is just like any other plane," he said. "It can have a malfunction, but we don't know what really happened before the investigation is over. And then we can determine if there is a technical issue, bad weather or anything else that may have led to the crash." It was the second crash involving an Airbus jet in a month. On June 1, an Air France Airbus A330 crashed off Brazil while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, France. All 228 aboard are presumed dead. The cause remains under investigation. Recent plane crashes » . Former pilot and aviation analyst John Cox said there were no similarities between the two incidents. "These are two dramatically different airplanes flown by two different airlines," Cox told CNN's "American Morning." "The accidents happened at two different regimes of flight. And Airbus has hundreds of millions of hours flying safely. I don't believe that ... we can draw any conclusions because the manufacturer was the same in these two very different types of accidents." At first, Comoros officials said there were no signs of survivors among the dead bodies floating in the choppy waters. But then rescuers found the child. Watch as airline describes child's rescue » . Cox said it reminded him of the 1987 crash of Northwest Flight 255 in Detroit, Michigan, in which only a 4-year-old girl survived while 156 others died. "This has come up before, and it's where the toddler was seated (during the impact) that allowed them to survive," he said. "It's a miracle and I'm glad ... the toddler is safe. I'm just saddened for the loss of everybody else," he added. The Yemeni crash occurred as the plane approached the Hahaya airport in Moroni. The plane tried to land, then U-turned before it crashed, Comoros Vice President Idi Nadhoim said. Officials did not know why the plane could not land, he said. Flight 626 was expected to be a four-and-a-half-hour flight. The airline has three regular flights a week to Moroni, off the east coast of Africa, about 2,900 km (1,800 miles) south of Yemen. The crash occurred about 1:30 a.m., Nadhoim said. There was no indication of foul play behind the crash, the official in Yemen said. Yemenia Air had used the jet since 1999 on about 17,300 flights, Airbus officials said. The company said it would assist in investigating the crash. "The concerns and sympathy of the Airbus employees go to the families, friends and loved ones affected by the accident," the company said in a statement. In the wake of the Air France crash on June 1, United States accident investigators have been probing two recent failures of airspeed and altitude indications aboard Airbus A330s. One flight was between the United States and Brazil in May, and the other between Hong Kong and Japan in June. The planes landed safely and there were no injuries or damage, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. CNN's Saad Abedine and Ayesha Durgahee contributed to this report .

NEW: Three bodies found; French sending team to help search and rescue . A 5-year-old boy recovered alive from Yemeni jet crash in Indian Ocean . Jet was carrying more than 150 people to island of Comoros from Yemen . Crash occurs as plane tries to land at airport, official says .

(CNN) -- Two decades ago, I strode out of my house and knew I'd never think of it as my home again. I hugged my mother goodbye and climbed into the car with my dad, my tape collection and every decent piece of clothing I owned. When he made the multistate drive back from dropping me off at college, the car would be empty, and the house would, to me, no longer be our family home -- just my parents' house. Recently, it ceased to be even that. A few months ago, my parents handed the keys over to a real estate agent and, for the first time in more than 40 years, were no longer homeowners. They headed southeast from Kentucky to a retirement community near my sister in South Carolina. If all goes as planned, they'll spend the rest of their days in blissful, assisted leisure. For them, there will be no more fussing over gutter clogs, leaf piles, loose shingles or any of the other burdens of ownership. While their house has weathered the passage of time well -- even gotten more elegant in the absence of two squabbling, headstrong daughters -- my mother has not. My dad will benefit from the on-hand help with her care, and she will be less isolated by her declining health and mobility. They feel freed by shedding the house and its baggage. I am thrilled for them -- and yet unexpectedly adrift. I know how lucky I was to grow up in that solid red brick house: leak-free, clean and warm enough when it needed to be. But I find myself not mourning its loss. For many people, a childhood home acts as a satellite heart, the warm and beating core of family. They're at their most complete in the center of it, surrounded by loved ones, with the artifacts of an idyllic past intact. A visit home comforts and charges them to face the challenges of the outside world; for me, it always chafed and drained my spirit. This was not the fault of the people inside. I was just wired incompatibly with the place I was raised. Every room you live in preserves a frozen version of the person you once were, for better or worse. A few blocks from the home I share with my husband and our dogs, I can stroll by the apartment building where I spent eight bachelorette years. I thrived, loved, cried, created and blossomed there, and I almost inevitably light up in recollection of happy times inside that fifth-floor walk-up. That's rarely the case when I think of the house where I grew up. I was a weird, low and lonely kid when I lived there, awkward in my own skin and aching for the day I could fly far, far away and metamorphose into the adult I dreamed of being. At best, the house on Manor Lane afforded me refuge from a small-town suburban world that wasn't especially thrilled to have me in it. My parents were kind and attuned enough to let me cocoon myself in the basement, setting up a painting (and, let's face it, sulking) studio where I was free to make terrible art and dreadful poetry and go about the business of being a misfit teen, biding time until my escape. At worst, and especially after I'd moved away and begun building a happier life, a night back in my childhood bed could easily press the air from my chest. The room exerted a nearly physical force on my body, and I'd react by shutting down: sleeping too much, mostly to shield myself from the ghosts of my misfit past. But they've begun to haunt my home 570 miles away. Some parents institute a purge as soon as their children move away, unsentimentally chucking report cards, finger paintings, trophies and all the other detritus of youth. ("You better come get this stuff or I'm tossing it ...") My parents were dedicated chroniclers of their daughters' lives -- the good, the bad and the terribly ugly haircuts. In the process of streamlining their belongings, they began shipping this stuff to us. The U.S. mail became a time machine, delivering odds and ends including third-grade conduct reports and an inexplicable pencil drawing of the main characters from "Moonlighting." (Like I said, I was a weird kid.) Rereading the "deep" and deeply hackneyed poetry you wrote in high school can take you down a peg, no matter how strong your adult self-image. And it's incredibly disconcerting to see long-forgotten fossils of the past -- a spelling bee medal, a lumpy art class ashtray, a tragically dorky class picture -- existing in the same physical space as the carefully curated objects of one's grown-up home. But these things are mine now to do with as I wish, to display or discard, celebrate or finally exorcise. It may take time. Meanwhile, there's a slight pang at the loss of a place I once lived, and didn't quite love. I'll never again skulk in that basement, sleep like the dead in that bed or dial that number by heart to hear my parents' voices, but I suppose that now, home is just wherever they are. Where is home for you, and where do you want to return to visit or stay? Please share in the comments below and participate in our iReport assignment.

Kat Kinsman's parents moved from the Kentucky house where she grew up . Kinsman: "They feel freed. ... I am thrilled for them -- and yet unexpectedly adrift" They sent objects from childhood, which began to pile up on her desk at work .

(CNN) -- President Obama is "deeply concerned" about the growing number of deadly attacks on U.S. forces by Afghan security forces, and plans to contact the Afghan president to discuss taking tougher actions, he said Monday. "I'll be reaching out to President (Hamid) Karzai," Obama told reporters at the White House, adding, "We've got to make sure that we're on top of this." Obama spoke Monday with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The top U.S. military official is in Afghanistan for meetings with coalition and Afghan leaders, including Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO forces, and Afghan Army Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, Dempsey's counterpart in the country. There has been some success, including better counterintelligence, Obama said. "But obviously we're going to have to do more." "And hopefully over the next several weeks we'll start seeing better progress on this front," he added. An incident Sunday brought the death toll in attacks by Afghan military and police personnel this year to 40, according to U.S. military officials. Twenty-three of those killed were Americans, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The NATO death toll in what the military is now calling "insider attacks" is already higher than it was last year, according to statistics compiled by the New America Foundation, a public policy think tank. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Friday that 39 people had been killed in these attacks in 2012. That was before Sunday's attack killed one ISAF service member. The exact number of attacks remains unclear. While the U.S. military said there have been 40 insider attacks this year, ISAF tweeted last week that there had been 27 such attacks this year. There have been two more since that tweet. An ISAF spokesman told CNN on Friday there had been 31 such attacks before Sunday's attack. NATO and the United States say the vast majority of the attacks are not the work of the Taliban or insurgent groups. "Some 10% we know are related to the insurgency," Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz, a spokesman for the ISAF, said last week. An April report by the U.S. Defense Department said, "Investigations have determined that a large majority of green-on-blue attacks are not attributable to insurgent infiltration of the ANSF, but are due to isolated personal grievances against coalition personnel. There is no indication that these recent attacks are part of a deliberate effort by insurgents, nor were they coordinated with each other." The term "green-on-blue" refers to a color coding system used by the military, in which blue refers to the friendly force, in this case ISAF; and green refers to an allied friendly forces, in this case Afghan National Security Forces. When investigators traveled to the attackers' home villages to investigate what was known about them, the information they collected led them to believe most of the attackers were generally not aligned with an insurgent group, but had their own grievances, military officials say. But the motivations of about half the attackers are difficult to determine definitively because the perpetrator is dead or has fled, CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen and Jennifer Rowland of the New America Foundation write in a column on CNN.com. Some of the incidents appear to have taken place after arguments between Afghan and international troops, the column notes. Last year, U.S. military behavioral scientist Jeffrey Bordin interviewed more than 600 Afghan soldiers and police and found they held overwhelmingly negative perceptions of Western soldiers, stemming from incidents including alleged indiscriminate shootings that killed civilians and the public searching of Afghan soldiers outside NATO bases, as well as U.S. soldiers urinating in public or cursing at their Afghan counterparts, Bergen and Rowland write. "Another likely cause of the increase in the number of green-on-blue incidents is straightforward: In the past two years the size of the Afghan army and police force has almost doubled from around 200,000 to around 350,000," the column says. Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke Sunday with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. "They expressed shared concern over this issue and agreed that American and Afghan officials should work even more closely together to minimize the potential for insider attacks in the future," Pentagon spokesman George Little said. Dempsey, in a statement Monday, said Karzai's public statement condemning insider attacks was "tremendously important, and I hope it permeates to the lowest levels of the Afghan government and military." Afghan police are most likely to launch such attacks, Dempsey said. "The vulnerability of local police to (terrorist) influence is great. ... They don't move around the country the way the Army does, so they live at the point of corruption. I'm sure that's the case here too." Officials are examining the vetting process for Afghan soldiers and police "and investigating where it failed," a Defense Department statement said. All troops at NATO headquarters and all bases across the country have been ordered to carry loaded weapons around the clock, CNN learned Friday. CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

NEW: President Obama says he will talk to President Karzai about the issue . NEW: Obama spoke with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is in Afghanistan . Only about 10% of the attacks are related to the insurgency, military officials say . "Vulnerability of local police to (terrorist) influence is great," the U.S. top military official says .

(CNN) -- On a day when a report showed English Premier League clubs attract nearly EUR 150m ($193m) through shirt sponsorship deals, Newcastle United announced one of the biggest -- and most controversial -- in their history. The club has signed a four-year contract with 'digital finance company' Wonga, a pay-day firm one MP claims is nothing more than a "legal loan shark." Named as the number one company in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list in 2011, Wonga lends money with an annual interest rate of 4,124%. The company, which is named after a slang term for money in Britain, declined to comment when contacted by CNN. "We are completely transparent about the total cost of repayment and we make money when our customers repay us quickly, not by continually extending a growing line of credit," says Wonga's website. "Like all companies we make the odd mistake, but we are serious about our commitment to responsible lending and try to put customers at the heart of what we do." As well as sponsoring Newcastle's shirts, Wonga has also bought the naming rights to the Magpies' stadium, reverting it back to its original St James' Park name. The club's owner Mike Ashley sparked a huge wave of protest from fans when he discarded 119 years of history by calling the ground the Sports Direct Arena, after his sports goods firm, back in 2011. Several key figures have criticized Ashley for striking the deal, saying it is irresponsible for such a big institution in a traditionally deprived area to carry the name of a firm that preys on vulnerable people. The partnership -- said to be worth $38m over four years -- underlines how increasingly important shirt deals are to top clubs, with a study by Sport+Markt showing they had pushed through the EUR 500m ($643m) barrier in Europe for the first time in 2012. Sport+Markt's report also reveals the most common shirt sponsor of Premier League clubs are firms from the betting and lottery sector, products of which are featured on the strips of six teams. British sports business expert Simon Chadwick told CNN one of the most important goals for sponsors is getting as many people as possible to see their brand name. The Premier League, with its estimated 4.7 billion viewers a year, is the perfect vehicle, he said. "Such is the global prominence of the Premier League and the clubs within it, that shirt sponsors predictably and inevitably secure the 'eyeballs' they seek by engaging in sponsorship deals. "In particular, there is a preponderance of gambling companies, largely because of the convergence of consumer interest in both football and gambling. "In the case of Newcastle, there would appear to be an alignment of club and company expectations. "For the club, the deal is an immediate source of revenue and also a smart way of returning United's stadium back to its St James' Park name; for the sponsor, given the socio-demographic and economic conditions of certain parts of the north-east, it is one way of targeting actual and potential customers." Barcelona currently holds the record for the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal -- the Qatar Foundation pays the Spanish giants $38 million a year to have their logo emblazoned on the famous red and blue strip. English clubs Manchester United and Liverpool both attract $32 million a year in shirt deals, from AON and Standard Chartered respectively, while Barca's Spanish rivals Real Madrid receive $29m from betting firm Bwin. Newcastle's commercial income trails way behind those clubs despite their windfall from Wonga but according to Labour's Newcastle Central Member of Parliament Chi Onwurah, it is the wrong message to have on their shirts. "Some of the richest young men in Newcastle to wear shirts calling on the poorest to go to a legal loan shark," she said on micro-blogging site Twitter. Her Labour colleague, Catherine McKinnell, agreed and called on the government to cap the interest rate companies like Wonga could charge. "Pay-day lenders prey on the most vulnerable people in society, namely those on low incomes or unemployed," she said on her official website. "I know of many cases where constituents have turned to pay-day lenders in desperation and find themselves trapped in a cycle of debt at excessive interest rates of over 4,000% per annum. "During this double-dip recession, Wonga have seen their profits soar as many households struggle to make their income stretch to cover the rising costs of living. "I am disappointed that the board has chosen to associate our club, brand and city with practices which too often penalise struggling families. "I worry that by associating the club with such a company, it could normalize their practice and plunge many more families into the cycle of debt. Many will see this deal as money from misery." Over the last two years Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow -- who dubbed pay-day loan companies as "legal loan sharks" -- has led a campaign against Wonga, including its sponsorship of the Blackpool and Hearts football clubs. Creasy want the government to impose a legal cap on lending rates as happens in most other European countries.

English Premier League leads the way in lucrative shirt sponsorship deals . EPL clubs near $200 million per year mark, Europe's top clubs make $643m annually . Newcastle sign controversial shirt deal with loans company called Wonga . World's biggest shirt deals sees Qatar Foundation pay Barcelona $38m a year .

(CNN) -- People arrested amid unrest in Syria are being subjected to systematic torture, including electric shocks, beatings and sexual violence, a report by rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday. Based on interviews in Jordan with dozens of Syrians who have fled the country, the report details "31 methods of torture or other ill treatment" at the hands of the security forces, army and pro-government armed gangs. This Thursday marks a year since unrest first broke out, prompting a bloody crackdown and massive wave of arrests by the Syrian authorities. The government says it is battling "armed terrorist groups" but international leaders and rights groups dispute that. The torture meted out to those arrested on suspicion of opposing the government has generally followed a set pattern, says the Amnesty International report, titled "'I wanted to die': Syria's torture survivors speak out." Many detainees say they were beaten on arrest, and then subjected to severe beatings on arrival at detention centers. But their accounts show the greatest risk of abuse came when they were interrogated, the report says. Several detainees describe being forced into a vehicle tire and then beaten with cables or sticks, the report says. Others tell of being suspended above the ground by their wrists and then beaten, and of being forced to strip naked, often for long periods in extreme cold. An 18-year-old victim named as "Karim" told researchers that his interrogators used pincers to gouge flesh from his legs while he was held for 25 days in Daraa in December. Another man, a 29-year-old Arabic language teacher identified as "Musleh," also described horrific treatment while being held in Daraa. "We were hung from wood -- crucified -- while blindfolded and handcuffed, and then beaten mercilessly and repeatedly between 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.," he told the Amnesty researchers. Detainees also were forced to witness abuse and hear others -- sometimes relatives or friends -- being tortured and raped, the report says. "I heard the screams of those being tortured for 24 hours a day. While in the cell we were busy praying for the safety of those who are being tortured," Musleh is quoted as saying. The accounts reveal "a nightmarish world of systematic torture," said Ann Harrison, interim deputy director for Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program. "The testimonies we have heard give disturbing insights into a system of detention and interrogation which, a year after protests began, appears intended primarily to degrade, humiliate and terrify its victims into silence," she said. She said the experience for detainees arrested over the past year is similar to that endured under former President Hafez Assad, father of the current leader, Bashar al-Assad. Researchers spoke with dozens of Syrians in Jordan, including 25 who said they were tortured or ill-treated in detention before fleeing the country, an Amnesty press statement says. More than half the 19 cases featured in the report are from Daraa province, it adds. The abuses are being routinely carried out despite Syria being a party to the Convention against Torture and other international agreements, the report says, and the Syrian authorities "appear to have no desire to try to stamp out these grave human rights violations." The rights group urges Syria to take "urgent measures" to prevent further crimes under international law, including ending the arbitrary arrest and detention of those protesting peacefully against the government and halting the systemic use of torture. It also calls on the international community to take on responsibility for protecting the human rights of the Syrian people and ensuring violations are investigated and prosecuted. International leaders should also assist humanitarian agencies, rights groups and non-governmental organizations in helping the survivors of torture and their families, particularly in cases of sexual violence. Lastly, the report urges the U.N. Security Council to act by referring the situation to the International Criminal Court for investigation, imposing a comprehensive arms embargo and freezing the assets of al-Assad and his associates. Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution last month that many other countries argued could have helped stop the violence. The resolution would have condemned al-Assad and called on him to step aside. More than 8,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, including many women and children, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, current president of the U.N. General Assembly, said Tuesday. Opposition activists have put the toll at more than 9,000. About 30,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring countries in the past year, according to Panos Moumtzis, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' coordinator for Syrian refugees. CNN cannot independently confirm reports of casualties or attacks in Syria because the government has severely restricted the access of international journalists. But most reports from inside Syria indicate the regime is slaughtering civilians to wipe out dissidents seeking al-Assad's ouster. The al-Assad family has ruled Syria for more than four decades. Members of the Syrian security forces are also among those killed as the initially peaceful protests have spiraled into widespread violence. CNN's Bruce Conover contributed to this report.

Syrian survivors describe brutal treatment by security forces, Amnesty International says . Beatings, electric shocks and sexual violence are widely used in interrogations, detainees say . The testimonies are further evidence of crimes against humanity in Syria, Amnesty says . Syria's crackdown began a year ago; authorities say they are combating armed terrorists .

(CNN) -- Karim Benzema shrugged off his club troubles and a violent challenge to give France a 1-0 win over 10-man Brazil in Wednesday's prestige friendly in Paris. The Real Madrid striker netted the only goal from close range nine minutes into the second half of the rematch of the 1998 World Cup final at the same venue -- which France won 3-0. He was lucky to escape serious injury five minutes before the break when Brazil midfielder Hernanes was sent off for kicking him in the chest. Benzema has struggled to show his true form in Spain since his $48 million move in 2009, but was a constant threat after the red card and should have added more to his new tally of 12 international goals. However, his 54th-minute strike proved enough, set up by winger Jeremy Menez's burst down the right and subsequent teasing low cross. Menez was lucky to stay on the pitch after a bad tackle from behind on Brazil defender David Luiz, whose new English club Chelsea will be relieved he escaped injury. It was France's fifth consecutive win under coach Laurent Blanc, who has revived the team's fortunes after last year's first-round exit at the World Cup in South Africa. Brazil coach Mano Menezes suffered a second successive defeat following November's loss to Argentina. Also on Wednesday, two of the world's best footballers went head-to-head in neutral Switzerland, and once again Lionel Messi came out on top as Argentina snatched a last-gasp 2-1 friendly win over Portugal. His Real Madrid arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo put the European side level in the 21st minute after Angel Di Maria's opener in Geneva, but Barcelona superstar Messi gave the South Americans the spoils with a 90th-minute penalty. The duo have matched each other almost goal for goal this season in La Liga, and Messi has the upper hand with Barcelona seven points clear and resounding 5-0 victors in the opening "Clasico" clash between the two clubs. And the two-time world player of the year was involved in Argentina's 14th-minute opener as he cut in from the right in trademark fashion to set up Real winger Di Maria. But Ronaldo, who followed up Messi's weekend hat-trick with a double of his own to regain top spot in the Spanish scoring charts, pounced from close range soon after from striker Hugo Almeida's flick-on. Ronaldo should have made it 2-1 soon after halftime but hit the bar from close range, then saw Almeida waste an even better opportunity before both were substituted along with Nani. But Messi stayed on the pitch until the end, and got his reward when Fabio Coentrao fouled substitute Pablo Zabaleta. In another rematch of a past World Cup final, Germany were held 1-1 at home by 1982 champions Italy. Veteran striker Miroslav Klose opened the scoring in the 16th minute after fine build-up play by Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller, beating recalled former captain Gianluigi Buffon in goal. But Giuseppe Rossi -- who shares the surname of 1982 tournament top scorer Paolo -- snatched a late equalizer for Cesare Prandelli's team, beating keeper Manuel Neuer at the second attempt with nine minutes to play. World champions Spain beat Colombia 1-0 in Madrid thanks to an 86th-minute winner by substitute David Silva. Striker David Villa, seeking to move past Raul as Spain's record scorer, was denied his 45th international goal when he hit the post in the first half. The Netherlands, beaten in the World Cup final in South Africa last year, defeated Austria 3-1 in Eidhoven. Wesley Sneijder volleyed a 28th-minute opener before second-half goals from striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar -- his 10th goal in six matches -- and Dirk Kuyt from the penalty spot made Marko Arnautovic's late strike a mere consolation. England came from behind to beat Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen, as Aston Villa forwards Darren Bent and Ashley Young struck in each half after Daniel Agger's early diving header. Russia suffered a shock 1-0 defeat by Iran in the United Arab Emirates, as Mohammad Reza Khalatbari netted a last-minute winner and was then sent off after being booked for celebrating. The match was reportedly watched by former Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz, who has been linked with the Iran post. South Korea, who were also in action at the Asian Cup recently, drew 0-0 with Turkey. Cameroon warmed up for next month's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal with a 1-0 win away to Macedonia, with substitute Matthew Mbuta scoring the only goal in the 75th minute in Skopje. South Africa beat Kenya 2-0 thanks to first-half goals from Davide Somma and Steven Pienaar, while Morocco defeated Niger 3-0 and Nigeria edged Sierra Leone 2-1.

France edge Brazil 1-0 in rematch of 1998 World Cup final in Paris . Karim Benzema scores the only goal after surviving horror challenge by Hernanes . Lionel Messi upstages Cristiano Ronaldo with Argentina's late winner against Portugal . World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands both win their friendly outings .

(CNN) -- Last week, video game blogs lit up with excitement over a game that was previously on no one's radar. The zombie survival horror game "Dead Island," doesn't have a release date yet, but it's got a remarkable, haunting trailer, one so skillfully made that it's prompted some bloggers to call it the best game trailer ever released. Told in reverse, presented in slow-motion, it's a stunning piece of work. A chase, intercut into the scene, fills in the backstory and by the end, the two pieces of virtual film merge. So what happens in the trailer? A little girl dies. Horrifically. She's chased down a hallway by zombies, bitten into, then temporarily rescued by her parents. Moments later, she becomes a zombie herself. She attacks her father and as he turns in pain, she's flung through a window and falls many stories to her death. In presenting the story in reverse, the trailer begins with her body lying broken on the ground, her eye open and staring. Effective? Absolutely. In less than a day, a game that sounded like a by-the-numbers zombie shooter had a built-in audience of worshipful players ready to buy "Dead Island" whenever it ships. Deep Silver, the game's developer, said there's been strong interest in a movie adaptation for a game that nobody's yet played. As a gamer and as a parent of two little girls, I can say that as much as I admire the craft of putting such a game trailer together, it's not one that I can enjoy. The game itself may turn out to be fantastic, but the cinematic preview strikes me as exploitative and cynical, a successful marketing ploy meant to evoke shock and pity. The "Dead Island" trailer wouldn't bother me so much if it didn't feel like part of a growing, disturbing trend in video games. Last year, I played "Heavy Rain," a dark, story-driven melodrama about a serial killer who drowns young boys. In the game, you play as four main characters trying to stop the crimes, including the father of a boy who's been kidnapped by the murderer. [SPOILER ALERT] It's only in the last act of the game that you discover one of those characters is the killer and at points in the game you were unwittingly helping the serial killer along. The 2007 hit "BioShock" introduced players to the Little Sisters, mutant children you could save or harvest for power-ups that would help you in the game. Players literally held the lives of the little girls in their hands and had to decide whether to kill. And in a game I'm currently playing, "Dead Space 2," some of the enemies you mow down with futuristic weapons include small, quick moving "Necromorphs" that resemble fierce little Gollums. The disgusting space mutants, it turns out, were once children living on a large space station. To guide the point home, you're tasked with exploring a day care center where they used to play. These are all games I've played and enjoyed; "BioShock" was considered one of the best games of 2007. "Heavy Rain" was well-regarded for its uncompromising storytelling and adult themes. And "Dead Space 2" has earned raves from game critics for its unrelenting action and scares. But, increasingly, I'm getting uncomfortable with how comfortable game developers have become with putting children in peril and, often, allowing them to be gruesomely killed. If you watch local TV news, read the newspaper or skim through CNN's headlines, there's not a day that goes by when you don't hear about some unthinkable violence or long-term abuse against a child. The video game industry, which has strived since the 1980s to have the same cultural cachet as TV and movies, has found a taboo that can make gamers feel like they're consuming more mature, provocative entertainment. When such depictions are presented in an artful, entertaining way, video game advocates are put in a position of defending content that might be less palatable in other mediums. Would the "Dead Island" trailer work as a live-action preview of a movie or would it have provoked outrage? I wonder if our tolerance for virtual gore and bloodshed in games has numbed us to the mutilation and torture of children because they're virtual characters, no more real than the barrel-chested Nazis in "Wolfenstein 3D" or the turtles in "Super Mario Bros." Or, more disturbingly, maybe we've become so used to hearing about violence directed at kids that its depiction in video games is just another reflection of our culture. Perhaps developers, many of whom have kids of their own, are exploring their own fears as they build complex, dark game narratives, fully aware that once there's an "M for Mature" label on the package, there'll be little outcry. Perhaps there are some people who like the queasy feeling of taking down kid-sized zombies and space monsters in their video game entertainment. If that's the case, then the "Dead Island" trailer has done its job. It's horrified me and has left me feeling haunted and sad. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of Omar L. Gallaga.

The trailer for zombie survival horror game "Dead Island" has sparked intense interest online . But game developers seem to be getting comfortable with putting children in peril . Gallaga says this is just another reflection of our culture .

(CNN) -- As debt-ridden Greece braces for strikes while its prime minister attempts to reassure Europe that his country will pay its bills, the 17 eurozone countries are in various stages of deciding whether to approve the expansion of Europe's bailout fund. The proposed enhancements to the European Financial Stability Facility would allow the fund to increase its lending capacity from €250 billion to €440 billion and buy sovereign bonds in capital markets -- a strategy designed to prop up debt prices and help struggling eurozone countries fund themselves. Europe's leaders originally hoped that the EFSF would never have to be used; now they are hoping the fund's new powers will be enough to prevent the collapse of the eurozone. First they will have to pass the measures. Here's a rundown of where the countries stand and the dates their governments approved (or are expected to approve) EFSF expansion. YET TO APPROVE . Estonia -- September 29 . The Estonian parliament passed one of two necessary resolutions to ratify EFSF expansion earlier this week, despite attempts by the country's main opposition party to block the changes on the grounds that one of the eurozone's poorer states simply cannot afford to help bailout failing eurozone economies. Final approval is expected on Thursday. Malta -- October 3-7 . Malta joined Finland in its demand that Greece put up collateral in exchange for any additional bailout money that Malta would pay into the EFSF. But it is unclear whether Malta will join the Finns in dropping that requirement before passing EFSF enhancement. Either way, approval and ratification of any proposed plan cannot happen until lawmakers return from recess on October 3. Netherlands -- October 3-7 . Once opposed to expanding the rescue fund, the Dutch are now expected to approve enhanced EFSF measures with a parliamentary vote by the end of the first week of October -- although hardliners in the government continue to call for the private sector to take on more of the debt burden. Cyprus -- October 3-7 . The Cypriot cabinet has approved the measures and parliament is expected to ratify the EFSF expansion sometime during the first week of October. Slovakia -- Mid to late October . One of the eurozone's poorest countries is also the biggest obstacle to enhancing the EFSF -- and members of the governing coalition's refusal to approve the plan means a parliamentary vote may not happen until mid-October. Portugal -- End of October . While Portugal hasn't officially approved EFSF expansion, it is expected to within weeks -- the cash-strapped country is, after all, receiving financial assistance from the bailout fund. ALREADY APPROVED . Germany -- September 29 . The German Bundestag approved the expansion of the EFSF by a vote of 523-85 -- a huge majority and an important victory for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led calls for the bailout fund to be enhanced. Approval of EFSF expansion measures by Europe's largest economy -- and largest holder of Greek debt -- was seen as necessary for the bailout fund's future success. Finland -- September 28 . One of the most vocal opponents of EFSF enhancement in the early going, Finland has now dropped its demand that Greece put up some cash collateral in return for its approval -- a requirement that threatened to derail the bailout fund expansion and further destabilize global markets. By a vote of 103-66, the Finnish Parliament approved the measures Wednesday, despite the absence of any agreement over its demand for collateral. Slovenia -- September 27 . Despite a no-confidence vote that brought down Slovenia's government last week, the parliament approved the expansion of the bailout fund on Tuesday. Greece -- September 27 . Easily the least surprising 'yes' vote on this list, Greece officially ratified EFSF expansion yesterday -- a vital step towards the bankrupt nation receiving a second bailout worth over 100 billion euros out of the bailout fund in the coming months and years. Austria -- September 27 . Just weeks after opposition parties blocked the government's attempt to fast-track the EFSF bill, lawmakers approved EFSF enhancements that are expected to be officially ratified on September 30. Ireland -- September 22 . Another of the obvious 'yes' votes on the list, Ireland -- which received an 85 billion euro bailout last year -- was never going to object to EFSF expansion. Italy -- September 15 . Ratification of the expansion of EFSF powers was included in Italy's passage of highly contentious austerity measures aimed at balancing Europe's third largest economy by 2013. Spain -- September 15 . Spain, known along with Italy as the two at-risk eurozone countries that are "too big to bail out," passed EFSF expansion several weeks ago. Luxembourg -- September 15 . As expected, Luxembourg approved EFSF enhancement, but Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker reportedly ruled out any proposed increases to the amount of money at the fund's disposal. Belgium -- September 14 . The Belgian parliament approved the EFSF expansion by a large majority. France -- September 8 . Europe's second largest economy was the first country to approve EFSF enhancement. French banks are among the most exposed to risk due to a potential Greek default.

Germany's approval of EFSF expansion is seen as necessary for the fund's success . Once opposed to EFSF enhancement, the Netherlands are expected to approve in early October . Members of Slovakia's coalition government steadfastly refuse to approve EFSF expansion .

(CNN) -- If you can come up with a tale that better illustrates America's messed-up moral views on abortion, parenting and personal freedom than the story of Crystal Kelley -- the surrogate mother who was offered $10,000 by the parents to abort the fetus she was carrying for them -- then you've got a better imagination than I do. Let's run through the story quickly: Kelley had agreed to be a surrogate and was being paid $2,222 a month by the parents for her trouble. But an ultrasound scan of the fetus showed serious abnormalities. Fearing that the child would never lead a normal life -- whatever that may be -- the parents asked Kelley to abort. Although the surrogacy agreement contained a clause to this effect, Kelley refused. This is where things became, to put it charitably, unseemly. The parents offered Kelly an extra $10,000 to terminate the pregnancy. Although she said she was against abortion for religious and moral reasons, Kelley eventually thought she might be able to quash those ethical qualms if the parents paid her $15,000 -- $5,000 apparently being the difference between "against" and "fine with it." The parents refused, and Kelley says she regretted the offer. How to keep your surrogacy conflict-free . From there, events degenerated into the default American setting for dealing with any disagreement: legal proceedings. Ultimately, Kelley decided to have the child, who was born with severe medical conditions and lives with adoptive parents. Both Kelley and the parents who paid her to be a surrogate have been roundly criticized for their behavior -- let's be honest, no party haggling over the price of an abortion will ever win prizes for public morality. But in truth, neither Kelley nor the parents are to blame here. The problem stems from our conflicted understanding of what we mean when we say a woman has the right to choose what she does with her body. A woman's right to choose is, of course, the founding principle of the pro-choice movement and its valiant campaign to keep abortion safe and legal -- no matter, for now, that the legality of abortion mostly rests on physician-patient privacy. But as a principle, the right to choose doesn't just apply to abortion, it also underpins the ethics of surrogacy. The moment a woman isn't freely choosing to be a surrogate mother for someone else -- well, then we're into Victorian Gothic by way of "The Handmaid's Tale" and Ripley in "Alien," and nobody really wants to go there. The idea of someone forcing a woman to bear their child against her will is horrifying. Of course, Kelley was not forced to be a surrogate. Indeed, she was being rather handsomely paid. Like most surrogates, she is not financially well-off; note the distinct lack of fully employed, millionaire surrogate mothers. The temptation is to imagine that it is the money that is morally significant. Kelley was being paid, right? So surely she is obliged to do what she is being paid to do? It's a basic capitalist principle: Money buys labor. There are terms and conditions, of course, but once agreed to, the labor must be carried out as agreed. A tempting view, but one which insists that you equate being pregnant with any other type of work, from shelf-stacking to brain surgery. This is, of course, nonsense. Pregnancy is something that only happens to women. The whole reason that we embrace the ethical principle of the right to choose is that it goes some way to ensuring that a woman's biology does not come to define her life in a way that would never happen to men. Surrogate mother: A new wrinkle in the abortion debate . It is a simple matter of justice: The right to choose goes a long way toward ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women. Turning pregnancy into work that can be bought and sold radically undermines that right. If we have any pretensions about defending a woman's right to choose, then we must defend that right even when, like Kelley, she chooses to change her mind. Even when, like Kelley, her reasoning doesn't always seem consistent. The alternative is that women's bodies can be packaged up like any other consumer good and sold off to the highest bidder. This might seem to leave parents who seek surrogacy in a difficult position. How can they be sure that their surrogate will not change her mind and have an abortion -- or, like Kelley, refuse to? The short and uncomfortable answer is that they cannot, although the vast, vast majority of surrogacies are completed to the satisfaction and delight of all sides. Those who seek surrogacy should understand that it is only possible because we believe in a woman's right to choose. I don't for a moment wish to underestimate the needs and desires of those couples, but I do think it is important for us to recognize that, as an ethical issue, a woman's right to control her body far outweighs anyone's rights to have the child they want. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dan O'Connor.

Dan O'Connor: Surrogate mom offered $10,000 to abort reveals our confused moral views . O'Connor: The legal tug of war shows we need to clarify what "right to choose" means . If we think she's obliged to terminate pregnancy, he says, it means money trumps principle . Surrogates can't be forced, he says; they have right to end or carry out pregnancies .

(CNN) -- You aren't heading to the gym anymore. That balanced dinner with veggies and grains seems not so appealing. And those New Year's resolutions? Who can remember what they are, let alone what you have failed to keep doing? As we head into the last few winter weeks without much to break up the monotony, it could be time to jump-start those long-forgotten goals. Without some attention to rejuvenating ourselves, how can we ever care for all those people who need us? About 37% of consumers plan to spend more or the same amount of money this year as they spent last year on yoga retreats, fitness cruises and other fitness vacations, according to an American Express Spending & Saving Tracker survey taken in January. About 6% are planning to take a spa vacation in 2012, and 17% are planning on an outdoor adventure trip, according to the same survey. Here are some retreats and trips designed to give you some "me" time, restore your spirit and your body, and return you home with just a few weeks before spring blossoms. Stress reduction in the Utah mountains . Red Mountain Resort offers relaxation, fitness and adventure options amid St. George, Utah's, canyons and cliffs. Visitors can stay on site and enjoy the resort's spa and fitness programs; learn to cook healthy options; play golf; go horseback riding, biking or kayaking; or head out to Zion National Park on group trips or customized visits. Weight-loss and fitness-intensive retreats are available throughout the year. Andrea Hanson, who was trained and certified by Deepak Chopra, occasionally offers stress reduction workshops through hiking, meditation and yoga. The Essential Retreat Package begins at $230 per person per night and, in addition to lodging, includes meals, fitness classes and other benefits. The stress reduction workshop is an additional $450. Head to Muscle Beach with the kids . If you can't bear to leave your children behind, bring them to the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in California. Enjoy the hotel's "Fit for Fun" activities, including yoga classes and surfing lessons at Muscle Beach, guided hikes through the Santa Monica Mountains, "Run from the paparazzi" jogging sessions and adventure bike rides along Muscle Beach's star-studded bike path. If the parents want some alone time during the day, the hotel can help you get a sitter. During the hotel's "Spring Break" special starting March 15 and continuing through May 1, room prices start at $359 a night and include kids staying and eating for free. For reservations, call 800-23-LOEWS or visit the hotel website. Yoga on a Mexican beach . Head to Tulum, Mexico, for a week's retreat to focus on yoga and writing, for beginners and veterans alike. Vinyasa yoga teacher Jennifer Schelter, who has led her oceanfront retreat for five years, has invited writer Laura Munson, author of the best-selling book "This Is Not the Story You Think It Is," to lead the writing component. "We will be focusing on taking a hunger for mind/body connection into very specific daily exercises that will challenge, deepen and strengthen the commitment to authentic expression," Munson said. "Having trouble with entitlement or self-worth? Here's a way to work through that in your body, and here's a way to work through that on the page." (Tulum is in the state of Quintana Roo, which had no restrictions listed in the U.S. State Department's February 8, 2012, advisory on travel to Mexico.) Retreat rates start at $2,005 per person (double occupancy) and include three meals daily and tip. A "Dirty Dancing"-style resort . Perhaps you'd like to head to a resort where most meals are rolled into the rate, dancing is sometimes scheduled at night and the ice rink is open to anyone who wants to skate that day (in winter season). Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York is an all-inclusive resort, where most meals, fitness classes and many activities are included in the daily room rate. If you want to spend a little extra, head to the spa for a massage or beauty treatment or drive to the nearby Culinary Institute of America for a student-cooked meal when classes are in session. Wonderful Winter Weekend Getaway daily rates start at $270 per person (double occupancy) and include three meals daily. Midweek Winter Getaway daily rates start at $170 (double occupancy) and include breakfast and dinner. Design your own weekend . Head to Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Massachusetts' Berkshire Mountains, where novices and yogis alike can receive training tailored to their abilities and available time. (Professional training is available for those wishing to become yoga teachers, massage therapists and Ayurvedic consultants.) Hiking, massages and many different types of bodywork classes are available. Weekends focused on specific health or wellness issues are also offered. Dormitory rooms start at $84 per night midweek ($95 on weekends and holidays); standard rooms with hall bathrooms start at $107 midweek ($122 on weekends and holidays); and standard plus rooms with private baths start at $183 midweek ($208 on weekends and holidays). Classes and other services are extra.

Do stress reduction workshops in the Utah mountains . Try "run from the paparazzi" jogging sessions . Escape to Mexico for a yoga and writing retreat . Design your own weekend of yoga and meditation .

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Clashes between Hamas militants and Israeli soldiers raged to the north and east of densely populated Gaza City early Sunday, the 16th day of an Israeli offensive, witnesses and medical sources said. A photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows troops in Gaza on Saturday. Heavy gunfire could be heard to the east of Gaza City -- home to about 400,000 of Gaza's 1.5 million people -- as fighting moved closer, according to a CNN stringer in the area. Israeli shelling north of the city killed two people, sources at Shifa hospital told CNN. Sunday's fighting came after one girl was killed and 49 other people were severely burned by fires caused by Israeli shelling in southern Gaza on Saturday, local hospital sources said. The shelling ignited several buildings, including a U.N. school, near the city of Khan Younes, sources said. The girl died of burns she suffered in one of the fires, the sources said. Also Saturday, a family of nine was killed when a shell hit their home in the village of Jebalya in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical sources said. The Israeli military was "not operating in the area of this house, and no fire was directed in that direction," a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said. Later Saturday, the IDF said that two rocket-launching squads near Jebalya were hit. Meanwhile, Hamas militants fired 20 Grad long-range rockets into Israel on Saturday, injuring four civilians, according to an IDF spokesman. And the Hamas commander in charge of launching rockets into Israel from the Gaza City area was killed Saturday by Israeli ground fire, the IDF said. Amir Mansi was spotted firing a rocket Saturday from the Jabel Rise area, east of Gaza City, during a ground force operation, the IDF said. Israeli forces opened fire, killing Mansi and wounding two other Hamas operatives, who were captured, the Israelis said. Watch what overnight air attacks did » . Mansi was the leading Hamas authority on the Grad long-range missile-launching system, the IDF said. Grad rockets have allowed Hamas to reach farther into Israel than in previous attacks. Israelis say their Gaza military operation, which started December 27, is aimed at stopping Hamas militants from sending rockets into southern Israel. The operation began with airstrikes; a week later, the Israeli military launched a ground assault. More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in the attacks, including 235 children, and about 3,300 people have been wounded, according to Palestinian medical sources. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died since the operation began. See images from the offensive » . On Saturday evening, two pair of Israeli F-16 fighter jets that were on bombing runs in southern Gaza violated Egyptian airspace, a CNN team observed. "We can tell they're coming through Egyptian airspace because they're over the far side of the building where we're standing," CNN's Karl Penhaul reported from Rafah, Egypt. He was atop a building about 500 meters (547 yards) from the Gaza border. The Israelis have been bombing tunnels that run under the border of southern Gaza and Egypt. Israel says Hamas smuggles weapons and munitions through them into Gaza. A spokesman for the Egyptian prime minister's office said the Israeli aircraft did not have permission to use the airspace. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said no airspace violation had occurred. Before strafing the area in and around Rafah, the Israeli air force dropped leaflets warning residents to leave their homes because more Israeli attacks were imminent, Palestinian security sources said. According to an IDF spokesman, the leaflets say: "Two days ago, the IDF distributed leaflets in Rafah in which the residents were warned to evacuate their homes for their own safety. As they heeded the IDF instructions, the harming of residents in combat was avoided. "Over the coming period, the IDF will continue to target tunnels, weapon caches and terrorist operatives with growing intensity. For your safety and that of your family, stay away from terrorist elements or places where weapons are stored or places where terrorist elements operate." In Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, heavy black smoke rose during a three-hour period during which Israel was to halt its attacks on militants so Palestinians could stock up on supplies. CNN's Ben Wedeman said the lulls, which have been tried before, aren't "rock solid." Limited military activity continues during that period, he said. A United Nations spokesman said Saturday's pause was not long enough to resume the transport of humanitarian supplies from Israel into Gaza. iReport.com: Share thoughts, reactions to crisis in the Middle East . Meanwhile, in Cairo, Egypt, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss a possible cease-fire. Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said during a televised news conference Saturday night that his followers will consider any proposals to stop the violence if conditions are met: the Israelis stop their "aggression" and all crossings between Israel and Gaza are opened. "These are our just demands, and with an open mind we will interact with any initiative," Mashaal said.

NEW: Fighting nears densely populated Gaza City, witnesses say . Sources: Israeli artillery ignites buildings, killing 1 and wounding 49 . Leader of Gaza City rocket teams is killed, Israel says . Israeli jets apparently violate Egyptian airspace .

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The young woman who last weekend emerged as a powerful symbol of opposition to the Iranian government embraced life in many ways, but there was little about her that would have led her friends to predict she would become a martyr, one of them told CNN. Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, enjoyed music and was looking forward to learning how to play the piano. Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, rose to prominence within hours after a crudely shot video documenting her final moments was uploaded to the Web shortly after she died Saturday from a single gunshot wound to the chest. "It's heartbreaking," President Obama said Tuesday in Washington, referring to the video of the woman the world has come to know simply as Neda, which means "divine calling" in Farsi. "And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it." Since Saturday, the Iranian government has sought to minimize the impact of her death, but one of her friends on Tuesday described her to CNN in an attempt to inject life and context into what has been -- for much of the rest of the world -- just a few seconds of powerful, if grainy, video. Much about her remains unclear, but here is what CNN has learned from at least one source: . The second of three children, Neda lived with her parents in a middle-class neighborhood east of Tehran. She was a happy, positive person. Though she studied philosophy and religion at the Azad Islamic University, she was more spiritual than religious. She also loved music. She once studied violin but had given it up and was planning to take up piano next. She had just bought a piano, but it had not yet been delivered. Her demeanor was typically calm, even serene, but she had a quirky, playful sense of humor. A friend recalled that once, when Neda was visiting her friend's house, she picked up a white Teddy bear, took off her big, purple-studded earrings and put them on the bear. Then she removed a necklace from around the neck of a friend and put it around the bear's neck, taking delight in the bear's transformation. She liked to travel, having visited Turkey three months ago with a tour group. And she believed in human rights, her friend said. See gallery of Neda and the effect of her life » . That may have explained why she was at an anti-government demonstration in Tehran on Saturday afternoon. After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour inside a Peugeot 206 -- a subcompact with a poorly working air conditioner -- Neda and a family friend decided to get out of the car for some fresh air. Shaky video captured on a cell phone shows her walking with the man, a teacher of music and philosophy, near an anti-government demonstration. The two are near where protesters were chanting in opposition to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose calls for an end to anti-government demonstrations have sparked defiance across the nation. Neda, wearing a baseball cap over a black scarf, a black shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, does not appear to be chanting and seems to be observing the demonstration. Suddenly, Neda is on the ground -- felled by a single gunshot wound to the chest. Several men kneel at her side and place pressure on her chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" shouts one man. By now, Neda's eyes have rolled to her right; her body is limp. Blood streams from her mouth, then from her nose. For a second, her face is hidden from view as the phone camera goes behind one of the men. When Neda's face comes back into view, it is covered with blood. Then, the teacher pleads with her by name. "Neda, do not be afraid, do not be afraid," he repeats. Another man curses as the first man begins to wail. "Somebody come and get her in a car and take her away!" a voice pleads. She was taken to a nearby hospital and, within a day, she was buried at Behesht Zahra, the city's largest Muslim cemetery, on the outskirts of the capital. A friend of hers interprets the fact that her body was released so quickly as a tacit acknowledgment by the government that the killing was carried out by government forces. That theory is supported by the fact that Iran's strict gun-control laws mean private citizens cannot carry firearms, the friend said. Since her death, public displays of mourning for Neda have been prohibited, the friend said. A gathering of about 60 people at a mosque was broken up by members of the Basij, the pro-government vigilantes blamed for much of the violence against demonstrators, according to New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, who observed the incident. iReport.com: Share your views on unrest in Iran . Neda's family has not been allowed to post a black banner of mourning outside the family's house, the friend said. Yet Neda's influence may not diminish soon. Under Muslim tradition, the seventh and 40th days after someone dies are devoted to mourning and reflection.

Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, was the second of three children from middle-class family . Friend said she was happy, serene, spiritual -- with a quirky sense of humor . Neda once played the violin but gave it up; she wanted to learn to play the piano . In her last moments, she's seen observing a protest when single bullet hits her .

New York (CNN) -- Ten Russians allegedly involved in intelligence gathering will be expelled from the United States in short order, in exchange for Russia's release of four Russian prisoners accused of spying for the United States, officials from both countries said Thursday. The elaborately choreographed announcements emanating from both nation's capitals described a case evocative of the Cold War. In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said none of the 10 had passed classified information and therefore none were charged with espionage. "They were acting as agents to a foreign power," he told CBS News, referring to the Russians who had been under observation by federal authorities for more than a decade. All of their children have been repatriated, he said. But White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel told PBS "NewsHour" that, although they didn't plead guilty to being spies, they "were clearly caught in the business of spying." Carlos Moreno, a lawyer representing two of the Russians, told CNN Thursday night that all 10 were in a detention center in New York City. They were to be taken to an airport in the city later Thursday or Friday, put on a plane provided by the Russian government, and flown directly to Moscow, he said. In a conference call with reporters, senior administration officials said the 10 Russians agreed never to return to the United States without permission from the U.S. government. Holding them would have conferred no security benefit to the nation, they said. This "clearly serves the interests of the United States," one official said. A second official said the four prisoners in Russia were in failing health, a consideration that prompted quick completion of the deal. Under the plea agreements, the defendants disclosed their true identities in court and forfeited assets attributable to the criminal offenses, the Justice Department said in a news release. "The defendants known as 'Richard Murphy' and 'Cynthia Murphy' admitted they are Russian citizens named Vladimir Guryev and Lydia Guryev and are agents of the Russian Federation," it said. "Defendants 'Michael Zottoli' and 'Patrica Mills' admitted they are Russian citizens named Mikhail Kutsik and Natalia Pereverzeva, and are agents of the Russian Federation; . "Defendants 'Donald Howard Heathfield' and 'Tracey Lee Ann Foley' admitted they are Russian citizens named Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova, and are agents of the Russian Federation; . "'Juan Lazaro' admitted that he is a Russian citizen named Mikhail Anatonoljevich Vasenkov and is an agent of the Russian Federation; . Defendants Vicky Pelaez, Anna Chapman and Mikhail Semenko, who operated in the United States under their true names, admitted that they are agents of the Russian Federation; and Chapman and Semenko admitted they are Russian citizens," the Justice Department said. Authorities have lost track of an 11th suspect, who was detained in Cyprus, released on bail and then failed to check in with authorities as he had promised to do. In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree Friday pardoning the four individuals imprisoned for alleged contact with Western intelligence agencies, the Kremlin press service said, according to state-run RIA Novosti. Though the four Russians were released to the custody of the United States, that does not necessarily mean they would go to the United States, an embassy spokesman said. "Three of the Russian prisoners were convicted of treason in the form of espionage on behalf of a foreign power and are serving lengthy prison terms," the Justice Department said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood. "The Russian prisoners have all served a number of years in prison and some are in poor health. The Russian government has agreed to release the Russian prisoners and their family members for resettlement." It added, "Some of the Russian prisoners worked for the Russian military, and/or for various Russian intelligence agencies. Three of the Russian prisoners have been accused by Russia of contacting Western intelligence agencies while they were working for the Russian (or Soviet) government." The individuals pardoned by Russia are Alexander Zaporozhsky, Gennady Vasilenko, Sergei Skripal and Igor Sutyagin. All four appealed to the Russian president to free them after admitting their crimes against the Russian state, press secretary Natalia Timakova said. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the move was made "in the general context of improving Russian-American relations, and the new dynamic they have been given, in the spirit of basic agreements at the highest level between Moscow and Washington on the strategic character of Russian-American partnership." Meanwhile, a lawyer for Sutyagin, who was convicted in Russia in 2004 for spying for U.S. intelligence services, said her client arrived Thursday in Vienna, RIA-Novosti reported. Sutyagin was convicted in 2004 of passing secret data to members of U.S. intelligence services acting as employees of a British company called Alternative Futures, in exchange for monetary rewards in 1998-1999. But in Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner denied Thursday that Sutyagin had been a spy. CNN's Susan Candiotti, Elise Labott, Jill Dougherty, Eden Pontz, Deb Feyerick and Raelyn Johnson contributed to this report.

NEW: Holder: none passed classified info . NEW: Emmanuel: "Caught in the business of spying" Expulsion of 10 suspected spies is to occur quickly, federal officials say . The suspects on Thursday plead guilty to failing to register as foreign agents .

(CNN) -- Spanish champions Barcelona began 2011 with an 11th successive league victory on Sunday night to move five points clear of title rivals Real Madrid. Young winger Pedro Gonzalez, standing in for the absent Lionel Messi, scored both goals in the 2-1 victory over Levante while World Cup winner Xavi equaled the Catalan club's all-time appearance record of 549 matches. After a scoreless first half in which Barcelona struggled to break down the Valencia side's defense, Gonzalez broke the deadlock two minutes into the second period as he did well to make space inside the penalty and fire in a deflected low shot from Daniel Alves' agonizingly delayed pass. With Messi allowed to take an extended winter holiday, the 23-year-old continued to make the most of his starting chance by adding his eight league goal this season in the 59th minute after Brazilian right-back Alves delivered a better-judged low cross into his path. Messi to miss Barcelona's 2011 opener . Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was also without the services of injured captain Carles Puyol and the suspended Gerard Pique, and his depleted defense had to withstand a determined Levante fightback after Stuani's superb left-foot volley reduced the deficit with 10 minutes to go. The 30-year-old Xavi, who made an all-Barcelona three-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d'Or award to be named this month, matched the milestone set by defender Migueli 20 years ago. "It is an honor for Xavi, a home-bred player, to have worn the Barca shirt so many times," club president Sandro Rosell said. "Xavi has won everything and he represents the Barca values: effort, loyalty, work and heart. Loyalty is a difficult value to find, and what Xavi has done for Barca is extraordinary." Levante, who have not beaten Barcelona in six visits to the Camp Nou, remained just two points above the relegation despite a marked improvement on the team's last outing of 2010 -- an 8-0 drubbing by Real Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 Spanish Cup tie. Spanish league strike called off . Second-placed Real will be boosted by the long-awaited return of Brazilian midfielder Kaka for Monday night's derby with city rivals Getafe. Kaka, the second-most expensive signing in the Real squad behind Cristiano Ronaldo, has been sidelined since requiring knee surgery in early August before the start of this season. "Kaka won't start, he can't yet. He can give us 15 or 20 minutes of his very great quality, but no more," coach Jose Mourinho told reporters on Sunday. In the day's other 17th-round matches, Valencia consolidated fourth place with a controversial 2-1 win over fellow Champions League hopefuls Espanyol, despite having striker Aritz Aduriz sent off in the 61st minute for hitting Francisco Chica with a flailing arm. Aduriz scored his seventh league goal this season and his 11th overall to put the home side ahead in the 29th minute, but fifth-placed Espanyol leveled when Portuguese defender Ricardo Costa inexplicably stooped to head Jose Callejon's innocuous cross into his own net in first-half injury time. Espanyol could not take advantage of their numerical advantage, and Juan Mata nodded the winner in the second minute of time added on despite being in an offside position when Costa headed the ball across the goal. Sevilla seek to revive their own European qualification bid with a 1-0 victory at home to Osasuna that lifted the club into ninth place -- 23 points behind Barcelona. Striker Fredi Kanoute scored the only goal in the 36th minute as he raced to the near post to head in a freekick from Jesus Navas. The defeat left Osasuna in 15th place, four points above the bottom three. Deportivo La Coruna moved up to 11th place with a 2-1 victory at nine-man Athletic Bilbao, who stayed eighth. Forward Adrian Alvarez scored in each half for the visitors, the first from the penalty spot on 22 minutes and the second seven minutes after the break. Both teams were reduced to 10 men by the end of the first period, with Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose receiving a straight red card on 35 and Deportivo midfielder Juan Rodriguez also sent off for a second booking just before the interval. Striker Fernando Llorente reduced the deficit with four minutes to play with his 11th La Liga strike, but his teammate Ustaritz Aldekoaotalora was also marched for a second yellow card at the end. Malaga moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win at second-bottom Sporting Gijon, coming from behind with goals from defender Weligton and midfielder Apono, who netted a 59th-minute penalty.

Spain midfielder Xavi matches Barcelona's all-time appearance record of 549 games . Winger Pedro nets both goals as Spanish leaders defeat Levante 2-1 at home . Real Madrid boosted by Kaka's return to squad for Monday's derby with Getafe . Ten-man Valencia consolidate fourth place with a controversial 2-1 win over Espanyol .

Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose current book is "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams." Peggy Sue Gerron, left, and Jerry Allison, right, at Buddy Holly's wedding to Maria Elena Holly. (CNN) -- After days on end of grim and dreary news, the first weekend of spring is with us, and with its arrival comes, to many people, the yearly promise of new romance and a chance for lasting love. But if figuring out the secrets of how to revive a battered economy is something that is complicated and elusive, that quandary is simple in comparison to matters of the heart. The legendary experts on romance, star-crossed and otherwise, are generally not available for comment. Romeo and Juliet have left the building. However, there is one person I know who has a better feel for the vagaries of love than most, and I sought her out the other day. "Spring is the time when you allow yourself to hope that love will come around again," said Peggy Sue Gerron. You may not recognize her full name, but you sure do recognize the first part of it. Yep -- she's that Peggy Sue. The Peggy Sue of Buddy Holly's unforgettable 1957 hit, a song of longing and heartbreak that is instantly familiar today even to people who weren't born until decades after it came out. "If you knew Peggy Sue, then you'd know why I feel blue ..." Juliet, that other symbol of the glory of love, may have been a fictional creation of William Shakespeare's imagination, but Peggy Sue was, and is, real. She lives in West Texas, just as she did when Buddy Holly recorded the song. She was actually not even his girlfriend, although she sensed a certain yearning on his part. She was the girlfriend of Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, Holly's band. "I think the reason people think about finding love in the spring is that the season represents new beginnings," she said. "The flowers are blooming. The air smells good. You feel that you have a chance." In the song, Peggy Sue, implicitly, was the one who did the dumping, not the one who got dumped. But time has made her understand: . "I think, I really believe, that on a rare occasion, two people in life run across each other in a path like two comets. And when it happens, I think that feeling lasts forever." Which is to say: With a love so rare and true. And that, she said, is what makes people keep looking for love regardless of how many times they may have tried and failed. She has a theory of what being in love does to a person: . "Your eyes are a little bit shinier and your skin is a little bit clearer when you're in love. When you meet that person, you think: Whatever you're doing, I want to be right beside you when you're doing it. I want to be near you just because I like to see your smile." Not that being Peggy Sue means she has all the answers. "I don't," she said. She is 68 now; she has been married twice, divorced twice. When she introduces herself to new people, they often say, "Oh -- like the Peggy Sue in the song!" Sometimes she tells them she is in fact that Peggy Sue; sometimes she lets it go. It's an uphill battle to convince them she's not kidding. And as the woman who eternally will be a symbol of true love's ways, she thinks she understands why people never give up on hoping to find the right person. "You have a tendency to put the walls up after you've been hurt," she said. "You think it's not worth trying again. But then you do it anyway. It's like it's not even up to you. It's stronger than your intellect." For those who, as spring arrives, have just lost a great love, her advice for dealing with the sadness is to remember that some people never find love in their whole lives. "Even if you're the one to get left, you've been lucky to have the feeling. And the feeling, unlike the person, will never leave you." Somewhere this spring -- many somewheres, undoubtedly -- the words, sung for the first time more than 50 years ago, will come blasting once again out of a car dashboard's speakers: . "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty Peggy Sue." And people in 2009, hearing it, will remember anew just how much happiness the right person can bring. "When I first heard the song," Peggy Sue said, "I just thought the drums and the lyrics and the melody were so great, it made me want to get up and dance. As I grew older, it began to seem like more of a love song to me. It began to seem more like a song about not giving up." Living in Lubbock, Texas, a ham radio enthusiast in an age of Twitter and text messages, she said she is currently not dating anyone. And with the arrival of spring, and its universal promise of life's best possibilities, she acknowledges that there is hope in her own heart, too. "Always," said Peggy Sue. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.

Bob Greene: Peggy Sue, of famous Buddy Holly song, lives in west Texas . He says she has a theory about what love does to a person . Greene: As spring arrives, Peggy Sue admits she has hope in her heart .

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Economist Lucas Papademos was formally sworn in Friday as the head of Greece's new unity government, as the nation seeks to regain political and financial stability after weeks of uncertainty. Papademos, a former banker and European Central Bank vice president, becomes the country's interim prime minister after several days of political wrangling. His ministers were also sworn in at a ceremony attended by the president and the head of the Greek Orthodox Church. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has retained his post in the new government, the prime minister's office said. Stavros Dimas, a former EU environment commissioner, is the new foreign minister. He belongs to the New Democracy party, the main opposition to the previous government. Greece's new defense minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, is also a New Democracy lawmaker. The newly sworn-in Cabinet was scheduled to head next to the Greek Parliament and later hold its first meeting. A vote of confidence in the new government is expected after debate in Parliament on Monday. Then the coalition will face the challenge of implementing a bailout package and austerity measures agreed to with European leaders last month. The new administration must act quickly to ensure release of the next tranche of money from a 2010 deal. Those funds are essential to ensure that Greece does not default on its debts in the next few weeks. It is hoped that the national unity government will restore political stability in Greece after several weeks of turmoil that have unnerved global financial markets. European markets were up slightly as of lunchtime Friday. U.S. markets also opened higher, calmed by signs of action in Greece and Italy to curb their respective debt crises. Italy's Senate approved austerity measures demanded by Europe Friday which will be sent to the lower house at the weekend. Papademos has said that ratifying the bailout deal and bringing in the austerity measures will be the priority for his government. He also restated Greece's commitment to the euro, saying its membership of the eurozone, the 17 nations that use the euro as currency, was a guarantee of financial stability. Papademos, who helped usher Greece into the euro in 2001, replaces outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou, who resigned over his handling of the crisis. Fresh elections are likely in February. Vassilis Monastiriotis, a senior lecturer for the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics, said Papademos has the advantage of a well defined assignment -- ratifying the October 26 bailout agreement and passing the legislation to implement it. But he faces a challenge in forming a unity government, especially given the reluctance of the main opposition party to be involved and the divisions within Papandreou's socialist PASOK party, Monastiriotis said. Papademos is well versed in Greece's financial and political systems and is well respected by economists, Greece's politicians and European leaders, Monastiriotis added. It remains to be seen how the Greek people will respond to Papademos' actions in office, he said, but the general response Thursday was one of relief at the appointment of a man seen as the "best solution" available. There have been no large demonstrations of public anger in Greece over the past 10 days since the political crisis was sparked by Papandreou's call for a referendum on the European bailout deal, he added. Before that, tens of thousands of angry demonstrators had rallied in the capital, Athens. "The public has been quite muted, they don't know how to react," he said. While they don't like the austerity measures attached to the bailout any more than they did two weeks ago, he said, they also do not want discussion of Greece leaving the euro zone. Speaking after his appointment was confirmed, Papademos said the government's formation would allow Greece to "face the problems in the near future in the best possible way." The country is "at a critical crossroads," the 64-year-old said, and the choices it makes and policies it implements "will have a crucial importance for the welfare of the Greek people." Papademos said Greece's course would not be easy, but that the country's problems would be solved -- and that would happen "sooner, at a lower cost and in a more efficient way, if there is unity, consensus and reasonableness." He said he had accepted the president's mandate to form a unity government because he felt everyone should contribute to the country's recovery. "The task is big, and the responsibility I assume is even bigger," he said. Papademos, an economics professor at Harvard University, was the governor of the Bank of Greece when the country adopted the euro in 2001. He has advised Papandreou on economic matters for the past two years, the Athens News Agency reported. A native of Athens, Papademos studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees before receiving a doctorate in economics, the news agency said. He has taught economics at Columbia University and the University of Athens. The drama in Greece had shaken international markets because investors were afraid the new bailout deal -- which has stringent austerity measures attached -- might not be implemented. CNN's Elinda Labropoulou and Andrew Carey contributed to this report.

Lucas Papademos is formally sworn in as the head of a unity government . Finance Minister Venizelos keeps his role; Stavros Dimas is new foreign minister . The new government will start work next week after a vote of confidence . Greece's political turmoil has shaken global financial markets .

New York (CNN) -- The details of the prisoner-exchange deal announced between Israel and Hamas -- a swap of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas since 2006, for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners -- are not yet fully known. But after five years of failed negotiations, it is clear that both sides have made concessions. And that is a sign of hope. The unrest in the Middle East, and especially in Syria, has been a powerful catalyst for Hamas to capitalize while it can on Israel's desire to bring Shalit home. The unrest in Damascus is forcing the external political leadership of Hamas, led by Khaled Meshaal, to relocate to the Gulf -- further away from the front lines with Israel and a political environment less sympathetic to its radical policies. The huge upsurge of popularity for Hamas's rival, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, following last month's push for UN recognition of Palestine as a member state, would also have been a catalyst for Hamas to conclude an agreement by being more flexible. The return home of 1,000 prisoners, including some (but not all) of the most hardcore terrorists with the blood of hundreds of Israelis on their hands, will do wonders for Hamas' popularity -- not only in Gaza but in the West Bank and the Palestinian diaspora as well. From the Hamas point of view, the time for a deal had clearly arrived. For Israel, the growing instability in Egypt was a factor making a deal imperative now, or a risk that it would never happen. The Egyptians have played a major role as intermediaries, allowing both sides to negotiate without actually having to deal directly. (In the last stage of the bargaining, held in Cairo since July, Israel's negotiators sat in one room and Hamas in another, and the Egyptians acted as go-between.) The Egyptians will play a role in the actual physical exchange of the prisoners as well. Given that Cairo mobs sacked Israel's embassy there just a month ago and that the military rulers of Egypt had to be forced (by the US) to intervene, Israel has good reason to fear that Egypt's ability to facilitate the deal with Hamas might not last forever. Another consideration was the determination by the Israel Defense Forces' new Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz, that there were no realistic military options for freeing Shalit. He was joined by the recently appointed heads of Israel's other security services -- the Mossad and the Shabak (internal security) -- who withdrew their opposition to the release of so many convicted terrorists. No Israeli Prime Minister would have overridden the unanimous recommendations of the security establishment, and the green light for the agreement from this sector was vital. Similarly, no Israeli politician would have overridden public sentiment on this issue, but here the vast majority of Israel's public has been clearly in favor of the swap agreement for the past few years. This sentiment was skillfully articulated through a public campaign conducted by the Shalit family, their friends and associates. Shalit's family have been camping outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem for well over a year, and as they return home to prepare for the return of their son, the Israeli public cheers their dedication. Concern over the possible renewal of Palestinian terror following the release of so many skilled and determined terrorists is, for the moment at least, overshadowed by widespread enthusiasm at the return of the kidnapped soldier. There will be celebrations in both Israel and the Palestinian territories. But what are the long-term implications of this deal? Pessimists will point to the dangers of rewarding terror -- both the terror of those released from jail and the act of kidnapping Israelis to have future terrorists released. Cynics will ask if Israel's willingness to conclude the deal was not an attempt to punish Abbas for pushing ahead with his policies in the UN, despite Israeli and American opposition. But there are other considerations which give grounds for optimism. Any movement in the stalled peace process might be enough to get the wheels of this heavy cart out of the rut in which it is trapped. It appears that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a role in the final deal, perhaps indicating a return of Turkey to constructive dealing with Israel. And the fact that Israel and Hamas have talked -- albeit indirectly -- is a welcome development. Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza might have had more positive long-term effect had this channel of communication been used then. Even more significant, the release of these prisoners removes a major obstacle from any future peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. An agreement will almost certainly address the issue of the thousands of Palestinians remaining in Israeli jails. Their numbers have dropped dramatically over the past few years, as the level of violence in the occupied territories has declined -- from 11,000 in 2008 to just over 4,000 after the current prisoner swap is completed. But freeing almost all of the most dangerous prisoners now, in circumstances that will be endorsed by Israeli public opinion, means there is one less impediment to be dealt with in the final settlement. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ronald W. Zweig.

Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas since 2006, is being freed . The prisoner exchange is a sign of hope, says Ronald W. Zweig . The Egyptians have played a major role as intermediaries, Zweig says . Israel's release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners may help lead to peace, he says .

Berlin (CNN) -- WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange went from being "imaginative, energetic (and) brilliant" to a "paranoid, power-hungry, megalomaniac," a former colleague charges in a new book out Thursday. Assange also has "a very free and easy relationship with the truth," Daniel Domscheit-Berg claims in the book, "Inside WikiLeaks." WikiLeaks also lost key software that lets users submit documents anonymously when Domscheit-Berg and another colleague left, he says. WikiLeaks blasted the defector in a statement shortly before the book launch. Domscheit-Berg "damaged" WikiLeaks infrastructure and "stole material," WikiLeaks said Wednesday, and the website said it is taking legal action against him-- though Domscheit-Berg denied that. WikiLeaks, which publishes secret documents, downplayed the defector's role in the organization, saying he was "a spokesperson for WikiLeaks in Germany at various times." It denied he was ever a "programmer, computer scientist, security expert, architect, editor, founder (or) director" of WikiLeaks. "Domscheit-Berg's roles within WikiLeaks were limited and started to diminish almost a year ago as his integrity and stability were questioned," the website said. Domscheit-Berg rejected that claim in a press conference Thursday, calling himself "the only person who was intensively involved in this organization for such a long time." Last September, Domscheit-Berg left WikiLeaks, citing shortcomings and clashes with Assange. He and other former WikiLeaks employees have now set up OpenLeaks, which they describe as a more transparent secret-sharing website. OpenLeaks, its founder says, has a "technical mechanism whereby sources can be protected" and decide for themselves to which outlets they want to release their information. The defector paints a picture of Assange as becoming increasingly authoritarian over time, saying Assange would threaten him. Domscheit-Berg claims Assange read the USA Patriot Act to him when he tried to dismiss him, using military terminology to designate him a traitor. Assange, he said, had started assuming the characteristics of the kinds of institutions he was trying to bring down. The author says in his book, however, that Assange wasn't necessarily anti-American, even though all of WikiLeaks' major publications last year were aimed at the United States. Instead, Assange was motivated by a frustration with U.S. foreign policy and his desire to seek the biggest possible adversary. "He had to single out the most powerful nation on earth," Domscheit-Berg writes. "Your own stature, it has been written, can be measured by that of your enemies. Why should he expend his fighting energy in Africa or Mongolia and get into quarrels with the Thai royal family? "It would have been a far less attractive prospect to end up in some jail in Africa, or wearing concrete boots at the bottom of some Russian river, than to inform the world that he was being pursued by the CIA. And it wouldn't have gotten him on the nightly news." Domscheit-Berg also says he took about 3,000-3,500 documents when he left WikiLeaks, claiming it would be "irresponsible" to leave them with Assange. He did not disclose the contents or origin of the papers. The trove would represent a fairly small percentage of what WikiLeaks says it has in its possession. Domscheit-Berg said he was "sorry" about how things worked out between him and Assange, saying, "We had extremely great times. We achieved great things together." WikiLeaks gained international prominence after leaking thousands of papers about the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and is currently releasing a huge cache of secret American diplomatic papers. Assange is fighting extradition from the United Kingdom to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex charges unrelated to the work of the website. There are already several books purporting to expose WikiLeaks' own secrets. Two journalists from The Guardian newspaper in Britain, David Leigh and Luke Harding, have written "WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy." It profiles Assange, whom it calls "one of the strangest figures ever to become a worldwide celebrity," and it also discusses WikiLeaks' release of the U.S. diplomatic cables and Afghan war documents. Two journalists from Germany's Der Spiegel magazine have written a book called "Staatsfeind WikiLeaks," or "WikiLeaks, Enemy of the State," describing their encounters with the site's founder. Both The Guardian and Der Spiegel have had agreements with WikiLeaks on publishing leaked documents. The New York Times offers an e-book called "Open Secrets" that it bills as the "definitive chronicle" of the documents' release and the controversy that ensued. Greg Mitchell, who writes a media blog for The Nation, has written "The Age of WikiLeaks: From Collateral Murder to Cablegate (and Beyond)," charting the rise and impact of the site. CNN's Melissa Gray contributed to this report.

Julian Assange read a former colleague the USA Patriot Act in firing him, the defector claims . WikiLeaks accuses Daniel Domscheit-Berg of damage and theft . It denies he ever played a major role in the organization . Domscheit-Berg has started a rival website .

(CNN) -- One of the world's oldest sports may have lost its grip in the Olympic Games. The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that it has recommended dropping wrestling from the Summer Games beginning in 2020. "Wrestling will now join the seven shortlisted sports -- baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu -- vying for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic program as an additional sport," the IOC said in a statement. The governing body for the sport in the United States was so appalled at the decision, it started a Facebook page, "Keep Wrestling in the Olympics." In a statement, USA Wrestling Chief Executive Officer Scott Blackmun said, "It is important to remember that today's action is a recommendation, and we hope that there will be a meaningful opportunity to discuss the important role that wrestling plays in the sports landscape both in the United States and around the world." At a meeting in Russia in May, representatives from the eight sports will make presentations for inclusion in the 2020 Games. The Executive Board will recommend one. The final word will come in a vote at the IOC's general session in Argentina in September. Whichever sport is chosen will join the 25 sports the IOC listed Tuesday as core sports for 2020: athletics (track and field), rowing, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football (soccer), gymnastics, weightlifting, handball, field hockey, judo, swimming, modern pentathlon, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing and volleyball. Wrestling will be included in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Opponents of the decision also took to Twitter, posting to the hashtag #SaveOlympicWrestling. "The IOC has found a way, besides alien invasion, to unite Americans, Russians and Iranians. Fight begins anew," tweeted K.J. Pilcher, a multimedia journalist in Iowa, a hotbed for the sport. Kurt Angle, who won an Olympic gold medal before becoming a professional wrestler, wrote, "Show Your Love for the Sport. IOC Must Reverse Decision. Trend It Worldwide." Others wondered how sports like equestrian and disciplines like race walking and rhythmic gymnastics survived. And as people are wont to do these days, they turned to the White House petition site, creating two asking the president to put pressure on the IOC to overturn its decision and one to boycott the Games if wrestling is not included. They each had fewer than 5,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. Wrestling has been a part of all but one of the modern Olympic Games since their inception in 1896, missing only the 1900 Games in Paris. Indeed, the website for Rio 2016 cites wrestling as "one of the longest practiced sports -- perhaps only losing to athletics." "There are records of fights dating back to 3000 BC, and the sport was part of the Olympic Games of Antiquity," the website says. The sport has been contested in two styles, Greco-Roman and freestyle, since the 1920 Games in Belgium. Seventy-two wrestling medals were awarded at the London Olympics last year. So why, with such a rich history, is wrestling fighting with wakeboarding and wushu for survival? "In an effort to ensure the Olympic Games remain relevant to sports fans of all generations, the Olympic Programme Commission systematically reviews every sport following each edition of the Games," the IOC said in its statement Tuesday. "Nonsense," said the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, headquartered in Switzerland. The group says it represents wrestlers from 180 countries, including many where wrestling is the national sport and the only sport that gives athletes a route to participation in the Games. Federation officials will meet this week in Thailand to discuss the IOC's decision and how to make a case for wrestling at the May IOC Executive Board meeting. Meanwhile, on the message boards of TheMat.com, the official website of USA Wrestling, posters were calling the IOC decision the death of the sport in the U.S. "You know what this means it is dead. What reasons do universities now have to keep programs that are not revenue sports that are not Olympic Sports," wrote one. "The day of reckoning has arrived for our beautiful sport. What a sad, sad course of events," wrote another. But at least one poster saw some logic in the IOC's popularity reasoning and pointed at mixed martial arts, the combination of boxing, wrestling and martial arts that is drawing legions of new fans. "It's time to join forces with mma, because of its growing world wide popularity, and secure our growth and future as an essential part of its makeup. If we do not make this connection, we present ourselves as a single, fringe sport on the outside of popular" culture, one poster wrote. The host city for the 2020 Summer Games will be chosen in September. Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid are the finalists. CNN's Steve Almasy, Zayn Nabbi and Tom McGowan contributed to this report.

NEW: Opponents take fight to Internet, creating Facebook page, online petitions . Wrestling to compete with seven other sports for spot in 2020 Games . Wrestling has been a part of all Games but one since 1896 . IOC says sports selected based on relevance to sports fans .

(CNN) -- Australia continued to dominate the Commonwealth Games with another golden haul in India on Friday, as swimmer Alicia Coutts picked up her fourth winner's medal and cyclist Cameron Meyer claimed his third. The country, which hosted the Games four years ago, ended day five of competition with 98 medals overall -- 47 golds, 24 silver and 27 bronze. India, for whom shooters Gagan Narang and Omkar Singh won their third titles of the week, were second on 20 golds, 16 silver and 12 bronze. England has the second-most overall medals with 76, but only 19 of them are gold -- despite claiming another seven on Friday, including victories for swimming stars Rebecca Adlington, Liam Tancock and James Goddard. While double Olympic champion Adlington, Goddard and Tancock each claimed second golds in the 800m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke respectively, it was again Australia's day in the pool. The 23-year-old Coutts added 4x100m freestyle relay gold to her three individual titles -- which all came in different disciplines -- as the Australians set a new Games record of 3:36.36 in retaining their title. Leisel Jones completed a breaststroke double for the third successive time with victory in the 100m, becoming only the third woman to win nine golds since the Games began 80 years ago. The 25-year-old saw Yolane Kukla -- a decade younger than her -- win the 50m freestyle, while Sophie Edington retained her 50m backstroke title. Meagen Nay, who withdrew during last year's world championships due to the death of her brother and whose late father was a Commonwealth champion in 1974, won the 200m backstroke. Her teammate Geoff Huegill also set a new record time in winning the men's 100m butterfly, which he also won 12 years ago before retiring in 2004. Cycling . Meyer helped Australia win two of the three track golds on offer for 12 out of 14 overall as he took out the men's 25km scratch race from compatriot Michael Freiberg as he matched the feat of teammate Anna Meares. Australia also won the team sprint, but New Zealander Alison Shanks claimed gold in the women's 3,000m pursuit ahead of Northern Ireland's Wendy Houvenaghel. Wrestling . India's wrestlers had another successful day, with two golds and a silver in the women's divisions. Anita won the 67kg class and Alka Tomar claimed victory in the 59kg. Shooting . India also won three golds in the shooting, with world No. 17 Singh triumphant in the men's 10m air rifle singles final. Narang, ranked third in the world, was again successful in the 50m rifle three positions event along with partner Imran Hasan Khan, setting a new Games best points tally. Vijay Kumar won the 25m rapid fire pistol -- India's 10th shooting gold, and 18th medal in the sport. Track and field . Amantle Montsho won Botswana's historic first gold medal with victory in the women's 400m in a Games record time of 50.10 seconds, heading off Nigeria's Folashade Abugan and Guyuna's Tabitha Pompey. She took advantage of the absence of Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogo and Jamaica's Shericka Simpson, Novlene Williams-Mills and Kaliese Spencer from the field. Kenya dominated the women's distance events, with Olympic champion Nancy Langat winning the 1,500m in a record time of 4:05.26 from New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin and Scotland's Stephanie Twell. Grace Momanyi won the 10,000m from Doris Changeywo in the absence of their world champion compatriot Linet Masai, with India's Kavita Raut claiming bronze. European champion Andy Turner won the men's 110m hurdles title from fellow English runners William Sharman and Lawrence Clarke. Jamaica's Trecia Smith retained her triple jump title, while Canada's Jamie Adjetey-Nelson was a dominant winner of the men's decathlon. Field hockey . South Africa's men's team joined New Zealand with two wins in Pool B, but have played one more game following the 5-3 victory against pointless Trinidad and Tobago. Malaysia picked up a first win from three in Pool A, beating bottom team Scotland 2-0. In the women's competition, New Zealand reached the semifinals after stunning top seeds England 4-1 in Pool B, where Canada kept their slim hopes alive with a 2-1 win over Wales. Defending champions Australia were surprisingly held 1-1 by South Africa, leaving both teams on seven points in Pool B, where India thrashed Trinidad and Tobago 7-0 to stay in contention.

Australian swimmer Alicia Coutts claims her fourth gold medal of Commonwealth Games . Cyclist Cameron Meyer wins his third as Australia race ahead in medals table . Three English swimmers claim second golds, but Australia dominates in the pool . Hosts India have continued success in shooting and wrestling events .

(CNN) -- While most of the country moves forward on legal protections for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons (LGBT), Republicans in Texas have retrenched their opposition in a shocking manner. The Texas Republican Party adopted a plank in its platform endorsing reparative therapy for gays and lesbians, even though such treatments have been rejected as harmful by all leading medical and psychological associations and even outlawed in some states. Texas Gov. Rick Perry added fuel to the fire by comparing gays and lesbians to alcoholics and refusing to step back from such insulting comments. Perry's views, however, bear further exploration. In his remarks, he used genetic predispositions to make his comparison: "I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that -- and I look at the homosexual issue the same way." At a very superficial level, there is a kernel of truth here. Scientific studies have demonstrated that biology plays a role in one's sexual orientation. Studies of identical twins, who share the same genes, have shown that, if one twin is gay, the other is more likely to be gay, suggesting sexual orientation is influenced by genetics. Scientists also discovered a "fraternal birth order effect": the more male children a woman has, the greater chance that the next one will be gay. The reason for this effect is unknown, but it suggests there may be some change in the mother's body that influences the development of the male fetus. Perhaps the greatest furor over the biological origins of sexual orientation occurred in 1993. Scientist Dean Hamer and others published a study in Science that showed a connection between a particular part of the X chromosome and male homosexuality. Although the study did not find a particular gene, it suggested that such a gene exists on the X chromosome. More recent studies have identified other potential links between homosexuality and genetics, and scientists have offered explanations on how same-sex attraction could advance procreation. Reviewing all the various studies in his 2012 book, "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation," neuroscientist Simon LeVay concludes that, "taken together, the multitude of research studies published since 1991 have greatly strengthened the idea that biological factors play a significant rule in the development of sexual orientation—in both men and in women." Many gay rights activists laud these studies because they support the argument that LGBT persons should be afforded legal protections because sexual orientation is an immutable trait, akin to race or gender. If it's in our genes, you can't discriminate against us. But finding the biological origins of same-sex attraction has the potential to undermine the rights of gays and lesbians. For example, could someone try to get a patent on a gene related to sexual orientation? While it is possible to patent certain genetic material, the gene must be "useful" to qualify for patent protection. Why would a gene related to sexual orientation be useful? Most patents on genes relate to diseases, such as breast cancer, diabetes, or, as Perry noted, alcoholism. The utility of these inventions is readily apparent — developing treatments for these pathological conditions. But what use is a gay gene -- to "treat" gays and lesbians? I believe such genetic discoveries should not be patent eligible because they are not useful. Gays and lesbians are not sick, and the medical community agrees. The exploration of why a gay gene should not be viewed as "useful" highlights the broader concern with these scientific studies: It becomes easier for LGBT opponents to argue that gays and lesbians are biologically flawed, akin to a disease that should be and could be cured. The 1996 movie "Twilight of the Golds" explores this dynamic in the context of a prenatal test that could predict the likelihood that the child would be gay, and the consequent decision of whether to end the pregnancy. In a more commercial and thinly veiled context, the 2006 movie "X-Men: The Last Stand" explored the potential implications of inventing and administering a "cure" for a stigmatized physiological condition. Even though we tend to view science as objective, it is often laden with moral considerations. The concept of a "gay gene" reveals this normative slant. Why is it the "gay" gene and not just the "sexual orientation" gene, or even the "straight" gene? Calling it the "gay gene" reveals the bias in favor of heterosexuality, which risks viewing gays and lesbians as biologically flawed and thus inferior. LGBT legal rights should not be contingent on biology or immutability. And, contrary to Perry's insinuation, sexual orientation is not like a disease. It is like eye color or left-handedness -- a natural and healthy variation within the population. We must take care that our rights do not hinge on biology. While it is strange to find wisdom from comic book characters, Halle Berry's character Storm in the X-Men had it right: There is nothing to cure. There is nothing wrong with us. And our rights shouldn't depend on it.

In Texas, the GOP endorses reparative therapy for gays and lesbians . Tim Holbrook: Sexual orientation is a trait like race or gender, it shouldn't be fixed . He says if there's a gay gene, there's no need for treatment since gays are not sick . Holbrook: Sexual orientation is not like a disease, it doesn't need to be cured .

OKAZAKI, Japan (CNN) -- At Spencer Morrey's home, there are two constant sounds: his dad, Craig, murmuring, "You're okay, Spence. You're okay, buddy," and the sound of a machine clearing the toddler's airway. Spencer Morrey, pictured with his father Craig, has severe cerebral palsy and requires 24-hour medical care. Both sounds come every few minutes, in between hugs, tears and kisses. Spencer has severe cerebral palsy and requires constant, 24-hour medical care. In Japan, a country that lacks sufficient medical services for disabled children, the only person to care for Spencer is his father. Morrey says his wife left, overwhelmed by the strain of their son's medical condition. That would be pain beyond what most parents could imagine. But Spencer's mother fled while pregnant with Morrey's daughter, Amelia. In more than a year, Morrey says he has only seen his daughter four times. "She wouldn't recognize me," Morrey said, with Spencer propped on his lap. "She wouldn't call me daddy. She's just starting to talk now. But she's not going to know who I am. I think she deserves my love. And I think she deserves to be with Spencer and Spencer deserves to be with her." Morrey, a native of Chicago and a U.S. citizen, was married to a Brazilian woman of Japanese descent. They divorced in a Japanese court. Under Brazilian law, Morrey would likely have joint custody and guardianship of both children. What do you think about Spencer's case? Have your say . But in Japan, where only one parent gets custody of a child in a divorce, the family courts have left the case in legal limbo for a year because they have not decided which parent legally has custody of the children. Typically, the parent with physical custody of a child retains custody. Morrey has stayed in Japan the last year, trying to get the courts to recognize that he has joint custody of the children in Brazil (he has not yet applied for such custody under U.S. law). Watch Kyung Lah's report on the case » . He is afraid that if he heads home for the U.S. with Spencer without that, he could be subject to international child abduction laws, and he also fears such a move could hurt his chances of getting the Japanese family court to give him joint custody of his daughter. Morrey has been forced to quit work to care for Spencer. The financial strain of living off his credit cards is adding to the stress of caring for a disabled child alone in a foreign country. Despite his pleading with court mediators and repeated court filings claiming that joint custody is the law in both the U.S. and Brazil, Japan's slow and antiquated family courts have let the case languish. "Kids need both parents," Morrey said. "Whether the parents are married or not is irrelevant in my mind. The Japanese courts, and I realize you're going against years and years of cultural differences and everything else, but they don't care about the welfare of the child. "In Japan, it's considered too messy. It's too complicated. It deals with personal feelings, so they don't want to deal with it. So the best way is to not deal with it." CNN contacted Morrey's ex-wife four times by telephone and once by fax. She declined to discuss the case. The International Association for Parent and Child Reunion believes there are an estimated 100 American families in situations like Morrey's in Japan and dozens involving those from Britain, France and Canada. One of those cases is that of American Christopher Savoie. Savoie, 38, a Tennessee native and naturalized Japanese citizen, was arrested on September 28 in Yanagawa, Japan, for attempting to abduct his two children, eight-year-old Isaac and six-year-old Rebecca. Watch more about this case » . Savoie drove his children to the nearest U.S. consulate in the city of Fukuoka to try and obtain passports for them. Steps away from the front of the consulate, Japanese police arrested him. Savoie is now in jail, awaiting a decision by prosecutors on a possible indictment. Savoie and his first wife, Noriko Savoie, were married for 14 years before their bitter divorce in January. According to court documents, she fled with the children to Japan in the summer. A U.S. court then gave Christopher Savoie sole custody of the children. But Japanese law recognizes Noriko Savoie as the sole custodian, despite the U.S. order. "It's like a black hole," Morrey said. "If you go through a divorce, there's this joke. If you have an international marriage with a Japanese, don't piss them off because you'll never see your kids again." Not seeing his daughter Amelia again is what is keeping Morrey in Japan. He has been selling off everything he owns, trying to keep himself and Spencer afloat, hoping the Japanese court will bring him some legal connection to his child. He is stuck choosing between caring for his son, who needs the better resources of the U.S., and hoping to be a father to his daughter. "How do you make that choice? It's not -- once you're a dad, you're always a dad."

Craig Morrey's wife left him to care for their disabled son, Spencer, alone . His wife has sole custody of the daughter she had shortly after . Under Japanese law only one parent gets custody of a child in a divorce . Under U.S. law Morrey would likely have joint custody of both children .

(CNN) -- UEFA president Michel Platini is confident German Chancellor Angela Merkel would attend the final of Euro 2012 in Ukraine -- if Germany reach the tournament's showpiece in Kiev on July 1. Together with European Union commissioners and several other Western politicians, Merkel has threatened to boycott the month-long tournament, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland next month, in sympathy with jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. "I'm not worried about the situation," Platini told CNN in an exclusive interview ahead of Saturday's Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea in the German city. "The politicians they are in their role and the Ukrainians they are in their role. I'm in my role and that is not to do politics, it's not to do religion and not to interfere in everything. "That means they can say what they want -- we continue to organize the Euro. If Germany is in final of the Euro I would be sure that Madame Merkel would come to the final." Such a scenario -- and it is very possible given Germany are one of the tournament favorites -- would represent something of a u-turn for Merkel given earlier this month she told the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, that in Ukraine and Belarus "people are still suffering under dictatorship and repression." No regrets . While admitting UEFA had taken a risk in giving Euro 2012 to Poland and Ukraine, Platini insisted he had no regrets about the European governing body's decision to award the tournament to the two Eastern European neighbors. "Four years ago when all the slides were red, red, red, red, red -- stadium, roads, accommodation was red, red, red, red it was not easy. OK we took the risk but I say it was a good risk." As well as dealing with the political fall-out from Ukraine's strained relationship with the West, UEFA is implementing a set of financial regulations -- Financial Fair Play (FFP) - that are designed to compel most teams to live within their means. The FFP rules apply now but will come fully into force in 2014. But this new stringent financial regime has raised the question as to whether UEFA would prevent a big-spending team like Manchester City, which has incurred large debts after spending up to $1.5B on winning the English Premier League (EPL) for the first time this season, from competing in the Champions League. "I'm happy for them," said Platini, as he congratulated City on their title success. "But they will know what we will do. And if they are in the Financial Fair Play they will play our competition but we will look at them like we will look at everyone else. "We prepare everything with the clubs -- we gave them four years to prepare something for the future," added Platini. "We will never go back." Technology opposed . The former Nancy and Juventus midfielder and French captain, who led France when they won the European Championships in 1984, remains equally resolute in his opposition to FIFA's likely introduction of goal-line technology in the summer. The EPL wants to introduce goal-line technology as early as next season if football's rule-makers -- The International Football Association Board (IFAB) -- sanction its use in July. "I'm against the technology," said Platini. "If you say OK to goal-line technology, then it is offside technology, then penalty area technology, and we stop the football. I want human people -- it's easy. I understand the fans because they want justice but with an additional referee we have the same justice." FIFA president Sepp Blatter has indicated he is in favor of goal-line technology and would like to see it in place for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but Platini has not given up all hope that the Swiss may still change his mind. "I am football, he is political." said Platini. "He changes his mind. He said last year in the IFAB never technology, never. This year he changed, he's says let's go technology. I hope next year he will say no technology." Looking ahead to Saturday's showpiece event between Chelsea and Bayern, Platini insisted that that best two teams had reached the final, despite the widely held view that their respective semifinal opponents -- Barcelona and Real Madrid -- are Europe's strongest teams. "Could be, but the result is there -- it's Bayern Munich against Chelsea. I didn't see Barcelona be better than Chelsea and I didn't see Real Madrid be better than Bayern in these games," said the UEFA president. Surprising season . "Everything was surprising -- the non-qualification of some of the English teams to the second round, the fact that Chelsea and Bayern were not favorites for the semifinals and they beat Barcelona and Real Madrid. It has been incredible year for the legend of the cup." Next season will be the 20th anniversary of the Champions League, which was formerly known as the European Cup. Asked to single out his favorite finals, Platini picked Liverpool's win over AC Milan 2005 and Barcelona's triumph in 2011. "Istanbul, was an incredible game for Liverpool against Milan and last year's final between Barcelona and Manchester United was a great, great game with a great atmosphere at the stadium."

Platini confident German Chancellor Merkel would attend Euro 2012 final if Germany playing . Merkel and other European leaders have threatened boycott over political situation in Ukraine . Platini stands firm on UEFA's new Financial Fair Play Rules . UEFA chief remains opposed to introduction of goal-line technology .

(CNN) -- David Remes used to be a partner at a top Washington law firm, but he left four years ago to defend, for free, prisoners at the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The U.S. Supreme Court had just opened its door to Guantanamo prisoners in Boumediene v. Bush. The case recognized the prisoners' right to challenge their detentions in court, even if they weren't U.S. citizens and even though they were imprisoned abroad. At the time, the controversial detention center was frequently in headlines and talked about on the campaign trail. As one of his first acts in office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order requiring that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year. Three and a half years later, it's still open, and it's faded from the public eye. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to take a fresh look at the habeas corpus petitions by the suspected foreign enemy fighters for the second year in a row. Supreme Court declines fresh review of Guantanamo detainee issue . Guantanamo prisoners still have the right to challenge their detentions, Remes said, but it's more symbolic than real. In his opinion, the Supreme Court has shut the door on Guantanamo. "I wouldn't say I'm numb," Remes told CNN. "But I am realistic. I tell my clients my pessimism has never failed me. I don't want to give them hope unless there is hope. There's less hope now than ever." Hear CNN's Libby Lewis talk to David Remes on iTunes about the court's decision . Of the 169 people still detained, the government says 89 aren't a threat, but Obama and Congress have blocked their release. As for the rest, some of them have a shot at a military hearing, but 46 don't have that chance because the government says they can't be tried for one reason or another but are too dangerous to be released. "So now, the executive is against transfers, Congress is against transfers and the courthouse doors are shut," Remes says. "All three branches of the government are aligned against us." If there was any Guantanamo prisoner case that lawyers thought the Supreme Court would take up, it was Adnan Latif's of Yemen. Remes is his lawyer. Federal appeals court rules against Guantanamo detainee . The government says Latif went to Afghanistan to fight for al Qaeda. Latif says he went to Afghanistan and Pakistan to get medical treatment with the help of an Islamic charity. He's been at Guantanamo for 10 years. "Adnan is a very disturbed young man," Remes says. "He has been in the psych ward. He's been on suicide watch. He has eaten screws, urine cups, plastic bags. He would smear excrement all over his body. I once said to him: How can you stand the smell? He said, 'That's nothing compared to what I'm feeling.' " Over the years, Remes has gotten to know Latif. He says he's familiar with his mental problems, his apparent suicide attempts, his poetry. At one meeting he had with his client -- then in his seventh year as a prisoner -- Remes says Latif threw a cup of his blood on him. He'd cut a vein in his wrist and let the blood flow into an empty cup under the table where they sat. The next time they met, Remes says, the prison guards had Latif in so many restraints that Remes had to call a federal judge for help when Latif wanted to use the bathroom. They had to litigate it over the phone. He said the judge "didn't want to second-guess the security aspect and he said, 'Well, he's got to be able to clean himself,' " Remes said. About a year later, that same judge, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, reviewed the evidence against Latif in a petition for habeas corpus -- the right that was granted to Guantanamo prisoners in the Boumediene case. Kennedy found the government's evidence, based on an intelligence report by U.S. agents, wasn't reliable enough to keep Latif locked up. And he found Latif's story was plausible, so he ordered Latif's release in July 2010. But in a 2-1 vote, the appeals court that reviews all Guantanamo habeas cases reversed that in October 2011. The appeals court said Kennedy should have automatically presumed the government's intelligence report on Latif was reliable and rejected the case. Latif is still a prisoner at Guantanamo. Federal appeals court rules against Guantanamo detainee . After the Supreme Court turned down Latif's case on June 11, Remes called Latif to tell him. He also called Latif's family in Yemen. Remes asked Latif's younger brother, Ibrahim, whether he had any questions. Ibrahim wanted to know why his brother hadn't been released even though a federal judge said he should be. Remes said he explained what happened, and they talked a bit more. Then, Remes said Ibrahim thanked him "from the depth of my family's heart for all you have done," and hung up.

Lawyer David Remes says the Supreme Court has shut down on Guantanamo . The high court this year turned down all requests from Gitmo detainees . Guantanamo detention center houses 169 prisoners .

(CNN) -- The last time Maria Sharapova beat Serena Williams, the Russian was just 17. It was the final of the 2004 WTA Championships, and the victory capped her breakthrough year after an attention-grabbing first grand slam title at Wimbledon. Fast forward eight years, and history is repeating as the two biggest names in women's tennis meet again in Sunday's climax to the season-ending championships in Turkey. Neither ended 2004 ranked as No. 1, and the same will be the case this time. Sharapova overpowered Victoria Azarenka 6-4 6-2 in the second of Saturday's semifinals, but the Belorussian had already guaranteed the year-end top spot by winning two of her group games. However, it was a measure of revenge for the second-ranked Russian, who lost to Azarenka in January's Australian Open final, the U.S. Open semifinals and in two other tournament title matches -- the most recent in Beijing earlier this month. "When you find yourself in a losing position a few times during the year, you want to try to figure out how to change those things around," Sharapova said. "I certainly didn't make as many mistakes today as I did in our previous matches this year. "I'd lost to Victoria the last few times, so I'm really happy I put myself in the semifinals to play against her and try to improve that -- I was hoping to have a better result, and I'm happy I did today." While she ended her losing run against Azarenka, Sharapova must now break a streak of eight successive defeats against Williams -- who thrashed her in August's Olympic final. The American, who won the WTA event in 2001 and 2009, reached the final for the fifth time with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska in a rematch of July's Wimbledon final. The Pole had been on court for three and a half hours in winning her final group match on Friday, and it showed as U.S. Open champion Williams -- who had a rest day -- needed just 61 minutes to complete victory. "Those last two matches really killed me," Radwanska said. "Especially that I didn't have the day off, and especially that surface -- it's very sticky, so three and a half hours is a lot. "I really tried today and I really wanted to run, but my legs just didn't. This is the kind of tournament where you have to be fit every match to win. "I was trying, but Serena played too fast. I couldn't do anything." Williams, playing her first tournament since claiming her 15th grand slam title in New York, has now won 17 matches in a row against top-five players and has lost just twice in her last 49 matches. "I probably had an idea she was tired," the 31-year-old. "I just told her that it was awesome she played so well and played through another match, after playing a good eight hours. It was really inspiring for me." Azarenka was last year's runner-up but her hopes of reaching another final were seemingly hampered by an injury that left her in tears at times during the second set. She is 62-0 this year in matches where she has won the first set, but Sharapova improved her record in such circumstances to 51-1. "I'm not going to say I was the freshest today, but I also don't want to make any excuses," Azarenka said. "I think Agnieszka felt much worse than me today. I saw her before the match and we looked at each other and we laughed really hard. That says it all." While Azarenka has just one grand slam to her name, she won five other tournaments this year, reached three more finals, claimed bronze at London 2012 and was ranked No. 1 for all but four weeks. "I'm really proud of what I've done the whole year," the 23-year-old said. "I started the year with No.3 and I finished with No.1, which in numbers doesn't seem like a huge jump, but we all know in reality it's a pretty big difference. "I finished the year a much more mature person. I'm very proud of that too. The whole year was a lot of learning experience, trying new things and taking the whole journey with the good and a few bads -- I didn't have many. I cannot complain about this year." Meanwhile, Roger Federer reached the final of his home Swiss Indoors event for the ninth time with a 7-5 6-4 win over France's Paul-Henri Mathieu on Saturday. The world No. 1 is now level with John McEnroe on 875 career wins, leaving them equal fourth. If he beats his 2009 U.S. Open final conqueror Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday to win the Basel hard-court tournament for the sixth time, the 31-year-old will match American McEnroe on 77 top-level titles.

Maria Sharapova sets up final clash with Serena Williams at WTA Championships . She has lost to American in last eight encounters but beat her in the 2004 final . Sharapova defeats world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in Saturday's second semifinal . Williams cruised into her fifth final, beating fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska .

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The moderator's chair on NBC's "Meet the Press" stood empty on Sunday in remembrance of Tim Russert, the man who had occupied it for 17 years. The moderator's chair on NBC's "Meet the Press" stood empty Sunday in remembrance of Tim Russert. As the show's host, Russert became a mainstay of television journalism's political talk. He died Friday of apparent heart attack, according to the network. He was 58. The network said Russert collapsed while at work. Colleague and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, who broke the news about the anchor's death, spoke on Sunday the familiar first four words of the news program, "Our issues this Sunday." He noted that those were the same words Russert had been recording for the show when he collapsed and died. "Our issue this sad Sunday morning is remembering and honoring our colleague and friend," Brokaw said. "He said he was only the temporary custodian," of this program, which he called a national treasure, Brokaw said. "Of course, he was so much more than all that." Brokaw sat among some of Russert's other colleagues in the front of the show's set, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin and political analysts Mary Matalin and James Carville, who is also a CNN contributor. "This is where you separated the men from the boys," said Matalin, who is married to Carville. "You weren't a candidate until you came on this show." A montage of clips from past years showed various politicians -- former President Bill Clinton, President Bush, former presidential candidate Ross Perot, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff -- sitting across the table from Russert. Watch politicians, journalists pay homage to Russert » . Some showed the politicians as they squirmed. "Look, I was asked -- I shouldn't have said that," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said on the show in May 2007. Richardson had appeared on the show as part of the "Meet the Candidates 2008" series, and was grilled by Russert about his contradictory positions on numerous issues. "So you're - I've been in public life for 25 years, you're going to find a lot of these; it seems you found them all here," he said, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "I'm just trying to set the record and trying to give you a chance to respond, which is fair," Russert had responded. In another clip at the end of an April 2006 show, Sen. John McCain told Russert, "I haven't had so much fun since my last interrogation." Russert had appeared as an unlikely icon for television news, with his cherubic face and dimpled chin, but he was a prolific interviewer and tireless journalist, one with an intimidating breadth of political knowledge and insight. "It was a very easy show to prepare for in the sense that you knew he was not going to ask you any questions out of left field; you knew his thing was going to be entitlements, you knew his thing was going to be past statements, you knew where he was coming from," Carville said Sunday of "Meet the Press." Matalin countered: "It was simple in the fact that there was no 'gotcha,' but it was not easy. Because you had to be 10 questions deep, because he was going to be 12 questions deep." As news of his death hit the airwaves and Internet, tributes rolled in -- with nearly everyone praising his prowess as a journalist and as an interviewer. Bush, in a written statement, called Russert "a tough and hardworking newsman." "He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews," Bush said. "And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it." Longtime CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite said, "Broadcast journalism lost one of its greats today. Tim Russert was a giant in our field -- a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and ethics. His masterful interviews and roundtable discussions are legendary. This is a tragic loss for journalism and for all who were privileged to know him." But colleagues who knew him best also praised his warmth, and described him as a mentor. "I think it's so poignant that we're talking about Tim on Father's Day because he was a father to so many of us," said California first lady Maria Shriver, who once worked for NBC. On Friday, NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell said, "He was always teaching each of us to be as rigorous as he was in looking at all the facts, examining everything and then being as balanced and fair and down-the-middle as anyone could possibly be." Washingtonian Magazine once dubbed Russert the best and most influential journalist in Washington, D.C., describing "Meet the Press" as "the most interesting and important hour on television." In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. His two books -- 2004's "Big Russ and Me" and 2006's "Wisdom of Our Fathers" -- were both New York Times bestsellers.

The moderator's chair on NBC's "Meet the Press" stood empty Sunday . Veteran journalist collapses at work, according to NBC . The 58-year-old Russert died of an apparent heart attack . Tom Brokaw: "Our issue this sad Sunday morning" is honoring Russert .

(CNN) -- Approaching Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah Winfrey, I had been thinking the American -- in his type of language -- was "done with cycling." Used, abused and accused by fans and federations, no doubt he was feeling he had been rolled over by the cycling world, despite his years of sacrifice and heroics. After all, hadn't they taken the ride with him? Enjoyed the fame, bought the story and sold it -- all packaged up in a shiny cover. Those rulemakers and followers, who now wanted their pound of flesh, weren't they the same ones who had spouted the promises of globalization, dreamed of expanding markets and then cuddled up for the photo opportunity with the Hollywood A-listers that the Lance show brought to the table? For a sport struggling with an image problem, Lance was their savior. Jeez, even the French pretended they liked it and as long as the dollars kept rolling in, they were happy to put up with a bit of American rock 'n' roll. Now it's all come to an end and it's a rather sad, dirty end to what was supposed to be a Disney-esque fairytale in lycra. The savior is a sinner after all. Cycling hadn't wanted to see Lance as anything other than the big, brash, bold Texan. It suited their needs to see the fierce competitor, the athlete who dominated the Tour de France seven times, forgetting that behind the facade was a man just like other men -- not perfect, but flawed. Don't forget it was those very flaws of character which made Lance the competitor, the one who would do what it took to win and came to consider performance enhancing drugs as part of his job. In a culture which for so many years had had such an expectancy to cheat whenever possible, there was nobody to question him. Nobody to stop him taking control of the process -- planning it and perfecting it. It was a process Lance called easy and it was if that process became more fulfilling than the victories and the fame, which may seem crazy, but then again the top athlete are rarely wired in the same way as the rest of the population. Competitors like Armstrong have stuff to prove to themselves, and to others, and it's rarely pretty. iReport: Tell us your take on the first part of the interview . Cycling fans rejoiced in his ruthlessness, his commitment and his brutal desire to win. Meanwhile his sponsors -- some of the world's biggest brands remember -- had willingly used him to promote their products, build the image and sell the dream. With his confession all that is over and Armstrong sees the anger of those same people who wanted to believe. My biggest surprise was that the Oprah interview did not descend into the all too common excuses and crocodile tears we have seen from those in a similar predicament. There was no blaming anyone else, no recriminations and no hiding that he did it. Lance taking the blame -- that is what shocked me the most. There's no doubt he has been aided by others in his quest to prove what he wanted to prove, but Armstrong accepts the responsibility for the deception and he accepts that the fallout is going to come his way. When did that last happen with a figure as big as Armstrong had become? Previous award winners of "most hated cyclist" all denied it was them or that they really did cheat. Pathetically, some of them said it was others that did it -- much like a 10-year-old would -- or that they had thought about it but then couldn't. Arguably none of them has told the story in the way Armstrong has done. Sure Lance had tried the denials, told us all about the tests he had passed and convinced most people -- who didn't have the knowledge of just how tainted cycling was -- that he was clean. And now on Oprah's sofa, just when we were all expecting more of the same, it's been replaced with an honesty which shocks. There still remains a glimmer of hope for the sport of cycling. Armstrong said as much when he admitted the new drug testing and whereabouts program was working. It's no longer as easy to cheat, the culture is finally changing, but that's a process which is going to hurt the governing bodies just as much as the dramas which are going to arrive on Armstrong's doorstep. I don't feel sorry for Lance and refreshingly I don't get the feeling he has asked me to feel sorry for him. He did it -- he was the bully, the liar, the one hiding behind the image. It'll take many years for him to recover from where he is at the moment and it might be the case that he never does in many people's eyes. The cancer community and his Livestrong work is now all that remains of what Armstrong did right. Cycling, indeed sport in general, has been deeply damaged by the American, and by those who advised, supplied and turned the other cheek because it suited them as well. But you know what? The new Lance that tells the truth and accepts his mistakes still has hope because finally he's realized it's OK to be human. That's a person some could, despite the current mess, begin to forgive. It won't be easy though.

In interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong says he regrets fighting the USADA, when the agency claimed he had doped . "I was a bully," he says about retaliating against people who accused him of doping . I will spend the rest of my life ... trying to earn back trust and apologize," Armstrong says .

Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean authorities arrested three people Monday on suspicion of destroying evidence connected to the sinking of the ferry Sewol. Investigators also raided a Coast Guard office in a probe of how officials handled the first emergency call from a passenger. The director and two other people with the Korea Shipping Association's Incheon office were arrested and accused of destroying evidence related to the probe of Chonghaejin, the company that owns the ferry, prosecutor Song In-taek said. The Korea Shipping Association is a trade group that promotes the interests of the country's shipping industry. The site raided was the Coast Guard building in Mokpo, which includes the South Jeolla province emergency center -- a facility that provides 119 services, akin to the 911 emergency service in the United States. Investigators are looking into possible dereliction of duty, said Yang Joong-jin, the chief prosecutor in Mokpo. Police and prosecutors seized documents and recordings from the day of the ferry's sinking, state-run news agency Yonhap reported.c . The office received the first distress call from the ship when an 18-year-old boy dialed the 119 emergency number, the report said. "According to a transcript of the recording, a Coast Guard official asked the student to provide the latitude and longitude of his location, sparking criticism that authorities wasted crucial minutes before starting a rescue operation. The investigation team said it will analyze the work journals and transcripts of the recording to see whether the authorities properly fulfilled their duties," Yonhap added. The arrests and raid follow a spate of detentions since the ferry disaster off the country's southwest coast on April 16. Nearly 200 bodies have been found, and more than 100 people are still missing. The ship's captain and 14 other crew members have also been arrested. Prosecutors in Mokpo said all 15 crew members in charge of sailing and the engine room face charges of "causing death by abandoning (ship), and violation of the country's marine law, the Rescue and Aid at Sea and in the River Act." Captain rescued in his underwear . Newly released video from the Coast Guard shows the captain of the ferry, Lee Joon-seok, being rescued in his shorts by Coast Guard members. At a press conference Monday, two Coast Guard members defended Lee's rescue. Capt. Kim Kyung-il said he didn't know he was helping the ferry's captain escape the ship. "No, absolutely not. I didn't find out until later," Kim said. "During the rescue, people were just dropping from the ferry ... falling into the sea." Coast Guard member Kim Yong-ki said it was difficult to distinguish between crew members and passengers. "Everyone was wearing life vests so we couldn't tell who was crew or who was a passenger," he said. "The life vest covers the uniform. We could see the sleeves but in that situation we are not thinking about that." Final words of passengers . "Why can't they tell us what's going on?" "Wow, it's tilting a lot. We're tilting to this side. Can't move." "You think I'm really gonna die?" A teenage boy who died on the sunken ferry captured these desperate moments on cell phone video, according to South Korean national TV network JTBC. After the boy's body was found, authorities gave his father his cell phone. Its memory card was still intact. But the father couldn't bear to watch the entire clip from the doomed ship. Instead, he gave the video to JTBC, which shared a roughly three-minute audio clip with CNN. In the video, some appeared to take comfort in the fact they were wearing life vests. "I'm wearing the life vest," one passenger says. "I'm wearing one, too. I really have to," another replies. But the life jackets didn't save everyone. Over the weekend, divers found the bodies of 48 girls -- wearing their life jackets -- pressed into a room too small for so many people. The video also captured orders carried over the ship's loudspeaker: . "Once again, please do not move from your current location," a voice says. "Absolutely do not move." Prime Minister resigns . South Korea's Prime Minister announced his resignation Sunday, taking responsibility for the slow initial reaction to the ferry's sinking. Prime Minister Chung Hong-won explained his decision on national television. He apologized "on behalf of the government for the many problems that arose during the first response and the subsequent rescue operation," in addition to "problems that existed before the accident." "During the search process, the government took inadequate measures and disappointed the public," Chung said. "I should take responsibility for everything as the prime minister, but the government can assume no more. So I will resign as prime minister." Prosecutors have said that authorities have yet to determine what caused the sinking. But leading theories include changes made to increase the ferry's passenger capacity, and shifting cargo. CNN's Steven Jiang reported from Jindo; Holly Yan and Josh Levs reported from Atlanta. CNN's Nic Robertson and Danny Gu in Jindo and Ashley Fantz in Atlanta contributed to this report.

NEW: Authorities raid Coast Guard site that received the first emergency call . Video shows Coast Guard members rescuing the captain in his underwear . 3 members of a shipping industry trade group accused of destroying evidence . A dad finds his dead son's cell phone video, which captured the chaos on the ship .

(CNN) -- Word of Nelson Mandela's death spread quickly across the United States, bringing with it a mix of reverence and grief for a man who was born in South Africa but in the end belonged to the world. President Barack Obama ordered American flags to be lowered immediately to half-staff until Monday in tribute to Mandela, a rare honor for a foreign leader. Memorials to the former South African president popped up from Los Angeles to Chicago, where flowers and candles were laid in front of murals bearing his likeness. In Washington, people gathered in front of South Africa's embassy. For many Americans, the death of Mandela was akin to losing one of their own. He loomed large in the actions of activists and politicians; he inspired music and movies. Here's a look at Mandela's impact on the United States: . ACTIVISM . It began with a financial boycott, of sorts. Students on campuses across the country in the late 1970s called for their universities and colleges to divest from investments in South Africa. That led to sit-ins and protest marches that by the mid-1980s drew thousands. "We had marches day after day, thousands of people got arrested in Washington, D.C.," civil rights attorney Charles Ogletree said. "They were all released and ultimately not charged with any offense. Because it was a national issue -- black, white, male, female, people on the left and right, everybody was involved in it." In 1986, Rep. Ron Dellums, D-California, sponsored a bill that called for a full trade embargo against South Africa as well as divestment by American companies. The bill, which passed the House, was vetoed by then-President Ronald Reagan. Congress then overrode the veto. Today, this type of activism -- financial boycotts -- have become a protest staple. For example, fast food workers called this week for a boycott of their respective restaurants to protest low wages. Nelson Mandela: 10 surprising facts you probably didn't know . POPULAR CULTURE . It began in 1985 with musician Steven Van Zandt's "Sun City," a song that protested the South African policy of apartheid. The music brought together such musical powerhouses as Bruce Springsteen, Run DMC, Bonnie Raitt, Miles Davis, George Clinton, Jackson Browne and dozens more to record the single and video. That was followed in 1986 with the release of Paul Simon's "Graceland," which featured South African musicians -- including Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon on Thursday praised Mandela as one of the world's greatest teachers. "He conceived a model for mortal enemies to overcome their hatred and find a way through compassion to rebuild a nation based on truth, justice and the power of forgiveness," the singer said in a statement to CNN. "His passing should reignite a worldwide effort for peace." On Thursday, the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem -- that hosted so many of these artists -- paid tribute to Mandela. Its marquee said, simply: "He changed our world." Hollywood was a long-time supporter of Mandela's fight against apartheid, releasing a number of movies inspired by the civil rights leader's plight. "We count ourselves unspeakably fortunate to have been immersed in Nelson Mandela's story and legacy," said Harvey Weinstein, whose company is releasing the biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" this month. A number of Hollywood heavyweights have portrayed Mandela, including Danny Glover, Sidney Poitier and Terrance Howard. Morgan Freeman earned an Oscar nomination for best actor for his portrayal of Mandela in "Invictus." The latest to step into the role is Idris Elba, who plays the South African leader in "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom." "What an honor it was to step into the shoes of Nelson Mandela and portray a man who defied odds, broke down barriers, and championed human rights before the eyes of the world," Elba said. How one British pop song helped to free Nelson Mandela . POLITICS . Perhaps nowhere is Mandela's influence more evident that on America's politicians. As a student at the University of California, Berkeley, California Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner participated in the divestment protests in the late 1970s and early 1980s. So when Mandela was released and the South African government began its transition, "I think we felt like were part of that," Skinner said. She learned of Mandela's death during a Democratic caucus in California. "That strategic, spiritual, political leadership has no equal," she said. President Obama recounted to the nation on Thursday how he drew inspiration from Mandela during his first public speech. "My very first political action, the first thing I ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was a protest against apartheid. I studied his words and his writings," he said in a televised address shortly after Mandela's death was announced. "And like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set, and so long as I live I will do what I can to learn from him." "He no longer belongs to us," Obama said. "He belongs to the ages." Nelson Mandela: A man of many handshakes . CNN's Catherine Shoichet and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

President Obama ordered flags lowered to half-staff in memory of Nelson Mandela . Mandela loomed large over American activists and politicians . His plight has been repeatedly depicted by Hollywood .

Hong Kong (CNN) -- A Buddhist nun in southwest China has died after setting herself on fire, the 11th Tibetan -- and second nun -- to self-immolate since March. The death of the nun, identified as Qiu Xiang, was reported by state-run Xinhua and confirmed by exile groups. The 35-year old set herself on fire at a road crossing in Dawu County, in the Ganzi region of Sichuan Province, the South China Morning Post said, citing Xinhua. It was unclear why she killed herself, though Tibetan campaign groups say it was in protest against Chinese rule. But China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed the incident related to "pro-Tibetan independence forces" overseas. "Everyone knows that nowadays, except for the very few evil cults and extremist forces, all religions advocate respect for human life and oppose violence," said spokesperson Hong Lei. "It is a challenge to the moral bottom line of all human beings if, instead of condemning the extreme act of self-immolation, some people are hyping or instigating it." According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), which advocates Tibetan independence, Palden Choetso -- Qiu's Tibetan name -- called for freedom and the return from exile of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, as she was burning. London-based Free Tibet also confirmed the incident. Her body was then taken by fellow nuns into the Ganden Choeling nunnery in Tawu, the ICT said. Six of the 11Tibetans -- all monks or former monks -- who have set themselves ablaze died from their injuries. Most of the suicide attempts occurred in Aba Prefecture and the Kirti monastery, also in Sichuan, which has become a focal point for ethnic Tibetans angry at the erosion of their culture. Last month, a nun in Ngaba County, Sichuan Province, became the first Tibetan woman known to have killed herself. Free Tibet said Tenzin Wangmo, 20, died outside the Dechen Chokorling Nunnery. The State Administration for Religious Affairs in Beijing told CNN they were not aware of the incident. Activists and exiled Tibetans say the disturbing acts reflect an increasingly repressive environment under Beijing's control. "The incidents are a clear indication of the genuine grievances of the Tibetans and their sense of deep resentment and despair over the prevailing conditions in Tibet," said new Tibetan leader in exile, Lobsang Sangay, in quotes carried by Free Tibet. "It is therefore of the utmost urgency that every possible effort be made to address the underlying root causes of Tibetan grievances and resentment." A statement from the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India read: "The Kashag (Cabinet) would like to make it clear that it stands in solidarity with the Tibetan people in Tibet who endure continued suppression under the Chinese authorities, whose short-sighted policies have driven till now eleven Tibetans to set themselves on fire. "Instead of addressing the real problems that drive Tibetans to commit self-immolation, Xinhua, the official news organ of the Chinese government, blames the Tibetans-in-exile for instigating such desperate and despairing acts. "The Kashag strongly urges the Chinese government to stop hurling baseless allegations and to start solving the real problems. (The) People's Republic of China can do this by stopping its repressive policy on Tibet and allowing more freedom of religion and speech." Prominent Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser told CNN this kind of protest will continue as long as the Chinese government's Tibet policy remains the same. "If there is no improvement Tibetans will feel it's better to die than be alive. They commit suicide to protest," she said. "The international community should impose pressure and condemn the Chinese government," she added. "But so far, the pressure is not enough, the international community only appeals to Chinese government but there are no real actions such as economic boycott." In an interview with CNN last month, Woeser said Tibetan Buddhists can't use violence against others to protest, so they harm themselves to people pay attention to their plight. "This is not suicide. This is sacrifice in order to draw the world's attention," she said. China rejects accusations of oppression of Tibetans, saying its rule has greatly improved living standards for the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama's representative signed an agreement with Beijing in 1951 to affirm China's sovereignty over Tibet but also grant autonomy to the area. A failed uprising against Beijing's rule in 1959 forced the Dalai Lama into exile. The Dalai Lama denies seeking independence for Tibet, saying he wants genuine autonomy, under which Tibetans can make their own policies on key issues, such as religious practices. In a 2008 uprising, violent unrest in Tibet and the subsequent military crackdown left at least 18 dead, and activists say tensions have remained high in many areas since then. CNN's Haolan Hong and Xiaoni Chen contributed to this report.

Death of the nun, identified as Qiu Xiang, was reported by state-run Xinhua and exile groups . She is the second Tibetan woman, and sixth person overall, to die in this way since March . Activists say the suicides reflect an increasingly repressive environment under Beijing's control . China rejects accusations of oppression, saying its rule has greatly improved living standards .

(CNN) -- Last week offered a grim parade of perspectives on the nature of terror and danger in the United States and in the modern world. The Boston Marathon bombings, the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, the earthquake in China, to name but a few. But the week also offered a glimpse of the way we have come to understand violent acts that affect us: Here in the United States we observe a hierarchy of terror. It works like this: The media and seemingly the rest of the U.S. public care most when a terrorist is successful, foreign, Islamic, and thus resonant with what has become the touchstone of our views on terror: 9/11. For such cases, no coverage or government action is too excessive. We care when casualty tolls, as measured in American lives, are high and the villain is easy to point a camera at, easy to fit into our predetermined definition of what a villain is (see point 1.) When the terrorist is a crank or is unsuccessful, we care less. When the terror happens to Iraqis or Syrians or others far from us, we care less. When the terror is not perpetrated by an individual but is perhaps the result of the actions or inactions of a company, a government body, a special interest group or nature, our concern does not approach the level it does when there is a bad guy, a foreign connection, an experience that recalls earlier terror experiences (no matter how tenuous). There has been an extraordinary panoply of tragedies in the past week on which to test this theory. On Monday we witnessed in horror the attack on the Boston Marathon. Within a day we learned of ricin-laced letters targeting members of the U.S. Senate and later in the week, the president himself. By Wednesday afternoon, the perpetrator in the letter attacks was arrested. Around 8 p.m. that evening, an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas devastated a town of 2,800, killing 14 and injuring 200 others. By Thursday evening, the manhunt for the Boston bombers had resulted in the identification of the two bombers, the gruesome end of one of them and, sadly, the death of another victim, a 26-year-old MIT police officer. This news rocked us, but it should also have been put into perspective by events elsewhere. The same day as the Boston Marathon attack, scores of ordinary people were killed in coordinated terror bombings across Iraq. On Saturday, an earthquake rocked Sichuan province in China, injuring at least 11,000 people and producing a death toll that at this writing was approaching 200. On Sunday alone the violence that tears daily at Syria left more than 500 people dead, most in a single town. Finally, while America was galvanized by the swift action of authorities in responding to the Boston Marathon attacks, we also saw midweek starkly contrasting government inaction in the face of a much bigger threat: that posed by gun violence in America. More than three times as many Americans will die in gun homicides this year as died on 9/11 and more than 10 times as many will die of gun violence of one sort or another. Yet, the United States Senate demonstrated this week that it does not see this as a problem of any great urgency. Truly, it appears not all terror is created equal. But this is not all we've learned about terror this past week. We saw anew that we cannot ever eliminate its threat, but that when cities react calmly and with courage, the impact of attacks can be limited and the goal of the terrorist to produce mayhem can be defeated. And we saw in the well-trained first responders, effective mail screening facilities and impressively swift law enforcement pursuit of wrongdoers that the investment we have made in preparation has paid off. The Boston attack has also compelled us to consider terror's hidden costs. In debating whether or not to read Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights and in shutting down an entire city in search of a single 19-year-old, we brushed up again against debates that have raged throughout this past decade. What is a proportional response to terror? When would it be better to treat a threat as a criminal matter to be handled within our basic system of laws and when should it be treated more aggressively—even to the point of suspending basic elements of due process, as in the suggestion by some to treat Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant? Or do we do damage to our national reputation and character as we did in the decade past with the contra-constitutional provisions of the Patriot Act or our actions at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? In short, once again we must ask, how much damage are we doing to ourselves in our efforts to stay safe or pursue justice? Terror and terrorists are real and their stories are compelling, but we ought to remember that by far the biggest threats we face come from elsewhere—from what might be corporate negligence or greed; from natural disasters or the heedless abuse of the environment; from people who find it far too easy to get their hands on guns or from leaders who twist their interpretation of the Constitution to overreact to one threat even while ignoring and exacerbating another. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Rothkopf .

David Rothkopf: Reaction to recent disasters shows people in U.S. follow hierarchy of terror . He says they care when terrorist is successful, foreign, Islamic and strikes U.S. He says we overlook danger likely to affect us, like Senate inaction on guns, Syria slaughter . Rothkopf: Boston made us weigh our priorities in handling terror, such as due process .

(CNN) -- The New York Giants' unlikely win over the New England Patriots is already being called one of the biggest shockers in Super Bowl history, and the amazing catch David Tyree made to set up the game-winning touchdown won't be forgotten anytime soon. Pint-sized Giants fans, Luka and Kristian Radovich, celebrate after Plaxico Burress' game-winning catch. CNN.com reader Michael Heitman, of Baxter, Tennessee, will remember Super Bowl XLII for more than the 17-14 score. "Our 13-month-old daughter took her first steps during the second half. Apparently, so did the Giants offense. Congrats to the Giants from a Cowboys fan," he said. David Marks, of Duquesne, Pennsylvania, said it was "one of the best football games I'd ever seen," but said watching the game with his family had some drawbacks. "I was not able to enjoy the commercials as much because my mom wouldn't stop yakking away," he said. "She's 80 years old and I didn't want to say anything at first -- you don't know how much longer you have your mom at that age. But finally after a quarter and a half, I had to ask her to pipe down." Watch some of the pre-game festivities » . Dan Nash, of Santa Monica, California, didn't have that problem. "It would be nice to see the GAME a little more," he said adding that "every 10 seconds (or less), we're watching ads! Kickoff ... three ads. Punt ... three ads. Flag on the play ... two ads." Here is a sampling of our readers' reaction to the game: . Russell Giuliano of Middletown, New Jersey I have seen every Super Bowl, and this was the best ever, even better than No. 3 with Namath. Dave Viscusi of Schenectady, New York That was one of the best Super Bowls/Super Bowl parties I have ever been to. We made 4 different kinds of pizza (BBQ chicken, cheese, sausage and peppers), boneless buffalo wings, BBQ ribs, chips of all kinds, apple martinis, some beer and topped off the Giants victory with some CHAMPAGNE! GO G-Men ... Eli deserves every ounce of credit he gets for this Super Bowl ... Way to throw it right in the arrogant Patriots' face! Ricardo Gomez of Buenos Aires, Argentina I'm a big Pats fan, and I was sad to see that last play when Manning escapes the Pats' defense and throw that pass, the one that put the GIANTS OFFENSE so close to the touchdown. Anyway, I think Pats are still the best team in the league, and I was there that snowy night when Brady got us to the Super Bowl at the last second with (Adam Vinatieri kicking) that amazing field goal! So GO PATS! GO!!! Irving Horowitz of Princeton, New Jersey There are three sport moments in my life that I will take to my grave with a broad grin and deep pleasure: The first was the Bobby Thompson home run for the New York (Baseball) Giants in 1951 to defeat the Dodgers; a varsity game while I was at Hobart & William Smith when, as a member of the faculty and staff, we defeated a first-class varsity team in 1962 and I made the winning basket with 28 seconds on the clock (I have the press clippings to prove this); and the biggest thrill of them all: Watching the New York (Football) Giants win Super Bowl XLII against the New England Patriots. When Bob Tisch spoke of "this win is for all Giant fans who, for the past 30 years, supported the team at Giants Stadium, and before that at the Yankee Stadium, and for those who still remember being part of the Giants at the Polo Grounds," I felt that he spoke directly to me. After all, I am actually about a year or two older than the franchise ... Wow! 2008 is already a good year -- a good omen for America. Monique Mondesire of Bronx, New York I'm a 26-year-old female who really doesn't put much thought into sports, but that was the best Super Bowl game I have ever seen in my life. I had faith that it would happen, but the way it happened was priceless. I'm very proud to be a New Yorker and a new Giants fan. To all the New Yorkers that lost their bets yesterday, in the words of Don Corleone, "Never go against the family." Lisa Ciacci of Brooklyn, New York As a die-hard Cowboys fan, I may have been the most unlikely N.Y. Giants fan last night. I could not be happier for this team. They played their hearts out in quite possibly the best game I have ever watched. Eli Manning came of age before our very eyes and proves once again that he is truly a class act. I hope this loss haunts the Patriots forever. They weren't good enough to beat the Giants last night nor will they ever be. This city will surely explode at tomorrow's parade -- it's good to be in New York! GO GIANTS! E-mail to a friend .

Ultimate Super Bowl party: Four kinds of pizza and a Giants' win . "It's good to be in New York," reader says . One fan's daughter took first steps in second half . I-Report: Have a story to share? Send it to us .

(CNN) -- Thailand's capital was braced for unprecedented flooding Wednesday, amid the monsoon rains that have overwhelmed much of the country as well as Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines in recent weeks. "It's going to be clearer over the next couple days" whether Bangkok can be spared the brunt of the flooding said Matthew Cochrane, spokesperson for the International Red Cross in Bangkok. So far, 281 people have been killed and four people are missing in Thailand, according to the country's Flood Relief Operations Command. Some 60 of the country's 76 provinces have so far been affected, impacting some eight million people. "It's really quite serious, these are the worst floods in Thailand since 1949," Cochrane said. "These floods started in June really and started to move south and have really caused huge damage the whole way down," Cochrane said. "They've affected hundreds and hundreds of villages and towns, they've wiped out 2.5 million acres of farmland. This is a very, very serious disaster." Over half a million square kilometers -- an area the size of Spain -- are affected by the floods in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, according to CNN meteorologist Jenny Harrison. Asia's wet and wild 2011 explained . In Bangkok officials beefed up flood prevention measures as waterways, including the main Chao Phraya River, became bloated by rising water. "There are walls still being built in the north of the city," Cochrane said Wednesday. "One of the challenges is the areas where flood waters are typically diverted to protect the capital and protect the economic center of the country, those areas are already flooded, so there's potentially not much room for those waters to go." "For Bangkok we are still confident that the inner part of the city will be safe from (flooding)," said Thitima Chaisaeng, Thailand government spokesperson, but the eastern and western parts of Bangkok face flooding. On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered canal dredging and reinforcement of flood-prevention embankments to protect the city, state-run news agency MCOT reported. In addition, three new flood-prevention walls were being built at two locations in Rangsit, in northern Bangkok, and in Taling Chan, in the western part of the city. Tourists warned as floods continue to wreak havoc in Thailand . The government needs another 1.5 million sandbags, MCOT reported. The prime minister called on the private sector to supply them, but said the government will buy all the needed sandbags by Wednesday, the news agency said. Meanwhile, around 1,200 people have taken shelter in a gymnasium at Bangkok's Thammasat University. Most of them are from neighboring Ayutthaya province and other flood-affected areas around the capital, said Thanawat Srisuwan, a volunteer at the makeshift shelter. The authorities have set up almost 200 other temporary shelters around the city to receive flood victims. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said plans were in place to evacuate people from nine areas, mainly in eastern Bangkok, if needed. Elsewhere, patients in two hospitals in Thailand's Ayutthaya and Nakhon Sawan provinces had to be evacuated after water reached the first floor, the flood operations command said. Multiple tropical weather systems have moved over the region in recent weeks, enhancing monsoon rains and leading to the flooding. Heavy rains are expected in Southeast Asia through the end of October. According to the government website Thaiflood.com, water from northern Thailand has finally reached lower parts of central Thailand, penetrating dykes in Pathumthani and Nonthaburi provinces and flooding outer areas of Bangkok, including the market in Nonthaburi and Chiang Rang road. The giant Rojana Industrial Park has halted operations for the time being, director Amara Charoengitwattanagun told MCOT, and the facility may be further damaged if the flooding worsens. One plant in the park, Single Point Parts, evacuated all workers from the premises and built flood prevention embankments around its building. Honda also confirmed operations at its Rojana plant have been halted. The Japanese automaker says the closure of the plant has already affected the manufacture of 4,500 vehicles. Meanwhile the UNESCO-listed Ayutthaya historical park, which includes the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, has been submerged since last week, according to local authorities. "This is the worst flood in our historical site in 16 years," said Somsuda Leeyawanich, from the Thai Fine Arts Department. She said the water level in the park is almost three meters, compared to levels of around 80-90 centimeters during the floods of 1995. "We are very concerned that if the site is under water more 30 days it may cause serious damage," she added. "The temples are over 400 years old." CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this report .

In Thailand 281 people have been killed and four people missing . An area the size of Spain is affected by the floods in Southeast Asia . Official: Central Bangkok expected to be spared from brunt of floods . Floods are 'worst to hit Thailand since 1949,' destroying 2.5 million acres of farmland .

(CNN) -- As the 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible rolled down Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, three shots rang out in Dallas, their echoes lodging in the memories of America's youth for years to come. Derek L. Farthing was in third grade in Jersey City, New Jersey, when the school's janitor came to tell his teacher, Ms. Melvin, the horrific news. "Her hands rose to cover her face and to still her ... shocked voice from raising our concerns," he told CNN iReport. "After composing herself, she turned to us and stated, 'The President, President Kennedy, was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas.'" Farthing was released from school early and went home to tune in to the black-and-white CBS broadcast of Walter Cronkite, who famously removed his glasses as he confirmed JFK's death. Amid cloudy conspiracy theories swirling around the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963, many baby boomers have a moment of clarity from that day; they remember where they were when Camelot fell. One JFK conspiracy theory that could be true . Flashbulb memories, as they're called by memory experts, are vivid remembrances of significant events; a mental snapshot of the who, what, when and where -- and the emotional fallout. These memories, according to neuroscience writer and professor W.R. Klemm, can be particularly reinforced by the images associated with them. Kennedy was the first TV-ready president. His charismatic good looks were a deciding factor in an early debate victory over Richard Nixon, and he went on to use television to deliver unprecedented live press conferences to the American people. Clinical psychologist Ditta Oliker, who blogs about childhood memories on Psychology Today, said for many, the Kennedys were America's couple upon a hill -- wealthy, well-connected and glamorous. Their newfound vulnerability made the country feel vulnerable. JFK's assassination: a look at the facts . "Before that dreadful day, we worried about whether we could dye our peau de soie shoes the exact same color as our party dresses, and whether we could get a nice bouffant," Marcia Wendorf told CNN iReport; she was 13 at the time. Children who previously hadn't a care in the world now knew death firsthand. Kathi Cordsen, who was 11 then, told iReport: "More fear came over me when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, because what came into my head was this was going to keep going and going until finally they kill every man -- including my dad. I was so emotional and very afraid." CNN iReporter Gail Powell was just 8 years old when America's 35th president was assassinated on that sunny November day. 5 things you might not know about JFK's assassination . "What upset me the most was seeing my mother so upset about what happened to Kennedy," Powell told CNN. "I was young, but I understood enough that something terrible had happened and that many people were very sad." Klemm said memory is reinforced by dramatic circumstances, "and this was certainly an emotionally charged circumstance." For many children of the '60s, the assassination was also the first national event played out on television, its scenes repeatedly flashing onscreen over several days. Even on this day 50 years later, the images remain instantly recognizable. Klemm said this repeating retrieval of a memory only strengthens it in the brain. These types of memories are similar to what later generations would experience after images were played on TV news of the second airplane crashing into the World Trade Center or of Columbine High School students running out of the building with their hands in the air. For some, it's even O.J. Simpson's white Ford Bronco leading a slow-speed chase on Interstate 405. Oliker said a powerful reaction from a parent or another adult also makes a huge difference in how children encode a memory. Then-5-year-old Natalie Montanaro remembers having to go to bed early on that day in 1963, amid the hushed whispers of her parents in the next room. "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." The iReporter remembers those words replayed over and over. She would later join the Peace Corps, which Kennedy established in 1961, to commit to that promise. For many children, the events of November 22 signaled their loss of innocence most of all. "Back in that era, prior to JFK's death, I think we lived in an idealized world, where it seemed that all things were possible, that nothing was foreclosed, and certainly that a presidential assassination was not even possible," Paula Matuskey, who was 15, told CNN's iReport. "It was an exciting time, in other words, and a pretty happy time." Farthing echoed her sentiment: "I believe that the death of President Kennedy gave more awareness that there was more to just where I lived. I became more aware of the nation and the world." Where were you when you learned of John F. Kennedy's assassination? Please share your experience in the comments below. CNN's Daphne Sashin contributed to this report.

Many children of the '60s can recall exactly where they were on November 22, 1963 . Experts call JFK's assassination a "flashbulb memory," which sticks in the collective mind . Because of TV, American families felt they knew JFK and were devastated at his loss .

(CNN) -- Move over, Edward Cullen. Tell those bayou bloodsuckers from "True Blood" to step aside, too. More than 112 years after he first climbed out of the coffin, the world's most famous vampire is back -- and he's bloodier than ever. "Dracula the Un-Dead," released this month in the United States, is a sequel to Bram Stoker's 1897 classic written by Dacre Stoker, the original author's great-grandnephew. The book, co-written by Dracula historian Ian Holt, picks up 25 years after the Victorian-era monster is supposedly killed in the original and is based in part on 125 pages of handwritten notes that Bram Stoker left behind. But while many of the original characters are here -- troubled couple Jonathan and Mina Harker and vampire hunter Van Helsing among them -- the horror has gotten a 21st-century update. The sex and violence that Stoker deftly alluded to in the original are, at times, front and center in his descendant's sequel. "You've got to keep in mind the perspective," said Dacre Stoker, a native of Montreal, Quebec, now living in Aiken, South Carolina. "The degree of sex and violence he had, in this very stuffy and conservative Victorian society, was cutting edge at the time. Even the exposure of a woman's flesh, the piercing of the flesh, was a metaphor for the sex act." And with authors from Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris to Stephen King and Poppy Z. Brite having crafted their own, sometimes lurid, reworkings of the vampire legend, Stoker said he knew that the new book couldn't just be a straight continuation of the first. "We've got to keep up with what other people are doing," he said. "Otherwise, our story would be toast." Of all the books, movies and other tales to use Dracula's name throughout the decades, the novel is the first since the 1931 Bela Lugosi movie to have the Stoker family's endorsement and input. After Bram's death, his widow, Florence, sold the story's rights, and eventually, the most iconic character in the history of horror slipped into the public domain. Dacre said that before now, the only thing he'd ever received for his ancestor's work was the occasional Halloween wisecrack. "We knew of the legacy of Bram Stoker, but as kids growing up in Montreal, it wasn't that big a deal," he said. "Every now and then at Halloween you'd get joked: 'Is it safe to come to the Stoker house? Are we going to get candy or bitten in the neck?' " It was a college writing project that revived his interest in his novelist ancestor, a native of Dublin, Ireland, who'd moved to London, England, by the time the book was written. Then, he was contacted by Holt in 2003. The historian said he wanted to work on a sequel and wanted to have a member of Stoker's family involved. Along the way, they uncovered a rare find at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Bram's own notes. It wasn't a plot outline, Dacre said, "but what I did was find information, characters, little ideas -- plot threads that he had in mind 112 years ago that didn't make it into his story." Among the seeds for new plotlines was Bram's mention of a police investigator who plays prominently in "Dracula the Un-Dead." Dacre said he'd always wondered at how the first book was full of murder but no police were involved. The notes also prompted the inclusion of Jack the Ripper, whose gruesome exploits gripped London around the time the elder Stoker was writing his novel and who is believed by some historians to have helped shape its plot. True fans of the vampire genre will find another historical figure they're likely familiar with gracing the book's pages and an even more unlikely appearance: Bram Stoker himself. "Part of our plan was to paint a realistic picture of Bram Stoker," Dacre said of the author, who spent time as a reporter, theater critic and manager of London's Lyceum Theater. "Everybody knows Dracula. Not many people know Bram Stoker." Response to and reviews of the book have been largely positive. "This daring sequel captures the essence and gothic glory of the original," USA Today's Carroll Memmott wrote. Dacre, who is touring the United States in support of the release, said he was prepared for the inevitable backlash from pure-blood purists who don't think the original should be sullied with a follow-up. "I have heard just a bit of it," he said. "People say it's better to leave some of these mysteries alone; let's not solve them all. Believe me, when you read our story, you'll know we don't solve them all." And he has some other advice for those diehards: Lighten up. "This is entertainment. Go with it," he said. "If you don't want to read it, you don't have to."

"Dracula the Un-Dead" written by Bram Stoker's descendant Dacre . Vampire tale is more overtly violent, sexy than the 1897 original . Book has prompted good reviews, handful of bitter purists . Jack the Ripper, Bram himself incorporated into new story .

Shanghai (CNN) -- When Yao Ming retired from professional basketball seven months ago, there were fears that interest in the NBA among China's 1.3 billion people would dwindle. But now the former Houston Rockets center -- one of the most successful overseas players in the league's history -- could be forgiven for feeling like yesterday's star in China thanks to Jeremy Lin, the American-born New York Knicks point guard with roots in mainland China and Taiwan. "We have a lot of talented young athletes here who are passionate about basketball," Yao told CNN in an interview Wednesday. "They all want be the next Jeremy. "I think they can relate more to Jeremy because they're more common-sized." For Yao, 31, who stands at seven feet six inches (2.29 meters) tall and remains a towering presence off court, Lin's natural talent more than makes up for his below average six-foot-three-inch (1.91 meters) frame in the league. Cha: In Lin, China loves a winner . "The easy part is to find a strong basketball player -- I have the size; Shaquille O'Neal: big and strong; Kobe, LeBron, all those names," he said. "Jeremy has basketball IQ -- you can't program that. "He's the kind of player I'd like to play with if I'm still a player -- he's a team player and everybody likes the way he wins a game," he added. "Honestly, he did much more than I'd expected." Lin, 23, only recently a little known back-up player sitting on the Knicks bench, has been leading his team to a wave of recent victories without their established stars -- pulling off an average of 20 points and eight assists in six successive games. Halfway across the globe, Lin's fan base on Sina Weibo, China's top micro-blogging site, has already hit the two million mark, four times the number of his followers on Twitter. Inside the Yuanshen stadium Wednesday night, in between cheering Yao-owned Shanghai Sharks at a tight playoff game, local basketball enthusiasts gave a huge thumbs up to a player far from their court. Jeremy 'Lin-demand' in China . "Jeremy Lin is great," one man gushed. "He plays so good -- lots of Chinese love him." Another added: "He was born in America, but his blood is Chinese." Echoing this fan, Chinese media -- to the chagrin of its Taiwanese counterpart -- has been quick to claim Lin, whose parents emigrated from Taiwan but have family roots in mainland China. The two sides split after a Chinese civil war in the 1940s, but the Beijing government regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunited with the mainland. Ever the sports diplomat, Yao has a simple answer to solve the contentious issue of Lin's identity: "He's a great basketball player." Politics aside, comparisons between the two seem inevitable. Shanghai native Yao grew up in China's state-sponsored sports system and, amid much fanfare, was signed by the Rockets in 2002 as the NBA's top overall pick. Paid $93 million by the league during his nine-year career, Yao scored an average of 19 points per game and was voted an All-Star player eight times. Lin, born and bred in California, was overlooked by most NBA teams before the Knicks picked him. Even with his new-found stardom, the Harvard graduate earns much less than many of his teammates. Despite their different paths to professional basketball, the two bonded through similar cultural experiences after meeting at an event for Yao's charity two years ago. "He gives a lot of hope to kids with the same background like his: Asian-Americans, second generation or maybe third," Yao said of Lin's recent achievements. "They can follow his footprints and have more confidence in playing basketball." While both have been called trailblazers, some argue it would be difficult for anyone to fill the void left by Yao, whose popularity helped the NBA franchise make huge inroads in the world's most populous nation. "I don't think anybody in the NBA, from the Chinese perspective, will ever become a bigger star than Yao," NBA commissioner David Stern told China Daily, the country's official English-language newspaper, early this month. "Yao was the first, the biggest and the most successful -- and he will always have a special place in the heart of NBA and Chinese fans." "(Lin's success) was wonderful for our league... but I don't want to overburden him with expectations," he added. "We have to see how he does in the next 300 games before we make any judgments." Yao, however, appears to have made up his mind about Lin. The two talk on the phone or exchange messages after the younger player's games. "I know people talk about me giving him tips -- it's really not that," Yao said with a laugh. "I just congratulated him and said I'm happy for him." "I told him we'll support him and I'm a big fan of his."

Yao Ming enjoyed huge success in the NBA while playing with the Hosuton Rockets . Compared to American-born New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who has Chinese-Taiwanese roots . Lin's fan base on Sina Weibo, China's top micro-blogging site, has already hit the two million mark . The two players bonded after meeting at an event for Yao's charity two years ago .

(CNN) -- Walk into a room on the 17th floor of Copenhagen's Bella Sky Hotel and you'll be greeted by soft rose and burgundy toned colors, fresh flowers, fruit smoothies, fashion magazines, and a bathroom stocked with exclusive products, including day and night moisturizers. This might not sound all that appealing to Joe in accounting -- but that's okay because he'll never make it past the locked glass entrance to the floor. This is the Bella Donna -- Europe's first hotel floor dedicated entirely to women -- and according to the hotel's CEO Arne Bang Mikkelsen, it is designed by women, for women. See also: How to have more Sheryl Sandbergs . "Men's and women's preferences are very different. When men come into a hotel room, the first thing they do is check the view, turn on the TV, plug in their computer, and check out the minibar. Women on the other hand go straight for the bathroom. Does it smell nice? Is it clean? Does it have a nice bathtub and shower?" To get it right, the hotel asked a number of women what they wanted, and added to their list of priorities things like cleanliness, a nice bathroom, high-powered hairdryers, steam irons, cosmetic mirrors, healthy options on the room service menus, and full-body mirrors. Judy Brownell, professor and dean of students at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, says the hotel is onto something. According to her research, women's hotel preferences are very different than men's with key priorities being to feel safe, comfortable, empowered, and valued. "The problem is that in many cases, no action has been taken to meet women's needs," she says. See also: Women! Embrace your inner geek . Michelle Williams, event coordinator with Ernst & Young and guest at the Bella Donna floor agrees. "Unlike other hotels, it seemed like someone actually thought about what women wanted. And there are so many women in my type of role traveling around the globe -- hotels need to wake up to that a bit." It seems they are -- helped along by the boom in female business travelers. Global numbers are hard to come by but research cited in Brownell's Cornell University report shows women accounting for nearly half of all business travelers in the U.S. in 2010, up from approximately 25% in 1991 -- and less than 5% just 40 years ago. Places like the Naumi Hotel in Singapore, the Premier Hotel in New York, The London Dukes Hotel and the Georgian Court Hotel in Canadian Vancouver, seem to be realizing the potential in catering for women. See also: How girl geeks can get the best tech jobs . The Georgian Court Hotels says their Orchid Floor -- with its special offerings for women such as magazines, curling irons, nylon stockings, bath salts and yoga mats -- has been so successful they're considering adding a second floor. At the London Dukes Hotel, management says bookings to their "Duchess Rooms" -- which are standard rooms with fresh flowers, fruit, styling accessories, and other extras added -- have surged 25% over the past year. But not everyone thinks this will last -- or that it's a good idea. "A lot of hotels will jump along on this fad -- and prove me wrong -- but I think it's a flash in the pan," says Marybeth Bond, National Geographic Author and founder of gutsytraveler.com. She sees it as little more then an advertising gimmick. "I have seen the hotel industry cater subtly to women without being patronizing, for example by putting shower caps and nail files in the room, and adding a room service menu expanded beyond hamburger and fries to include a big salad. Why not have standard rooms and extras being offered at the front desk? We've lived through fighting for our equal rights and this is making us unequal." Sanne Udsen, author and consultant on women's issues and careers, participated in the Bella Sky survey and sees no problem in targeting women as a segment. "A lot of hotel services are geared towards men," she says. "If you want to sell three-wheelers you target them at two-year-olds," she says. But Bond is not the only one who sees a problem. Denmark's gender equality board has ruled the women-only floor in Bella Sky Hotel discriminatory and illegal, following a complaint by a man. The hotel has been ordered to close the floor, but Mikkelsen refuses, saying he is prepared to take the case to court. "It's no different then women having their own cycling club. Should I be allowed to be part of that?" Discrimination and disagreements aside, the bottom line, says Judy Brownell, is that women will likely reward hotels that are "listening" to their preferences. "This comment may stir controversy but that's okay. My personal guess, having focused on this subject for several years: Men see the beer and nuts and go, "Wow, food! This is great!" Women see the smoothies and fruit and go, "I love this place -- they were thinking about my preferences." But she adds, "It's important for hoteliers to recognized that separate floors are just one way to address the situation."

Copenhagen's Bella Sky Hotel was the first in Europe to dedicate a floor entirely to women . Special touches in the rooms include fresh flowers, day and night moisturizers, and powerful hairdryers . Hotels globally are adding women-only floors to cater to boom in female business travel .

(CNN) -- Shady cock-fighting farms are common enough in the Philippines, but a raid on a small operation in Lipa City south of Manila late last year revealed a much larger problem. Alongside the cock-fighting spurs and breeding paraphernalia, the raid netted 84 kilograms of "shabu" -- the Filipino street name for methamphetamine or "ice" -- and three affiliates of the deadly Mexican drug cartel Sinaloa were arrested. For police, the presence in Asia of one of Mexico's most powerful organized crime groups was a worrying development. Not only did it point to growing transnational links between crime groups, it also displayed an increased professionalism in "ice" production as it moves away from its 'Breaking Bad' image of cellar drug kitchens and backyard meth labs. "We have previously received reports that the Mexicans are in the country, but this is the first time we have confirmed that the Mexicans are already here," Senior Superintendent Bartolome Tobias, chief of the Philippines National Police (PNP) Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force told a news conference. PNP Director General Alan Purisima said going after the group would "entail more hard work." "We know that they are just starting -- that's why we have to act immediately to stop them before they can expand their presence," Purisima told the news conference. Notorious syndicate . Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel is one of the most powerful and notorious drug syndicates in the world. Named after the state on Mexico's Pacific Coast where it was formed in 1989, the cartel's heartland extends from Sinaloa to Mexico's Durango and Chihuahua states. But it is known to operate in locations as diverse as Russia, Australia and Sierra Leone. The group's leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 and was only just captured on Saturday during a pre-dawn operation in the Mexican Pacific resort town of Mazatlan. Formerly America's most wanted drug trafficker -- rated by Forbes as the most powerful criminal on the planet -- Guzman played a key role in a drug war that has claimed more than 70,000 lives since it was launched in 2006. Hong Kong's Triads . The Mexican attorney general's office last year released a report that named Hong Kong triad groups 14K and Sun Yee On as the main suspects in the supply of ephedrine and ethyl phenylacetate -- precursor chemicals in the manufacture of "ice" -- to Mexican cartels feeding into the lucrative American market for methamphetamine. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Hong Kong's triads already maintain close contact with their Asian gang counterparts -- Wah Ching, Black Dragons, Tiny Rascal Gangsters, and Black Star -- whose members operate in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. The raid in the Philippines, meanwhile, came within days of a major drug raid in China. In late December, some 3,000 Chinese police, equipped with helicopters, sniffer dogs and speedboats, descended on the village of Boshe in Guangdong province, uncovering China's largest methamphetamine operation to date. Three tons of methamphetamine worth an estimated $234 million were seized from 77 clandestine meth laboratories, and 182 arrests were made -- including the town's Communist Party boss Cai Dongjia and 13 other party officials. The raid was further evidence of a growing industrialization of crystal meth production. Industrial scale . Before 2012, Chinese police mostly dismantled small-scale operators, but in September of that year, police raided their first industrial-scale facility in Hunan, seizing 660kg of crystal meth and 19.8 metric tons of unidentified materials used in the manufacture of the drug. Among the 14 people arrested in the raid, one was a Mexican national, a development which analysts say was the first indication that Mexican transnational syndicates were working closely with the Chinese to produce crystal meth. Professor Karen Laidler, an analyst in illegal drug trends at the University of Hong Kong, said China's meth labs were increasingly internationalizing their illegal drugs operations. "The manufacturing in Guangdong? I suspect that much of that was for export," she told CNN. She said the United Nations and the U.S. State Department had long identified China as a country where the precursor chemical ephedrine was being exported to other countries for the manufacturing of various amphetamine drugs. The huge scale of China's chemical industry, with an estimated 80,000 individual chemical companies in 2009, presents widespread opportunities for chemical diversion, according to the U.S. State Department. Hong Kong, once the bottleneck through which Chinese contraband was forced to pass -- and on a U.S. blacklist for the transit of heroin throughout the 1970s and 1980s before being removed in the 1990s -- is no longer the only gateway for drugs manufactured in China, Laidler said. "There are many large ports in China where drugs can be imported and exported quite easily," she said.

Philippines meth raid leads to arrests of Mexican drug cartel affiliates . The cartel, Sinaloa, is known as one of the most powerful drug syndicates in the world . Police view the cartel's expansion into Asia as a worrying development .

(CNN) -- Last spring, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on implementation of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and the chairman of the committee, was not pleased with how things were going. The Obama administration originally had asked for more than half a billion dollars to spend on public relations and outreach for the law. House Republicans had returned with an offer of nothing. That's right: zero dollars. Without necessary funds, the Department of Health and Human Services worried it would not have the necessary money to pay for navigators to help people enroll in health care, for the technology needed to implement the exchanges and for the public relations campaign that was required to inform citizens about what the law actually did. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the controversial move of asking insurance companies and nonprofit organizations to donate money and help. Republicans were outraged. She asked for more money. She was refused. Then, when she tried to move some money from the PR budget to replace cuts to other areas, Baucus became quite upset. He was concerned that if the administration did not do more to inform people about the law and get implementation going, there would be problems: . "A lot of people have no idea about all of this," he said. "People just don't know a lot about it, and the Kaiser poll pointed that out. I understand you've hired a contractor. I'm just worried that that's gonna be money down the drain because contractors like to make money. ... I just tell ya, I just see a huge train wreck coming down." As I've said before, it's important to note that the "train wreck" Baucus was describing was a botched implementation because not enough was being done to make things go smoothly. It wasn't a description of the law itself but of what might occur if the government did not devote enough resources to making it work. Sebelius' response was not surprising to those who were paying attention. She said that she was "incredibly disappointed" that all her requests for resources were being denied by Republicans. That was then. Today, implementation has arrived, and if it's not a train wreck, then it's certainly close. The administration is still under fire because people cannot get the insurance they want through the exchanges. But while I will continue to point out the problems with implementation and fault the administration for mistakes they've made, how does one ignore the apparent hypocrisy from many politicians who are now "outraged" about the very problems they've helped to create. Republicans refused to appropriate money needed to implement Obamacare. When Sebelius tried to shift money from other areas to help do what needed to be done, she was attacked by Senate Republicans. At every step, Republicans fought measures to get money to put towards implementation. Is it really a surprise then that implementation hasn't gone smoothly? Federal legislators aren't the only ones to blame. Let's remember that original versions of the bill called for one big national exchange. This would have been much easier to implement. But conservatives declared that insurance should be left to the states and kept out of the hands of the federal government. So as a compromise (yes, those did occur), exchanges were made state-based instead of national. As a precaution, the law stipulated that if states failed to do their duty and enact exchanges, the federal government would step in and pick up the slack. This was to prevent obstructionism from killing the law. Surprisingly, it was many of the same conservative states that demanded local control that refused to implement state-based exchanges, leaving the federal government to do it for them. That made implementation much harder. There have been books, webinars and meetings explaining how to sabotage the implementation of Obamacare. There have been campaigns trying to persuade young adults not to use the exchanges. It is, therefore, somewhat ironic that many of the same people who have been part of all of this obstructionism seem so "upset" by the fact that people can't easily use the exchanges. For goodness sake, the government was shut down just a few weeks ago because some of the same people who are now bemoaning poorly functioning websites were determined to see that not one dime went to Obamacare. Lest you think I'm defending this month's rollout, I encourage you to review my last article here. I still maintain that the administration has had a failure in management in overseeing and reporting on progress towards October 1. But I'm also sympathetic that they've had a hard job to do. I would like to see this go better. I'd like to see millions more get insurance. I'd like to see the law of the land function as well as it can, and if it doesn't, I'd like to see Congress continue to amend it to make it work better. I'd like a better health care system. What I cannot ignore, however, are the many people who actively worked to see implementation fail now get the vapors over its poor start. The truth is, they got what they wanted. A victory lap is somewhat warranted, not concern-trolling. If, on the other hand, their concern is real, then I'm sure the administration would welcome their help in making things right. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Aaron Carroll.

Aaron Carroll: Sen. Max Baucus warned of "train wreck" in Obamacare implementation . He was referring to lack of funds; GOP had denied them every step of the way, he says . He says now GOP hypocritically decries rocky exchange launch it worked to thwart . Carroll: If GOP concerned about health care, it should help administration get it right .

(CNN) -- As a little girl, Catherine Corless was always curious about the St. Mary's Mother and Baby Home in her hometown of Tuam, in County Galway, Ireland. She wondered what happened inside the stone walls of the home for unwed mothers and babies run by the Catholic sisters of Bon Secours. Decades later, as a local historian, she asked the Tuam registry office for the death records of children at the home from 1925 until its closure in 1961. She was horrified at what came back. "Hundreds of names. I just couldn't believe it," Corless said in an interview with CNN. "796 names in all. And I wanted to know who these children were." That simple act of historical research sparked a nationwide outcry -- and now a government investigation -- into the conditions inside Ireland's mother-and-baby homes that existed as recently as the 1980s. Corless' research raised several disturbing questions, including: How did the children die and what were the conditions inside the home? And, most important, for Corless, where were the children buried? Corless says she asked Bon Secours for burial records but was told that none existed. She says her efforts to find burial records at local government archives also turned up empty. She then cross-referenced the death records with local cemetery records but only found two of the children buried nearby. "I cannot understand why there isn't a burial record for 796 little precious children," she said. But Corless now believes she knows where the children may be buried: on the site of the former Tuam home, now part of a housing estate. All that is left of the home is a crumbling stone wall. But in an easily overlooked corner, there is a small walled garden dedicated to "those who are buried here." It's been known as The Children's Graveyard ever since 1975, when two boys playing in the neighborhood broke open a concrete slab and made a grisly discovery. One of them, Francis Hopkins, was 12-years old. "We found a load of skeletons that were clearly that of children." Francis told CNN, "We were so frightened, we ran out and our parents told us not to go down there. The priest came to say a blessing and a few days later it was covered up again. And as far as we knew we called it a graveyard since then." Corless believes this small plot may be where at least some of the children are buried. It was once a disused sewage tank at the edge of the property to the Tuam home. "If the children were not buried there and there are no burial records," says Corless, "then we need to find out: where are they?" During her research, Corless also found a 1947 state inspection report on the home. She showed it to CNN. There are several descriptions of "emaciated" children in the report. One child is described as so thin that "flesh hanged loosely from limbs." The vast majority of the deaths are under the age of one but children as old as nine are also recorded. Causes of death included measles, meningitis and whooping cough. During the worst years, particularly 1946 and 1947, several children were dying every month, sometimes even two in one day. CNN contacted representatives of the sisters of Bon Secours and asked them about the conditions inside the home and the children who died. In a statement they told CNN: . "The Sisters of Bon Secours today said they were shocked and deeply saddened by recent reports about St. Mary's Mother and Baby Home, which operated in Tuam, County Galway from 1925 to 1961. In 1961 the Home was closed. All records were returned to the local authority, and would now be within the Health Service Executive, Co. Galway. The Bon Secours Sisters are committed to engaging with Catherine Corless, the Graveyard Committee and the local residents as constructively as they can on the graves initiative connected with the site. The Sisters welcome the recent Government announcement to initiate an investigation, in an effort to establish the full truth of what happened." The Tuam case is the latest in a string of issues linked to Ireland's former mother-and-baby homes, funded by the state but run by various religious orders. The government has now promised to investigate the many allegations, including forced separations, illegal adoptions, and claims that children were subjected to vaccine trials without parental consent. Specifically citing the work of Corless, the Irish government is also considering whether to excavate the possible burial site at Tuam. "If this is not handled properly then Ireland's soul will be, like babies of so many of these mothers, in an unmarked grave," said Ireland's Prime Minister, Enda Kenny. Corless says she will continue to dig for more records of the home in Tuam but she doesn't necessarily want the site to be excavated. More important, she says, is erecting a memorial for the children-- if they are indeed buried there. "The least they might have is a name over them," she told CNN. "Those illegitimate children need to be respected as much as any other child born. It might bring some justice and maybe healing to those mothers and families."

The Irish government will look into conditions inside Ireland's mother-and-baby homes . A historian claims Tuam registry office revealed death records of 796 children at one home . Catherine Corless says she asked for burial records but was told none existed . But Corless now believes she knows where the children may be buried .

(CNN) -- "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," wrote Robert Frost. This something is someone now: Pope Francis. In a strong, apparently unscripted move on his recent visit to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, on Sunday the pontiff suddenly waved to the driver of his Popemobile, asking to get out. Surrounded by guards and by children waving Palestinian flags, he got out, walked over to the wall that separates Israel from its Palestinian neighbors, and he did something remarkably simple but with astonishing power: He prayed. This symbolic gesture occurred at a well-known portion of the wall, a segment covered with graffiti. Somebody had spray-painted a message in black: "Pope we need some 1 to speak about justice Bethlehem look like Warsaw ghetto." In bold red letters the Pope could read: "Free Palestine." While Israeli guards looked anxiously down from a nearby tower, wondering what on Earth was going on, Francis touched the wall with his right hand, bent his head, and prayed for several minutes. Afterward, he kissed the wall, then walked slowly back to his vehicle. I've myself experienced several times the haunting power of Bethlehem for Christians. My father was a Baptist minister, and once -- in 1989 -- I took him to the Church of the Nativity, the spot where (by tradition) Jesus was thought to have been born. This is a place of pilgrimage for those devoted to the Christian path, and it's also an important city on the West Bank for Palestinians (among them a mix of Muslims and Christians, with Muslims the vast majority). This holy city, described in the Hebrew scriptures as the City of David, was under Ottoman and Egyptian rule for centuries. The British controlled much of Palestine from 1920-1948 during the period known as the Mandate. The United Nations partitioned Palestine after the war, but Jordan took possession of Bethlehem after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It became a refuge for Palestinians at this time, largely under the control of Jordan until the Six Day War in 1967. The Israelis kept control until 1995, when an agreement was reached with the Palestinian National Authority, although it has been a place of unease, especially during the 2000-2005 era known as the Second Intifada, when for a period (in 2002) the Church of the Nativity itself became a battle zone for 39 days. Some 150 people then (mostly Palestinian civilians, with numerous Catholic and Orthodox monks and nuns) took refuge in the Church of the Nativity from an Israeli siege known as Operation Defensive Shield. A tense stalemate occurred, with the Franciscan Order asking the Israeli government to let everyone inside the church go free on the 10th day. There was no response, although an Armenian monk was shot and wounded that day. Ultimately, Israeli snipers shot dead eight people in or around the church; they wounded at least 22, all of them designated as terrorists by the Israeli army. Against this history, this pope exercised his unerring sense of symbolism. It's not for nothing that he took the name of Francis of Assisi, in memory of a saint who, in the 12th century, was regarded as the person who most embodied the life and teachings of Jesus. Although born into a rich merchant family, he humbled himself, trying his best to conform to the pattern of life established by Jesus, with a dedication to peace, to bringing down barriers, to expressing love in whatever ways he could. Pope Francis invites Israeli, Palestinian leaders to Vatican peace talks . Francis of Assisi lived without pretense. He understood symbolic gestures like Jesus himself, who washed the feet of those around him, who sought out those -- such as prostitutes, lepers and beggars -- on the margins of society. Through the Middle Ages, that earlier Francis was commonly known as alter Christus -- "the second Christ." One could say that Pope Francis, in turn, follows him as a man who lives without pretense, who understands symbolic gestures. In stopping to pray by this wall of separation, he implicitly cries: Tear down this wall! He has pointedly asked Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres -- the Palestinian and Israeli presidents -- to join him for a time of prayer and reconciliation in Rome. He has called the conflict in Israel "increasingly unacceptable," which is a marvel of understatement. (In a gesture of reconciliation, the pope did — on Monday — accede to an Israeli request to pray before a memorial to Israeli victims of the conflict as well. As ever, he understands that it will be necessary to listen carefully to both sides in this tragic dispute.) As the pope's unexpected pause by the wall near Bethlehem makes terribly clear, this ugly partition that weaves through the West Bank has become a potent symbol of the Israeli occupation, and it's an affront to all reasonable Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Good fences do not, in this case, make good neighbors. It's time to pull down this barrier to freedom.

Jay Parini: On Bethlehem trip, Pope makes significant gesture by praying at separation wall . He says Bethlehem hugely powerful for Christians, a place of pilgrimage for Palestinians . Bethlehem a long disputed site among Palestinians, Israel. Pope's move symbolic, he says . Parini: In stopping to pray there, Pope Francis implicitly cries: Tear down this wall!

(CNN) -- Gas prices approaching $4 a gallon on average are causing severe economic pain for millions of Americans. Pump prices spiked 5% in the past month alone. Crude oil prices stood at $108 on Friday, up from only double digits at the beginning of the month. What's the cause? Forget what you may have read about the laws of supply and demand. Oil and gas prices have almost nothing to do with economic fundamentals. According to the Energy Information Administration, the supply of oil and gasoline is higher today than it was three years ago, when the national average for a gallon of gasoline was just $1.90. Meanwhile, the demand for oil in the U.S. is at its lowest level since April of 1997. Is Big Oil to blame? Sure. Partly. Big oil companies have been gouging consumers for years. They have made almost $1 trillion in profits over the past decade, in part thanks to ridiculous federal subsidies and tax loopholes. I have proposed legislation to end those pointless giveaways to some of the biggest and most profitable corporations in the history of the world. But there's another reason for the wild rise in gas prices. The culprit is Wall Street. Speculators are raking in profits by gambling in the loosely regulated commodity markets for gas and oil. A decade ago, speculators controlled only about 30% of the oil futures market. Today, Wall Street speculators control nearly 80% of this market. Many of those people buying and selling oil in the commodity markets will never use a drop of this oil. They are not airlines or trucking companies who will use the fuel in the future. The only function of the speculators in this process is to make as much money as they can, as quickly as they can. I've seen the raw documents that prove the role of speculators. Commodity Futures Trading Commission records showed that in the summer of 2008, when gas prices spiked to more than $4 a gallon, speculators overwhelmingly controlled the crude oil futures market. The commission, which supposedly represents the interests of the American people, had kept the information hidden from the public for nearly three years. That alone is an outrage. The American people had a right to know exactly who caused gas prices to skyrocket in 2008 and who is causing them to spike today. Even those inside the oil industry have admitted that speculation is driving up the price of gasoline. The CEO of Exxon-Mobil, Rex Tillerson, told a Senate hearing last year that speculation was driving up the price of a barrel of oil by as much as 40%. The general counsel of Delta Airlines, Ben Hirst, and the experts at Goldman Sachs also said excessive speculation is causing oil prices to spike by up to 40%. Even Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of oil in the world, told the Bush administration back in 2008, during the last major spike in oil prices, that speculation was responsible for about $40 of a barrel of oil. Just last week, Commissioner Bart Chilton, one of the only Commodity Futures Trading Commission members looking out for consumers, calculated how much extra drivers are being charged as a result of Wall Street speculation. If you drive a relatively fuel-efficient vehicle such as a Honda Civic, you pay an extra $7.30 every time you fill your tank. For larger vehicles, such as a Ford F150, drivers pay an extra $14.56 for each fill-up. That works out to more than $750 a year going directly from your wallet or pocketbook to the Wall Street speculators. So as speculators gamble, millions of Americans are paying what amounts to a "speculators tax" to feed Wall Street's greed. People who live in rural areas like my home state of Vermont are hit harder than most because they buy gas to drive long distances to their jobs. It doesn't have to work this way. The current spike in oil and gasoline prices was avoidable. Under the Wall Street reform act that Congress passed in 2010, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was ordered to impose strict limits on the amount of oil that Wall Street speculators could trade in the energy futures market. The regulators dragged their feet. Finally, after months and months of law-breaking delays, the commission in October adopted a rule. It was a weak version of a proposal that might have put meaningful limits on the number of futures and swaps contracts a single trader could hold. Even the watered-down regulation adopted by the industry-friendly commission was challenged in court. The Financial Markets Association and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association wanted free rein to continue unregulated gambling in the oil markets. So today, Wall Street once again is laughing all the way to the bank. Once again, federal regulators should move aggressively to end excessive oil speculation. We must do everything we can to lower gas prices so that they reflect the fundamentals of supply and demand and bring needed relief to the American people. The time for real action is now. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders: Speculators cash in by jacking up oil and gas prices; market loosely regulated . Speculators controlled 30% of the oil futures market 10 years ago: up to 80% today, he writes . Sanders: As speculators gamble, Americans pay a virtual speculators' tax on gas . We can lower gas prices so they reflect the fundamentals of supply and demand, he says .

(CNN) -- An amusing video is posted showing an adorable 3-year-old boy asking his mom for a cupcake with the determination of a first-year law student. The next thing you know, the toddler is being criticized by complete strangers. Even worse, his mother and his father are being labeled bad parents. What kind of world do we live in? Answer: A bizarre one where -- in the era of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter -- everyone thinks your business is their business. This isn't about privacy; when you post content online, you give up the right to privacy. This is about propriety; it's about having manners, knowing your place, and respecting boundaries. Just because someone posts wedding pictures doesn't mean you criticize the bride's dress. Do you see the trouble you've caused, little Mateo? The rambunctious toddler from San Jose, California, wanted a cupcake, but his mother, Linda Beltran, said no. So Mateo took his case to his grandmother and asked her, in Spanish. His mother busted him, and -- in a video that has now been viewed more than 3 million times -- explained to the little guy why he couldn't have a cupcake. Unfazed, Mateo continued to argue with his mother for several minutes, all the while keeping up his plea. "Listen Linda, listen," the boy says, occasionally also referring to his mother as "honey" and "babe." I thought the video was priceless. My first thought was that this kid is a future politician. A perusal of Facebook and Twitter told me that many people felt the same way. You just don't often see 3-year-olds who can communicate this well. I also thought the video was harmless. But on that point, not everyone agreed. There have been thousands of postings, hundreds of tweets, and more than a dozen articles about the exchange between this boy and his mother. One round of criticism was aimed at the boy's father, Kenneth. While he's not on camera, many onlookers commented that Mateo obviously learned to argue with his mother by watching his father. Linda Beltran has since admitted that, yes, Mateo picked up "honey" and "babe" from watching dad interact with mom. Completely unacceptable, some people said. The father must be verbally abusive when speaking to his wife, they insisted with no proof to back up the claim. Another round of criticism targeted the mother, Linda, for being both too lenient and too strict. Those who thought she was too lenient thought that she should never have tolerated back-talk from a toddler, and those who considered her too strict were concerned that at one point she threatens to give her son "pow pow" (which we understand to mean a spanking). Totally unacceptable, said the critics. Up to this point, I'm not surprised. It's part of a larger trend. The last generation told itself, "I just want to be the best parent I can be." Today, the new mantra in child-rearing is cheekier: "I'm a better parent than you." Critics also took issue with Mateo himself, calling him defiant and disrespectful. How dare a boy talk to his mother that way? They frowned on how Mateo refers to his mom by her first name -- something the mother says the boy seems to reserve for special occasions like long and drawn-out pleadings where he really wants to make what he considers a very serious point. Leafing through all the criticisms, I got depressed. I couldn't help but think that part of the reaction was a "Latino thing," where this noticeably Latino family (i.e., grandma speaks Spanish) was being criticized consistent with stereotypes. The macho father. The permissive mother. The unruly kid. All making for a dysfunctional family. A stretch? Not really. The onlookers were jumping to conclusions about a family they knew nothing about with nothing to go on except their prejudices. A story that had started out being about cupcakes had taken an ugly turn that wasn't at all appetizing. One person even suggested that, instead of watching a future politician, we were really watching a future "criminal." I've written about politics for a quarter-century. You don't have to choose. Trust me, we can have both. Right about now, I needed a pick me up, and I got one thanks to Ellen Degeneres. The talk show host saw the video, fell in love, and invited Mateo and his mother onto her TV show. Degeneres gave Mateo -- who loves superheroes almost as much as cupcakes -- a giant mountain of superhero-themed cupcakes. She gave mom a $10,000 check from Shutterfly, one of the show's sponsors, to help out with household expenses. At this point, people are laughing, and people are crying. And it all drowned out the petty naysayers and meddling onlookers who really should watch their manners and mind their own business. This story reminds us what the world needs. More empathy. More respect. More compassion. And more Ellens. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette.

A video of a 3-year-old boy asking his mom for a cupcake went viral . Ruben Navarrette: Viewers chimed in to criticize the boy and his parents . What happened to propriety? People need to have manners and respect boundaries . Navarrette: Onlookers should mind their own business and show more empathy .

(CNN) -- Singer Amy Winehouse, infamous for erratic public behavior, arrests and drug problems, was found dead at her apartment in London Saturday, police and her publicist confirmed. She was 27. Her death came less than two months after her latest release from a rehabilitation program and weeks following a disastrous performance where she was booed off a Belgrade, Serbia, stage by disappointed fans. Winehouse died at the same age as four other music legends. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison each died of drug overdoses when they were 27. Kurt Cobain was 27 when he committed suicide, soon after his release from rehab. London Police Superintendent Raj Kohli said at this "early stage" of the investigation the death remained "unexplained." "I am aware of reports suggesting this death is the result of a suspected drugs overdose, but I would like to re-emphasise that no post-mortem examination has yet taken place and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the cause of death," Kohli said. Police were called to her Camden Square apartment just after 4 p.m. Saturday in response to report of "a woman found deceased," he said. "On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene," he said. She was later identified as Winehouse. Winehouse spokesman Chris Goodman confirmed her death for CNN Saturday. "Everyone who is involved with Amy is shocked and devastated," Goodman said. "Our thoughts are with her family and friends. The family will issue a statement when ready." The "Rehab" singer had a history of battling drugs and alcohol and recently left a British rehab program that a representative said was intended to prepare her for scheduled European concerts. But she cut short the European concert tour last month following a concert in Belgrade, where she staggered around the stage and stumbled through several songs. Audience members booed Winehouse off the stage that night just a few songs into the concert, the first of the tour. Winehouse spokeswoman Tracey Miller told CNN at the time that the singer "agreed with management that she cannot perform to the best of her ability and will return home." "Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen," representative Chris Goodman said in a statement in May. A new, but almost identical, similar statement appeared on her website Saturday, saying "Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances." None of her representatives immediately responded to CNN requests for comment. Winehouse's soulful, throaty vocals brought the British musician stardom in 2007, but her off-stage life gained her notoriety. The lyrics of her songs, especially the hit "Rehab," chronicled her troubled life. The song, in which she sang "They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no," helped form the public's view of Winehouse. "I don't care enough about what people think of me to conform to anything," she said in a 2007 CNN interview. Winehouse, born in London in 1983, became a picture of a tattooed teenage rebel after she was expelled from a prestigious performing arts school. Her first album, "Frank," debuted in 2003, when the singer-songwriter was 19. International success came with her 2007 album "Back To Black," which included the single "Rehab." She dominated the 2008 Grammys, winning five awards that night and delivering, via satellite from London, a strong performance of "Rehab." Winehouse's volatile marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil took a toll on the singer's career. The couple divorced in 2009 after a stormy two years filled by drug addiction and arrests. Winehouse's parents went public with their efforts to help their daughter, telling the London Telegraph in 2009 that she was on the road to recovery. "A gradual recovery, which is good," Winehouse's father, Mitch, told the Telegraph. "With slight backward steps -- not drug backward steps, more drink backward steps if you follow my drift. I think that will be the pattern of recovery." Her father got word of his daughter's death Saturday while in New York preparing for a Monday night show with his band at the Blue Note club, his publicist said. He immediately canceled the performance and caught a flight back to London, the publicist said. The organization that awards the Grammys issued a statement Saturday calling Winehouse "a dynamic performer and musician who seamlessly blended rock, jazz, pop, and soul and created a sound all her own." "Her rich, soulful and unique voice reflected her honest songwriting and earned her a devoted fan following, critical acclaim, and the genuine respect and admiration of her musical peers," the Recording Academy statement said. "She will forever be remembered for her immense talent, and her music will live on for generations to come. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family, friends, and fans during this difficult time." CNN's Bharati Naik and Denise Quan contributed to this report.

It's too soon to know if Winehouse died of a drug overdose, a police official says . Winehouse spokesman: "Everyone who is involved with Amy is shocked and devastated" The death is "unexplained," police say . Winehouse canceled a European tour last month after being booed off stage .

(CNN) -- A small Polish wild horse that was used in Nazi experiments during the 1930s has become the center of wetland regeneration efforts across parts of Europe. The rare Konik breed is one of Poland's least known ecological exports and is believed to be descended from the Tarpan; a prehistoric horse that roamed wild in Europe until the end of the 19th century and whose last known individual died in a Russian zoo in 1909. Marek Borkowski, President of the Białowieża Forest Trust, says the group's breeding program has helped to stock reserves in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands with small herds that graze on the woody stems of invasive bushes allowing indigenous growth to re-establish itself -- sometimes after decades and even centuries of agricultural use. "Once farming stopped in these marshlands, bush began to grow, which limits the habitat for many marshland birds that need the open space," says Borkowski. "The horses graze on the bark and seedlings of these bushes, which limits its growth, allowing the marshland to survive." Borkowski says that the horses mirror the natural fauna that would have roamed the area in prehistoric times, helping to return land to its pristine condition. "They are the closest breed to the original wild horse of Europe -- the type we see painted on caves in Spain and France 20,000 years ago," he says. "But because of Neolithic farming they were pushed out of most Europe except for small pockets in Poland, Russia and the Ukraine." Send in your photos from Poland . In one of the strangest stories of pre-war Poland, the Konik came to the attention of biologists in the 1930s who saw that horses in the Białowieża forest in Poland retained certain features of the Tarpan. Polish biologist Tadeusz Vetulani noticed that semi-wild horses used by peasants in Bialowieza Forest displayed the Tarpan's mousey dun color, their coats turning to white in winter, another Tarpan characteristic. While many regard America's mustang or the Australian brumby as a wild horse, zoologists say that strictly speaking these are really feral domesticated horses. Vetulani launched a re-breeding program, mating horses with strong Tarpan-like characteristics, in an attempt to regain the lost breed of horse. At the same time, the breed came to the attention of Lutz Heck, the director of Berlin Zoo who, along with his brother Heinz, the head of the Munich Zoo, began a re-breeding program. Heck was a committed Nazi and zoologist whose efforts to "re-breed" extinct species such as the prehistoric ancestor to the modern cow the Aurochs, received support from senior Nazis such as Hermann Goering. While the re-breeding of extinct species by mating animals of similar characteristics is regarded as impossible by modern science, the Nazis experimented with a program aimed at resurrecting prehistoric animals that reflected Nazi claims to racial purity. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, many of the horses in the breeding program of Vetulani were stolen and brought to Germany. The horses met a grisly end, most probably eaten by a hungry populace, along with many of the animals in Berlin and Munich zoos, in the closing stages of the Second World War. "The best animals were taken to Germany and we don't know exactly what happened to them. It was only after the Second World War we started from scratch again," says Borkowski. "The Nazis didn't take all the animals," he says. "They didn't know the war would end the way it ended so they only took the best specimens. Later, well of course, they were busy with other things so there were still some horses left." Bison thrive in primeval Polish forests . John Wilson, the nature warden for Blean Woods at Kent Wildlife Trust, says the Konik -- first introduced to Britain in 1995 -- has been an instant hit with ecologists and conservationists. "We've currently got them on the site of an old dairy; land which we say has been 'agriculturally improved' with herbicide or fertilizers," he says. "That lush green grass, however, makes it more difficult for the rarer, more specialized plants to flourish and eventually they disappear." The Konik are perfectly adapted to a variety of harsh environments, from wetlands to open forests, requiring little veterinary care for problems such as hoof rot that might afflict other horse breeds in similarly wet conditions. The grazing is introduced to take the nutrients out of the ground to take it back to a state where it's unimproved," says Wilson. "That takes a lot of time and a lot of grazing." Green hay from sites where indigenous plants grow is then spread on the site after grazing in the hope that some of the native species will establish themselves in the soil. The horses breed well and flourish without the need for the kind of intervention that so fascinated Nazi scientists, says Wilson. "The Nazis were very interested in the whole idea of racial purity," he adds. "It seems it didn't just extend to human being, but to beasts as well."

Rare konik breed of pony revived in Poland and exported across Europe . Related to the Tarpan, a prehistoric horse that once roamed the continent . Nazis were interested in the Polish horse because of purity of breed . Konik ponies thought to be hardy and help ecosystems return to natural state .

(CNN) -- Just imagine. What if the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s spirit could appear and whisper his counsel to President Obama? The visit's timing could not be more opportune. Today, we face the country's worst economic crisis since the Depression, poverty continues to grow at home and abroad, and wars across the globe are leaving a wake of death and destruction for generations to come. Notwithstanding America's racial progress -- most viscerally witnessed by Obama himself -- King's dream remains far from realized. King spoke some of the most mellifluous speeches of his era. So does Obama. But King could advise Obama on transforming that uplifting rhetoric into a long-term grassroots effort. Beyond King's great speeches was a decades-long movement that was complex, sophisticated, forward-looking and greater than the man himself. When we forget King's coalition -- both in the breadth of change it demanded and in the thousands of faces and hearts dedicated to the cause -- we reduce the civil rights movement, from which we still have much to learn, into a warm and fuzzy version of the King mythology. King's spirit, no doubt, would advise Obama to press for the public option in the health care bill. "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane," King declared in 1966. The public option sharply reduces injustices in health care by offering millions of the beleaguered and the downtrodden a more transparent, accountable and affordable coverage option than the abusive, helter-skelter and often monopolistic practices rampant in the private market. Two years after King's remarks, the year he was assassinated, he launched his Poor People's Campaign, "a multiracial army of the poor," that marched on Washington to demand an Economic Bill of Rights from Congress. King's Economic Bill of Rights called for effective government jobs programs to rebuild America's cities. He saw a crying need to confront a Congress that had demonstrated its "hostility to the poor," appropriating "military funds with alacrity and generosity" but providing "poverty funds with miserliness." His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: a "reconstruction of society itself" to redress the deep-rooted problems of racism, poverty and military conflict. This is the moment to realize that vision. Americans are at a crucial juncture when we are fundamentally redefining our country's future at home and abroad. King would counsel Obama on how to minimize economic inequality, to boost the employment prospects of those living in marginalized communities, to increase citizens' savings, to encourage asset building and even to resolve peacefully our two wars. The enormity and uncertainty haunting this recession raises important questions that King's spirit could address. What is the impact on unemployed and low-income Americans? Will the fear of projected budget deficits force government spending choices that worsen poverty or that are racially loaded, in their stinginess toward cities? Like King, Obama recognizes that government isn't the principal solution to unemployment and poverty, but rather a buffer from hardship and a catalyst for opportunity. Here, the spirit and his pupil would evidently agree. But they could further discuss what role private business must play to help rectify this mess. The failures of Enron, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Merrill Lynch -- in addition to the Wall Street bailout -- illustrate the devastation that a culture of greed, corruption and governmental negligence can exact on ordinary Americans. What specific incentives and penalties can force the private sector to act more responsibly? Unchecked free market capitalism, King maintained, cannot guarantee the basic conditions necessary for ordinary people to earn a living, to acquire health care or to build wealth. Although private industry has a forceful influence on the underpinnings of American life, that power should not dictate our political and economic well-being. In other words, King to Obama: Society should lead capital, not vice versa. This week, America gets to pat itself on the back for living on the right side of history, racially speaking. Obama's presidency is a glorious manifestation of King's spirit. We are not in a post-racial era, but Obama's cool judgment smoothly blunts the pessimism and ill will -- from those on the left and right -- who thrive on racial conflict. To his credit, our brilliant, cunning president truly understands that multiracial America needs more unflinching self-examination and less empty racial bickering. This week's special school lesson plans, newscasts and public ceremonies honoring the slain civil rights hero, and the 44th president's first anniversary in office, will be full of praise and rhetoric. But if only the ghost of King could glide into the Oval Office and urge Obama to take decisive, bold action, and to dodge the status quo behavior favored by power brokers in Washington and on Wall Street. If only the ghost of King could coax Obama to join the ranks of historically transformative leaders, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, who galvanized movements, who put pressure on themselves, Congress and the public to improve our politics and economy profoundly for decades to come. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rich Benjamin.

Rich Benjamin: King would urge President Obama to transform rhetoric into grassroots action . Benjamin: King's great speeches led a forward-looking movement that still affects society . King's spirit would urge Obama to rid U.S. of racism, poverty and military conflict, Benjamin says . Benjamin: King would coax Obama to become a historically transformative leader .

(CNN)The killings of 12 journalists and others at Charlie Hebdo in Paris has led many to wonder about the role of Islam in fueling vicious attacks on civilians in the name of the religion. Policymakers wring their hands about how to curtail the spread of extremist religious ideologies that terrorize Western targets, but also Muslims and non-Muslim minorities in the Middle East, who are extremism's primary victims. Where are some Muslims getting the idea that violence against journalists who offend them is OK? Why do they see beheadings as a fitting punishment? A good place to look for answers would be to examine Saudi Arabia's policies of intolerance and extremism. King Abdullah, as the protector of Islam's most sacred religious sites and leader of Saudi Arabia, is widely considered an important role model for Muslims around the world. So it should not come as a surprise that many Muslims take their cues from the country on the prohibitions and punishments they consider appropriate to inflict on those who challenge or disagree with their interpretations of Islam. Saudi Arabia gave a good indication of its position on appropriate punishments last Friday, when it carried out Round 1 of a public flogging -- 50 lashes -- against Raif Badawi, a young blogger, in front of the al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah. A Saudi court had fined Badawi and sentenced him in 2014 to 1,000 lashes over 20 sessions and to 10 years in prison for the crime of "insulting Islam" -- in part for setting up a liberal website to debate various topics, including religion. Badawi is not the only Saudi who has faced punishment for his perceived views. The government has jailed many leading intellectuals, writers, and activists who have dared to question any tenet of the orthodoxy imposed by the country's Wahabi religious leaders. A former colleague of Badawi, Su`ad al-Shammari, was jailed in late 2014 on charges of "insulting the messenger and the hadith" in connection with tweets that allegedly criticized religious authorities. In October, a Saudi court sentenced a Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, to death for criticizing the government and "breaking allegiance with the ruler." The prosecutor had sought what the Saudis call a crucifixion sentence, the kingdom's harshest, in which the convicted person is beheaded and the decapitated body displayed in public. There is so much shock and outrage about ISIS propaganda videotapes showing its beheadings of journalists in Iraq and Syria -- and most recently, the reported beheadings of two Tunisian journalists in Libya. But the much more routine and widespread beheadings by Saudi Arabia get little scrutiny and condemnation. Saudi Arabia beheaded at least 26 people last August alone. The 82 executions in 2014 make Saudi Arabia a world leader in capital punishment. Saudi Interior Ministry news releases indicate that about half of them were for nonviolent crimes, the other half for drug offenses and one for sorcery. Yes, you read that right. In 2014, Saudi Arabia was still beheading people for "sorcery." So is it really any surprise that extremist groups -- also acting in the name of Islam -- seem to be following Saudi's lead, meting out their own severe punishments against journalists and activists they find offensive? If Saudi Arabia thinks publicly beheading people comports with Islamic religious teachings and deters those who also might want to criticize them or question their religion, why shouldn't ISIS? One might argue that a nation, unlike some self-designated Islamic Caliphate, has the legitimacy and authority to exercise state-sponsored violence, including against its own citizens. But countries also have obligations to respect human rights. Saudi Arabia's abusive prosecutions and cruel punishments flout these obligations, and undermine its own legitimacy. There is probably little governments and policymakers can do to influence the ideology of extremist armed groups. But there's a lot more they can and should do to influence the policies and practices of purported allies in the "war on terror." That includes the anti-ISIS coalition, to which Saudi Arabia and many other unaccountable, authoritarian, and deeply abusive Arab governments belong. While the United States and United Kingdom governments' statements condemning Badawi's flogging were a good start, more often these countries are utterly silent in the face of Saudi Arabia's grotesque abuses against its own citizens. The West's denunciations of ISIS abuses have less credibility when governments carrying out similar abuses, if much smaller in scale and magnitude, are good chums, strong allies, and important investors. If the international community is serious about taking on Islamist extremist ideologies -- if it wants to see real models of tolerance, respect for diverse viewpoints, religious freedom, and the free and peaceful exchange of ideas — it must urge King Abdullah to be the true protector of the rights of Muslims around the world. For a start, he can overturn the sentence against Badawi and release dozens of detained activists and writers. He could even abolish beheadings, overnight, if that is what he wanted. ..

Sarah Leah Whitson: Blogger's flogging most recent example of Saudi's extreme punishment . She says on jihad violence, easy to connect dots to Saudi Arabia, region's model for repression . Whitson: U.S. slammed flogging by its ally, but is silent on routine, grotesque abuses of Saudi citizens .

(CNN) -- Nude photos and other potentially objectionable materials have been showing up in the iPhone application store in recent weeks, raising questions about Apple's ability to control iPhone content. An iPhone app called BeautyMeter was pulled from the app store after a nude photo surfaced. In the most recent example, a nude photo of a young woman, reported to be 15 years old, showed up on an iPhone application called "BeautyMeter," according to Wired.com and Krapps.com, an app review site. CNN could not independently confirm the young woman's age. The photo, which apparently was submitted by one of the photo-sharing app's users, prompted Apple to remove the entire mobile application from its online store. Funnymals, maker of the BeautyMeter app, which lets users upload and posts photos of people and then rank them based on "hotness," says in a statement on its Web site that it agrees with Apple's decision to yank the phone application from its online store. Funnymals also says its policies prohibit people from posting nude photos to the application. Neither Funnymals nor Apple responded to requests for comment. About a week earlier, another mobile phone application, "Hottest Girl," showcased a photo of a topless woman and also was pulled from the iPhone app store. "Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography," an Apple company spokesman said at the time. The explicit material is putting attention on Apple's attempts to filter out potentially objectionable apps before they're posted on its app store. The iPhone app store, with more than 50,000 applications, is the most popular entertainment and information venue of its kind for mobile phones. Observers say the successful app store buoys the iPhone's popularity and adds to Apple's sterling image as a hip and family-friendly company. The explicit content has the potential to tarnish that image. But Apple, like any company or Web site that hosts user-submitted content, may be engaged an impossible task by trying to keep all offensive material from the app store. Some iPhone apps are developed by Apple, but many are submitted for approval by third-party developers. Phil Malone, a clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School, said it's unlikely Apple or app developers could be held liable for potentially illegal content that might show up in phone apps, as long as they didn't know about the questionable content in advance. It would be impossible for Apple or developers to keep all potentially objectionable material out of the app store, since much of the content is submitted by users, he said. As the quantity of new apps and updates for apps increases, it becomes all the more difficult for the company to keep up, said Dan Moren, associate editor of Macworld, a blog about all things Apple. Joshua Topolsky, editor in chief of Engadget, a technology blog, said the impossibility of policing all app store content should free Apple from some blame. "It's completely out of Apple's control that someone uploaded a nude photo, and to some extent, it's out of the [app] developer's hands as well," he said. More pressing, Topolsky said, are Apple's nebulous policies about which apps get the company's stamp of approval. Apple does not tell developers or the public exactly how the decision process works, he said. Apple did not respond to CNN's request for comment on this story. The mysterious approval process frustrates app developers and could lead some to turn away from Apple and move on to other phones, said Jared Brown, an app developer. In some cases, applications have been banned from the iPhone app store for showcasing material that also would be easily accessible through iTunes or by using Apple's mobile Web browser. A Nine Inch Nails application, for example, reportedly was pulled by Apple because it streamed a song with offensive lyrics. Band leader Trent Reznor lashed out against Apple on his Web site, calling the company hypocritical and pointing out that the song in question also was available on iTunes. In a similar incident, a Twitter app called "Tweetie" was pulled because it gave access to offensive words on Twitter.com. It was later put back on the app store. And an iPhone app that allowed users to shake a digital crying baby to death was yanked from the app store in April. Apple issued an apology, calling the app "deeply offensive" and a "mistake." Unlike Apple, which acts as a gatekeeper, Google lets developers post games and other programs to its Android app store without going through a screening process. Brown said he favors this idea, which lets the Android store's community flag objectionable content. Apple has said it approves 96 percent of submitted iPhone apps. In a recent update to the iPhone software, Apple included controls that let users choose which types of content they would like to block from their phones. iPhone apps now come with age-appropriateness labels, submitted by developers. Moren said this new parental-control system offers "fine-grained controls" and helps iPhone owners decide what content they want to buy. The company is doing anything it can to try to keep pornography and offensive material off the site for public relations reasons, he said. "They'd much rather hang onto their image as a family-friendly company" than let offensive material in, he said. "I think they've really cultivated that."

Reports say iPhone app posted nude photo of 15-year-old girl . Apple approves mobile phone applications before posting them . Some say it is impossible for Apple to filter out all objectionable material . Legal expert: Apple and developers unlikely to be held liable for user-posted content .

(CNN) -- What do you tell a worried parent when their concerns are confirmed, that their child has been diagnosed with a food allergy? I'm in this position regularly as I work with families who are receiving this often unexpected news for the first time. Unfortunately, food and skin allergies are becoming increasingly more common in American children, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I'm also a parent who was on the receiving end of this food allergy diagnosis regarding my own child. Admittedly, it was difficult to hear. I had my fingers crossed as I braced and prepared for the news. Nonetheless, it was still a huge blow. Our allergist was particularly kind as he informed me that my child was allergic to both peanuts and tree nuts, reminding me, "Mom, you are not to blame." Of course I knew this, but it was helpful to be reminded that afternoon. You may even come to depend on your allergist as a friend. These food allergy evaluations are really a partnership, and more is involved in the diagnosis than doing a quick and easy test. Understanding the types of reactions your child has to certain foods, the timing of eating the food in relationship to these reactions, your child's personal history and the family history: all of these components are critical to helping develop a successful food allergy survival lifestyle. I also have personal experience with food allergies. A lifetime, actually. I was born severely allergic to fish. Three decades ago, when I was a young person, the outlook on food allergy within the community at large was vastly different than it is now. Food allergy and anaphylaxis were not recognized as a major public health concern; the education and advocacy that surrounds this issue today simply didn't exist. Instead, food allergies were considered vague and very mysterious, and hardly anyone was prepared for allergic reactions to foods. There were no safety guidelines in any restaurants, and many ignorantly thought that severely food allergic people were "hysterical" or that they simply didn't like a certain food. Epinephrine injectors were thought to be primarily used to treat bee stings. I made countless visits to emergency rooms, wondering if I would make it. No one thought to have me carry an auto-injector or rescue medication at all, and so each and every allergic reaction spiraled out of control. I was forever covered with itchy eczema patches. I developed wheezing. I almost died too many times to count. Because of my history, I was determined with my daughter's diagnosis to provide a "normalized" and non-panicked environment where the allergy doesn't define her and there is ample awareness and support. Here's what I do when a parent comes to me: First, I just listen. I take in their experience of challenges, the hurdles at school and at birthday parties, the scorn and disbelief from some, and ultimately their worst fears. Next, we take action: I remind parents that food allergies are a proven source of stress, and I'm completely honest that the early adjustment period can be extremely difficult. I reinforce, though, that what might seem like a huge amount of work in the beginning quickly becomes familiar and easier. Currently, there is no cure for food allergies, so early recognition and management of allergic reactions are important measures to prevent serious health consequences. Strict avoidance is by far the most effective means of surviving successfully with this medical condition. It's important for a parent to ensure that your household is allergy-safe for kids. Once a doctor has confirmed your child has a food allergy, you should immediately clear every item he or she can't eat from your pantry, refrigerator and freezer. It's also a good idea to thoroughly clean and sanitize your cooking utensils, oven, stovetop and cookware. Why? Keeping unsafe items out of your food storage and preparation areas will reduce opportunities for cross-contamination. Cross-contamination is the cooking or serving of different foods with the same utensils and surfaces. Food allergens can be transferred via unwashed hands or utensils, preparation surfaces, fryer vats and even garnishes. Also, be certain to carefully check soaps, lotions, cosmetics and toiletries for potentially allergenic items, because they can easily end up on little hands and mouths. Don't assume that friends and family will remember to avoid reaction-causing foods after you've told them about your child's allergy. They don't live with your child's food allergy every single day and aren't in the habit of checking every label every time. You may need to remind them every once in a while, and in the meantime, teach your child that when they're unsure about a food, they need to say, "No, thank you!" until everyone is used to the food allergy diagnosis. As parents are learning more about the child's allergic reaction symptoms, I suggest they bring family members or caretakers to doctor appointments. That can be vital in getting everyone onto the same page. Above all else: I remind parents to always keep allergy medications nearby and up to date. Both over-the-counter antihistamines and prescribed epinephrine auto-injectors have an expiration date, after which their effectiveness diminishes. At first, this allergy diagnosis can feel insurmountable. You think everything will be dramatically restricted, but day-to-day family life can still be wonderful and "normal" once you adjust to the little steps involved in protecting your family member from certain foods.

CDC: Food allergies are on the rise in American children . Clear out any foods from the pantry to which your children have allergies . Be careful of cross-contamination when cooking .

Atlanta (CNN) -- Summerhill, a rundown neighborhood near downtown, sits in the shadow of Turner Field, home to baseball's Atlanta Braves. Vacant buildings abut empty lots, which are rented for parking during games. The area feels like a ghost town during the day -- it's not the sort of place you want to be at night -- but it can fill in fast. The Braves played the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. Police set up roadblocks while tailgaters cracked beers and music blared. As fans flooded the streets, they were struck by something new. Painters, moving over walls like mechanical ants, were transforming nearby buildings into brightly colored murals. They were there for a project called Living Walls. Twenty artists converged on Atlanta this month as part of the annual conference, now in its fourth year. They come with one goal: to put art in the streets, in places it usually isn't, with the hope of sparking a conversation and effecting change. This year, 10 of the artists are local; 10 are international. "It's been so dead around here," said Reandra Davis, 62. She sat under an umbrella in a Summerhill lot, where she has sold parking spaces for some 35 years. Davis' spot gave her a clear view of at least one of the buildings being painted. "It's beautiful where it used to be desolate. It brings everything alive," she said. From graffiti to galleries: Street vs. public art . 'A change brings on new things' The Israeli artist known as Know Hope matched his wall. The artist wore blue pants and a blue shirt. Both were covered in white paint, which he had used to draw birds against a blue background. "You can take your art and it can become part of real life," he said. "When you place it in a certain environment, it becomes a part of the daily lives of the people that live in the space." Know Hope, 27, was one of several artists this year assigned walls in Summerhill. They clustered around three blocks on Georgia Avenue. Spray cans were stacked in cardboard boxes on the street. Drops of yellow, blue and orange paint peppered the sidewalk. The murals were so large in some cases that the artists used cherry pickers to move around -- stopping to spray there, paint here. Conference organizers provided the equipment and materials and worked to secure permission. Unlike graffiti, these murals are legal -- a distinction many in the neighborhood were keen to draw. "I don't like seeing graffiti. That's just something that messes up peoples' buildings. This is more like art," said Willis J. Matthews, 66, a house painter. He has been hired over the years to buff over graffiti on some of the same Summerhill buildings the artists painted. Jerome Nelson, 50, manager of a local restaurant, likewise said he had covered graffiti in the past, but would be happy to see more murals. "It makes you want to take care of your 'hood a little better now. You know, if you're constantly waking up every morning -- seeing the same old thing that's been here for years -- you think that's how it goes. But a change brings on new things," he said. 'What we're doing is extremely political' As part of its conference, Living Walls hosts parties, lectures and a bike tour of the newly minted walls. The project has not been without controversy. Two of the pieces created last year were subsequently painted over because of complaints. In one case, neighbors objected to nudity. In the other, some thought the image looked demonic. "After those two, I realized that what we're doing is extremely political," said Monica Campana, 30, co-founder of Living Walls. This year, she said she warned artists their work could be short-lived. They were asked to submit sketches ahead of time, but no subject was off limits. "Whatever you decide to do, it has to be part of this area," Campana said she told the artists. Apparently, none minded. The French artist Roti, who did one of the murals that got covered, came back to paint again this year. He worked on a so-called recycled wall, a space previously painted by another artist. "I love the ephemeral aspect of street art or graffiti. I don't believe that things should stay put," said Campana. "Even though it sucked that we had to lose two walls, it's like Roti says, those two walls had beautiful lives. They were short lives, but they were very intense lives. They did what they needed to do and they made people think," she said. "It created a dialogue." Roti, whose first name is Pierre, comes from a graffiti background and continues to work in that medium. He declined to give his last name because he said some of what he does is not legal. Unlike some Summerhill residents, Roti, 24, sees little difference between graffiti and murals. He aims to provoke in either case. "Graffiti's a sport. They're just taking it to a whole new level," said Campana. Like this story? Like CNN Living on Facebook . Is there interesting art on the streets of your town? Tell us all about it in the comments below.

Twenty artists are in the city to paint 20 murals as part of the Living Walls project . The artists aim to transform everyday surfaces into colorful spaces for storytelling . Two murals from last year sparked controversy and were covered . "It's beautiful where it used to be desolate. It brings everything alive," says one neighbor .